#if you see any inconsistency between panels: no you don't.

[daintev]

Hello tf2 community, today I present Spy Dad and Scout shenanigans. (+ snuck in some obligatory speedingbullet)

I think Scout finds making fun of Spy amusing (until it hits him back in the head, literally)

[rosemarydisaster]

I find it really funny that people take a panel out of any comic to say "see?? X is not like fanon says, actually he is like this". Bestie, the first thing I've learned from DC is that canon's fucked. Not in the sense that it's bad (sometimes it is), but in the sense that is inconsistent at best.

I'm talking about Batfam right now, so the thing is people want to say x or y robin was the chaotic one and... They all are. They all are very polite or absolute menaces. And It's a staple of the genre. Obviously if you read Tim's run as robin or his comics you're gonna get the impression that he is the main character. Just the coolest, most nuanced, goes through every single event ever kind of character. But if you read Dick's comics...surprise! He is also the smartest coolest funniest robin ever. And omg isn't Jason traumatized when you read his story? But also isn't Steph even more so? Or Cass?

Jason's og backstory was so similar to Dick's they had to change it. Like sure they give each robin/batfam their own traits and backstory, but they also end up with really similar abilities/going through similar events a lot of the time. And personality wise it's not much better because you would think that's one of the things they'd want to keep stable but no.

Tim swings wildly between Batman's most obedient good little soldier and feral child that lies to his face. The evolution sometimes is non existent or not coherent with the plot but that's because a new writer picked it up and he doesn't want to focus on that. Even their unique characteristics get fucked around in canon. Paraphrasing "the characters will do what the writer wants them to do".

If you're afraid of misrepresenting the character I would fall back on these core traits and build up from them. As long as you keep that in mind it's gonna be more canon compliant than some parts of canon. I'm also big on "let people fuck around with fanon" because truly, I might hate some interpretations of the characters...but it's not like it's canon. That's someone playing dolls with a comic character, who cares? I say let them. Simply don't engage if you dislike it.

[comikadraws]

New Naruto plothole just dropped

Or at least it will be a plothole until we string together a theory.

NOTE: The colored version of the Naruto Manga is often INACCURATE. I am using a more accurate translation in this post because these specific panels are severely affected by the mistranslations.

As you can see in this poll, the majority of people think that Shisui's body was never found.

The poll results probably speak for themselves, as there is also a significant percentage believing the opposite. The reason? There's an inconsistency in the manga. We know for a fact that Shisui's body can no longer be found and that Shisui himself intended for it to disappear.

But the problem is, if Shisui's body was never found, then how does Yashiro know that Shisui jumped into the Nakano River?

And while we are at it, Itachi looks a little more surprised than he probably should be at the mention of Shisui's suicide. The conversation surrounding Shisui's disappearance was inevitable and should have been expected. But perhaps the mention of "Nakano River" was what surprised him here.

EDIT: It is also not the case that the suicide note mentioned anything about the river (I checked the Japanese raws for that, too).

But also, if Shisui's body was indeed found by the police, why does everybody conveniently gloss over the fact that his eyes were missing? After all, the lack of eyes indicates that his Sharingan was stolen. It's a piece of evidence that would otherwise point away from Itachi.

The Theories

I'm also curious as to what everybody else is making out of this. So far, my mutuals and I have already collected a few theories. I won't turn it into a poll this time, though, as the options are slightly more complex and I'd like to add more of them if anybody would like to share their guesses.

Of course, I am adding pros and cons, though, and will discuss any new theories, haha.

Shisui's body was not found but somebody else witnessed Shisui's death and informed the police

- Novel-compliant, as Obito manipulated Yashiro in the novel and may have informed Yashiro here as well

Shisui's body was found but the police omitted and disposed of the evidence

- Possibly because they had beef with Itachi and wanted him arrested

Shisui's body was found but the missing eyes were considered a diversion

- The police considered that the missing eyes might just be Itachi's attempt to divert attention from himself by making it look like another motive had been at play or to imitate what Shisui would have done

- The body was disposed of later, possibly by the police, Obito, Danzo, or another party that wanted to prevent Shisui's resurrection as an Edo Tensei

- It's weird that the eyes are not brought up regardless

Shisui's body was not found but somebody provided a fake body

- Itachi might have either faked the body or the eyes so nobody would suspect Sharingan theft

- I have no idea how he would do that

The police worked with ninja hounds or Sharingan to follow Shisui's trail

- Shisui's body was never found afterward as the trail ended at the cliff

- They should have encountered further evidence to incriminate Itachi, such as Itachi's (or some other person's) scent lingering on the suicide note and at the Nakano river or blood

- Itachi would know about these methods in the investigation and the evidence he's left behind, yet chooses to say "I haven't seen him lately" and the police chooses to withhold the evidence regardless

- They must have encountered evidence of a fight (between Shisui and ROOT) and Shisui's escape attempt that would be in Itachi's defense and don't mention or consider this either

- The police requests cooperation with ANBU which would require the exchange of any further evidence (exposing all the available evidence to Itachi as well)

[nuri148]

My Take on Levi's Age

I originally wrote this as a rb addition to another post. I've been meaning to make it a stand alone post since then, and with all the talk about Levi's age since the publication of bad boy, here it is, finally.

If you ask me, Levi could not have been more that 4-5 years old at the time Kenny found him around 829.

Why?

He's severely malnourished, probably spent several days cloistered in the room with Kuchel with nothing to eat. So my guess is that, though he was old enough to speak and understand Kuchel was dead (even if he could not quite grasp the bigger concept of Death), he was too young to go out and procure himself and his mum some food, be it by stealing or begging. And for that, he's need to be very young.

I lived in Greater Buenos Aires more than half of my life (the infamous "conurbano"), and I've seen lots of very small kids, 4-5 years old, begging like pros for either change or food. It's unfortunately very common in impoverished areas. And I wasn't even in the bad ones. So, in that aspect, the Underground wouldn't be different from our villas or Brazil's favelas.

Kuchel was a prostitute. She wouldn't want Levi to witness her at work. It is fair to think that as soon as he was old enough to cross the street she'd let him roam and go play with other kids while mummy's busy. There, he'd quickly learn how to come by a piece of moldy bread to stave hunger.

So in order to just sit starving by his mother instead of going out looking for help, Levi must have been young enough that his mum could still keep him under wraps; too young to know his way about the Underground's streets, too much of a rookie in terms of using his charm or his cunning to get a bit of food.

Uri Reiss inherited the Founding Titan in 829. BUT, nowhere does it say that Kenny's encounter with Uri happens right after the latter became a titan. So Kenny might have joined Uri up to a couple of years after 829 (not many, as Rod Reiss still looks young in that flashback).

So Kenny finds Levi between 829 and 831; And Levi is 4-5 then, meaning he was born, at earliest, in 823 (considering his b-day is only one week before the year's end, that'd make him 5 in for most of 829) and latest in 825 (same if Kenny found him in 831). That makes him 10-12 years older than Eren and company. , ~20 when he joins the SC, ~26 during seasons 1-3, ~30 after the time skip, and ~33 in the epilogue.

"But Yams said he was thirty-somethiiiing!"

TLDR: I wouldn't consider canon some spur-of-the-moment answer given by Yams in a panel where he's probably tired, nervous, and doesn't have his timeline handy.

Allow me to speak here as a writer: the whims of your imagination often don't align with the logic of what needs to go on the page. So it is perfectly possible to imagine your character in a way that is inconsistent with your timeline. You see them with short hair and summer clothes fixing lunch in their sunny kitchen in a scene and, when they move to the dining room you see them with hair 4 inches longer and serving supper as a snowstorm rages outside. When you write it, you're going to have to pick up one, and go back to your notes often for continuity after, bc your brain keeps forever placing the kitchen in sunny summer and the living room in a winter night. Oh, and they're both simultaneously on the ground and the second floor. Escher pictures make more sense.

The story of AoT spans many years, so we don't know which year Levi is the default Levi in Yams' brain. It could even be the Levi from the time skip, or from a future after the last chapter that only exists in his imagination. Also, Yams has bungled up numbers before so, personally, I don't trust him much in that department.

In any case, Math is a hard science, so if Kenny found Levi with 4-5 years in 829, he can't be 30+ in 850. 5+21=26. No matter what Yams says.

Additional notes:

The original post. With additions. I recommend reading the quoted twitter thread.

Another, recent twitter thread on Levi's age

A lengthy post by an actual psychologist providing scientific foundation for Levi's age when Kenny finds him.

I saw yet another post on Levi's age recently, but I can't find the link rn and I have to make lunch. if/when I find it, I'll add it (and others I may come across)

[niinnyu]

Gege's payoff followed by setup problem, and why Shibuya Arc is still their finest writing.

Gege's writing structure has become so reliant on catching the readers by surprise that they just won't tell anything to the reader. Going into Gojo vs sukuna and the fight fest it's been since, readers have no clue of if there was any strategic/tactical planning happening (outside of Yuuji training with Kusakabe which is sloowwly coming back to the limelight).

The current buildup by adding emphasis to Sukuna and Yuuji and their dynamic, Yuuji's rage and loneliness and loss, only to bring in a Gojo-Yuuta vs Sukuna part 2 electric boogaloo. Which imo is another fight that has no interesting overarching commentary/themes outside of being the promised shounen strong vs strong fight, in a power system already criticised by both sides for being flawed.

It feels like Gege uses shock value and people eating absolutely anything up if it's about their fav, to bypass any meaningful setup.

The reason why Shibuya had the effect of absolute gutwrenching loss and defeat, is because it was setup so deliciously done. We'd seen the villains literally experiment their ideas with the veils on our heroes with the sister-school event, we've seen them talk about their plan with a lot of details, and how eventually they tweaked it to work better with their new knowledge.

We've seen that the mastermind might be someone from Gojo's past since they talk about how they cant be seen by Gojo, then you have jjk0 which shows the rift and the death of that someone (intrugue! Theyre still alive?? They're still on the bad side with that ending??) , following which you have Hidden Inventory where you see the bond and what caused the rift.

And ONLY THEN do you have everything fall into place when Kenjaku appears and Gojo is tricked because you were tricked alongside Gojo even tho as the reader almost everything was right in plain sight with just the lack of some context. Even the inconsistencies between Suguru's and now revealed Kenjaku's behaviour makes sense.

Althought the setup happened rather non-linearly, all of it was still always before the payoff. And boy, does it pay off.

And when things didn't go according to the villains' well thought out plans, it was still just such a seen yet unforeseen turn of events. We didn't know Yuuji would be fed so many of Sukuna's fingers that Sukuna would take over, but Sukuna taking over was an underlying threat that has been constant throughout the story and it just so happened to take place then).

Everything since the culling games has felt like things just happening one after the other. Short term goals that our protagonists had to complete since no one knew what was even happening. An entire year's worth of chapters of not seeing our protagonists and following new people who didn't/haven't yet done anything to truly warrant that much undivided paneltime. Anyone remember the US gov subplot? Did i dream that?

The last genuinely set up but still pretty shocking event was Sukuna using their binding vow and taking over Yuuji's body only to then take over Megumi's. We knew he wanted Megumi's power and the binding vow was another underlying threat since Yuuji's first death that was waiting to happen. Abrupt? Yes. But it was something hinted happening.

By no means am I saying that the reader should be told everything, that's not how writing works, but have enough at least fall into place when things are revealed instead of showing the puzzle completed then picking out puzzle pieces to show it individually and putting them back. A couple of panels where a character says something vague where you as the reader don't even know if it's something to take into account is NOT good set up.

[genericpuff]

I've come to the stunning realization-

-that Lore Olympus is basically to the webtoons industry what Youtube Kids is to Youtube.

And I'm not talking about the general "Youtube Kids" label, I'm talking about those videos - Elsagate, Johny Johny, Cocomelon, Mickey Mouse tattooing Spongebob or whatever other weird example you can think of - which are explicitly designed to game the algorithm, turn views into money, and most of all, gain and keep the attention of the one demographic that won't question what they're consuming - children.

!!!!THIS POST HAS FAST PASS SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!

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I mean, this is undoubtedly just a tinfoil hat theory, but think about it:

Bright oversaturated colors that are attention-grabbing.

Meme faces and 'lol rAnDoM' humor even when it doesn't suit the situation at all.

Art that's all around ugly and cheap on a technical level but still stands out due to its color design and prioritized advertising.

Vapid surface level scene-to-scene writing that doesn't connect or have any meaning in any coherent way.

One-dimensional projection characters who are easy to manipulate and sway for audience sympathy or anger even if those opinions change on a dime based on actions in the moment.

Cliffhangers that are less like true cliffhangers and more like clickbait. Episodes nowadays tend to be filled with drawn out plotlines, vague hints that can be applied to just about any school of thought, and non-sequitur memes to fill the time until they can hook the reader with another cliffhanger to keep them coming back next week.

Coin prices have gone up but episode length, substance, and quality have noticeably gone down. Even if they reach the same panel count they usually have, dialogue is minimal and pacing is brutally inconsistent to the point that plot progression is often non-existent.

Banner ads that run constantly, often in the first or second (or both) slots, with push notifications and pop-up ads also becoming more frequent whether you're subscribed to the comic or not.

And underneath ALL of that, we've got blatant objectifying and sexualization of female characters regardless of context, misogyny that claims to be progressive, racist undertones, borderline fetish content that constantly toes the Terms of Services line, normalization of problematic/toxic relationship dynamics, a creator who's more interested in 'getting back' at critics than writing an actual story, and underlying messaging both from the characters' and the creator's behavior that encourage witch-hunting, rejection of accountability, and blind devotion.

All this is essentially why I've given up consuming LO entirely, beyond just on a critical level as of late. There was a time long ago when I stuck around in the hopes it was going to get better, that maybe it was just going through a "rough patch" as some stories do. After that I stuck around because I wanted to see how it could possibly pull off its ending. And then after that, I simply stuck around for the laughs and community banter. But now I don't even find it funny anymore, the punchline of how bad it is has gotten incredibly old. And at this rate, as much as we'd like to believe it's going to end in its third season as it's been mentioned in the past, we also were told it was going to end between 100-200 episodes prior to that - the way it's going, I can't even stick around "for the ending" because LO is going to be around for as long as WT tries to milk it, despite it no longer having a heartbeat.

As much as I've loved talking shit about this comic and it's undoubtedly the main reason so many of you followed me here in the first place, I'm not going to lock myself in some kind of purgatory hell just to be proven what I already know is going to happen - either the comic continues on forever, doomed to be a lifeless mascot for the zombie corporation that is WT, or RS eats shit while trying to stick the landing with a plane that has no functional parts.

There's a quote from Caddicarus that I couldn't help but think of as I typed this up, from his nearly-decade-old review of Dalmations 3 (oh god, it's nearly been a decade since that video came out what the actual fuck-)

"And this is where I officially lost all fucking care. I realized it wasn't going to end anytime soon. It's one of those rare instances where the novelty of how awful everything is actually gets really tiresome and unfunny." - Caddicarus

[kyouka-supremacy]

Hot take, Bones doesn't deserve the amount of hate they are getting. Some, I understand but the amount I'm seeing is ridiculous. They have multiple projects they're working on and I get it, rushing through BSD isn't great but they can't animate everything. Also... the way they animated Aku makes more sense. Hard to give a soft smile losing such a large amount of blood from your neck.

Mmh, I understand that it can be disheartening to see something you like so heavily criticized, but I do believe the studio is doing some major mess up this season and that people are legitimately enraged.

I'm the first one to say that we're all here to have fun and there's not really any point on focusing on things we dislike, but I think it's also valid to be upset when something you care about a lot is treated unlovingly, and people are in their own right to express such disappointment. Moreover, I feel like in this case there is a point in expressing one's disdain. It's important to be critic of the media we consume: we could all pretend to be satisfied and settle on complacency, but wouldn't that be deeply detrimental? Otherwise, sometimes it's important to acknowledge and even state loud that you don't like something, because it's only by recognizing something is wrong that people can get to work to change it and improve. If we all tamely pretended we liked the new season, if there was no one to ever evaluate its direction, animation quality, pace, there's little hope for any of them to improve, simply because there's no need to change something people are happy with.

Theodor W. Adorno is my favorite sociologist. He once said, “the splinter in your eye is the best magnifying-glass available”. With that he meant that pain is the greatest source of knowledge. Pain allows to see things that otherwise would go unnoticed: only by acknowledging pain one can understand that something is wrong, that something needs to be changed and improved. I think it's always important to state: “this is wrong”, because nothing can ever be fixed if you don't first recognize it's broken.

Personally, I do believe what Bones studio is doing is wrong. I don't think it's fair to have such a drastic quality drop with the last season just like it wasn't in the third. I don't think it's right to not have an original opening sequence nor an ending sequence (that we know of). I don't think it's right to have such a fast pace that you can't keep up with the events. I don't think it's right to have a season filled with reused animations. I don't think it's right to have very little animation to the point there's up to 36 seconds of the same static frame in a single scene. I don't think it's right to have a quality drop in the drawings and quality inconsistency between one episode and the next. I think it's outrageous that the Fukuchi vs. sskk fight was so poorly animated and completely striped of any emotion. I don't think it's right of them to assassinate Akutagawa's chapter 88 panel. But most of all, I don't think it's right to have a season come out three months after the other. I don't think that's in any way ethically sustainable, and I don't think anyone needed that. I don't think it's right that studios don't get that people don't want an uninterrupted flow of content, people want quality content, and it's important to say that, or they'll never get it. I think they messed up greatly with this season, and I don't think being working on multiple projects can use as an excuse in any way, because as a studio you should be able to tell when you've got your hands too full to handle another project without meeting the quality standard. If Bones studio was working on too many projects, they simply shouldn't have set this season up for release so early, because again, NO ONE needs a new season after just three months.

I can see why you would say that the way they animated Akutagawa's last words makes more sense. It definitely is more rushed, and ugly. I guess one could argue that it conveys how death is precipitous and unpleasant, and doesn't leave space for last words. ... But I highly doubt that much was intentional. The sskk scene in its entirety was so poorly curated that I can hardly see the direction make thematically relevant choices. Even in the rare hypothesis it was a conscious and intentional directing choice, the outcome was still extremely underwhelming, because the moment itself doesn't feel rushed in particular since it's coming right after an episode that was rushed in its entirety.

I agree Akutagawa's death scene in the manga isn't realistic the slightest. But realism in that moment was never what the reader was asking for in the first place! It's a moment of conclusion for Akutagawa. It's the end of his cruel and hated life, and the author chooses to end it in kindness. By giving him a moment to smile and redeem himself, the author is showing Akutagawa the compassion he never received in his violence ridden life. Death scenes in media are almost never meant to be realistic! Their main aim is to move the audience, not to portray a realistic death. It's part of the deal the audience makes with the media the second they start interacting with it, to suspend their belief in order to enjoy the media at its fullest. It's, fundamentally, the same reason why you wouldn't question the characters having superpowers.

All the same, if you find yourself to be on average satisfied with the anime, that's perfectly valid too!!! I'm sorry people's disappointment may have resulted disheartening, and I understand it's hard to avoid, but my best advice is to try and curate your own internet experience to be so that you see the least negativity as possible. You might want to consider blocking and unfollowing people whose comments you find unpleasant, even if it's just temporary for the time the season airs. If it gets too much, refrain from visiting the main tag on Wednesdays when new episodes drop if that can work for you. I recognize we as a fandom could work better to build a space that is enjoyable for people who are liking the new season and wouldn't want to meet so much negativity, and I'm the first to admit I've been quite inconsistent in tagging my posts recently, so in the future I'll try to tag negativity accordingly. I do appreciate you for reaching out and sharing your opinion Anon! Let's all work together to build a better fandom space for everyone (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*.✧

[dykebelova]

White Widow #1 by Sarah Gailey review.

We can all agree that we all fell in love with Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova in Black Widow (2021) and for many people, including me, she was our first introduction to the character. And as an absolute, completely sane and normal person, I said to myself “Why not read all of her appearances in the comics ?”, and I did.

Surprisingly, both characters are incredibly different. Nonetheless, both interesting and amazing on their own. While I agree that MCU Yelena has more depth and perhaps, more personality, comics Yelena is still a good character. The way she has been written has been very disturbing, even sick and twisted sometimes, like Pale Little Spider (2002) or Black Widow (2001). Sometimes messy, and I suggest everybody forget her Adaptoid phase or anything that ever happened in Secret Avengers (2013) for her sake. But still, you don't erase almost 25 years of a character's development, even if it has been inconsistent, just because you felt like it.

In the comics, Yelena has always been in Natasha’s shadow and has never had her own original story. In Widowmakers: Red Guardians and Yelena Belova (2020) and Winter Guard (2021), we had a glimpse of hope to finally see her character evolve despite Red Guardian’s appearance, a character linked to Natasha. When a limited-serie on White Widow, a character that hasn’t been properly developed and deserved to, was announced, I fucking cheered man. But then I remembered the curse of a character’s MCUfication, because Marvel never does anything right. And oh boy was I not prepared for what was coming…

I don’t even know where to begin. It all felt like a giant fanfiction written by someone who has only ever seen the movie and didn’t even bother to check on other writers’ previous work on Yelena’s character.

White Widow (2023) #1.

There are lots of things wrong in this picture. First and second panel, where does the needle come from ? After I checked and double checked just in case, there were NO records of Yelena being abducted or forced to do anything she has done in her life. She chose to join the Red Room. She chose to be a Black Widow and she was determined to outperform Natasha’s results during tests. She even had a whole mental breakdown about it.

Pale Little Spider (2002) #1

Now, let’s try to find excuses for the use of the needle… The first one would be the Red Room using the Black Widow’s serum they used on the 28th original Widows, during Natasha’s era. But our good ol' Grigor Ivanovich just ruined this theory.

Black Widow (2004) #4

Excuse number two, the Red Room used some sort of a mind-control serum which wouldn’t make any sense too for all of the reasons I said above.

Now the third panel… I’m at a loss for words. Where the fuck does it comes from. Where the FUCK was it during Secret Empire (2017) ? Yelena wasn’t even there anymore, bitch was dead. We didn’t see her until Tales of Suspense: Hawkeye and The Winter Soldier (2018), until she was brought back to life WITH Natasha. Also, she has a real family and they’re even mentioned in Black Widow (2001), Yelena calls her mother and her aunt Olga is mentioned.

White Widow (2023) #1

Now, the board... It looks like it has been made for a MCU tie-in more than anything.

Although I'd like to adress one thing that has been said on Twitter, about the "Hate nationalism → Imperialist invasion". There is a difference between nationalism and patriotism. Being a nationalist is being way too extreme about your country when being a patriot is to love your country, its people and its culture while also being critical about the way its being led.

Now, we know when she was young, Yelena was kind of extreme. In Black Widow: The Things They Say About Her (2005) #1, she admitted she was willing to sacrifice herself for the Motherland more than once. During her Black Widow era, she was naive and had a blind love for Russia which was her biggest weakness.

Black Widow (2001) #3

But as her character continued to evolve and grow through her appearences, Yelena is far more reasonable now. She considers herself like a true patriot and she has always been proud of being Russian. In conclusion, this board's section is not as bad as people make it out to be since Yelena went from being an extreme nationalist to a patriot.

Widowmakers: Red Guardian and Yelena Belova (2020)

I know many of you like Kate Bishop and Yelena’s friendship due to their duo in Hawkeye, I too, am a big fan of them… But unfortunately, they only interacted once in the comics. And they didn’t even talk to each other. That’s why mentioning Kate Bishop in her like section is purely fan service and although it is a nice nod to the series, it doesn’t make any sense here. Yelena has interacted with Clint Barton way more than the better Hawkeye, which is sad.

Black Widow (2020) #10

I'd like to come back in the hate section just a second to say I don't know why she hates the Infinity Gauntlet so much that's it's written in caps. It's 100% a nod to the MCU again but here it also doesn't make sense. But again, a lot of things doesn't in this issue.

I wont bother talking about her attitude and how she looks like a teenager swallowing vodka directly from a bottle when she used to be classy and extra with manners. I wont bother talking about her new suit's design which sucks more than her previous one. This is not the Yelena Belova we used to know, it's a complete new character made to match her MCU self and please a small public who mostly watch the movies/series.

I saw a lot of people celebrating Yelena's changes to match Yelena's Florence Pugh more. I know the character has become more famous because of Flo', but this is actually terrible and wasn't handled correctly.

We hoped for a more mature story, maybe a little darker than usual. A new start for her character, to follow her path in making the world a better place and get out of Natasha’s shadow for good. With a little backstory too, nothing much. The bare minimum. Instead, we had a copycat of her MCU counterpart and it is just heartbreaking to see a character I loved so much being destroyed like that.

I could go on and on about why this piece of junk is just a bunch of nonsense and laziness and how Sarah Gailey’s just went for the easiest writing ever… But I will stop there. I just hope she knows that us, fan of comics Yelena, are fucking disappointed. Everything that made her character so special and dear to us, disappeared in one issue. The damage is surreal.

It’s only four issues long so I will continue to read it until the end, but I expect nothing from it anymore. I hope the writer won’t destroy Yelena’s character any further, because things can only go downhill from here.

[gynandromorph]

My favorite thing about Jessie is the fact that you managed to make her simultaneously someone I would have to fear if she were real and a complete cringefail bumbling silly person. I especially love the sheer range of her expressions, I don't know if you already made a post explaining how you do that, but I'd like to know any small tips you usually go about with when it comes to expressions.

thanks. because the story is about fantasizing and, more specifically, power fantasies, it made sense to me for the protagonist to be a loser. it takes the edge off and makes her funny as well for a story that can get quite gorey.

as for jessie's range of expressions... her face is designed with a lot of space. unlike a lot of my characters, jessie has small eyes, which gives her mouth A LOT of room. however, you can see that because of this trait, she also lacks the ability to make more subtle expressions that rely on the relationship between the pupils and eyelids, and the eyebrows and eyes in most of her expressions. this is well and good for a character who experiences nuanced and complex emotions very rarely. more specifically, though... jessie's face is constructed with the fact that part of my brain can and cannot draw muzzles in mind. from 3/4th perspective, which is the most common angle to draw her at, she can be drawn by constructing a flat face or a dimensional muzzle. this doesn't only allow me to draw her regardless of how artistically competent i am at the time; it gives her essentially twice the range of expressions she would otherwise have. let me show what i mean:

a flat-face construction jessie, drawn that way because i couldn't figure out how to draw the muzzle at the time. i went to bed after this.

the next panel of jessie, drawn later: a muzzle-face construction jessie.

and the panel of jessie after that: another flat-face construction jessie, not because i couldn't have drawn her with a muzzle here, but because the flat face takes up more of the face and looks more cartoonish, which is what i wanted.

of course, the flat-vs-muzzle construction also extends to her profile, where her muzzle is definitely visible:

muzzle

flat.

her face shape changes drastically, but the story is explicitly written to allow inconsistency -- not just with her, but with ANYONE. pointing out the style inconsistencies is quite literally one of jessie's forms of proof that the story doesn't take place in reality at the beginning of it when she has no powers yet. this isn't necessary to allow a character's face to be inconsistent, but i did this with jessie explicitly to blunt the anxiety and reservation from drawing her face inconsistently.

so, my tips would be know that the more rules you have for a design, the less flexible it is -- or, the less range it has for expressions. try letting things be wrong sometimes. they will probably never be your favorite expression, but you might learn some important things about how you construct emotions artistically in your head over time.

[fancyfade]

Ah thank you for answering my questions actually I am the same anon of a blended family that pointed out the reason why Damian consider Bruce “only” son because a lot of people at dc views the batkids as Bruce’s students or soldiers. Iirc there was a deleted thread of a editor that confirms that.

Not saying there isn’t official lore of the robins acknowledged each other as brothers. Isn’t just me or is their dynamics mainly just

1. The boring Batfamily events Dc love to do. Seriously anyone excited for them anymore

2. Or around Bruce

Not to say they deep bonds, is it just me off dc often make the Batfamily…idk extremely antagonistic to each other to the point their characters are better fleshed out away from the family vs together?

Maybe because how Bruce is written recently but man it’s rough.

I definitely do think that writers flip flop a lot on how they consider Bruce's kids, or they want to treat them as mostly soldiers for the angsty Bruce thing and to explain why they don't have to show Bruce being a dad on panel. Or more of different writers have different opinions, rather than flip-flopping.

WRT bonds... I think that they have some that are well-developed on page, and some that are just not. Most of the characters' dynamic with Bruce has gotten panel time, though inconsistently, so we know pretty much what it should be. We also have seen Dick with Tim and Dick with Damian. There are characters who are not antagonistic, but just don't have a ton of panel time devoted to them (Dick and Cass pre-the dark cass era). And Damian and Tim are no longer antagonistic to each other for the most part but also just. don't have any panel time showing them actually becoming close.

rather than being antagonistic to each other being the reason main batfam events are boring, I think it's b/c they honestly all fill pretty similar niches.

like think about No Man's Land. That was a pretty big batfam event, but we almost never have all of them on panel at once. When we see them in big groups, its often just when in Oracle's clock tower between missions, like saying hi to Cass when she just became Batgirl.

But like. We see Dick go off and do a mission alone in the jail. Some Babs and Dick defending base stuff. Dick and Tim work together in the tunnels for ratcatcher. Cass and Tim when Tim has to be evacuated out of Gotham. Cass and Jean Paul infiltrating that one manipulative guy's camp. In general the missions are pretty small in terms of actually number of people actively on them.

Ok so going back to:

trying to have every single batfam member in a mission just makes them boringer. You have "so and so is the smart one" "so and so is the angry one" "so and so is the nice one" etc... but like. They're all smart. They can all be angry. They can all be nice. they all fill the niche of "generally competent fighter with stealth skills and usually above-average computer and detective skills". IDK its like having a party of 6 rogues.

So in general what you have is you have to diminish characters in one way to make the other stand out more. Like Gates of Gotham, which has stuff I really do like, also had stuff I really don't like like Tim being the only one having ideas. Because Tim had to be "the smart one". And this isn't unique to Batfam! It happens in many team stuff. 1960s Teen Titans diminished everyone's brains to make Dick stand out more, JLA does the same for Bruce. Writing complex dynamics is hard so it's easy to just find 1 or 2 character traits and exaggerate those.

I think that's why Batfam members are better fleshed out in their solo titles - they get to be full characters. I think they may also get to be better fleshed out in team comics, but normally because they get the narrative focus instead of other characters and are treated as the "batman" of the team. Like I love NTT, but Dick is clearly Marv's writer's pet and he gets so much narrative focus.

... I am not sure if I actually answered your question, but those are my thoughts in general.

[wromwood]

The Fazbear Frights graphic novels are bad and you shouldn't buy them. Click the read more to learn why.

Recently I learned that my local library has some more of the graphic novel adaptations of the Five Nights at Freddy's: Fazbear Frights books. (I read the first of these adaptations earlier this year, also thanks to the local library. Shoutout to libraries for letting me read FNaF books without worrying about giving Scott Cawthon my money) I read the original stories when they were first published a couple years ago, which already made me curious as to how they were continuing to be adapted into comic form.

My other reason for checking out the second and third graphic novel adaptations was because of the fact I'd read the first. It was BAD.

For context, I've also read the graphic novel adaptation of the novel trilogy (also thanks to my local library). That adaptation also has its artistic quirks and faults, but even the adaptation of the first book The Silver Eyes (which I consider the worst) is still decent. The art style improves from the second to the third books, which gave me the expectation that this would continue with the Fazbear Frights adaptations.

Nope. Nope it doesn't. I don't have any pictures of the first FF adaptation, but trust me: it's shoddy. It's not horrendous, and they use different art styles in each of the three stories, but they're neither good comics nor good adaptations. My best theory is that these books have to be rushed out with little communication between the different stages of development.

My proof? Evidence from the second book.

All of the stories in the second book have some form of wonky art through them, just like the first. I won't dwell too much on this aspect, but will show one example for context.

Look at those ARMS. THE HANDS.

There are so many more examples than just this that we don't have time for. (Also, I returned the book) Panels have weird and unusual framing, there are word bubble inconsistencies, weird looking background characters, inappropriate expressions for the character's emotions...

Like. Stylistic freedom aside, seeing multiple aspects of this in a book that I was supposed to have paid $15 for (again, thank you local library) doesn't feel right. I would totally accept this from an amateur webcomic, one that was either free or "low-cost" (I'd still appreciate the time and effort put into it), but from a professionally published book for a popular franchise? I feel justified in asking for better quality.

*

But now we move onto something else... directly going against clearly stated story details.

This is an example from the second story in volume 2, "Room for One More." As you can see here, the character asks for a specific breakfast order. And this detail is important to the character and story. But what we see next is...

A totally different breakfast being made. Ok, maybe this is just a weird time passing panel, I thought. Until...

If you look at his plate, it's the breakfast from the stove! And yet the dialogue shows he's supposed to be eating his original order.

Here's an example from the third story, "The New Kid."

Big red pickup truck, he says. You won't be able to miss it, he says.

I THINK YOU COULD MISS IT.

This lack of attention to detail isn't even confined to the art. Here's a picture of the back cover blurb:

That first sentence about Oscar? That's not from the first story in this volume, "Fetch." That sentence is for "Out of Stock," the third story in the first volume of the FF graphic novels.

As I've mentioned before, my reluctance to give Scott Cawthon my money has kept me from truly engaging with the FNaF franchise like I used to. But I'm still surprised that there are this many mistakes in an aspect of the franchise like this. This is a franchise built on detail. In the games, novel series, and short story books, details are CRUCIAL, especially for fans. Fans depend on detail to tell what the hell is going on in the lore. Details are FNaF's bread and butter.

I almost wish there was a way to see these errors as intentional. That there's meaning being the apparent lack of consistency and effort. Sadly, I think this is merely due to quickly churning out more books for profit, at the expense of the time and communication between the different artists involved.

Anyway, rant over. Enjoy your lives and don't buy these graphic novels!

[felixcloud6288]

Fullmetal Alchemist Chapter 35

This chapter reminded me how fast-paced this series is. If this was a weekly manga, this chapter would have ended with Ed reading the article about Maria Ross being convicted for Hughes's murder and the rest of the chapter would be the next chapter.

How did Lin get separated from the others. He was literally sitting alongside them on the train and he somehow got off and snuck outside before collapsing from hunger ...again.

We get this shot of one of the gates to Central HQ.

Central HQ has four gates located to the East, West, North, and South. After cross-referencing this shot with other images of Central, I'm fairly certain this is the East Gate. I can't say this with 100% certainty though because the layout of Central HQ is highly inconsistent between chapters. In fact, none of the other chapters show any paths crossing at 90 degree angles of each other.

The main reason I assume this is the East Gate is because one image implies there's a path going from the South Gate and traveling North-East to the East Gate and one of the paths we see in this image matches that one.

Based on the next shot, it looks like the way to enter Central HQ is you have to pass through a gated enclosure at the base of any of its entryways and then walk up the pathway to the main entrance. Since Ed and co. were outside HQ, I guess that means the Court Martial Office is outside the main HQ fortification.

Roy did that eye thing again when Ed asked about Hughes. But he's terrified rather than angry. And then we don't see his eyes as he lies to them and admits to Hawkeye how soft he is. I wonder if he was struggling to keep his composure. He kept his back to them the whole time.

Al had to lean into this shot.

Here's a fun little fandom detail. The Ed/Winry fandom uses the number 503 to refer to that ship. This was started because there's a brand of jean called Edwin 503. I bring this up because...

Arakawa knew.

And then the big breakout heist. Maria Ross has been convicted of Hughes's death without a trial and Barry the Chopper decides to break her out. Along the way, he also breaks out Lin.

The guard who was interrogating Lin deserves a commendation. He was inside Lin's cell when Barry broke in and he made sure to lock the cell before fighting Barry.

There was an ocarina in the confiscation room.

The bit when Ed and Al bump into them just reminds me of that one Shrek meme template.

And Barry make his own chibi face during the encounter.

And when Maria Ross encounters Roy in the alleyway, we don't see his eyes in the first panel, but they're doing that thing for the rest of the chapter.

back

Spoiler Discussion

Let's talk about that heist!!

Obviously, Roy didn't kill Maria Ross and the details about the heist will be explained in chapter 41 with some additional info in 42 so I'll save that part for then. For this half, I want to talk about all the details that a reader could pick up to clue them in that there was more to what happened.

Just to start off, why would Barry break Maria Ross out to begin? If he were acting on his own, he'd have no reason to want to save her. At best, he would have broken in because he wanted to chop her up personally. And he also didn't kill any guards. His comment makes it sound like he's under orders to not kill anyone. Admittedly, one could argue he's still following Hawkeye's orders when he first went into Mustang's custody. And why would he be interested in Lin being from Xing?

Now onto the body.

Knowing how the heist worked, the clearly cut chain on the band should clue you in that there's something up. Alongside that, you'll notice the band is otherwise intact. Now I want to mention that the melting point of iron is higher than the temperature used to cremate human bodies, and the cremation process takes a few hours, but Roy used an explosive force that supposedly instantly incinerated Maria Ross to ash and bone. That band should be either slightly warped from the heat or the chains should have been blown to pieces by the force.

Now onto conspirators. Obviously, Roy and Barry were major parts of the heist, but what about the rest of Roy's crew? We can say Falman was definitely uninvolved since Barry knocked him out before leaving. Meanwhile, Hawkeye seems to be unaware of what Roy was doing. Maybe he told her on the way out, but she had no involvement in it.

And how might things have gone more smoothly if Roy had been upfront with Ed and Al when he met them? They might have all stayed in their hotel room to mourn or maybe spend the day with Elicia and Mrs. Hughes. But because they didn't know anything was wrong, they went about their evening like normal and Al ended up finding a newspaper.

Also, remember this image from the backside of the newspaper. It's relevant later.

[kiwikarpart]

My Color Wheel

HOLY FUCKING SHIT I FINALLY GOT THIS DONE

It's far from the prettiest color wheel, but I expected that it wouldn't be from the start, so I used it as an excuse to experiment with my art style a bit(that's why there are inconsistencies in shading, rendering, line weight, etcetera). I'm still glad that I did it despite the lackluster quality because I have a hard time letting myself be loose with my art. If I attempted to make this with my perfectionist mindset, it would've taken 3 times as long to finish without getting me any closer to what I want my art to look like. So if you're an artist that wants to try making a color wheel but are afraid you won't like how it turns out: don't be! Use the challenge to try out a certain brush, shading method, color palette, whatever! You might not love the final result, but you will get something out of the experience.

Before I end this post, I want to talk about the characters in this wheel and why I picked them[WARNING: LONG].

Flare: Tbh, I don't have a strong connection to Flare, she's not even my favorite Panel de Pon character. What I do like about her is her official artwork and character themes, the girl's got confidence, sass, and a banging critical theme. I also really wanted to draw a character from Panel de Pon because there's so much to love about the franchise despite lacking on official content (I'd be upset at IS for that, but I can't blame them too much when any original IP that wasn't Fire Emblem or Advance Wars didn't sell well).

Daisy: You don't need me to tell you who Daisy is. All I really need to say is that I love her for the same reason every other Daisy fan loves her. Saying Daisy rules because of her (relatively) bombastic personality is nothing new, but that really is why I like her so much. That's also why some people hate her, but that makes me appreciate Daisy more. I think it's great to have a character that people either love or hate in a franchise with simple characters.

Mew Pudding: Despite Tokyo Mew Mew aging like milk imo, I wanted to include a character from it because it was the 1st magical girl series I read, and I love magical girl shows SO much! I drew Pudding because she's my favorite girl in the group. As a kid, it was just because she's funny, but as an adult the juxtaposition between her role as a caretaker for a bunch of little siblings and the youngest member of the Mew Mews was pretty interesting. Dare I say, she would've been a better protagonist than Ichigo.

Rina: I couldn't hop off the magical girl train yet, especially since Mermaid Melody was my 2nd introduction to the wonderful world of magical girls. Most Mermaid Melody fans prefer Luchia or Hanon, but as long as I can remember my favorite was Rina. I never got a chance to re-read the series so I can't remember why, but knowing what I know about myself now, the reason might've been...formative.

Frosty Puff: Probably the most obscure character on this wheel, due to the triple whammy of being a minor character in one generation of a series most people don't care about. No disrespect to the Strawberry Shortcake fandom, I like looking at your posts here, but to the general public, Strawberry Shortcake stonks are pretty low right now. That didn't stop me from drawing Frosty Puff though, because of...well she...ok I admit it was just because of her design. As far as I know, Frosty Puff never got any meaningful characterization. But I was really hyper fixated on the 2003 Strawberry Shortcake era when I started this, and I wanted a character in cyan that wasn't showing up everywhere. Her in-show design doesn't have a drop of cyan, but her official doll's hair did so I merged the two.

Undine: If you don't know who this character is, that's fine :] but it also means you haven't read Sleepless Domain, and it's worth it just for her. Won't elaborate because there are a few twists and turns I don't want to spoil, but if you want to see more magical girl stories for a slightly older audience, check it out.

Amethyst: I drew Amethyst from Steven Universe because of the small arc she has involving Jasper. The 1st time I watched it, I really resonated with Amethyst for a reason I couldn't articulate. Something about her struggling with then coming to terms with the genetic differences between her and Jasper was surprisingly real, and I shared her frustration with Jasper being this seemingly unbeatable opponent...then I watched it again and realized some of the stuff Jasper said was REALLY ableist. That might have something to do with it.

Caitlin: And to top it all off, my favorite psychic user in the pokemon franchise. Won't go into it because this post got way too long, but I think her backstory makes her a certified badass.

[ask-the-toybox]

CURRENT UPDATES ON ASK-THE-TOYBOX + WHAT TO KNOW [ 2023 ]

▶ Ask-The-Toybox is something I'd like to pick back up in my in-between owed / serious art time! This being said, activity may be inconsistent, but I would like to maintain a "at least one to five posts a week" basis that will fluctuate with life + schedule.

More information + what to expect here from now on will under a read more, whether you read it or not, thank you so much for sticking around and taking part in our funny little Toy Box! ( You don't have to read any of it to ask questions and hang out here!!! Just might be illuminating for people who'd like to know and does clarify some question things! )

↪ Image responses will be messy sketches with varying color, asks that require multiple panels may take a while to be answered - you can send new asks about the same thing if you wish, just understand I may be putting it off due to a multi-panel idea! ( a big one on standby that I'm excited for is "What are your thoughts on the other pm64 bosses?" I have a big multi-panel idea for that one currently! )

🎉

↪ The current characters up for questions are: General Guy, Anti Guy, Gourmet Guy, Big Lantern Ghost and I'm currently considering introducing two of my ocs to the cast! [ you may also ask questions pertaining to specific shy guys found in the toy box! Pyro Guys, Groove Guys, Medi Guys, ect ! ] ↝ If you word a question without mentioning someone by name but are speaking to one person ( ie. what's your favorite color? ) I'm going to work under assumption that you're asking General Guy! ↝ If you use words like "you guys" / "you all" ect. I will assume all character opinions, please note I prefer specific questions or questions that ask 1-2 characters at a time! The broader the scope the longer it'll take me to draw an answer! o(*￣▽￣*)ブ [ this doesn't apply to types of shy guys like Pyro Guys and such, just to the major characters like General Guy and co. ! ]

🎉

↪ Magic Anons are totally up in the air for me right now, might take them up - might not! Please don't be upset if you send a M!A and it never gets to be casted! I'm just trying to get my footing again, I always love seeing fun and creative M!As, but they are not my priority currently!!! Thank you all regardless! :3 !!!

🎉

▶ I cannot stress this enough... Have Fun!!! Ask whatever you want, even if it may seem silly or brings into question something General Guy, in canon, maybe wouldn't have been there for! ↝ In my version of the series ( in a perfect world where General Guy was used more ) I have a lot of ideas on how he thinks about certain big events that happened ! ! ! My scope is mainly around the RPG games: Super Mario RPG, The Mario & Luigi series, and the Paper Mario series! It's all one big world with strange occurrences to me, I merged them all in my take on the lore!

🎉

As of right now, I'm finally getting to answer old asks, so my bad if you get a stray ping a year after you've sent something, heh! Don't let this discourage you, ask more questions if you wish! :D I may take a while to get to all of these, but I'm so glad you all sent asks and I get to answer them - thank you all for your interest in our Toy Box and my take on all of it, I cannot say that enough! 💞

The treasures in this box are for you all ! ! ! I wouldn't be writing this if not for your interest and fun questions!

💗 Thank you ! ! ! 💗

Feel free to ask any questions about what's going on + what to expect you didn't think I covered here! It's always appreciated!

[faunastanza]

The World Egg pt 1

(part 2)

The World Egg, by (swirly L) and the Art Pyramid Group

"Maybe Glip has matured and changed," you may be thinking to yourself. "A lot of those unhinged mspaint VNs were a long time ago. Maybe they've learned to let go." Well, I went to Glip's twitter after this was posted (February 2023) to see if there was any kind of explanation or context for it that'd make it make sense (there wasn't, there never is, i am sisyphus and this is my boulder) and they were picking a fight with someone they wrote a callout about. I guess you can't say that they're inconsistent.

I've done a lot of these at this point, so when I say this one is incomprehensible then you know what I mean. It's for a new and more frustrating reason though. Previously these were difficult to follow because Glip just told stories that way, but now this is difficult to follow because this is just illustrated random moments from an RP you weren't in with no context. I have no idea who this is for except the other people who were in the RP who actually understand what's going on. You just have to try and piece together what happened from the random scraps Glip throws to you.

"If you joined the Discord then you'd know what happened" I'm not joining that pirahna pit, are you nuts. I'm not crazy. I mean, I've written a million words about this webcomic no one cares about but I'm not THAT crazy. I have my limits. Also Glip has clearly illustrated several times why you should never join their Discord. Case in point, this VN also features several reasons not to join their Discord. So again, you can't say they're inconsistent!

Anyway, this VN is done in Ren'py now, and as such Glip has a lot of new features to play with. I'll give credit where credit is due - the way the "panels" layer over each other in later parts of this is neat, I've never seen that before. So there you go.

We start in Phesund's room in Owel in the Art Pyramid. It's "Rath 25th (1/25/XX)" and I'd normally not bother with these fake dates but this might help try and piece together what happens throughout. We're introduced to two of the worst character designs I've ever seen. I've been through this entire comic and I was shocked at how bad these are.

what is even happening

The one on the left is Decateronomy, or Pengo's character if you recall, and that ugly looking weird worm pixie bird amalgam thing on the right is Phesund. Decateronomy wakes up and says he's had a realization - he can't remember when he and Phesund started their Relationship. If I felt generous, I'd say "oh, I guess Glip and Pengo had their characters fall in love in the RP" but as we've seen many many times before, the border between Glip and Glip's characters is non-existent. So I'm assuming this means Pengo and Glip are now dating in real life, which doesn't surprise me.

Phesund says "Wasn't it when..." and we got some disjointed shots. Phesund in their less ugly looking pixie form lies on Deca's chest. Then there's a shot of Deca, I think, holding an even uglier character design. Yes, it's possible. This one is even worse somehow.

lord almighty

This new character who looks like Pearl from Steven Universe has Euphobia's head on the back of his head and just looks godawful. I don't know what Glip was thinking here. I guess the symbolism won out over how stupid it looks? I don't know. I'm just kind of amazed at how bad these designs are. He also has Pengo's trianglehead's eyemarks so I'm not sure what to make of that, but there it is. Anyway, Deca holds the Pearlknockoff (I think), then maybe menaces him or reaches out to him, then holds him again.

We cut back to Phesund, who says that it just sorta happened. Phesund and Deca talk about their feelings and love for each other and it's dull and weirdly stilted. It's like being stuck in a car ride with the most boring navel-gazing new couple imaginable that also kind of talk like aliens.

in real life, i assume

Phesund says that he had his realization about his feelings during the thing that made him start the free classes, saying that he wanted to share with others what Deca had shared with him, the ability to learn about yourself. He says his memory is hazy, but he recalls saying "I love you" and then says he was "Mesund" at that point, so if you thought you'd escaped the character-within-character matroyshka dolls, you were wrong.

here's a clear shot of deca's head face thing, you try and figure it out

Deca goes on about their feelings and says that it felt different with Mesund in a nice way, who I assume is the Pearl knockoff.

it's just this for ages

We cut to a flashback I think where Mesund says he made an assumption about Deca wanting him present on his island. He says that he can't know that Deca wants him there and Deca agrees. Mesund says he doesn't want to "word fight" anymore. I just can't get over this character design.

where do the horns come in

It's not clear what "word fighting" is, but it may be related to the "scenes" that Glip would do in their discord, which they still do to this day I think. Deca asks what Mesund wants. We cut back to Phesund and Deca talking and they talk more about their feelings. I know I'm harping on this a lot but just look at them.

tail is a paintbrush get it

I just can't get over these designs. I just can't. Jesus. Anyway, Deca and Phesund flirt a bit, with Phesund referencing himself as a tyrant king. Deca talks about taking over for Phesund sometimes and making him a pet in a Ds kind of way and Phesund's super into it and now I feel like I know way too much about Glip's sex life. They talk some more about feelings and it's dull. Deca mentions talking to Mesund about parasites and changing them, and convenience. It's not really clear what he's talking about, but he says that he felt very open and close to Phesund on that day.

Phesund says he's glad he was there on that day, and Deca asks him what that day was like. We get more flashback memory things, this time of Mesund pounding on a door with the Euphobia head throwing up rainbows because Glip really can't get enough of that imagery. It happens a lot when I think about it. Mesund, notably, has Andre's little wand. Did you feel a twinge of foreboding?

help i'm a paint tube and someone's squeezed me

Mesund screams at someone named Vita to open the door and come out. Then he either turns around and sees Deca or it's a new scene with Deca, I'm not sure. But Mesund looks happy and says he doesn't mind sitting or standing as long as he's with Deca, even though he doesn't appear to have legs. Mesund assures Deca that he's never felt better being here. Cutting back to Phesund, he says that day felt unreal, but Deca felt real. He says that day was rather complicated, and we cut to Mesund with a whole bunch of the X eye cats and I think the erasing knife Mr. 5 used to have. Or maybe it's just a knife. Not clear.

i poked out all their eyes

Usually the X eyes are associated with Beleth, and the cats are associated with TAL, so not sure what to make of these ones. Phesund says he wishes that Deca had been on the first floor when everything was happening.

Deca asks if Phesund wants to talk about why he wanted Deca there, and Phesund says he's (drumroll) been accused of saying things he didn't remember! Boy, that happens a lot to Glip! He says that he can't even check if he did or not. He says that if Deca had been there, he would have remembered and understood why that day was so hard. Deca says he'd do anything for him a bit like a robot boyfriend you programmed would say it.

you're the perfect mop boyfriend

Phesund says he wishes he could revisit that day and it bothers him. He wonders how everything got to that point and why it felt so extreme. On one hand, he feels like it was meaningful and is glad Deca was there to talk him through it. He then says on the other hand, he's not happy he was on the path to harming a student. Uh oh! Maybe something interesting is finally going to happen! We cut to another new character design with discordant music screaming at someone else choppily. This one's named Phesomme because we just can't get enough Phesunds in here.

my quill pigtails are so kawaii

Phesomme accuses the person of being selfish and wondering if they thought about anyone else before they attempted "a cut" at something that saved someone's life. Phesund thinks to himself that he doesn't think that he said that, but that's all that comes to mind. He says that he can't remember, and all he can remember is him yelling and "him" crying, which basically fits the same pattern we've seen with Glip before where they blow up at someone and then conveniently forget what happened later. See Circlet of the Sun. (Glip did an RP and then blew up at someone on their discord? I'm shocked)

Phesomme yells "be someone else" at whoever they're yelling at. Mesund shows up yelling at "Duke" while Phesund thinks that he didn't know how to handle those situations any better. Some goofy looking thing shows up while Mesund yells about how whoever it is keeps hurting him and why are they here. Mesund asks if they like hurting others and that every time they say they want to "eat" him (? vore?) it hurts him, and he lives it out in his mind, whatever that means.

hey kids, it's me

Did someone on the Discord have a vore fetish? These are the fun intertextual questions you can ask yourself while reading this comic. "Comic". Mesund continues yelling, demanding again to know why they're here and what's wrong with them while Deca sits placidly in the background watching, apparently. Phesund says that he can't even remember who he was yelling at, just that he was yelling. I guess when you're always yelling at everyone it can be hard to keep it straight.

Phesund remembers that it's some kind of mouse named Valys. Valys says that Mesund is scaring them and that Mesund's yelling is scaring them in a way that seems vaguely like a show for preschoolers trying to explain emotional reactions. Valys says "don't you care about me?" Mesund responds with "I do not, not right now" which boy, if you're looking for red flags, here's one. See Circlet of the Sun again.

Phesund wonders what Valys's expression was, then speculates if they were crying. Odds seem good. They fill in the blank space of the mouse's face with a crying face.

i don't remember, it didn't affect me so it wasn't important

Phesund tries to think of what he DOES remember. He then pivots to saying that he wished Valys cared about scaring Pomphe, whoever that is, and that he wishes they'd cared about doing that. He gives Valys an angel face while saying that he wishes they'd cared about putting everyone's lives at risk.

angels sure are a happy bunch

"I wish trying to trust in you caring hadn't led to me getting so hurt" Phesund says, centering the narrative around him again as Glip loves to do.

"Glip hasn't been really embarrassing in a while" you might be thinking. Well pop the champagne because we've got fake Discord screencaps coming in. Mesund yells about how spies were trying to come into the Discord and how disrespectful everyone is, and mentions fairy circles again but doesn't explain them either. The pixie Celebis like making them but that's about all we've got.

it was so hard for me to yell at you! why aren't people thinking about how hard it was for me???

Mesund oddly says that they could go back and read the logs but won't for some reason. They say they felt bad for yelling and also that everyone deserved it though, and how unfair it is that everyone made Glip yell when they didn't want to. I mean, Mesund. Made Mesund yell. Mesund continues capsing into the void about yelling at another person named Lighty, who he apparently told would be better off dead, but this is phrased in a weirdly casual, off-hand way.

 I meant said you'd be better off dead but who can say, these things happen. let's keep talking about me.

Mesund insists that they can't remember and because they can't remember they CLEARLY didn't mean it (so don't be mad at me saying it!). Nuez, another one of Pengo's characters, apparently enabled Mesund's yelling, and again Mesund laments not going over the logs to see what happened himself even though nothing is stopping him from doing that as far as I'm aware.

We cut back to the shot of Mesund with the knife, and Phesund says it feels strange to be so close to Deca after being on such an ugly path. More feelings talk happens, with Phesund saying that "feeling like he doesn't deserve the nice moment he had with Deca" was an unfair thought. Deca, weirdly holds onto Phesund's throat as he says that he also went to Vita's room, although he didn't know what he was planning to do. He says that being together in a painful moment helped relieve it, but I'm not sure if that moment was with Vita or Phesund or what. Phesund asks why he went to Vita's room, and he says that he felt like Phesund was in pain and could feel a "deep pain from you, coming from Vita" so maybe Vita is yet another aspect of Phesund? God. They talk more about feelings and Deca slathers on the praise like he's an extra in a Mary Sue story.

and you're perfect and wonderful and everyone's so jealous of you

Deca says that they want to care and nurture and protect Phesund, and when Phesund asks why, Deca says that they're just a caring person who tries to help everyone. Pengo really is in deep here. Phesund says that Deca is very attractive which, lol. Thankfully we have enough of the boring couple and shift somewhere else, the Synemetricism Temple of the Sun in Althar, on Oxoth 14th, (2/14/XX), so.... later? I have no idea. We're on the ritual stage, which sets off warning bells about the scenes and stages in the discord. We meet President Goop Gaap, the central cardinal of Synemetricism and high priestess of Althar, at a ritual receptacle. She's surrounded by four other cardinals: North (River), East (Thorn), West (Check), and South (Azlyn). Azlyn was Orobas's name when she was an oracle! Omg, an old character!! What does it mean!! Gaap starts the Heart's Day ritual (oh, so it's Valentine's day). I'm pretty sure Gaap is Paige in disguise.

hey she's got the paranoia flower on, i just noticed that

Gaap starts a prepared speech, then stops and says that words will not do to describe the tragedy that's befallen everyone. She says she'll show everyone in words reminiscent of Writer's Block a while back, but says she'll need everyone's help. We cut to Mel's House (who?) in the Shrine of Tempo in Althar, that same day. A beecat is sitting with some kind of dog and also there's some Lunekos there. The dog has some stuff coming out of their eye. Beecat asks how they're feeling, and Dog says they feel temporal displacement. At this point things are now getting layered over each other and we'll be cutting between a lot of different scenes fairly rapidly.

help, squiggles

She asks for further clarification on what it feels like and what it is, and then, god damn it, Call-Clout shows up again. I thought we were done with you!!! Go back to the Mspaint vns!! She's holding Paige's nib and repeats a line about "can't write without it, but only about the pen breaking"

[always sunny meme] i've had enough of this dude

Call Clout talks to some kind of fox thing and says that she'll be writing "her" a short letter stating that "you" will be arriving at some point. Fox thing says they'll give it to her but only if they're safe. We cut back to dog thing on the floor, who says they can only think of two words: banana cookie. That's not a joke, that's what they say. Beecat asks what that means. Callclout tells the foxthing that they're not naming them, and they'll give "her" a phrase to let her know that Foxthing is the courier. CC says it's "banana sugar" and that Narcissa (who?) liked it, but Foxthing doesn't have to eat it. Papaya is standing with some dude in a big hat, maybe River? Saying that she's dialing and no one's answering.

scribbles of a different sort

She speculates about remembering things, saying that Problemedic had charts, and that Horseshoe and her city are connected and both align with forgetting and remembering. I can never keep track of what city is where in this. Papaya rambles a bit about potions, internal experiences, her neck feeling sore, Chordincepts, and erasing a librarian.

by the way, horses! horses.

We didn't get an explanation for chordincepts that I recall. I have no idea who this librarian is. Papaya comes to the realization that she can un-erase the librarian and they can just do that. Yay I guess? Hat thing asks "how" to what I think is a lamprey? Who just goes "Hmm." Someone says that this is a recording of a "Static", a type of angel, and that they like to sing. It has little notes coming from what appears to be the little line keys. They say the raw voice of a static is "hard to describe where it came from". Whoever it is says that Statics come from "this place" which doesn't have a name, and while they can't tell you where it is, they know it exists. You can reach it through "Chlorospace" lol, although the voice says they cannot be there.

hello rendering, nice to see you again

We cut back to Beecat and Dog, and Dog says that there's no difference between art and what it represents to them. Someone, maybe Andre, seems to take offense at this? Or maybe they're talking to someone else? They're upset at someone named Faith anyway, saying that they really hurt them and asks what they did wrong, and what actually hurt Faith. They ask why Faith ever cared about knowing them. A bunch of Andres appear to ask if Faith (I assume) had fun violating him and violating his meaning. I think this is about someone who drew a lot of Andre porn (which... how does THAT work) and it creeped Glip out, but I'm not positive.

you're so touchy lately, andre

Andre says that isn't this what you wanted, Faith, didn't you want some PERSONALIZED attention? He knows it is, don't be shy! Which seems rather ominous and a bit creepy. We cut to CallClout again, ugh, although part of the background is still showing. CC asks "What do you do when you want to run away from yourself, but can't?" while the background still has "what's my fault here? what actually hurt you?" We get more chatlogs because great, that's great, with Deca asking why Mesund loves him, or if that was just something he said in the moment. Mesund asks for a moment to try and word it, then drops a huge wall of text. It's the same weird, stilted dialogue we've seen so far, and there's a brief mention of resonance but that's all.

i love talking about me and my feelings!! god damn!!

Some kind of rabbit thing with the goofy angel face Valys had above shows up and says that education is the last bastion against war while a Static looks on. The rabbit says that being programmable makes them very easy targets, if you don't have any respect for angels. They say that Statics can easily be programmed to program their own purpose and that there's a specific Static that does that, a "reality radiograph". It can catalogue reality and determine what things need to change to let it program itself in different ways. That Static can also "overlap" with another angel, so it's a bit specialized. They say that Self-programming can be achieved when you've catalogued all of reality, including every decision and every possibility. Then they say "the Librarian: it's a form of self-manipulation". Sure. Bunny thing then says there's no need to be scared, and that any potential exposure they've had can be counteracted, and that'll be the next optional (optional?) assignment. They say they'll look for a Static to help, and say it's not a good idea for anyone else to do it. Dog on the floor says that Phesund's connection to "The Mask of the World" has been cut. It has a shot of Andre and Paige hugging from Try Try Again.  

also gaap is there

Biteycat from an update or two ago shows up next to what I think is Deca. They say delayed reactions feel negligent. We cut to what look like goopy angel versions of Phesund and Deca. Deca asks what Phesund remembers about "it", and Phesund says they remember having a house and making paintings, and that they had Lunekos. Dreams and Lunekos. Glip moved out of their house during the harassment a while back, by the way.

deca doesn't look that different, honestly

Phesund says they had a doormat that said "go away" but Lunekos couldn't read so they came in anyway. There's a brief shot of Speckle showing up at the house all "don't tell ME what to do!" at the doormat. I'LL DO ART WHETHER YOU WANT ME TO OR NOT! Also, Lunekos. Inside the house, the Lunekos are knocking stuff over while Andre protests. Deca asks what the Lunekos were like, and Phesund says they were pests, like normal kitties. Then says something about Mew York (the city that got magically dessicated that got blamed on Call-Clout, but it was actually MALwire that did it I think?).

ooo a toy mouse [drops conversation]

Deca says he's heard stories of a Luneko who'd yell at its owners while holding a toy mouse, and we see Andre trying to paint and the Luneko doing just that. The Luneko gives Andre the mouse, saying it's for him, while he's flattered and grateful. Phesund continues crying about how much he cared, and the other Lunekos he remembers (one with fish, one with water). Deca asks if Phesund wants to connect to a future where "she" is remembered. He emphatically says yes. Deca says "let's connect to that future, let's build that future" and Phesund asks how. There's a pale overlay of Andre and Paige hugging, then Phesund rambles about how he hates feeling ashamed and being a disappointment and not being able to look at himself. Deca says that they can change that, and that Phesund can turn into someone they love to look at. Phesund says "want to love us" vaguely to someone. Andre paints without his cloak on, like a stick figure, then when he puts his cloak on he says he feels better. We get some shots of Phesund as a normal pixie thing, then a shot of the Andre mural in Glip's old house with a Worthworm on it. Remember those!! Remember those! They're from Circlet of the Sun! NEVER FORGET CIRCLET OF THE SUN even though Glip took it down. IT'S STILL RELEVANT Some kind of cat thing cries while someone, Mesund maybe? Well, Glip either way, rambles on about their transgressions. They apparently put some bad things in his fairy circle, and told Mesund not to worry about it. Mesund's offended even though whoever it is said the feelings were positive because they were "deeply inappropriate" and ignored the whole of who he is. Maybe that cat thing is Phesomme from up there? It's not clear. This seems to be the same event though.  

why must you fail me so often!! - glip, to everyone, constantly

Phesomme, let's just say it's Phesomme, cries more about how the thoughtlessness was deeply damaging. They ask why whoever it is is here, and why they shouldn't view them as anything but a parasite. Mesund shows up to say that he doesn't want to sacrifice himself for a parasite, and doesn't want Headmaster to be sacrificed as a parasite either.

just pounding his fists on the floor wailing like a toddler

[genericpuff]

more proof of Rachel responding to criticism (but it deserves its own post)

Shoutout to @loreolympusminoredits over on Instagram because they were the one that we saw pointing this out, but Rachel and her team went and edited a panel in the newest free episode right as it became free.

Original:

Edit:

So, a few things about this.

FIRST OF ALL, it's clear beyond a shadow of a doubt now that Rachel is seeing the criticism being made about the S2/3 art and its degradation. A lot of those criticisms include how overly-sexualized Persephone is (because Rachel will take any and all opportunity to draw her mamajama's as the central focal point of the shot even when it doesn't make sense) and how little floral there is compared to S1 despite her being the Goddess of Spring.

THAT BEING SAID, SECOND OF ALL, this edit still feels so incredibly low effort. It doesn't tell me that Rachel genuinely wants to do better, it tells me that she's doing this because Webtoons finally told her to shape up and do it or because the criticism finally got to her head but instead of going "hmm, maybe the points people are making are genuine?" she's going "FINE. IF YOU GUYS ARE GONNA BE DICKS ABOUT IT, I'LL REMOVE HER BOOB LINE. HAPPY NOW????" (no, because the art still looks cheap and rushed, it's still missing color along the left side of her dress/arm ffs, changing little things like her cleavage and adding some white blobs into her hair isn't getting to the spirit of these criticisms - and that's that the whole vibe of the art is gone, there's no personality or oomf that it had back in S1).

THIRD OF ALL, SHE DIDN'T EVEN EDIT OUT THE ORIGINAL PANEL LMAO YOU CAN LITERALLY COMPARE THE OLD VERSION AND THE NEW VERSION RIGHT ON THE COMIC, BECAUSE THE PANEL SHOWED UP AT THE END OF 227 AND IS SHOWN AGAIN IN THE BEGINNING OF 228. BUT SHE ONLY EDITED THE 228 ONE LMAOOO SO NOW IT'S JUST INCONSISTENT 🤣 it's like Rachel thinks she's "winning" for doing the bare minimum but she's creating even more little art inconsistencies and problems. It gives me the impression she only changed the panel because it was about to become free to read and she wants the non-fast-passers to be eluded into thinking she's making 'more effort' when that 'effort' is literally just like, white blobs and the eraser tool and one redrawn line LMAO

Anyways, all that's to say, Rachel we can see you editing your panels and your efforts to do so are so bare minimum it hurts. You don't need to go back and edit old panels, you need to work on the stuff that's coming out, and that's gonna take a lot more work than just throwing in some blob flowers and erasing Persephone's boobs. You haven't addressed the oversaturated colors that make the characters look like they've been dipped in grease paint, the void backgrounds that make that oversaturation look even WORSE, the lack of watercolor texturing, lack of glow, anatomical problems, overuse of lineart, character model inconsistencies between panels, lack of shape language, and lack of overall visual appeal that's definitely being lost due to an over-reliance on assistants to pull the weight of drawing the comic and lack of proper direction/training to get everyone on the same page.

Go back and read your own comic for once, Rachel. Do some studies on what used to be good about your art. Get your assistants on the same wavelength. Make an actual effort. Because there are currently SHITLOADS of salty unpaid Internet randos online drawing circles around you and understanding your techniques better than you do these days.

And as one of those salty unpaid Internet randos, here you go: