#oh and this isnt just about the crop tops its kind of also about how theyre changing up her aesthetic

[calcium-chan]

DRAWMEGLE DUMP FROM LIKEFORVER AGO

drawmegle was this weird little website that was like omegle, except for drawing and nominally fewer nazis?? tho at launch that was a bit of an issue lol (idk the creator went on vacation right after advertising or something? oops). i got sucked into it for like a day or two and ended up drawing a bunch of stuff. ive lost some of it because there was this weird glitch that just deleted my drawings before i could save them or anything. OH WELL. thats also the reason some of these are slightly unfinished. im also going to be cropping most of these to just my side, exceptions where its funny, or the other persons art was nice or whatever. just know that these almost all had people on the other side who were also drawing their own thing. also of note, i wont be posting these in order of creation, its mostly arbitrary tbh

this first one is of haru from dorohedodo. i had just finished reading the manga about a month or so prior, and i really loved this character a lot. disregard the amogus or whatever. dorohedoro is really cool and its really special to me now. not a fan of the anime adaption but what the fuck else is new (im sorry if you like the anime, i just didnt like the style very much). Q hayashida is brilliant, and she clearly just really loves women like a lot, thank you miss Q!

next is this silly drawing of knives chau. scott pilgrim takes off had just aired, and i was slightly enamored with knives for a bit, i kin the scott pilgrim girl fucking sue me. i also drew kim, but the drawing deleted and this was the last save i had WAHOOOOOO its so fucking over. scott pilgrim takes off was obviously really really good in my opinion, and its like the perfect way to adapt an original work in my mind. uh shout outs knives or whatever.

oops shitty cowboy bebop drawing. i like this one well enough for how goofy it is. jets fucking face still kinda gets me. i love bebop a ton, but i dont think ive ever drawn the characters despite that. theyre actually a ton of fun to draw, like their shapes are all super varied and they have distinct style about them. very good cast of characters. i didnt even realize or mean to, but i kinda gave spike a fucking granny face, oops

uuuuhthese pissing dogs are really funny, they were fun to draw, and seeing peoples reactions to this one in particular was cool. having even a little bit of ability to draw on sites like this where randos are looking at your work as youre drawing it is always kind of an ego boost. like none of these drawings are really that great, but for the medium im happy with them, and having people show up and go "woah" was always really flattering and it was fun watching the other people draw and interacting with them in some limited capacity.

ggggundam bullshit. i left the other persons side this time because i thought it was kinda funny. i had been rewatching the early part of turn A gundam, and it really reminded me how fucking cool that series is? loran is like top 10 gender non conforming mech pilots (there are a surprising amount honestly). and it always kinda takes me off guard when i watch any gundam because they were just so forward thinking in a nominally "boy" coded genre. shoutouts the fucking gundam staff frfr.

@oretal joined me for these next two!

a lot of the shit in the second drawing is probably totally incomprehensible to like anyone outside of a select group. were both have that like, 3ds era nintendo brain parasite, so a lot of these are just weird obscure game characters or memes, or just straight up OCs. most of these are actually oretals little characters which have kind of entered that inside joke canon of being so ubiquitous between the two of us (and honestly i assume oretals friend group at large) that i kinda forget "glasses girl" isnt a well known character. many such cases. thank you oretal for drawing silly shit with me! i really like your drawing of james and your madotsuki yapping about blunt rotations to uboa. very cool

uuuh quick fire round of stuff i dont like how i drew but want to post anyways. the first one is my irl husband, aki from chainsaw man. i love him a lot, kinda hate this drawing tho, i think it was the first one i did? the second one is basil from omori, im a big fan of little blorbos who peep the horror, and basil is no exception. my friend got me the little vinyl figure of him for my birthday so i end up thinking about him a lot and i doodle him every now and then. very good design. the last one is kiruko from heavenly delusion. i did not have much hype going into the show after my middling feelings on summertime rendering (they were both in the news for being on disney+ for absolutely no reason). i dont remember what got me to watch it, but by the time episode 2 ended i was stuck in big time. i ended up binging the whole series in like one night and it was such a good time. the prototypical calcium show is probably somewhere between heavenly delusion and made in abyss. its a rough watch at times, but if you have this specific brainrot, its probably one of the best in its league tbh.

second to last is this drawing of vriska homestuck. i kept the other side because it was really pretty. im genuinely quite pleased witht his drawing, its not perfect but for what it is i find it visually appealing enough to like it. vriskas design is probably the best in homestuck, at least to me. its been a long time since ive read through homestuck proper, but something about these little shits sticks with you pretty much forever. actual fucking deadly brain parasites you get from dunking your head underwater in an infested pool, dead within days.

OOPS ALL KUMI CHAN! it had to be alien nine, it could only be alien nine. i love alien nine more than i love any of my blood relatives. kumi is literally me, i love this stupid fucking series so much you have no idea.

[istherewifiinhell]

in which the elephant in the room is not the dinosaurs but Renet and her... design

[Mirage, tales of ...7 Story and Layouts: Laird, Pencils: Jim Lawson, Inks: Ryan Brown, Letters: Steve Lavigne, Toning assistance: Steve Bissette and Eric Talbot]

[ID: Cropped panel of Don kneeling down on small cliffs edge to look at a triceratops. He waves and says "Hi, big fella!" END ID]

But first. In all its -why isnt there higher defs scans of this- Glory. Fashion turtles + April, Museum outfits fits!!!

[All panels of April, Don, and another turtle at a museum exhibit about dinosaurs. The turtles and April all have their skin in the mid tone. April is wearing big earrings, a chunky turtleneck cinched with a belt, tight pants and ankle boots. Don has a hat, trench coat, scarf, and dark colour pants and shoes. The other turtle also wears a chunky turtleneck, hat, waist length jacket, and light colour pants and shoes.]

[ID from alt: Full body shot of all three, Don faces away looking at a display, April and the other turtle walking past it. The turtle looks forward, hands in his pockets. April has one hand behind the turtle, and shes glancing in the direction of the display.]

[ID from alt: Head leave shots of all three. Other turtle saying "Yeah... I hate crowds, too!" and Don says "Let's just not forget to hit the gift shop on our way out!" END]

omg their just like me fr.

[ID from alt: Vertical panel, April looking concerned "Don-- Didn't you tell me this... guy was banished forever to a prehistoric era?" Don, teeth grit, hat shadowing his eyes says "That's right, April... And how he's come back, I have no idea!" END]

Okay but what about the dinosaurs. Time travel. Time Travel? yeah.

[ID: 1. Mikey arguing with Renet. Renet is a woman in a bizarre cowl headdress with digital clocks on the top and either side. Her unitard has smaller ones. She's been drawn with a very large chest. She looks confused and says "Huh?". Mikey is scowling, saying "For that matter, why should we go back? We're here now-- So obviously the crisis was averted somehow. It wouldn't matter if we went back or not!"

2. Three beat panels. Renet drawn with a simplified expression of confusion with little dot eyes. It almost looks like shes looking to the viewer, then Mikey then back to the viewer. Mikey faces her, until the last panel where he turns around, also almost addressing the audience saying "Oh, forget it..." END

Cant help but think they purposely had a voice piece for the time travel plot critics in there. ANYWAY.

ID from alt: Croped panel of the turtles in the past, Raph has hit is head, kneeling, stars over his head, saying "OW" . Mike leans down, hands reaching for Raph saying "You okay Raph?" Don is peaking out from behind the cropped figure of Renet, shocked expression on his face. END

[ID from alt: Raph dangling from a structure made of bones, hes hooked is sai on one, and hold onto the bussiness end of the weapon. Don is leaning down from the top, lowing his bo to Raph "Hold tight Raph..." Raph replies "Like chrome to a trailer hitch, pal!" END]

^The way this just feels like 87 to me.

Yeah well anyway they did get stuck in the past for 3 months.

[ID from alt: Mike, wearing some kind of animal pelt, cutting into a bone fish bigger than he is. He grimaces "Ugh... I hate this part, fish guts-- Yecchh! Another turtle off to the side watching this and smiling. "But you do it so well, Mike!" END]

^def had this kinda exchange with a sib

[ID from alt: Two panels. Wide of all turtles plus Renet, all wearing animal pelts clothes. Renet's is of course drawn hugging her curves. One turtle, shocked "The spectre!!!" Mike holding the sceptre, which is dripping something fluids, "This fish must have swallowed it." Another turtle smiling, "What a coinkidink!" Renet waves both hands in excitement "Ohh awesome now we can go home." The last turtles says "Yeah but not right away..."

Everyone drawn small reacting in confusion. Mike "Huh?" Other turtle explains himself "Well we can't let all this fish go to waste, can we?" END]

^hey anyway in the 03 version mikey was given that line and they all go Oh you. but in this they really do have one last meal about it. tho also the emphasise less the um. waiting for the metor to hit dread. oh 03 angst <3.

[nadjadoll]

🌸

[samdyke]

top 5 scenes/episodes/arcs that deserved horriblebreakdownnatural go!

OKAY MICKEY I DID THINK ABT THIS A LOT and these are Not in any particular order but i have thoughts SO (below the cut bc its long)

1. sometime in s2 (after having met max for sure like seeing his powers be used for something violent & learning he also has psychokinetic abilities) sam shouldve had a full meltdown about his powers this is a PRIVATE MELTDOWN he goes to the woods or smth in the middle of the night and just loses it. full screaming at the sky “what the FUCK is HAPPENING TO ME” yes his psychic abilities would act up during this display and he would cause like. a crop circle or knock over trees and that would freak him out even more so hes like crying and trying to calm down because he’s terrified of what will happen if he Doesnt calm himself down. there’s a lot of choking down tears here because he just wants to be fucking normal, he tried so hard, and he has no idea what the hell is inside of him. he slips back into the motel before sunrise and dean never finds out about this one. like this post was Correct

2. okay this is SIMILAR but not the same hear me out. PRE swan song, as in the night between dean agreeing that sam can say yes and try to fling himself into the pit and it actually happening, sam shouldve been able to fully lose it. because holy fuck???? what the goddamn fuck is this? this breakdown potentially all happens at bobby’s house once again alone - he goes out to the scrapyard and looks up at the sky and prays to god to help him, asks why this is happening to him, why god wont do anything. please. please. there is, of course, no answer. this is sam’s last night as sam, and if things go well he’ll spend the rest of eternity locked in hell with lucifer; i think he’s entitled to a little screaming and crying and desperation

3. i gotta say like. fitz was right on the money with a post soul-fixed sam dean having a complete and utter meltdown like this. its just like......sam couldnt process for so long and dean was absolutely repressing everything for the year he lived with lisa and ben and to truthfully recognize what sam went through and everything.....horriblebreakdownatural MUST include both of them having a very late night hazy crying fit because once DEAN starts crying about how he never shouldve done it he shouldve said yes to michael or found another way sammy oh god you were so good im ao sorry you did it but i shouldve protected you i shouldve protected you then sam would also cry i think. they need this. its catharsis

4. i personally think dean should have had a breakdown after learning that mary was a hunter. not then and there in the past because goddamn no time (hah), but there’s no fucking way he would’ve been able to cope with thee mother mary, angelic perfect figment of comfort and home, the pure martyr for whom his entire life was ruined, was actually. a killer. a hunter. and she hated it. i think maybe he would be telling sam about it and it would hit suddenly and he would just feel sick, this is the kind of breakdown where you’re throwing up bile and you cant catch your breath and maybe youre crying?? but thats not the point its the absolute crushing weight and sickness when you learn that someyhing in your life has irrevocably changed in the worst way

5. cry harder repression boy: i want that tearful horrible painful breakdown from dean that we were all waiting for after despair. when he processes what cas said? and what that MEANS? oh i wanted the full breakdown here. this isnt something he can drink away because cas is fucking DEAD and cas loved him, he’s deaf Because he loved dean, like. i think that it would be jack asking where cas was that would actually seal this particular breakdown deal and dean would have to flee to go privately lose his shit which is of course not that private. think a prayer like purgatory 2.0 but 20x more desperate, which turns into threatening chuck because rage is the natural companion to grief

honorable mentions: sam after expelling gadreel (this would be horrible. imagining sam sobbing about killing kevin is genuinely making me ill), dean after leaving cas in purgatory (a prayer that turns to desperate painful screaming at the sky which sam hears but they never talk about), dean after getting cas BACK from purgatory (to cas), sam learning that he’s lucifer’s true vessel, at some point i think dean or sam shouldve had a car meltdown (u know screaming at the top of your lungs while barelling down the highway, crying, lots of obscenities).....theres def more but these simply came to mind. feel free to share w me your epic horriblebreakdownatural moment suggestions

[lilvirgoprince]

Robin, Aqualad and Artemis redesign from the Young Justice animated series! Im thinking about doing all of them also Artemis and Robin are a little messier bc I did them a couple months ago when I just finished my rewatch. Notes about each under the cut! 

Robin:  - first choice: I got rid of the toe shoes, Im sorry who thought it was a good idea to give him toe shoes?? I have him with shoes that elude more to an acrobat  - thats a general note too: I tried to keep the elements that felt acrobat-y and also the more “boyish” elements- like the short sleeves those are cute - overall the original look I didnt feel I needed to change much? I just wanted to make it look more sleek? I love the clunky gloves in the original though! also the cape!!   - weird choice but I removed the little R which didnt really have much purpose other then making things less crowded but I could probably put it back   - Im trans so I say hes trans, there isnt much I changed for that except I figured I’d shift to be an outfit that would make the body more masculine? basically thinking about what I think when Im getting dressed   - idk I also made the cape “sharper” or gave it more of a distinct cape? this is in part to contrast my Miss Martian redesign but also to allude to the bat of course    - his gloves still have the same function as they did before with being able to project his little screen thing bc that was cool!   - I gave him messier hair then I would’ve otherwise to give that contrast between Robin- Robin out of unifrom- and Dick Grayson (I have a Masks ttrpg character that is a Janus so that was just on my mind)   - gotta keep the mischievous grin (peter pan ass looking motherfucker) and the domino mask!  Aqualad:  - did yall know that electric eels dont have gills! yeah thought in his original design he is kind of supposed to have an eel vibe to it? I tried to lean into that more (also for eel facts I was like rapidly texting my roommate whose majoring in Ocean Science about how confusing and strange they are, he was helpful lol) - the eel shifts can be seen in the way I made his look more “stripe-y” (with the chest part) and adding in the blue to contrast  - he didnt have a mask before and I get that isnt too important but I thought giving him like a “paint” mask might be fun and look cool, SPEAKING OF PAINT... - with the eel choice I decided that it might be cool for his arm marking to be like electroconducive paint or whatever idk Im majoring in ecology not majoring in engineering or physics (im also looking at his original design and feeling like a dumbass for him no longer having eels on his hands :’()  - im mlm and so I think he should be mlm from the start, just a cool older gay for robin to look up too, that isnt important to his design but I think its important in my heart - I gave him shoes, I took on seminar on parasitology this semester and his bare feet just make me so worried about him getting an infection- they are shoes for swimming though! (or he can just pop them off if he wants to use his... toe fins- hes running around on land though he needs shoes)  - w/ the hair I get his atlantian but I know that giving a darker skinned character light eyes and hair to imply “magic” or whatever isn’t a great trope so I wanted to give him a different hair style but I also thought the idea that he bleached them just cause he wanted to might be cool. He also has brown eyes (whoops noticing I left the rest of the eye blue though)   - he gets little earrings  - I didnt like that he has the U shape as like a little belt so I decided to encorporate it into the rest of the outfit- his look is also based off a wet suit!!  - trying to think if Im forgetting anything.... OH I gave him a swimmers body too!! so broader shoulders from swimming!!  Artemis:  - like Aqualad she bleaches her hair too, I like to think she does it in like a rebellious teen way? idk maybe her and Aqualad can bond by them doing it together  - I took away the completely low wasted pants... idk they just felt a little weird if that makes sense...   - I also made her top more of a sports bra, then instead of just slapping and arrow on there I made it apart of the top  - her old mask lowkey felt strange to me??? I was talking w a friend and she pointed at that it feels like a cheesy bank robber mask? (like ski cap with holes) which maybe was intentional to like... ellude to her family and that “untrustwothy”ness??? idk I decided to make it cover her mouth instead to lean into that- it also connected to how both Cheshire and Sportsmaster have full face masks (I havent finished my KF and SB redesign but I dont think theyll have masks that cover the mouths so it singles her out)  - also the part of her mask that pulls her hair back is now like traditional art of the Goddess Artemis which I feel was under utilized in her original design? thats also why I gave her a cool braid instead of a pony tail! (I also feel like its a little more practical idk does it make her seem horse girl-ish)- I also made her boots distantly resemble thoughs  -shes also trans, bc like Robin I say she is- also it’d be funny for her and robin to bond over being “the team non-metahumans, who are both trans and both love Wally West”   - On that note thought I tried to make her look different from Robin and I also gave her nice abs bc she has cropped clothing which nicely show it off  - body type wise shes a little lean and lanky  - I got rid of her weird belt replacing it with a belt that repeats the overall triangle/arrow motif repeating throughout her fit    - gloves function as those little arm guard things you have if you are doing archery- I tried to make those look more functioning also cooler bc they kind of just gave me a strange vibe in the original  I think thats all I have! idk I feel like this might flop but TBH Im having alot of fun w it and Ive been talking to an old friend whose watching it for the first time which makes me really happy! Also these arent to say the original designs are bad I just wanted to take my own crack at reworking them!- OH wait- heres my height chart for these three, Aqualad and Artemis are the same height around 5′10″-6′0″ and robin is around 5′3″-5′5″ he was originally taller then I looked at my line up and was like “shoot everyone is too tall” so I adjusted him so I could bump down Meghan, Wally, and Zantanna a little without making everyone too short (if that makes sense) 

[blackribbonofficialheadcanons]

Things I'm a sucker for:

Irkens with long anttena

Irken purrs and clicks

NB people in crop tops

Glitter and Holographic shit

Teef

Zim+Gir bonding/mimicry/cuteness

Zim can sing (🎸 and Broadway) and singing isnt a thing in space like it is on Earth. So Zim discovers that he really likes singing, loudly, and he sings well so its positive attention. And he sings infront of aliens or irkens for the first time and everyone is FLOORED. Its so pretty and captivating and emotional. Wait. Irkens have emotions?!

Zim and Dib being hella pissed and protective of each other.

Zim and Dib team up and they're so good at reading each other that they're just this unstoppable balanced force.

Irkens intimidated by feral space orc Dib. (Dib is a carbon/water based lifeform who is unaffected by normal weapons and is mildly toxic) (feral science passionate cryptid Dib)

Friendly banter and insults mixed in with compliments about tech or ideas. (Pilot Zim complementing Dibs food canon, Dib fawning over irken tech)(each absolutly BEAMING in the praise)

DOMESTIC ZIM

Waking up really comfy only to find out their laying on top of the other(who's cool w/ it) and panics cause "shit shit shit, i was purring/snuggling/saying nice things cause i thout i was dreaming!!!"

Smaller irkens being sassy, shy, rebellious, eager and happy. Smallers!

Thinking being in love is a sickness. (Actually being sick)(or finding out its just anxiety)

Bitter Navagators

Humans ability to mimic sounds. (Dib getting hella drunk and going "hee hee hee,hey Zim check out what I can do...") Dib mimicking Zims purr only for Zim to freak out and fluster because "Humans don't purr?!! How?" "Oh humans can mimic the sounds of other creatures."  "Why? What's the purpose?"  "Its how we used to lure stronger, faster creatures into traps so we could kill and eat them."  "...oh"

Bonus Points for mimicry if Dib waits till they're chilling and purrs, causing Zim to respond in kind instinctively. Zim is mortified that he cant seem to control it and Dib will do it around friends, outing him for the big softy he is. He hates it. Also gets super flustered cause he instinctively likes the sound of Dibs purr even if its false, cause its still Dib.

Tall Gaz.

MEMBRANE HEIGHT GAZ.

Not just game savy but tech/robotic savy Gaz.

[genderfluidkevinday]

genderfluid kevin day headcanons bc i can do what i want and also i have the perfect url to spread my “please representation” propaganda. 

“how did you know?”

because in the quiet of nights when kevin is supposed to be asleep but he cant, not really, when his heart is still pounding from practice and every breath riko makes him terrified of being caught, he reads what he stole from the public library and it says sometimes people do not fit into the gender they were assigned and

because by sneaking searches on the internet when he can, kevin finds words. dangerous, un-raven-like words for how to love someone and how to be yourself. he finds words that mean you are not alone. 

because he wakes up one day and demands to be the queen of exy, to be seen as what he is. the best. more powerful than the king. (not entirely cisgender?)

because it feels right. 

because in the quiet between exy and family, kevin day has the time and the love to have the quiet understanding that this is who kevin day is. 

it’s kinda a shitty realization process to go through- kevin starts questioning in the ravens, then immediately goes “No TM !” and internalizes all those feelings 

kevin internalizes All the feelings, always ! compartmentalizing!

bisexuality? put it in a box!

gender identity? put it in a box!

feeling crushing inferiority? put it in a box!

mom died tragically? put it in a box!

ur dad isnt here? put it-

jesus fuck these headcanons were supposed to be happy and it got SO derailed 2 points in

anyways 

post canon, kevin starts to become more comfortable w every aspect of himself, and finally takes the time to have a gender crisis

and then, immediately, decides it was all ridiculous and he was actually a cisgender all along !

he does the dumb thing i did. which is spend about a month going “lmao i’m cis but i wish i wasn’t, i don’t need a gender!” while badly ignoring his gender crisis

it’s renee who finally helps kevin out a little

kevin, dumbass: pfft, gender is stupid, but i’m cis so whatever! renee, nb lesbian icon: are you sure? kevin, having a crisis:

renee actually sends kevin a bunch of links to pages that have lots of words, and “what gender are you” quizes, and dumb memes about being trans/nonbinary and it shouldn’t help as much as it does. 

renee is the first person kevin quietly texts at like, 2 am, and goes, “uh, can you use they, i think?”

her response is, obviously, “of course!”

so they’re like, pretty sure they’re not cis, but they bounce around labels for about a week before they end up settling on genderfluid. 

sometimes kevin day is a boy, with loud opinions and soft hands. sometimes kevin day is a girl, with messy hair and a bright smile. sometimes kevin day is neither, with clumsy limbs and determined eyes

(however- kevin day can always outclass any striker on a court.) 

it just feels right, in a way nothing else did. 

theyre like,,, super nervous about coming out, like, they can’t even come up with the courage to tell their dad they’re bi, how the fuck are they gonna end up telling anyone else? solution! don’t.

except kevin is becoming more comfortable with every aspect of themself, and being casually bisexual around the foxes (nicky makes one too many jokes about kevin’s “”hetero guy crush”” on jeremy and they end up snapping “bitch i’m bi there’s nothing hetero about it.” and nicky is immediately like !!!!!!!!!!!!!) (but thats another post)

so kevin, with the growing comfort that yes, you can be non-heterosexual and non-cisgender and still be fucking amazing at exy, they start to come out

it’s a slow process because when they tried to do it all at once, they got tongue tied and just walked away without saying anything. so they end up doing it individually. 

allison first (because renee can be there and give support AND bc allison is also A Trans), and kevin whispers, “so, I’m genderfluid.”

allison, casually: what are your pronouns? kevin: she/her. i’m a girl today. allison, with all the softness of someone who has been there: do you want me to do your makeup? kevin, with all the softness of someone who’s new to this: maybe one day.

after allison is andrew+neil, because they spend so much time together at night practice it’s inevitable it comes up

and by that i mean kevin screams halfway through night practice “THIS IS GENDERFLUIDPHOBIA” because andrew keeps blocking her shots. 

andrew flips her off.

neil asks if thats an actual term.

kevin says to fuck off and keep practicing.

next is wymack. 

oh boy. 

so kevin isn’t even sure how to be a good son- she has no idea how to go about being a good daughter. she has no clue how to be a good child. 

she doesn’t know if wymack even wants that.

but she goes to him after practice and he snaps, “what is it?” in a voice thats maybe a little less gruff than usual

and she says, “i’m genderfluid.”

he stares at her for a while.

she continues, “i’m a girl today, actually, and i just thought you should know.”

wymack asks, “you’ll tell me when it changes, right?”

kevin nods and leaves. 

its a start.

telling jean feels like a really big deal, but in hindsight its about fifteen minutes of bad puns that follow an awkwardly worded coming out. 

kevin: so like... guys right jean: yes? kevin: what if... i wasn’t one jean: are you trying to come out to me? kevin: is it working?

the rest of the monsters follows after that- aaron obviously doesnt understand, but he doesnt say anything rude. (he looks into it later). nicky, immediately, takes a supportive role.

nicky: I’M GONNA STAPLE A GENDERFLUID FLAG TO MY FACE THATS HOW MUCH I SUPPORT YOU kevin, softly: please don’t how would you play exy.

matt and dan get a less official coming out, because kevin isn’t sure how to be friends with them at all. but they manage a “so, i’m not a guy, actually, i’m genderfluid, and right now i don’t have a gender.”

dan gives them a set of pronoun bracelets for their birthday and matt gives them a book about the history of the nonbinary community and yeah, maybe this is how to be friends.

the baby foxes don’t get to find out. kevin doesn’t trust them as much, and isn’t ready to be... out out. 

kevin has absolutely no desire to change their name, at all.

kevin: why would i change my name i’m an ICON.

WAIT i lied,,, they change their middle name to kayleigh. 

the first time kevin gets invited to a girls night, she cries

its a surprise, which is hard to plan- girls nights are always on tuesdays, so they have to wait for a tuesday where kevin is free and feels like a girl

renee casually mentions that they have a history book that kevin might like, so she should come pick it up

and then in the dorm, dan and allison are setting up a movie and popcorn and renee is getting her nails painted. dan waves kevin over and tells her to pick a movie, allison tells her to pick out a nail polish, and renee actually does have a history book for her.

kevin finally accepts a make over from allison. 

she cries like five times that night and tries to brush it off as nothing but... kevin can finally exist in a space, and feel welcome, and also feel... wanted.

it’s a good feeling

kevin, wearing a crop top with the genderfluid flag on it, painting renee’s nails as they watch the trojans game: lmao can you imagine thinking i was cis? what was i thinking? i was so dumb lol.  renee, sweetly: no it was a perfectly normal reaction to being raised in a cisnormative society, and i’m very proud of you for figuring out that it wasn’t right for you kevin: dammit renee why do you have to be so kind and supportive just let me make jokes about my moron-ness in PEACE 

kevin day is the fucking QUEEN of exy !!!!!!! she’s better than you and you know it. 

each and every day kevin day hears misogonistic comments towards female exy players and each and every day kevin day wants to scream B I T C H in their face

he wanted to do this even before he figured out he was genderfluid bc kevin day drank respect women juice before realizing he was also drinking sometimes i am women juice

kevin actually 100% hates dresses a lot bc they can never find any that are a good texture and its Sensory Hell, and also you cant play exy in them?? what the fuck??? 

they end up liking crop tops and short shorts, and a few kinds of makeup, but skirts and dresses are dumb and itchy actually 

kevin goes on an impassioned rant about this at LEAST once a month

you know that really good feeling when you wake up one day and you realize you’re happier knowing who you are and maybe it’s rough and maybe it’s not perfect but you get to know who you are and your friends respect and love you for who you are and you start to realize you love knowing you too????????

yeah.

kevin day is genderfluid and this is my hill to die on thank you and good night

[kinqemperor]

people really need to leave you alone tbh. at this point theyre just looking for any excuse to make you look bad and its annoying :/

Honestly? Im trying my best not to care at all.

The things theyve shown and brought up are all drama/screenshots/convos from almost 2 years ago (with the exception of my no longer existing discourse blog). There are so many cropped and out of context screenshots and oh DEAR the hypocrisy is enormous.

For example, theyre complaining about the fact that I’ve drawn nsfw content when they were the ones YELLING at me to post the images in the nsfw-channel we were ALL in!! Theyre tryna expose me bc I drew shitty suggestive coroika drawings like a year ago when they did it themselves lol. Its funny, but also painful to watch.

The whole OC thing is funny too, idk how to tell them but those are my characters and I can do whatever the hell I want with them. If I want my fictional clown girl to be a murderer who dislikes men due to her backstory then..thats what it is lmao!! They rlly tryna make it look like EVERYTHING I do is problematic its ridiculous.

And lets not forget the awful ass “letter”. I couldnt stop laughing when I read it lol. Never read something so full of lies, guilt-tripping and hypocrisy. The over exaggeration and “playing the poor innocent victim who wanted to love me :(” was the cherry on top tbh.

To the people who have absolutely no clue what actually happened it looks like Im the biggest monster on this planet, and that was the whole point. No matter how often they gonna say “but dont attack them!! :(” the entire point was to make me look bad, and to make strangers whove never talked to me once dislike me.

I am not the person I was 2 years ago, hell Im not even the person I was 5 months ago. But they couldnt know, they keep bringin up shit that happened ages ago. My partner knows, all my friends know, hell even my followers know. And thats all that matters to me. People who have nothing better to do than stalk my social medias, send me hate messages and “expose” their personal issues with me from 2 years ago on Tumblr dont deserve to meet the person I am right now.

I actually thought of making a video to show you what truly happened, and what kind of people they really are. But it isnt worth my time. I have work to do, a partner to love, and friends to care about.

No time for petty people stuck in the past. Move on losers.

[tumblunni]

Hashtag relateable protagonist yo

Gonna give some comments on Red String Of Fate as I play it! You can get the game here and it’s actually free to play. So yeah, even as I criticise parts of it, keep that in mind! Its really great for a free short lil slice of cuteness.

Oh, but the font size is weirdly small for some reason so I’m gonna be mostly doing cropped screenshots so you can see it thru tumblr auto resizing. Also the character sprites are very basic tbh, its like one pic that never changes throughout the game except eyes closed/eyes open and stuff. Like a lot of visual novels dont do much body language but the faces are very awkward here too. But yeah this isn’t a huge criticism cos I mean its free! Its impressive they managed to pull off this much in a quick project! I’ve seen way worse VNs on steam getting huge price tags, so i honestly don’t think this one should have been free, even if I have some complaints about it.

Anyway, onward!

We’re introduced to the premise of the story- that our heroine has the magic power to see red strings that show who your true love is. And by sheer coincidence during an exam she bumps into someone else who has the power! ...aaaand also she has a best friend, I guess. Seriously I feel kinda bad for Aaron, he’s not in on the secret or anything and if you take Luke’s route he’s just like comic relief the whole time. I wish there were more of the scenes where the three of them actually hang out as buddies.

I actually really liked the interesting ideas they had about how the red string could work! It’s just a shame that with the static character sprites you like.. literally never see any red strings at all except on the title screen. i wish I could have seen these cool ideas!

Oh and here’s a full screenshot so you can see the two love interests! Luke is on the left and Aaron is on the right. Luke is the mysterious other guy with the same power, Aaron is the adorable best friend who gets sidelined right away unless you pick his route. Like, I went for Luke route first cos I liked Aaron better and figured doing the best route last would be better than in DDADDS where i left the worst for last. I guess I can just hope that maybe Luke is equally sidelined on the other route? I wish neither of them were, tho, the game is best when they’re all playing off each other as the super besties team! Oh and like lol their personalities are very simple, but again it makes sense for a short free dating sim. And a LOOOOT of big paid dating sims have equally stereotypical roles, so yeah! But anyway just remember that grey guy is Books and yellow guy is Vidyagaems. Everything about them revolves around their hobbies, in that way that doesnt happen outside of basic children’s cartoons. MAN I am being too harsh on this game, lol!

Again, interesting uses of the red string thing! And it also makes Aaron instantly more intriguing than Luke. I mean, just to me ‘hey wow a thing that should be impossible according to my superpower and maybe we can find out the mystery behind it’ is more intriguing than just ‘another guy with power’. Like you at least have a frame of reference on how that plot will generally go, yknow? Also I’m intrigued cos I would have just guessed that a broken string means ‘he’s promiscuous and doesnt want to settle down’ from the context of this scene. But its curious to think that it could mean he had a soulmate once and they DIED??? And like what, does that mean your personality changes when it happens or something? Like is it not his own fault he’s flighty and has a lot of girlfriends, that just happened cos supernaturalness? I DO NOT UNDERSTAND

Okay this is kind of a weird thing. The first scene says they’re all in a philosophy class, but then their group assignment is science? And its just like.. make a presentation about LITERALLY ANYTHING YOU WANT. And for some reason they pick evolution, and think that everyone will pick evolution???? And Aaron says some very basic stuff about Darwin and then protagonist is like ‘I CANT UNDERSTAND THESE COMPLEX SCIENCE TERMS’ like.. literally the word Darwin... Basically, its a good old classic ‘school life as plot point, without showing any of the school life’ setup. We never see any other students or hear the name of the place or get much of an idea about what’s going on. And sadly we don’t even get to see their presentation even though that was a main plot point for 75% of the game! Just timeskip to the end and they’re all like Hey Do You Remember That Thing That We Did Offscreen... ANYWAY, MOVING ON!

A random moment I liked- protag and Luke talking about the stress of this superpower and exchanging tips on coping with it, that kinda seem like a depression or anxiety metaphor.

This is kinda the start of a very weird recurring plot thread for the protagonist.. Like.. she wants to find her soulmate but she REALLY wants to find her soulmate! She obsesses over it really melodramatically as if her life will have no purpose without love, and we hear about how she’s been doing weird self destructive and kinda jerkass things in the name of soulmate searching. Like she’s planned her WHOLE LIFE around it! She’s been working four jobs for years to save up to move to another country she knows nothing about and doesnt speak the language of, just because ‘my soulmate must be far away’. And she’s apparantly dumped everyone who’s ever tried to be in a relationship with her because if they dont have the string they aren’t ~really real love~ Like wow girl I am not sympathising with your perspective, this is really messed up. I hope the game actually brings up some of the problems with this and the ending isnt just finding the soulmate and everything is fine!

Aaron is cutie patoot This is like the most emotiony the sprites ever get, lol!

AARON IS CUTIE PATOOT: PART 2 also you see what I mean about them being strangely defined by their hobbies as personality

????????? That’s a ‘stupid chinese thing’?? Not just a normal thing everyone would do? Which is called maternity leave?? There’s a few weird moments of stuff about china in this VN, and then they like only say at the last minute that the protagonist is half chinese. Like you put the context an hour after the thing that required it...

Randomly I like that they did a splitscreen effect for talking on the phone.

Its conspicuously weird that they have no character portrait for this guy, he gets no dialogue, and he really does nothing in the plot. So it makes you wonder why they even mentioned him?

Also look at protag’s cool bedroom!

Also look at Luke’s cool bedroom! The background design is super good in this game!

WHO DOES THIS??? Its weird that Luke finds it cute and charming when I’d just call her rude and be super embarassed at people ruffling thru my things without asking Anyway he has A Bunch Of Rare First Edition Books and also A Library Room because He Is The Books Man But it is a nice bit of backstory that he got the rare books as a gift from his deceased grandpa. I MOURN YOU ALREADY, MYSTERY GRAMPS

YOU DID WHAT seriously.. what?? you can’t sexualize eating candy, game

AWW! Every now and again they actually do have pretty good chemistry! ‘But I just want to be friends!’ *mumble mumble* ‘we’re friends’ Grumpy shy book man does care!

Though as of this point they haven’t really had much else of chemistry, it all moves very fast and I feel like this scene maybe should have been earlier? Like seriously we go straight from ‘I just met this guy, all I know is that he hates having his superpowers and I love it’ and then they get put on a group project and then Friends Now. The game has a lot of soft timeskips that’re never really indicated, which causes a bit of confusion. There is a bit of nice continuity here tho, cos you get the choice to either keep arguing about the superpowers or drop it and try and just be friends. Either way the game follows the same conclusions, but you get a lil bonus bit of dialogue mentioning how things were super tense for a while but eventually you became friends anyway thanks to the group project.

This Scene Is Weird Apparantly one of protag’s billion jobs is at a library, and she sees Luke checking out books and makes fun of him? And like from this response I thought he was checking out lesbian porno or something but apparantly he was just checking out poetry? What the hell is wrong with a LITERATURE STUDENT checking out poetry?? When did poetry become a no men thing, was it around the time it was a male dominated field, like novels? >_> And its all kinda pointless cos she ends up being perfectly nice to him about the poetry later and even talks about how she likes poetry too, so wow hypocrite much

There is a nice dialogue choice tho, the two of them talk about a poem and the different interpretations of it, and you get to choose which you prefer as the player. Luke prefers if you agree that the satirical interpretation is better, cos apparantly he Hates Love And Such Which leads us into...

...what. Seriously this game is so weirdly melodramatic about love, even for a visual novel! the whole main conflict of the protagonist is about ‘wah what if i never fall in love, my life would have no meaning’ and also dumping everyone no matter how much you like them cos ~magical destiny is the only real one~ and now we’re like OH GOD WHAT A TRAGEDY THE ONLY REASON SOMEONE COULD WANT TO BE SINGLE IS BECAUSE A DEEP TRAUMA MADE THEM STOP BELIEVING IN LOVE like seriously dude just has a mild amount of skepticism towards overly cheesy romance novel depictions of love, thats like a minor and super common difference of opinion, not a deep plot twist

...seriously? ‘you cant read books unless you read books about love’ like yo i wouldnt even say books are remotely near the top ten most sex-obsessed mediums of all time. music and film are way worse!

Again weird comments about china. Is this really a thing that happens? High class chinese people visit chinese restaurants more often than poor white people? Like, I dunno, I just feel like uninformed white folks who undervalue the work that goes into making foreign food and reduce its reputation to takeaway-only are SLIGHTLY the majority of customers you’d get...

Again, melodrama. Not much has actually happened yet except we met the two boys, we got put in a study group together, and we chose to study with Luke instead of party with Aaron. But like interspersed is a whole bunch of Drama that feels a bit forced, with the lack of real situations causing it. like here she’s just walking through the park and wants to cry because she.... sees that straight people exist. Me too, lol. no but really she just sees that One Other Couple Exists In The World and she starts wanting to cry in the middle of the park and like.. the only thing keeping you from dating someone is your obsessive belief that they cant be your real love if they dont have this magical signal of destiny. And then she just reiterates her crazy ass plan to drop her studies and fly off on a world tour to test her string against every other human on earth and find her soulmate...

SEE THE SCENES OF THEM BEING BESTIES ARE AWESOME I’m way less invested in this love triangle and more invested in them just succeeding in their group project!

NO, I REALLY WISH I COULD HAVE seriously we dont see ANY of the group project, it just timeskips to them celebrating their victory. and this means we dont get to see many scenes of luke and aaron interacting, sadly :(

LOOK AT THEM THEY ARE SO CUTE ALL TOGETHER I LOVE AND SUPPORT THEIR FRIENDSHIP also its kinda funny that the game barely has any changes on the character sprites yet it has really great and detailed CG images. I feel like maybe if you prioritized these less it could have led to a more consistant experience?

FINALLY SOMEONE IS CALLING HER OUT, GEEZ

NOOOOOO Thats not the POINT, game! The point is that it’d be stupid and self destructive even if she succeeded! And she probably could have had a happier life if she didnt do this, even if she succeeds! AND SHE PROBABLY WILL HAVE BETTER HEALTH AND NOT BE IN DEBT AND NOT BE DEPRESSED COS SHE’S OBSESSED WITH THIS DESTINY SHIT

Just to prove that this is indeed the actual plot of the game, she really is planning to fly across the world for the sake of this shit

Also this line raises a lot of questions. Do asexual people not exist in this universe? or just people who never want to get married and only want casual sex or whatever? or does it mean they still have red strings but they look different? Also this game seems to define it pretty distinctly as only heterosexual destiny strings here, so like would gay people not have strings or would they have differently coloured strings? or is she just assuming all soulmates are the opposite sex simply because she’s straight and she didnt think about the alternative? or cos the writer didn’t? or maybe the writer did and it was just awkwardly written so it raised these questions in my head...?

^ and here’s the bit where she mentions she’s part chinese suddenly at the last moment, and also he’s part japanese too. Which made me a bit worried actually cos she mentioned asia as one of the random places she was gonna search first for her soulmate, and I thought maybe this means he’s her soulmate. But thankfully thats not the way the plot went and it actually does discuss the topic of destiny in more detail!

also that is cute

[kingjamesonfawkes]

Oh defo defo!! I plan on making a page for them later because stuff with my ocs gives me life & I have a few interactions written between them and canon characters that are just.. chillin on my computer.

So more info about OCs under the cut if you want to read about them! 

Azalea and Sullivan are the most fleshed out but I have a lot of ideas for all 5 of my babies.. Feel free to send me asks about my ocs~! I love talking about them I’m a huge nerd haha. 

If y’all are REALLY interested, like i said I have a lot of interactions written for most of them saved on my computer. ((mostly with Sullivan but I have some of all the others as well))

________________________ Azalea

Azalea is the first overwatch OC I made! She started as just like “this is me, but in overwatch” and since I made her she’s grown into her own character. There is still a lot of me in her personality but her background and some parts of her personality are completely different now.

Azalea is a 35 year old who lives in Las Vegas. She’s a magician by trade. She’s very very flirty and one-night stands are abundant. She has problems with getting close with people, it gives her anxiety and stress, and this leads to commitment issues.  She’s originally from a small town in the southwest where, when she was 8, she saw her first magic act and she was like “magic is cooool” and she started teaching herself party tricks.  Over her life & during the time of the uprising she studied technomancy because she wanted to be the World’s Greatest Magician. This got her her show in Las Vegas. (Her stage name is the Mistress of Mysticism) Her show in Las Vegas led to a party lifestyle, and she got into heavy drugs which fucked up a lot of her personal contacts. She hit rock bottom and almost lost her magic show, which is the only thing she really cares about, so she went to rehab and got clean. She’s really careful now but certain situations trigger her urge to use again.  Her manager and closest friend is an omnic named “Edie,” and she commonly is seen supporting omnic rights and protecting them from assaults.  At the time of the recall she is recruited by Winston for Overwatch because he thinks she would be an asset to the team. 

She’s 5′4′‘ with wavy dark brown hair and green eyes. She wears glasses. She has pale skin with freckles on her body. Her outfit is a black and white tuxedo dress with lime green details. She has both of her arms covered in sleeve tattoos of florals in black lineart.  Her weapon (& key item in her shows) is gold with green and purple gems on it.  [The first thing i drew of her] [Here’s a ref] But i forgot her tattoos [Heres a page of doodles] (spoiler i ship her with Hanzo)

“In Game” (support hero) >Creates ‘orbs’ from her staff. (Works similar to Zen’s harmony & discord orbs) She has to aim them and shoot them, they do small amounts of poison damage when hitting an enemy, and heal when they hit a teammate. Hitting the same target more than once builds the effect.  >Smoke Bombs for quick getaways. Enemies in the smokebomb area show up red like with hanzo’s sonar or widow’s ult. Smoke lasts for only a few seconds.  >(I dont have a secondary ability for her whoops) >>ultimate: “Grand Finale” : heals nearby teammates and poisons enemys in the radius, Azalea disappears for a quick getaway (invisible like sombra)  She passively heals her shields but not her health. 

Voiceline ideas: Her ult “GET READY FOR THE GRANDE FINALE!”  Elimination “Easy as pulling a rabbit from a hat” “That’s the trick!” “It’s all in the cards” (dorky magic stuff tbh)

Sullivan

Sullivan is my first junker oc, I have 2 of them. I ship her with Jamie or sometimes poly with Mako too depending on mood. 

Miley “Hot Rod” Sullivan is a 24 year old from Junkertown. She’s eccentric and high energy, determined and quick witted, very very skilled in mechanics and machinery. She has severe mental health issues that put her at risk from herself and cause large periods of depression and anxiety. (this stuff is based on my own experiences with mental health issues & not from the web tbh)  When she was 13 or 14 she lost her family and both of her legs in an explosion that also left her homeless. She almost died, and had to cauterize her own legs in order to try not to get infections, it mostly worked. The amputated parts of her legs are messy and awful looking but she doesn’t really care anymore, not like she did when it happened, plus everyone in the outback is at least a little roughed up. ((Another thing is that she can’t have children, radiation sickness fucked that up for her.)) Instead of prosthetics, she built herself a wheelchair & souped it up. It’s her prized and only possession. 

She has firey natural red hair with golden undertones, shaved into a mohawk with dangling "sideburns". [styled like this] On top of her hair, she wears a brown pilots cap that isnt properly fitted to her head, so it's pushed back and her hair  comes out the front and back of the cap. on the cap she has big black goggles that she uses during her mechanical work. these DO fit and she DOES wear them occasionally. She has deep set eyes and her eyes are brown. Her "make up" leaves one wondering, IS that make up, or is that dirt & soot??? the world will never know. She has dark circles because she stays up too long working on projects and hyper fixates on things she wants to do when shes set on a task, she could work on something for 2 days and forget to sleep and eat until she finishes or Mako (or less likely, Jamison) makes her stop. She's very frequently smeared with grease esp on her hands, face, and arms. She wears a denim jacket, littered with patches, studs and safety pins. it's pretty old and belonged to her father and before that her grandfather, who was obsessed with "old" (but not so old to him lmao) punk bands (ramones, the clash, ect) it's kind of falling apart but she stitches it back together when she needs too because its her favorite possession other than her chair. under that she wears a black form fitting crop top. she doesnt wear a bra bc fuck bras and also she has like b cups ("more than a handful is wasted" she tells people who tease her about small boobs.) She wears really short jean shorts  that are black and stitched together with gromets on the sides like a corset and they also have studs on them (these are VERY SHORT! VERY SHORT!! like basically underwear. and probably no underwear bc thats who she is) [reference] and under her jean shorts there is a high-waisted band of fishnet [example]. around her waist she has two bandoleers of bullets for her turret that she wears like a belt. they sit just a little under the top of her shorts. Her legs end about halfway down her thighs and the amputations are naturally scarred. She also has burn scars on other parts of her body, but not very extensively. She also has a few tattoos, [on her left leg above the scars] [on her right wrist] [across her sternum] 

“In game” (offense hero) Her wheelchair is equipped with her primary fire which is a scavenged and repurposed bastion turret. (since she is more mobile, it would not be as powerful or a fast) The turret sets over her shoulder while shes using it and folds back to behind her when not in battle. See [a really old ref i drew] to show this.  >Grenades, simple & basic grenades >speed boost, souped up wheelchair has an engine in the undercarriage and she flips a level to “overclock” it and speed up for a short period of time. >>ultimate: makes her more mobile/faster and powers up her gun, giving it faster speed and higher damage. 

Zed

Zed is my 2nd junker babe! He is a good boy and i would die for him. 

Zed is a mecha fighter from Junkertown.  His full name is Ezekiel, he goes by Zed to his friends, and does not like being called Zeke. He's mixed, mostly black and maori but he doesn't know exactly what else since heritage is hard to track in Junkertown. He's 19 years old and since he was very very young he's been building. His pride and joy is his Mech that he uses in battles. He's a small town hero bc he fights until he literally can't anymore and puts his whole heart into his mech. His father was the reigning mech battle champion for a long time before he died, and he wants to win back the title and keep it in the family. he's never known his mother. He literally built his mech from nothing and has been working on it for years. He changed his mech's name to Manaaki after his father's death. Manaaki basically means protector and to look after someone, which resonated strongly with him as someone that he wanted to become 

[a ref i made on a dress up maker] [a better ref that i doodled]

about his mech: It's shaped pretty much like a large bird that he can climb inside. (it's based on the australian raven) and its painted black with like oil slick. its a junker mech so its not perfect and its in battles so it gets scuffed and dented. it also has patches of metal where its been repaired with scrap paneling.

In Game: (Tank hero) Zed relies on his mech to fight, so if you destroyed it he would go with it, unlike D. Va. The mech is piloted similar to a jaeger from pacific rim, but on a much smaller scale, about the size of D. Va’s meka.  >Primary fire is the rifle on the head of the mech, where the beak would be on a bird.  >Primary ability is flight, it  would work as like a mix between pharah and d va but without as strong as a boost, and when in the air has a passive glide ability like mercy, but this is disrupted when hit or hacked and he must land. >Secondary ability would be shielding himself and teammates with the wings of the mecha, teammates must be close to be  shielded.  >ultimate:  an air strike, in a straight line roughly the range of the "point" square (maybe a little larger) and when he uses his ult you hear a great roaring caw and see the shadow of the mecha over where the drop is

proposed interaction between D. Va and Zed: Zed: D. Va! Yer mechs looking betta than eva! How 'bouta rematch sometime? D. Va:  Sure, If you think you  can keep up this time! (playful laugh)

Vivian

Viv is my brothers fav oc of mine haha other than maybe Sully. She’s a bitch and I love her. I don’t have AS MUCH figured out about her as I do my other characters.

Vivian is a movie star "by day", big fancy life in the limelight, but "by night" she's a talon agent and a spy. The only people who know she's a secret agent are other high ranked Talon agents, and she has infiltrated Helix to gain information from them for Talon, and because of her status as a celebrity she talks to organizations she infiltrates like "hey can we keep this on the downlow bc like i know im a good agent but the paparazzi would have a field day with me if they found out about this, and acting is my first love i cant give it up" she acts like a huge bitch but she is pretty sensitive about a lot of things, she just doesnt let people in. 

[a ref i made from a dress up maker]

In Game: (offense i think) >Primary weapon is a handgun  >Primary ability is “infiltration” that makes it look like shes on the enemy team to that team. >secondary ability “paparazzi” is a flashbang that looks like flashing camera lights and stuns the enemy.  >>ultimate ability is basically a guise that anyone in the effect radius on the enemy team sees their teammates as enemies as well and can deal friendly fire to them. lasts for only a brief period. 

My last oc I just made this week so I haven’t figured out a lot about her, she doesn’t even have a name yet lmao but here’s a copy/paste from my groupchat where i talked about her concept

Support hero. She's based on valentines day/cupid/eros

 she has a bow and arrow, like ana's gun they heal her teammates and damage enemies. her powers are ""divine"" is what she tells everyone but its really technology lmao. it fools no one except gullible people like junkrat

>her primary ability is "true loves kiss" and she blows kisses at her teammates and gives them small amounts of shield (shield that works like doomfist's shield and lucio's soundbarrier) and she can stack this ability >idk what her other ability is, probably a glide or low-air flight  >her ultimate stuns and confuses the enemy, knocking them prone, and gives teammates in her radius a larger amount of shield

shes a gossip and shes petty and she sticks her nose in EVERYONES business and she would try to get people to date each other and theyre like "No" and shes like "but youd be so cuuuuute"

her color scheme is white and pink (& a little red), she's from greece, and she has brown eyes and really long magenta hair

[allbeendonebefore]

Hapo Reads Calgary History pt 2. 1896-1939

Some MORE biased Edmontonian notes from ME

- Johnny Mac’s policy was (white) anglo saxon protestants from the british isles as settlers in the west, while Clifford Sifton threw the doors wide open to “The Scum of Europe” (both groups of whom are my ancestors lol). This book completely fails to mention several times re: immigration, suffrage etc that it was whites only so... there’s that

- “Calgary has been said to be more American in style than, say, Edmonton” see I read everything regarding Edmonton as throwing shade in this book and yet, how is it shade to be called less American? please, Calgary. (also “than, say, Edmonton” as if you had to think of Other Points of Comparison Other than US, your Eternal Rivals for All Eternity)

- “business and burlesque” in response to edmonton becoming the capital B)

- the big stink aka chinooks dont mean you DONT HAVE TO WORK

- Its time for the Calgary Dominion Exhibition aka ‘is calgary world class yet’ (no). There was a wild west show, automobiles, and a dirigible (which like all dirigibles caught fire and exploded)

- “WHHHHHY DOES MEDICINE HAT GET TO HAVE ALL HELL FOR A BASEMENT AND NOT MEEEEEEE WAAAHH” aka a bunch of entrepreneurs scrambling all over themselves trying to be The First to get Calgary natural gas power

- “oh my god that one wild west show we booked was So good... what if we had a week long rodeo............... but just once thats enough”

- 1912 ALL THE COWBOYS AND COWGIRLS EVER ALL THE WAY FROM MEXICO AND THE STATES CONVERGE ON CALGARY AND HAVE A GOOD TIME but we don’t need to do that again we’re good

- “um... should natives compete against non natives :/” [Tom Three Persons from the Blood Reserve is the Only Canadian to win any of the events] “OKAY NEVER MIND 

- modern cal looks back on the first stampede like ‘there were no time limits back then you just... watched the rodeo until they stopped bucking... how did we manage”

- THAT WAS SO FUN LETS HAVE ANOTHER- oh its WWI

- Hey what if we redesigned Calgary to look like VENICE ON THE PRAIRIES- oh wait its WWI

- OK NOW WE DEFINITELY WANT ANOTHER - HEy WHy IS WinnIPEG GetTING THE StAMPEdE ITS OuRS

- Finally the Exhibition is Back and Fred McCall and Wop May are doing crazy air stunts that they did as pilots in the war for our entertainmen- oh my god Fred’s going down he’s landed on the merry-go-round its..... everyones fine but the plane impaled on the merry-go-round looks like some kind of... Metaphor for wanting to forget The War

- Finally, the Exhibition and Stampede are UNITED AS ONE and nobody came because no one could afford the ticket prices.

- Nellie McClung and Bob Edwards FIGHT in the leg and then Bob Edwards dies unrelatedly

- we need to have MORE PARTIES... what about... A WINTER SPORTS FESTIVAL WE WILL... PUT A SKI JUMP ON TOP OF A ROOF... ON TOP OF A HILL. YES.

- this book keeps waxing poetic Every Chapter about “this event foreshadowed the 1988 WINTER OLYMPICS WOW AMAZING” and i realize this book was published less than a decade after said olympics but considering i live in a world where Calgary is STILL TRYING TO RECAPTURE THE 1988 OLYMPICS PRESTIGE even though the Olympics have been Proven EVIL and there is no financial benefit... it’s mostly just Sad

- seriously calgary you dont need the olympics when you have NAHEED NENSHI...

- Sunday Morning pasttimes in 1920s calgary: Listening to Back to the Bible Hour with William “Bible Bill” Aberhart on the radio, driving out with a picnic to Turner Valley to watch them light gas on fire

- 1920s calgary, arms full of bogus certificates and shares he bought off a vendor on the street due to the natural gas strike, “I’m an adult!!!!!!!!!!!!1!!!1!”

- 1930s calgary, crying in the street surrounded by bogus shares and also The Depression “WHY ISNT LIFE FAIR TO ME”

- The climate was still better than Sask so crops kept growing which was nice but it was still bad enough that Cal decided to invent a little party of angry farmers and workers called the CCF... which you may have heard of as the NDP B)

- Ed: Finally something Good and Useful comes out of Calgary Cal: nah i give up on socialism what about... WE JUST PRINT OUR OWN MONEY AND STOP PAYING DEBTS.

- Bert: here is your allowance of funny money- I mean, uh, your Prosperity Certificate Cal: sweet can I give this to you to pay back taxes Bert: No Cal: can I use it in stores Bert: Yes Cal: SWEET HEY ED CAN I BUY- Ed: [polishing the counter of the HBC] [flips sign from open to closed and locks the door] Cal: ok i will go to the bank and take out a LOAN of REAL MONEY Cal: ... WHAT DO YOU MEAN I CANT TAKE MONEY OUT OF BANKS WHEN I DONT PAY OFF MY DEBTS???? 

- Cal: wait all that gas that was impossible to cap wAS ON TOP OF AN OIL RESERVE THAT WE SHOULD HAVE LEFT ALONE TO RECOVER PROPERLY

- Conclusion: Calgary continues to be a spoiled baby who doesn’t understand how money works

[fmservers]

Nyca Partners’ Hans Morris hunts for great fintech investments amid volatility

Hans Morris is a name to know in fintech, and as finance and tech sectors prepare for tougher time next year, he has some incisive thoughts to share about the kinds of companies that will succeed (or not) in a financial downturn. The managing partner of investment firm Nyca Partners, Morris also serves as the chairman of the board of Lending Club and is a director of other start-ups including AvidXchange, Boomtown, Payoneer and SigFig. At Nyca, which is on its third fund, Morris spends much of his time meeting with entrepreneurs focused on payments, credit models, digital advice and financial infrastructure.

But unlike many successful fintech VCs, Morris doesn’t have to read about how Wall Street’s history influenced the trajectory of those sectors. He played an active role in shaping them. His experiences — heading Smith Barney’s FIG effort (at 29 years old), overseeing Citigroup’s institutional businesses, serving as president of Visa and advising companies at General Atlantic — have also provided him with an unparalleled financial services rolodex. And for those who believe that financial history rhymes, Morris’ opinions are now especially welcome. Fintech may be entering a new, post-financial crisis phase in which the low-hanging fruit has been picked and macro headwinds outweigh tailwinds. In the discussion below, Morris talks candidly about how he’s approaching investing next year and how he’s viewing fintech M&A possibilities. He was also eager to share his thoughts on ethics in financial services (a favorite topic), the prospects for challenger banks, why he’s branched out into real estate tech, the future of blockchain and some of his favorite bank CEOs.

Gregg Schoenberg: Hans, it’s always good to see you, but I’m especially glad to be sitting down with you now, given that the financial world is convulsing at the moment. Before we get into that, though, I want to kick off with something else: Do you buy into the idea of techfin vs. fintech?

Hans Morris: I don’t. My basic organizing principle, which you and I have discussed before, is around declining information costs. As these costs decline, it disrupts the traditional profit pools in financial services. It’s always been like that. What I would say is that in recent times, some tech companies have done a very good job at building a trusted relationship with consumers, and in some cases with businesses. That trusted relationship obviously provides a significant competitive advantage of information. But that advantage lessens later on. There are so many examples we could point to of companies that were ‘it.’ Then, suddenly, they say, ‘Oh no, our tech is expensive, creates a bad experience and will cost a lot to fix.’

GS: Let’s talk about the present. As you know, the Fed has been tightening, equities are hemorrhaging, the yield curve is getting spooky and talk of a recession is intensifying. To me, Lending Club, right or wrong, was one of the original poster children of the post-crisis fintech boom. But now, I think we’re in a regime change and that the next crop of successful financial innovators will look a lot different. What’s in store for an area like credit delivery?

HM: In credit delivery, I think it’s now pretty well-realized by investors, and certainly realized by capital markets investors, that credit delivery requires capital. So today, I feel that anyone who’s going to be successful in credit intermediation needs to have a very good understanding of balance sheet risk, liquidity risk, and capital requirements. I pay a lot of attention to capital requirements, and the ability to fund something in the teeth of a crisis.

GS: Let’s say we enter a recession next year and see continued volatility across the capital markets. I understand that each recession and bear market is different, but with the fresh capital you’ve closed on, where are you looking to go on offense?

HM: Among the thousands of fintech companies that have gotten some funding, there are companies that are really struggling to get their Series B or Series C done.

GS: Names that have lost their momentum?

HM: Yes. They’ve lost their momentum, and they’ve lost the perception of momentum among venture investors. But in some cases, these companies still possess some very good fundamentals, yet the valuations are a lot more attractive. If that dynamic becomes even more extreme, I think there could be some good opportunities.

GS: Isn’t it also true that the fintech names that suck up a lot of the venture money aren’t always the best underlying businesses?

So when you talk about high-valuation companies, I think it’s unrealistic for banks to be acquirers.

HM: It’s an interesting dynamic. Generally, as long as companies can continue to raise capital, they will keep going even if that isn’t necessarily a rational thing to do. But in some cases, where you see a bunch of companies pursuing a similar strategy, it would be better to pursue a merger because we don’t need tons of companies doing personal financial management, etc…

GS: Do you see the big banks with strong balance sheets, the JP Morgans of the world, getting the green light from regulators to be more aggressive in M&A?

HM: Regulators have clearly been one reason there hasn’t been more activity. The second thing is goodwill. Keep in mind that for a bank, goodwill is a 100% reduction to tangible Tier One capital. So even for JP Morgan to say, ‘We’ll take a billion dollars of our Tier One capital and invest it in a company with no income and maybe positive EBITDA, but maybe not—

GS: ���That would take a ton of capital or a ton of conviction.

HM: Well, that company would have to be a very powerful growth engine or solution. So when you talk about high-valuation companies, I think it’s unrealistic for banks to be acquirers. Where banks can be acquirers, and this is what we’ve seen, is where you have a company valued at $60 million, maybe a $100 million, etc…

GS: A Clarity Money.

HM: Yes, a company where the acquisition moves a bank much further along in a development cycle. Where the the bank can say, “Instead of us taking two years to get our real product out, we can get out a state-of-the-art product right now, and it comes with a great team and DNA. That’s appealing.

GS: Appealing, but realistic?

HM: It’s hard to pull off. Often, the team leaves, everything dissipates, and the acquirer ends up writing off the whole thing.

GS: Moving forward, who do you think is poised to make M&A work?

HM: There’s a couple of examples where it’s worked. One is PayPal, which in recent times has done an excellent job of acquiring things and integrating talent into the company. I’m quite impressed in terms of how Bill Ready, who is now COO, Dan Shulman and the management team have changed the tech profile of PayPal.

GS: Well, they’re not a 200-year-old financial institution founded on a winding alley in downtown New York.

HM: Yes, but it was very old-school Silicon Valley, and they had a lot of technical debt. Of course, they had this great mafia 20 years ago, but all those people are gone. I don’t think there’s a single person in the top 100 at PayPal that was there 15 years ago.

GS: Let’s talk specific themes. You’ve already mentioned personal financial management, which I share your skepticism about. What’s your take on the prospects for challenger banks?

HM: I think we’re likely to have a war for deposits with too many different types of firms competing for deposits. Just look at the United States last year. All of the deposit growth we saw was explained by Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and JP Morgan Chase. Everyone else shrank. But if you have Monzo and Revolut come to the US and you look at Acorns, MoneyLion, Chime and fifteen other prepaid models or fully chartered bank models, they’re all going to have a pretty slick interface, and they’re all going to be out there competing for deposits.  

GS: How about the robos and free trading platforms?  As you know, a lot of the younger customers on these platforms haven’t experienced a sustained period of tumultuous equity market conditions.  

I pay a lot of attention to capital requirements, and the ability to fund something in the teeth of a crisis.

HM: I think a great majority of American households should be using a roboadvisor. However, the question is around the relationship between the customer acquisition and the revenue opportunity. In fact, a big part of our thesis with SigFig was to really help drive the pivot over to enterprise-based customers. But generally, and without knowing the details, my sense is that Betterment, Wealthfront and maybe Personal Capital have enough brand to get to the scale necessary to be self-sufficient. I think most of the others are not in that position.

GS: Turning to the mortgage and broader real estate sector, is your view that even if we have a deepening downdraft in housing, the real estate start-ups backed by you and others can do well anyway? Because they are essentially taking an industry stuck in the 1980s and ’90s and dragging it into the modern era.

HM: There’s a lot of room for tech improvement in real estate, and that includes residential real estate as well as institutional real estate. The problem with real estate, and mortgage-related models, is that the capital needs are also significant. So if you end up owning property, the bill adds up very quickly.

GS: I guess it depends on where a company buys them.

HM: True. Look, we remain bullish on them, but I share your concern that if activity stops or if you start having real decreases in property values in certain sectors, some of these companies may end up holding the bag.  

GS: When I saw the Ribbon deal, I was wondering how you and other backers looked at the opportunity at this point in the cycle.

HM: Well, for one thing, you can estimate the likelihood of someone getting a mortgage pretty efficiently. You can be right 99 percent of the time, but even if you’re only right 90 percent of the time, you’re going to be fine. That’s because the certainty that the company offers to the customer is worth it. They also have a great management team and a CEO who is really smart. They’re not naive.

GS: So given all the hype and ups and downs we’ve seen in blockchain, I’m wondering if you remain a long-term blockchain guy.

HM: Here’s the simple fact: The whole financial services industry is composed of ledgers. The reconciliation between entities of that information is a significant expense, particularly in the capital markets businesses. But I don’t buy into the view that it’s going to work better in all cases. The evidence so far is that it works well in some cases.

GS: Where can it work well?

HM: Distributed ledgers can work well when having synchronous data is an essential attribute, and when speed is not necessarily a central attribute.

GS: So, even if the implementation takes longer than the the hype machine suggested it would, financial institutions will get there?

Because money attracts crooks.

HM: They will get there. The cost of change is very, very high. The benefit of it is real. The question is, ‘How’s that cost of change compare to the ongoing benefit?’ In enterprise applications, the ones that will succeed are not ones where you say, ‘Lets rebuild everything within the core functions,’ because the cost and complexity are too great. The much better way is to start at the edge of an enterprise delivering immediate value, and then become an architecture for more things to move over to that.

GS: It’s easier said than done…

HM: If you take the capital markets area, I think it often requires an individual who has a bigger-than-life personality and the leadership skills to match it.

GS: Speaking of leadership, let’s talk about that within the context of fintech, where, as you know, we’ve seen mixed outcomes. You and I have talked a fair bit about how fintech isn’t like other tech sectors, because you’re dealing with money and livelihoods.

HM: Yes, and the activities are regulated, for a very good reason.

GS: When you look at a deal, does the character of the leader trump everything else?

HM: I’d say that the character and capabilities of a leader make a big difference. And to me, in financial services, the errors made, whether it’s 10 years ago or today, are similar. I mean, you have to tell the truth. You have to.

GS: Why is it so important to you?

HM: Because money attracts crooks.

GS: On that note, when I look at some of those who subscribe to the whole blitzscaling ethos, I see it as incompatible with our current climate and especially problematic to financial services. Blitzscaling doesn’t endorse breaking the law, of course, but this whole idea of consciously letting fires burn is a recipe for disaster in today’s financial services sector, right?

HM: Yes, I think so. I’d add that we have a rule in our firm: Don’t invest in any business model where you’re tricking the customer into a profitable relationship. But unfortunately, I feel that there are many business models that do just that.

GS: That’s a bold rule given that terms of services agreements remain dark dens of iniquity.

HM: Well, it’s more than just that. Look at Robinhood. I think it’s a remarkable company made up of unbelievable entrepreneurs. But I do feel that if you say, ‘Payment for order flow is the business model,’ or ‘Margin lending is the business model,’ you’ve got to spell that out. I mean, ‘payment for order flow?’ Most people would be like, ‘What does that mean?’

GS: You might as well be speaking in Ancient Greek.

A VC once said to me that we have too much knowledge about some things. I think there’s some truth to that.

HM: Exactly. I feel, in financial services, the best companies, the most successful long-run stories, will do the right thing for their customers, always. That also means not making a high-profile release of a new product, like a high-interest checking and savings account yielding way above anyone else, before you’ve actually checked with the regulators.

GS: On that latter reference, how accountable is Robinhood’s board for the company’s recent blunder?

HM: I honestly don’t know in what way the board was involved in this, but I think it’s a good example of where a board should put the brakes on an idea until the risks are clear. Sometimes management teams, and investors, don’t want to hear that, but it’s an essential role for financial services companies.

GS: In your career, you have seen your fair share of financial icons rise and fall. Have you ever passed on a deal that wound up being a huge success because something didn’t smell right?

HM: Yes, we have passed on things that turned out to be really good investments, but that’s part of our equation.

GS: In 1997, Howard Marks—

HM: —He’s fantastic, isn’t he?

GS: He’s phenomenal. In one of his famous memos, he asked ‘Are you an investor? Or are you a speculator?’ Given that there are quite a few VCs who have come to fintech in recent years, I’m wondering if you see a lot of speculators.

HM: Most of the folks that I interact with are investors, not speculators. The crypto stuff is pure speculation by almost everybody.

GS: Yes. I wasn’t implying that we discuss crypto.

HM: To the core of your question, I’ll tell you this: There’s this very, very successful VC investor I had a debate with over a deal. My point was that the company in question would need to raise a lot of capital to scale. But that long-term consideration wasn’t especially relevant to him, because he felt the company would have options down the road. We passed on the deal, but now, I look back and regret that decision.

GS: Are you suggesting that you could benefit from having a little more of a speculative instinct?

HM: A VC once said to me that we have too much knowledge about some things. I think there’s some truth to that.

GS: I’m sure that your institutional knowledge has been an important asset on many other occasions. I’ll move on to our last topic, Hans, because I know you have a fund to manage. You know all of the big bank CEOs, right?

HM: Yes.

GS: There’s Jamie Dimon, who defies easy description. At Goldman, you’ve got a banker as CEO. At Morgan Stanley, you’ve got an ex-management consultant. At Citibank, you’ve got—

HM: —You’ve got Corbat. Michael is just an excellent manager who gets things fixed. It’s interesting: Jamie is a fantastic manager of people too, but Jamie brings in his team. Corbat is very good at taking on an existing team and just making them better. Brian [Moynihan] is also really good. I mean he was a lawyer, and when he got the job, I had no idea what he was like. But I’ve noticed that the people who have worked for him are really loyal.

GS: I think the CEOs of the big banks tend to be a reflection of the times in which they operate, right? We went through the period of the trader CEO, which is now gone. As you look down the road, what are the heads of the big banks going to look like?

HM: I’ll answer that question by turning you to Microsoft. What explains the turnaround there? Is it because Satya [Nadella] is such an amazing engineer? No; he’s a great people person. He’s a fantastic manager who put in place a high-quality decision process, which is key to managing a complex organization.

GS: Implicit in my question is whether or not these organizations are going to be as big and complex as they are now. Specifically, I’m referring to the supermarket model that you were involved in helping to construct. Does that remain in place?

HM: Keep in mind that liquidity is a very, very important aspect of a financial marketplace, and having access to core liquidity that doesn’t change frequently is very important. The professional money obviously switches very quickly. But things like core deposits, pension flows and corporate cash tend to have the longest time-frames to build access to. But when a bank has access to deposits that don’t move much, it enables it to fund the liquid financial assets. That’s so important for when you hit a liquidity crisis.  

GS: So the big bank model is here to stay?

HM: Yes, I think it’s going to be around for a long time.

GS: Well on that note, Hans, I wish you luck in navigating whatever the future brings. Thanks for sitting down with me and sharing your wisdom.

HM: It’s always a pleasure speaking to you, Gregg. Thank you as well.

This interview has been edited for content, length and clarity.

Via Gregg Schoenberg https://techcrunch.com