#ill rework these designs later……

[canidaedreams64]

making another au, basically its a what if turbo survived and what if another turbo time cabinet was added to the arcade (sorry if the image quality is shit lol)

[kaiserscissors]

phighting ocs

[kickingitwithkirk]

Winchester's Folly

Summary: When Dean gets into trouble John decides to hide the truth for his family

Pairing: Alpha Dean x Omega!Reader x Alpha Sam

Word Count: 862

*Dark! Fic-don't continue if you are disturbed by the subject matter

Warnings: A/B/O, non/con elements , dub/con elements, enslavement, pandemic, non/con drug use, collaring/leashing, forced mating, forced breeding, BDSM elements, show-level violence

*Additional warnings to be added

Square filled: @spnaubingo -Dystopian AU

A/N: * UPDATED 3/24 They say the third time is the charm, this will be the last rework of the Prologue.

A/N II: Still working on reigning myself in, keeping each part reader-friendly length, and have no clue how many parts this will end up being.

A/N III: a few notes about designations in A/O sub-genders for this story.

Alphas-Dominant (head of the pack/family) Subordinate (obey Dominant) Breeders (rare & highly coveted by the government. Can challenge Dominant for pack/family leadership)

Omegas -Domestic (mostly wiped out by plague, few natural born left) Feral (government-supplied breeders sold commonly called O's) House O’s (3rd generation+ Feral/Dominant breed. Used as servants/sex workers) Pack (rare & highly coveted by the government)

*Divider by @firefly-graphics

*No Beta-all mistakes are mine

Prologue

North Dakota

1999

John Winchester slowly drove down the snow-covered drive leading to an old warehouse and parked the ‘67 Impala in the back of its busy lot. All three Winchesters silently climbed out and trudged through the accumulated snow to the front entrance. If anyone had given him the choice between being here or hell, John would have picked hell.

Eighty years earlier

A virulent disease accidentally escaped a research lab, and the following pestilence wiped out 70% of the Omega population worldwide. At the same time, Alphas and Betas were predominantly immune and rarely died from it unless they had a chronic illness.

As in ancient times, the remaining Omegas were fought over, resulting in countries declaring martial law and rounded up the remaining Domestic Omegas. Several years later, a treatment was developed but the damage was nearly irrevocable. Betas had begun to reproduce to the point the other sub-genders would be extinct within a few decades.

At a hastily convened conference, the world's leading scientists offered the governing bodies with a short-term, yet controversial, solution: obtain Omegas from the remaining Wild Packs for a breeding program.

They presented evidence that introducing their genetics, relatively unchanged since splitting from their wolf ancestors, into mainstream populations would create a natural immunity against future resurgence and rebalance the sub-genders. Many argued the idea was insane. Those Omegas, or O’s, were too feral, still living as their wolf ancestors did and incapable of being domesticated.

The scientists then demonstrated an implant they developed containing multiple benefits. It would dampen O’s natural aggression and induce presentation from sixteen to thirteen. Domesticated Omegas had been bred down to present their early twenties and produced one pup at a time. The implant would also shorten the time between breeding seasons and increase litter size by controlled ovulation hyperstimulation.

The world leaders drew up a preliminary framework for each country that signed the accord to follow. Over the next thirty years, they would procure Wild Pack O’s for distribution from government-managed facilities, with an addendum upon review it’d be extend in certain regions if deemed necessary. In the Americas, it was called the Hibbing Procurement Act.

Over those years, the populus discovered other uses for the O’s descendants, who developed into their distinct designation called House O’s. Unscrupulous individuals elected lawmakers who supported extension after extension, even installing loopholes, such as permitting Wild Pack Alphas to accept payments under the table from those on the fringes for O’s the government deemed unsuitable for breeding, creating an underground network of sellers called The Dealers.

And who would complain if some O’s slated for legitimate sales accidentally slipped through and sold for exorbitant prices on the underground market?

John knocked on the steel door in a predetermined code. As it slowly rolled open, he glanced at his almost grown pups, thankful they’d taken a dose of rut suppressants earlier because the air was thick with ready-to-breed O scent.

Walking into the building, the younger Winchesters automatically fall back on their training, checking their surroundings for potential danger. John observes to his left buyers on cell phones circling like vultures eight steel cages displaying O’s clad in elaborate silver collars, high-end specimens selling for exorbitant prices.

The rest of the warehouse is an open space with multiple rows of O’s kneeling side by side, leashed to low railings anchored in the concrete floor. They wear color-coded leather collars denoting their monetary value.

“John Winchester, this is a surprise! To whom do I owe the honor of your presence?” The nasal voice of Everett Helms, a black-haired Beta, oozes the fake, cheerful demeanor of a used car salesman approached the trio. Hunters only dealt with Helms because he was reputed to be able to acquire anything they needed..for a price. John had hoped to avoid him, but after eight days of unsuccessful procurement at other facilities, The Dealer was his last option.

Helms held out his hand, and John felt bile rising, not wanting to touch him when a poorly timed footfall caught his attention. “These must be your pups. My, my my, delicious, aren’t they!” Helms remarks as his eyes rove over Dean and then settle on the youngest Winchester calculatingly when a loud, menacing growl fills the air.

Dean's eyes began glowing red, daring the ogling Dealer to make a move on his ever-growing little brother. He felt Sam huddle closer to his back and release his calming pheromone as, judging from their father’s posturing, John was about to tear into Sam for attracting attention after specifically instructing him to stay invisible. Sam quickly averted his gaze down through his shaggy bangs, glaring at his oversized, sneaker-clad feet, again wishing he wasn’t so fucking clumsy with this growth spurt.

Helms turned back to John, acting as if nothing had occurred. “I hear your oldest got himself in a peck of trouble, and he needs an O to stay out of prison. Well, John, may I call you John? You’ve come to the right place. As you can see,” he waved a hand over his domain, “I can supply any type of O an Alpha could wish for.”

Part I

SPN TAGS: @donnaintx  @lyarr24  @flamencodiva  @lassie-bird @nancymcl @spnbaby-67  @leigh70

Sam/Jared:  @idreamofplaid

Dean/Jensen:  @thoughts-and-funnies  @stoneyggirl2  @beabutterfly987 @smoothdogsgirl

WF: @slamminmine

[zai-doodles]

Yeah!! Please rank the spirit dresses!

LETS GOOOOOOO

ok ok ill try to not ramble too much but this will def be long lol

im not perfect by any means and these r just my opinions so idk don't kill me ig, if u disagree u can say that but be polite

10. OK so in LAST PLACE WE HAVE

CAPRICORN!

ok put down ur pitch forks and let me talk-

its not a BAD design aesthetically or in concept, I've seen ppl say its kinda leaning into a like, spy vibe or something and I really like the sunglasses and horns!

BUT capricorn never read as a spy to me?? maybe its just me but he always came off as more of a butler parody especially w the tailcoat he gets in this screenshot

i think both capricorn and the stardress suffer from not having a very visually distinct concept so when put together its barely feels like they match at all, its its v clear that putting lucy in a skimpy dress took priority over making a cool design that connected to the story

i dont even love my redesign for this dress anymore bc I feel like I just need to redo Capricorn first to give him a stronger concept then deal w the dress later

OK

9.

AQUARIUS

this is blasphemy i know but PLEASE HEAR ME OUT

this one is way more personal preferance so if u disagree that's so chill there's just too many things w this dress that bother me

I hate the hair, i really do like grown women w pigtails is already a pet peeve of mine bc its so male gazy to me but combining that with the bikini top and super short skirt just annoys me

and let me say again THERES NOTHING WRONG WITH LIKING THIS but in the larger context of this being the AQUARIUS dress it just doesn't read like her at all!! Sure she has a bikini but she also has v ling hair!

where capricorn suffers from too little visual concept aquarius has so much of it!! The gold to me reads v fancy and royalty esque which makes sense for her personality, just changing the hair to something more like what aquarius has would do wonders I feel like

plus i hate the green-

my first redesign ever was this dress bc it annoyed me soooo much

ANYWAY-

8.

VIRGO

this fit is fine, just boring

but virgos design is also boring and the one interesting thing, her chains, NOT being part of the star dress or alluded to makes me angry

also pigtails so it loses points

NEXT

7.

ARIES

again its fine but its boring, mainly bc aries' design is also boring so-

idk i wish they went more bo peep with it cuz I feel like that could have been cute

also more fucking pigtails-

6.

TAURUS

if any fit deserved to have horns its this one TAURUS IS A BULL-

anyway this fits is also fine but damn they could have gone so much harder w the cowgirl thing

i do still stand by my redesign for this stardress bc I think it fits canon without redoing taurus

she should have a nose ring its just facts-

5.

GEMINI

love the concept and idea! kinda meh execution

its fine ig but its also like gemini don't look anything like this? which makes this another one were I feel ud have to rework gemini to give them more visual cues u could take

the headdress specfically confuses me since the wiki says its a Kokoshnik but after looking at the wiki for that I found nothing in the history that makes that make sense for this fit?? like concept wise??

its only so high up bc i respect that they did something different and creative with this dress and the way they split the colors on the dress itself is cute, just wish they went more magician or even jester w it

the only pigtails im kinda ok w bc symmetry

(when i say more magician i did it this way:

4.

SCORPIO

its cute, i wish the tail was bigger and I see v little reason for the fit to be skin tight when scorpio himself literally has a half skirt thing going on

i still like this so here, as u can see I liked the idea with the hair and headband combo I just wish they had pushed it further

3.

SAGITTARIUS

again, cool concept, weird execution?

this one is the only one i feel that THRIVES from not taking any visual cues from the spirit bc honestly his design just sucks I'm sorry ik its supposed to be funny but its just stupid to me idk

however even if i like thaty they did something different AND gave her the bow and arrow, it annoys me still that nothing about the fit reads equestrian or archery? there's SO MANY historical fits they could have used as inspo for this and they just chose not to and that's lazy to me idk

also also i hate that for a while bc of the way the manga was colored it looked like she was fully just wearing underwear bc of the white fabric with nothing on her thighs like that's dumb he's a horse u WANT something there to protect that area when riding

2.

LEO

its cute, it matched loke design AND personality wise, wish there were more lion elements but overall v cute

CANCER

i already talked abt my thoughts on this dress here so yeits just good AND the pigtails r ok bc they r meant to mimic cancers silhouette which I really like

summary:

[soupermarket]

AAAAAHHH!!! Mer au be upon ye

Been working on designs for my fanfic (that I'll probably be rewriting I don't like how I characterized them).... fish archie.

He's based on a Demanson's Cichlid :3 which are. really difficult to draw for some reason

More under the cut!!! Fish rambling and lore stuff. Plus fish maxie that I am currently too lazy to color or otherwise finish

Man I love mer aus. Uhm. FISH BEAM BLAST AUGHHH!!!

Archie is currently 37 years old in this au (unless I change it. LOL)

Him, along with Matt and Shelly (and maybe other members of team aqua in the rewrite. idk), live in the wreckage of a ship fairly deep underwater, choosing to stay as far away from humans as possible. In contrast to this, Maxie and his group take more inspiration from humans in their little settlement thingy, choosing to take scraps of metal and other things to build their home.

Most merfolk live in groups called pods, in the rework of the fanfic I'll elaborate more on this but. I'm lazy right now. Sorry.

Anyways Archie is generally more like??? adventurous and stuff, and him and the other members of his pod are like. really tight-knit. They're also generally more muscular than the members of Maxie's group, choosing to hunt fish & other prey using their own strength and speed, whereas the magmas use traps and stuff.

Also. Maxie has a collection of little human trinkets and stuff. Most of the space in his den/house thing is just like. trinkets. He also has a very unfriendly relationship with dolphins. I admittedly haven't done much with it in the original since it's... y'know... one chapter at the moment... but ill do more in the rewrite i prommy.

ANYWAYS!!!! Fish beam blast MAXIE

He's a common mudskipper. I love common mudskippers and just mudskippers in general really. Top tier fish.

He doesn't have glasses because. reasons involving the fact that he lives in the ocean.

However. I plan on giving him glasses eventually, he'll probably find a pair and think "Oh joy!! A new human invention I have not yet seen! Joyous day!!" and he decides to constantly wear them even though they make his vision like, ten times Worse.

Goodbye for now. I will inevitably post more Fish later. like when i finish the maxie design. LOL!!

(If you would like to read the fanfic even though it's like. ugly at the moment. It's "Sunlight on the Ocean's Like the Scars on Your Skin" on a03. Enjoy.)

[boysandgrillsskidofficial]

Genderbent Rosie/Roy? IDK if requests are still open sorry if not

"iLl dO reQuEsTS TOmOrRoW" i said..

yeah i have no ideas for susie but i had this idea for roy that i wanted to draw for a while, it is 10:47 and my art is NOT in its prime so i def want to draw a better and colored picture of this little fuckface later + maybe rework the design a bitttt... also i forgot to add in that text that another inspiration for her is diana and her 2 friends from lwa. i love mean girl trios

[inkbi0tic]

oooOOOOoooOOOo now that ive lured you in with my canon art i can start showing my headcanons ooOOOoOooooOOO you wanna look at my hcs sooo badddd ooOOOOOooooooo also im probably gonna rework shovel jussstt a bit later cus originally i wanted to keep him closer to the design i had when i was younger as a little tribute but now im not too sure NJLFENKW (ill make hcs for the other knights of the order at some point but these are my favs)

[macncherries]

Out of curiosity, have you drawn livio? (Tristamp or Trimax)

i have not!!! here is my version :3

this also doubles as a kind of face study, too. though its not as thorough as ww or vashs'. i liked how cunty he was in trimax bc now he kind of looks like a nerdy little boy so i slay-ified him a little.

not completely happy with this yet so ill probably rework his design in the future. i took a lot of creative liberty so im debating reeling it back closer to trigun stampedes version. considering just keeping the hair texture of trimax's with a couple more spikes on the bangs but keeping the full ponytail of tristamps.

wanted him to have a very distinct face structure with really strong cheekbones and a large squared off jaw that kind of create that bevel shape along the sides of his head. hard to achieve in stylized format but i did my best. his nose shape was easy for me to decide, though. i wanted that really hooked angular nose from the start on him. i also think hes got deep-set eyes, which ill portray better later LOL

also, i did change his mask a little to be a mesh of trimax and tristamp, more leaning toward tristamp. in trimax it almost looks like its his real skin in some places, and i'd like to bring that back more if i were to revise this design.

[seaslugparty]

had a brain blast earlier that made me wanna rework a part of my oc lore so i designed some new fellas (designs might change, idk)

maybe later ill write some stuff up on my personal site abt the thing i came up with today???

[heleizition]

disability aids? adaptability aid? medical aids could also be used i think. whats gabes issues? howd gabe end up in the ally to help stephan? does basil show up in a different way? also o o f for nathaniel and chronos thats r o u g h. i wish to bestow therapy on them all... also maria with leg prostheses!!! also im making e y e s at possible new characters... whats the defining things that decide whether one becomes a demon or angel? and what were ur characters things that decided their classification? also whats eves deal?

medical aids sounds good i think !

well. as mentionned in an earlier ask i think, gabriel was one of the kid used as human test subjects in the hybrid lab. so while he was young he still got put until enormous stress because of medical surgeries and test and other stuff,,,, he almost didn't survive the lab's explosion. and after that he was on the street. had to steal and later sell himself to get by. around 16 he ended up under the wing of a woman who lived close by who used to be a doctor, she taught him a few things that made him unvaluable <3

but yea he doesnt know peace lol <3

so gabriel ends up taking care of stephan n helps him, at first with the injuries he had suffered to get out of stan's stronghold, then when he first woke up with the serious withdrawals this drug provoked (idk shit about it okay . dont ask for details),,, then they jst. ended up living together.

basil has yet to re appear !!!! i wanna re design him most likely and the involvement of everyone from this group of oc in the angel/demon story is too vague yet. ill have to rework on their past life story also.

eve... well eve was always the . "normal girl" who ended up in weird situations. she doens't have anything special in the current story but once upon a time she used to be a vessel for a creature or smth............. i can't rly tell u about this. now she just exist. she thrives and wants to live and finally find the family and friends she's always wanted :3 she'll die a sad death but at that point, she will ahve done the most for herself and the others and . idk. she doesnt have a point. shes just there.

theres absolutely nothing that make someone an angel or a demon. its totally random, it will only affect the memories you remember (it's easier to make demons do "evil" things if they only remember that they were a bad person/did bad things).

the classification was also........; mostly random................ vibes............... i honestly can't say lol because they were created before i had an angel/demon story. abel and cody were always pretty obvious bc they were always angel/demons entities to being with. jasper was ALWAYS going to be something of both/something different !!!! eden jst felt right as an angel :) plus i felt that him remembering his death n life and ending up as an angel healer was pretty . comical. in poor taste.

nell and vik were also always going to be one and the other. opposites :3

most of the couples are angel/demons, i don't have a demon/demon or angel/angel endgame, even if a few different pairings have nbeen explored in my head....

[multi-lefaiye]

MUTUALS POWERPOINT NIGHT: MULTI EDITION

HELLO gamers! it is i, tumblr user xavier multi-lefaiye, here to present my very good powerpoint to y'all. i am posting this early because i like being early <3

as some of you may know, i had a few other ideas for powerpoints, one of which i finished before going "hm i wanna do something else" and doing something else.

as i am sure you are all very well-aware by this point, my biggest fixation is tales from the gas station. so i decided to do my powerpoint about that instead of explaining in-depth how i'd rewrite every episode of notable bad horror tv series lost tapes. you're welcome <3

tagging the participants real quick (if i forgot you i prommy i am just forgetful and it was not intentional, ilsym): @wherearetheplants @nicola-writes @cnnamonrolls @abouttogetshellshocked @approximately20eggs @yourlocal-lichen @astralrunic

anyway! my slides will be under the cut, but if you'd rather see the actual presentation, here's the google slides link: [link]

comments are enabled but no one is obligated to leave any for any reason! i mainly enabled them because i may send this to some discord folks later who enjoy leaving silly comments.

anyway let's gooooo

[Transcript:

TALES FROM THE GAS STATION: A BRIEF SUMMARY

OR: an explanation of my blorbos

by tumblr user multi-lefaiye

/ End Transcript]

[Transcript:

what the fuck is this series?

Tales From the Gas Station started as a creepypasta series on the NoSleep subreddit

Then it kinda blew up and became popular enough that the creator reworked and rewrote the series to make them into books

There are four books total and also a seven-part comic series in the works!

Essentially, this is a horror-comedy series centering around a character named Jack Townsend, the minimum-wage employee of a shitty gas station at the edge of an even shittier small town, which also happens to be the epicenter of many supernatural happenings

/ End Transcript]

[Transcript:

DISCLAIMER

I haven’t finished reading the full series yet because [redacted] redacted] [redacted]

But regardless I’m MOSTLY basing this presentation on book one to avoid spoiling later events for people who wanna check this out themselves :)

This is not an exhaustive presentation unfortunately.

Look at this raccoon

/ End Transcript]

[Image Description: An image of a raccoon behind the wheel of a car, positioned as though it's driving. End ID.]

[Transcript:

Content warnings!!

So I’m not gonna go into the triggering stuff in this presentation, but if you wanna check out TFTGS yourself I wanna give a heads up where I can.

I also will try to give context to things where I can if I feel that it’s needed, but yeah point is I want to make sure anyone who checks this out knows what they’re getting into.

Anyway full list of warnings on the next slide let’s go

/ End Transcript]

[Transcript:

Okay here are the actual content warnings

There are a few side/minor characters who are really blatantly racist and xenophobic b/c TFTGS does not shy away from the fact that it takes place in a small, shitty southern US town--these characters are condemned by the narrative and clearly The Assholes but still, tread lightly.

Casual ableism, especially towards Jack, including the use of the r-slur (once again also condemned by the narrative but still)

Lots and lots of violence and murder

Suicide

Lots of talk of terminal illness

Drug use

Cults

Psychiatric abuse

SOME graphic depictions of blood n’ gore n’ corpses, but the gore is never the focus thankfully

/ End Transcript]

[Transcript:

CHARACTERS!!!

FULL DISCLAIMER: THIS IS ALL PRETTY MUCH MY INTERPRETATIONS OF THE CHARACTERS. Many of them don't have much in the way of physical descriptions and these are all just my personal designs for the characters :) Yay

/ End Transcript]

[Transcript:

JACK TOWNSEND

The universe’s favorite punching bag

He’s got that autistic tboy swag and I love him so so much

Chronically ill since he was in high school

Just fucking vibing

Frequently gets insulted and beaten down and it stresses me out but he gets less and less chill about it as the series goes on. I think he deserves to throw rocks at people

I relate to him a lot and idk what that says about me <3

Blorbo <3333

/ End Transcript]

[Image Description: A picrew of Jack Townsend from Tales From the Gas Station, a tired young white man with dark bags under his eyes, a small beard, and shaggy black hair. He looks worried and is wearing a blue shirt under a black hoodie. End ID.]

[Transcript:

ANTONIO / TONY

So I’m not quite sure how to talk about him without spoiling a bunch of shit

Ah well

One of Jack’s coworkers and his best friend in volume 1!

Kind of a sweet, anxious guy who’s just trying his best

What’s a little accidental murder between besties??? It was an accident, it’s fine.

King of being a really good and trustworthy guy with nothing else going on

I love him genuinely

/ End Transcript]

[Image Description: A picrew of Antonio from Tales From the Gas Station, a young Latino man with tan skin, curly brown hair, multiple piercings in his ears, and a beard. He has his mouth open as though he's speaking, and he wears a blue collared shirt under a denim jacket. End ID.]

[Transcript:

JERRY PASCAL

Jack’s emotional support human and bestie

Kind of like a puppy, except that puppy does a lot of illegal shit and kills people

Former member of a murderous cult called Mathmetism

Referred to as Marlboro for most of the first book b/c Jack doesn’t know his name

Big stupid energy but also the smartest bitch in the room. Depends on what would be funnier

Would fight god in the parking lot

If he’s being serious, something is wrong

/ End Transcript]

[Image Description: A picrew of Jerry Pascal from Tales From the Gas Station, a white man with shaggy blond hair, a small beard, and multiple piercings in his ears. He has a wide smirk on his face and wears a yellow t-shirt with a graphic of the sun across the front under a red hoodie jacket, and one hand is visibly holding a cigarette. End ID.]

[Transcript:

SPENCER MIDDLETON

MY POOR LITTLE MEOW MEOW

Too sexy and evil for gender

My design for him is very far from canon and I am aware of that. However I think everyone should draw him as a long-haired prettyboy <3

He’s just so babygirl <3

I hate him and love him in equal measure

God let him live another day and that’s everyone else’s problem

Anyway I just think he’s neat and should do more crimes

/ End Transcript]

[Image Description: A picrew of Spencer Middleton from Tales From the Gas Station, a white man with long ginger hair, a light beard, and pierced ears. He has a sharp grin on his face, showing his sharp teeth, and is wearing all black. End ID.]

[Transcript:

AMELIA O'BRIEN

Cop (unfortunate)

I have very mixed feelings about her as a character ngl and most of them tie back to her being a cop

I do think she’s interesting though

Wish she’d cool it with the casual ableism though <3 Like I know it’s not just her but goddamn

Anyway I guess she counts as a #girlboss

One time one of my friends compared her to the gay cop in Onward and I can’t stop thinking about it because God So True

/ End Transcript]

[Image Description: A picrew of Amelia O'Brien, a Black woman with dark hair pulled back into a bun and pierced ears. She has a stern expression on her face and wears a light shirt under a dark vest and brown jacket, with one hand holding a cigarette. End ID.]

[Transcript:

ROSA VASQUEZ

Sweetest girl in the world

Technically doesn’t show up until volume 2 but I love her so much so I’m talking about her here

Newest hire at the gas station and completely unprepared for The Horrors

She adapts pretty quickly though

Has a really huge really obvious crush on Jack and tbh I think it’s cute

Unfortunately he is oblivious

Besides that though she’s a very fun character and makes me very happy :)

/ End Transcript]

[Image Description: A picrew of Rosa Vasquez from Tales From the Gas Station, a young Latina woman with brown skin, dark brown hair that hangs loosely around her shoulders, and pink earrings. She has a wide smile on her face and is wearing a pink shirt under a dark denim jacket, with one hand held up in a peace sign. End ID.]

[Transcript:

SABINE

We don’t need to talk about her

So we’re not going to talk about her

You have to read volume 2 to get this backstory

/ End Transcript]

[Image Description: A picrew of Sabine from Tales From the Gas Station, a young woman with lightly tanned skin, pierced ears, curly brown hair, and freckles. Her mouth is open slightly and she wears a black choker, a black t-shirt with a skull on it, and a red jacket. Two of her hands are held up and her pointer fingers are pressed together. End ID.]

[Transcript:

MISC. CHARACTERS I'M NOT MAKING PICREWS OF

Kieffer - the world’s most killable man! A local politician and, arguably, part of the reason everything goes to shit.

Benjamin - a monster hunter who’s convinced that there’s something evil in the gas station. And he’s gonna kill it.

Vanessa Riggin - another employee at the gas station who unfortunately disappears during volume 1.

Brother Riley - local bookstore owner and ray of sunshine! Got basically excommunicated for teaching kids to read

Dr. V - psychiatric abuse: the character! (Jack’s psychiatrist who doesn’t seem particularly interested in actually helping him)

Deputy Tom - cop (unfortunate), but also Jack’s kinda father figure.

Agents Brick Roscoe - idk how to even get into this so I simply will not.

/ End Transcript]

[Transcript:

PLOT!!!

/ End Transcript]

[Image Description: Two edited memes featuring raccoons. One shows a raccoon facing the camera, with a photoshopped human hand holding a gun pointing at the viewer. The other shows a raccoon in front of a sunset and looking to the left, with a faded image of a screaming raccoon behind it. The second meme reads: "Physically pained, Mentally drained" / End ID.]

[Transcript:

Volume 1 Premise

The premise of volume 1 centers quite a bit around Kieffer, a local politician.

Picture this: your best friend pulls you aside at work and asks you about the guy who just came into the store. After you explain who the guy is, your friend says, “No, that can’t be him. I killed him last night. His body is in my trunk.”

That’s the day Jack is having.

A wild series of events follows, made worse when Jack starts documenting his experiences in a blog to keep himself sane

People start going missing! Other people start dying! Kieffer especially starts dying!

Jack is not being paid enough to deal with any of this!

/ End Transcript]

[Transcript:

Other things about volume 1 I wanna say, minus context

I think Spencer Middleton is babygirl material and I will not be silenced b/c I am so right

There is a genuinely really clever bit of writing in volume 1 centering around Jack’s leg injury but I don’t know how to explain it without spoilers so just know I think it’s really cool

The Bathroom Cowboy is a cool dude and I think I would like to be his best friend

I think Jack should be allowed to have a nice day for once in his fucking life

Rita the raccoon is a girlboss

The Man in the Raincoat is so gender

Agents Brick Roscoe confuse and frighten me. They’re also really funny

/ End Transcript]

[Transcript:

Here's a quote from volume 1 that I think captures the style of comedy well

She walked up to the counter and smiled and asked, "What do you think?"

What a great question. I think a lot of things, actually. I ran through a shortlist of answers. I think people spend too much time mowing their lawns. I think Marlboro's probably dead, and I may be somewhat responsible. I think no man ever steps in the same river twice. I think that, in terms of reality, perception outweighs actuality in every case, but if I were to say something like that in this town I'd get my ass kicked for being a pretentious dick. I think Tony was too hard on 'Temple of Doom.' I think every magazine is a scam. (Why should I pay for a magazine when it's already full of advertisements?) I think forcing children to recite the pledge of allegiance is creepy, and hot dogs are not sandwiches (they are, in fact, American tacos). I think things at the gas station are getting worse and I can't explain why.

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[Transcript:

by viewing this presentation you promise that if you ever read tftgs you have to tell me (tumblr user multi-lefaiye) all of your thoughts about it

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[Transcript:

i’m kidding, you don’t have to, i just wanna talk about this series with people

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Thanks

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[Image Description: A picture of a raccoon sitting up and with its forepaws together, its teeth bared in a way that makes it looks like it's grinning evilly. End ID.]

[turtlethon]

“Get Shredder!”

Season 8, Episode 1 First US Airdate: September 17, 1994

The Turtles continue to hunt down a defeated Shredder while also dealing with a new enemy from Krang’s past.

“Get Shredder!” is the first episode of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles season eight. David Wise is the credited writer for this adventure.

We get a new title sequence to mark the beginning of this final era of the show, its “Red Sky” period, and it’s... not good? For reasons we’ll get into later, no original animation appears here, instead we get quick-fire clips of the Turtles and other characters sourced from this season’s episodes. Sprinkled between these are shots from the first live-action TMNT movie, as if to try and borrow some of the credibility and acclaim it had accrued. Accompanying all this is a quasi-reworking of the original theme song. This is probably the best element of this ill-advised opening: I must admit it’s sorta catchy, but let’s not kid ourselves, this – all of this – is a massive downgrade.

Season seven was a testing of the waters for a more mature version of the series, subtly emphasising the action and sci-fi elements of TMNT while downplaying its reliance on wacky humour. This culminated in a big finale, “Shredder Triumphant!”, in which the titular villain was finally able to take over the city alongside Krang, the Turtles briefly banished to Dimension X. Upon their return, our heroes worked alongside their friends from Channel 6 and Splinter to finally deal Shreds a definitive defeat, the Technodrome itself being sent to Dimension X. That adventure closed with Shredder, Krang, Rocksteady and Bebop driving off into the sunset in an old pick-up truck having lost everything, their fortress, the Foot Soldiers, Rock Soldiers and the rest of their resources all gone; even Krang’s android body was badly damaged during the battle and won’t be in service moving forward.

Today’s adventure follows on directly from those events. It seems that the Turtles went down into the sewers after defeating Shredder as boys and emerged the next day as men; perpetually angry, snarling, glowering men. As if to rub it in, the opening shot of this episode has Michaelangelo – always the most light-hearted and affable of the Turtles – emerge from a manhole, warily looking around with shifty eyes. The team sneak into a nearby alley, where Leonardo explains that they need to capitalise on Shredder’s run of misfortune, hunting down him and the rest of the now ex-Technodrome Crew while they have the advantage.

Now drawn to be more intimidating than before, the Turtles meet up with April, who has also received a makeover, her facial features tweaked and her familiar banana yellow jumpsuit traded in for more grounded clothing. (She even gets to wear a coat while standing around outside at night, it’s a whole new world!) April points the team in the direction of a warehouse where a gang of crooks are hiding out; they had recently stolen vehicles from a used car dealership with the help of an advanced laser beam, suggesting a possible connection to Shredder. The Turtles smash their way into the hideout and capture the crooks; after grilling them, it becomes clear that they have no connection to Shreds, their laser generator made in Taiwan rather than the Technodrome.

The Turtles return to the Lair – which is now more moodily-lit than before – and seek advice from Splinter, whose design is curiously unchanged. He suggests to his pupils that Shredder won’t play by the rules in attempting to acquire new resources. Soon the team pick up on a radio transmission in Donatello’s workshop involving a gunfight in a research facility and a man in a metal mask, and so they rush off to investigate.

A laser gun shoot-out takes place in the research facility, with Bebop and Rocksteady using their blaster weapons – now running low on energy – to hold off the police as Shredder (now voiced by Bill Martin) steals chemicals. Mixing a concoction in a barrel, he hurls this in the direction of the cops, escaping with The Boys moments before the upper reaches of the building explode. Bebop remarks that Shredder “sure bluffed [his] way out of that one”, leading Shredder to respond that he never bluffs, a seemingly innocuous line that will prove to have some significance later.

The trio meet up with Krang in the remnants of a demolished electronics store nearby. The alien brain has found an unconventional solution to their problems in the shape of a dog-eared brochure from the 1964 World’s Fair. A pavilion in the Hall of Science has been left untouched for almost thirty years, and might contain the equipment the villains need to get out of their current predicament. Personally, I find it hard to believe that there could possibly be anything of value to Krang in human technology from the mid-sixties, but let’s just go with it.

Arriving on the scene of the warehouse fire caused by Shredder, the Turtles are about to sneak in and look for clues when they spot that the boarded-up electronics store nearby has its lights on, the front door wide open. Inside, they find footprints from Krang’s bubble walker – those are a thing now, apparently – and the abandoned World’s Fair brochure. Figuring this is where the villains are headed, the Turtles head off to confront them.

Shredder, Krang and The Boys arrive outside the remains of the Hall of Science. Before they can even enter, the Turtles roll up in their van. A battle between the two sides kicks off – with Bebop unable to put up a fight, his gun now entirely drained of power – but everyone involved is forced to take cover as a brightly-coloured villain named Berserko shoots blasts of energy at them from the top of the building, concluding the first act.

Act two opens with the villains attempting to escape, but Donatello is briefly able to restrain Krang, yanking him out of his bubble walker. Identifying the alien brain by name, Berserko immediately orders his robotic drones to capture him. A blast from Berserko’s roof-mounted gun brings down a nearby building, which topples in Raphael’s direction; what happens next is a truly baffling moment, as rather than showing the bricks bury Raph the scene hurriedly dissolves to a shot of the Turtle Van, the other members of the team lugging him inside. The Turtles try to rush an unconscious Raphael back to the Lair, but Berserko fires upon their van. Badly damaged, the vehicle is left on its side after crashing, our heroes forced to escape on-foot.

Shredder meets up with Rocksteady and Bebop, the group noting that Krang has gone missing. Rocksteady mentions he last saw Donatello restraining him, and so the trio assume the Turtles are now holding him hostage, and begin plotting to strike back. Back in the Lair, a still-recovering Raphael refuses to rest, removing his bandages and insisting they continue with their mission of hunting down Shredder.

Berserko removes his helmet to reveal his true identity to Krang. Once known as Drakus, he was the alien brain’s weapons engineer and helped co-design the Technodrome before being double-crossed; Krang even went as far as destroying Drakus’s home world to spite his old collaborator, as a means of making sure no-one connected to him got involved in their feud.

Krang is shown Berserko’s latest innovation: a huge vehicle called The Annihilator, said to outclass even the Technodrome in terms of firepower. Berserko requests his old partner assist him in making the final modifications required to the drive system, but Krang refuses. The alien brain is placed under a heat ray within a domed booth in the Hall of Science, with Berserko pledging to finish off his Annihilator on his own.

We briefly check in with Shredder, who carries out a raid on a chemical supplies warehouse with Rocksteady and Bebop, before returning to Krang. Feeling the pressure from the heat ray, the alien warlord provides the needed details on how to fix the drive system. Having now acquired the information he needs, Berserko has Krang tied up, a group of robotic drones ordered to monitor him.

Returning to the surface, Donatello begins performing repairs on the Turtle Van. Meanwhile the other Turtles check in with April, still intent on getting a lead on Shredder’s activities. A radio transmission reveals that Shredder and his henchmen have been spotted breaking into a building while carrying explosive devices; to the horror of April and Irma, it soon dawns on them that the address mentioned is that of the Channel 6 building itself, Rocksteady and Bebop emerging to confront them.

The familiar Channel 6 players – April, Irma, Burne and Vernon – are locked in a room together as the villains carry out their plan. Vernon reveals that he saw the trio carrying the explosives down to the basement, and when questioned by Burne as to why he didn’t intervene responds that “a good reporter isn’t supposed to get involved with the story”. 

Shredder reaches our heroes via a Turtlecom transmission, addressing them in his new charmless monotone voice; out of all the changes that the show has seen in these later years, somehow the departure of James Avery continues to be one of the most damaging. He tells the team that he’s placed “a very large explosive device” at Channel 6, demanding that Krang be handed over within the next thirty minutes; if the green teens don’t comply, he’ll blow the building up, with April, Irma and everyone else inside it. Splinter overhears this incoming transmission from Donatello’s workshop and decides to intervene on his own. Meanwhile the Turtles are perplexed as to why Shredder thinks they have Krang. Determining that Berserko must have kidnapped the alien brain, the rest of the group rush back to the Hall of Science to confront him, while Donatello continues fixing up the van.

While Splinter infiltrates the locked-down Channel 6 building the Turtles do the same at Berserko’s makeshift headquarters. Genuine attempts are being made by the animation team to up the standards of the fight sequences here within the constraints placed upon them; Leonardo deflecting the laser blasts of a drone robot with his katana before destroying it is a particularly polished sequence, the kind of thing it’s hard to imagine seeing in the show during its middle seasons. Leo and Raph find the still-restrained Krang, and on the way out reunite with Mikey, who has learned of the construction of The Annihilator; with the clock against them the team put that issue aside for the moment.

Now with Krang in tow, the three Turtles return to their van as Donatello makes the final repairs required. Drones open fire upon them, but the group nevertheless escape. Berserko emerges to watch the Turtle Van drive away, still confident that the completion of the Annihilator will assure his victory. Meanwhile, Splinter finds the room with the Channel 6 regulars inside; only a minute remains until the explosives go off, and so he resorts to using a well-placed chop to shatter the metal bar holding the handles in place.

Shredder stands in front of the Channel 6 building, flanked by Rocksteady and Bebop, as the Turtle Van arrives. Before the team can hand over Krang, he announces that it took them thirty-one minutes, failing to meet his demands within the agreed timeframe. The Turtles – used to always saving the day in the nick of time, and to the arch-villain invariably fumbling his way to a humiliating defeat – note that the station premises are still intact, and that clearly he was bluffing the whole time. Shredder responds with three words that will forever alter the direction of the series: “I... never... bluff.”

In easily the most shocking moment of the show’s history, the Channel 6 building is obliterated in a massive explosion, only a pile of rubble left behind. Unsure of the fate of their friends, the furious Turtles attack the villains. The battle that follows again sees the production crew pushing to up the quality of the fight choreography beyond what we’re used to, but climaxes in the comical sight of a scowling Michaelangelo lording it over a defeated Shredder, shaking his fist in the villain’s face and inexplicably declaring “Cowabunga, dude.”

The Turtles have the upper hand over their enemies, but are distracted by the arrival of Berserko’s Annihilator. Using their extensive experience of breaking into the Technodrome, the group work their way into the enormous vehicle and confront Krang’s old collaborator. Along the way the controls for the tank-like contraption are damaged, and so the group are forced to escape with the now-restrained villain as it rolls downhill into a nearby river.

Returning to the rubble of the Channel 6 building with a now tied-up Berserko, the Turtles lament the assumed demises of their friends April and Irma - “and even Vernon”. All three soon emerge, alongside Splinter, Burne and the rest of the station employees (which seem to consist of a weirdly slimmed-down Stan and one other guy.) Furious at the loss of his station, Burne launches into a full-on tirade, blaming the Turtles for everything that has transpired and pledging that, when Channel 6 gets back on its feet, he’ll make it his mission to expose the threat they pose to the city. The Turtles counter that Shredder is the true threat, but unable to get through to April’s boss they soon use their ninja skills to vanish when his back is turned. April goes on to give a stirring speech of her own, sticking up for her friends. “No matter what you say, they’ll keep on fighting to save this city from the forces of evil! Especially Shredder.”

Wow. I think it’s fair to say this episode is... a lot. What we’re witnessing here is something almost akin to a soft reboot, doing away with so much of the bread and butter of what the show was from its inception through season seven. The brightly-coloured environments, the appealing and friendly character designs, the zany humour, even the endless pizza talk... all of that is gone now. It’s evident that the gradual maturation that we saw last season was thought to be still not enough to keep the Turtles relevant in the marketplace, and so now things have escalated considerably. Beyond even where they were in the first season, the team and the world they inhabit are now grim, perpetually aggressive, almost downright miserable. In adopting this new attitude, the Red Sky Turtles, incredibly, come across as less welcoming and friendly than even their counterparts from the 2003 4Kids animated show, who were positioned as tougher than the Fred Wolf Turtles but could still crack a joke now and again. In all this, there’s a sense that while David Wise was probably happy to make small tweaks to the vibe of the show through season seven, this new round of changes was likely the result of executive meddling, all of it feeling like a step too far.

After eight years, it’s clear that somebody – within Fred Wolf’s camp, at CBS, in the Mirage / Surge Licensing camp or mostly likely a combination of the aforementioned – had decided that certain elements that had been long present within the series were now a millstone around its neck. Turtles has always been centred around three principal locales: the Lair, the Technodrome and the Channel 6 building. With the Technodrome written out of the series last season, and the Lair the most dangerous of the three to meddle with given its proximity to the main characters, that leaves April’s workplace the most obvious place to make further changes. The destruction of the station building – where so many zany stories and comedic B-plots have taken place - is a symbolic gesture, a statement of intent informing viewers that whatever they thought Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was in the past is gone now, with no means of turning back.

The transition to this new era is jarring, but “Get Shredder!” isn’t the disaster I feared. As with season seven, there’s a sense that everyone involved in the production is working hard to try and save the show, perhaps even more so now, and from that we get some solid action sequences and landmark moments. Burne’s fury at the loss of his station and vow to get back at the Turtles is the most authentic moment of characterisation he’s ever received, his anger here based in something real rather than his usual empty bluster, and it’s exciting to see these characters who have been going through the motions for so many years now forced to move on. There is the prospect in here of a new, more mature TMNT that could be good, and over the final three months of Turtlethon we’ll explore how that plays out.

SAY HELLO TO THE PLOW KING: A MIGHTY MORPHIN’ INTERLUDE

I trust that everyone reading this is familiar with “Mr .Plow”, a season four episode of The Simpsons. In the unlikely event that this one passed you by or you’re too young to know of it, the premise involves Homer being convinced by a salesman to buy a pickup truck with a snow plow mounted to it, on the basis that the vehicle will pay for itself if he uses it to clear driveways in Springfield during winters. This works out well for a while, as Homer adopts the moniker of Mr. Plow and is celebrated by the townspeople for his help with their snow-related problems, but along the way he ends up inspiring his friend Barney to show some initiative himself. Declaring himself to be the Plow King, Barney purchases an even bigger vehicle and immediately makes his intent clear by using a gun to blow out the tyres on Homer’s truck. His operation is bigger and better than Homer’s, effectively rendering Mr. Plow an irrelevance overnight.

The reason I bring all this up is that I often use “Plow King” as shorthand to describe a situation where a formerly successful venture – typically a business, brand or TV show – is destroyed almost immediately by an emerging competitor that’s able to take everything the established entity did and one-up it. Nintendo (with help from the 1983 video game crash) Plow Kinged Atari. Blackberry was Plow Kinged by the introduction of the iPhone. And in our space, within the realm of comics, toys and animation discussed in this project, The Real Ghostbusters was Plow Kinged, irrefutably, by the ascending Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles around 1989 or so. Everything that Ghostbusters had pioneered in terms of its marketing and positioning as a series that blended comedy and action, alongside a toy line that incorporated gross-out elements which alarmed parents, was built upon by MWS and Playmates so effectively in TMNT that their counterparts at DiC and Kenner were hopelessly outgunned. I say this as someone who loved Ghostbusters obsessively as a child, but nevertheless, objectively the Turtles were positioned to be cooler, to connect with children in a more relatable and direct way. They weren’t grown men running a business, they were simply teenagers hanging out and getting into adventures, with a sort of renegade appeal that Peter, Ray, Egon and Winston could never have.

To borrow a line from another cartoon, as Megatron tells Starscream at the conclusion of the original Transformers mini-series, “if you dispose of me, there will always be someone waiting to dispose of you”. Half a decade on from the Ninja Turtles supplanting the Ghostbusters at the top of the kidvid action hero hierarchy, there’s no doubt that as we kick off season eight, the Turtles have been Plow Kinged by Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers. To accomplish this, Saban took existing footage from the Japanese series Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger and wrapped it in elements of previous series that had been popular in terms of marketing, positioning and presentation – a drop of TMNT, a dash of Transformers, and even a smidge of Saved by the Bell-style teenage high school fluff, which was performing well on Saturday mornings at the time – and again this approach of building upon what the market leader had done paid dividends. Power Rangers made its debut on Fox a few weeks prior to season seven of TMNT commencing over on CBS, which regular Turtlethon readers may recall was hampered by spending almost two months on the dire European Vacation arc before the new episodes originally intended for broadcast in 1993 got underway. By now – a year on – MMPR has become a phenomenon that poses an existential threat to the Turtles, in much the same way that the green teens outperformed every competitor in the space back in 1990.

None of this happens in isolation, of course. The rise of Power Rangers followed on from the arrival of Batman: The Animated Series and X-Men, both debuting in 1992, two hugely successful and influential shows that shifted a lot of units in the action figure space, making the Turtles look safe and perhaps antiquated by comparison. All of this was also happening during a boom in gritty, excessively violent comic books and the increasing popularity of fighting games such as Street Fighter II and Mortal Kombat. Hit from all sides, Turtles as a brand is faced with only two viable routes for survival: either go down the route of being even campier, zanier, and sillier than before to win back the very young end of its target audience lost to Power Rangers, or make a concerted effort to keep pace with the teenage boys who grew up with the property during the prior seven seasons, giving them the edgy, brooding, violent Turtles that they want – or at least, that they think they want. For now, and for the remainder of the Fred Wolf era, TMNT will be taking the latter route.

As the barebones new intro suggests, this reinvention of the Turtles is taking place on an incredibly small budget. In the Turtlethon entry for “Shredder Triumphant!” we touched upon the idea that episode may have been intended to work at least as a possible finale. It seems the thriftiness ongoing at CBS, in an ironic twist, might have been what led to the continuation of their Saturday morning cartoons: the significant loss of broadcasting rights to the NFL to Fox reportedly freed up resources to keep long-running shows such as TMNT and stablemate Garfield and Friends on the air for a little longer.

Turtles, then, continues to just about survive in late 1994, if only on name value, an almost mortally-wounded property granted a reprieve and a last-ditch chance to reinvent itself for the second half of the nineties. There are a mere seven episodes to follow in this season, the next marking the final appearance of one of the show’s most enduring second-string villains, in “Wrath of the Rat King".

[matoitech]

How do you come up with super pretty design and fur patterns??

ooo this is such an open ended question theres a lot i could say ill ramble more abt more technical n specific tips under the cut, but honestly my biggest tip would just be to like, look at so much fucking furry art. looking thru other ppls art n character design is both rly fun and literally studying for ur own work. i mean id recommend looking at char design both furry and not furry in general cuz its all useful stuff and rly good to get like a diverse variety of shit to live in ur brain u can take out as insp or little things here n there for ideas for ur own design when its useful. looking at actual animals of all types and species is also useful, lots of cool patterns u can find that way and for some design in particular i will primarily be using markings similar to actual animals ive seen (at least like for example the concept of a darker mask of fur that goes under the eyes a certain way, etc). canines and felines in particular have a very very wide variety of markings u can use as inspiration. other animals too but those tend to be popular w furry art n design n r some favorites for me personally lol

for me its like, a lot of practice to get good at furry art and furry character design specifically, like pretty conscious effort since i was a kid cuz thats what i was interested in and those were the artists i admired and found as big inspiration and wanted to draw like. and ofc i am still trying to improve n learn more myself! so id say to start like.. a lot of practice, ofc looking at actual animal markings cuz u can get a LOT of good ideas that way, and big time: studying other ppls art and character design. u r never looking at other ppls art Too Much u r learning when u r having fun doing that

looking at a wide variety of dif furry styles w furry design in particular is pretty useful, especially when theyre all made for dif purposes; fursuit design vs designs for comics vs furry adoptable designs vs designs created to be animated (’animator friendly’ designs), to name a few, all r serving dif purposes n have dif goals n dif reasons for why they look the way they do.

on a more technical level of How i come up w them/make them, i sat w this one for a bit n here r some ideas i wrote down. i was trying not 2 ramble but u asked the autistic guy who is very interested in and passionate abt furry art n character design so <3 many thoiughtz under the cut so its not massively long

first is that i fuck around a LOT before i settle on smth. slap colors on shit and take colors off. if ur drawing digitally and u have a program w a filter -> color adjustments option like sai 2 u can mess w hues n saturation to get combos u never wouldve thought of without that bonus help. i tend to start working on colors/markings w digital (while i may do preleminary traditional sketches of what the character could look like before colors) cuz its way easier to test smth out and then undo it if u dont like it on digital lol. and even w how i tend to try many dif things i test around before i decide on smth i like, i always keep open the possibility that this design (if im using it as an oc) is open to being changed in the future if i find smth i like more w them

getting attached to pieces of a design and wanting to build around that is great cuz its how u figure out what u like and what is important to u w this design/character, but whats also important is being able to recognize when smth just isnt working (at least the Way ur approaching it, or maybe the character ur trying it with, etc) and u need to try a different track. u can always keep that trait u rly like and want to put on a character and just rework it into a dif design later, i do that all the time! just be content with some designs maybe just taking more time to come together and thats cool too, u need time to stew on ur thoughts n try things in ur brain b4 u test them in actual art sometimes (i mean, for me at least). sometimes u just need to sit on a character design for a while and try a lot of things before smth Clicks. at least for me! sometimes its very easy to design a character and figure out markings n stuff but other times it takes me a lot of attempts and building up a design w new ideas i am getting along the way. maybe i realize this particular design trait is cool but just isnt working on this character/design so i file it away on the backburner to test on a new character later till i find a design (or oc if i RLY like it and want to draw it a lot) who it DOES fit. 

i have a pretty big stock of inspiration n ideas i have in my brain bcuz i have been autistically obsessed w furry art and improving at my own since i was a kid so i just have a lot of Interest in this stuff and have a very big like.. amnt of shit to draw from i think? again, padding out what u have to draw from in ur brain in the first place. u could also save character design insp somewhere and look thru it before u start working on a design urself, i do that sometimes! it gets the creative juices flowing for me to look at art i admire and feel inspired by before i work on my own. do stuff to get urself inspired or ur brain working in that direction, whatever way that works for u, u know urself best w it

i often keep notes of little ideas i have or things i want to try so i can try making a character design around it later, i have always loved making characters and character design so i dont rly have problems w lack of ideas or anything, its smth u just work on and if its fun u keep working on it! as a kid id do stuff like, just look thru lists of animals and then just make a bunch of furry designs for those animals, or do stuff like assign colors or plants or elements or whatever animals and then make Furry Versions of those. that was entertaining to me and how i had fun. this kinda stuff is still good practice (emoji randomizers r fun to make character design from, for example). 

when im stumped w my own design or looking for new ideas to try that may click better, or when i just need a break cuz i definitely am not drawing all the time, i take a break from drawing and go back to looking at lots of art, aka, STUDYING <3 read comics, watch movies, etc too, whatever ur interested in and inspired by. i think a lot abt my own designs n ocs n stuff i want to draw and ideas i might use or like (or things i dont care for or am that interested in that i think ‘how can i implement that in a way that i DO like in my own design, how can i make this become interesting to me’) while im like, just living my life and seeing outfits and seeing palettes and seeing other ppls work n stuff, not JUST when im drawing. im playing around w ideas in my head before i actually draw, this is smth u probably improve on with just like, time and practice and gaining the ability to gauge if smth is worth trying before u actually draw it. again i cannot stress enough how important looking at a lot of other character design is; both what u like and what u dont like is going to be internalized and is going to be rly useful for making ur own designs. look at a lot of different art styles, look at how other ppl design characters. know that character design is something u can absolutely improve on, its not like, a talent some ppl have and some ppl dont, some ppl just r going to be more passionate abt it and WANT to spend more time on it and improve Because of that. 

back to colors! the good thing is palettes (and well everything else abt designs) r super dependant on what u personally enjoy so theres not rly right or wrong ways to do them. liek if someone asked me for tips on how i personally often create palettes for characters Right Now i could think abt it and try to pick up patterns w my own art and then explain my like thought process abt it to ppl, but thats just what i personally like doing right at this moment, and that changes! u have a lot of room to just have fun. rly look at character designs n palettes that r RLY speaking to u and figure out whats working abt it for u or how u can incorporate how much u love how that artist uses colors n palettes n what theyre Doing there to make it work into ur own work. fun studying!

now a more personal one: typically (not as a general rule but often) my oc design is built to be drawn repeatedly and not be overwhelmingly complex to me.  the goal is to get smth that looks good and interesting without actually being difficult for me cuz i know myself and know i wont draw a character thats too complicated for me lol whether id get bored or intimidated by the idea of just having to draw a whole complicated fuckin thing when i just want to doodle. for me, this means i tend to pull a lot of character design tips i learned from animation. ‘animator friendly’ kinda stuff, BUT i can typically afford to be a little more complex bcuz im not animating them. im not sure if this is still common but when i was growing up ‘good furry designs’ at least w the artists and other kids i was hanging around were often considered what was the most complex and cool looking over what was actually like, replicatable and feasible to draw consistently without spending a lot of time coloring. stuff that would make having to draw that oc for someone in a commission a complete fucking pain, but sure looks cool as a finished product so u Get why ppl go for those. but personally while i like seeing those designs i know myself and probably wouldnt buy one of those adoptables for that, cuz i know i woldnt draw it enough lol. i enjoy em and can draw some for art fight but as my own oc’s they probably wouldn’t like.. fit my own needs? i may have a much easier time drawing them now bcuz i have drawn furry art and furry character design for a long time so i can figure out what im looking at easier, but it probably wouldve overwhelmed me quite a bit when i got started (been too long for me to remember lol). and thats good to know, its good to be aware of what u want to be drawing and figuring out what kinda stuff YOU like. 

adding on from above but that paragraph got long: of course having designs that r rly complex is a lot of fun n stuff im not saying dont do that im saying for ME personally a lot of my oc design tends to be centered around ‘what do i know /i/ will be capable of drawing multiple times without getting either overwhelmed or bored’. so thats a thought for me w my own designs. i also often make designs that i plan on using for like comics or smth later so i do want the design to not be terribly hard to reproduce if im planning on ‘this character is gonna be showing up quite a bit and i dont want to put a ton of work into every panel’

i will also say that like personally while markings r definitely important i DO try to mix design traits thru a more Character Design lense with a Furry Character Design lense. what i mean by that is its good to expand ur Character Design ability in general by paying attention to drawing differing body types and proportions, face shapes and like cheek/chin/etc shapes/fluff, nose and eye shapes, hair style and hair texture, etc. furry adoptables focus on creative and interesting markings on a base to make the character stand out from other wolf guys. which is also very useful to be studying and getting inspiration from for sure! i enjoy those often complex designs for sure. but for me personally i do try to take the approach of diversifying w designs (particularly w my own ocs), cuz its fun and cuz its pretty necessary when ur talking abt like, Character Design.  even as someone who often puts a lot of design traits i Know i like onto many of my ocs (mohawks <3 muscles <3 etc) like w character design its important that ur characters would not all look completely the same if they switched clothes or palettes or hairstyles yk? even when putting ‘buff’ onto multiple chars of urs cuz u just like that and drawing muscles theres many ways to make a character muscular on a lot of dif body types and proportions, for example. and while there r parts of the making these characters all look different that may b harder w furry character design (like u got all these wolves and now u gotta figure out how they all look different beyond just colors!!) its definitely still like, Necessary to me personally! i assume u were asking more abt like fur patterns rather than this kinda stuff but i would recommend u think abt that when designing characters as well, its fun and it will definitely improve ur own work in general! and it is rly necessary to practice things like a wide range of body types and hair textures n styles. it will make u a better artist overall.

look at tips from ppl who do professional character design, whether its furry artists or ppl who work with dif types of media (movies, tv, comics, video games, etc). a wider knowledge base never hurts! i have always rly personally valued tips from ppl working in the animation industry so i think thats like one of the primary ‘tutorials’ i paid more attention to and integrating from +as well as my history as a furry artist and what furry artists tend to like and consider ‘good’ character design. it just tkes a lot of fucking around n building up stuff u can draw from. and ur taste will probably change with time and as u improve. theres a place for everything and ur eyes will get better at figuring out what looks good paired together, to u, over time. u can also get great ideas n tips n inspiration from artists of all sorts of skill levels of course! 

anyway i hope this helps at all or answers ur question in some capacity, im sure theres stuff i missed but theres a lot of Words here but thats cuz i dont like.. think abt this stuff very consciously so it sounds more complicated when u write it out vs just doing it, which starts feeling more like second nature when u improve at it. i rly appreciate the compliment btw im always flattered to hear ppl like my designs! 

[littlestpetship]

im gonna try to rework my harbinger s/i's design since it looks a little plain... i like her design as is and ill still keep it for when shes in the fatui but after she runs away i want her to have a new design :) i plan to have like this whole arc where the tsaritsa is tracking her because she has a cryo delusion (is that even possible the world may never know) so shes always on the run but she doesnt want to live like that anymore so she meets the traveler and is like Help i wanna get rid of my delusion!!! and its like a whole thing ill write more later... :3 but she also meets madam ping and gains her trust and gets her own teapot so she doesnt have to hide anymore!!! its a lot to get into hehe i have a very active imagination :D still working on it though so this isnt 100% set in stone!!!!

[artisticmenace]

spoilers for my comic that ive been putting off drawing cause i dont know what im doing

little rant about the story and what not

so basically i definitely have favorite things to write. lydia is a big one because she is specifically meant to be manipulative but unaware that she is. rodneys mom, Barbara, is another, just because of everything that happened to her and also how abusers typically behave. jett is going to be interesting to write. i wont say fun because of how he behaves and what hes done but itll be a challenge. rodneys entire character arc is going to be fantastic. i might send out the google doc i have everything written down on if anyone is interested. just to keep interest on the comic while i work on providing visuals.

character design is a big ass fish to fry. i keep giving all my girlies roughly the same two face shapes and AAUAUUUGUGHBH. i also have to make them all pretty easy to draw for the sake of time.

storywise there are some plot points that NEED to be well written. TWO of which happen before the story takes place and we are not there in the moment when theyre discussed. which is AAAAHHHHHH. another is rodneys mom trying to reconnect. that one hurts to think about. incidents 1992 and 1993 are others that need well written. debating scrapping the 1993 incident because that one also hurts to think about. these are all trauma ridden plot points. ill tag them whenever i get to them. the first traumatic incident which happens in year one is also something we aren't present for but is VERY important.

i DO need some insight though, which ill put in another post because if the public likes my coloring style then ill keep it, but i might switch to greyscale for simplicity... backgrounds are going to get reworked later on. for SURE. my ass cant keep up with that shit. most of the important buildings have maps(two. there are only two important buildings that have maps so far. i need to map lucys house too though.) but for the school and stuff like that im just gonna say fuck it and do whatever. i kind of warp that enviroment when it comes up anyways for drama. also its based on my actual school so. yeah.

[battleofthegroundeddungeon]

Training the Gauntlet (Part 1)

with @moe-lazyeye

Part 2 and Part 3

Stonegit: A convenient amount of time had passed from when Stonegit had shattered his own arm against the face of Central's Vidar in retribution for harming Tree's son. The Rebellion's healers had done an excellent job patching him up.

However...

He was no longer twenty, and it showed this time, glaringly. A lifetime of breaking his body in recklessness had caught up two decades later, and there wasn't time enough, or healers skilled enough, to ever fully undo the amount of damage done.

Kiri's cousin had been exceptionally kind to help Stonegit begin the process of reworking his entire method of fighting through careful, and even gentle training. But war, demons, and ill doers were always on his horizon. Stonegit knew he would have to be ready for it all. So it was time to test what he had learned on a less...predictable...training partner.

After ensuring Blunt would be able to hold the fort with the Haddock children, Stonegit sought their father in the throne room.

"Egil..." He said once, and then carefully lifted up a training sword, his expression both inviting and expectant. "Humor me?"

Egil: "Humor you?" Egil said, glancing at the training sword. He stood up from the throne and walked down the dais steps towards Stonegit. He didn't have a training weapon, nor wear a sword like his father had, so he'd have to go to the armory or courtyard to grab one.

"I can humor you, I suppose," he said with a smirk betraying his next words. "How many dragon riders does it take to ignite a torch?" And with barely a pause: "None. The dragons do it for them."

Egil trotted off the final step of the dais and proceed past Stonegit to retrieve the tools for sparring. Anything to get him off the throne, he welcomed. And Stonegit's offer did, indeed, appeal.

Stonegit: Stonegit couldn’t fully stifle his visceral reaction to what must have been a deliberately terrible joke, as he gave a strained exhale. "Your wit is as sharp as my eyesight." He said as he turned easily to follow him.

As he did so, he passed his training weapon to Egil, which was far shorter, pointed, and round in edge compared to any other traditional viking sword or dagger Egil had ever seen. "Your thoughts?"

Egil: Egil took it up and examined it as he kept walking. "So this is what you've been working on, I take it? Sorry I haven't like... had the time to attend to you recently." He tested its weight. "Rather different than what I'm used to you using. Or... anyone, I think."

Stonegit: "Wilder East design," Stonegit offered in explanation. "A relative of my friend Kiri has been helping me..." he chewed his words. "Reworking my job approach." He slowly gave Egil a side eye. "I guess you could say my axe isn't going to...cut it these days..."

Egil: Egil ignored the last comment. Handing the training weapon back to Stonegit, he said, "And how's that rework going?"

Stonegit: "I figured testing it out on you would be the best way to answer that." Stonegit replied.

Egil: At this point, they had reached the courtyard. Egil didn't directly answer Stonegit, but stepped off to find a training weapon. He came back shortly later with a sword, then raised his eyebrow as though to ask if Stonegit was ready to begin.

Stonegit: Stonegit gave a low, careful exhale. It was the first time in a while he didn't feel confident about a training match with Egil. Winning wasn't nessecarily the problem, that ship had long sailed ever since Egil had become a young adult and honed his craft. This time the lack of confidence steamed from not knowing how well he'd handle the bumps and bruises that came with a sparring match, which was a very new, very unpleasant feeling.

He settled in his stance though, one that accommodated his new weapon instead of his usual axe, and nodded to confirm his readiness.

Egil: Egil made the first attack. Wrist rotating, arm whipping forward, he drove the blade toward Stonegit's shoulder.

Stonegit: No more direct blocks Stonegit reminded himself as he set his blade against Egil's to parry it to the side. Use the opening. Draw in close and- thwhack!

Stonegit blinked watery eyes as the broadside of the training sword struck the bridge of his nose. His arm had jotled painfully despite his movement, and Egil's quick follow up had slipped past him as a result. "Faaaack" Stonegit growled in a delayed reaction as he gripped at his brow.

Egil: Egil disengaged, his hit complete, waited a few seconds, then made a second attack.

This one was lower, closer to Stonegit's right hip.

Stonegit: Thankfully, Stonegit hadn't chosen to pulverize his leg bones recently, so he danced out of the way. He gave Egil a look of mock disapproval over the lack of verbal confirmation of a new round, although it was laced with a renewed spark of competition now. "You are entirely too eager to beat me with a stick." He chastised him as he pointed his dagger like sword again.

Egil: "Well, you asked for it," Egil said with an amused shrug, though he did give a pause this time, and wait for Stonegit to initiate.

Stonegit: Stonegit held up his other hand as if to relent his point. "I should have known better." He regarded the hand, and then begrudgingly placed his weapon in it. It had been suggested to him to get used to left handed blade work to help spare his arm. Stonegit supposed there was no sense to keep avoiding it. "Alright...have another go. I'm afraid I've been regulated to defense only...for now."

Egil: "Now just remember, you're asking for it," said Egil, and took another go, aiming higher. He didn't believe in going soft for Stonegit; if this was meant to be a test, either it succeeded or failed, and Egil would do his part to put the test through the works.

And Stonegit wasn't wrong. It felt a little good to 'beat him with a stick.' Got the stress from everything else out.

Stonegit: It was probably revenge.

Haddock had been vigilant training Egil, with a high stress on form and precision. As one would expect with royal training. Meanwhile, Stonegit had introduced the rough and dirty side of a fight that Egil could face with an opponent. Both aspects critical. This had resulted in many light whaps across the back of the head, forehead pokes, and infuriating moments where the bodyguard had reached out and either handed Egil something he took on instinct, or simply snatched the weapon out of his hand.

These instances had rapidly dwindled over time, and now Stonegit found himself in moments like this. Getting batted around like a sack on a rope.

There had been no ruse though. Stonegit knew he was going into an already difficult challenge, only now with a handicap. But it was nessecary.

The more Egil won, the more his weaknesses were exposed. Which meant Stonegit could fix them, and make a fight count when it was for real. When his children's lives depended on it.

....

Didn't make it any less frustrating though.

The man, after a longer boute that was still tragically short of their usual length, caught another jab in his bad arm, and then shin when he tried to skip backwards.

With a hiss and growl, Stonegit paced in a brief, hobbling circle. "Frigga!" He cursed.