#is it probably just animation doing its wonky animation thing?

[mahpotatoequeen]

ezran's tiny little hands

just comparing the size of Callum and Ezran's hands and it's making me emotional

[talenlee]

Hanamusa, Explained

There is a nonzero chance if you follow me on tumblr, you’ve seen the term ‘Hanamusa’ attached to something I shared. It’s probably also some super cute art of Delia Ketchum and Jessie Teamrocket, and you may wonder what is going on and also, why is there so much good art of this.

Hanamusa as a term derives from the Japanese names of the characters – Hanako and Musashi. If you’re into shipping name structures, Hana-Musa implies that Hanako is the seme and Musashi the uke, but I don’t think that holds for all use cases of the type of terminology. It’s a ship. It’s an AU ship, as in an ‘alternate universe’ ship, where the two characters are presented in a context outside of the normal context of the anime presentation of them.

The Hanamusa ship as I understand it is set at some point after Jessie and James stop chasing Ash around, and Jessie settles down into a relationship with Delia. There’s tension about her history with Ash and the confusion about finding Your Personal Villain dating your mom, but mostly it’s about showing a sweet domestic life between two characters you know very well in a format I kind of see as like, Comedy-Sabot Romantic 4koma. Like, Hanamusa content is funny (and it is VERY funny) but it doesn’t need to be funny, because the main thing it’s about is showing these two characters and their relationship as they do cute things together.

It’s why people watch shows like K-On basically.

As for where this idea comes from, (EDIT: Slightly wonky wording here, I should have phrased 'this current fandom push' - I don't have any reason to believe Mai INVENTED the ship, just that when you go looking you'll wind up at her work) it seems to have its genesis with the work of one Kiana Mai, who developed this ship some time ago. Kiana Mai is also an extremely skilled artist, and one of those skills seems to be focus, creating these extremely clean-line excellently structured scene vignettes with no unnecessary content in them but also no need to rocket along. It’s amazing, engaging work that uses every part of the small format amazingly well. Which makes sense because one of the things Kiana Mai does is storyboarding work for Disney animated TV shows, a task at which I am sure she no doubt excels.

What I think is the most interesting aspect of Hanamusa, to me specifically, is that it manages to combine three things I don’t actually care about, in a way that doesn’t interfere with something I have unexpectedly strong opinions on. I do not watch Pokemon, and I have not shed a tear for Team Rocket and Ash Ketchum wandering into the sunset. That is a show that is not for or about my interests and that is okay. Indeed, imagining that it should be about what interests me is baffling. I think if I stopped watching a show twenty years ago, I have lost all right to act like I’m entitled to expect it remain the way it was all the way back then.

But I do have opinions on Jessie and James’ character voice. Not their voice acting – I mean, I know for a fact they’ve had to change over time and no voice actor should be obligated to kick it in the same role for what could be their entire career. I mean the way they talk about things and the words they use and kind of emphasis they put on words when they talk. About the way they voice their ideas, or the way they express who they are in the way they talk to one another, that stuff. It’s about affordances and persona, about the kind of people you project being by what words you choose to use and the affect when using them.

It’s why when, if a picture of a character is underneath it, you can read some dril posts as being ‘appropriately’ voiced by a character, even if it’s describing a candle situation that Francis Crozier did not have opinions on.

Jessie has a voice.

Jessie, in my head, is someone capable of moments of tenderness and friendship that is normally overwhelmed by an incredible confidence in ability she does not have and mere reality will never be given permission to infringe on it. Jessie is unassailably unstoppably sure of herself, thoughtlessly stupid in a way that doesn’t mean she is stupid, but which exists in a context of someone who has relentlessly pursued excellence in her job which is also the equivalent of being a late night 7/11 manager. She is the Girlboss that is Gaslighting herself into thinking she has something to Gatekeep.

Delia Ketchum by comparison is a very nice piece of wallpaper. Every appearance of her in my mind is someone Very Nice who is Very Patient and Very Supportive and has managed to keep literally all emotionally challenging conversations from happening around Ash, which can be perhaps easier when you remember that he, too, is an idiot. I don’t know how Delia Ketchum talks, but I do know that there are ways that Delia Ketchum does not talk.

This is interesting! It’s interesting because it presents a character where I am very sure I know what she does do when she does it, and a character about whom I can only be sure wouldn’t do some things. It creates a character space, and it creates expectations of affect and performance within that space. Ash and other characters show up as well, but because they get to interact with this already-defined space, you get treated to this really lovely kind of resonance. Would Ash call Jessie ‘dad’? Maybe, to bug her. He was good at being a twerp. Wasn’t he? I mean I remember it that way, he seems to work out that way, but… how would I know?

I know more of this AU where Jessie is studying to be a Pokemon Doctor and Ash wears glasses than I do of the source material any more. And if you’re wondering ‘hey, do Jessie and Delia ever meet in the source material?’ Like, yeah, for a few seconds. What, the point is creating something new.

If you want to check out Hanamusa stuff and read the comics, I recommend going and clicking on the hashtag on tumblr.

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

#Anime #Media

[tototalks]

Here we are, the last short story! I have absolutely adored this entire series and short stories, and will probably be re-reading in the near future!

Without further ado: ⚜️ The Adventures of Charls, the Veretian Cloth Merchant ⚜️

- I really like that Veretians and Akielons are adopting each other’s fashions with the merging of cultures… Akielons are still rejecting the sleeves though. I bet “to reject the sleeves” or to “have no sleeves” becomes some kind of dirty euphemism later down the line. 😂

- Laurent and Damen really are leaders that give back to their people and don’t put themselves on a massively high pedestal. If they want to run away for a bit and be Cousin Charls and Lamen, they’re gonna do it. The council are going to have such massive headaches for the entirety of their reign lol

- And Charls is such an MVP for carting around the King of Vere masquerading as his cousin who is also called Charls 💀

- It will literally never not be funny to see Charls NOT figure out who Damen is.

- It will also literally never not be funny when Charls starts to get suspicious and comes to a conclusion that is also wildly wrong. “He’s a merchant’s assistant!” 😮

- Credit to Damen for playing along. Were he not born a royal, this kind of life would suit him.

- Laurent and Damen sneaking off before the ascension is also fantastic. At the end of the day they’re both just people and enjoy freedom and adventure.

- No one was gonna tell me Damen has a dimple?! This is crucial information people!!

- “Wow, Lamen’s clothes suck and he’s clearly poor, but damn his Veretian is great!”

- Damen there trying to defend Charls surrounding the rumours he was deceived and Charls literally just tells him to stfu 💀

- Makon. We’re gonna have problems. Your seams? Wonky. Your fabric? Low quality. Your business? Dodgy. You are talking smack about the literal blood-related cousin to the King of Vere. They are a FAMILY.

- Every time Laurent uses his snakey qualities for good, an angel gains its wings. Undercutting Makon for the fabric was so satisfying, and everyone handled that with more grace than I would have. I would have literally laughed in Makon’s face.

- I really like the implication that Laurent has a soft spot for animals, horses especially, and generally creatures that are innocent (children included). Makes Damen’s gift super special, and this horse poisoning scene really sad 😢

- And in all the chaos, Damen is still finding time to flirt. Priorities.

- Another detail I adore is that Charls notices clothes before he notices physical appearance. He’s far more likely to say “the guy in the poorly woven woollen cloak” than “the guy with brown hair.”

- Laurent really hit the jackpot with Damen and the scary dog privileges that came with him. Someone need only tip a drink on this man and Damen’s started a whole bar fight.

- Also. Totally real that Akielons and Veretians still hold animosity between one another even after the merging of the kingdoms. Integration doesn’t happen overnight.

- This bar fight is everything. Damen is there absolutely murking everyone he sees and Laurent is ducked behind a table tossing olives and stealing lamb legs. Play to your strengths I guess!

- I can picture exactly no situation in which geese could make it better. Evil cobra chickens.

- We have adopted Alexon. He’s invited to the wedding.

- “A Prince’s hands are for refinement” I bet Charls and Damen keep this as a running joke even after everything is out in the open. Laurent lifts a pea and he’s like “Lamen! The king cannot possibly!!”

- If I was sat in disguise around a campfire with some borderline strangers and they started talking about my sex life, I’d simply ✨pass away✨. At least it was all good things and no scandalous rumours about Nikandros teaching Laurent how to wrestle 💀

- Seven hours? That’s cute. He barely survived one with Halvik’s girls 💀

- ALEXON!! Be the kind of nepo baby that uses their status like this.

- Literally need an entire book of Damen and Laurent sneaking out undercover in disguise to free slaves and bring down those trading them. ‼️📢Bring back the blue dress 2k24‼️📢

- Love that Charls always takes the opportunity to mention how strong and young and virile Lamen is, and how him and Laurent must be fucking like rabbits. Which, to be fair, is not too far from the truth lol

- It hurts my heart that the conversation Damen has with Charls could have happened with Auguste or Laurent’s father had Damen had the opportunity to court Laurent like he wanted.

- Laurent in gold looking absolutely ethereal at his coronation. That’s the post.

- HE FINALLY FOUND OUT 😂 WELCOME TO THE ROYAL FAMILY CHARLS!! You definitely know who’s getting to make the wedding trousseau 😉

This entire series has been an absolute ride, and thanks to everyone who’s shared in my (annoying) enthusiasm 😂 AO3 will be my new home, and any fic recommendations are 100% welcome! Love y’all! ♥️

[tiny-vermin]

I want to know more about the m9 artist au!! I remember reading a post or two about it a billion years ago (and would love to read them again) 💜

hi jess!!!! thank u for being interested hehe :")

so ever since i drew that lil thing of essek painting a frank stella inspired painting (or even before), ive been thinking of what kinds of art each of the m9 would do. essek ofc is inspired by a minimalist show that i went to here, all the big names from that movement were shown, but those really dark, sinkhole-like paintings are speaking to me. another artwork of boxes made of mirrors also seems like the thing he would do too

there's a kiln here that we visited which was huge, and surrounding it were artists' studios and some other ceramic sellers, i imagine the clay family having a place like this in the middle of nowhere amongst the trees, and caleb would do his work there

anyways because at heart im a shadowgast luver its centred around them,, they meet at an artist residency or something like that and its an incredibly slow burn that involves talking and not-talking and looking and not-looking. in the end i am but a simple wong kar wai fan so. that kinda vibes would definitely influence this, i would describe it as a quiet burning i guess?? time skipy and words that are not said

i think im gonna rant a bit more about their different mediums and styles so i'll keep it under the cut

i think caleb sculpts figures and portraits, but in a sad, kathe kollwitz charcoal vibe. maybe some funky looking animals, perhaps some pots and vases to look at the pretty glazes. he's interested in using fire to burn texture into different mediums, like ive seen it being used on shellac to make a really cool net of ink looking structure.. but yknow, just seeing the aftermath of glazed ceramic from the kiln is enough, and probably better for him to keep his distance anyways

the clay family produces most of the ceramic to sell, vases, pots, plates, cups, teapots, yknow just a whole array. and its really colourful too, depicting every family members different style. i think caduceus would do some matte glazes with a lot of different colours, theyre all a little wonky but theyre better off that way anyways. he does some really mean ink calligraphy and painting though

jester definitely does,, everything, whatever her heart desires kinda thang. she makes pastel textile installations and lighthearted cute paintings, but theyre always so contemplative and soothing. she gets m9 a lot of work cus her mom has connections, etc etc. i really love the idea of jester creating works that talk about the female body and femininity (definitely not projecting no)

beau is a printmaker and photographer who's really experimental, she loves cyanotypes and printing flowers (for yasha), idk she seems like she would put fabric and rocks into the washing machine to see what would happen. u would probably catch her in someone elses studio learning about what they do or in the library learning about what old people did

veth works in a museum as a curator, getting beau to help her sometimes with gathering artworks and artists etc. she probably organises community art projects for kids and public art installations. her house is full of m9's artworks and various other artists shes worked with.

yasha does bouquets as her post-retirement part time job, prior to that no one really knows what she did ("she probably murdered a bunch of people and is now hiding from the government"). fjord draws comics for fun but is also not a job for him, molly is a question mark for me. but these guys probably wont be in it as much anyways

im still not sure what format i wanna do this in, im actually having fun just writing it in my notebook now (digital does not facilitate the creative juices) but i do want to do some visuals like fake movie stills or storyboards. maybe they will work together well???? dunno. working on the other shadowgasty thing im doing made me realise how much easier it is to draw when there's a script already there, so im writing the script for myself

im definitely not as practiced in writing as i am in drawing, but idk im just gonna have some fun and see where that takes me, meanwhile try not to feel too bad that its fanart HAHA (very bad habit)

edit: i just saw my previous thoughts on beau being an art journalist, but i kinda like this better.. but maybe she can do both muah

[kirby-the-gorb]

reply roundup!

man apparently these are still hard even when I'm not Literally Dying anymore :v

the sad sale went great, thank you for all the support everyone <3 I bought shelves and makeup and paper star papers and stickers and a new blanket, plus it's helping cover my allowance until my wife starts getting paid. I am already thinking I might do another sale in november just for fun lol

my wife has started orientation at her program and she's having a great time, our partner and I are gonna go down to visit her in a couple weeks :) I also finished rearranging all my furniture now that her furniture isn't here and it only made me terribly ill once!

I am really enjoying everyone singing along on [live and learm], I love enthusiasm <3

on [stars] @korattata said: HEY THATS WHAT I'VE BEEN DOING ALL DAY!!!!! i just started learning last night! its a nice break at work to stop looking at the computer screen. they all still look a bit wonky and i think one of the sheets of paper is too thick but i'm just using paper i got from the supply closet and cut with the paper cutter lol

aw that's so cool! the ones that are like actually packaged for making paper stars are usually a bit thinner than printer paper, like other origami paper, but that also means they tear a lot more easily in the first step if you're not careful, so it's always a tradeoff. what a fun coincidence :>

on [hallway] @thesilentpotato said: the first thing i thought of was the "da dee la da dee la da" krabby patty zoom in scene from spongebob

lol I hadn't thought of that until you said it but you're so right (she is referencing [this scene] from the krusty krab training video for anyone unfamiliar)

(side note thank you to folks who put pronouns in easily findable places so I can refer to you correctly even if I don't know you <3 )

on [birthday] @joekingv1 said: *asks baby what gifts they received and if they would like to read/watch Komi Can't Communicate*

I never really got into komi because one of the side characters really squicks me out, but I have a friend that really loves it, so maybe they've watched it with her! I think they probably got to go somewhere fun for their birthday like a theme park or a zoo, and get a souvenir plush while they were there -u-

on [sheep] @ceylonsilvergirl [added] a different line for kirby, which I still think about regularly lol

on [pills] @minty-spice said: op i hope your health improves and your empire of pills eventually shrinks

thank you <3 honestly I'd be happy with just the first one, I don't mind all the pills so much as long as they're actually helping.

on [crackers] @amatsuki said: made a bunch of cold noodles today with cucumber carrot chicken & sesame peanut soy sauce. the only actual cooking i had to do was boil water and steam chicken

oh hell yeah cold noodles are a fantastic example of a basic food to go feral over. now I want noodles too.........

on [thinking] @adrawrable said: hope you're cozy op

not right now as I type this because it is Computer Work Time, but in general I am So Cozy these days, I have a whole queen bed to myself so it's full of big stuffed animals and fluffy blankets :) (tbh even once my wife moves back here we may just all have individual beds we all seem very comfy this way lol)

on [slam] @jeaniechibi said: we'll be right back ➡️ shshgdtsudtdidh why is every bit of art with a blurr effect so damn funny 🤣

it truly is, I love a thoughtfully applied motion blur (or perspective blur can be funny too) (altho tbh I don't use the perspective blur tool for those I just use separate layers and gaussian blur) (for anyone unfamiliar this is a reference to the eric andre show meme)

on [beehive] @galacticnova3 said: me @ wasp nests minus the frowning, little fellas doing their little fella activities. sometimes they squabble. the thinking man’s reality tv drama

true, true, gotta love little fella activities. personally I feel better observing from a safe distance, but we had a lot of wasps around my childhood home and I didn't really know how to get friendlier than not actively making them mad lol

anonymous asked: That profile is amazing

for some reason I don't feel like I understand, but thank you!

on [sale] @milkymoon-ramblings said: gahh why do so many people have so many cool probducts, the queers are tempting me with their cool swag. however I need to save money for my own cool swag (digital art)

I just love the phrase "the queers are tempting me with their cool swag", so relatable lol (also no worries to anyone who couldn't or didn't want to buy anything, it's not like I needed it to pay bills I just wanted treats :v )

on [solstice] @jaune-chat said: Definitely, the sun can fuck right off. I break into a rash if I get too much sun, and I can't walk outside without full body coverage to some degree or be itching for WEEKS! In order of preference, is fall, winter, spring, summer.

oof yeah my mom gets a bad rash from sun exposure too! I'm fortunate to not have that specific symptom, but dang it seems so inconvenient, especially if you're also sensitive to heat so being covered up puts you at additional risk. personally I rate winter a little higher than fall but otherwise yeah total agreement lol

on [rollerskates] @nexus-nebulae said: @ prev tags i used to daydream constantly about being able to roller skate everywhere because i would constantly think 'rolling would be way easier than dragging my feet everywhere rn' and it took me two months of constantly thinking about that before i realised OH i need a ROLLATOR that would help (<- i am not smart) i haven't actually tried roller skating bc i don't own skates but i have used a skateboard briefly and that also feels better than walking. i wonder.... if the roller skating rink nearby would allow me to use a rollator in the rink with skates on........ probably not lmao

honestly it takes so much to actually realize like "oh a mobility aid might help with this" which is like, a bad thing, but we're just gonna focus on the funny part for now happy disability pride month :v and tbh I think maybe they might let you do it??? cuz like at ice skating rinks they usually have those little penguins or just straight up plastic lawn chairs for people to support themselves on, so I don't think it would be that crazy to go out on the rollarink with a rollator? but also that's just me and I do not run the place or get paid minimum wage to keep people from breaking the place sooo lol

[ninja-knox-ur-sox-off]

"IS IT WEIRD I FEEL LIKE A LOT OF THE PERSONALITIES ARE MISSING?? WHATS GOING ON??? Its’ the same writers whats going on DO I REALLY NEED EXPRESSIONS TO UNDERSTAND AND CONNECT TO CHARACTERS THAT BADLY??"

Not invalidating your opinions, in fact you might be 1000% right and everyone is off and things are missing. I don't rewatch the show as much as I'm sure you do. But I am getting the vibes you really need expressions to understand and connect. Nothing wrong with that! And whether it is because of the animation or writing it's still Lego's responsibility for that

HONESTLY, HONESTLY THO THAT'S PROBABLY IT HG;LKJASDF FR. I can't remember any of the dialogue after watching the eps. I actually had to go back and replay it with my eyes closed so i could actually hear what was being said so I could answer that last ask. The visuals might actually just be THAT distracting to me. I had no idea how important facial expressions were to my understanding of characters until now.

Like the animation isn't bad. It's not gorgeous 2D, its rigged/puppet, some of the perspective is off, some stuff is a little wonky, they sure do love their tilted angles, but its not bad, its actually pretty amazing for rigged animation, especially with the insane deadlines lego gives. But the whole reason I fell in love with Monkie Kid and was able to analyze and create for it like I did was I really do think because of the expressions and visuals FB created. It's why I loved it as much as I did cause I've never been able to connect so hard with a piece of media like I did with monkie kid. And I want to have that same connection with what we have now but my brain just ain't there and that is ROUGH when it something this important to me i gotta tell ya, so ngl i appreciate y'all's patience with me hGL;KAJSFD

Also don't worry, I do not feel invalidated at all /gen these are fun asks!

[mightyfloofy]

Talking a little on the recent mangas I've started reading this week😗✨📚(two of them are new to me, for the others, I've picked up on the manga after finishing their current anime seasons) 💚THERE MIGHT BE SPOILERS💚

1) Tomodachi Game:

So i think I've only read up to around 12 chapters or so and it's so good????

The roller-coaster of emotions it's making me have though- like i started loving Tenji with my whole heart and soul then he...disappointed me. Then he earned my trust again- a whole twist.

Yuuichi is a pretty good MC so far. Bro is a cutie.

Sawaragi pisses me off a little. Idk how to explain it though.

Yuutori my girl 💜

Shibe um... 💀💀💀 Yeah. And no i don't dislike him for what he tried to do in chapter 2 or so. I just... He's too dumb.

Also the art?????? Muah

I watched some scenes of the anime in the beginning after i read a couple of chapters and it's...disappointing. Even the animation is wonky.

But just- the art style has me in luvvvv

Manabu-kun keeps on gaslighting, gatekeeping and girlbossing every chapter.

Also, I'm praying for my boy Yuuichi's sanity. At first i was like "Sawaragi, i get hes cute but WHAT do u see in him??" and i see now. My girl has some amazing taste, at least for that.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

2) Mairimashita! Iruma-kun

I've only read 4 chapters but this shit has me ROLLINGGGG

It's so funny pls

The art is also pretty good too. I'm not really a fan of Slice of Life, but this one hits.

Also, pretty boi alert:

My favorite character so far is this guy though:

He's so babygirl ✨✨✨✨

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

3) Demon Slayer

So I started reading it right after the events of season 3, of course.

Giyuu's backstory lowkey hit home-

He needs a hug. I won't say more.

Tanjiro is precious, as always, just like Nezukooo (a loud 'Nezuko-chan' came in my and after i typed that)

Oh yeah, Zenitsu:

Me to Shinobu, "Doctor, hes out again"

Nah because he didn't have to chomp Tanjiro's sky wide forehead like that???? 😭😭😭

So i have two volumes of Demon Slayer at home and i gotta say, the art improved and it's nice to have seen it grow. I know it's like this for most mangakas, but here i didnt see a whole art style change or whatever but something becoming finer while keeping that style very present.

The story is at its peak right now, i reached up to the point where Muzan decided to heehee himself in the no-no place for him. (idk how to say this without spoiling)

I'm luving it so far

Also, my husband:

I miss his gorgeous face LAWDDDDD HAVE MERCYYY

Though i already loved him before seeing his face.

I've finally memorised the master's name: Ubuyashiki

It's an achievement.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

4) Blue Lock

Ok i can't add pics anymore but I'm confident most people know what it is without having watched it.

I wanted to share some nice Rin pics but guess it'll be for another time. (yall will be missing out on my man)

So, i picked up from where the first season stops and-

I miss Kunigami. A lot. He was one of my favs 😭😪

Shidou is special (him telling Isagi he'd love to see him explode again got me praying for him fr)

The story has taken a nice turn with the U-20 team rushing things up. I love it but i want to see Sae play already so I'm being an impatient little bug.

The art is MUAH as always. I love the lines added for light shading, ill probably inspire myself off it for future drawings.

Hiori needs to be friends with Chigiri so they can talk about hair products (Hiori is like a short-haired Chigiri with cyan hair. My boy has naturally long lashes (Rin's remain better 💅)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That's all, folks!

I hope to read even more in the upcoming days and hopefully I'll get to talk about them like i just did above.

Expect headcanons from each of these mangas 💜💜💜

And you can even send me recommendations 😙✨

It's midnight where I am like damn-

Bye byeeeee

[existencebringsonlypain]

hey I lost motivation. can you praise my writing so I'll keep doing it

the ringing reverberates in their head.

they keep walking.

they don't have a choice in any of this.

they keep walking.

his voice echoes in their head. those horrid metal screeching noises accompanying it, too. they must've gotten really loud, because they couldn't make out the puppet's parting words through the ringing.

then again, that might just be the lack of oxygen.

they keep walking.

their autonomy is little to none, but there are a few things they control. or, don't control, they're all involuntary reactions. shivering, flinching, expression, tears. hyperventilating, as it turns out. not even a demon possessing their soul can stop the panic attacks.

anxiety attacks? they needlessly ponder the distinction in their head. they want to search it up, but their phone doesn't work in the dark worlds. also they don't have control of their arms, and if they did, they'd probably end up dropping their phone.

they keep- ....... it keeps walking.

not their choice, not their legs, not their lungs. they only hope the sheer panic coursing through their veins is felt by it, so it gets some punishment for its wrongdoings. and maybe because they don't want to be suffering alone.

it keeps moving their legs, putting one metal-clad foot in front of the other.

they can't breathe.

weird.

they always do this, it's like their brain and soul are seperate. brain and SOUL. whatever. but whichever part of them is paralyzed with terror isn't what's thinking these thoughts, because otherwise they're pretty sure said thoughts would be more akin to incoherent screaming.

they want to scream, it would probably be cathartic.

they don't get a choice in the matter.

left leg hits the floor. right leg hits the floor. the impact rattles their spine. it doesn't normally do that, they think. their ears don't normally ring like that either, and their vision isn't supposed to be this spotty and dark, right?

oh, they're slouching a lot. that makes sense, their steps would be more impactful then. but then why would that thing be making them slouch?

they stop walking. probably because they are now on their knees, that computes.

they should get up now, they think idly. just like they should take a breath out, jeez, what are they doing? their lungs are full, but they keep trying to take in more air without letting any out. that's really dumb and obvious, why are they doing that.

oh. susie's shaking them by the pauldron on their shoulder. they really should acknowledge her in any way, they think pointedly at the being holding the strings. alas, they are in no control of what's going on here.

their head thumps onto the concrete in front of them as the lack of oxygen finally catches up to their brain.

"What the fuck is going on?"

She presses the left arrow key a handful of times. Something fucked up, maybe some error in the cutscene sprites? They started doing the weird zombie-Kris shamble they do when they take out her SOUL, and now they're just doing the collapsed position and none of her inputs do anything. That's probably not how cutscenes work, but she doesn't code, she wouldn't know.

She reattempts the menu and sighs as it does nothing. Stopping to deliberate what to search up to adequately describe this bug, she gets out her phone, only to put it down again when Susie moves.

* What the fuck?!

Yeah, good question, Susie. Where was that in the script??? This was supposed to be a swear-free game. It has been up to this point.

* What the fuck?! Kris! Get up! What the hell!

Oh. This was... Intentional? Huh?? Is this what got the game rated in Australia, instead of piss?

Susie looks to be shaking Kris on the shoulder like at the start of chapter 2, but it looks a bit wonky due to the different in height they're at now.

Suddenly, the GOOD animation gets brought out? But only to have them thump their head on the floor, dealing a hefty 122 damage. What?

* KRIS?! SHIT. FUCK. RALSEI, HEALING SPELL.

What the fuck is going on? Ralsei shakes his head- guess the budget went to him to- and... flaps his hands? Paws? Oh, alright, autistic character headcanon time. She doesn't even like Ralsei!

* This isn't- This isn't in the script, what's going on?

HAH. Ralsei agrees. Love the fourth wall break. She notes that Ralsei's the one who brought it up, he knows about the script. She KNEW something was up with him! And he's STILL treating Kris like they're less important than keeping the game on track and entertaining her!

aaaand that's where I ran out of steam

[mcytrecursive]

Nomination Overview - Space AU

We have had over a hundred source materials nominated already, so it's time to start looking at some of the works that people intend to request or offer! And the first one to look at is Space AU, which has been nominated 8 times, ranging in length from a 2847 word one-shot to a 299,349 word epic.

Title: Out To the Galaxy Steady She Goes  Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/48639868/ Fandom: Hermitcraft SMP Author: TheDepressedCanary (FPSCanarussia) Characters: GeminiTay, ZombieCleo, PearlescentMoon, FalseSymmetry,Xisumavoid Length of the work: 28,277 Genre: Action/Adventure, AU, Family, Friendship, Space AU, Space Fantasy (SciFi/Fantasy cross, not sure how to tag it) Type: Fic Summary: Sailing ships cross worlds and stars, hunted by pirates and monsters. Ancient ruins sit undiscovered, concealing long-forgotten secrets. Space is vast and full of wonder. Pearl, in grief, clutches at every opportunity. Gem just wants to know more. Cleo - well, who can say? Yet the stars are not kind, and every journey holds its dangers.

__

Title: Space Mining AU Link: here and here Fandom: 3rd Life SMP Creator: wszczebrzyszynie Relationships: Team Ranchers, Cledubs, Ethubs, Scarian, Treebark, Convex brothers, ImpSkizz, Flower Husbands. Zedaph, Doc, Pearl and Gem are also characters. Everything mentioned as platonic, except romantic Jizzie. Characters: Tango and Jimmy Genre: Action/Adventure, AU, Drama, Post-Apocalyptic AU, Space AU Type: Art Series Summary: Space Mining AU. Tango was an engineer, became a wanted terrorist after he blew up Callisto, a moon where he was doing illegal skulk mining. He blew it up alongside other miners after finding out that skulk is alive, parasitic and infecting people, but he ended up being the sole survivor of the explosion, and the skulk wasn't completely sealed off. He ends up living with Desert Duo for a while (a pair of also dangerous criminals), and that's where he meets Jimmy. It kind of all goes downhill from there.

__

Title: He Has a Soul Made of Stars Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/35533927/chapters/88583056 Fandom: Dream SMP Author: NobleDragon Relationships: Wilbur Soot & Technoblade & TommyInnit & Phil Watson, Ranboo & Toby Smith | Tubbo & Wilbur Soot & Technoblade & TommyInnit & Phil Watson, Wilbur Soot & Philza, Wilbur Soot & Fundy Characters: Wilbur Soot, TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Technoblade (Video Blogging RPF)Philza, Ranboo (Video Blogging RPF), Toby Smith | Tubbo, Fundy Length: 16,875 words Genre: Domestic/Slice-of-life, Family, Found Family, Hurt/Comfort, Space AU Type: Fic Summary: And the heart of a galaxy. There is something in the vents of his ship, stealing their food and walking around at odd times of the day. Phil was going to catch that animal and cook it up for dinner if he has a say about it. Wait...it isn't an animal, but a sentient? And it's probably scared and hurt with no one to take care of them? Well...that changes things. Or: I'm going to make Phil want to found family something he hasn't even seen yet.

__

Title: free falling love addict Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/52783816 Fandom: 3rd Life | Last Life SMP Series Author: moonieangel Relationships: Grian & Scar, Grian/Scar Characters: Scar, Grian Length: 2847 words Genre: AU, Space AU, Relationship Study Type: Fic Summary: Grian's curls each knuckle, pressing it down, watching silently as the metal plates whir, clicking into place, as each finger tucks down in short, jittering ticks. “Yeah,” he says after a moment. “It's wonky.” “Well,” Scar says, “I could've told you that.” Grian grins at him, and there's a thrum of excitement in it, a sort of childlike enthusiasm to play with a machine. Scar had seen it precede the bursting of bombs. // Or, a fic where Scar is a cyborg whose arm is damaged and Grian is the mechanic who owes him. Or maybe the other way around.

__

Title: Lifeline AU Link: https://archiveofourown.org/series/3156309 Fandom: Hermitcraft SMP Author: SlashMagpie Relationships: Impulse & Tango, Impulse & Pearl, Bdubs & Etho, False & Stress, Impulse & Skizz, Pearl & Tango Characters: Impulse, Tango, Pearl, Etho, Bdubs, False, Cleo, Skizz, Ren Length: 299,349 words Genre: Action/Adventure, AU, Fantasy AU, Horror, Modern AU, Time Travel, Space AU Type: Fic Summary: A science fantasy AU about a species of body-snatching aliens attempting to take over the Earth and the ragtag bunch of misfits trying to stop them. Based on the Lifeline series of mobile games.

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Title: if - then - else Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/45779260/chapters/115204942 Fandom: 3rd Life SMP Author: Anonymous Relationships: Etho & Tango, Bdubs & Tango, Bdubs & Etho & Tango, Jimmy Solidarity & Martyn Littlewood, Jimmy Solidarity & Tango, Martyn Littlewood & Scott Smajor, Martyn Littlewood & Tango, GeminiTay & Pearl, Jimmy Solidarity/Scott Major, Bdubs/Etho Characters: TangoTek, Bdubs, Etho, Martyn Littlewood, Jimmy Solidarity, Scott Smajor, GeminiTay, Mumbo Length: 69103 words Genre: Action/Adventure, AU, Romance, Slow Burn, Space AU, Sci-Fi AU Type: Fic Summary: Tango wakes up in a hospital with no memories and a moderately concerned pair of crewmates. Along with a few of the others in the same ward as him, he attempts to recover his memories, navigate a few significant obstacles, and figure out just how he got here. OR a space opera au that started as something very self indulgent and slowly developed a plot bigger than the walls of the hospital it began in. now with space chases and strange new planets!

__

Title: Among us AU Rating: E-rated Link: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2478559 Fandom: Hermitcraft SMP Author: Tunfisken Relationships: Etho/Grian, Tango/Grian Characters: Grian, Etho, Tango, background appearances by other Hermits Length: 19,899 words Genre: AU, Smut, Space AU Type: Fic Summary: Air was rushing through the ventilation ducts, and there was a faint hum of machinery from the dormant medbay scanner. Ever so often, the lights overhead would flicker. His stomach was cramping, and Grian curled in on himself on the bed, trying to ignore the hunger that clawed at him. The imposter didn't want to die.

[adobe-outdesign]

Since it's been a while, could we have your thoughts on the other evos for the Paldean starters?

We'll go with the last two stages of the Quaxly line, as those are the only starters I haven't done yet:

Quaxwell isn't quite as unique of a middle evo as Floragato or Crocalor, as it doesn't have a distinctive visual element that's entirely its own (like Floragato's yo-yo or Crocalor's sombrero). With that said, it still avoids being nothing but a transitional stage due to its anatomy (not as humanoid as Quaquaval but not as duck-like as Quaxly) and its colors, which keep Quaxly's white and aqua but add a predominant darker blue into the mix.

Visually, I like the way the hand feathers are designed, and how the shape and patterning on them is mimicked by both the chest and the tail. I also like the simple limited color palette, with the light blue drawing attention to the face/eyes and a bit more on the chest and tail to draw the color through.

The one thing that bugs me about the design is the "hat" on top. It feels weirdly bulbous compared to either its evo or pre-evo due to how high up it goes, and the hard highlight makes it look bizarrely plastic-y. Something about the blue on the feet also bugs me, probably just because it feels rather arbitrary. Aside from that, it's solid enough and makes the direction the line is going in clear.

Thankfully, Quaquaval is a carnival dancer and not some kind of conquistador, as was my original fear when trying to guess what direction Quaxly would go in. It's also a peacock, something more obvious when its "aqua feathers" are spread out:

I like what they were going for overall here. The dancer theme is clear enough but not overly on-the-nose, and combining a peacock with the festive costumes worn during carnival makes sense. There's also a fairly clear through line with it and its pre-evos.

With that said, though, I do have two major issues with this design. First, the anatomy is pretty wonky. You have fairly humanoid legs that lead up into a duck pelvis, which then abruptly joins with a more humanoid torso at a 90 degree angle, almost like a centaur. It's bizarre to say the least, and really makes it look stranger than it should. Here are two fan redesigns that give it proper bird legs that I'm rather fond of:

The colors also bug me a bit. The red feels extraneous, especially on the coot feet, where it only serves to draw more attention to the toes of all things. The dark blue also feels a bit too dark—I would've preferred something closer to Quaxwell's palette— and it's strange to have white only in the neck area and nowhere else. I'm also not fond of the wing-hands, which look a bit broken compared to Quaxwell's, and I feel like the string of tail feathers at the side aren't needed.

Overall, the line has the right idea and some interesting concepts, but unfortunately some funky anatomy really holds it back from being fantastic.

Also, shoutout to its running animation. They didn't need to make it that funny, but they did and I respect that.

[comicaurora]

If you're wondering about fanart drawing people to be interested in reboot, it will 100% help. Look at Dream SMP, which I'm sure you have managed to notice throughout its insane popularity from late summer 2020 to spring 2021 (and it didn't stop after that even if it stopped trending practically on twitter).

Ask any fan, and I guarantee you at least 50% will say they first got interested because of the Sadist animations and the other fanmade animatics across youtube. If anything, it made them interested enough to learn more and give it a shot. And dsmp is in no way easy to get into, and while it was easier the earlier you started watching, it wasn't easy back then either. The only accessible thing about it is that it's 100% free to watch if you can put up with ads (or have a decent adblocker). Streams are hours long and could happen daily, from multiple povs. You often had no clue if a stream would have any actual "lore" (plot related comtent) or just be general messing around and playing minecraft, especially earlier when a lot was improvised and new storylines came from improvisation. Not to mention there could be multiple things going on at the same time regarding different storylines. Keeping track and keeping up was impossible for any individual who still had things to do despite lockdown (or lived where a lockdown wasn't enforced or had looser restrictions). Not to mention timezones, with majority of the streamers living both in the UK and the US, so while it was probably easiest for people from the UK to keep up, some stuff would be the middle of the night for them. Even still, the biggest stream had over 800k live viewers, and people getting +100k live viewers for streams wasn't unusual.

So much in part cause Sadist made that first anmatic and the algorithm made it blow up.

I'm not saying Reboot will become the next dsmp, but given that minecraft isn't really known for its high quality graphics, just like reboot has wonky animation, it can definitely help

I had often wondered why and how the world's most inefficient storytelling medium managed to accrue enough of a fanbase to trend on the regs

[giddlygoat]

Every single day, I try to draw, and every day since I met your blog, I've trying to learn what makes your art absolutely awesome!! You inspire a LOT. Thank you very much for your drawings <3

awww, thank you SO much for telling me! i was having an anxious day but this makes me so happy…. i hope your day is going well too :]

i’ve been drawing since i could pick up a pencil, but i clearly remember some of the things that inspired me to draw most, and made me consider my techniques from other angles.

some of my biggest inspirations are games like portal 2 and team fortress 2, and animated stuff like looney tunes, darkwing duck, and astro boy. if you enjoy something, be it a movie, book or anything else, let your imagination run wild and study the world and what makes it interesting and unique. the characters you love probably have distinct visual traits like a color theme, strong shape language, or interesting outfit.

i like to think about that kind of stuff all day and apply the things i like about other people’s art to my own characters and stories! see an inking style you love? try to copy it. i personally love the art style of things like sam & max, disco elysium, and grim fandango. these art styles are all strong, stylized, and happen to all take inspiration from the vintage. which i’m obsessed with lol.

i appreciate you saying that my art is awesome, and it makes me smile so big that you want to study it for inspiration 🥹💖 i encourage you to look for the cool art that you love, grab details and techniques from it, and see what you can make.

when i want to design a new robot for example, i think to myself things like “does this robot look like a radio or a dishwasher? how old is it? what color is it and how does it correlate with its personality?” and so on. maybe i see a neat transformer and want my robot to have similar ‘boot’ feet. maybe i see art from flcl and want my robot to have a television-like head. is my robot fast? what if it looked like a motorcycle?

you’ll hear tons of art advice over the years, and you’ll take something good away from all of it, even if sometimes that’s what not to do. the best advice i can give you is to try everything. indulge in what you love, practice what you obsess over, draw what makes you happy.

the worst thing you can do as an artist is think there is a particular way to do anything. go nuts! push poses, experiment with colors, speed up your sketches or jump straight to the painting! no technique is better than any other as long as you’re having fun and making something you like.

i hope you relish every second of your art journey and waste no time worrying about your art from two months ago that looks wonky or ‘bad’ now. remember, if your old art looks bad now, it means you’ve improved and you’re understanding your vision way better now. keep growing and take breaks when needed! just have fun and let’s smile at the canvas!

[the-kipsabian]

What do you like most about the new Stardew update? And what mods do you like to use?

oh my god theres so many good things. the multiple pets is probably my favorite. tho im also a big fan of the new fishing tourneys, the winter clothes add is super cute, new crops my beloveds and the new farm!! i always lean more towards raising animals than crops in this game so this was a huge one for me tbh

as for mods, i do have a few cause i do like some quality of life improvements that these give. the 'friends forever' and 'part of the community' ones that never decrease your heart levels and almost every little action boosts friendship are super nice as someone who doesnt put a lot of focus on befriending townsfolks. 'wear more rings' is just for convenience tbh, just like the 'stat bar reloader' which helps immensely especially at early game when you have to collect a lot of stuff and using tools is exhausting. i usually use the fishing minigame skip but thats not patched for the new update yet so. manual fishing. hurray /s

i also have a few visual things, got the cuter portraits and seasonal outfits finally reinstalled, and an earthy recolor which makes everything easier on the eyes (tho its not fully patched yet so its a bit wonky but for the most part it works. no more blinding winters for meeee)

i think thats mostly what i use? i dont like using a lot of mods but i was thinking of digging into the site again to see what new stuff they have that i could possibly try, since im sure with the update there is a lot of new stuff now

[wisecrackingeric-2]

1 5 6 7

THANK YOU I LOVE ANSWERING THESE WAHOO

1: ‘Do you prefer digital or traditional?’

DIGITAL ALL THE WAY BABY it’s actually kinda embarrassing I really do need to get better at drawing traditionally BCBEHWNWJSJ every class I go to we start it with doing some from life sketches traditionally and it feels so. So wrong. Like once I’m going I’m fine but the way my wrist moves against the paper feels so wrong my lines come out wonky so it’s definitely something I’ve gotta get better at BDNENENEJDJ

5: ‘Favourite thing to draw?’

Luis Serra Navarro BDNWHWNEUSNSJ OK ok I wanna be like ‘Haha jk It’s actually __’ but in all seriousness he’s very very therapeutic to draw and usually I draw him in situations/backgrounds that are also really fun to do!!!!!! But other than that probably my own characters, or scenic backgrounds I can put my favourite characters on top of!!!!!!!!! I like drawing clouds and windmills heaps (gee I wonder why)

6: ‘Least favourite thing to draw?’

OoooooOooOOooOo that’s actually a hard question HCNEHENEJSN I feel like I can make ANYTHING fun once I find a method that works for me, but I’m probably just gonna have to say anatomy/poses for now????? They always take SO MUCH TIME and yeah it’s satisfying once it’s done and it’s turned out good but the process takes FOREVER and there’s no way to get away witb shortcuts like with other stuff, and if you DO get something wrong its gonna ruin the entire thing so you HAVE to get it right!!!!

7: ‘How often do you use references?’

ALL. THE. TIME. Again I do classes with an animation company so we kinda HAVE to use references all the time BDNEHENDJJ but yeah!!!!!!!! Don’t be afraid to use references I swear they WILL improve your art!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ask game!!!!

[rubberbandballqueen]

About your tags: is there more that you can share about the OW fandom and fics? This was a phenomenon I wonder about too. It was one of the most popular fandoms around 2017-2018, but the way the fandom stopped on its tracks around 2019 was hard not to notice. Especially from people who didn't play the game but were aware of it's fandom.

oh! overwatch is one of about 50-ish fandoms i track for this one spreadsheet project i do as a hobby (which i Technically blog about @fandom-data-scientist, but i've been too lazy to do a proper writeup to explain what the hell it is i do), wherein i try to answer the age-old question: when did the weebs move to ao3?

(the answer is late 2015/early 2016. most likely this was in large part a result of undertale and sports anime, but that's currently just my own conjecture)

According To My Research(tm), the overwatch fandom peaked in late 2016/early 2017 when it comes to the number of new fics posted per month. after this, it declined quite rapidly, as it didn't even get to enjoy a plateau period.

(there's a reason why the plots are really wonky towards the end of this graph-- it's bc i found the past dates for number of fics archived to a particular site via the wayback machine. since those snapshots are typically bot crawls, the number of fics shown on the fandoms listings will not include fics that have been archive-locked. although i technically started this project in august 2022, i did not add overwatch to my tracking list until this june/july or so. my current guess for the small uptick in the rate of ow fics published to ao3 in october 2022 is that the sequel came out? and then the rate plunged for january 2023 bc of the ai scraping scare that happened at around that time-- nearly every single fandom i track had a significant drop right then bc everyone was archive-locking their fics. the rate shooting up in like july 2023 on this chart is bc like i said, that's when i added ow to my list of tracked fandoms; because i'm logged into my own ao3 acct when checking these numbers live, i get access to the archive-locked fics and so the display number goes up.)

in my experience, fandoms will generally kind of plateau in their fic production after their peak, which will ofc normally gradually taper off. games that receive regular lore or story updates probably have fairly long or stable plateaus, although i haven't made scatterplots or made any comparing analyses to prove this rigorously. this plateau period generally represents a time of fandom stability as the fair-weather, casual, or migratory slash fans run off to the next big thing.

if we ignore the fact the plague and quarantine happened, we can see a nice, steady, and very consistent plateau period for the danganronpa fandom from about 2018-2020!

let's look at an older fandom, like my archnemesis final fantasy:

granted, the ao3 numbers are kind of all over the place these days, but you kind of get my point by now, right? that healthy fandoms tend to plateau as the wind carries away the faintly-interested and leaves the long-haulers behind to form their communities.

overwatch struck me as unusual when i was on one of my long wayback machine trips because of the way there was a net increase of only two fics published from 1 july 2021 to 1 october 2021, when before then it had usually been in the hundreds or so. i then went on a work tangent n googled around n more or less concluded it had Something to do with some kind of scandal with the development company, but otherwise i don't really have any more comments on it hahaha.

[freakattack]

This is a littlw bit out there so bear with me but. actually im gonna slap this with a

anyways orbulon speaks very very formally in both english and japnese versions of most games but for some reason in warioware twisted he seems to be way more casual. Like for a guy who says "molecular sustenance heat transfer unit" when he means "microwave" i feel like this line of dialogue is jarringly succinct:

And he speaks like that for most of the cutscene like it's not TECHNICALLY unusual for him to use contractions but he definitely has a different tone. Idk waht the oriignal japanese dialogue is like so it may be a wonky translation but if we take this at face value and also get too invested in analyzing warioware dialogue then there are a couple thngs we could gather:

Orbulon has been shown in the past to get snippy when he's tired so that could be part of it

Maybe he drops the pseudointellectual facade when he doesn't havw anyone around to impress (not my favorite interpretation but throwing it out there cause its technically valid)

MY GAME THEORY: i think that orbulons long winded manner of speaking is partially because he has his weird ego thing but also partially because he has been shown to struggle with earth languages so i think that there are many times where he genuinely does just forget the word for microwave. Like his default avenue for conveying a noun is just to describe it with as many hyperspecific adjectives as he can muster. But in this scene he is only conversing with fellow alien freaks (not the same animal as him but similar). So my game hypothesis is what if he is speaking in his native language here and he is just way better at saying what he actually means when hes not trying to filter it through an earth language. I still think he does it a little on purpose sometimes because he sure does base his self worth on how intelligent other people perceive him as but i think he'd probably be a little more casual speaking the language he grew up with. The only thing that kind of throws a wrench in this premise is this line (and i apologize for putting this in fromt of your eyeballs):

Befause i'm pretty sure we're meant to assume he was so zonked out from this alien rabbit massage that he just stopped speaking english. Which obviosuly clashes with the interpretation that he wasnt speaking english to begin with. Idk what to do with this information really i'm just saying shit at this point. Isn't orbulon cool