#like there’s some sorta uncanny valley here

[stealingyourbones]

Everyone in Amity Park is Liminal. Danny can sense that they are Liminal. But since it's not as strong as his ghost sense and also it's all the people he's around, he has no idea that he's sensing they're Liminal. To his subconscious (where the sense is sensing) that's just what normal people are like.

Danny ends up in [insert DC location here] and cannot for the life of him figure out why everyone triggers some kind of instinctual Uncanny Valley effect.

oooo i like this.

the places I could think of instantly as uncanny is Fawcett city. It's a place sorta out of time, has crocodile mobsters, a villain that's a caterpillar from Venus that controls minds and converses via talkbox (also was sentenced to death and killed by electric chair in the older comics), it would be absolutely bizarre and he would be losing his mind.

[dasnercaret]

i had so much fun drawing this guy it's unreal. please observe siffrin from @protectorcraft's fic a bell chimes somewhere!! what a dude. what a lad. what a weirdo (positive)

some more details under the cut! (spoilers for isat and the fic under the cut as well!)

i imagine that since siffrin's creachur form has something to do with wish craft, it wasn't too far-fetched to say that his eye would be colored too, especially given how the sky kid focused on it. however since this isn't his wish to stay with his family, i thought it would be nice to make it a different color... something representing the universe........ Sky Blue It Is

it helps that i am also obsessed with shades of sky blue AND the line from the fic that the sky kid said that it had "everything" in its eyes

i didn't illustrate it, but i think it would be extra cool if creachur siff's eye color changed as per time of day. just because. he's like the eye color version of that one 'do you love the color of the sky' post

i like to imagine that siffrin still has a strange Light in his eyes even when in his human disguise. can't remember if the fic mentions it or not but he has a sky blue highlight in those eyes now in my design. because i can :3

speaking of human disguise, i like to think that even with his transformation he's still not that subtle. mirabelle picks up immediately that he's weird but also that he's friendly and VERY good at survival, and so isn't too bothered by his... quirks. this might end up being canon to the fic honestly but i just wanted to trot out my two cents regardless while i'm here

i'm hoping i managed to communicate some of that off-putting nature in his face! especially his eyes. they're almost unnaturally gray aside from that strange highlight

i originally wanted to make his eyes even weirder but then i thought that being Too Weird would kind of defeat the point, and the point of this is that siffrin kind of has to pass as a normal human which means no glowing pupils, unfortunately. i can totally Give Him Pupils though. gotta get that subtle horror/ creepiness in :3

he gets glowing pupils / tapetum lucidum in the dark though. or when he's angry (see top left). as a treat

didn't draw his in between state (between human and dragon) but i imagine it looks kinda fucked up ! his horn and ears grow, his tail gets longer, teeth get sharper, his whole face sort of. Distorts. in a distinctly uncanny valley way. the blue highlight starts bleeding into his eyes (and his pupils start transforming from round to slit to star-shaped)

continuing, this in-between form in my head is sorta like the dragonkin soldiers from elden ring, just in terms of 'this is a weird hybrid of human and dragon and it just Doesn't Work'. like human, cool, dragon, cool, in between? fucked

siffrin is INSANELY floofy. even with the fact that he hasn't bathed in ages and his floof is all matted and tangled from lack of care he's still crazy soft. i think his fur also has similar insulating properties to his cloak so he never overheats or gets too cold. always the Perfect Temperature

if i were more confident in my skills (and which way this fic is going to end up going) i would have drawn a big hero 6 style moment where everyone is just lying with their face buried in siffrin's fur, like how everyone lays on warm marshmellow baymax.

i originally meant for siffrin to be more cursed and body-horror-y, and then i was looking at the fic descriptions for him (as of chapter 7, so there may be more detail later that i didn't get to see as of writing this) and was like 'wait... he kind of looks like the dragons from BOTW doesn't he' and then the inherent majesty kind of. just. Happened.

i like the fact that he looks kind of majestic though! i think it's a good representation of siffrin's terrible body image issues in this fic where honestly he looks awesome but he just doesn't realize it because, hello negative self-worth

didn't color the last doodles of human siff at the top left. apologies. i got sleeby

in another life mirabelle rides his dragon form into battle and it is exactly as awesome as it looks like it would be

kind of shoehorned my own oc into here as well but i SWEAR aleph is so absurdly similar to this design it's actually kind of hilarious. if i had a nickel for the number of space dragon designs i've made i'd have two, which isn't a lot but

and the full page of doodles! just cause

[dateamonster]

also the fact that the distinguishing features betwix the elves and fairies (besides from wings) is the fact that all the fairies are like. White and skinny to midsize old guy and the elves are like. That’s a person you’d see on the street

yeah they really used character design for evil in this one because like in isolation i think theres soo much to love about strange magics designs. i know the vaguely uncanny valley nature of the models is going to be a dealbreaker for a lot of people but ! their little clothes made out of plants and scraps of fabric and lost buttons and insect parts! sunnys ladybug hat! the way everyones hair is so Shaped in a way that suggests a stiffer fibrous texture! all the little details that make inherently unnatural fantastical creatures feel completely at home in a natural environment!

and tbh part of me still loves the definitely uncanny almost skeletally skinny base model for the fairies. that and theyre big eyes really do give them a very eerie insectoid look that i wish theyd had the guts to lean into more lol. and the contrast between the fairies who are characterized by these long thin bodies and sweeping elegant movements vs the elves who are all round and blunt and blocky shapes with this sorta low center of gravity that places them more firmly on the ground vs the wild diversity of shapes and sizes when it comes to the goblins like very clearly identifies who everyone is in this world and how they kinda relate to each other, and i maintain that a lot of the uncomfortableness that comes with how this world is laid out couldve been alleviated by just. making some of the fucking fairies brown.

like its not as if its especially unique for this brand of kids fantasy movie to have a visible class divide thats never examined, or use conventional beauty standards as a visual cue for importance if not morality. the main reason imo it feels so glaring here is specifically because all the fairies we see are very white and even aside from one of the only elves we really spend any time with being black a lot of the elves features in general read as more racialized.

and i dont think this was necessarily intentional. high fantasy in general has a consistent and historical problem with favoring whiteness, thinness, and eurocentricism. if anything, i think this is just what happens when you make something built on those existing sorta tropes and dynamics without putting any thought into what they represent.

[cheerycherrycandy-resurrected]

What You've Done, You Cannot Undo

The foot-of-the-gallows-marriage fake-relationship enemies-to-lovers bed-sharing medieval AU no one asked for!

Inspired by this TikTok from @/pardon_mi, more information on this super cool historical legal quirk here!

Chapter 1: Prologue

Dew has hated Rain from the moment he showed up. Rain has been burned before by a fire ghoul, and finds it hard to trust. Rain loses control of his power and finds himself sentenced to hang for his crimes. No one can think how to save him, and now Dewdrop has disappeared too?

Rating: T Content: historical AU, threat of death, fake relationship (sorta), only one bed, enemies to lovers, angst Words: 980

Read below, or on AO3!

On the whole, the village left the ghouls alone. This was the ideal setup for all of them really: the humans didn’t have to experience the uncanny valley of a ghoul’s shifting glamour too regularly, and the ghouls didn’t have to keep up their façade of humanity all the time. That didn’t mean they never interacted; everyone knew the strange outsiders on the edge of town had their uses.

The Tall One, Mountain, had arrived during planting season, along with The Healer, Aether. The villagers had been sceptical at first – they hadn’t had newcomers for a while and something seemed strange about them that they couldn’t quite identify – but they had seemed to keep to themselves and not cause trouble, so the whisperings had died down. Mountain had sought employment on the many farms surrounding the village that springtime, his strong physique and steady attitude making him a valued asset to the farmers he planted crops alongside.

As spring turned into summer the plants began to sprout, and with autumn on their doorstep their harvests seemed more bountiful than ever before. Mountain returned to help with the reaping, throwing bushels of corn around like they weighed nothing, and pulling carts that would normally take three men. Each of the farmers had sworn to ask for his help the following year, and their crop yield had remained higher than any year before Mountain’s arrival.

Aether had likewise ingratiated himself with the villagers, through his seemingly miraculous healing abilities. He had been met with more uncertainty than Mountain, with only the most desperate of the community willing to place their trust in his healing talismans at first. However when the sickest townsfolk had told of their new lease of life, he had found a steady stream of customers asking for his help with all manner of maladies and ailments. Even the most suspicious of the villagers had eventually had to admit that since his arrival, their small settlement had not seen a single case of the plague that regularly swept the surrounding area in the colder months.

Later that autumn the Hungry one, Dewdrop, had showed up, looking for all the world like a half-starved wet kitten. Aether and Mountain had returned to town after a few days away with him in tow, much to the intrigue of the villagers. He had barely left the house and when he did, he seemed to stare at the townsfolk frozen in fear. With time, the small newcomer had begun to thaw around the townspeople. He no longer shrunk away from their waves of greeting in fear, and instead seemed curious, almost fascinated, with them although they could not imagine why.

As the nights grew longer and colder and all within the village began to rely on fires for their survival, they began to notice something intriguing: every fire Dewdrop was around seemed to blaze brighter and last longer without the need for more fuel. Most initially chalked it up to coincidence, but the superstitious few had yet to be proved wrong about Dew’s presence keeping their fires alive. When the frost started to lick at doorways, and the icy winds found their entry through every crack, some had invited him for supper. As the skinny creature had begun to fill out some, their fires glowed ever brighter, and this latest strange arrival was also accepted by the village.

The Storyteller, Swiss, had rolled into town a considerable while later, and remained an enigma to the villagers. Unlike the mysterious newcomers before him, he did not try to remain hidden in the shadows of their society. He had strutted into the tavern, declared himself a travelling Bard, and never left again.

At first, he had woven tales of magical lands and the kingdoms within them. Stories of great battles and ruthless leaders, all told as though he had been there to witness them. With time, the stories became less fanciful and the characters less generic, and seemed to be describing future events affecting his rapt audience’s lives. These villagers would swear his words would come to pass, whether the outcome of the tale was good or bad for them. In horror, some would try to change their futures, but it was always to no avail. Swiss’s words seemed to pull the truth from the pages of fate itself.

The most recent addition to the little band was Rain, The Youngster. He had been found in a farmer’s field in the middle of the first rainstorm that followed a long summer drought, drinking from the small stream that trickled along the bottom of it. Despite the relatively warm weather, he appeared almost blue, his skin ice-cold to the touch. While initially suspicious of the skittish young man, the farmer had taken pity on him. The too-blue eyes and now-familiar otherness he exuded led to the farmer bringing him to Aether, and soon enough he had integrated into their little pack and was there to stay.

The superstitions regarding the residents of the farm on the edge of town had led many to speculate what this new addition would bring to the village. At first, no one had been able to draw any connections between his presence or actions and any strange occurrences. However, as the summer stretched on and no more droughts befell the land, they began to assume this was somehow his doing. When Rain attended fields with Mountain, some would ask him to bless the lands of the townsfolk, casting his protection against drought, floods and frost.

Content in their safe haven, the ghouls were grateful for the relatively comfortable lives the villagers enabled them to live. However despite their standing, they continued to try and keep a low profile. Every one of them was aware of the true fragility of their situation: in any other town, they would have been condemned as witches.

Read Chapter 2 here!

[jessfastlane]

alright, i'm gonna let autism take the wheel on this one.

i saw a twitter post showing Tessa most likely has a prosthetic arm and i needed to double-check it wasn't an animation error due to perspective. here's the scene the tweet showed and you can sorta see her upper-right arm is slimmer than her left.

its consistent with the upper arm size difference seen here, later in ep 5.

visuals alone dont feel like enough for me tho, seeing as the models tend to warp a lot, especially with Tessa (the animators express her emotion through more exaggerated movements). you can see her neck is really long in this one frame, for example.

also some frames dont look definitive enough to call

but there are other, smaller details that line up with this theory! for example, the chain in her bedroom is attached to her left arm. if her right arm is prosthetic then she could just remove the arm if the chain was there but her parents would know about that.

she also throws with her left arm which makes sense

she holds the gun with her right hand in two scenes which is interesting to note, but she can clearly use her fingers on that hand so its not a big deal

there's probably more i missed but thats all i noticed.

in conclusion, uhhh, im autistic and like this show.

side-note: i'm 100% convinced that we wont see Tessa without the silhouette effect. humans are hard to animate and i imagine the team wants to avoid an uncanny valley situation, plus it keeps the style consistent.

my theory is that the effect is intentionally built into the drones' visors. it's shown to be glitchy, like the humans were digitally removed from the shot, and lore-wise it could be a privacy feature for humans that don't want their faces constantly observed by sentient recording devices. like, we see in ep 1 that N records memories in a video format, so national laws surrounding the recording of people without their consent probably applied back on Earth.

[aurriearts]

tips for painting eyes like mine

(here's sura's for example)

use a BIG canvas so you can zoom in to do the details

use textured brushes. they will help SO much. irises have lots of weird details if you look at them close-up, and it's easier to communicate that with rougher/textured brushes vs the smoother kinds

have the whites of the eyes dark first like the colour of the surrounding area + gradually add pops of white/lighter colours. treat them like theyre highlights

add a slight shadow to the area just underneath the eyelid

make the ring outside the iris + pupil dark, gradually build colour around there

add highlights in slightly brighter colours (colour dodge is your friend) to the main iris colour for extra vibrancy. don't make it a solid colour, give it some variety!

use the highlights on the pupil to indicate where the character is looking. it helps with the uncanny valley look + makes them more alive (i have, ironically, scopophobia/eye contact aversion so this tends to help me lol. if you look at my portraits i will pretty much never have a character looking straight ahead/always to the side.)

don't overdo it with the white highlights unless it's for extreme expressions like wide eyes/shock/horror/crying (eyes are shinier with tears) etc. less is more!

bigger/wider eyes = more of the whites show. in comparison, with narrower eyes, the eyelids will hide more of the upper and lower sections of the iris.

when you're looking at something not straight ahead, the eye closer to the direction will move less than the one further away. don't have the pupils dead center!

include a little pink bit for the cornea to make the eyes more defined

work out what direction the eyelashes are going (they curl upwards more for people that aren't east asian, for example, vs the straighter lashes east asians tend to have) - use a slightly lighter colour than the character's haircolour and flick Gently. it depends what direction the eye is in, but for forward facing itll sorta follow/ lean into the curve of the eye and at the center be more upright. this will help combat the spider eyelash issue lol

uhhhhhh eyesocket area tends to be darker since more shadows are cast there, especially at the creases for doublelidded eyes. you can use a slight highlight on the curve of the eyelid to improve the contrast.

think about the dimensions of the surrounding area and how muscles and facial expressions will affect how they look - a furrowed brow will cast a deeper shadow and cause squinting, some smiles will also make squintier eyes, older characters might have crows feet or smile lines, someone who's tired will have deep shadows under the eyes etc, etc.

[dysphoriaposting]

Super disappointed in Niantic and Pokemon GO in general. No, I'm not a transphobe or so on, I'm part of the LGBTQIA+. I'm not fully versed on the choice to make every character lose their current body types and instead choose from a largely similar pool of physical options (as far as I've experimented), but it's not a direction I was hoping for. Why couldn't they keep the current physical appearance options and then offer the sliders to further adjust your body from there?

I loved Pokemon GO as a way to imagine my OC Toria as a Pokemon Trainer, but now the character looks less like an anime character and more like an uncanny valley half-finished model for some sort of "live action" Pokemon TV show.

Pokemon GO isn't unplayable now or anything, but a huge aspect of the game I loved (dressing up Toria depending on the weather, season, any fun new cosmetics) is pretty much done now, as the character design screen doesn't even really have any facial feature options that resemble how the mainline Pokemon protagonists look like. I could forgive the awkward body types as a transitional update between two black and white choices and a more expressive character design selection like in other RPGs, but the fact that even the faces are so utterly alien just sorta makes me feel like I wasted my money and time in buying cosmetics.

I've played this game since high school, and now... Idk, it feels like Toria isn't here with me to have this journey anymore.

[kolbisneat]

MONTHLY MEDIA: March 2023

It’s getting nicer out but I’m still spending plenty of time indoors watching and reading things, don’t you worry.

……….FILM……….

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) It’s been years since I’ve gone back to this and it really is one of the best superhero movies ever made, right? I hope the next one succeeds and it leads to more animated features. It just...you can do so much more. Sure the live-action superhero movies have a lot of animation but they’re bound by our physics and the uncanny valley and it’s just not the same.

……….TELEVISION……….

Ted Lasso (Episode 3.01 to 3.03) Glad to be back. It’s been interesting seeing the online rise, then fall, then rise again of support for this show but honestly, who cares? Do you like watching it? Great. Do I like watching it? Absolutely. It’s a project that was planned from season 1 and it shows and I wish more media was approached in this way.

Spy x Family (Episode 1.08 to 1.25) Okay needed to shift my expectations with this one. I really thought we’d get more of Yor and her assassin life. She’s kinda just a background character to Loid and Anya and that feels like a missed opportunity.

The Great (Episode 2.09 to 2.10) Great cap to the season. Full arcs for characters, a satisfying resolution and yet still enough of a hook to get me excited for the third season. Just some gorgeous, funny, dramatic television. Big fan.

……….YOUTUBE……….

Why everything you buy is worse now and How America’s richest donate their money by Vox Okay the first one really helped explain why stuff seems to be lower quality and it’s not just “better back in my day” sorta stuff. It’s just chasing that elusive profit, you know? And seeing the stats on how the wealthy donate was eye-opening. Taxes seem good. VIDEO (Worse Now) VIDEO (Richest Donations)

AI and Image Generation (Everything is a Remix Part 4) by Kirby Ferguson I’ve always appreciated the Everything is a Remix series and this only reinforces that. A measured response to AI image generation and what that means, why it’s flawed, and what happens next. VIDEO THE FULL PROJECT

What Does Glass Onion Have to Do with US? by Vivian Strange Okay a lengthy one but worth it. A new perspective on Glass Onion, a refresher on why I really liked US, and a really great connection between the two. Also a really great breakdown of the murder mystery as a genre as well and why it’s having a resurgence. All around great stuff. VIDEO

……….READING……….

Arabian Nights (Companion Library Edition) (Page 124 of 244) Thrifted this and for some reason never knew it was a collection of short stories? Which seems obvious now. Anyway I’m sooooo slow at really short story collections but they’ve been interesting to read. Something about the translation feels like a slog to actually read but the stories included are a lot of fun. 

Wonderland Revisited and the Games Alice Played There by Keith Sheppard (Complete) I’m super picky when it comes to adaptations of Carroll’s works. Many take Wonderland and make it dark, twisted, and mature (meh) but I find the more interesting take is one that continues with the same momentum. This one doesn’t quite work in capturing the spirit of the original books for me but there’s a lot of really great ideas in here.

Superman for all Seasons by Jeph Loeb & Tim Sale (Complete) Having loved their Batman books I picked this up and, being younger and dumber, didn’t like it at the time. Where was the action? Where were the villains? I was naive. Going back to this I really appreciate the study of Superman, the narrative through the supporting cast, and the struggles that can’t be resolved through punching. Man Loeb & Sale were a team.

Fantastic Four: Full Circle by Alex Ross (Complete) As an one-off story, this delivers everything I’d want out of an FF adventure: group banter, weird worlds, and lots of mumbo jumbo science. Plus I mean the artwork is truly humbling. I had to read it twice and I still only 80% understand it all but that’s not a complaint. Totally worth picking up if you have even a passing interest in the Fantastic Four.

Ultimate Spider-Man Volume 5 & 6 by by Brian Michael Bendis, Mark Bagley, and more  (Complete) Decided to pick up with my reread of the Ultimate Spider-Man series again and woof I forgot how much I didn’t like volume 5. The first half is an Ultimates story that I STILL find too wordy, and the movie tie-in of the second half never quite clicked. I dunno maybe there are too many losses and not enough wins for Parker in this one? Volume 6, however, is great. It has one of the most frustrating deaths in the series but it really explores the aftermath and impact. And introducing Johnny Storm and using him as the reason Spider-Man gets back into the hero stuff is really great. Spider-Man doesn’t need to solve all problems with punches and this book gets that.

……….AUDIO……….

Wild Planet by The B-52s (1980) After listening to a greatest hits album on repeat as a kid, I’m going back to the early stuff. Can’t get Private Idaho out of my head.

FREE I.H.: This Is Not the One You've Been Waiting For by Illuminati Hotties (2020) They always pop up in lists when I search for “more stuff like Sleigh Bells” but it finally clicked for me after listening to content//bedtime. Love this album.

……….GAMING……….

Neverland: A Fantasy Role-Playing Setting (Andrews McMeel Publishing) Whoa okay so my weekly group just fled the land of the Fairies after some drama with the Queen of the realm (you can read about it here) and then my Mof1 game ALSO had some Fairy drama involving the Queen. Apparently she’s a dramatic lady.

And that’s it. See you in April!

[watching-pictures-move]

Movie Review | Tunnel Rats (Boll, 2008)

One of the essential pieces of Uwe Boll trivia is that for a while there, he got his movies funded with the help of a German tax loophole that allowed investors to write off the entirety of their investment and only pay taxes if the movie showed a profit, or in layman's terms, more or less doing The Producers for real. This movie was made after that loophole had been closed (thanks to the attention he ended up drawing to it) and his movies had stopped getting wide releases in theatres, and shockingly, it looks and feels like a "real" movie made with some care. The more charitable read is that Boll's newfound financial realities re-energized him as a filmmaker. The less charitable read is that he did this with the same enthusiasm as Ruggero Deodato bringing out the cast of Cannibal Holocaust when he was put on trial for allegedly making a snuff film, and probably needed to prove he could actually make a "good" or potentially profitable movie. I do not know the contents of Boll's heart so I will refrain from speculating.

What I will say is that the relative polish results in an uncanny valley effect that does not work in the movie's favour. Because it looks and feels like a "real" movie, you start comparing it against other "real" movies and it can't help but come up short. Boll cycles through a host of Vietnam war movie cliches, and while cliches are cliches for a reason, he isn't able to breathe any new life into them. The first half is just an endless parade of characters pouring their hearts out about life back home or telling others to shut up in response, with most of the interest coming from guessing who's gonna get KIA'd later in the movie. It also doesn't help that many of the cast members look like more famous actors that you wish were in the movie instead. There's knockoff Michael Biehn, knockoff Anthony Mackie, knockoff Casey Affleck. The only one who makes an impression is Michael Pare, doing a pretty good Tom Berenger impression as he commits a war crime in the opening scene, punches it out with a subordinate who disagrees, and then goes on about all the shit you have to do in war to survive. I will say that Boll deserves some props for trying to humanize the Vietnamese, even if he does so by arguably mimicking the same G.I. cliches.

Things do get better in the second half when Boll springs Viet Cong attacks on our boys, if only for the sheer level of violence. Boll is obviously taking after other war and action movies from the era, but unlike Saving Private Ryan or Rambo, his action scenes feel rather shapeless instead of chaotic and frenetic. That being said, there's some pretty nice gore in this courtesy of Olaf Ittenbach, and you kinda wish it leaned further into pure exploitation instead of trying to be a legit war movie. I should also note that Boll's usually shitty blocking is less of an issue here, as many of the scenes are either in tunnels where there isn't a lot of room to move around, or in the jungle, where the density of the trees limits the heroes' movement. And while the movie is shot with an unappealing desaturated high-contrast colour scheme and the tunnel scenes are often incomprehensible, Boll does manage some decent shot compositions.

So this is what it looks like when Boll tries. Boring as shit in the first half, sorta watchable in the second. Here's a participation medal.

[artificialcaretaker]

Look y’all I’m tryna edit my boy Vase rn but like. He’s genuinely so hard to look at so it’s really difficult getting images. Note that my edits are full of fanart and I LIKE the fanart of him but the knowledge of it being Vase makes it abhorrent to my eyes. Why is he like that? It’s like the part of my brain that controls emotion and the part of my brain that controls interpretation of images are waging war on whether or not I can keep looking through his tag. No offense to anyone who’s into him I get it y’all are cool but there’s just. Something. That makes him so visually unappealing. Again, no hate to fanartists. Y’all are doing great, it’s just that my brain is going crazy.

[wovenstarlight]

Thinking about your cached AU and I cannot /imagine/ the dissonance SHJ must feel everytime he sees Yoojin. Like going from the instinctive "Haha little F rank" to "oh shit what the /fuck/" in 0.5 seconds. *NOVEL SPOILERS* And that scene where SHJ's memories completely regress of a few chapters? Like, he sends down his chains to drag Yoojin to him and Yoojin is just like. No. And yanks the chains, unceremoniously dragging Sung Hyunjae down the stairs instead.

Oh! And that's not even mentioning the hilarity of the dungeon glitches!

"Oh No!!! A SS rank monster just appeared in this low rank dungeon what are we going to d-

Oh. Oh okay nevermind Yoojin swatted it like a bug and now it's dead. False alarm."

Everything you've written for it is so angsty but I can't stop laughing there's so much potential for comedy

LMFAO YEAH. I think early on I said hyj claims to be F-rank but realistically that's way too obvious a lie so in the yerim chapter I marked him down as claiming A-rank. S-rank would be even easier to pull off but ssm and hyh said "okay so as an s-rank here's the bare minimum amount of public appearances you'd have to make—" and he was like I'd Rather Die Than Face The Media (Again). and they were like oh. um. okay. well. A-ranks aren't nearly as popular even though they still are. would that work. and he was like ugh whatever. and they were all like [EXTREMELY RELIEVED SIGH]

so he has to keep up appearances as an A-rank... that combined with the subconscious awareness that he IS stronger than them, ALONG with the fact that he doesn't even pretend to be scared, honestly makes his relationship with the canon S-ranks. well. okay for those who are under his care it's like You're my dad! boogie woogie woogie just as in canon. but for, like, shj and mha and stw and the rest. he's very. I don't wanna say uncanny valley but they're all on edge around him a bit. of course shj is still like this guy is so fucked up (positive) (intrigued). but because hyj is """A""" rank instead of F-rank... you know how in canon they're all like hehe little F-rank we can push around for jokes and comedy. shj knows better than to try any jokes and comedy on hyj here.

it probably makes it worse than hyjs trying so half-heartedly to be like oh woe I'm a A rank who can't help but be weaker than you guys.... because during shj amnesia pool incident he tries to chain up and drag hyj over and hyj is like. [completely deadpan] oh noooo whatever will I do. these chaaaains have appeaaareeed to drag me awayyyyyy. noooo. he follows them and finds shj and immediately gives him an earful and gets a dunking anyway but he's about twice as pissy about it. prereg shj is having an absolute moment up there on the surface because he's all WHAT THE FUCK? WASNT THIS GUY F-RANK? WHAT? [←not scared per se but unused to this new status quo]

the thing is. even if hyj knows he's SS-rank and everyone knows he's SS-rank and he knows everyone knows etc etc etc. he just stonewalls them when they try to ask (Too Much Trouble). and he still puts up the bare minimum facade of being lower-ranked. so if an ss-rank monster shows up, then like... like okay, with the Babar he contributes about as much as in canon because solo he can't actually do anything, it IS a pretty formidable monster. maybe he takes over for yoohyun and orders him to stay back from the fight, or something, idk. with that dragon humanoid diarma sent, which he fought with shj and riette and noah, though. that he just lays into singlehandedly and then when the others are like ?????? he's like Ohhhh I uhhh forgot to say but Myeongwoo was testing out.... some sorta... extra special buffing equipment. yeah that's definitely it. [glowering] Do Not Tell Anyone Else. and like obviously no one believes him but like. lol. what are they gonna do, fight him? so SS rank han yoojin is just.... the sclass world's most badly kept secret

[ok-ish-hermitcraft-headcanons]

not the same anon from earlier but re: what is keralis. i honestly love to think of him as uncanny valley sort of. like humans think he's human but there's something specifically off about him like how when you look at certain images and you get that feeling of uneasiness?? it might be the eyes. it might be how he speaks ( not his accent, just like... words. HOW he talks, tone of voice, emphasis on some words or associations, etc., ) or something else but that's how humans view keralis.

otherworldly entities like watchers, hybrids, etc., aren't unsettled by him but they more... are curious about him?

because they don't really know anything about him. he's just been here for as long as people can remember and then one day he disappeared but THEN he came back and he's just been around and about ever since.

they know he's not totally human but he's so Built Like One and he doesn't exhibit any other like... inhuman traits? so they're just like yeah he's human (sorta)

there's even the whole thing entirely with area 77, like, YES they had a right to think he's weird and lock him up, YES he's actually keralis. he's just weird. as doc say, he's just keralis and keralis is just. keralis

i think, in reality, if you were to pick apart keralis- he's some sort of human-turned-entity THING, maybe relating to some other high ranking entity around the same rank as the watchers or something like that, but completely harmless in nature. like, he's not any sort of malicious. and he doesn't register as anything entity-like or anything like grian has this off-putting vibe that's DEFINITELY entity vibe.

like he has the vibe of a low ranking otherwordly thing or just some WEIRD HUMAN GUY but he's probably like more powerful than half of the hermitcast in terms of entity status.

sorry this got really rambly i'm a little insane and love thinking about keralis sometimes ( a lot ).

Ooh!! I love that idea!! I want to have those vibes one day!!

[darkwingphoenix]

The AUs of some fans like mine or @kid-az could be timeline theories.

Some of my personal ideas not counting mine:

Looming Genshin/Gaia Impact: Gaia is actually significantly larger than is known, and on the other side of the world the events of Genshin Impact happened around the events of Motion of the Ocean, and by the time the rest of the stories happen (Earliest 6th Age/Later 5th Age), the people of Teyvat are going to space using Vision-powered spacecraft and have already gotten to the digital age (As in they have the Internet), and have actually spotted the Great Kingdoms using satellites, and aren't going over due to controversy about the idea (First contact issues). Due to Visions existing, weaponry hasn't advanced at all (Firearms, which exist in Fontaine, and two playable characters, Clorinde and Chevreuse, use them, are used by other nations but haven't advanced beyond what Earth would consider Napoleonic firearms), but basically everything else has. Only a handful of characters remain from the game's roster (The Archons (Excluding Furina), Xianyun, Qiqi, Ganyu, Wanderer/Scaramouche, the Traveler/PC (Allegedly they're basically gods), Paimon (Who might as well be immortal), Dansleif, and Xiao)

Buncha random planetary system timelines: Basically, Gaia is put into a buncha random planetary system types: Binary stars (Orbiting two stars at a greater distance/Two smaller stars), Binary Stars (But orbiting one star), Gas Giant Moon (Gaia is the moon of a gas giant like Pandora from James Cameron's Avatar, the one with blue people riding dragon birds), Multi Moons (Gaia has more than one moon), or Rings (Someone liked Gaia and put a ring system on Her). Not much changes, but aesthetics. Also, who said there were mutually exclusive?! PRESENTING: Gaia with Rings, around a Gas Giant (Some of Saturn's moon actually have smallish rings, so a much bigger moon could easily hold onto some sorta rings if the gas giant had them), multiple moon moons (Moons Gaia caught with gravity and are drifting in sync with Her in the Lagrange Points or in an orbit around Her), with binary stars and a star farther away but still way closer than a light year. For fun!

Spec Evo Supreme Gaia: Gaia, but with heavier-handed speculative evolution. Not one for someone like you, more focused on the peoples instead of the animals. But either way, here's a few things about Gaia that'd be ideas for this one: Since Gaia had one Face before She ripped it apart because of nukes, that'd easily indicate a Pangea, so animals would likely be more uniform across the continents (There'd be basically the same like 10 species of megafauna across all of the continents in suitable regions, like some sorta spec evo horse on all of the continents, with subspecies that can breed together perfectly fine, or a super common smaller lizard found everywhere warm enough). The people aren't needed to change as they were just spawned on.

Uncanny Valley Nations: Outside of the species of Gaia, the nations look a lot more like Earth civilizations. So we'd have Evik having almost-Mongols, Persians, Indians, and other Asian nations instead of Zareen, Mogdir, and Damijana, Noalen with not-European nations instead of Evangeline and Folkvar, and so on.

Genderbent: On the tin. But Evan survives to form the FGG because plot armor.

Foreign Shores: Similar to the Gaia Impact timeline, there's an advanced nation on the other side of Gaia with their own continents and shenanigans, and make it to the side we're used to.

What if the loominggaia was part of a timeline theory that were connected to other timelines but in same universes?

I’m definitely down for that! I bet there are infinite universes where anything is possible.

[killemwithkawaii]

L.S.S.: See Mitchie? I told you, we already got some stuff in the inbox!

Mitch(5): Oh, really..? Ah, what is it…? [barely audible] They didn’t send more.. Ya know…

L.S.S.: Hehe, I don't know. Let’s find out…

Mitch(5): Ah- hi, Meadow! It’s nice to meet you! [nodding] So she’s one of your friends, Sally?

L.S.S.: Yup, we go back a ways…

Mitch(5): ….

L.S.S.: Hey, my friends are your friends, remember…? 

Mitch(5): [nodding] ….

[song starts playing]

Mitch(5): …. [head bobbing side-to-side]... [wiggling toes] ... [rocking side-to-side to the beat]...

….

L.S.S.: Oh… oh, there they go, she’s boppin’...

[song ends]

Mitch(5): Eheeheehee… it’s spooky but it’s also fun! I’m sorta glad she didn’t send the video, though. Baby dolls aren’t really my kind of creepy… 

L.S.S.: So, walking corpses and guts and slashers and horrifying monsters are good, but you draw the line at baby dolls…?

Mitch(5): Ah- well, dolls are kinda played out in horror, don’t ‘cha think…? Sure, they have the unnatural, uncanny valley element if they move or speak on their own, but they’re so small, they don’t really seem like much of a threat… 

L.S.S.: I guess, most of the time… small things can still pack a punch, though. They can take you by surprise and get you when you have your guard down, if you underestimate them…

Mitch(5): That’s true! Maybe I need to rethink them… I do like the song either way, though!

…[mimicking] ‘It’s okay, baby, I know you had a hard time… don’t be scared, you can trust me…’ Eheheeheehee…

L.S.S.: [chuckling] Sound familiar…?

Mitch(5): [giggling] Yes…~

…

[starts the song over].... [rocking side-to-side]

L.S.S.: …. Looks like we found our soundtrack for the day [chuckling]

Mitch(5): …Woah, those got here so fast...!! 

L.S.S.: Yeah, uh... those grocery delivery services sure are convenient! Ehe...

Mitch(5): [Indecipherable, excited] Ah, they’re so cute…!! Whaddaya wanna make with them?

L.S.S.: What do you have in the fridge?

Mitch(5): Mrr…. uh, the basics, I guess? Ah- oh, I have some parmesan, garlic, onions… and some bacon I got on special in the freezer! I’m sure all that would all be tasty together!

L.S.S.: Sounds good to me! I’m up for some experimenting in the kitchen if you are.

Mitch(5): Oh! Ah- Eheehee-... uh, yeah! [nodding] We’ll figure it out together…! Uh, let me find my extra apron…

Mitch(5): [indecipherable, excited] [rocking side-to-side] AHH!!!…

L.S.S.: Heh, pretty cute, right…?

Mitch(5): [nodding] Eee thank you so much!! This is SO nice of you!  I LOVE strawberries, how did you know?!

L.S.S.: I might have told them…

Mitch(5): Eeee, that’s so sweet! These look SO yummy!! Eheehee, yay, we have something for dessert now, too, Sally~!

L.S.S.: Oh, there’s gonna be two courses for dessert, now…?

Mitch(5): Huh…? But we didn’t …. OH- [squeaking] I- [indecipherable] 

… Eheehee, you’re… [giggling, rocking back and forth]

L.S.S.: Heh. Yes, yes I am…

Mitch(5): Eh- heh, well, if that’s the case then, uh, there’s probably enough here for breakfast tomorrow, too, so… if you, ah, wanna stay over again… unless you’re busy! I don’t wanna keep you, if you have something to do…

L.S.S.: Eheh.. well, I… no, you can keep me… I’m not going anywhere…

Mitch(5): [giggling] [wiggling toes] Uh… Maybe we can make pancakes together…?

L.S.S.: …That sounds perfect.

Mitch(5): Ahh!! This is so much fun, I’m so excited…~!! [bouncing]

L.S.S.: Me too… maybe you wanna give drawing on the laptop a try before we start making dinner?

Mitch(5): You’re really okay with me using it…? It seems so fancy, I don’t really know what I’m going… I’m a little afraid I’m gonna break it or something…

L.S.S.: … Just give it a shot, I’m sure you’ll get the hang of it quick. Whatever you make will turn out great, I’m sure of it.

Mitch(5): Ah- well, uh…. Okay! [nodding] Thank you, Sal! I’ll be extra, extra careful, I promise…! 

L.S.S.: ...I know you will, Mitchie…

[crackinwise]

If I may interrupt others' fun to nitpick more...

I don't like how they depict Luke in The Mandolorian/Book of Boba Fett. It was 100% fine for the brief interaction originally, but now that we spent time with him... He's a shadow of Luke. He's flat. He's the fake!Jedi Master Luke we saw trying to intimidate Jabba The Hutt via hologram.

Real!Luke appeared only briefly to give a half-heartedly annoyed "Grogu" during meditation, then he disappeared. Maybe he flickered in a bit while talking about Yoda, but he never fully appeared again. Luke isn't that much older here from when we last saw him in the OT. He should be talking to The Child sorta the way he did with the droids and Yoda, since that's the closest he got to talking with kids. Fond, kind, bit impatient but trying to not be. Give me personality, gdi. Luke had personality!

He especially shouldn't be trying to act like an unaffected, wisened Master if he wants The Child to feel safe and encouraged. It's weird. And Hamill could only voice act what he was directed to. My brother thinks it's because the Deep Fake technology is still limited, so they couldn't give him the emotional range we're used to.

Dear Feloni: Just hire a lookalike actor for Luke and have him act. Hamill can still do the voice if you want, but this cgi is too limiting to spend time on. I don't care how nice it looks (besides the odd feathered-soft mouth and uncanny valley when the mesh won't fit on quarter-angles of the face), fans can live with a Luke looking a bit different as long as he still ACTS LIKE LUKE. A muppet should not have more facial expressions than him. There should be inflections in his voice to match these normal expressions instead of some "customer service" deadness. Give me Luke or just don't try.

[cantdanceflynn]

TO START WITH I'VE BEEN MADE AWARE I PROBABLY SHOULD'VE REPLACED THE SUICIDE W CANNIBALISM OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT BC ITS STILL ON TOPIC AND GETS THE POINT ACROSS IN A WAY THAT IS LESS LIKELY TO GET US HARASSED DGMDGMDNGGDTHSTSH SRY

OK I'M GONNA START W THE BIOLOGY BC CONSIDERING THE THIRTY SOMETHING GODS WITH THEIR OWN RELATIONSHIPS W EACH OTHER(WHICH, BTW, ALL THE GODS THAT ARE BASICALLY SHARING A BODY BASICALLY COUNT AS OCS W CONNECTIONS TO THEIR HUMAN COUNTERPARTS THAT EVENTUALLY KINDA BECOME LIKE THE HUMANS, OR FIGHT AGAINST IT SO BADLY TO KEEP THEIR IDENTITY THAT IT GETS MUCH WORSE) IT MIGHT. LITERALLY TAKE ME DAYS TO FINISH

SO THEY ALL HAVE INDIVIDUAL ABILITIES CONNECTED TO THEIR DOMAIN. I'LL BE USING CANDACE AS AN EXAMPLE WHEN NEEDED BECAUSE HER POWERS MAKE HER BODY MORE FLEXIBLE AND ARE MUCH SIMPLER, MOSTLY BEING FIRE AND LAVA BASED RATHER THEN SAY, VANESSAS RADIATION OR MONTYS SORTA SHAPESHIFTING, PLUS SHES A MAIN CHARACTER SO THERES BETTER CONTEXT.

THE MOST IMPORTANT CHANGE IS THEIR BLOOD. BLOOD IS ALMOST ALWAYS THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF GODS, AND THAT DOESN'T CHANGE HERE. THEY TECHNICALLY START(WHEN THEY ARE BORN) WITH SIMPLY THE BLOOD COURSING THROUGH THEIR VEINS AND THE POWER THAT COMES WITH THAT BEING EXPRESSED THROUGH THEIR POWERS(IE: CANDACE STARTING FIRES ON ACCIDENT WHEN SHES UPSET). AS THEY GET OLDER THOUGH, THAT POWER NEEDS MORE WAYS TO GET OUT AND BE RELEASED, AND IT MUTATES THE BODY AND FORCES ITSELF THROUGH ANY CRACKS TO DO SO. WHILE THEY START OUT HAVING MINIMAL GLOWING AND BODILY EFFECTS, MOSTLY IN THEIR EYES AND FROM THEIR PALMS, EVENTUALLY IT GOES THROUGH THEIR BODY, COMING OUT FROM WRINKLES, FRECKLES, STRETCH MARKS, ALL THOSE KINDA THINGS. IN ADDITION, IT MUTATES THEIR BODY TO MANAGE TO BASICALLY HAVE MORE OUTLETS FOR RELEASE, AND TO SIMPLIFY HOW THAT WORKS, BASICALLY NOW THEIR HAIR AND NAILS ARE FILLED WITH BLOOD. THINK HOW 3D ANIMATION HANDLES MOST HAIR, WHERE A GROUP OF STRANDS IS ONE TUBE OF THE MODEL FOR MOVING THE HAIR. IT ESSENTIALLY CREATES A GIANT SET OF NERVE ENDINGS I DON'T KNOW HOW TO EXPLAIN IT I WAS PLANNING TO MAKE VISUALS MONTHS AGO BUT I KEEP PROCRASTINATING BUT BASICALLY CUTTING NAILS OR HAIR IS A FUCKIN BLOODBATH TEGOTEGOBTSSTGOSTO. IT ALSO HAS OBVIOUS SKELETAL STRUCTURE CHANGES. WE'RE MAKING IT AMBIGUOUS IF THE DESIGNS ARE THEIR CARTOON LOOKS OR IF THEY'RE PYXES MORE REALISTIC DESIGNS, BUT REGARDLESS THEY DEFINITELY LOOK UNCANNY VALLEY IF YOU LOOK TOO HARD AT ANY OF THEM

AFTER LONG ENOUGH, AND BASED ON THEIR POWERS, THEIR BODIES CAN TECHNICALLY BE COMPLETELY CHANGED BY THEIR POWERS. THESE DEPEND ON THE POWERS, AS SOME STRESS OR TAKE OVER MORE THAN OTHERS, BUT ESSENTIALLY IF A CHARACTER OVERLOADS(SIMPLIFIED WAY OF SAYING BUILDS UP TOO MUCH ENERGY AND THE GOD VERSION OF THEM TAKES CONTROL USUALLY FOR A VERY SHORT PERIOD OF TIME) AND THEN OVERLOADS AGAIN WHICH SHOULD TECHNICALLY DESTROY THEM. BUT ITS NOT EXACTLY EASY TO DESTROY A GOD, SO THE BODY JUST REBUILDS ITSELF. USUALLY IT SNAPS BACK INTO PLACE, BUT IF THE POWER WOULD INSTEAD MELT OR SHIFT AWAY THE BODY OR ALREADY HAS TRANSFORMATIVE PROPERTIES, ITS NOT IMPOSSIBLE FOR THEIR BODIES TO BE CHANGED AS THEY REBUILD SLOWLY. THE TRICKY THING IS WHEN ITS LOCALIZED. ITS A LOT EASIER TO FORCE THIS STATE ONTO A SINGLE ARM THAN A WHOLE BODY, AND IF THEY'RE EMOTIONALLY UNSTABLE ENOUGH, THEY MIGHT NOT EVEN NEED OVERLOAD LEVEL AMOUNTS OF ENERGY. ONCE AGAIN THIS WOULD REALLY BENEFIT FROM VISUALS I'M SORRY FDBIBFDIFBDFSBFSBI

THIS ALL ALSO INCLUDES A HEALING FACTOR BETWEEN THE MAJORITY OF THE GODS, AT DIFFERENT AMOUNTS OF EFFECTIVENESS BASED ON EMOTIONAL STABILITY. DONT WORRY, DOOF STILL HAS HIS TWO PROSTHETIC ARMS. THIS IS THE THING THATS REALLY FUCKY BC IT BASICALLY SWAPS BETWEEN LIKE. REGROWING A TORN OUT TONGUE AND SNAPPING YOUR BONES BACK INTO PLACE AND THAT OBVIOUSLY CHANGES YOUR BODY QUITE A BIT BETWEEN DIFFERENT HEALINGS, AND WITH HOW THE GOD VERSIONS OF THEM TEND TO USE ANY OPPORTUNITY TO RECLAIM SOME PART OF THEIR BODIES, THIS CAUSES A LOT OF DIFFERENT MUTATIONS BASED ON THE GOD ITSELF. THINGS LIKE JEREMY BASICALLY HAVING HIS BABY TEETH FOR THAT LONG(HEHE SHARK TEETH), CARLS LACK OF SMELL BEING INCONSISTENT, EVEN LITTLE THINGS LIKE HEIGHT INCONSISTENCY ALL WORK WITH THIS

Hi!!!! Please explain the phineas and ferb diety au i want to know everything about it!!!

OKOKOKOKOKOKOK!!!!!!! SO ITS AN AU ME AND @pyxehastoomanyinterests HAVE MADE, WITH KINDA THE BASIC IDEA OF "WHAT IF ALL THE MAIN AND MOST OF THE SIDE CHARACTERS, ALONG W A BUNCH OF INCIDENTAL CHARACTERS SUCH AS COLTRANE AND DJANGO WERE GODS WHO'D BASICALLY GOTTEN STUCK INSIDE A HUMAN BODY" AND NOW THE HUMAN PART OF THAT ARRANGEMENT IS NOT HAVING FUN DEALING WITH IT.

THE THING IS LIKE. I ACCIDENTALLY GOT SUPER ATTACHED TO A BACKGROUND CHARACTER DESIGN SO SHES THE MAIN ANTAGONIST AND SHE IS. THE BITCH EVER LIKE. THERES A GOOD BIT OF IMPLIED AND LIKE CANDACE DIES ON SCREEN ONCE LIKE PNF HAS A BUNCHA DEATH EVEN IF THE AU DIDN'T INCLUDE MML AND H&G BUT SHE RAISES THAT NUMBER BY LIKE. A FEW HUNDRED IF NOT A THOUSAND THE ONLY PERSON WHO MIGHT BE WORSE(WHO ISN'T RELYING ON THE MARVEL OR STAR WARS CROSSOVERS TO EXIST) IS 2ND DIMENSION DOOF SKJSSJSKSSKKSKSHFFHHSJSKFKDDKSKJS

ALSO ITS LIKE. WAY DARKER. AND NOT IN THAT 2EDGY4ME WAY IN A "I FINALLY GOT INTO HORROR RIGHT WHEN I WAS COMING UP W HOW THE GOD BODIES WORK AND NOW THERE IS SO MUCH BODY HORROR STUFF" LIKE I PROMISE ITS ALL FOR THE THEMES AND MAKES SENSE AND ISNT JUST TO BE EDGY BUT ALSO. PNF AND HORROR AND SUICIDE AND STUFF LIKE THAT LITERALLY GO TOGETHER LIKE PEANUT BUTTER AND JELLY I CAN'T EXPLAIN IT

ALSO THE REASON I HAVEN'T. ACTUALLY EXPLAINED THE PLOT IS BC THE WHOLE THING. IS BATSHIT CRAZY AND THERE ARE ASPECTS OF IT THAT I DON'T THINK. I COULD EXPLAIN/ THERES LIKE THREE THINGS WE DONT WANT TO SPOIL. MOSTLY BC LIKE. THE MOST MINOR THINGS BECOME PLOT POINTS. CANDACE GETS TURNED INTO A VAMPIRE IN ONE EPISODE? THE ROBOT VERSIONS OF SOME OF THE CHARACTERS GET EXPLODED AND LEFT FOR DEAD? THE ESCAPE TOWER THAT GOT PUT INTO SPACE? THE IMPLICATIONS THAT STACY AND VIVIAN ARE DEAD AF IN THE 2ND DIMENSION? CANDACES WEDDING PLANNER, THE SORBET MACHINE THAT CAN TURN PEOPLE INTO FLIES, THE UPAFHDS? ALL HUGE PLOT IMPORTANT THINGS. NOT TO MENTION THE NUMBER OF OBSCURE CHARACTERS THAT GET FULL ON ARCS/ARE ESSENTIAL TO THE PLOT. DO YOU KNOW PROFESSOR MYSTERY? NO. NO ONE KNOWS PROFESSOR MYSTERY UNLESS THEY'RE VERY OWCA FOCUSED OR THEY'RE AS INSANE AS ME. HES AN ESSENTIAL CHARACTER WHO I AM SO INSANE OVER <3

WE'RE VERY EARLY IN BUT https://archiveofourown.org/works/37760605/chapters/94277068 HERES THE FIC U SHOULD TOTALLY READ IT :]

IF YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE SPECIFIC THINGS, IE ABOUT CERTAIN CHARACTERS OR PLOT ELEMENTS OR THE RELIGION OR THE GODS BIOLOGY PLS ASK AWAY BC OH BOY YOU HAVE NEVER SEEN THE EXTENT A MYTHOLOGY SPECIAL INTEREST CAN DO