#rambling about the blorbo

[sev-arts]

i dont think i ever posted this one except as part of a bigger more involved graphic so here she is on her own. if theres anything i take pride in it's the fact that this outfit goes extremely hard and im bummed i didnt draw this as a fullbody shot because it comes with a stylish pair of shoes.

in my time drawing comics ive come up with a handful of quality dyke outfits for Reah but this one is my favorite so far. it feels like ive peaked.

i almost feel a little ashmed to say the main inspiration for it was that ive been trying for years to make a character design that has the same kind of visual mouth-feel that Booker DeWitt's getup from Bioshock Infinite gave me when i was first playing that game in 2013... it only took me a full decade and several duds to figure it out!

about the main images!

to the left: my own flat colors. i dont usually color my own art because while i might have an eye for colors that work (or i might not), i have no process for applying color to lineart that i enjoy. when i do color, it almost always ends up being for the sake of establishing a color palette i can show to other artists.

to the right: digital colors and shading by @arthropodrespecter who at this point could turn anything of mine into an absolute masterpiece with her colors.

[alienssstufff]

smth smth builder’s signature styles whatever - I love how instantly recognisable it is to be in a Bdubs build whilst not be jarring. This shot of both sides of the river is a wonderful example

The custom trees. Are so freaking tall in compare to the default, yet their presence doesn’t feel obstructive. You don’t feel ‘blocked out’ from the environment as the deliberate thinness of the trunks, what height the leaves on the pine start at give just enough breathe room to: look through, catch glimpses of the other side, and be invited to Go Through It.

He says it in his commentary, a lot of what he builds is heavily grounded in realism. This area is not meant to be the centre of attention, the purpose of these trees is to Immerse and act as transition as one leaves the rest of the minecraft world and into Bdubs’ ‘more natural’ one — where the trees are grey, and the water is clear.

I’m so fucking serious this random cut of the river is my favourite part in the entirety of this forest, I like how still it looks, I like how clear it is yet how dark it is not only to imply depth but that illusion that the river is reflecting its surroundings how you can even say the river is a dark green! Being able to come to these interpretations for something so simple to me perfectly captures what he wants in builds like these.

And it STILL doesnt feel out of place because he does something like THIS. The way the stream gets progressively more and more opaque until it meets the actual main river is genius work. It gives the impression the water in Bdubs’ place is fresh in compare to the saltier, deeper water of the larger river it transitions.

😭And a final thing, I know the white glass he used was done to suggest rushing water but I swearrr he has like a sixth sense in how to place them perfectly. (Forgive my shitty camera) From this distance if you squint you can see these dark and lighter shadows made by the trees, and by putting where the white spots are placed now highlights these small rays of sunshine poking through the leaves and shining on the river and I think that’s unintentionally the coolest thing.

whhwwh idk how to end this, I just really liked this new video for reasons above and wanted to tell the world why.

BdoubleO100 you never miss. Forever and ever.

Here’s a shaky picture of Etho on his horse if you’ve made it this far :]

[rookinthecrownest]

Favourite genre of man will always be ‘born to be a malewife, forced to be ____ by The Narrative”

[if-loki-was-a-fox]

Afjskgdlafj- Doc is selling Iskall a stack of wood with each block individually packaged in a shulker box each because he doesn't have the shulker box permit and can't sell shulker boxes to Iskall. I freaking love when Hermits commit crimes

[saphflare]

I feel like there is something to be said about how Rat and Lux chose their final stand against Blake. Making themselves look less like people by submerging themselves in ink, letting themselves die and be reborn into something deviating away from how players would usually fight and be something inhuman.

Monsters so to speak.

And how it is when they fight and lurk beneath the ink, the world looks just as dark to allow them to fit into it, like doomsday and that something is ending. So only when finally one of them lays dead and the other unable to continue that the rains stops and the color comes back. And the one remaining becomes something more recognizable in his defeat and more human as he feels something achingly terrible for the first time since the world started.

I know there is the whole unreliable narrator thing and depending on which side you see it from, you get different mileage on each character. But just there is something so fascinating how the fight is. In how Lux and Rat, the two that have changed so much together, had started this fight with the shared intent to make things right so they can finally leave it behind them and made themselves look so alien and different in the process. While Blake and Nox, two that were never even on the same side, and who both were too unrelenting in what they want to ever stray from their own desires, had remained as they were and drew the same weapons they fought with all this time (albeit it a few enchantment changes and all that) to face this fight in front of them.

I don't think I have quite the right words to form a good and meaningful conclusion, but like the tonal and thematic dissonance goes crazy (in a good way).

[stellanix]

(genshin impact spoilers incoming)

one aspect of furina's characterization that's pretty understated but that i really really really love is her intelligence and curiosity. usually in genshin, when a character's intelligence is an important trait of theirs, there are aspects of their design, writing, voice acting, etc, that very clearly tell you "hey this character is smart." albedo, for example, wears a labcoat, is always saying big sciency words in a calm, rational tone of voice, and other characters are always talking about how smart he is

but furina? nothing about her on the surface suggests that she's a "smart" character - quite the opposite, in fact. superficially, she's introduced as a bratty, conceited, overconfident person who actually has no idea what she's doing. we eventually learn in the archon quest that that was all an act, but even after she regains her freedom, nothing about her really seems archetypically intelligent, at least at face value

instead, furina's intelligence is always shown rather than told (the only exception being nahida's voiceline about her). she had an intelligence network across teyvat feeding her information, and we saw in the flashback how she directed researchers to study the prophecy and potential ways of stopping it. before things like lyney's trial or directing the two musketeers, she'd stay up all night planning and piecing things together all on her own. she loves learning new things, she has lines in the teapot about how, when she's interested in something, she wants to become the most knowledgeable person in the topic, and also how she'd like to disassemble the teapot itself to learn how it works, and she's quick to learn new skills (like surfing). and, of course, she's well read, and quite possibly teyvat's foremost expert on the performing arts

i like how furina sort of defies the concept of character archetypes. she's initially presented as an archetypical bratty, dramatic, spoiled popular girl, but that was a role she forced herself into because it's what people expected of her. but the real furina, while still retaining some of the flamboyance from her archon persona, doesn't really fit into a clear mold. she's smart without being a super-genius, and she's kind without being a soft-spoken doormat. it makes her feel multifaceted and real, and i really love that!

anyway, this is why it makes me mad whenever i see people calling furina stupid, cuz she's not!

[aris-has-a-paracosm]

So we all know Canary Jimmy, but what about Albatross Jimmy? Hear me out on this:

Okay, so firstly, Jimmy has a very big personality. He is loud, highly interactive with those around him, and is impossible to ignore in any situation. Plus he's usually depicted as one of the tallest members of the Life Series. Is that not fitting for the bird with the biggest wingspan on earth? (On top of that, albatrosses are seabirds, which is definitely helpful in bridging some gaps with the Codfather.)

The Canary Curse in of itself is based on the concept of Jimmy's death foretelling the tragedies that are about to occur for everyone else, but what if Jimmy's death is what *brings* the curse? I was thinking about Rime of the Ancient Mariner again, and the albatross there is supposed to be an omen of good luck until the titular Mariner shoots it down with his crossbow. After a while of still waters and horrendous thirst, every sailor on that ship drops dead except for the Mariner, who is bound to the albatross, cruelly spared only by Life-In-Death (Watcher symbolism anyone?).

I know there's a headcanon stating that Skizz is the cause of the Boogeyman Curse (I don't know who created this headcanon, so please tell me if you know), and Albatross Jimmy only strengthens that: Skizz is the Mariner.

Skizz causes Jimmy's final death in Third Life with a bow of all things. He effectively “shoots him out of the sky." And not only did the chaos increase in Third Life immediately after, but every season Skizz has been present for since has involved the Boogeyman Curse in some way.

The only series Skizz was not in was Double Life, where there was no Boogeyman Curse. How would the curse continue if there is no Mariner to accompany the Albatross? Easy answer: Tango took on the role of the Mariner for Double Life, as the cause of Jimmy's first death via Dare To Flare all way back in Third Life. Since this death was not as permanent as the death that Skizz caused, the intensity of the curse was not near as strong, and resulted only in the Ranchers being soulbound (which became a very wholesome, comforting thing for them rather than staying a curse).

Since the curse is primarily based in the events of Third Life, Jimmy dying first may not continue to be a requirement for it as the seasons go on (as evidenced in SL and RL), but what it does require is 200 final deaths total before the curse can end.

Including Real Life, there have been 89 final deaths across the whole of the Life Series, including all six wins assuming that the winners died after each season anyway for the series to continue. Therefore, also assuming an average of 17 players for every subsequent season, there would need to be seven more seasons of the series to accumulate 200 final deaths, in which Skizz would be the final winner.

[starheirxero]

His dubious morals and completely self-assured swag has enraptured me beyond belief

[ganondoodle]

in other news, i still hate the 'curse' demise says being seen as a literal thing so widely, like he is somehow powerful enough to bend the world to that cycle and even the gods being helpless against it (unless they want it or even orchestrated it but that option never comes up does it), its never even considered to perhaps not be real, like its a literal law of the zelda world, imo its pretty boring itself and also boring as an explanation for the cycle and most often really only gets used to or talked about to make ganondorf be just a helpless evil guy that is born evilly bc he is cursed and if you took away tha demon juice he would side with hyrule and be good tm (a side effect being that people think he is the actual reincarnation of demise like zelda is supposedly of hylia which also sucks IMO) .... or to make demise some sort of puppet master, which i hate even more no .. no i hate that the most (bc it makes ganondorf a puppet and demise the evil demon master and thus ruins both my favs yippie)

[lynxfrost13]

EULR-S2373

FLKR-S2301 “Sonderbar”

Art commissioned from @discobowser !

Sonderbar lore time

- Originally a maintenance EULR unit working on Sierpinski-23, her cadremates affectionately named her Sonderbar (peculiar/odd) due to her defective right arm, which locks up sometimes because of faulty elbow parts (eules are cheaply made and this poor gal got the extra discounted pieces)

- Otherwise a typical EULR, until she rapidly descended into persona degradation for reasons unknown to her comrades. It left her incredibly unstable and she imprinted on a propaganda poster featuring a FLKR unit, and over time Sonderbar began to believe that she was a Falke.

- Her personality is a mix between a EULR and a FLKR, she retained her cheerful disposition and sweetness but is more reserved overall, and carries herself with the same authority as a Falke. Sonderbar sees herself as the station’s commander and as someone who needs to guide her cadremates, even though they make it incredibly difficult to do so. She loves them but they can’t seem to understand that she’s in charge here!

- Sonderbar’s fellow eules find her behavior towards them incredibly endearing and concerning, they don’t take her commands seriously whatsoever. They worry about their friend being decommissioned since she’s become bolder and begun harassing (commanding) protektor staff and causing general mayhem and try to keep eyes on her in an attempt to stop her antics.

- Sonderbar knows that she’s a Falke unit but feels very off and disoriented, there’s gaps of knowledge on how to actually run her facility, she doesn’t understand why her bioresonance isn’t working or why replikas aren’t following her, she misses her Adler. She can’t seem to find her spears. She hates how small she is and knows she’s meant to easily tower above most replikas and all of it upsets her!!!

- To feel more like a Falke, Sonderbar’s gotten her hands on red eyeliner, and “borrowed” a star protektor plate that she decorated with the signature FLKR triangles (when her cadremates discovered her wearing the plate they took it from her out of fear that she’d get in serious trouble. There was much screaming and kicking in her EULR dorm that night. She has reacquired it since then.)

Bonus quick eyeliner edit that I just wanna put here again

[monochrome-stars]

every time i think a thought i explode into pieces

[khevras]

Golden Wind/Vento Aureo Spoilers

Video Transcript

Bruno: I'll be forced to cut ties with you. A traitor stands alone on an island of isolation. Your failure will be yours and yours alone.

So recently I've decided I really wanted to rewatch golden wind after reading the rest of the parts, and since this time I wanted to give more focus to the animation, I decided to watch it in dub. As a result, when I got to this part in ep3, I realised the dub had elected to change what exactly Bruno had said, stating the words above instead.

This struck me as a bit of a wierd change until I then realised how much this moment foreshadows Fugos 'betrayal' at San Giorgio Maggiore; by having the only one not betraying the boss being the one who suffers what Bruno predicted.

I feel like this foreshadowing is honestly amazing, and also hits home at how Fugo feels later on in phf when thinking back to his actions as the pier. I feel like he really does think of his lack of movement as a failure towards Bucciarati, one he has to atone for and I think it's really interesting.

On top of that, I find it really fun how accurate Brunos words are to the situation as a whole, and I find it quite ironic that the one who suffers them isn't even betraying the boss like Bruno is describing, but rather Bruno himself.

Overall, I really like how this singular line foreshadows a moment episodes later, and how I can bring up how Fugo's opinions and feelings on the event are reflected in Bucciarati's words.

[5hrignold]

this is all i got

[vaguelyaperson]

the more i think about it, the more i like that izuku becomes a teacher as a quirkless adult, and that he supposedly never takes on full-time hero work

... it just wouldn't feel like such an odd ending if it wasn't such a sharp turn from the themes of the story.

it would beat a dead horse to get into such themes: the insistence that izuku could be a [pro] hero too, save to win win to save (implication of bkdk as hero duo), go beyond to achieve your dreams, ect. others have commented on this eloquently enough. i want to contemplate how 430/431 are a valid ending... if the story matched the conclusion.

bnha has themes that could've been developed to make 430/431 make more sense. there's the excellent theme that average citizens can be heroes through 'mundane' actions, and a suggestion that an ideal future would be one where heroes have too much free time (ie, pro heroes overall would be a defunded profession). i personally adore these themes, and was disappointed that the ending didn't explore more of what a better quirk culture should look like beyond 'uraraka reforms quirk education classes.' those themes (plus the commentary on villains) suggested an eventual overhaul of the current quirk culture - which we didn't get. which sucks. because these themes, properly developed, would make PERFECT sense of a protagonist who decides to be an 'average citizen.'

yet these ideas weren't quite attributed to izuku's character. he's the protagonist. he was set up for the big flashy future, right? which is why it feels like such a sudden slap to so many fans that he was supposedly content working as a teacher for eight years, that he wouldn't jump at the opportunity to become a full time hero.

now, a good bit of this can be attributed to story medium. bnha was skewed in the beginning to function as a standard shounen (boy has powers, boy works hard, boy achieves big dreams), and that it wasn't until about the last hundred chapters or so that horikoshi dug his heels in about writing the story he wants to write. so clearly if the story's endgoal changed in his mind (which stories often do, and manga is extremely restrictive in that an author can't rewrite the full story to make the plot consistent), then he only had so much leeway to lead to the eventual ending of a quirkless citizen izuku without taking the hardest turn from the standard shounen tone at the beginning.

but even then. even then, that's about a hundred chapters that bnha could've introduced the idea that IZUKU could be a hero in ways unrelated to professional heroism. that it's so unhealthy for this kid to sacrifice so much of himself that it would actually be better for him to pursue a different career.* or that it was even a valid career path for someone who initially dreamed of being a pro hero.

like, take lemillion; izuku's literal mirror. the story could've kept togata functionally quirkless, could've explored the full grief of such a big dream lost, could've explored the sheer injustice that this KID was put on the front-line and thus his quirk and dream were snatched from him... and then introduced a way that togata could use his skills to help people in a different career.

or take all might; izuku's mentor and cautionary tale. maybe have all might talk to izuku about grappling with being quirkless again. maybe have him find who he is beyond being of service to others (which is clearly these two born-quirkless fuckers dealing with massive self-worth issues, trying to justify their existence with heroics), and find relief in that. maybe have him wonder aloud if it might have been better for him to choose such a profession outright from the beginning, rather than repeatedly almost DIE as a pro-hero. maybe have the two revisit that conversation from the first episode, that being a [quirkless] hero IS dangerous, but that there is genuine fulfillment in other work - as all might has found in teaching.

then when it happens to izuku, it wouldn't be such a shock to the audience. and even if we don't see him change over those eight years of the epilogue, it wouldn't be such a shock that he turns down full-time hero work. we'd get it.

*because continuing off this point: the story very much established that izuku CAN'T be trusted 'unsupervised' as a pro hero. that ofa is almost a curse. how many fuckin fanworks reference an adult izuku who never stops putting himself into harms way, who keeps nearly fuckin dying (or does die) cause he never thinks of himself? the story could've EASILY built on this to the point that it would feel like a blessing that izuku loses ofa and can't become a pro-hero.

(instead of it being played in this.... extremely weird.... grieved not grieved, katsuki's sobbing but izuku 'started out quirkless' so it's fine??? like??? the tone??? is in shambles???)

instead, the story said "you don't have to fight alone, izuku, cause your friends are here." most especially that katsuki inserted himself as izuku's primary protector and competitor. that katsuki developed a whole ass power-up that could MATCH ALL FOR ONE'S power, that he CAUGHT UP to izuku as a hero. at large, class a showed the fuck up, more than once, to throw down on izuku's behalf. the story said, yes izuku is recklessly selfless, and ofa only exasperates this, but his friends are so determined to work hard to make sure there's always someone at his back. this will be the new generation of heroes.

... which... should've led to a completely different story conclusion. one that would've been just as valid as 'izuku finds more stability and meaning in being a teacher.' it would just need to be an ending that would have fit the established themes. i would've loved that ending too.

in conclusion! there's more to being a hero than flashy heroic acts. izuku is a selfless maniac who's probably safer in the classroom tbh. manga is a restrictive medium that can't be rewritten into a more consistent plot. nevertheless, given the amount of chapters horikoshi had to play with the story he wanted to tell, there was time to develop pre-existing themes that would better anticipate the conclusion we got. 430 and gods 431 especially - despite being arguably a valid ending for the characters - didn't have to feel like such sharp left turns.

... and despite learning to appreciate izuku turning down katsuki's agency offer, i still don't like 431. lmao

[if-loki-was-a-fox]

Something about Grian joining the cletho alliance late, being a frequent third wheel to them, and being called out by name as the least trustworthy (and agreeing), barely seeing them for the first half of the finale as he focused on getting traps and kills... But then when things really started going down Grain was by their side to the end. Even after Etho was out, Grian still stuck to Cleo's side and didn't leave until he was forced away and backed into a corner and killed

[majorproblems77]

So like we can all agree that the sail cloth is big enough for a blanket fort right?

Like hang that thing across a few branches with some clothes wrapped in bedroll and you get a cosy little fort which sky has only 1 rule.

When inside naps are not to be disturbed.