#love all their designs. I have some notes but while they're not perfect they're pretty close

[beastwhimsy]

wild manes is good fun!!! it feels like mlp g5 tell your tale but done right. the style is genuinely super cute. it's a bit cheesy and for a younger audience but very fun to watch. cocoa is probably my favourite so far but I'm also very fond of candi!!!

USE WITH PERMISSION!!! ASK ME FIRST PLEASE!

[bonefall]

Do you have any plans for Frost’s littermates in ASC?

It's odd that Canon!Curlfeather is portrayed on the screen as a scheming character who was fully willing to manipulate her daughter into a position of power, and smart enough to know that she needed lackeys to carry out her dirtywork... and yet, seemingly had no plans for her other two kids.

On one hand, I can understand her wanting to "use" her family as little as possible. You could say she's willing to make a sacrifice with Frostkit's comfort, but wants to spare her other children from it.

On the other hand... I just don't feel like that works. I want to portray BB!Curlfeather as someone who truly believes every choice she made was good for her children. She might reconsider some of her beliefs based on her closeness to Morningstar while in the Dark Forest, but in life, she is absolutely the sort of person who would have a use in mind for her kittens.

I'm not super proud of these quick designs I made for Mistpaw and Graypaw, but here's a first draft;

You probably notice that they're all dog-like, and that's because they are direct descendants of Bluestar in BB! WOLF MOTIF BABEY

In fact, this is going to be a massive contributor towards their characterizations. I may be shuffling my tree in some other ways to make for better faction drama in RiverClan, but BB!Curlfeather priding her lineage, especially as it connects to Crookedstar and Stonefur, is very important to how it shapes her identity.

DESIGN AND DRABBLE BENEATH THE CUT;

On the wolf motif as a whole;

To begin with; note the apple-leaf eye markings! They are subject to the Mapleshade Curse.

Something I like to play with a lot is misconceptions about wolf behavior. For Bluestar herself, where this all began, I use the myth of the "lone wolf" as symbolism that she never truly acted alone.

At every turn, she had friends and family. Her sacrifices, her ruling style, everything she's ever done, is based on her love for both ThunderClan as well as the cats in other Clans.

The symbol of her friend group, the Forget-Me-Not, comes to symbolize Fire Alone as an ideology.

So... the Curlkin.

What I'm playing with is the idea that wolves are perfect, ferociously strong predators from birth.

Curlfeather wants to eventually give her children strong, respectable positions in the Clan. For Frostpaw, that's the Cleric position.

For the other kids, she was still assessing them as they were growing. Deputyship would have been for one of them, but she hadn't planned so far ahead that it would have been unreasonable.

"When you see a fish upstream, you don't race ahead to catch it downriver."

So, she wanted Mist and Gray to be strong and always encouraged them to achieve greatness. They were battle training as soon as they could, and never missed a day.

But it wasn't really their interest, and they weren't really "naturally gifted" or anything. They just do what their mom tells them is good to do for their future.

As a result I want all of them to look a little goofy in some way, except Curlfeather herself.

Frostpaw herself is the softest of the lot, but I want to make sure Gray and Mist are pretty obviously sweeter than they seem too.

Unfortunately though, I don't think I captured what I was going for. I'm definitely gonna give the Frost Siblings a second pass, while Frostpaw will just get refined a little.

Graypaw

He's naturally huge. Even as a newborn, people would comment about him being a big fat kitten.

As a result, he was probably the most "promising," early on.

Understand though; this wasn't necessarily nefarious. Having accomplished warriors as offspring is a sign of a great warrior, it makes a strong family.

It didn't mean she only saw her largest child as an opportunity. He just had great potential, which she would nourish.

He's a little bit entitled as a result. He's big, he works hard, his family's a big deal, he knows it.

And that's sort of his "issue," if you want to call it that. He's not really interested in honor for honor's sake, or improving himself for the sake of the Clan, the way his mother would expect a great warrior like herself to be.

He likes the tangible rewards of strength and is motivated by approval.

...which causes him to be a bully to those he considers weaker.

That ear got shredded in a fight somehow, I haven't decided yet if there's going to be another set of apprentices around the time, if it was Splashtail or his sister, or if it was a cat from another Clan who got tired of his shit lmaoo

(In any case it was NOT his mother.)

Since him and his sister have "obedient to their mother" as major personality traits, I decided to give them both domestic dog characteristics. Graypaw has a german shepherd "stance."

I really like when people give Gray some cream in his design, so I made him look kinda like how I imagine Stonefur.

I don't really like it, though, especially since he's usually described as "silver tabby."

In my next draft, I'll probably make him look more like "Swansong if he had the wolf motif."

And also fatter. They are not fat enough. These are RiverClan warriors and they are all too damn skinny.

Frostpaw

Since this arc began, I've imagined that Frosty has a sort of "little red riding hood" vibe. It's been mixing in my head with the wolf motif, the phrase "wool over the eyes," and the idea of a wolf in sheep's clothing to result in a sort of wooly cloak idea.

Something about a wolf cub who doesn't know who to trust-- the Big Bad Wolf, or the Lumberjack with a blood-soaked axe.

Lost, confused, their whole world turned upside down.

(hmmm.... maybe I'll do a thing where, before their mom's death, the wool covers her eyes. When she sees her die, the look of shock and horror is etched into her face forever.)

In BB, the Clan cats are monitored by scientists. They wouldn't be spaying or neutering the subjects of their investigation-- so I made her iconic "scars" MUCH bigger.

In fact, they're autopsy stitches. I'm going for a sort of "BROUGHT BACK FROM THE DEAD" vibe there.

Real "there is no way you would have survived those injuries without modern medicine" hours

I'm satisfied with this design, so I probably won't be changing it much besides tweaks. Though, I might make it so her "belly" wasn't exposed before the scientists shaved it to stitch her back up.

NOTE: If you wanna see more Frostpaw Plans, go check out this post where I jotted down a ton of ideas, it's also got further links to explore on BB!ASC thoughts I've been sitting on

Mistpaw

This is the one I like the least. She looks waaaaay too much like an Ivypool.

In my next pass I need to make her look cuter and goofier, give her some curls.

Like Graypaw, she only has one particularly unique scene in ASC so I'm building her personality around that.

Graypaw was a bit of a bully, so Mistpaw's got her mom's silver tongue and sharp wit. She can give a Mistystar speech if she wants.

She's a natural thinker, very curious, willing to question. It's something Curlfeather encourages in her, always coming in with the right answer to keep her satisfied.

"Mom, why do we train so much harder than everyone else?"

"To outdo them, of course."

"But... why train so hard when there's no threat? The impostor is gone, we're at peace."

"Oh, my love. You cannot pack a week's worth of training into the minute before a battle. They come hard and fast, and your attacker will have the advantage of surprise. Only practice will compensate."

Though Gray was a really big kitten and naturally imposing, Mist would be the one Curlfeather would ultimately decide was most fitting as a deputy.

If they'd gotten to that point, the siblings probably would have gotten in more fights as Gray started desiring the position for its benefits.

He'd see his mom was clearly giving Mist more opportunities to prove herself, and demand equal chances.

Mist would start thinking of Gray as a stupid bully who thinks he deserves everything because his shoulders are big.

BOTH of them would probably start trying to get Frost to support them over the other.

It would have been a MESS.

BUT, they never did get to that point. Curl was pretty equally focused on them at the point where she died.

When Graypaw got his ear shredded, Mistpaw thought it looked disgusting and horrific and "decided" to crop her own entirely. For reasons I covered in this Hearing Loss guide, RiverClan relies very little on hearing while hunting anyway.

I wanted Mistpaw to look extremely practical, and reference the cropped ears of a domestic dog. Give her a sort of "doberman" vibe.

Something struck me that Curlfeather could have talked her daughter into getting her ears cropped, both to show visually that she's politically grooming her just as much as she's politically grooming Frostpaw.

But... I'm unsure if I'll stick with it. I might have both Gray AND Mist get their ears cropped, or neither.

I also batted around the idea of a cropped tail, too, but THAT would definitely be too far since a tail is very important in swimming.

In fact, I made her tail waaaay too short and her build too thin, in the pursuit of that "doberman" idea.

Again; not a fan of this design. I will probably re-use it later or just give it away. Maybe I'll wait until I have a couple of "Rejected BB Designs" and do an adoptable batch lmao.

[huellitaa]

it girl autumn 🎃🎀🍁

autumn is upon us!!!!!!!!!! all hail the best season 💭🎀🍂🧸🩷

──★ ˙ ̟🎀ur autumn to do list

🧁𓂃 ࣪˖ ur never too old for trick or treating (if u celebrate!). girl get OUT THERE. (🎀🗒️note: if u have any little siblings or cousins or family, then you can take them out trick or treating and celebrate w them js as an excuse to get outside!!)

🧸𓂃 ࣪˖ make pinterest boards for ur fav autumn movies and shows bcuz they cant do it themselves </3

🍂𓂃 ࣪˖ go collect leaves outside and make a pretty piece of art out of them

🎀𓂃 ࣪˖ walk around early in the morning when its all foggy and pretty

🐇𓂃 ࣪˖ learn how to bake or cook (in my case anyway) OR look for some cosy autumn recipes to learn and share w ur loved ones or just to have a cosy night in and eat for urself♡

🧁𓂃 ࣪˖ go thru ur closet and wardrobe and throw out all the old things you don't wear anymore. autumn is a time of change, after all (🎀🗒️note: make some cute autumn outfits while ur at it! ♡)

🎃𓂃 ࣪˖ drink every possible pumpkin spice drink u can find in ur area

🍂𓂃 ࣪˖ get out of ur reading slump! if ur in one anyway. if not then just read more books bcuz tea, rain and books is quite possibly the cosiest thing ever

🎀𓂃 ࣪˖ visit a library alone, go shopping alone, just enjoy ur alone time. autumn is a time of introspection and a time to work on urself, and though i love spending time with myself in any season, autumn is especially cosy ♡

🧸𓂃 ࣪˖ look at cute pumpkin designs and make one urself if u celebrate halloween ♡

🎃𓂃 ࣪˖ make some little halloween decorations if u celebrate ♡

💭𓂃 ࣪˖ build a little bug hotel out of twigs and leaves and things u find on the ground outside!!!!!! i used to do this all the time w my brother or my friends when i was little and its very nostalgic and fun ♡

🧁𓂃 ࣪˖ take loads of pictures and make little vlogs and video diaries of ur autumn adventures, just for the memories ♡

──★ ˙ ̟🎀 music and media

🧁𓂃 ࣪˖ ur autumn playlist

clairo (charm, sling)

the 1975

florence & the machine (lungs)

the cardigans

the crane wives

neil young (harvest)

the smiths

phoebe bridgers

type o negative

kali uchis (never be yours)

gracie abrams

🍂𓂃 ࣪˖ movies and shows

the nightmare before christmas (obviously)

gilmore girls ♡

coraline, corpse bride, pretty much any tom burton movie

anne with an e

fantastic mr fox

hilda

gravity falls ♡

you've got mail

over the garden wall

pride and prejudice

jennifers body ♡

practical magic

little women

kiki's delivery service

arrietty ♡

howl's moving castle

lord of the rings ♡

and i always have a harry potter marathon every autumn because i loved it when i was younger, so why not!

(🎀🗒️note: i love playing identity v, animal crossing and cosy grove in the autumn too! or meeting up w friends and literally js playing board games theyre so fun♡)

──★ ˙ ̟🎀fall fashion and staples

okay so i personally love pink, whites, browns, cream colours and just general neutrals-pastels in the autumn, but you can adjust this to ur personal aesthetic and however you see fit!

the first thing i think of when i think autumn is layering. layer layer layer layer. tops and sweaters, cardigans, jumpers, leg warmers, tights; to keep you warm and pretty ♡

pay attention 2 fabrics! knitted, cashmere, fleece, flannel, all the cosy sorts are perfect for the autumn months ♡

patterns like stripes, leopard print, chevron, argle and plaid are so cute and simple, esp in october / november ♡

neutral colours, like beige, white, brown, cream, grey, black, and pale variants of colours too i think work so well esp in the autumn ♡

anything fur lined is absolutely adorable i rest my case

MASSIVE COATS. i have this big trenchcoat my mum had since i was a baby and i wear it EVERYWHERE in autumn ♡

boots are THE autumn shoes, bonus points if they're fur-lined. they just look so so cute ajdhfjsfjhsjf♡

knit hats and small hair accessories, bonus points if they're in the pretty autumn colours ♡

not really fashion but i love doing simple makeup in the autumn. just very dewy natural looks are pretty all year around, but especially in the fall ♡

🍂𓂃 ࣪˖ pretty fall fashion:

all my love... 💬🎀🫶🏻💗

[a-titty-ninja]

Hi. After following you for so long, I decided to give Senran Kagura a shot. The Video Game, I mean. So, I started with Burst Re:Newal

So I have to ask. How is this story so good? I get it's just Magical Ninja Girls, but how is this story so good?

Katsuragi, the lesbian pervert, has so much depth. She's an orphan who lost her parents. But not to a car accident like she thought. Her parents ran away because they were Ninja who failed a mission and had to commit sepaku. Now she seeks strength to become a leader of the light shinobi, all so she can pardon them herself.

Yomi, the destitute revolutionary, lost her parents in elementary school. They lived in the slums of Japan, unable to feed their daughter. So they sold themselves to slavery, so they could give her a better life. Instead of living lavishly, she takes her money and feeds the slums, working as a villain in the dark shinobi to do so.

I could go on and on with each character, but they're all awesome. (Except for Mirai. Wanting to slaughter your family and friends because you're a late bloomer is kinda stupid.)

And the overall morality comparison between the light shinobi vs. dark shinobi.

Light shinobi, secret warriors who work for the government of Japan and its public, accept only perfection. The only light shinobi are Elite shinobi, warriors that can take on hundreds of regular enemies. They have rigorous training, difficult testing, and high moral standards.

But this is also their downfall. For most people aren't perfect. For minor infractions, one can be excluded and banished from the ranks of the light. Which kinda makes them bad guys.

Dark shinobi, warriors who work for corporations and private entities, accept all who wish to join. For that's their saying.

"Where the light shines on the few, the darkness accepts all."

Which makes a scary amount of sense. All of these shinobi who didn't make the cut for the light, the dark accepts them wholeheartedly, flaws and all. And somehow, this makes them good guys too.

Which brings me to my ask. How does this game about Sexy Ninja Women come up with a comprehensive moral controversy that rivals mainstream media. And makes corruption arcs make sense.

Note: the scene with Hikari, the girl who lacks emotional responses, crying over the (fake) death of Mirai. It's just. Oh my. I was crying too. Like, she loves her friend enough that she just cries involuntary.

What is this game?

im glad you gave senran kagura a shot, its an incredible series that is often overlooked as just some generic ecchi! it was great reading your thoughts and it makes me want to go replay the games as its been a while although i resent you comment about mirai!. senran kagura is a whole package - the lore, the characters and their designs and animations, the style and the music is marvelous pun intended. i love the opening songs for all the games they live in my head and the anime has one of my favorite op/eds in general

i hope you play all the other games too, even the cooking rhythm game (bon appetit) is brilliant! its pretty cool that you can play the more recent games on PC these days and even peach beach splash supports VR! playing the original burst on 3ds with the slider turned to max though is an experience lol - the shinobi arts 🥵. i recommend the anime series too if you didn't check it out yet - the second season is top tier!!!

as for why the fuck this series bangs so hard its because of this genius who loves boobs and action games. this guy didnt want to just make a generic pervy game he fucked around and created a master piece. read his interviews too he is cool as shit. shinobi are cool as shit and senran kagura is just cool as shit.

[inbetweenhours]

More of my parent/family musings about the empire characters! Got inspired and finished off my ideas for the season 1 cast!

vvv Links to other musings below vvv [Shrub here | Scott, Sausage, & Seablings here | Joel, Joey, & Katherine here]

Anyways, my art style slipped out of the cartoonish way it had been doing the others in this series so these are more normal sketches than the others.

under the cut I'll drop some quick ideas I have about the parents, like I have on previous posts for those interested :] Enjoy!

First up are LeeryDoe and KeenBronze! I'm sure the Grimland's naming scheme is making a bit of sense seeing the family all next to one another. Both the twins parents are Grimland's engineers, while LeeryDoe specializes more in concept and planning vs KeenBronze expertise in metalworking they make a pretty good team! They're a pretty normal family with their ups and downs. Not perfect by any means but there is care even when they don't necessarily fit together well. I could take about them ages but we see glimpses of them in my fic War on our Shores so I won't blab here lol.

Quick Note on Fwhips name, "Fwhip" is a nickname for FailWhip which google tells me is his old username. I have translated this to mean that the idea of "failing" isn't a bad thing in the Grimland and it has more associations with the idea of learning and perseverance or progress which is why its not a miserable baby name lol.

Pearl and her parents! I had some trouble with them since my Pinterest board for Helianthians is a bit difficult for me. But I managed! Her mum is guardian of Helianthia before Pearl inherits the title. She may be called the farmer queen by other nations, but Guardian is her official title. I don't have too many thoughts about them, they're farmers, they do politics when they need to, they're pretty chill mostly. Baby Pearl was difficult to design tho.

Pix was by far the most difficult child to design just because a big thing about identifying Pix's character in art for me is his age and especially his beard and taking that tire and age away really makes him hard to identify. I managed though lol.

Pix's parent I don't have many thoughts for outside of the idea of them being very haunted. Very tired haunted eyes, between being queen and being the keeper of the vigil I think they're a rather mourning duo and Pix's childhood was kinda emotionally weird because of that.

anyway that's all i got, so long till i figure out my season 2 cast maybe! :] feel free to ask questions about this i love my fanon lore a lot lol

[adobe-outdesign]

If you are still talking about neopets designs, plz review lutari? I always wanted one of them

Lutari are probably most well-known for being one of the limited pets on the site, only being able to be made on their pet day and previously connected to the long-defunct Neopets Mobile game from back in the flip phone days. It's to the extreme where you can't even put one up for adoption, with them just running away instead of going to the pound. (Side note: TNT should re-release Lutari Island as a main site feature and make it so you can always create a Lutari while visiting. But I digress.)

Lutari are mostly just otters, but their very distinct, mottled markings, huge claws, and fluffy, curly tails are pretty distinct and make them feel unique, even though they're otherwise pretty straightforward. I like the amount of detail present; they have just the right balance of color, with white underbellies, black claws and noses, and two shades of the main color for their bodies, all of which is carefully balanced as to not be too busy. Overall, they're pretty dang nice... though they do have one drawback.

Considering that Lutari were released only shortly before conversion happened, you would think that they wouldn't have changed much other than losing their swimming pose (which is a shame, but a necessary change for customization). But in actuality, they actually changed quite a bit in various subtle ways, ending up with completely different proportions, markings, facial structure, and more. Here's a really great redraw that's more accurate to the original design, which really highlights the differences between the two:

The eyes are a completely different shape and the pupils are smaller, the mouth is smaller, the ears a completely different shape, the feet are weirdly elongated, the tail is less swirly... and they're such weird changes, because none of them actually have to do with customization.

Another good example of the changes made is Mr. Chipper, who was, weirdly enough, released prior to the Lutari species as a whole. He stands bipedally, and thus shows what a converted Lutari should've looked like. Also of note is the markings, which for some reason became weirdly angular on converted Lutari and less organic than they were originally.

And don't get me wrong, converted Lutaris are still fine, and are by no means ruined or anything like that. It's just a shame that they're less cute than they used to be, and that seemingly little care was put in to convert them properly.

Favorite Colours:

Maraquan: I went over this already in my Maraquan colour review so I won't go into too much detail here, but this design (based off a user submission) is beautiful. I love the use of an axoltle as a base, the pink and cream colors are lovely, and the gill ears are just perfect.

Pirate: While this design is pretty good as a whole, with a nice grey base with a few bright red accents and a properly cutthroat expression, it's the way they managed to seamlessly and subtly work a skull into the tail markings that really earns it a spot on this list. 10/10 no notes.

Faerie: While a little on the busy side, the faerie Lutari is quite pretty. The light green, blue and pink color palette works perfectly, and the beautiful swirled body markings work off of the Lutari's default markings perfectly. The wings also compliment it will, matching both the body colors and the intricate designs.

As an added benefit, you can also get a very pretty, less busy design out of this by using wings-be-gone, which arguably looks even better than the full color. I appreciate that kind of versatility.

BONUS: Camouflage isn't anything crazy, and it's not even all that camouflage-ish, but honestly I just really like this design. The use of a neutral palette and gradients creates a lovely and distinct color that's quite appealing for those who want a more realistic otter look or those, like me, who just like subtle and simple designs.

[pillowbugs]

a teenage (14-15ish) elesa to go with her fellow baby nimbasa city celebrities here!

(proof of process, notes and hcs under cut)

some notes:

why. why did her ace have to be a zebra of all things. no hate to the animal but fucking hell am i dreading the possibility of having to draw blitzle again, or worse, zebstrika. horse proportions + stripe patterns = a real tough cookie to draw. if i never draw elesa with her pokémon again this is probably why.

(actually while typing the above, i just realised her ace is black and white. really ties her association with unova / submas together which is pretty neat.)

on a more positive note, i had a lot of fun with the design! was going more based on her bw1 appearance (given it's closer on the timeline) but with the preppy popular kid look thrown into the mix.

her original hair colour is black (as in bw2) but here it's dyed blonde with blue streaks.

headcanons time: i was thinking elesa would've come from a rich family, with both her parents being successful businessmen who wanted the perfect daughter to show off. her image is definitely controlled by her parents to some extent - her clothes are fancy and expensive, but fairly normal. even her hair was first dyed blonde to match her father and give her parents the perfect blonde hair blue eyes daughter. fortunately, they aren't at home much, so elesa has some opportunities to make small changes such as the blue streaks and her jacket (more on that later).

despite her parents' expectations, elesa is in fact much more interested in fashion, design and battling. she's an intern gym trainer at the current nimbasa gym (was thinking the gym leader would be a musical actor but nothing concrete) to not only prove that she can strike out on her own without her parents, but also to hopefully secure her future once she turns 18 and can move out and cut contact with her parents. the gym leader has taken a shine to her, encourages her to follow her dreams and is already planning on making her their successor.

by the time of bw1, when elesa talks to bianca and her father to encourage them to let bianca go on her own journey, it's a reflection of her own growth as well - she followed her dream despite her parents and found her own happiness and success, and she wants to inspire other people to do the same.

between the twins, elesa is a lot closer to emmet at this point - in fact, she isn't really close to ingo at all. that comes later after she's known emmet for a longer time. her friendship with emmet surprises a lot of people bc it's literally the popular cool kid befriending the weird kid no one else really cares about (besides his brother).

on the other hand, this is exactly why they're friends - emmet is not only grateful to have any friends at all, but elesa is also someone frequently misunderstood because of her appearance, lonely and the right amount of silly (reminds him a bit of someone...). also she loves electric types which is verrry cool. elesa finds emmet's bluntness and genuineness extremely refreshing compared to how much everyone else works to pretend and fit in. he's also the first person to see her for who she actually is and not her parents or her reputation.

the jacket is a bargain buy she saw in a shop once when she and emmet were out on the streets, and she mentioned her parents wouldn't let her get such clothes as much as she loves the jacket. emmet bought it for her for her birthday.

her closeness to emmet but not ingo is reflected in her design - blue and white feature much more than black and red.

her blitzle's name is chromatic, or chrom for short. she doesn't know about fe awakening for the record.

as a trainer, while she definitely trains mostly electrics, she does have a few off-types for coverage outside work - a lilligant, cinccino, cryogonal and later togekiss.

proof of process

[hellaverse-critical-confessions]

*cracks knuckles* Get ready for a long ask As an animator/artist myself, I have a lot to say about the character designs. I'm sure you've heard this before, but these characters are not animation friendly. More detail just makes it harder to animate. (While Bee is a notorious example, nearly all of the characters suffer from this) When designing a character for animation, you need to pick and choose the key parts of their design, because you're going to be drawing the same thing over and over. Another thing: The characters have so much freaking red to them. I won't dwell on this for long, but they don't stand out from the background because there's so much freaking red (Another thing that bugs me is that the characters don't look like what the artist wanted them to be like) Ex: Charlie doesn't look like a doll Vaggie barely has a moth resemblance Angel Dust doesn't look like a spider Alastor doesn't look like a deer Niffty doesn't look like a bug or B-movie styled aliens Ozzie doesn't look like a rooster Beelzebub doesn't look like an animal trainer (you would think with all the suits and shit she likes to use, an animal trainer's outfit would be perfect for this)

Another thing: Her characters reuse the same design tropes. Bow ties, suits, fingerless gloves, gold tooth, stick thin figure, top hat, etc I'd excuse it if this was a beginner artist (heck, I used to do this, but eventually learned and grew out of it) but this is a woman in her 30's who graduated art school. TL;DR The designs are bad and hard as heck to animate

Couldn't have said it better myself

I feel like, when Viv sits down to design a new character, her personal preferences come first and everything they're actually supposed to represent second. Sort of tacked onto the final product like "yeah sure that'll do it"

As for the details, if I may add on: not long ago I've studied screencaps of a character from Helluva for redesign purposes. The amount of inconsistencies I came across was surprising! I'm pretty sure he didn't even have an official ref sheet (nor has one been posted to date), but I've heard that even for more prevalent characters the animators only have the most basic turnarounds? Also stuff like Millie's hair and spots tend to be inconsistent. With so much gratuitous/weird detail and apparently lack of proper reference, consistency suffers

Everyone is also very spiky and full of triangles; I'd love a more soft or even square character. Also some different body types... I mean, remember Mimzy from Hazbin? I don't know if Viv does. I wonder if she's still gonna appear at some point. But anyway

On a more positive note, there's a lot of background character designs that I find really cool & enjoyable! Maybe I'll make an appreciation post for them sometime

[bastardwerewolf]

I love ur TMNT 2012 and Steven Universe AU!

And all the art and concepts u have done so far!

I wanted to do a art request for it, since u said that would be okay, and I want maybe some

Leo and Raph Homeworld stuff, but with the idea that Leo as a Saphire and Raph is a Ruby, because God, those gems are pretty perfect for them (though, I could maybe see Leo as a pearl too, but honestly, Leo as a Sapphire is just too perfect. Oh! Him as a Lapis too, would be really cool too actually now that I think about it); even though them all as ammanites (or however u spell that gem name) is a cool idea too.

Anyway, back on the Request idea. Maybe Raph can be showing Leo there is more to life than just a being Homeworld's precious puppet, and then maybe they could end up fusing (because I also want to see more fusions. Esp. Leo and Raph and April? ones, but honestly; I just love fusions in general) like Ruby and Saphire do in the show, but it is a fusion more out of friendship and/or brotherly care for each other?

Or something like that. If that is too specific, the basic gist is that I would love some Leo and Raph stuff with them being a Sapphire and Ruby stuff and/or a Leo and Raph fusion.

Eeeee thank you so much!!! Your art request was very much appreciated :D

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(I've been doing a lot of concept stationary art, so decided to treat myself to a proper illustration. Hehehehe.)

Au notes time :

Here's Garnet:

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Plus! I think I'm gonna go ahead and finalize what the boys gems are. In my first post I said I couldn't decide between them all being ammonites or separate gems, so they're just gonna be both. Leo for example, is both ammonite and sapphire.

Exactly how that works... I'll decide later. But yeah...I couldn't decide between the two so I went to even ground. They can just be both.

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Another April fusion!

I love April and Leo's friendship so this was a treat to design. I imagine Labradorites voice being very soft and I think that settled the design for me.

(-Leo on his own has very weak/unreliable future vision, due to him not being fully sapphire. So Labradite is the one to go to for future advice. )

.

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Homeworld X notes:

Gonna be honest. Uhh I actually had no idea what I wanted homeworld to be like for my au, I had to sit and think for a good long while after reading your request and I think I got a general idea down now.... hopefully...

-I'm gonna polish up some story stuff then I'll do some homeworld X sketches. Promise!

[stabknives]

The V/B half of this ask!

I hear all of you asking me: what is V/B. Who is V/B. Can you please shut up about V/B it's very annoying how you keep talking about them like we should know what those letters even mean.

Well, I'm here to tell you, they're my little guys. And one of them is a girl that's not a girl. And the other one is an evil indie film director. Yayyyyyy.

TW for stalking, threats, noncon, violence, psychological torture, and more!

1. Starting simple, how did they first meet?

Hooboy! What a doozy. Need to give some context first. It's important to know they have several 'first meetings', thanks to the way V steals faces...

Anyway. B has always had an intense and wide eyed love for Hollywood. He's been a cinephile for as long as he's been alive, and would watch old vcr tapes until they broke in his family's garage on a beat up old box tv.

Movies were kind of his escape from a rough home life. He was the youngest of nine kids in an evangelical household, and his parents were… not very nice people! So he dreamed of one day escaping the farm and leaving for the big city.

So he leaves the very day he turns 18, hoping to make it big someday. Part of him desperately wants to be an actor, but he doesn't think he's cut out for all that attention. Instead, he'll settle for being a costume designer. He's great at sewing, and as long as he's involved in film, he knows he'll be happy.

He knows it.

B passes V on the street one night after coming out of another interview for an internship he definitely won't get, downtrodden and teary eyed after just. Utterly embarrassing himself throughout the whole interview. No, he doesn't have any references or credentials. But he's willing to work, and he's good with clothing and makeup, honest! Please don't send him away again- you'll call him back? You really swear you'll call him back…?

He leaves. And he knows they're not gonna call him back.

It's pretty important to me that B wasn't doing anything special or wrong to have what happens to him next happen. Sometimes violence just finds you. And follows you. Regardless if you deserve it or not.

B collapses under a streetlight crying really hard. He's embarrassed but there's nobody around, and he's been in the city for months now and he's still working at a dirty video rental store, no closer to his goal of working in showbusiness. He doesn't have any friends in the city, he's lonely, and he kind of wants to give up.

He's mid sobbing session when someone taps him on the shoulder. It's some guy with a handkerchief smiling down at him. Very friendly. And handsome. The guy sits with him for a while. Tells him not to give up on his dreams once B volunteers his whole life store like a. Naive Simpleton. To this perfect stranger.

This guy is really funny. Charming. He's a good listener, and he's got kind of an offbeat sense of humor that shocks a few giggles from B. B really hopes they can be friends, but the guy leaves before he can give B a name. (But he said they'd see each other again 😬 and they will.)

This guy is V. And he takes a shine to this. Crying farm boy he saw on a street corner. V loves the way B looks crying! Very photogenic. A face made for filming. But V has all the time in the world, and he likes to savor his meals. The thrill of the hunt and all! Yuck. So for nearly three years, V plays. Tag. With B. Idk what else to call it.

He leaves things at B's door. Gore in brown bags with a smiley face drawn on the stinking wet paper. Deranged letters shoved in his mailbox talking about how B is going to end up raped and choked and dead in a ditch near his house, so his siblings find him covered in blood and bodily fluid. A bouquet of flowers from a secret admirer, and if B reaches in to pull out the note B gets cut up by a bundle of razorblades hidden in-between the dethorned rose stems (how ironic! I'm sure V was laughing it up at that one. 🙄 You're so clever.)

And all the while, V and B are having other first meetings. Each time, with V wearing a different face. The face of a friend. A shoulder to cry on. The face of a stranger. Someone following him home, too close for comfort, enough to have B hyperventilating by the time he stumbles into his rundown apartment and slams the door shut, looking through the peephole to see someone's eye staring right back at him.

B is coming unglued. But he's still pretty when he cries, and they're about to have their last 'first' meeting.

He goes to the bar with a friend, someone he's known a long time. They're visiting the big city from out of town, and they wanna treat B to a few drinks. B is excited. It's been ages since he hung out with J, and he kind of has a major crush on the guy. J is a laid back guy, super relaxed, and he's exactly as B remembers him.

B's phone dings again. He's gotten these mysterious texts for years now, and if he ignores them, bad shit always happens. (Someone breaks into his apartment and soaks his sheets in fluids. Audience gets to pick the fluid. You're welcome. Things go missing, or. Sometimes a single stuffed animal is left on his pillow. Just to mix things up.)

So he goes into the bathroom, and asks for the hundredth, thousandth time, Why Are You Doing This To Me, and gets no response back. Which is odd. Usually they respond. They must be busy… but thn why send a text in the first place? Hmm.

B goes back to his table. J hands him back his drink, and B slams it back, before confiding in his friend about what's been going on. J comforts him, but B is suddenly slumping over. Drank too much, maybe.

B wakes up in a house he doesn't recognize, but J is there to reassure him. This is one of J's places. Having a wealthy family comes with perks. You're safe, B. And B is so glad to have such a good friend. Someone who takes care of him.

He can't help himself. He confesses, and J is flattered. Returns the feelings. They make love. How cute. Perfect end to a perfect scene.

V really enjoyed playing this part for him.

V drops the charade halfway through. B panics, because who wouldn't? Your new boyfriend just morphed into a stranger. You're getting assaulted by a monster. A doppelganger, a face stealer.

You thrash. You scream. You cry those tears V likes so much. Smile! You're on camera, btw. V finishes, choking B until he sees spots, mocking him, berating him. ("Do I look like J to you now? No, of course not. Oh well. Got anybody else you want me to be? Got a mother? A brother? A highschool bully? Or do you want a round with yourself? Aww. You look faint!") V does this for a living. He's a movie maker, and B is his new star.

So. Nice to meet you. Again.

[t-u-i-t-c]

Top 5 Toku dramas!

this is a tough one, i've seen over 40 toku series and it's pretty hard to compare things and narrow it down. i'm also aware that some things i am very into aren't everyone's cup of tea as we value different parts of toku. for example, i don't care that much about mecha, but i do care about characters and details. i care about it feeling like the people on the show care. that being said, let me give you 5 toku series that changed my brain chemistry in no particular order with some brief notes.

(these are not my top 5 overall bc i'm indecisive, just 5 that had an impact off the top of my head.)

put "top 5 (anything)" in my inbox and i'll give you an answer

ohsama sentai king-ohger

the third sentai i watched while airing, but only the second from beginning to end

it's one of my favorite sentai, if not my favorite

has one of my favorite characters of all time, racules husty, and jeramie brasieri is not far behind

interesting lore that is pretty consistent and fleshed out

interesting conversations about grief, loyalty, guilt, and power

bug-themed

fashion icons hymeno ran and yanma gast are present

satisfying conclusion and fun crossovers

gender neutral representation

kamen rider saber

gorgeous suit designs

kento and touma are present and are a perfect example of loyalty and devotion - so much love that you can feel it in the air

dad swordsman who loves his young son and his son is also doted on by the guild

interesting discussions about trauma, existentialism, guilt, betrayal, and love

mei, girl of all time, is present and is the backbone of the guild even though she's not a swordsman herself

storious is there, which is all he has to do for me - also megid ot3

guy who fused with his sword and who's very interested in comics and mundane things, and is quick to call other swordsmen out

whatever desast and ren had going on

touma is one of the riders ever, he cares so much and wants to save everyone he possibly can and grasps onto hope with every ounce of strength he has

touma's entire wardrobe is iconic

trio of deep sin = cinematic masterpiece

gosei sentai dairanger

i'll never be over it, i'll never forget the ending and i'll never not feel something when i think about it

incredible episode in which red takes in the enemy and nurses him back to health - he even tucks him in

the iconic duo of kazu and shoji who stare at each other longingly and have really sweet moments

guy who is a turtle

the music>>>>

heated drama between women

the team genuinely feels so bonded like no matter where they go they'll always end up back together

the ending? an experience in and of itself

talks about cycles of violence and hope and the balance of good and evil

note: it's quite dated and has moments that may make one uncomfortable - sexual harassment mainly

kishiryu sentai ryusoulger

(i can't not talk about this one as i have a particular fascination with it)

canalo is in it and he's one of my favorite guys of all time - just a very lovely guy

i'm actually very into the mecha in this series and how they are used to show souls being bonded

koh is one of my favorite reds, he never looks down on fellow ryusoulgers and insists that there's no leader amongst them

lots of interesting lore that i've been taking a lot of notes on, some is explained and some is not but it fascinates me

tyramigo - a kishiryu that koh shrinks and who learned to speak from watching tv

the ending dance is so fun and cute, every time i see someone from the cast doing it they look like they're having the time of their lives

wyzul <3

asuna has great physical strength for some reason, it seems to be an oddity, and while she's a bit embarrassed about it in the beginning (it's not explained why but one could think she feels out of place being the only one with this ability) she prides herself in being strong later when protecting children and that always stuck with me

i think that it does some interesting things with the bonds between the ryusoulgers and discussing trust, strength, resolve, and care

dinosaurs

kamen rider build

banjo and sento best match - so much trust and belief in one another

discussions of grief, guilt, compliance, sins of the past, forgiveness, and war

stunning suits

evolt is a character that i very much enjoy watching in any form

lots of twists and turns done well with the help of foreshadowing

banjo wears shirts that say things

sento is one of my favorite main riders, and i would explain why but i don't want to spoil anything here

banjo is my favorite secondary so far too

the movies are very good and i love them

bonus series: kamen rider geats & tensou sentai goseiger

are these all perfect? no, a few have some very obvious flaws and holes and others are just not everyone's cup of tea but they did have a great impact on me. i don't particularly recommend anything as tastes differ but i think value can be found in all of these in one way or another.

[rosalind-hawkins]

TLDR: Duke is smart boi, Mastershipping good.

Been thinking about Duke's arc in the anime, and here's the thing.

He was "in talks" with Pegasus about DDM, but it wasn't greenlit yet, yeah? It didn't get finalized and Pegasus just stops responding to his emails, hence the whole going-after-Yugi thing blah blah blah.

(Side-note about how clever and diabolical Duke is to go after Yugi via his good friend Joey; damn Duke, you make a good antagonist, I'd love and fear the version of you that goes full villain.)

But despite Duke not having the green light or official production yet, he's still got the DDM dice; probably a sample batch from manufacturers, okay, I can believe that they made a 100-bag batch or something as an early order. But he ALSO has a duel arena fitted out to be adapted for DDM specifically, and this can only exist a couple of ways.

Industrial Illusions commissioned the custom DDM arena from KC as an early model and it was delivered to Duke. (I think this is unlikely since, again, no final say from Pegasus yet.)

Duke bought a Duel Arena from KaibaCorp, studied it, took it apart, and made his own adjustments to convert it into a DDM arena, which means studying Kaiba's tech, redesigning portions of it, reprogramming some of the software, creating schematics and custom parts and reassembling everything for the final version.

Option 2, but Duke paid someone to do it. (This is unlikely to me because of how deeply personal this game is to him and how deeply involved he is.)

Option 2 is much more likely to me, and this is why in my Rock Bottom AU, I have Duke set up as a technical hardware genius. (In that AU specifically, Duke handles hardware and Seto handles software, and they're the perfect nerd team.) I do think he is a genius on some level. He's not on Kaiba's level, but I think he's highly intelligent and doesn't generally get enough credit for it.

What probably happens later on, after Pegasus gives the green light, is that Industrial Illusions formally contracts KC to design and produce DDM arenas, and maybe Duke tries to insist that he already did the design part, but KC won't produce a design that's not theirs, so they make their own.

I imagine that when Duke and Kaiba get together later, Kaiba just casually mentions that he knows about Duke's original bootlegged DDM arena, and Duke is like, "Yeah, I'm aware that I voided the warranty, and no, I'm not going to apologize for it." And Kaiba's intellectual curiosity gets the better of him, so he's just like, "Even though I know the official KC version of the DDM arena is superior, I wanted to know how you made the original adjustments," and then Duke gets to show off his own handiwork on his bf's tech, and Kaiba has someone that's not an employee that he can talk to about the intricacies of his inventions for maybe the first time ever? And it makes him happy in a way that he doesn't understand, but these inventor boys have each other to talk to now about this stuff, and it's so fulfilling for them.

When Duke eventually moves in with Kaiba, he gets his own workshop/office for all the creative and technical work he does for DDM, and Kaiba makes a point of stopping by every once in a while to see what he's working on and "no, I don't need your advice, I can do it myself" only needs to be said to him a few times in order for him to learn to withhold his opinions until Duke asks for them.

In the context of Mumbleshipping, I imagine that any time Duke or Kaiba talk about their inventions in any detailed way to Ryou, his eyes glaze over pretty fast, and bless him he's trying, but he doesn't have a brain for engineering or hard sciences, so this all goes in one ear and out the other.

[t-n-c]

A Comprehensive List of my Thoughts on Elemental (STILL WITH SPOILERS!)

So here's the rundown I promised of my feelings toward Elemental

SPOILERS BELOW PROCEED WITH CAUTION!

The Good

The music--I found it memorable and unique; the main theme had soft vocalizations that felt almost ethereal, like it was an ancient hymn. I also found the song that played during the montage of Ember and Wade's dates catchy and fun. It was pretty great soundtrack imho.

The design of the world--I really loved how they creators took into account how all these different elements would move and interact in the city. It made the setting feel, for lack of a better term, more "real" to me. It also set up some of Ember's conflict as a Fire element living in a city that wasn't made with her people in mind.

The designs of (most of*) the characters--for the most part, the characters looked unique and, even better, they looked like average people (for lack of a better term) to me; call me a sap or whatever, but I've always preferred characters that have all the "flaws" of average folks than the ones that look like some iteration of "perfect," they just feel more relatable to me I guess. I also found it fun to see how design features such as "hair" were incorporated in the characters and how those same features varied between the elements. If there's one thing I can consistantly praise Pixar for it's for not being afraid to play around with design.

The animation---I loved how the characters moved and interacted in the world. The felt like living things and I appreciated that.

Wade and Ember are adults implied to be in their mid-to-late 20s--This is probably just a me thing, but I find it nice when I see shows where the protagonists aren't adolescents or barely-18 young adults going through some sort of coming-of-age scenario; there's nothing wrong with those kinds of stories of course, I just find them a bit boring and over-done myself. That and whenever I see films like that it always feels like they're insinuating that people over XYZ age can't be protagonists, so I tend to avoid them these days. On a related note, here are some other reasons why I like that Ember and Wade are adults: a) They both still live with their parents but neither of them is shamed or mocked for it--I've seen waaaay too many "comedies" that pick fun at the "25-year-old-living-in-their-mom's-basement" so I found it nice to not have to sit through that kind of "joke" again, b) Neither of them have got their lives "figured out" yet--Wade's gone through multiple jobs, and Ember's just begun to understand what she actually wants for her life--as someone who's gone through multiple jobs, earned 2 bachelor's degrees and is in the process of getting a master’s, and is still trying to make sense of their life, I found their struggles extremely relatable; it's nice to see adult protagonists be allowed to struggle with figuring out who they are and what they want to be, c) They're allowed to have fun and goof off--in a lot of films I've seen, the adult characters are always depicted as being so serious and "boring" it's nice to see adult characters actually have fun and enjoy life.

Ember' relationship with her parents, specifically her father--I found the interactions they had very sweet and moving; it made Ember's conflict between choosing to take over her father's shop or pursue her romance with Wade all the more relatable, imo.

How Ember and Wade's romance developed--it wasn't a love-at-first-sight kind of thing; they actually had to spend time interacting and getting to know each other before they fell in love--and most importantly, they showed us on the actual screen how/when they started to fall for each other. They went on dates, opened up to each other, fought with each other, etc--all the things that normal relationships have; while sure, there's still an aspect of "forbidden romance" to their relationship, it's more subtle and in the background than the trailers implied it would be. It also doesn't end with marriage and kids--they leave together for Ember’s internship and it’s implied that they’ve moved in together but that’s all; idk I thought it was nice that they could just be a couple.

The Bad

1. The blink-and-miss representation LGBTQ+ representation--I've gotten reeeeeeaaaally tired of how LGBTQ+ characters are treated in films; to clarify, there's a scene where Wade introduces Ember to his family and he introduces her to his youngest sibling, Lake (who is described as being nonbinary in supplemental materials) and her/them girlfriend, Ghibli. Lake's identity as nonbinary is a bit ambiguous in the film (Wade does refer to them as his youngest sibling, but that's all we get--without the tie-in material it's to mistake them for being WLW). Further, between them Lake and Ghibli have at most 2-3 lines in the entire movie--like I appreciate that us LGBTQ+ are being recognized and put in films, but I'm tired of all our rep always being the side characters that hold no weight in the story; I think they can start making shows with LGBTQ+ leads now, thank you.

2. Wade's fake death--I'm not a fan of having characters (and the audience) go through huge, life-changing events only to have the events "fixed" and everything be all hunky-dory again--imo, it's a cheap trick to manipulate the audiences' emotions at best, and at worst, it's a disrespectful act that not-to subtly implies that the audience "can't handle" seeing the characters go through heavy stuff. I'm a firm believer that if you're going to have your characters go through something as serious as having one die on screen you need to commit to it--you need to take it seriously, pulling a 180 and undoing all that development is cliche to the point of annoyance. Now, I'm not saying I wanted Wade to die, I'm not even saying that I think he should have stayed dead--what I'm saying is that I don't think there should have ever been a "death" scene in the film at all--there are plenty of other ways they could have had Ember realize her feelings for Wade/be honest with her father.

Mixed Feelings Section

1. Ember and Wade's designs*--it's not that they're terrible or anything, but they are a bit generic imo. In comparison to their family members and the background characters, they both have that "typical protagonist" look that I find a bit cliche

2. Wade's family being 'good' rich people who don't mind that Wade's in love with Ember vs Ember's father who spends most of the film being aggressively anti-water--I'm kind on the fence with this tbh; on the one hand, if both sides had been against Ember and Wade's relationship, I feel it would have put too much emphasis on the romance and taken away Ember's story as the child of immigrants, and it's not like Wade's family weren't bigoted at all--they threw plenty of micro-aggressions at Ember when she first met them; that being said I do have to side-eye how they made the ones more accepting of fire people Wade's rich, probably-descendents-of-the-founders-of-Element-City family and made the one most aggressively against water people Ember's immigrant-built-his-family-a-home-and-business-from-scratch father. Idk, it feels iffy to me.

3. Most of the Wade and Ember's interactions takes place within a week--As much as I felt that their romance was pretty well-paced, I can't deny that they still fell for each other very quickly--I get that the main plot point had set it up that they only had a week to fix the broken water-spill doors, but I don't know why it had to be a week; why couldn't it have been a couple of weeks or a month? It would have made a lot more sense both for the romance and the main plot, but I digress, I still found their relationship adorable.

4. The experiences of immigrants is homogenized--The culture of the fire people draws on a lot of different types of immigrants, the Irish, different Asiatic groups, maybe some Middle Eastern groups, etc--and while I appreciate that the story was about immigrants and experiences they share in common I also felt a bit iffy about taking all these different cultures and merging them together. I feel it would have been better they made the fire people's culture more of a unique entity than a combination of cultures.

Like I said before, I highly recommend this movie; it's cute and tugs at your heart-strings.

[bytchysylvy]

BODY THOUGHTS ESSAY PART 2/3

SF SUPPORTING CAST

mokubat knows his leanness makes latikam upset. reminds him of the occupation. but its whatever. Appreciates the fact that he is apparently Incredibly Sexy by mortal standards and uses this to his advantage to be as much as a slut as possible with them.

zumi puts on a brave face to hide that she is deeply insecure about the way she looks. She'd give everything to just look vazuvyn. Having a more feminine body shape would help too but its by far not her biggest problem.

susarikas's biggest problem is just moving around. his body was never meant to... be like this. Unknown to everyone he will grow into it and live an adulthood without inhibition but right now its awkward to deal with. He doesn't let it get to him as he has no fellow young vazuvyr to compare himself with (though this itself does make him rather lonely).

dusk is reasonably mixed. ellyon dominated media that makes the ideal body one that she could literally never physically obtain vs living in a strong gwenduraag community where her body is normal and average. She has reasonable insecurities but nothing noteworthy. However, she is oblivious to how pretty she is with her hair down.

liz loves her body. It took a lot to get her body the way it is. her only issue is she wishes she had casarin's huge caboose, then she'd be perfect lmao.

You may not like it but kayanit is what peak female performance looks like (big snake)

levis, a naturally thin conventionally attractive jewel ellyon, has never once had to think about how his appearance would be received. He is taking aging with grace btw, thanks for checking in, we were all so concerned.

im going back and forth with something about nerus so put a tiny redacted about something here. That aside, i have a whole other essay about him and hydrel's insecurities with being half faeren. Might post later idk. Know he worries about his looks but its not in his size or shape.

galan, like everyone* else in their family, has no reason to be insecure because they're all thin and conventionally attractive. admittedly though, he is somewhat insecure that he has zero physical strength. Man couldn't protect a woman from a salmon. But it doesn't get to him that much because he hides behind his intelligence anyway. I have a business degree I dont need to lift heavy things such as a bag of flour.

vaens didn't have any issues until his thyroid failed on him and he got fat. deeply insecure about the changes, worst of all despite knowing its just medical condition he contextualizes it as a moral failing; that its a punishment from god. it is some solace to him that his wife loves him all the same. disclaimer that this is not why he is an horrible person, just another symptom of the bigger issue of his religiosity.

morgan is both conceited in her appearance and insecure. Looks at everyone else and thinks "at least I dont look like that". Fully believes that thinness is a holy thing and deviation is the result of one's own moral failing. We don't see behind the scenes but while she admires vaens's power she also judges him harshly for his body, though she keeps that thought to herself.

adaen was a soft squishy nerd. Always tried to look tougher and meaner to compensate but failed miserably and ended up just looking softer and dorkier in the end. Wasn't strong like his brother but he was the funny one.

fjinmars was also on the soft side but in a way that was still a very idealized feminine look. She never had to deal with anyone giving her shit about her appearance. And the media cant get to her because she knows things that society does not.

no notes about kentras as i havent designed him yet

anrai was heavy set, being a wrestler before being deployed his size and shape was praised albeit not for his looks. After coming home from his first service he went from having a wrestlers physique to being plain fat. It was fine. It was truer to who he was anyways; a soft hearted guy who just wants to live a peaceful life and cuddle with a cute wife.

naljuun was never insecure of her appearance but of being a tiny helpless girl. Runt of the family and having grown up having to do manual labor which never seemed to be good enough. Doesnt like to think about it. Just glad that casarin took after his dad and not her.

[adobe-outdesign]

Oh mannnnnn Neopets reviews…how do you feel about my fav, Blumaroo?

Blumaroos are very vaguely based off of kangaroos, but they don't share too much in common other than jumping ability and the -roo name. Instead, they have a great abstract design that feels pretty realistic while being a complete fantasy creature, with floppy trunk-like noses and details that they can bounce on.

Visually, the soft pink accents of the nose are complimented by the ears, and this base works as a good neutral to match any color. They have these nice dot eyes and smiles that capture their happy-go-lucky nature, and just have a nice shape to them. I also like them having their own land and distinct personalities; it helps them stick out a lot in my mind.

Customization-wise, the Blumaroo is a mixed bag. On the plus side, their old artwork was dated and needed a refresh (note the almost complete lack of shading). I like the way they're fatter now, the loss of the belly button is an improvement because it felt weird that they had one to begin with, and they come across as a bit happier in the new art.

But on the minus side, the lose of their old pose is a tragedy. Blumaroos bouncing and standing on their tails was one of their most interesting characters, and while it's obviously still a trait of the species, it's a shame that it's no longer shown in their art. This is particularly sad because their adorable heart-shaped feet are also hidden from view, which has the side-effect of no longer carrying the pink through the design as well as it used to.

I get that customization needed to regulate the poses a bit more, but seeing as each item has to be redrawn anyway, would it have been that hard to keep them on their tails? It's not like the Lutari where the pose would've made it difficult to see clothing or something. It's otherwise a fine conversion, but man, it would've been perfect if we got both the new art and old pose together.

Favorite colours:

Plushie: Blumaroos already look pretty huggable, but the plushie form ramps it up to 11. I love the soft blue color with just a few pops of color on the eyes and tail patch—it gives the impression of an old and much-loved plushie. The converted version isn't bad, but it unfortunately can't compete with the unconverted version, which has much bigger, floppier ears, a thicker tail, and a very cute pose.

Tyrannian: Speaking of colours that looked better unconverted, dang, the Tyrannian Blumaroo got it rough. I love the original's brows and horn-ears, with this nice neutral dappled brown serving as the base. The converted version had to change some things obviously, but it also feels like they didn't really try—why doesn't it keep the same expression (unconverted Darigan Blumaroos have different eyes, so it's obviously not a problem to change them)? Why is the brown on the tail so much lighter to the point where it's barely noticeable? Why is the ruff now red instead of the dark brown of the wings? Why are the horns so small, and why is the perspective wrong on them relative to the ears? Bleh. At least the original's still great.

Oil Paint: Thankfully, here's a Blumaroo color that looks great with the customized pose. Such a beautiful color palette, combining little strokes of colors with pretty flower-like blotches interspersed throughout. I love how the colors also flow with the body, like how the torso goes from green to red, or how there's red right around the feet. Lovely all around.

[desultory-novice]

I've had these 2 ideas for about a year now. I'll start with one and wait for your opinion. I imagined a game where Kirby has to fight multiple factions (about 6-10 new ones) they're all fighting for an artifact with enough power to control all reality (the multiverse, lol). But little did they know that the artifact was secretly a demon preying on their greed and the constant fighting hastened it's release. Ok now that I'm thinking about it sounds like Star Allies. But Kid Icarus inspired it

Some of these ran pretty short so I ran through a handful of yours in a batch, Infinite! Hope that’s okay!

Let's go...!

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Ahh, I haven't played Kid Icarus Uprising. Someday! (Well, I'll probably just watch a let's play or something!)

It's interesting that Kirby might be in the center of a conflict like this, because while Kirby could be considered greedy for food (depending upon the verse/interpretation) Kirby would really have NO reason to have any interest in this artifact, at least for its intended purpose, so would be the only person ostensibly immune to its/the demon's sway?

When you said 6-10, my thought was "broken up into worlds!" but it's pretty funny to imagine Kirby just tearing through faction after faction. Actually, it could be that the demon, which can't really trick Kirby into unlocking it out of a desire for power, ends up using Kirby beating up all the bad guys (to get them "to stop") as the energy it needs for its release?

At least, is any of that close to what you were thinking?

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It's funny that although Elfilis technically counts as a "sealed away inter-dimensional monster" I still think this is a bit of a fun, original idea. Also, I could TOTALLY imagine Kirby setting off something like that on accident! That’s almost the perfect Kirby game opening!

Now, the set up makes me think Ancients ("Ancients!" are so much the "Aliens!" meme of the Kirby fandom!) but it wouldn't be weird to see other societies/locations they've had an effect on. I always think back to the Black Market filled with Halcandran goods in that Galacta Knight light novel. There's so many worlds beyond what we've seen! (Or even other cultures that might have misused Ancient tech. Kind of reminds me of the theory that Magolor might not be from Halcandra at all, but just an opportunist.)

Honestly, I think bringing back some of the old power-up concepts from the older games would be really cool! (Like KTA’s idea!) But hmm, I don't know if I specifically want another Robobot-focused game. (I mean, having a sequel after  such a long time might be fun, but I don’t want to go back to the HWC as villains. Maybe something involving Lightron? (...I think that’s the name of the company from FL. The ones that spell out HAL?)

Speaking of HAL, given how much they treasures their old & unused concepts, there's a better than average chance we might see them again! Although I wouldn't be surprised if Kirby wasn't the one riding them...!!

(I want to see Susie's Cat Secretary design and Hyness's more Owl-ly designs get reused as future characters, myself! If you buy into one of the unused Magolor's becoming Haltmann, it's not that far-fetched either!)

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One thing I love about the anime is how important they make Nightmare! I really like that they treat the game last bossses (...Okay, boss singular) with respect.

K-Kinda...

:thinks about short king Customer Service and that cursed video:

But I've always thought Nightmare could be something pretty cool. (Glad he came back in Super Kirby Clash! But even then, he mostly gets tossed around by D-Mind and the others. Well, I guess he IS pretty silly with that exaggerated chin of his and 2nd Edition D&D looking wizard hat!)

Oh, as for the "Wizard" thing, on a language note, I find it utterly fascinating that as opposed to "magic-using" characters like Marx and Magolor and Taranza, the "Wizard" in Nightmare Wizard is pronounced in English! It really distinguishes him, which is perhaps the reason I like to give him a greater sense of importance than he perhaps deserves.........

But he shares this “uses English in his name” with Drawcia Sorceress! I've always felt there was a connection between them, myself! (I recall a Twitter post somewhere that noted they both had a frame of VHS looking static in their animations? And that Eflilis did too?! Yeah... I think SOMETHING is up....)

But indeed, the anime and games have a strange little relationship to each other! Galaxia, as I recall, was brought into the games from the anime? Meta Knight’s sword didn’t have that distinctive design + the name until after it aired. 

I don't think Galaxia has much game lore, but we also have some other interesting swords in the games that we haven't seen much of since! Particularly the Rainbow Sword from DL2 and the Master Sword from Amazing Mirror! (I would love to see some update on ALL of them, myself! Maybe we can get a Meta Knight & Magical Sword focused game! The fact that we got to see Meta's old sword in FL means they're at least thinking about it!)

Is Wolfwrath the monster from Meta's backstory with... Garlude, is it? I guess I need to watch those episodes, as they seem to have affected a lot of people!