#they have more official art than any anime I watched lately

[eeniiart]

🚨🌸🫖🚨

[kingdomoftyto]

I'm crying laughing, the DVDs are even worse than I remember... Season 1's menus are silent with a single static jpg of the same key character art they use for everything else, and the episodes on the Season 2 discs don't even match what's listed on the box! Absolutely stunning lack of shits given. Truly unparalleled. But I really shouldn't be surprised given... well... everything about how this series has been treated since the very beginning.

Time for a quick ~✨PHANDOM HISTORY LESSON✨~ to give newer/less hyperfixated folks more context for why the graphic novel being as great as it is is such a HUGE deal:

Danny Phantom was one of Nickelodeon's MAIN cartoons, in its time. It was a central pillar. One of the top three or four of their lineup, which is saying something when the competition includes the cultural juggernaut that is Spongebob.

Despite this, and despite its superhero theming making it perfectly marketable, it got basically ZERO official merch.

What little we did get was often ugly and very, very cheap. The dedication at the start of the graphic novel that jokes about collecting the Burger King toys? That's because it was some of the most notable merch the franchise EVER had. (I sadly do not have any of it. There was no BK in my hometown. Here's a pic from the internet, though, to give you an idea.)

If you think I'm exaggerating about that being the most significant physical merch to come out of the series, consider that the first video game had an entire menu option specifically for the Burger King promotional tie-in:

That video game, by the way, was one of only two ever based on the show. The first was an adaptation of "The Ultimate Enemy" in the style of a short sidescrolling beat-em-up, and the second was themed around "Urban Jungle" and (as far as I can tell--I've only played the first couple levels) was an arcade-style scrolling shooter. Both were for the Gameboy Advance, and both are...... fine, as far as cash-grabby video game tie-ins to kids' shows go. This was pretty normal for the time, so I suppose we did okay in that department, actually. They're not GOOD, but they're playable and have at least a bit of effort put into them.

But besides those two video games (plus a handful of simple, long-defunct Flash games on nick.com)? In the decade and a half since the show ended?

Nothing.

No books, no games, no comics, no web shorts--unless you count mega-crossovers with every other Nicktoon (a la Nicktoons Unite), or soulless promotional material like "Fairly Odd Phantom" (which, trust me, despite being the first new DP animation in over 10 years was not even worth the effort of watching).

...I think there was a limited edition FunkoPop once?

So yeah.

A Glitch in Time is not just the first cool, well-made thing we've seen from the franchise in a while. It's the first THING we've seen since the show. PERIOD. And arguably the first worthwhile supplementary material to EVER come out of the show, depending on how you feel about those GBA games and the Nicktoons crossovers.

This franchise is widely beloved even now, almost 20 years after it first aired, and it feels like that fact is now, finally, FINALLY getting some official recognition.

PLEASE read A Glitch in Time. Tell other people about it. The series--no, the fans--deserve this (and more of this, if the folks in charge see enough of a response and decide to grace us with any followup). It's LONG overdue, but better late than never.

[aledxaled]

The Locked Tomb Cohort uniforms (sketches & lineart)

Hellooooooooo !

I’ve been discovering Roblox and drawing the general formalwear of high ranking Cohort officials like Judith and Marta (so roughly 0-1 to 0-11 ranks) as of late :D

Here’s what I’ve come up so far :

- A Regency navy/Navy whites hybrid

- A 70s disco inspired one

- An I’ve been watching too many anime with not so practical but dashing military uniforms

- And a mixture of all the aboveeee

If you have any opinion whatsoever to help me decide which one I want to focus on don’t hesitate, although so far I’ve been obsessed with the first one more than reason : that one feels very simple but effective ?

Also, A big thank you for showing me so much love and demonstrating interest into my art & my interpretations of the series characters, it really made my summer :]

[lazytitans-world]

My research findings on the production of Wish

Never have I seen a fan community do so much with so little than I have with Wish. And to start off, I want to say that you should watch the movie first before going into this and the Starboy fandom as I believe it to be important on forming your own opinion before moving on as I find most of the fandom to have a negative view of the movie, one I do not really share. I found Wish to be fine. I did not hate it, but I did not love it like I do other Disney animated films. But the many rewrites, drawings and animatics featuring character designs that did not make it far in production have become icons in this community inspired me to do a deep dive to see if I could find where in production these concepts died and why.

To save you a read, this production was a victim of simplicity. I feel that many concepts and story ideas were tossed away due to complicating the story, which was always going to focus on Asha trying to save the wishes of her fellow kingdom citizens with the help of a wishing star. I have read many articles and watched a few deleted scenes from the home release and here are my findings.

Starboy never got far in development as the book states that the team went down "a few blind alleys" that lead them to star having a human design for a period. This is probably the period in time where all the Starboy concept art came from and where a potential romantic subplot with Asha was kicked around. It was.

What did Starboy in was the team's choice to make them a shapeshifter as the team thought the character was way overpowered and thus the story lost a lot of dramatic tension (a choice I kind of agree with). It was here where the design team decided that Star needed an overhaul and brought the Story Development artists in and this is where Starboy died and plush Star was finalized.

There are no official storyboards that feature the Starboy designs.

At the start of Wish's production, Frozen 2 was entering it's final stage of production (this would be either late 2018 or early 2019) and was obviously the main focus for Disney animation not to mention projects like Raya and the Last Dragon, Strange World and Encanto were entering their mid development stages before the shutdown.

The effects of the global shutdown were not mentioned in the book, but I would not be shocked if production was affected by it.

Ariana DeBose has said that Wish did not need a love story as she said that,

“I think we live in a time where things are cyclical, right? And so, it’s good for variance and perspective. Not every female Disney character needs to have a go and ambition of simply finding a man to love her. There are more stories to tell.

"And especially in the world we live in today I think something like Wish, that has a broader outlook that talks about community, is just as important as talking about love. And there are so many different ways to love."

"You do see familiar love, love of friendship" in the movie, including the relationship between Asha and Star. Star and Asha have this beautiful connection with each other and so I think it’s good reminding people that not only we can tell different stories, we can also talk about love in different ways.”(source: Exclusive: Wish’s Ariana DeBose defends lack of romance in recent Disney movies (yahoo.com)) whether Ariana had any say on story or character development is unknown.

7. From what I read from the Art of Wish book, the story was always meant to be about Asha defying Magnifico to fight for the people of Rosas and their wishes.

8. As it pertains to "At All Costs", a song that many are saying was meant to be a love song between Asha and Star, in an article by Variety(Julia Michaels Wrote 'Wish' Theme Before the Script Even Existed (variety.com), it states that a love song was not in the film at the time of production and songwriter Julia Michaels "wanted to write a song that as a standalone sounded like a love song that could be played at weddings."

Michaels would go on to say, "How cool would it be if we wrote a song that if you listened to on its own, it sounds like a love song, it could be something you could play at your wedding, or be a lullaby to your kids, just something really beautiful, but when you watch the film, it’s the heroine and it’s the villain.” She continues, “You realize they’re coming about this both from various points, one from a very selfless standpoint and one from a selfish standpoint.”

9. In the same Variety article, it was revealed that for some time in 2020, no script existed for the movie, but Julia Michaels was asked to be the songwriter for the movie and that is where she pitched "This Wish" which would go on to be one of the first songs revealed for the movie.

10. the Variety article also had Jennifer Lee, head of Disney Animation and one of the writers on Wish, say that she wanted a song that showed "it felt like to hold someone’s wish in your hand. How do we viscerally understand that when you’re with them, you feel like you’re holding someone’s raison d’être?” that song would end it being "At All Costs"

11. September 9, 2022, D23 Expo in Anaheim California. This is where certain members of the public got a glimpse of the production of Wish. Jennifer Lee, writer and director Chris Buck, and co-director Fawn Veerasunthorn spoke about the movie and showed the first look of the finalized design of Star which ended up being the mute plush model that ended up in the movie. This means there was a 3-year gap where Starboy and the romance side plot were discussed then shelved.

It was also during this show where the public would learn that Ariana DeBuse would voice Asha and that Alan Tudyk, a staple of past Disney animated films, would have a featured role in the movie as Asha's pet goat Valentino, who would be able to talk thanks to Star's magic. It was also at that show where DuBose came out to sing "This Wish" but at the time the song was called "More for Us".

Magnifico was not revealed at the event but was teased as "one of the most formidable foes in Disney history" which is debatable to say the least.

12. 5 deleted scenes in total appear on the Wish digital and disc copies each introduced by head of story Mark Kennedy where he would describe why the scene got cut. One scene shows Amaya assisting Magnifico in his plan, tying into an early concept where she was a villain alongside him.

Another scene had Asha, Star (who in this scene could shape shift and talk) and Valentino try to sneak into Rosas before being spotted and chased by Amaya, once again acting antagonistic to Asha.

A scene had Magnifco gather the people of Rosas to demand Star be given to him, as he had never seen Star in this version, and Asha her friends try to distract him by having Valentino, who in this version had a more Steve Carell like voice, pretend to be Star while the real Star, who was voiced in this version and was designed as ball of light with eyes and mouth, was trying to free the captured wishes. This scene was changed because they wanted Magnifco to be more threatening and instead of asking the people for Star, he would capture Star. Kennedy would go on to say that they wanted Asha and Magnifico to be smart and that Asha would not do a plan that silly, and they wanted the climax to be Magnifico and Asha alone, so they set it on a platform high above Rosas.

The next scene featured an ally of Asha's named Flazino that was cut out in order to shrink her friend group and tied the group back to the seven dwarfs from Snow White.

Finally, there was a scene where Asha and her grandfather scaled a wishing tree with her grandfather Sabino that showcased their bond but also Sabino's insistence that Asha take down Magnifico.

Each of these scenes felt completely different to the movie that ended up being released.

13. It should be noted that Wish released only a short while after the 2023 Writers and Actors strikes, which meant that for most of the summer and fall of that year, the actors could not do any press for the movie and all marketing was done through ads, trailers and merchandise.

14. As revealed in an article for Disney twenty-three, a magazine for gold members of the Disney D23 Fanclub, in the early visual development stage, there was a test scene that Asha was briefly transported to the village from Pinocchio. This was done to see how the 3D character designs would match with the hand drawn, watercolor backgrounds of classic Disney movies.

15. In that same article, Chris Buck said that in regard to Magnifico's character development that they wanted the audience "to see the evolution of a villain, so he's not a monster from frame one". From what becomes of Magnifico I get what they tried to do, they wanted to show how a character falls into villainy even if they're intentions are good. It also stands with the modern writing style of Disney animation films trying to update classics, this time by having audiences start off by kind of liking the villain through their personality alone.

18. The article also briefly mentions that Star "went through many iterations" another hint of Starboy being considered as a final design.

19. In the Art of Wish book, there is a page that shows the script where Asha meets Star and Star is described as a "cuddly, 3D, five-pointed star." This would indicate that the Starboy concept never got to the scripting stages.

20. In Art of Wish, the reason why Star does not speak is because the film makers wanted to stick to a tenet of film making, show don't tell.

21. Star's face was inspired by the mask like face of early Mickey Mouse cartoons.

22. From all readings, it is safe to say that Asha was NEVER considered to be a princess in any of the iterations of the story as some writers felt it to be too safe of a choice and liked the idea of an ordinary citizen going against the established power of the king.

23. During production, the Disney CEO position changed twice as Bob Iger left the company in early 2020 and named Bob Chapek as his replacement before returning to the company in mid 2023. It is unknown if these changes had any effects of Wish's production as it was it stated development as Iger's first tenure was ending but took place during a majority of Chapek's time.

24. When Angelique Cabal, who voiced Amaya in Wish, first auditioned for the role the character in 2022 Amaya was written as a villain while Magnifico was supposed to be the good king. It was when she returned for the callback that Amaya was changed to what she ended up being in the movie. Source https://www.cinemablend.com/interviews/how-one-character-disney-wish-completely-changed-during-production

In closing, for fans of the Starboy concept, it saddens me to say that it looks the idea only made it as far as concept art as at the time of writing this, no animated sequences, scripts or storyboards have been released that had Star in a human design or discussed a romantic relationship with Asha. I believe the writing team found a romantic relationship between Star and Asha too complicated for the story and decided to simplify the relationship and design of Star to better suit the plot of Asha going against Magnifico. I am disappointed Wish did not go with the more interesting concepts but maybe down the line we'll get that cosmic Disney romance and a villain couple, it just has to work with the story.

I want to say thank you for those that made it to the end, this movie has been on my mind for quite a while and seeing all the re-writes, drawings and animations people have done for Starboy and Asha has been amazing to see. These works have inspired me to rewatch Wish at some point to see if Starboy could have worked in the movie with the story as is, and even share how I would have changed a few things in the story to fit the character and a romantic subplot with Asha plus an idea on how to bring in Starboy while still staying true to the established cannon.

I do hope others watch and enjoy Wish as from what I have read the team did put a lot of effort to makes this movie worthy of not only the high standards Disney animation has set, but as a piece of the 100-year story telling of the Walt Disney company. Film making is already hard enough as it is, especially in animation, but having to make a movie with an original concept and characters that still pays tribute to 100 years of storytelling is a daunting task and I understand and respect the choices they made when making the film and you should as well.

[kaiowut99]

Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters GX Episode 1 Subbed (Finalized Re-Release)

(Original Finalized Release Post)

(Check out my Subbed!GX Stream Masterpost!)

TURN-1: Yugi's Successor

On his way to the Entrance Exams for the Duel Academia High School, Judai Yuki meets the legendary duelist Yugi Mutou and receives a card from him. Running late, Judai arrives at the venue and requests to take his exam, but Instructor Chronos sees Judai's exam as pointless given his lackluster score on the written exam. A duel begins between Judai and Chronos, and Chronos's rare Antique Gear Golem card uses its powerful 3000 ATK to damage Judai. His back against the wall, Judai hears the voice of a Monster--which turns out to belong to the card he received from Yugi, Winged Kuriboh...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

...I first posted the original finalized version of this episode almost 10 years ago??? Time is an illusion...

Fresh off the presses, it's a re-finalized version of my episode 1 subs! Well, probably re-re-re-re-finalized given my penchant for consistency and quality after previous revisions in the past 2-3 years, between fixing a handful of animation errors and terminology revisions... But this one merited a new post not so much for any updated translations, but because after casually skimming through this episode a while back, I noticed more animation errors, all card-related, that I'm now able to fix as I have for episodes since. You know the deal with this one, I'm sure; new kid on the block bumps into the Game King himself as he runs late for his Academia exam and manages to hit one of the school's best with his skills--literally. Fun opening episode to a fun series.

With this, I'm hoping to officially call this episode finalized for good, mainly because the kind of annoying thing about doing further revisions now is that, thanks to my solid-state drive (SSD) failing in October of 2022, I lost my personal copies of the episode scripts with the ATK/DEF counters I stylize and all, so it means I have to cut/stitch together different parts of the episode between the fixes I applied and the previous hardsub to account for the stat-counter subs or the eyecatch subs I started doing--since the softsub MKVs I release don't have those specific subs, they're easier to update. So I hopefully shouldn't be touching anything before episode 84 (the first one I finalized after getting a new drive) again and those can ideally be considered finalized for good. I'm hoping I can also give that title to 84-109 (where I currently am), but I'd like to think I didn't miss anything, lol.

Anyway, as mentioned, this revision applies several card-related fixes to the episode, some of which replicate fixes 4Kids did for the dub that I took a cue from. The fixes were added to the last DVDRip I released, subsequently made into a new softsub MKV, both of which will be up on NAC soon with the updated hardsub. List below the cut below as always, for the interested~ (Nice thing with some of these is that the frame rate was usually consistent, which meant that editing most panning shots and the occasional zoom shots were usually more of a breeze than later on, haha.)

Enjoy, folks; with this out of the way, since it's been about two weeks since 108 and 109 were finished up, I'll start setting up stuff for finalizing 110 while doing a little more TFSP work here/there before I fully start on 110 sometime next week. Stay tuned!

Fixes & Edits!

*The bolded edits below were applied back in 2021 and were added into the original release post; adding them here for completeness.

Applied a card back to an orange rectangle that was a face-down card during the panning shot of the Exam Duels going on over the episode’s opening narration as it fades to Chronos watching, repeating the edit as it pans back around again before fading to Manjoume and Ryou/Asuka watching.

As Misawa's exam proctor says that he stands no chance against his Super Defense Deck, the blank-art cards on his Disk for Big Shield Guardna and Gear Golem the Moving Fortress are reversed (the wider side for the effect box should be on the right). Fixed by applying proxies on them for a frame in AfterEffects, masking in the card outlines for blending, before taking that frame into Sony Vegas and zooming it out for the zoom shot here.

As Misawa's Ring of Destruction destroys Vorse Raider, we see the smoke rush onto the proctor's side of the field--and as we do, we can quickly see the blank-art Big Shield Guardna and Gear Golem cards on his Disk are again reversed before the smoke covers them. Fixed first in AfterEffects by slapping the proxies on for a frame, then in Vegas by taking that frame into and keyframing it to the rapid panning shot for most of its 17 frames. (Incidentally, throughout this scene, a different error happens in the dub, where aside from keeping the cards' orientation on the proctor's Disk incorrect, they also shuffle between Gear Golem and Big Shield Gardna being Normal or Effect Monsters--bit of an identity crisis!)

Fixed the error with Misawa’s LP dropping to zero after he uses Ring of Destruction to finish his Exam Duel; should have dropped to 1300.

After the proctor's LP drop to zero, he congratulates Misawa on his win, but the Gear Golem card on his Disk is reversed. Fixed first in AfterEffects by applying my proxy for a few frames, then taking one of those frames into Vegas to lightly keyframe as the shot pans left. (As a fun editing aside, I could tell 4Kids likely edited this in a similar way to how I did because as the cards fade out, you can briefly see some residue of Manjoume's hair outline on Big Shield Gardna's card which they didn't cover up; I definitely made sure I went the extra mile with redrawing the arena floor to cover that haha.)

After Misawa thanks the proctor, we zoom out to Manjoume in the stands as the Solid Vision fades out, but the cards under Big Shield Guardna and Gear Golem are--you guessed it--reversed. Fixed in a few ways, with the goal being to redo Big Shield Guardna and Gear Golem fading out--first, in Vegas, I took the first frame after they're gone and zoomed it into place at the start of the zoom, which let me cover up Gear Golem and most of Big Shield Guardna, but because Manjoume's hair moves upward as the shot zooms out, doing this means I couldn't fully cover it. So, I then took this first post-fadeout frame into Photoshop, where I used the Clone Tool to duplicate the arena floor and cover up the rest of Big Shield Guardna, reinserting it into Vegas and applying the zoom keyframes I did to the earlier frames to it--this lets my edited frame properly zoom out with the shot. Once done, I went into AfterEffects and applied the Big Shield and Gear Golem proxies onto the shot's first frame, masking them above the cards, then took that frame into Vegas to zoom out with the shot (rather easily, luckily, thanks to the frame rate note I mentioned up top), masked out Big Shield and Gear Golem and made them fade out into the edited frame in the layer below. With that set, all I had left was to go back and mask Manjoume's hair back above the edits for the duration of the fade, which was pretty easy, and boom goes the dynamite.

After Judai's duel with Chronos starts, he summons out Elemental Hero Featherman, but the card gets placed reversed on his Disk. Fixed in AfterEffects by applying a proxy first to one frame during the initial light zoom-out in the shot, taking the fixed frame into Vegas to re-zoom and hold once the zoom was over.

Chronos reacts to Featherman's summon, and as Featherman lands in front of Judai, his card on his Disk is reversed again, but also as the screen pans right, for a few frames as Judai moves to then place a card face-down, the shadow under his left leg goes from being more gray to black, turning back to gray once he stops moving. Fixed in AfterEffects first by placing a correctly facing proxy on his Disk for a frame, which I then took into Vegas and re-panned into the shot; while in Vegas, I then masked in the gray leg shadow over the black, masking in part of Featherman's ATK/DEF counter over the edit to blend it in.

In the next shot, as Judai ends his turn and their LP counters pop up, the Featherman card under him on the field is reversed; fixed in AfterEffects by slapping in a proxy, masking Featherman back in above it.

[cont below]

(10) After Chronos uses Confiscation, as he sends Judai's Revival of the Dead/Monster Reborn to his Cemetery, a few things happen: 1) the Featherman card on his field under him on the field is facing Chronos in Attack Mode, and 2) it's in the wrong Zone on Judai's Disk, as it should be in Monster Zone 3. I fixed this a few ways, first fixing the Featherman-on-field aspect in AfterEffects, applying a Defense-Mode proxy under Featherman and masking him and Judai back over it; I then took a cue from 4Kids and took the frame immediately after his Cemetery stops being lit up (but before Judai starts to move) and the frames as Judai moves into Photoshop, where I copied the empty Zone 1 into place over Zone 2, blending it in with some minor editing, and combined it with the AfterEffects edit I then did by applying a Featherman proxy in Defense Mode to Zone 3. After throwing everything into Vegas, I then applied some masking to a solid-white color layer to replicate the lights coming from Judai's Cemetery slot (helped by the fact that, luckily, the lights don't move). (The dub, for their part, only handled the Disk aspect, applying a weird light to cover up their Zone 2 edit while the Graveyard was lit up, leaving the Featherman card on the field as it originally was, OCG format and all lol.)

(11) Chronos activating Heavy Storm causes a huge storm of wind on the field, and as it gets to Judai's field, we see that the Defense-Mode Featherman card on the field under Featherman is reversed. Fixed first in AfterEffects, applying a proxy in a frame where most of the card was visible and masking Featherman back above it, then taking that frame into Vegas where I first redid the panning that happens, then I created a solid-color layer colored like the wind and applied some masking to replicate the gusts of wind that blow over the card.

(12) After Chronos summons his Wicked Lord Tokens and the crowd reacts, the smoke on the field from their summon simmers down, but the Featherman card under Featherman is reversed again. Fixed in AfterEffects by applying a correctly facing proxy and then masking Featherman back on top.

(13) After the commercial break, fixed the error with a Ra Yellow student’s miscolored jacket as he and the others watch Antique Gear Golem being summoned, thanks to thepalebride’s help.

(14) After crowd reaction to Antique Gear Golem being summoned, Asuka looks out onto the field and says she unfortunately heard the sound of the Academia's gates closing shut for Judai--as she does, we see that the blank-art card under Featherman is reversed. Fixed first in AfterEffects by applying a proxy under him in the first frame of the shot and masking him back on top, then taking that frame into Vegas where I re-panned it as the shot pans upward.

(15) After a brief blush, Judai summons out Winged Kuriboh, but he places it reversed on his Disk--and in the very next shot, it's correctly facing such that its name box is to our left. Fixed in AfterEffects by applying a proxy as he places it on his Disk, masking his fingers over it.

(16) After Antique Gear Golem destroys Winged Kuriboh and Judai tells Chronos that it reduces his damage to zero--to Asuka's shock--Judai takes Winged Kuriboh off his Disk and places it in his Cemetery slot in a quick shot, but the card is reversed again. Also fixed by 4Kids, I fixed this in AfterEffects by applying a proxy facing correctly in the frames in which Judai moves it.

(17) After summoning Flame Wingman, and after some taunting from Chronos, Judai activates an arena as heroic as he is in Skyscraper, but as he does so, Flame Wingman is missing from his Disk, as it should be in Zone 3. Fixed first in AfterEffects by applying a proxy (after finding the best-quality screenshot of Wingman's anime art and touching it up using an AI tool [I think I settled on Waifu]), fading it in as the scene fades from the Judai closeup to Judai about to swing his Disk around, and adding it as he does so, then applying a brightening and dimming as the Solid Vision lights go on around him. Once I did that, I went into Vegas and applied some masking on the little flickers that pop up over that zone to blend the edit in. (Side-Note: while dubifying the Skyscraper card in Judai's hand, 4Kids forgot to mask in his thumb over it, begging the question... how is Jaden holding that?)

(18) Fixed the blank Normal Monster card that should be Flame Wingman, both as Antique Gear Golem crashes onto Chronos and as the duel fades to an end.

[moonspirit]

Hello! I'm super late to the aot and aruani train (having just binged the entire show start to finish like 2 months ago over 4 days lmao) but I just gotta say that I really enjoyed your Fort Salta series! Annie and Armin were legit my favourites already during my first watch of the anime, and it really saddened me to know that it seems alot of people online really hate Annie? Like (no hate on any other characters) but Annie is legit best girl how tf can people hate on her ;-; Anyways, I've been ecstatic since I've found your fics and blog along with many others (shoutout to distortedclouds and flailingkittylover too!!) bc it felt like I finally found my people - good to know I'm not the only one brain-rotting from this show and especially over these two xD I've been dying to talk to someone about this recent discovery of mine since I've started reading the manga though...did you know that Armin has been taller than Annie since even before she was crystalized?? In the anime he's like the shortest person pre-timeskip beside Historia, but turns out it's not the case in the manga! In volume 8 when Armin confronts Annie in Stohess, he's clearly drawn to be slightly taller than her in the scene - I thought it was just a perspective error, but it's drawn that way over multiple pages so it's definitely intended! Makes the whole height/size difference thing even more adorable omg ;-;

Ahhh hello there! First off: Welcome, welcome to the Aot fandom, and the AruAni fandom in particular! No time is too late, we're all happy to have one new aruani fan join in haha xD

I agree that while it's very sad seeing the Annie haters, it's best to ignore them. They may have their reasons or not (tho tbh, those of us in the Annie/AruAni fandom would say they just have a very poor or nil understanding of her character). Annie's an extremely well written character honestly; @distortedclouds and I once had this conversation where she was talking about how Isayama managed to give Annie flawless character development in spite of portraying her as the non-typical badass female (in that she doesn't have huge, heroic ambitions and etc) - and I agreed wholeheartedly. Annie's very strong and lethal, but in her vulnerability and desire to be loved and wanted, I think we can all see a bit of ourselves.

Wait I digressed xD My point: Annie's best girl, and we stay away from the haters and stick to worshipping her. Strengthening the Temple of Annie Leonhardt must be our ultimate goal.

I would go on a rant about Armin too being the best, bestest, bestestest boy, and of our other goal of strengthening the Temple of Armin Arlert, but that is for another post, maybe xD

Regarding the height difference! I believe it's an established fact that Armin has always been taller than Annie, right from the beginning. If I remember right, the official Character Guidebook (2014) which was based on the first 11 volumes of the manga, listed Armin as 163cms while Annie was 153. While he's one of the shortest among the boys in general (and post-timeskip he's taller than Levi), he's been at least a whole head taller than Annie ever since they joined the military. Post timeskip, he's 169cms while Annie remains apparently unchanged, so the gap is larger, and likely to grow an inch or two more (since he's only 19). Anyway, yes it's fucking cute, and don't get me started on the size difference 🫠🫠🫠

Once again, welcome to the aruani fandom here, there's lots of lovely people with great blogs writing fics, making art, brainrotting 24/7 and posting about AruAni all the time, and we're very happy to have you be a part of it, here!

And thank you so much for reading the Fort Salta series T/////T I'm very grateful.

[katmaibearfan]

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Whats your main blog?

@caseyscraftycorner -- i mostly reblog stuff but also post about fiber arts, board games, ttrpgs (note: not d&d 5e), and various musings.

Right now, the bear in my profile picture is 806jr and the bear in my header image is 151 Walker. The photos are screenshots from the Explore.org cams and were taken by me in fall 2023.

How do you know so much about the bears?

See the media links in my new pinned post. It's all just those and the powers of autism and adhd.

When did you start watching the bear cams?

I started watching them (or highlights re-posted to youtube) occasionally back in 2019, after 435 Holly won Fat Bear Week, but it wasn't until this past year that i really got into them.

How do you find so much time to watch the live cams and post about them?

I'm unable to work due to a combination of physical, developmental, and mental illness disabilities, and I need to fill my time somehow. Also, it's good background noise to have on when I'm crocheting/knitting/making pixel art.

How many bears can you identify?

It depends on some specific circumstances, but i'd say i can generally identify about a dozen of the bears at Brook's River. This might sounds like a lot, but keep in mind that nearly 80 non-cub bears have been seen on the cams so far this season.

Can you identify this bear for me?

Nope! Your best bet is to check the comments on the live cams for an ID. That's where I get about 90% of the IDs in my posts from.

You blocked me/my friend, what gives?

if I have blocked someone it's probably because I saw something transphobic on their blog. I'm a nonbinary man, so transphobes will be blocked on sight. I also block blogs that are blank, to reduce bots. The only other situation in which I block people is when they post about hunting bears specifically, but this is really uncommon for me to run in to and as such is not likely to be the answer.

Questions About Blog Language & Topics

Why do you list most bears' ages as X.5 years?

Brown Bears are born in mid-winter, and we see them between late June and late October, so it's more accurate. it's also the terminology used by Katmai, particularly for cubs.

Why do only some bears have names, and are those official or unofficial names?

All bears that frequent Brooks Falls have numbers, but only some have names. The older bears with names (Holly, Otis, Chunk, Grazer) were largely named by rangers at Katmai. However, the NPS has moved away from naming monitored animals, due to the issue of subconscious pet-ification or humanization of wild animals by humans. You can read more about their position here. Young bears with names, like 4.5 year olds 428 Studious and 429 Social, are named by the bear cam viewers and not staff at Katmai, so their names are unofficial.

Which bears are related to who/are there any family trees/is 856 503's father/etc

Bear pregnancy is complicated. Two bears from the same litter can be from two different fathers, and both sows and boars mate with multiple partners during mating season. Therefore, any ideas about any boar being any specific bear's father is purely speculation unless we have DNA evidence.

In addition, unless we see a cub with their mother in early summer and then they separate shortly afterwards, saying that any specific subadult was any specific cub is also generally speculation (unless there is DNA evidence) due to the fact that by the time we see them, it has been 6 months, and young bears do a lot of growing and changing in that time. The guesswork we do here is more reliable than guessing fathers, but it is still fundamentally guesswork. There are DNA collection efforts every few years at Katmai, to monitor the genetic diversity of the bears in the area, but not enough bears have had their DNA collected at this point to accurately map most families at this time.

[vinnsley]

Hello can you do a few HCs for Clara, Ife, You Yan, Drew, Falken or Gaius?

MORE DREW CONTENT??? yall drew fans THIRSTY 😭😭 anyways, going to do clara and drew, changing up a bit and doing 2 since i wanna improve my imagination ive been burned out lately. (ty especially for ur support, i see you like my works and keep requesting tysm!)sorry if i make any spelling errors!!

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

~~Clara n Drew (separate) HC's~~

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

-clara-

okay, first off, she has a reputation. A VERY HIGH ONE AT THAT. so she keeps everything lowkey, but in private she dosent mind the pda and love <3

claras favourite thing to do is cane dance, so she would ask if you would like to cane dance with her (if you cant cane dance or dont even know what that is (like me) then she'll teach you)

if you get hurt she will always be the first person to aid you, esper or not

but if you get hurt easily or very often she will try to prevent these times to happen, dont know how but she will

okay this is random but i see that whenever you stare at her breasts (like come on dont deny it you would, look at the official art on the wiki or official page😭) she just gives you a teasy smile and asks if you like the view, trying to catch you off guard

if you steal her hat, glasses and try to act like her in the mirror and she finds out, she will watch you (in secret) and when she tells you that she knows about you acting like her infront of the mirror she actually either compliments your acting OR give you positive criticism like what you need to work on, etc.

she likes peacocks, so she will take you to a peacock petting place (probs dont exist but shh) as a date, she finds peacocks as beautiful animals and always teases you by saying

"I always thought peacocks were beautiful, that was until i met you of course."

smooth woman right here

i easily think her love language is gift giving, so dont be suprised if you see chocolate, trinkets, pins, hats or small accsesories on your desk at home ;)

all in all shes a very caring and loving girlfriend <33

-Drew-

more drew headcanons yall are making me lose ideas for this man

i always say hes the perfect boyfriend material, but its true so ill say it again

my mans tall, hes 180cm so if youre shorter than him if you allow it, he'll put his head on your head

if you hold his hand or give him a kiss on the cheek as a good luck before a mission in public, he would freeze and blush, poor man cant handle your cuteness

you two would for sure bake/cook together

if you make him a mousse cake (his favourite) he wouls go nuts in a good way

blushing and admiring the hard work you put into it

if it tastes good or even bad he would still eat it, he dosent care at all you put your hard work into this just for him so he would, with pleasure, eat the cake no matter its taste or looks. its the thought that counts after all

if you become injured he would try to help you, he did serve a rich family so he of course knows some basic medic care. (dont know if thats the right term but lets stick to it okay...) if he knows he cant help, he'll put you into the unions medical cares arms and wait until you fully recovered to actually check up you himself

he does care really, but if youre not an esper thats in the union, you might barely see him

he does work for the union after all, he has missions to complete and peoples life could depend on it

so as i said maybe he wouldnt have time to be with you, but he does send you letters about his missions, well-being and some hi's and miss you's from the other union members

he did introduce his sweet partner to his friends after all

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

A/N: i had to reedit this after i posted this like 7 times because of my fast typing😭

im running out of drew headcanons, you guys are milking me out of them 😭, anyways sorry for being offline for a while, i was busy + didnt have any motivation/requests to do, i do have an old one im working on later!

Tysm for reading, likes and reblogs are appreciated!

[un-pearable]

Hi! Uh, I want to get into Sonic. Any shows/games you would reccomend starting with? An order? Also!! What's your favorite iteration of sonic (if you have one)

i think this might be THE question every sonic fan is dying to be asked. that is to say, hell yeah it would be my pleasure to make some recommendations >:] 

best things to try as a very first introduction to the hedgehog and friends (that are still relatively bitesized or accessible): 

the official animations for sonic mania, team sonic racing, chao in space, sonic colors, and most recently sonic frontiers. personal favorites are chao in space bc its adorable and frontiers for… obvious (knuckles) reasons (it’s about knuckles). these are short and sweet and absolutely adorable so they’re always some of the first things i recommend :] check ‘em out if you can - you won’t regret it. 

on that topic, Sonic Frontiers is a solid place to start with the games! it’s the most recent release so there’s currently a demo available on switch and it’s also on sale on steam right now (until Feb 13th!). few of the games directly lead into each other so picking specific games to start with is more down to personal taste, i’ll go into more detail if you’d like but for an introduction to the series? frontiers has been very well received and many consider it a return to form after the last few games, so it’s a good place to pick up the series! EDIT: I FORGOT ABOUT GENERATIONS. sonic generations is basically a Best-Of compilation of sonic’s most well known stages and it’s also perfect for a first time player. it was MY first game. how on earth did i forget about it. anyway it’s also on steam and it kicks ass!!!

alternately, much of the franchise was codified in the adventure games, so if you prefer starting at the beginning, they’re big recommendations as well! both Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2 are on steam and MANY playthroughs are online. SA2 was also the first of the sonic fandubs, so if you’ve seen any of those memes that’s where they’re from. 

also, if you’re into zelda games you’ll probably love frontiers. but if you prefer 2D/pixel art games, Sonic Origins just came out last summer and contains rereleases of the first four sonic games and Mania is always a fun option! alternately, try here for a taste of sonic 2 :] 

comics!! comics!!!!! the IDW Sonic The Hedgehog comics are killing it lately and double as canon and ridiculously fun. the first arc is issues 1-12 and if that won’t sell you on this funky little guy, well, there’s a lot more options too! you can find the IDW run here - but support your local comic shop if you can! 

for a little more bite-sized try the recent miniseries scrapnik island! it’s standalone from the main storyline and considering you’re a ninjago fan i think you’ll enjoy a fun story about morally complex robots :D 

the Archie series is amazing at times and so bad it’s funny at others - but what isn’t? while i am a HUGE fan it does require quite a bit of time and investment. other recommendations from the 300 issue+ legacy of sonic comics are available on request (i do not know how to shut up <3) 

tv shows!! Sonic Prime just released on Netflix and it slaps. not the most traditional sonic but it’s fun as hell and ongoing - we’re only ⅓ into the first season and there’s at least two guaranteed. the animation is astounding and it’s coincidentally produced by wildbrain just like current ninjago. i edited one of it’s kickass fight scenes here 

this is almost certainly far more than you need but i love talking about this series so thanks for humoring me :] i hope you enjoy them!! hmmm… they’ve all got their own appeal to me but lately i’ve been watching a lot of playthroughs while drawing (and i eagerly await the frontiers dlc so i have an excuse to replay it) and i think atm game sonic’s my favorite! the comics are delightful and the shows always have their own twists but i love good ‘ol game sonic… the others are more than just facets of his character and have their own great stories, but there’s something special about the original. this message brought to you by how absolutely astounding his characterization is in Sonic Unleashed. we missed you big guy. hope you have fun!! 

[canmom]

Animation Night 160: Calarts student films, 2023

Good evening friends! Today is a crazy busy day so the introduction will be very minimal (I'm writing this on my phone on a train lol), but I still wanna run Animation Night, so here's the plan.

First up though! In a week's time I'm going to the Annecy International Animated Film Festival, which takes place in the town of Annecy, next to Annecy Lake, in the southeast of France near the Swiss border. Two years ago, during the height of the pandemic, Annecy ran a partly-online version of the film festival and I had a great time watching all their short films; now I've finally been able to save up enough to go for real! It's crazy exciting and a little scary, I haven't been to anything even resembling a film festival since the nine worlds convention nearly a decade ago now ^^'

So, I don't know whether it will be practical to run Animation Night from my hotel, it would be good if I could but it may have to be the first week we miss in more than three years T_T. But, if you're by any chance also coming to Annecy and would like to hang out, I would love to have some people to meet there ^^ And you can bet I'll be writing all about it on here.

Anyway... As you know unless you're a space alien (in which case, hi!), every year animation students go to animation schools to learn this ridiculous art form. One of the most effective ways to learn to make animated films is to... make animated films, going through the whole process from planning to finishing. The schools thus dedicate a large portion of each year to having their students make a short film, typically a few minutes long.

Different schools handle this process in different ways. At Gobelins in France, the students form small teams and work on a film together, and given how consistent and polished their films tend to be, I assume they're quite closely supervised. This is not true elsewhere...

CalArts, near LA, is another one of the most prestigious schools, and a lot of renowned animators both in the states and even internationally (e.g. sakuga stars like Weilin Zhang and Curie Lu) went there - which leads to design trends in American animation (notably the 'bean head') sometimes getting spuriously attributed to a CalArts house style, rather than studio execs being very conservative in what they'll approve.

Compared to Gobelins, it seems that CalArts students tend to make their films largely solo, or at least in much smaller groups, and they're also made every year rather than just for graduation. The results tend to be wildly varied in both style and content, depending on what the students bring. They might be a lot more raw, but that also gives the possibility of really unique and unexpected stuff, and equally I find it interesting to see people at an earlier stage on the road...

So. A year ago on AN109 we watched through the playlist, and saw some real delights like Operago. Tonight I think it would be fun to check out this year's offerings. Unlike Gobelins, which releases everything on its official channel, CalArts students tend to put their films up on personal channels which means finding them can be a bit fiddly. But for a preview, check out this list someone made; at 35 films it's probably very incomplete so I'll be searching for more that are missing. Besides the Gobelins, I have a few other short films to show so we should have plenty to watch.

I'll be starting late, probably around midnight UK time, which is about 4pm in California; apologies that it just isn't possible to start earlier ^^' The place will be twitch.tv/canmom as ever, hope to see you there!

(And if you'd like something else to watch in the meantime, my vtuber friend Yuri Heart is gonna be on tonight too starting around 10:30, and I know she'd also appreciate some company!)

[runfast-runfar]

Daily Things ☕️ 🥬 🍋 📓 🐱

3/12/23

✨ there have been so really really good positive things in life lately, as well as some really really dark and difficult things happening lately too.

✨ we will start with the good! I officially got hired at my job as a full time, permanent employee!!! I was a temp to hire since November, and last week I was officially offered the position! The company I work for is a start up that has been around for 6 years now, and will be going public by 2025 at the latest. The goal is mid 2024 but by 2025! Which is very exciting! I’m one of ~150 employees, the benefits offered are great, a 401k, I get unlimited PTO, and stocks in the company! And my starting salary is pretty generous for my first job out of college. Bay Area is insanely expensive so it’s not the most amazing pay considering that, but it is higher than a loooot of jobs base pay here regardless. (Peep my daily mornings at work that consist of almond milk/matcha/banana/spinach smoothies, and lots of coffee!)

✨ finished my first piece from my art class! My little lemons using watercolor are officially done!! I love it tbh!

✨ it’s been rainy and gloomy for a little while now, so this morning I took myself to a little local coffee shop, and I challenged myself to get a higher cal drink. So I got an oat milk mocha and it was so so tasty (and cute!) While there I did some reading and people watched (sounds a little weird but honestly I love seeing others interacting with each other and you see so many sweet moments). And then after that I went to paper source and got myself a new journal (just finished my last one!) and I got two new Jellycat friends! I got my little journal the giraffe pal, and my drawing donkey pal! I have stuffed animals that I have in my lap/hold while doing various things. It’s a newer thing but honestly it’s been a huge stimulation helper to have them as fidget/comfort items. So the donkey I have when I draw, and the giraffe I have on me while journaling. (I have a finley bear jellycat I have while playing animal crossings, a Yamper plush for playing/watching Pokémon, a weighted Pluto when watching any Disney movies, Corti my cat jellycat when I take medication each day, and then my oldest stuffed animal Spotty I sleep with. Having them for specific tasks honestly has been really really comforting and nice!)

✨ food has been really really hard. Body image has been really really hard. On the days I manage to eat a bit more than normal I can’t keep the exercise down. And on the days I cap the exercise, I can’t eat more than my safe amount. And it’s made life incredibly difficult. A coworker of mine has noticed the food stuff and while it’s a bit helpful to confide to someone about some of it, it also makes it a bit harder to be getting somewhat monitored about it now. But, I have made the decision with the support of that friend, and my therapist, to enter a treatment program. I still have to ensure my insurance will check out, but if it does, there is an outpatient program I can partake in in the evenings 5 days a week that will work with my work schedule. So we will see how that all turns out.

✨ anyway, I came home after my little morning outing, did two 45 minute peloton classes, then did laundry and watched Mean Girls! And now I’m in bed drinking peppermint tea and watching a documentary on Netflix.

[kelmcdonald]

August Newsletter: Back From Comic Con

Hi everyone! And welcome to everyone who signed up for my newsletter at San Diego Comic Con. It was fun to see a San Diego Comic Con where comics were the focus again.  If you're new here I'm making these comics:

Blue Moon is a werewolf romance gn I'm writing and Meredith McClarren is going to draw. I'm late on its script. 

The City Between is my webcomic about werewolves in the future. It updates Wednesdays. The current story is called Shards of Reflection. 

You are the Chosen One is a fantasy comic about 23 kids who got the same prophecy dream. It was posting on Fridays on my Patreon. But my editorial work has been piling up/overwhelming me lately. So it's on hold until I finish up some other stuff. 

My day job is an editor at the manga company Seven Seas and the indie comic publisher Iron Circus Comics. I like folklore, fantasy, and especially like werewolves. 

This month I'm making tweaks to my website. So we finished some more minor switches like adding more social media buttons to the top bar. But this month we are gonna revamp the store section. Speaking of the store, Misfits of Avalon volume 1 is out of print. I just sent the last ten copies to White Squirrel who handles my store fulfillment. I'm not gonna sell it at cons anymore. In about a year or so, I'll probably talk to Darkhorse about putting it back online and printing an omnibus. 

This month's werewolf movie is The Howling 2. I'm showing it in my discord server August 30th at 5pm PST. Pop in to join if you like!   

As always I'll be streaming art on Twitch. My schedule is currently the following:

Tuesday 8pm-10pm PST

Wednesday 8pm-10pm PST

Thursday 6pm-9pm PST (during the Iron Circus Geekshow)

On August 24th, we'll have Tracy Butler of Lackadaisy Cats on Iron Circus Geekshow as a guest to close out the wildly successful Iron Circus crowdfund for Lackadaisy Season 1.

So last month I was too wiped to post photos of going to the Del Tor that I went to in June. But I sat down and put them in a drive that anyone can browse. So have a look if you wanna see some of the puppets used in the Pinnocino movie. 

While I was at San Diego Comic Con, I went to a Junji Ito exhibit. It was very cool seeing his originals. I always think its cool to see how different artists end up using white out or what needs correcting. All the photos I took during SDCC are also in a drive for you to browse. 

If you just want to see cosplayers though and not horror art I posted cosplay photos on my instagram.

As for what I'm working on, I'm still playing catch up on stuff from shake ups at Iron Circus Comics. So I'm officially putting You are the Chosen One on hold until I have Blue Moon scripted. I might put it on hold longer because I realize I'm almost half way through Shards of Reflection and haven't finished the next City Between stories's script. I'm pretty sure more people read/are interested in The City Between than You are the Chosen One. So it's got to take priority. 

Some time this month I need to find time to clean up Murky Water. It got it's first proofreading pass and I need to fix text. Then I need to start building a crowdfund for it and decide when and where to run it. Iron Circus has been having good luck with Backerkit, but it's back end is overly complicated in my opinion. Meanwhile, I said last year that I probably wasn't gonna use Kickstarter again because of them moving to the blockchain. They have kinda walked that back, but not 100%. Either this month or next, I'll type something up and ask what you all think of both platforms. 

With all this on my plate, I haven't had much time to check out new stuff. Plus with the writers/actor strike, I don't want to promo any TV or Movies I've been watching. The makes my what I've been checking out section pretty focused/brief. 

I started reading Berserk. 

And it's really really good.

If you are unfamiliar with Berserk, it's a classic manga/anime. And about a year ago it's creator, Kentaro Miura, died. Since then more and more people online have been giving it new attention and encouraged people to sit down and read it. The youtuber Super Eyepatch Wolf had a video that got me interested, Then FD Signifier brought it up in his videoessay about masculinity and anime. And then War Rocket Ajax reviewed it on Comic Catch up. So I pulled the trigger and read a big chunk of it. 

And like I said, it's really really. It's extremely violent and frequently indulges in edge lord levels of grim dark. So skip it if you don't like extreme violence. But there is some beautiful character moments that are all the more touching because they contrast the violence. 

It's just some really good comic storytelling. 

That's it for this month. Thanks everyone for your support!

[chromochaotic]

Reads of 2023 Part II (so far)

i was sad i couldn't fit all the cover pictures in my Part I post without it going off the screen, so might as well split it into 2 posts! update as of 6/11!

thoughts/reviews:

Heaven Official's Blessing: Volume 1

It's happening! My friends have been deep in this author's works/fandom for a while now, I'm pretty late to the party... Well, I guess I've dabbled in some of the animated/live action content that's out there for the different series. Anyway, this was a fun read! There's something so lush about historical dramas that definitely comes through here. When you add in the bits of humor and adventure, the whole story is really refreshing.

Even though the translation is still a tiny bit unprofessional, it's clearer than other options, haha. I was able to get a way better sense of the world and characters on this attempt (I had a good time watching the animated show! But as my friend put it, the season moved lightning fast, so it brushed over a lot of things). I don't have any other real nitpicks, other than like... the odd sexism that pops up now and then. Lmao

I am ofc in love with the main characters... They invented love... They invented devotion... I'm also delighted by the pace of things! Their relationship has managed to be both teasingly slow (like, the gradual reveal of Hua Cheng's true identity) but also very satisfyingly forward (the escorting!! the painting!! the righteous anger!!). Excited to see where things go with them, and the rest of the cast! (3.5/5—would be a 4, but the translation still kind of hampers things.)

Naomi Vandoren's Forest of Light

The second art book I bought from this artist! Same thoughts as before; for a quick browse, this was a refreshing little collection. Her style is just nice and soothing, with some fun surrealism/dreamscape vibes thrown in.

I'm not sure I'll buy any more of these, since the book didn't add quite as much insight into the works as I was hoping. Plus some of the concepts don't really resonate with me/seem that well researched...

I think one of my favorite things included was this abstract work the artist did—she wrote that she started with random watercolor mark-making, and then turned that into a piece. Those were very cool explorations! (2.5/5)

Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Last Olympian

Done!! With the series! (Unless... It looks like there might be some followups to the main story?) I understand why the darker tone got dialed up, and other than the excursion with Nico, why the story kind of broke from the wacky-roadtrip vibe of the others. It made sense, while still keeping some of the lighthearted narration from the others, which was nice. I think what I appreciate the most about the series is the fun it has with its world. (Side note—I watched the movie based on the first book recently, and I can only assume it didn't do well! Bc omg, it completely missed the mood of the books. Instead of lingering on the whimsy, they focused on... making Grover a very cringey stereotype? Nah.) (ALSO??? THEY CUT OUT MY DAUGHTER CLARISSE????? THE AUDACITY???????)

I think my biggest gripe with the book was the very weird way the Annabeth-Percy-Rachel dynamic was handled. Like, it just got kind of tiring after a bit, especially with the way Annabeth acted so uncharacteristically catty at times. Plus, like, Percy's off falling in love with Calypso after like 5 minutes, the girl is right that he's kind of flighty. Rachel's ending also felt, just... eh.

Other than that, I was very into the last book!! There were some really moving character moments, like, Nico struggling with his place in the story, everything we learned about Luke... AND THE BIGGEST MASTERSTROKE OF ALL!!! I have been waiting to scream about the sapphic Patrochilles take??? At the end??? Clarisse has two hands and she can hold both Chris's and Silena's. She was moved to go into battle!!!! For her!!!!! She defeated one of the most terrifying foes in NO ARMOR just with a SICK ASS SPEAR and I LOVE HER. Anyway no notes, except they better do Clarisse justice in the new adaptation or I will riot. (4/5)

Secrets of the Oak Woodlands

Ooo I'm out of practice doing these reviews... Mostly from a funny cocktail of outside factors slowing me down, but also because nonfiction can be such a slog for me to get through. Tragic, because I do want to learn more ecology, I'm just... bad at it. Anyway! Bought this book on a fun West Coast road trip, I think I picked this up in the Sequoia National Park gift shop? The writing itself is great, especially how it tackles some pretty complex concepts in a way that's approachable. The book doesn't feel like Baby's First Nature Guide, but it also doesn't completely lose me when it explores why coyote populations actually rise when they're hunted or why Oak Mistletoe is a keystone species.

Even though the watercolor illustrations in the book were lovely, I sort of wish the visuals could have focused more on the tougher scientific concepts being explained. Like, instead of the illustrated "anecdote" of a quail sitting sentry, it could have been good to have a cross-section diagram of an oak gall or something. I guess it's always hard to balance interest and clarity in scientific writing, though. Overall, I think this was a pretty good eco-starter book! I'm just a square peg trying to force myself into a round hole, reading these nonfiction books. (So... 3/5?)

The Dragon's Bride

Hoo boy... Hoo boy... Listened to this audiobook at the recommendation of my friend who's very into erotica/romances. Which was an adventure, for me! To start with the good points, I really like the founding premise of this whole world/story. Deals with demons walk that perfect line for me of intricate and taboo power dynamics—and at the same time, the author satisfied my inner hopeless romantic by making all the demons (that we've met so far, at least) morally viable! So yeah, the world building and characterization is really nice, tbh.

I think my two sticking points are the smut itself, and that I didn't find these particular protags very compelling... It's interesting comparing this to, say, an above-average smut fic. On the one hand this has better prose, but on the other hand the smut veered into being a little too flowery now and then... (not to say all the sex scenes were like that. Uh. There were some choice ones.) I also personally found the frequency of the sex scenes a little ridiculous, but for most people that's probably a positive! 😂 And then, when it comes to the main characters themselves, I think they were well-rounded and the dynamic itself made sense. The personalities just aren't the kind I normally latch onto, though—they're not my blorbos, you know? So, where I'd go into a smut fic already attached (and therefore more into the smut itself), these... I could take it or leave it, haha.

That said, this installment did pique my interest for others in the series. I'm curious about the one with the succubus........ And the one with Eve..................... Those tidbits seem more up my alley. :] Also, the voice acting was pretty fun, tbh. They got separate VAs for Briar and Sol, the two POV characters, and they knocked it out of the park (even/especially in the smut scenes)! (well, except for a very funny instance where the guy VA had to voice Briar's lines in a smut scene in a Sol POV chapter. Damn, did he try.) Might pick up one of the other installments... if they come out on audiobook! (3.5/5)

Legends & Lattes

Another recommendation!! From a different friend! Apparently this book is popular on booktok but since booktok sounds like a cesspool (not really—pls don't come for me) I'm glad I didn't know that going in. As a purveyor and avid consumer of slice-of-life fluff.......... I loved this!!! First of all, the main character is My Kind of Girl, and exactly the kind of character I want to see getting a happy ending. Then, the rest of cast provided so many different kinds of delight—the warm Found Family feeling of a grumpy kind father figure and an adorable little Creature baking actual cinnamon rolls and a prim but secretly dorky girlfriend and and and—so many greats! Even the antagonists were enjoyable, in their way.

Hmmm... for the negative part of my postive-negative-positive sandwich, I think I'd just echo what I've seen in a few other reviews—I could have done with a teensy bit more of the romance. Or I guess, more of the cuteness of it? All we really got was a little bit of lead-up and then a big get-together, but I feel like the romance scenes I like most (shy flirting, a tiny bit of pining) got sort of skipped over. It's not a huge negative! Especially for this story, which seemed like it hit exactly the balance the author intended. Yeah, I might have just had the epilogue cover the main ship being cute and in love, instead of the little righteous vengeance scene that we got.

So this was a perfect little comfort listen (audiobook again! with really nice acting done by the author himself!). I saw other people calling the first chapters slow, but tbh I loved the steady, hopeful mood that came from all that straightforward hard work happening and then paying off. A great story, if you go in with the right expectations! (4.5/5) (P.S.: also this article touches on some other L&L points that I think explain why it resonates so well in post-pandemic life) (P.P.S. now I'm trying to parse out why I liked this book so much more than House in the Cerulean Sea... I think part of it is that the cast felt more respected? Like, it was more than just The Most Special-est Pretty Boy and his Plucky Boyfriend Fix Fantasy Racism)

[fate-inspiration]

Back with a few questions, if that's okay ^^ "some fools think that Gilart fans like violins" do you mean that they think we don't know it's actually not a super wholesome, uwu sorta ship (lol)? Also I'm very intrigued by your concept of a GilAlter- if I were to accept one (I think it's contrary to the essence of Gil's character for a GilAlter to exist,but.), I think I'd like your version best- "he turned to his divine blood and not his human side.".

Super last thing, if you still feel like answering questions. I'm curious: would you feel comfortable sharing your shipper story? Like why drew you to GilArt, which of these 2 characters do you resonate with more, etc? And what do you think of CasGil and Lion King Arturia (personally, I love that ship -so grateful for zoro's art- and any and all combos, like Casgil x default Arturia)? Thanks!

I just realized the mistake, but it's even worse than the violins, I was talking about the rape. They think that Gilart's fans like rapes because in fsn route fate, Gil plans to rape Arturia.

(Of course, for the connoisseurs, we all know Gilgamesh's state of mind in this route).

Thanks for choosing my version of Gilalter. I had already thought about him a long time ago and I can say that he will be horrible. But I didn't really think about if he will be interested in Arturia, maybe he will.

Aaaah, I fell in love with this ship. I already knew the name of the Fate license, but I never managed to watch the 2004 (2006?) anime version because it was ugly XD (I was a teenager at that time)

So I was convinced to watch Fate/Zero very late, in 2018. And I was not disappointed, it's a good way to discover the license. I fell in love with the ship at the end of the series when Gil proposes Arturia. It came out of nowhere and Gil didn't really put his best side forward and I didn't notice the moments where he praised Saber. Since I didn't know the stories of the fsn, I guess it was like an arrow in the heart XD. I think the most important thing was the sincerity of Gil in that moment. It seemed like a whim, but when you think about it, not at all and he was making the effort to force her to accept, when in principle, if it was insignificant, he wouldn't have even asked her.

So after that, I did some research and research. I never watched fsn, because I didn't want to see a SaberxShirou and I didn't have the opportunity to play the game yet, but I watched almost everything related to the license, just to have a little official moment between Gil and Arturia. (I was unfortunately very disappointed XD Arturia became a worldwide waifu, same for Gil, because even if he's an asshole, everybody loves him. So I concluded that they couldn't put them together to mix them. Probably because it would break the fantasy, I'm not sure). Then I turned to Fanfictions, I found my little happiness, even reading the most horrible stories XD, it was not serious, I had my dose. And I started to draw humans again just to be able to draw them, and I was very happy.

For the other versions... Arturia Lancer is a problem for me because of the Fanservice. It goes from a small flat woman to a big disproportionate woman, I don't like it at all. I mean, it's impossible XD. And she is presented as someone more mature and rational than Saber when Saber is this King Arthur at the end of his life in the license. So to see Lancer made my heart ache because it's like denying her true self.

After other people will probably not agree with me XD.

I have less of a problem with Gilcaster because it's just an older version of Archer, but technically they're still the same. It's just a shame that he references Lion King more than Saber. But I like that he loves Saber Lily in Carnival XD.

I love Saber Alter. But I modified it for myself and I think others like my version.

And Lily is cute. (With Ko-Gil it's the little extra)

I don't look too much at the other versions, for example the Caster version, I haven't had the chance to know it yet. But I don't think I like her, I think she's a distorted version of Saber, but I'll wait until I get a chance to read her story to be sure.

(but I'll gladly ship Arturia saber with all the Gil XD)

[ithisatanytime]

Astra King - First Love (Official Video)

 one piece sucks, not the netflix adaption the cartoon is just as bad if not worse than the cartoon, you just have bad taste when it comes to narrative story telling and thats fine. there were no great animes made after 2001 and maybe one or two good ones that honestly you could skip and not really miss out on anything. anime was good for a narrow window of time because kikifying a country is a process and it takes time, for a short window japan had all of this tradition and folklore that resonated with the western spirit and access to technology required to make decent art from that frame of mind. as the years wore on they could still make the cartoons look colorful but it was gutted and soulless. any show that goes on for more than 2 or 3 seasons maximum is gonna be shit with maybe one or two exceptions, dragonball works because it was always for kids! and it had a good message, work hard, be good etc, shows like naruto and one piece act like they are for kids but they are actually for teenagers and adults with very bad taste in narrative stories, and it shows in the final product, dragonball was a power fantasy that served the aim of installing good morals and attitudes in children, naruto, one piece, etc are just pure power fantasies for weak malformed men, in a lot of ways its similar to stranger things but for men where as stranger things served that same function for women, every time eleven used her psychic powers she would like tilt her head down and forward to make her eyes appear dark, and i cringed so hard it literally helped cost me a fucking relationship i just couldnt handle it. if you are a man who likes one piece odds are you are fucking gay and about one bad week away from trooning out, if you are a male who likes naruto the good news is you are just gay. btw i hardly consider dragonball past a certain point “Great” its just good while still having many of the same faults that these terrible modern animes have and i wanted to highlight what distinguishes the two kinds of long running serial animes a litte bit, i think prior to GT akira toryama had some vision, there was something he aimed to achieve and he more or less acheived it, even gt which is TERRIBLE has moments of genuiness sprinkled throughout and id rather watch the entirety of gt twice than a single season of naruto. i dont watch anime because im not a fucking child, i dont care about it tbh, what i do care about is the subculture thats sprung up around it literally decades after anything worth a shit came out of japanese animation, these people are automatons, mainly the men as women liking anime, even bad anime is fine in my opinion weirdly its actually a sign they she sucks less than the average woman but thats a post for another time as this is already getting long, modern anime fans the men mainly, are npcs, without question or exception. if you are a man and you still watch movies and television and you have a vision of a future in which you are not wearing dresses and or sucking cock just stop before its too late, watch some old cowboy movies! im dead serious once you let your attention defecit disorder adjust to the slightly slower pace you will find old cowboy/samurai/noir movies have everything you were looking for in anime and more, with the upside that its not literally going to turn you gay which modern anime will, how many of your anime friends are gay or trans or nonbinary? how many of my friends are any of those things? zero. cowboy movies, samurai movies, noir films, no later than the eighties. all modern anime fans are literally guy, if not openly, in private.

[armchairambrose]

Ugly Art

Gyakkyou Burai Kaiji: Ultimate Survivor was released October 3rd 2007 and is likely not a piece of media that has been heard of or watched before by the majority of individuals with an interest in anime, even should drama or psychological suspense genres be a favorite of theirs.  It is not a memorable show to many because of a simple unfortunate factor about it; the anime is Ugly.  

Kaiji is a tense dramatic social commentary about the Japanese economic state and the failures of the government to provide for individuals.  It is about the desperation that Japanese men have become accustomed to when the most they could hope for is a part time job that pays too little.  Their bills climb, income is stagnant, and those who retained wealth from the last economic boom and were safe from the recession are flaunting wealth and driving imported cars, wearing Italian suits and have watches worth more than the average youths yearly salary.  The show centers around a young man with no income wasting away in a small room that costs a pittance to rent, with nearly no belongings, the only decorations to his borrowed home being a collection of Mercedes car emblems from the vehicles he vandalizes, and a poster with a governmental slogan used to shrug responsibility for correcting the economy onto the citizen.

“The Future is in Our Hands” 

The show is memorable, it keeps attention and deserves plentiful rewatches.  I spent nine episodes on the edge of my seat watching a man play Pachinko in this, and loved it.

But it was never popular, and even today more than a decade later, it is not accessible media to any outside of Japan, even the manga version has only got three volumes (Less than half) translated officially.  Because it's Ugly.

We don’t put much value on Ugly Art.  We easily look away from anything outside of conventional standards of beauty, and with as much media to look at in our lives it doesn’t feel like missing out on anything to turn off something grotesque and look at what we are used to instead.   

But what if it is ugly on purpose?  I chose Kaiji as my example because it is one of my favorite pieces of media as of late, but also because it has to be Ugly, it HAS to look rough and jagged, because it IS a rough and jagged world.  People are cruel and willing to stab a man in the back, people will lie to and cheat you on a whim and drown you for their own benefit.  The Art reflects the values, and lack of, in the media.  Characters are drawn with thick sharp outlines and bodily flaws are magnified and exaggerated, making the black-heartedness of everyone in the world more apparent, including our protagonists.  

Ugly Art serves a purpose of its own, but this purpose is no different than any heartfelt medium. To break the mold, to stand out, be different, to get across your message and feelings.  By refusing Ugly Art for the sake of its differentiation from the more common or traditional media in its field, we have shut away a world from ourselves, lost out on an unquantifiable amount of potential.  

Claymation will inspire thoughts in your mind of movies you have seen as a child, Chicken Run or Wallace and Gromit, and many people will remember those fondly, as a product of the time and forgive it as such for the awkward uncanny effect it can have.  Then they will no longer consider claymation or stop motion media, perhaps they will look away from a new movie for no other reason than this.  Isle of Dogs, for instance.  

A youtube account, Takena, is a longstanding and still likely unknown now creator of cinematic masterpieces, less than ten minutes at a time.  Takena makes claymation short form horror films ranging from the campy pleasures of Chainsaw Maid, involving a young woman in a maid outfit running down zombies with a chainsaw, to Pussycat, which has one of the single most disturbing lingering shots in the genre.  This is Art, these videos do invoke carnal emotions and apprehensive or elating reactions in the viewer, and yet again, this is Ugly.  As it needs to be.  The heart stopping anxiety that you’ll feel on seeing a drugged woman faint before her enceinte assaulter is infinitely enhanced by the unmolded lumpy nature of the medium, and would not carry near the same weight were it performed in a more conventional medium or even with more conventional habits of this same media.  

And this is not even to state that Ugly Art needs be utilizing its Ugliness for effect.  What value do we lose in Art by not being beautiful?  It is not the sole purpose of Art to be pleasant to look at.  We don’t create just for others to look at our work and appreciate it for a purely aesthetic validity.  

Art is for the creator to express themselves.  Emotionally, Idealistically, Politically.  For social value and to convey their opinions or desires, dreams they can’t actualize alone in the world.  We use Art to put ourselves out there in the world, or to find others like ourselves, or to make some call to action or radicalize others.  We use Art to educate, and to complain, criticize, love, and to appreciate other Artists.  

Art is not all meant to be a Mona Lisa and Artists are not supposed or need to all be Da Vinci.  It does not mean to be a failure if you create Ugly Art, you do not NEED to improve your visual aesthetical prowess to be a “Real Artist” so long as you are able to make a piece of Art that you find value in, that you put yourself in, your heart, your opinion and your beliefs.  No Art is more beautiful than that which is meaningful to the creator and touching the hearts of another like companion.  The point of Art is to bare yourself to another, something that can be done without beauty, without convention or forcibly exacting your work into the narrow constraining box of what is “An acceptable level of talent to be an Artist”  

In this modern day we are looking at a new trend of “AI generated ‘Art’” which threatens not only Artists and their livelihoods, the security of their employment and their futures, but also the potential Artist of the future.  We see people out in the world who want to be an Artist, but live with the fear that they will not be able to match the expectation of creating something traditionally beautiful.  Being an Artist to these individuals, who have had the rejection of Ugly Art burned into their minds as the only possibility, carries a weight of looking forwards to years and years of study and practice to create the media they wish, to put what they envision to paper, which is unbearable to them in the face of a program which can attempt to make what they wish, for them.  You need only put in the prompt words you think will create the Art you wish for, and the names and works of an Artist that you find the work of beautiful (But don’t respect enough to not steal from,) and then you have a priceless piece of work.  Or one without value.  You might have something beautiful, after enough attempts on the program, but to others, it may be empty.  After all, a robot does not convey; Non Habet Animum, the emotions, values, beliefs, and convictions of the Artist who paints their painstaking creations themselves.  

Even Ugly Art, amateurish and unpolished, rugged, jagged thick lines and error, carries the weight of the Artist.  We should not reject our Ugliness, it is our most human quality.  We should create Ugly Art, we should consume and cherish it as anything beautiful, for the work is meaningful, it is matter.  Make your Art, share, and let it be Ugly without shame.