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

[aergate-fr]

wow new, fat breed i hope people are being normal about it.

i think one of the main criticisms i’ve seen with everlux is that their design is anatomically/biologically implausible in some way, largely related to how they’re really fat with really thin legs. the main thing being fat distribution. going to say right off the bat that YES i know these things are dragons, and thus vertebrates. so you wouldn’t expect them to have the proportions of something like a grub

counterpoint to this: i dont think staff cares

so many of the other breeds have absolutely wild anatomy that would not work in the real world without magic. so many of these breeds should not be able to fly at all. staff does not care about the anatomical plausibility of their dragons; they just want to make a design they’re satisfied with

besides, criticizing the design because it’s “implausible” or has wonky anatomy doesn’t really work when there are REAL-WORLD EXAMPLES of small animals with large bodies and legs as thin as twigs, just like the everlux have (lots of them being insects, which is convenient considering the everlux are Based On Insects)

out of the 3 insect breeds we’ve gotten, veilspuns are some sort of. weird little dragon fairy thing? aethers are moths. and everlux are grubs. go look at a grub and tell me how big its legs are compared to its body

(traced-over picture of a grub, for the insect phobia havers :3 phobia havers who are not really rude about bugs like that person in the announcement thread was: u guys are the real ones. thanks for being normal)

they are really fuckin’ chunky, with really thin legs. which is exactly what everlux are shaped like

and a thing i think not enough people are keeping in mind is the size of these dragons. the longest everlux i was able to find was .9 meters (just under 3 feet), which includes the tail. so the head and body are like. half of that. these things are SMALL

there is something called the square-cube law, which, when applied to biology, explains why something like a mouse does just fine with its thin, spindly legs when it’s at the size it’s already at. but if you make that mouse the size of an elephant, then those thin legs are no longer enough to support its weight; it’d need thicker legs to be able to stand up and walk, like an elephant. an elephant, in turn, would not need legs that thick if you made it the size of a mouse

everlux dragons are on the smaller side, which puts them closer to mice with their thin legs. thin legs like that are perfectly fine to support a smaller creature, especially considering how many they have. if anything, I’d say the main issue with them is leg length. those things Barely reach past the body, they’d probably need something longer if they didn’t want to be smacking their belly on every single rock or exposed root or whatever that's in their path

TL;DR the anatomy of everlux dragons is perfectly reasonable you’re just fatphobic

(i know not everyone who has critiqued or complained about the body size vs leg size is doing it because fatphobia/internalized fatphobia. this isn't directed at those people; it's directed at the people who are. though if anything its just me using this as an excuse to complain lmao) (also this is the result of Years of watching shit like this happen so its less the reaction to everlux in particular and more it being the latest in a long string of fatphobic discourse) (aren’t you tired of being nice. don’t you just want to go ape shit.)

anyway. the ideal everlux dragon would look like this:

thanks for coming to my ted talk

[spongebob-connoisseur]

🕸💚💜Slappy Laszlo Ita Bag💜💚🕸

Everything you see here except for the bag itself (without any embellishments) is handmade!

My best friend was making an ita bag for her favorite character and I figured I wanted one too!❤ I had a lot of fun making it <3 I got to show this off at a con and got jumpscared when I realized I was sitting next to a twt mutual at a panel who said she loved my bag :D

Here's a closer look of the monstrosity <3 It was a nightmare making the rosette but imo 100% worth it

i handmade a slappy plush just to add on the bag. I gave up sewing half way and just started hot gluing the shit out of him. He was literally made in a single day😢

His body is really wonky. He looks thin😔 I wanted him to be kinda chibiesque with a large head and small body (well more than usual I mean) but my sister said it looks like if he was on ozempic💔💔💔💔

Moving on, here is the insert! I cut up an old spiderweb t shirt to use as a lining over the insert, I also bought plastic bugs from the dollarstore and painted them pastels to match Slappy(the bag of bugs was labeled "reptiles" at the dollar store but there was no reptiles! Isnt that odd?)

Slappy has no official merch so I had to make everything. I feared it would not be enough and I hate empty spaces so the bugs are there to fill out any gaps.

The buttons I also made. The library downtown has a fabrication studio so my bestie and I spend an afternoon making a gazillion buttons of our favorite characters.

Duality of man💯

The eyeballs were the most time consuming to make surprisingly enough! They're made from clay from dollar tree, I do not recommend, extremely fragile. I had to do this twice because it kept crumbling. Eventually I figured it out, covered it in many layers of mod podge, painted it over then shaded with eyeshadow. The pupils themselves are glass eyes, I forgot I bought them back in 2022 for doll purposes but it came in handy! These were originally pink eyes but I ripped off the backing and painted them over purple.

I wanted them to go in the center of the bag bows because that's a very pastel goth motive to have bows with eyeballs. And its very Slappy to have his soft boiled Peter Lorre buggy eyes in bows! :D Slappy's green color scheme can very easily be pastel goth. I have a vision💯💯💯

Anyways worst of making this was gluing on the false lashes! I'm not a makeup wearer so I have zero experience with any of this. But I will tell you that I was at my wits end trying to make the false lashes stick. I have a new found respect for people who do this regularly💯💯

I also did this criss cross ribbon thing on the sides of the bag. I was taking inspo from Gothic lolita bags so I really wanted this detail. I probably should have sewn them on but I got lazy.

I also replaced the zipper tags with coffin charms! Do not do this! They are not stable and I already lost one!

Final picture: I just wanted to show off the bag chain I made :D made from an old necklace, the beaded chain of a childrens toy. The only thing I bought was the spider charms to add onto it. They're supposed to be mint green but they look kinda blue in the photo. Ignore that.

I love Slappy so much that he feels like an open wound on my left side that's constantly bleeding out and causing me severe pain <3 My the back of my head burning up and my chest cracking like broken glass everytime I think of him <3 He deserves a cutsey patootie little ita bag dedicated to him UwU <333

If you have a favorite character you should make an ita bag too! Its a fun craft project. I think it's especially fun when it's not the usual stereotypical pretty boy/girl anime character! Just imagine a Renfield ita bag that's all cutsey Gothic lolita? Someone please make this vision a reality!

I would love to make a Spongebob ita bag someday especially since I already have a lot of Spongebob stuff (pins, buttons, keychains, etc) if they ever drop an official spongebob ita bag then you can bet your squarepants that I'll put it all together💕💕 I do think the Slappy bag would remain the most fun simply because I had to make everything from scratch meanwhile a hypothetical SB ita bag is just things I already own and was collecting for years. Never the less I'd still treasure it both since they're both my bestest boys💕💕💕

[hexi-artchive]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HARUAKI MY BELOVED!♥︎♡♥︎♡♥︎♡♥︎♡♥︎♡♥︎♡♥︎💖💖 💖💖💖💖💖

So this has been in the works for a long while. Originally I was planning to do this for Christmas last year, but I got busy with life, and school, and procrastinating. But I now I have it available for Haru’s Birthday!

ABE HARUAKI SHIMEJI VERSION 1.0

Just click the big words and download to get Haru! If you have any questions or issues just send me an ask and I’ll see if I can help! Also please don’t trace over my frames!

Have fun bullying Haru! ~☆

(Disclaimer under the cut)

♥︎♡♥︎♡♥︎♡♥︎♡♥︎♡♥︎♡♥︎♡♥︎♡♥︎♡♥︎♡♥︎♡♥︎♡♥︎♡♥︎♡♥︎♡♥︎

Somethings are off! This is pretty much a ‘proof of concept’ so it is very wonky. When Haru is climbing on windows or crawling upside down there will be a gap! So if you see it, yes i know that it’s there, don’t worry about it. Also the ‘split into two’ action is a bit janky in its animation so if it looks off, again sorry about that. (plus some frames look odd)

But don’t fret, this is a version 1.0! Though probably not now, I am planning on updating this and fixing the bugs. This isn’t my fully realized version of my Haru Shimeji, I have a couple of things I want to add and obviously fix before I call it finished, BUT I wanted to have this beta out so you guys can enjoy. When I was testing it out, I was having a lot of fun so I hope you guys can also have some fun!0

[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! ♥️

[themuseinthewoods]

Thank you for letting me know :)

I was wondering if platonic headcanons of fairies from Pixie Hollow would be possible. Reader plays the ocarina in a forest away from her house as it is a nuisance to her family. Her playing is what catches each fairy's attention. I'm not sure how many would be okay to write about sense there's so many. If there's a limit, would Tinkerbell, Silvermist, Fawn and Vidia be possible?

Of course! Tysm for asking, this is officially my first request and my first headcanons, I haven't seen this movie in a minute so characters may be a lil wonky but I hope you like them

Tinkerbell, Silvermist, Fawn and Vidia with platonic F!reader who plays the ocarina, human!reader but she knows about fairy's. The faires do not know what an ocarina is.

(i do not own these characters or am in anyway apart of Disney)

Tinkerbell

-Y/n had been playing the Ocarina for a while now and you knows your family is bothered by it.

-so, as always hoping to escape the tirade of annoyed remarks, you leave to find a spot to practice your music in peace.

-You find a nice little spot, not realizing it's by our dear Tink's workshop.

-Tinkerbell is working on some project or other when she hears this lovely tune coming from nearby

-looking out her window she see's a you contently playing an instrument she does not recognize

-after a little while she decides to go say hi and ask all her burning questions

-"I'm so sorry I didn't mean to bother you, I'll go somewhere else!"

-wowie, she did not expect that assures you it's fine, albeit slightly awkwardly cause now she feels bad

-"Please don't! I just wanted to ask you how it works."

-the pause that follows is awkward but it is made up by the rush of information that immediately starts coming out of her new friend

-you didn't realize how much you'd been holding it in and now you have someone who's willing to listen, nerd out and figure out how to make one for herself so you can teach her?!

-asks you to play for her while she's working, probably requests songs

-brags about how cool it is that her friend can do something so awesome

-somehow single handedly makes up for the lack of family support you have

Silvermist

-Your at the workshop open day, picking up your new ocarina after your brother "accidentally" broke your last one because Tinkerbell is amazing and managed to make you a human sized one

-Silvermist stops by briefly to say hi to her friend before going about her job, and of course she says hi to you but thinks nothing of the instrument you are holding so tenderly.

-you decided to test out your new ocarina, so you head to where you know there is water because playing to the tune of the river is relaxing

-Silver recognizes you from the shop and decides to stop say hi

-is immediately impressed, you don't even get to apologize

-"You're so good! That's such a pretty sound, can you play for me more?"

-and of course you oblige.

-instantly horrified when she finds out how your family acts about you talent and helps you find a place to hide your instruments

-tries to write music with few drops to see if you can play them

Fawn

-the first thing this girl asks you is if you can make sounds affects for the other fairies/humans to prank them and you cannot change my mind

-but your music helps calm the more skittish animals down and she does appreciate that

-She came across you while you were playing for a small audience of birds because look at that face on that blue bird, how cute is that

-super impressed

-she honestly gives me ADHD vibes

-totally figuring out a way for you to help her prank people or give her an alibi

-she does enjoy your playing without the pranks, especially when she's with her animal friends

-offers to help you get your family for not liking your music, whether it be an animal infestation or pranks, she's got you

Vidia

-this girl honestly, at first she thinks its really lame especially cause you're a human and you can just sense how lame she thinks it is and so you just avoid her, although you don't interact much with the other fairies.

-but once she has had her what I like to call her realization moment she notices that it's not as lame as she thought

-for a while you still avoid her or at least avoid eye contact while you play in your little corner that she somehow managed to find you in your hiding spots

-requests you play something

-her exact words are something like "if you want to play this next it would be pleasant."

-will never tell you how much she likes hearing you play but the amount of songs she has you play says otherwise

-very offended by your family and that's also part of the reason you know how she really feels

-might race your music by seeing if she can go around a certain thing and be back before you end the song.

[molathesunfish]

How do you draw so freely? Its beautiful

Thank you very much!!

Assuming you're referring to how loose my sketches are, I think it boils down to mileage. Alongside the classic recommendation of reference + study, usually when I get really into a piece of media I'll draw characters I like a whole lot and it builds muscle memory, and the ones that end up in my posts usually have already been through that process to some extent.

Studying references + going through a couple dozens rounds of extra wonky proportions and nonsensical physics (definitely visible on my own posts lmao) will help with both your brain and muscle and once you've stacked up enough of that it'll become easier to intuit certain things and keep stuff looser.

(hey this got really long, so just scroll to the bottom to see my current sketch process if you'd prefer that)

In my personal experience as a hobbyist, I spent roughly 3 years butchering the loomis method until things looked even remotely to my liking. And by that I mean "layering bullshit guidelines so thick and heavy that by the time I'm done lightening it via eraser there was barely any paper left." Drawing has been and still is really frustrating sometimes but for most of it I have a lot of fun and honestly as long as you have that it doesn't really matter whatever else (again, hobbyist here. my stakes are low). Switching up medium every once in a while if you can helps keep things interesting, and drawing with a pen is good for building both line confidence and tolerance for your own mistakes.

Honestly for all of that this stuff is still RNG to me lol. Every once in a while things just Will Not Work Out, but the rates definitely gets better the more experience you have. I only post about, say, 20% of what I draw probably. The rest includes but is not limited to practice sketches, personal art, stuff too nonsensical for even tumblr, or sketches I just plain don't like.

Uhhhhh now for what you actually asked. I've grown really lax, if not a little lazy, regarding guidelines (when you've drawn a specific thing often enough it just kinda gets tedious) so now i just do these very thin and light lines vaguely hinting at a character's pose and position. The only thing I consistently do is probably the little circle to indicate the head. For more heavily stylised proportions I'll go into more details at the outline stage, mostly aiming for the feeling of it (usually how goofy it looks since thats what I use them for). For more complex poses/ones I'm not familiar with I'll do multiple iterations.

Unearthed some stuff that I probably wouldn't post otherwise (the proportions are a bit off from what i'd prefer and the lineart isn't that confident). Here i am redrawing this for demonstration purposes

gonna go in order of the photos. everything shown was done with a 0.5 mechanical pencil.

usually i start with these very thin, light lines, just getting a very rough ideas of where everything is - head, torso, pose (spine, arms, legs). i sketch largely with approximations and landmarks, keeping in mind some bullet points for the relative distance among certain body parts (e.g. make sure the elbow is always a little past the rib cage. i'll write more out at the end) rather than any precise guidelines. i often don't even clean these up - at the end the main lineart is harsh enough that they override these, and though they're visible they do not interfere with the image as a whole. you can look at any of my sketches prior to this and find them.

then i go in with hard, dark lines, once again noting the respective distance among facial features (i'm using the loomis proportions, thinking about the face in thirds)

this is so unhelpful when i just say it, but genuinely at this stage i rely on muscle memory and mileage. if you've drawn the same anime girl for a bajillion times you can probably intuit the proportions. remember that 3d things have volume and interact. ("yes, see, her bangs and eyes round out like this, two locks of hair (they're thick and well kept, so they should have a solid cylinder shape...) against the side plane of her face - split that plane of the skull in half, and the ear should be somewhere around there...")

ok for the parts where a lot of things happen (clothes, tie, the pose interfering with them etc) i just go ham. make a mess! draw everything out even if they overlap each other. so you can keep track of them. here i also bring in some light shading to make out the form of her torso.

i lighten the whole thing with eraser, but the previous lines are harsh enough that the residue can act as a new base of sorts. i think this is comparable to having a sketch layer with lowered opacity in a digital piece

i go over the whole thing again now that i've got a better idea of the form

rinse and repeat. go all in, adjust, blow the whole thing up if it looks off and then build on the remains

for the last photo, you can see that I've adjusted the right leg, since now im taking into account perspective. I uhhhhh still am not particularly confident in drawing her shoes (or any other shoes for that matter) in 3d space so once again I'm bullshitting the form with trying to wrap around its shape and to visualize the shadows. usually for these I pull up references and pray

a side note for the hands: against an earlier ask, I've mostly switched to using silhouettes and then sectioning the fingers after. here the slight shading approach also help in blocking out and making them readable without you having to stress over the minutiae of what joint should bend where.

...I've hit the upload limit for photos, so I'll reblog with additions, but in essence:

• very thin lines to map out the pose and mark where certain body parts may go

• i draw everything in approximation, keeping a few bullet points in mind and adjust as i go (which does keep the sketches loose and make it easier to vary proportions for different characters, but also make floating features more likely (evident in some of my more recent posts as well):

loomis for the head and neck

rib cage (+collarbone), then elbow slightly below it

pelvis, crotch halfway point of the whole body

legs, knees their halfway point

feet are about as long as the forearm usually

(Disclaimer: i must stress again that I'm not a professional, and cannot guarantee that these bullet points are entirely correct. This is just how i draw at the time of writing - stylized with little regard for the intricacies of human anatomy)

• with the exception of the first stage, my lines are dark enough that the mistakes get reused as base for correction after they've been lightened with eraser a little bit.

• I also bring in some shading while doing lineart to make sense of form if I'm having trouble. I use this most often for noses, hands, legs, and breasts.

• if you encounter a sketch that Refuses To Work Out, leave it. No, listen to me, Leave It. Revisit it sometimes later, if you want (for mine they range from a week to 5 months, but my sketchbooks disorganization is another matter entirely). just leave it for a bit.

• do a bunch of pen sketches if you wanna get comfortable with mistakes/build muscle memory

• once more, all-time classic: reference the hell out of anything you don't know. 100000 google images. look up a human anatomy 3d model to see what muscles attach to which bone. practice copying 1:1 things that look good to you (practice!! don't post/claim anything as your own if it isn't - this applies to my own stuff btw, feel free to trace for practice at your own risk). note again that the only reason i can only bullshit my way out of these is because i've drawn them dozens of times - the moment you throw me more complex perspectives i'll need to start the learning process all over again

[commanderdianashepard]

I gotta get this off my chest because I’ve been super passionate about ever since I started rewatching Beast Wars after watching a few other Transformers cartoons.

Just know that this is my personal opinion and if you actually like Beast Machines, this is not an attack on you, I respect your opinion, and I’m glad you can enjoy something that I despise.

With that being said let’s get this started.

Also it’s been a few months since I watched this show all the way through so there’s some things I don’t remember that well. Most likely because of how much of a fever dream this show was and how it nearly drove me insane. So if I get anything important wrong or leave it out please let me know in the comments.

~

Beast wars may be a popular entry in Transformers, but it constantly gets disrespected by the franchise itself. Let’s start with its sequel, Beast Machines. Where do I even begin with this fever dream of a show? Putting the jacked up robot models with the surprisingly good animation aside, this show should just be called “Character Assassination: The show.” I get a lot of people disagree with the character assassination take, but for me personally this perfectly describes this show as a whole.

Let’s start with Optimus Primal, a guy who in Beast Wars is a great leader who’s willing to admit he’s not perfect, and also willing to listen to his fellow soldiers when something is wrong. He’s also willing to fix any major wrongs he and the other Maximals may have done on Earth since like he says in the show, they are guests on the planet and the Beast Wars have put the native animals in danger and killed some of them. He’s also very calm and it takes a lot of instigating to actually piss him off. Lastly whenever the chance to not use violence is presented to him he takes it, he doesn’t want to fight, almost none of the Maximals do, they only use violence to defend themselves.

All the Maximals do have flaws and the show acknowledges that, and that’s why they go through development to overcome said flaws and try to become better people. I can go on all day about this but I need to get to the point.

Beast Machines takes all this development that these characters had and throws them out the window. Primal becomes an emotionally unstable mess whose brain becomes dementia ridden because of the stupid oracle. As some people said it best he basically became a religious extremist who just snaps at his comrades whenever they do something slightly wrong. I get he’s probably like this because of the environment they’re thrown in, but this was just ridiculous, and this bullshit behavior clearly rubbed off on Cheetor.

Speaking of Cheetor let’s talk about him. Cheetor overall is mostly fine in this show, however like I said Optimus’s behavior rubs off on him and he has those moments that make you face palm. For example the scene where he and the others ended up nearly killing each other and the organic core by bringing the Cyberforming virus into the hideout. He also clearly has anger issues that had his VA pushing his limits with how loud he could get and crack his voice. So to summarize him he was alright but not perfect.

Moving on, now let’s talk about Blackarachnia, I don’t have much to say about her but here’s my two cents. She’s definitely one of the better characters in the show but she definitely had some flaws which is to be expected, there’s just some areas that kinda disregard her character in BW. This shows with how weirdly motherly she is with Primal and the others which is not really a trait she had in BW.

I get that the Maximals had a weird case of amnesia that kinda just chose which things they did or did not remember, but this is still kinda wonky. It also just gives a bullshit to not mention ANY of the dead Maximals or Preds from Beast Wars as if they weren’t important, honestly though, Dinobot was better off not being mentioned in this show, just let him rest in peace, War for Suckatron Kingdom certainly didn’t.

The most jarring example of how her character was kinda ehhh in this show was how she brought Silverbolt back. Considering how her arc with going to the good side was handled this was kinda a slap in the face to the morals of personal choice in that arc. The way she forcefully brought him back and pretty much killed this new character in the process was a bit screwed up considering this was the same guy who helped her come to the good side while still allowing her to be her bad bitch self. Other than that she was pretty okay in this show.

Rattrap was probably the best character in this show despite his own WTF moments, for example the episode where he decided to borrow that Mech suit from Megatron because he was sick of everyone getting on his back when he was trying help Primal’s stupid ass. Even though that whole thing made no sense, I couldn’t help but side with him because I’d start tripping too if I had to deal with a Religous extremist Ape. Other than that debacle he pretty much carried the entire show, if he wasn’t doing half the stuff he was doing they all would’ve died in the first season. For example They’d never get SB back or find out what happened to Rhinox (we’ll get to him later) and deal with that situation. I could go on and on about him carrying this shitshow but this is long enough already.

Side Note: Scott McNeil himself admitted he didn’t even like this show but he made a sacrifice making it more bearable to watch with his performances.

Speaking of Scott, let’s move on to good old Silverbolt. Like his wife, he was alright, however he did kinda get on my nerves because the reason for his attitude wasn’t properly addressed. Like him distancing himself from Blackarachnia came off as pretty edgy and it just seems like he wasn’t willing to properly discuss things with BA. Despite the bullshit way the show explains his edge lord phase, I’m giving it a pass because it’s easy to come to the conclusion that the guilt from ripping out his wife’s spark as Jetstorm definitely stuck with him and it didn’t feel right talking to her afterwards. Overall he ended up being himself again at the end and had a happy ending with his spider wifey.

Before we get to the big issues I have with this show let’s do a package deal. Nightscream was a character who annoyed me at first but he slowly grew on me and now he’s my son and an important character in mine my friend’s fanon. Botanica is one of the most underrated Queens in Transformers, who never even got her own toy. Both of these characters deserve a comeback in a better show where they can be able to shine. Lastly to get this out of the way, Savage Noble deserved better and should’ve became his own character and not given the Transmutate treatment, AND ALSO NOT USED AS A PLOT DEVICE FOR MEGATRON TO LITERALLY GROOM NIGHTSCREAM! SERIOUSLY WTF???

Bonus mention is Waspinator because he’s a GOAT who never dies, he got robbed of a happy ending but he survived and that’s all that matters to me.

Now that we’ve gotten those out of the way, let’s get to the really bad stuff.

**Sigh**

Rhinox, oh poor Rhinox what have they DONE TO YOU??? His turn to the dark side makes zero sense. I am not buying that corruption of the spark BS. There was nothing in Beast Wars that gave any signs that he’d end up doing something like this if put in this scenario. He was one of the chillest Maximals right next to Primal and he was pretty much the MVP who was there from the very beginning. Primal wouldve been long dead if it wasn’t for him.

To throw away his character like this and then try to have him act guilty about it after Tankor got taken out was such an ass pull. Primal’s way of handling it didn’t help either and the fact that he grieved this fucking traitor was utterly ridiculous. Like we’re supposed to care that the fucker died. Like no dude you threw his character away and ruined him. This is the biggest slap in the face next to not getting his Transmetal form at all in the show while his toy got one. The guy we once cared about was turned into a genocidal maniac for seemingly no reason other than Megatron’s crazy ass whispering in his ear because the show wanted to be super edgy.

Speaking of him, last and definitely fucking least is Megatron. What in the fuck have they done to Barney?! Megatron is the big bad of Beast Wars yes, but him going on this level of batshit insanity is just out of place and not in character for him. This makes more sense for certain versions of Decepticon Megatron if anything. Why would I watch a new show with these characters just for this guy to be the main villain again. He was a great villain and all, but why can’t we get a new villain or have him come to the good side due to the fact the Preds and Maximals have a common enemy and they will all die if they don’t work together?

So much potential here but they decide to make Megatron take the insanity path and take away all his funny quirks and personality traits. I felt nothing for this villain just like I felt nothing for Primal, he just felt like your typical big bad who lost his mind due to some bullshit that isn’t even properly explained. Like come on dude he didn’t have to be the villain again nor did he have to end up like this. I would make a suggestion for a better big bad for this show but this post is already way too long.

~

In conclusion Beast Machines is the definition of getting fucked over by your own sequel. Taking all the good storytelling from Beast Wars and just sweeping it under the rug. It could have been a great sequel but it chose to go the worst route imaginable.

Now I will say, this is definitely not the worst Transformers show *I’m looking at you WFC trilogy and Energon*, but holy shit is it up there. The only thing keeping it from being close to those two shows is the fact that it does have some redeeming qualities, honestly good animation, and surprisingly good writing despite the BS story. It also managed to get a fan base that can defend it, definitely not me though.

Anyways that’s the end of this yapping session, my next one will be a bit more positive and short.

Next up is Cyberverse Cheetor.

[phightingheadcanons]

This is directed to Mod Yapgraft's question about the longest gear name

If we're including the possibility of being named after cosmetics like Ghosdeeri and Pwnatious, I think that The Rhombicosidodecahedron is probably your best bet (can't post links because of anon but you should be able to find it just alright)

As for actual gears, I couldn't find one that stands out but I found some promising/funny ones

Bombo's Survival Knife

Dagger of Shattered Dimensions

Stop Hitting Yourself

Porter's Pumpkin Pitchfork

Atmoblaster 777 (purely because it would be funny if the birth/spawning certificate said Atmoblaster Seven Seven Seven)

Sharp Shark Sword

Business Cat's Business Briefcase

-Tax Evasion Anon

Uh might have gone too ham with this one (sorry that this is more of an OC post uhhh but this was inviting to do so but I digress)

This is Rhombicosidodecahedron, or just Rhon for short.

Uh very Follower Sword inspired but instead of being possessed by/cursed by/under the influence of/whatever Illumina, they get cursed by the concept of geometry

this design was made pretty quickly so sorry if it’s not the best 🙇🙇🙇　(I made them with the sole purpose of calling them by their full name when in trouble so yeah) (sorry if they lore is also very wonky/doesn’t align with Phighting canon I just came up with this at 3am)

Lore/expalanats/other cool things under the cut

LOOORE:

When Rhon first spawned (in Crossroads because I’m too tired to connect them to a specific faction), their gear was a small Rhombicosidodecahedron that they use as a necklace pendant (as seen in the normal ver.). It was just that. A Rhombicosidodecahedron. Using their innate good knowledge of geometry because of their gear, they were able to land themself as a professor in some sort of institution in Crossroads at a pretty young age.

The thing is, the Rhombicosidodecahedron is actually a separate sentient being (kind of like an animal gear except it had the ancient knowledge and power of straight up phucking geometry and math). It couldn’t really communicate and was sick of Rhon living a mundane overworked college life (believing that they were wasting their life away when there could be so much more done), so one day, after Rhom came into contact with some of the Blackrock crystals as part of a study (don’t ask me why), it phucking possessed Rhom, turning them into the transformed ver., and wanting to tear down the gods with its power because that’s what math does.

Rhon (the actual Inphernal underneath) obviously does not want this to happen and does not want their gear controlling their own body. They both internally figure things out Venom style until they reach an agreement. Rhon will get to keep their mundane life and Rhombicosidodecahedron will only come out if they come into any actual danger.

yeah that’s all I’ve got that’ my whole bank account at this point.

If you got any ideas please share them to my main instead of here!! Main is @thesillyexpresser

[some-pers0n]

interesting ideas about AI art and by no means am I trying to send hate but I believe majority of people hate AI art is because it's truly just the byproduct of a giant plinko board bouncing through pieces of art made by artists who put love and care and SOUL into their work. A visual product of a math formula. While it's "art" in the most litteral sense, not having a true human behind it putting though and effort into its every detail, for many people (myself included) devalues it from a tradition artists work.

I'm a firm believer in the idea that AI art is inherently unequal to non Ai art, specifically for this reason. (Hope this made sense sorry if it's incoherent)

I agree in that sense there. I personally do not find myself wanting to engage in a work when I purposefully know the creator had used AI to create the entire product. Something something,,,I cannot find myself getting invested in something that is little more than a product. I don't wanna read a fic about my blorbos when it was written by Chat-GPT

I also agree with the idea that a lot of people hate AI art because of this heavily emotional, debatably reactionary mindset that stems from one thing: fairness. It's the same sort of emotion I find one gets if all of the work on a group project gets shafted onto them whilst their fellow peers sit idly by. It feels unfair to sink hours into your craft, spending all this time fighting to develop your skills and flourish as an artist, only to see someone type half a paragraph and have a machine spit back something that looks not half bad. Let's be honest with ourselves here and say that AI art, at least in a visual regard, has progressed quite a bit to the point where most of the mistakes people find can be dismissed as wonky perspective and the line art being a bit fucky, which is something a ton of artists struggle with too

People develop a sort of a superiority complex over it. I can't blame them honestly. A number of times I've felt it too when people tell me they're using Chat-GPT as though it were Google and when I see my family members and friends playing around with AI art. I gotta bite my tongue and choke back a chortle, both because it's kind of a dick move and also because I don't want to relish in this feeling. It's infectious though to feel as though you have an edge over another person just because you abstain from using Chat-GPT or whatever. Not to be all "grrgrgrr you should LOVE Chat-GPT and if you dare to say anything bad then you are EVILL!!" of course though. It's emotions. They're messy, intense, and oftentimes you don't really realize when you're feeling since you get locked into your perspective. Yet, I think it's important to realize a lot of hatred of this generative AI stems from emotions. Reactionary ideals and claims stem from emotions after all

I think ultimately what the conversation about generative AI should revolve around is about the concerns of labour. The several strikes from a while back from VFX artists and scriptwriters come to mind. They are most at stake from generative AI as tools like Chat-GPT are cheaper and more cost-effective than paying an actual employee for their time and effort. I would also mention the environmental issues, but if we were to talk about that we would also have to acknowledge the fact that so, so much water is being used up daily to generate power for servers. Hell, this post alone will probably contribute to drying up some marsh in the greater scheme of things

Anywho yada yada TL;DR: I agree yes but I also think it's important to recognize that a good chunk of your hatred to Chat-GPT stems from feeling cheated and a sense of pride and superiority over others for simply not using it. There is no quality to Chat-GPT that makes it inherently evil. I can't get upset at my grandma for sending me a photo of her and her dog that went through an AI anime filter. I can feel maybe some exhaustion when seeing a fellow classmate using Chat-GPT to write their essay, but ultimately I write my own work for the love of the game. I can get upset however at those in higher power who use it to push artists out of jobs. Chat-GPT is a tool that has its pros and cons and I think it's reductive to just basically sit there and hiss like a vampire when presented with a cross when faced with the mere word "AI", especially when your only big argument for disliking it is based purely in feeling cheated when someone types a prompt into a program and art that would've taken you seven hours to draw gets spit out in about a minute or two

[thunder-opossum]

Hey, Thunder

Busy with exams and things so I haven't had much time but I do now

You seem really stressed about everything right now

Remember:

Including bad themes and arcs in a piece of writing does not make you a bad person nor does it mean you support any of it!

You tried to write some heavy themes and it didn't work out, which is also normal; but you never once said you supported it, you had never painted Saint in a good light, you had Saint suffer consequences of their actions and you had all the other characters rightfully hate them, you did not excuse their behavior, you did not give them redeeming qualities, you did not give them the time of day

Another way to think about it is to look at more popular writers/artists, for example:

Suzanne Collins wrote The Hunger Games, a young adult dystopian series, which features putting 24 children (12 - 17) in a fight to the death battle against each other every year where only one gets to live, animal testing, child soldiers, war, and even the stuff that happened to Monk but in a grander worse scale (though that was not in the focus for very long). Does she support any of that? NO, Hunger Games was written to highlight and put down these things

If a story has bad themes it does not mean it supports it, people who think that lack critical thinking skills, it's there to be shown as bad and be put down

You are not a bad person for creating a work of fiction, just because someone isn't capable of separating reality from fiction does not mean that you are

Other than that, I hope your tailbone has been giving you less pain and I hope your thumb has been healing up better with no sign of infection

Stress is normal, especially when things are bad, so don't beat yourself up over that

Emotions are normal and feeling them is the first step to feel better

Regression is a normal part of recovery, recovery is not linear

You're okay, you're going to feel better, you are strong

I'm sorry you have to go through any of this at all, it's difficult but it is temporary

I hope you have a better day

Thank you thank you thank you.

I know what i support and what i don't, and I know that there were many factors that went into the collapse of monk blog.

Its still pretty dumb that people think I would support that stuff. I know there has been mote talk of the subject with "dark romance" books. But I certainly did not want to share the story like that. Tysm for the reassurance.

Id really liek to see what tha person considered as evidence tbh. Especially if they actually did scower through my stuff like they said they did

My tailbone has been really good because im not going to school much anymore. But it is certainly still broken!!

And my thumb looks a bit wonky. But im taking antibiotics, so it will probably be okay.

Good luck on all your school stuff o7

[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

[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

[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

[yourknifemyside]

"On the outside, the battles might be hard… but the friends are real!"

#1. Pokémon 3: The Movie (2000) 🔁

I wasn't intending to start the year off with a rewatch of something, but sometimes the opportunity just sneaks up on you! A friend of mine happened to ask if I wanted to watch it, and I was like "hell yeah." I haven’t seen too many of the Pokemon movies, but for my money, this one clears the rest on that short list. I've long said this one is the best because it "has themes", but there's definitely more to it than that!

Easiest place to start: this movie looks fantastic. Though I didn't really grow up with it, I'm super nostalgic for the visuals of the early gen Pokemon anime. This is pretty much just that visual style slapped on the big screen, with even nicer animation, and you'll never catch me complaining about that. More specifically, the locale is checking all the boxes for me. In those wideshots of Greenfield you get the most beautiful contrast between its tall mountains, lush rolling hills, and the elephant-in-the-room giant flowery castle of ice that appears to have uprooted things. The spaces inside of Molly's castle are the other clear highlight, from her crystal-y princess bedroom, to the battlefield where she fights Brock. I can't get enough of that pink sky, that's gotta be my favorite little area in the whole film.

Something that really caught me on rewatch is just how well paced this movie is? This thing doesn't even clock in over 75 minutes long, and the pace is pretty brisk, but at no point does it ever really feel like it's rushing to get from Point A to Point B. At least for like, the first two thirds of it, there's a nice balance between letting its plot develop and not wasting time hanging around, things just keep moving at a natural pace. It's especially noticeable here because we really don't spend that much of the movie on Pokemon battles, it's a lot of travelling places and talking, but it never really gets boring or starts to drag. Again, the first two thirds of it, at least. When we do get battles, they're really fun! Honestly, they aren't as bombastic as maybe you'd expect them to be for the movies, and they're all pretty short. But, they break up the pace at the exact right times, and what they lack in spectacle, they more than make up for in character.

I think the movie starts to get a little wonky in the back third. There really isn't much actually wrong with it, it just starts losing my attention around here. Which is insane, because you'd think an eight minute long fight between Entei and Charizard would be the hypest shit on the planet, but its honestly the slowest part of the movie for me, which is a damn shame. I also feel like the movie just kinda... ends? Things are resolved sure, but this is the one part of the movie that really feels like they're rushing you out the door. I think this thing could've taken like five minutes off of the Charizard fight and put them into a more fleshed out, fuller-feeling ending, and it may have been better off for it. This is definitely the weakest stretch of the movie to me, which is a shame, because it also contains probably my favorite part of the whole thing, wedged right between the fight and the rushed ending (we'll get to it in a sec.)

Something unique about this movie compared to a lot of its peers is that it really isn't all that much about Pokemon. Of course, they’re all over the place, and they're doing stuff, and they inject a lot of charm into every scene, but they really aren’t what the movie is about. For example, Entei has a sweet role as an imaginary surrogate dad, but between him and Molly, he only becomes the focus when it’s time for action. The Unown are a hugely important piece to the plot too, but again, they’re much more a collective force of nature than they are important characters. It’s just surprising how human this “Pokemon Movie” is, but I think that's why it works so well!

Ash, Misty, and Brock are here! There's really not too much to say about them, since they're pretty much exactly how you'd expect them to be, which is fine by me. I think the standout character of the returning cast from the show is easily Ash's Mom, Delia. For someone who is otherwise a pretty nonexistent character, I really really love her role in this movie as... an actual character! There's a shocking amount of tension when she appears on screen after getting captured, like she knows giving up her facade could be a dangerous mistake. Her interactions with a certain five year old girl are also a great middle ground between sweet and tragic. I would not have expected her to be the most exciting one to watch out of all the preexisting characters, but I'm pleasantly surprised to see it. As for the characters original to the movie, Lisa, the trainer Ash fights during the opening credits, is pretty cool, but let's not beat around the bush—the standout is very clear here.

Why is this five year old the most compelling character to come out of this entire franchise... Molly Hale and her story are the highlight of this whole thing, and is where the "themes" come in. This kid's story is of the dangers in retreating too deep into escapism to deal with immense grief. I really like this exploration of how a scared, lonely, traumatized kid would use these sudden magic powers to further shut herself out from a difficult and painful reality. I like, in the face of all the fantastical elements at play in the Pokemon world, how realistic it ultimately is for her to act as she does throughout the whole movie.

I also appreciate how the movie makes a very large point of how unsustainable and dangerous it can be to continue handling her grief in the way that she does. It keeps her safe and comfortable for a while, but eventually becomes too much to uphold and begins to collapse in on itself. Molly's initial refusal to leave her castle and faux family behind, puts her at risk as the Unown's powers start going out of control. It wasn't until she finally chose to let go and persist in the face of her trauma, to continue to live and to desire reality, that her and everybody else could be saved. Her realization that there's so much more out there for her, and her decision to chase after it despite how much the world has taken from her, is my favorite part of the movie, and it really resonates for me.

I’ve seen some people take issue with the ending—as in, the very, very end during the credits, saying Molly’s reconnection with her father and especially her mother kinda tanks the impact of her story’s resolution. In a way I get where they’re coming from, but I think that line of thought kinda misses the forest for the trees. Her resolution is much more about the choice to move forward and continue living, which she makes fully uncertain either of her parents will ever return. Molly realized that what she really wanted was still out there all along, outside of the monument she built to her sorrow. And it's real. She just had to choose to keep living in order to have it. Sure, precious few of us will ever have the same fairy-tale ending to our story that she got, but what we do get is the choice to persevere, the choice to let our dreams push us forward towards a better reality, rather than cage us in place.

That's what I always take away from this movie, and that theme resonates a lot more than I would've expected it to. At the end of the day, sure, it's still a Pokemon movie, it's not the deepest thing in the world, written by the quill of a true auteur... but was it really trying to be? It's just a sweet, charming, heartfelt little movie, with a real sweet emotional core and impactful message tying it all together.

"I want things real again."

7 / 10 MVP: Molly Hale

Watched on Jan 6th, 2025

[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.

__

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.

[sherloss]

So I made some characters for a show I made up, the Name for the show currently at the Moment is “Night Dwellers” but I might change it cause it sounds kinda corny and bad in my opinion but I don’t really know what else to name it besides that. But there are going to be more characters soon!

This show though was kinda inspired by a huge mix of media but mostly disventure camp, camp lakebottom and Total drama, this idea USED to be just some silly tdi au I made one day while I was bored but I’m pretty sure I’ve changed so much that it’s basically become its own entirely new thing with some of the characters even being non-human (yes, I am aware some if not very few contestants in tdi turned into monsters or supernatural beings) but at this point I’ve considered that maybe it’s for the best I push the whole tdi au stuff away and instead focus more on making it unique! Plus, it’s not really much tdi besides the character designs from what I’ve placed out since 1, this show doesn’t even eliminate the “contestants.” And 2, it would probably rather be like some comedy horror stuff, similar comedy & horror to the amazing digital circus but not really, plus a lot of the humor is probably gonna be 18+ so that’s gonna be lovely to draw out.

But I seriously would want to animate this even if my skills in animation are quite a bit wonky- it would kinda change from 2D to maybe 3D but only with the scene though- the characters would still stay kinda 2D in a way if you get where I’m trying to go with this. But sadly for now I’m probably not gonna y’know, start animating quite yet since animating hurts and I do it by hand & not by pen/stylist.