#that sure is a webcomic huh

[thechekhov]

fellas have you ever read a webcomic

[rabbitindisguise]

Some innocent soul: oh you like [anime title]? :)

Me, trying to sound normal: haha yeah 👍

Also me: *kicking the thousands of reblogs on Tumblr of gifsets and handful of fics I wrote about two characters 69ing under my bed*

[holycorrupt]

you know before I started actually drawing MTE I always had this really grand complex artwork stuck in my head about it and it was really intimidating! Because my current skills is no where close to the things I'm able to dream up in my minds eye...

however now that I'm actually putting the work into it that doesn't matter as much? Idk its a strange feeling, there is panels/pages that I wished looked like in my head sure...but what's actually physically real is slowly shaping up into something I'm really proud of...

and like I am improving there is tangible progress slowly happening

MTE is still young... I'm really excited to see what it'll look at in another 100 pages (speaking of which I'm over a quarter of a way to the first 100 already??? Huh??? how'd that happen so fast?)

[magpiesbones]

.

[thewebcomicsreview]

tatsuya is now explicitly telling his readers to start killing jews

Obviously I'm not posting the comic, but to save you the temptation of looking it up, the final panel is a picture of a caricature of a Jewish person getting attacked with a pitchfork with the caption "Yeet the Yid", which I'm counting as a slur for the purposes of Sinfest Racism Bingo.

Which means that I think we're really truly finally done with Sinfest's descent. He banged out "slurs" and "explicit calls for violence" in the same day. I literally can not think of anything else he could do that's categorically worse than this, short of committing a crime himself.

It's so....disappointing. I wasn't really reading Sinfest back when it was "good", so I don't mourn the loss of a once-good webcomic. But even when he finally crosses the final line that I didn't initially think he could cross, he doesn't even have the decency to do it in an interesting way. Not that I want him to be a funnier nazi or anything, but there's this deep well of pathetic to it all. "Yeet the Yid", huh? That's what you got? That's the big call to violence after months of buildup?

One of my favorite reviews of anything is the RPGNet review of a deeply racist and misogynist game called FATAL that was also stupid and boring. You may have seen the review, it's savage and great (though, content warning since it directly quotes a bunch of horrific shit), but there's an analogy from it that Sinfest makes me think of.

Oh, they want to be all evil and shocking and crap. God, how pathetically they tried. I mean, imagine opening a door to find your mother and sister raping each other with pink strap-ons. And you then realize that you've never seen their bare asses before, because you're pretty sure you would have remembered the swastikas tattooed there. And upon noticing you, they grin wickedly and give you the finger in unison. It's shocking in a way that instantly blights out all rational thought, but later, you'll have to admit the finger and wicked grinning part was kinda cool. (I...guess.) That's the feeling the FATAL morons so wish they could provoke. Instead, they're more like opening that door to find your weeks-unwashed Otaku brother in his soiled underwear, masturbating furiously to - of all the goddamn things in the world - an Archie comic. And on his bare ass is a tattoo of, inexplicably, someone else's ass, and he's disgustingly fat enough for it to be a good 14 inches across. And as he goes at it, he's quietly moaning to himself about how worthless women, [LGBT People] and [black people] are and how they should all be raped or murdered. It's still disturbing on all kinds of levels. But it's the kind of stupid disturbing that ends with you having to answer questions to the satisfaction of a prosecuting attorney.

Let that be Sinfest's legacy. A tattoo on Tatsuya Ishida's ass of the Stonetoss Guy's Ass.

[sillyghostwordvomit]

BatFamily and a splatoon inspired reader (platonic)

(deeply sighs) I may have brain rot aka getting fixated in older interests

disclaimer: the only recent batman media I have consumed is the webcomic one, and it's been quite some time since I have seen any of the animated media :3 I also dont wrote too much but thought this was silly

ANYWAYS !!!1 Batfam with an inkling reader, that's right, an inkling, like from the hit game series Splatoon

-- btw most likely ooc, not a fully fleshed out fic, mainly HCs/ a scenario,

(platonic and gender neutral )

It was any other day and you were exploring some wasteland in hopes to try out some new tricks before going back to turf war, but what you had stumbled across some old technology

curiosity had gotten the better of you, you began to fiddle with the old tech, but suddenly it started to boot up???

meanwhile in Gotham they were fighting a villain who had some crazy experimental technology and as they apprehended the villain... the tech also began to glow !!!

BAM!!!! or something

A humanoid creature appeared from the other side....

as you stand up and wipe the dust off of your shirt you look around and see a some odd stuff.... and people... why were they dressed as ancient animals that no longer exist, and why were they so much taller than usual ???

Damian was apprehensive as he had seen the "weapon" on you

however batman stopped him seeing as you looked like a child, although odd

Batman began to question you but when you had answered there was a language barrier

As the few members of the bat family that were there (batman, robin, Nightwing, and oracle talking to them) they were trying to figure out what to do, the technology kinda went to shit but it'll take some time to look at for sure

as they talked you began to look around, then that evolved into wandering around

seeing a larger city and a new city, you had went out and explored ! eventually you found some alley ways and began doing some parkour and whatever cool trick you could do off of the environment

However on batman's end they must find you, a strange critter, maybe alien who doesnt speak a human language is out wondering Gotham city at night!!!

Oracle calls in a few more to help fan out as it seems you got far in surprisingly a short amount of time ????

(perhaps an ink brush main????)

after not too long Nightwing had found you and took note of your cool skills, like damn, lil critter has some tricks !!!!!

He found you and you deemed him trustworthy to follow

they bring you back to the bat cave and truly take in how aquatic you look, the eyes, teeth and hair? tentacles????

after some more time they found that in a quick amount of time you were able to pick up a few sign language phrases

also batman the great detective he is gave you some pen and paper to draw out what happened

it was, something that's for sure!!

however you also conveniently had a small amount of photos on you to show where you were from

as Batman had looked through the photos he saw more humanoid aquatic creatures but you didn't live under the sea, he then saw the ink which was also odd

soon he had began to notice the odd things in your wastelands

IS THAT THE EFFIAL TOWER ??????

huh

you had brought up more mysteries

anyways here's a few silly other ideas in my head

I think rightwing would show you cool acrobatic tricks to polish whatever skills you have

since im thinking of a squid kid I think you be a little cringe fail, like trying to imitate their hero poses or something lol

They would be interested in seeing what you can do as youre a squid that can't go into the water

surprised at how chill you were with things happening but they saw how you missed your pals from back home, and turf

Plays card games with you/teaches them !!! A fun pass time

communication would happen through cards, sign language and eventually they would pick up on the phrases you say in squid language

idk just silly thing s

I can't tell if this is wack but wanted to share this before it left my mind, maybe in the future I will expand on it

[modmad]

When incredible artists inexplicably start following me I use it as motivation to send them raving mad fan mail and there's no one I can be as raving mad about as you.

I found TPOH a long time ago and I've followed it weekly through high school, college, being a working adult, and going back to med school. It was one of the first comics I read. When I was a kid, I used to read it with my younger sister and discuss all the little details and puns we could find every week. If I look hard enough I might still be able to find doodles of the characters in my high school notes. I dug through your site and read every little thing I could find on it. I've recommended TPOH to countless people in my life.

Mod, you made me fall in love with webcomics as a medium and what they can do and be. When I wanted to publish my own stories, it's because of webcomics like yours that I chose to make webcomics myself. They showed me the beauty of webcomics as a medium - of getting to read something that came from one person's mind, made for free for anyone who wants to see it. I've continued to keep up with it as I started and finished my first comic, and I'm still keeping up with it as I make my current one. The thing about how long webcomics take to make is that they become part of our mundane lives and weekly schedules as we grow, and TPOH has been part of mine for a long time. Thank you for sharing your writing and art with us. I can't wait to see where you take us next.

I also want to mention how blown away I was at your recent update?? This vaguely threatening, possibly right and helpful, possibly not, figure that has been following our protagonist this whole time being anxiety when this whole time I had been assuming it was one of the characters/citizens of this world. It makes so much sense in retrospect.

oh gosh I hope you don't mind me replying to this on speaker bc I wanna keep it ;v; this is just so mindblowing, that someone has been from highschool to adult life reading my comic?! wow. boy. golly. time sure is a thing huh anyway GLAD I MADE YOU FEEL THINGS and I hope I can keep plodding along and somehow get to the end :D

anyway uhhh 'bout that last thing... there's still more to learn! more to learn about that butterfly oh boy yes

[nevertoomanyspiders]

3D Workers Island sure is a thing huh

it's a sort of slideshow? webcomic? well, interactive only in the sense that you can view one image in a sequence at a time. but it's about a fictional screensaver and people who discuss it.

you can experience it through here.

and yes it was created by the guy who also made Petscop and 3DWI has been kind of interpreted as a metacommentary on how fans of Petscop kinda ran with speculation, "explanations" and whatever other discourse over the work.

much like Petscop it is ambiguous and open-ended, which is neat. they touch on similar themes, and utilize a dated, nostalgic aesthetic (in this case, screensavers and late 90s web design) to a chilling effect.

i feel like what isn't shown or just implied just makes it more potent.

[lloydfrontera]

sometimes i think i'm being too harsh on the webcomic and that maybe it's better than i give it credit for. but then i reread it and nope i am totally in the right and i will never forgive some of the choices being made

anyway.

why did they change julian's letter to lloyd. what purpose did that have.

look at this

doesn't seem so bad right? nice little letter julian being a sweetheart to his parents, even asking after his brother, nothing out of the ordinary

EXCEPT. THEY COMPLETELY CHANGED THE PURPOSE OF THE LETTER.

to star with it the letter was supposed to be for lloyd! not for arcos and marbella!! it was julian writing to his hyung just after graduating!! like!!

To Lloyd, I graduated, and I got fairly good grades. It's all thanks to you. I was able to give my all. And I realized a lot of things the last time I met you after a long while. It was all possible because of you. Thank you. See you soon. Julian, your young brother who wants to be your pride.

∧ this is the letter julian sent lloyd. do you see the difference. do you see how much feeling and sentiment they cut off on the webcomic??

julian isn't trying to prove to his parents that he can be as dependable as lloyd. he wants to make his brother proud!! he's thankful for what lloyd did for him!! he outright tells him it's thanks to him that he was able to graduate with good grades at all!!

he doesn't even mention that he graduated second of his class, arcos is the one that has to tell lloyd about it. and lloyd is genuinely surprised and awed by it! it's!! a cute scene!!!

just. here i'm really not making it justice

Lloyd carefully studied the letter. He was proud of every black word written on the white paper. It was only a few lines, but he swelled with happiness nonetheless. A part of him ven felt an immense sense of contentment. Before he knew it, he had read over the letter five times already. Graduation, huh. Lloyd, too, wanted to graduate. He wanted to graduate, pass the exam, and land a job. But he was forced into this world before he saw the fruit of his efforts. Though he couldn't deny that the knowledge he had acquired in his world helped him a lot, a corner of his heart was occupied with a pang of sorrow for being unable to finish his degree. Well, I know it's not like a diploma will feed me, but still. [...] But still, I wanted to get a diploma. Lloyd still felt regretful that he couldn't get one when he had put in great effort to get one. He occasionally ponded on the matter. And now, here came the news of Julian performing beyond any expectations of him and giving the credit to Lloyd. The boy even added a pleasing remark that he wished to become a proud young brother to Lloyd. Lloyd felt grateful and content as he read those words. His heart swelled with pride as though he was the one who had graduated. That rascal. I'm going to give him a noggie on his chestnut like head. Lloyd carefully folded the letter thinking to make sure it wouldn't get crumpled. Then he carefully put it in his inner pocked. Later, even when he continued to have his meal and enjoyed reuniting with the count and countess, he had his hand placed on the middle of his chest. And as though the letter was responding to him inside, it rustled. Lloyd swelled with gratitude and joy once again every time it happened. The entire time he couldn't erase the smile off his face.

lloyd is!! so fucking proud of julian!! he feels so happy he could be the reason julian gets to graduate!! to do the thing he wanted so bad but was unable to!! and julian responds in kind by thanking him and telling him he's the reason he could do it!! lloyd is so proud and happy it almost feels like he got to graduate himself!!

the care with which he puts the letter away!! worrying about it getting wrinkled!! unconsciously touching it and getting happy all over again!!

do you get why i'm so upset this scene was completely rewritten and stripped of all the care and love it had in the novel. do you get it. i want to bite someone.

[lagacomicofficial]

Lisa's All Girl Academy promo short #1

Hey hope y'all are doing awesome, this short is to show the characters are writing of the upcoming webcomic under the same name! Since I'll be writing it makes since to show off the writing. But u wanna know more about these characters and have this make a lil more sense to u, I've already posted their bios: U can see and reblog those posts here: https://www.tumblr.com/lagacomicofficial/766906687744540672/clover-haas https://www.tumblr.com/lagacomicofficial/761801147976728576/stier-horner

Hope u enjoy the story!

PANEL 1: 

Stier and Clover are leaping from wall to wall paralleling one another, eyes closed as they each with aggression point towards the massive target right in front of them! 

Stier: Fulgura flectes ad voluntatem meam et percute punctum quod volo etiam, obtinuit?! 

Clover: Audi me nunc aquas mundi, facies ut dico, et quod dico percutere scopum illud in puncto ictum quod volo, nunc! 

PANEL 2: 

Stier’s lightning hits exactly where the target is, as she swipes at the air with aggression and directs the lighting where she wants it to go. Clover punches at the air directing the water towards the same spot and it’s as close as it could be without hitting it. 

Stier: HAHA, fucking got it! 

Clover: Oh, fuck me man! 

PANEL 3: 

Clover and Stier now back on the ground. Clover kicks at air looking very dejected and Stier grabs both her shoulders very softly with a concerned expression. 

 Stier: Yo, you got close. I know it sucks but at least acknowledge how great you are. That makes it easier to get to that next step you wanna get. 

 Clover: Yeah, yeah, but… 

 Stier: Yeah what spit it out! 

 Clover: I mean, it’s fine to feel like this, yeah?! 

PANEL 4: 

Stier looks at her with a sharp and confident smile. Stier grabs Clover’s shoulders more aggressively as she looks back at Stier confused. 

 Stier: Fuck yeah, but it’s about doing something with it that matters!

Clover: Uuuuuuuuuuuuuh, what the fuck do you mean, Stier? 

Stier: I call it the art of emotions!

Clover: Huh, it’s… we’re not making a fucking painting here Stier! 

PANEL 5: 

Stier now wraps her arm around Clover’s shoulders with the other hand held right above Clover’s face reaching for the stars. While Clover stares at Stier’s face wistfully. 

Stier: You see our emotions ain’t things that happen to us, we creatures of habit, right? 

Clover: Hmmmmmmmmm, I, I, suppose so yes.

Stier:  So then you can train your emotions to have certain reactions, yeah? At least in theory! 

Clover: Well that definitely checks out, yeah. 

PANEL 6:

Stier now strikes a pose of energetic confidence. While Clover continues to stare at Stier with stars in her eyes. 

Stier: So try this out, ask yourself hey what’s the best thing way would have reacted or felt during whatever. And then next time aim to do that! Not easy but man makes things way fucking better! 

Clover: I see… so you’re not selling this as a fucking easy solution then.

Stier: Best things are always difficult, yeah? 

Clover: That’s what they say.

PANEL 7: 

Stier laughs with pride and Clover smiles but in her eyes is a clear annoyance.

Stier: And for a reason but hey doesn’t have to be that fucking hard! I’ll help you out all you gotta do is ask! 

Clover: Thanks but no thanks I’m pretty sure I fucking got it! 

Stier: Really?  

Clover: Fuck yeah, I know it’s difficult but it’s simple to start, clearly! 

Stier: OkAY, yeah I feel that!

PANEL 8: 

So Clover gets in a battle ready stance again. Determination etched all over her face. While Stier stands above her cocky smirk as she puts both hands on her hips.

Clover: Okay fuck it, let’s go again! 

Stier: Really, right now? 

Clover: Fuck yeah, when else c’mon?! 

Stier: All fucking right, thought you’d wanna break. But you never wanna slow down for nothing, huh? 

Clover: Fuck no, that’s how get passed. No let’s go fucking now! 

Stier: Sounds like a plan to me! 

PANEL 9: 

Stier and Clover elements come off their body like a kind of aura. As they both have their fists clenched glaring ahead with a fierce determination. 

Stier: Okay, this time you’ll be better, you’ll be on target and you’ll prove to yourself that you’re fucking great, on three, alright? 

Clover: Fuck yeah let’s go! 

Stier: Fucking perfect ok, one… two… three! 

PANEL 10: 

Stier begins to leap from wall to wall with an unmatched aggression and a fierceness of a predatory animal. Clover is only a little behind leaping wall to wall with a similar aggression but a hesitation Stier doesn’t, her eyes more determined then fierce. 

Stier: Fulgura flectes ad voluntatem meam et percute punctum quod volo etiam, obtinuit?! 

Clover:  Audi me nunc aquas mundi, facies ut dico, et quod dico percutere scopum illud in puncto ictum quod volo, nunc! 

PANEL 11: 

Stier’s lightning hits exactly where the target is, once again the exact same way as before too. Clover punches at the air directing the water towards the same spot but this time it hits right on target but leaving less of an impact than Stier. 

PANEL 12:

Clover puts both fists in the air with a big smile on her face and Stier hugs her. The same pride on both their faces. 

Clover: Yoooooooooooooooooooooooooooo, I fucking did it! Look at that, I’m the fucking greatest huh?! 

Stier: Fuck yeah, see take my advice and you can do anything! 

Clover: Pfft, your advice?! Don’t get me wrong it was great advice but let’s talk about my skill and hard work for a sec! 

Stier: Okay sure I mean that was a result of that! All you need is that one more piece of great info and you take one further step towards greatness! 

Clover: Hmmmm… yeah I suppose. 

PANEL 13:

Stier puts both her hands on her hips again. Looking at Clover very skeptical while Clover jumps back a step looking very nervous. 

Stier: Huh, what’s that supposed to mean, huh? 

Clover: Ooooooooooooh, u-uh, nothing it’s true but… a little preachy? 

Stier: Uh, yeah of course it’s preachy! It’s that way of thinking that got me a scholarship into the greatest magic school in the fucking world! And you’re my fucking friend so I wanna help you out so how do I help you out? Telling you how I got here and why I get better each and every day! 

Clover: Well… right but I mean you don’t have to be soooooooooo preachy. 

PANEL 14:

Stier tilts her head and upper body to get closer to Clover who still looks nervous. 

Stier: Oh yeah and what does preachy fucking mean?!

Clover: Uuuuuuuh, hmph well it's pretty fucking hard to describe.

Stier: Oooooooh is it now?! 

Clover: Uuuuuuuh b-but give me time I'm sure I can!

Stier: Hmph, sure take all the time you want.

PANEL 15:

Clover looks at the ground with an index finger on her chin. Still with a nervous expression while Stier Horner glares at her with narrowed eyes. 

Clover: I know you want to help but I mean is it because you want to see me become better or you want to take credit for it?

Stier: Why not both? 

Clover: Huh?! 

Stier: Said why can't it be both?!

PANEL 16:

Clover looks at Stier Horner confused while Stier Horner puts her hand all the way out in front of her and moves it from side to side. An expression of strictness on her face.

Clover: B-B-But it's still my work after all. I STILL have cast the spells and stuff.

Stier: Oh I know don't doubt that for a second! But that's the thing Clover. If the advice does help you become better. Doesn't mean I did everything but does mean I helped. Which means my experiences and they I thought about em weren't for nothing. And you know, that I was right at least in some way. Now why the fuck do you think so absolutely, huh?

Clover: Hmph, well of course I don't know I never really thought about it like that. But… it makes a lot of fucking sense to be honest.

PANEL 17:

Stier Horner wraps her arm around Clover's shoulders, a very smug expression on her face. While Clover looks back at her very annoyed. 

Stier: See my wisdom is invaluable isn't it? 

Clover: Oh fuck off Stier!

Stier: AHAHAHA! Oh what c'mon if my advice wasn't valuable I wouldn't keep giving it out! 

Clover: You know I really appreciate it if that's what you're trying to do!

PANEL 18:

Stier gets her arm off her shoulders and looks back at her with a genuine smile. But Clover shrinks and looks away with gritted teeth. 

Stier: Hey man the duty of greatness is to help create more greatness! I'm only doing my part!

Clover: Uh, yeah awesome.

Stier: Everything all good?

Clover: Oh, I'm fucking perfect! 

PANEL 19: 

Stier Horner with a smile on her face and fierce determination in her eyes. Stomps back to the training ground. While Clover smiles following her but eyes full of envy. 

Stier: Then what the fuck we waiting for, let's go back to training! 

Clover: Oh fuck yeah let's do it!

Clover (Thinking:) It's not that I don't doubt she wants to help me or that her advice is genuine. But that I know she's holding something back.

PANEL 20:

We see Stier Horner from Clover's perspective. Seeing her back as Clover follows close behind her. Seeing her confident and aggressive stance up close. 

Clover (Thinking:) Because I still can't imagine me moving the way you do or doing things as well as you do, what are you hiding from me?

[fastcardotmp3]

🎊 december bookshelf 🎊

november recs | recs tag

Happy (almost) New Year! Here are some bits of brilliance I'm closing out the year in reading, and here's to everything that you guys have made this year. I'm so grateful to exist in a space with so much talent and so many big hearts willing to share in it, and I can't wait to read what you have cooked up for 2024 🥂 love, dot

🎊 INCENDIUM by @stargazersteddie- I have always been and will always be a weird dragon kid at heart and this fic was tailor made for the weird dragon kids of the world LIKE! dragon shapeshifter eddie is SUCH a concept and then to add dragon hunter steve to the mix? to add a genuinely intriguing corrupted corporation claiming to help people? to add ronance espionage and secrets in the woods and-? you know? a treat of a journey really and truly.

🎊 captain's log webcomic by @rogue-alien - That sweet spot where beautiful, perfectly representative art meets a brilliant premise in which Dustin finds a bunch of old "Captain's Log" tapes Eddie recorded before he died and things develop from there. Truly makes my day every time I see this has updated with a new page and as a comic book lover I'm fully enamored with everything about this

🎊 if you wanted, you could do no harm by @eskawrites - I'm a lover of a road trip story in which everything becomes clear because the scenery has changed and this is SUCH a beautiful depiction of that. getting to live inside Nancy's head as she goes from knowing she has to get out of Hawkins but not necessarily why to finding this sense of peace within herself and the things she both can control (kissing the girl who made sure she wasn't alone for the journey) and can't control (the big unknowable that is life) was a delight and a joy <3

🎊 mark it on the starmap with an x by @cheatghost - the Eddie POV "show me the place (where he inserted the blade)" sequel/ companion piece of my DREAMS. I love an Eddie character study with my whole heart and the way lou explores him in this particular circumstance, being blocked off from the joy he built for himself and leaning on Wayne and almost being forced into adapting without getting a say in the matter? Brilliant, immaculate, perfect, HELP ME.

🎊 max the bloody handed by @hellsfireclub - KAS!MAX!!! Beautiful Lucas POV as things fall into disarray, as his sense of something's wrong gets proven right, and with such a cool and eerie tone the whole way through. also Lucas with a crossbow which you KNOW is everything To Me.

🎊 this time of the year by @gothbat99 - robin HEARS nancy even when nancy isn't saying anything aloud and robin KNOWS that nancy needs a moment to let her brain go quiet and just be and I'm beside myself!! sweet and warm and tinged with the inevitable grief of the holiday season what if I cry huh?

🎊 The Future is the Same (but i have to try) by @fragilecapric0rnn - such an intriguing world built in so few words but the thing that has me on the FLOOR is the nancy and steve reckless grieving power duo of it all LIKE. designed for me specifically perhaps??? the characterization, the looming danger of every choice they make, the impulsive nature of it all!!! brilliant!

🎊 crash by @cheatghost (yes, again! sue me!) - i say 'designed for me specifically' a lot but this time it's actually TRUE and let me tell you!!! the psychic damage incurred was IMMENSE!! the nancy character study of all time, the cyclical/non-linear journey through grief and catharsis and hope and acceptance of my dreams, i'm never going to stop thinking about this fic you HAVE to read it, it's imperative To Me okay? okay. okay okay.

PS. don't forget to tip your writer in kudos and comments if you read and enjoy these! it's talking to each other about the works we create that makes this fandom world go round 💖

[the-mountain-flower]

APPARENTLY I never posted this on Tumblr, whoops

“I didn’t ask for your help, I don’t need it!”

“Yes, you do!”

Falst gets badly injured, and Dainix tries his best to get him to accept the help he needs.

Content warnings: blood, non-graphic depiction of serious injury, self-destructive behavior, & semi-makeshift medical procedure

“Are you going to use the ‘tactics’ card every time I get injured?”

“If I have to, yes.”

Falst groaned, but resigned himself to his fate. This wasn’t the first time Dainix had practically forced him to accept medical help, and given their luck, it probably wouldn’t be the last.

Dainix set him to lie down on a relatively flat, softer patch of land, and knelt in front of him. Falst held back a wince, as the shift in position caused the shrapnel still embedded in his side to move, and his ankle twinged painfully when it touched the ground. He moved his arms to try and bring himself to an upright position, but a firm hand from Dainix caused him to stop.

“Don’t you dare, you have to save your strength. Plus, it’ll make it harder to treat the wound.”

Falst scoffed. Under normal circumstances, he could've pushed him away with relative ease. “I just need to get this thing out and I’ll be fine, nothing too serious.”

Dainix didn’t dignify that with a response, just shot Falst a serious look before taking out the first aid supplies he had on him. Then he pulled back the fabric of Falst’s shirt, where the largest piece of shrapnel had pierced the skin, and cursed outloud when he saw how bad it was.

“Told you,” Falst said, “not so great if the weapon’s still in.”

In the ferin’s side was a large piece of sharp grey metal, and based on Dainix’s initial look at the wound during the fight compared to now, and the shape of the closed area, most of the metal was still inside the body. The wound was almost entirely closed over, so only a portion of the offending material was visible. In the attempt, skin had grown over the edges, uneven where the shrapnel impeded the process.

“I don’t suppose there’s a way to get this out without further cutting, huh?” Dainix asked reluctantly, but already reaching for his knife, knowing he couldn’t risk leaving it in much longer. Thanks to his father’s preparation, he had all the necessities and knew how to use them, and he knew well how to not let anxiety get the better of him in serious situations. Still, a fast-healing condition like Falst’s was something he hadn’t exactly accounted for back home, and he tried his best to make sure his worry didn’t show too much.

“Not really,” Falst responded, “unless you know something that I don’t.”

“And, I'm sorry, but I’m going to have to clean the wound-”

“Ugh! Please tell me you don’t mean that awful stuff you used last time.”

“Unfortunately. Brace your senses” Falst had detested the kitridine back in the caves, but he himself said that he couldn’t heal infection quickly. Dainix used a milder disinfectant to cover the blade of his knife. It wasn’t meant to be used this way, but it was their best option at the time. Then he took the vial of horrible-smelling liquid and prepared it onto its cloth. “You’re going to be okay, right?”

“Just get it over with. I won’t-” Falst paused, then turned his gaze away from the ignan. “I won’t scratch you this time.”

“Alright, remember to breathe.” Dainix took a deep breath himself, one hand prepped with the knife, and antiseptic in the other. “Three,” he started so that Falst could know when the action was coming, “two, one.”

Dainix quickly sliced open the skin over the shrapnel, then discarded the knife so he could extract the metal, which he tossed far away from either of them. Blood speckled the ground in its wake. The instant that was done, he pressed the cloth with the kitridine onto the wound.

During the first part, Falst just barely held back a shout of pain, instead practically hissing through gritted teeth. Once the cloth covered the wound and the kitridine made contact, he nearly screamed like the last time. The world around him blurred, and he could barely hear Dainix’s reassurances over the harsh sound of the antiseptic on flesh, and the searing feeling that accompanied it. His claws raked the ground in front of him and beside Dainix, dirt overturning grass faster than the blood was leaving his body (which wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been, thanks to the damned pressure the ignan was applying).

“Breathe in, breathe out.” Dainix reminded.

“Fuck you.” Falst spat. He was going to regret that later, but he couldn’t focus on anything right now.

“I know, I know.” Dainix tried not to take offense, knowing that Falst was in pain. Despite the thrashing, he kept the cloth firmly over the wound, using both hands to do so. “I’ve got you, it’s going to be okay.”

A moment later, the worst of the effects had passed. Falst was breathing heavily, the ground in front of him completely torn apart, but he was hurting significantly less than before.

One hand still applying pressure to the wound, Dainix brought out a roll of bandages.

“Don’t need that,” Falst muttered, “It’ll close fast, remember?”

“We still want to prevent as much blood loss as possible, and this’ll make it less likely to reopen before it’s fully healed.”

Dainix finished up the bandaging process. “Are you hurt anywhere else?”

Aside from my pride? Falst thought bitterly. “Not really. Mostly some scratches that are already gone or weren't that deep in the first place.” He shrugged, lifting himself to sit upright again.

This time Dainix didn’t protest, though he wanted to- he knew Falst was too stubborn for it to make much of a difference. He tried to help steady him, but Falst pushed him away.

Dainix gave his friend a concerned look. He had gotten to know Falst pretty well in the time they'd spent together, and had gotten good at discerning when he was holding something back. “That's all?” he asked, hoping the ferin would open up about how bad it really was.

Falst gritted his teeth. He didn't want to admit it, but…

“Fine, I might've gotten an ankle injury from when it got hit earlier, but it's not a big deal.”

“Let me see.” Dainix insisted. Without waiting for a response, he moved to examine the joint in question. “Which one- oh, never mind.” He saw it almost immediately: Falst's right ankle was extremely swollen and bruised.

While Dainix was examining it to know exactly what got injured, Falst had to bite the inside of his mouth to prevent any audible reactions to the feeling. Thankfully Dainix looked to be paying full attention to the ankle, so he wouldn’t see his flinching.

Dainix grew more and more concerned the longer he examined the injury. For as much as his dad had taught him, this was a little outside his regular wheelhouse. What concerned him the most, was how non-reactive Falst seemed to be.

“How does it feel?” Dainix broke the silence to ask, looking up to gauge Falst’s reaction.

“What do you mean?”

“Exactly what I said. Does it hurt a lot, and anywhere specific?”

Falst shrugged. Dainix sighed. Gods, getting this guy to open up was like pulling teeth.

He went back to trying to identify what exactly was wrong- almost certain something had happened to the bone or connective tissue, probably both.

“OW!”

Dainix quickly pulled back his hand when Falst cried out. Falst immediately regretted letting it happen, but the questioning had distracted him from biting it back.

“It’s fine” He tried to wave away Dainix’s concern. “Don’t worry.”

Dainix wasn’t buying it. Falst wasn’t being truthful about his symptoms, and that could only cause more harm if he didn’t open up about it.

“Falst, be honest with me. How badly does it hurt?”

“This is pointless.” Falst pushed Dainix away, trying get up. He was hindered by the wound, and the minute he tried to put weight on the injured limb he nearly crumpled to the ground. Dainix caught him before he fell, trying to get his friend to sit back down.

“Caliban help me,” Dainix muttered under his breath, then said out loud, “Falst, you are not putting weight on this, and if you’re not careful-”

“I can wait until we get back to the others. I’ll be fine.”

“And what if it gets worse before then? Or we encounter something else and you can’t defend yourself because you were too stubborn to accept help?”

Dainix stopped and took a deep, calming breath. He moved one arm so it was supporting Falst, and placed the other on his shoulder, so he could more clearly see his friend’s face.

“Look,” Dainix said, “this isn’t like the caves by Zuurith. As far as we know, our survival doesn’t depend on you being awake and able to fight. That doesn’t mean you can keep going when you need to rest.”

“I can. You seem to be forgetting that I heal fast. I can take it.” Falst’s voice rose in a defensive tone.

“You’re not invincible!” Dainix’s own voice rose in turn. “There are some things you can’t just walk off, in this case literally! I’m almost certain you broke or tore something, but I can’t tell because you won’t be honest with me about how bad it really is!”

“I didn’t ask for your help, I don’t need it!”

“Yes, you do! If I hadn’t noticed it, how long would it have taken until that wound in your side closed with the metal in it? Or if you tried to take it out yourself, how long until you died of blood loss, or an infection?”

Dainix’s voice caught, and Falst noticed for the first time that Dainix almost looked… scared.

“How long until this attitude gets you permanently injured in a way that was easily preventable if you’d just asked for help?! How long until it gets you KILLED?!”

Dainix stopped, finally realizing his eyes were beginning to well with tears, and he was gripping Falst’s shoulder like he was the ferin’s only lifeline.

Falst let himself slump back to the ground, forcing Dainix to let go. He sat next to him, not letting himself meet his friend’s gaze.

“I’m sorry,” Dainix said, “I shouldn’t have shouted like that.”

“Don’t be.”

A moment of silence passed, then Falst asked something in an uncharacteristically soft tone.

“Why do you care?”

This caught Dainix off-guard. “What?”

“It shouldn’t matter to you whether or not I get hurt. So why does it matter?”

Dainix laughed sadly. “You’re really not used to having friends.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Look,” Dainix said gently, “if it had been any of the others that were hurt, would you have done anything to make sure they were okay? Wouldn’t you try to make sure they didn’t get hurt in the first place?”

“Of course!” Falst insisted.

“Well, it goes both ways. I care about whether or not you get hurt, because I care about you.”

“But I can take-”

“I know you can. But so can Kendal, and Tess has natural armor, and Alinua and Erin are skilled life mages. Would you be okay with them doing what you’re doing right now? Do you value them by their usefulness or ability to take damage for others?”

“...No.”

“Then you shouldn’t treat yourself that way. Please, don’t put yourself through more pain just because you feel like you have to. Let me help you get better.”

A few moments of awkward silence later, Falst sighed. He supposed Dainix wouldn’t relent until he let him help. And… maybe he had a point.

“Fine.”

Dainix gave him a gentle hug, careful to not aggravate the wound in Falst’s side. “Thank you.”

Falst didn’t push him away, He found himself content to let it happen, and was maybe a little disappointed when he pulled back.

Dainix went back to inspecting the ankle. “How does it feel, really?”

Falst pursed his lips, then answered, “Awful. It’s hard to move on purpose, any kind of pressure makes it hurt more- like a bruise- and, I think it’s gotten worse since it happened.”

A few moments of questioning and examination later, Dainix deduced that Falst had probably fractured a bone, and torn a ligament.

“Neither are completely broken, but with both of those in the same place it’ll take a while to heal without magical help. Have you ever torn a ligament before, especially this one?”

Falst was reluctant to admit it, but, “I don’t know. What’s a ligament?”

“They’re what connects the bones together.”

“Oh, then I don’t think so.”

Dainix nodded. That was good, even if it meant not knowing how long it’d take to heal on its own. He brought out a new roll of bandages.

“I thought you said it wasn’t completely broken? And the skin’s intact.”

Dainix held up the roll for Falst to see more clearly. “These are compression bandages, different kind than I used earlier. It’ll help with the swelling.”

“Oh.”

This time, Falst didn’t bother to hide his reaction. When Dainix applied the bandages, he let himself tell him just how much he disliked it.

Soon, Falst was well enough that Dainix could help him up, and the two made their way to where they and their friends had agreed to meet up.

When they made it, Alinua, Kendal, Tess, and Erin were already there. Erin was making camp with stone magic, Tess and Alinua were getting a campfire started, and Kendal was keeping watch.

From his position, Kendal was the first to see the remaining members of their party arriving. He called back to the others, “They’re back-” but stopped when he saw Falst’s blood-stained shirt and bandages, and wrapped ankle. “What happened?!”

“I’ll explain later.” Dainix said. While Alinua rushed up to meet them, he gave Falst a serious look.

Falst sighed. “Help me out?” he asked Alinua.

“Like you needed to ask.” The cloud elf’s hands were already glowing green, and as soon as she was close enough she began to command the soul energy around to help him out.

Falst looked up at Dainix as if to say, See? It’s fine.

Dainix smiled. It was a good start.

[turigirl]

Could you tell us either abt ur ocs or your f/os? :-)

hi anon i love you

my ocs that ive been thinking about most lately have been those under the tag "fine & mellow" :o) theyre a 60s girl band! ive read a lot about the dynamics of popular bands, specifically in this time period, and i think the love-hate relationship that usually results is really interesting.

i think if i ever illustrated it in some way (art or writing or etc) id want it to be a comic. maybe a webcomic, maybe a physical comic. im not super sure on that.

id want to include things like interviews, magazine covers, album covers, photos of them, etc, played as from a real band (as real as a picture of furries can be). i have a list of album names and song ideas for each one (some being existing songs to pretend are theirs, some being "original" songs. meaning i made it up)

the band is founded in 1959 by dominique dalmatian, who is the main character. she's reserved- not shy necessarily but cautious of every new person she meets. she has bpd (projectionn of my symptomsss) and depression that creeps in slowly and immobilizes her. and she plays bass! she has a strong work ethic and will push her feelings (and others') aside to finish her work, in this case being f&m's albums.

fine & mellow is the name of the band, by the way, to be clear. it's named after a jazz standard and slowly becomes more and more ironic.

there are other guitarists before, of course, but the most important one is laura labradoodle. she's peppy and brings a lighter tone to their music as well as a more romantic light. shes a brilliant songwriter, despite it being really just a hobby. shes a full time photographer when they recruit her. when she joins in 1962, the band as a whole changes. she and dom write songs together, becoming closer and closer. that relationship and how it bends and breaks is especially what i would focus on. there's something so heartbreaking about getting so close, hearing a part of the others soul, only for something to backfire and send the band into a downward spiral.

clears my throat. so anyway, the drummer is named lolly lamb, and she stays from the beginning (until she's pushed out by jackie, who you'll hear about in a sec). she adores 40s and 50s fashion and has a seemingly instinctual sense of beat. drumming for f&m started out as a favor for her friend and ended up becoming so much more for her, and the rest of them.

in early 1964, after a couple months of no creative breaks, laura brings in... a hairdresser. her name is jackie jackrabbit, and she stares at the other two like they've grown new heads. but she's laura's friend, and they know the moment she sings with them that they've got something special. jackie is a little snobby and a little blunt, but manages to fit in fairly well. she can't play an instrument, but her singing ability more than makes up for it, and laura hands her a tambourine a few months later.

they release an album in july, and it seems to be the domino piece slowly falling into place. after months of arguing with jackie, lolly leaves the band.

they hire a session drummer, LAYLA, but she quickly becomes their permanent drummer for their next albums. layla (stylized in all caps) is the stage name of susie sloth-bear, a drummer who first got famous as a model. but she was good, playing as a session drummer across the states.

but the making of their next album with layla is FULL of arguments, and they go on a 5 month hiatus. the hiatus gave them the new material they were looking for, but they struggled to work together in making them. most of the songs on the next album would be mainly played by one individual member. only layla collaborated with the other three. the damage was done, and their 1967 album, fittingly titled "kill the lights," would be their last.

so that was kinda long, huh? i still don't have everything set in stone, but here's a summary probably way longer than you expected. they also all have refs! which are on my toyhouse (link). i would upload them here, and someday i might get around to it, but i dont have the energy to write ids for all of em. so. ill leave it at all this. if anyone has any questions, though, id be happy to answer :o) im still workin out the kinks!

[vy-canis-melodis]

SO, 2024 HUH?

It sure has been a year to remember. For me, mostly not in a good way. Between losing my job in April and the big fire at home in November, it's been probably the lowest year of my life and mentally I've really struggled. But every cloud has a silver lining...

...because this has also been a year of being in a community, something that's really rare for me. And my art and music is better than ever. 2025 will be the year where I try to reach a point where I can earn a living with music. I'm nowhere as of now... but I believe in myself.

From finishing Astro Bistro chapter 3 to completing two smaller webcomics, bird HRT and kalla's story, I've done a lot of art this year. And also, a lot of music too! Mario Kart 8 remixes, Sudden Gradual Changes Remastered, Toroidal Plinks, and Funkin' Simulator 1984!

So yeah. 2024 sucked for me. I'm 26 years old, with no money, barely any work experience, a useless master's degree, and all of that means no one will hire me. But that makes me a perfect fit for an underdog musician to breakout success story which I will make happen.

[keets-writing-corner]

I really miss your Lucilith fanfic! Are you going to return to writing any time soon?

aww hello anon!

I've been working on it on and off lately tbh for multiple reasons, a lot of life stuff happened shortly after I posted 3, and when those finally settled I hit my shitty mental health months, and those are finally at a close now that the new year has started, aaaaaaand my main focus atm is actually trying to get my webcomic up and running (I'm hoping to start posting that in march, still got some background things to get through for that)

BUT I AM STILL WORKING ON THE LUCILITH FIC I PROIMSE

Actually, after the helluvaboss mastermind episode I really wanted to get back into it cuz of that micro Lucifer not-cameo. It's kinda hard for me to stay engaged with it a bit tho, none of my irl friends wanna chat with me about Lucifer and the one that at least listens to my ramblings hasn't read the fic

I usually try to reread comments or rewatch episodes, but there's only so many times I can rewatch Dad Beat Dad XD

it doesn't help that chapter 4 is the one I knew I'd struggle with a lot? I had very clear ideas for chapters 1, 2, 3 and 5 but not 4. 4 is kind of in there because there's too big of a time skip between 3 and 5 that it'd be awkward

Plus I do want to explore some things that so far haven't been explained in the show

smol hilarious sidenote: because I like to share snippets when ppl send me asks, I'm pulling the doc and damn, you KNOW it's bad when your computer turns on its fans and begins to lag XD it's so big hahaaaaaaaaa help mee

word count: higher than last time I checked by like 2k words but given the sizes of the chapters that's kind of nothing

now let me see... trying to find a smol snippet that won't spoil anything but satisfies the need for more for a bit hmmm I already shared the first like 600 something words in this other thread and here's a link for that in case you missed it hmmm oh I got it! this is pretty funny imo

__________

“Mmhmm....”

The man waited. 

“So would you mind repeating all of that over again?” Lucifer asked. 

“ARE YOU KIDDING ME???” the man pulled on his hair in frustration, “WHY???” 

The man had been monologuing at Lucifer for over an hour after he summoned him, and... to be quite honest, Lucifer had zoned out almost immediately. The guy’s voice was rather.... Drone-ish...

“I got distracted by something and missed a few details,” Lucifer played it off. 

The man kicked a rock and then began pacing angrily, muttering something about having messed up the ritual before spinning around to face Lucifer, “YOU’RE Lucifer?”

“Correct.”

“As in the scourge of heaven, the absolute ruler of hell?

“Yeppers.”

“One of the most powerful angels that ever existed.”

“Uh huh,” Lucifer picked at his teeth with his claws.

“ARE. YOU. SURE???”

They both stared at each other for a minute before Lucifer shrugged, “Listen, I don’t know what the problem is. You summoned me, and I can’t leave until either I help you or you decide you actually don’t want me here. So what. do. you. want????”

“I want the literal devil! I want a miracle heaven can’t take away or mess up! Not some short pale blonde man who can’t even pay attention to the conversation!” The man flopped on the ground exasperated. 

Lucifer sighed. He had been enjoying seeing earth again after so long and for a moment he felt the briefest twinge of his old love for humans tug at his heart, “Listen, just give me a short version of what you want.” 

“How on earth did you even get distracted anyways??”

“I was thinking of my wife,” Lucifer admitted. The way their conversation had ended lingered in his mind and weighed in his heart in a way he couldn’t properly describe.

The man stared at him, “YOU’RE MARRIED?????”

“You don’t know about Lilith???” Lucifer grabbed him by the collar, “She’s the most amazing person to ever exist! She’s twelve feet tall, gorgeous, so so smart, gorgeous, she’s actually doing most of the ruling of hell right now, gorgeous, her hair is super long and gorgeous, she’s incredibly smart and kind and zealous, ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS and-,”

“I don’t want to hear about your wife!” the man interrupted. 

“You what?” Lucifer felt so offended on Lilith’s behalf that his eyes glowed red. 

The man’s eyes widened and he scooted away on the ground in alarm, “Nonono I-... what I meant umm... She sounds amazing, why were you thinking about her??” he smiled nervously. 

Because last time I was on earth, I was with her and I wish she were here now. But we also had a fight and I don’t know how to fix that. I don’t think I’m wrong, heaven is awful and she’s taking a big risk trying to work with an angel from up there and like who even IS this guy??? Why does he think he can get heaven on board with something I couldn’t?? I mean I was a high seraphim, and if I couldn’t enact change then I doubt anyone who was lower ranking could either without getting instantly smited, and I’m so worried about her even though I know she can handle herself, but I don’t want her getting hurt by heaven and why can’t she just understand that heaven is never going to change, and the sinners aren’t worth the effort, they’re horrible people who got sent to hell for a reason, I mean like, what if they hurt her too?? Oh god Lilith is all I have left, for centuries she’s all that I’ve had, my only source of happiness left! I don’t even know who I am anymore, I can’t recognize myself in the mirror, but when I’m around her it’s like there’s still some part of me that I know and it’s the part of me that loves her, I love her so much- I don’t know what I’d do if I lost her or or-

A million thoughts raced through Lucifer’s head so fast that all he managed to blurt out for the man was, “shepretty.” 

They stared at each other as Lucifer struggled to keep a poker face on and the man waited for him to say more, too afraid to try and change the topic. 

After a moment longer, Lucifer snapped his fingers and out of the ground popped out a chair made of stone. The man stared wide eyed as Lucifer sat in it and then brought them back to the original problem at hand, “Three sentences or less, what do you want me to do for you?”

_________

I do apologize again for the unintended hiatus, I do fully intend to get this out! I just have a lot happening rn, so much so I'm literally having to schedule other creative stuff otherwise I just don't do them XD

[canmom]

Animation Night 151: Modest and Immodest Short Films

Ahoy my friends! The hour is late, but not so late that we can’t watch a few films...

So. Lackadaisy huh.

I feel like you need to be in a somewhat specific age bracket of internet old to feel like that’s immensely significant. You need to be a webcomics bitch, basically. But from quite a specific era: the decade or so window between when webcomics looked like newspaper comics, and before the present era of webtoons. The Webcomics Review narrativises it as people who went to art school arriving on the scene in the mid-2000s, and that seems accurate enough. And of that crop, Lackadaisy Cats was certainly one of the biggest!

The concept is pretty straightforward. It’s a Prohibition-era crime drama set at a speakeasy that’s seen better days... and also everyone is an anthropomorphic cat. It was the beginning of the furry boom (Digger was a contemporary). But mostly... Tracy J. Butler could really fucking draw. You could say things like: clean, expressive designs with a lot of texture and depth and strong composition. (Not surprisingly, she’d worked in animation before drawing the comic.)

And compared to other comics whose selling point was the art such as The Meek and Dresden Codak, it also updated (if I’m remembering right) fairly consistently. It had archetypal characters, a very clearly defined aesthetic, and, compared to many webcomics of its era, a clear, accessible story. In short it read like a pro comic.

So it was natural for it to pick up steam.

Now, at some point I kind of stopped keeping up with most of the webcomics I read back then. Sure, some of them stopped updating, but others kept on going, sustained on merch and later, Patreon type sites. In that time, the standard of art in the scene went way up, the number of comics became so huge that there was no longer really a ‘shared context’ of webcomic readers, and manga scans and webtoons arrived in force. It is now almost impossible to build a new following with a webcomic, but you can do pretty well for yourself if you got in at the start.

Well, in the last few years a new phenomenon has developed out of that whole webcomic scene: the crowdfunded independent animated film. I wrote about this a bit back on Animation Night 117, with the biggest example being Vivziepop‘s works like Hazbin Hotel. In 2000, Lackadaisy joined in, running a kickstarter for an art book and maybe a short film if it did well. You can guess the rest of that story.

These films sit at an odd scale between ‘independent’ and ‘studio’. If you look at the credits of Lackadaisy, you’ll see a small army of animators and cleanup artists to exceed most TV productions (apparently the staff number in the 170s in total). The calls they put out for animators were demanding. And the lavish effort certainly shows! The makers of Lackadaisy set their sights on full animation, on-model, cleaned up and with an ambitious drawing count. Every scene is full of movement and acting. (There’s actually an interesting stylistic choice where construction lines are left in the final composite on many scenes.)

But in many other ways it was very unlike a studio production. One of the animators who worked on the short, Manu Mercurial, has put out a little making-of retrospective, which is pretty light on detail, but still gives some info. Since the production took place during the pandemic, it was completely organised over Discord, with animators posting WIPs and receiving feedback in full view of everyone else, and a director receptive to animators adding their own spins to shots. This apparently led to an atmosphere of friendly competition that was beneficial to the film as a whole.

Mercurial is full of praise for the film’s director Fable Siegel, who seems to have been the major organising force behind making this be an impressive, finished short film instead of just a bunch of artists hanging out in Discord. At least going off IMDB credits,  Siegel seems to have come to The Industry by way of participating in ‘Reanimated’ collabs on Youtube, before getting jobs on Hazbin and also Pendleton Ward’s experimental post-Adventure Time series The Midnight Gospel. (Right now their Twitter is a huge wall of Lackadaisy process shots if you’re curious.) Here’s an interview (by Toon Boom, so one of the questions is blatantly slanted to sell Toon Boom, but the rest is pretty interesting.)

The short film is presented as a pilot, and that is indeed how it plays out: a tour of all the major characters and dynamics of the comic/show, with a car chase, a set piece battle in a quarry, and a final wind down scene in the speakeasy itself which sets up the broader plot. It’s unquestionably very well executed. I’m certain it’s going to get a good few million views in the next few days alone, and maybe it will lead to a series. (Will it surpass Hazbin?). It’s got electro-swing, of course. SungWon Cho (ProzD) is in it, of course.

All the same... I wish it was weirder. Like something about Lackadaisy always feels like it’s playing it safe. It’s fun, it’s goofy, it’s charming... and that’s where it stops! For all that the creators like to talk about how we’re on the cusp of adult animation really taking off in America, the moonshine, and strangely ineffective guns, don’t really change the tone from the more mainstream animation. Bah humbug, etc.

Still, it’s unquestionably an extremely impressive work of animation and a sign of the way things are changing. I expect with all the animation studios laying off staff left right and centre, we’ll start to see a lot more like this.

That’s our first act! For our second...

Ian Hubert returns! I wrote briefly about him back on Animation Night 78. Hubert’s thing is compositing human actors into elaborate cyberpunk environments using Blender; his channel is full of ingenious tricks for creating impressive looking shots and effects with minimal geometry. What makes it work is Hubert’s eye for lighting and composition, knowing just where to place detail to sell a shot and what’s unnecessary for the camera.

The first episode of Dynamo Dream - which we’ll rewatch! - introduced us to a plant selling girl in some sorta cyberpunk megacity. After inadvertently saving out the weird cyborg landlord that runs her apartment, she gets a favour, which she calls on to contact her faraway boyfriend using a kind of missile launched phone terminal I guess? He invites her to come out and join him, but weird shit starts happening on the train. I haven’t watched this yet but I’m sure it’s going to deliver some fascinating visuals.

And then...

Modest Heroes is a collection of three short films by Studio Ponoc, a studio which spun out of Studio Ghibli. In the mid 2000s, the period that Ghibli could enjoy an exceptional state of employing lot of full-time salaried staff (instead of per project freelancers) was coming to an end. In 2014 it seemed they were on the verge of shutting down altogether. Yoshiaki Nishimura, lead producer of many of Ghibli’s films in the 2000s era (Howl - When Marnie Was There), left the studio in 2015, bringing in a bunch of ex-Ghibli animators under a new studio called Ponoc.

Their first film, Mary and the Witch’s Flower, apparently found it hard to define an identity beyond the shadow of Miyazaki (I haven’t seen it!), but things got a lot more exciting with their second. Modest Heroes is a collection of three short films, showing off a variety of ingenious approaches to animation. (It was originally planned to be four, but then Isao Takahata went and died while planning the segment on the theme of ‘death’... oof.) The writers of Animation Obsessive are big fans, and they’ve written two detailed, enthusiastic articles on two of the shorts in the collection.

Invisible, directed Akihiko Yamashita, is a take on the invisible man concept. Since the invisible man is, well, you know..., his entire existence must be communicated through interactions with objects and clothes. Yamashita hoped to communicate feelings and interior life. His invisibility is a metaphor for social invisibility, and thus it comes combined with other metaphors, such as weightlessness.

The idea came from Nishimura, who thought it was a worthy subject for an ‘animation genius’ such as Yamashita. Nishimura wanted the film to bring a kind of inventiveness that he felt was missing from the overly conservative contemporary anime. Yamashita, after leaving Ghibli, attempted to get by in the regular anime industry and found it unbearably strained. He returned to the fold to work on Boro the Caterpillar with Miyazaki, and this convinced him to follow Yamashita over to Ponoc.

The result is something gorgeous, with its emotional drama playing out against grimy desaturated backgrounds that are perhaps closer to something like Tekkonkinkreet than the Ghibli nature scene. Yamashita named quite a specific palate of inspirations...

As reference, Yamashita drew from Alfonso Cuarón’s Children of Men and Gravity, the films of Alejandro González Iñárritu and the manga of Junji Ito, among others. They contributed to the dark, unusual vibe and look of Invisible.

I’ve been wanting to watch this film for ages, here’s our chance!

Alongside that comes Yoshiyuki Momose’s film Samurai Egg (here’s the aniobsessive link again). Momose, the ‘right-hand man’ of Takahata, was one of the guys he leaned on to actually draw the storyboards of films like Grave of the Fireflies.

In contrast to the elaborate visual metaphor of Invisible, Samurai Egg is a very grounded film about a kid with a severe egg allergy. Takahata is famed as a realist, although a different sort than people like Okiura and Inoue who bring incredibly meticulous detail and well-observed acting to sci-fi scenarios. Certainly, Takahata would make films about ghosts and mythology, but he’d also make films like Only Yesterday that are much quieter, everyday dramas.

Despite sharing the everyday focus of, this film veers away from it into more expressionistic techniques, bringing in softer pencil effects to the anime cels, as well as techniques like 3DCG-rotoscoping. There’s a dance scene where Shinji Hashimoto gets to go nuts with shapes a la Ryan Woodward.

Momose took some pains to avoid being too sentimental with it; AniObsessive quote Nishimura in Animation Magazine:

When you make a film about a parent and a child, it’s easy to fall into the trap of showing a “heartwarming” relationship, and creating a cheap-feeling structure. We wanted to avoid that.

The film is pre-recorded - like Grave of the Fireflies, actually. (It’s the norm in the West, but rare in anime.) There’s some interesting linguistic nuance there:

It was necessary because Oko’s role called for something special. In a detail that’s lost on foreigners, Shun’s mom uses the Kishiwada dialect, which “sounds harsh, but you can feel the love behind it,” Momose said. It’s a cruder, shorter form of Japanese. They used it partly to fit more information into Samurai Egg’s 16-minute runtime, and partly to reveal the relationship she has with Shun. He’s a Tokyo kid — he speaks differently.

As for the third film...

Kanini & Kanino takes us underwater for a pair of kids who live on a coral reef. Alas, I don’t have a detailed article on the making-of and influences on this one, but I can tell you that the director Hiromasa Yonebayishi, aka Maro, is behind it - best known as the director of The Secret World of Arriety, When Marnie Was There, and Ponoc’s first film Mary and the Witch’s Flower. Notably the dialogue for this short is all in ‘crab language’ - are these kids anthro crabs? In fact, yes, it would appear they are anthropomorphic crabs. Sick. Whether they will attend a rave I can’t say, but the internet reliably informs me that is the primary activity of crabs, so probably.

I think that’s enough to be going with! Apologies it’s so late - I had to spend most of today reinventing Canabalt. But I succeeded, so I think I’ve gotten a lot better at this whole game dev thing. Let’s go enjoy some short films!

Animation Night will be going live now at twitch.tv/canmom, films to begin in maybe 15 minutes.