#last legacy stella

[terezipyropeandpyralspite]

A reminder

Rime: May 23 (Gemini)

Felix: July 13 (Cancer)

Stella: December 15 (Sagittarius)

Scylla: November 17 (Scorpio)

Anisa: January 27 (Aquarius)

Sage: August 15 (Leo)

Escell: December 30 (Capricorn)

Florian: August 25 (Virgo)

Elowen: July 24 (Leo)

Ayanna: April 1 (Aries)

Tulsi: May 4 (Taurus)

Lucan: April 26 (Taurus)

Saaros: October 1 (Libra)

Orion: March 9 (Pisces)

[krih]

<< 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 >>

•𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆𝒔, 𝒓𝒆𝒃𝒍𝒐𝒈𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅•

[micarxena]

credit goes to @arimesi for the sketch and the compo. Stole it from them and just balled with it because leaving it unfinished was a no no

[lemoonthetwink]

More LL scketchbook ft Lysandre, Nyacromancy Felix, a judgmental Rime and Stella

[blueshistorysims]

November 1936, New York, New York

The baptism itself was a much more private affair than Byron had anticipated. Then again, Thaddeus was only recently on speaking terms with his mother, and he still refused to speak to his aunt and uncle over their treatment of Samson. Stella was there, the first time he’d seen her since Adanna and Thaddeus’ wedding, over eleven years ago. It was quite clear she was making an effort to not look at him. 

Like any event for infants, the party was more for the adults. Everyone drank and chatted idly while the older children played with one another. Eleora doted over baby Julianna while she chatted with Thaddeus and Adanna, Byron busy in his own conversation with Samson and Brooks. 

Stella stood alone, smoking a cigarette. She’d aged, like Byron, but she still looked exactly how she did eleven years ago. Her dress was much simpler, and Byron hadn’t known her to be a smoker when they were together, but things had changed, their roles almost reversed. She was the one working while he was the one with all the money. 

Stella noticed his eyes on hers, staring back with great intensity. She arched her brow and crossed her arms, the obvious question floating across her face. Are you going to walk over here or are you going to stare at me like a fucking coward? 

Against his better judgment, he gulped and turned back to Samson and Brooks. “If you will excuse me.”

Samson glanced at his cousin and back at Byron. “Good luck.”

Byron didn’t reply. 

“I did not know you smoked.”

She glanced at the cigarette holding dangling in her hand. “Figured smoking is better than drinking.”

“You don’t drink?”

“Not anymore.” she glanced at Samson and Brooks. “I’ve done too much damage from it.”

Byron frowned. “...I’m sorry I didn’t attend the funeral. Miranda’s mother had just died, we were still reeling from the Crash and-”

“It’s fine. It was family only anyway.”

“I see.” He glanced at the children. “Your son Carl is a nice boy. He gets along so wonderfully with everyone, even Amalia, and she is quite the handful.”

She smirked. “Sometimes I think he’s far too nice to my son.”

“That is not true.”

“Is it? I’ve ignored you for eleven years for a reason, Byron. Even acquaintances speak to one another once in a while. We are strangers.”

“Keeping a distance is the proper thing to do,” he replied defensively.

“...I am surprised Samson and Brooks forgave me. I don’t I would’ve. But you knew far before I did.”

He nodded. “...You weren’t the first Gardenhouse I slept with.”

“I know.” Stella eyed him up and down, sighing. “I know it was you who gave that money when Campbell died. It wasn’t Thaddeus’. It was yours. Why?”

“I’m not a cruel person, Stella. I would never want you or your son to suffer.”

“I’m not a good mother. It’s a miracle Carl doesn’t resent me for my drinking and now my long hours at work. I don’t deserve him.”

Byron looked away, understanding far more than he wished. “I’m rarely around my children. Mostly because of my work, but… I would rather be with my wife or read and research when I am free. I’m not good with children. Even when I was younger, I only had one friend, and we stopped talking after I went to boarding school. I love my children dearly, but truthfully, I don’t know how to be around them. I can’t relate them.”

“I think the problem was that we are far too alike, Byron.”

He nodded. 

Byron put out his hand. “I would like to be friends, Stella. Or at least acquaintances who actually stay in touch. It’s been fourteen years since we divorced. I think a friendship is possible.”

Stella paused, staring into his face before she took his hand gently and shook it. “I think we can be friends after all.”

He smiled and laughed. 

Eleora watched her husband shake his ex-wife’s hand as they both smiled and laughed. She was glad he was doing the mature thing, but she couldn’t help but stare at the two, wondering what their marriage had been like.

[vafr0]

My favorite characters

[cringeanator]

so an update on my last legacy sims game, felix became a spell caster and was able to revive rime with the dedeathify spell but then rime died again after catching on fire from cooking mac and cheese

[last-legacy-out-of-context]

[sandythereadingcafe]

🎉🎉Series Blitz🎉🎉

We’re so excited about Stella Holt's series, LEGACY OF THE MAGUIRES!

LAST FIRST KISS: https://amzn.to/3JGjDd0

BATTLE OF HEARTS: https://amzn.to/3JFSJCh

STRICTLY OFF LIMITS: https://amzn.to/46n2RcG

@InkSlingerPR

[thereadingcafe]

[vafr0]

ahaha, thanks! They are pretty!!! Stella is so silly, i love it

Stella and Pepi?? for doodle request...

👁👁

They are both terrifying creatures

[crooked-wasteland]

The rapresentation of abusers in helluva boss is something that particularly frustrates me, Stella in particular, it seems to be done just to victimaze certain characters not to show the complex dynamics of those relationships. It seems to me the writers aren't mature enough to handle these topics properly.

Abuse and Vivienne Medrano

Christmas 1962, a man renowned the western world over for his revolutionary approach to animation sat in a withering melancholy as he watched what could only be called a cinematic masterpiece based on a novel classic. Walt Disney, now in the twilight years of his life, saw the walls closing in and his legacy coming to a close. This man, who pioneered the animated feature film, saw his greatest accomplishment as his greatest obstacle. The man responsible for the tales brought to life of Cinderella, Snow White, Pinocchio, and Dumbo felt trapped in his achievement. “I wish,” Walt lamented, “I could make a picture like that.”

To Kill a Mockingbird was a piece that challenged its audience. The discussion of a white man defending a black man in southern America, years before the civil rights movement. The movement that, at the time the movie hit cinemas, was in its infancy. Released during the height of the historically revisionist counter movement taking place to combat the rising push of African Americans towards their human rights. The last film Walt Disney ever saw the production of before his death in 1966 was The Jungle Book, a movie that was the epitome of “Safe” and a message that upheld the status quo of segregation.

It wasn’t until 1972 that the media of animation became raucously adult with those political and challenging concepts Disney felt were unattainable. Fritz the Cat was an X-rated animated film composed of vignettes that were unapologetically perverse, violent, and aggressively political. Critical of politicians and the police with a sympathetic if exploitative lens towards the LGBT and racial minority communities Brooklyn-based director Ralph Bakshi grew up around. Bakshi proved that animation was not strictly a child-friendly media and that adult animation could be financially and critically successful.

(For more on Ralph Bakshi's career and animation history)

If one has ever had the opportunity to listen to a Brad Bird (director of Ratatouille and The Incredibles) interview, it is clear to see that the success of Bakshi was generally quite limited. That animation is considered a genre and not a medium of art has resulted in animated films being knee-capped in the box office. There is far more potential to animation, highlighted by Howard Ashton in his collaboration with Disney studios during the Renaissance. Responsible for resurrecting the feature-length animated movie through The Little Mermaid and credited for the monumental success of Best Picture Award winner Beauty and the Beast, Ashton once said that the potential animation was ideal for musical theatre. The limitless possibilities given the medium gave the possibility of introducing Broadway to the common folk who didn’t live in New York and otherwise couldn’t afford the theater. He was quoted saying that live action musical films were “an exercise in stupidity,” highlighting the freedom that comes with a blank page.

However, the success of animation, and media in general, comes down to the message the media wishes to send. The reason the Disney Renaissance films have enjoyed their position as cornerstones of pop culture and creativity was because it did introduce the artform of musical theater into homes and made them readily accessible to everyone with an even heightened sense of fantasy that revitalized Walt’s ethos of making films for the child in everyone.

With Bakshi, it was the loud and violently political message of a revolution taking place. This continues in adult animation with the Simpsons, a series critical of hyper-capitalist America and the fallout of Reagan’s economic disaster that the effects of which are still being felt today and a satire of toxic masculinity and abusive family dynamics.

So, ultimately, the value of a piece of media is a cross between its social artistic influence and the message the creators are intending to make. While Medrano’s influence on the field of indie animation is often mischaracterized as a “pioneer”, the fact is that indie animation and pilots have existed and been funded before Spindlehorse existed. It is simply that Medrano has had the spotlight handed to her for the myth surrounding the production and subsequent success of his indie projects. Artistically, her influence can be summarized as a double-edged sword. For some, she is the motivation for inspiring artists to connect with the community to one day, hopefully, create their own work. On the other hand, she is the cautionary tale of why investing in an indie project is a financial risk for an audience member and a risk to the community as a whole that poses a real danger of making the indie sphere financially cannibalistic, as her public persona is off-putting to “normies” and her show is simply not good.

Much like Disney, the man in 1962, and Disney the company circa 2023, the revolution of animating "because you can" loses its luster very quickly. Without something profound to say, an entire company, regardless of its social influence, can fade into irrelevance despite still being "successful". The story of Disney is a cautionary tale for Indie animation as a whole and Spindlehorse in specific.

And that is the other axis on this chart. Her narrative lacks a message worth telling, and that’s very much due to her not having anything worthwhile to say.

“I really liked when things and shows and stories allow the characters to be flawed, and allow them to grow and to change. And I think that’s something that’s, you know, the world is not black and white. And I like things that explore the gray and that and the complexity, of life and mistakes and of things like that.” - Vivienne Medrano

It is not for want of mockery that I carefully transcribe Medrano’s words in her interview. To read the words aloud tells the story just as clearly as I have set out to do here. This is someone who is highly inspired by better media, who has ideas and a belief that she has something to say. But that is where the belief ends. There is no conclusion to that thought any more than there is one in the unfocused and run-on sentences she rambles along throughout the interview. She talks of “Things” without clarity, because she herself is a fundamentally incurious individual who has never once spent the time critically analyzing herself, let alone the work of others to better grasp what about it resonated with her. She merely consumes art insatiably and without any substance. Like a diet of fruit, it has a superficial veneer of positive value. Fruit would be considered healthy as it is “natural”. However, it is the nutritional equivalent of candy, lacking vital components that are necessary to sustain basic life, it is pure sugar. Her work, similarly, lacks any value of depth that would qualify as meaning.

Which comes back to what the message is in her work.

When it comes to others in the field of indie animation, Medrano does not have many friends. In response to the Lackadaisy situation, creator Tracy explained why she returned Medrano’s donation. For one, the donation was not Medrano’s money, but money she crowd sourced from her employees. While the $5k for the producer spot of the fundraiser would have not been a dent in her personal wallet, Medrano is so uninterested in supporting fellow creators while presenting an impression of camaraderie that she instead took money from the people she is in charge of the paychecks for to get her name in the credits of another creator’s work. In regards to why Medrano was declined her support, it was due to numerous individuals who had such an awful experience working for Medrano that they did not want her involvement associated with the project to any extent. When the money was returned, she made the situation extremely public and encouraged harassment by liking tweets attacking Tracy and the Iron Circus team.

A well-known member of Medrano’s crew, Hunter B, was leaked speaking crassly of other animation projects that were still in the process of production, met with support from other members in the discord. One of these creators being Ashley Nicoles from Far-Fetched. A former friend and creative partner on the Hazbin Pilot whose podcast streams featuring Edward Bosco and Michael Kovach single-handedly maintained interest in the show until the winter of 2021, free of charge. Ashley once spoke of how Medrano would speak disparagingly of an employee to her, saying that this individual was “Too unstable to work with”. Which, regardless of whether or not that is Medrano’s honest opinion, counts as defamation by an employer. It is the exact reason why most previous employers will not give a negative, detailed review of a former employee, maintaining instead to verify facts of the employment. If Erin Frost was more experienced and less involved in social media exposed culture, they could have easily sued Medrano and Spindlehorse for damaging their reputation in their field of employment.

Which circles back to Medrano’s self-assigned message of her show:

“Abusers rely on your silence. They rely on knowing you can’t retaliate without consequence. That they can tell any lies and vague around without getting called out. But we see you, and you don’t have the power you think you do anymore. A message I put into my work. “Fuck you!” - Vivienne Medrano

Medrano, who has vague and sub tweeted individuals like Lackadaisy Tracy, The Diregentlemen, Michael Kovach, and Ashley Nicoles. Medrano who has instigated and incited harassment campaigns knowing that no one can call her out without severe and relentless backlash from her cultish fanbase that she personally encourages through positive reinforcement of liking the tweets of fans. Medrano who relies on the silence of other creators in the field due to the fear of her ire collapsing their projects before they even have a chance to begin.

Vivienne Medrano with an extensive abusive history that continues to this day, has something to say about abuse.

What Medrano has to say about abuse comes from someone who has the position of superiority in all of her relationships, but feels like she’s the outcast and bullied loser. Her self insert that is repeatedly expressed in every character at one point or another is how easily they abuse those around them just because they can, but that the narrative justifies their “acting out” because they are sad. According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, “An abuser externalizes the causes of their behavior. They blame their violence on circumstances.”

Indeed, the lists of abusive characteristics and traits, according to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, overwhelmingly encompasses the characteristics shown by characters like Loona, Blitz and Stolas that Medrano repeatedly has attempted to rationalize, justify and minimize. Which, “An abuser often denies the existence or minimizes the seriousness of the violence [including emotional and mental abuse] and its effect on the victim and other family members.”

It is not surprising, then, that the conversation of abuse in Helluva Boss is often infuriating. The narrative underplays the harm done by characters we are supposed to see as “good”. Not allowing for them to grow or change, but ignoring and minimizing the behavior, justifying it through circumstances and perpetuating the false belief that victims are not, themselves, abusers.

One of the first blog post rants I ever made about mental health and abuse was the affirmation that not all victims of abuse are survivors. I wholly stand by that. Victims of abuse perpetuate abuse. A victim and an abuser are one in the same, whereas a survivor is someone who has actually done the difficult work of being self-critical. And the one thing we all are very aware of is how much Vivienne Medrano rejects criticism.

[lemoonthetwink]

Stella to finish the Last Legacy portrait serie!

Best character with Withers, change my mind (I lied, I love everyone)

[astrathecowboy]

the scrungles... the blorbies... the sillies.... also so getting art block immediatley? relatable. thanks for drawing anyhow!! its super cute (^_^)!!

can you do a lil doodle of felix and stella? i miss my boy and his necromatic cat... thanks in advance! 🩵

*asks for people to request things*

*immediately gets art block*

i lost the ability to draw. but like. i sort of did it. i miss them too

idk what cats look like. i don’t know what people look like, this is bad but it’s them, sort of. yea

Stella, on Felix’s shoulder 👍

[blueshistorysims]

March 1920, Harlem, Manhattan, New York, New York

“What are you reading?” Stella asked, petting her cat.

“A letter from my sister. They’ve remodeled the kitchen, and my mother’s wearing colors again.”

“I thought you Brits wear black much longer.”

“My mother hates black. She’s probably only doing it because she’s sick of the color.” He glanced at her cat, Toussant. “And how is the general?”

She smiled. “Lazy as ever. What are you doing today?”

“I need to go back to my apartment. I should be working on my dissertation.”

“How boring. There’s going to be a party tonight. You should come.”

“I came to America to study. As much as I’d love to, I really need to work on my dissertation.”

She scoffed, picking up the cat. “I have a tux here you can borrow. It’s Thaddeus’. C’mon, Byron. You’re supposed to be fun.”

He sighed. Stella was a difficult woman to say no to. “Fine. But I’m leaving early.”

Stella pouted. “But who’s gonna escort me home?”

“It’s any jazz party of means, you know Samson or Campbell will be there.”

She sighed. “Fine. I’ll have Campbell take me home. Unlike you, he’s a loyal friend.”

“He does that because he’s fucking in love with you,” he muttered under his breath.

“Hmm?”

“Nothing. Just admiring your lovely body.”

She smirked, glancing at Toussant in her arms. “Sure, lover boy.”

[vafr0]

Maybe some Rime and Felix interactions? I really wish we had more of them

Maybe one day I'll finish this