#like maybe theres a reason thats a trend??

[writers-get-biters]

OK SO UM I HOPE THIS ISNT TOO LATE BUT WE SAW ALL THE AWESOME MIKU DRAWINGS AND STUFF AND WE WANTED TO DO SOMETHING TOO

A LOT OF US ARE HOMESTUCK TROLLS

WELL NOT A LOT BUT LIKE A NUMBER OF US

AND I CANT REALLY DRAW TO BE HONEST SO UM TROLL MIKU MADE IN PHOTOPEA

I KINDA LIKE HOW IT TURNED OUT ACTUALLY

IN MY OPINION SHES A PROSPIT FUCHSIABLOOD MUSE OF BREATH SO HER SIGN IS PIUS

HER HORNS ARE BASED OFF HER SIGN SINCE THATS PRETTY COMMON FOR US

I MADE TWO VERSIONS

ONE WITH BLACK HAIR SINCE TROLLS USUALLY HAVE BLACK HAIR

AND ONE WITH HER USUAL HAIR

I LIKE TO THINK THAT IN THE FIRST ONE SHE DYED IT AND IS JUST GROWING OUT HER NATURAL HAIR COLOR TO EXPLAIN THE LITTLE BITS OF BLUE I COULDNT GET OUT

ANYWAY I KIND OF LIKE IT NOW AND I HOPE YOU DO TOO

[kurishiri]

my thoughts on the presence (or rather, lack thereof) of dub-con in alfons’ route in en

thank you for the ask anon! since it contains spoilers for al’s route, i will put under a cut. also it is a long post!

hi anon! i did notice this, yes! they also made changes to some other scenes as well for a similar purpose. as far as i heard, it is sort of a general trend for the en localization to water down scenes that may be considered dub- or non-con; apparently, they have done this with other ikémen series games like iképri.

in alfons’ case, though, i have some mixed feelings overall abt doing so in this route. i hope i can explain myself ok!

on one hand, i think making it more “soft” so to speak does make it feel more accessible for readers in the western fanbase, who in general seem more sensitive (?) to the presence of dub- or non-con, compared to japan. i would honestly love for many people to be able to read his route and not feel super uncomfy? while doing so. so in this respect, i can get behind this decision.

that said.

i feel like other aspects of the story have been sacrificed as a result of this. i believe that, in the original story, scenes play out the way they do for a reason. if there is dub-con, they probably arent putting it all in just for the teehee dubious consent teehees. for example, part of what made this story interesting to me in the japanese version was that against the so-called conventional notion, sex was not used as a means to bring characters closer together, but more so as a way to make them more distant. theres this sort of irony and a theme of isolation (ironically in part due to sex) that i felt was more apparent in japan, in part highlighted due to the dub-con. i feel like making kate want this beforehand is more safe, yes, but also it sort of waters down this irony a bit compared to japan imho.

another consequence is in kate’s character. i think its kind of a strange change that in some parts of the story surrounding those scenes, kate is pretty insistent on facing reality to the fullest, but then one ask from alfons and shes ready to indulge in a fantasy, away from reality, as she asked for it. but despite that, she tries to push him as far away as she can. it sort of makes me feel there’s a gap or blip in her character if that makes sense. part of what made these scenes dub-con maybe is how alfons wanted to give an escape to kate via sex, but kate didn’t want that escape bc she wants to face reality. it creates more conflict between them.

part of kates character development in alfons’ route, too, is going from being staunch in the start of the story, to learning, questioning, and deciding for herself what is considered right? and what is considered wrong? as the story progresses. but with the whole kate wanting it since the beginning, this flaw is sort of lost since the start, making her development feel a bit more static, as by her saying yes to alfons since the beginning, it already establishes her as someone who wants to see reality, but also knows to see the benefit in an escape or a fantasy, when this is sort of what she is meant to develop into by the end.

ftr im not saying these things r completely lost! just that they feel a bit watered down? a bit less engaging? if thats the word, as a kinda byproduct of softening up the dub-con scenes. so i feel the impact may be a bit less compared to japan. but, again, i do understand why they chose to make such changes as well to en.

overall, i dont hold very negative thoughts abt it. nor do i really fully like it either. maybe its bc i play on both servers, but i feel like en just… doesn’t get an experience you could get in japan, which kinda gives me mixed feelings in a way as well, i suppose. i kind of feel that en deserves to read what was dished out in japan, without it being chosen for the fanbase what should be hidden from them (had there not been fan translators translating stuff more “word for word.”)

[dapper-lil-arts]

Contextualizing whats going on with my blog atm

Ok so i'll explain a bit of the phenomenon of whatsup with my art. So first off, my twitter is dead. The algorythim has found me and blocked me, so i dont get more followers anymore, theres no room for growth, (and as we love to say in capitalism, endless growth is the only way) so since its a dead website, i don't have any incentive to draw things that would originaly help me grow there. which wasnt smth i would usualy do, ive always been more of an original content artist. Either way, this means i barely focus on posting there, and with good reason! it doesnt matter; i get a few commissions there, and thats it. And make no mistake, comms are my livelyhood, i pay my bills and groceries with them, so having fewer does suck. But the website is dead for me, so I have no incentive to post daily like i usualy would. (and you think imma post my poetry on twitter? no fucking way lmao) Meanwhile, here on tumblr, i had never grown or gone viral, i have got a couple thousand followers, thats it, if you think im famous i take that as a compliment, but trust me, im not exactly thriving, lmao. Theres never been a particular trend to follow to be famous on tumblr, and if there was, nah. idc. This is still my primarly posting website anyways. but here's the thing. There is nothin i can do to improve the situation and get more comms or famous or whatever. So if there's nothing i can do... Then i can do Whatever i want. This year is a blank page for me, and i've decided: I'm going to do whatever i want with my art. Jack of all trades. No more regrets, no more fears, no more hesitation. Poetry, fanfiction, erotic art, Personal ocs, titty ocs, fanart of MLP (like now), comics, memes, YTPs, maybe even video essays, whatever the hell i want. If nothing matters than all we do matters! I'm following my whims now. it's time for hedonism and hedonism only! Looking forward to see how yall get weirded out by all i do this year :3 Bye bye!

[the-bonfires-ember]

if you are gonna claim that when you describe your abusers as 'Narcissistic' abusers that you arent stigmatising NPD im gonna need you to reevaluate how you are using that word.

because from what ive seen theres big trend in abbreviating 'narcissistic mother' to 'Nmother' or something like that and i gotta say adding a capital N is fucking weird and definitely leads to an assumption that you are talking about someone with NPD because yknow, its only capitalised like that when its written down in the context of Narcissistic Personality Disorder.

but regardless of that, if you cant hear someone tell you 'hey, you shouldnt use that word like that, it stigmatises a mental health disorder' and then reply with "yOuRe InVaLiDaTiNg My TrAuMa/YoUrE gAsLiGhTiNg mE So YoU aRe A NaRcIsSiSt ToO" or all of that - which, ftr I have seen someone do - maybe you arent as empathetic as you like to think you are, which makes you no different from me.

actually, i lie. it makes you WORSE then me because at least i am able to listen to people tell me that im hurting someone and correct the behaviour without taking it like a personal attack.

and to the people that are like 'oh it meant this BEFORE NPD even became a diagnosis so its not actually a problem'. WRONG. before NPD, it meant self centred and admiration of onseelf. thats what the narcissus myth was about. he fell in love with his reflection and died staring at it. then Byron was like, maybe lets throw egotistical nature into it too. so now that was a part of it. Freud did as Freud does and made it a sex thing but thats fairly irrelevant. the first proper case study was in 1925 and the book that propelled it into public consciousness was published in 1979 and he was basically just complaing that the world was different to the 50s. But it was only when bloggers and social media bitches started using it that manipulation became a part of the definition of the word. so fuck off with that shit.

besides, given how the words meaning has changed so much even in just the last century, how can you possibly argue that we cant change it now to be more considerate to Narcissists who just want to stop being stigmatised?

narcissistic abuse is not real. you mean emotional abuse or just abuse at all, you dont need a fancy word for it, because it the basic boring standard of abuse to begin with. its not special because it came from your parents or whatever. its just abuse and i went through it too.

the only reason you arent a narcissist and i am is because you got lucky and i didnt.

stop making it worse and just listen to us ffs

[basilpaste]

Please please please elaborate on your bizzyboy relationship chart. Especially about the one Im obviously baised about. Please .

cracks my knuckles. on it buoss.

for the sake of i know my audience, i will in fact start with vibs stuff. obviously the fat crush on capo is. well it sure is! he is not subtle about this and will not ever attempt to be. how does capo feel in return? haha ! something for sure ! (mutual on some level but hes... capochin.) vib and ban are both creatives and they tend to butt heads a lot for that reason i think? he thinks al is a weird little freak (affectionate. maybe. probably.) and doesnt have a lot to say about gr just in general. p is his special little girl <3 but no genuinely theyre pals :} they gossip.

capo is friends with exactly no one. he feels positively towards al, hes got......... emotions. about vib. he doesnt have much to say in general about gr (a trend you will begin to notice emerging). and obviously he... isnt a fan of p. something about that kid hits just a little too close to home for him. ban. ban and him have some History in my brain. they were friends once. when was the last time capochin had a friend?

p doesnt actively dislike anyone. not even capo. she used to really admire capochin, even saying she dislikes him now feels too strong. its just... weird. she looks up to vib i think? theyre friends but theres also like. seeing an older queer and latching onto them. know how it goes. shes on decent terms with gr and despite everything genuinely likes al? p and ban are friends. this is because of one offhanded line ban says in the cove. they care about each other.

al feels. generally pretty positive about... basically everyone. hes the type to consider most people his friend, i think!!! hes chill like that. but he does genuinely hold a lot of admiration for capochin. he has a weird one-sided beef with ban that began for reasons even hes forgotten by now.

ban also partakes in the butting heads with vib. but he takes it... a little less seriously? vib is a hater (positive) hes just like that. and like i mentioned he has... a weird relationship with capo!!! its fine! dont worry about it. he gets along with al just fine. why is al so insistent that theyre enemies. hes genuinely pals with p!! shes his friend !!! and hes also genuinely pals with gr. bans trope savvy he knows the quiet one has more to em then meets the eye. (and he just likes the guy!!!!)

grs. not got a lot of super strong feelings. as far as anyone knows. he actually has many of these. he likes p okay enough and is fine with al even though he frustrates and overwhelms him a bit sometimes (loud.... mmessy). he looks up to capochin in a way most similar to how p does, i think? used to, at least. he hates vibs guts for reasons that only make sense to him. and he has a huge shitty crush on ban thats been going on for years now. he is convinced it is slowly killing him.

[revive-the-fandom]

Please tell us more about the dragon hunters idea as I have had several of my own thoughts about how to attempt to make them make sense and would love to hear someone else's :)

done! full thing here

after thinking about it they make a little more sense than i thought but Johann's twist still puts a spanner in the works sometimes. Edge of Disaster doesn't make sense if he only joined up between s4 and s5. but Dire Straits and Last Auction Heroes don't make sense if he joins up before that.

theres a couple of things that people have pointed out i didnt address, like there being no women. but i honestly think that's a sexism thing from the creators - they couldnt be bothered to go back and make new female models, then later realised that theyd made wayyy too many male ones so panicked and made the wingmaidens.

it's a problem thats existed since rob aired bc neither the Berserkers or the Outcasts have women among their ranks. (we see some women on Berserker Island in Somethings rotten on berserker island, but theyre not a part of the army).

berserkers, outcasts and hunters being all male ↑

this even extends into httyd 2 as there's no women in erets crew or drago's army

there are basically only npc women on Berk, the Defenders of the Wing (and thats only because they recycled the "hiccup and heather in disguise" models) and Wingmaiden Island lmao.

like i dont even count the warlord lady because wow we got 1 woman. like i dont even see other women in their armies

which is a weird fucking decision since there were warrior women on berk this whole time

like theres less than id like but they are there, its a trend not an exception.

but for the in canon explanation tho, i think that maybe Dagur attempted to take the Berserkers backwards a bit, and maybe put all their women on defense instead of aggressive positions. he undid 50 years worth of peace with Berk because he felt that the berserkers had lost their edge, so he probably reversed some of the laws his dad made too.

I guess since the Outcasts are all criminals or descendants of criminals they might have some kind of civil war between the genders? or civil agreement to not live together. because i imagine theres quite a few assholes living there and generally historically women have been the target of said assholes??

as for like eret and drago and the warlords i guess the Archipelago is more isolated and has more progressive rules about women than the rest of the world.

the Hunters might have a more traditional view on women. i think that they have various settlements (ports, farming villages, etc) and thats where their women are. one of the biggest jobs for viking women irl was making the sails of the ships, so i think that probably took up most of the Hunter women's time.

Heather joining them might have been forced by Dagur, who at least recognises that Berk has produced a lot of formidable women warriors and possibly had to reassess some views after getting his ass handed to him by Heather and Astrid.

but again, the more likely reason is that the creators are just sexist.

i hope that was interesting at least lol

[cleromancy]

there was a post that i thought about reblogging talking about like. the fandom trend of calling male characters "girl coded" that went something like (paraphrased) "those characters being men is why you care about them being victims at all"

and i was like well as a man im not going to be accusing other people of only caring about male characters, right. and i didnt want to annoy the OP by saying so in their notes on my way to get to my point lol. the point being that, like, what i can say is 100% that the reason the narratives make the kind of space for those characters that they do is bc they're men. and i can say that with confidence bc there are often female characters right next to them and we see how the narrative handles them by comparison.

so the "girl coded" thing is so... like what people usually mean by it is either 1) that their role in the narrative is one normally filled by a female character or 2) their pain or victimhood is as belittled/dismissed as a female character's would be...

and like either one isnt actually being girl coded lol. the former observation maybe has merit on its own from an analytical perspective but not when trying to make a point that a character was intended to be a girl or treated like a girl by the story. the second one is just pretty universally untrue and. wouldnt actually be girl coded even if it werent lol like thats not what that means.

and i think peoples urge to claim their blorbo is girl coded is often about like. like legitimizing both the victimhood and the caring about it. bc male victimhood exists in this weird space socially where your agency is treated like it has innate value but that same value is supposed to mean like, it can't actually be taken away. do you get what im saying. like in order for a man to be violated and for it to matter they have to be a girl.

and that crucially does not actually confer any kind of benefit to female victims either. like this attitude doesnt actually mean that female victimhood is taken any more seriously. theres almost always an inherent paradox to victimhood, and how its perceived, who gets to be a victim n whose victimhood matters, bc ultimately in the very victim blaming culture we live in the answer is nobody.

and being a victim at all pretty much does start to associate you with women and femininity. boys, maybe, can be abused, but men can't, ygm.

[raven]

i get & kind of agree with your point, i guess i'm just looking at the bigger issue as a whole. i do think in a lot of cases it's super feasible to just. play something else. or to wait until you can afford to upgrade your pc, etc. but i think the trend in the gaming sphere (esp triple A titles) of not caring for optimization and expecting consumers to just keep up is a little concerning for the future of gaming. i think gaming is already something that's inaccessible to a lot of people for inescapable reasons (required internet access for most games now, having to purchase consoles or a pc isn't cheap, etc.) and with with the way optimization is becoming more scarce i think it's leading to a future where new releases will be entirely unreachable for a large portion of the community which is an issue that should not exist. if 60% of your target audience can't afford to play your game, what's the point?

yeah definitely. &i did somewhat feel this with the new dragon age, there were so many just.. pointless visual effects on the screen, most of which i couldnt turn off, and i couldnt help but think "would this game run better if it didnt have these...?" while style is important, i do think game studios should be focusing more on WHY you need a game to be in a certain visual style. why do you need certain filters etc. veilguard didnt even look good, imo, so whats the point... But also like. games are for two types of people: people with powerful computers, who care about their computers being top of the line and able to run anything, updating whenever they can and people who will buy a new console every console generation, because games are pretty much guaranteed to work on the latest consoles. and unfortunately if you are not a rich pc gamer or a slightly less rich console gamer, you might not be playing the big hits. but like, thats why you get a console, so you can play without needing to worry about an upgrade for several years. Idk. ive never had a console and i just play what i can play. but there are a lot of people out there with consoles. and it seems to be going fine for them, bc if games dont run on consoles theyre promised on, theres usually patches and more work done. I also dont really care about the AAA audience or studios and if the studios go under... Thats not my problem i dont really care if they live or die. Maybe the world would be better off without call of duty,? If gaming companies are fucking us over with optimization, theyre fucking themselves over, and if they have to shut down.. well that's on them. I have other games to play. (& like, when i say innovation in triple A games.. you know whats the kinda shit im talking about its game awards shit its not call of duty its like, god of war, red deaddedemption, death stranding (...2!), elden ring, baldurs gate 3 (not really triple a, but the reach and success can make it feel like one). (Im not personally interested in all of these, but im interested in what they have done for the medium.) of these games that have released, theyve had issues and most have been fixed. And most of them have done things worthy of discussion, even if they take up a lot of space and people like to complain about that. We can only hope interesting games arent dead on arrival because of poor optimization, but it seems most of them havent been.

[imeverywoman420]

Fashion IS an art…. And art has many purposes. Sometimes art is supposed to make you feel all crazayyy and O.O sometimes art is supposed to be technically skilled and beautiful. Everybody wants to be a fashion Duchamp nowadays and its like. Well doesnt that ruin the novelty of abstract art. If everybody is looking ugly and crazy to “send a message”…. Maybe we need to consider most people ARENT fashionistas and thats fine. Maybe thats the reason so many people feel the need to uglify themselves, to show that they “get it”. Ugly fashion is praised and people that “dont get it” are simple minded.

i “get” the cowboy boots and denim maxi skirt and oversized blazer. Its ugly. Theres nothing there. You could have just worn a nice wrap dress and everyone would think thats lovely. Now you’re wearing literal clown pants and an argyle sweater vest. Crying on the inside. Screaming “I GET IT. NOTICE ME. HUMANS OF NEW YORK GUY TAKE MY PICTURE PLEASE”

maybe fashion doesnt have to say anything if you have nothing to say. Its clear you follow trends and can’t dress yourself thats why ur wearing clown pants. Just wear jeans and a t shirt you basic bitch.

[an-unraveling-unknown]

I'm interested in Deimos, in general, care to ellaborate on them?

(what's their taste favorite food?)

YES ABSOLUTELY (bit of a long one again, sorry!)

Deimos, as previously stated, is the Embodiment of Human Fear - human fear specifically, being a result of rather than a wielder (as all the embodiments are really) and only coming into existence once homo sapiens became a thing (twice), but he is the fear by all accounts. Some miscellaneous stuff: 1. Essentially retired by this point in terms of his title. The Embodiments as a whole used to be a lot more 'around' per se, but the lot of them all kind of split off and humans do all the fear-mongering for him now, which is both fascinating and sad.

2. Bit of a bastard (/aff), likes to poke fun in his own eloquent way but knows when to back off. Maybe backs off a little too often, he prefers to avoid conflict when the option is available. Can and will read anyone like a picture book made for five y/o's and is a huge Shakespeare nerd (which probably has something to do with a chance encounter in London circa. 1592) 3. He's gone by countless names and forms, and the very notion of sticking to binary gender is laughable, (though he/him is the latest preference,) but 'Deimos' kind of became the default after Locke threw it at him as a nickname and it stuck 4. He's fond of referencing pop culture, (something of which Locke has no hope of ever understanding,) but it's either pop culture thats slightly too old for the current age or slightly too new. Slightly too old is self-explanatory, but what I mean by slightly too new is that since its naturally ingrained in him to pick up on the social patterns of humans, he will slightly nudge something forward in the public consciousness attuning to those patterns that will inevitably pick up in popularity because he finds it incredibly amusing. 5. Alas, he can't take credit for TikTok trends 6. Literally radiates terror to anything in a five mile radius that isn't dead. When he and Locke used to meet up in various points in history, they'd meet at around midnight to early morning as to not alert the local population, which unfortunately had the additional consequence of freaking out the local wildlife. Locke had to reason with the outraged birds that they could sing at dusk instead, saying that its just like morning but backwards. It took much convincing every time. and a hefty bribe of seeds. 7. Found the Woods a little while after he and Locke split up for the last time. To his knowledge, this vast stretch of wooded area somehow exists in several places simultaneously all over the globe while also not technically existing at all, looking at a decent map. Those that enter with good intentions exit, and those who enter without seem to blip off the face of the earth. It's usually pretty silent. And theres a big hecking house plop in the middle of it in pristine condition, looking wildly different in appearance depending on who's looking at it - so naturally he sets up camp in it and stays there for the next 300-something years 8. HAVE SOME CONCEPT ART, he does little things with his appearance every now and then for fun (colorful markings, scales, runic symbols, that sort of thing) but generally keeps up the base appearance of not quite fitting in seamlessly with reality, like a memory blurred around the edges.

the odd cross where his face should be is to remind myself where the heck he's looking lmao (he likes dressing casual-fancy because it makes him feel sophisticated) 9. He was close with another embodiment of fear early on in his existence - Phobos was moreso the reaction to fear and wasn't restricted to just humans for Some Reason. The two of them haven't spoken in ages though, for good cause. 10. He was debating reaching out to Locke for a while before they ended up in the woods themselves- despite his own interests, he's always preferred to let them do what they wish, especially given the extenuating circumstances 11. However, these extenuating circumstances say nothing on a plethora of curious children dragging the android in to stay a while (12. he doesn't really need to eat, and he has to fashion a whole digestive system for that, but Deimos does have a fondness for sweets - pastry items, chocolate, you name it. He'd also never admit it in front of the children ever)

[alias-mike]

ok so. i feel like the term "video essay" has become very diluted. what people are calling "video essays" nowadays are just commentary videos. and the creators of the videos themselves are doing this, which annoys me because dude. youre making a 18 minute long video about like. "haha people on tiktok are soooo crazy look at them fight over stanley cups" and then have maybe like. a whole 3 minutes total of actual substance and the rest of the video is just pointless rambling about tangentially related opinions or basic surface level takes. THATS A COMMENTARY VIDEO !!!!!!!! JUST CALL IT A COMMENTARY VIDEO FOR THE LOVE OF. my sanity mostly

personally. what i consider a video essay is like. something along the lines of hbomberguy or philosophy tube. something with a clear topic, a thesis if you will, and supporting points with examples/proof and analysis explaining how those examples support the points and thesis. it doesnt have to be super structured and serious like a proper academic essay, but its clear that those videos are well thought out and edited so only the best parts make it into the final script. theres a reason channels like those only upload once every couple of months!! the quality clearly shows that they put a lot of time and effort into researching the topic and making an enjoyable video!!! so when commentary videos call themselves "video essays", i get really annoyed. hate to break it to you but your recap of the tiktok trend of the week is NOT an essay sorry

p.s. dont get me wrong i can totally understand/see the appeal of commentary videos. theyre lighthearted and about inconsequential stuff and you can just put one on for some background noise and thats totally cool! im just particular about how you label/classify stuff hfdjfdsh

[gibbearish]

i will say also i dont quite get ppl saying bushnell doing that is encouraging other people to follow in his footsteps bc like. the whole point of it is that its The Worst Possible Way To Go. theres a reason its considered the most extreme form of protest is because Imagine What It Would Take For You To Be Willing To Go Out Like That. like maybe its naive of me but i feel like no part of watching a man burn alive is going to make some impressionable teen go "yooo thats dope i wanna try" so all the finger wagging abt "now don't you go thinking this is some hip new trend" feels again like people trying to find anything they can to look at but palestine

[natsmagi]

i was typing this in the notes to an ask but it gogt waaaay too long lol sorry. prefacing it with you know i love your artwork & i have nothing against what you choose to draw. also possibly worded weird cus i didnt write it in the sense of talking only to you alone

there is certainly this conflict between artists as random individuals and artists as a collective when it comes to how to approach this issue… as a hobbyist you can draw whatever you like but also when you have trends like a lack of fatness thats going to be disheartening too. i think the answer is getting more people into making art (& like general societal change of course since its an issue baked into bigotry.)

because as much as i agree with the sentiment of "there is significant under representation of fat women" (or characters in general) at the same time fandom is a hobby space and i dislike the notion of badgering individual artists to draw any particular thing especially when the source material does not have that thing. if you are looking for artwork of fat women thats great but i would not ever recommend something like enstars that has 1. no fat characters and 2. no women, barring a few exceptions. i think expecting to find fanart of fat women from a source entirely composed of thin men is unrealistic, even with the relative popularity of femstars.

plus there are other complications such as the typical modern fandom f/f scene sometimes being very strict and even vicious at times with their standards of what's enough diversity or what content is appropriate. ive heard a lot of anecdotes about people who WERE contributing to these things but whom were still harassed or got threats from other users over it not being good enough, and that's just not conducive to creating the environment or diversity you want. nobody is going to want to be in a fandom space where they have to walk on eggshells all the time. and i bring this up because of how you were clearly harassed by randos. accusing you of misogyny or shaming other womens' bodies as being "unrealistic" is not the way to go

the only reasonable solution i can think of to this is, again, to just encourage more artists to start drawing in the first place, or even better start contributing yourself. individuals should have the freedom to draw what they like without getting flamed for it AND people should be able to see themselves represented in artwork. i would like to see some more fat characters too, this is definitely something ive thought about before myself

(personally all the fat people i draw are ocs or portraits of people i know that i dont want to post online but maybe if i get some inspiration i will draw the long-sought chubby mugi myself. i am not super interested in femstars though so whether or not itd actually be fem mugi is up in the air. but all the talking here about this topic has had me thinking about following my own advice and putting what i want to see into the world.)

OUGHH THESE ARE ALL GOOD POINTS!! and i agree! the main thing we should be doing is ENCOURAGING people to add more diversity, not harassing them into it! people who only draw for fun arent really obligated to draw anything outside of their comfort zone, which again is why i think its better to simply uplift the idea of trying out new things and new appearances that you dont often draw

theres also SO MUCH room for more femstars artists too! and like ive said before if you wanna see something done right you gotta do it yourself. and i kind of like that. i like that everyone gets to craft their own little femstars variant of the enstars cast, and you can make them look however you want! and honestly? you SHOULD! seeing personal touches to designs always brings me joy, so even if you dont feel very confident in your art, if you have a specific vision for a character that you want brought to life please go ahead and draw it!! (or if you really dont want to you can always commission someone)

i also wanna highlight one of ur last points too bc yea. its unfortunate but often times whenever i see someone try adding diversity to their art for the first time they end up getting flamed because its not an accurate depiction of what they were trying to represent. and that really sucks! obviously we should strive to have accurate representation, but if its an artist that hasnt tried their hand on it before, ESPECIALLY a beginner artist, we shouldnt flame them for it. rather we should educate them on what went wrong and how they can improve for the future. these are people who actually WANT and are TRYING to add diversity to their art, but because in animanga circles theres a lack of education on how to draw more diverse features of really any kind. which is why trying to educate is far better than shaming. because if you shame these artists theyre gonna be too scared to try again, giving us less diversity once more

so yes basically what im saying is i want us all to encourage diversity and to help each other out by sharing resources and tips when it comes to drawing it!! one person is Obviously not gonna be able to do every single thing, which is why i want more people to pick up the pen and bring life to their visions!! also i really want more femstars food pelase pick up the pen i am a starved orphan and only femstars yuri can satiate me!!!!!!!!!

[cephalomon]

after playing pkm violet twice and then replaying pkm platinum and heart gold , i noticed some things about pkm violet that i hope dont become trends for the rest of the series.

of course, this is all my personal opinion so dont take everything super heavily. i loved playing through pokemon violet, enough to play it a second time IMMEDIATELY after i finished it. but that doesnt mean i dont have complaints.

also apologies if my thoughts are a bit scattered

the actual region of paldea feels... incredibly empty. i understand the concept of the game, i understand that the world is supposed to be open and full of exploration! but ... what all exactly is there to explore?

there are a couple of scenic locations, but overall, i never felt like i was really exploring anything or seeing anything worthwhile. and i felt very ... lonely most of the time. there are no homes between cities, no man made structures or facilities, theres just nothing. each city in paldea feels like a small remain of civilization in an otherwise bare landscape, which is a complete contrast to previous games, where routes had homes or other buildings on them for you to interact with. even the caves and what not in paldea didnt really feel worthwhile to explore (especially since a lot of them felt less like cool caves to explore and more like hallways).

i think something that magnifies this problem is the over abundance of items and TMs in the overworld. theres a shiny something or other on the floor all the time, which i think really undercut the desire to explore every corner of paldea.

in older games, exploring a route or cave thoroughly usually meant great training opportunities and some sort of reward, like a few items along the way and MAYBE a TM. but paldea is LITTERED with random items EVERYWHERE, and TMs are not difficult to come by. theres no reason to really explore caves or routes, because they're small and theres nothing there you cant find everywhere else. and you will exhaust yourself trying to pick up Every Single Item you see.

Items in general are a bit overabundant in paldea. although it was convenient, i dont like that we can just buy so many battle items during the main storyline. i really enjoyed looking for these items, finding them by chance, or talking to NPCs to be gifted them. and as far as i can tell? the NPCs in paldea do ... very little. it adds an extra layer of loneliness to the world when all the NPCs are there to do is give the impression of a lived in world.

its always been a joke in the community, but i really miss being able to explore at least some of the houses in each town. but the homes in paldea are just there to, again, give the impression of a lived in world. there is Nothing to explore, No One to talk to, no incentives to be interested in these towns or these people!

the fact that the free roam pokemon game, the one that shouldve been full of exploration opportunities and life, feels so dull so often is really ironic to me. i do think this is definitely partially because of the time constraints the games were made on, but that doesnt make the issue ignore-able. the region is overabundant in all the wrong ways, and then completely lifeless in others.

i think pokemon has the potential to tell extremely rich stories, and the pokemon world is so interesting. theres really no excuse for paldea to feel so dull. most of the other regions feel genuinely lived in, even in those long stretches of forest or desert there is something significant to be seen or explored.

if the future of free roam pokemon is sparse towns with miles of dull, lifeless land in between them... well i think thats really unfortunate.

it was a problem in swsh too; the wild "free-roam" areas were so dull to me. there has to be a way to improve these problems. adding more structures that arent just ruins, making little towns in the middle or on the outskirts of long routes... something, anything. and i think that reeling in the amount of items in the overworld, and making some items scarce again, would really bring back some of the exploration aspects that were lost in Scarlet/Violet.

i also think that adding some smaller stories to the world, side quests and what not, would be really good. the big storylines in scarlet and violet were good (i think), but having some side quests in each town or in some of the routes wouldve been really cool!

and also if theyre gonna do food minigames can they make them like. function properly. because that sandwich minigame is a nightmare.

I think thats all i have to say. Again, i know that time constraints probably limited the team a lot. and i think that it's REALLY obvious that the development team had bigger plans for this game that they just couldnt flesh out; the difference between a game made by people who cared about it and a game made by people who didnt is Palpable.

i hope that generation 10 (WHEW. TEN.) or whatever comes next for the series fixes some of these problems. im excited to see whats in store for the DLC!

if youve read this far, lmk if you have any thoughts about any of this or if theres some stuff i missed in the game that i should go back and check out! i love talking about pokemon, id be happy to discuss anything pokemon related with other fans

[paunchsalazar]

when i was around 12 a friend and i really got into shipping renge and nekozawa senpai. Almost a decade later ive remembered it and looked into it again and im surprised theres still hardly any content about the idea online. you seem more connected to the ouran + ouran manga fandoms than me- is this just a teenage delusion that no one else shared, is there a ship name that i never googled, do people just not like renge and not ship her with anyone, is there something in the manga that counteracts this, idk what are your thoughts? its been in my mind a lot lately as i go back to nostalgic properties and nowadays when i think of ouran fanworks i think of your comics so thats why i sent this your way. hope you have a nice day!

honestly, I wasn't super up on the fandom lore for many many many years, so who am I to say!! but I haven't really seen much about those two! They are both funny and intense and Renge loves a dramatic character with secret depth! I could see it! And he is quite dashing under that hood lol. (Personally, I always thought Nekozawa had a bit of a crush on Tamaki, but that he might have to work up to going out in the light before he would be ready for a relationship with anyone)

I've definitely seen a few ships with Renge - her and Haruhi the most? (maybe just me but I was always curious about Renge crossing paths with the Lobelia girls lol! they are all very passionate, only about different things! but especially with her love for iconic archetypes, I feel like there's more overlap than they realize)

anyway, I feel like with any piece of media shipping trends form in different ways and vary a lot with something as old as Ouran, people are drawn to different things for their own reasons, but reading on in the manga only made me like both Renge and Nekozawa more!! and with the bonus chapters (Mei and Kasanoda end up together!!) I feel like it's left open for a lot of characters to potentially get together.

[noblemalone]

I think im a pretty good artist i think I'm hot shit right so i feel like

Idk seeing artists online especially in the fanart and character illustration/OC department, seeing those newer artists who are maybe just getting in to digital art or drawing in general i feel like...

One like slooow down brother there's no need to be making stickers or doing commissions or having a patreon just yet, let's walk before we run ok? Of course you can do, people can do whatever they want with their free time but you have to understand a lot more about art, marketing online, self promotion, and social media trends to get the kind of traction you're expecting. I feel like theres this pressure for newer artists to legitimize themselves thru like, monetary means ("if ppl subscribe to my patreon, it means I'm good at art") and social media capital ("likes are nice, but they dont do much; please reblog!")

And like yeah everyone wants that but... If you're drawing solely for those reasons and are disheartened by lack of interaction or traction in the markets, what are you even doing? I been doing this a long time, 20+ years at this point. Not commissions or anything, just drawing. I been drawing a long time and I always do it for the love of the game. I do it because it keeps my mind and hands busy, it brings me joy, and i like to create. I enjoy translating the real world into lines, in stylizing, in pushing. I just like it and yk what, thats how I've had this longevity and thats how I've gotten to where i am. I have sketchbooks full of work no one has ever seen, not just studies but all kinds of work.

If your drive to to do the thing, or to improve at a craft or whatever is external, you can't keep it up. Thats nothing to say about learning to enjoy observation and the importance, even in stylized work, of learning how to look at something and how to just observe and notice the things we see. Idk so much of my growth and skill has come from an internal drive to improve for myself, because getting better is a challenge i want to overcome, and doing the less-exciting stuff like drawing a fuckin building. I've been to probably idk dozens of life drawing sessions because i wanted to grasp anatomy better. In university, i took courses where we looked at bones and skeletons so that i would by proxy have a better anatomical grasp. I learned to map my knowledge and the things I learned about applying making or working out back to drawing. Idk man i dont know how to tell you how to love something

And thats all not the point anyway cuz the point is

Two, i think some new artists don't really... They're not interested in finding a personal style? Or if they are they're not sure how to get there? They see the work that does numbers on insta and twitter and stuff and they wanna draw like that, so they do what those artists do. Admirable! But also they do it without understanding the underlying principals. This artists blocks their characters out like this, so i shall too. That artist uses lineless painterly style with heavy realistic rendering, so shall I. And idk everyone enjoys that style the idk Popular Style of anime realism or whatever its fine to look at but dont y'all ever want more??

And like idk do you enjoy the process or are you doing it that way cuz thats how your fave does it?

And idk like.... Two works can be of equal technical skill level, but the one that plays with style and understands underlying principals of lighting and colour and shape and line, the one that is bold with their vision, is always gonna be better than the one that's trying to be popular and do numbers yk?

Like if thats the style that speaks to you, go for it, but fuckin Go for it yk? Dont try and be like everybody else or the big time players cuz if you're trying to master someone else's style, you're not gonna be able to master the things that make art fun and interesting and challenging and engaging yk

And also a lot of art is about vibes and if you're not channeling the vibes its gonna look bad you gotta focus on the vibes not on being like your fave!!

And if i see one more person say "i spent so long rendering this 🥲" when its fucking cel shaded I'm gonna lose my frickin MIND I SWEAR BROTHER I'M NOT MAD I LOVE CEL SHADING BUT CHRIST ON THE CROSS USE THE RIGHT WORDS FOR THE THINGS YOU MEAN