#reverse engineering it based off the sets

[goattypegirl]

Part of what made Bionicle so cool was the synergy between the toys and the story, but there are places where you can tell that they were separate teams with seperate goals. A lot of those friction points were the combiner models; the design team figured out how to smash some of that year's canister sets into a random bird or crab thing, so now the story team has to (not so) subtly draw attention to the random bird or crab thing in the tie-in novel. It's not always the combiner sets though; this shitty bird with a human face that you got if you paid for the Lego magazine is fucking Lore Critical. The funniest friction point imo is the Vahki -> Nidhiki -> Iruini shift, and the downstream effects that had on the Hagah.

[pagesofkenna]

what should i name the planet on my book setting

[trinketstar]

How I made my own vintage Pomni!

Based on this tutorial, with my own modifications and sewing pattern!

Let's begin!

Here's a total list of the things I used here.

Shiny fabric: blue and red

Acrylic paint. Colors: White,red,blue,black

Gold ribbon

White sculpey clay

Tin foil

Mod podge (for sealing the paint)

Jingle bells

Dark brown yarn

Glue

And depending on how you want to handle crafting the body you can either follow the original tutorial and make one out of any fabric you'd like, filling it with plastic beans and stuffing,

Or you can do what I did and cheat a little! I actually used the body of a beanie baby to save time. You'll find tons of these guys at the thrift store, usually for about a dollar each. The one I used for Pomni looked like this.

All I did was carefully undo the stitching on the bear's head and set Pomni's clay head in the opening!

Now for the steps! The first thing I did was gather my materials and make a concept sketch.

Then since I already had a body for Pomni, I rolled a ball of tin foil slightly smaller than I wanted the head to be, and covered it in sculpey clay. Then I molded the face into a nice cute shape! Don't worry if the back of the head is lumpy, you won't see it under the hat and hair.

Make sure to add a neck that tapers outwards at the bottom so the head stays in the neck hole of the plush body!

After baking the clay, I painted the head white and sketched out the face lightly with pencil before painting on the details. I even added a little bit of glitter to her eyes! Then when I was satisfied with the face, I sealed the paint with mod podge. It added a nice shine to her face which adds to the porcelain look!

I'd bought a clown doll at a thrift store with a similar outfit to the one I wanted to make for Pomni, which I reverse engineered to make my own pattern! Here's In-progress Pomni wearing the other doll's outfit.

I cut out these patterns to use for the outfit.

After cutting out the pants they should look like this when put together and folded. Turn them inside out and sew them together at the middle, including the crotch. Leave the top and the pant legs open.

The sleeves should look like this cut out and folded. Make sure they're inside out just like the pants, and sew these at the sleeve openings at the top. Remember to leave the neck hole open!

Here's where we add the ribbon at the ends! Fold up the base of the pant legs and sleeves to hem the ends, and scrunch up the gold ribbon to sew around the borders while you're hemming them. It'll scrunch the ends a little bit, giving the outfit that poofy look.

Then turn it inside out!

I sewed the bells on and put the outfit on pomni! Then I simply cut another piece of ribbon and made a little ruffle for her neck. It's not sewed to the outfit just so it's easier to take on and off.

For Pomni's hair I got the yarn and combed it out with a fine tooth comb until the texture became softer, and then used a flat iron on it (VERY briefly. just for a second!!!!) to straighten it out. For more tips on this look up yarn doll hair tutorials on youtube! Then I just glued it to her lil head and styled it like so.

I don't have any progress pics for the hat but it was pretty simple. Just cut out the shapes and sew them up!

Then add the hem with a ribbon folded in half, and the bells!

TADAA! A baby pompom for you!

[mindfulstudyquest]

❥﹒♡﹒☕﹒ 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲-𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗺𝗮𝘆 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄

𝟭. set SMART goals ( 📒 )

make sure your goals are specific, measurable, actionable, realistic and time-bound. this will help you maintain focus and track your progress over time. how many times has it been you and your unrealistic to-do list against the world? well, it seems that a mile-long to-do list is not a good ally at all. remember that you are a person and not a machine, and that just dedicating four hours to deep work and concentration is A LOT. be kind to yourself and don't overload yourself with more work than you can humanly do.

𝟮. daily planning ( 🧸 )

mea culpa because i'm the first one who doesn't plan their day. to-do lists generally stress me out and make me feel overwhelmed as if i don't manage to complete all the tasks an asteroid will end up hitting the earth. but i recognize that it is a good starting point. sometimes i have too many things to do and i end up doing nothing in total confusion, but having at least a general list to follow gives me more motivation. moreover do we want to talk about the dopamine released when you tick an empty box? marvelous. maybe don't write down tasks that are too onerous and demanding, break them into several smaller tasks, also try to write simple activities such as "drink a glass of water" every now and then. having these low-commitment activities will help you stay motivated while completing more important tasks.

𝟯. reverse-engineering method ( 🪴 )

start with the end goal and work backwards to plan the actions needed to achieve it. this helps you maintain clarity on the steps to take and focus on the most relevant actions. the best thing to do is plan based on the time available and do your best to stick to your daily goal.

𝟰. timer roulette ( ⏳ )

choose a task from your to-do list and set a random timer between 15 and 45 minutes. work on that task with all your concentration until the timer goes off. this helps you fight procastination and keep your mind fresh.

𝟱. mind mapping time ( 📍 )

before starting a study session, take a few minutes to create a mental map of the subject you need to cover. this helps you see connections between concepts and organize information more effectively.

𝟲. task batching ( 🫒 )

group similar tasks together and tackle them in batches. for example, reply to all emails in one session rather than doing so at scattered times throughout the day. this helps you reduce transition time between tasks and maintain focus. contrary to popular belief, human beings are not truly multitasking (only a few possess this great ability) and when we do multiple things together we do nothing but shift our attention from one task to another, greatly reducing the quality of our performance. if possible, try to avoid these switches that are harmful to your focus and concentration.

𝟳. the pomodoro method ( 🍅 )

okay, y'all probably already know this one because it became so popular in the last year but if you don't, the pomodoro method is a time management technique developed by francesco cirillo in the late 80s. it is based on the idea of working for short periods of time, usually 25 minutes, followed by a short 5 minute break. after four rounds of work, a longer break is taken, usually 15-30 minutes. this technique helps improve concentration and productivity, as it breaks down work into manageable tasks and offers regular breaks to rest and regenerate energy. i personally prefer the 50/10 ratio while i'm studying but you decide which time ratio is better for you, i find it really useful and it helps me a lot while i'm studying for my exams.

[orpheusilver]

i think the common issue that creates boring dnd player characters is like. the fixation on backstory over character conflict. like if you think abt the typical "heres my super cool guy with a super cool design and a dark tragic backstory they dont want to talk about theyre so tortured and mysterious" its like. sure that might be an interesting secondary character for an animated series but thats not what this is.

like 1. nobody is going to see that cool design unless you painted a mini so youre just gonna be that guy who spends 5 minutes of session 1 describing your outfit; 2. none of the other players want to spend ages trying to interrogate backstory out of someone who seems like they dont want to share, they want to find a fight and flex their awesome build, so unless your dm pulls your 15 page backstory document into the main quest its all gonna be irrelevant anyway; and 3. trauma does not an interesting character make! not unless you can roleplay the effects of that trauma in a compelling manner!

imo its a wayyyy better method to come up with a Fucked Up Kinda Guy, complete with quirks and flaws and affectations and sure maybe a voice if thats your vibe, they dont need to be special or unique just fucking engaging to play beside, and THEN reverse engineer the backstory based on what would make someone be like that and usually its something fucked up and traumatic anyway bc thats how existing works. like dont get me wrong theres definitely merit to establishing your place in the setting but like. in taz balance absolutely no part of their written backstories did as much for the early group dynamic as "magnus rushes in" and "taako is good out here"

^ actually new different point based on that. if you show up with a blank slate guy then play off against the other characters! if you have a whole guy do it anyway! if someone is playing it safe then play impulsive or vice versa, if someone else has the same highest stat as you then get weirdly competitive, if someone plays dubious morals then be the ethical voice calling them out on it, there is no reason for your party to always be in agreement and if they are then disagree! be a dick about it! stories thrive on conflict so fucking make some, just please for the love of god do Anything that makes them behave differently than you with an ability

[j-jared]

hello!!! i just stumbled across your resurgence au (i think that's the name lol) and it looks super cool!!!! :OOO may i ask what is maki's whole deal,,,i love her a lot :3

It's Maki time!

So in Resurgence, like the rest of the V3 cast, Maki is saved from the simulation by Future Foundation. I've touched on this in a few older posts, but their recovery took place in a hastily thrown together field base/hospital in a city that's still pretty deep in despair. It was a matter of not being able to get transport in for everyone right away - they had a set date for the helicopters to come for them all.

By unfortunate coincidence (coincidence, huh) - the day the helicopters come, the hospital is bombed by a Despair mob. They weren't so happy with their show being cancelled by stupid teenagers (THH was streamed to the world, then despair audiences kinda gutted and reverse engineered the Neo World Program after the Remnants were restored to their og personalities, I'd say it's probably because of the brainwashed Future Foundation members that it got out to the world - so yeah "Danganronpa" is a "TV" show in that regard, but its not how the V3 ending explains it)

Maki was in a separate wing from most of the others when the bombs went off, and her escape route ended up on the side where the mob was gathered (a lot of the others got around the mob by going out other exits) - So Maki has to fight her way to safety, and unfortunately, she misses out on the helicopter evacuation.

Now, Maki can take care of herself. She might not be Ultimate Apocalypse Survivor, but she has the training to patch wounds, adapt to harsh conditions, and defend herself. So she's doing about as fine as one can in a city that's basically an active war zone.

Then Kaede shows up.

Honestly, I'm not sure why I chose Kaede, I really wanna explore that dynamic but haven't gotten around to it yet - I think their personalities would blend and butt against each other in a situation like this, it's like a hardcore setting for the killing game with no rules. Kaede was with Future Foundation as a field agent, but her squad got separated during an attack (they were probably looking for the missing V3 cast) - Funnily enough Kaito, Tenko, and Shuichi were on that squad so - yikes on missing them.

So now it's Maki and Kaede vs the world!

Until Kaede's radio starts unscrambling itself and picking up Future Foundation communications again - but they can't reply it seems. The signal seems to fade in and out each time they leave this district, maybe they should investigate, right?

... Oh hi Kokichi and Kiibo!

---

That's about as far as I've gotten in the general aspect of Maki's arc! I could go into detail about points up until now, but this post is already getting long on me. There will be bonding, there will be old scores to settle, there will be... forgiveness? Well, it's too early to say. I think the four of them are an interesting squad to shove into the apocalypse together, especially knowing the later game dynamics of Kokichi, Kiibo, and Maki, and me basically having to figure out Kaede and if the blank slate of her not being around for most of V3 is something that helps them all get along or complete ruins the dynamic at moments.

[lightsoutletsgo]

if you're still doing the previews thing then can I please ask about 6? thank you sm! love your charles series ❤️

yes I am!! tysm for sending in a request, I hope you enjoy this little sneak peak. I actually love this fic sm!

enchanted — ls.2 x reader (■■■□□ 60%) based on “enchanted” by taylor swift. you meet logan at a party and are swept off of your feet

��˚❀.ೃ࿔*:･

Logan cleared his throat to get your attention, “Look, I know we only just met but would you maybe… wanna get out of here?” You raised an eyebrow at him and he blushed, “N-not for anything like that, I just get the sense you don’t wanna be here and neither do I really… I know a good place for milkshakes, i-if you wanna come that is?” You smiled, he was suddenly so shy, “I’d love to!” Standing up, he offered his hand to you, you gladly took it as he pushed his way back into the kitchen and through the hallway, emerging on the other side of the house to exit through the front door. Just as you reached the front door you remembered Mae. “Hold on, I need to find my fri- Hi!” You turned as Mae draped herself over your shoulders, not quite drunk yet but buzzed from the atmosphere, “Hey babe, you heading out?” Her eyes locked onto Logan, before dropping to where your hands were still linked together, “Oh?” She whispered loudly, “Good choice! Make sure you put a sock on the door.” You shrugged her off, feeling embarrassed at her insinuation. “Mae! We’re just gonna hang out, you have your phone right?” She nodded, “Mhmm, but I’m probably gonna be going home with that guy from my chemistry class.” “What happened to bio guy?” You noticed Logan watching the two of you with an amused look. Mae waved her hand, “Oh, he was totally not worth it. Cute, but he thought Taylor Swift was overrated.” “Definitely not worth it.” You sent Logan an amused look of your own, as if to apologise for the delay, “Okay, love you!” Mae pulled you into a hug “Use protection!” She whispered loudly before cackling and stumbling back into the crowd of people starting to spill out into the hallway. You turned to Logan, “Let’s go!” 

Following him out you looked up and down for a nearby Uber or taxi but Logan pulled his keys out of his pocket, “I was designated driver tonight anyway so I haven’t drunk anything!” You paused, “Don’t you need to be here to you know… drive your friends home?” Logan shook his head, “They’ve told me they’re going to Uber home so, we’re free to go!” Hearing a car door unlock you looked down the road to where a flashy looking car was sitting. “That’s your car?!” Logan nodded, “Why do I get the feeling you’re not just a regular driver?” Logan laughed, “You’re right I’m not.” “You’re totally like Ansel Elgort in ‘Baby Driver’, right?” Logan snorted as he opened your door for you, hand coming up to rest against the door frame so you didn’t hit your head. You couldn’t even argue with the butterflies that you felt then. He was doing these things seemingly without even thinking. Once he was sure you were safely belted in, he closed your door before jogging round to the other side of the car, sliding in and securing his own seatbelt before he turned the ignition and the engine rumbled on with a smooth purr. “Are you still cold?” He asked, fiddling with a setting on the centre console, “A little– oh!” You felt your body relax into the seat even further as it began to heat up, “Let me know if you get too warm.” You smiled to yourself before you had to stop your mouth dropping open. He set the car into reverse and turned to look over his shoulder, the hand not on the wheel resting on your headrest. From this angle his jawline looked even sharper and you found yourself daydreaming about what it would feel like to kiss it, ‘there’s no way he doesn’t know what he’s doing…’ you thought to yourself as he finished reversing and settled back into his seat, smoothly changing gear and pulling away from the party.

[writingquestionsanswered]

I'm working on a series of books. I have character arcs and the series storyline nailed down. Where I'm struggling is figuring out what plot in book 1 will best support my plans for later books. Book 1 is the foundation the rest will build from. What advice do you have to best figure out the beginning of a series when you have a clearer idea for the middle and ending?

Stuck Plotting Book One in a Series

First, I think it might be helpful at this point not to think of your series as individual stories, but rather as one cohesive story that you'll eventually break up into individual books as the story unfolds. That way, you're just figuring out the beginning of the story rather than thinking of it as a story contained within a book.

Next, remember that stories revolve around conflict, or in other words a problem in the character's self or world that needs to be solved. When you eventually break the bigger story into its individual parts, each one will revolve around its own conflict. The resolution of that conflict should play a role in setting off the events of the next book. For example, the conflict in The Hunger Games was the event itself, and the fact that Katniss needed to survive it so she could continue to take care of her mom and sister. Because of what she did to win the Hunger Games (thus resolving the conflict), President Snow called a Quarter Quell to force her and Peeta back into the arena, which is the conflict of the second book, Catching Fire.

This is why it's so important to figure out your first book's conflict and--if you already know the conflict that will be at the heart of later books--how it relates. You can probably reverse engineer the first book's conflict based on what needs to launch the conflict of book two.

I would suggest using a story structure template/beat sheet to map out the events of your first book. This will help you get a better picture of what needs to happen, which will help you figure out how everything connects to later books. I suggest some options in my post Creating a Detailed Story Outline.

Happy writing!

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

♦ Questions that violate my ask policies will be deleted! ♦ Please see my master list of top posts before asking ♦ Learn more about WQA here

[not-that-syndrigast]

F2 is not F1 and people need to start realizing it.

I see it again and again, people trying to judge things that happen in F2 by the measurements in F1 and i understand that the official titles and descriptions are misleading many fans into believing they are the exact same but they are not so here is a small explanation;

What is the goal in F1? Obviously, winning titles, both drivers championship and constructor championship. How do you achieve that? Build the fastest car, get the best drivers, and make the most points. Now what's the goal in F2? You’d think it's winning the title, but actually it's showing off skill and attracting F1 teams. How do you do that? Again, you’d think you would win and get the most points, but that hasn’t been the focus in years, today it's showing off your skill.

But shouldn't skill translate to wins? Well, technically yes, but there's two more huge differences between F1 and F2. First of all, the drivers are younger, they are more reckless and crash more often. The drivers DNF a lot more and oftentimes they are not at fault but they don't get points, also there's things like the reverse grid which are active tools so drivers can show off their overtaking skills too. 

More importantly though, is the fact that F2 is a spec series while F1 is also an engineering contest. For explanatory reasons; in F2 every driver has the same base car, the teams can change set-up and such things but generally the cars perform very similarly. There's still some performance differences because certain teams work better with the cars but it's not comparable to F1, where every team more or less builds their own car.

Now here is the point where a lot of people misunderstand the use of F2; F1 teams look at F2 drivers and choose who they want for their teams and this year, Oliver Bearman and Kimi Antonelli are closely discussed while Paul Aron with more points is pretty much ignored. A lot of people expect the F2 champion to get an F1 seat, but in this year, even if he makes less points, Antonelli is proving himself to be a world class driver with overtakes like this one. Antonelli suffered through, with multiple DNFs, getting involved in crashes and other things out of his hand, while Aron was very lucky, at least until Spa where we could see how even good drivers can get really unlucky. 

In the end, F1 teams know the best which driver is really good and which drivers fit their cars the best. They are observing the drivers in all the younger categories, so if Aron is really good enough for F1, a team will pick him up, but at the moment he doesn't show the results.

The same goes by the way for F3 

[angelkitty54]

Sonic Prime AU time! (coz this has been everywhere in the last month or so.) Basically just some ideas I had for shatterverse versions of Sonic and Shadow, set after the end of the series.

New Yoke City: Based on the idea in SA2 where it's kinda implied Sonic was also made on the Ark like Shadow (which is never brought up again). Basically Nine stumbles across a pod that contains the New Yoke version of Sonic (Spirit) and excitedly wakes him up. However he quickly finds that this is not the Sonic he met before; Spirit has never been out of his bio-tank thingy before, he is basically a newborn in a full grown body, with the mentality of a newborn too. Spirit is a wide-eyed innocent child, sweet, kind and trusting, a stark contrast to the world around him and the people in it. Nine is having a hard time adjusting, especially since Spirit's keeps chewing on all his power cables. He is also constantly being accused of having cloned Sonic. Which he totally did not! He found this Sonic fair and square thank you very much!

Meanwhile, having lost their power source, the Chaos Council has lost a lot of ground to the resistance. In searching for new power sources and weapons, they discover Project Umbra (three guess who this is). Umbra leans a little more into his alien side than Shadow does, he is also less of an angsty teen and more of a scared, grieving child lashing out at a world that hurt him. He agrees to work for the council only due to the distant family connection, but he doesn't particularly like them or care about their goals. He just wants to see the world burn. Of course, things change when he finds out his baby brother survives the raid on the Ark. Tho he is not particularly happy about this strange fox hanging around, acting all buddy buddy with Umbra's brother. Ugh, the nerve of that guy!

Boscage Maze: Got inspiration from movies like Nausicaa and Origin: Spirits of the Past. So the instead of the prism, the massive jungle was actually caused by a bio-experiment gone wrong which set off an apocalypse. There are effectively three groups of survivors, those that escaped into space (mainly GUN people), those that survived on the surface (whose descendants became groups like the scavengers) that live more or less in harmony with the jungle, and those that made it into underground shelters and were put into stasis chambers where they have slept for several hundred years. The latter two group are often at odds with each other, one wanting their old world back, the other wanting the jungle to stay as is. Dr Nightshade Robotnik and his assistant, Sunny, are among the stasis group.

In this universe Gerald went down the road of cybernetics as well as genetic engineering when creating his Ultimate Lifeform, Nightshade. Their Maria got to live her life to it's fullest, becoming a scientist like her grandfather. Nightshade also dedicated his life to science, wanting to follow Maria's dreams of making the world a better place, even after she passed away. Sunny benefited from their research, as it's thanks to their work into cybernetics that he is able to walk (and run) again. Upon waking in the post-apocalyptic world, Dr Nightshade has made it his mission to find out what caused the plants to grow out of control and hopefully reverse the effects. Sunny, someone who sees the benefits of both the old and new world, hopes that he can help the good Doctor find balance between the natural and mechanized worlds. Meanwhile GUN is up to something rather suspicious up there in space...

No Place Sea: Yay pirate AU!! Honestly didn't have a lot of ideas beyond just pirates tho... Shadow is Captain Blackheart and is like super duper cursed. He is captain of a ghost ship, whose crew is also super cursed and/or undead. All save a single member, his navigator Tempest (Sonic), who is immune to the effects curses due to him being half siren. Tempest does not speak much as his voice is imbued with the charming power of a siren, which he lacks much control over. He has a knack for reading the winds and currents making him an ideal navigator in treacherous waters. He is both drawn to and fears the water, as something in those dark depths keeps calling to him, eager to drag him down down down into darkness... However he can't bring himself to stay away despite the danger, and luckily whatever is hunting him seems to steer clear of the ghost ship. In exchange for shelter aboard his ship, Tempest is helping Blackheart track down and decode ancient sea charts that will lead them to a great treasure he's been hunting. One said to be able to grant wishes: the chaos emeralds!

[aphroditeslover11]

the jealous oppie fic is def going to win the poll but you should still write him teaching the reader how to drive another time that idea is so cute!!! i adore your writing

Driving Lessons

This was very fun to write, I'm a horrendous driver and there is nothing like the fear of stalling in the middle of a busy road! Sorry that this is so short, but I hope we were thinking along the same lines.

As always, based on fictional Cillian Murphy Oppenheimer, if you don't want to read it you don't have to.

Oppie teaching you to drive would certainly be an interesting experience. His own terrible driving was legend, especially among his friends who had all experienced his habit of cornering at seventy, driving at break-neck-speed purely for the thrill of it and making them all fear for their lives. When he found out that you had never learnt to drive though he was insistent that it would be him who taught you, he thought that it would be something fun that you could do together at the weekend. Boy did he have no idea what he was in for!

Though Robert did have an old Buick that he drove around the base, he decided to steal one of the army Jeeps, making sure that he found the most battered one possible so that any accidents wouldn’t have too many implications. He started off by heading into the desert, him driving and getting you to watch what he was doing, explaining it as he went.

“I’m going to change gear, we’re only quite slow so I’m just going to go up from second into third. I’m taking my right foot off the accelerator, putting my left foot on the clutch and moving the stick right and straight up. Make sure you take your foot off the clutch before putting it back on the gas or all hell will break loose!” He carried on doing this until he got to a straight stretch, turning off the engine.

“Right, I’ll give you a go,” he said, getting out of the driver’s side, coming around to your door as you shuffled across into the seat he had just left. “Don’t worry, there’s nothing to crash into out here.” 

All he asked you to do the first time that you took to the wheel was drive in a straight line and move from first into second gear, within moments you had managed to stall the damn thing, sending you into a fit of panic. You just sat there, ridiculous things about having broken the engine going around your head. Robert was quick to figure out what you had done wrong though. Gently encouraging you to start again. After a few tries you eventually figured out the gear change and he decided that your clutch control was good enough to try your hand at some steering. He set you off in second gear to drive around a sizeable boulder in the middle of the open area. 

“You don’t need to panic, you can’t do any damage to anything out here, you just need to take your time and hold your nerve.” He was forced to eat those words when you panicked, completely mis-steering and careering off into the huge rock. He had tried to dive across you to grab the steering wheel, but it was too late and he ended up trying to shield you from the impact instead. You were both startled, taking a moment to breath before Robert immediately turned to you, making sure that you weren’t injured.

“Maybe that was enough for today,” he suggested, trying not to touch any nerves or appear as condescending - he knew that you would be absolutely furious with yourself. “We’ll try again tomorrow maybe, I think you probably need a rest though after that.” You let him take back the driver’s seat, putting the banged up Jeep into reverse and leaving the scene of the crime.

[vossprime]

2, 12, 13, and 17 from that ask game for Zlatko 🫡

Hiiii~

2. How long was the process before the character reached its final version? (or a version that would be clearly recognizable as the character?)

It definitely took a few months! In the beginning I played him much more dogmatic and based off vibes rather than a specific mindset as he did not really have a set backstory beyond the Triumph and Darkest Hour yet (now reflected in him getting more and more iconoclast later in game). Visually, It was always pretty clear-set - i just jumbled something together in the character creator and went from there and took a few body parts away. The fact he looks a bit like me was actually reverse engineering - I got the buzzcut AFTER making the character :'D I don't think he has a definite final version, as of right now I am re-designing his augment based off the art @systembug made for him and I've also tweaked his backstory multiple times to allow for new learned lore and worldbuilding so he is steadily evolving..

12. Do you have a playlist for the character? What songs do you associate with them and why?

I have a completely un-sorted Spotify playlist called "Golden" here

Most recent addition Is Tear in Space (Airlock) by Glass Animals because look at those lyrics :D

I'm here, but you aren't sure What are you waiting for? Stretch me like leather rope Make me invisible Shape me into your form What are you waiting for? Hostage, so in love It's an airless black chasm You turn the airlock on

Actually this could be an unskippable cutscene but you know what? I will be so normal. but barely.

13. Do you have a voice claim for the character? What do you imagine the character sounds like?

A few people have joked that I should just use my own voice but he's a lot lower than me + has a flatter tone of affect. Niko suggested Yasuo from Lol with the pitch of Twisted Fate and I also kind of imagine it a bit like that of the singer of the band Korben Dallas in this song.

Honestly, my voice claim in terms of intonation and delivery is how @goofgoofdildo reads him. He did such a banger job in the three times I've had the pleasure that now whenever I have to write Zlatko I imagine him reading it in my head, facts.

17. Are there any motifs or symbols associated with the character? How are they represented, in their design, personality or in some other way?

Gold, of course, hence the name, it appears in every iteration of the character :D Also ye olde dog motif because I am not immune and hey, commissars ARE dogs of the Imperium, I don't make the rules! I like to throw birds in there too because Tzeentch (and Mayrie, whose symbol is the eagle). I also like to bring in hunting/hunter imagery.

[tinyozlion]

The ZERO System- Why you shouldn’t let a battle algorithm determine your life goals

-Arrival (2016)

The ZERO system is a program that interfaces between a pilot and a Mobile Suit. 

The purpose of the system is to enhance a pilot’s natural abilities by increasing their reaction time and accuracy, even allowing the pilot to “feel” the response of their Mobile Suit as though it were an extension of their own body, and to provide an adaptive, real-time battle plan that suggests the most advantageous course of action based on accumulated battle data and iterative projections of likely outcomes. 

How exactly the ZERO system does all this is a little unclear– but we do know that it’s open-source, DRM free, and runs off a floppy disc.

The future is the 90’s! 

--To start off with a quick overview, there are two mobile suits installed with a permanent copy of the ZERO system: the Wing Zero, which has it built into the cockpit, and the Epyon, which displays the system data via a flight suit helmet (technically the Epyon’s system was reverse-engineered without the benefit of the original ZERO program, but its effects are identical). There is also a modified version of the system that was utilized to coordinate the movements of Libra's mobile doll fleet– a novel use of the technology that elevated the otherwise limited AI of the Dolls to monstrous effect by giving them the intuition and oversight of a human mastermind.

But! Something worth noting is that the ZERO system isn’t the only battle-enhancing algorithm for mobile suits!

In a brief but significant moment in episode 10, we learn that OZ has a machine-learning program all of its own, and it's installed on the (then newly developed) Taurus mobile suits.

“There is a problem with the Taurus. It has the ability to learn from accumulated battle data. I’d like to trust OZ’s control system, but there’s still the chance that the machine will ignore the pilot’s commands and move on its own. If the command to kill overrides the pilot, the consequences could be significant.” –Doctor J

Who wrote the program for the Taurus suits? The most likely answer is Chief Engineer Tuberov, the man responsible for the Mobile Doll AI system, which is no doubt the successor of the Taurus AI. However, there was a lot of cooperation and cross-pollination of ideas between the original creators of mobile suits; Tuberov, Howard, and the five Gundam scientists were all involved in the earliest days of MS development, so it's not inconceivable that Doctor J is aware of the dangers of the Taurus’ AI because he helped develop it. 

And Doctor J has good reason to consider the Taurus AI dangerous, because if it’s anything like the ZERO system, it’s the absolute last thing you’d want a power-hungry global military organization to have access to.

It’s not safe in the wrong hands; hell, it’s not even safe in the right hands. There’s a reason ZERO wasn’t installed on the finalized Gundams, and was left buried inside the files of a discarded blueprint. 

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The ZERO system is a GAN : it uses the data sets of previously recorded battles and the pilot's biological feedback to generate potential outcomes for a given fight, and then evaluates those results based on their likelihood and probability of success, in a zero-sum game where "success" is always defined by the total elimination of enemies.

Like all algorithmic processes, it amplifies certain results based on what data it's given and how it is trained; it's possible to use ZERO to predict the most likely, or most advantageous course of action for a pilot's future-- as long as that future is combative. And because the system is only trained to recognize Win States, Enemies, and Vulnerabilities, every future is going to be combative.

It's not trained to look for alternative solutions to combat, or make predictions about a life NOT spent inside a mobile suit-- it can only continue to generate pass/fail scenarios that lead, by the most efficient means, to the ultimate win state: the elimination of all enemies, all future enemies, all potential enemies. 

--Whatever the mechanism is that allows the ZERO system to interface with a pilot’s brain, it is possible for a good pilot, who is aware of the system and is prepared for its effects, to mitigate how much control the system has over their mind and body, and successfully moderate the interposition of the machine's priorities and their own-- but it takes an enormous amount of mental and physical conditioning to override ZERO, and the strain on the pilot is significant.

The ZERO system gives a pilot the best chance of success by grabbing them directly by the brain chemistry, heightening awareness, speeding up reflexes, and inducing an almost trance-like state of hyperfocus that eliminates “distractions”, and ignores any physical and mental barriers that might get in the way of victory. 

Unfortunately, what constitutes a “distraction” in the eyes of the machine is not always in line with the pilot’s conscience, and what it considers a “weakness” is often the biological feedback of strain and bodily distress. If left unchecked, the system overwhelms the pilot and can make them keep fighting through unsafe levels of exhaustion and injury, and in extreme situations, over-stimulation from the system itself can cause brain hemorrhaging.

While assessing all of the potential outcomes of a given battle, it takes into account every likely scenario up to and including the pilot’s own death. It will tell you if you’re likely to die. It will show you all the ways you are likely to die. If you let it dig too far into your nervous system, it will in fact let you feel how you’ll die, pumping your adrenaline levels up to the screaming pitch you’d experience if it were actually happening. 

Even if a pilot is technically capable of withstanding ZERO, the psychological effect of using in the first place comes with its own insidious dangers. The temptation to let the machine ride is a powerful one; it makes you faster and stronger than everyone else, it lets you see things before they happen, it allows you to stop thinking about complicated questions of right and wrong and simply focus on the most immediate action necessary for survival and success, it takes away the confusion of competing moral imperatives.

ZERO grants a human the clarity and singularity of purpose of a machine. 

For those seeking refuge in numbness, this is a soporific that allows a pilot to take retributive action against their perceived enemy without feeling, removing grief and replacing it with vindication; and for those who are insecure, or weak and hungry for power, it is fatally intoxicating. 

ZERO can only show a pilot the quickest way from point A to point B.

It does not take into account any factors besides efficiency. It does not have a conscience, it does not have external priorities, and it does not value life.

If you give it a problem to solve like “how do I win”, no solution is off the table-- it will remove any and all obstacles in the way of victory, and by far the most common obstacle is the fact that most people have things that they care about, and things they are unwilling to do.

For instance, the safety of one's allies and innocent third parties is not a parameter the ZERO system is equipped to recognize.

If using your beam canon is the most effective way to clear the battlefield but you're not using it because there's a Colony in your line of fire-- well, that's easy to fix. If your concern for an ally is holding you back from fighting without reservation, that's an easy fix too.

- ----------------- -

The scientists responsible for creating ZERO knew what a monstrosity it was that they had built, and did not implement it in the finalized Gundams. But once it was unleashed on the world anyway, they surmised that the only way to use the system wisely was to become on one’s own terms what ZERO would have tried to force you to become anyway: a soldier with a clearly defined goal, who is strong enough and skilled enough to complete their objectives, and who has nothing holding them back-- therefore, someone who the machine could not easily manipulate.

During their time in space, the Gundam pilots are isolated, scattered, and lack a clear purpose. Their Colonies betrayed them and their loyalties continue to be used against them-- in that atmosphere, the convenience of a system that can select the most advantageous target is obvious, but at the same time, a struggling pilot operating alone is at the greatest risk of being overwhelmed by it. This is why the Doctors advise the pilots to become "perfect soldiers"-- or else, go insane.

Important Clarification: This is a “perfect soldier” in nearly the opposite sense of how the Romefeller Eyebrow Brigade would define a True Soldier! What the Doctors mean by a “perfect soldier” is simply a fighter with a clear objective and few tactical weaknesses that could be exploited.

The ideal example of this "perfect soldier" is obviously Wufei:

Wufei already thinks in terms of absolutes; he acts according to the strictest assessment of who is Evil, and therefore an Enemy; he fights almost exclusively alone, relying on his own considerable strength to achieve his goal of enacting justice; and he habitually shuns any close attachment that might complicate his path forward.

It's no wonder that when Wufei pilots the Wing Zero, all the system does is confirm what he already held to be true. His goal was always to eliminate anyone trying to escalate militarism, which means defeating both Treize and Zechs, and as a slight compromise, cooperating with his fellow Gundam pilots as a team.

It’s as though Wufei’s brain was already running on the ZERO system. And since he’s already equipped to make his own tactical decisions in the field, he has no need of an external system to tell him what to do. ZERO has nothing to offer Wufei, and there is nothing for it to exploit.

But it's not just Wufei who can resist using the system: even Quatre-- who is in most ways the polar opposite of Wufei, and who at his lowest point fell prey to the ZERO before anyone realized what it was-- is eventually able to master the system. Once Quatre is armed with the knowledge of what the system is intended for and knows exactly who he has to fight, he is able to use it in a way that maximizes his natural tactical abilities, and resists all its negative effects. And upon gaining ZERO's insight, Quatre realizes that he, too, no longer needs it.

- ----------------- -

So what it boils down to is this: A pilot with superior skills and a firm resolve can operate effectively without the ZERO system, and a pilot with superior skills an NO firm resolve, or with too many vulnerabilities, will find themselves struggling against it to their detriment.

Either way, it is up to the pilot to navigate the available outcomes presented by their surroundings, and choose the best course of action according to their logic and intuition-- and wouldn't this still be true with NO artificial source of input?

The ZERO system may enhance human abilities by brute force, but the processes it accelerates are already present within the pilot. In fact, it’s hardly more than a limited, mechanically-accelerated version of what the senses and nervous system do already.

Like all current examples of machine learning, it presents the illusion of an objective, autonomous process that can stand in for human input. But it isn’t a true “artificial intelligence”-- and even if it were, it would not “transcend” or replace the need for human input. It is only a means of sorting and arranging data sets that come from humans, and must be interpreted and acted on by humans, in order to have any physical effect. 

--We know a lot more about the dangers of algorithms and machine-learning and automation now in the 2020’s than we did in the 1990’s, but between the ZERO system and the Mobile Dolls, I think Gundam Wing did a damn good job of illustrating them. 

Ultimately, it is always a human who makes the decisions, and is responsible for the consequences. Surrendering that responsibility to a machine is not only morally reprehensible, it is in fact, not possible– a human built the machine, and a human made use of the machine, and a thousand, thousand collective moments of human decision-making led to whatever outcome the machine facilitated.

The world hasn’t yet arrived at the techno-singularity, either in the present or in A.C.195, and those who are eager to pass the blame prematurely to “AI” are usually those who wish to avoid being held accountable for their actions. 

Perhaps it’s no surprise that the only person to use the ZERO system for something other than combat is Treize. For the confined leader of OZ, the system is a magic eight ball to scry the future with.

At the time of creating the Epyon, the system did not show him a viable path forward, or at least, not one he considered acceptable. Treize interpreted this as meaning he had NO future, but I can’t help but wonder if he was asking the wrong sort of question for a predictive battle algorithm to answer.

...Or maybe, the answer he got was “Ask Again Later”, which, actually, would have been correct.

[ay-miphae]

let go, the source will flow

the details took me so long :')

more info and ramble under the cut :D

this takes place at the end of The Source so they've already started to undergo their transition into Forevers, hence the fish-like features

in the center is the Chemist (Tommy Rogers), Historian (James LaBrie) on the left, and Counselor (Simone Simons) on the right, featured most prominently because they have lines in The Source Will Flow

but I also wanted to explore how do the other Forevers adapt to Planet Y? what are they thinking? so we have Astronomer (Hansi Kürsch) (top left), Diplomat (Michael Eriksen) (top right), and Captain (Tobias Sammet) (bottom right), who are excited about their new forever abilities, like in Journey to Forever

in the bottom left is the Opposition Leader (Tommy Karevik) going off on the President (Russell Allen) because of course

under the text "the source will flow" is the Biologist (Floor Jansen), and to the right of the Chemist's hair is the Prophet (Nils K Rue) who are just. doing their Forever stuff idk. was going to draw TH-1 as the 'Frame/Electric Castle but i ran out of room lmao.

since this is going in a public zine where people probably won't be familiar with Ayreon, I intentionally "neutralized" the characters so they'd look a little more universally relatable, if that makes sense?

I gave up on the rendering and made them translucent instead and they actually look so much better that way lmao

the large background structure in the center is the Starblade, set up as a metropolis on Y, I basically copied the details off the artbook ahaha. to the right is the dream sequencer (also used the blueprints in the artbook bless, also I think it's So cool how Yann Souetre basically took Jef Bertels' art and. reverse engineered it?? such a cool testament to the way artists influence each other). so I also tried to do the same with the structure on the left - it's supposed to be the Alphan iteration of the structure on the 01 cover. except now I'm wondering - is that how the Starblade was designed???

wait no. this is a serious question

anyway! sorry for the text wall (but also not sorry because this has been occupying my mind so longg lol)

oh and this is purely for the silly goofy. but guess who had a timelapse that was deleted halfway through because of how much space it took up (I draw details on the Starblade for multiple hours)

[sailing-on-a-puddle]

A FishTank Day Out

Loosely using the prompt at the Aquarium, but since that has passed I’ll also include brothers relaxing because they don’t get a day off very often!

This is based on a day out my family and I went on last month, although we never saw any Thunderbirds. The venue was the Lakeside and Haverthwaite railway which is at the bottom of Lake Windermere in the Lake District, UK, and there happens to be an aquarium at the lakeside end of the line.

I thought at the time it would make a great Virgil and Gordon day out, so for FishTank week I’ve turned it into a fic with some pictures at the end.

_____________________________

Thunderbird Two flew in over the top of the lakes and mountains. Unfortunately, there was low cloud and only the top of the mountains were visible from above. Nevertheless, Gordon had brought up a holographic image of the lakes below that he couldn’t see and was excitedly telling Virgil that only Bassenthwaite Lake was technically a lake.

Virgil smiled about how excited Gordon was. They lived on an island, they were used to being surrounded by water. But this water was different and full of different aquatic life. He’d known Gordon would do this, and thankfully the holographic map of the physical geography didn’t show the places he’d planned for them to go.

Virgil landed Two in a field several miles away and configured a pod to take to the car park. He’d learned many years ago that taking Two to car parks in tourist destinations wasn’t popular. When on rescues you could park anywhere you liked, but when you turned up with it as mode of transport there was lots of moaning about noise, rocket boosters setting fire to things and taking up 50 parking spaces.

A couple of minutes and they arrived at the car park.

“Er, Virgil, we’re not at the lake yet.”

“Nope.”

Gordon looked round to see the two rail lines behind him, and then he realised what the various sheds and buildings around him were.

“Virgil, have you brought me to another steam train?”

“You didn’t complain about the last one.”

“Well, that had the Harry Potter station, and there’s lakes, Virgil. We could be there, now, doing water things. I’m a FISH, Virg, and you’ve brought me here instead.”

Virgil smiled at him . “All in good time, we’re going to the lake, which is your thing, on a lovely piece of engineering, which is my thing.”

Right on cue, the train came in. Gordon was then subject to a full running commentary about how the wonders of this particular locomotive and railway setup. Something about side and saddle tanks maybe? Aren’t saddles on horses? His brother loved this technology that was over 100 years old, and although Gordon didn’t really understand the difference beyond this locomotive was red and the last one was black, he was delighted to see his engineering brother so happy.

Gordon had to admit it all looked very atmospheric on this cloudy chilly day, especially when the locomotive emerged from the tunnel to run round the train. Virgil took a photo with the intention of sketching it later.

They boarded the train and it set off on the journey, slowly making it’s way through the countryside and woods. Twenty minutes later the train pulled into the Lakeside station, and when Gordon got off his excitement reached fever pitch.

“Virgil! VIRGIL! There’s an aquarium!”

“Yup.”

“Can we go? Can we go? Pleeeeease?”

“If I said no, would you listen anyway?”

“Lalala, I can’t hear you and we’re going to the aquarium!”

Virgil just laughed at him, put his arm round his shoulder and they both skipped to the aquarium door. If anybody did stare at either of them they didn’t notice, they were used to that anyway.

Now the roles from earlier were reversed and Gordon was talking continuously about everything in the tanks. Half the time he didn’t even need to read the signs, he knew exactly what it was. Something about an Axolotl? Was that something Alan talked about from Minecraft? Virgil did read the signs and listen, but mostly thought about how all the colours and shapes and took photos. He’d sketch, or maybe paint those later too.

After a couple of hours or so, when Gordon wanted to go round the aquarium for the fourth time to see what else he could see Virgil left him to it. He went and sat on a bench outside facing the lake, picking up a coffee for himself and some neon slush thing for Gordon from the cafe on the way.

A boat was just leaving the jetty, and the lake looked very atmospheric with the low cloud hanging in the cool air. Virgil once again regretted not bringing his art supplies but took a picture anyway.

He realised he’d been humming and daydreaming when his thoughts were interrupted by Gordon jumping over the back of the bench with a brightly coloured soft toy fish from the shop.

“You done?”

“I think they’re closing. I was the last one in. Are we going home now?”

“Yup. Thought we’d get some pizza to eat on the way home.”

“Sounds good.”

They picked their seat on the waiting train to take them back to the pod. Virgil produced some cake that he’d also picked up from the café, and Gordon’s eyes lit up and he started to eat it in a way that would have incurred Grandma Tracy’s wrath.

“Virgil?”

“Mmm?”

“Thanks for bringing me today.”

“You’re welcome, thank you for coming with me.”

_________________

Here's some of the pictures Virgil took, which are actually mine. Virgil would be a better photographer than me!

And a bonus one, the black locomotive in the Harry Potter Station Gordon references (Goathland on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, photographed last year)

[slopofaarix]

Star Trek: Dragon

posting all my Dragon lore here because why not

The Dragon is a gigantic, sentient, space-faring organism. Her species seem to have evolved alongside a humanoid one supposed to be her crew, whom she depends on for maintenance and survival, and who benefit from her being a badass faster-than-light home among the stars. Unfortunately for her, some [random cosmic event, insert technobabble here] has transported her to the Alpha Quadrant with no crew, and next to no memory of who she is or where she comes from. Adrift and with nobody to care for her, she begins to ail quickly…. Fortunately for her, another event brings her in contact with the USS Venture, a galaxy class starfleet ship. Unfortunately, this event also destroys the Venture, and only a few random crew members and civilians manage to survive by boarding the Dragon. The good news is that they're bonded to her as her new crew, awaking her from her coma—yay!

There’s a downside, though. Once the bond is established, her crew can only be away from her for a week or two before they will start to die. It’s enough for the Starfleet personnel to continue a lot of their work—after all, it’s not like they’re cut off from civilisation—they can communicate just fine with the outside world. They can even go and visit their families. Even so, this situation is less than ideal. Starfleet doesn’t want its officers and these civilians trapped inside this big weird alien, and it won’t risk assigning any additional guys to this ship for obvious reasons. The Dragon herself knows that it’s wrong to hold on to her current crew indefinitely, so it’s her—and their—mission to find out more about her, and to get her home, wherever that may be. Hopefully her people (and crew-species) know some way to reverse the bond.

FTL-capable, though it’s nothing like conventional warp technology. Totally different technology, as it’s all biologically/psionically based. It seems to be a lot faster, yet also a lot harder to set precise courses for. She often ends up in places her pilots are thinking about/dreaming of instead of whatever heading they try to input.

Yes, they keep ending up at Risa. Yes they tried putting asexual species in the pilot's chair, to no avail. It's a "don't think about elephants" dilemma.

About 300 meters long from bow to stern, making her a bit smaller than the USS Voyager. As the series continues, and she takes on more crew (normally by accident), she grows alongside their numbers 

About 50 crew to start—who are an even mix of starfleet and civvies. It’s actually pretty comfy in there, she’s not a military vessel. Of course, she has a bridge and an engineering section and even weapons. But there’s a park and an arboretum and a little food garden in there too… really, it wouldn’t be such a bad place to settle down.

Starfleet are running the show here… or trying. The crew is small, and her maintenance requirements are pretty high, which means there are a lot of civilians getting field commissions here. Know your way around a plasma manifold? Congrats, here’s your yellow uniform.

There’s nobody on this ship above the rank of commander. Everyone is just doing their best.

Agreed to have some Starfleet technology grafted into her to help her Starfleet personnel interface with her better and also afford them a few more familiar creature comforts—namely holodecks and transporters. Some things work nicely. Other things, like replicators, do not. But don’t worry :) she has the crew’s nutritional needs sorted :)

She excretes a nutritionally-complete-for-your-species paste in your favorite flavour. From her many, many teats. From which you must suckle.

She is capable of replicating anything a standard replicator can (and more!), but it will be produced within an ooze-covered amniotic sac. You can have a raktajino, cup and all, but you’ll just have to wait a sec and then cut it out of an oozy veiny sac.

Starfleet rations have never seemed so appealing! 

She is predominantly solar powered, and supplements her diet with nebula dust and random space debris.

The Bond ™ seems to be a combination of nanites and psychic tethering. The Dragon can intuit the needs of her crew and make sure they are healthy and comfortable, but without her continued influence, the nanites degrade and you’ll eventually go into neural shock. Starfleet are *trying* to find a way to remove the bond safely, to no avail.

She will chat to you, especially if you're lonely. She's great at moral support, and is always there to listen :)

Her internals a a strange mix of organic and inorganic. It's not gory in there, rather, there is a lot of bioluminescence and clean geometry which just... happens to strangely bonelike. At least, that's true for most parts of the ship. Engineering is a different story. And the Jeffrey's tubes? Well, they move you via peristalsis.

All of this occurs 15 years after the conclusion of DS9, in an alternate timeline which ignores every piece of star trek media produced after Voyager (since I have not watched them <3)

Notable staff include:

Captain Noe (actual rank: Cmdr.), a hardass Vaadwaur--actually a spy, but has to keep up the ruse now and is not very happy about it (it's a long story.)

Dr. Kem Valir (CMO), a Bajoran non-believer who's convinced he can save everyone in the universe and that joining Starfleet was the best way to do this.

Lt. Kem Olan (science), a Bajoran-raised Cardassian, adoptive brother of Valir. A social outcast, and very effeminate by cardassian standards. Would follow Valir into hell, or at least Starfleet.

Lt. (j.g.) Ryn (engineer) (provisional officer), an outcast Klingon who just happened to be aboard the Venture after they found him dead in the water in the most ramshackle ship imaginable (it crumbled to debris the moment it lost his magic touch).

Ens. White (helmsman) (extremely provisional provisional officer), a ferengi-human hybrid. Served previously as a helmsman on a small starfleet ship before being stripped of rank for doing a little hustling on the side. Was being moved to a penal colony before the Dragon encounter.

Lt Cdr T'Sue (tactical), a ferengi-vulcan hybrid (don't ask) brought into this world for convoluted political reasons and kept in it by a shitload of cybernetic augments. Same father as White (don't ask). Had a temporary post on the Venture so she could see her bro one last time while also not having to take time off work.

Miles Obrien is also there to continue manning the transporters, since his suffering can never end (he’s divorced in our universe)

We've also overhauled the species lore quite a bit, since the theater of the mind has an infinite special effects budget--though we aim to enhance the existing lore rather than contradict any of it. I'll list our alien biology headcanons here.