#it's weird because how characters look in-game is VASTLY different from how I draw them

[kalloway]

lil portrait from a ref I have of my DS3 character, Anetta!

but who cares about that, let me instead share the cursed information I discovered yesterday about how Anri (guy) is voiced by the same guy who voiced Harry Potter in like most of the video game adaptations

[loversys-x3]

I posted 586 times in 2022

That's 236 more posts than 2021!

89 posts created (15%)

497 posts reblogged (85%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@letsgofoletsgo

@toasty-self-shipping

@selfshippingluminan

@bamsara

@wooloo-selfship

I tagged 550 of my posts in 2022

Only 6% of my posts had no tags

#sunnymoon posting - 239 posts

#self shipping community - 172 posts

#community posts - 100 posts

#the freak swoons - 80 posts

#community memes - 47 posts

#positivity - 38 posts

#other's imagines - 18 posts

#breakfast n poetry posting - 15 posts

#my art - 14 posts

#self insert - 12 posts

Longest Tag: 121 characters

#they don't like when i do that but i'm too lazy to knock everything off the bed bc i'll have to pick it up in the morning

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Getting out of art block for them and only them :]

19 notes - Posted July 6, 2022

#4

It's about that time of the year again. So just take a moment to take some meditative breaths or any other calming stim that works for y'all.

Imagine your f/o offering you emotional support while you're working and studying towards passing your finals. They remind you to take breaks so you don't get burnt out. They read over your homework to double check you haven't done something weird due to being a lil sleep deprived. They make sure you stay hydrated. And they're sure to massage your temples when you start getting headaches. Your f/o believes in you!! You're going to do great!! ❤️

25 notes - Posted March 2, 2022

#3

Imagine watching kids shows with your f/os. There's a particularly angsty arc within the series so y'all are riding the grief train together. Tears and cuddles are guaranteed.

60 notes - Posted January 18, 2022

#2

Aight so this one is for my comfort and because I've seen someone screw this up already. (Singlets please don't clown in the notes, if you're not familiar with some of these terms then this probably wasn't for you. 🥲)

🌞 Presenting: Sun & Moon w/ a plural s/o! 🌚

Sympathetic to your situation if you follow the in-game logic that Sun and Moon are two AI sharing one physical body, they switch due to light, a sensory trigger if you will.

They take time to consider and accomodate your system's triggers whether they are positive or negative.

Got any headaches? Migraines even? They will drop everything to help you recover. Prepare to be shown some major tender loving care!

Got some amnesia about the hours you spend with them? That's alright, they'll fill you in if you're a bit lost.

Got any littles/age-regressors that front? Hoo boy they've just found their new best friends! Sun knows all sorts of fun games they can play with him. Moon knows how to mystify and comfort them all in one go.

Moon is super patient if you're disassociating. Sun is a little less patient, but is usually very careful if he notices that's what you're doing. Usually has a gentle, but firm grip of your hand until you come back to reality.

Sun tries to get to know every alter/headmate that fronts around him. But Moon is usually the one that absorbs the little details.

If any alter/headmate describes what they wish they looked like, you bet your ass Sun is drawing them.

Moon is somehow able to befriend your persecutors, if you have any. If they recently upset Sun though they're probably gonna get a good scolding.

If you or your headmates need to vent they will listen with open arms and open ears, if it's about trauma expect a bountiful night of comfort.

They will never try and force your system to switch! Don't be an ass and force them to switch!

Overall, things won't be vastly different from a singlet s/o. Sun and Moon love their s/o no matter what!

127 notes - Posted January 24, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

See the full post

355 notes - Posted July 23, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[meruz]

replying to some asks - lots of weird preachy art advice. just trying to cram every sophomore year art school lecture into my blog

ANON, PLEASE SEND ME A PICTURE OF THIS..........................

glad to hear it!!!! I always love to see sketches from other artists but somehow when I post mine I feel like it’s just...cheap? like its not ““Real content”““ LOL... but if even one person likes to see it thats all I need to hear

very interesting question, thank you for being specific because that makes it a lot easier to answer. This is going to kind of sound like what every other artist tells you but

1) Go to figure drawing classes/sessions! I know we’re in the middle of a pandemic right now but actually that might even make it easier to find because a lot of figure drawing sessions are being held online atm! Anyways, I cannot possibly overemphasize the importance or studying the human form from life. It’s something that artists spend their whole lives studying and still learn new things about. Nude figure sessions are far preferred over clothed ones especially for beginners but, really, any practice from life helps. Whenever you draw from observation, make sure to step back and really look at your model and then your drawing. What discrepancies do you see, what feels like its missing, where do you think you can improve, etc etc. developing a critical eye is crucial.

I think figure drawing classes are the best method by far but theres plenty of other ways to get the practice in. I do a lot of cafe drawing and drawing on public transport, personally. Drawing from life is vastly preferred over drawing from photo reference because the human body is a living thing and conveying it properly means understanding 3D space and gesture and movement, all things that are easier to perceive irl. A lot of artists draw from dance videos on youtube to at least get the idea of movement even if it’s ultimately from a 2D screen. Recently, I’ve been drawing a lot from rock climbing videos on youtube!

because they’re climbing you actually get a lot of interesting angles LOL... good study of pose-to-pose relationships too, actually..

2) Practice dynamically. If you can develop the eye to figure out where your drawings are lacking, you can practice with those weaknesses in mind. If you realize you don’t really understand the structure of a foot or the back of the head or the back when it’s arched, look up references and practice those things specifically. Sometimes it’s not in the specifics but the general - if you realize you have a hard time proportioning out the figure, draw guides for yourself and set goals to draw proportions before details. Stuff like that.

3) Box Trick. This is just the simplest way to get a set of guidelines down for perspective on the human body the same way you put down guidelines to figure out where the eyes sit on the head LOL.

but here’s something to keep in mind regardless: perspective is a game. You’re tricking the eye into thinking something is close or far when actually its just sitting on the same 2D plane as everything else. You can do the math and make all the guides you want but at the end of the day its either going to look convincing or its not. And being convincing is a lot less about being accurate and a lot more about confidently selling your point. So don’t sweat the calculations of proportions, make hands or heads or feet as big as you feel is right and trust your eye and your gut over your brain.

Hi, yeah sure go ahead! As long as you link+credit me, I don’t mind my work being used for non-profit purposes. Especially fanart like.. I don’t even own these characters LOL. Just, if you edit my art, please don’t use it to perpetuate like...hate speech or even edgy politics... unless they are edgy politics I have explicitly endorsed LOL. If you’re ever on the fence abt it feel free to ask, of course!

TYSSMMM yeah ideally I guess its just ? group therapy LOL? I feel like actually Ryuji, Akechi, and Haru are characters we see very rarely interact and when they do they seem very alienated by each other?? So I think it would actually be great for them to chat LOL they have a lot in common especially the fondness for direct action.

VERY NICE THINGS TO SAY TYSMMMMMMMMMM

I guess since I was old enough to hold a crayon? Doesn’t every kid draw? 

But if you mean when I started seriously drawing and trying to get better.. I guess I started carrying a sketchbook when I was 12-13 years old and I’m turning 25 in a couple days so it’s been 12-13 years about. I don’t believe that years have any huge bearing on art progress though. You can be drawing for 50 years without ever deepening or widening your skill set, if you stick to the same old patterns day in and day out. Similarly an artist who is proactive with learning new skills and targeting their weaknesses can improve in leaps and bounds in a matter of weeks.

The style I currently use for painting, I only really started using.... about 3 years ago? When I was a senior in college.

but i wouldn’t say I’ve “““mastered”““ it and I doubt I really ever will because I don’t think that’s the point... I’m constantly changing things depending on how I want a painting to look or the way I want it to feel... or how I feel on any given day LOL

the thing about art style is I don’t think it’s actually something you have to work on or “find”. An artist should change the way they draw depending on the subjects or techniques they want to explore. If I wanted to convey comedy, I’d draw characters differently from how I would if I wanted to portray drama. And if I wanted to focus on lighting I’d paint differently from how I would if I wanted to focus on the details of the human form. When I was drawing a lot of digimon fanart earlier this year I drew differently from how I’m drawing now while putting out a lot of persona 5 fanart LOL - even when the content is similar the characters have different gestures and different tone that I convey through any number of things, proportion, rendering, edge definition, color range, etc etc.

as you experiment with techniques and approaches undoubtedly there’ll be some you’re naturally better at or more interested in than others. and i think that’s what a person’s “art style” really is, the stuff that you gravitate to and come back to over and over even as you transform and explore.

not sure if that makes sense but.. that’s my two cents, anyway.

yea hit me uppp dude isellhotdogs@gmail.com lmk what you want and I’ll give you a quote

[ladybuvelle]

Anywhere’s good to start I guess, so I started with Sona. Obviously. (And also, I know myself and I needed a warmup. So Sona’s took the longest and looks the worst as a result pfft)

But here are my notes:

Sona (All Wild Rift Models) - All of Sona’s models are basically the same as far as her face, her skin, etc. Her anatomy/texture isn’t drastically altered, in HIGH contrast at League models... as you can see in PsyOps below it. But anyway. Sona’s eyes in WR are kind of unique in her history of design because they went full droopy eye. Her outer corners sink down both on the top and bottom lash lines, for a very soft-eyed, gentle character effect. That’s typically what this sort of design is meant to convey in short-hand for anime/manga design (there will always be exceptions), but it’s also worth noting that this sort of “look” also seems to be very popular for Chinese beauty standard stuff. More on that later.

Sona (PsyOps) - And HERE we see the stark contrast. PsyOps Sona doesn’t exist in WR (yet) so I’m curious what will happen when or if she ever gets put there, because these eyes convey a lot for the type of character she is in this AU. Instead of being droopy, they are upturned and sharp. The lower lash line is thicker at the slope going up. Very heavy eyes. Very shrewd. It wouldn’t work for this skin if she had the same droopy eyes as WR.

Master Yi (Eternal/Possibly base?) - This was tricky for me. I’m still learning to draw Asian eyes, and in particular I struggle conveying the fullness of the lower lid. Such is the case for Yi, as he has lovely lower lids, but I’m shit at conveying them properly. Instead I focused on the eye shape itself, which was also a bit tricky. The WR model goes extra hard, I feel, on making him aesthetically Chinese (in the sense of the wuxia sort of pretty man ideal). Which makes sense! His eyes are roundest at the top, in the middle, with sharp almond corners. Simple but elegant and uncomplicated.

Master Yi (PsyOps) - Now things get complicated. Remembering PsyOps Yi’s face stuck in my head as so DRASTICALLY different (and the only other skin, except Project if you count that, where we even see his face at all) I had to look it up and cross-ref with other media. Mainly concept art. It’s interesting how... anime? I guess? The design goes. His eyes here are immediately harsher, bigger, wider. The bags hang heavy underneath, and yet there’s this weird youthfulness to his eyes. I think they really should have tried to make him look older, but that’s, like, my opinion maaaan. I should also not that despite this design being more “anime”, the design itself combined with how he looks overall in this skin strikes me as very oddly “American”. His eye bags, the weight of his brows above his eyes (which I convey at the corners), such strong and prominent features just kinda tag me that way I guess.

Additional thoughts:

We all know by now that Wild Rift was created very specifically for the Chinese mobile game market, which is apparently booming. I’m not Chinese, or even Asian for that matter, but I think it’s easy even as an outsider, and maybe especially as someone with an artist’s eye, to see that there are design choices at play specifically meant to appeal to a Chinese/Asian audience. Censorship is one place to start, sure. But as I briefly touched on before with Sona’s eyes and her overall “look” in Wild Rift compared to her other League media, there are many Asian-centric aesthetic choices being made here.

And that’s not to say a “westerner” can’t enjoy the style or imply anything like that. It’s just worth pointing out, perhaps for anyone who’s unaware of it, that things tend to be marketed very differently for “eastern” and “western” consumers. Particularly in the world of video games.

You may often see things in interviews saying how a particular character was meant to appeal to a sort of demographic. It’s nothing new, but these aesthetic appeals haven’t really changed much, if at all, in probably over a decade.

So to make a long story short, it’s pretty interesting to me to observe Wild Rift’s aesthetic changes to appeal to a Chinese audience, and see the same tropes being followed as usual. Base Sona/Yi vs PsyOps Sona/Yi are pretty excellent examples of contrast. PsyOps, from a pure design standpoint, feels to me to be very “western” appealing. Examples: the characters are aggressive and gritty, there’s a lack of color overall, strong grays and a military motif, there’s guns and bullets. Do you see what I mean?

The “western” appeal tends to focus more on grit, violence, sharp lines and edges, darker colors. Is this universal? No, of course not. And honestly I’m hardly qualified to talk into any deeper a depth on the subject. It’s just interesting to think about while looking at vastly different designs, and how these designs are being changed, and why they are being changed. There is always a plan behind these things, especially when it’s art made for a purpose (i.e. making money for a vidya game).

[ganymedesclock]

Ghirahim and gendered expectations of sensuality

So, as people who’ve seen my previous Zelda posts might gather, I have a mixed relationship with Skyward Sword. On the one hand, I think many of its characters have tremendous potential. On the other, I feel like the game largely did not live up to that potential, and in some areas, it feels rather deliberate. But suffice to say, elements of Skyward Sword have meant that certain characters- Batreaux, Groose, Fi, and Ghirahim are not far from my mind.

A brief primer, for those who might be unfamiliar: Ghirahim is the main antagonist of Skyward Sword, and a bit of an aberration in the common Zelda formula, which tends to introduce a ‘decoy’ or “lieutenant” antagonist who dominates for most of the game and then bows out towards the end as the prelude to the true final boss- usually Ganondorf, in Skyward Sword’s case, it’s the demon god and a figure we are clearly supposed to scan as Ganondorf’s divine progenitor, Demise.

Ghirahim is quite openly a harbinger of, and servant to, Demise- where he breaks script is by being extremely proactive. We run into Ghirahim in most dungeons in the game, where he is not waiting idly for us, but doing actions that veteran Zelda players might recognize as comparable to Link’s: he breaks into dungeons either chasing Zelda, or chasing information that will allow him to proceed. We also have not one but three different fights with him, personally, and several other times he concedes that he doesn’t have time to play with Link and instead sics a boss monster on him.

The other thing about Ghirahim is, I will outright say it: He is written as a caricature of a predatory queer man.

He’s shown to be literally bloodthirsty, and presented by the narrative ostensibly as someone who has a sinister, perverse interest in both Link and Zelda, a contrast to their saintly, chaste union (which is supposed to read as a union; pursue a romantic sideplot with Peatrice, another girl in the game, and Fi will pretty much openly admonish you for cheating on Zelda, saying that Zelda wouldn’t be happy to know Link’s seeing someone and that Link should know that)

This is, really, a bit jarring, when Ghirahim’s actual dialogue suggests that he has very little interest in Link and views him much like a butler tending the master’s house while the latter is away might view a feral golden retriever that’s running loose in the place and getting mud on everything. His emotional range runs from warmly patronizing to exasperated to a truly dangerous degree (since, in this metaphor, the butler has also been tending the master’s house in near-total isolation for something like several centuries not having real conversations with the other servants and nobody’s at their psychological best in those situations even if they weren’t implicitly born and raised to murder).

Basically: that Ghirahim has no real interest in Link- not his body or appearance or anything. In his own dialogue, he seems confused by the idea that he’s at all interested, is apologetic that he’s wasting his time or dawdling and in his final scene, offers a genuinely flummoxed “you... who are you?” He offers colorful, violent threats, but when Link obstinately faces him again, he’s shown to be almost embarrassed and disgusted by them, and tries something else that almost no Zelda antagonist does: on multiple occasions, he tells Link to just walk away from the situation with what appears to be every intent of letting him go.

Ghirahim does not want Link for himself. He seems to, begrudgingly, against his own intentions, value Link as someone to fight against, but this connection does not actualize within the story- they are not really rivals. He isn’t even that deeply fond of the idea of Link’s blood, though he’s a proponent of blood as a vague concept.

Now, I like Ghirahim. I don’t think that even the read of Ghirahim as a queer man is a terrible one. But it definitely is interesting the lens in which Ghirahim’s implicit sensuality is cast. Basically, he is depicted as creeping on Link, without any real sense that he wants Link. Because it isn’t about what he wants- it’s about that implicitly he has a sexuality, and the idea of a man who might be attracted to other men is threatening, evil, and scary. Ghirahim wasn’t made queer-coded for representation’s sake. He was queer-coded to suggest he was depraved and motivated by a sinister lust. And the cruelty of this depiction is I think made immediately clear by- Ghirahim’s actual interests, passion, or preferences do not factor in here. That Scene Where Ghirahim Does The Tongue Thing is about how it is expected to make the player feel, and how implicitly Link feels.

What is Ghirahim’s type? Does he consider Demise beautiful? He makes it pretty clear he considers Link a brat. These are questions that aren’t asked, because it’s wrong that Ghirahim seems to have any sexuality at all- and, since Link is our lens and our guidepost for how we’re supposed to feel about characters, if Ghirahim behaves in a sensual manner it happens to Link, and to Zelda, invasively. Even though it is shown he feels no desire for any of these people, so that sensuality basically comes across like the game is firmly expecting us to find the idea of even an e-rated sensual male antagonist repulsive.

This led me down a very odd sort of rabbit trail.

Because Ghirahim- a bit indirectly- is inspired off a figure skater.

Specifically, Fi’s design was stated to evoke a figure skater, and we even see her ‘skating’ in several of the cutscenes. Ghirahim’s design matches Fi’s quite strongly; they were designed to be two of a kind.

I am not, myself, a figure skating buff, but a while ago, I happened across youtube videos of a skater named Johnny Weir. 

Quickly, you can see the sword spirits’ inspirations; the close-fitting leotards, the lithe, acrobatic capabilities.

But here’s the thing about Johnny Weir: this is a guy putting on a sensual performance that is not a gross-out, a joke, or a threat. It’s basically impossible to find nothing suggestive in his choice of backup movement or the movements he makes running his hands along his body- his costume even asserts these more with the mirrored details on his gloves. This is a dude, acting in a way you could say is objectively sensual even if it may or may not stir every viewer given the individual nature of preference.

But there’s a world of difference to Weir’s performance. Not just that this is a voluntary choice made by a real person, while Ghirahim’s choices, even if they have in-game logic, are largely about Link and about the player- but Johnny Weir is having fun. He has a charming energy to him and is performing to a song he loves.

Watching Johnny Weir, it occurred to me, that regardless of Weir’s own orientation- that I do not know and will not speculate on- there’s a preconception around “being sexy”. Women are seen as supposed to be sexy (but, in many circles, not too sexy. Can’t insinuate they know what they’re doing, or have opinions and tastes...), or, more, “sexy is seen as a job that women do for men specifically.”

So, to homophobic audiences... a man deliberately enacting a sensual performance- a sense of what sensual looks like from a dude- is seen as weird, wild, and out there. If you’re not shocked by the implications that Ghirahim may be attracted to men, may be into Link, may be into the idea of torturing Link- then a certain amount of his writing kind of falls apart. 

And comparing the way Ghirahim is animated and shot to Johnny Weir’s performance, it’s kind of... weak? Like, at one point in Weir’s routine, he lifts one leg and slides his fingertips down it in a smooth stroke from knee to thigh. It’s a steamy looking move, and this coming from someone who is so prodigiously ace I thought sexual attraction was made up for the first seventeen years of my life.

Ghirahim does not do that. He’s got thigh cutouts in his very close-fitting outfit, and has lines in his second fight about his body and how beautiful it is, but he does not make these movements that deliberately catch and draw the eye along the planes of him.

To me, I feel like besides this being a general affront against real queer people- the Zelda games have a concerning habit of depicting “eccentric, effeminate” men as either neutral characters or open villains and virtually always with this air of being the brunt of a joke (it’s very hard to imagine ALBW’s Yuga was designed by someone who earnestly loved this character)- it is also a bit rude to the character of Ghirahim himself.

Because Ghirahim, at the end of the day, is someone who ends the story heartbroken literally and figuratively. The entire game, he is driven by loyalty to Demise. He does not care who he hurts or threatens- and this comes back to the seeming implication that he is somewhat bloodthirsty, but vastly plays up his appetite for torture. When he thinks his goal is out of reach, he continues slogging away at it anyway, but listlessly. Everything he does, is for Demise. He is devoted enough to, late in the game, throw himself on Link’s sword for the third boss fight purely to stall for time until Demise revives.

Demise does not speak to Ghirahim, or acknowledge him, or even seemingly notice or care that by the time he comes back, Ghirahim’s metal heart has been torn open by being repeatedly stabbed by Link. (third boss fight is not kind.) Instead, he rips Ghirahim’s sword form out of his chest.

Ghirahim is a danger to Link, Impa, and Zelda, because he attacks them, and his own subordinates, because he threatens them. But to his master, he’s just a disposable pawn. This is a character driven by passion such that many of his poses and scenes show him nearly breaking into an actor’s soliloquy as he explains something to Link- and this is one way he does seem to like having Link around: he craves an audience.

And his passion is, in two ways, depicted as completely futile. First, in the dubious amount of oo scary gay man, watch out Link, he’s doing something weird with his tongue- and second and far more seriously, that everything he works for leaves him with nothing because his life never mattered for a second in the eyes of the person he lives and dies for.

Ghirahim is made a sensual character, but in a manner that feels bad faith- that feels like it has not thought about male sensuality in any direction besides “that’s wrong and icky, so we’ll attach it to our villain, who we want to be wrong and icky, and absolutely not suggest there’s anything particularly sad about what happens to him. His fault for being wrong and icky.”

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

Just curious what're your issues with P4Anime's art style? Like animation wise it definitely has problems but I don't see just about anyone in the fandom talking about anime artstyles

It’s just preference tbh. I just don’t like the way the faces are shaped. If I find an art style appealing I’ll read/watch it even if it’s trash (but if the trash becomes too bad then I drop it fkljdsakfja). I actually got into P4 because I saw the art style with the anime cutscenes and was like “ummmm yessssss?????” and thinking Soejima might not be the main artist any more makes me really sad DX

Post is under the cut cause of comparison shots (I love comparing things tbh soooo sdkfja;), it’s not really much beyond “this art gives me the serotonin and this one does not give me the serotonin.” Like I’ll try to explain why it feels off, but again this is 100% personal preference, I’m not saying the art style is shit (it’s not), it’s just no one that I care for personally. But it’s fun to look at the diff in art styles so I’d click below to just look at the pretty pictures akfldjsalfjajf;a;

Like these two aren’t the same person (one is Soejima box art for the anime, the other is whoever the lead artist is for the anime, and that’s P4tA’s at it’s best model wise):

(game vs what the anime USUALLY looks like, well Yu doesn’t look that bad but Yosuke....8U, don’t get me wrong it has some nicer shots but as you can see it fluctuates in quality, no that’s not an in between shot with Yosuke btw, I’m not cheap, that was where he paused on a reaction for a sec):

These are different men in my eyes, the biggest issue is the anime is the inconsistency with face shape, eye shape, eye size, nose shape and size (one ep Yosuke/Chie could’ve been mistaken for pinocchio, it had Kou/Daisuke iirc so it was probs around the time of the school festival probs either getting ready or whatever), hair as well. Maybe even the way stuff is colored Or just how it all comes together. I just don’t like the style (that being said there are SOME shots from the OG anime that I like, won’t list them here kfsdjaf;a but they exist)

But let’s look at the in Game (Vanilla vs P4tA vs P4GA)

All look vastly different, P4GA has it’s share of weird stuff that stands out to me, weird as in it bothers me in particular, and it’s usually that the eyes get really small and spread apart, and the mouth gets twisted weird/and it has distinct shadows at times not so bad when it’s for comedic effect but when it’s just them chilling it’s weird). I feel like P4GA is closer, by a little bit, to Soejima’s work......more so his newest/P4G/Spinoff/P5 stuff than his PS2!P4, but it’s probs cause the same animators of the P4GA series worked on the new P4G cutscenes (which are different but still blend in well with the PS2 artstyle)

There are shots where it’s pleasing still but still very different (it’s weird they don’t just........copy what they did with the game tbh), that being said Yosuke is a cutie in both (Yu is eh but P4MC is pleasing for me)

The girls just.....look weird at times....you know what I think the anime moe-d their faces (they look more lumpy), also yeah gonna actually given them some respect unlike the anime and censor it (game did a good job but there was a little back/side boob from Rise)

(left: it’s a bby boi, right: wtf animators???) No seriously P4MC actually looks like a puppy he was literally made to be. But as you can see, this pic def shocases the strange smaller eyes that P4GA tends to have. 

Tbh even tho Soejima can vary how he draws his chars, with P4MC sometimes he’s puppy baby and sometimes he’s Leader/Bancho with a more mature face. And P3MC is def different between is OG art and his art nowadays, but it still feels like Soejima it’s just he’s evolved. And the in-game cutscenes reflect this too. But you can def see that there’s a diff artist in charge of the art direction for the P4 animes (and they vary wildly in quality/models, and that’s not for in between or background stuff, I give anime’s a pass with that tbh, I’m talking about upfront stuff). Is it off model when the models tend to change at times? 

Sorry long post with stupid rambles. It’s not that it’s horrible they did this, it’s just something that personally irks me. But it gives me a reason to share comparisons because....I really like comparison shots (and sorry for the limited ones, I wanted to be fair and try to get them all within the same scene being represented rather than cherry pick them. And sorry I’m not exactly eloquent with this, I’m not an artist and all I can really say is “this looks different it’s hard to put my finger on it but I think it’s cause this?” 

And I know it’s funny that I’m basically saying it’s weird cause of how different from Soejima’s art it is (I mean I have issues with some of their choices and the way things are modeled too), but yet I like the P3 movies.....but the P3 movies’ quality in art is VERY consistent and they feel more like upgraded redesigns of characters. I dunno, they don’t look Moe, but the way they tweaked Yukari’s design is very good (really proud of her hair TT^TT they got it’s act together). But it really comes down to if I like the art style. I like Soejima (old and new) which means I like the in-game cutscenes and Trinity Soul. I like P3′s cause it just pleases me too. Same with Sogabe! Saito’s is great too (even tho it took a bit to get used too, they love duck lips too much kfdljsadfja). But I don’t really like either P4′s styles much (P4GA over P4ta, more pleasing, has better art direction from what I remember) esp cause of their quality (they aren’t bad I just feel eh towards them), P5tA and Day Breakers can be eh too from what I’ve seen but not enough to form a more solid opinion like P4′s (BUUUUUUT P5ta can kiss my fudgemonkey ass over changing the damn gym clothes, it’s your fault P5R changed them! ;w; I WANT MY ARROWS BACK! THE ARROWS MADE IT! 

[the-faequeen]

Why do you ship Zoe and Kayn?

I’m THAT person who ships like … Edgy, grumpy/SIlly, nerdy or Loud sweet couples and the Tall/short type couples? It’s like a thing that really attracts me and junk?? I mean, LOOK AT THESE SHIPS!

Bakugo/Ochako , KIrishima & Bakugo, Kaminari & Jiro (BNHA) (If y’all don’t think that Kirishima’s a ball of sunshine, y’all lying to yourselves) 

Peridot & Lapis (Steven U)

Gajeel and Levy (Fairy Tail)

Xayah & Rakan, Veigar & Lulu, Trist & Rumble (LoL)

Pidge & Lance, Keith & Shiro, Allura & Lotor (Voltron)

Soul & Maka (Soul Eater)

Star & Tom (STar vs. Tfoe)

Luka & Marinette (Miraculous Lady B) (i mean… i still ship CHat and LB ofc bt damn Luka)

Terra/Beast Boy, Jinx/Kid Flash, Artemis/Kid F (Teen Titans/Young Justice)

Toph & Sokka/ Zuko/Katara (ATLA)

Marcie & Bubs (Adventure Time)

Taiga and Ryuji (ToraDora)

and llike don’t even get my started on the other few shoujo anime I’ve watched :’v It’s a very specific type I don’t know. For the most part, I like seeing edgy characters act a different way – or seeing how they can change or learn how to be around people. It’s always an endearing story arc for anyone who has that Edgy loner type trope – (in my opinion – Personally, I enjoyed Zuko’s and Keith’s arcs the most, learing to accept team avatar or team voltron as his new found family and all that shit blah blah)

Same goes for Zoe & Kayn. I ship them cos of that? Also cos I feel like Zoe is one of the few champions that can QUITE POSSIBLY MAYBE (just maybe) reverse what rhaast did (which is what i’m trying to do in my comic. I really love that). We can say hey yeah well the other aspects can do that too and aurelion and the other cosmic skinned champs. Well sure! Yeah ofcourse they can – i just chose zoe cos she’s naturally curious and she likes making friends. Among all of them, I feel like she’ll be the most probably one who’ll want to ask or even talk to kayn. I don’t really see leona, diana or Panth rushing to talk to some random shadow boy with a demon arm. COmpared to zoe’s who’s just off looking going on adventures, wanting to make friends. On kayn’s side. I don’t see him like bowing down to authority apart from Zed’s. He sees himself as the best and the only reason why he has this great respect for Zed was because Zed took care of him and in a way fathered him. IThey have a bond. A relationship that in itself, is respectable. Apart from that, i don’t see him bowing down to any form of authority. It’s another reason why I think he’d actually bother with Zoe? She doesn’t really blow off that “authoritative” aura figure that most champs might give or even demand. She’s just the “Hi, Hello, WHo are you? Wanna be my friend?” Casual champ. 

I see their first meeting as kayn going who the fuck are? doesnt matter, gonna kill you now. Zoe evading his attacks and Kayn getting annoyed enough to run away from her,realizing she’s this crazy weird ass psycho that he should probably avoid. And zoe realizing oh he’s actually kinda cool … kinda cute too… he’s not scared of me? Is he trying to kill me or play with me? Oh i think he wants to play! Okay lets play 1234 ready of not here i come —– And here and there. Eventually gets used to her being around cos she just wont leave him alone and she’s not really doing anything wrong. And then one day rhaast took over cos he got too complacent, she tries to save him, not for the sake of saving him but for the sake of showing rhaast that she won’t lose to him and … and then so she goes on this crazy journey, meets up with lux, talks to yordles, hears what varus has to say and then (SPOILERS LALALA WAIT FOR THE COMIC TO FIND OUT THE REST)  For the most part, it sounds like puppy love and the way I see them is somehow like that anyways.

So yeah. Long story short, The two has a potential story to be told. Okay sure, not as romantic as say Ezreal and lux, Lux and jinx or xayah and rakan – but like, even as friends, they have some sort of story to be told and I guess that’s why i like it. They’re two vastly different and complex characters that are somehow similar in some sort of way and the stories you can create about them be it romantic or friendly or sibling-y — its nice. They have that going on for them. Pls honestly, they’re a funny pair. so comedy’s always nice to tell when it comes to ships. I don’t really care if the end game of this ship isnt marriage or a family. Frankly, I just enjoy creating content and stories about them as is. Every ship doesn’t even HAVE TO end with marriage :v FRANKLY LOTOR AND ALLURA ENDED IN DEATH :’V (yes I’m still salty about voltron season 8)

that’s it i guess? Haha i dont know if i make sense but this is the best way i could explain it, this is my opinion though, I’d respect yours if it aint your cup of tea, totally cool and thanks for asking my opinion about it! Im quite happy you asked tbh.

as for the age thing i’ve explained my side once. Short and sweet. I don’t see zoe as a kid. that’s it. If i was so into the idea of pedo shit, I’d draw zoe to be as small and childlike as annie or Kayn to be as bulky and stocky of a man as graves or braum (older in general). Frankly i draw zoe with curves and Kayn looks like a teenager when i draw him. End of story.

[paracosmcentral]

Multiverse Cosm (Messaged Explanation Comp)

i haven’t decided on names yet so i’ll just use the names of the lhp paras they were based off basically there are multiple universes each with different possibilities but they all stem from the Original which is like the og plane of existence except nothing really happens in the og it’s like the og has all the basic information and then all the multiverses take that basic info and spin it into something like the og has all the basic character info, and then all the multiverses are fanfictions/story ideas that use it canon or not the og has the most basic info that is consistent throughout but nothing really happens in it or if something does we don’t understand it if you ever try to visit the og it’s very disorienting it’s like you don’t feel anything or know anything nothing happens except that you’re existing you don’t even know how, if you even have a physical form you just know that you exist but basically something happens and the Glass Collage Effect commences

no official names yet but basically shiro, hyunseung and hanbin do… something that causes the multiverse to overlap and conjoin over the Original it’s like when you have a bunch of random glass shards and they’re all so different but you try to make a collage of them but it doesn’t really work out bc you have all these random colors and shapes and they don’t fit or if they do it’s not very neatly and there’s cracks everywhere and some holes you need to fill with an excessive amount of glue and it might look kind of pretty if you’re optimistic enough but for the most part it’s very obviously not working out

that’s what happens with multiverses the multiverses are like the glass pieces that make the collage and the Original is the platform on which they were built and all those cracks and stuff where the glass meet in the multiverses, they are known as splits so now all the different variations of people are either conjoined multi-identities or are separate existences on different glass shards

our main focus: shiro, hyunseung, and hanbin’s characters and wooji, jin sun, xiao yi and abraham’s characters for background xiao yi is like shiro’s unofficial son unofficial for no other reason than shiro isn’t 18 yet but once her birthday comes around she intends to be his legal guardian and jinsun and wooji are stray foster kids who hyunseung saved from shitty lives and got adopted by hyunseung’s uncle jinho and abraham is this very quiet but sweet babie boy who’s friends with the others and has a nice little bond with hanbin

so there are androids, digitized consciences, rescue missions, revivals basically a big part of this is that we don’t understand a lot about the multiverse and how it works and that’s ok a large portion of this story is the characters trying to figure things out and make it work but ultimately no one can truly comprehend it all

so hyunseung, shiro and hanbin from one of the multis finds a way to hop through different multis and eventually finds a way to get onto the Original but it’s because of that, that everything goes to shit nothing from the multis are meant to be in the Original the lack of substance on the Original acts as a repellent of sorts to all the multis like opposite ends of a magnet the multis are distanced enough that they don’t collide into each other but sometimes an attraction occurs, and that’s how some people wind up experiencing moments on an alternate universe that’s where all those stories come from

idk how to explain what it feels like to exist in the Original to be a basis it’s not something that can be put into words i can barely understand it myself it’s like you don’t really have any form you exist but not really it’s really weird it’s something you feel except you can’t actually feel anything the Original just is yeah it’s a weird oxymoron thing it makes sense in my head just not in words

now the Glass Collage Effect it doesn’t erase the Original bc then as far as we know the multis would like cease to exist or something no one really knows but it’s like you know how you have a sheet of paper on which you glue all your collage pieces? it’s like the Original is a board on which all the glass shards (multis) were glued onto and remember how there are gaps that are overfilled with glue?

well the multis (as in the people) can sort of jump? through the verses the edges of the verses that connect to one another are called splits you can leap(?) through a split but certain splits lead to those holes and if you leap there you get thrown directly into the Original

the people multis are basically everyone inhabiting the multiverses so like us there are variations of us in all the different verses and now bc of this whole overlap thing you can leap through splits to access other verses but those holes that throw you into the Original the Original literally cannot hold you you’ll be viciously tossed around and feel the most extreme and foreign and weirdest sensations and then get thrown up into the nearest verse every case of this ends up with severely mutilated bodies like the Original is a stomach that can’t digest or hold you so you become vomited

but back to multis as in the people shiro, hyunseung and hanbin had temporarily transported into the Original and this was before the Glass Collage Effect so they didn’t get thrown up it was more like you know how you put something in your mouth but it doesn’t even get down your throat bc you reject it before it does and just spit it out whole that’s how it was for them except when they got spit out the Effect had taken place their split second presence in the Original caused it

now i’m going to explain something about the Original it’s the most basic of them all and has the basis for all the multiverses but nothing quite exists, but still exists there are some consistencies in all the multiverses vastly different, but you can still draw some kind of similarity they are all children of the same Original after all but these consistencies are bc of something in the Original called connections connections are relations between basis identities it’s like the Original has the most basic code, some of which is relevant to each other and then the multiverses are all that can be made from building and developing off of that

so bc of that when shiro, hyun and hanbin get spit back out everyone who’s basis identity had a connection with theirs all their forms across the verses become merged but bc of all the imbalance and shit memories are sort of flying in there you have vague recollections at best but for shiro, hyun and hanbin it was different as they were the ones who actually entered the Original all their identities are merged but not like anyone else’s you know how they say cats have 9 lives they lose one, there’s a second it’s like that, but each multiverse identity would be a “life”

it’s like a game and when they lose a level, they lose a life and when they restart the level, it’s with another life but the lives in question are the multi identities and this is where the androids come in the 3 find a way to exist within a literal split so not like on the planes themselves but the split so you can’t actually access it they create a hideout of sorts i guess and they make it so that their conscience is kind of like extracted from their bodies it’s like their physical bodies are within this hideout thing contained and then their consciences are physically separated though still connected non-physically and everytime they start a new life/ use a new multi identity the identity doesn’t take a physical form but rather becomes transformed into a form of energy that powers an android and the conscience of that android and the conscience of the original human is connected via that separated ball of conscience whatever tf it is

now here’s the thing this glass collage it’s being held together rn but it’s so delicate and unstable and weak that it’ll just break and then nothing will be restored bc it’ll be swallowed and vomited by the Original but then everything within the Original will essentially have no purpose (a lot of the plot stuff is kind of metaphorically about breaking away and defining yourself and like actually becoming yourself instead of becoming what’s written in stone and stuff like that)

so yeah all the androids powered by multi identities work together and leap through multiverses to figure out how to prevent the glass collage from imploding they don’t know what to do or how to do it or anything really but they work it out by failing and replaying “levels” until they win

now meanwhile the merged multi identities of wooji, jin sun, xiao yi and abraham are searching for those 3 trying to find them which involves a lot of redefining and learning themselves they run into “shiro”, “hyunseung” and “hanbin” a couple times not knowing those are actually various android forms and stuff

but basically they all eventually figure out that although the Original exists and the basis identities exist the basis identities aren’t fated destinies that define them so much as the destinies they’ve defined for themselves bc remember, time is technically a place so although at the beginning of the journey they weren’t really them

they eventually do become who they are now but instead of thinking of it as a time a vs time b thing in which case the application of the Original wouldn’t really work think of it as time is a cross-multiversal place and different times are different locations across time so it’s more of a place a vs place b thing in which case the characters had already formed their identities and shaped themselves but in a different location

idk if i’m explaining this coherently or not sksksk

[thetygre]

30 Day Monster Challenge 2 - Day #16: Favorite Evil Weapon/Object

1.       Stormbringer (Elric of Melnibone)

The Black Blade. Daughter of Arioch. The Stealer of Souls. One of the single most legendary swords in all of fantasy, present in every universe in at least one form or another. A demon of chaos bound by the Lords of Law into the shape of a weapon. Whoever wields it can drain the souls from whoever they stab and sustain themselves with it, but is driven by a terrible hunger. The Black Blade has a will of its own, and it howls for blood as it is swung. In short, the definitive evil weapon.

What makes Stormbringer stand out from its later imitators, and even previous legendary evil weapons, is how it affects its primary wield, Elric of Melnibone. As an albino, Elric is sickly, and usually uses medicine and dark magic to stay alive. But abroad in the Young Kingdoms, Elric has to rely on Stormbringer to survive. Even as Elric connects with people outside his home kingdom, they are bound to die whenever he needs to stay alive, no matter how much Elric tries to fight it. Stormbringer is essentially a manifestation of Elric’s burden as the Champion of Balance, but also his greater isolation that distances him from being able to make connections. Elric makes it clear that Stormbringer isn’t some kind of ultimate weapon, it’s a crutch, a drug that ultimately consumes its user. And in the end, that’s what happens to Elric; when the entire universe is consumed by chaos, Stormbringer finally turns on Elric before disappearing into the apocalypse.

2.       Soul Edge/Soul Calibur (Soulcalibur)

So this is honestly cheating, but I just can’t pick between the two swords. Soul Edge is the clear Stormbringer descendent and looks rad as hell to boot. Even more that Stormbringer, Soul Edge looks like a living, breathing monster. It can even shapeshift into weapons that aren’t sword, and it had an entire life cycle in Soulcalibur 2. But Soul Edge never really stopped being the ‘bad’ sword. It’s counterpart, Soul Calibur, on the other hand, started off as the ‘good’ sword. But as the series went on, Soul Calibur began to change. In Soulcalibur 4 it was hinted that Soul Calibur might have a mind of its own as well, and it might not have the purest intentions. By Soulcalibur 5, the plot hook came to fruition; Soul Calibur is just as dangerous as Soul Edge and wants to trap the world in a perfect unchanging state. The swords have become the embodiments of Law and Chaos; the Michael Moorcock reference comes full circle. All we need now is a game where Soul Calibur is out of control and the only thing that can stop it is Soul Edge.

3.       The Terror Mask (Splatterhouse)

The Terror Mask has sass, the Terror Mask has a personality. Half these evil artifacts are just kind of generically malevolent; they won’t yell at you in Jim Cummings’ voice and call you a pussy when you notice one of your arms is missing. There’s a surprising amount of lore invested in the Terror Mask. An entity from the space between spaces, it fled the cosmic horror gods until they bound it in a bone mask. Now it’s out to settle the score, and whoever is wearing it just happens to be along for the ride. Granted, the wearer of the mask turns into a hulking slasher ogre that is almost impossible to kill. The Splatterhouse games are a gateway into the video game id, replete with monsters, ultra-violence, and a hero so buff he puts the ‘masculine’ in ‘toxic masculinity’. The Terror Mask, like in the game, is just a way to get to that special kind of hell.

4.       The Necronomicon Ex Mortis (Evil Dead)

The Necronomicon Ex Mortis is probably the most famous evil book in the world, probably more so than Lovecraft’s original Necronomicon. (Frankly, I could do an entire list on favorite evil books, but we’ll get there when we get there.) The Ex Mortis really doesn’t have a lot to do with Lovecraft besides the name, other than that they are both old, sanity-rending, and bodies of literature. But, being honest, the Ex Mortis is just the more fun of the two. The Ex Mortis is the party-boy of evil books to the original Necronomicon’s Ivy League scholar. It’s such an embodiment of Sam Raimi horror; gory, campy, with a bit of slapstick thrown in, and its mere presence causes weirdness to happen. The Necronomicon Ex Mortis contains knowledge of things man was not meant to know, and it knows it. It’s mischievous, and it’d almost be lovable if it wasn’t also full of immensely powerful black magic.

5.       The One Ring (Lord of the Rings)

I’ve always been interested by the concept that the One Ring can think for itself. The One Ring is, ultimately, an incredibly loyal evil artifact, and is only interested in new yielders insofar as they can deliver it back to Sauron. The Ring really is an apt counterpart for the hobbits; a little thing, defenseless, almost useless at first glance, but capable of changing the world. The Ring also has a pedigree, of course. It shares more than few traits with the Ring of Nibelung from the Wagnerian cycle of operas of the same name. The Nibelung Ring, like the One Ring, can grant the wearer power over the world, but only if they renounce love. In time, the covetousness of men and gods for the ring destroys the world and brings about Ragnarok. The One Ring is a reflection of the Ring of Nibelung, but also vastly different in many respects. It brings about the end of the gods and immortals, but only because they were staying to try and destroy it. The end of the Ring and of Sauron grants the world the ability to move into the next age, the age of mankind, which reflects not only Tolkien’s notions about divinity and its place in human existence, but I think also his faith that people can rise to their best in the changing times.

6.       Rubilax (Wakfu)

Rubilax is the only evil weapon here to have a character arc. Granted, that’s because he’s actually a demon bound to a sword, but whatever. Rubilax starts out as your typical evil sword, trying to possess the (idiot) paladin bound to guard him. Not to make it a contest, but he gets pretty far, to the point that said paladin has to release Rubilax and fight him in a bare-knuckle fist fight into submission. After that, things get kind of complicated. People die, souls are displaced, there’s a colosseum death match, and Rubilax has to make some calls about his moral character, so to speak. In the end, Rubilax decides to side with the good guys, and even gets along with the paladin’s kids. So he’s less of an evil weapon and more of just a demonic one, but he’s definitely the most nuanced character here.

7.       The Event Horizon (Event Horizon)

The Even Horizon is pushing the definition of ‘evil object’. It’s really more of an evil place, which might also be worth a look sometime, but for now a ship counts as an object. There’s plenty of sci-fi stories that try to do the cursed spaceship deal, but I feel like Event Horizon is the only one that really captures the gothic horror aspect. I think we tend to forget that architecture, aside from its practical usage, is also meant to convey ideas and thoughts as much as any other form of artistry, and was one of the more important forms of public communication before the spread of reading. The architecture of the Event Horizon is the words to a spell, the three-dimensional incantation that opens the gates of Hell. It was a morbid, dark temple to man’s ignorance even before it went into other dimensions. Once it returns, it hungers for more; a cursed ship bound to always return to its home port on the other side. Something about the Event Horizon reminds me of the Rime of the Ancient Mariner; the way the ship is warped and changed by sailing through strange waters, and how the survivors are bound to relive the curse over and over again. That’s why the Event Horizon is my favorite ghost ship in science fiction.

8.       The Marker (Dead Space)

The Marker draws directly from Event Horizon, and they both share the concept of wordlessly communicating a kind of madness to the people who view them. The Marker, though, takes it to a new extreme, in that it has a literal insanity aura that causes hallucinations, paranoia, and aggressiveness. An interesting way that the Marker is more ‘alive’ than other evil objects is that it is self-propagating; part of the madness it transmits is the formula necessary for its replications. But what I find most fascinating is how the Marker can transmit information that changes DNA, altering people on the cellular level to turn them into Necromorphs. That kind of power, to change biology through information, is nothing short of magic in most other settings.

9.       The Berserker Armor (Berserk)

You can’t fight demons if you ain’t cute. The Berserker Armor was forged by dwarves for the explicit purpose of fighting demons and monsters. It draws on the rage and negative energy inside a person to give them incredible strength and agility, but at the price of slowly draining their senses. The Skull Knight originally made it for himself, but even he was scared off by the armor’s power. Now Guts has it, and he has a lot of rage to give. I think the most fascinating thing about the armor is how it changes and molds itself to how Guts’ uses it. It didn’t start off with a giant wolf helmet; that’s just Guts’ personal totem representing his inner darkness. But when the armor drew on that, it changed shape, and when Guts holds himself back, it stays restrained. Still, the armor takes a lower spot because it itself isn’t evil, it just draws on a person’s internal negativity; it’s all up to the wearer on how much they use it.

10.   The Gonne (Discworld)

Discworld is full of anachronistic magical devices, and they’re all usually cause for some kind of concern. The Gonne was at the center of a fairly elaborate murder plot involving the Assassin’s Guild and the Night Watch, but was finally put a stop to. Like any good evil weapon, it whispers promises of power to whoever happens to be holding it at the time, and is also a little trigger-happy. But the Gonne and its metaphor for firearms gets kind of overshadowed by everything happening around it, and it even gets acknowledged as a powerful and worthy weapon in its own way by the end.

[katzirrart]

Art Growth Compilation

I really enjoy doing posts about improvement in art.

It makes me feel better about my work, especially with how busy I am these days.

I wanted to compile all the comparisons I’ve made over the years and kinda discuss the posts, for myself or others.

I thought it’d be funny to start with comparing how I first drew on a tablet, using dodge and burn tools, to how I do now which is using layers and actually painting. It’s funny to look back on that, you know?

I linked the post I made, compiling all the month to month memes from 2003-2017 that I try and do yearly. And everything else is under a cut ;w;’‘/

Most artists have done a drawing of themselves and a few Pokemon, or their team. I did that in 2010, and was dissatisfied with my work...

I took a crack again in 2013 after I’d learned to draw more animals and not be so Edgy(tm) I really liked the results. I still didn’t use references though, because I was lazy. I just didn’t want to. I still was on that boat feeling like I was CHEATING. I wasn’t being CREATIVE if I looked at references.

Artists get stuck on using reference and it’s AWFUL. USE THEM. USE TWENTY. LEARN!! It’s so HELPFUL, I wish I had started sooner.

In 2014 though -

I tried again.

I had gotten better at anatomy, but most of all, I started to work off references more. I started to really focus on not stylizing so much, but to work on actually making things look like things. I started to work on caring about COMPARISON sizes. Composition!!

While Pokemon reference sizes are -wiggle hands- and while my team changed up, I was satisfied that I could draw Arbok ACTUALLY like a cobra now, Meowth is easy given it’s just a noseless cat so to speak, Haunter is literally a triangle cloud - I was satisfied having drawn that team.

My secondary team in the new games? I was excited to draw them. It was fresh and new and FUN and it turned out PRECIOUS.

I learned better how to proportion things in an image for layout, and just... making characters feel COHESIVE in the same space.

It was a nice thing to keep visiting. I have a sketch in the works for an update even hopefully.

These pieces are kind of interesting to me too, because they’re towards the end of my era of THIN lineart?

My lineart has gone from this, and THIS,  to this.

Literally I use to not believe in line weight, I can still do thin work of course, but I’m not a fan of trying to FORCE it like I use to? Even the second link, I went from the SMALLEST brush in Sai, to using a marker brush that had barely ANY give, to a custom brush on Sai that acts like a Paint Chat brush I use to use with friends online!

That’s what I mean about style too, like you may reserve yourself about things - like not coloring black in and outlining with white, or certain ways you do things. But the growth and changing and figuring FUN ways to color that black etc is where the fun of art comes in, to me??

Learn. EXPERIMENT. PUSH!

A few months ago, I did my first redraw. Of this piece from 2012.

Six years difference.

This was interesting for a number of reasons. There’s aspects I like more in the old one, but not many. I really like the pose a bit better, but I like the casual closeness that I did in the new one because that’s more my Shepard.

But technically speaking, it’s worlds better because I took time. I paid attention to details. I did fun things instead of rushing. I took time with my coloring and didn’t SMEAR it around. I had a friend who use to complain I drew so fast and they felt so SLOW, but I love what that taught me. I started taking more time on my art, and enjoying it more since I caught more mistakes and vastly improved. By leaps and bounds.

It’s amazing what a difference six years makes in not only style, which is often a FOCUS of these things? My style has come awkwardly and naturally to me over the years of critically picking certain things apart? but I really love where it’s gotten.

I have things I want to get back to, but I love... where it is, and CAN be?

But it’s wild to me how much change happens in technical handling? It’s a hand in hand thing, you can’t focus on one or the other only, or the other suffers.

Honestly this has been my favorite improvement to notice though?

Kisame was a character I felt I should be able to draw EASILY? Not so much. Itachi? ALSO EASY. Not so much??

Kisame has weird eyes to grasp how to draw? Thus focusing on them kept making them wonky to me!! On top of that, he’s everything I’ve been use to drawing for AGES because he has a muscular body, with a smaller waist? ... that was something I was use to drawing? I still was awkward getting back into the swing of that... Drawing HIS HAIR though? NOT SO EASY....

But like, Itachi should have been easy, but I have a thing about him appearing too feminine as he gets drawn because his eyelashes, and I’ve really found a nice... medium at this point?

But even still like my face styles and eye styles are finally to a comfortable point for me? I have stopped focusing on some weird things with Itachi’s hair and just... DO IT? But even still like...

The improvement here is literally just if I don’t know how to do something, or I’m not satisfied with how I do it? I just keep at it.

It’s a theme of this post honestly... repetition, persistence.

Keep drawing it. Keep trying to figure out what it is that’s catching you off about how you do it. Don’t like how you do eyes or how they fit on the face? Look at facial structures and references and figure it out. Draw them separate and figure out how to apply them to what you are.

Remember there’s a skull in there. I draw the holes in the skull like the eye sockets, and the nose area to help my proportions for SURE.

I’ve also gotten to a nice marriage in my lineart? The piece before the recent one, those lines feel HARDER or HEAVIER? The newest piece seems...softer? Like I’m lighter handed again?

I really like critiquing my own growth on what is good or working better for me? Older pieces it looks like I’m putting lineweight for SAKE of it versus where it goes now?

INTERESTING.

Like this lineup -

My style shifts so RAPIDLY, it still is noticeably MY style to people, but parts shift so VIOLENTLY because I’m constantly picking at what I don’t LIKE.

It’s funny too in the case of Kisame and Itachi because consistently I’m drawing the SAME character over and over - can make you REALIZE how you’re doing something wrong?

Like, here’s a difference of eight years, and it’s all the brush I use now, and it REALLY shows how my style has changed - in the aspect of one point of reference?

I have a childhood favorite character too, of Daisuke, and I use to be bad at drawing boys, and I use to be SUPER bad at drawing fluffy hair?

It was something I specifically started to learn to do? And I started to draw Daisuke every few months or years for a while. Especially when I started to first REALIZE I didn’t like my style that much?

But the middle one was July 2009, top left is less than 6 months later, and the last one is about a year later. DRASTIC DIFFERENCE. But next -

This one was in 2012, when I started to do more with teeth, or first dipping my toes into anatomy. I started to focus more on HANDS too, I was super bad at them. Overall I started to focus more on making my art have...ages? Like a boy versus a man. Facial features being DIFFERENT.

I can look at this boring little bust and see that he comes off more of a teenage boy to me now. I need to work more on figuring how to draw asian features especially the eyes. Sometimes I hit the mark, other times I don’t.

but between this and 2012? Not too much has changed. I do hair fluffier now, and I angle the eyes better. The teeth not being outlined doesn’t give that weird effect where I might give him TOO MANY TEETH....

People do that and it’s easy but whoof.

So there’s still learning and adapting to do in QUICK drawings, you know? but I can still see there’s good things. That took me like 5 minutes to draw? Not bad honestly.

In it’s own bracket is original characters though too?? But also divergent of STYLE shifts because like...

OKAY. Nightmare Syndicate’s story.. started for me in 7th or 8th grade, that was when I was...14? 15? I’ve been fleshing it out for like 13 years, that’s wild haha!! I love my kids and all.

But okay so SIALI. She’s still fairly similar but I restructured her face for SURE. She’s gotten less edgy, she’s.... a teenage girl.

FELIX?? CHRIST. He’s been such a long journey!! More on that later?

Rot and even Cor?? Rot and Cor are a shorter span of development, but Rot started in Highschool so almost 10 years ago, and Cor has been fairly solid - but even just DRAWING him over three years? Go look at how much he changes.. I’m not married to concepts easily. haha!

People act like making a character you’re STUCK with it. Like Oh boy, I better make this character good, from the get go!!

I only worry about that with small potatoes like my Pillar(Gods) designs I just made for the comic?? Even still, small things will change with them I’m sure.

But not only has Felix and Siali changed, but they’ve GROWN with my style and DEFINED it even. I’ve had to adjust my style to support Felix’s look honestly a LOT. Bend my rules. Break my anatomy stickler attitude - and honestly, that’s the thing.

You have to learn the rules and anatomy BEFORE you can break them. A style built upon broken anatomy will fail you down the road if you just excuse everything with style.

Learn to draw the hands. Learn to draw the feet. Figure out the face. Bones exist. You can break the FUCK out of it once you learn how to do it, you know? Like I’ve seen so many styles I LOVE who are cartoony and BROKEN AS FUCK, but there’s still some STRUCTURE to it. Most of those people can still structure a face just fine, and the reason exaggeration works so well is because there’s like unwritten rules for what works and doesn’t based on that?

Idk.

Felix has a very elongated torso, he’s like 7′ or 8′ tall so I mean?? He’s... broken anatomy, but he’s... lanky - but his muscle is LITHE and stretched. It makes contextual sense. That’s the important part.

But even designs, it’s important to understand designs YOU make, or like... to understand they’ll CHANGE and that’s growth within your art too?

Like okay, example. Felix has a millipede inspired monster form. But with designing that? I still have to know how millipedes and SNAKES work because there's bones and vertebrae in there??

But there’s also the difference of like... CONCEPT, versus execution. You can design a fucking badass character, but understanding your own concept is SOMETHING.

I had no idea how this would play out, until I was mapping out his ‘midsection’ spikes? and man. MY STYLE WAS MADE FOR THIS CHALLENGE NOW. Which is so interesting how smooth my style has always been? Felix has defined ANGLES in it, and it’s hilarious tbh?

But even too, I’ve had to work with Felix’s monster form FACE, to break the rules to make it WORK the way I need it too?

On the anatomy subject too, like when I first got into Marvel comics 6 years ago or so? I had no idea how to do muscle structures?? I was so BAD at it.

I can look at this left image and CRINGE so badly at how NONE of those are muscles?? THOSE ARE THINGS I PERCEIVE AS MUSCLES. Like...

A course I took taught me to draw what I see, not what I know. That’s the whole point of that post that goes around about drawing a shrimp. Look it up. It’s hilarious and cute.

But it’s like, asking an artist to draw a bike, you can tell who uses reference and who WINGS it. It’s funny, but like it’s what you know versus what you see.

I started to study anatomy like crazy and was seeing improvements days at a time. The right image was done like... a month later? already I can see the muscles under the pectorals? those look normal now. the abs aren’t dough lumps under the skin in a perfect 6 pack, they’re the actual plane shapes.

I was trying to find a good reference for myself of learning to make men ‘thicker’ too in terms of the waist etc since the left is really...thin.... but...

A bit better, but even still, comparing these two - they’re 2 months apart? and I can see understanding more about arms and how they connect to the body, where the planes ACTUALLY lay for the chest and obliques and such?

I can see improvements from July 2012 up there, to - WHOOPS. I FORGOT TO CHANGE THE YEAR LMAO... TO FEBRUARY 2013...omg

I mean, I could go on and on about improvements I see, when I go through my art though? Gosh.

Like I’m seeing so SO many bad hands and feet in my old stuff, and just CRINGING because tricks I learned for myself by now?

I give so many pointers and streams and screenshares on discord still to help people with art and it cracks me up?? Like...

I dunno. I’m pretty mediocre tbh, but god damn.

[xurkitips]

On Writing Child Characters

So someone in a Discord chat I’m in asked for some advice on how they could get more in character when writing a young child. 

A lot of media tends to depict children as either really obnoxious, or basically just small, slightly less mature adults, and neither is really completely right. While there’s really no specifically right way to write a child character, I have some things I always keep in mind whenever I sprinkle children in my own written works that I feel may be helpful to other people.

How did they grown up? 

Just like with any character, considering their home life, family, and friends will tell you a lot about how they may act and where their behavior comes from. A child from a loving/open home that nurtures their personality and allows them to grow will probably be more outgoing. A child raised by strict, cold, or even abusive parents may opt for being quieter, shy, more dependent on their parents. The behavior of the parents or guardian will definitely reflect in the child’s personality, as children look to their parents as role models.

Did they have a lot of childhood playmates? Pets? Or did they have to resort to things like movies/TV and books to make up for feeling alone or for having few friends? Friends or pets from childhood may bring happy memories and further promote their growth, while the lack thereof might promote a more distant or lonely personality, or even a child who is obnoxious in an attempt to draw attention to themself.

What makes them happy? 

Legit, every single kid has Their Thing, no matter how old they are. They are ALWAYS happy to talk about it, play pretend with it, draw, write, etc. Some kids are more shy about showing it if they've been dismissed by a friend or family member, but others are open with it to the point where everyone knows it. 

I personally have a cousin, who's twelve, and she talks on and on about Minecraft. She’s a budding artist who draws pictures of the game's animals/characters, often adding her own personal touches to them. My other cousin originally loved angry birds, but has now he's moved onto the Detroit Lions. He collects merchandise, catches every game, and knows every scrap of sports terminology to the point where when he talks about it, it sounds like another language.

What do they dislike?

Everyone has something they seriously cannot stand, whether it's a fear or just "Ew, Brussels sprouts!" While an adult would say, "I don't like that," kids tend to be more expressive and vocal about their distastes. Depending on the kid’s personality, they'll react differently and it’s something I think it's important to consider.

One might stomp or yell or scream and run away, another will be polite about it or very matter-of-fact in how much they don’t like it. Others may brag about how terrible or gross something is, or hide the thing they hate.

Please Don't Do The "What's Sex?" Joke Thing 

I really wish people would stop doing this. 

I see this a lot in writing and roleplay, and it leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. If you’ve never seen it or aren’t sure what I mean, I’m talking the moment where the eight year old walks in on their parents, who are talking about sexual innuendos, and asks what they’re talking about. 99% of younger children genuinely don't care or just think the names of bits are funny ("Haha you said boobies" "Haha butts"). 

Think back to your own childhood. There's a reason all those adult jokes in movies and TV soared over our heads when we were younger. We didn't understand them nor care and just kept going. We pick up on them heavily as adults, as we’re more familiar with them and more, but we simply don’t focus on them in our younger years since we ignore the confusing line for what we found funny. It's adult stuff and boring and what we like/want to do matters more than that. 

What makes them laugh?

If anyone else has been around kids extensively, you’ve probably noticed that they bond so easily to you if you do things that they find funny (or exciting, fun, or cool. It's not difficult to make friends with kids if you respect them, but I digress). 

A lot of simple, quick-witted or blunt jokes from come off as absolutely hysterical, and will stick like glue. Some things I personally found exceptionally funny were slapstick, silly things you wouldn’t expect to happen in the situation, and toilet jokes (because haha poop).

It's pretty easy to make kids laugh, all in all. They might recite a joke they found funny to many, many other people because it makes them laugh so much. They may try to surf off the hilarity of the joke and make a similar, but ultimately failure copy as the process of why it’s funny is often lost. Kids tend to be not very good at making their own jokes from scratch, or at least they aren’t often funny in the way they meant them to be. 

(That said I want this one to hang immortalized on my wall.)

If a child has been abused or treated badly, they may not recognize it as such 

There's a surprising amount of people (myself included, unfortunately) who only just realized as they became adults that how they grew up was not normal, and that how their caretaker or friend or family member treated them wasn't okay. 

Children growing up typically look to their parents for guidance on how the world works. Normally this is fine. But when you were born and raised in a more hostile environment, you straight up don't realize that your situation is not the way other kids live. You normalize it because, well, you don't know better by no fault of your own. 

It feels like a pretty common thing on the Tumbles to see abused children in roleplay or writing immediately going, "My parent is abusive and I hate them," and perhaps in some cases that happens. But it seems to be more common for children to be willing to forgive their family because they're family. As they age it might become vastly different as they process what's happened to them. 

However, the younger they are, the higher the likelihood that they don't want to leave the people they grew up with. It's a familiar environment and they love their family despite everything. That, and new people, places, and things can be scary to a younger child.

How do they express themself and their passion? 

Looping back to likes and dislikes again: 

Kids are often way, WAY more expressive than any adult. Usually because they've been allowed to roam free with their imaginations and their freedom of expression. They love a wide variety of things, but they express them in often more vibrant ways. 

For example, when asked why they like dragons, an adult might respond, "They're elegant, scary, metaphorical, the designs are beautiful, etc." 

A kid who loves dragons might pretend to be one, making sound effects while they stomp around flapping their arms. When asked why they like dragons, they might say, "They blow fire and they eat people and they're green and this one time i was watching The Hobbit and Smaug was like--" 

A high energy kid may love sports or running, might be a bed jumper or love to play pretend. A quiet kid may love reading or writing and be great at reciting facts about what they read. 

(Kids seem to love reciting facts in general, honestly. It’s fun to show off knowledge.)

One who likes bugs or frogs might collect them in containers to play with, or gross out their friends with a surprise frog in their hands because they think it's hilarious. One who loves singing may be into musicals/plays and performing arts, and may straight up sing or hum whenever they please.

Kids are so morbid 

Listen, I know everyone loves to be like, "Kids are so pure and must be protected," but when I was growing up there were at least three different Barney murder songs (among other horrible rhymes and tunes) that would cycle through out ears and out our mouths. Haha, Barney is for babies and he gets dead.

Honestly it was hilarious. It’s still hilarious.

My guess is that kids are curious about things we think of as "unsavory" topics; death, violence, gross-out stuff, war, predatory animals hunting down their prey, natural disasters, all that good stuff. 

Adults often try to not bring up these particular topics, whether because it’s sensitive, heavy, or they don’t know how to answer it. Which...only makes the taste of forbidden knowledge that much sweeter. You're not supposed to talk about it, so of course they're all gonna talk about it when the adults aren't watching.

Late night Llamas With Hats. Haha, he got stabbed 37 times in the chest.

Kids are spontaneous and goofy 

One of the things about "lol randoom XD tacos" humor that draws in the younger crowd is that you don't expect what's coming next. The protagonist shouldn’t be stepping on ducks. The situation doesn’t call for a musical number, but there it is.

It's always good to consider how playful and silly your child character is, especially if they're on the younger side, since that tends to be when most kids are filled with that boundless energy to do things. They’re are louder than they intend to be, love games and play pretend (which I mention a lot but I've never met a kid who didn't love pretending to be giant monsters or superheroes. My cousins loved Horrible Water Zombies: The Revenge). 

Me personally, I used to keep notebooks and draw really weird things. When I was thirteen I had a character whose favorite pastimes were, and I quote, “smashing watermelons on the mayor’s house and falling off cliffs.”

One of my cousins will literally walk up to me and say the most off the wall things. On one occasion, he just walked up, looked at me, then squatted while making some weird mumbling noise. When I asked him what he was doing, he told me, "Bulgarian Spit-Squats," and did that for like twenty minutes straight.

Acceptance and learning with kids 

I think a lot of people write children off as "dumb kids" but they will take a surprising amount in their stride and learn ridiculously quick.

True, children can also be cruel if they don't know any different. Like all people can succumb to mob mentality, not know to pull their punches, or know what words or actions have serious consequences. Most kids politely told right from wrong or talked to with respect instead of being just yelled at do change their behavior. Often quicker and easier than adults do.

When spoken to calmly and patiently and a good explanation of disability, disfigurement, why someone looks or acts the way they do, or why they have this tool or that tool to get around, kids will just accept it for what it is. And after learning about it, they might even start fact parroting, telling others what they've learned or telling them off when an adult says something bad. 

"No, Mom. It's because they have [disability] and that's why they [thing]."

I've heard lots of stories of kids doing this when told someone is gay or trans too, where they're quick to tell off adults who get nasty with those topics or correct them on someone's pronouns. Society has yet to imprint on them that these things are bad.

What do they want to be when they grow up? 

Lots of kids are excited to grow up and do the cool job they really really like. Doctor and policeman and firefighter seem to be the "common" responses since those are obligatory "helps people" and "exciting hero". 

But a child with a passion for something specific may be like, "I wanna be a marine biologist," "I want to be a painter," "I want to be like the guy on TV who talks about wildlife." It's also not uncommon to hear about a really specific or little known job that they've spent hours reading about. Oftentimes when sharing this info with adults they share it proudly and with enthusiasm, because at that point kids don't realize the misery of jobs they can't wait to walk in the footsteps of their heroes who are doing these cool things. 

There's also the kids who answer that with, "I'm gonna be a dinosaur," which sounds like a joke to us, but most of them truly believe if they work harder at pretending to be a dinosaur, they can achieve that. Later on those kids end up discouraged by learning that’s not possible. 

(I’m still disappointed.)

[bluerosesburnblue]

I mean, if Sora interacted with Ventus while he was still developing in the womb, then, sure? That would just be kind of weird though, and I don’t believe that was really the idea behind establishing the connection between their characters anyway.

You’re wrong, actually. That was the original intent, which I why I was speaking about it the way that I was:

– Considering the conversation between Sora and Ventus in the  ending of the Last Episode, is this saying that the “just-born heart”  that Ventus connects with in the opening is Sora’s?

Nomura: Yes. At first we supposed that it could be Sora before he  was born, but because of opinions from overseas that “the heart doesn’t  exist until after birth”, we discarded that portrayal.

from the Birth by Sleep Ultimania

The only reason that it’s stated as “just born” is to avoid upsetting Western sensibilities about what constitutes a person. Had that not been the case, then Ventus would have been interacting with Sora’s recently conceived heart, but you can tell by how Nomura phrases things that that was still considered part of the rewrite. “the heart doesn’t exist until after birth,” ergo, the heart of a person that is just born is literally the moment that a heart first starts to exist and thus develop its sense of identity

[and personality—I’m really more convinced this is what Aqua was referring to]

And yet, Sora and Roxas, who is identical to Ven, are also stated to be very similar in appearance, too.

Xemnas: “I’ve been to see him. He looks a lot like you.” (to Roxas) Later on in this scene, he will mouth the word “Sora.”

This interaction is canonically prompted by the Unknown fight in KH1 Final Mix:

In the beginning of the game, there’s a conversation between Xemnas and Roxas that went like “I met him. He  looks just like you.” “Who are you?” at the beach in the World of  Darkness. Did this happen right after Sora’s fight with the Enigmatic  Man in KH:FM?

Nomura: “Right after”…. I’m not sure about that but yes, it’s after that. In this game, it was never  stated that Xemnas was the EM in KH:FM but from the way he fights and his line, “He looks just like you”, I hinted that it was him in KH:FM.  

Aqua calling Sora “the spitting image of Ven” is not the first or only time the physical resemblance between them has been commented on, and the personality argument doesn’t work for Roxas since his personality is vastly different than either of the two characters that he was created from

It’s hard to find visual reference since uhh… like, everyone’s model was changed in the HD rereleases. Ven’s chin was noticeably completely overhauled, giving him much more of a baby face

In the best grab from KH3 that I can find, though, they look pretty much identical save for the hair (unfortunately there’s also lines through some parts of the faces I’d like to compare, but it’s the best I can get)

Lips, nose, and eyes are all the same. Height is similar. I wish Sora’s chin wasn’t covered, it might be a little more defined but not much. I might chalk this up to Nomura same-face syndrome if it wasn’t for the comments on it in-universe

And it’s not like we’ve seen either of Sora’s parents to be able to say if he plausibly looks like either of them despite his similarities to Ven, or if he looks completely different than either of them for it to be notable

They’re clearly intended to look similar in-universe, and it’s commented on multiple times. In a meta sense, is it simply to draw a parallel between them? Who knows. Roxas was always meant to “be” Sora, it’s possible that this was a holdover from that and that Nobodies were always supposed to look a little different than their original counterparts (or they felt they had to thanks to Deep Dive) with Ven added in as a twist element later in development. Regardless, I wasn’t arguing from a meta stance but how the interpretation fit into what’s currently known about canon. And what’s currently known about canon is that bodies are mutable to some extent based on the hearts inside them (though natural bodies seem to put up more of a resistance than Replica bodies, which are designed to change), and that Ven, Sora, and Roxas are compared based on their “looks” several times, and I think that makes it plausible that Ven had an effect on Sora’s development

It certainly makes more sense than the character from Toy Box telling Sora how much he and Yozora look alike. At least he has similarities to Ven and Roxas that aren’t his clothes

When I first learned of Roxas I thought he was meant to be identical to Sora, save for his hair. But then BbS told us that Ventus had a much larger impact on Roxas's appearance. I accepted this and more or less convinced myself that the two blonds did not resemble Sora much. That is until I watched BbS last month. When Aqua said that Sora was the spitting image of Ventus I was honestly surprised. Now I wonder why these two boys born more than a century apart would resemble one another.

Maybe when Ventus's heart connected with the newborn Sora, this influenced the younger boy's appearance in some way. That is to say, maybe Sora was going to grow up to look another way, but then Ventus came along and changed that somehow? Or maybe their similar appearance is the result of mere chance? Or maybe the creators will explain this in some unexpected way. What do you think? 

I think it’s certainly possible that Sora’s connection to Ventus did effect his appearance in a number of ways, and out of every possibility that one seems the most likely to me. There’s actually a strong precedent for the body changing to match the appearance of the heart(s) inside in the series

Take Xehanort and the characters that he possesses, for example. Over time, their appearance changes to match Xehanort’s own, with hair color, eye color, and/or skin color all morphing to match Xehanort’s and several characters developing his pointed ears.

Different characters show different traits, notably Terra, who had Xehanort’s entire heart placed into him, immediately developed the golden eyes and silver hair, and later developing the ears as Terra-Xehanort lacks them, but Apprentice Xehanort has them pointed, with his skintone eventually being such a subtle shade darker than Terra’s that it’s almost unnoticeable, and certainly not that close to the original Xehanort’s:

Source: [Discussion] Xehanort's Eyes by Dasaniiii on r/KingdomHearts

Then it seems to eventually get a little darker over time if Xemnas is any indication, getting to be closer to Xehanort’s:

At least for their depictions in KH3, which clearly shows Xemnas (who is Terra’ body) as having the same skintone as both original Xehanorts, but Terra-Xehanort retains Terra’s skintone

Meanwhile, Xigbar/Braig, who only received a fragment of Xehanort’s heart and not the whole thing at once, seems to have gotten the golden eyes and pointed ears instantly, developed silver streaks in his hair later (which could be age, who knows), and everything else remains unchanged. Saix has the same happen to him, minus the silver hair, over an unknown timeframe, and the rest all get the golden eyes but not much more. So it seems like overall: the presence of another heart, or even a fragment of another heart, begins to change the appearance of a person to match that of the heart(s) inside them, but the exact traits that change vary based on numerous factors, and more may develop over time

This can also apply to mere connections between hearts, rather than a heart physically being in a new body, if Xion is any indication as her appearance was shaped by Sora’s connection to Kairi despite her original intent being to copy Roxas’s and Sora’s abilities which allowed her heart to develop its own identity based off of all three of them that her Replica body generally takes the form of. I’ve also seen it theorized that Naminé’s blonde hair could be a remnant of Ven’s heart being inside Sora’s body during her creation, and I don’t think that’s a bad explanation for it (though it’s never been stated to be canon as far as I know)

This puts the appearances of Sora, Ven, Roxas, and Vanitas in an interesting light if you apply what happens to Xehanort to them. Sora’s heart has been connected to Ven’s since it was born, but he didn’t have Ventus’s heart inside of him until he was four years old, after Aqua called him the “spitting image of Ven.” So if his appearance was influenced by Ven’s, it had to come from that initial connection and not when Ven’s heart sought full refuge in Sora’s. I think it’s entirely possible that Ven shaped Sora’s appearance, but because it was only via a connection of their hearts at first, Sora was able to retain some of his own, original look (particularly his hair). Though, I’d say that it’s unclear if obtaining Ven’s full heart had or would have had any further effect on Sora’s body once it ended up there

There’s two big differences between Ven and Sora, and Xehanort and Terra. The first is that Xehanort took conscious control of the body he was residing in while forcing its original owner down, while Ven allowed Sora to be in control the entire time and fell into sleep in his heart. The second is that Sora and Ven’s connection happened when Sora was young enough that he didn’t really have a sense of self, while Terra was possessed at the age of what Nomura said was “about 20.” Either one of these could have had some impact between the differences between the two scenarios, as Xehanort’s possession usually caused superficial changes to the host’s body, while this possible connection between Sora and Ven allowed Sora to retain superficial characteristics but would have changed nearly everything else, like facial structure and physique

It could be that Ven’s connection to Sora’s heart caused Sora’s heart to develop similarly to Ven’s (like the Xion example above), which caused his “natural” appearance to develop based on what his heart identified itself as based on that bond

Ultimately, I can’t say for certain that Ventus had an impact on Sora’s appearance, but since there seems to be a good deal of evidence supporting that it would be possible, it’s one of the better explanations in my opinion. At the very least, the body being mutable based on the hearts influencing it is canon, so I don’t think it’s that much of a stretch to conclude that it’s involved with the reason that Sora grew to look like Ven, even if the specifics are unknown right now

[shinygoku]

CutCat’s Favourite Disney Animated Canon

I’m pretty sure everyone and their grandma has already written something along the lines of “Disney was a big part of my childhood” before divulging into some bigass essay. This won’t be much different lmao

But still, I’m not making an objective list, it’s coloured by my own experiences watching the films. Some old Classics won’t even make the Top Ten because I personally didn’t get particularly into them. My favourite may or may not be the best across the board.

Also yeah, I’m not touching on all Fiftysomething films, I’m actually just gonna start with the Top Ten and whittle them down to the last one standing. I haven’t seen all of them so ones I may really dig, like Moana, hafta wait until I can judge for myself. I’ll try to cover all the things I’ve listed, even if it’s as they’ve been eliminated.

This may even be fun for other people to do, maybe!

We’ll return to our scheduled programming after the Cut! 😺✂

Ok I lied, I’ll list the Top 10 and then mention things that didn’t get quite that far, but it won’t take long.

TOP 10

(In order of release, not preference)

Pinocchio

Alice in Wonderland

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

The Little Mermaid

Beauty and the Beast

Aladdin

The Lion King

Mulan

Frozen

Zootopia

Honourable Mentions: Spider-Man: Homecoming (isn’t Disney Animated Canon even though it’s Marvel and therefore Disney lol), Epic Mickey as the story and gameplay and atmosphere is really great, but it’s a game instead of an animated film, and Sleeping Beauty. SB misses out because while the Animation is gorgeous and the Fairies and Maleficent are fantastic characters, the human leads drag it down.

Anyway, time to half that list! Same ordering rules as before:

TOP 5

Pinocchio

Alice in Wonderland

The Little Mermaid

Beauty and the Beast

Aladdin

Yeah, that’s right! The Lion King is already out! I know, I’m a fraud!!

Ok so like, I’m very much a cat person and I do love the film. Top 10 is still respectable! But hoo boy, I love the first act and the Celestial Mufasa scenes, but the middle and in some ways the climax kinda let it down for me. And I’m not fond of Timon and Pumbaa. Timon most of all. tsk tsk

But anyway, before I crossed off TLK, the CGI films were shed and I’m never going to fully get over the death of traditional animation. Frozen and Zootopia are both hella rad but their success also feel like even more nails in Hand-drawn animation’s coffin. Imagine what those films would be like, drawn...! Woaaah

WtP and Mulan are also not to be sneezed at, accomplishing very different narrative but doing both so well. I just feel that Pooh’s 3-shorts format kinda disqualifies it from being my favourite Disney Story and while Mulan is so great, it just lacks something that keeps the others firmly placed. I dunno, it’s more of a gut feeling than a well reasoned argument, lol

Time for 2 more eliminations! Now we’re left with:

TOP 3

Pinocchio

Beauty and the Beast

Aladdin

Alice in Wonderland may not be the most faithful adaptation, but I don’t care. I’ve read both the original books and the main thing Disney does is to discard Through the Looking Glass while taking a couple of small parts of that and putting it into Wonderland. It’s very pretty, very funny and Alice is a likable protagonist, even as Wonderland’s wackiness tries to wear her down.

The Little Mermaid was always something I liked, but never quite as much as, say, Beauty and the Beast. Even with the gorgeous Underwater Aesthetics, which I’m very fond of, didn’t quite make it. Though actually I like it more now than I did before, knowing Eric is voiced by Christopher Daniel Barnes, who did the 90s Spider-Man!! :D

Ok, things are heating the heck up in the list, only two seperate cuts left to make~

The surviving films, for now, are:

TOP 2

Pinocchio

Beauty and the Beast

Yep! Bye-bye, Aladdin, Bye-Bye~

Ok this actually annoys me a bit though lmao

Aladdin would have a really damn good shot as my favourite. It’s colourful, it’s hilarious, it’s compelling! It! It... kinda traumatised me a bit as a young girl and I still feel distinctly uncomfortable about the scene in question even today. It poisons the whole damn film for me as I hafta deal with dread as I watch it. That sucks!!

Objectively, it’s amazing, but as I said, this is my Personal List, so it loses heavy points based on that.

Ok, now the hardest part. Picking between the last two.

I didn’t start this list because I already had a choice picked, I did it because I was curious which I do dig the most.

...

For a long time, if I was asked I’d usually go ‘Uhhhhh Beauty and the Beast, I think!’.

But while B and the B is brilliant and breathtaking and ...uhhh.... bombastic, part of it winning was by default (The two sweetest words in the English Language!)

Y’see, I feel, as a whole, for some curious reason, we forget about Pinocchio.

Ok that’s enough commas for now. But it’s weird! Pinocchio was hot on the heels of Snow White, the big show starter! It’s better than Snow White!! It’s actually rated the highest of all the D.A.C. on Rotten Tomatoes! Critics and normal audience alike love it!

So how come no one talks about it? I can see why it got overlooked in 1940, what with a large and notable war happening, but I literally never come across any Meta or Discussion about it or the themes or the look--

I’m gonna properly talk about it in a sec though, hahaa

So! Beauty and The Beast! An old favourite and nearly top dog in my esteem. It has it all, catchy songs, interesting characters, stunning designs, a whole load of Youtubepoops using footage from it. But it does not have Stockholm Syndrome, you foolish buffoons. Belle only starts to develop feeling for Beast after he becomes less Beastly. THAT’S THE POINT OF THE STORY. BEAST HAS! TO! CHANGE!!

And overall it does a damn good job at this~

Ok, so we already know the winner but it deserves a bit of fanfare for actually doing so well!

NUMBER 1!

TOP DISNEY ANIMATED CANON FILM

(ACCORDING TO CUTCAT) :

PINOCCHIO

I love Pinocchio so, so much!

And not just the film as a whole, the character too! Which is a very important factor here. I’m not saying the rejected films didn’t have strong characters, not at all! But this ties in with the Forgotten sort of vibe I get from the lack of buzz with this film.

Quick! Think of a scene from Pinocchio! Just one, if you can manage it.

Now, I may be way off with my presumption here, but was it the thing about his nose growing when he lies? Or was it maybe his desire to become a Real Boy™?

If you thought of any other moment, my kudos to you. It’s just, I feel that pop culture as a whole likes to harp on those points, which are either one short [but yeah, memorable] scene and the ultimate goal. And not to point fingers, but heck, why not. I blame Shrek a good deal for this, as those are the only memorable traits from their version of him. This may sound unfair, Dreamworks are doing a different take on the same character that Disney didn’t create but instead adapted from a book, but that’s mostly reflected in the vastly different designs (as in Shrek!Pinocchio looks closer to the original book version), but on the other hand Shrek started off by riffing on what Disney did and then kind of mutated into what they were mocking after the second film. Oops.

While mentioning the book, I do not give a rat’s ass that Disney’s version deviates as much as it does, they improved every point adapted. I also really can’t imagine the film doing nearly so well if it had the creepyass vibe for the main character. Marionettes are freaky, dude.

Anyway, that’s another of Pinocchio’s strengths! He looks and sincerely is Adorable! I’m gonna paste in a quote by Milt Kahl about this:

I was quite critical of ... I have a knack for alienating people by being a little bit outspoken, and they were rather obsessed with the idea of this boy being a wooden puppet. My God, they even had this midget who did the voice for "call for Phillip Morris" as the voice for a while, and it was terrible. I was rather outspoken about it. Why didn't they forget that he was a puppet and get a cute little boy, you can always draw the wooden joints and make him a wooden puppet afterwards. And Ham Luske said, "Well, why don't you do something about it, do a scene," and I did one. What I don't remember is whether they had a new voice by then or not. Probably they did have; I don't know. I did a scene of Pinocchio underwater with the jackass ears, knocking on a shell of an oyster, saying, "Pardon me, can you tell me where I can find Monstro the whale?" The shell closed up and caused a swell in the current, which affected Pinocchio. I made kind of a cute little boy out of him, and Walt loved it; this was actually my big chance. It was my move into being one of the top animators.

Pretty cool, huh? Before this, Walt has stopped production as he didn’t like what was being made. They were putting an awful lot into making the lead so loveable! I’m paraphrasing better accounts of this, but if you’re interested I do suggest looking into such!

But maybe I oughta get back on track, lord knows this rambling mess is long enough already ;v;;; I just get interested by some of the behind the scenes workings, y’know~

-

Like I touched on earlier, I think a problem is that people forget there’s more to Pinoke than his extendo nose and urge to Become Real. He’s very sweet and well meaning, but with the snag of being too trusting and gullible. He’s easy to misread as being Too Dumb To Live, but he’s very curious and does visibly learn and develop as the story goes on.

The other lead, Jiminy Cricket, is really great! He adds charm in the darkest moments and helps prevent the sweet scenes from being too sugary. He’s a great mediator and pretty good Conscience, too, he just happens to be in the wrong place a couple of times, which is the nature of the story’s structure lol

The supporting characters are really good, too! You really feel for Gepetto and damn that dude puts a lotta work into his wares! Figaro and Cleo are really cute and play off each other well.

Special shout out to Figaro for managing to get into shorts as Minnie Mouse’s pet lmao. I’m pretty sure that kitten has influenced the way I draw cats too, pff

And the villains? Holy shit, this film is teeming with bad guys, and the cut we see has none of them getting punishment onscreen.... yikes

Ok, so not to sound like Youtube Clickbait vids made by a talentless hack, but BOY! This film is dark! hahahaa

So like, my favourite Bad Guys from here, Honest John and Gideon are the tamest and most funny, but they sell Pinocchio into slavery twice. Hhhaaaaa...

The way Stromboli alternates from humorous and jovial to screaming and stomping about abruptly is frightening. Dude slams Pinoccino in a bird cage and says how he’s gonna work our boy Pinoke pretty much until our puppet pal perishes

The Coachman....... there’s a theory going around that he’s like an evil counterpart of The Blue Fairy, how he punishes bad boys by having them turn into Donkies he can then sell to mines and circuses. They never come back... AS BOYS!! [shuddering]

And Monstro is the most force-of-nature-y type of Bad Dude in the assortment but still lives up to his name! Sure, I’d be mad if someone lit a fire inside me, but are whales really known for being vengeful to the point of body slamming a cliff? Even before that, do they try to eat literally anything they see?

But yeah, it’s not just how many bad guys there are, nor how karma doesn’t strike them in a satisfying way. The stuff they’re doing and the atmosphere, it’s all legit scary

But wait! You cry!

Jeeze CutCat, why are you talking about how scary Pinocchio is when you docked points off Aladdin for frightening you?

Because, Devil’s Advocate question, the latter film is an abrupt mood whiplash moment that took me by surprise as a young, impressionable thing. I dunno how young I was when watching either film, but not only is Pinocchio consistent with plunging into the depths, but the real horror is easy enough to miss if you’re a young child. It didn’t occur to me that the boys turned into Donkies were gonna be worked to death in back breaking labour!

Anyway, Pinocchio earns the right to be spooky and has enough charm and humour in the right moments.

But ok, yeah, the Donkies. The scene where Lampwick slowly, agonisingly transforms is a damn work of creepy art. We already know the terrible secret of Pleasure Island before it starts, but actually seeing the gradual build up, the way Pinocchio can only watch in horror and then sprout ears himself and Lampwick’s screams turning into braying... it’s sure something.

The Monstro chase scene at the end is also so damn intense I subconsciously hold my breath while watching it. It’s relentless, our heroes are up against a furious gigantic whale and the merciless sea and the fucking end of that always feels like a kick in the guts. The lingering shot and musical sting hits hard.

-

But still! The movie ain’t all Nightmare Inducing!

I’ve already said I love the characters, and helping that is the impeccable voice work for everyone. The voices and little character tics make them feel so real for such a fantastical setting. I dig how the Blue Fairy is rotoscoped and realistic, which sticks her out from the rest of the cast and enhances the Other Worldliness that fairies deserve.

The animation.... boy, the animation really is something else! It was the late 30′s but they were already creating new and highly expensive techniques to make this beautiful and not only does it work, but I struggle to think of anything that can top it. Multi-plane camera establishing shots than barely last for seconds, the underwater effects with the sways and distortion, each splash and movement done by hand. Honestly this may be the most perfectly drawn movie, I’m not exaggerating. They already came so far since Snow White, it’s almost unbelievable!

Lastly, I’ll mention the music. Fucking Fantastic, is what it is! Is it any surprise that they used the tune for the Disney Vanity Plates, to this day? There’s a few songs with different memorability levels, I know Ultron is fond of the ironic I’ve Got No Strings number. I, for one, love the atmospheric use of Little Wooden Head as a recurring motif.

I really didn’t plan on my Pinocchio talk on being this long, so if you read through it all you have my gratitude. Are you surprised that it’s my favourite? I’m enchanted by it, I certainly have a weakness for sweet hearted protagonists but the film has so many good angles!

I still think it’s dang unfair that the film seems to get overlooked so much, but hopefully my daft musing might remind a couple of people that it’s certainly worth a rewatch!

[balileart]

Hey I'm trying to do my own JoJo DnD campaign, any tips you can give me?

Sure thing!

I created my own system for Stands for Unisystem, but I don’t think that’s quite necessary (but I will briefly explain it here if you want to go that route).

Setting:

The setting is very important for a Jojo campaign as it’s where most, if not all of the events take place. I recommend making sure that the setting is more open, but not as open as the whole world. A location the size of a city or a state is a great place to start. A place the size of a city helps your players feel open to explore, but don’t have an extremely easy time just avoiding the plot completely.

Another part of the setting that’s necessary is coming up with a few locations in your head that your players can go to on their own volition. Places like a restaurant, a school, a store, etc. help your players and you with building the setting into a more living world.

Motive:

What you need to think of when creating a Jojo campaign (or any campaign for that matter) is what brings your characters there? Is it some sort of contest or event that’s drawing so many people together? Are one of the players new to a town and mysterious murders keep happening? You decide what it is. So long as this motivation is the basic party motive for being there together.

I recommend to avoid motivations like “A bounty has been placed on your head” since due to experience, the characters lose interest fairly quickly.

Stands of the Week:

Now what would a Jojo campaign be if there weren’t any stands? As a GM, it’s up to you to come up with as many stands as you desire that the protagonists will end up fighting or befriending throughout your campaign. Something that you need to makes sure to do is to make sure the user of the stand has their own character. How do they relate to the plot? The main villain? What motives do they have that make them want to oppose the protagonists or follow the orders of the main villain. This motive can be as simple as that they want to achieve a similar general goal that the main characters were in pursuit of (An example being Johnny and Gyro both want to come first in the Steel Ball Run, but even though they share this same goal as Sandman, they still end up fighting each other because what their intentions are for winning are different). In general, come up with the stand user before the stand, but if you do make the stand first, make sure that you end up putting a character on it.

As for Quantity, you can look at how actual parts of Jojo are structured. Parts 4 and 5 are good as a starting point

Generally, Jojo parts are structured as having a group of Protagonists, A main Villain, and a bunch of minor villains.

In part 5, After the main party is introduced, they have to fight a series of enemy stand users that have betrayed Passione. Afterwards, once the party finds out Diavolo was trying to kill a specific person, the party goes rogue and now they fight the personal henchmen to the main villain. This leads up to the eventual final battle with Diavolo.

Typically the Minor Villains A, Boss fight, Minor Villains B, Boss fight is a good structure to go by when creating a line up of stands. 

Another thing to note, I like to think of stands and their users as puzzles as opposed to just an enemy that you roll for damage. Some thing that is in the manga is that typically, stand users have to think to overcome enemies that are just as strong or stronger. Think of how you can make a boss take a little bit of thinking to get around, but don’t make it too difficult as players can get frustrated if you basically shove a wall in their face. As for Boss stands, make them the most difficult puzzles. A good villain should have a very good reason to be doing what they are doing, if a player wants to convince them to give up, make them have to convince them instead of just rolling for it.

Looking at bosses like Funny Valentine, Diavolo,or Yoshikage Kira, their abilities are sometimes vastly more powerful than the main character’s. The players have to work together and come up with a solution to get past their abilities.

In one campaign my friend hosted, The main villain’s stand was a stand that could cause anything someone did (so long as he deemed it a direct threat to him) to do the opposite of what they intend. This created a fun puzzle as we as players had to create a situation where no matter what, an event will happen to defeat him.

Exceptions:

Now, Before we go over your protagonists, we need to go over some things that make an RP special. The first rule with this is that even though RPs are structured similarly to a manga, THEY DIFFER GREATLY. 

1) Pacing-

One major difference between a Manga and an RP is that in a Manga you don’t have people that are playing the main characters, sometimes players can blow right through an enemy quickly, or take an extended time doing it.

Don’t expect to be able to get through a stand fight in each session, let the players go at their own pace because unlike novel protagonists, they need breaks in between fights otherwise they feel rushed and don’t get enough time to let their characters interact.

2) Quantity-

Unlike the manga, since you’re going to have actual players in the part of the roles of the protagonists, don’t put too many players in the party. I recommend 3-5 as any higher will make it too clustered for everyone to do what they want, and just feels like a clusterfuck. The other thing you need to look at is how MANY enemy stand users you intend to have in the campaign. I recommend trying not to have too many. Avoid having 30+ stand users since eventually your players will get sick of it, and the campaign is expected to be long anyways (of course you can do 30+ stands so long as you accommodate that). One of the best parts if you’re following the A, Boss, B, Boss system is that after the first big boss fight you can take a short break in the campaign.

I take a break because I eventually start to get sick of GMing for a bit, but if you and your players don’t feel that way then you don’t need it.

3) Straying from the rails-

One thing that should be expected as a GM in general is that your players can and will do things that will derail your campaign or shove it in another direction. As a GM, don’t fight it unless it means you have to replace half the stand users including the main villain. Instead, adapt with it, they are your protagonists after all, and who knows they might steer it in a direction you like even more.

the best part about the stands and users you have created already, is that they don’t need to come in any particular order (except for a select few of course). You can have any of them be introduced when the time is appropriate for them.

Party Members:

Well what about the players? What are some things I, as a GM, need to make sure to do when setting up my campaign with my players?

1) What keeps them a group?-

This may seem like a reprise of their Motive, but it cannot be said how important it is that your players have a reason to stay together. Besides their main goal, collaborate with your players to make sure that their characters would have personal reasons for sticking around one another. An example of this could be that one person had been picked on their entire childhood for being weird when they developed a stand in childhood, and sticks around the rest of the party because its the first time they’ve found people like them. Just make sure it becomes something your players are okay with.

2) Balancing-

One issue I’ve come across a bunch of times during my first campaign of Jojo was the issue of overpowered stands for the party members. Don’t be afraid to say no to Ethan who wants to have a stand that releases a super virus. A stand should also not be what the player’s character is. It should be similar to how you make enemy stand users, focus on the person and have the stand only be a neat tool or ability.

Think about how much you as the GM are placed responsible for a stand, and how well you think the player who makes a stand can roleplay with it. I had one player who’s stand became animals they devoured, but instead of researching and asking about animals outside of the game, or structuring their character to where they’d have animals around them at all times, they expected me to come up with the animals myself. This was a hassle at almost every turn of the campaign for me. 

Just make sure you think about their abilities and balance it with them. If you think a stand power is overpowered for them, but think that they could role play it or that you have a good way to balance it, then don’t be afraid to talk with them about it.

3) There is no “Jojo”-

Unlike the manga, do NOT focus everything around one player or character. Doing this will make everyone else completely uninterested in the campaign, and if you put that much pressure on one player (especially one that isn’t comfortable enough or competent enough) can be bad for the campaign. You can connect plot points with a character, but just spread it out enough and make things general enough to not have one character dominate everything.

The System:

Now that I’ve laid all the groundwork on how a campaign should be, I can describe the system I use (I’m currently making a newer version of this that has more purchasable Qualities and such). Keep in Mind, I run with Unisystem so if you want to use part or all of this system with something not Unisystem, then you’ll have to make changes.

I generally have Stands have their own separate attributes from their user using the stand Grade system from the manga as a base.

Humans generally have:

STR (strength)DEX(dexterity) CON(constitution)PER(perception)INT(intelligence)WIL(willpower)

Stands have:

POW(destructive power)SPD(speed)RNG(range)DUR(durability)PRC(precision)DEV(developmental potential)I usually have players able to purchase the stand quality is character creation in the way people purchase the ‘Gifted’ Quality in Witchcraft except I use it as a variable Quality.

Level 1 (2 pts)Grants up to 7 points to be placed in stand attributes, and allows the user to see stands. The user’s stand does not manifest in a physical form.Level 2 (3 pts)Grants a weak stand with up to 10 points to put into attributes.

Level 3 (4 pts)Grants a below average stand with 13 points to use in attributes.

Level 4 (5 pts)Grants an average stand with 15 points to use in attributes.

Level 5 (7 pts)Grants an above average stand, or a stand with additional powers and up to 18 points to spend on attributes (unless getting additional power)Level 6 [Requiem]Can only be gotten by the user in game through requiem stand arrow. the user gets up to 22 points to spend on attributes (with attributes only being able to be an A or E), and a god-like ability.

I tend to have all stand attributes start at E before points are put into its attributes up to a max of A.

When rolling, the E counts as a 1, a D a 2, C 3, B 4, A 5. I generally have players roll an attribute based on how appropriate the action is. Are they going to pick a lock? Then use the stand’s precision. Do they need to shoot a long distance with a ranged attack? Use range. Do they need to bust down a door? Roll combat and power to determine damage.

Anyway, that’s the gist of it. Sorry for it being so long, and if you have more questions you’re welcome to ask :)

[recentanimenews]

A New Way to Experience the Classic Link's Awakening

  Zelda-mania seems to be at an all time high lately, with new games in the lands of Hyrule leaving fans with plenty of amazing choices, from the wandering majesty of Breath of the Wild to the arcade action of Hyrule Warriors. As if replicating it’s original oddball release, the remake of The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening is here to confuse the matter a bit, dropping players into a graphically updated version of the 1993 classic. But how does the game itself hold up aside from the beautiful new coat of paint and colors? Link’s Awakening is a fairly “old” LoZ game, coming briefly after the release of A Link to the Past, and before many of the later Game Boy outings that would be far more experimental with their gameplay, and as a game that doesn’t take place in Hyrule, the oddball Link’s Awakening has always held something of a cult-classic spot in many older gamers hearts. 

For our review, I decided to approach the title from two angles: How is this game for returning players, and how is it for gamers who have never tried an older LoZ game, or frankly any LoZ game at all? Does Link’s Awakening stand on its own, or does it fade into memory for not being as revolutionary as some of its cousins? 

In Link’s Awakening, players take on the role of ubiquitous series hero Link, adventuring at sea sometime after the events of Link to the Past. After a nasty storm at sea, Link finds himself washed ashore of a small island called Koholint, saved by a girl named Marin and brought back to her house to recover. The charming town of Koholint holds the real secret to Link’s Awakening’s enduring charm: it isn’t set in Hyrule, and is instead set in a town populated by odd, interesting characters who all need Link’s help to accomplish something. For much the same reason Majora’s Mask earned its reputation as a weird and wonderful LoZ spin-off, Link’s Awakening is perhaps the first game in the series to have introduced a “side” adventure for Link, one that doesn’t involve Ganon and the Triforce, and instead takes familiar gameplay ideas and expectations and places them into unfamiliar settings or contexts.

  For new players, this can be something of a boon: You aren’t required to know any of the Zelda lore, or where the game falls in the grand timeline, or even who “Link” even is: you just need to know that you’re on a quest, and these people need your help. There is also a fair amount of unexpected freedom in how Link’s Awakening plays out compared to other LoZ games, as many of the quests are optional from the main quest, meaning players are welcome to do as much or as little as they choose while figuring out the mysteries of Koholint. 

    Let’s get something out of the way: This game is beautiful. The newly updated graphics and the unique style Nintendo aimed for in this game really hits the mark. The characters all burst to life in their new iterations, and the world pops with color and quirk. The almost toy like nature of Link and the world surrounding Koholint village really do feel vastly different from any other version of LoZ so far, and reminded us a bit of the way Wind Waker experimented with cell shaded graphics, helping to set the game apart visually. That said, I have to arrive at one of the biggest negatives out of the gate: the framerate of this game suffers very badly. It isn’t constant, but when it happens, it is distracting, and mars the otherwise beautiful world Nintedo’s created; the issue is also a bit baffling, because while the game looks great, it isn’t particularly challenging or technical, so why it has such constant framerate issues is something I can’t really understand.

I really do want to get this out of the way first because I have only a few other reservations about the game, but the framerate issues are far and away the biggest bummer in the entire package. For people interested in more technical discussions, the fine folks at Eurogamer did a great deep dive into what might be the root of the problem, but I'll leave the technical talk for experts and simply state that if you are expecting a smooth gameplay experience, you may be in for a bit of a surprise, and not a good one. The issues never really impeded us from actually completing the game or really getting in the way of enjoying the game, but they were constant and consistent enough that it was fairly impossible to ignore them as a hiccup or other random issue; these were consistent, repeatable issues that marred the visual beauty and flow of the game. 

Framerate issues aside, the gameplay in Link's Awakening is simple and clean. Being a far older game than newer LoZ games, there are a lot less moving parts, and what is here has been refined and updated from what the original Game Boy was capable of in order to make the newer experience feel far smoother and enjoyable in comparison. Otherwise, there aren’t really any new or exciting changes to the gameplay here, with the exception that you are far less burdened by a 2 button control scheme, allowing you to equip multiple items and not have to constantly swap things to do actions.

This change really does help, because while it may make the game seem “easier”, it really just makes the game far more streamlined and accessible; this is a big help with the consideration that Link’s Awakening has a lot of back and forth questing for townsfolk and searching for collectible items to hit 100% completion. Ironically, this may be the biggest draw to the game for most players: the dungeons in Link’s Awakening are certainly fine, but they are nowhere near as memorable as some of the dungeons in Link to the Past or other LoZ games, and the main gameplay hook is helping out the people of Koholint with their odd requests and storylines to help break up the dungeon diving. That is, with one new exception: Chamber Dungeons. 

Chamber Dungeons are the new addition to Link’s Awakening, and... well, they’re bad. Evidently an idea built around giving players the chance to create their own dungeons, these Chamber Dungeons end up feeling very dull and repetitive. One of the charms of LoZ dungeons is their theme and approach to puzzle solving; here, you’re generally asked or challenged to build a dungeon following some specific parameters, and then complete it. Sadly, these never end up feeling as good as the originals, and they also don’t offer anything new or interesting to discover when doing so.

While these are also totally optional, players looking to get 100% in the game will be stuck going through the Chamber Dungeons like I did, which really slowed down our overall completion of the game due to just not wanting to do it. Still, this is a fairly minor gripe, and thankfully they don’t end up taking too much space in the game, but overall it is another small flaw on an otherwise nearly flawless package. This is especially frustrating considering the charm of Koholint’s inhabitants: many of their quests are fun and interesting, but the Chamber Dungeons don’t really possess any of that.

So, the real question is: Who is this game for? Does it make for a good entry to the LoZ series for new players, or is it worth it for LoZ fans who perhaps missed the original release over 20 years ago? For new players, or perhaps gamers whose only exposure to LoZ so far has been Breath of the Wild, I feel that it’s a resounding “yes”. While the game has a few flaws, this is a fantastic, tight package of LoZ goodness that delivers a unique take on the series that also requires none of the prior knowledge or lore. In all honesty, one could argue that this is the perfect style of LoZ game: a self contained adventure where Link travels around a new world and encounters people who need his help, rather than part of a grand narrative. Link’s Awakening is simple and fun, and doesn’t ask too much of the player. You’ll face challenges and puzzles, but the game runs a tight ship that rewards hard work, and won’t leave newer gamers or inexperienced LoZ fans scratching their heads.

The graphics are also an amazing entryway into the series, with bright and inviting colors that are unlike many of the other offerings on the market. The quirky nature of the people of Koholint is also a bonus. Director Takashi Tezuka cites David Lynch’s immensley popular Twin Peaks as a bit of an inspiration for the game, and that enduring legacy has helped make Link’s Awakening retain its oddball character. As the holidays are approaching, if you’re thinking of getting that new gamer friend of yours something, or are looking for a way to spread the LoZ love, I think Link’s Awakening will make a fantastic choice, especially if you pair it with the adorable Link amiibo that accompanied the game. 

But what about returning LoZ fans, or even gamers who played the original back in the 90's? Is there enough here to really invest in a remake? Well… Yes, I think so. Look, the game isn’t perfect, but I only remember some bits and pieces of playing the original game on our Game Boy over 20 years ago. Playing through for this review was like reliving some parts of our earlier childhood as a player, and the weird world of Link’s Awakening burst back to life on the Switch.

A lot of LoZ games lately have focused on the grand, mythic narrative that Nintendo has heavily invested in following Wind Waker, but frankly my favorite LoZ games were the handheld ones like Link’s Awakening, Minish Cap, and Story of Seasons (Majora’s Mask also rates really high, but that doesn’t really count in that list!). Being able to play Link’s Awakening on the go on my Switch rekindled a lot of that joy, and brought out the magic of the game I experienced all those years ago. If you’re a big LoZ fan that somehow didn’t get to play Link’s Awakening, you really do owe it to yourself to play through one of the most odd versions of the Zelda franchise; I assure you, no other LoZ game lets you have a pet Chain Chomp or fight “Anti-Kirby”. And yes, that’s exactly what that sounds like. 

    Link’s Awakening feels like what a remake should be: a colorful and loving update to an original that doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel or change what made the original so successful in the first place. That said, this isn’t a perfect game, and between the framerate issues and the Chamber Dungeons, I’ll say that there are things this game certainly could have tried to avoid or remove to have really been perfect. In the end, I still feel very strongly about how charming, fun, and memorable Link’s Awakening really is; whether you’re a brand new gamer, new to LoZ, or a returning fan, there is a lot to love about this game and plenty to explore and discover. So put on your tunic, get your boots, and prepare to journey to the magical town of Koholint: I promise you won’t forget it!

REVIEW ROUNDUP

+ Graphical update and change is gorgeous and brings the game to life in a new way. 

+ Updated controls help the game flow far better than before. 

+ The “Twin Peaks” of Legend of Zelda retains its weird charms and stays one of the most unique games in the series, let alone in general. 

+/- Dungeons aren’t quite as inspired as other Legend of Zelda games. 

- Chamber Dungeons are an absolute drag, especially if going for 100%. 

- The framerate issues really do bring the game down as an experience overall.

  Are you a first time Legend of Zelda player, or know someone that you’d recommend this game to? Or are you a returning veteran? Let us know what you think of the game in the comments! 

  ----

Nicole is a features writer and editor for Crunchyroll. Known for punching dudes in Yakuza games on her Twitch channel while professing her love for Majima. She also has a blog, Figuratively Speaking. Follow her on Twitter: @ellyberries

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The Heart of Good Science Fiction: Adventure Yarns

Strangely enough, this is close to what I picture “Adventure” as.

Originally, this article was meant to be different.  I was going to examine two approaches to science fiction.  One focusing more on action, adventure, and an exciting story, and the other on ideas about society, technology, and the future.  Most stories feature both elements, but have a very clear focus preference.  And yet, the more I considered it, the more I realized all the worthwhile Big Idea tales are also good Adventure stories.  And most tellingly, even a profound, highly intellectual science fiction writer is capable of spinning a fine yarn that would hold its own in any early pulp magazine.

On the flip side, bad science fiction writers, whether they go for Big Ideas or not, are incapable of writing such “mere” entertainment.  Thus, we can consider simple, honest adventure to be the very heart of what makes quality science fiction.  You might well be unconvinced by this, so let’s look at some examples.

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Robert Anson Heinlein

One of my favorite science fiction books, it is replete with ideas about government, revolution, and even the nature of humanity itself.  The book straddles the line between realism, idealism, and cynicism in a manner that is magical and unforgettable.  In terms of Big Ideas, it’s fantastic.

Nowadays, advertising a Hugo Award would lower the book’s sales.

And yet, it’s also a wonderful adventure .  The travails of three eccentric moon-dwellers and a supercomputer outwitting tyrannical governments on the moon and Earth is told with zest and humor.  The characters are likable, the problems they encounter serious, and their solutions inspired and unique.  Take away any ruminations about government, the human tendency to succumb to tyranny, or the sober ending, and you still have a great adventure tale.

And of course, Heinlein had initially made a successful career of exactly such fun stories, with few major ideas in them.  Is there any deep thought in a Starman Jones or The Puppet Masters?  No.  But they’re both good stories, especially the latter. Later, Heinlein would inject more and more ideas into his books, beginning with an initially positive view of government and continuous human progress (Double Star or The Door Into Summer) and evolving from there.  However, he had to learn to write a good adventure first!  And that was still the backbone of all his future works.

Flow my Tears, the Policeman Said, Philip K Dick

This Serbian cover version is a solid attempt at conveying the book’s weirdness.

Surely, Dick’s weird dystopian madness doesn’t fit the mold?  In this one, a massively popular talk show host wakes up one day and no one knows who he is.  He also lacks any identification, a problem in the awful police state future he lives in, where anyone except the elite has a hellish existence.

Despite the book’s many strange elements, and one of the most bizarre, mind-melting endings I’ve read, it’s a good mystery-thriller at its core.  All of the elements are there.  A confused protagonist using his wits to survive situations alien to his regular lifestyle.  A central, genuinely perplexing mystery he is trying to solve while on the run from pursuers.  A string of encounters with a diverse, seedy array of characters, including movie stars, prostitutes, counterfeiters, and the police.  All of them constantly trying to outwit one another, and playing this game at a high mental level.

Frankly, without this, the strangeness and surrealist ideas would be easily dismissed and nowhere near as interesting.  It would have even seemed pathetic in the context of a poor adventure story, as we will later see.

The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula Le Guin

I’ve reviewed this several times in my columns, but if nothing else, this book is a fine example for aspiring authors on what to avoid.  There are some Big Ideas here about gender and government.  And the world-building is very good.  Unfortunately, all of that goes out the window because of how badly Le Guin failed at writing the adventure!

An emissary, Genly Ai, from a galactic federation wants the members of a cold, backwards planet to join it.  Who is Genly, the main character?  No one, as he lacks any personality.  Do we know anything about his federation?  No, and thus, we don’t care.  In fact, what the hell does it matter whether this stupid planet joins them or not?  The book never attempts to explain why it’s important.

Thus, we have no connection to the protagonist and his plight, and the stakes are effectively eliminated.  And this is before we get into the slog of a story, presenting several staccato events without any verve or ingenuity.  Genly gets imprisoned, without incident or intrigue.  Genly escapes, without incident or anything noteworthy or neat about his plan.  Aside from Genly there is one other significant character, and he has no personality, either.  The rotten adventure at the center of the book turns everything else rotten, too.

A Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L’Engle

Unlike Le Guin’s book, this one is an absolute disaster without even the sheen of world-building or any remotely interesting Big Idea.  Yet, it’s a symptom of a problem in science-fiction writing because of how many books have aped its approach since its publication in 1962.

It’s a phenomenally stupid book that misuses the term “cytoplasm” and claims one can’t draw a four-dimensional object.  (You can, or at least in the same manner you draw a three-dimensional object on a piece of paper, as I demonstrated to my fifth grade teacher)  Furthermore, it’s a book for kids, a demographic that especially favors adventure over philosophy.

And yet, it focuses on Big Ideas as much as it does the events of the story itself.  Without being able to write a solid adventure, the heart of science fiction, L’Engle compounds her problem by writing Big Ideas that are laughably wrong when they’re not simplistic tripe.

Now sure, L’Engle hit the jackpot when this pretentious, dull garbage became a staple of elementary school libraries and curricula.  A pretense of sophistication mixed with a banal message is uniquely successful within that racket.  However, the supply always vastly outnumbers the demand.  She struck gold, but the 3,000 similar books in the past half century, some of which are significantly better, did not.

Don’t be like her imitators, aspiring writers.  Work on mastering the fundamentals of a good adventure tale before you move on to any Big Idea.

This is also why so many here, myself included, revere the likes of Howard and Lovecraft.  Both were intelligent, well-read men who had a plethora of interesting philosophical ideas (Lovecraft’s notions about the human condition are particularly fascinating and complex), but always chose to focus on the adventure.  And this worked to their advantage.

They inspired countless generations of great science fiction authors, all of whom can write an entertaining story too, no matter how much they excel at Big Ideas.

One natural follow-up question to this is of course “does this apply to non-science fiction works?”  In my view, no.  Sure, there are writers with a reputation for profound, heady writing who were also master story-tellers.  For instance, John Steinbeck had a fine sense of humor if one ever reads some of the stories in The Long Valley or the chapters in The Pastures of Heaven.  And his first book, The Cup of Gold, is an excellent pirate tale featuring Captain Sir Henry Morgan.

However, when one considers a Dostoevsky or Faulkner, there is no exciting adventure inside their great works at all.  Ergo, this is a quality unique to the science fiction genre.

The Heart of Good Science Fiction: Adventure Yarns published first on http://ift.tt/2zdiasi