#same reason i’m a graphic designer instead of an illustrator

[anddreadful]

I love how in my dnd career some spells/ abilities come to be associated with particular campaigns in totally organic ways, and then at a certain point they’re a Motif Now imbued with thematic meaning and using them creates a thread to all the other times they’ve been used in that story. Fireball for Lights, lightning spells for Storm Kings, the corruption stuff in World Torn, feather fall and healing magic in Strahd, and now Command and Detect Thoughts in Unearthed Remnants. I love that discovery and meaning-making process and the fusion of practical mechanical problem-solving with narrative. I love dnd!!!!!

[toonrandytalkstoons]

Pony in the Spotlight: An “It’s Pony” Retrospective

Today, January 18, marks the third anniversary of It’s Pony – an unique original Nicktoon in which it’s mainly produced out of the United Kingdom instead of the usual Nickelodeon Animation studios in the United States. Created by illustrator, animator and writer Ant Blades, It’s Pony chronicles the antics of a talking pony and his human best friend who live in an urban farm on the sixth floor of an apartment.

  In my mind, It’s Pony stood out from many other Nicktoons when it aired – while it did have its moments in wacky moments, it has an unique charm to it. It has its own brand of humor – probably because most of its writers are British and the Brits have their own sense of humor – and the stories themselves have their twists and turns. When watching the series, you’ll never know when the story would lead because of an unpredictable pony. And with any animated series filled with quirky characters, great music, hilarious situations, unique character designs and art style and heartwarming moments, I fell in love with It’s Pony.

  Alas, with many other Nicktoons, It’s Pony didn’t last well. While it never achieved the same amount of success as SpongeBob SquareParents and The Loud House, Nick’s two current biggest Nicktoon franchises, to me it was a breath of fresh air when I was growing tired of the latter aforementioned series, and for reasons mentioned in the previous paragraph.

In this retrospective, we’ll look back at the series as well as its merits and highlights from all two seasons of It’s Pony. Let’s begin!

Having launched in 2012 and lasted until the end of the decade, the Nickelodeon Animated Shorts Program garnered so many pilots. For the 2016-17 season, a pilot called Pony made the rounds as part of a slew of submissions from the program’s international edition. Luckily, it got picked up for a full series. British-born Ant Blades has made a name for himself as a creator of various animated shorts. Among other things, he’s also the creator of the comic strip Bewley, about a family of blue-colored birds, that ran on the British newspaper Daily Express for a number of years. (The strip appeared on the website GoComics in the United States about a decade ago, but it's since removed as its rights have expired.)

Enter Nickelodeon a few years later. When Blades’ Pony got picked up, the decision was made to have the series produced mainly out of the UK. Blue Zoo, a renowned London-based animation, was known for its CG productions in the preschool programming field. Recently, they opened a 2D animation unit – and its first production was Pony, since renamed to It’s Pony. (Blue Zoo also produces the animation for 2019’s The Adventures of Paddington, which is also on Nickelodeon in the US, and they are also currently working with the network on producing the upcoming series HexVet, based on the graphic novel series.) While its artists and writers are mainly based in Britain, much of its voice cast are based in the US.

                                                        -----

So, how did I get invested in It’s Pony? In early 2018, during Nickelodeon's Upfront, the series was announced during the event. When Nick’s other announcements of a fourth season renewal of The Loud House as well as its spin-off The Casagrandes garnered so much attention within my friends and the online animation community at large, while I was fine with those announcements, one look at It’s Pony’s promotional image sold it for me. At that moment, I knew I’m for something special despite it being ignored from the beginning.

  Since then I was counting the days til the day It’s Pony made its debut. However, over a year has passed by that time I became a little desperate as there was no new news about the series. Finally, during the holiday season in 2019, Nickelodeon announced that there will be a sneak peek of the series on YouTube on Christmas Day, with the series officially premiering on January 18, 2020. I was excited. However, Nick didn’t upload the sneak peek on Christmas as announced, only to finally appear on YouTube the next day. (If that’s the first time Nick attempted to mistreat a new Nicktoon before its debut, then I don’t know what is. :D)

  The sneak peek was a 10 minute segment of an episode called “Plants!” I wrote my first impressions back then and I liked what I saw. After a few more watches of the same segment, however, “Plants!” became one of my favorite episodes/segments of It’s Pony. I laughed more and more. The upload wasn’t an immediate success, however: When I wrote about “Plants!”, its view count at the time was 188,000 – the video didn’t reach one million views months later. By comparison, the sneak peek of The Casagrandes’ first segment on YouTube a few weeks earlier surpassed over a million views within 24 hours. If my memory is correct, I think Nickelodeon promoted The Casagrandes’s sneak peek over It’s Pony’s, or they had promoted It’s Pony’s sneak peek but lots of people were only interested on The Loud House spin-off.

  It kinda bothered me, because I wanted It’s Pony to succeed. But it doesn't matter. I was looking forward to the series premiere.

It’s Pony’s arrival came at a critical yet tragic time for me. 

Several years prior, I got back to watching Nickelodeon. The Loud House was my main cartoon from the network during that period. But even then, Nick continued to can some other Nicktoons I also liked watching while putting so much attention to TLH – the last Nicktoon I loved by this time was Welcome to the Wayne. Secondly, I grew dissatisfied towards The Loud House and felt that its quality had dropped while it became a show that was unfamiliar to me, and I also dealt with an increasingly hostile fandom that took a toll on my mental health. Thankfully, a new animated series on Netflix called Archibald’s Next Big Thing brought me some respite from it all – I loved it so much that I even rewatched the first season multiple times.

  The tragic part – and most important of all – is that while all of this was going on, my mom was dying and I found myself into heavy depression at times. A few weeks after Mom’s funeral and while I was coping with grief, It’s Pony arrived to bring me much joy. A half hour’s worth of silliness, great characters, and tons of heart to shield from the harsh realities of life, thanks to an unlikely pony-girl friendship and the hijinks that surround them.

I frequently brought up TLH here, but It’s Pony did have ties to the popular series: One, a handful of  writers from TLH including Bob Mittenthal (also served as the series’ head writer) and Jacob Fleischer contributed to It’s Pony. Finally, Jessica DiCicco – the voice of sisters Lynn and Lucy – starred as Annie Bramley, while Grey Griffin (Lily, Lola and Lana), Yvette Nicole Brown (Mayor Davis) and Joe DiMaggio (Mr. Grouse) make frequent appearances in the series. Because of the TLH/It’s Pony connection, I often told people who love The Loud House to check out It’s Pony. Obviously, it didn’t work most of the time, but only a few people I know did.

  Imagine my surprise when I found out that Josh Zuckeman, the voice of the starred character Pony, also appeared as Young Evil in the movie Austin Powers in Goldmember. The Austin Powers series is one of my favorite film series, and I was ecstatic when I found that out after I started watching the series. He’s great as Pony. Pony is one of my comfort characters – his character design as well as his voice are what makes him so adorable.

                                                             -----

What is the tone of It’s Pony? For starters, it features the antics of a talking pony who’s not only naïve, but also causing havoc throughout the city, which later came to be called Pickleton in the second season. Yet, Pony always means well and while he’s good – well, chaotic good mostly – he has always come through for the people he loves, including Annie and her parents George and Helen, and his friends.

  As mentioned earlier, when watching the series you’ll never know when things would go when Pony’s around, and I think the writers worked so hard to make it happen and miraculously pulled it off. Pony drives much of the series’ comedy. When I noticed people who had tried to watch the series, they found Pony to be annoying. To me, it’s just a part of the series’ charm.  I just love him and he has always made me laugh!

Amid all the chaos, however, It’s Pony can also be surprisingly laid-back. It gives the effect of the series to be soothing when it’s not in chaotic mode. The series’ soundtrack usually features a string instrument being heard, which I do think it helps give off that kind of vibe. It’s also appropriate given the fact that the Bramleys are a farming family.

And the heartwarming stuff, oh the heartwarming stuff. At the series’, um, heart, are Annie and Pony’s relationship. They’re the best of friends, they love each other, and they can’t imagine being separated from each other. A segment from season one, “Teacher’s Pet”, touches on this, with an emotional beat. There’s also Annie’s friends: including her closest human friend and rich but sweet Clara, sportster Heston, smart Gerry (whom Clara has a crush on), geek Brian, slightly-deranged animal lover Beatrice, weirdo Fred, and kinda dark yet sometimes frenemy Henrietta. Beatrice, Fred and Henrietta aside, the friends – despite some conflicts that appear between them every once in a while – they’re very supportive of each other. There are tons of other heartwarming moments in the series, which I’ll also mention in the episode highlights later in this retrospective.

In addition, It’s Pony came out in a time when the world was (and still is) already in despair, especially when the COVID-19 pandemic was in its beginning stages, with the pandemic arriving in the US nearly two months later after the series premiere and millions of people were ordered to stay home. The New York Times named It’s Pony as one of the new series for parents to watch with their kids. Nickelodeon’s Twitter account tweeted their article. It’s Pony seemingly was destined to move to greater things if good reviews and decent ratings were any indication. However, we all know what happened next…

                                                          ----- I’ve talked about how the series came to be and my personal history with it. Now, we begin the brief recaps of my favorite episodes from both seasons! While it’ll only be about the episodes, It’s Pony also has a series of shorts available online – all of them are great!

Season 1

“Nosy Pony”

In the series’ debut segment, Pony does what the title suggests: being nosy. He really gets in the business of strangers and what they do. That, of course, causes problems and not only that, George and Helen need them to temporarily run their produce stand at the city market. After a fix to correct Pony’s nosiness, it worked…until Pony nearly got himself in danger. “Nosy Pony” is a great segment to start off the series, and it’s full of twists and turns.

“Plants!” I mentioned before that I liked this segment when it was shown as a sneak peek, but it has grown on me and it’s now one of my favorites. Pony being afraid of plants does sound silly from a bad moment he experienced. However, while hilarity ensues – including scenes where a therapist who’s helping Pony ends up with a phobia of her own – you can’t help but feeling sorry for Pony. He wants to go on a camping trip with his friends in a forest that is obviously full of plants. You may even end up cheering for him, including him saving Annie from certain danger. And there’s this gem of a line: “The plants are out to get me!”

“Distractions” This segment is so much fun, and it also best demonstrates how unpredictable It’s Pony can be. Annie agrees to help out Gerry on his science project. However, Pony keeps distracting her, and each time it happens it leads the duo on unexpected adventures – and a great heartwarming moment between the two aside from all the chaos. “Distractions” speaks to me because I am easily distracted at times. I’m set on doing something I want to do, only for me to do something else later on – or nothing at all.

“Gerry’s Birthday” It’s Gerry’s birthday, and his friends plan a surprise party for him. Pony stalls him, while Annie and the rest set up the party at the Bramleys’. Along the way Gerry gets hurt (Gerry always gets the worst, doesn't he?)  and the planned surprise(s) ends up disastrous. However, while Gerry appreciates Annie and Pony’s gesture, he only wants a quiet birthday, even with a few friends by his side. I think it was this segment that Gerry has become one of my favorite characters on It’s Pony.  Like him, I’m reservedly quiet. I have preferred quiet birthdays for years now, and I don’t like a lot of noise. However, I don’t mind having some people by my side. Also: “Pirate burglars! Call the police!”

“Loud Horse” A noisy neighbor is playing her tuba from Annie’s bedroom below, giving her a sleepless night – multiple sleepless nights to be exact. Having enough, she speaks to her neighbor, Marti, about her tuba playing – it turned out that she had to do it because Pony’s the one who annoyed her with his noisy antics. Annie and Pony proceed to rectify the situation – including a (sort of) marriage proposal involving Marti’s girlfriend Meg, and having Marti go on tour with her band so Annie can finally rest easy. It’s a fun episode. And this scene:

“Annie-versary” A special day has arrived for Pony that involves his best friend in the world. He drops subtle hints at Annie, but the problem is that Annie is having trouble with what the “Annie-versary” is about. Later, Helen shows her pictures from the past of Annie meeting Pony for the first time and their activities together. Annie is finally convinced that it’s the anniversary of the day their friendship was formed, but when she catches up with Pony he finally reminds her that it’s the anniversary of the very first day of them eating pizza together. A hilarious and heartwarming episode, and it’s also the episode that will forever remind fans of a touching scene showing a very young Annie and Pony.

“Bramley Holiday” In this Christmas episode, the Bramleys’ holiday tradition involves visiting George’s mother Ruth in her cabin up in the mountains near Clifton.  However, their trip is thwarted after Pony’s mishap at the airport, leaving Annie behind while her parents have already taken off. George and Helen did return to a heartbroken Annie, who wanted to see her grandmother. However, an opportunity arises when the Bramleys disguise themselves as part of a troupe on a bus heading to Clifton. But Pony blew their cover and they found themselves stranded in the forest; and along the way they face obstacles including fending off a bear before they finally reach Ruth’s, and their Christmas tradition happily resumes.

  While many Christmas episodes from various television series involve stories characters who are Scrooges or Grinches – or even what happen to their families and friends in Christmas if they don’t exist – “Bramley Holiday” involves a family heading to a relative’s for the holiday as well as the meaning of family. George has thought of Pony as a nuisance and it was the reason why he intentionally kept Pony away as the family headed to the airport. However, Pony has always been good to the family – Annie adores him and so does Helen. George realizes he does care for Pony deep down, and while he acted as a grump towards him early in the series in subsequent episodes he has  warmed up to him. See the ending of “Teacher’s Pet”!

Season 2

“Annie vs. Pony”

Annie and Pony inexplicably found themselves competing against each other in a pet competition, which might threaten their friendship. And – spoilers – Beatrice was the one who started it all. She’s at her best here in the whole series – a great moment for her. I absolutely love the battle of the pets between Pony and a lizard he entered into the competition. Very Godzilla-like if you ask me!

“Second Best Friend” A crazy episode involving a fly that everyone needs to believe in to save the day, and also an episode involving second best friends. Pony introduces the fly named Michael, his second best friend, to Gerry, who mistakenly injures him while he was shooing him away. Suddenly the whole city stops and begins rallying around Michael, who’s being sent to the hospital. Unfortunately for Gerry (you still can’t feel sorry for him enough), he’s being attacked by a large swarm of flies as revenge. While the city has to believe in Michael to save Gerry, it takes longer for Annie to accept it, and Gerry is saved…but only to be dived into a pool of paint as it has always planned. This episode is just out there in terms of craziness when you consider that It’s Pony was normally laid back, but it’s really funny and sweet.

“Pony Car” A snobbish rich cousin of Clara’s, Barrington, invites her friends to a party being thrown at the pier, which they accept. Clara disdains Barrington’s rude attitude towards her friends and says their friendship is more important than any riches. Later, when Annie, Gerry, Heston and Brian need a ride, Pony arrives with a car he built, which is assembled of various parts presumably from the junkyard. And thus begins a seemingly never-ending ride of wackiness, with them passing by Clara and Barrington at the pier several times until it all finally ends. An amazingly funny episode, and I think this episode has some of Pony’s best moments, including when he pretends to be the car’s radio.

“Wedding Planners” A (scam) honeymoon is awarded to the Bramleys by mail, which excites Annie for her parents. The problem? George and Helen aren’t legally married as their marriage certificate is fraudulent! So Pony and Annie do what they do best: getting themselves into messy situations – in this case it’s in order to have their parents remarried. However, Helen got them as she revealed that she and George are legally and happily married after all and it’s all a ruse to trick Annie and Pony. Helen’s really a smart trickster, and here she did it because she knew the best buds would mess it up. But in the end they’re family and they’re happy together. Plus, Helen’s one of my favorite characters in the series – she’s really sweet, and even fun for a mother like her.

“Song of the Soil” I love “Song of the Soil” for two things: one, it’s an episode full of creativity and fun, and second it has a cute song! Annie and Pony take over tending to their urban farm because the backs of George and Helen break. And behind their parents’, ahem, backs, Pony decides to pull a Phineas and Ferb (!) and builds a giant roller coaster at the top of their apartment building. This temporarily sets back Annie and Pony’s job of harvesting their produce on time, but they complete their job before George arrives and Annie develops a green thumb through the song of the soil.

“Raiders of the Lost Cinema” Being the second Halloween episode (“Scarecrow” being the first), “Raiders of the Lost Cinema” not only has the usual Halloween hijinks but also, unusual for such a Halloween episode, there’s a heartbreaking (when you think about it) backstory of a man who secluded himself for decades after a love of his never arrived for a date – and a movie theater of his went with him, never to be seen again. And thus begins the journey of Pony and friends searching for the theater and its legendary display of (long expired) candies. But standing in their way is a group of high school kids who also want to get to the candy. “Raiders” is one of my all time favorite Halloween episodes, and it also comes with an awesome dance scene from Brian!

“City Pony/Country Pony” In another half hour episode, the Bramleys fear that Pony isn’t having a suitable life in the city due to the havoc he creates and decide that the country life should be perfect for him. George accepts a deal with his Uncle Fitz to stay at the apartment while the family is away at his farm. Upon arriving, the Bramleys face a rundown house (which terrifies Pony), and then they have difficulty adjusting to the country life. Pony, meanwhile, brings the city life of Pickleton to the country life. Everything’s back to normal for the Bramleys in the end, but it is a great episode.

“Annie the Influencer”

A fun episode but also a cautionary tale of sorts as a popular app appears in Pickleton -- and Annie’s hooked into it. The search for being popular and gaining at a lot of clicks by Annie cause a rift between her and her friends, and Pony’s concerned. Then suddenly, Annie finds herself on an island apparently without any modern conveniences, and tries to break free from her addiction. She eventually realizes what she did and makes amends with Pony and her friends, and the end of the episode reveals how she ended up on the island. This episode is notable for the fact that even though Pony is known for being naive, he’s being shown as the straight man, er, pony. It also brings the point that social media can be very addictive and also brings the worst out of people. I’m kinda addicted to social media, mainly Twitter -- but recently I made some strides to limit things that made me negative there. 

“Bowled Over” While some episodes of It’s Pony gave hints that Annie may like Heston more than just a friend, in “Bowled Over” it shows her having a clear crush on someone for the first time. She tries to woo a boy named Theo at the bowling alley by trying to improve on her bowling skills. Meanwhile, Pony wishes that he has fingers and he did just that by taping some hot dogs into two of his hooves, giving them “fingers” of his own. But Theo’s constant belittling of Pony and Annie realizing that she put her friendship with Pony over Theo got her to dump him, and the girl and horse duo happily sing about their toes. It’s a favorite episode of mine for only one thing: Pony’s song about fingers! It’s so, so cute!

“Pony, Come Home” The penultimate segment sees Pony unlikely get himself in a new home thanks to a pompous wealthy kid. Annie and friends hatch a plan to get Pony back. This and the accompanying segment which also serves as the series finale “Special Sauce” (which has Gerry in Annie and Pony-style adventures with a pet rock), I feel, celebrates the series as well as the special relationship between Annie and Pony. “Pony, Come Home” features a flashback to a fun time the celebrated duo had from an earlier episode during a scene where Annie reminisces about Pony. (Despite these segments that make up the actual series finale, Nicktoons network premiered a holdover episode a week later, “Beachy Weachy Weach/Bee In a Jar”, presumably because it was close to the summer season at the time. Other countries had access to this episode about a year prior.)

Epilogue

Anyone who knows about Nickelodeon and their tendency to get rid of animated series that aren’t successful to them almost immediately. That’s what happened to It’s Pony despite showing promise. Nick gave up on it more than halfway through the first season, and after that two episodes only premiered throughout 2021 and then burned off the rest of the episode through the first half of 2022. I mean, there’s that and the fact that The Loud House and SpongeBob continue to get more attention. (In addition, by mid 2021 some It’s Pony shorts appeared on Nickelodeon while the main series was still on hiatus, though they were never advertised and other shorts were released online only.)

Like many fans of It’s Pony, I was disappointed but also not surprised. Was it like TLH or SpongeBob? Obviously no, but at the same time other Nicktoons that stood out uniquely from those that are now exist to be milked by the network. And there are lots of animated series I watch that have at least some flaws. However, I can’t seem to find any with It’s Pony in my view. It’s a great show for those who want to forget their worries for me. Like many series within a similar vein, it’s perfect for me to cheer up.

 It’s Pony and its creator Ant Blades deserve better. The show and the fact that he’s also an illustrator is the main reason why I want to have a career as a professional artist. Blades’ illustrations are fun, energetic, and have a cuteness to them. Maybe one day he would announce a new project to the delight of his fans, and hopefully it would be much more successful, though It’s Pony deserves to have a lot of success.

I’m closing this essay to paraphrase Blades’ statement from the day It’s Pony had its final episode: the show may be over, but rest assured that Annie and Pony will continue to have their adventures in Pickleton with their special bond together. 

Thank you, Ant, and to everyone who made the series for what it is. Happy Annie-versary!

[true-blue-megamind]

What Makes Hal a Great Villain?

Okay, I’m saying it upfront: this one is going to get a little dark and very real.  Potential triggers for harassment, stalking, sexual predation.  Nothing graphic or heavy, of course, but if these are especially highly sensitive subjects for you, please proceed with caution.

Also, SPOILER ALERT for anyone who has not yet watched the animated awesomeness that is Megamind.  (If you are that person, the DVD is on sale on Amazon, and the movie is available to stream on NowTV.  Go watch it.  I’ll wait.)

We all know Megamind is an awesome protagonist--multi-layered, relatable, and surprisingly complex-- but, truthfully, his antagonist is just as interesting.  In fact, when compared with other animated villains of the early 2000′s, he’s by far the most memorable... and the most terrifying.

Many may question my assessment.  I mean, let’s be honest: this guy doesn’t exactly look like the face of evil.  But make no mistake: Hal, who later becomes Titan, is an extremely scary person.

I don’t want to leave readers with the impression that this character is one-sided, however, so before we get started on just what makes this fellow complete nightmare fuel, let’s look briefly at a few of the other reasons that Hal makes a fascinating Bad Guy.

One of my favorite things about Hal’s character arch is that it defies expectations.  Superhero comics have a long tradition of Average Nobodies who somehow receive extraordinary powers and go on to save the city.  Or the world.  Or the universe.  You get the idea.  Many comic book fans, upon watching Megamind for the first time, probably expected Hal to do the same, but he doesn’t.  In fact, he goes rogue, choosing to use his newly-obtained gifts for wanton destruction.  Thus the film inverts the established trope.

Like the protagonist he faces, (and is thankfully conquered by,) Hal is complex, and his true nature reveals itself slowly.  I’ve heard some people say that they actually felt a bit sorry for him in the first scene he appears, as he awkwardly tries to express his feelings to reporter Roxanne Ritchi.  At first he seemed like nothing worse than a socially inept and sexually frustrated nerd.  Only as the move progressed, and the aforementioned viewers saw his creepiness more clearly, did they begin to revile him.  One of the many clever things about the movie is that the gradual development provides audiences with the experience of slowly getting to know the characters.  While Megamind is the somewhat anarchical Goth who worries you a little at first, but whose heart of gold has you loving him once you really understand him, Hal is that guy you really, really regret talking to at a party.  You know, the one who quickly starts sending your internal Creep-o-Meter off the scale and persistently follows you around for the rest of the night.  This is, indeed, part of what makes Hal disturbing; just like real villains, he hides in plain sight, wearing the guise of an ordinary fellow.

Which brings us back to the scary part.  Even before he gets superpowers, Hal is bad guy deep down.  He’s a creep and a stalker.  He harasses Roxanne at work and keeps pestering her for a date no matter how many times she says no.  Either consciously or unconsciously, he assumes that she’s shallow, and that once he has a muscular body and a bevy of godlike abilities, she’ll fawn on him.  The idea that he himself might be the problem never seems to occur to him.  In fact, he seems to feel that she will then owe him her affection.  This is because, even before becoming Titan, Hal appears to have an overblown sense of self-importance and an unrealistic concept about what he deserves.  (I go into detail about that in an earlier post, Megamind and Identity, which you can read here.)  The fact that he doesn’t get what he feels is his right seems to have created a deep-seeded bitterness in him that rises to the surface once he obtains power.

But Hal really is the problem.  His combined possessive harassment and complete lack of empathy are exactly why Roxanne neither likes nor trusts him.  And she’s right to feel that way.  Almost immediately after gaining his powers, now feeling that he is above society’s rules, Titan begins revealing just how terrible of a person he really is.  He uses his supervision to spy on Roxanne while he and Megamind (disguised as Space Dad) are in the park, and that must not be the only incident because he later tells Roxanne: “I know everything about you.”  This is just before he grabs her off of her balcony, without her consent, and begins throwing her around like a rag doll, terrifying her and putting her life in real danger because, apparently, he thinks she’ll be impressed.

Yeah.  This guy is pretty much human garbage.

Once he finally understands (more or less) that Roxanne really means it when she says she’s not interested, Hal/Titan reveals himself to be a man-child.  He  begins by using his abilities for selfish and criminal reasons, essentially stating that he doesn’t feel heroism is worth his time.  When he learns that Megamind has been dating Roxanne, (albeit in disguise,) he reacts with violence.  This is because Megamind, like Hal himself, is an outsider: unpopular, unwelcome, and considered unattractive by most of the population of Metro City.  In Hal’s mind, this revelation highlights the fact that none of these factors were the cause of Roxanne’s rejection, leaving only he himself to blame.  (In fact, the movie contrasts Megamind, who, although imperfect, respects Roxanne’s wishes and intelligence, with Hal, who basically views her as an object to be won.  Again, you can read more about that in Megamind and Identity.) Hal can’t handle that.  He can’t accept it.  So instead he turns his rage on the city as a whole.  (This is despite the fact that, deep down, Hal knows he is the problem, hence why he rejects his identity as Hal and fully embraces the new one as Titan.  That’s illustrated by his final line before abandoning Roxanne on Metro Tower: “It’s Titan, not Hal!”)

Hal abuses his power, and society suffers as a result.  Even then, however, Hal/Titan still tries to lay claim to Roxanne.  He accuses Megamind of “stealing his girlfriend,” and later tells Roxanne: “Let me guess, after seeing how awesome I am, you’ve come to your senses.”  All the way to the end, Hal still can’t quite seem to accept that reality is not following his design.

If the idea of a man who lets power go to his head, objectifies women, won’t take “no” for an answer, and reacts violently when denied what he feels he’s owed sounds familiar, that’s because it is.  Humanity has a huge problem with these sorts of behaviors, ranging from sexism and sexual predation to unfeeling abuses of power.  The Sarah Everard case in London, and the fact that several officials essentially blamed the victim, asking why Sarah was walking home alone rather than asking why some guy felt he had the right to attack her, is the most recent well-known testament to this, but it’s sadly far from the only one.  A.J. White said it best in his YouTube video, The Terror of the Incel Superman, when he expressed that news archives are full of stories about women being murdered by the sort of overgrown boys who can’t accept their refusals.  And although men of that sort do not have the ability to fly or shoot lasers out of their eyes, some of them do rise to social and political power.  They are Hals. 

That is exactly what makes this character so especially scary.  Unlike more farcical supervillains, he is based upon something that truly exists.  Preternatural abilities aside, Hal is terrifying because he is very real.  Let’s just hope our world will see more Megaminds willing to stand up to them. #BeMegamindNotHal

[carriagelamp]

Art of Aardman

I found myself a cheap copy of the Shaun the Sheep movie, so I was rewatching a bunch of Aardman films earlier this month and decided to hunt down some books too. For anyone that doesn’t know, Aardman is a British stop-motion studio that does fantastic work like Wallace and Gromit, Shaun the Sheep, Chicken Run, Early Man… tons of cool stuff. They’re always quirky and funny and warm-hearted. This was just a very nice art book for anyone that’s a fan of Aardman stop motion and wants to see a bit extra; it shows some cool concept art and blows up the neat details in Aardman work, especially in their intricate stuff like The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!

Asterix and the Picts (Asterix and the Chariot Race, and How Obelix Fell Into The Magic Potion)

I decided to try a couple of the new Asterix comics that were done by the new team, just to see if they stand up to the old ones (that and How Obelix Fell Into The Magic Potion cause I’d never read that one before). They were pretty decent! Asterix and the Picts was my favourite of the two though I wouldn’t say either are going to contest for my favourite Asterix comic... but still! The art looks good and the stories felt like what I would expect, they made for a pleasant couple evenings of reading especially since it’s been so long since I’ve read a new Asterix comic. If you’ve never read Asterix it’s one of the biggest name French comic series in North America, as far as I know and very worth the read. It’s about a single Gaulish village that’s holding out against the invading Romans through sheer force of will, slapstick hijinks, and a magical super-strength potion brewed by their druid. Lots of fantastic visuals and cute wordplay, even in the English translations.

Bear

I found out about this bastion of Canadian literature via tumblr post that was losing its collective mind over the fact that some bizarre bear-based erotica novella somehow won the most prestigious literary prize available in Canada. Since I too found this hilarious and unspeakably bizarre I had to give it a read, obviously. And yes, the flat surface level summary is... a librarian moves out into rural Ontario and falls in love with a literal for-real not-supernatural-not-a-joke bear. And I have to say… it is actually worthy of an award, which I was not expecting given that I was there for a laugh. It has beautiful writing, and the subtextual story is pretty interesting… it kind of makes me think of The Haunting of Hill House actually in terms of themes. (Womanhood, personhood, independence, autonomy partially achieved through escaping the male gaze by claiming non-human lovers... listen if I were still in university I would right a paper comparing the two novels).

I dunno man, it’s fucking weird. Actually a well-written book, but sure is about a woman falling in love with a literal bear. Give it a read if you want something bonkers but like… high-brow bonkers.

Hunger Pangs: True Love Bites

Best book I have read in like… a while. A long while. I am not a fast reader, and I consumed 90% of this book over a weekend. It’s not at all like Terry Pratchett, but at the same time it scratched an itch for me that I haven’t had satisfied since Pratchett’s death. A very clever, hilariously funny poly romance between a disabled werewolf, an anxious vampire lord, and an incredibly powerful woman, with heaps of social satire, political commentary, and sinister undertones. The whole thing reads a bit like fanfiction and I say that in the most flattering way possible -- it is so easy to jump right in and be immediately taken over by the characters and the world and the plot, you never feel like you’re fighting to engage even though the world-building is fascinating and expansive. It welcomes you in right away, it was the book equivalent of a quilt and a hug which is something I sorely needed with all this pandemic bullshit. If you read any of the books on this list, go read that one while I sit here in pain waiting for the sequel.

Kid Paddle

I watched the cartoon of Kid Paddle as a kid and was thinking about it recently, so I decided to hunt down some of the original comics online. They’re fun and weird, with a cute art style and fantastic monsters designs. (My favourites are always about Kid either daydreaming or playing games that involve Midam’s weird warty troll creatures. It’s like a cross between Calvin and Hobbes and Foxtrot with the fun sort of quirks that I love in Belgian comics. Unfortunately, unlike Asterix, I’ve only come across these ones in French, but if you can read French it’s totally worth popping over to The Internet Archive and reading the ones they have available.

The Last Firehawk: The Golden Temple

The lastest Firehawk book. Despite being written for quite young readers, I did enjoy the early books in this series quite a bit. They’re about a young owl and squirrel who found an egg for a magical species that was believed to be extinct. With the newly hatched firehawk, the three of them head off on a mission to find an ancient firehawk magic that could save the entire forest. Very basic adventure story but a good intro to the tropes for children. Unfortunately the quality really feels like it drops with each subsequent book; this will probably be the last one I bother reading.

Lumberjanes: The Moon Is Up

I honestly think I enjoy these Lumberjanes novels even more than the comics just because it really gives time to delve into each story and examine how the camper are really thinking and feeling about everything. (Also I’m always weak for novelizations of anything.) The Moon Is Up is a book that focuses more on Jo, and takes place during the camp’s much anticipated Galaxy Wars, a competition between cabins that goes over several days. While the campers prepare for these challenges though, they also run into a strange little creature with a penchant for cheese and theft. Roanoke cabin needs to keep ahead in Galaxy Wars and somehow deal with the fearsome Moon Pirates that a closing in...

Lumberjanes v4 (Out Of Time)

One of the Lumberjanes comics, a cool, girl-focused, queer comic series. Honestly, this is just a fun series that I never got as into as I should have. My advice is honestly to skip book one because it gets better as it continues, and I’ve really been enjoying the later books now that I’ve given it another go. It follows five campers at Miss Qiunzella Thiskwin Penniquiqul Thistle Crumpet’s Camp for Hardcore Lady Types (Jo, April, Molly, Mal, and Ripley) as they handle all sorts of challenges, from friendship to crushes, camp activities to supernatural horrors, getting badges to not being brutally killed. Great if you liked the vibe of Gravity Falls but want it to be queer-er.

Mooncakes

Another queer graphic novel, but unfortunately not a very good one. It really looked appealing and I had high hopes, but the book itself really didn’t hold up… I actually couldn’t even finish it, the plot was just too… non-existent. The art is fairly mediocre once you actually look at it, especially backgrounds, and it feels very… placid. Not much conflict or excitement or even a very compelling reason to keep reading. If you just want a soft queer supernatural you may get more mileage out of it than me, but it didn’t really do it for me. There’s better queer graphic novels out there.

New Boy In Town

One of the worst books I have ever read. My girlfriend had ordered a very different book online but through a frankly stupendous error was sent this 1980s pulp romance instead. Absolutely nauseating on levels I couldn’t even begin to enumerate here. Naturally we read the whole thing out loud. Probably took us 10 times longer to finish than it warranted because I had to stop every two sentences to lose my mind. If you like bad decisions, baffling hetero courting rituals, built-in cultural Christianity without actually calling it that, and gold panning then boy howdy is this the book for you.

(seriously, you better have patience for gold-panning if you attempt this one, because I sure learn that I don’t)

Piggies

This was a picture book I enjoyed as a kid and had a reason to reread recently. Honestly it’s just very cute and simple, and the art is completely mesmerizing. Wonderful if you know a young child that would enjoy a simple goofy boardbook.

Shaun the Sheep: Tales From Mossy Bottom

Related to my Aardman fascination earlier this month. I tried reading a varieties of Shaun the Sheep books — most of which are mediocre at best — but the Tales From Mossy Bottom Farm series is genuinely good. Just chapter books, of course, but the illustrations match the series’ concept art and each story feels like it could have jumped directly out of an episode. They’re just cute and feel-good! Kinda like Footrot Flats but more for kids, and from the sheep’s perspective moreso than the dog’s.

[croesow]

@intcrpol​ asked: 🔥🔥🔥 [Just GO OFF]

1. Having characters be OP for the sake of being OP is boring and overdone. This goes for protagonists the most, as I have already addressed how the games are designed around the idea that the Prodigy Child who started training two weeks ago will befriend the local deities, but it can theoretically go for any character. I understand the appeal of being strong in the pokemon world, but when everyone is fighting to be the best with no actual thought behind it, it feels like a paper-thin attempt to simply one up each other and win the unspoken game of Who’s The RPC’s Best Trainer. I want to see characters who are strong, very strong, but have an actual reason behind how and why they’ve trained themselves (or are currently still training themselves) to reach such a goal.

Fun fact: This is partly why I lean so heavily into Leon’s postgame and vastly prefer interactions post-Swsh. Having him be undefeated gets boring so fast, and imo it’s a more compelling story to show that you can be strong without being perfect, you know? He’s still able to defeat most opponents he faces, but there’s an ever-growing list of people he��s more on the fence about, or more likely to lose to. I actually made a little HC list of his outcomes against the Champions and Villain Leaders.

If you want to see a positive example of the type of power I’m describing, I will once again recommend my friend @cosmoscourge !! As the hardest League in the world with a ton of very impressive lore behind it, it makes sense that many of the people involved in Unima would be insanely talented with teams most other Trainers wouldn’t even dare dream of raising. It’s a mature League designed for a mature target demographic, and everything about it has been so wonderfully explained and expanded upon that it all makes sense. It’s a brilliant example of how OP-ness can be used to help push a narrative, rather than getting thrown into characters just because.

2. The heavy emphasis on sex and shipping is legitimately draining at times. Like I understand if you want to write smut or have a million ships - that’s great! I’ve had NSFW discussions myself with a few close friends and shipping partners and they are always enjoyable conversations that help me understand my muses better. 

But when every meme on a person’s account is suggestive, or about one night stands, or infodumps about how many times a certain person has bumped uglies and what kinks they have.... I’m so tired of feeling like I’m expected to provide the dash with constant Horny Fodder. Again, people are free to write what they want, and smut can be used to further a character’s development or illustrate some new parts of their personality. It’s a fantastic way to show an intimate relationship moment and how they deal with the accompanying emotions. But when every post someones makes or reblogs is NSFW in nature... How do you expect me to interact with that? 

3. And finally, the endless pessimism in the pokemon fandom is exhausting. I know the internet loves praising negativity and telling us all that everything new is bad and terrible and deserves a hundred page rant, but I truly couldn’t give less of a fuck. I am choosing the enjoy the games despite their faults, and I’m sorry if you can’t do the same but that’s really not my problem.

❝ But the inanimate designs- �� Voltorb’s a pokeball. There’s always been item-based designs, and tbh a lot of the modern pokemon more creative than just taking an already existing animal and recolouring it purple.

❝ But the graphics- ❞ My first game was Diamond where everything was basic and pixellated to shit, and yet I still thought it was beautiful. I don’t care if the Wild Area’s tree leaves look clunky and the grass doesn’t wave in the wind, the environment has never been something I paid much attention to when I have six adorable pokemon to look at instead. Use a little imagination if you’re that upset.

❝ The writing was- ❞ One of the major letdowns of Sword and Shield, yes. The story could have used some revisions, and the characters were poorly balanced in terms of their development and screentime, but this is something that’s been a continuous fault with pokemon. Aside from a few notable exceptions, their storytelling always seems to come secondary to everything else.

[indomies]

#showyourprocess

From planning to posting, share your process for making creative content!

To continue supporting content makers, this tag game is meant to show the entire process of making creative content: this can be for any creation.

RULES — When your work is tagged, show the process of its creation from planning to posting, then tag up to 5 people with a specific link to one of their creative works you’d like to see the process of. Use the tag #showyourprocess so we can find yours!

sabrina @lanwangiji​, my love, tagged me to share my process of making this typography edit! check out her explanation of her the untamed edit and her edit tag. 

1. PLANNING

i once opened lyrics edit requests so i can learn and practice typography. this edit was a request as well. i asked them which lyrics they wanted to have and the colors they’d like. since i got several requests and it was hard to keep tabs on them, i made a trello board so i could organize everything. i’m still using the trello board for every edit idea i have, the board makes my life easier.

above is what i filled the card in the board with. basically just information of the requests.

1.1 INSPIRATION

once i got the request, my first thought was to find the vibe the song/lyrics exude. “it’s an old curse” screamed witchy vibes to me, so i went to pinterest to find some inspirations. at first i was looking for witchy poster designs and i came across this. i liked how it has smoke-ish graphic and i thought the smoke suited the “old curse” lyrics. and tbh pinterest is a rabbit hole, they gave me suggestions after suggestions, like this and this which became my inspiration for the color palette (i added the gold from those pics) and the sun moon design gave me the idea to incorporate space stuffs too. i somehow landed on this too, and because i wanted to include space theme, i made a simple phases of the moon. ultimately the hero of this edit was the lyrics, i didnt want the graphics took the center stage. i was inspired to make a crystal ball and do this kind of typography but after several trials i couldnt get the the typography right, so i scratched that idea and went with the space theme instead.

1.2 PICKING COLORS

after i was feeling inspired enough, i went looking for the right colors. i usually just type “color name” and “palette” on pinterest. example “dark grey color palette” and i chose the one i liked best. when the request only asked for 1 color, i always searched for either a complimentary or contrasting color to give it a jushz, to add sprinkles. that’s why i added gold on top of the dark grey. 

1.3 FINDING FONTS

this is the hardest part. the fonts play important role to the design. they need to convey the vibes of the lyrics, in this case witchy/magic vibe. i needed to find fonts or font just as magical and a bit whimsical. tho i hoard fonts... i like to use new font for every typography edit lmao sue me.

i highly recommend going to creativemarket free goods site, pixelsurplus font freebies and behance to search for fonts. i always use 100% free fonts, that means i can use it personally as well as commercially. creativemarket gives me desktop license for the fonts, which means i can use it for commercial as well. the reason i do this because i want to open an etsy shop someday, and i want to have the right license when i sell my stuffs. i almost never buy fonts bc they are expensive lmao. 

the fonts in used are “Vintage” for the main typograpy (i think i was a freebie from creativemarket) and “Morganite” for the title of the lyrics and the name of artist. 

2. CREATING

once i have my materials and ideas, i open my illustrator and hope it doesnt crash every 5 min.

for this kind of typography edits, i use 600x700 px. tbh i dont like using 540px, the suggested tumblr size, as the width bc to me it doesn’t look as good in quality, so i up the px. but more on this sizing later. i utilize the artboards function in illustrator, and i use 2 artboards.

i use illustrator (ai) bc i’m working with vectors. when i work with vectors, the graphics/texts or whatever im making in ai wont become blurry or lose its quality when i enlarge or shrink it. in compare to photoshop, i need to make for example the moon graphic very big, so i wont lose the quality when i reduce and enlarge it again. with vector, i can start small and when i expand it, it’s still as good as when it’s tiny. 

2.1 GRADIENTS

i started with the gradients first. i created a rectangle as big as 600x700px and with the “freeform gradient” tool in ai, i played with the colors. below is the color palettes i used

2.2 LYRICS AND GRAPHICS

once the gradients are done, i worked with the lyrics and graphics right away. when i first doing this edits, i made typos a lot lmaooooooo. so i copy and pasted the lyrics on top of my artboard, so i wouldnt have any typos. 

i had 3 layers in my ai. one for the inspo pics and the OG lyrics. the rest for the edits themselves. i broke up “It's an old curse/dreamers diving headfirst” into to parts, hence the 2 more layers

i almost always started with the lyrics first then the graphics. but for this edit, i made the smoke first so i can layout where my text would be.

tbh the process of making the lyrics is a trial and error. i tried bunch of different stuffs and i chose whatever the best. but i worked like methodically, i made sure i finished the first part of the lyrics first then i could move on.

i was lucky with this font “vintage”. the font offers me several glyphs like these

and i chose the one at the bottom. you’re very lucky if you find a font and they have glyphs.

excursion: glyphs vs fonts

glyph is an individual character. It might be a letter, an accented letter, a ligature, a punctuation mark, a dingbat, etc.

A font is a digital file which is used to display a typeface, which contains the entire upper- and lowercase alphabet as well as punctuation, numbers, and other special characters.

after i was finished with all the lyrics i added some graphics to make the edit pretty like small stars or dots. i added the song title and the artist too, sometimes at the bottom sometimes at the top. and i added my watermark put it as small as i could and made it a bit invisible but still can be seen.

2.3 EXPORTING

exporting! this is where i’m going to go deeper with the dimension of my work. in ai, i always choose to save with “export as screens” function. it automatically divides the artboards i have and save them separately. i always save as png, bc the size is smaller than jpg but can maintain the quality.

now the export tab looks like this

see the formats? i always scale up my edits, 2-3 times the original artboard size. reason is, to maintain the quality. i have tried to save it as original, 600x700 px, but it turned out a bit blurry. bc everything in ai is vector, when i scale up it doesnt lose the quality. BUT once i save it as png, it’s not a vector anymore, and when you zoom in until a certain degree it’ll be pixelated. that’s why i always scale up, to avoid it becoming pixelated when it’s just zoomed 1 or 2 times.

2.4 FINAL TOUCH

i opened my photoshop and also pray it won’t crash. import the png of my edits, add some grains/noise. the reason i use photoshop is, the noise filter is way better than in ai. it’s smoother somehow. and then i export my edits.

(i have a timelapse of how i made one of my edits, it’s not this one, but it’ll give you a better visualization. find it HERE

3. POSTING

now the hardest parts are done, we go to posting!

i uploaded the 2 posters on tumblr as photos then i wrote the captions. for this typography edit, i always chose another lyrics that i like from the same song for the caption. i bolded the lyrics, add link to all of my typography gradient edits.

i always use this link to color my caption. i usually choose 3-4 colors, and i took the colors from my edit. but this was not until recently lmao. before i just took a guess and looked for similar colors that match the edit, but then i thought “why didnt i just use the color in the posters lmao”

ok after i have my html code for the caption, i go to this site to replace the “;” with “ “ so tumblr can read the code.

i’m not one who puts their edits in draft, bc i just cant wait to post it. i have to option here, either i post it immediately when the time is right (i usually post between 4-8) or i schedule it, if im finished before 4. 

i put all the necessary tags and click post! i am done finally!

i’m tagging:

@thetriangletattoo​ for this amazing series

@deludedandlostcause​ for this impressive gif

@half-lightl​ for this spectacular edit

@gayndrew​ for this stunning drawing

@thechampagnelovers​ for this cool collage

@cloudslou​ for this incredible edit

@heyangels​ for this incredible edit

[nessanoto]

should i pivot to ux design? i'm a graphic designer & am finding it very hard to get a job. i'm also passionate about illustration but am leaning towards the idea of not doing what you love as a your career, instead do something that is good enough.

Hi there! I share the same sentiment. For me UX is something I enjoy enough to do everyday, but I’m not super passionate about the tech industry or anything. But I do prefer to keep illustration as my hobby.

I think with UX you just need to know what you’re getting into. UX design is a very broad term that's getting a lot of buzz right now and is pretty different from graphic design. The nature of your work depends on your role and your company. I’ve seen people come in expecting that they’ll be doing a lot of visual design when it’s rarely the case (at least at my organization, altho it's very possible).

For me, it ended up being a lot of research, psychology, problem solving, and logical thinking, while using visual communication to express your solution. It kind of feels like software engineering without writing the code + a human touch which I personally like

If you are interested in that, I think it could be a good switch! It’s true that there’s a big market for it right now and that’s a tempting reason to switch over, but I think more research is def required to know if you're truly interested in the things UX entails that may be different from graphic design :)

[oldtypenewtype]

7 years ago I had this article professionally translated. 1986 is considered to be one of if not THE defining years of the medium. In this article Newtype intervies 21 anime industry leaders to discuss what’s wrong with the industry, ways it can be fixed or just their gripes with with it all. A true snapshot of some of our anime heroes while they were younger.

*reposting article altogether in one post.*

アニメの予言者21人

21 Prophets of Anime アニメ大予言'86 Grand prophecy of Anime ‘86 今、アニメ界に求められているのは、こんな企画だ！私はこんな企画を出す！1986年のアニメ界をリードする21人が業界の問題点と自らの解決策を語る。これを読めばアニメの未来が見える。 This is the project needed by Anime world now! I propose this project! 21 leading personnel in Anime world in 1986 talk about problems in the industry and their solutions. You can see the future of Anime by reading this.

Page 46 & 47

(Article Title)

1985 was a flat year in the animation world.  Let’s ask the hit makers who hit the home runs on how to put an end to this situation.

HAYAO MIYAZAKI (writer and director of “Laputa: Castle in the Sky”)

(Blurb)

What are the animated works that the young ones, the ten year olds to fifteen year olds want to watch? Doors will surely open if you keep them in mind.

It’s unthinkable that new hope can come out of TV when one episode from a TV series needs 3500 cells to be drawn. On the other hand, in movie theaters as well, there are no films that will mobilize moviegoers other than anime fans. I think that filmmakers have forgotten the basics of selling movies.  Collaboration films intended for overseas markets are all the rage,  and even though I want the fans who are in Japan to see these films, they can’t and all I’m left with is frustration.  Only deterioration can come out of this situation.  Actually, there isn’t even one anime today that is aimed at older kids in elementary school to kids in middle-school - the very kids who should be watching anime.  (The anime available now) is aimed at younger kids at elementary school and then jumps straight into anime for college kid anime maniacs. It’s a tough time for fifteen year olds who are put aside by society.  Twelve year olds to fifteen year olds are the kids who need the most comfort and yet the situation now is that they get their comfort from handheld video games.  Those who produce animation are losing sight of their targeted audience.  The remaining anime fans are making anime that they want to watch, and this is a symptom (of the present situation) that is beyond redemption. This is why video animation is still backward in terms of its production, and only its format is new.

If one has an earnest approach, children will definitely react.  This is a real example - in a run-down middle school, in his morning greeting, a new principal said, “I don’t determine a person’s value by his or her grades or appearance”.  Miraculously, all misbehavior was gone from that day’s afternoon onwards.  What children want has always had just one theme - an adventure that saves the mind and heart.

(Caption for illustration at the top of the page)

The hero “Pazu” and heroine “Sheeta” from “Laputa: Castle in the Sky”.  Mr. Miyasaki comments that “For a young lad, living at all times in itself is an adventure.  The reason why Japanese adventure novels are boring is that the hero (in these novels) makes a living out of going on an adventure.”

SUGII GISABURO (executive director of “Touch”)

(Blurb)

What people want nowadays can’t be found in data.  What is the secret of the hits “Night on the Galactic Railroad” and “Touch”?

Honestly speaking, if anything, I genuinely make animation to match my desires, not thinking that today’s animation is trending towards this way, or future animation should be this way.  In other words, I think a great deal about my daily life, figuring out what is lacking and coming up with desires felt by everyone else.  I just happen to be a person who creates, so I vent out those accumulated desires and discontent and let them combust in my work.  

My works are quite heavy in terms of cycle and tempo, whether it be “Night on the Galactic Railroad” or “Touch”.  I sometimes think if this kind of heaviness is ok or not.  But that is because I have a desire for this heaviness, and also because I have this easy pleasure within me.  Instead of work that is borne out of being hung up just on data, I think work that is borne out of my inner natural desires is more acceptable to people.  In the meantime, “Touch” will be shown as an hour and a half movie in the spring so please look forward it.

ISAO TAKAHATA (producer of “Laputa”)

(Blurb)

Movies that make the mind and body come alive are what’s important.  As for me, I am trying my hand at my first live action film.  I am shooting a documentary.

I think nowadays, the thing that a lot of people working in anime has forgotten is the excitement they felt watching adventure movies when they were kids, the kind of excitement that even your body moved spontaneously.  In that sense, I think that works such as Hayao Miyazaki’s films should be brought out to the rest of the world and after (producing his) “Nausicaa”, I am still producing.  When kids’ minds are liberated, there’s no reason to think that they won’t spontaneously move.  In this day and age dominated by computer games, a lot of kids’ play involve just using the brain and nerves so I’d like them to experience things that energizes the blood and makes the body dance. The difficulty is, I think it’s a difficult time now to have a situation in place wherein you let them experience adventure.  If you can’t make people believe in the world portrayed onscreen, you can’t pull viewers into the adventure onscreen.

It’s not that I’m not doing my real job as a producer.  I am now producing a live action documentary movie set in Yanagawa in Kyushu.  It is about how our Japanese ancestors developed towns which utilized waterways.  There is also a part in the movie that has graphic illustrations using anime.  It’s less than 2 hours and is slated to be shown after the summer.

MAMORU OSHII (scriptwriter and director of “Angel’s Egg”)

(Blurb)

This is a warning!! Please reduce the number of collaboration animes before Japanese animation is annihilated.

If I’m going to be severe about it, I’d say that I want all collaboration animes gone.

Those who work in big studios and places with systems in place may not feel a sense of crisis yet.  But in the case of freelance animators like us who work together and put together a workplace and disperse once our anime is done, a part of our actual work is outsourced.   Recently however, the small video studios and finishing studios that we outsource to are loaded with collaboration work.  Japanese animes can’t compete with collaboration animes in terms of profit so when that happens, we just have to rely on the goodwill of the studio bosses, or make them feel the same way we do with regards to the contents of our work, or by chance see an opening and aim for that, or appease them or plead with them.  We can’t work in just that kind of a situation.  That’s why it’s almost impossible to make highly compact and solid animes in Japan now.  Even without going that far, it’s almost impossible to make even decent animes in the country today.  In fact, anime TV series are almost all in shambles, and I can’t even be optimistic about the video quality of the anime we have now.  In this kind of situation, I can’t help but seriously think if next year, our ideas can be made into anime.

(Caption for illustration at the left side of the page)

A girl from Mamoru Oshii’s original video anime “Angel’s Egg” (drawn by Seikou Nakura).  Mr. Oshii revealed that he is having a hard time because there aren’t enough animators to make even just one anime video.

YOSHIKAZU YASUHIKO (director and screen director of “Arion”)

(Blurb)

I haven’t decided yet on what I will make after “Arion”.  I will not take part in the new Gundam series.

I am very busy now with screen work for the anime “Arion” which will be shown in theaters on March 8th.  But as far as I’m concerned, I’m conscious  of the fact that this is my anime for 1985.  Therefore, I haven’t decided yet on what my anime will be for 1986.  I feel like I want to take a break for a year.

“Arion” is quite restrained for an anime to be shown in movie theaters.  I’m happy that this movie is being touted as “the” main animation movie this spring but conversely, it’s a shame that there aren’t a lot of big anime movies for theaters.  It’s already been decided that “Arion” is going to be shown in top-class movie theaters throughout Japan.  It just shows how much anime has received recognition.  I’d like to wait for animes that will pick up on this trend.

With regards to anime TV series, I was in charge of character design for “Z Gundam” this past year but I’ve decided not to be involved at all in the sequel’s new series.  I think it’s better to relegate “Gundam” to the younger animators, starting with Hiroyuki Kitazume, who have grown so much in their craft.  Now I sincerely think, if only someone as good as Kitazume were around eight years ago to help with “Gundam”, I would’ve been saved…

(Caption for illustration at the bottom of the page)

The heroine “Lesfina” from “Arion”, which was produced, character designed and screen directed by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko.  This is the drawing touched-up by Mr. Yasuhiko.  As we have discussed in a series of character designers in last month’s issue, he breathes life into his anime characters, showing genius capabilities.

(Box at the lower left side of the page)

If there were animes like this I’d watch it!

MASAMI YUUKI (manga artist)

As a rule, the three things I’d like to see are: “something that isn’t originally from manga”; “robot animation that isn’t dark”; and “in one year, a collaborative anime by Osamu Dezaki and Akio Sugino for release in Japan”.  I can watch TV anime while casually lying around but I’d like anime that I wouldn’t be able to take my eyes off of the screen, something that is both easy to watch and amusing.  And as written in other magazines before, I’d like to see Mr. Hayao Miyazaki’s version of “Atragon”! (Translator’s note: “Undersea Warship” in Japan)

YUUKI KUDOU (actress and singer)

I’d definitely watch anime that’s fun to watch, anime that will make me happy.  At any rate, I’d like a hero on the side of justice who will beat the hell out of the bad guys and put them in a bind.

RYOKO YAMAGISHI (manga artist)

If there were an anime like Disney’s “Fantasia”, I’d watch it!

Pages 48 & 49

(Article Title)

Major producers from each of the anime/production companies talk about their hits for 1986 and foresee what their companies will be producing

KENJI YOKOYAMA (Toei Animation Co.)

(Blurb)

The new hit TV show Gegege no Kitaro from the fall of 1985 which received top ratings reflects modern times.

This is what I’ve been thinking with the third conversion of Gegege no Kitaro into animation.  One is the change in children’s thinking with regards to ghosts/monsters.  Of course “Ghostbusters” and “E.T.” have influenced this change, and now kids consider ghosts almost as pets.  So in this way I think that if you match the present mood and go in the direction of lighter anime, you’ll be able to create different things from before.  Children’s lives are too managed now, so they’d want an outlet to vent too. And in a society that has too many things and where, if you have the money, you can buy anything, things like the Toyoda Company fraud scandal and shady investment journals can also be construed as monstrosities. This anime has this overall theme: In the ideal world of Kitaro, monsters, people, animals, grass and trees should all co-exist so I thought I’d have various new approaches within the anime.

As a new endeavor, our company is going into video anime.  It’s called “Amon Saga” and we’re not just going to sell it in video format, (I’m also hoping) we can show it in any movie theater even for just one week otherwise it’ll just be too sad.   Especially with regards to original works with names that aren’t well known, I think it’s dangerous to rely on just one production studio. After “Konpora Kid” ends, beginning February, we’re planning on animating “Kinka”, a serialized manga in the weekly magazine Shonen Jump.

(Caption for illustration on the left side of the page)

A figure from the very popular “Kitaro”.  They can’t keep up with the demand for a ghost eraser that they’ve produced and now it is a hit product.  It’s also been decided that there will be new movie releases for this anime in the New Year and in the spring.

EIJI YAMAURA (Nihon Sunrise Co.)

(Blurb)

Find common ground with your viewers and defeat this lethargic mood!

Sunrise has now expanded into six studios and at any given point in time, we plan to work simultaneously on two to three anime TV series, video anime, anime for movie theaters and collaboration anime.  Overall, anime today is manga magazine-driven, so our question is how far can we go in staying on an original anime track. Robot animes have vastly decreased in number, so conversely, I think this is a chance for us to come out with epoch-making anime.  I’d like to make anime that will allow us to seriously converse with our child viewers.

TOSHIMITSU SUZUKI (Artmic Co.)

(Blurb)

Making anime that will be understood by the whole world!  The robot anime boom is shifting from transformation-type robots to robots that merge into one.

Speaking of Japanese products in the international market today, mechanical products come to mind.  This is also true in the animation world since Japanese robot animes are extremely in vogue.  Especially in the American market, they already have transformation-type robot animes, so animes that have robots that merge into one are new to them.  We’ve already exported “Beast King GoLion”, following that, (we’re going to export) “Dancouga Super Beast Machine God”.

We at Artmic plan to make animation that can be exported to foreign markets and we also are also keeping in mind to configure these anime with universal values.  The video anime “Gall Force” is the first step in that direction.

NOBUO INADA (Tokyo Movie Shinsha Co.)

(Blurb)

Our track remains the same - making collaboration animes for foreign countries but we also have new anime.

I can’t necessarily say that the present state of anime is good.  But the passion for anime during the anime boom of “Gundam” and the like was an anomaly so I feel that the state of anime now is the real one.

As you may know, not only do we make anime for Japan but we also produce anime for foreign countries.  It’s a difficult situation for us now to concentrate on anime just for Japan because of production costs.  It can be said that Japanese anime should be improved from the very basic level.

In 1986, we plan to have “Little Nemo” and in the fall, an anime for movie theater release by the duo Desaki and Sugino.  At any rate, we’re doing our best.

JUNZOU NAKAJIMA (Nihon Animation Co.)

(Blurb)

We’re aiming for improving the quality of our masterpieces and we’re also trying our hand at new anime!

As you may know, our company has mainly been making masterpiece animes for more than fifteen years but I think we’ve made a habit of making similar anime.  But we’ve been able to improve on our animes’ degree of perfection precisely because of the buildup of our experience in animation.  We’re also working hard on our technology, and on the authenticity of our masterpieces.  At any rate, we’re trying to make anime that is still interesting to watch even after five or six years have passed.  Next year, we plan on making “Pollyanna” after “A Little Princess Sara” ends, and a new SF series called “Space Sagittarius”.  We’re also going to have one TV special around May.

HIROMICHI MOGAKI (Tsuchida Production Co.)

(Blurb)

Just like what we did in “Tsubasa” and “Kimengumi”, we’re adding our original flavor to animation adapted from manga!

Even with regards to animating manga, the time when you aren’t creative when adapting something is over - just like our approach to our anime “High School! Kimen”.  In manga, the fun is enclosed in a comic cell.  Differing from that, we were able to bring out fun that moves freely (in the anime format).  (Our decision to) put two episodes in one anime has also been well-received.  We are also planning to have an anime TV series next year but all will depend on how long “Captain Tsubasa” will last.  Captain Tsubasa’s storyline is that the finals will end in March, and the European leg will begin.  This will catch up with the manga version’s storyline so I’m thinking of making a new one or taking a temporary break.

MASAYASU SAGISU (Eiken Co., Ltd.)

(Blurb)

Please watch the cooking scenes in the manga  “Oishinbo” animated in a live-action format.

The anime “Sazae-san” is going to be seventeen years old.  I think that the things that last for a long time are not manga for boys or manga for girls but manga for adults such as “Sazae-san” that has a family theme.  But there aren’t many of this kind of anime today.

There has been a lot of SF space anime but nowadays it’s quite possible for kids to go to space someday.  But the world of “Sazae-san” where the grandma, the grandpa, the old maid and the troubles they encounter while living together is farther than space in today’s world of nuclear families.  Conversely, this makes Sazae-san’s storyline fresh.

For next year’s anime, we are developing our plans to animate Mr. Shinji Wada’s manga “Pigmalio”.  We’d also like to do SF action animes, and a totally new genre -  animating Big Comic Spirit’s serialized manga “Oishinbo”.  Following a ten-year cycle, monster animes might come out next year but we’d like to try out new genres.

HIROSHI KATO (Ashi Production Co.)

We are developing original videos for the anime “Dancouga”

Our company has concentrated mainly on original anime and we are continuing with this direction in 1986 and beyond.  Even though our animes are popular, I don’t know why we are edited a lot.  Even “Dancouga” which originally had fifty-two episodes was reduced to thirty-eight and the final story was changed.  We are going to sell a one and a half hour video in March and we’d like to include the real final story in it.  Seventy percent of animators in Japan today are working on collaboration anime. The pay (for collaboration anime) is more than double, so we have to do something about it.  

TOSHIHIRO NAGAO (Kaname Production Co.)

I’d like to see different kinds of SF anime.  “Windaria (Once Upon a Time)” is the first step in that direction.

Generally speaking, I’d like to go with polar opposites - simplistic anime that has funny gags and anime that explores heavy themes.  I think our company would like to take a short break after “Windaria” ends and then we’re going to do a lighter anime.  We’ve also talked little by little about producing an anime TV series, but can we really do it with the present situation?  Companies we outsource to are doing a lot of collaboration anime and we don’t have the confidence that we will win the price war and if we dabble in (anime TV series) incorrectly, it will be a death blow.  With this situation, it seems like we will be concentrating on video anime for now.  With regards to the direction of our anime, we’d like to consider doing SF anime with our own touch and foray into different parts, for example, making modern anime like “Radio City Fantasy (Machikado no Marchen)” that merges footage and music.

(Caption for illustration on the left side)

“Mujigen Hunter Fandora”, one of the original video anime from Kaname Production Co..It is said that the second part will be released in March.

YUUJI NUNOKAWA (Studio Pierrot)

(Blurb)

“Magical Emi, the Magic Star” will end in February.  We’re working on the anime that will follow this.

Ever since our “Dallos” anime, anime in the video anime genre have increased, and it’s becoming more and more difficult to foresee what’s ahead.  But I feel our viewer base will return to children after the continuous increase in anime fans.

In our animes’ genres, it seems that we foray into unprincipled things but through trial and error, we are at that stage where we are aiming for our own style.  In 1986, we plan to stop producing transformation-style anime after “Emi” and we are now working on an anime with a witch theme, with a nod to our very first anime.  We have also decided that we will make a sequel to “Rumic World”.

(Box at the lower left side of the page)

If there were animes like this I’d watch it!

MIKI TORI (manga artist)

And yet there are only a few animes wherein you can feel each anime’s distinct character.  I understand that anime is a group effort, but like manga, the director’s tastes dominate.   If the time comes when the writer can say “that is good but this is also good”, I think that anime will become more vibrant.

AKIO YOSHIDA (manga artist)

If I’m going to watch, I might change the channel if they’d revive anime like the long adventure animes of Toei.  It would feel just like watching the movie “Mothra”.

YUKI SAITO (actress and singer)

I was in a manga research group when I was in high school so all I watched were anime from Sunrise.  I like “Gundam” and “Ideon”.  If there were anime in that vein, I think I’d be obsessed again.

Pages 50 & 51

(Title)

A Glance at the Anime World: The Hit men and their Predictions

SHOJI KAWAMORI

(Blurb)

It’s important to have interesting anime that will be universally accepted!

I haven’t really watched TV anime these past two years.  Once you get rid of a habit, it’s not good.  Once you distance yourself from anime, you won’t even be able tell which anime is good and which is bad.  It’s scary to think that I’ve been watching anime by force of habit.

I also haven’t watched that many video animes to be fussy about it but I feel that video animes have become closer in form to manga.   I can’t say though that it’s already at the serialized manga level, but it’s just a matter of time.  But if you’re going to make video anime and you don’t make it differently from TV anime, it will be a waste.  Probably change the design a bit…just like what Mr. Oshii is doing.  Once your attempts go beyond the realm of attempting things and once you’ve achieved something basic, I think we’d probably be able to see the direction of video anime for the first time.  If I were to create video anime, I’d like to make a short sixty minute one, something that is highly concentrated and can’t be fully “digested” in a TV anime format.  Sixty minutes is too short for a movie and too long for TV, and I think it is a length that is untapped and put aside.

Compared to video, TV’s strong point is that you can make serialized anime on TV.  Nicely put, TV is a medium wherein if you don’t have “ordinariness” (badly put, “mass appeal”) you won’t succeed so in this sense TV is a more demanding form of media than video.  I also don’t like the trend wherein anime that don’t appeal to the masses are turned into video anime.  I think that video anime should also have universal appeal.

For 1986, if there are proposals that come my way, I’ll do them.  I still don’t know exactly what I’m going to do.

TOMOKO KONPARU

(Blurb)

With regards to video anime, I have “The Super Girl” and I’d like to try my hand at a new kind of animal anime.

Anime is said to be on a low note right now but I think that the number of anime being produced now is just right because there was a time when the anime that was being produced went over the production capabilities of those in the anime world.  I even think that the number should be reduced by just a little bit more, but only if the quality is improved.  It seems that 30 animes will be released in 1986, but I think that in terms of quality, (those that aren’t good) will be culled.

I don’t have any children yet but as a housewife I don’t think that anime has a bad influence on children.  Since I was little, I myself grew up watching anime.  Even now, from the standpoint of someone making anime, I don’t want to forget about the children.  But on the other hand, I also think that mothers who just park their kids in front of the TV to watch anime isn’t good either.

The anime following “Hai Step Jun” will be “Maple Town”, an animal anime but I don’t want it to be anime with just “good” characters in it.  I want to try making anime for young girls, which will be a new thing for me.

ICHIRO ITANO

(Blurb)

There must be anime that only young animators can do!

I think that mass media has a very strong influence on children.  I want people to be more conscious of that.  I feel that anime that is being made today just to make money is overly increasing - animators don’t question things, or assert themselves.  An extreme example is the Lolita complex boom of late.  If a person is being shown something like (a Lolita anime) from way back (from childhood), that person’s imagination takes precedence instead of the ability to adapt to another human being, and stress builds up as a result.  I think we should oppose this current reality, and as for myself, I plan to try different things.  I wonder what I’d be able to do before I turn thirty-five, and I also think that you can learn from failure.

MITSURU KANEKO (MK Productions)

(Blurb)

The computer is absolutely infiltrating the anime world.

It’s possible to think that in the future, the possibilities of computer graphics will first be used in the industrial fields.   For example, the depth maps of the Japan Coast Guard just have numbers on them now but if you input these numbers into a computer, you’ll be able to see valleys (under the sea) that continue for miles as video images.  And if this (technology) presses forward, for example, there is an (American) masterpiece special effects movie called “Fantastic Voyage” wherein they (physically) made the sets and then shot the film but in the future, you can make the movie set by inputting data in a computer.

Speaking of another side (of this technology), take the example of video images shown on large screens that have been demonstrated at an expo.  Just like what was shown in the expo, video images and 3D images shown on dome-like screens can only be made using a computer.

In this way, the spotlight is now aimed at anime as a means to (showcase technology).  Animation’s possibilities will also become limitless as it will need to respond to the diversification of people’s demands.

(Caption for illustration on the right side of the page)

This is Cindy, a young girl from a biker gang in the anime “Megazone 23 Part 2”.  Mr. Yasuomi Umetsu’s character design is original, as personified in this drawing.  This anime has a different kind of appeal compared to Part 1.

KEISUKE FUJIKAWA (scriptwriter of the anime “Once Upon a Time” or “Legend of Fabulous Battle Windaria”)

I researched and compared the recent trends, the trend in fans’ consciousness about anime and anime programs and from around last year, it seems like the age of wanting “salvation” has come.  I think that in so many ways, we are being stifled and we are seeking breakthroughs.  I think that how anime as a medium is going to lift this issue up is going to be important.   Even “Once Upon a Time”, which we will show in 1986, takes up issues of the present times.  I’m putting emphasis on what I will say to the youth of today through SF that has stories of people in it instead of just hardcore SF.  For this year and the next, I’d like to dig into aspects of the youth in different ways.  I’d like to make anime that makes viewers think that there is something out there that matches their present selves perfectly.

(Caption for illustration on the left side of the page)

This is Anasu, the heroine of “Windaria”.  Illustrated by Ms. Mutsumi Inomata, this character personifies the pure themes of Mr. Fujikawa’s anime.

YOSHINOBU NISHIZAKI (producer)

(Blurb)

I’d like to make a video anime that will be a preview of a movie theater anime

With regards to “Odin: Photon Sailor Starlight”, I didn’t make excuses and I haven’t commented on it but there are clear reasons why that movie ended in failure.  That anime was originally a one-hour program, twelve episode TV anime - in other words, it was an anime made to be aired for twelve hours.  I think there was a big mistake in the producers’ thinking that they could digest this into a two and a half hour movie.

I used to say that after 1955, there wouldn’t be a hit anime made for movie theaters.   The same thing is about to happen in the video anime world.  If the overproduction of low-quality anime continues, there will definitely be a backlash.  It seems that the most basic idea during planning anime has been forgotten.  And this basic idea is this: things expressed through anime must rouse people’s imaginations.

We’re planning on releasing an anime for movie theaters on July 9, 1986 based on “Desler”*.  But before that we’re planning on selling a promotion video about the movie in April.  In making this video, budgetary issues, which have always been a concern in video animes, have been set aside so I’m planning on making it in the same high-quality as the movie.  I’m also thinking of releasing a trailer of the movie at the same time.

*Translator’s note: Desler is a character in the anime “Space Battleship Yamato”.

(Box at the lower left side of the page)

If there were animes like this I’d watch them!

FUJIHIKO HOSONO (manga artist)

I like the works of Mr. Hayao Miyazaki.  I heard that he said that he wanted to make an anime about the Period of Warring States (in Japanese history) so if that anime is made, I’d definitely want to watch it.  Personally, I’d also like Mr. Miyazaki to make ninja anime.  With regards to other animators, I like Mr. Mamoru Oshii, the one who made “Beautiful Dreamer.

SHOJOTAI (a singer/actress trio)

Reiko: Among animated characters, I like Peter Rabbit.  I’d like Peter to guide me into a dreamy nature scene.

Miho: I really like Phillips. I’d like to plunge into a world adventure with a kitty cat.

Tomo: More than anything, I like Snoopy.  I’d watch any number of animes with Snoopy in it.  I’d like to watch happy animes.

[davidmann95]

For definitely no reason whatsoever, in response to nothing specific, can you rank the DC Multiverse Earths and tell us a bit about why each is in its place on the list?

Were this in response to an article, I could assure that I generally enjoy the writer’s output perfectly well from what I’ve seen and was absolutely baffled by the bizarrely selective research that went into it. Anyway, I hope you feel guilty enabling the amount of work I put into this truly ridiculous task by the end.

Cliff notes for the relatively uninitiated: that gorgeous monstrosity up above is The Map Of The Multiverse from the miniseries Multiversity, presented as a series of concentric circles bordered by the ‘Overvoid’ that all of reality is suspended in (and framed in such a way as to make clear it is the white of the pages comics are printed on). You go inwards from the borders of creation - moving moreso with each sphere from abstraction to the realm of the physical - to the Monitor Sphere in which once lived the near-omnipotent, now nearly extinct Monitor race that observed and maintained the multiverse, into the Sphere of Gods where the various beings of myth and divinity dwell, and into the innermost sphere where ‘we’ live. The 52 Earths you see within aren’t the whole of the multiverse but the ‘local’ 52 worlds, with infinite other Earths dwelling in their own dimensional pockets; all these universes actually exist in the same three-dimensional space at the same time but suspended in a higher-dimensional substance called ‘the Bleed’, and vibrating at distinct frequencies. Also there’s a ‘Dark Multiverse’ that’s cosmologically speaking ‘beneath’ the map, disintegrating half-formed potential realities that new proper universes are culled from. There’s a lot more to it than even all of that, but that’s enough to explain what’s up with these.

My ranking here is obviously subjective, but mostly comes down to a mix of ‘how cool is this Earth’, ‘how much would this Earth be worth using again’, ‘how well does it work in the context of being part of a shared multiverse’, and ‘do I seriously see creators unearthing any of this Earth’s potential down the road’. Also, Earths 24, 27, 28, 46, and 49 aren’t here, as they’re among the 7 Unknown Earths on the map that were left behind for future creators to define; 14 and apparently 25 have since been revealed.

64. Earth 14

A worthy bottom-place entry, Earth 14 is at the top of the Multiverse Map, and is shown as physically different from the other Earths, seemingly vibrating as if in two places at once; map co-designer and illustrator Rian Hughes suggested in an interview the intent was that this was where new universes entered the multiverse. Instead, ending up the first Unknown Earth to be revealed after the doors were opened to other creative teams, it was shown as a generic dystopian world home to a ‘Justice League of Assassins’ that were quickly dispatched by a generic cosmic threat. A monumental tribute to contextual ignorance and creative laziness.

63. Flashpoint

This is one of several Earths I’ll touch on that exist in neither the ‘local’ nor Dark Multiverse, but has directly crossed over or been framed in reference to the currently operating version of the DC Universe and so is probably worth a mention even if I’m not going over every Elseworlds and Imaginary Story DC has ever published. Another dystopian world, in this one an attempt by The Flash at fixing a change to history resulted in an Earth torn apart by war between Aquaman and Wonder Woman, where Cyborg was America’s greatest hero and Kal-El was held captive his entire life in a military bunker rather than becoming Superman. Aside from the prospect of a Thomas Wayne who became Batman when Bruce was gunned down as a child rather than vice-versa - resulting in him being pulled into a recent Batman run after this worlds’ destruction, the reason for this Earth’s inclusion - absolutely nothing of value came of this or the stories tied into it, such that astonishingly in spite of being the impetus for one of the biggest DC reboots of all time with theoretically an entire revised history to play with, essentially no one cares about this anymore.

62. Earth 1

The site of DC’s standalone, bookstore-market oriented ‘Earth One’ graphic novels. The incredible tunnel vision of marketing these for that purpose with titles that exist in reference to their multiversal structure aside, the Green Lantern book is the only one of those I’ve heard about being even kind of good; the rest top out at an interesting failure in Wonder Woman, with a standard forgettable failure in Teen Titans and truly flabbergasting misfires in Superman and Batman. Even Multiverse Map co-designer and writer Grant Morrison described this Earth in a blurb as having a history ‘in flux’, implicitly permitting the reader to believe it’s something else if they really want to, but as it stands in spite of the theoretical wide-open possibilities the foundations have already been built on salted Earth.

61. Watchmen

Home to the cast of characters of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ seminal miniseries. Crossed over with the DC Universe 30+ year later in Doomsday Clock, which clearly intended to set up this world as one ripe for future stories and development rather than a singular text, but instead misinterpreted, stripmined, and otherwise nuked essentially everything that might have had one interested in exploring it further in the first place (in spite of the source text’s very definitive conclusions to all major narrative threads and characters). The only reason this is not ranked even lower is the possibility that the upcoming, as-yet untitled Watchmen project by Tom King and Jorge Fornes might manage to dredge something out of this.

60. Earth Negative 11

The first of the Dark Multiverse Earths here, a gender-flipped Earth where Bryce Wayne generically altered herself into an Atlantean in order to do battle with Aquawoman and the forces of Atlantis. As the Dark Multiverse worlds we have seen thus far are described as being borne of Bruce Wayne’s fears, it’s odd that as opposed to the ‘want of a nail’ scenarios shown on all others, this includes the additional twist of making Bruce a woman, yet does nothing with that. Anyway, this is a very clear product of the Dark Multiverse’s debut in Dark Nights: Metal wanting an evil Batman to correspond to each member of the Justice League, and it’s the oddest, most perfunctory of the lot.

59. Earth 34

Home to the heroes of the Light Brigade, defenders of Cosmoville, this is an Earth meant to evoke the classic creator-owned superhero comic Astro City. However, as Astro City is itself made up of archetypal signifiers yet isn’t meta about its usage of them, being defined by its storytelling principles rather than the shared universe it builds up in the background, there are essentially no stories to be told here that couldn’t be told with the regular heroes of the DC universe. Which is a shame, those are some neat character designs.

58. Earth Negative 12

A Dark Multiverse Earth where believing Wonder Woman killed in a battle with the war god Ares, Batman took up the deity’s helm in hopes of redefining war, instead being corrupted by it and becoming an unstoppable monster. There’s basically nothing here.

57. Earth Negative 44

A Dark Multiverse Earth where a computer program meant to replicate Alfred after the butler’s untimely death, attempting to protect its charge, takes control of Batman by way of mechanizing him and turns Gotham into a digital nightmare. A little more on-point than the previous entry, but still not much here.

56. Earth Negative 22

A Dark Multiverse Earth where Batman is finally pushed into killing the Joker, but the Clown Prince of Crime secretes a particularly potent Joker Toxin upon his death that corrupts the Caped Crusader into a second Joker known as The Batman Who Laughs, who slaughters his way across his universe before ultimately making his way to the ‘main’ DCU. The prospect of a Batman/Joker combination is interesting, but an origin for the ultimate corrupted Batman ‘he got drugged into going bad’ falls short.

55. Earth Negative 32

A Dark Multiverse Earth where Bruce Wayne moments after his parents’ deaths was judged worthy of a Green Lantern ring, but having only his hatred of crime rather than the discipline and morality he would come to develop becomes the murderous terror of the underworld, with even the Corps unable to stop him when he manages to force the darkness of his heart through the ring into ‘dark constructs’. Another ultimately throwaway Earth, this at least illustrates the properties of the Dark Multiverse in an interesting way: the constructs he creates aren’t something that’s ever been indicated as being possible or even sensible with the ‘real’ Green Lantern, but as this is a world literally made of nightmares that’s irrelevant.

54. Earth 39

Home to the United Nations superspies the Agents of W.O.N.D.E.R., who operating using super-technology with eventually deleterious side-effects. A pastiche of the obscure T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, it’s hard to imagine anyone with much to say about them wouldn’t simply wish to write an actual comic about them under the current rights-holders, though the concepts described in Morrison’s provided information are enticing.

53. Earth 41

A riff on several of the superheroes published by Image Comics over the years, they’re worth having around for the occasional heroes of the multiverse groupshots for your big crossover comics and Dino-Cop turned out to be charming, but it’s doubtful someone with a big Spawn story in them for instance would use Spore as their outlet.

52. Earth 9

All I know about this is that this is a ‘what if superheroes really changed the world’ Earth, and when those are a dime a dozen, the additional conceits of the names of the various characters not at all corresponding to their traditional backstories and attributes, and being the brainchild of creator Dan Jurgens, are far from enough to sway me. I understand there are some fans out there who may heartily disagree, to be fair.

51. Earth Negative 52

Another Dark Multiverse throwaway Earth, this time one where a Batman shattered by losing his various partners taps into the Speed Force so that he can finally be everywhere at once to stop all crime. This is distinct however in that he achieves this by defeating The Flash, chaining him to the hood of the Batmobile, and driving it so fast their atoms explode and merge, which is thoroughly rad and gets it big-time bonus points next to its contemporaries.

50. Earth 37

An Earth based on the DC works of creator Howard Chaykin, its conceit of being a world that progressed technologically far faster than our world but culturally remains decades behind us is interesting, but I’m not much of a fan of his work that I’ve read and most of what’s been drawn upon here doesn’t seem to have much of a following.

49. Earth 30

The world of Superman: Red Son, where Kal-L landed in the Ukraine and grew up to become leader of a global Soviet Union, before realizing he had deformed humanity’s development and faking his death. Leaving Earth in the hands of a Lex Luthor who while still very much a bastard found public approval in America for fighting Superman, Lex ultimately led Earth into a utopia that over time fell into complacency and became its universe’s version of Krypton, Jor-L (Luthor’s distant descendant) and Lara sending their baby back in time to survive and establishing a predestination loop. While several elements of the DC Universe are present in a limited capacity that could in theory be expanded on, Superman and Wonder Woman are the only superheroes of long-term note and both their stories are very much concluded, seemingly leaving little to do here except have the Superman with the hammer and sickle logo show up in event comics.

48. Earth 6

The world of the Just Imagine Stan Lee Created The DC Universe series, where the father of the Marvel Universe rebuilt several DC figureheads from the name and a few pieces of imagery up. The results were mixed at best, but a series of gorgeous artists involved in the projects mean the characters certainly look interesting even if it’s hard to imagine creators going back here in any meaningful capacity.

47. Earth Negative 1

A Dark Multiverse world where Superman turned on humanity for reasons unknown, and Batman deliberately infected himself with the ‘Doomsday Virus’ to gain the properties of the hulking monster and defeat his former friend. Now numbed to human emotion and vulnerability, this Batman hopes to spread the virus as to make humanity similarly indestructible, as well as shield them emotionally from what he has come to see as the false hope Superman represents. This Batman didn’t end up a major figure in the same way as The Batman Who Laughs, but the conceit is killer and I hope someone picks up on it one day.

46. Earth-52

A universe somewhere outside the local 52, a ‘remnant’ of sorts of the main DC universe circa 2011-2016 prior to cosmic revisions resulting in the current setup. A world where superheroes had emerged approximately 5 years earlier and home to lots of dudes in very dumb battle-armor, most fan-favorite stories from this era have been carried forward into the current history, and its unique version of Superman under Grant Morrison - a socialist crusader in a t-shirt and jeans who battled corrupt institutions and cosmic supervillainy in equal measure - was depicted as set loose from his world after 2016′s continuity changes as a defender of the multiverse. While a significant part of DC history both in-universe and publishing-wise, there wouldn’t seem to be all that much left here worth exploring.

45. Earth 2

A world where Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman alone represented the first wave of superheroes, they nobly fell in battle repelling an invasion of Earth by Darkseid. In time a new generation would emerge that were modernized, youthful iterations of the Justice Society of America, the superhero team predating the Justice League in DC’s publishing history. While the logline’s an interesting one and the successor to Superman Val-Zod debuted to some acclaim, for the most part this reinvention didn’t end up received well by either new or longtime fans, and a last-minute overhaul where this bunch was transplanted into a rebooted world without superheroes probably didn’t help. You still see them in crossovers and there are promising concepts, but this world seems basically dead.

44. Earth 50

When Lex Luthor ascended to the presidency and soon thereafter executed The Flash, Superman snapped, executed him, and took over the world alongside his allies as the Justice Lords, until they were ultimately overthrown by way of a parallel universe Justice League and a repentant Lord Batman. A Better World unequivocally rules, but given this is supposed to be those specific versions of the Lords rather than a new iteration, it’d be weird to see them up against any universe other than the DCAU. And, well...

43. Earth 12

The DCAU, currently world of Batman Beyond and a future Justice League. The DCAU, you may be aware, extremely rules, but is also somewhat redundant in this context - the ‘regular’ DCU already has all its core components without too much aesthetic differentiation, and there’s already frequently a Batman Beyond in the future of said universe. It has its unique attributes that make people love it, it’s cool that it’s here, but on the macro scale it’s too clean an adaptation to bring much to the table to crossovers and whatnot, and you’d never see any further stories told there otherwise as really being part of the DCU cosmic landscape so much as a comic tie-in to the TV show.

(Also it’s odd this is placed here with the Justice Lords Earth as if to go ‘it’s secretly been part of the 52 all along, you just never noticed when it only crossed over with the one other!’ when there were two other parallel universes in the DCAU.)

42. Earth 43

A nightmare world haunted by the once-heroic, now vampiric Blood League, the obvious potential would be for this world to function as DC’s equivalent to Marvel Zombies. Recently however DCeased has come to fill that position, and while this world in practice if not concept skews more closely towards that source material as the former heroes still have vestiges of their old personalities - in theory distinguishing it as its own spin worth keeping around - it’s hard to imagine most takes on ‘Justice League but monsters’ won’t come out under the DCeased banner for the foreseeable future.

41. Earth 40

A world of pulp villains made to oppose Earth 20, these guys are simple but a hoot.

40. Earth 35 aka the Pseudoverse

More analogues to analogues, this time of the Awesome Comics characters largely defined by Alan Moore in Supreme. This opens up the promising vista of ‘DC if it were designed by Alan Moore’, but in practice as demonstrated by his work with both DC and the analogues these mimic, that would just be...well, good DC comics, which you don’t need a whole extra universe for. The notion of this as a universe artificially created by Monitor ‘ideominers’ however both gives it a unique place in the multiverse, tackles its status as a pastiche in a unique way, and gets back to ideas of the power of imagination in both Supreme and Moore’s other works, so it’s likely there could be something to be done here.

39. Earth 11

A bit of a study in contradictions. This is seemingly a rather straightforward ‘gender swap’ Earth with Superwoman, Wonderous Man, and so forth. Also, its version of Star Sapphire implied it’s not subjected to constant crises in the same way as the main universe it mirrors, maintaining a greater degree of consistency in the process. At the same time however it’s mentioned that the Amazons rather than leaving Man’s World for Themyscira shared its technology and philosophy with the world, changing it forever, suggesting a far different world from what we’ve seen in glimpses here. Until it decides one way or another whether it’s a simple mirror to the regular DCU or a radically different take, it hovers in a state of uncertainty.

38. Earth-2 aka Earth Two

The original version of Earth-2, home to the DC Universe of the 1940s with aged versions of Superman and company and the original Justice Society of America. The first take on a DC universe that would progress in something resembling ‘real time’ rather than keeping the headliners as perpetual twenty-to-thirty-somethings, this was also the birthplace of heroes such as Power Girl and Huntress. I’m of the perhaps controversial opinion that this is a concept that was explored better in later takes: there’s a sense here that the largely forgotten follow-up generation eventually introduced, with the exception of the two heroes mentioned above, will never really matter in the same way as their still fully-active predecessors in spite of ostensibly taking over the family business, meaning you never quite actually get what you want here, which is to see a DC where things meaningfully change and move on - well into his middle age and his mentor’s death long behind him, Dick Grayson is still Robin. Add in the odd, ignominious demise of the original Batman and its Superman’s odd eventual fate - which slide from bizarre to intolerable if you accept the frequent implication that these are meant to be the original versions of them from the 1930s - and I can’t help but think the enjoyable high concept was never realized as well as it could be here.

37. Earth 4

The Earth of the characters of Charlton Comics who would go on to inspire Watchmen, this initially seemed like one of the most promising worlds after its debut in Pax Americana drew perhaps the most pronounced critical acclaim of any single issue in the past decade as the site for creators with something to say to work with Watchmen without actually touching that property. Now, however, Watchmen itself is in the mix: most wouldn’t reasonably go here while the material they’re truly referencing is now freely available (especially those simply wanting to draw fan attention by visibly playing with those toys, the way Earth 4 sidestepped) even though that world itself is now massively compromised past the original text, and with the ‘Watchmen Earth’ no longer an option and the characters themselves - if cleaned-up, more mainstream versions of them - existing in the DCU proper, this world’s role seems to have been largely stripped from it. I have to imagine there’s still potential here for those with the talent and commitment though.

36. Earth 44

A world where in the absence of natural superhuman beings, Doc Tornado created a Metal League of robot superheroes to protect the Earth. A promising concept definitely worth a few stories.

35. Earth 15

Once a perfect universe destroyed in a rampage by another Earth’s Superman, it was artificially reborn through the will of Countess Belzebeth - a cosmic vampire - as a copy of the Prime universe with the Green Lantern Corps replaced by Belzebeth’s despotic Blackstars, the uncertain and bitter heroes of this universe warped through the lens of Belzebeth’s perceptions of them had no chance against her forces. While its inhabitants are a bit samey what with all life having been subsumed into the diamond will of Blackstar Controller Mu, the idea of a conceptually weakened DCU being turned into an army against the rest of the multiverse makes for a terrific threat, and the prophecy of the ‘Cosmic Grail’ (a Green Lantern power battery lost somewhere in the multiverse) and that the First Lantern of the multiverse Volthoom hail from its original incarnation lend it some extra mythological weight.

34. Earth 32

A mashup world hosting the likes of the Justice Titans, Young Justice International, and the Doom Society. A world that’s home to Aquaflash will probably never have an ongoing all its own, but plenty of stories, miniseries, and even a brief line of comics have been based on mashup characters before, so there’s plenty of proof of concept for this being able to endure.

33. Earth 23

An Earth where Batman (naturally) is the only white guy on the Justice League, and Superman is not only President of the United States in his secret identity as Calvin Ellis, but the leader of the multiverse-spanning superteam Justice Incarnate. It reads like Morrison trying to do his idealized take on an ‘Ultimate DC’, a more diverse and politically engaged superhero landscape that doesn’t scale down its big ideas in turn, and if I were ranking it at the time it was introduced it would go much higher. The problem is that its version of Superman is modeled after Barack Obama, and that guy isn’t President anymore (and for that matter his legacy seems to grow more complicated by the year). As a result the vibe goes from triumphant to wistful mourning if not outright bitterly ironic, and that’s a needle that would have to be threaded before doing any substantial work here.

(Also, since several Justice Leaguers here rather than being made black are replaced with various black counterparts they’ve had over the years, that means Wonder Woman here is the 70s Amazon Nubia. And, uh, that name is something that would have to be...something.)

32. Earth 19

Steampunk superheroics; superhero period pieces are usually fun, and this is built on a foundation of pretty Mike Mignola art (though confession that I’ve never read Gotham By Gaslight), so sure, this one has potential.

31. Earth 18

Same as above but cowboys instead. This gets extra credit because cowboys mesh better with superhero conventions, and the additional twist of this world being frozen in history by the Time Trapper, forcing them to approximate modern technology with 19th century resources.

30. Earth 31

A post-apocalyptic waterworld where humanity is protected by Captain Leatherwing and assorted other pirate superheroes. Another ‘superheroes but in another genre’ setup, the post-apocalyptic, environmental twist makes it unfortunately more relevant than its peers, though I don’t think it’s quite the best end of the world as we know it on the list.

29. Earth 42

Home to the adorable, innocent world of the chibified Little League...secretly robots unwittingly enacting an endless stage play for the malevolent being known as the Empty Hand, running scenarios of his devising in preparation for a coming war with the rest of the multiverse. It’s a neat little multipurpose world, able to be played both as amusing contrast, or as parody whether light-hearted or cynical, in their endless ‘playtime’.

28. Earth 7

Formerly home to counterparts of the heroes of Earth 8, it was shattered by the Empty Hand’s forces and its desiccated cities made his throne, the zombie hordes that were once its champions his armies. The ‘Ultimate Marvel’ to Earth 8′s Marvel proper (and now Marvel Zombies), the idea of the broken remains of the cool version of the cool superhero universe as the lair of the ultimate evil has a certain appeal.

27. Earth 52

The last of the Earth 52s on this list, this newly added 53rd core Earth is home to Frank Miller’s Dark Knight books. Much as the reception to it over the years has become...mixed, at best (for my money Dark Knight III is the only one that’s not at least bad in a very interesting way, and even it still has its moments), the surprised generally positive reception to the most recent entry in Dark Knight Returns: The Golden Child suggests there’s still life in this oddball corner of the cosmos yet.

(Fun fact: this was Earth 31 in a previous version of the multiverse, and Morrison intended it to be included as such in Multiversity - hence why Earth 31 is made up of inky scratches on the Map - but Miller requested he not since he wanted to keep his domain separate from DC’s ongoing storylines. Instead he agreed later to Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s use of it in Dark Nights: Metal as DKR is famously Snyder’s favorite comic, bringing it in as Earth 52.)

26. Earth 47 aka Dreamworld

Where the Love Syndicate of Dreamworld dwells, baby: all is groovy. It’s incredibly specific in both era and theme, but a psychedelic universe with heroes to match invites tons of possibilities.

25. Earth 10 aka Earth X

It’s the Nazi Earth that sucks. It has superheroes who unnervingly are about as well-intentioned and effective as the standard set in the New Reischman, opposed by the few remaining dregs of the Freedom Fighters led by Uncle Sam; only their Kal-L, Overman, once Hitler’s weapon, truly understands the scope of the atrocities that led to their ‘utopia’, having grown a conscience too late and ever-aware that no feat in the present can ever redeem the oceans of blood on his hands. You can do horrifying introspective stuff with them as in their Multiversity chapter, you can tell Freedom Fighters stories like the recent miniseries, or you can just have the Justice League show up to fight the Nazi Justice League. A Nazi world is a standard one in multiverse stories for a reason, you don’t get easier targets.

24. Earth 5G

The DC universe that’s...sort of here and sort of not. Doomsday Clock and other upcoming stories appear to be shifting us over to this, but in most of DC’s line of titles the leap hasn’t taken place yet. As we haven’t seen the bench of successor heroes apparently primed to take over only so much can be judged, but the vast changes suggested by the new ‘official timeline’ that’s been leaked suggest a bizarre attempt at incorporating as many of their editorially-favored biggest hits as possible into a bizarre selective mishmash, without particularly serving the status quos any of the constituent characters said history is meant to bolster (with the exception of Wonder Woman, now framed as the first superhero, which would at least be interesting and a deserved bolster to her profile if there were any particular impression her new standing would be meaningfully followed-through on), while also not only reinstating the mutually destructive retcon of the JSA as preceding Superman, but taking the absurd extra step of actively presenting them as his inspiration. Of course we haven’t seen it in practice yet, and at the end of the day good stories will surely still be told here, but the foundations here are about as shaky as they’ve ever been for the ‘core’ DCU as a wholehearted capitulation to placing dotting all the i’s and crossing all the t’s over the actual narrative logistics of making a shared universe function smoothly.

23. Earth Negative Zero aka Betwixt

A world where those whose senses of self entire disintegrate fade away to seeking to feed on those still well-defined, this bears similarities to the realm of Limbo where ignored superheroes reside, but with just enough conceptual differences and a hellish, malleable twist that makes it the best thing anyone’s come up with to date to do with the Dark Multiverse.

22. Earth 48 aka Warworld

While its iconography is rooted of all things in castoff characters from Crisis On Infinite Earths and no-hopers from Countdown To Final Crisis, the actual conceit here of a world where literally everyone and everything is a superhero that operates by superhero rules, a world built by the New Gods as defenders of reality, is wide-open and tantalizing.

21. Earth 38

Another major shot at a DCU that aged in real time, this version has its own idiosyncrasies but far more of a sense of forward momentum and meaningful change, with the original Superman and Batman still leading the pack one way or another but successors to both them and the rest of the heroes truly stepping up. Also the predominant hero of the 21st century is Knightwing, the grandson of both Superman and Batman who has only partial Superman powers but also Batman training, which is just really cool.

20. Earth 3

The good ‘ol classic evil mirror universe, where strength is the only law, the forces of evil always win in the end no matter how bright the day may become, and thus the Crime Syndicate operates as it pleases. It’s never quite as interesting as you want it to be - its villains are largely one-note - but its warped societal and cosmic rules, and that each character has a handful of twists on the mythology of their counterparts rather than being an exact (if morally inverted) duplicate, means it could easily one day come to live up to its obvious potential in the right hands.

19. Earth 21

Here, most superheroes were forced into retirement after World War II by McCarthyist paranoia, but at the dawn of the 1960s the few remaining and a new generation are emboldened to step back into the light, spearheaded by the Justice League of America. DC: The New Frontier is a modern classic, with a direct standalone follow-up virtually out of the question; as it doesn’t quite lead into the world of the actual 1960s DC Comics either, its sole function in its capacity as a world in the multiverse is as a 60s ‘period piece’ Earth. Given that’s where most of the architecture of DC as we now know it was built however, that’s hardly a problem.

18. Earth 26 aka Earth C

Funny animals are fun, and in a superhero universe that means you get superhero funny animals, courtesy of Captain Carrot and his amazing Zoo Crew. What’s not to love?

17. Earth 22

While time has somewhat dimmed the acclaim that originally surrounded it, Kingdom Come and its tale of a Superman coming out of retirement alongside his allies to try and reign in an out-of-control new generation remains a landmark moment in the genre, and in many aspects still holds up. Unlike many stories of its stature this world has always played nice with the mainline universe in terms of guest appearances and crossovers, including works by the original creators Mark Waid and Alex Ross, and as the most iconic and conceptually expansive work to date set in a DC universe that has joined in the march of time, that makes it a prominent and useful one to have around.

16. The Antimatter Universe of Qward aka The Reversoverse aka the Anti-Verse

The original dark flipside of DC reality, this has occasionally also played home to the Crime Syndicate - and their best stories by far, to boot - but mainly serves as a home base to the Weaponeers of Qward and occasionally Sinestro. While largely unexplored it has a massively central place in DC’s cosmology and the birth of the multiverse, the glimpses of a society of pure evil in early Silver Age Green Lantern and JLA: Earth 2 are far more fun and interesting than anything seen in Earth 3′s history, it’s about to get even more room under Morrison to find definition, and as the ultimate mysterious Forbidden Realm of the DCU the possibilities could be essentially endless in the right hands.

15. Earth-1985 aka Earth One

The DC universe of 1956-1986, and the dragon an entire generation of creators have spent their livelihoods chasing as the ‘classic’ iteration, as evidenced by one of them flat-out confirming it still exists somewhere out there. While that makes it frequently redundant when the main DCU is trying hard to mimic its feel - a few divergent notes such as Maggin’s idiosyncratic take on latter-day Superman and its version of Jason Todd aside - the prospect of a DCU that remained in that mold forever to a greater or lesser extent even if time may have moved forward could, in principle, free the main universe to go off in wildly different directions, knowing this image of DC always exists in its own space to return to when so desired rather than actively turning the current status quo to face backwards.

14. Earth 17

The Atomic Knights of Justice quest across the radioactive landscape of Novamerika in a world decimated by nuclear was in 1963 in search of Earth 15′s Cosmic Grail, their only hope against the coming of Darkseid. A mashup of the Justice League with the protagonists of one of the most fascinatingly bizarre comics of DC’s Silver Age in the Atomic Knights, a mythic quest, and most relevantly “What if Fallout had superheroes?” leaves this feeling like it’s just waiting for its moment to shine.

13. Earth 8 aka Angor

Known across the rest of the multiverse as the protagonists of the Major movies and comics (as opposed to the sub-imprint Essential Major reflecting Earth 7), in actuality the non-actionable champions of Angor - the Retaltiators, the G-Men, the Future Family, and The Bug, among others - are as real as any other superheroes, and while they struggle under the weight of both mistrust by the general public and frequent in-fighting, they’ve thus far protected their world from threats global, universal, and multiversal alike. The Big Two having stand-ins for each other is a longstanding tradition for good reasons: it not only allows for crossovers where the legal stars don’t align (and adds an extra fun shock of recognition whenever the reader realizes what’s happening), but provides each of them an ongoing version of those archetypes to play with within the confines of their own narrative, whether as contrasts or bending them to fit the tone of a very different shared universe than they were originally created for.

12. Earth 16 aka #earthme

The world where every sidekick, super-son, successor, and short-lived ‘new generation - of HERO!’ at last seize their moment in the sun...in a world already saved by their predecessors, with little left to do but lap up lives of super-celebrity and wish for one, just one little alien invasion or immortal tyrant to justify their existences for them. The best of DC’s futuristic/what-if-time-mattered alternate Earths in my opinion, taking to its logical conclusion the notion as stated by Morrison in interviews that as the Justice League will stick around as long as there are evils that need fighting, the ever-present promise of the torch being passed could only ever truly, permanently take place in a world where the job was already redundant. Playing as it does with in-universe history, real-life publishing realities, celebrity culture, generational divides, and the question of what being a superhero even means sans the usual confrontational justifications, it’s by its nature only going to become more expansive and interesting a commentary as time goes by and the regular DCU goes through its cycles of reboots, rebirths, and returns to form.

11. Pocket Universe 54471

Exactly what you see: Superman made a little pocket universe a half mile wide to go fishing in and he was gonna take Bruce and Dick there for the former’s bachelor party, and he knows about and/or created at least 54470 others. It’s absolutely delightful not only in its own right, but as an opening of the door to what the multiverse can mean in DC comics as a sci-fi idea generator beyond riffs on existing properties, while still being presented with a distinctly DC sense of playfulness.

10. Earth 45 aka Earth 45™

The origin of one of the best Superman villains of all time in Superdoomsday - the Superman idea in a world without him brought to life but twisted by committee into a murderous living brand - a horrifying corporatocracy standing for all Superman and company are meant to stand against, and an enduring threat with the world still in shackles and those in power still able to dream to life whatever vision they please of absolute power to be wielded in their name.

9. Earth 36 aka Terra

Justice 9, the defenders of Terra - or I suppose Justice 7 now after the losses of Optiman and Red Racer, though how long does that matter in a superhero universe? - is the most interesting of the direct analogue groups for my money. Technically speaking they’re another twice-removed set like 34 and 35, standing in for the heroes of Big Bang Comics, but given my understanding is that there’s no major “Like the DC heroes, BUT” twist in that book the way Astro City and Supreme have other than a retro ‘good old days’ bent (which definitely isn’t the case here with at least two queer members), Justice 9 basically function as direct analogues for the Justice League...in the same comics as the Justice League. To me, that’s actually fascinating: one of the most useful elements of stand-in characters like this is the ability to tap into the iconic power of archetypes without the familiarity surrounding the actual figures, in the way Planetary for instance uses just enough distance from the source material to make a couple dozen decades-old pop culture touchstones feel completely new, and this implements that approach to the material to the DC characters with heroes who can actually themselves team up with DC proper. As many approaches as could be taken with that though, that potential alone probably wouldn’t be enough to shoot it this high up the list if not for a major additional factor: in the same way that in the old-school DC universe the heroes of Earth-1 had comics reflecting the adventures of the heroes of Earth-2 long before learning they were real in another universe, DC Comics are published on Earth 36. Aside from the neat trick of putting our leads in the same position as the Golden Age heroes, it means Justice 9 grew up with the Justice League as their heroes in the same way as us the audience before becoming heroes themselves, and then they grew up to learn they were real. These folks absolutely deserve to become multiverse standbys.

8. Earth 51

The Earth where all Jack Kirby’s ideas live as a single cohesive world and adventure. No further justification is needed.

7. Earth 13

A world of occult danger where DC’s traditionally superheroic magical figures such as Zatanna and Deadman are given the full Vertigo horror treatment, while the more intimidating and morally dubious figures such as Etrigan and John Constantine get logos and codenames. Not only an expansion but an offputting inversion of one of DC’s most acclaimed corners, this oddball bunch could bounce off of the capes and tights crowd as easily as your Shadowpacts and Justice League Darks, in ways no other team from any corner of the multiverse could.

6. Earth 20

Pulp champions of a 21st century that remains aesthetically moored in the early 20th, of the handful of Earths converting DC standbys into different genre territory in the local 52 the homeworld of the Society of Superheroes hits hardest, given the role the likes of Doc Savage and The Shadow played in that time shaping the conventions of superheroes as we know them. Add the wealth of concepts presented in their oneshot and the decision to hew away from the traditional Justice League riffs of parallel Earths, and of all the truly new worlds introduced in Multiversity, Earth 20 is the one that most feels like it could support an ongoing all its own.

5. Earth 29 aka Htrae

You gotta have Bizarro World. You just gotta.

4. Earth 33 aka Earth Prime

The in-universe representation of our very own pale blue dot. Whether it’s the birthplace of Superboy Prime where assorted DC creators had to deal with a visiting Flash and Superman throughout the 60s and 70s, meta games with the various incarnations of Ultra/Ultraa, a looming threat yet also victim in need of rescue through the eyes of Justice Incarnate, or the unwitting home of the ‘Superman’ or ‘Batman’ of Kurt Busiek’s off-center takes on the characters in Secret Identity and Creature of the Night, over the years DC has shown a decent amount of restraint in not going back to this particular well too often unless someone has a really clever tale to tell, and as a result it has maybe the single best batting average of all the ‘parallel Earths’ that have been regularly returned to by DC over the years. Give yourselves a hand, folks!

3. Earth 5 aka Thunderworld

Home not to ‘Shazam’, but Captain Marvel and the Marvel Family in all their glory, a technicolor world playing by the rules set down by Otto Binder and company where a superhero can literally battle planets and the most dangerous villain of all may be a very, very mean worm with glasses, a place of dream logic and childish innocence even by the standards of superhero comics. Captain Marvel at his best is one of DC’s most iconically potent players yet many seem to agree that much of his woes in recent years have come down to trying to find a unique space for him in the DCU proper. While I don’t know that it’s at all impossible to make that work, it’s certainly true that Marvel as he was originally presented doesn’t quite make sense in that world, whereas back in his own he keeps a flavor entirely unique to himself and his partners, whether for solo adventures or teamups with the heroes of the other worlds, playing it straight or examining some of the unsettling implications established by Thunderworld or finding a new way to make it work. Much like Bizarro World, it’s simply a locale the place doesn’t quite feel whole without.

2. Earth 25 (?)

While I’m a bit dubious on it definitely being Earth 25 in the core 52 based on interpretation of an offhanded line from Mr. Terrific (it has a multiverse all its own!), the fact of the matter is that America’s Best Comics came roaring out of the gate as proof of its own title, and basically didn’t stop until it ended. A couple after-the-fact Tom Strong miniseries (containing perhaps the most singularly cowardly hack move in the history of shared universe comics in undoing the end of Promethea) can’t detract from the core ABC lineup being made up of some of the most singularly clever, gorgeous, and heartfelt superhero titles to hit the stands, pretty much the platonic ideal of what you want books like these to look like. If this universe can hang around in any capacity at all until someone god willing picks them up again in a big way, it’s a win in my book.

1. Earth 0 aka Prime Earth

The extant version of the main DCU for at least a little longer, it really does feel like more than just about any version before it - at least for my money - they finally got all their ducks in a row, albeit right before blowing everything to hell. Most of the stories you really want to still have some sort of weight for the major characters are still in play to be built on, and most of the stories that clearly needed to be dropped are dropped. The cosmology’s fleshed out and expanding, the big names mostly work as they should ideally work while still heading into new territory, the JSA is mysteriously somehow around in the past without interfering with the primacy of Superman and the Justice League as the first known superheroes (a mystery that will never be resolved now due to the current reboot; damn shame) and the Legion of Superheroes have a new coat of paint, and there’s room for stories cosmically massive and intimately personal and utterly bizarre throughout the line rather than there being a single overriding idea of what these books should be. It may not be the perfect DC Universe by any means, but it’s a real, real damn good one, and of course without that thing, none of the rest of these universes would have been there in the first place.

[notthatiwilleverwriteit]

Do you think that 19 days will be NSFW in the future?

Good evening, dear anon-san!  

“Do you think that 19 days will be NSFW in the future?”

My initial answer was no, but then I went through the comic and started giving it more thought. I think it depends on what do you mean by NSFW. According to Wikipedia, NSFW stands for “not safe for work” and is used to refer to material that contains nudity, intense sexuality, profanity, violence, or other potentially disturbing subject matter. I’m assuming you meant NSFW in the sense of graphic sexual content, but if you look at 19 Days from the whole definition’s point of view, I think it already is somewhat NSFW.

I doubt we will ever get to yaoi-level of NSFW, but shounen-ai - which is 19 Days’ genre - can very well have NSFW content, too. Albeit it’s usually less graphic and the story’s overall focus is different. 19 Days’ illustrations especially contain NSFW-level of nudity, and some of them are at the very least suggestive in a sexual way: 

I don’t think the comic itself is completely SFW, either. I doubt we will ever see the characters fully naked or yaoi-level of sexual content because of censorship-related issues. But some chapters already have nudity. I mean, I think have lost count how many times I’ve seen He Tian’s abs by now. Or would you like to get caught looking at these panels at work or school (ch. 1, 130, 144, 199, 203, 226, 251, 276, 282, and 291):

At this point, some of you might come at me for sexualizing 15-year-old boys. Before anyone gets that far, let me save your breath. I know they are teenagers, but whether people want to acknowledge it or not 19 Days is also a work of boys love (BL). Just as the name suggests, BL stories are about male-on-male love, romance, and sex. Their main target audience is also girls and women which means their content (stories, themes, character designs, and art in general) is meant to attract and please the females. This doesn’t, of course, mean other people can’t enjoy BL stories, too. I actually think 19 Days is an excellent example of a shounen-ai that has attracted all kinds of folks.

But let’s face it, OldXian didn’t have to include shirtless male torsos. They didn’t really contribute to the story at any point. Instead, they did offer some occasional eye candy. And I never see people complaining about seeing hot shirtless guys until someone talks about sex and sexual content out loud like this. That’s when people seem to become appalled by the idea of someone thinking He Tian shirtless or Mo Guan Shan’s buble butt are sexy.

Okay, end of rant. And nothing of that was aimed at you, dear anon-san. I was just talking about it in a general sense. Now, back to your question!

There have also been countless genitalia-related panels, but for obvious reasons, they have been censored in different ways. Jian Yi especially seems to be a walking NSFW warning. (ch. 37-39, 47, 77, 88, 89, 110, 206, 275.5)

Also, there have been a couple of panels with skinship that isn’t exactly platonic. Often these moments are meant as setups for comic relief and can’t really be seen as NSFW. However, I think they still are sexually charged when put in the context that these boys have romantic feelings for each other. And again, Jian Yi especially seems to be quite forward in making his advances. (ch. 92, 98, 191, 213, 236, 253, 303, and 306)

There is actually one chapter I would like to talk about more. I think it’s different in nature when it comes to these kinds of sexual moments mentioned above. The chapter in question took place after JY accidentally got drunk at a restaurant and Zhan Zheng Xi had to carry him home. Due to an unfortunately tangled backpack strap, ZZX found himself on top of JY (ch. 165):

A couple of chapters earlier, JY had been called a disgusting gay, and he was clearly struggling with that. Perhaps being drunk brought it to the surface. He started crying and asked ZZX if he truly was abnormal. ZZX, of course, tried to comfort his friend, but soon the situation escalated in the wrong direction. JY touched ZZX in ways that ZZX wasn’t comfortable with which resulted in ZZX freaking out and pushing him away.

I’ve always found that moment both dark and sad. JY was obviously in a bad mental place and was probably looking for some sort of reassurance and comfort. XXZ had been supportive of JY coming out to him, but JY didn’t seem to be convinced he wasn’t disgusted by him after all. ZZX was the one person JY didn’t want to reject him in that sense. The thing was, though, ZZX wasn’t rejecting JY liking men (or him) but was far from being ready for JY coming on to him like that.

In my opinion, JY’s kiss and advances were borderline NSFW but more importantly, I think that moment was a good example of NSFW content being utilized to build the overall theme. It wasn’t about two cute guys getting physical but rather about JY’s insecurities, need for acceptance, and longterm unrequited feelings for ZZX that had only very recently come to light. Just because something is NSFW in the sexual sense, it shouldn’t mean we can overlook or forget the other story elements those moments include.

To me, it seems that talking about the NSFW aspect of 19 Days is somewhat frowned upon in the fandom Discourse™. Kind of in the same way as talking about the characters’ potential sexual orientations or ukes and semes. People tend to get annoyed and say it doesn’t matter. I relate with the annoyance somewhat. Because often it seems the theme and significance of the moment at hand are being ignored when readers only focus on wondering “so when are they gonna fuck?”. I’ve found that a bit frustrating, to be honest.

But overall, I don’t agree with the mentality of brushing some questions off because “they don’t matter”. I have found that people tend to say that when they don’t like others talking/debating about something and wish the topic wasn’t brought up anymore. It might not matter to all readers, but shutting down conversation and discouraging others from sharing their interpretations is never okay in my books. It’s fine if you don’t want to talk about something but I don’t think you should go around complaining about others talking about it. Especially in their own posts, and especially if you don’t have anything else to say other than “it doesn’t matter”.

I firmly believe sexualities and sex are most definitely relevant themes in 19 Days. It’s a story about teenagers discovering themselves and falling in love, after all. Among other themes as well, of course.

To answer your question, dear anon-san, I think 19 Days is already somewhat NSFW. The official illustrations especially seem to be quite..revealing at times. I doubt it will get much more graphic, though, because of OX having to struggle with the censorship as is. And to have actual yaoi-level NSFW content in the comic in its current timeline wouldn’t fit the pacing. However, I’m interested in seeing will the future-related chapters ever give us more sexual content when the boys are older and their respective relationships have developed more.

I never thought I would write this long of an answer to your question. Turns out I feel surprisingly passionate about this. So, thank you very much for this, dear anon-san! I’m going to check how many people have unfollowed me now after this post.

[vkelleyart]

Hi!! Do you have a rec list of your favorite lgbtq novels? I’ve been wanting to read a lot more, but I don’t even know where to start. Any suggestions from followers would be great as well! :D (I already have Red, White, and Royal Blue on hold at my library)

Hello there! Oooh, this is an excellent ask. I’m gonna do my best here to give you the rundown of LGBTQ+ novels I’ve read and enjoyed, including quite a number of graphic novels as well, as those speak directly to my field of interest for obvious reasons. (I’m hoping to expand this list quite a bit…)

Ones I’ve read:

Carry On by @rainbowrowell: Because of course. Rainbow’s smart/ hilarious dialogue and heartfelt narrative shines in a subversive homage to the Harry Potter series in which two boys destined to kill each other fall in love instead and save the World of Mages. I’m obsessed. :)

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz: There are simply not enough words to describe how much I loved this book. Benjamin Alire Sáenz’s prose reads like poetry, and as a Latinx person, I felt so many of the themes in it very deeply. It chronicles the deepening friendship and love between two Mexican American boys in the 1980s, and one of the aspects about the book that impressed me most was the way it depicted a loving, supportive family dynamic around the queer protagonists. The book wrung tears from my eyes. Highly recommend.

Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan: This is the first LGBTQ YA book I’ve ever read and I loved. It’s about two boys with the same name (one gay, one straight) whose stories are connected by way of a fabulously confident and charming gay bloke named Tiny. It’s romantic and funny and very creatively executed seeing as each author assumes the voice of one Will Grayson (they alternate chapters).

Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli: This book was adapted to film, but I highly recommend reading the novel, as Simon’s narration is endearing and funny (and at points, heartbreaking) as he grapples with coming out before a classmate outs him as part of a scheme to blackmail him. This book flew by; there was so much angst happening, I couldn’t wait to find out what was going to happen. And of course, there’s the romantic mystery at the heart of Simon’s story: who is “Blue” and will Simon ever get together with him? 

Kiss Number 8 written by Colleen AF Venable, Ellen T. Crenshaw (Illustrator): A smartly written, beautifully drawn and hopeful graphic novel about a young girl coming to terms with her queerness in the midst of Catholic High School drama. The dialogue alone makes this worth it. Deals with not only sexual orientation/coming out but features a transgender plot line as well. When I finished it, I felt uplifted.

Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang: This graphic novel reads like a subversive Disney fairy tale. It centers on the relationship between Prince Sebastian who secretly moonlights as a fashion icon named “Lady Chrystalia” and his best friend Frances, whom he hired to design his fabulous dresses. I actually read it to my son, and it inspired wonderful conversations about gender fluidity, gender performance, and of course, the power of love to transcend all of the above.

Bloom by by Kevin Panetta, Savanna Ganucheau (Illustrator): Another graphic novel drawn in a manga-esque art style about Ari and Hector, two boys working a bakery together and finding friendship and love in the time they spend together creating confections. It’s light and fluffy and predictably delicious.

Check! Please by Ngozi Ukazu: This is the softcover omnibus of years one and two of the popular webcomic of the same title. Its protagonist, Eric Bittle (”Bitty”) is a pie-baking former figure skater-turned-collegiate hockey player, and his eventual relationship with the team captain is nearly as charming as the hilarious and familial dynamic of everyone on the team. Read it for laughs and a feel good love story. 

Other highly recommended books on my To-Read Queer Lit List:

Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston (Currently Reading)

Weak Heart by @basic-banshee/Ban Gilmartin (Currently Reading)

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

The Raven Cycle (series) by Maggie Stiefvater

Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me by Mariko Tamaki

Anyone have others to add to the list? Give us your recs! ❤️

[muthaz-rapapa]

Precure in the Arts (Civilian only)

Creative arts, to be specific. Therefore, this post encompasses a variety of subjects and is also not exclusive to the traditional kind.

I included as much as I could think of but it’s probably still incomplete, either because I don’t remember well enough or do not know certain characters well enough (like I said before, I haven’t watched the first three seasons) or whatever so if anyone wants to point out what I missed, please do.

Comments below the cut.

Note: This will be continually updated as new additions come along.

Music:

Singing

Musical Instruments (Classical)

- Violin: Karen, Haruka, Minami, Towa - Piano: Karen, Hibiki, Alice, Madoka

Musical Instruments (Guitar)

Performing Arts:

Acting

Dancing

Visual Arts:

Painting

Illustration

Literature:

**Generally speaking, this list was created with the idea (and hope) that these activities aren’t just hobbies or past times for the girls. In other words, their interests or specialties are part of who they are. A trait that makes up an important fraction of them as a character and a person.

Ya get what I mean? Well, you will as we go along.

Singing - A lot of girls sing in series but these are the ones who are known to perform for the public. With the exception of Aoi, who’s a rock star, all of them are idols, unsurprisingly.

Anyways, not only do they like what they do but they also enjoy performing for a crowd and sharing their music with others. This is why Ako, who despite the fact that she likes singing, is not listed because for her, singing is a more private matter to be done around those she’s close to.

As for Ellen, I was see-sawing between whether to include her in this list or not since Siren spent most of her time singing as a villain. In the end, I decided that she qualifies since she was one of the top contenders to perform for Major Land. In a way, that’s sort of like being an idol and had Hummy not been chosen, she probably would’ve been the one to sing the Melody of Happiness instead. Also, I believe I’ve seen clips of her doing street performances so that counts, too.

Musical Instruments (Classical) - In defense against the fact that we only ever got short moments of seeing the girls play music, I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that most of them will continue to carry their talents with them as they grow older. Especially for those who spent a lot of time training and polishing their skills so it’d be a waste for them to stop, y’know? Not to mention, I’m pretty sure all of them like playing their respective instruments as well so that was also taken into consideration.

Which is my reasoning on not including Emiru even though she’s proficient in violin and piano. I’m choosing to believe she never forgets what she learned with the classical instruments but since she ultimately prefers the guitar over anything else, there’s little point in keeping her here.

A question mark for Karen, though. We all saw her with a violin in the first OP of Yes!5 (and some other promo art) but I could’ve sworn I’ve seen her play piano at least once sometime in the series. I’d go back and check but it’s such a minor detail and Yes!5 is so long that I don’t feel like searching for it so can someone confirm with me on this if she does know how to play the piano?? It has been confirmed that Karen does indeed play the piano. Thank you, @darkis4everinlight​!!

Musical Instruments (Guitar) - Nothing much to say here that isn’t already obvious.

**Performing Arts - Yea, yea, I know music is a type of performing arts but it’s big enough to deserve its own separate section so don’t argue with me on that.

As for why dancing is not listed has so little people despite there being a whole group of Cures (Fresh) who did perform in that area...well, like I said above, this is more of an individual sorting. I believe the Fresh group partook in dancing because they wanted to do it together. But when it’s not together, they have other stuff they’d rather focus on like Miki with her modeling and Inori learning to become a vet and Setsuna helping rebuild Labyrinth. I don’t know about Love, though, so...

EDIT: Looked back on the wiki and Love apparently does continue with dancing even after the group split up so she’s listed now.

...come to think of it, Minami fits in the dance section too because she did ballet but in the end that wasn’t her passion so...I dunno, should I list her? :/ Nevermind, it’s up.

Acting - I feel like we need more Cures in this field. I mean, there are so many types of acting out there so it’d be great if we can see more actors among our main cast members.

About Saaya, though. Yea, she chose to drop acting to pursue a medical career but it was partially through acting that she discovered her true calling in the first place. In that sense, the acting portion of her life is an irreplaceable part of her.

Dancing - Ok true, while Minami’s most noticeable attribute as a character is her connection and love for the sea, it’s also undeniable that she was a total Ojou-sama for most of Go!Pri’s story. And as Ojou-sama qualities go, they are like masters of almost anything.

Frankly, if I wanted to be very honest with this list, I would’ve completely scraped her (and Karen and Alice, for that matter) from musical instruments because the violin didn’t mean as much to her as it did for Haruka and Towa story-wise and the same extends to ballet as well. Like Saaya with acting, she put these activities, along with her heiress duties, aside to pursue her real dream. 

But also like Saaya with being an actress, being an Ojou-sama and everything that came with it (aka the “grooming package”) was a huge part of who Minami was before that realization.

By the logic, I can’t leave it out. So the same applies to the other Oujos, too.

**Visual Arts - Again, it might be because I’m forgetting some things and whatnot but seriously? This is all we have for Cures gifted in visual arts? What about film making, photography, crafts, sculpture, computer graphics??

Also, I’m wondering if I should include design under this but I feel that Fashion needs to be its own category so nah, probably not.

Painting - Haven’t watched Splash Star so I’m just basing this off of what I’ve seen in the All Stars movies.

Illustration - I don’t know what is or is not considered part of the arts these days but as I said above, this isn’t limited to the traditional kind so I believe I can put illustration under here. It doesn’t fit anywhere else, otherwise.

**Literature - Yeap, I need more Cures who aspire to become writers as well. Not just novelists. Screenwriters, playwrights, poets, etc!

So many areas of interests so why are you not using everything the world has to offer, TOEEEEEIIIIIII?!?!?!?!??

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Update log:

4/2/20 - Post published.

4/3/20 - Edited; updated Karen’s info and added Love to Dancing category.

[official-michael-afton]

please go into detail about the graphic novel. like all those CATS reviews going around? PLEASE im begging you

Okay so like- tbh I’m less mad about that it’s bad and more about that it had the POTENTIAL to be good and was hot garbage instead

Like here’s some of pinky’s art(source because art stealing is bad):

and OF COURSE I’m not expecting the graphic novel to look like this. That’s ridiculous. When you need to draw so many pictures for so many pages, of course there’s going to be a sacrifice in quality. Things will look much more simple and rough.

... It shouldn’t be this bad, though.

i just... everything is so unpolished. Maybe it would’ve been cleaner if Pinky had more time?

I’ve spoken about my issues with Pinky’s designs before. She draws animatronics just fine, but... The humans? ... They exist... Most don’t look bad, they just have same face syndrome(Will and Hen look related). Jessica’s design was just a “haha hot blonde” caricature and wasn’t thought out much more than that. The style is trying too hard to be Disney but falls short- especially because this is a HORROR SERIES and not a FAIRYTALE... MIXED WITH SOME ANIME ELEMENTS FOR REASONS?????

I don’t know if it should be in a different style or maybe if Pinky had mastered this style better it wouldve looked better, but it’s just choppy. She’s clearly out of her element and it shows, which sucks because like she’s a really good artist! ... I should also add that if this was done by just some random person I’d give it all the credit in the world, but because this is the official artist getting paid for this- and I KNOW she can do better- that’s why I’m being so hard on her. Because I know this work didn’t live up to her full potential.

The colors were done by a “Laurie Smith”, not Pinky, and it’s... embarrassing. 

Jason got whitewashed... why tho? Keep him white or keep him POC, don’t do... whatever this is.

You can see the fill tool on the lighting here. It’s so choppy, it’s jarring instead of highlighting, and... just... awful. If Laurie spent just... literally one extra minute fine-tuning this it would’ve been so much better. But instead it looks like I took this to MSPaint

F... Fully saturated... bright red... “blood”. ... Someone got paid for this. I- this actually hurts my eyes, I can’t look at it for too long, it’s too bright and contrasted. 

Many of my friends have said that toning down saturation for the whole novel would be a HUGE fix, and I agree. It’s too bright and colorful for a horror novel, and could really use a lot more color theory(not just RED GRADIENT BECAUSE SOMETHINGS SHOCKING and OCCASIONAL GREEN LIGHT FROM NOWHERE, im talking overarching color theming, which is a whole long topic on its own)

I’m sure Laurie is a fine artist... maybe she needed more direction. Maybe she’s just a colorist, not in the fnaf fandom, so maybe she doesn’t usually work in the horror genre? Maybe she was just given “here’s what the character’s color schemes are” and had to figure it out on her own? I’m not behind the scenes, I don’t know the full story. I’m gonna give her the benefit of the doubt... but my God, this is awful compared to how good it would’ve looked with proper coloring.

As for the actual writing/pacing/layout

... eh.

Idk whose hands this was in: Scott’s, Kira’s, Pinky’s, some combo, so I don’t know who to be pointing at for this but. Eh. It’s okay, nothing insulting or cringey, at least. 

The pacing is rushed, but I expected that. You have to rush the story in order to fit a 500-page novel into a 200-page graphic novel. I won’t get upset at anyone for this.

But... the layout... eh. I think the problem is that Scott, Kira, and Pinky- none of them are graphic novel artists. Yes, Pinky is an artist, but making single illustrations(like the amazing ones up top) and making a graphic novel are two extremely different arts. Graphic novels aren’t just pictures with text added, you’re telling the story through the images. There are a lot of “1 hour later”s and “...”s the like, which is a super amateur thing to do. You can convey emotions, time skips, mood, etc without having a text bubble for it. Again, nothing against Pinky, but she’s clearly out of her element here and the novel is suffering as a result. 

Honestly, I feel like hiring someone with graphic novel experience instead of hiring Pinky would’ve been a much better call. She’s a good artist, but just... not a good graphic novel artist yet, y’know?

I mean, I got a lot of laughs and memes out of this! ... Only it’s supposed to be sad and scary rather that hilarious and meme-tastic. So... props for ironic enjoyment, at least?

[baekterflyeffect]

hues / part one

He always considered himself as the colorful one, until she came into the picture and managed to make him realize that there were hues and shades of colors in him he hadn’t discovered.

CHARACTERS: Baekhyun x Reader (name would not be mentioned) AU: fakedating!au, college!au, artstudents!au GENRE: romance, fluff, slight conflict WC: 3.7k A/N: i’m not back lol i’m just bored and i have been writing this and loving this the fullest. if any read it from aff, then yes it is the same fic but i changed from OC to Reader fic!

+ hues masterlist

Baekhyun once again found himself visiting the craft store downtown to get his art supplies. He knows exactly why he decided to visit said craft store. It was not because of the supplies are cheaper, neither because it was closer to his apartment but it was because she was there. 

The first time he saw her there was when the craft store he usually went to ran out of the canvas he needed, leading him to meet her. She was a part of his circle of friends, having met each other a few times yet their conversation never grew past a hi. 

After their meeting at the craft store, they grew closer. They talked to each other more often, making Baekhyun’s heart thumped every time he was near her. Sometimes, more often than not, they met up in their campus garden to talk about their next assignment, being the only two that shared the same major in their group of friends. 

Baekhyun found her again, this time she was choosing a few canvases to put in her basket that was already full with tubes of new acrylic inks. Baekhyun noticed that she didn’t look as bright as she usually did, her frown and slight pout were enough evidence. He slowly walked toward her direction, making himself known by bumping his shoulder to hers. 

“Bad day?” He asked, a smile played on his lips as he used his finger to trace the frame of one canvas. He heard her hum, but didn’t ask again; not wanting to push her to talk about her problem. 

“Just,” she started, head tilted to the side, “someone is bothering me about something.” She sounded hesitant. Baekhyun waited for her patiently, turning his head to look at her. 

“We can talk about it somewhere else. If you want.”

She turned to look at Baekhyun, her lips stretched into a tight smile, giving him a nod, “Yeah, let me pay first.” Baekhyun bobbed his head, telling her that he’s going to get a new sketchbook. 

They agreed to walk around to find the nearest restaurant after they put their supplies in Baekhyun’s car. The walk didn’t feel awkward, it was filled with silence, yet it was the kind of silence Baekhyun and her appreciated; looking at passerby and the scenery of the little stores. 

For someone like Baekhyun, he really loved walking around in an area that he is not familiar with. Always memorizing every nook and detail of the place for him to paint later when he is free from his assignments. 

Both of them ended up sitting in front of each other in a little Pizzeria they manage to find. She has never been here, sure, she hang out a lot within the area but she was never been a fan of pizzas, yet here she is―basking in the homey feeling of the place and how the smell of freshly baked pizza filled her nostrils. 

She let her eyes wandered around the place, intrigued by the color schemes of the place’s interior. Appreciating how the majority of red hues adorning the place accompanied by the color green and white. She loved colors, loved how one colors can be differentiated between hues. It was always a wonder for her, how colors worked. How one shade of color can be mixed between others to create a whole new shade, how it could be lighter and darker. It amazes her. 

Her eyes automatically stopped at the sight of Baekhyun who was currently reading through his menu, not knowing what to order since she did ask him to order for the both of them. Baekhyun is wearing a t-shirt in the color white. She noticed how his shirt are stretched over his shoulders, accentuating the boardness, making her wonder how fit he actually is. One of the things she also noticed were his chains that seemed to never leave his neck. Always hiding behind any outer he wore. 

Baekhyun was attractive, she admitted. With the way he dressed himself and carried himself, the man screams attractive. It was the reason why she never had the bravery to get closer to him. It was not because Baekhyun have a bad reputation; it was simply because she was afraid to fall in love with him way too quickly. Yet, one encounter with him lead to them eating out together without their other friends and it would be a lie if she said she was not enjoying it. 

“Let’s order one large cheese pizza and garlic bread as its side-dish, yeah?” His question snapped her out or her thoughts, nodding her head to answer him. Without much thought, he calls out to one of the waitresses to order. After he was done, he put his full attention to her, grinning boyishly. 

“Ready to talk?” He asked in a soft voice, fingers drumming on the table. 

“That's it.” 

She finished her story, making his mouth gape at disbelief. He knew that she is one of the most popular students in their major, yet the fact that someone goes to the length of forcing her to date them makes Baekhyun feels uncomfortable. 

“So you're telling me that someone is so keen in dating you to the point they almost harass you,” she briefly nods at his statement, trying to swallow her food. Baekhyun knows that even talking about this is hard for her, “and you accidentally blurted out that you have a boyfriend.” 

“..yes,” he noticed that she sounded shameful, “and I need your help.” 

Baekhyun arched his brow, asking her in what before he sips his drink―which he regrets because her action makes him choke on his drink. 

“In pretending to be my boyfriend.”

“W-what?” Baekhyun stutters, not knowing how to digest her request. After all, he did developed some kind of crush at her and he did want to pursue a relationship with her. Why not date for real, he wanted to ask. But he knew that it would probably be too soon as they only started to get to know each other for a few weeks. 

She cringed at Baekhyun’s reaction, sighing. “I mean,” she bit her lower lip, unsure what to say, “if you don’t mind..?” 

Baekhyun wiped his mouth with a tissue, silence overcoming the both of them and for the first time ever since they hang out, it was the awkward kind of silence. He thinks through it, he definitely wants to date her. But fake dating her?―not so much. He was afraid that he would develop deeper feelings for her if he accepts her request. But at the same time, he thought of her story. Having someone who harassed someone else to date them is bad news. Moreover, based from her brief story, they started showing up at places that she was at. He’s worried that their liking towards her will grow into an obsession that would hurt her. 

Maybe with him dating her―even though it was only for an act―will make the person go away and realize that she has no interest in them. Even though he knew that she always told them that she is not interested. Baekhyun weighed down his options, and came to a conclusion that he would approach his feelings for her later and would be prioritizing her safety instead. So, after ten minutes of silent, he agreed to help her. 

“Okay,” He said, shocking himself at how his response sounded too sure. He peeks at her expression through his lashes, finding her smiling shyly. 

“Okay,” she repeated, “you’re my boyfriend now?” 

“Pretend,” he emphasized, “but yes, I’m your boyfriend.”

That managed to bring a smile to their lips. 

Their lunch ended up being filled in a happy atmosphere, somehow it doesn’t feel bad nor awkward to pretend to date each other. They talked about their boundaries, agreed to hold hands, hug, and kiss. For some reason, it didn’t feel awkward when Baekhyun tried to hold her hands on their way back to where their cars located. Their fingers interlaced as she swung their hands gently as they walk. 

It really didn’t feel bad. 

Baekhyun decided to fetch her from her last class since his class ended earlier. Even though they shared the same major, they did take their specific courses. While Baekhyun classes are more focused on illustrations, her classes are more focused on graphic designs. Of course their line of work that they are trying to reach are different, while she mentioned once she wanted to be a graphic designer, Baekhyun just want to create art. 

He takes a seat on the bench in front of the classroom, taking out his carry-on sketchbook and letting his hand do the magic. His pencil move in a direction where he ended up sketching her face, smiling at the rough outline of her face. He stopped himself when the door opened, closing his sketchbook to get up from where he was seated. 

And there she comes. 

With her hair tied in a messy bun and her fingers stained with inks. She doesn’t seem to realize that Baekhyun is there, though Baekhyun noticed a guy who was standing beside her, his arm reached out trying to hold her. Out of instinct, Baekhyun walk closer to where she was walking and looped his arm around her waist, pressing her body closer to his. She seemed taken aback, though she masked it well when she took a glance at him. 

Baekhyun smiled at her, leaning closer to press a kiss on her temple. It did feel a little bit awkward to do that, though Baekhyun managed to push that awkwardness away when she placed her palm atop his chest, greeting him with a soft hi. 

He heard a rough cough, drifting his attention from her eyes to the guy who was standing next to her before Baekhyun comes. Before she managed to say anything, Baekhyun beat her to it with his head tilted to the side in a tantalizing manner. 

“Yeah?”

“You’re her boyfriend?” His voice is pretty loud, gaining attention from the people who were still hanging out in the hallway. She shifted uncomfortably, pressing her body closer to Baekhyun―he right away got the idea that this guy is the one who keeps harassing her―making Baekhyun tighten his arm around her body in a protective manner. 

“I am,” Baekhyun answers with confidence, he doesn’t mind about the people who gasped and gossiped about them, “if you excuse me, I have a lunch date with my girlfriend.” Without waiting for an answer, he lead her to his car right away, leaving everyone to gossip more about them. 

Baekhyun kept his arm around her waist the entire time they were walking to his car, with him unconsciously squeezed her waist to comfort her. He reluctantly let go once they stood in front of his car with him leaning on the hood of his sedan and her standing in front of him. She still looked uncomfortable which made him sigh, slowly taking her hand in his to interlaced their fingers. 

“You okay?” He softly asked, his eyes never left her face; trying to read her expression. She shook her head, her lower lip jutted out. Baekhyun chuckled at that, and brought her closer to him, making her stand in between his spread legs. Their close proximity almost scared him. He knew that he was being too comfortable with her and the fact that he feels how her body language told him the same, it scared him even more. He managed to push his thought away when she squeezed his hand. 

“He makes me feel so uncomfortable, Baek.” 

Baek, she said. The nickname is a common thing between his close friends, but when she was the one who said it, Baekhyun’s heart sure did flip at that. 

“I understand,” he sighed, fixing a strand of her hair by tucking it behind her ear. He took a glance at his silver wristwatch, only to realize that it was past their lunch time. “Are you hungry?” he asked softly. 

She nodded at him, letting him pull her towards the passenger side of the car. 

“Let’s eat, then.” 

Luckily for them, it was Friday and their classes have ended. After their lunch, she was still in her dazed and uncomfortable state even though Baekhyun attempted to distract her mind from the previous event. When Baekhyun asked if she either wanted to go home or not, she merely shook her head, saying she still needs somebody to accompany her. Which lead Baekhyun to take her to his studio apartment. 

He had an assignment that he needed to submit before seven pm, so he just briefly told her that she could borrow clothes from him if she wanted to sleep her afternoon away. She did take the offer of borrowing one of his sweaters even though she doesn’t have any plans to sleep. His sweater that he lent her was big enough to cover her thighs, and it made him realize that she was absolutely short.

(He playfully asked what’s her height―laughing when she answered with 148cm―and earning himself a smack on the chest.)

She was easy to be around with. Not doesn’t budge a little even when he was seated on his study table, working on an illustration in his tablet. The atmosphere between them are comforting, though there are barely words exchanged, they still manage to acknowledge each other’s presence. Sometimes, Baekhyun would turn his head and take a peek at what she was doing; finding her sitting on his small couch with Baekhyun’s blanket draped over her legs, and her laptop resting on top of it. Her eyes never left the laptop’s screen, making Baekhyun smile at how focused she was being. 

(She did say she was going to do one of her assignments, but Baekhyun knew that she was watching a movie judging by how her fingers never moved an inch.) 

Little did Baekhyun know, she also took peeks of his broad back, admiring how focused he was in his drawing―she was able to see it through his computer screen—a pretty illustration of two figures in the same gender with their hands clasped together in which she assumed as a cover for a book. She took notice of his realistic art style as he was putting effort in the shading of the two characters. Though, she didn’t fail to notice how monochromatic the illustration is. 

She paused her movie, deciding to observe Baekhyun’s studio apartment. His apartment is in a decent size for someone who lived alone, and for others’ eyes, the interior would feel too boring as there are barely colors aside from white, grey and black decorating it, but in her eyes, it’s a very minimalist and sophisticated. There are few paintings hanging on the walls, she knew it was his because of the realistic monochromatic style. It did fit him. However, for her, she never thought of him as the type to appreciate simplicity, because in her eyes, Baekhyun is a burst of colors personified. 

Getting up from her position, putting her laptop safely placed on the table, she slowly made her way to stand behind Baekhyun who already turned his head to look at her when he heard shuffling. 

“Need anything?” Baekhyun asked. 

“Just appreciating art,” she said, wanting to sound vague because the art she was talking about is both Baekhyun and his drawing. “What are you making?” she questioned, leaning closer to see what he has in his computer screen more clearly. 

“It's a book cover,” her assumptions earlier were right, “my lecturer assigned us to create an original cover for a story that we have in our mind. I really can’t wait to present it next week.” He was back to look at his screen, zooming it out so she could have a better look of what he have come up with. 

“It’s pretty, tell me about their story, please?” Baekhyun smiled at that. 

“In my mind,” he starts, “they are a part of the military. Finding love in each other, yet they couldn’t be together.” 

With his words, she started to notice the shading of his illustration is not in the color of black and grey, it was a deep blue and green mixed with white and a very light green. It was a beautiful drawing, and with his story you are able to feel their emotions. 

“I could feel.. desperation and longing by this drawing alone.” She said, her eyes are still focused on his screen. She heard him chuckle, “Very well,” he zoomed out his drawing more, “but I feel something is missing. This looked too bland.” She agreed, slowly taking his tablet pen, adding pale pink and pale orange on his color palette. 

“Try adding these colors in their lips, and the shading in their fingertips. As you said, they were in love, right? I think it might be great if you are able to incorporate some colors into them.” 

With her advice, Baekhyun tried to incorporate the colors - making his illustration more alive than his other illustrations. He smiled when he finished it, even though it was not his style to color his illustrations with colorful shades; least to say, he’s content with it. His illustrations looked more alive and he’s certain he will get a good score. 

Both Baekhyun and her were too immersed with their painting; after Baekhyun was done with his assignment, they decided to kill time by following a Bob Ross tutorial. He was glad he had an extra easels and canvases that he doesn’t use. Their eyes were focused on the tv screen where a tutorial of how to paint Sunset Aglow is playing, and the small space of Baekhyun’s apartment was filled with Bob Ross’ calming voice with their brushes sliding against the canvas. 

Baekhyun never knew that he would land himself in a situation where he could paint together with someone aside from his coursemates, knowing how his past girlfriends never took interest in his passion. She felt the same, and loved the idea of spending time just to paint. Moreover, she did manage to get her thoughts away from the event earlier.

Once they are done, she noticed the difference in their art style. While she decided to focus on pastel and pale colors; Baekhyun focused more on vibrant colors. 

“We should collaborate someday.” She said with a smile on her face as she admired Baekhyun’s painting. He nods at her, his eyes are memorizing her art work. 

“We should,” he carefully took her canvas in his hand, “and I am going to hang this, somewhere in my apartment. Can’t believe I will have the famous you painting here.” She chuckled at his words, her eyes crinkling. 

“You’re exaggerating, I’m not that great.” 

He rolled his eyes at that, “Whatever you say, sweetheart,” the nickname rolled off his tongue so naturally, making her flinch. He noticed it too, “Sorry, I won’t call you with pet names.” 

She shook her head right away, frowning. “But I really like it?” 

“You did?” 

Grinning, she nodded her head, her cheeks pinked at her own confession. Baekhyun grins at that, “Then I’ll call you any pet names I could think of.” 

“Do you have any no-go for skinships?” Baekhyun wondered loudly after he swallowed his food. They decided to order Chinese food for dinner, sitting on Baekhyun’s small couch with their shoulders pressed against each other.

“Mm, I like everything you did so far.” She shyly said, placing her now empty plate on Baekhyun’s small table. 

“So you’re okay with the kiss earlier?” Baekhyun finds it absolutely adorable when he is able to see how pink her cheeks are under the lights.

“Kind of,” she hesitated, taking a shy glance at him, “it comforts me.” 

He smiled, putting away his plate too and moving his body so he was facing her. “What about a kiss on the lips, will you mind?” He almost punched himself for asking that question, it was shameless and she would definitely be creeped out by it, but he was certainly not expecting her to nod. 

“I mean, I don’t mind. It’s just a kiss, right?” 

Baekhyun hummed, his heart beating way too loudly. Every rational thought inside his head were being swept away when he leaned closer to her, their noses touching, his palm are cupping the side of her face. He knew he was not breathing when he felt the warmth of her palm against the side of his neck. 

“Can I,” he breathed, head tilted slightly to the side, “kiss you?” 

He could feel his heart jumping when she nodded her head and her eyes closing in expectation. Ever so slowly, Baekhyun leaned closer to her, their lips touching against each other and with a sigh, he closed his eyes while pressing his lips against hers. 

When their lips touched, they could feel colors bursting inside them. It was more than a mere spark, even more than a firework―it was as if a big ball of colorful paints burst up inside of them, coating their hearts with thousands shade of colors. Their lips moved in unison, molding into each other like the color white mixed with black to create shades of grey. 

She pulled away after awhile, having the need to breathe. She lied, it was not just a kiss; it was more than that, because if it was just a mere kiss, her heart wouldn’t burst into different shades of colors. 

“You’re a good kisser,” she breathed out, still catching her breath. 

“Yeah?” He asked, she took the time to memorize his face; eyes droppy, cheeks painted in red and his lips. God his lips, swollen and pink. 

She truly felt like having Baekhyun as her pretend boyfriend a bad idea now that she has the image of how he looked like after kissing someone, all breathless and attractive. She knew she’s playing a dangerous game, yet she swallowed the thought away. Not wanting her fears of not being able to see him this way ruin her happy bubble. 

She smiled at him, leaning closer to press her lips against his swollen ones again. 

“Yeah.”

Her fears can worry about itself later. 

[buttercupsfrocks]

So, tumblr, by popular demand, (Hah! Get me!), here’s a loooong post on my living room display cabinet.

I started collecting 1930s ceramics when I was 17, shortly after my grandfather died. My dad, as his only child, was given the job of sorting through the contents of his flat, which is how I first came into possession of a couple of Art Deco nicknacks - a plastic jewellery box, which sadly fell to pieces, a chrome and enamel powder bowl, and an electric clock with a peach mirror glass face. Also this amazing uplighter seen, along with the clock and few pieces from the china collection, in the living room of my previous flat. 

But back to my mid teens. At around this time I saw Cabaret on the big screen for the second time, and resolved shortly afterwards to reinvent myself as a Sally Bowles/Louise Brooks hybrid. 

Thus the 30s became my thing. For life it turns out. Since I was still living in my childhood home in my tiny childhood bedroom, it started with beads and earrings as I didn’t have room to collect much else. The necklace I’m wearing here was one of the first things I ever bought – from the long gone Twentieth Century Box in the King’s Road – and the dress belonged to my great grandmother. 

At some point though I bought this little Art Deco jug, which proved to be the thin end of the wedge. I knew it was a piece of cheap tat – it didn’t have a stamp on the base and cost a mere £1.75 from Camden Market – but I loved it then and I still do, crazing, cheap lustre finish, indelible stains and all 

Before long it had found a friend in a Shelley jug and they’ve been together ever since. I acquired a few small pieces of Carlton Ware here and there, as it was cheap and commonplace, but the china collection didn’t really get going in earnest till I came face to face with these ...

... and these...

... Paragon cups, saucers, and tea plates. It was the delicate flower handles that did for me. My heart literally stopped when I spotted the whole lot filling a display case on a stall in the Barrett Street Antiques Market in St Christopher’s Place. I’d never heard of Paragon, which is comparable in quality to Shelley, before; and I’ve only ever met one other person who avidly collected it. The colour work here is a combination of basic transfer and hand painting, and I’d never seen anything so beautiful, nor coveted anything quite so desperately, in all my puff. Back then were three trios in each design, and they would have cost entry-level graphic designer me two weeks wages so it was a no go. I chatted to the dealer for ages, heaved a sigh of resignation, and left. Then fate stepped in in the form of some freaky, life-changing events: 1) My paternal grandmother died and left me five grand, and 2) The company I was working for decided on a radical restructure and I was one of those made redundant. I decided to use the money to start my own business – an illustration agency – and marked this momentous decision by returning to Barrett Street to buy the Paragon. I didn’t have the space to display it all until I moved into my own place a couple of years later but there was no looking back once I did.

Most of these pieces are made by Paragon too, the exception being the Royal Doulton cup and saucer on the right, which was a gift.  The un-lidded sugar bowl on the left cost me two quid in a car boot sale while the lidded one in the front cost me under a fiver from another late King’s Road haunt called Eat Your Heart Out. With two notable exceptions, I’ve never parted with serious money for any of this stuff. I also rarely buy to sell, so not all of my collection is in perfect condition. Obviously it’s great when it is, but the cumulative effect of seeing it altogether is way more important. And the cumulative effect is pure joy. Which puts me in mind of the book I mentioned a couple of posts ago, which posits the idea that liking colourful stuff is not a mark of shallow, unsophisticated character, and that joy is not something innate without stimulus, but rather a reaction to the objects and environments that surround us. This resonated deeply with me.

I used to write in an alcove in the L-shaped hallway of my previous flat. It was a nicely decorated hall. Yellow-gold marbled wallpaper with paintwork a shade lighter and a yellow gold carpet to match. The light was good too. But I didn’t have many pictures in those days so the walls were blank apart from my grandmothers mirror; nor were there any shelves on which to house books or display tchotchkes. One day I started writing in my living room instead, which contained all of these things including my trusty display cabinet, and I realised I felt creatively stimulated; galvanised even. From then on I’ve always worked surrounded by colour, pictures, objects and books.

So, on with the show.

This adorable little person is a powder bowl from Germany. I don’t often go for figurative ceramics but I completely fell in love with her. She came from a junk shop and cost me about  quarter of what she was worth at the time I bought her. Behind her is a Parrot Ware biscuit barrel, a gift from my potter friend Steve, who is also an avid collector of ceramics, and has contributed many pieces to my collection over the years. Behind that is a Parrot Ware plate I found in a junk shop in Lye in the West Midlands. To the left of her is a Paragon chintz ware trio, another gift from Steve. 

The coffee cup and saucer is the only piece of Clarice Cliff I own. It was a present from a family friend back when I first started collecting. Then, as now, Cliff, Susie Cooper and Charlotte Rhead were the big names and overpriced accordingly, so I decided to concentrate on the more affordable end of the market. The hand painted Poole vase is, I think, from the 60s, as is the Royal Winton plate behind it, but I think they blend in well enough. The same can be said about this Brentleigh Ware breakfast for one set...

It came from a car boot sale many years ago. The rain was chucking it down and the sellers were so desperate to go home they practically gave it to me. How could I refuse? 

This is the only glass piece in the cabinet. I’ve occasionally seen these swizzle sticks for sale individually but this is the only set I’ve seen with the matching base. Behind it is a pair of hand painted Czechoslovakian vases of the type that Cliff clearly ripped off. For that reason alone I feel they should be worth a whole lot more than they are. Russian folk art, as reinterpreted by the likes of Natalia Goncharova for Diaghilev’s Ballet Russes, was also a huge influence on the Art Deco movement. The majority of my pieces are simply 30s as opposed to full on Deco but the colour palette is often in keeping.

The green cheese dish is a Royal Winton piece I bought in the 80s, while the yellow one, a more recent acquisition from a charity shop, is Crown Ducal. Which brings me to something else. Video may not have killed the radio star but eBay definitely murdered the antique market. Some time in the mid 90s I consciously stopped adding to the collection. It was harder to find at a reasonable price and I also felt I’d reached Peak Thirties so to speak. Contributor No 1: Knowing how much I loved the period, my stepgrandmother had promised me a pair of French bronze book ends when she died. And although my mum and stepfather were divorced by the time she did, he honoured her promise on the understanding that I’d never sell them.

(AS IF!! These are the balls-out Art Deco bookends of my wildest dreams. I will never, ever sell them. Excuse the dust, by the way. These live, along with a lot more china, in my hall book case, and are lucky if they see a duster once a year.)  

Contributor No 2: Prior to working in the World’s Loveliest Gift Shop® RIP, I worked for Steve for the six years he had one. But whereas Lynne restored and upcycled vintage furniture as a sideline, Steve's was vintage ceramics. His brother, who is also an antique dealer, occasionally sold stuff through the shop too. One day I came into work and had an instantaneous repetition of my Paragon experience. 

This immaculate, unused Deco-tastic tea for two set is the reason I painted my living room purple. It’s most likely Czechoslovakian too, as indicated by the tiny plate. Too small to be a plate for cake or sandwiches, it was most likely for lemon slices, lemon tea being the norm in that part of the world. The moment I clapped eyes on it I was a gibbering wreck. I didn’t care how many days pay it would take me to work off the debt; it was indisputably Meant To Be. 

Having thus snapped up the tea set and inherited the bookends, I decided I actually had sufficient on the 30s front, much to the consternation of my friends. But a handful of years later things began to change. eBay had stuck the boot in so hard that the vintage china dealers, who had previously pushed up the prices to you’re-’avin’-a-laugh-mate heights, started to throw in the towel on their businesses. And vintage ceramics started to show up in charity shops and car boot sales again – at it-would-be-churlish-not-to prices. 

I started to find pieces like this...

...and this...

...and this...

...and this...

...and this...

...and this...

...going cheap as chips in the chazzas. 

And those dealers who had somehow managed to weather the storm, were no longer charging stratospheric prices. (Unless they were flogging Cliff or Cooper or Rhead), so I was able to add things like this...

...and this...

...to the mix without feeling the pinch.

Should I emerge from this period of history with body and soul intact and raise the collateral I’m hoping to, one of the cosmetic changes I’d like to bring about in my home is to replace the built in hi-fi cupboard in the corner of the living room with another display cabinet, so I can move some of the china that’s languishing elsewhere in the flat into the living room too. Yes, I know it’ll end up looking like the ceramics wing of the V&A, but, frankly, what’s wrong with that?

Poor abandoned things. 

Can’t you see they’re gagging to come and join their friends?

I imagine you’re losing the will to live now so I’ll sign off with my two Beswick fish, which are from the late 60s/early 70s and, despite having no connection with my other treasures, have lived on top of my display cabinet for aeons.  Group similar colours together and you can get away with murder. Toodles!

[positivlyfocused]

Music is powerful. It can literally shape life experience. So I'm careful about what songs I listen to these days. Here's why.

One day last fall started as usual: in high spirits. The day itself was glorious – clear blue sky, leaves changing with the season and mild but comfortable temperatures. It was a great day to be working outside.

I was happy. Adding to my delight was my music playlist. It's a collection of about two thousand songs gathered over many years. So it's a nice, eclectic mix.

But then it happened. I don't know how, at first. There I was, happy, enjoying my day. So why was I suddenly feeling sorry for myself, cranky and in a bad mood?

I'm almost always positive these days.

But in this moment I felt so negative, I even questioned whether I create my reality!

Srsly? 😕

^^A beautiful fall day was the start of an extraordinary experience (my photo).

My clients have this experience too sometimes. One minute they'll be positively focused. Then, seemingly for no reason, they're sad.

But how could this negative emotion blindside me?

That was the wrong question.

What I should have asked was, how did I miss early stage indicators that I had diverged from my Broader Perspective?

I know I can never completely disconnect from my Broader Perspective. But it is possible to think thoughts inconsistent with what my Broader Perspective knows. When that happens I feel negative emotion. I know that's the only reason negative emotions happen.

Negative emotion tells me I've parted perspectives. I'm no longer seeing life through my Broader Knowing.

When I see life the way my Broader Perspective does, I feel great.

When I feel negative emotion, I'm pretty good at catching it. When I do, I either relax and chill, or change my thoughts.

As I said, I've gotten really good at that. That's why I feel ecstasy or near-ecstasy most of the time. Because of that, happy things happen in my life. I write about these in this blog.

Since I know what emotions are for, I know that if I miss an early indicator, my negative mood will worsen...until life smacks me upside the head with a physical manifestation matching that mood.

I don't like it when things get that far.

So I usually catch bad moods early. Usually very early, like on their first indication.

So how did this negative mood get so far?

Before I go into what what happened next, some non-physical background might be helpful...

The Mechanics of Manifestation

I know this manifestation business is real. I know I create my reality. A ton of evidence has blown away any doubt. I also know manifestations are immediate.

Now I don't blame people who don't believe all this manifestation business. I wouldn't believe it either if I didn't know how to see the evidence.

Thankfully I know how to see the evidence. And, I understand why it seems manifestations take so long or never happen at all. One reason "it doesn't work" or takes a long time has to do with resistance.

Unlike non-physical or Inner Reality, Physical Reality comes with a lot of resistance or friction. It's as real as the nose on my face.

^^My Illustration

Engineers design physical objects with this friction or resistance in mind. That's why high performance cars and airplanes and boats look how they look. That's why tires wear out. It's why rockets look really streamlined...instead of looking like bricks.

Just as cars and airplanes and boats need an initial push to overcome resistance and another force, what physicists call "inertia", it takes persistence and focused attention to change my immediate now, especially a now I may not want, into a preferred now.

Focused attention is just like a push. The more pure the focus, the stronger the push.

But, unlike cars and airplanes and rockets, it doesn't take a lot of focused energy to get reality moving in a different direction. To build momentum a reality creator only needs thoughts with no contradictory energy.

And so, as I started telling new stories about how I felt, I knew my reality started changing at once. It took several deliberate hours for a complete and permanent shift from my negative now to the positive now I wanted. But an early indication that change was on the way was how much better I felt telling the new, improved stories.

Now, you may be saying "several hours? You said it was immediate!"

It is immediate. But full-blown manifestational change must come through physical reality's inherent resistance. Movement from initial signs to full-blown manifestation is therefore gradual.

^^As this graphic illustrates, there's more resistance in physical reality than elsewhere. That's why there's an APPARENT delay in manifestations. If you know how to see the evidence, "apparent delay" disappears leaving you free to witness manifestations manifesting at once. (My Illustration)

Still, compare a few hours to the years or decades a person might invest trying to shake off "negative" emotions such anxiety, depression, chronic fear or even simple pessimism.

These negative states are hard to shake because the person waited too long to turn them around. Know how to see early manifestational evidence of negative situations and any chronic negative trajectory can easily be reversed.

Any reversal must happen before too much momentum gets going. Otherwise it can take a long time. It can take an entire life time. It might never change.

A rocket sits on the launch pad. You "light the fires and kick the tires". If you abort the launch sequence soon enough stopping the rocket is easy.

But if you wait until the rocket has launched and gained altitude and momentum....well, you're not going to stop that rocket easily.

The same is true for any negative manifestation.

^^My Illustration

I caught my "rocket" on the launch pad so that sour mood didn't get any momentum. A few hours was nothing. And it was time well spent. Here's why.

My Past Is Now And Vice Versa

As those hours ticked by, I saw more and more evidence the process was working. That awareness built on itself, creating its own momentum. And as that momentum strengthened, something happened I wasn't expecting.

I felt/got/heard/saw a message from non-physical. It was communication from Broader Perspective. It said a song in my playlist, one that played several hours ago, triggered an old belief constellation. It said I formed that belief constellation in the past in response to an experience I had that I interpreted (way back then) as negative.

Back then, that song was popular. It played on the radio a lot. I liked that song so much I put it in my collection. I played it often. Even during that negative experience. In doing so, I forged an association in my belief constellation between the song and the experience I interpreted as negative.

So the song, playing that day on my route in the present, triggered a belief constellation I formed in that past experience. A constellation I hadn't activated since, until I heard that song!

Beliefs in that constellation are so divergent from how my Broader Perspective interpreted that past experience it caused me to diverge from my Broader Perspective in the present. That's why I felt bad!

When the message ended, I was puzzled. Driving my van, I remembered the song in question. It was vague in my mind, you know? Like when a word is there, but not there in your head, and you say "it's on the tip of my tongue", but you can't say the actual word, even though it's there.

That's how the song was. Right there, but not right there. I couldn't get the title or lyrics in my head. But I knew which song my Broader Perspective meant.

Why do you think I couldn't put my finger on it?

It's because my creation process worked! I shifted my "now" so completely, I couldn't put my finger on it because the frequency of the song and the frequency of my improved mood were too different.

Trippy, right?

And here's the thing: That's evidence!

My increasingly positive frequency was so different from those past stories, only their "ghosts" remained...On the tip of my brain, but inexpressible.

^^Songs are stories. They're stories a talented storyteller tells (My illustration).

Then I realized something amazing. You see, were it not for hearing that song, were it not for listening to that playlist, were it not for the negative emotion triggered by all that, I wouldn't have done what I did in response.

And, I wouldn't have had the awesome experience of tuning into my Broader Consciousness' message. A message that came through all my senses. A message that surprised and delighted me, yes. But also a message confirming the existence of my Broader Perspective! 

That's how consistent positive focus creates extraordinary experience. And evidence this manifestation business is real.

While I did not remember the song's title or lyrics, I still felt its "ghosts". That tells me beliefs and experiences associated with that song are still present in me. But they are losing their momentum in light of my now-focus.

Receiving direct, clear, unmistakable communication from the non-physical realm tells me everything I'm doing is real. That it's not mumbo jumbo or New Age bullshit. And this is why personal experience is so convincing.

It's one thing for you to read about this experience in a blog. It's a whole other thing when it happens to you!

Here's something else I learned: Music is powerful. Its repetitiousness builds momentum. When I repeat lyrics to myself, sing-along out loud, or listen to songs over and over, I amplify that song's frequency in my "signal mix".

It behooves me then to pay attention to what types of music I'm listening to, doesn't it? And choose only music supporting positive perspectives.

· · ·

The rest of that day I played with my learning. I listened to my playlist. Every time a song came on, I felt for its frequency. How did I feel when I listened? Did it close the gap between me? Or widen it? If I felt a song triggered even the slightest negative effect, I skipped it.

Songs are stories. They're stories a talented storyteller tells. It's a new perspective for me, seeing songs this way. There are a lot of songs out there telling not-so-positive stories.

Curating my music helps cultivate a high frequency mix. I keep it high by weeding out songs that don't resonate.

So what are you listening to? Is your playlist filed with songs about lost love, broken hearts, angry black men, "Fuck Da Police", "pussy" and "bitches"? Not judging genres. I know, for example, that my frequency response to certain songs depends on my relationship to those songs. Rap, for example, can be uplifting.

It's easy to let others' beliefs and stories shape our mood and therefore our reality. Songs are a powerful way other people's stories do that.

Thanks to my Broader Perspective, I now know my daily life is curated by, among other things, songs I listen to. Going forward I'm choosing my playlist more wisely.