#maybe i should remake that image

[citrus-art-and-life]

theres an extremely bopping jazz dance animation going around (if you havent seen it then i would be surprised) and its getting me really in the mood to do some dance animations... i dont think ive touched animation for like. 3 years now. but the HUNGER.... i technically have dozens of ideas for tfs dancing to my favorite songs - most of them megop, obviously, but some driftrod and some jazzprowl... for obvious reasons im kind of thinking about a jazzprowl dance - less jazz dancing and more prowl dancing FOR jazz (again with the prowl-chasing-jazz thing that im obsessing over rn)...... but we'll see askldjaslkdj

[autistickaitovocaloid]

I think more movies (specifically those aimed at older audiences) should just have the characters be anthro animals just 'cause.

[delightfullyquirkydoodles]

Okay, buckle up, friends and neighbours, because it's time for:

THE DOOPLISS DISSERTATION

(Obviously, you should take all of this with a HUGE chunk of salt, since I'm not only an internet-poisoned fandom blogger, but also a former English major with a penchant for over-reading.

Still, I spent a long time writing this, so I'd appreciate it if you gave it a read.)

So before we talk about Doopliss himself, I feel like we should talk about Creepy Steeple, since a lot of the topics I'm going to be touching on relate to the actual building.

Neither the original Gamecube version nor the Switch remake really bothers to explain what Creepy Steeple actually is.

None of Goombella's tattles say anything about the building's intended purpose. The name vaguely implies that it's a church of some kind -- in Japanese, it's called Odoron Jiin, or "Astonishing Temple" -- but that's still not very helpful.

Still, for the purposes of this analysis, I'm going to assume that it's meant to be a church.

This brings me to the Steeple's stained glass window, which shows a scary-looking Doopliss standing over some piranha plants.

From a design standpoint, I'm guessing that this detail was added to give the location a spooky vibe, but from an in-universe perspective, the implications are wild.

Like, who designed this? How long ago? And why? What the heck is it supposed to represent?

Unsurprisingly, the game offers no real answers, but I have a couple of theories.

The first is that the people of Twilight Town (or their ancestors, or something) created the window in Doopliss's honor.

Stained glass windows often depict saints or angels, so maybe the Twilighters used to worship him? Like, maybe Creepy Steeple was once dedicated to him and then, for whatever reason, the worshippers decided to leave?

It's not super likely, but I didn't want to rule out any possibilities. This is a weird freaking temple. Literally anything is possible, as far as I'm concerned.

My second theory is that Doopliss designed the window himself. He seems like a guy with a lot of spare time, so it's not too much of a stretch to say that he came up with the idea and then spent weeks building it by hand.

He could have also bullied the Boos into constructing it for him. I dunno. I just have this mental image of him pulling pranks on them and generally being a nuisance until they caved.

The bottom line is someone wanted to Doopliss's face to be front and center. And if that someone is Doopliss himself, then hoo boy, there is a lot to unpack here.

Maybe I'm projecting, but it feels like Doopliss is wrestling with some major self-esteem issues.

Despite being an incredibly powerful shapeshifter who somehow cursed an entire town, he seems very childish. He spends all his time watching TV and coming up with new jokes. He throws tantrums when he loses. He wears a party hat, of all things.

Based on that, I'd say that he's probably starved for attention. He's probably pretty lonely living in Creepy Steeple all by himself (doubly so if my theory about the Twilighters is correct).

I'd even go so far as to say that his scheme to turn the Twilighters into pigs is motivated by this need for attention. I mean, what better way to get people to notice you than to cause a town-wide panic?

I feel like the disguises he uses over the course of the main story also support this theory.

Though Mario, Zip Toad and Professor Frankly are quite different from one another, they all have one important thing in common: they're famous. Mario's a world-renowned adventurer, Zip Toad is a well-known actor and Frankly is a tenured professor whose students love him.

Doopliss even alludes to this after stealing Mario's body, telling him, "You're so popular around here! I just love being you!"

By transforming into beloved figures, Doopliss can get the attention he craves.

I also think that this is why he joined the Shadow Sirens. Sure, Beldam abuses him almost as badly as she abused Vivian, but at least she notices him. That's better than nothing.

The most conclusive piece of textual evidence is found in the epilogue. In her letter to Mario, Goombella explains that Doopliss has joined Flurrie on-stage in her production of "Paper Mario".

Obviously his shapeshifting abilities make the play a lot more realistic, but why would he bother participating in it at all? This guy was a villain for most of the game. Why would he suddenly decide to join up with one of his enemies?

Because, as far as I can tell, he's not a villain. Just a guy who's sick of being ignored.

I dunno. Doopliss's motivations have never been super clear, but I feel like there's more to him than meets the eye.

If you have any thoughts or ideas of your own, feel free to comment. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this.

[dsoqueerious]

i feel bad posting two edits in a row instead of any artwork but i'm super proud with how these came out :) you can see the rest of my edits on my tiktok account (also: dsoqueerious) but i don't recommend the ones before Art is Dead, they're a bit janky - maybe if you're brave my rambling and explanations under the cut + pinch of character analysis ... maybe more like a ladleful

with Art is Dead i wanted to capture jeremiah's relationship with his brother and, on the flipside, bruce both are heavily tainted with obsession, he definitely harbours a lot of hatred for jerome but i think there is quintessentially some quite heavy jealousy there? jeremiah is so terribly repressed before the gas, it's the insanity that frees him, sort of remakes him in jerome's image (or, arguably, returns him to how he should be or truly was according to his brother) jerome does what he wants, he's an unstoppable force (until he is stopped, but even then he lives on through jeremiah) meanwhile jeremiah has been constrained all his life under various authority figures - at haly's it was lila and his uncle, at ignatius he had the wildes and other guardians it's his fear of jerome (and long-held intention to trap him) that feeds into a life a little closer to independence, he is needed by meyer and hayes, he gets to choose what projects he works on and approach them through ecco - even when working on wayne plaza at such a young age, thomas wayne is the one to ask after him, pursuing his involvement, there is an opportunity for yes or no but it's also what keeps him held underground, i can only imagine the resentment paired with the constant reminder his own face provides he surely believes himself more civilised than jerome, a thought which lends him quite a clear sense of superiority, but he will never be as free as him - which was what i was trying to get across? succeeding? failing? who knows the second half is all bruce bruce bruce, who is his... habit it will always fascinate me that for a man so paranoid and so keenly aware of the danger jerome poses - jeremiah immediately folds to bruce, all it took was one earnest speech and he was pulling his blazer on this, plus his reaction to the gift from wayne enterprises - i assume this was vetted by ecco beforehand which is why it's in the bunker in the first place - and complete lack of distrust towards it ... despite jerome's foreshadowing ... it's safe to say jeremiah attached himself fairly immediately to bruce heavily in part because of his seclusion, i imagine, but also their shared struggles over jerome - they both feel an immense sense of responsibility over him and this definite need for control bruce had to involve himself on ground zero the second jerome resurfaced and jeremiah was prepared to trap his brother indefinitely in place of arkham or blackgate in his bunker, as his ultimate project also agreeing to bankroll the generator project and house them at wayne enterprises is fairly immediate for bruce too, now that sense of responsibility extends to encapsulate jeremiah, i'm sure it wasn't just out of compassion or interest (though both play their own role) but also the need to be involved - to be his own surveillance and control what he can they both have their masks (or makeup, used here) bruce's slips quite severely during ace chemicals, and coming out of the end of jeremiah's self-appointed mission to unveil the truth of him, he isn't the same man as selina says, 'bruce, your ego' when it comes to him forcing himself into the gcpd's hunt for jerome - he has always seen himself as a superior authority: if the gcpd can't find my parents' killer, i can / private school can't teach me, i will teach myself / constantly claiming to know better than alfred or jim / fully taking over his position on the board as a child / i have to catch jerome before they do this is usually laced with some kind of guilt, but him injecting himself into jeremiah's work is almost preparatory - just like jeremiah's contingency plans, they are both methodical they both demand/secure each-other's attention in different ways, bruce's manner is decidedly more background and jeremiah's is literally shouting it in his face with 50 bombs exploding behind him that's enough out of me! thank you very much if you've read any of this, i feel like i just blacked out and then came to with a great big wall of text

[themissingnumbers]

[ @pkmn-monochrome - interaction thing i can't send as an ask bc long and images]

The dark of the Pokemon tower is never something that has bothered Red. Never something that would, certainly not after seeing much worse and being much older.

At this point, really, it's a kind of eeriness he'd come to miss. It reminds him of simpler times- days when a young boy only had to fear things like ghost stories, and shadows that lurked in the dark.

He knows very well that this place is not the Pokemon Tower he knew, of course. He's not stupid. This place was only built in its image, the miserable ending of a game dyed in grey and built out of spite.

He runs a hand along the wall of the staircase he descends, feeling the cold stone, yet also the intangible data, dull static and code under the fingertips. Watches in quiet fascination as the textures distort and corrupt under deliberate contact, the broken foundations of Generation 1 reacting to him, (same as always,) but a touch more stable from the fusion of the bastard remakes keeping it grounded.

Any damage caused is meaningless, the existence of it debatable as a whole, as he passes through a loading zone. Half of him watches everything fade to black, the other half just continues down the steps that are as tangible as anything else here is to someone within the game. Everything is right- just as it should be.

Either way, it's not like it's his game to break. That would be plain rude, especially with the risk of killing someone!

Intrigue in this world, curious as it may be, isn't why he's here.

Nah. He's more interested in something else.

Or, someone, to be more precise.

Having finally found who he'd looking for, Red steps off the stairs and into another layer of this endless graveyard, whistling as he finally lays eyes on a certain monochromatic individual.

"Y'know..." he chides from across the room, "A graveyard's a pretty cliche place to spend eternity, don't you think?"

He snorts at his own remark. "Course, I guess it's not like you had a choice. The sadsack that made this game could've picked something a little more outside the box, is all I'm saying. Do you think they'd bury bodies in the Viridian Forest, maybe? Or swimming offa Route 20, try a little watery grave... Oh, Champion's Road could be pretty morbid!"

He sighs and folds his arms, shaking his head at himself.

"... Nah, I'm joking. I can see the vision. I could give less of a shit about this place, anyways..."

His eyes gleam, and a menacing smile spreads across his face.

"I'm more interested in you. A glorified reskin of Pokemon Tower ain't shit compared to you. A little bug told me about some sentient Red-Leaf kinda amalgamation with the memories of a real person, and I just had to look into it and come to see for myself. Lo and behold..."

He spreads his arms out in some kind of almost-mocking grand gesture.

"Here you are! Cody, right? In the flesh, or... I suppose your problem is the lack thereof, heh."

He begins to approach, moving slowly and never once looking away. He stalks forward, every step careful and deliberate, teeth bared in a grin that holds no happiness but oozes with amusement.

"I've got so many questions, I don't even know where to begin. You're really something special... One of a kind, fully aware of everything. Knowing what life both here, and out there, is really like. I've seen players that would kill to even get a chance to stand where we do, but... You want out more than anything."

Scratching his chin, the man walks around them at a slight distance. Red gets the thought that Cody wouldn't want something like him anywhere near them. At least he can respect that.

"Suppose the courteous thing would be to ask a question- that's the tradition around these parts, right? Constantly interrogating you so you don't have to sit here, alone with your..."

His eyes flicker to the two GHOSTs at Cody's side.

"... Thoughts. And the like."

He hops onto a grave nearby, sitting with his ankles crossed. Respect towards the dead be damned, every tomb in places like this were about as sacred as Halloween decorations.

"Here's what I'd like to know, Cody."

His smile widens further- for a brief moment, the glitches on his body seem to spread to the air around him, cutting through the gray with burning streaks of red, white, and yellow.

"You have your hacker's memories. Some of them. ANY of them. It's enough. You'd know what it was like to be them. You know what it was like to be human. You know both worlds."

"What is it like? To be real? To be something more than code. How different is it from this?"

"What was it like to be HUMAN?"

He jabs a finger forward, pointing at them as the static that flared up around him quickly subsides, clearing the air back into the typical oppressive atmosphere of the endless graveyard.

"I want to hear it from you," he finishes cooly, "someone who has been on both sides of the screen. You could tell me better than anyone."

[suzukiblu]

comfort w tim please? (i just want some fluff dkjshekdb 😂)

Well, this excerpt isn't Tim comfort, but hopefully counts for Tim fluff?

Context: pre-identity reveal/identity porn/idiots to lovers TimKon.

"Sounds like supervillain talk, dude," Kon says. Tim resolves to dial back on that at this point in his career. He's laying groundwork, yes, but subtlety is still the wiser course of action.

"You say that like you've never socialized with a supervillain before," he says dryly.

"Well, usually ones who wear a bit less," Kon replies, grinning wickedly at him.

"So you're telling me I should invest in a crop top before I try to take over the world and remake it in my own image?" Tim asks still more dryly as he raises an eyebrow at him with a little smirk, and Kon laughs and steps in a little closer, giving him a not very subtle up-and-down with his eyes.

"Only if you're trying to recruit me for your evil plans," he says, grin turning sharp. Tim wants to lick his teeth. "So I dunno, what are your feelings on Daisy Dukes?"

"I'm going to be honest, I'm not actually that much of an exhibitionist so at this point we're just describing my ideal costume updates for you," Tim informs him.

"Oh yeah?" Kon asks with another laugh even as he visibly preens at the suggestion. Tim is all for that, personally. Both the preening and the theoretical updates, in fact. And, a little more weirdly, just the idea of having anything to do with what Kon might ever decide to wear.

Yeah, that's probably a later thought, Tim decides. Like, a private-time kind of later thought.

"You're solar-powered, aren't you?" he says reasonably. "Showing a bit more skin can't hurt."

"I wonder if Superman would buy that excuse," Kon says musingly.

"Power Girl exists," Tim says still more reasonably. "And Supergirl wears a miniskirt, last I checked."

"Valid," Kon says, putting on a mock-thoughtful expression and tapping the side of his jaw. "Maybe I'll put in some cutouts and go for a lower neckline, tell the big guy he's making the rest of us look like prudes. What do you think, bikini or high-cut bottoms?"

"I don't know the difference," Tim lies, desperately trying not to overheat and die at that question and every single accompanying mental image that his useless brain has so helpfully decided to supply. "You'll have to provide examples."

"Will I now," Kon says, grinning all over again and pointedly cocking a hip. "What, pretty boy, you want a fashion show?"

"Well I did want to be a photographer when I was a kid," Tim says, although it was definitely never that kind of photography he had in mind. Kon laughs again and shifts in even closer, though, so it's worth it. Tim is mortified, but also undeniably into just . . . all of this, really, just everything about this conversation. Robin can't flirt with Superboy, but, well . . .

He's taking advantage a little, he can admit, but it's still just . . . nice.

He's wanted to flirt with Kon for way too long, at this point. Indulging in a little bit of it isn't the worst thing he could do.

And again, it's Kon, so it's not like it's serious or anything. The guy won't even remember this conversation tomorrow, much less anything about Tim Drake.

. . . admittedly that'd be counterproductive to Tim's long-term goals here, but still. He's willing to take his time on this. There's a plan. It has steps. Layers. Processes.

"I like you, man," Kon says with a wider grin, which is in absolutely no way whatsoever in the plan. "You're funny."

It occurs to Tim, almost disbelievingly, that he might've . . . made a good impression on Kon? Somehow?

Well that's weird.

[rainbogen]

The Worst Mario Sidequest

So you know how, when you're going for 100% in a video game, there's always that objective.

The one where fun goes to die and you're just left feeling miserable the whole way through. Like capturing Morty in Luigi's Mansion 3 or getting all the Sparkle Gems in Patissière 2 in Princess Peach Showtime.

Well, Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door has one sidequest (or trouble, as the game calls it) like that too.

And mamma mia, is it awful...

Now what character traits do you think of when you think of Mario?

Being a good brother to Luigi?

Being a humble sweetheart everyman?

Being the perfect hero who will help anyone in need?

Well this sidequest takes all of those traits... and tosses them straight into the trash.

The Trouble:

So this Toad girl wants to meet Luigi in person to give him cake?

Sounds like a simple enough problem to solve. And it'll feel good to do something nice for Luigi. Especially since all of Mario's interactions with him up until now have had...

...an overwhelming flavour of dismissive apathy.

Without a single moment of kindness from Mario's end.

Huh, that's weird. When I try to tell Luigi about what's going on, he just does his usual dialogue. I can't tell him about his biggest fan.

Is the game bugged or something? ...I'm going to ask around. Maybe someone has some hints on what to do.

[BTW, I will be transscribing most of the text because Tumblr has an image limit.]

You know, you and Luigi look a lot alike. If you swapped clothes, even I might have trouble telling you apart.

By the by, did you find the badge in Poshley Sanctum that changes your clothes? It was high up, deep in there.

Oh and by the way, there's some guy who uses a badge to pretend to be Luigi!

I know that green suit is dreamy, but come ON!

I would never fall for that, so don't even THINK about trying to trick me that way!

I really have no choice but to do this, do it?

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK! I can tell... I can totally tell! I've never met him before...

But I can ABSOLUTELY TELL! YOU'RE THE REAL LUIGI!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! I knew it! This is so cool! Omigosh! What should I say?

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! I'm totally freaking him out! I'm freaking out Luigi!

Oh nooo... What should I do? Oh! RIght! Duh! Duh! Duh! The cake!

The one I baked was a total loss... but Zess T. did a great job on this one!

Here you go, Mr. Luigi! Please take this!

Hey, Bro! Say, why are you dressed like me?

Hey! Who...who do you think you are! You filthy imposter! POLIIIIIIIIIIICE!

Whaaaaaat? I'm no impostor! I'm Luigi!

Hey, say something, Mario!

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK! EW! EW! EW! How DARE you speak to Luigi, you liar! You LIE-igi!

You'll NEVER be Luigi, no matter how many green hats you wear! Now stop interrupting our special time!

But...I'm pretty sure I'm me! This is a nightmare... A bad dream! I won't believe it! Wake up, Luigi!

The remake only made one change to this sidequest. And that change was to add the sound of Luigi crying.

UGH! Er, oh no... What have I done?! You've seen such a horrible side of me─the worst side!

Don't... Don't worry about it? Oh thanks, really, Luigi. You're so sweet!

And thanks for coming today! I will always treasure these moments. Always!

So please... come see me again, OK?

If you speak to her again while wearing the L Badge:

Oh, wow! You came again!

Luigi remembers me! Luigi remembers me!

My Breakdown:

So that was an utterly miserable expierience from start to finish. Now I'm going to ramble out all the reasons I hate it.

First, there's the elephant in the room of Mario not only not standing up for Luigi, not only taking the side of Luigi's bullies, but actively enabling their bullying of his little bro.

Because that's a character trait Mario is well known for... *bitter sarcasm*

Now one might claim it's unfair compare this moment to media that came out later. Plus there's the technicalities of Paper Mario being a seperate version of Mario.

So from this point on, I'll only be discussing things from this game itself.

Note that this does not make the situation any better.

If anything, the rest of the game makes the trouble look even worse.

For starters... remember this line from Peach much earlier in the game?

When you love someone, you will do anything to help when that person is in trouble.

Well...

Luigi had directly asked for Mario's help, while he was suffering from a problem Mario caused, yet Mario chose to side with the people giving Luigi trouble.

Going by this game's definition of love, Mario feels the furthest thing from it towards Luigi.

If he did love his brother, or even show him the bare minimum amount of respect, he wouldn't have turned the head of the Luigi Fanclub against the man in green.

Wait... a person who steals someone else's identity... and turns people who would normally be on their side against them?

Where have I seen that before?

Oh yeah!!!

That's exactly what Doopliss did to Mario back in Chapter 4!!!

Mario had suffered the same exact thing. He knows just how much this hurts. And yet he willingly put his little brother through the same pain after the fact.

Why did they think it was a good idea to have the story's hero do the exact same thing as the villains, with no exonerating external circumstances? And to reward him for it on top of that??

If anything, what Mario did to Luigi is worse, because Luigi is terrible in social situations, something Mario knows, meaning he'd have an even harder time standing up for himself.

Oh... and speaking of Chapter 4...

The whole reason Vivian joined the party was because Mario showed her the kindness she never got from her abusive older sisters.

So why did they think it would be a good idea to have Mario treat his own younger brother so badly??

Paper Mario in this sidequest is at odds not only with Mario throughout the rest of the franchise, but with himself in the same game!!

And it's not like the writers didn't know what a healthy sibling relationship looks like.

After all, this game has Punio & Petuni, Jolene & Prince Mush, the two Toads from the harbour, heck even Hooktail and Gloomtail of the positive end VS Beldam and Marilyn & Vivian on the negative end.

And speaking of relationships, there's Mario and Toadia's.

Now, Toadia is an idiot and by no means a saint. But at the same time, she's also somewhat of a victim in this situation.

Her conduct makes it very clear that she hates people who pretend to be Luigi. Yet the game makes her fall for the kind of person she detests, turn against the one she admires, and treats this as a good thing.

Whatever she and Mario have going on isn't cute. It's creepy as all heck. It also takes this game's running gag of every girl having the hots for Mario to its worst possible conclusion.

By the by, what is the reward for completing this sidequest?

An item which restores 5 HP and 15 FP.

Which at this point in the game is... uh...

It's such a shame too. This sidequest could have easily been a pretty good one if they just had Mario do something nice for his brother by telling Luigi about his fangirl and let Toadia meet her actual idol.

The reward wouldn't even need to be changed, since you can't convince me that if someone gave Luigi a cake, he wouldn't willingly share some of it with Mario.

Instead, we got an absolute mess where I can't think of a sensible Watsonian motive for Mario's actions other than that he enjoys hurting Luigi.

Also...

Just who is this sidequest for??

It's not for fans of Luigi, since they hate all the overused jokes where he's hated by everyone and made to suffer despite having done nothing wrong.

It's not for fans of Mario, since they don't enjoy seeing him actually being written as an abusive older brother to Luigi. As a moral coward who would rather see his little brother be driven to tears than admidt he did something wrong, and doesn't regret those actions in the slightest. As a creep who can't permit the existence of even one female who loves his brother, but not him.

It's not for the Mario hating contrations, since the game expects the player to be on Mario's side and outright rewards him for being a bad brother.

It's not for fans of the Toads, since it's yet another instance of their only personality trait being hyping up Mario while belittling Luigi for no good reason.

It's not for the old Paper Mario fans, given how it completey bastardises the themes of Chapter 4, widely considered to have some of the best writing in this game.

It's not for parents, since they wouldn't appreciate video games telling their kids it's okay to lie and steal from their siblings.

There's only 3 nice things I have to say about this sidequest:

It doesn't have much in the way of gameplay requirements. So if you're going for 100%, this trouble is quick to clear by just mashing through the text.

It's an easy way to get the recipe for the Choco Cake added to the recipe list, if you somehow haven't done that already. Note that this only applies to the remake.

For how awfully Mario was written here, this sidequest did not cause the bad "Mario is a sociopath" takes... since nobody actually did this game's sidequests prior to the remake. Because you just know that people like Game Theory would have been all over this had they known it existed.

I could go on, but I think I've said enough. So I'll just leave this post off with this.

[befemininenow]

The Best of Nikki's Captions: Tumblr Stats (Part 2 of 5)

This is the second part of the top 25 best captions. This is based on what I got through Jet Black Code's Tumblr Stats website. The 16th through 20th best captions are presented here and all, but one of them happen to be picture captions. As mentioned in the previous part, all of these captions from here on forward have over 1,000 notes each! IMO, these are all well deserved of their spot and I'm thankful to all of you who got these captions to where they are today.

Without further ado, here is the fourth part of the top 25, with 20th being first and 16th being last:

Number 20:

Everything is expensive nowadays, but your euphoria will always be priceless. If you can afford to splurge in yourself, buy those heels or that outfit you've wanted for a while. Even better if you have supportive people on your side, or you could at least say it's for a female relative or friend. Whatever is necessary to let that girl inside feel great, do it!

I like how this caption resonates with a lot of us. Once your feminine self takes over, worrying about how much all of that costed you won't be a worry at first. All it matters is how happy you are wearing what your hard-earned cash just bought. The thing is, you fall into a slippery slope. Now the first thing on your mind is "What specials are available next week? Maybe the seasonal specials will be better!" Oh, the euphoria of becoming a shopoholic woman!

Number 19:

Hypnosis can be effective if you put your mind to it. It can vary from a hypnotic swirling circle or affirming words. But what if it isn't the hypnosis that breaks you, but the images or videos surround it? You can't help, but wish to be the girl so bad, she's giving you envy. The way she moves to attract boys, the outfit she's wearing for her own comfort, and the beauty her body is that makes her so attractive. All of that is what's breaking the "male" in you and waking the girl inside you. The affirming words around it just enhance your need to be her.

How did this caption became a thing? Well, it's because of the original unedited video (Click here to see it). Sure, the girl is sexy and captivating. But deep down, I felt envy because what I wanted more was to be the girl. Though I jokingly said she was in her "bimbo slut era", I'm not sure if she is nor who I know who the girl is in the video. All I can say is: It's one of my favorite videos captions ever! Was the long period of time making this worth it? Absolutely!

Number 18:

Ok, let me clarify this before you throw a hissy fit. Gwen Stacy unfortunately never said that (for now). However, there's no denying that her background story is a trans allegory. From her theme colors to her "Protect Trans Kids" in her room, there's a bunch of hints that not only movie Gwen Stacy supports trans rights, but it's possible she's even trans herself. As of now, that's just a headcannon. And an affirming one, too! One thing is clear, however:

Trans rights are human rights!

Number 17:

The caption is pretty simple: Trans women are not sissies nor are they sexual objects. They're human beings that deserve to live how they feel like. It's a statement that should be clear enough to deter the chasers.

Also, I'm realizing that the caption is a bit difficult to read due to the light red lettering blending with the background. Then again, this is one of my earlier "freshman" captions. I don't have much of a desire to remake this one, surprisingly. I feel like it's perfect the way it is. You'll be so focused on the hot girl, the hard-to-read letters get easier to read and your thoughts become just like hers. Maybe you don't like it, but I do, and so do over 1,000 people as of now!

Number 16:

A girl like her is hyperfeminine enough to not only give you gender envy, but to also use her as a role model for your permanent feminization, or should I say, transition. Sure, the girl is sexy and you may even want to sleep with her. But once you see her more often, your lust will turn into envy and you no longer get as turned on by her as you used to. Before you know it, you're on hormones and you start to emulate every little thing of her. Turns out you're still infatuated with her, but as a very close friend now! Doesn't all of that sound so nice!

I can't believe I remade this caption back in 2023! It feels like it was just yesterday I made this, but it was actually almost two years ago! Anyways, this caption is just gold! I really love it and I'm glad a lot of you loved this as well! I remade it because in the original, even though it's one of my first to use the current font, I used a bad combo of bold, non-italic lettering, not to mention a blend of dark colors associated with the pic. In retrospect, it's a mess of a caption and my first thought about it was "What if I remake this as a "tribute" to my very first captions?" The end result was that it was just as popular as my first attempt and in a surprise, it also revived my interest in caption making! I felt like I became a "junior" after this caption blew up lmao

Anyways, that's all for today! Stay tuned for the third portion of the top 25 tomorrow! Have a great night, everyone!

[90shaladriel]

AI Manipulations of Rings of Power. (Longish)

Saw the AI edits of Haladriel scenes being altered by GenAI to make the characters* kiss. I have seen chatter about it and the negative implications of creating or interacting with AI generated content.

At the risk of being nuanced, (feel free to block or scroll past this) it interests me what exactly is the concern with it and why. To be clear, I do work in an industry that is both working to incorporate and profit off AIs while simultaneously my own job is increasingly at risk by the same products or we are forced to use them for productivity reasons.

Some reasons that make sense to me that you would not want AI content would be

1. Legal and copyright infringement of the ownership of the art or source material used to train the AI models. Stolen work, no credit or payment to artists

2. It’s generally shitty, sloppy, uncanny valley. Which aesthetically I think most people would be against

3. It directly competes against manual labor of a human, devalues work, replaces jobs, or floods the market so creators never can be separated, investment in a skill or art form isnt worth it.

4. It extremely energy intensive, the environmental implications can he huge with the climate crisis.

5. Its being shoveled in our faces by overhyped tech bros because they think its cool and can find gullible investors for, like NFTs and crypto curriencies

6. Deep fake abuse with AI, making up fake news, abusing a real person image in a degrading way without consent.

I think all of these are serious issues with AI.

The stuff that was shared about Sauron and Galadriel kissing does it materialize those concerns? I’m going to assume that it may for the first one, legal and copyright ownership of training data. Im not a lawyer, and there are also some AI models trained on legally owner content or public domain / open source content. I have no way of knowing what models were used by the GenAI that made those haladriel kisses, so we probably have to assume they may have questionable provenance, and I think by that alone we should boycott those.

Now what if someone used a more solidly vetted model or genAI service without those legal issues? What if the artists do get paid or some form of royalties?

The kiss videos themselves were ok, maybe halfway believable, there were obviously the weird uncanny ai artifacts and stuff. It’s objectively worse than if ROP had actually filmed a kiss with live actors in the show proper. But who am I to judge whether that slop is aesthetically pleasing to someone else or not? Sometimes I have found AI art that is truly bizarre in that this is too weird surrealness quality like looking into a dream while being awake. I’m not sure that this feeling is necessarily wrong to enjoy on its own.

Regarding the AI replacing jobs argument. I suppose it depends what we mean. They were never going to remake ROP Season 1 or 2. Morfydd and Charlie won’t be offered the same role if another company were to buy the rights and make Rings of Power reboot. We will never get those kisses on screen. Maybe you can say that if people were fed content for Haladriel you could give them that almost infinitely by GenAI and then those people would be less likely to consume or pay for some other newer media that might otherwise give a satisfactory ETL with backstory and build up equivalent to what ROP has done with Haladriel? I’m not sure how to weigh that, it might be true? I tend to think these AI kisses arent replacing any creative workers in the film/tv industry. I don’t think we say that fanfic reusing known characters competes with original written stories (or do people argue this?) although i suppose it does on some level. Do people boycott fanfiction?

Along these lines, what about the actors consent and deep fake aspects? Personally, I don’t see how the AI images are more offensive or harmful than fanart which uses the actors depictions to do all sorts of things, stabbing, killing, kissing, screwing and everything and everyone in between. Or fan edits which use clever editing and overlay soundtracks with pointed lyrics which completely change the artistic intent of the actors /creatives who made the original in a particular way, say make two characters have a romantic chemistry that wasn’t there in the original? Or even the old photoshop manipulation stuff? I thought we’re ok with this in the fandom world, is this that different?

I’m not saying I like AI or you need to. I probably wont interact with it and try to avoid it personally wherever I can. But I do wonder if the arguments people are making against ROP AI edits are actually in good faith? Because then i question why other kinds of fan creations are acceptable?

[teawithhenry]

A few things. I think the collapse of his career goes beyond just the negativity of this relationship of his. He has a very outdated and very inflexible view of career longetivity. He is trying to hitch his wagon to either a successful individual (such as working with Guy Ritchie and Tom Cruise again) or a successful franchise. Argylle was supposed to deliver this but it bombed so hard no one is likely to continue either the books or the movies. Bond is probably out. Highlander is poised to be his next saving grace but considering how tired general audiences are of remakes it's hard to say this will take off for him. On top of that he does nothing but cheap half-ass stunts to try and get people to care. That's on him. He should have been regularly posting Warhammer content since that announcement. He should have invested more effort into his last ambassadorship and maybe he wouldn't have lost it. He's lazy, or shortsighted. He's not Superman anymore and he doesn't get to coast on being a pretty face. Sadly it seems he's failed to get that memo. He doesn't have talent or skill as an actor and he does nothing to rectify that. So yes it's no surprise that once you take away the looks and the coasting roles that there's nothing left.

About him not being the father, I believe very much he is. Men have babies they don't care about all the time. Men who aren't actually interested in being a parent but want the status of parenthood. I know many look at him and see a forced participant but I see an abuser. I see someone who's financially abusing a woman by making her dependent on him. I see someone who's largely isolated a woman from her friends and family. Not fully, but mostly. It doesn't look like she wanted this baby either but considering how many women face violence and r*pe from their intimate partners I find it very easy to accept that he forced a pregnancy on her that she didn't want. Not a popular thought I know but I don't care. Her being a terrible person doesn't mean she's not also a victim. She can be (and probably is) both. Nothing about this seems like PR except for how he can sell this relationship in favor of his image. Which he's not doing particularly well either. If anything it seems like he's stopped caring about any idea of how his shitty behavior makes him look to the general public. Again if this was just PR he was done with he would have been out years ago. He employs the same entertainment lawyer Dany Garcia does, and he's well-regarded for a reason. He would have had Henry out if he'd asked. I don't think there's any chance of him redeeming himself with his fans, at least not the sensible ones.

[localtuff]

Lore dump for Tuff (Remake)

I haven't done one for Tuff since my old account got nuked so here we go.

Full of headcannons lets goooooooo! Wall of text lets goooooooooo!

Tuff is vaguely based on the male protag of unbound. He's the son of Borrius's legendary hero Aros, and Selene, his mom. Selene greatly admires her husband, as he's saved her life before. Naturally she wishes for her son to follow his father's footsteps.

Then Aros got whooshed into the cube. Tuff was 4 back then.

Selene was devastated. For her, it was if her husband, her emotional support, her idol, has died. She refused to acept the truth, so naturally, she started projecting, onto Tuff. She wanted to see Aros in Tuff, to steer him into the second coming of his father. But Tuff at that point was quite a long way from becoming her ideal image. When Tuff was 10 years old, she sought out for Aros's acquaintance, Arthur and wanted to have him train at his place. There, he encountered Jax who was also training to be his grampa's successor (oh and by the way, Jax is 2 years younger than Tuff in this timeline, so if Tuff is 10 then Jax is 8). With Jax's friendliness, the two made quick friends. The two kids would often have roleplay games with Jax playing hero while Tuff found himself more comfortable playing antihero or villain- hol' up I'm going off-track.

Tuff's training started simple. Then it increased in intensity. Of course, if it was just physical exertion then it wouldn't be too much of a problem. Outside of his training, Tuff would often be given lectures from his mom about "always helping people no matter what", "putting others before yourself", and the likes. Those expectations were drilled into his mind day by day, month by month.

But Tuff was a curious child, he wondered why he had to be the one giving everything but not receiving anything in return. There were times when he asked his mom about it, she simply dismissed it as "It's something your father always do".

Remember when I mentioned that Tuff liked being the antagonist when he was playing with Jax? Well, Tuff thought that they're cool. Antiheroes do good in less conventional ways which always make stories interesting, while being villains is uh... fun. There were times when he asked his mom about it, she simply dismissed it as "Those are not what an ideal hero should be doing!"

When you blow air into a ballon, it'll inflate from the air pressure. Blow in too much air, and it'll pop.

It all happened when Tuff was 17, he saw a woman asking for money, turned out her daughter was suffering from a horrible disease and she was too poor to pay the medical fees. Tuff was hesitant, but in the end, remembering his mom's teachings, he gave that woman quite a large sum of money, almost his entire savings, actually. Maybe his money could be used to save another life! He could do something meaningful!

There was no "daughter". That's what he heard from the locals in Dresco Town. It was at that moment that he knew, he was tricked, bamboozled, swindled, and scammed. It's not the first time his kindness was taken advantage of, but this time, he lost almost his entire savings. He couldn't take it anymore, so that night while eating dinner with his mom, he brought up the issue. However, she simply dismissed it as "You should always help others without asking for anything in return." Tuff was not convinced.

"Mom, why should I waste my time helping others if I only get hurt in return?"

"It's not a waste of time."

"But now I lost my entire savings. How am I going to be okay with that?"

"Still, you should always strive to help others no matter what. If your father was there, he wouldn't have hesitated."

"Why do you always bring him up in these kinds of conversations? I've had enough of this now."

"Because you're his son!"

"What does that have to do with anything?!"

"It's only natural that you follow your father's footsteps. That's what I've been wanting you to do!"

"What about me, then? I'm tired of this! You keep bringing him up, but he's already dead!"

"Why can't you just be like him?!"

Dinner ended on a sour note. Tuff silently walked to his room. That night he left home, no notes, just vanished without a trace.

It was a dark and and snowy night. Tuff only had Liepard (He received it as a Purrloin when he was training under Arthur some years ago), his spare clothes in the Cube, some pokeballs, and whatever that's left of his pocket money. He knew his mom would search for him, so crowded cities and towns should be avoided. Not that he could afford rent anyway. The moment he entered Icicle Cave, a blizzard kicked up outside. It was cold and dark. He tried to make a fire using sticks, and thankfully it worked. Still kinda cold though. His Liepard refused to get in the ball and slept with him that night. Then the next day came. With no money in hand, Tuff knew that he had to hunt to survive. A trek to Route 2 didn't drain too much from his stamina, thanks to his previous training. His Liepard scored some kills on the Pikipek and Patrat living there. Food finally. He also picked some berries. And then when night fell, he retreated back into the cave. Literally caveman simulator.

Tuff understood the importance of money, especially right now. He could battle trainers to earn some, but the weak ones didn't have much money and his Liepard alone wouldn't cut it against stronger opponents.

Then, one week after the day he left home, after his hunt, he found a Raticate and several Rattata eating away at his berry stash. The Raticate had an unusual gray coloration, not even shinies looked like that. But whatever, protecting the stash came first. Tuff sent out Liepard to fend off Raticate while he would deal with their underlings. It was a grueling battle, but he came out victorious. Though his berry stash was badly damaged. Noticing that the Raticate was far stronger than any he had fought, Tuff figured that this one might be a good team member. So he tried to catch it, and it worked! The Raticate also opened up another source of income that would eventually be his main. With its sensitive nose, it could track down rare items buried underground and Tuff could collect it and sell for a high price. Maybe things were starting to get better after all. Though he figured that he still shouldn't go to town yet, there were still some missing posters of him scattered across Dresco. Getting away from North Borrius was the number 1 priority. The longer Tuff stayed there, the more likely he would be found. Time to start packing! Thank god the Cube was there to simplify things. Night fell, and Tuff skirted around the city's premsies, hoping that he wouldn't catch anyone's attention, til' he got to Grim Woods, then Cinder Volcano, then Crater Town... then through the KBT Expressway, he was able to access the remaining cities of Borrius.

The rainy days were over, Tuff's life flourished. He caught a Murkrow as his third pokemon, and he news of his disappearance haven't gotten too far. No missing posters around. Good. He went to Dehara City's mall and sold all of the goodies that he and his Pokemon found and got quite a large sum of money. Finally he could treat himself again. Though Tuff saw the looks of the other customers. They weren't about him being the missing boy thankfully, they were about his smell. Well, when what you do is trying to survive in the wild for a month or so, you're bound to end up like that. Noticing this, Tuff scurried away to the Pokemon Center, rented a room and took a shower there. It was so refreshing. Then Tuff went back to the mall to check out the boutique section. He bought an oversized green jacket with white buttons (lime the one he's wearing rn. Previously he wore the standard pc outfit), and a light green scarf, then a black hairband. The items just happened to be on super sale that day so he's good. Tuff ain't getting broke today!

While drinking in a bar in Blizzard City, Tuff's heard some of the customers talking about a legendary "treasure hunter". Curious, Tuff asked them about the topic. He learned that a treasure hunter was someone who explored ancient ruins, or caves, or dungeons or whatever remote locations and took home rare loot. Kinda similar to what he had been doing for money, except on a bigger scale. There, he also learned of Raid Dens, located in Hidden Grottos and some other places, where he could get some valuable items from defeating Pokemon there. However, most of them were blocked by things like trees, rocks, boulders that he can't get past. No idea why they exist, how they keep returning to the same place after being moved or destroyed, and how the moves that could affect them are not usable unless you have a specific gym badge. But let's not dwell too much with that, time to challenge the gyms! The more badges he had, the stronger the gym leaders would become. So Tuff, for every gym he was going to fight, began to pick out several Pokemons in the wild that would do good for his upcoming battle. And when he won and obtained the badge, he would release them back into the wild. The three badges from Crater, Blizzard and Fallshore Gyms were enough for Tuff to do his thing. Tuff collaborated with trainers from across Borrius to fight alsongside him in Raid battles. Turned ou more badges meant more rare loot and more money, so Tuff challenged the remaining gyms as well, except Dresco and Redwood. Still, he got a stable source of income, from Raids, to collecting rare items that Raticate and Murkrow found. He would open his business as a treasure hunter, accepting offers to go to dungeons and caves to get loot there.

One day, a client commissioned him to get some rare rocks in Icicle Cave. Tuff shuddered, as itmmeant having to go back to Dresco Town or Frozen Heights, two places that he haven't visited for a long long time, for good reasons. He chose the latter, accessing it through KBT Expressway. Going through his hometown, several people noticed that he was the missing boy. It was a year since that day. They started to gossip:

"Look, it's that missing boy from one year ago!"

"Ungrateful brat, abandoning his mother like that."

"He's a disappointment to his family."

...and the likes. Mean words surrounded him like a flock of Mandibuzz, ready to feast on him once he succumbed to them. But as they said: what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. In this case, it's being so desentisized to gossips from his back that he stopped caring about it.

"People complaining that I was being a jerkass? Screw them, then! Give them my thanks!"

"Kids crying because I 'bullied' them? I'm the monster who silences crying children anyway."

"Look, miss, my services ain't free. I could find a cure for your daughter, but you're gonna pay me 5000000 Pokedollars. If you can't even afford that then... it's your loss~"

"Just because I'm his son doesn't mean I should follow his footsteps. What nonsense are you on?"

He was now the exact opposite of what he was expected to be. And he reveled in it. Since there's no use arguing with them, why not act like what they're telling him? They had it coming. He's tired of playing the nice guy. Life is full of wonders, and he's not going to let some stupid expectations restrain him anymore. The old Tuff had died.

Extra: The beginning of Tuff's journey

I'm gonna keep this section short since there's not too much change from canon and I'm kinda tired from writing too much. Anyway, while Tuff (20 years old now) was sleeping at his home (he bought an empty plot in an opening in the middle of Redwood Forest and bulilt a comfy house there, rich guy smh) after harvesting some rare mushroom that he was going to sell the next day. Then Hoopa came in, then whooshwhoosh to Shadows Base or whatever I guess...

He found Ace, who also lived in Frozen Heights. The boy recognized Tuff as the missing boy everyone in town had talked about a few years ago. He didn't talk crap about him unlike the others. The two found a cage, broke it to rescue 3 Pokemon. Tuff found that the Beldum was badly injured but picked it anyway. He believed that a Psychic-type would be more useful to him as a treasure hunter, and the injuries weren't nothing a few potions shouldn't fix. Ace told him that a weak Pokemon like that wouldn't help them at all, but Tuff had other options anyway, thank goodness his pokeballs were still there. Tuff's Liepard made short work of the grunt's Pokemon. Things went pretty much like canon and the two got outside. They met Prof. Log then Ace challenged Tuff into a battle. Might as well entertain him a bit. Tuff healed up Beldum and fought Ace's Gible using only that Pokemon. Beldum won due to a type advantage. Then Ace left Frozen Heights, ignoring "old man Log" like usual. The professor then asked if Tuff could help him do the errand. And he said this:

"It's only fitting that his son would follow in his footsteps."

Tuff snapped.

"So? It doesn't mean anything. This is my life and I'm not going to waste it on what others want me to do. That's it, I'm off."

Yeah, screw you old man Log!

Then Tuff went to Bellin Town to buy some supplies like hyper potions. The moment he entered the store, a very very suspicious person ran past him. The clerk figured out that they gave Prof. Log's parcel to the wrong person. Not his problem though. Then Tuff came across someone asking for help. Apparently a Sandslash stole his food. He was gonna refuse, until that guy offered 300000 Pokedollars. Deal!

*Cue Tuff's Liepard, Raticate and Murkrow beating the crap out of the poor Sandslash*

Whatever. Gets the job done anyway.

I was gonna do lore for Kite but uh, that'll be in another post. Too lazy, brah.

[darthmaclunkey]

seeing last jedi again was so good. i will be fighting in the last jedi trenches until i die. if last jedi has no fans left on earth then i am dead etc etc. some very rambling and incoherent thoughts under the cut:

i love luke so much in tlj. luke skywaker is my all-time favourite character from anything, because he really embodies one of the core messages from star wars: being good is a choice, and it's a choice you have to keep making. right from the start of new hope, we see how luke is just constantly thrust into situations where, time and time again, he's given the choice of the easy way out, or tempted by the dark side. but luke always chooses to do the right thing, even when it's hard. in rotj we do get a glimpse of him as this aloof, emotionless jedi, but then it all unravels in the finale when he is forced to confront vader. i know a lot of the vitriol around last jedi is from people who think it ruined luke's character, but to me, his arc makes perfect sense. sequels luke is a man who has spent his whole life making sacrifices and working hard to do good, until it's all torn away from him by the dark side - a dark side plot specifically designed to undermine luke and the light, mind you - yet he still blames himself, because a fleeting temptation from the dark to take the easy route out and save the galaxy from what he saw in ben almost got him, but it didn't. and he paid for that temptation dearly. i would have hated to see a sequels-era luke who was just some epic version of the distant, quasi-mystical jedi knight we see in rotj (as i've seen some people saying that's how he should have been). what kind of character arc is that? he gets to the end of the OT and then never changes? i'm drawn to luke because of his humanity, the fact that you still see the tatooine farmboy in him years later. his sacrifice at the end of last jedi is so beautiful and poignant to me; a lesser script (cough tros cough) would have had him jump in an x-wing and show up to plow through the first order with his lightsaber. i love what we get instead: his moment with leia, her touching his hands and realising he's a projection - his knowing wink to threepio - the image of him emerging from the dust and smoke, unscathed, and how it clearly puts the absolute fear into kylo ren - the way he doesn't even attack, just dodges and blocks - then, finally, the shot of him on ahch-to, watching the sunset, and, once he's gone, the image of his cloak blowing away in the wind, symbolic of his spirit joining the cosmic force. that's my jedi master luke. funny, powerful, human, flawed, but still, after all this time, making the choice to do good and fight for others, even if it's the hardest thing he'll ever do. whew. luke skywalker i love you.

i love how last jedi looks. with the exception of maybe empire, i think it's the best-looking of all the films. it's stuffed with references to absolutely classic cinema, like the shot in canto bight that's an homage to the café dolly shot in wings, or the classic hitchcockian dolly zoom as finn and rose look over the cliff, and the opening sequence with the bombing run is just a straight homage to old war movies, which is just what the OT did with the space battles being shot-for-shot remakes of ww2 dogfight footage. original-flavour star wars was a love letter to to so many other films and tv shows, so this feels so natural. at the same time, there's a lot of sequences that feel really innovative for star wars, like the montage that accompanies rey's connection to the force on ahch-to, or the film's extensive use of close-up shots and slow-mo. the lighting is gorgeous. finn's fight with phasma looks astonishing on the big screen - the colour grading and visual effects really go off in that scene.

i love all the force skype sessions with kylo and rey, but especially the scene where she's out in the rain and, when they disconnect, you see kylo running his hand over his face then shaking the rainwater from his glove. something I hadn't appreciated before is how well the film sells you on the idea that they are both present in the same space, despite seeing them both shot against different backgrounds. the intimacy of the rain-on-glove thing gets me every time.

i love everybody's arcs. every single member of the main trio has a full arc in the film. rose tico is such a lovely addition to the main cast, i hate how she got totally shafted in rise of skywalker.

on a completely superficial note: the main cast are all at their hottest in last jedi. especially poe dameron. especially poe dameron.

the throne room fight scene is one of my favourite movie scenes ever (and in star wars, it's only beaten out by the binary sunset scene from new hope). i WISH i could relive the first time i saw it at the midnight screening i went to in 2017. i may have been sitting politely, but i was hooting and hollering internally.

rian johnson, they could never make me hate you.

[ofliterarynature]

TBR TAKEDOWN: GOODREADS, WEEK 10b

Nice Try, Jane Sinner by Lianne Oelke

I'm trying to trim down my tbr list(s) and I'm asking for your help! Descriptions and more info under the cut. Please reblog and add your thoughts!

* * * * *

It's Kind of a Funny Story meets Daria in the darkly hilarious tale of a teen's attempt to remake her public image and restore inner peace through reality TV.

The only thing 17-year-old Jane Sinner hates more than failure is pity. After a personal crisis and her subsequent expulsion from high school, she's going nowhere fast. Jane's well-meaning parents push her to attend a high school completion program at the nearby Elbow River Community College, and she agrees, on one condition: she gets to move out.

Jane tackles her housing problem by signing up for House of Orange, a student-run reality show that is basically Big Brother, but for Elbow River Students. Living away from home, the chance to win a car (used, but whatever), and a campus full of people who don't know what she did in high school... what more could she want? Okay, maybe a family that understands why she'd rather turn to Freud than Jesus to make sense of her life, but she'll settle for fifteen minutes in the proverbial spotlight.

As House of Orange grows from a low-budget web series to a local TV show with fans and shoddy T-shirts, Jane finally has the chance to let her cynical, competitive nature thrive. She'll use her growing fan base, and whatever Intro to Psychology can teach her, to prove to the world--or at least viewers of substandard TV--that she has what it takes to win.

Date added: 2017

Goodreads: 3.9

Storygraph: 3.9

PRO:

Fantastic cover tbh

Read a sample bit and it's funny! Told through Jane's journal entries

Available from my library in print and ebook.

CON:

YA

I am not really into reality tv?

Does not EXIST in my preferred format (audiobook) (which is why I haven't already read it).

Even if I like it I don't think I'll LOVE it, and I'd probably be content with just giving it a friendly wave in passing.

[cyberneticslasher]

Puppy’s Qoutes/Dialogues:

Finally sat down and did these, some of it is prob up for change but here are some things he’d say…uhhh Sasha is his attack dog btw

Attacking/Lunging

“I’ll show you my fangs!”

“Mangy Mutt!”

“Dirty fucking Dog!”

“I’ll teach you about obedience…”

“I’ll skin you and stuff your lousy hide!”

“Playing cat with a dog?”

Blocked by Obstacles

“Like I can’t find another way.”

“Just prolonging the inevitable.”

“Oh, you’re playing hard to get?”

“Now I ain’t afraid to get a little dirty…”

“Teasing a hungry dog is never smart.”

“Fucking tease…”

Start Chase

“I’ll give you a head start.”

“Get back here!”

“Stupid bitch.”

“I like a good game of chase, If I catch you I’ll fuck you like a dog in heat.”

“I’ll show you my bone if you show me yours.”

During Chase

“Get on your hands and knees and maybe I’ll take it easy on you.”

“I can smell how bad you need it…need me…”

“Keep on running, You’ll tire out eventually, then I can do whatever I want.”

“I know this place like the back of my hand, You won’t get far from me.”

“Like a dog chasing a cat, can’t wait to get my mouth on that pussy…”

“I’d love a new chew toy.”

“Sasha! Abrufen!”

“You keep running, she’s gonna get you, and I might just let her have at it.”

Grabbing or Executing Reagent

“I’ll get you to rollover one way or another…”

“I don’t bite…much.”

“Fass!”

“You’ll learn to wag your tail for me.”

“Now I didn’t want to have to put such a pretty lil thing like you down.”

“Let's put a collar on you and teach you a good lesson.”

“Could be my pretty dam, or my filthy bitch.”

Found Hidden Reagent

”Atta boy…”

“Hiding with your tail tucked between your legs?”

“Good girl, Sasha, you deserve a treat. Maybe some fresh meat…”

“Awww, did you lose your pack?”

“Nice and cornered for me to take what I please…”

“This kitty better hide its claws, lest it wants me to tear them out.”

“Shoulda stuck my nose in here in the first place…”

Stunned

“Hey, watch it!”

“This leather isn’t cheap!”

“Oh, you wanna play fetch now?”

“Hurt Sasha and you won’t be seeing the light of day.”

“Don’t you touch my dog!”

“Could use a little obedience…”

“You think I don’t like that?”

“Hit me again, I’ll tear you a-fucking-part.”

“Now you’re trying to piss me off.”

“I ain’t gonna whimper like a hurt dog!”

Investigating

“Like a bunch of fleas in my fur…”

“Sounds suspicious…”

”I smell something needing to be taught a lesson.”

“Come on…come on out…”

“Sasha, die suchen”

“I can hear the slick just dripping off of you, dirty lil thing…”

“Something’s twitchin' my ear.”

“Thought I saw something, must be imagining things.”

“Too excited, need to focus.”

Giving up the Chase

”I got other bones to bury.”

“Some things better left unturned.”

“I got better things to do than chase my tail.”

“Come on, Sasha, ain’t nothing worth getting our paws dirty over.”

“Sasha, Hier.”

Lost sight of the Reagents

“It's my backyard, I’ll sniff you out…”

“This fence keeps you in till I say you can leave…”

“Come on, give a dog a bone.”

“If you come back, I’ll give you a real nice treat…”

“You know I’m known well for my training…could give you a free course or two..heh.”

“Sasha, looks like our friends ran off without us.”

“I’ll find a new toy to play with.”

Patroling

“Obedience…Loyalty…Devotion…”

“Don’t matter what you are, once I remake you in my image, you’ll be my perfect little pet.”

“Should have left me to rot in prison, I deserved that hell.”

“Pa told me once, you have to dominate if you want control…but what good is control over others if you can’t even handle yourself?”

“Should’ve never kissed that boy in high school, maybe then I’d be a decent man, an honest one.”

“Now you can’t just let a dog walk all over you. You've got to show them who's boss, put them in their place. Once you show them that, then you can teach whatever you want, but you can't have control if you don't even believe in yourself…”

“When I was younger Ma would sing me a song about a little boy and his dog. Maybe that's all I wish to be… someone's special boy.”

“Such a good girl, Sasha, you know how to make me proud.”

“Go on, girl, go sniff those mutts out so I can teach them a lesson in obedience.”

“No girl, go get them! Not me!”

“Now don’t stray too far, girl, can’t let them get the drop on us now…”

“Maybe we can make a new friend to play with, you’d like that, wouldn’t you, girl?”

“Pa never did like me doing my own thing, had to be just like him…to hell with that.”

“Just a stud trying to find a dam, too bad all thats here is bitches, not even worth being filled up.”

“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but not chains and collars..heh.”

Spotted Incapacitated Reagent

“Look at you, submitting to me…”

“Now, see what happens when you run around without paying attention.”

“Need me to lick your wounds?”

“All bark and no bite, eh?”

“Crawling to me? How cute…”

“I don’t like playing with broken toys…”

Alerted by Noise

“Pulling on my chain.”

“Think I hear something real pretty crying…”

“Sounds like a stray in my backyard.”

“Like a bitch in heat…”

“You hear that, girl? Sounds like a new toy.”

“Tearing up my yard, I’ll show you.”

Alerted on Sight

“I thought I heard whimpering.”

“Look at you, just begging for it.”

“Why, you look like something really fun to play with…”

“You wanna pet my dog, your guess on which one I’m talking about.”

“Sasha, Geh und hol es dir!”

“There’s the rascal tearing up my property…”

Prime Time - Mother Gooseberry

“What I’d give to put a litter in her…”

“Ain’t nothing wrong with her, but that damn puppet needs to go.”

“She likes my dog...”

“Now, kids, let's listen to Mommy. You don’t want Daddy to have to step in now, do you?”

“Yeah…brush your teeth or whatever…cavaties are bad…”

Prime Time - Leland Coyle

“Officer sure does have a short fuse, would love to collar him and see what makes him tick…”

“Fuckin pig…I can’t stand his contradicting ass.”

“Touch my dog coyle and I’ll fuck a new hole in you.”

“I think if I could just get my fucking hands on him…I’d show him.”

“Ain’t nothin’ big about him except for that prod.”

Prime Time - Franco Barbi

“Somebody should have put it down a long time ago…look at it suffer.”

“Little man sure does have a bite to him.”

“I wouldn’t trust Sasha alone with him, someone's gonna get hurt…”

“Not even the officer should have a gun, let alone him…”

“Disgusting fuck, no man should want a womans milk like that…but maybe I haven’t tasted it yet…”

[omeletcat]

ALRIGHT So i'm planning on making Luca's attacks soon, well i would be working on them but i hit a road block, i am not rly happy with the old design/vibe of Luca's attacks.

These are Luca's old attacks in their old design! as you can see the animations aren't very good, and neither is the art, since then i have improved a LOT when it comes to pixel art and now i am going to remake these attacks to add to my game, i need to redo the animations in the new palette and with the new design!

BUT that is kinda hard.. since i want their attacks to look.. good you know? and that old boring slash is kinda boring, so i want to add more!!

So my first attempt to make the vfx better was to make it more round? and have little twirly lines, but that.. looks weird, it doesn't give off the right vibe.

i'm rly struggling rn cause i don't know what i want maybe i should go the same route as i did with Rae's attacks!

For example here is Rae's original Parry attack! and i changed that attack to be a combo of 3 different animations/attacks that do more damage each time!

its obvious that the right image is WAY better in quality and colors and.. everything, but that attack was a sword slice, no Magicy things yet.. and Luca uses more magic.

Luca's attacks are: 1 --- A long range attack the animation has to be some sort of slice, because if i don't and i make it like a punch or smth, it would look rly weird if the player aims anywhere that isn't exactly the same direction as the punch. that is why the old version was a slice and why the new version probably will be too.

originally the projectile that got shot was a fist, because i like the spell mage hand in D&D and thought it would just be a cool magic thing they can do, but maybe i should change that as well.

2 --- A gravity punch, basically Luca just does a punch and circles will appear that make the enemies shoot away, if they hit a wall while being thrown away, they take damage!

And besides attacks Luca can also dash, pushing themself forward with the gravity rings! i am also unsure how i want this to look.

I basically need to decide on a general vibe for Luca's magic!

if you have any idea's tips or comments pls share!! any kind of help is insanely appreciated!!!!

[superthatguy62]

Commissions Checklist: Oops, All Ingus Edition

This year was the first year that I was in a position to have commissions done. With all my various interests, particularly niche ones, it's no wonder that I have many ideas planned.

However, I ended up accidentally all of them about my, as the kids these days call their favorite characters, "blorbo" Ingus from Final Fantasy III.

So, I'll show off all of the commissions I had done this year, all of the lovely people who made them and who you, in-turn, should look into if you're interested and maybe some ideas for the future, although considering how far and between my tastes are, I feel the overlap in my interests shared with my audience is tiny.

Either way:

This first piece, and my first commission overall, is by N0nsenseMob on The App Formally Known As Twitter:

I like to portray Onion Knight and Ingus as foils or parallels and this piece is one of those times, having a light and dark theme.

Onion Knight in this piece is wielding the Will of Light from Dissidia Final Fantasy: Opera Omnia. The sword is designed to be evocative of the Warrior of Light's Braveheart for reasons I refuse to go into but will implicate by mentioning that it is Onion Knight's FR weapon. And the Warrior of Light is based heavily on the Warrior/Knight job(s) so...

Ingus wields the Masamune from the Final Fantasy III remake. It was between that and the Murakumo (the black and red blade), but the former one out because A. the Murakumo is the Ninja's mastery item while the Masamune is a Eureka weapon and can be wielded by both Ninjas and Dark Knights and B. The purple compliments the darkness aspect nicely.

The next piece, or rather set of pieces, is from JenCommissions, via the aforementioned app, though she's more active these days on the Butterfly app. She does Dissidia Opera Omnia art by using characters on the roster as a base. Considering the sheer amount of characters OO had, there's good mileage to be gained.

The characters this time are Ingus as well as Nacht from Final Fantasy Dimensions.

(In hindsight, I should've swapped their character bases, that's on me.)

If you've been reading my posts on here, you can probably guess why these two specifically, but if you haven't: Unused text in the FF3 remake heavily implies that Ingus was once born in the Dark Knight village of Falgabard (In case it isn't becoming clear yet, Ingus and Darkness are going to be a recurring theme in these images). Final Fantasy Dimensions includes numerous references to past games, particularly the Nintendo-era stuff. Nacht is a Warrior of Darkness (more FFV dual worlds than FF3, if you catch my drift) and he's a serious-minded youth who turns out to be the son of a Dark Knight from a particular castle. Guess what that castle's named!

Ingus wields the Tyfring: In Famicom FF3, it was one of two swords that Red Mages could wield and because a certain someone already had the Wightslayer, I went with that. Nacht is wielding Graham's Sword. I won't go into details, partially because I have yet to sit down and actually play Dimensions and partially because the reason for Nacht having that sword is particularly spoilery, but needless to say, there is a reason why I picked that sword.

In my hypothetical Dissidia chapter, The Emperor finds Nacht and decides that he would make a decent minion. He attacks and steals Graham's Sword and lures Nacht into a cave. Said cave turns out to be a recreation of the Cave of Shadows, where Ingus just so happens to be. The two meet with a third party (a certain Dark Knight whose name has the initials G.G.) who claims he has been hired to protect them while they make their way out of the cave. Meanwhile, the main group enters the cave for plot related reasons and they soon figure out that something is amiss. Complicating matters even further is that Princess Sara is in the Cave, but it's the Sara from Onion Knight's timeline. She travels with the trio for a time, but when a splinter of the group led by Onion Knight finds them and Sara recognizes him, Ingus awkwardly lets her go and refocuses on Nacht's mission. (In this hypothetical, Luneth, Arc and Refia are already in the group and promptly freak out when they realize that Ingus is nearby) Meanwhile Ramza learns of his former mentor's presence and is suspicious of who he could be working for. Things come to a head and then part two of the chapter sees the group storming a replica of Castle Falgabard.

My Dissidia fanfic aside, I feel there's enough similarities or thematic elements (of course an FF3 character, from a game that introduced the concept of the Warriors of Darkness, would get an FR with a Warrior of Darkness) for it to function beyond just a cheeky nod to an unused scene that may or may not be canon.

This next one should be familiar. @CaramelHero did this one, which I'd call Scarlet Delirium (The joke is it's a Dark Knight skill in FFXI)

Turns out, pumping yourself full of the world's negative energy greatly empowers your shadow. Who knew?

In all seriousness, the inspiration for this one was Granblue Fantasy's "Alter Ego Conjurer" skin. The short of it is that the Captain is taunted by Man With Overwhelming Horny Energy into empowering several weapons. He/She does and promptly loses his/her mind in the process, but just narrowly pulls him/herself back from the brink.

Oh, and their body is being puppeted by this thing.

Or maybe they turned into that thing to puppet their body, I dunno.

Beyond just "Alter Ego neat", my other inspiration was a fanfic crossover idea I had. Let's just say that Ingus' descent into... (madness? Sure let's go with that.) isn't entirely natural.

The sword Ingus is wielding is the Ragnarok. Technically speaking, it is a Dark sword and with a name like that and being locked up in Eureka... yeah. The design itself takes influence from FFXI's iteration of the sword, which is on-brand for the FFIII remake.

The Dark energy on the sword is influenced by the Jamba Hearts from Kirby Star Allies. Considering what those hearts do and are implied to be, it's fitting.

And last but most certainly not least is HELD on VGen. One of the types of commission he specializes in is gatcha-esque splash art. Which is why the end result came out like this:

The quality speaks for itself.

As much as I've been channeling that parallel reality where the Falgabard-related scenes made the cut, Ingus is still a soldier of Sasune. And one of the things I had wanted to see was Ingus in a variation of the Sasune outfit worn by the soldiers in the 2D versions and the manga.

Hence, this.

Of course, it isn't a 1:1 recreation. We hashed out some details and tweaks, which should be clear by comparing the images. Even the background holds a nod to III's royalty.

Ingus in this one is wielding the Wightslayer: He's wearing a Sasune outfit, so it's only natural that he wield the Sasune blade. The sword itself is a combination of it's artwork and the equipment sprite for it in Brave Exvius (itself taking cues from the in-game versions of it). HELD did invent a scabbard for it though, which is a nice touch.

The last in this gallery is a bit different. It's not a picture, but a music track.

Threads of Oblivion by Desolo "The Grand Sunset/Contra Void" Zantas. Desolo occasionally does "30 for 30" commissions: $30 dollars for one of 30 slots for a music commission. I bit the bullet and went for it.

I decided to ask for a "The 13th Reflection" style for this (as mentioned prior, the AU that Freyr/Ingus' alter ego was inspired by isn't strictly FF3-related) and it came out very nicely. Desolo even made it so that it naturally loops.

And that about sums up my commissions for the year. Hopeful next year Hopefully, I'll be in a position to do some more next year. While obviously, Ingus and FF3 in general will be things I'm considering (yes, I have somehow not exhausted all of my ideas with this Red Mage/Dark Knight bastard), but I'll try to branch out into my other interests (If FF3 art is hard to come across, then Evolution is once in a blue moon).

Once again, big thanks to the artists I've commissioned. They've all done exceptional work and were wonderful to work with.