#so the comics option is just general comic versions of the character

[adaptations-polls]

Which version of this do you prefer?

See tags on original post for further notes

[mel-addams]

Get Started Drawing...

...even as a complete beginner!

In my efforts to help some friends who are only just starting to learn to draw (as adults! glorious!! <3), I kept digging around for resources that cover things I remember learning in the various art classes I've taken...but that does a better job than I can of laying it all out in a comprehensive, but not overwhelming, manner. (I am far too prone to rambling as you can see from this post, and bounce around topics as I remember them, rather than in a sensible order.) I've found a few guides here and there that cover one thing or another decently well...but I've finally found a free site I'm really keen on as an overall source if you're just starting out with learning to draw!

It's incredibly clear and concise, whereas many of the other sites and books I found could sometimes be overwhelmingly detailed. It's arranged in a way that reminds me of the flow of art classes, starting at the very first steps--how to approach art if you've never done it before, and the fact that you only need basic tools to begin with. If you go in approximate order, it then establishes that you should start sorting out a solid foundation by practicing simple lines and shapes--the same way you learned to write letters so you could ultimately make words, sentences, stories... This includes some neat little practice exercises with questions to consider while you do them, so you also learn to see and observe things like angles and proportions, which are critical for being able to accurately draw more complex things.

It evolves from there into how to take those basic shapes and turn them into simplified human bodies--and from there, how to consider more complex 3D versions of the shapes to give those bodies a sense of dimension and physicality. It even touches on things like composition, silhouette, negative space, and line of action--all in a quick, straightforward manner. It plants the seed of understanding for these more complex illustration concepts, which you can then research further, armed with relevant terminology to dig up more in-depth resources as they catch your interest!

The style itself is usually simple, but even if your aim is to draw with a more detailed style, this one can serve as a base sketch to add that detail to. (Combine learning this base with photo studies, plus more detailed style guides for wherever you want to take your art, and you could use this as a base for comics, cartoons, anime, realism...the core concepts and skills remain the same!) There's also examples of how to adjust for varied body shapes, so it provides more flexibility than some drawing guides do, which often only focus on one "ideal" body type. (This style can also be used for that, if it's what you want--you just adjust the proportions of the basic shapes as you need! But this provides examples of how to handle variety, which will give you a better foundation for drawing people and characters so they don't all look the same, instead of having to figure out how to adjust for it later on.) The Shape Dolls for reference are also incredibly delightful, and a great cheap way to have a little pose reference mannequin of sorts!

There's also links to sources if you want to dig into concepts more deeply--available both as a general source page, as well as some specific topics including relevant sources at the bottom of their respective pages. There's also a patreon with some extra thoughts that is fully accessible for free, but has a paid option if you want to support Tan for providing such a lovely resource! (Also they have a legit vegetable farm?? How cool is that.)

So yes! If you have any interest in learning to draw--whether you've ever tried before or not, and no matter your age--try looking through this site, and let it guide you through the process!

[xannador]

Thank you!

A big thank you to everyone who got a copy of Mostly (h)Armless! I think that for an obscure little fancomic it did really well! About 30 copies have gone where none can ever take them away again. I've also finally received my own version and I am happy about the quality.

I've now unpublished it but turns out you can never entirely take a book off the store once published. You can't edit it to be something else either. (which is what I had hoped to do, I have a bunch of unpublished original comics lying around). So it's just kinda going to sit there for all eternity, unavailable for sale. I sincerely hope it won't give me problems later on.

Anyway, if anyone is curious about one day printing their own comics, here are a few things I have noticed that I will definitely remember for my future printing endeavors:

Most glow and blending effects like Lighten, Color dodge, Hard Light, Linear dodge (add), etc don't look that nice in print despite looking awesome in digital.

Make your line art thick enough.

soft shading looks bad, cell shading looks good. (But it's better to fully fill shapes with a contrasting color rather than doing fancy lighting.)

Consider shading in black rather than color. (optional)

Details and soft lines are usually lost and a waste of time (Mostly in case of a colored book. Black and white may be different)

Keep panels spaced far enough apart.

Draw big panels. Small panels aren't as nice to look at and the eyes are naturally drawn to the larger panels.

Gradients don't look very nice either. Unless they have a light color.

Vintage comic textures and effects actually looks nicer in print than digital (which surprised me).

In dark scenes, rim lights are essential to make the character pop out. M(h)A would've looked like ass if I hadn't added those.

Stay away from the borders of your page, especially the left and right ones. Not just for the text but for the drawings too.

Keep track of which side of your page will be closest to the spine, keep a distance from that side especially. Because your book will be folded and part of the page will be hidden (the thicker your book, the more will be lost).

fancy panel compositions are cooler in digital...

contrast contrast contrast...

Don't be afraid to use pure black a lot.

Don't be afraid to use white a lot.

The 3D shake effect is also not that cool on print. But looks gorgeous on digital.

To myself… keep the font size consistent…

If text is outside a text bubble, it should have a high contrast stroke

Text should always be high contrast in general.

Motion blur is really cool in digital but not so much on print.

Keep black silhouettes black, avoid adding any kind of subtle glow or texture.

Text bubbles can have color but they should be light (again high contrast) watch out for saturated green or blue or red. Test in greyscale. Contrast should be more than 70%.

Line art should not be colored. Keep it black for print.

Hard borders are better than soft borders. On everything.

white panel borders are better than black panel borders.

But white borders with a black stroke are probably the best (cause more contrast).

Again light colors are better than dark colors. To do dark scenes it might be better to just use black and contrast with a lighter color.

Line art perfection is not that interesting, especially in regards to hard surface shapes like robots. (Might be personal taste though. I enjoyed looking at robots with messier line art more than those where I did perfect brush strokes.)

Beware dark blue and purple...

Compositions and colors of both the left and right page should always fit together. I think I did that pretty well here at least.

If possible make your total amount of comic pages devisable by 4. (so 24 pages total, or 28, or 96, you get the idea) not including the cover and back. Or else add a little extra drawing to fill the remaining pages.

I think that's about everything I can see based on my own print. I'm sure that a fair few of the things that I found looking worse in print than digital could be resolved by just being... better at converting your files. There's the whole CMYK color mode thing but in my personal experience that has been such a pain to work with, and each time my prints looked worse attempting to convert the file rather than had I just left it in RBG and let the printer do the guessing work for me.

So if you're like me and you're hopeless at this technical mumbo jumbo printing stuff, I think just avoiding the things I mentioned while drawing should get you well under way to having a nice print. The most important thing to remember is that digital and physical media are two entirely different beasts and if you are interested in getting your comics printed it's easier to adapt your workflow to that from the start rather than going back and altering. A lot of the mistakes I made here are rookie ones and I should have known better. But it's very easy to get lost in the process once you've started. I hope to improve my next print significantly. Once I can make RBG look good, I might try CMYK again.... Maybe. Potentially. No.

Hope these tips can be of service to somebody. They'll be a useful archive for myself in any case. If anyone wants me to elaborate more on a specific point, I'm happy to explain.

[fountainpenguin]

Short Version: I don't even know how to begin explaining this, so take these 'fic doodles with no context.

Wish Fixers, my chronically unhelpful beloved...

Long Version (City Lights AU #ridspoilers beyond the above implication. Mentions of death and trauma; it gets pretty dark)

Nalooksthrough, I tag you below because I cited your co-dependent toxic friendship comic and said it was cool- If you don't want to click, that's all the tag was :)

So I started outlining my Dale backstory 'fic (Lemonade and Papercuts) since I am the most predictable person alive and of COURSE I can't resist 7 years of trauma and intimacy anxiety <3. But planning a 'fic like this requires many pieces and many questions.

First and most obvious- How did Vicky lure in Dale? From previous planning, I've already decided that since they're the same age (maybe one year off), they probably knew each other in school or activities.

Ex: Squirrely Scouts & Cream Puffs... Not unreasonable- Throughout the series, many kids participate and the organizations seem to have a big following in Dimmsdale. Vicky's sister Tootie is in the Cream Puffs and Vicky is seen bossing them around in the Season 0 episode "Scout's Honor" ("Oh Yeah! Cartoons"). There's a comic by the same name depicting Remy in Squirrely Scouts (after "Fairy Fairy Quite Contrary" but before he gets his memories back in "Remy Rides Again" and I always thought it was cute). I mean, look at him:

Pictures courtesy of the FOP Wiki

It's not unreasonable that Dale - who's also rich - might've gotten into that (especially since Doug is big on the cowboy theming and of all the rich parents, he's probably the one most okay with his son playing in dirt). Something scout-related could be an option even if Dale and Vicky went to different schools.

A friendship that gets increasingly toxic until it spirals into full-on abuse sounds really interesting (and @nalooksthrough portrayed this idea beautifully imo in THIS comic I can't stop thinking about).

Sounds fun to write, so let's go with that. What's next?

Hey, remember when 7 years ago, I headcanon'd H.P. as Dale's godfather because of this doodle in Da Rules that specifically refers to Pixie godparents and depicts a fluffy-haired kid in a purple shirt?

I recently found out I still had Dale listed as a godchild of H.P. on his full character profile on my fanfic sideblog. I was waffling over whether to retcon that (since I hadn't yet done anything with it), but I started brainstorming whether I COULD do anything with it.

I've always written Wish Fixers in 'fic [e.g. Origin of the Pixies] as a therapy business run by H.P.'s dad (which H.P. bought off him out of spite despite not being licensed for therapy) but, like...

Does Jorgen know H.P. isn't licensed? I can't see why he would... As far as he knows, H.P. owns and runs the place- especially given my lore that Wish Fixers has been in his family for many generations. Sounds qualified to me!

In "School's Out! The Musical" (episode that Da Rules screenshot is from), we learn Pixies are at the back of the line for godparent work, even under creatures like unicorns (Hence the Musical's plot requiring them to remove magical creatures from earth before they could assign themselves to Flappy Bob).

I said in a recent liveblog post that I'd always imagined this was a punishment given to them due to H.P. absolutely failing as godfather to Dale- Thus, the origin of the doodle on the page for that rule. But... I never decided what happened.

See, Dale SEEMS like a guy who would qualify for a fairy. He was probably pretty miserable under Vicky's 7 years of torture and he's still holding onto that trauma in his adulthood.

DID he have a fairy?

I'm just saying, we know from S4's "Wish Fixers" that H.P. is legally(?) allowed to make contracts that swap a fairy godparent with a pixie one if godkids choose to sign of their own free will... Hmm... I'm connecting dots I don't think I like... (I am lying).

I mean?? Dale clearly did not get out of the pit due to magical interference. If I'm committing to the doodle being Dale and reflecting an actual godfather-godson dynamic between him and H.P., then something sure went wrong there. I can't NOT make Dale suffer...

What on earth could've made Dale sign a contract for something a fairy couldn't give him? We know from "Nectar of the Odds" canon that he wished to see his dad, and thanks to previous liveblogs, I DO already have a headcanon of Dale being extremely desperate for his dad's love... Hmm... I can work with that.

I went down a rabbit hole trying to answer the question of how Vicky secured lemons for 7 years for Dale (and other kids) to work with. Here are some lemon tree facts:

- Lemon trees bear fruit after only a few years - They can bear fruit multiple times a year (depending on variety) - A single lemon tree can produce 1,500 lemons in one growing season - Dimmsdale is in California - a state known for lemon orchards.

That feels likely... An orchard of even a few trees can keep you going for a while.

But lemonade doesn't sell for much compared to other things Vicky could've set a kidnapped child up to do (Ex: In "Microphony," she has kids doing a bunch of other tasks like answering phones for her babysitting service, painting houses, and washing cars).

So... WHY lemonade? What is going on that makes this the thing Vicky has Dale do for 7 years?

And who owns the orchard? I need Vicky to obtain lemons without being stopped for 7 years.

Is it a Dimmadome orchard? Maybe, but several episodes imply Vicky's not familiar with the Dimmadomes - and she probably would have turned Dale in for cash reward if given the chance - so those are two things I need to keep in mind.

Does the orchard belong to her family? That's a possibility- Vicky is shown drinking lemonade after "Nectar of the Odds." She definitely could've bought it - It can't be too expensive unless prices were jacked up after she lost her cheap labor - but it's a drink she's seen with in multiple episodes. She definitely likes it.

And we know from "Timmy's 2D House of Horror" that Vicky's parents are terrified of her. It's not likely they'd stop her from taking lemons from the family orchard.

One problem... If Dale goes missing when he's about 9 (Closer to 7 or 8 in my planned timeline), Vicky is also 9 or younger. Are her parents scared of her when she's that small and inexperienced in the ways of the world?

In "The Switch Glitch," she's 5 and seems mild and sweet until 10-year-old Timmy mistreats her- She clearly didn't have memories of Timmy, implying she totally regressed to how she acted when she really was 5. Worth pointing out she goes off the deep end and chains up Cosmo and Wanda, so... she IS mean even at age 5. But also, she's 5. She wears the same purple hair bow in "Switch Glitch" (at 5) that she does when Timmy drains the meanness out of her in "Vicky Loses Her Icky," which is interesting.

So that begs the question... Can I turn my Dale backstory 'fic into a double story of Dale abuse AND Vicky going from a pretty innocent child to Totally Messed Up? Keeping in mind that according to Vicky in A New Wish, Vicky IS the one responsible for abusing him and he "spent 7 years' worth of Saturdays in a factory underneath a lemonade stand."

If that's the way I want to play it... Something happened to send Dale and Vicky down the dual victim-and-abuser path, destinies intertwined. And for some reason, Vicky stuck with the lemonade theme.

Dale just says he spent his Saturdays "in a factory underneath a lemonade stand." It's not out of the question he and Vicky made more lemon products than just lemonade, especially given Vicky's love for money (and those 600 lbs of lemons one tree can produce in a year). We can assume they changed locations a few times or someone would've found the trapdoor on Timmy's lawn. Plus when Dale started his abuse, Vicky hadn't started babysitting Timmy, whom she only met when he was 8.

So, I've set Dale up to be lured in by Vicky because they were friends. I like the idea of things gradually getting worse as Vicky slowly morphs from a friend into a very cruel person. If Vicky was bullying him, what stopped him from just... leaving?

Vicky's transformation was probably subtle if he stayed for so long..... I also pointed out in a recent post that Doug's underground milk empire where he uses hypnotized people for labor bears a striking amount of similarities with Vicky's lemonade stand, even down to the general vibes of "trapdoor entrance" (although it's implied there's another entrance in small building).

And if we want to be technical about things... We don't know if Doug and Dale pressed charges against Vicky. She clearly continues to babysit Timmy and other kids after "Nectar of the Odds" (Season 2).

In Season 4 ("Channel Chasers"), Doug remarks that Timmy's parents should've guessed Vicky was evil because of the Chip Skylark song "Icky Vicky," but he doesn't mention Vicky kidnapping his son. That's.... sus. He even offers to buy a car from her in Season 3's "Engine Blocked" (after Dale's escape).

Why would such a powerful guy let all of that slide? Did they just not have enough proof? Did Vicky wipe the place clean? Did Dale "not want to make a big deal about it" because he was so exhausted and grateful, he just didn't want to think about it or struggle with the legal system? Was he covering for her?? Was he scared to speak up?

... Did Dale not tell his dad the whole truth about where he was?

What if Dale was - in some vague and early concept way - in on the lemonade scheme from the beginning, back when he and Vicky were friends and she wasn't so cruel? Maybe she turned on him and sentenced him to the pit before long?

Why the underground-ness of it? Why the lemonade, which probably doesn't turn much profit... as lemonade. Unless you have unrestrained access to tons of lemons that you can turn into multiple products - Dale DID call it a factory - and no one is stopping you from accessing them...

... but how do you set up a situation where kids have access to a whole lemon orchard - presumably carefully maintained - and the adults don't take it away from them (Because... surely they would've found Dale and multiple other kids if they strayed close).

And Dale didn't leave. He does in "Nectar of the Odds" - apparently of his own volition - but not before. Was he kept there mentally as well as physically?

We KNOW Vicky can't be monitoring him 24/7 because "Nectar of the Odds" is the only episode depicting her paying attention to him, while others show her doing many other things in many other places (though it's worth noting Dale says in that episode that "Vicky's kept him locked up for so long").

Did he stay so long because it was the perceived better fate up until he miraculously crossed paths with his dad (via fairy magic) and took the risk? Would he have gone back in?

Maybe it wasn't supposed to get this out of hand. Dale and Vicky were young when this started... Somewhere between 7 and 9 (given that Dale was kept there for 7 years and Vicky is 16 when he escaped and he tells 9-year-old Dev this happened when he was Dev's age).

Maybe there was an accident. Something not just Vicky, but even Dale felt the need to cover up, especially in regards to the orchard and the fact that it needs to be Vicky's consistent source of lemons (and not something she lost out on before Dale's escape... an illusion of ownership maintained. Kids can't own the orchard, but what if they fooled people into believing it wasn't owned by kids?)

Hmm... some kind of accident that got two mostly innocent kids into huge trouble, thus setting up a horribly intertwined fate where if one of these toxic co-dependent friends backs out and squeals, even the squealer might suffer worse compared to trucking along on the cruel existing path.

tl;dr - if Vicky and Dale accidentally killed the orchard owner but they were kids and terrified to tell an adult lest they go to jail for life so they hid the body in the basement (or like ?? threw it to the coyotes or hyenas that inexplicably lurk on the fringes of Dimmsdale??) and are trying desperately to wipe their hands of this by pretending the lemon orchard is still operational so no one investigates until they can figure out a plan, and then Vicky hardens herself as a trauma response and manipulates Dale into believing it was solely his fault and she'll pin him with murder charges if he gets cold feet and turns her in, and he's miserable and gets a fairy (then loses his fairy via Pixie contract through Wish Fixers, presumably in an attempt to negotiate a way to protect himself from Vicky and somehow not gaining the ire of his father) and then H.P. (lawyer and unlicensed yet de facto therapist pulled two ways) is suddenly Dale's godfather and trying to comprehend what the flip is going on between misery and manslaughter while he's also juggling Gary, Betty, and Flappy Bob at the same time in preparation for the Musical because we know he spent 37 years on that plan...

... Would that be one messed-up yet hyperspecifically canon-compliant 'fic or what?

These thoughts have been haunting me all weekend and I HAD to get my "I'm not that kind of lawyer or therapist" joke out of my system, so there's your context. #Sorry. Is this the direction the actual 'fic will go? ... It's not the direction I really had in mind, but ?? It's off the wall and therefore I must shake it in my teeth. I can't not write Dale backstory this horrific. what. hey.

[sweettjrose]

Quick question for you cuz you seem to know very well the little guy

Do you think Mickey has any bad sides? Bad qualities/Habits

Ooh! I was hoping someone would ask this question. It was sitting in my mind for a while. I love sharing my thoughts on this little guy.

I do think it is important to remember that when it comes to characters like Mickey it can be challenging to ascribe specific traits to him since there are so many interpretations with differing personalities. Mickey in the black and white shorts is different from Mickey in the Gottfredson comics who is different from Mickey in the Paul Rudish shorts and etc. So some traits may fit better for some versions than others.

I don't know if I can say I am the Mickey expert. But I do think about him a lot and if I came up a list of what I think are bad habits or flaws that he has, based on how is generally portrayed and my own personal interpretation, I would say:

Stubborn - To start off, I feel like a common flaw for Mickey is his stubbornness. Once he sets his mind on a certain idea or situation, he has a hard time being convinced of anything else. It can be really difficult to change his mind, though not impossible. I don't think it comes from a place of seeing himself as better than anyone though, but rather from his desire to hold fast to what he believes in. And in some cases, it can have beneficial results. Such as when he is investigating some kind of mystery he tends to drop everything else, unable to change focus until he finally solves it. This usually gives him the push to solve problems most people give up on. But unfortunately, it tends to result in him ignoring the world around him which can be frustrating at times, especially for Minnie. Sometimes I think Mickey even uses these situations as an excuse to push aside things he doesn't want to do and focus on something he would much rather do.

Untamed Curiosity - I feel like this is actually an offshoot of his earlier personality. He was much more mischievous in his earlier appearances, but that was somewhat tamed over the years. However, I do think one element that has remained is this mouse's curiosity for the unknown. It seems like Mickey can't help himself but stick his nose into things he probably shouldn't. Whether it is listening to a conversation, checking a locked room, testing out a weird machine, or even following an odd feeling. I also feel like his stubbornness doesn't really help as it seems like once a curiosity is in his focus, he can't let it go. Mickey rarely likes to cause problems, but if his curiosity overtakes him, he usually ends up being a troublemaker. Sometimes this usually leads to him catching a crook. But other times it results in a big mess that he would have to clean up. I do think though that his mischievousness isn't entirely gone and does pop up every once in a while. Especially when trying to get out of things he finds boring or doesn't want to be in. And sometimes he just wants to be a prankster and have fun with his friends and family. Which is funny until things get out of hand.

Overthinks - Mickey is very intelligent and can come up with pretty clever plans when trying to solve problems. Unfortunately, this comes with the side effect of him overcomplicating even simple situations. This is usually why Goofy is such a vital friend for Mickey. Mickey tends to come up with complex solutions while Goofy tends to show the easier option Mickey tends to overlook. I think part of this does come from Mickey being afraid of being wrong and making mistakes, so he tries his best to be as thorough as he can be, which unfortunately can lead to more mistakes.

Lack of Self-Protection - One positive about Mickey is that he cares about others and would stand up to protect them. But unfortunately, this doesn't always extend to himself. He is not a doormat but tends to lean more "Turn the other Cheek" approach when he is the only one getting bullied (unless things go too far or if others get involved). To be fair, it is important to know when to pick your battles, but this tends to lead into other areas as I feel like he doesn't really share his problems and tends to keep personal issues to himself. I personally see him as the kind of guy you really have to pry to get him to talk about what he is feeling as he would much rather bottle it up to not cause any trouble. I also feel like he rarely is one to ask for help and tends to try and solve it all on his own, especially if he is worried that others may get hurt. The issue is, he doesn't seem to worry about whether he would get hurt.

Takes on Too Much - I also feel like this connects to another flaw as he tends to take on too much and constantly puts himself in risky situations. Whenever a life-threatening situation comes up that could help everyone but is extremely dangerous, he is usually the first in line to do it. It feels like Mickey doesn't even consider his own safety or limitations at all. Sometimes it feels like he is overconfident in his abilities and just believes that he will be okay, which works until it doesn't. It also doesn't help that Mickey has a hard time saying "No", so even if he didn't want to do something or knows he is not capable of doing it, he would probably still do it, not wanting to disappoint anyone. He rarely thinks of himself. And seldom considers what would be best for him. Usually, his friends are the ones to think about his safety and needs.

Need to be Perfect - Though I feel like part of the reason Mickey takes on so much is his need to be the hero. He feels like he has to be a perfect, selfless, and brave role model who does everything without a single complaint. I feel like he overexerts himself because he is afraid of what happens if he doesn't. He is afraid of not being needed or wanted. He is usually the underdog, a small mouse in a world with characters twice his size, and if he isn't constantly proving himself people will leave him behind. I also feel like he has a hard time admitting to mistakes (which connects to his stubbornness) because he feels like he can't make mistakes, or that would show that he isn't as capable as people think. I also think this explains why he has more of a heated rivalry with Mortimer. Mortimer somehow taps into his insecurities in the ways others don't. I feel like Mickey is kind of jealous of Mortimer because he tends to be taken seriously (at first) while Mickey usually needs to earn it. I also kind of wonder if he is worried that if he starts messing up, Minnie and the others will leave him for someone like Mortimer, so he feels like he can't mess up. Ever.

Lack of Self Worth - Unfortunately this means that he is very reliant on others for his self-worth. Luckily Mickey is really good at making friends. But he tends to rely on the existence of his friends for his worth. I can imagine that if for some reason they all stopped existing, I don't think he would even know what to do with himself. While he doesn't need everyone to like him. He does need at least one person to like him to help ground him or I can see him going into a deep depression. I feel like he would really struggle with being alone for too long unless there was some hope of being able to be with his loved ones soon.

But yeah these are the bad qualities that I feel like Mickey generally has. There are probably more, especially ones more specific to certain interpretations, but these are the ones I was able to come up with. As nice as Mickey is, he isn't perfect and his insecurities, overthinking, stubbornness, and curious nature tend to get him in trouble. But fortunately, he is also just as capable of getting out of trouble.

I would honestly love to see other people thoughts on this as well.

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Season One was Fun, but it’s the Reason for All of Chat Noir’s Problems

While season one of Miraculous is certainly not perfect, it’s got a lot of good content. Fun episodes, interesting character setups, and interesting plot setups make it a solid opening season to this type of show. There is, however, one massive flaw, the repercussions of which we’re still feeling to this day. That flaw is the dynamic that it establishes between Ladybug and Chat Noir. A dynamic that works great for a duo, but falls apart when you add a larger team.

General Talk About Team Dynamics

When you’re writing a story with a team or core group, the characters need to be designed around each other. How will they interact? Who are the key characters? Who is the leader? Who is the brains? Who is the comic relief? And so on. 

Each character should, by and large, fill a unique role. This is especially true in larger cast because you’re going to have to balance writing all of these characters, so you need to have clear logic for who will be doing what. This is a big reason why having 18 heroes with only one clear main character is a terrible idea. There just aren’t 18 unique roles to be filled. There will be overlap and characters will end up being defined by their powers and little else. That’s why most shows cap out at 7 or 8 people in that core team and why the core team usually starts as much smaller group.

The size of your team is a huge factor in deciding how clearly the character roles need to be defined. If it’s a team of two, then the fact that the team is so small will make the characters feel important just because they’re the main focus. This means that you can get away with one of the characters being more silly and less obviously important. One of the best examples of this is Kim Possible.

That show sees the titular character doing most of the heavy lifting. She’s the fighter, the badass, the brains, the one everyone knows. Her partner, Ron, is mostly there as comic relief. However, you don’t watch this show and think “why is Ron even there? Why doesn’t Kim bring X?” Because there is no X. Kim and Ron are the only options, so Ron can be as silly as the writers want him to be without coming across as just another part of the team. There are even episodes centered around showing that Kim and Ron can’t function without each other. They are the only viable team.

Let’s contrast them to these four:

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are four of the best know hero characters in modern media and they are exceedingly well balanced. While different versions will mess with the family dynamics, the general pattern is that Leo is the serious leader, Raph is the tank/second in command, Donnie is the brains, and Mikey is the artsy comic relief. The property would not be enjoyable if you didn’t have all four characters there to balance each other out.

However, if the world is ending and you have to pick two turtles to save the day, then you’re probably not picking Mikey for your roster. He’s a strong fighter and a fun character, but the roles that the other three play make them better picks in almost every scenario.

This is true for pretty much any show with this kind of dynamic. If you have a comic relief character, then they’re going to be fun. They might even be the fan favorite! But from the perspective of the story, the comic relief character is there to lighten the mood and assist the team. The other ones are there to take charge and solve the problems. The only way to get around this is to give the comic relief a strong second role that elevates them to more than just the comic relief. (Quick note: this isn’t something that you need to do, btw. Mikey is fine as-is because he doesn’t need to feel more narratively important for the story to work.)

A decent example of a character who is both the comic relief and a key member of the team that you can’t remove if you want to win is Sokka from Avatar the Last Airbender. If you look at the core team, Sokka is the one who is usually cracking the jokes and lightening the mood. He also has no powers, making him the weakest fighter. However, he’s also the one who makes the plans. He’s the “idea guy”. Take Sokka away and the story doesn’t work. The team can fight without him, but they probably won’t win without him because they won’t know where and when to fight.

This is Chat Noir’s problem.

Team Dynamics in Miraculous

Miraculous season one didn’t make Chat Noir a Sokka. It make him a Ron and that worked because there was only Chat Noir and Ladybug. Chat Noir didn’t need to have his importance clearly defined, he was important just because he was Ladybug’s partner. He was the one who kept her from fighting alone. No one else was treated as a viable alternative.

But she’s not alone anymore. There are 17 other people on her team. We’ve seen her fight with different groups and win even though Chat Noir wasn’t able to make it (something that you would never see in Kim Possible). This is the problem. The issue that’s been building and building ever since Rena Rouge first got her miraculous.

If you ignore personal preferences and just look at the roles filled by the different miraculous holders, then Chat Noir doesn’t feel like the obvious pick to stand beside Ladybug. What does he offer that no one else does? What is his unique role outside of comic relief? What makes him scream “duteragonist”?

To fix this problem, you have to go all the way back to the beginning and either nix the larger team or rewrite season one to establish Chat Noir as something more than the comic relief. This doesn’t need to be an aspect of his powers (though I do have thoughts on that). Looking at the previous examples, we see that Donnie is vital because he’s extremely good with technology. Sokka is vital because he makes the plans. Chat Noir could have been vital for a reason as simple as “Ladybug trust him above all others and they constantly work together.” But that’s not what the show did. Alya is both Ladybug’s second in command and her sole confidant. The one who knows all the secrets. Now that Alya - and the rest of the class - have permanent miraculouses, be ready for even more episodes where Chat Noir feels like he’s just there to be Ladybug’s silly arm candy. Which isn’t a problem if Chat Noir is mostly just the love interest a la Tuxedo Mask, but if that’s all he is, then maybe don’t have his family be the center of the plot or put his name in the title?

(Yes, I simplified some of these characters' roles. I'm just making broad statements here to provoke reflection on the writing. I'm not critiquing any property save for Miraculous.)

[whywoulditho]

I'm glad, that DC writers are changing constantly and therefore the characters are protected from the Bat-family. The Bats are the cancer of DC comics. There wouln't be any independant characters anymore if they could gez their grubby hands on the other DC families

That's another way to look at it.. I agree that they're trying a bit too hard to connect every character to the bats' storyline. so you might have a point there. maybe it would create more bad than good if they let batfam authors interfere with the other storylines... but i still wouldn't call the bats the cancer of DC. I think if you took the bats out of DC, it would lose like half of its charm and quality.

with all that being said though, i still think the biggest problem of DC romances (or comic book romance in general) lies in each run having separate authors. think about why harley x ivy worked. it's because both of those characters already existed before they got together. both of them were loved villains and later anti-heroes, they both have their own story, their own past and their own redemption arcs. they're both INTERESTING. and when DC made the risky choice of making them a couple, it worked.

i'm not saying it would work with any other characters, or that they should make all their major characters date each other. but if you want to explore romance in your comics you have to give the readers an actual relationship, involving two realistically written and interesting people. not a major character and their accessory love interest. that's my issue with tim x bernard, or jon x jay. no one will get attached to, or even invested in, these relationships because we don't know anything about the love interests. they're just some random people. even if you try to give them personalities they will still not have a story outside of their relationship with the major character. bernard and jay were only created so tim and jon would have someone to kiss. it's hard to care about them, and therefore their relationship. they're just boring romance side plots.

you can introduce a character with the sole purpose of making them a couple with one of your major characters and still make it work, like batman and catwoman. you can create chemistry with a new character just as well as you can with already existing ones. but i think we need more of the first option. less last minute love interests and more people falling in love. i think what makes DC special is that they show us so many different versions of their major characters, we get to see them grow and change (take notes, marvel) so it wouldn't be off-brand to see already existing major characters, like superboy and robin, ending up together. not when it's DC. to be honest i think it would be like super iconic of them to do that. and i also think that DC fans would much rather have their favorite characters end up with the kind of person they went through hell and back with instead of like, a random citizen. tim and kon have so many parallels. they're both people who didn't have to be heroes at all, but still chose to do it. they both struggle with carrying a mantle too big and the fact that they were not chosen for it makes them even more insecure. they also have a past together, they're close friends, they would take a bullet for each other. so much potential. dont even get me started on damian and jon. those two are like, literal mirrors of their fathers. they have huge legacies on their shoulders and they're like quite literally the only people that could understand one another. again, so. much. potential. i'm not saying they have to be together, but if DC was gonna write romance for these characters I wish it could have been with each other.

[sweettoothvn]

Welcome In Valued Customer!

Welcome to the official Sweet Tooth VN tumblr page! This page is run by @flavorcrash and in the works of being created.

[As of March 2024, progression has resumed! It will be slow but we're back on track now that our team has expanded!]

This is an 18+ blog! Minors should not interact for the safety of the creators and themselves.

Content Warnings are subject to change as the story is still in development! Current warnings:

Gore, Death, Violence, Mentions of Non-Con/Non-Con Elements, Mentions of Dub-Con/Dub-Con Elements, Cannibalism, Aliens, Religious Themes/Cult Themes, Substance Abuse, Abusive Relationships, Physical/Mental/Emotional Abuse, Child Neglect/Abuse, Suggestive Themes

If you are uncomfortable with ANY of these topics, please do not feel forced to indulge in this content. The official base version of Sweet Tooth will be SFW and there will be an option to censor most of these topics, but I cannot guarantee a full censor.

Lore, Character Designs, and any information given in the asks are subject to change! The mind is a fickle thing after all.

Page Conditions:

No ‘What if’ scenario prompts- they were fun at first but we received so many that it eventually became draining and hard to keep up with

No asks about children - Unless its asking about what the character was like as a child please stop asking how the characters react to Y/N having a child it makes me uncomfortable (sorry)

Use common sense - this is self explanatory. (racism/general bigotry/harrassment)

No fetishizing genders/sexes - I dont understand why you would like a character solely because theyre trans/cis/etc, so please stop including that in some asks its weird and makes me uncomfortable

If you wish to post any content about Sweet Tooth you may use the following hashtag:

#SweetToothVN

If you're interested in supporting the creation of this game or flavorcrash's work feel free to check out her social media pages:

Etsy Kofi Twitter Linktree

For additional content that may not be posted on Tumblr, feel free to join our discord server! Just know that you will require an ID to verify that you are at least 18+

Discord

[gffa]

Hi :)

I'm a pretty new SW fan, not because I didn't like the movies/hadn't seen them but because I grew up thinking it was extremely nerdy and would often feel awkward trying to bring up anything related to SW.

Fortunately I've finally reached and met awesome people who love SW just like I did but I feel like I lost A LOT of important stuff and there's so much content to the saga that it's extremely overwhelming for me to even think about diving into the whole SW universe and catch up.

I've been following you for a bit and your posts are just extremely interesting to me but again, sometimes I'm a little confused about certain things and so I wanted to ask you if you had any recommendations about where to start catching up (besides the movies which I will be binge watching soon hehe)

Hi! Welcome to Star Wars fandom, I hope you're having a good time! And around here we embrace being as nerdy as possible--I mean, fandom is such a mainstream thing these days, but I still like to embrace being a nerd about things because it leads to a lot more happiness, to just be silly and having a good time with the thing that tickles our brains.

But, yes, it is pretty overwhelming when you're first arriving, I still remember when I first came back to SW several years ago, having really only watched the movies as a kid, and there was All This Stuff and it seemed impossible to ever reach the deep end of the pool, and that was before the last seven years of books, games, movies, comics, etc. came out! I will hopefully set your mind at ease with this, though: The vast, vast majority of content that Star Wars puts out isn't anything I would consider "essential". It's wonderful, fantastic stuff! But a lot of us have just been around so long that we're combing through the finer details of supplementary material, rather than those being absolute Must-Read/Watch To Get A Feel For Star Wars.

My recommendations for How To Get A Feel For Star Wars is basically, start with the animated series and the live action series, they're the second layer of foundation in the Star Wars building, all the comics and novels and such will be built on them, and in this order: - The movies, this is the foundation on which everything else will be built. - The Clone Wars, season 1-6 are part of George Lucas' story and they're pretty essential (at least in this corner of SW fandom) to understanding wtf anyone is talking about or even watching many of the live action series. (Season 7 is fine and should be watched! It's just not part of Lucas' Star Wars.) - Star Wars: Rebels, starts off light-hearted but really is one of the best developed shows and does a lot of connective work between the prequels and the original trilogy. - The Mandalorian, set 9 years after Return of the Jedi, this show just massively blew up and while each season is slightly less well-done than the previous one (imo), it's well worth watching for wtf fandom is talking about half of the time. (The Book of Boba Fett is somewhat optional in this corner of fandom, but imo worth the watch. Generally, it should go Mando s1-2 --> TBOBF --> Mando s3.) - Obi-Wan Kenobi, because this corner of fandom lost our goddamned minds about it and still haven't gotten them back. - Andor, which is a really great show and, as long as you've watched Rogue One first, you'll follow along just fine. Does some solid connecting the dots between the prequels and the originals, but not as much as Rebels did. - Jedi: Fallen Order, you can look up a "movie" version on YouTube for the story of this game, which is a really good plot, has some great new characters, has some genuinely effective cameos, and will be referenced fairly often in other materials/in fandom.

If you're not feeling overwhelmed by All The Star Wars You've Consumed, I would personally suggest going for the comics next, over any of the novels. The novels are great! But the vast majority of them are self-contained and meant to be supplementary material even more than the comics, which get to tell bigger, more connected stories. I always suggest starting with: - Star Wars 2015 by Jason Aaron + Darth Vader 2015 by Kieron Gillen, both of which are really, solidly fantastic stories about the timeframe just after A New Hope, like there are so many absolutely banger lines that came out of these comics. I won't spoil them, just know that I think these were legitimately good comics, not just legitimately good Star Wars comics. (The first six issues of each series are meant to be read concurrently, but after that, you can just pick one and read in that specific title.) - Darth Vader: Dark Lord of the Sith 2017 by Charles Soule, which is set in the immediate aftermath of Revenge of the Sith. If Gillen's Vader keeps the mystique of the originals Unknowable Darth Vader, then Soule's Vader is more about the absolute BATSHIT DRAMA that is blending Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader. This series is BANANAPANTS in the absolute best way. - Obi-Wan & Anakin 2015 by Charles Soule, which is a five-issue mini-series set between The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones and is both stunningly beautiful art and a solidly good plot that survives fairly serious analysis of. It's got some great worldbuilding details, but even more I like it for the look at why a young Anakin chooses to stay with the Jedi Order.

The one book I will recommend--for a list aimed at getting you caught up on what fandom is referencing--is the Revenge of the Sith novelization by Matthew Stover, that book is quoted constantly, and I'm not sure any other SW book has ever been as good as it is.

I feel like this is the best set of reading to get you familiarized with the source material that tends to come up the most! There's lots more that's really good, but once you get through the above, you can let me know what era or characters you're most interested in or if you have a specific question about something and want to see where it comes from!

But there's one thing to address and you're kinda going to have to figure out how to approach it on your own. 😂 There is a ton of stuff in SW fandom that's ostensibly from a book or a comic, but the version in fandom often comes from those who never actually read the books/haven't read them in a long time or are just picking them up from other fic and meta.

For example, the AgriCorps or Melida/Daan get referenced in fic and in posts all the time, but I wouldn't necessarily recommend reading the Jedi Apprentice series (I mean, I'm not your mom, feel free if you want to!) and often times how they're used in fic is not how they were used in the source material. Or the clones speaking Mando'a comes from the Legends books by Karen Traviss and she is a whole big can of ugly worms (both what she wrote and her IRL politics), as well as much of what she wrote was overwritten/discarded when The Clone Wars came out, but fandom likes the idea and so they put that into their fics (as they should, if they like it!). The idea of Mace using the lightsaber form of Vaapad is from Legends sources (the best source probably being the Shatterpoint novel by Matthew Stover, I'd guess?), same for his ability to see "shatterpoints" in the Force, which aren't part of Lucas' continuity or Disney's continuity, but fandom enjoys using them to flesh out Mace's character. This will get you started and, if you're looking for something more specific, feel free to ask, I enjoy these kinds of question--and don't feel you have to stick with any of the above if they're not fun for you. This is meant to be enjoyable, it's meant to have a good time, there's no wrong way to consume Star Wars media! <3

[christiansorrell]

TTRPG Read-Through: Traveller - Book 1

Here is a read-through I did about a year and a half ago (originally posted on Twitter) of one of the all time classics: Traveller by Game Designers' Workshop! This read-through just covers Book 1 - Characters and Combat from the original Traveller box set trio of books. - Christian

This is the 1981 Second Edition printing of the classic Traveller three zine box set! Been wanting to read this for ages now. It's discussed A LOT in Mothership circles.

Really interesting to see GM-less and solo play options here. Didn't realize that was being done explicitly at this time. Also, nice to see "he or she" language here rather than the just "he" you see a lot in older games.

The UPP is clearly the creation of an utterly deranged mind. This seems like a huge overcomplication of just listing stats (unless all your players are proficient in hexadecimal).

[Hi, it's me from the future here (aka now - 2024): I've learned to embrace and love the UPP (or more specifically the planet stat version from one of the other books). It's complicated at first but really quick and cool once you know how to read it.]

I really like Social Standing as a stat replacement for charisma or charm or other social skills you tend to see. Feels like it would have more impact on the story and less of a "Roll to see if you convince him, I guess" sort of anticlimax social skills have most of the time.

I'm now into the "you can die during char creation in Traveller" bits. Really cool in some ways. Really comical in others. It recommends you enlist your bad stat characters into the Scout service because of it's high mortality rate (so you can roll a diff char before play), lol.

Essentially, you roll stats and that's your entire character but to give them some experience they can enlist in a Service. You have to roll to get in and may get rejected. If so, you submit to the draft (get into one at random). You can die. You can gain skills and promotions.

Honestly, the char creation feels like a solo game unto itself. Risk v reward of how far to push your enlistments to boost your skills and standing and benefits. You could have a whole story in your head by the end of it. Great Session 0 material.

As a 34 yr old, this hurts. Apparently, I have -1 Strength, Dexterity and Endurance now...

I admire commitment but asking GMs to use this full char creator for all NPCs (which means generating chars until you get one capable of filling the role you need) is truly too wild. Best part: at the end, it just says you can also pick whatever you want for stats and skills.

The weapons and intro text have much more of a space as a new age of sail vibe to them than I was anticipating. It's cool. Far more Dune than Alien (so far).

Interestingly (unless I missed something), skills are detached from your stats. Your base stats make getting into a Service easier and help you with Saving Throws and such, but skills have their own modifiers based on the situation and your expertise. It's cool (if a bit dense)!

In case you were wondering, there is absolutely no art in this entire book. I'm hoping we'll get some in one of the other two books with vehicles and ships and such but won't be holding my breath. Gives the whole thing a very Serious vibe.

Always interesting to see how older games chose to handle this (or not).

Here's the UPP in action along with quick listing of other character info. Interesting even if it is just too overcomplicated for my tastes.

Can't overstate how much char creation feels like a whole solo game of its own. You can roll a character at age 18 and have them go through seven 4-yr terms in a Service before retiring and having substantial cash, specific possessions, memberships and social standings. Wild.

The character sheet mentions PSIONICS which is exciting (but I'll have to wait till Book 3 for more on that apparently).

Combat is straightforward but has some unique bits: a focus on stealth as an option and movement/attacks occur by all parties simultaneously which means everyone (enemies too) gets to move and then everyone chooses who to attack and you roll them all. Sounds really fun.

Stats have cool effects in battle. Your Endurance stat is the number of attacks you can make before needing to rest (can you imagine if DnD just didn't let you do a base attack at a point?). Strength and Dex can boost or lower certain weapon rolls like you'd expect.

If trained in a weapon, you can give your expertise as a negative mod to your enemy's rolls to attack you to reflect parrying and blocking which is cool. The skills also add to your attack rolls. Skills just seem really useful overall here.

I just love that we get stats for broadswords, revolvers, and laser carbines. Plus, there are even special tables for archaic weapons for when encountering lower-tech civilizations. It feels like a really wide open interpretation of what space could look like. Feels exciting.

A few more equipment tables and a final quick reference page at the back and that's all for Book 1. I'll be back with Book 2 and 3 in the coming days!

Main thoughts: Character creation is very involved but really cool - its own game practically. Skills are very deep in a way that feels refreshing when compared to more stat-focused games. Combat has some fun, chaotic twists. Feels like a wide universe of possibility here so far.

I'll add Books 2 and 3 to this thread when I give them their own read-throughs. In the meantime, here's my newsletter (last two months have Mothership freebies): https://meatcastle.substack.com

And here's my website (with links to my games and modules and all that good stuff): https://shop.meatcastlegameware.com/

Thanks for reading!

[deepdreamnights]

More video tinkering with Vidu 1.5

Vidu hit 1.5 this morning for testing, which I get access to as part of the artist's program. While making raw material for a "Big Professor" project-

(Shown here to establish a 1.0 baseline)

-I nuked most of my credits, I've still got enough to try out the new features and give you all a rundown of them.

First major change is resolution options. Fast, 720, or 1080. Shown here is my first attempt at a 1080 gen, using the same prompt as above. While most vids in this post will be gifs for ease of use, this one is an MP4 to provide full evaluation.

Ignore the odd playback speed, since that's something you'd fix in post. The gif at the start was one of my most stable renderings of Big Professor under v1. Got some minor wonk in the details, little distortion around the prof's claw and the kid in the first half second, but otherwise well above the average of the 1.0 versions I've been working with, especially the clarity on the button text.

The second one is a re-run of the same prompt, minus some detail issues with one shin, the level of consistency is promising.

720 can go up to 8 seconds, 1080 tops off at 4. At present, 1.5 does not have an upscale function. If you're not tinkering to test out prompts I'd generally recommend 1080, even for lower-res projects, for the purposes of being able to crop and/pan.

For most of these, assume I'm using either 720 or 1080 gens.

Multi-Subject Reference-to-Video

THIS is the big winner of the setup. Previously, ref-to-video only could handle a single referenced subject image. The current setup now allows you to reference up to three per generation.

Those can be characters, props, or settings, and it can be used for morphing effects. This is good, because first-frame-last-frame is more finnicky than reference-to-video. The obvious use is to create multi-character scenes, and it works well for that:

But it has other uses. For example, here I used:

And while this one was reversed and trimmed, it displays the potential for using the feature for transformation sequences. The backgrounds are especially helpful, since Vidu's internally-generated toon backgrounds are very modern and digital-painting-looking (the gif of Mrs. Nice turning back and forth into Mrs. Nautilus at the top of the section didn't use a background image reference) and as always, I like it retro.

To that point, using the more comic-booky Mrs. Nice control drawing didn't work near as well as the more period-accurate one:

And while I'll personally be cutting out frames to produce a more accurate 1980s TV animation look, the raw fluidity is bound to appeal to the majority of users, and minor issues like the color of Mrs. Nice's blouse changing mid-transformation are easy enough to fix manually (though if a flaw looks enough like a traditional animation screwup, I might just leave it in)

And another fun feature? Movement amplitude control.

In my last post about it, I said Vidu likes to move, and if you need a more subtle shot, like this one, setting the movement amplitude control to small is your move. (Funny how the robot interpreted the book binding as a mouth.) If something's too static you can up the movement as well, but I haven't had that problem much.

In terms of generation quality, 1.5 is a good but not huge leap up from 1.0. at least in terms of what I've made so far. Aesthetics are very similar, but issues of tearing, distortion, and wonky action are lessened.

And it's way better at understanding triceratops, so thumbs up there.

This is one of my wonk-tests, but man, check that walk cycle. This is why the movement controls are important, sometimes when set to auto a dialog scene becomes a weird chase.

Now, in terms of generation costs (and this can always change), 1.5 seems more expensive but in the end it works out more or less the same.

A 1.0 quality 8-second gen upscaled to max res would be 24 points (16 for the quality 8-seconds, 8 for the upscale), and an 8-second 720 render is also 24 points (as is a 4-second 1080).

Yeah, you don't want to use "Fast" in most cases. While both the 720 and fast versions here both have flaws (Bruce's disappearing popcorn bucket, etc), the 720 res version is substantially more on-model for both characters.

To close out, a bit of fun wonk. To try out the effect, I prompted using a "Specialist Matt Trakker" G.I.Joe/M.A.S.K. crossover figure as a character reference, to see if it could translate a character from toy to live action. And it can-

Though it is very, very literal.

The combination of live action-esq person and accurate G.I.Joe joints is harrowing, but there's potential there for some wild variants on the Toy Story/A Christmas Toy/'Wynona's Big Brown Beaver'-Music-Video-by-Primus concept.

[sonicshipbattles]

Knock, knock it's Knuckles! And he's looking for love. The two things we know about our lone echidna from Angel Island is that his weakness is girls (he's a shy guy) and that he once asked his dad if he could be date men and his dad said no (Archie Comics - also, this is a comedic exaggeration of what actually happened, don't quote me). Clearly, this confused bisexual needs our help, which is why we've gathered here one more time to do another ship battles: this time for Knuckles ships Submit as many ships as you like - the more nominations we get, the bigger the bracket. Repeat nominations also help with seeding by showing the popular options, so please don't hesitate to submit ships you assume will have already been submitted SUBMIT YOUR SHIPS HERE:

Submission/tournament rules under read more:

Most importantly: BE NICE. No bashing of any ship will be welcomed. Use your propaganda to uplift your own ship, not put down others

Any Knuckles ships from any media is welcome - be it the games, comics, cartoons or anything else

Only ships including the character Knuckles the Echidna will be accepted (e.g. Knuckles/Blaze, Knuckles/Vector, etc.). Ships for other characters in the series that do not involve Knuckles (e.g. Tangle/Whisper, Dave/Meh Burger, etc.) may get their own tournaments later on. Submissions that do not follow this rule will be ignored

Submit as many ships as you want, but don't spam submit a single ship

No Knuckles x OC ships. All of your OCs are great and we wouldn't want anyone's feelings hurt by seeing them knocked out :( For the sake of this tournament, an OC is a fan-made character that has never been used nor was created to be used in licensed Sonic media (So yes, you can submit cancelled character ships if any of those apply to Knuckles)

We do accept crossover ships. Preferrably from series that Sonic has officially crossed over with. At the end of submissions there will be a week-long period in which crossover ships will be judged to see if they'll be included

Polycules are welcome

If you have a specific version of the ship that you like, specify what it is and this will be counted as separate to the general ship, e.g. Knuckles/Sonic (general) and Knuckles/Sonic (Boom) would be included as separate ships

Ships pairing Knuckles with younger characters like Cream or Charmy obviously won't be accepted. If a ship is submitted and I'm worried it might make waves, I'll run a poll to see if it should be included in the tournament or not

Also, just gonna put this out there: But Knuckles/Julie-Su and Knuckles/Rouge are acceptable ships for the tournament and I don't want anyone being weird about them. If you feel uncomfortable with them, then mute Knuxouge and KnuxSu

Submissions will be open until Sunday 24th September or until I feel we have enough to run a tournament

[davekat-sucks]

"You can still think he is bi and ship him with whatever girl you like. Fuck what the fandom thinks. Just do what you like." Another banger from davekat-sucks. Sometimes I feel like you're the most sane person in this fandom, I swear to god. Unpopular opinion on Dirk's sexuality and identity: He canonically does not like to label himself. It's in the comic and in his own words. People can cite him saying that he felt like Jake was the only option and Roxy calling him the gayest man in the universe or whatever, but neither of these things means that the man is 100% homosexual. Maybe he felt like Jake was the only option because Jake was just plain the only one he felt a romantic attraction to. Maybe sometimes friends say shit like "you're the gayest person ever" as, like, a joke, or maybe it could have been wishful thinking on Roxy's part since him not being gay might make his rejection of her hurt more. I don't know. It's never explicitly stated. Isn't it possible that Dirk is homoflexible, or maybe even pan? I just don't get people being mad because someone wants to imagine Dirk and Jade kiss or something. It's also funny to see people being all about headcanoning him as transfem/genderqueer or turning him into the daintiest sluttiest girliest twink of all time while pissing their pants about stuff like this. Isn't hypermasculinity and being a man a big part of who he is? Why is making him a woman/feminine okay, while making him hold hands with Kanaya or something is a homophobic hate crime? If we're playing in this space, is it not a little hypocritical? If shipping him with a woman is homophobic why isn't it homophobic to make "the only canonically gay man" into a girl or a flamboyant stereotype? On a smaller note, I know that you've talked about this before, but the same people who freak out about this stuff are the people who totally erase Dave's identity as a bisexual man and say that he's completely gay. He's expressed interest in women (an understatement), and he's dated them. I'm starting to think that people just hate bi men. I want to understand the logic that these people are using.

Yep, Dirk did say that when speaking with Roxy.

Another reason for him to say this as well is to try and remind the readers that both Roxy and Dirk are in an apocalyptic setting that caring about terms of sexuality, is pointless if they don't want to be dead. The world has gone to shit, so things like that don't mean anything anymore. I bet Hussie was trying to point that out when the fandom would only talk about the kids' sexuality despite the bigger shit going on in the plot, but sadly, it was lost on readers back then. Part of Dirk being masculine is also in part because he looks up to Alpha Bro, DAVE STRIDER. If people want to blame anyone for making Dirk manly, blame Dave himself or another version of himself, for only portraying himself as this that Dirk thinks it is right to try be in that same standards. People had blamed Bro for this with Dave, so why don't we do the same for Dirk and Alpha Dave? The fandom stereotyping Dirk into the stereotypical effeminate gay guy, is hilarious when they are the same people that bitch about being in other media. They want their supposed LGBT rep to be taken seriously and not used for a joke. And yet they would apply it to other characters that don't act like this in different series. At this point, what more do these fucking people want? Another is that most of the fandom probably wants to have that 'gay best friend' because they think they can be cool with them and also have them as their excuse of why they aren't homophobic this or that. Kind of like how claiming to have a POC friend doesn't make you racist. The Homestuck fandom, or fandoms in general in this modern time, just hate bisexuals in general. Any sign of straight couples from character(s) that are comfortable in both sexes, pisses people off. Some claiming that two persons of same sex being close only for not to end up together, is queerbait. Whether or not evidence was there in the first place. I even recalled the Steven Universe fandom was livid when they heard Rebecca Sugar, the creator herself, was bisexual. People assume she was lesbian because of the TV show she created. The thought of her still liking guys infuriated them. At that point, I wonder what does the B in LGBT means if said people who claim to be all supportive for LGBT, hate bisexual relationships. Just because a bisexual person chooses to be with someone of their opposite sex, doesn't mean it automatically means they are straight and can't go back to bisexual. It's ridiculous. That kind of one way street thinking is stupid.

[devine-fem]

Hii I know the post is a few days old by now, but I just wanna say I get you with the fact that "lego batjokes is the only okay batjokes"

I LOVE that movie with a passion, but I will become its number 1 hater if someone uses it to push puritan shit on me

The ship itself is okay, but I don't think it's a good batjokes shit I think it should have its own little corner separate from batjokes tbh

No, I actually cannot stand it anymore like I don’t seriously, seriously hate it that bad its just like the constant remark of how people are gross for shipping batjokes outside of one piece of media is literally SO ANNOYING.

STOP BEING A COWARD. you’re not better than anyone here. like dude, if you want to ship just one specific iteration of batjokes that has not been touched in years, SHIP SOMETHING ELSE. We don’t want you here.

Honestly the WHOLE “you can’t ship this ship anywhere but this universe” IS SO ANNOYING IN THE COMIC BOOK FANDOM. like i even get that for jondami where people said you can only ship them in dceased. DUDE JUST SHIP THEM, NO ONES JUDGING YOU AND NO ONE CAN STOP YOU. STOP MAKING IT EVERYONE ELSES ISSUE.

like huh???

its just annoying like i want to make these people bite concrete. like lego batjokes is a bit cute but the allure of batjokes is that its messed up.

okay, let me calm down.

the appeal of batjokes is exploring the relationship between bruce wayne and the joker if you add explicit romantic or sexual elements to it. its more of a study than anything. what would happen between these characters if you gave them a bit of dick?

BUT ISNT THAT JUST SHIPPING IN GENERAL. like yes, its toxic, yes joker is horrible, yes bruce is horrible but like thats the point, it could have an interesting turn about to it THAT YOU WONT GET WITH HEALTHY SHIPS.

did you ever think about how interesting it would be to watch bruce jump over mental hurdles to pursue something with the joker WHEN HE HAS KILLED JASON? CRIPPLED BABS? did you ever think about how someone likes that?

you ever read dark romance in your life cause lemme tell you… and it might surprise you… ITS DARK. GASP !!

like yes my only option is to be a hater to lego batjokes now. do i hate them? nope, because i ship them and i love every version of batjokes because i ship them dude and media like lego batman and telltale batman is a TOOL FOR ME AS A FAN TO USE if i want something more healthy and domestic between these characters, not for some rando who doesn’t touch comics to use against ME for BEING NORMAL. oooo, you don’t like this piece of media the EXACT SAME WAY I DO AND CONSUME THE EXACT SAME WAY I DO, GROSS! kys.

sorry, i get passionate about batjokes but oh my god, one day can we PLEASE stop saying this. its so annoying.

[steelbluehome]

Screen Rant

10 Superpowers Bucky Barnes Still Hasn't Used After 13 Years In The MCU

By Alexander Valentino

September 28, 2024

Bucky Barnes is one of the most gripping and capable heroes in operation in the Marvel Cinematic Universe today, but has still only scratched the surface of his potential from the comics. First introduced in Captain America: The First Avenger, Bucky is one of the few Phase 1 characters still active in the MCU. With the powers of military and assassination expertise, a lesser version of Steve Rogers' super soldier serum, and an advanced cybernetic arm.

In the comics, Bucky didn't originally have any inherent powers other than those granted by his arm, being a peak human with an impressive array of gadgets and weaponry. While his comic arsenal presents some interesting options Bucky never gets in the movies, his eventual ingestion of The Infinity Formula turns him into a super soldier similar to Steve Rogers, granting a suite of enhancements more potent than those shown in the MCU. Between his upgraded serum enhancements and his more expansive gadgetry, comics Bucky is far more intimidating.

10.

EMP Blasts

Bucky's arm does more than just punch and grab

Bucky's most defining characteristic as The Winter Soldier is his trademark cybernetic arm. Emblazoned with the red star of the Soviet Union, Bucky was outfitted with this prosethetic during his deployment as The Winter Soldier in both the comics and the films. Where the two differ, however, is in the arm's capabilities, which are much more expansive in the comics.

One of the most recurring abilities Bucky channels through this arm is the use of powerful directed electromagnetic pulses capable of temporarily disabling electronics. Bucky can use this effect in either wide areas or directed at short-range, instantly bricking technology even as fanciful as Iron Man's armor. The perfect tool for clandestine assassination missions, Bucky's EMP blasts might finally see use in The Winter Soldier's appearance in Thunderbolts*, with the majority of the film's action likely taking place under the radar of public perception.

9.

Extended Reach

The arm is so much more than a simple prosthesis

Potent EMP blasts aren't the only trick The Winter Soldier literally has up his sleeve in the comics. In some instances, Bucky's arm is also able to extend and stretch itself similar to Mister Fantastic, more than doubling his reach and threat radius. The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z #2 lists Bucky's arm as having an extended reach of up to at least several yards.

Here, Bucky's bionic arm is able to unfold into many strips of prehensile cabling, allowing him to hook enemies in or devastate them with a powerful strike of writhing tendrils. Perhaps Bucky's new vibranium arm in the MCU can be revealed to have some hidden properties such as this, beyond remote deactivation at the hands of the Dora Milaje in The Falcon and The Winter Soldier.

8.

Electric Touch

The arm's lightning-charged powers go further than EMPs

Considering Bucky's arm is capable of generating a powerful EMP, it stands to reason that his arm would have to be capable of producing dramatic bursts of electric power. Sure enough, that power can also be channeled in a much more straightforward way via a disarming electric touch. Bucky gets a lot of mileage out of this functionality in the comics, instantly taking down the likes of super-spy villain The Man With No Face.

Cybernetic tendrils aren't the only obscure functionality of The Winter Soldier's arm to be utilized in Bucky's kit in Marvel Rivals. His electric shocks have also found their way into the game, with Bucky able to fire charged balls of dazzling lightning at his foes. Meanwhile, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, electricity is actually a weakness of Bucky's, able to travel through his arm and electrocute him badly as shown in his fight with John Walker in The Falcon and The Winter Soldier.

7.

Remote Arm Operation

Bucky's comics arm can operate on its own

As if telescoping to increase in length didn't make the range of Bucky's terrifying arm expansive enough, in the comics, the device is capable of functioning even when removed from his shoulder. In one instance, upon being stolen and experimented on by a group of scientists, Bucky's confiscated arm is able to take out a whole room of people literally single-handed. It's also shown to be able to activate its electric functionality while detached from Bucky, zapping one of its helpless foes into submission with a touch.

It's later explained that Bucky controls his arm through a "cyber-link", an implant allowing him to control its movements with thought alone. It turns out that this link isn't necessarily severed when the arm is popped off of Bucky's torso, allowing him to stay in the fight over impressive distances. In practice, this gives Bucky similar powers to DC's bizarre character Arm-Fall-Off-Boy, rebranded as Nathan Fillion's "TDK" in The Suicide Squad by James Gunn.

6.

Teleportation

The cybernetic arm isn't Bucky's only tech asset

For a long time, Bucky was a normal human without any superpowers outside of his bionic arm, albeit a highly-trained one operating at the fictional cutting edge of training as depicted in the comics. This somewhat pigeonholed him into a role as a more gadget-based hero in most stories, leading to him accruing an impressive suite of advanced technology over the years. One of his most cutting-edge pieces of gear is his teleportation device.

Bucky gets this piece of technology, alongside a litany of other powerful pieces of equipment, during his tenure as "The Man on the Wall", a superhero identity used by Nick Fury in Marvel Comics. With this piece of equipment, Bucky is able to summon crackling portals of lightning a la the time travel devices in the Terminator series that he can step into, teleporting vast distances in an instant. Considering the MCU has yet to give even Deadpool his iconic teleportation belt, it's unlikely Sebastian Stan's Bucky will ever get this piece of gear during his film run.

5.

Undersea Suit

Comic Bucky is ready for combat in all environments

For the most part, in the Marvel Comics, The Winter Soldier is somewhat limited to being a street-level hero, even if he is near the top of the food chain. That being said, when push comes to shove, he's able to operate in unfamiliar and straight-up hazardous environments, thanks to the help of advanced technology from S.H.I.E.L.D. One such piece of gear is an impressive undersea operations suit that allows him to resist even the hostile forces of the sea itself.

Bucky wears this suit during a joint operation with Namor in the comics, teaming up in order to take down a group of drug smugglers trying to move their goods through the cover of the ocean. Amazingly, the suit withstands the immense pressure of the Marianas Trench, the single deepest-known undersea location on the planet. Not only that, but Bucky is quite deft with his movements while in the suit, able to effortlessly evade gunfire while moving through the water.

4.

Planet-Busting Guns

The Man on the Wall is quite threatening

Bucky has worn quite the number of different superhero personas in the comics, from being Steve Rogers' sidekick to the deadly Winter Soldier to even taking his own tenure as Captain America himself. However, his most dangerous persona is easily The Man on the Wall, an identity he assumes from Nick Fury. The title was originally given to Fury by Uatu the Watcher, commissioning him to silently protect Earth from countless alien threats in space through morally questionable means.

Part of being The Man on the Wall includes access to an absurd armory of world-killing guns, used to take out powerful beings or even entire populated planets at once. Some of these weapons include a Gatling Gun capable of taking down Ego the Living Planet, Gamma Bullets that are able to deal damage to the likes of Thor, and the prized Kazurr rifle, a sniper that uses vibranium bullets and can accurately pick off targets on Earth from the Moon. Paired with Bucky's natural gift for marksmanship, these weapons make him a deadly Man on the Wall.

3.

Enhanced Longevity

The Infinity Formula has done wonders for Bucky's age

In both Bucky's Marvel Cinematic Universe journey and his original comic appearances, cryogenic stasis during his time as The Winter Soldier kept him from aging normally, keeping him physically only a little older than Steve Rogers by the time of his operations in the modern day. In the MCU, it seems as though Bucky is aging normally, even if he does lose five years of age compared to half the population as a victim of Thanos' Snap. In the comics, he eventually gains powers that prevent this from being the case.

Bucky finally gains proper powers in the comics after Nick Fury revives him from near-death using the Infinity Formula, a potent concoction first created by Isaac Newton (Go figure) with mysterious restorative properties. Acting as a super soldier serum of its own, this formula not only restored Bucky to health, but gave him enhanced strength, speed, reflexes, and durability typical of a Captain America. As a curious side-effect, the formula also dramatically slowed down his natural aging, keeping Bucky spry for (theoretically) decades into the future.

2.

Regenerative Healing

Bucky's comic powers are decidedly stronger

There's one more aspect of the Infinity Formula's effects on Bucky's physiology that isn't represented by the Marvel Cinematic Universe's copycat super soldier serum made by HYDRA. For one, the level to which Bucky's physicals are boosted in the comics are far more dramatic than in the movies, meaning that the original Bucky is actually stronger than his film counterpart. In addition, Bucky enjoys a regenerative healing factor not shown as one of the serum's effects in the film.

While this healing factor isn't on the same level as those of Wolverine or Deadpool, it can still get Bucky back in a fight far quicker than his movie self could after a similar injury. Captain America's comic powers also give him this benefit not seen in the MCU, putting the two on similar footing after years of Bucky remaining as a peak human. This allows him to bounce back from broken bones, deep cuts, and gunshot wounds in a matter of days rather than months.

1.

Environmental Mapping Mask

Bucky's arm and costume work in tandem in the comics

One of the coolest aspects of Bucky's arm not fully explored in the movies that is present in the comics is its integration into his standard superhero suit. Unlike in the films, comic Bucky wears a classic domino mask during his escapades as The Winter Soldier, hearkening back to his days as Captain America's chipper sidekick in World War II. Not just for show, this mask actually has a genius piece of tech integrating it into Bucky's arm.

The classic red star on Bucky's cybernetic shoulder is shown in the comics to be able to emit a radar ping that uses echolocation to map out the surrounding area. The arm can then feed this information back into the lenses of Bucky's mask, giving him an instant 3-D awareness of his surroundings via a digital map. This is one power that would be appropriate for the Marvel Cinematic Universe to give Bucky Barnes, and hopefully he can use it at some point in Thunderbolts*.

See the original article for illustrations from the comics

[rius-cave]

Sooooo i've been meaning to ask you this for the longest time, but... Whatever happened to Eve (or even her/Adam's children) in your AUs?

I think i saw *one* comic of yours in wish she interacts briefly with *both* Adam and Lucifer, so... What's your personal "take" or even headcanons of their whereabouts?

Oooh anon, allow me to go very off-topic for a bit. I'll get to your question.

The adamsapple community, and more specifically the Adam simps, they all seem to impose this kind of... expectancy? for artists and writers to have some defined set of lore regarding Lilith, Eve, Cain, Abel and even Michael too. Don't get me wrong!! I love these characters and I do like seeing what different people make of them! It's just that the way you're asking this question reminds me of that, taking for granted that if you're into Adam/adamsapple, that means you probably have a bunch of intricate backstories for his ex-wives and children.

And I know this is might be a bit disappointing, but I don't actually have that LOL. I don't actually consider myself to be very good at coming up with characters. I have like 5 OCs (total) and that might honestly be a bit generous. In the case of Eve and co., where their characters already have some ground work done (either by the Bible or by the fandom), I have a couple ideas about them, but I'm not actually married to any of them and you'll see me switch back and forth between them for various purposes.

The comic you're talking about was made specifically for the Jealousy prompt of the adamsapple week lolol, therefore, the Eve depicted on that comic was only meant to cause jealousy for that one gag comic. Eve doesn't really exist in my """AU's""" (I don't actually have any AUs besides Prison AU) in any relevant manner. She's probably better described as a plot device or even a character motivation. I like when Eve is depicted as a sweet woman, I like when Eve is depicted as batshit crazy. I'm not set on any one option and I will take and leave them if it serves a purpose for a story or if it's for a funny gag lolol

That being said!! That specific Eve design that I did was made specially for @goshdanghowdy, who requested a sinner!Eve. All I know about this particular Eve is that she died a winner, but then decided to leave Heaven and become a sinner to watch over her children in Hell. I based my design around nature and snakes and the sole characteristic that she's a good mother. But overall, that version of Eve is more goshdanghowdy's than it is mine :)

And just to clarify, I'm not upset or anything that you asked this question, like I said, I just think that this community has developed this expectation that everyone has their own versions of these characters, and I'm just not really one of those. I'm not opposed to ever developing them, though! It's more like, I'll make them when I need them lol

TL; DR: I don't have any set headcanons or takes on Eve, my depiction of her is not set in stone and will vary