#it’s also nice sometimes to look back at the old versions and go ‘oh yeah that’s where i started :’)’

[mochiimadness]

I wonder what it would be like for Splinter if he fell in love? This isn't an xreader thing, for obvious reasons. It's just a scenario I haven't really seen explored for his character, and I'm curious how you'd portray it.

Hello! I wasn’t sure which version of Splinter you wanted, so I did both! Also, I could write a splinter x reader if someone requested it (not sure what you meant by 'obvious reasons' /lh), I did not make this one a splinter x reader tho ^^

2012 Splinter

Oh Hamato Yoshi, a man of so little yet so many words-

It takes him a bit to actually fall in love

He is hesitant about pursuing another romantic relationship

Is genuinely traumatized from his last one

Rightfully so, he saw his wife die, daughter as well (or so he thought for years) all at the hands of someone he onced called his brother- only to get mutated soon after.

Yeah… not a very good experience…

But when he falls, he is absolutely devoted to his person

He is very formal, approaching his crush in a gentlemanly manner

Is kinda old fashioned

The type to bring flowers and open doors for his partner

When he was with Tang Shen, he ended up losing sight of what was important

And became very distant and dismissive

He knows better now, and makes sure to go out of his way to pay attention

He does still struggle though,

Often choosing to meditate over quality time

As his relationship grows, however, he becomes better at being present.

Makes sure to set time aside for his partner

He doesn’t mind doing whatever, but he does prefer quieter activities-

A drama show perhaps, or drinking tea together.

As he becomes more relaxed in his relationship-

His playful side emerges

And surprisingly- he can be very goofy

I mean- he has a cheese phone in a glass case. He chose that. It’s meant for serious emergencies- you can’t tell me he wasn’t making a joke about his current mutation.

He tells dad jokes- really corny ones too

And his laugh is a full-on belly laugh where he throws his head back

He enjoys making his beloved laugh,

Will sometimes even ask Michelangelo for any new jokes to tell!

Overall, he's very sweet, goofy and old-fashioned with his partner,

He is also incredibly protective- perhaps a bit over protective

But considering the fact that he and his family are being hunted down by the man who killed his last wife-

His over protectiveness is warranted.

Does NOT take chances- if his beloved is captured, he is going there and demolishing anyone who gets in his way.

Makes sure his beloved is okay, before taking them home to curl up and watch some old drama show

Cheese-sicles included.

Rise Splinter

This may or may not come as a surprise-

But I honestly think it takes him a while to truly fall in love with someone

I feel like he has some trust issues

Definitely has high walls when it comes to relationships

Being a popular celebrity back in day taught him a thing or two about letting people get too close

Most people were usually only after him for his fame and fortune-

Looking to use him to rise to the top themselves

So he made sure to keep a decent distance

Until Big Mama of course

Which only made his trust issues 100x worse.

If he were to fall in love again, it would only be after a long time

There needs to be a very strong, and very solid foundation of trust

He would like to avoid being locked up and forced to fight to the death again, thank you very much.

On top of his trust issues-

He has major abandonment issues

If he ever went through with trying to have another relationship,

There would need to be a lot of communication-

Lots of working on and assuring him that his partner isn’t going anywhere.

As for his behavior??

He’s very avoidant in a rather outgoing way

It’s kinda weird to witness actually

The second he realizes he actually has romantic feelings for someone- he’s panicking

Tries to avoid them but also makes sure to be nice

He’s nowhere in sight whenever his crush is around but if they happen to catch him?

He’s chatting up a storm, sitting them down for a cup of tea or some food

Casually handing them a slice of pizza and once their attention is on it

Poof- vanished from sight once they turn around.

Once he starts actually giving a relationship a try though??

Man is whipped with a capital W

THE BIGGEST SIMP EVER

Quality time??? Physical touch???? GIFT GIVING??!?!?!!

His crush is getting it all

Quality time is an absolute must, he always wants to be around them no matter what it is they’re doing.

Knitting? He’s there.

2am snacks?? He already has their favorite

Movie time???? He made sure his projector is completely repaired AND made the couch the comfiest spot ever.

Loves to cuddle and hold hands, generally likes to be in contact with his beloved in anyway he can

Will even wrap his tail around one of their limbs if his hands are full

*cough* or if he’s too lazy to move from his comfy position *cough*

And on top of that?? He actually has decent money from his time as Lou Jitsu

He can and will have his sons help him figure out online ordering.

His beloved is getting any and everything they want

Only the best for them, he makes sure to buy top quality items

A lot of the gifts are an eyesore to look at though- his personal taste is…. intense…

Thankfully, his family helps him out.

Overall a very attentive, but clingy, partner

Will proudly boast about his beloved to anyone who asks (or doesn’t)

Has one of those wallets with the long long photo strips

He shoves them in everyone’s faces

I hope you enjoyed!! Apologies for the long wait;;

[cedarwoodtears]

ud characters playing the sims bc im bored

ashley: for such a sweet girl you’d be surprised at the fact she has a lot of sacrificial mods..what do you need them for?????? she still has her cute little family households of course but why do you have THREE serial killer sims. tbf they’re some of her ocs so it makes sense!! she loves making her ocs and making them have cute little happy domestic family lives…but also. so many strip clubs ashley we get you wanna look at virtual boobs LMFAOOOO we know all the animations you have downloaded yeah..it’s okay no shame in it girl ✊ ash doesn’t like playing around other people though she would rather not flash them….

chris: dedicates his time to breaking and exploiting the game…the ways this man thinks of ways to get a million simoleons you would think this man is el0n reincarnated no LOLLL even he’s got to step back sometimes and be like “this is a little fucked. oh well” and goes back to trapping pregnant sims in the pool and forcing them to constantly spawn cradles outside because they’re immortal and stuck in a constant birth loop. it’s entertaining as hell though i can’t blame him hours absolutely fly by when he’s breaking the game, half the time he’s just on call with his friends and sometimes sharing his screen so they can watch the horrors

emily: spends HOURS in cas. don’t ask how much cc she has on her computer. she stopped checking long ago. barely ever plays in live mode or build mode but always has the most EXQUISITE JAW-DROPPINGGGG sims. like wow i didn’t even know pixels could look this good. she’s made over all the townies and loves to make more…and they all manage to look unique in their own way she does NOT struggle with same face syndrome. em has made herself and the sim version of mike fight and she killed him LOLLL she used to do that with all the people she didn’t get along but now that she’s made up with a good majority of them they’re good friends in the game now..how cordial!!

jess: build mode GODDD oh my gosh she does not play around like that. you’d think her dream was to be an architect or interior designer the way she plays. she managed to rebuild the washington lodge amazingly!! it took her awhile to get the confidence to go back up there but she took her reference photos and got back..it took her a few weeks but she did it!! that’s her biggest achievement so far but she also just generally makes super nice houses!! like girl if you don’t use your talents in the real world NOW!!! we need you jess please save us from these ugly modern homes..babygirl..babygirl please…she hates modern homes. some of her favorite styles are gothic revival and mediterranean ^^

josh: he sometimes uses it to cope with his sisters deaths…he has a save file with them and him and he spends a lot of nights making them all a happy family with no worries 💔 usually he gets real sad after and doesn’t touch it for a few weeks….but then his next save is his mafia kingpin drug dealing multi millionaire who is the king of willow creek and has 80 girlfriends LOL josh what a life you’re making your sims live..either that or making the most old pathetic senile men do crazy stuff WHYYYYY is that man a stripper he’s about to die in one day LMAOOOO he occasionally uses the sims as inspiration for his short films funny enough!! maybe not the mafia one. or the um. other one. i’m sure him and chris would be down to poorly recreate it and laugh at it though

matt: has the WORST luck when playing…his guy somehow always manages to get caught on fire, drown, get into fights, get abducted by aliens, get stuff repossessed, all the bad things you can think happened in the sims has happened to him. tbf he doesn’t really know how to play so that doesn’t help LMAO he makes sure to save constantly at least!!! matt does his best to keep a happy family though even if it means doing a little money chest here and there ahem..kaching…motherlode…it’s not cheating if it’s for the better. that’s what he says. so it’s not wrong. matt also loves making the moms knit for the kids too i just think he sometimes wants to take knitting ideas from the game so he uses the moms to do so..

mike: his sims are always so ROWDY and WILD wdym your sims are bad as hell. and not in the good way. homewreckers, leaving toddlers homeless and constantly getting into fights and having the whole neighborhood hate you like mike 😭😭 not his sim self though. no that man GRINDED for WEEKS to max out all his skills and become the prime minister. and also have like 50 friends and an amazing romantic partner and be a multimillionaire all while being dashingly handsome…just like himself in real life, no?!? nah he knows that’s not true but doesn’t mean he can’t wish!! but yeah if it’s not himself in the sims they’re all such objectively bad people LMAOO we need to take away the extreme violence mod from him..

sam: always cheats to make the animals constantly in a good mood and never age bc she can’t let them die that would be wrong…sam loves making super long family lineages though like one of her favorites is her royal family of canada one..not the most realistic duh but it’s a silly little hobby of hers she’s had since she was a kid!!! there’s always an ominous graveyard outside the house with all the ancestors though. just a bit creepy. anytime she sees a ghost she sends it back to the spirit realm she will NOT have them roaming around!!! sometimes she just moves them onto another lot bc she’s trying to deal with 8 sims at once and well it gets a bit distracting having random furniture start floating when 3 of your sims are about to accidentally starve

[louiesselfshipramblings]

Once in a Lifetime: ENA selfship!!

My relationship with ENA as a series is a bit interesting. I knew of her through tumblr for a while, I'd say, but never looked into it. My friend showed me the trilogy of shorts that had her (it was "Auction Day", "Extinction Party", and "Temptation Stairway" at the time), and I thought the style was cool! I didn't think much of ENA as is, but to be fair, I was still a blossoming bud when it came to figure out what I liked. After all I was only, like...eighteen. Lol.

Ena is def one of my more recent selfships, and I was kinda unsure of her when she re-entered my mind. I was unsure if it was really smth special, or just kind of a spur of the moment situation. I was still kinda feeling that as I got this quite frankly amazing commission, but seeing the WIPs and ESPECIALLY the final product made me go "Oh yeh...that's my gf!!!"

The Lore!!

My sona here is known as Lüc, which is a somewhat corruption of my own name? I wanted something that matched the sorta off-kilter, fake-video-game vibes of ENA as is. Tho, given the sparse nature of world building as of now, I'm kinda just making the setting...Earth-like with special features, lol. Maybe DreamBBQ will change things, idk yet.

But!! Lüc!! He's a starry eyed (quite literally) mid-twenty-something who owns a local theater, but it's a lil crummy. Has an old, 80s style appearance due to lack of budget, which also effects the showings. Since I can't afford big releases, I mainly show older public domain films and cartoons, with "new" content being indie films. It attracts...people, at least. I also sell cashews instead of popcorn cause I don't like how kernels get stuck in my teeth (and in lore an unpopped kernel cracked a tooth of his as a kid)

Ena sorta just stumbled in, as she does, and hung out in the lobby. Didn't even see a film, but she did buy some cashews. We did chat for a while. It was a brief encounter, but...I kinda fell for her at first sight XD

The feeling of liking was mutual, course, but she didn't really think it romantic at first. Which is why she visited so often! To see her friend! Yippie...but eventually I had the guts to tell her how I feel (we were close enough friends by then), and she was a little surprised at first! I was worried I upset her at first, but turns out she was just thinking it over. The look of realization on her face and the way she blurted out "THAT'S WHAT THE CARNATIONS MEANT!!!" still stick in my head, heh!

We didn't start right there, exactly. Ena said she needed time to think it over, so of course I let her. I was bracing myself for waiting a whole week of not seeing her, but she ended up popping back in three days later, roughly. She seemed a lil lost for words, which shocked me seeing as she usually had such colorful vocabulary. I tried to give her some support in realizing her feelings and such, before she blurted out, again, "I LIKE YOU A LOT TOO?? CAN WE DATE MAYBE???"

And we just kinda started dating! I took her out to a very nice restaurant, and that's also where we had our first kiss!!! And we've just been kinda going regular since! She still lives at her place, but she visits a lot to mine (second floor of the theater, saves space and money!!).

We're still very much enjoying being each other's bf and gf, so marriage is hardly on the table. No kids either, probably. Neither of us think we'd be able to handle it, lol. Moony visits sometimes too! We...get along best we can. I realize she's Ena's best friend, she realizes I mean a lot to Ena. We tolerate one another for her sake.

But yeah! That's my self ship with Ena! The series timeline is kinda...nebulous? Especially with DreamBBQ and the whole "second" Ena. I mainly just ship with the OG blue-yellow pre-TempStair version of her; gonna have to wait and see with this new gal!

The amazing art of me and Ena coming together was done by the always spectacular @cupiidzbow! I said before but you did just AMAZING here!! Like my sona is great but also your Ena is so cute???? I def gotta get more with her from ya! And you, the reader, should support Freddie and his monkey business!

[ryuichirou]

Replies

Shorter replies related to recently posted artworks!  And some other stuff.

Anonymous asked:

The anon who sent the ask about twst boys’ reactions to a partner who doesn’t masturbate is still here, it’s me. I actually forgot I sent this. Also, I just found out that tumblr will do that with a / included. Looks so weird.

Anon, you are an angel. Thank you once again for the question, it’s good to see you here.

Also yeah, apparently it does! I didn’t even notice that at first. If you’re talking about it changing it to the %, that is… But it happened after posting, so the initial ask looked the way you intended.

I know we had one post that tumblr “ate” a chunk of because of some of the symbols I used... I wish there was a way to make sure it doesn’t happen.

Anonymous asked:

I love your art the only thing that bothers me is that it sometimes clashes with my darker than night no blue light setting and I have to decide if I'm desperate enough to blind myself with light after finding a corner away from public eye or can I wait to blind myself with light when I get home? (Dont know why I'm always in public when you're more risker things go up)

I am sorry Anon, I hope your eyes are okay lol I love using darker colours and contrasting lights recently, it probably doesn’t help the situation either.

I don’t know if it’s ever safe to open our stuff in public… I’m sorry you have to go through this inner conflict every time ✊😔

Anonymous asked:

You are so right that Trein is babygirl material. Being a tired old widowed man with children is PEAK babygirl

Exactly, Anon! It’s all about the energy.

Plus, we just watched Ruggie’s Dorm Uniform Vignette, and oh god… this man is insanely babygirl. He is so cute when he is all worried about his precious cat… :”3 <3

Alright, about yesterday’s fem!Floyd:

Anonymous asked:

a fedora and calling someone "m'lady", yet somehow it makes her more appealing

this just proves that what the nice guy incels really need is bigger boobs and sharp teeth

Yeah, it’s almost not fair lol Floyd has such an advantage! One would say, two of them…

Although even imagining just a regular boy Floyd doing this exact thing doesn’t feel too cringe somehow. Is it because he is a fuckboy?

Anonymous asked:

Hot damn

I hope she's in Mostro Lounge violating health codes, Azul could make a real business out of that one

Yeeeeah with the twins being such nice-looking ladies, you know it’s incredibly tempting for Azul to start using it to her advantage lol

Anonymous asked:

Twisted Wonderland if it was better goddamn those are some TITS

Superior version!! lol I can’t stop thinking about mermaids being big-boobied…

Anonymous asked:

If the person is beautiful, regarles gender, that person still ɓeəutfuI

Exactly, but also I am a weak person who is biased towards women..!!

Anonymous asked:

Holy melon

🙏 🍈

Now about Malleus the birthday boy!

Anonymous asked:

That it? Only a side of his butt?

This is already more than most are lucky to witness when it comes to Malleus’ gorgeous butt <3

(I say as if I haven’t drawn his butthole spread open 1000 times)

Anonymous asked:

That face! I like the detail on the robe. Also

HOW CAN HE SO BEAUTIFUL WHEN HE SLEEP ?

Thank you so much!! I can’t with his outfit, it’s so incredibly pretty…

I DON’T KNOOOOW this is his Prince magic… what a gorgeous creature

And about another birthday boy!! <3 Gilbert!

Anonymous asked:

AHHH I didn't know you know about heteila !!! You're officially the best my favorite characters are both Italy and Spain!! 🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡

Of course we know Hetalia, Anon! It was such a huge part of our lives growing up lol It’s still is, to be honest, we come back to it at least once a year... to draw Prussia for his birthday of course! There are Hetalia drawings on this blog from like 2011-2012… and those aren’t even my oldest ones of them, yikes.

Spain and the Italy brothers are wonderful, we love them a lot too! 🍅

Thank you for your kind words <3

Anonymous asked:

Holly shit its gilbert/prussia! Didn't expect to see him but ita a pleasant surprise. Know my bff will enjoy seeing him as well mostly since I normally spam her with a lot of your twisted stuff

Ahhh I hope your bff enjoyed seeing him lol I’m glad we could surprise you with him though!

Anonymous asked:

HETALIAAAAAAA IN 2025! My day is made!

Dein Zeichnung ist sehr gut! Ich mag deine Art!

No one who knows better German judge me. I only have a year and a half under my belt.

It’s a lot more German that I know so damn Anon you’re cool!

Also, Danke schön! <3

Anonymous asked:

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH MY PRECIOUS BABY BOY GILBERT!!! THANK YOU FOR BLESSING ME WITH MY BOI!!!

You’re welcome, Anon! Enjoy your boy. And thank you <3

Now about the Trey/Deuce comic…

Anonymous asked:

Trey: you will die if you don't have sex with me

Deuce: okay

Ahh, Deuce!! This is way too easy..!!

Anonymous asked:

Trey has forgotten that one can't tell jokes like that to duece, since he's a few eggs short of a full basket. And I say this as loving as possible

Trey always underestimates just how naïve Deuce can be around a senpai that he trusts, just as much as he underestimates how little people doubt shit that he says…

Anonymous asked:

Japan people like to eat raw egg right? Why Deuce blush!?

Yeah, people around the world do sometimes. Not by licking it from the table though! Deuce doesn’t even fully realise why, but it feels embarrassing somehow… I wonder why indeed…

Anonymous asked:

Don't waste food.

LICK IT

He’s on it! Like a good boy!

Anonymous asked:

Now Trey is wanting Deuce's tongue to be used other than getting the egg.

Should drop an egg on his own crotch next time then…

Anonymous asked:

Naive boy. That not the egg you should lick. There are 2 more with a sausage waiting for you.

Be careful, Anon, what if he bites the sausage… we can’t risk Trey’s well-being like that..!

Anonymous asked:

I love how you draw Trey 😩 he's so hot

Thank you so much, Anon!!

I don’t draw him often, but whenever I do, I try to keep in mind that people apparently find this man hot, so there should be some sexy air about him…

Anonymous asked:

I see you with those blush marks Trey.... Seeing Deuce lick off the table like a dog turned you on didn't it Trey......... It's okay Trey this is a safe place please tell us all about it 🥰

It certainly awakened something in Trey’s wicked mind…. He has much to think about after that…

[jewwyfeesh]

Vampire Siblings

Writer: 日日日 (Akira)

Character(s): Isara Mao, Sakuma Rei, Sakuma Ritsu, Anzu

Translated by: jewwyfeesh

Disclaimer: I translated this story from the CN version of the game, which means that it has been double translated (JP > CN > EN).

Rei: Oooh!! Ritsu!! GOOD~ MORNING~ ☆

Season: Autumn Location: Track and Field

Mao: Mmm~ The feeling of fulfillment after a good prac! It’s really amazing~ ☆

Oh, thankies. Is this isotonic drink for me, Anzu? You’re becoming more and more ‘Producer’-like with every passing day~

Seems like you’ve been running after lots of other units besides us Trickstar lately.

There there, you’ve worked really hard ♪

But yeah… even though I’m one to talk, I still think you should take care of your body and your schedule. I’d feel really guilty if you pushed yourself too hard and something happened to you.

Never mind. Let’s go home, Anzu. Today’s my turn to ‘send you home’, so I’ll make sure that you get home safe and sound.

Though… lately, it seems like I’m always the one sending you home…? To the point where I’ve even gotten to know your family fairly well.

Sometimes I’d even stay for dinner…

But I’m not complaining. My family’s the kind to do whatever they want. As such, we don’t really spend a lot of time together. So… It’s nice being with your family.

I wonder if it’s because I can do things like household chores all by myself?

Everyone tends to think, “Oh it’s fine if we leave Isara Mao alone, nothing will happen to him”, but my younger sister has always been coddled and spoiled by our parents…

Hmph, would it be better if I tried to act a little more spoiled? But the second I come back to my senses, I’m back to taking care of others again. I feel old.

You’re also someone like this, so please be careful. You can also lean on me sometimes, you know~?

Eh… I’m meddling in other people’s business again…

It’s about to become a bad habit of mine, forget it, forget it… It’s pretty good to be relied on by others, but I’ve been ‘like this’ since I was young.

It’s because of Ritchan, my childhood friend~ If I leave him to his devices, that guy literally won’t lift a finger to do anything. When it got to a point where I couldn’t stand it anymore, I could only go and help… I’d help and help and help till I became ‘a meddler and a half’ ♪

You know Ritchan, right? Knights’…

Ahh, so you’ve also taken care of him before. He’s always so lazy, you literally can’t ignore him~

…Eh? You’re saying Ritchan’s over there?

Ah, call for the cat and he shall appear… where is he~?

Ah! Goodness! This guy, sleeping outside without a single shred of protection!

One day you’re gonna get pickpocketed, what are you gonna do then…? I reckon he fell asleep after lunch, and slept ‘all the way’ till now~

HEEEEY— Ritchan!! Don’t go sleeping in places like these, you’ll catch a cold ya know~?

Ritsu: ……Mmhhghhh? Huh… Maa~kun…? Wh… don’t wake me up…

Mao: Of course I need to wake you up. The school gates are gonna close soon, and if we don’t get moving we’ll be locked in. Our school has always been particularly ‘strict’ about these kinds of things.

Ritsu: Eh~ …Well, whatever. I could just continue sleeping here and save myself the trouble of having to come to school tomorrow. The more I think about it, the better of an idea it seems~

I’m really sleepy, so just leave me be. No matter how much I sleep, it’s never enough…

Mao: You… you haven’t changed one bit…

Hm? Eh? What are you hugging? It’s not a bolster… right? A tree stump? No, that seems to be a person…?

Ritsu: What?

Rei: Huu… snzz… ♪

Kekeke… Little baby~ Be good~ �� Go sleep~ ♪ Uuuu ♪

Mao: Ahh~ Taking a closer look… isn’t this Ritchan’s older brother? Why are the both of you snoozing together? Seems like you have a really good relationship~

When I got to know Ritchan, this person was always overseas, so I didn’t get to know him very well.

To be exact… I only found out he existed after I enrolled in Yumenosaki Academy. Ritchan doesn’t talk about his brother very often, so I got a little worried…

Who knew that the both of them were actually so close ♪

Ritsu: …Maa~kun, do you have anything sharp? I think staking him in the heart would definitely kill him.

Mao: N-no, you can’t just go around killing people. Eh? Do both of you have bad blood? In that case, why are you sleeping next to each other?

Ritsu: I don’t know what this thing was thinking, nor do I have any interest in finding out…

More than anything, I want to bury this thing six feet below and wipe my hands of it ‘as though nothing happened’. Now. Immediately. The faster the better.

Rei: E-eh? What happened, is it already time to say “good morning”? Ah? Where am I?

Ritsu: Yo. Why are you sleeping next to me, huh? You reek of mould, so stay further away from me. What happened, how are you still alive?

Rei: Mmmhh… My mind’s all fuzzy just after waking up… don’t ask so many questions at one go…

What’s there to rush, hm…? Re-rest a little… yawwwwn… ♪

Ritsu: No. No sleeping. I’ll kill you.

Rei: This tone… one that shows no mercy, even to one’s own blood brother…

Oooh!! Ritsu!! GOOD~ MORNING~ ☆

Ritsu: Don’t hug me! You’re so annoying!

Okay but spit it out. Why were you sleeping by my side? Depending on your answer, you could be demoted from “someone who seemed to have been a brother previously” to “stupid bug”.

Rei: Even if you don’t demote me, it’s a bit much, don’t you think?

Nothing much… It’s just that when I was leaving for home, I happened to see Ritsu sleeping. I was worried that you’d catch a cold, so I used my body warmth to warm you up. This is a big brother’s love ♪

Ritsu: Is that so? I understand, you don’t need to say anymore. Complete waste of Earth’s oxygen.

Maa~kun, could you help me get some cement from the warehouse? I want to solidify this thing in there and let it sink to the bottom of the ocean.

Rei: We’ve just woken up, and yet Ritsu’s already trying to get rid of me!?

Mm~ Anywho! The elderly aren’t quite suited for outdoor camping… My whole body’s sore and stiff…

Ritsu~ could you help massage my shoulders please ♪

Ritsu: Didn’t I tell you to shut up? You stupid bug.

Mao: Okay okay… as brothers, you guys should try to get along well. Though, let’s leave the fighting and the shoulder massage aside, yeah? We’re really about to be locked in school.

Rei: Oooh, you’re from Trickstar… It’s already this late… Thank you for waking me up. Ritsu~ it’s been a long time since we brothers walked home together hm~?

Ritsu: Brother? I don’t have a brother, though?

Rei: Don’t deny your brother’s existence with such a deadpan expression… That’s a bit much, even for a younger brother, don’t you think? I’ll start crying…

Ahh, I can’t… My tear ducts are getting weaker as I age… Uuuuuu~

Mao: Ahaha, I think I kinda understand your relationship, Sakuma-senpai.

Ritchan, the more you talk, the more others are gonna think “oh he’s just in his rebellious phase”, so maybe it’s better to not talk altogether?

Ritsu: Damn it… That isn’t the case at all. I had only wanted to throw this annoying ass thing into the trash bin. Whatever, it doesn’t matter anymore.

Maa~kun, you want to send them… send the Transfer Student home, right? Hurry up and go, don’t worry about us.

Rei: Mhm, please be careful on your way back. Who knows what kind of demons will be roaming at this hour – for example, vampires… and the like… ♪

Mao: Yep. I’ll be careful. The both of you too; no more fighting, okay? Hurry up and go home~

Rei:

Mm, I’ve always been praying that I’ll have a close relationship with Ritsu! We’re brothers after all ♪

…Ah, Ritsu? Where did you go? Hey— Ritsuuuu~

Ah, he dashed off at the speed of light. He really does hate me, huh? Hehehe ♪

Wait a minute, I am also more active at night! Well, when it comes to hide and seek, I’m not about to lose to a ‘novice’ ♪

Aaah… Running around like this under the night sky, it really reminds me of our childhood ♪

Ritsu: D-don’t chase after me!! Didn’t I already say you’re annoying!? Did it completely fly over your head, you infuriating Anija!?

Rei: Excellent, excellent… he’s finally willing to acknowledge me as his brother. Anyways, we take the same path back home, my super duper adorable little brother…

Translator's notes: [1] The original CN term here is 「菜鸡」, slang for "complete, total noob". I translated it to novice, a synonym. Personally don't think Rei would call Ritsu a "noob".

[my-name-is-markus-with-a-k]

prime numbers for the gif-maker asks? 👀

2. Least favourite set? Oh, I'm sorry but I don't want to answer that 😅 I've deleted any I really don't like, but I will say there's a set that keeps popping up in my notifs where I'm like 'really, that one again???' But that's all I will say. People like what they like.

3. The set with the most notes? This one with 1559 notes. I'm happy with that, it's a good set. The ones with Connor in them tend to do well.

5. Favourite movie/tv show to gif? dbh is my main fandom so yeah, dbh but more specifically, Markus. I just love giffing him, it's almost therapeutic at this stage.

7. Who are my top 3 gifmakers? @thirium @aghostinmyownmachine @mijchi for dbh gifs and also shout out to @babyjapril who is not a dbh giffer but her gifs are always incredible (sorry for the random tag ana).

11. One set I made that just won't die? I legitimately don't know what this means lol

13. Where and/or from whom did you learn to gif? I'm mostly self-taught but I have relied on a few tutorials here and there.

17. How many gifs do you prefer in a set? I guess 2? That's how many I usually make in a set, so that must be my preference. I do like a 4 set too though.

19. What I'd my giffing process like? Very on the fly, lol. I check to see if I have the footage I want, if I don't I screen record the scene I need. I upload that into ps, trim the clip to what I need, change the speed and crop. Then I brighten and colour them to whatever I'm feeling at the time. I always sharpen last. It's what takes the longest and I sometimes have to finick with the settings a bit until it looks nice on tumblr.

23. What's the thing you gif when you don't have anything else to gif? Take a wild guess. It's my boy ofc

29. Have you ever posted a set, realised you made a mistake later but realised it was too late? Oh yes many a time. Usually on sets with text and I made a typo. That's happens pretty often 😅 I usually go back and fix them anyway but then the old versions still get reblogged lol

31. Do you schedule/queue posts or do you post as soon as you're done? I usually post when I'm done. If I'm not really happy with a set, I'll save them to drafts and look at them later. If I decide they're actually OK, I'll post them, if not, I redo them. But I don't schedule posts, I'm too impatient.

37. What sets do you have planned to make in the future? There are a few sets I'm waiting to do when my skills catch up to my visions. But right now? There's a quote gifset I want to make with Markus but it will require time I just don't have right now.

41. Least favourite part of the gifmaking process? Oh my god, uploading to tumblr. I never really know what gifs are going to look good. Sometimes I'll spend ages on a set, upload to tumblr and it look like ass, so I have to redo the whole thing. It's infuriating.

43. Do you keep videos or delete them once you're done giffing? I keep them unless I need the space. I'm pretty lazy like that hahaha

47. Any advice for novice gif makers/people who want to start making gifs? Gif tutorials are your friend. I'm mostly self-taught but whenever I get really stuck, I search for gif tutorials. They are incredibly helpful.

That... was a lot of questions and I had to google prime numbers like a chump because I could only remember prime numbers up to 20 lmao

[grittyreadsfic]

once again: happy hockey big bang! the podfic eafay70 did of don’t know what you’ve got (til it’s gone) was such a great listen, and it made me want to focus a bit more on audio storytelling for this playlist. it’s three playlists-one from nolan’s perspective, one from tk’s, and one from nico’s, but each playlist features the same artist in the same order. it was definitely a new challenge but it was a lot of fun to try something new. there’s also a version with all the songs

we start with gracie abrams, because it was listening to her songs that made me want to try and do it this way.

nolan

i love you im sorry - gracie abrams

I was a dick, it is what it is / A habit to kick, the age-old curse / I tend to laugh whenever I'm sad / I stare at the crash, it actually works / Making amends, this shit never ends / I'm wrong again, wrong again

the wedding song - renee rapp

I would have sang it to you soft and sweet / You'd want it every anniversary

feel - fletcher

Doin' time, tryna heal / Do anything so I don't feel you

after the party - the menzingers

But you just want to dance in a basement / You don't care if anyone is watching / Just as long as you stay in motion / We put miles on these old jean jackets / Got caught up in the drunk conversations / But after the party, it's me and you

this song always makes me think of tk and nolan, but it fits extra well in this fic when nolan and tk are in that weird in between of friends and something more

the story of us - taylor swift

Oh, I'm scared to see the ending / Why are we pretending this is nothing / I'd tell you I miss you but I don't know how / I've never heard silence quite this loud

back to me - john allison weiss

Another damp dark room and I'm spilling my guts right out / About the love I knew that I'm learning to live without

if only - dove cameron

Don't know what I'm feeling, is this just a dream? / If only I knew what my heart was telling me

sometimes an artist has a huge discography. other times they don’t and you pull out a banger from a dcom soundtrack. much like my pets: if it fits, it sits (on the playlist)

home - catie turner

I don't take spoonfuls of romanticism in my tea / But this is not a love song / It's my truth I have to speak / Oh, you are so important to me / And I won't let you go

I won't let you go / Cause wherever you are is home

be alone - paramore

Yeah, we could be alone / But never get too low on me / We could be alone together

heaven - petal

But I will take your voice rolling over me always

gimme love - carly rae jepsen

Cause I want what I want, do you think that I want too much?

nico

that’s so true - gracie abrams

Think about your dumb face all the time

too well - renee rapp

I get so sick of myself, can't stop overthinkin' / I heard you're happy somewhere else / But I don't forget too well / I get so sick of myself, can't stop reminiscin' / I heard you're happy somewhere else / But I don't forget too well

becky’s so hot - fletcher

Cause Becky's so hot in your vintage t-shirt / Oh, she the one I should hate / But I wanna know how she taste

this is THEE nico song for this in my opinion. yeah yeah nico’s too nice to threaten to hit tk, but like. he’s got eyes, alright? he sees the appeal

casey - the menzingers

And I bet I sound like a broken record / Every time I open my mouth / I want to wander around the city with you again

holy ground - taylor swift

We had this big wide city all to ourselves / We blocked the noise with the sound of 'I need you' / And for the first time I had something to lose / And I guess we fell apart in the usual way / And the story's got dust on every page / But sometimes I wonder how you think about it now

this and casey are both songs that are a little bittersweet, looking back at a relationship after it’s ended, and i think that’s what nico does a lot during this fic

new love - john allison weiss

There's no love like new love / You're moving on and all I want is you, love

we go down together - dove cameron

If you go down / Then we go down together / If you hold on / I might just stay forever / If you get hurt / I'll try to make it better / If you go down / Then we go down together

i luv him - catie turner

He's what I want / But I'm not what he needs

proof - paramore

Then I'll believe in what you say / There's nothing left for you to do / The only proof that I need is you

nature - petal

Every fiber of my being seems to scream to me / "You are now mine in a life we both know"

i really like you - carly rae jepsen

It's way too soon, I know this isn't love / But I need to tell you something / I really, really, really, really, really, really like you / And I want you, do you want me, do you want me, too?

tk

risk - gracie abrams

I’m not proud / Guess I'm just scared of you shooting it down / You can just talk, and I'll stare at your mouth / It could be bad, but I wanna find out

i was between risk and in between for tk, and in between isn’t on streaming, but risk also hits the nail on the head

i do - renee rapp

When we're saying, "I love you" / I mean it different than you do / Terrified I always will even after the day / You look at somebody else and you say / "I do"

lead me on - fletcher

So why don't you just lead me on? / 'Cause something is better than nothing at all / Yeah, I want you to lead me on / 'Cause something, yeah, something is better than nothing / Yeah, something, your something is better than nothing at all

tk truly does spend so much of this settling for all he thinks he can have, and i feel like this song really encapsulates that

time table - the menzingers

As time tables suggest / We were only just friends / In constant motions, covering stilts / I’ll give you a dollar for another ride home / Or something to mix with your Coke

say don’t go - taylor swift

Oh no, oh no, it's not fair / 'Cause you kiss me and it stops time / And I'm yours, but you're not mine

i had to do it - john allison weiss

If my heavy heart were strong enough / I'd stay and let you keep it / But to know you is to love you / And I don't want to love you anymore

sand - dove cameron

I saw the end when we began / You couldn't love the way I can / I tried to bargain with the stars / For more than half your heart / But you have more pieces of me than the desert has sand / And I have less pieces of you than I can hold in my hand

(wish i didn’t have to) lie - catie turner

I don't hate you / I just hate the way I love you / And I hate the way I tell myself I'm fine / I wish I didn't have to lie

looking up - paramore

Could've given up so easily

I was a few cheap shots away from the end of me

left a mark - petal

i was born to kiss your mouth / i was born to be the dust / i was born to cover you / i was born to leave a mark / i was born to be the light / to be the light inside your room / i was born to be the dust that covers you

runaway with me - carly rae jepsen

This is the part, you've got to say all that you're feeling, feeling / Packing a bag, we're leaving tonight when everyone's sleeping, sleeping / Let's run away / I'll run away with you

[mood2you]

Marapets had more grace

2015 : A cute, rounded Fasoro. They gave something back to upset fans.

2009 : Crosseyed, bullfooted, dumb smile thing. They had seriously ruined everything.

pre-2009 : Admittedly, there are flaws with this but the pose was more interestingits looking up at you like a real fox would, and stabding its ground or waiting to lead you further sown the path, and it's so shiny and sleek and wellgroomed and the face is evokitive, it looks so mischeivous... Like a fox! Not a pet, a fantasy.

Water had its head inclined, but the new water is prettier, there is more to look at, the mane is stupid but the tail is exciting. Also, it is a special pose, that it's running like a river to the sea.

Sometimes you can't help but what to see what artistic resources you have and stop looking at the past. This is a different character, though, and to many that's the problem.

Now... I joined Marapets late. I missed the old Bolimo. This is the new Bolimo

It must be 2005 or something, 2003. You're scared to see how dumb this looks compared to the old one? I don't even think I have the old one.

Wait... I forgot...

They Dreamworks-ified the Bolimo?!?!!!! It does look like a Neopet with the fat legs. The mane looks dumb. NO HELMET?! Marapets does not have more grace!

"They gave something back" they've got tyranical!

Aw I'm really sad, I can't find it, but I was going to show you the old candy shop owner, the black Bolimo holding lolly pops out in its mouth. It was the only surviving early Bolimo.

The Bolimo just used to be even more slender, and a velvet fur texture. I really can't find it. I really don't remember. I think I did make an OC but I ended up using Houndour, not that I ever caught one. But when you're playing a virtual pets game, you have to catch something, and Early Fasoro was my favorite character, but when the Crindol came out I stanned it.

I don't really like this redesign either, it really seems like they wanted to turn everything into Tantua

Yeah, okay, so, they took away the free color, no more red at all it's all monochromatic. I used to be perfectly happy with a Yellow Crindol, perfectly happy. I think they also took away the human hair, that's a Santa Claus type of creature if I ever saw one!

Oh, "I am old Chirs Crindol" probably intentional. I think as a kid I called it the Cindrol. Gryphons are medeival, right, like Cinderella? The legs on the Crindol are nice too in the old one, you look at a real dog it has tiny back legs, when sitting, but cartoon dogs have huge ones, like frog legs, when sitting, and it happened to the Crindol a little, huh?

The Tantua. Real cute! Tiny.

There was definately an older version that was even taller and even sexier, but here's another free color pet. The best example is the Wockey.

You know what I do is sell that as "Cotton Candy" for 1,000,000 NP. Peaches and Cream (yellow) Valentines (red) and so on. Slap it in there.

"...and me!"

[acaplaya-musings]

Voiceplay Visuals - addendums and interesting BTS stuff (part 2/3)

I explained everything in the first part, go find it here. Let's keep going!

(Part 2 below the cut)

We Don't Talk About Bruno: "Also I'm pretty sure I heard from someone that Geoff's "ruana" is in fact just a regular blanket/piece of fabric draped (possibly secured/pinned) over his shoulders" - Yeah pretty much, except specifically it was tied behind his back/over his shoulders - You wanna know how Cesar just seemingly pulled that umbrella out of nowhere? Well it was hidden behind him! Or more perhaps more precisely, his behind hid it! 😂 (His glutes definitely got a workout that day!)

"(Oh and this section really was slowed down in post-production in order to make the petals (and hair flips!) look nice, and so both Ashley and Geoff were having to sing/lip-sync to sped up versions of their vocal lines!)" - Tis true! That whole section was done in basically double speed during filming, and slowed-down in post (the reverse of what Geoff did for his Monster Mash video actually), which makes the resulting footage extra impressive tbh - Also I didn't specify in my original post, but Geoff isn't just wearing the floral blouse - he's wearing the same pink shorts as Ashley as well! 😂 - Bonus fun fact: the little rat on Geoff's shoulder was remote-controlled!

Dream On: "(Also this was filmed in some old school I believe? I think maybe Cesar's old school or something?)" - Right on the first count, wrong on the second - this was Eli's former high school! (Very much no longer in use as a school though, obviously) - It was filmed in Leesburg, which is an hour away from Orlando apparently, and since there was obviously no decent part of the building to be used as a breakroom or dressing room or whatever, they brought a production coach, the same one that got used for the same purpose for the Panic Medley filming in fact! - The shirt/top that Geoff wore in the video was quite tight-fitting apparently, and he needed additional assistance from Kathy to get it fully pulled down (she helped while still filming) - Still not entirely sure what Layne is wearing on top of his shirt, but it seems to be just draped over his shoulders, idk

Running Up That Hill: - They put a lot of effort into recreating That Scene from Stranger Things, like they had pieces of paper with shots from the TV series and annotations written on it and everything! - The jacket that Geoff had tied around his waist in the video is like some black bomber jacket/letterman-style thing, and he was wearing it sometimes in between takes and ngl he looks good in it, like I almost kinda wish he had been properly wearing it in the video.

"Based on the very-fixed and very-specific shots we get of Ashley while she's "levitating", I'm guessing this was more done via clever editing and post-production work rather than anything like harnesses to actually lift her in the air" - Well, while it is true that editing trickery was favoured over harnesses, there was actually a bit more practicality involved than what I guessed/imagined. Idk how much I should reveal, but let's just say that Ashley had to use some muscles for it!

Hide And Seek (Ding Dong!): "I love the ghostly visual effects on Lauren, with the glowy ethereal outline of her silhouette, and the slight translucence on her dress!" - The effect also helps conceal the fact that she wasn't in the studio with them at all! Magic of greenscreen, just like with VoicePlay's Enemy video! In fact, Layne took a very quick flight to Nashville, Tennessee to help Lauren record her parts, before quickly flying back to Orlando, Florida (in time to beat an oncoming hurricane!)

"I have a feeling that the lighting on [Layne] is such that it makes him look like an actual Haunted Mansion/Disney Parks ride animatronic (especially when combined with deliberate movement/acting choices in the video)" - I mean yeah, maybe, but also tbh it's also just the whole makeup/costume itself - even in the BTS footage he didn't look fully "human"/"real" when in the full costume. - Fun fact: Layne also had black food colouring in his mouth to further add to the whole look! Wild!

"Absolutely loving Cesar's makeup in this one ngl (I wonder whether he coloured his face and/or hair blue for filming this or if that was just all done via editing?)" - That was all thanks to Rick Underwood! His hair and face really were that blue! (Not all his hair though, just the front section of it). - I still have questions about Geoff's makeup though - didn't get to see much of the process in the BTS video, rip. - The floating crystal ball was a practical effect, done with fishing wire and a pulley system controlled by Tony!

Golden Hour: - So the greenscreening of the heads was done a little differently to how I imagined, and Geoff's hair did in fact look just like that during the filming - it's not just the editing - This is actually the second version of the video that was created - Patrons were initially presented with a different video (which I haven't actually watched but heard about in the BTS) with a slightly different setting and alterations to the story (Layne came up with a few different ideas in fact). - Also I may be slightly colourblind, because I thought that vest was maroon, but it's actually just brown, lol rip.

Valhalla Calling: "check out the set! I like the shields in the background." - Everything other than the benches and props in the foreground was completely digital! They filmed in front of huge digital screens (and I mean HUGE) that had the pre-designed backgrounds displayed on them! - Y'know how all the guys were wearing furs and heavy layers of clothing and all that? Yeah well apparently on the day of filming, the air conditioning at Vu Studios was busted, RIP (Rick Underwood had to help blot away some of their sweat between takes!)

Part 1 // Part 2 // Part 3

[drawnaghht]

hmm so last week i was trying to think of why it might be that ppl suddenly started shipping Rise Leo and Yuichi Usagi (a "never met" crossover ship) when the Usagi Chronicles series was teased in 2021* and I think it might just be because it's so easy to change this iteration of both the ship and characters - a lot of the appeal of fanworks these days is full bespoke fan AUs and redesigns.

so I think this Usagi was just easier to sorta project new ideas onto, since he doesn't come with 35+ years of comics history. He's like a clean slate. especially if folks don't watch/don't care to look into the series.

which I kinda get, from an artistic perspective, creative endevours are always more fun if they're new and something you can make your own, right? or at least that's one possible aspect (of both this and fanworks in general)

but from a fannish perspective, my brain is also going like, "oh noo, my blorbo..." xD

and it's also a bit sad that folks ignore the og comic completely in some cases or just, don't look into it out of interest at all lol. I guess I kinda get that too, sometimes in some areas of the world, comics are really hard to get by and maybe some are like me, who want to read them on paper. It might also just be that older comics are unappealing to younger fans (?) but that would wholly be an assumption, since we don't really know all the reasons other people don't get interested in things like comics. I doubt many Rise fans have read the og TMNT comics either (it's fine, cuz again, younger audience + that's sorta the point various animated series sometimes - to get the new audience into the old comics - and sometimes it doesn't go like that)

the other thing is also that technically, Yuichi Usagi seems to be like the Gaumont/Netflix crew's way of making like a fun fanwork in the form of Samurai Rabbit: the Usagi Chronicles. Many of the project leads were fans of Usagi Yojimbo and even some of the voice actors had read the comics as kids or had seen Usagi in the old TMNT series (from the SDCC interview with Stan and crew). Boy even has the Stan Sakai signature under his shoes, lol x3 So he is in some way already a fan-character and has a lot of those "new character" features that might be appealing to some (the hair and clothes are very "generic modern boy") and appealing to change drastically as well.

but anyway, yeah like... I've been around fandoms for a long while so I don't mind much that people are gonna have different tastes abt fanworks and how to write characters, etc. Everybody ships their niche ships differently. it's just interesting to think about, cuz there's so many ways to make fanworks in general and so many ways to define fandom or fandom ships and so on. like it's just something interesting I realized while having a bus ride.

*you can correct me on when the leochi/leochi ship became popular and when people started properly watching the SRTUC series, at least going by tumblr tags (more reliable than twitter, for tags at least) and I'll make any corrections about the timeline of tags here on tumblr xD Going back through the tumblr tag for "leosagi" and "leoichi" you can see a sort of a sharp drop in old leosagi "content" (fanart, fic, posts etc) and then the new stuff, mixed in with various fan designs for a Rise!version of Miyamoto Usagi and other designs and ideas. but I think there needs to be some sorta archive blog for this cuz honestly, going through the tumblr tags without a pages system is... so annoying xD Like I am not in university anymore so I don't feel like doing this sorta stuff (archiving by screenshots or by reblogs) but dang.... sorta feels like this would be nice to have lol

[slightlytoastedbagel]

top 5 commissioned project sekai songs?

*rubs hands together* oooh boy. no one is going to agree with this list.

(Also I'm doing top 10 because I talked about my favourite songs in the notes of a post a while back but some stuff has changed. Also I just have a lot of thoughts.)

10. Samsa

They made us wait over 2 years for a Kanade comm to get a 3DMV and it did not disappoint. KAITO's "Zuki" and each of Nightcord's solo line at the end with Kanade reaching out to Mafuyu stick out in particular for me. Samsa is just a really good song. Also the metamorphosis reference is genius, especially since Mafuyu's third comm is 'Bug'.

(Bug is not on this list but it is easily top 20)

9. Stage of Sekai

This was my favourite Leo/Need comm, but we'll get to that later. Honami songs are just really good and I really like Len here as well. Also this song is really fitting for them I think. I especially love that one instrumental bit near the end.

8. Machi

Vivid Old Tale my beloved. An my beloved. This song is just really nice to listen to. It feels nostalgic. (Also now that Light Up The Fire has happened this entire event is painful in the good way). An's alt for this song is also one of the best in game.

7. Momoiro Key

I popped off when a Iyowa comm was announced, and it did not disappoint! The song itself is really good, but the MV is also just beautiful. I tend to just listen to this song on repeat for the MV. Especially that bit in the last chorus when Airi is seen by herself with the morse code background.

6. Niccori^^ Survey Team Theme

It's catchy. Like really catchy. I could give more reasons but also I don't think I need to. I will anyway though. This song just really fits Wonderlands x Showtime I think, especially Emu and her dream to make people smile. Sometimes I get "nikkorikorikorikori koriandaa" stuck in my head. It got stuck while I was writing this actually. Also fun MV.

5. Hitsuji Ga Ippiki

This was Beat Eater a while ago, then I kept listening to this song almost daily. Kick It Up A Notch is an event I am really looking forward to (if that wasn't obvious from the amount of times I Kohane post) and this song is also just incredible. Especially Kohane's rolled r at the end. I really want Kohane and MEIKO alts at some point (because I also really like MEIKO's tuning here.)

4. If

Oh hey look it's the song in my blog header. Who would have thought. I can't really explain why I love this song so much. Haruka's voice is pretty, the backing is really nice, I LOVE the chorus. Also the original version of this song is beautiful as well so listen to that (on Yurrycanon's channel).

3. Kanadetomasusora

Kanade gets two songs on this top 10 just because. This song almost made me cry the first time I fully listened to it. There have only been two other times I've felt that way, with Minori's latest comm (Teammate) and the number 2 spot. It also has this music box feel which really fits considering the event it was made for.

2. Made To Order

The full version came out a month or so ago and it changed me. It's just so beautiful... Ichika's voice is stunning here and Luka fits really well. Not to bring up the MVs again but the sun slowly rising at the end is stunning. I could go on but yeah. I love this song.

1. Kashika

Akito Shinonome. That is all.

But in all serious, December last year is probably when I went from 'I just enjoy this game alot :)' to 'full blown Vivid Bad Squad fan' and this song is partly to blame. It just left me speechless and Find A Way Out is another event I am really looking forward to. I was also just really happy to see MEIKO singing with them more. Also just to shoutout the VAs, Imai Fumiya's high notes are just stunning. Can't wait for the full version soon. Also the MV again. Amazing.

[duffmckagans]

I stumbled across your blog a couple of years ago and honestly felt like I struck gold. I really wish I had talked to you more back then! It was such a relief to find someone my age in a primarily older fan base, but also to find a blog that wasn’t corny or full of terribly written hardcore smut—like, girl, I just want to look at pics of hot men, leave me alone!! But beyond that, i just feel like you get it in the way I do, and it made me feel so much less alone in this space. So yeah, I’m so happy that you’re back!!

oh, thank you so much :')!! this is so kind of you! the old version of this blog could be a total clusterfuck at times, so i'm really glad you found something to enjoy it in; i anticipate i will be recreating that scene soon enough. and definitely don't regret the past, because i'm back now and i always want more people to chat with !!

but i also get that. don't get me wrong, the gnr fans from that era, or just generally older fans, are what keep the fanbase running and are some of the best people i've had the pleasure of coming across, but it is always nice to find people your own age. i feel like my issue is almost the exact opposite right now, where i'm scrolling through tags and just seeing a bunch of like. children. which isn't always bad, except they're acting weird and making it obvious they're children. additionally, i also get that relief. not knocking writers of any variety, as i built and will re-build this blog off doing that, but it can get a lot sometimes. i really don't enjoy going into the tags for content and being assaulted by the most violent, unsexy smut i've ever seen. like, it gets to a point where i'm gonna need y'all to just go ahead and make a one-shot collection on a fanfic site of choice and go at it because you're clogging up the tags. you can barely find pics anymore that don't have obscene captions branded on them. it's like a jungle out there.

but anyway, thanks! i love getting it!! and i know the relief of finding blogs that i feel generally are in the same vein as mine, or finding mutuals that i feel are generally on the same wave as me. differences are always nice, but the best friendships come out of those where people can go 🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️ you get it. i always love to know that i can give somebody a sense of company, as well, regardless of whether or not we're talking directly. i hope that you can find that feeling again too now that i'll be posting a lot more regularly!!

🤍

[saltlickmp3]

thanks for the rec! I'll download it so I can listen to it on the way to work tomorrow. I saw another post of yours with album recs also btw, they look interesting and I may give those a try as well.

this is one of my favorite things. sometimes i intentionally make tiny changes to the way I sing particular songs just to keep it going. or I'll borrow elements/lyric choices from a few different artists and mash them all together.

oh nice! it is one of my favourites at the moment & YESSSSS i loveeee changing things just slightly its so fun to develop the story just a bit or change the mood a little or swap the perspective & create hybrid versions........ the beautiful tradition of folk music hehe

i really like researching songs too & finding where they've been changed, especially quite old ones about specific events that cant really be backed up by anything, like the real event could have been anything but the song is one specific version, that also could have been changed by dozens of people over hundreds of years, because of anything from political agenda to forgetting the lyrics like! yeah!! its so interesting :D

[stepswowdsen]

【Magi】 Judar Doodles

Initial

Old

New

Old

New

Old

New

Judar doodle update

Minor edit

Me when I make minor edits that literally no one would notice but me 👍

Makes my art look better to me tho 🙏

KINDA UNFORTUNATE THAT I FINALLY GOT TO MAKE MINOR EDITS THAT MAKES THE ART LOOK BETTER TO ME AFTER I ALREADY POSTED THE INITIAL SKETCH ON MAIN...

Oh well. Whenever I get to refine the drawing more, I'll just post that on main again

I enjoy my art style but I also feel insecure about my sketches so the feeling of posting something that will be reblogged only for me to make minor edits/improvements/adjustments later is DAKLSKLSDKLDSKL to me

Though I also get that this is a sketch (and my art will go through many different iterations) as I continue to refine it (and as my art style improves)

Basically, I adjusted the tilt of the head, moved the eyes down and slightly redrew it, adjusted the placement of the nose and mouth by a few pixels, shortened the length of the nose

Cuz with the whole pose in mind, I feel like having the head tilted sm messes with the flow of the pose (especially since the pose is so neutral) so I adjusted the head tilt

The proportions just look better to me now, so I fixed what was bothering me

Judar's expression is really nice in this... I love the expression here

I wanna doodle JuAli again soon so I'll probably doodle something quick sometime this week!

JuAli Rambles

JuAli (Judar to Alibaba) in the Kou Empire arc

My friend Lumen posted this tweet last year and I'm fucking screaming LMAOOO

LITERALLY JUALI ADKLSKLSDKLSDKL

I'M SCREAMING 😭 😂

C: THIS IS SO JUDAR AJGNDN

Got reminded of this cuz of my Insta highlights

With that "Look back on what was posted a year ago" thing in your Story Archive

ARGHHHHHHHHHH JUALI!!! ILY!!!

Magi (EN Fan-TL)

Magi Omake (EN Fan-TL)

Yeah this is them, all right!

VIZ WHY THE FUCK DID YOU TAKE "WAKE UP AND THEN PLUNGE IN THE DEPTHS OF THE SEXY DANCE OF DESPAIR" FROM ME IT'S SO MUCH FUNNIER LMFAOOOOOOOOO

The EN fan-TL is closer to the original JP text here too

Though I need to double-check the JP volume raw scans that I got from my friend Bas hehe. Eventually.

STOPPP WHY IS MY BLACK CAT MEOW WOW WOWIE SO FUCKING FUNNY

Judar's expression in the 2nd page 😭 It's so fucking funny like lmaooooo. Crazy ass mf!

L: Have you seen the omake with Judal's letter to Alibaba. Literally lovers

Me: YEAH I DID I'M SCREAMING. HELP ALSDKSDKLSDKLSDKSDKL

L: "And then plunge in the depths of the sexy dance of despair"

L: "Yours kindly, Judal."

Sickening.

Me: RIGHT LIKE WHO SAYS SOMETHING LIKE THIS I'M CRYING ADSKLSDKLKLKLS

(Rhetorical question)

C: JUDAR KNAN4NENFSG

A bastard

Me: Lumen going "Literally lovers" so true!!!

Rhetorical question but the whole

"And then plunge in the depths of the sexy dance of despair

Yours kindly. Judar"

Fucking sends me AASDFGGHJKL LMAOOOO

C: It's so. Judar. Nobody else.

Me: YEAHHH LMFAO

"Plunge in the depths of the sexy dance of despair"

Ok

C: I ALMOST WANT TO KNOW HOW OHTAKA THOUGHT OF THAT

Me: I'm really curious what the JPN version is cuz LMAO

C: YEAH???

C: GOD THE LETTER PART KAYKSNUFGDG

Me: NOTHING HITS LIKE JUDAR SAYING "AND THEN PLUNGE IN THE DEPTHS OF THE SEXY DANCE OF DESPAIR"

C: GKDKHMDMGMDMFMFM

HE IS SUCH A FREAK HABYNSH

C: Married

JuAli rambles

Me: All of my ships are just this (Regardless of gender)

LMAO

"Asshole to the world, sweetheart to his girl or S/O"

"Evil violent with sadistic tendencies meow meow mf shows exclusive affection to their S/O (who usually has softer tendencies and is more considerate and sane)"

We operate on the Sun/Moon/Eclipse, Light/Darkness, Yin/Yang principle <333

Me: It's so funny that some people are like "You ship them (JuAli) when Judar literally tells him he would be better off dead on the Dark Continent???"

And that's sexy, next question.

We love antagonist figures who challenge and/or try to kill protags!!!

I ship LimGuda (Douman/Ritsuka) a pair with an evil gay clown demon who tries to kill and curse their favourite human out of love <333 Deeply romantic, guys (and I genuinely mean this)

The other thing I have to say in response to this is that Judar's "threats" towards Alibaba on the Dark Continent are really so empty lmao. As Cinna said, he's the type where he'll try to kill you (due to his bratty, spoiled, childish, violent tendencies) but it's usually not genuine, vehement hate

On the Dark Continent he doesn't even do anything violent to him. Lmaoooo.

Judar who threatens Alibaba like "How does he act so unfazed, I want to kill him!" And Alibaba is just like "I can hear you, you know…" And Alibaba is actually patient and understanding and humble, so he works incredibly well with someone like Judar

C: Judar comes off as an immature tantrum throwing baby but with severely violent tendencies so I can imagine Alibaba learns to be like "Ok I love you too" about it LMAO

Me: <3333

Yeah I agree with this like Judar acts spoiled and bratty and violent and aggressive, so I think Alibaba will come to accept and get used to Judar's shenanigans LMAO

C: And Judar's threats are… fairly empty

He'll try to kill you yeah but it's usually not genuine hate towards anyone

And yea Alibaba being the calm sort of protag makes him more shippable, especially since he actually has a personality despite representing the typically flattest type of shonen protag

Like most shounen protags (and calm personality shounen protags) are bland af but Alibaba is actually really good and well-written

Me: YEA JUDAR'S THREATS ARE SO EMPTY? LIKE HE SAYS THIS TOWARDS ALIBABA BUT DOESN'T DO ANYTHING VIOLENT TO HIM (WHEN HE'S NOT AN ANTAGONIST FIGURE ANYMORE)

IT'S NOT GENUINE, VEHEMENT HATRED EITHER...

C: FNSNDNSNNSG

He's just a funny guy

Me: Dramatic drama queen meow meow…

C: He is

Me: Also I agree with this, usually the calm and kind shounen protags usually have no fucking personality and are flat and boring af

At least from the ones I've seen

But Alibaba is gold. Cuz Alibaba is actually very well fleshed out with a lot of layering and depth.

And that makes him more shippable (See: how I have issues with Tsuna (KHR)'s character flaws affecting his ships in unsexy ways, even if I casually like the ships)

So I just focus on my KHR AU ships with my Canon/OC ships instead

Xanxus/Selena and Squalo/Linh

C: YEAH EXACTLY

Alibaba is a winner 👍🏻

Yeaaaa exactly

F: THANK YOU FOR POINTING OUT THAT JUDAR'S THREATS ARE SO EMPTY OMFGGG

Me: I could ramble about this but JuAli genuinely fixed issues that my previous (other) fandom ships like EnNetsu (Enzan/Netto) (Mega Man Battle Network) and HoroRen (Horohoro/Ren) (Shaman King)

Like with EnNetsu and HoroRen, BOTH charas are stubborn and unyielding and would constantly butt heads with each other

But JuAli as a ship has more warmth and companionship imo so this one's the best to me (and Alibaba's calm and kind, patient, humble personality balances out Judar's personality and makes them work well together as a ship)

Me: WITH JUDAR IT'S SO FUNNY LIKE...

Judar about Alibaba: When I get the chance, I'll definitely kill him!

(-> Doesn't)

This is like.. "Mukuro wanting to possess Tsuna's body" level empty threats

With how Mukuro (KHR) wanted to possess and control and take over Tsuna's body to hyperkill the mafia in response to his traumas (He was used as a labrat experiment by his own mafia family)

Me: JuAli and Judar being aggressively violent with empty threats: A collection

The hissy cat...

C: LMAO SOUNDS ABOUT RIGHT

Angry cat

JuAli Scenes (EN Fan-TL)

Me: Well I'm gonna show the EN fan-TL cuz I prefer the prose and get more context (including of individual characters' speech styles/quirks) from the lines imo

Cuz Istg Viz absolutely butchers individual characters' speech styles in their TLs and makes everyone sound the same

And it doesn't help that English sounds so samey compared to other languages. EA/SEA languages have such huge variations in speaking styles

Like in JP, characters' speech patterns automatically give you the vibe of someone who talks more curt~ish/rough/masc (like Judar) or uses more polite speech, or is formal/humble, etc.

God guys just know that I usually HATE the shounen protag trope

Like I always prefer antagonists and deuteragonists (protag's side allies and secondary charas) but my and my friend circle's love for Alibaba is just a testament to how good (well-written) he is

Alibaba you're one of the few only shounen protags I'll defend with my life

Most shounen protags piss me off, so I always prefer deuteragonists and antagonists lmao

Something about their moral hypocrisy, their nepotism, their naive self-righteousness that fails to account for others, the way they're never (or hardly ever) challenged in meaningful ways in the narrative, how they always win fights and get what they want without any struggle, etc. It's all so. Boring.

One of the worst examples I can think of with this is Shaman King

Also, DBZ, Bleach, Naruto, etc.

C: NO LIKE EXACTLY

Me: But, Alibaba, I'll defend you with my life 💛 Literally one of the only shounen protags I'll defend with my life

Lumen said this, but, Alibaba is so goated as a protag BECAUSE he's so challenged.

His character development/growth, his big heart and empathy, and his humbleness (his humbleness is especially evident like in the scenes with Judar, post-Kou Empire arc fights)

Oogh… My son… My sun… ☀️

Shounen protags I adore/enjoy

Alibaba Saluja (Magi)

Aladdin (Magi)

Allen Walker (DGM)

Edward Elric (FMA)

Alphonse Elric (FMA)

Atem (Yami Yugi) (YGO DM)

Yugi Mutou (YGO DM)

I could be forgetting some but off the top of my head, these charas are good, actually have interesting growth…

(Cuz really the list of good shounen protags is so few)

I overall casually like Tsuna (KHR), he has interesting traits but there's a lot of things I dislike/could criticize about him tbh

[ringo-ichigo]

On Giving Sources

Since we’ve recently had some lowkey discussion going on about sourcing our gleaned knowledge (or at least I have seen it arise), I want to debunk some ideas I see popping up. 

One of the main ones I’ve seen is the idea that providing sources is too “academic” feeling. As someone who is currently in college and thus you would think researched out, I want to remind all of us why sources are used in academia. All of us are capable of just… saying anything we want. And this can be both wrong on purpose or by accident. I could tell you that I have six missing teeth and you have no way to prove me right or wrong without corroboration from my dentist or someone like a parent. Even if you counted my teeth, you couldn’t actually prove it is six teeth. Plus, the wording is key. “Missing.” What do I mean by that? Do I mean I never got them? That they were extracted? Now, if I were to link my dental charts to you, then you could look at them and go “Oh. She had six teeth extracted so she has six fewer teeth than she should.” But alternatively, I could say my mom is missing five teeth right after this and you might assume from that same wording that she also had five teeth extracted. But that’s not correct. My mom was born without one adult tooth. So literally, she just is missing a tooth and had four extractions. But again, you couldn’t confirm that without the dental records. But without the dental records, you would just have to trust that I’m an honest person on the internet and you don’t know that. You have no proof that I am honest beyond my word and shocker, dishonest people will say they are so that’s not reliable either. Similarly, you can think of this in term of mathematics. How many of you tried to just write an answer for some problems in higher math and got a nice note from your teacher of “Where’s your work?” or something similar. Giving your sources is essentially showing that you are honest and also saying “Here’s my work.” Academia prioritizes sharing sources for accuracy checking. Which by checking the accuracy, has the fun side effect of proving one’s honesty. 

But beyond the fact that sources show your research, we need to also admit that not all sources are equal. I can love some of the posts on Persephone that float around… but I’ve seen as many with biased or just… bad sources listed as I’ve seen with good ones. And no, good and bad are not the same as “I agree” or “I don’t agree” with the source. A good source should be rooted in more than just conjecture. For instance, its evidence can be found in archaeology. A good source should have correct dates, good context, and good reasoning. Again: anyone can say anything. Which means they can lie. A bad source can be outdated, have incorrect information, take something out of context, or just make wild reaches. And yes, I’ve seen bad sources used before. Or just… incorrect quotes of good sources so… yeah. Listing them allows for clarity, for honesty and just… double checking.

In addition: sources can be biased. We can have bias, yes. But your sources aren’t excluded from that same issue. And let me clear: that bias can be in favor or against. Both can be a problem. But if you don’t give us your source, no one can double check it for bias that you may have missed. And again, this also relates back to the honesty thing. If you don’t tell us where you derived your ideas from, we can’t trust that you aren’t passing on bias to us. To take an example here of translation bias: Sappho. We can argue to the cows come home on her sexuality but frankly, it’s a mess because we can’t ask her personally and that really is the only way to know for sure what a person’s sexuality is. So we’re left trying to parse out translations of centuries old Greek and hope we can glean enough to guess. Up until the 1900s, those translations (after Christianity mainly but sometimes before) actively changed words or purposely chose male versions of them whenever they could (and sometimes even when they couldn’t). They did that out of a bias against homosexuality. While we have done a lot of work to undo that, we still fall victim to similar attitudes now. Now, sometimes gender neutral words are translated as male, female, or neutral depending on the translator’s bias. Are they pro-LGBT? Translated as female most likely, maybe neutral (my personal fave way since we can’t really ask the author her intent and leaves it open to the reader to interpret. I love some ambiguity in poetry). Are they homophobic? Then male translations still abound. So bias abounds, but as most people don’t know ancient Greek, it makes it so many will just take their particular translation’s version as right. But if someone were to post a quote of these translations, we may not be able to catch that translator’s bias if they don’t tell us where they got it from. Because we can’t then look at the translator and make that judgment call or in some cases just research them and go “Ooh yikes.”

Also, I do have to say in relation to this: I have seen bad art history frequently thrown around as “proof.” Y’all, if I need to sit you all down and give a lecture on why iconography in art is hard, I will. If I need to sit you all down and explain how limited color palettes work in art, I will. But stop ignoring these things just because they disprove your theory. For one example of bad art history I’ve seen recently: Aphroditus and Hermaphroditus have IDENTICAL ICONOGRAPHY DURING THE SAME PERIODS. So unless you have a nice written component on the statue stating the name of the god, technically, you are taking a 50/50 stab unless you’ve got some dates, regions, and more archaeological evidence than just what your eyeballs see. And even then, you’re still guessing. Both use the same poses, the same body type, the same freaking everything, in the same time frames and even the same regions AND THAT IS WHY YOU SEE PEOPLE MIXING THE TWO UP. STOP IT. YOU ARE ALL BEING STUPID BECAUSE ART HISTORY IS EXTREMELY NUANCED WHEN IT COMES TO ANCIENT HISTORY. MOST OF THESE GODS ARE IDENTIFIED BY ICONOGRAPHY NOT BY A NICE NAME PLATE ON THE STATUE.

But most importantly, I will always ask for sources because… I just want to read it. I love learning and reading. Always have. And so do many others. Many of us want to learn. So it benefits none of us if you hoard your sources like some dragon. Share so that we can all share in the knowledge. As my mom used to say as she rolled her eyes over my brother and I fighting over who got to read a book first: “The words will still be there after the other one reads it. They’re not going anywhere so there’s no need to fight over who gets to read it first.” Guys, you are all acting like if you share your source, one of the things that will happen is that is vanishes into the aether, never to be read again. No. Your copy of it will still be there when you go to read it again. Sharing it will not make it magically unreadable. Also, if you’re hoarding it to be “a resource” for others… let’s be real. That’s an entirely selfish reason that roots in your desire to be admired. You can be a resource and still share your knowledge. Hell, that’s the point of being a resource. You share knowledge, not hoard it. You’re playing gatekeeper, not being a resource if you hoard it.

Some of the other reasons I’ve seen for not giving sources is the lack of modern sensitivity to some. I know that sometimes, sources aren’t worded as carefully or respectfully as we’d like. I get it. Believe me, reading Freud a few semesters ago made me livid. My textbook in this section has nice little messy notes in the margins of me going “Sir, no.” No source will ever be perfect because humans are not perfect. So that’s not a good excuse. I don’t like reading books on abuse because I was abused. I frequently take breaks, put it down, and just… breathe. I may even need to take a day long break or sometimes even longer. But that said, I do still have to read them sometimes. And that can mean just… going into it knowing it will be hard and triggering and take time, but doing it anyway while taking steps to mitigate the negative issues. I won’t say it’s easy or fun. It’s not. It’s absolutely awful. I don’t enjoy having two weeks of nightmares (one of the main things I get with a trigger). But it’s something I accept as part of my life. The best I can do is prepare for when I have to deal with it and mitigate the fallout. Avoiding the issue isn’t the only way to cope with issues. In fact, avoidance can become a maladaptive coping mechanism. On top of that, it’s not anyone else’s job to prevent my issues from controlling me. That’s my job. The better way to deal with a source being possibly triggering is to warn someone. List what issues you noticed and go “Hey, heads up, this exists so be aware when you choose to read this.” (Quick note: you can do this as well if you notice bias as well.) Paired with this: if you choose to read a source knowing it has issues that may trigger you, it is not anyone else’s fault if you do get triggered. You took on the risk and this is a consequence of it. It’s not anyone else’s fault that you were not able to handle it. I didn’t run to documentary makers on abuse and go “You triggered me with the scene of the kid on the stairs watching the abuse.” It is not their fault that I literally was the kid on the stairs in my past. It is not their fault that I regressed to that moment in my memory. I saw the warning, and I chose to proceed anyways only to find out that I was not as prepared as I thought. And that is a result of my decision, no one else’s. 

Let me be frank: giving your sources is not a way to lord over others. We need to normalize this. Normalize telling people where you found the evidence. Normalize warning people about issues in a potential source. And normalize giving your sources to promote community wide knowledge rather than being a dragon with a hoard of books that only you can read. All of these things are good things, not bad ones. Nor are they “too academic” for you to do. They’re basics for the internet when you’re dealing with niche topics since the internet is a place where anyone can and will lie if they think it gets them something.

Another issues I’ve seen bounced around against giving sources is how it’s too rooted in academia and thus brings the issues that come with academia. For instance, that academia is very difficult to access for sourcing. And you know what? Yes. Yes it is. I will not deny that. Which is part of why I’m doing what research I can while I have access, and I’m partly doing that by downloading what articles are allowed. Why? So that not only do I have a copy to peruse at my leisure, but so if someone else really is interested in one of those articles and struggling to find it, I can go “Oh, hey, I have a copy.” Or for some of the ones I tracked down through alternate sites and not my school library, I can share that. One of the ways you can break down some of the issues with academia being so cloistered is to share the articles, alternate access methods, and just citing the place where you gathered the knowledge. Especially as these sources can also be expensive to get access to. Sharing is a way to help get around the monetary hurdle to good information.

It's been almost a year since I originally wrote this post and then never posted it, but just to add on a bit more current events that I do hope will help you all understand why this is so important. Let’s talk about hbomberguy’s video on plagiarism, Todd in the Shadow’s debunking video, and James Somerton. This situation encapsulates why citing and sharing your sources is so vital, no matter what subject you are speaking on. James Somerton plagiarized a lot, and he covered it by lackluster or just completely missing citations. He is not some exception or one-off case. There are many in the world who do this. You will not know unless you run their work through a plagiarism checker or otherwise figure out that it was plagiarized by familiarity or chance. Todd’s video meanwhile exposed how when Somerton wasn’t stealing someone’s words, he was just… making “facts” up by pulling shit out of his ass, if you will allow me to be crude for a moment. He had no factual, historical, or any other proof beyond “I said it.” Some of this was so blatantly false that it’s genuinely disturbing that people just… believed it. You all need to learn to be critical and keep your brains engaged while researching. You should not blindly trust every source. This comes back to the idea of bias and honesty. If you do not do your due diligence to check for potential bias, blatant lies, or provable facts, you will be mislead and miseducated by someone who just sounds right or can construct a half-baked argument. If someone isn’t giving their sources, you should be wary. You should be aware that no source leaves so many options open. Did they plagiarize this? Did they make this up? Is there any proof of this? Is this their opinion and not fact? If we take anything else from James Somerton’s exposure, let it be to be more critical and engaged when consuming content. To confront the ideas presented and interrogate them with logic. If you have gotten into the deeper research, you know how to do this. If you have made it through college, you should have at least learned how to cite a source. You should have realistically learned to engage with information with critical thinking and logic. If more than a handful people had done this with James’s material before hbomberguy, he likely never would have gotten away his crimes for years. Yes, he did the wrong first, but we, as a community, failed to do our due diligence and stop his acts earlier. Those who engaged with his content all failed in some part by not just… thinking. Do not take anyone at their word online. The internet allows people to present their best front and that leaves the door open for manipulative people to indulge in their worst tendencies.

And now… for Hellenic polytheists… let’s get into the Delphic Maxims. “Know what you have learned.” “Long for wisdom.” “Help your friends.” “Listen to everyone.” “Give what you have.” “Be a seeker of wisdom.” “Consult the wise.” “Use your skill.” DO I NEED TO GO ON? These are just some of them that deal with knowledge and sharing. These are some of the virtues that, depending on the origin you like, were extolled by the Greeks or even given by Apollon. Maybe, just maybe, you should try to follow them. But what do I know? I’m just enjoying my time with access to higher academic sources to gather as many as I can while I can so that maybe I can pass on the knowledge from them while making a list of them. To give what I have to the community. But if you want to be greedy and selfish, go off I guess and hoard that damn source lest the words disappear off the page. I’m sure the gods will be so happy with this. 

But let’s be real about the kind of citations most of us want when it comes to content you post online outside of academia. It’s not too “academic” or difficult to fucking list them. Most of us don’t even want like a full correctly formatted list. We just want “Oh hey, I got these from these books/articles” and maybe a link. We’re not asking for correct CMS or APA formatting for your fucking citations. We just want the name of the book or article and the author. Gods, how dare we. So needy to ask for the bare minimum about the source. How horrific of us. We aren’t even making you cite each particular idea to a particular source. We aren’t even expecting an exact page number! Also, if I’m going to be real: there are literal citation generators and since you’re not being graded on how correct every little ticky tack part of your citation is, you can go hogwild with them. Heck, some will even pull all the relevant stuff up for you if you link a source into the generator. You could literally be the laziest citation maker ever here if you did want to be a little more classy or specific than a list. Let’s be real: if you aren’t listing because you can’t be bothered, you’re lazy. Or worse, you’re not listing because you don’t want anyone to catch you in your lies. And the latter is not all right. If you want to lie, the only nice thing I can say is that lies have short legs. It’ll come out eventually, and your clout will not save you then. James Somerton can attest to that.

In case you can’t tell, frankly, if you’re not willing to share your sources, I personally am getting real sick of the excuses you give. Because that means at best, you’re selfish and want to be the only one with the key to the knowledge. Or maybe just extremely lazy. At worst, you’re likely lying and hoping no one will find out by claiming “Oh I found it somewhere.” None of these is a good look. Just… show a fucking iota of thought for others. Give trigger warnings specific to some sources if you feel it necessary. List them so we all can share in the knowledge. And live your life. It’s not that fucking difficult.

I say this as someone who runs a podcast where I go in depth on Ancient Greek religion. I provide citations in my shownotes. I verbally reference my sources. I point out where I listed them and encourage people to read those sources. I want the communities I’m in to thrive and so I share my sources with citations. I do this so anyone can check my information. You all can see where I got these ideas and how credible they are. I don’t do this because it’s easy or fun to figure out the best way to do it. It’s hard to cite a source when you’re doing a speech without a visual component. But I do it anyway because to be blunt, I consider it my duty as a presenter of knowledge. I do it because it is the right, ethical, and honest thing to do. And I sincerely hope that if this essay gains some traction, everyone will do the same. Be forthright. Be honest. Be better going forward. 

[casukaga]

You use over 100 layers for your illustrations??? No wonder they look so intricate! How do you divide them all up (if there's an actual system lol)?

i’m that artist who likes to separate every little thing, and that goes for lining and coloring.

i start off with one sketch layer (very scribbly just to solidify the idea), turn down the opacity of that, and draw over it on another layer. this second layer’s still a little rough, but now i’m actually drawing out faces and features—this is sketch layer #2.

and sometimes (very often!!) i’ll have drawn out a part of the character i really like and want to keep, like the face. so what i’ll do is copy the face i drew on sketch layer #2, paste it onto a new layer, and clean it up by erasing the messy parts. this new layer is now part of my outline, not the sketch. then when i outline the rest, i like to separate each part in its own layer: face, hair, pants, shirt, scarf, etc. (but usually if two things are kinda far enough away from each other—e.g. the hair and shoes—i may have them on the same layer. it’s all about isolating each part from each other.) same goes for when i’m coloring.

and i tend to copy and paste a lot, which really adds to my layer count.

another instance of me copying and pasting: if i drew an arm one way but want to try drawing it differently, i’ll save that old version as a backup. i may turn down its opacity a bit so i can reference it, but i’ll still be drawing over it in a different way.

so i end up saving a lot of backups. these i’ll usually have in a folder named “copy” (“c” for short). i tend to have one for each of the characters that i draw, so it’s something to reference in case i fuck up.

i do this because i’m playing it safe; i get anxious about losing an old version of something i drew, in case later i’m like, “fuck, now i wish i saved that thing i drew earlier” and can’t hit undo enough to go back to it.

if i’m playing with dramatic lighting, i’ll usually save a copy folder of how the characters are without lighting, just so i can flip back and forth if need be.

so take all those copy layers on top of me separating each part i draw and color, on top of all the colored overlays and gradients i add to the final piece—

that’s why i have 100+ layers.