#this in contrast with my last art i posted on here is REALLY funny to me

[peachducy]

professor layton azran legacy spoilers

ready for reincarnation

[tobiasdrake]

Watching episode 2 of Ranma reboot and it remains like a blast from the past.

Gonna be posting spoilers and screencaps to talk about it, so all of that's after the jump.

I'm sorry that I didn't appreciate the slapstick of the original manga because Rumiko Takahashi is kind of brilliant at it.

This gag sets you up to think Akane's about to hit him for yelling misogyny at her early in the morning, but then out of absolutely nowhere his fucking dad erupts from the aether and clocks him for it instead.

That's fantastic. It uses the familiar language not just of Ranma and Akane's established dynamic but of tsundere romances in general to set the gag up, and then hits it with a startling and unexpected swerve that still pays it off but in a way the audience didn't see coming.

Speaking of Genma, bits like this:

Ranma defeats Genma using the "Look, a distraction!" technique and it's funny because he won with what most martial arts anime would consider a cowardly tactic.

But it's funnier when you know the actual art he practices, 無差別格闘流 musabetsu kakutou-ryuu. Separately translated as either "Anything Goes Style of Martial Arts" or "Indiscriminate Grappling". The latter of which is hilariously specific, as 格闘 kakutou can mean wrestling or grappling but simply refers to weaponless styles of hand-to-hand fighting.

He's a fisticuffs brawler by trade, contrasting the various adversaries he faces throughout the series who are mostly tool- or weapon-based fighters, to varying degrees of esoteric oddity.

But what makes this so funny in hindsight is the "indiscriminate" part. Ranma's martial art is built around the idea that there are no rules and whatever gets you to the finish line is fine. This distraction isn't Ranma being cowardly; It's actually part of his martial art. This is how he was trained to fight. XD

You know, I actually forgot that Dr. Tofu... existed.

But setting that aside, once I remembered who this guy is, I forgot that he's implied to be an exceptionally talented martial artist. Capable of masking his presence so thoroughly that even Ranma can't detect his movements.

That's really interesting. To my recollection, Dr. Tofu never has a single fight in the entire series. Instead, his expertise simply serves as an explanation for his familiarity with all the wild and bizarre mystical maladies that come his way.

It lets him be like, "Oh yeah, the reason you're deathly ill is because someone hit you with the 5,000 year old forbidden Chinese Slow Death Syphilitic Pressure Point technique. Here, let me apply the three-step acupressure reversal technique that was lost to history."

But now I.

I kinda.

Want to see him fight.

(Has this dude been like the DBZA Popo of Ranma 1/2 this entire time?)

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA She clocks him with the water kettle to make him respectfully bow.

I did not have the cultural context to understand that joke when I was young.

Rumiko Takahashi is so good at slapstick.

Yeah, okay, I don't remember half of what I said about Akane when I was young but I recant all of it. She is so fucking cool.

Imagine if you had to do this every single morning. Every morning. No exception. Just to get to school. At sixteen.

And keep in mind that this is sexualized violence. These guys are trying to overpower her because they think she'll have to be their girlfriend if they beat her up. Every single one of them is sexually harassing her. With violence.

Fuck this entire situation, y'all. I hope she gives them all life-ruining physical injuries that ruin their ability to get scouted as professional athletes at this critical age and turn them into bitter and misanthropic thirty-somethings whining on the couch about how they peaked in high school.

That's probably not how it actually works in Japan. My American is showing. But nonetheless!

She said "Kuno-senpai". She addresses him formally using his last name because that's a normal thing to do in Japan.

Subtitles, why are you changing the way characters speak to each other? The show is released with a dub and a sub alongside one another. If people are choosing to watching the sub, they don't need you to hold their hand and Americanize it for them.

She correctly calls him Kuno in the dub here. The dub is more accurate than the sub about this line. Don't. Do that.

This guy is such a dweeb he makes Jou-senpai look cool. They nailed Kuno, King Dipshit of the Jackass Mountain Akane has to climb each morning.

This is the guy who came up with the whole "Whoever beats the shit out of Akane may claim her as their trophy" thing. He probably watches Andrew Tate videos and writes internet screeds asking why women don't respect his authority and strength. Fuck this guy.

Seriously. He just. Said this. About some girl in another class. And the boys in the school were all like, "Oh, yeah, that sounds reasonable. First one to break her leg gets the girl! Thanks for showing me the best way to express my masculinity, bruh!"

A wacky setup for Akane's personal background but also a chillingly accurate metaphor for how the Manosphere functions.

For his part, it's pretty clear that what Kuno is attracted to is martial strength. He becomes interested in the "Mystery Girl" that appeared after Ranma "fled" pretty much right after she beats his ass.

He's kind of an interesting parallel to Shampoo in that regard. I never really thought of that before, but both of their interests are predicated on how strong Ranma is.

He also makes for an interesting dynamic for Ranma, from a gender perspective. Ranma's curse and the constant menace of Kuno forces Ranma to endure firsthand the kind of harassment that Akane has to undergo in her day-to-day life.

Of course, this being Ranma 1/2, Ranma's going to be getting that from both genders throughout the series. Rumiko Takahashi created a harem dodecahedron for her story, with Ranma and Akane being beset not just by rival suitors but also by rival suitors for their rival suitors trying to kill them and win the rival suitors' love.

Kuno's just one of the crowd.

But it was nonetheless an interesting choice to give Ranma a toxic male harasser as one of his suitors, that speaks to the interesting gender dynamics at play in the series.

One last thing. Something I really love about Ranma 1/2 is the way it uniquely changes the experience of just. Being around water. Like, the ever-presence of water especially in an island nation such as Japan is a constant threat.

You really don't think about how much water there is in everyday life until you have a Jusenkyou curse.

[bee-named-alex]

So episode 6 of IWTV s2. My thoughts? Many. Enjoy them, I'll try to make it as coherent as possible in my current state. Spoilers and my mental breakdown below the cut

Fuck this. I cannot wait for a week after this episode, how am I supposed to be normal after this???

So I guess I'll start from the start? The tension is in every word and I get why Daniel's getting afraid for his life, I mean I am afraid for his life rn and he's not even real.

The Dubai scenes, they contrast really well with the first couple episodes of this season. The cracks in Loumand relationship are very apparent now, they can't even decide on what painting to have in their house. And I read a post that was like "season 1 was music, season 2 is art" and it's so true and this means like their relationship is empty i guess or something. Maybe just that it's falling apart.

And the way they began this season holding hands and sitting so close, acting like everything was perfect, ready to fight Daniel and now they sit as far away as possible, fight like all the time about everything and Louis and Daniel (and even Rashid I think) keep on further unionizing against Armand... I think that's just great.

And Armand knowing that they know and from the start trying to spin it. I'm not sure how the sentence "Why do you ask, love?" from Louis is like the coldest thing ever but it just is.

I'll talk more about Dubai later.

But now to Paris. Claudia's diary "Fuck these vampires" - girl's so right (in both meanings of that word btw). Claudia was never really my fave, but out of everyone I feel like she deserves a happy ending the most (not counting daniel here) and fuck, she's not getting it. i know but it still hurts like hell.

Her and Madeleine's relationship is great. Inbetween all the plotting and manipulation and murder this feels like one of the only peaceful things. In the scene where Claudia reveals herself I though that she's like Madeleine's guardian angel. But also an angel of death. But Madeleine doesn't mind and I think that's very important, that she doesn't really see Claudia as a monster - or maybe she does, but it doesn't change what she feels (after all, she thinks that she's a monster)

Then the turning. First Louis trying to convince Armand and him not obeying- as Daniel says "maitre only when it's hot or convinient" (it was hot in the art room btw and it's so not fair that we didn't get to see at least a little more i mean that whole scene was inexplicably so hot and i need moreeee).

But it also reminded me of another post, the "Armand is a willingly leashed tiger" because like yeah, Louis has the power up until the point when Armand no longer wants him to have it. (also Louis persuasion being "imagine me without the burden of her" sucks, like sorry but this hurts, even if you didn't mean it and yes it matters if you meant it. But his later method - aka kiss to shut him the hell up - seems much better.)

Then I got a little pissed or perhaps confused at his "Are you asking or making me?" because we know that Louis can't actually make Armand do anything, not when he is 100 % sure he doesnt want to. Because if he could, Armand would've turned Madeleine. (speaking of, Armand not having turned anyone is pretty interesting, but i guess that that's how it was in the books and it was important so sure why not)

Also Louis' "It's ok, it's ok" here reminded me of "Of course, of course!" and also "It's fine, he's fine, we're fine" and it's just so funny how they all think that if they say things over and over again they'll convince themselves that they're true.

The turning itself was beautiful, as Louis said it would be. Like it wasn't violent, there wasn't fear, no tears. Just love and devotion and I'm so sad that Claudia's and Madeleine's beautiful dream didn't last longer.

Louis not caring afterwards is just another exampke of his dissociative state and I worry about his mental well-being. (All of their mental and physical well-beings tbh)

In Dubai again, Armand finally talking about the erased memories and how they both hate on him for it and they're right. Like what do you mean Daniel doesn't have the right to be angry, of course he does. It's fun to see Daniel delighted about fighting Armand.

But also... Louis asked him to get rid of those momeries (if he believe him. And I, in this episode more than ever and despite my better knowledge, do believe Armand. Maybe it's just because of Assad's phenomenal acting but I believe his words and I believe his tears. Which actually makes this all worse btw.) and that makes the whole situation suddenly much more complicated.

Other Paris plot - Santiago (fuck Santiago) and his coup -, yeah that kept me on my toes for the entire episode. Like Armand says that he was in love and Louis says that he got lazy but I just think he must've been blind to not see it.

I feel like Dubai kinda reflects this (Louis and Daniel unionizing as we've said and so it's like Armand losing his power over his people again) but also. Paris and it's aftermath was the biggest crisis of their relationship, must've been (followed by San Francisco and Daniel I'm sure). But now as the recount it they are also reliving it and are also in a full-blown crisis and i hope this one doesn't end in a fire.

And the ending of it all. Fuck. I was near tears watching it.

The double-date in the cafe felt like a dream, they even said in the episode insider that they wanted it to feel surreal or something like that, like a romantic comedy. And for a few minutes it does. They let you believe that they could be happy. You know they won't, you know that shit's about to go down and everything will end in ruin but this single scene makes you beg, no please, no don't fuck it up, just stay happy, like this, it can be good. And despite knowing what's coming, you stick your claws into this idea of happiness like a lifeline.

And then it hurts that much more when this perfect bubble pops.

I admire all the actors because idk what Armand was feeling the moment he stepped outside but through Assad's acting I felt it too. And as Louis looks around, seeing the world stop, here I know exactly what he must've felt- the realization hits, the betrayl and then the immense worry for Claudia and Jacob portrays it so beautifully.

"He chose." This breaks my heart. Because what did he choose exactly, or better yet, what did he choose over? I mean this is terrible, the trial, but what was his other choice? He calls himself a coward so maybe it was Louis and Claudia and Madeleine or him that the coven would go after. But maybe this was actually the better choice idk.

But like you see the regret in Armand's face in Paris but especially in Dubai and I trust him. I believe him that he regrets it, I believe him the tears and as I've said that just makes it so much worse. Because he chose this and now they suffer for it and he suffers for it too and blames himself (rightfully so), but it still hurts.

And then Lestat. Fuck. I knew this was gonna come (I just couldn't help myself and because of my recklessness saw a spoiler, that he's gonna be there) but that in no way did that knowledge diminish what I felt when I saw him. Because, hell, idk I'm just so excited to finally have him back because I love him but also I hate him and am so scared as to what he's gonna do. He's gonna testify against Louis and Claudia sure but what if he won't? Does he want to kill or fuck Louis? Will his and Armand's past play part in this or is that a box to remain unopened until later?

"You cannot script a hurricane" they said and so this means Lestat will go off script. But to what extent? At least to which it results in burning the theatre down.

The preview didn't help my state, quite the contrary actually. Louis in Paris is scared that Lestat's gonna come. Santiago's laughing. What does Armand feel? Who knows not me, I'm just scared. And excited. I feel like I won't fall asleep for two days after this but it's fine. I'm fine, everything's fine.

[color-craz]

Good game and good fight everyone! This is another compilation of all the artworks I've made since my Midweek Post + Artist commentary. A significant less amount than last time because I got hit with that Burnout Special soon after. Speaking of that, everyone give a Huge Thank you to @mouwuma for doing the lineart and coloring of my sona!! (I owe them bigtime b/c I was NOT drawing that complicated ass outfit for a third time). Please give them some love or financial compensation! Without further ado, let finish this!

@twidaisi I had to get Twi back for that attack of Compact!! So I decided to do the character that was on my bookmarks as revenge!! I went a different route on him than I usually do (The neckless style again) because I thought it would fit his build better than if I did give him a neck. It was fun doing this cartoony lad who totally isn't committing fraud and medical malpractice!! (That license is totally valid I swear)

@goatpaste I always loved loved loved Sammi's fan JJBA part with Holly and just have been a big fan of his in general, so when I realized he was on AF I knew I had to draw at least one of them!! I picked Roxanne because she is just so pretty and her lore is just really really neat! Fun fact, I sneaked in a I.M.P at the last minute because the top half of the canvas was feeling empty and then remembered stands can partially show themselves. Overall a lovely design so such a neat character!

@salezmanradioz Polyblank was actually in my bookmarks since the beginning of AF! I ended up seeing them right before it started and saved it until now. This also another character that I read into the lore for him and god it's really really intriguing! I had to hold myself back from putting more people into this one because I had other things I needed to do. Polyblank is such a lad and I liked doing their face + colored lineart. (P.S Check out this character playlist it's BANGIN)

@lovelandfrogofficial A little backstory here, once I logged back into AF after posing the Midweek Roundup I found myself hit with four attacks!! Two revenges and two surprises! Cryptid's being one of the surprises, so I felt like I had to give some art in return. I picked out Valentine because he had very few attacks and I had an idea from reading his character desc (A kid like him would definitely dramatically pose inside of a coffin). It was an experience doing the lace and adding the roses (Which was actually a last minute decision, thank godness it turned out so well) but overall I like the look of this one!

SunshineCo225 Their attack of Underscore was my second surprise attack of this year, so I chose Elie of Dicey Dungeons to revenge with! I actually do quite enjoy DD so I went with a location I personally liked from it, which was the library stage. It ended up working out well since Elie's greens and yellows give a wonderful contrast to the reds and blues. I gave her a hammer since her daggers can transform into other weapons which is really cool :>. Honestly the contrast, pose and lighting makes this attack my favorite out of this batch.

@prizebubble A friend of mine attacked one of Nep2ne's charaters, which inspired me to do one of my own as well. A double whammy if you will! The idea behind this one is Kit ripping through AF to cause chaos so this one is transparent. It was lovely doing the patterns and stitching on Kit, it was like I was decorating her myself! Overall just a nice quick one with such a rambunctious looking character.

@mouwuma Me going "Oh I can't participate in AF this year" and then hitting you with an attack should be tradition at this point, it's happened like twice now. Anyway, this one is a Double Whammy of Dop & Ninian, they come from completely separate universes but Dop is a gigantic, pretentious nerd. And I thought it would be funny for them to be rambling about Ninian, a Pokemon fan character of theirs, and make up a fake amiibo pose for him. I felt like I had to do one for how much I pestered you to put Dop on AF so here it is!! (Fun Fact, Pokemon doesn't have an official amiibo line like Mario does. All the Pokemon amiibos are exclusively for the Smash Bros line. Nintendo is losing out big time here.)

@skittisketch My final attack of the year! This one almost didn't get made at all (So thank Jesse next time you talk to him). The ref described Skitti as a "wandering artist" so I thought her walking around a park for inspiration would fit her nicely. I could've simplified the background but god dammit I had sketched it already I had to go all in! (Even if I was on a bit of a time crunch). Overall a good work to finish of this year's Art Fight with!

Honest to god I didn't even expect myself to get out as many attacks as I did for this second half. So I'm quite proud of myself for that one! This was an ArtFight of trials and tribulations, but I finished this year off with 862.75 points! Thank you to everyone who gave me art this year and one more Thank you to mouwuma for doing the art for me (And for being such a good friend!)

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to collapse before school starts ;-;.

-Gappy, A Very Tired Witch

[galactic-glamour-girl-posts]

Here are my favourite pieces of official Rosalina artwork, and why!

This will include stuff like renders, GIFs, concept art, etc.

This won't include screenshots of in-game/cinematic cutscenes or gameplay.

And lastly, this is in no particular order other than the last one, which is firmly in first place. Let's go!

First we have:

As of right now I believe this is her newest render. It's one of the only ones where she can be seen floating, so that's cool. What I really like is the presence of her storybook, they rarely acknowledge that thing nowadays. Which is fine, it shouldn't be her crutch, but it is nice to see it given its story is a big reason as to why she's one of the franchise's best characters.

Best Mario Kart 8 Deluxe title screen, hands down.

Why yes, I am biased!

I mean it's in space, which not only is automatically cool but also fits Rosalina's character. She leaning against a pretty sick looking bike (or at least it looks sick from this angle), and her pose is pretty badass to match! She's in her biker outfit, which only adds to the vibe, and the Earth makes for beautiful yet badass background prop. Between all that the title screen taking place on the Luna Colony, it looks like she's about to partake is in a futuristic action-packed cosmic race, like something you'd see in a sci-fi action film. She just looks so cool here, I don't know what else to say.

Man I wished they used this in Odyssey. Oh well, maybe next game.

Not much to say here. The emo look fits her, she is the Sad Girl (that's a neat little soundtrack reference right there) after all. I mean have you seen her hair?

I like the casualness, specifically when compared to the other character's matching emotes, which are a lot more panicked. Really emphasises her calm nature. I like any artwork of her that makes her look either sad or nonchalant. It's what makes her special (and if you think that's a messed up thing to say...no it's not, shut up! 😖) You can also see a bit of her right eye, which is neat. There's just something inherently funny about the protector of the cosmos, a woman who usually speaks so formerly, a mysterious and powerful figure who some consider a goddess, doing such a casual shrug. I even made a post about this one years ago.

These are just cute, probably her cutest artwork without being too cutesy. That's about it really.

I love the way Rosalina's hair flows in this picture. I love how the Star Bits glow, how they shine colourful light rays through the net, and how their colour contrasts against the dark void of space. It makes for such a memorable, striking, beautiful image. I also love the fantastical concept of catching sweet rainbow space water crystals with a butterfly net, seems right out of a fairy tale.

Even without the text from the storybook you can just feel the emotion pour from the screen, you can feel the warmth of their hug. The warm yellow glow of (most of) the lumas, like the Star Bits of the precious artwork, contrast against the cold, dark isolation of space. However, they also contrast against Rosalina's cold white colouring (although not as much, indicating that they still belong together) and expressionless face, indicating she hasn't felt this warm/loved in a long time. The fact that you can't see her eyes in this picture suggests she's concealing her face, trying to take it all in without letting it all out. It's just...so good.

Just love how cool, calm, and collected she looks. She even looks a bit sassy and snobby here, but I like it. I imagine this is how she appears to people before they get to know her.

Love the smirk she gives only after dodging the green shell. It's a great show of her skill and character. Alert enough to sense the shell coming (makes sense for a magical protector), skilled enough to expertly dodge the shell, humble enough not to brag, but just proud enough to do a silent "Nice try". Love the personality shown here.

My all-time favourite (for now).

The use of watercolours really adds to the feel of remembering the past and hazy memories. Love the melancholic smile on adult Rosalina's face. Through her facial expression and body language you can tell she sympathises with her younger self, wants to comfort her, wants to let he know that everything will be OK, even after all she's lost. That she'll find family and be happy in the future, and as she holds her hand she'll guide her to it.

What a simple, beautiful image.

[things-about-cars-in-posts]

You've done transmac cars, what about transfem?

I've indeed done transmasc cars, so sure, what's the point in pretending I'm better than that.

As explained in the post above, I feel like for a car to be trans it has to have undergone an aesthetic transformation of some sort - so this post will be about cars that changed face (before to the left, after to the right).

While some voted it most transmasc car of the post and it literally started off with a female name, I actually think the Onevia looks a bit more transfem to me (that's one sentence for the "how did my life end up here" folder).

But there's one more front end alteration with its own name these cars have under their belt.

Enter Mitsuoka, a small Japanese car manufacturer that mostly specializes in taking cars that just aren't weird enough and solving that problem. Indeed, they worked on that Silvia too, turning it into the Mitsuoka Le-Seyde - but I'd rather show you the newer version, based on the last Silvia generation, because I feel like the contrast it offers is genuinely unmatched.

Yep.

And I know what you're thinking - where in the absolute pants did they get this idea? Oh, you're gonna love this one: from Zimmer, an American company founded in the 80s to do exactly that to the Mustang!

Zimmer went bankrupt in '88.

And then was bought up by Art Zimmer (no prior relation) and did the exact same thing to the newer Mustang!

and to the Town car!

Zimmer ceased production again in 2020. "Why?", I cannot fathom anyone wondering. Well, simple: they made the silly mistake of not being in Japan, where Mitsuoka is still thriving doing stuff like this.

Also, speaking of Mitsuoka, you really need to see what they ended up with when they put their hands on the Honda NSX platform (creating a concept that however would reach production as a fully unique car).

And if you thought this couldn't get any better, the two cars above are called, respectively, Galue and Orochi. Wow.

To finish, I would like to submit one I'm not sure can compete but I like too much not to mention: the Pit Crew nose kit for the first generation Mazda Miata!

And of course, I'd be remiss if I didn't include the inspiration for the Dias Classic (which annoyingly seems to have a sweep going on for itself in the poll), the Subaru Vivio Bistro.

And as a treat for y'all, I found one modified in bosozoku style.

I don't believe this poll deserves a larger sample size, but you can reblog this post if like me you think it would at least be really funny.

Links in blue are posts of mine explaining the words in question - if you liked this post, you might like those!

[frodo-with-glasses]

The Hobbits try shoes! :D (for the artist ask game) 6, 13, 17, 18, and 19 (my favorite part is Pippin, especially his "look I'm a human!" bit xD )

YESSSS I love that one so much! Let’s go!

(Read the whole comic here!)

6. What is your favorite part of this piece?

Ooh, that’s tough. I’d probably have to go with the four-part sequence of Frodo falling down in Part Three. There’s just something really fun about drawing in that tiny art style and capturing the sense of motion and exaggerated posing; you get the sense that with a few extra frames, you could watch that sequence as an animatic and it would just flow perfectly.

But honestly, I remember that I had an absolute blast every time I got to draw one of the hobbits splat on their faces 🤣🤣 It’s SO MEAN, and I feel so bad about it, but crazy dynamic poses like that are so much fun (and so hilarious LOL)

13. What Easter eggs/small details are hidden in this drawing?

Good question! In Part One, Aragorn and Boromir’s boots are the only ones the hobbits are using; you can tell which is which by how tatty Aragorn’s boots are contrasted with the fluffy fur on Boromir’s.

In Part Two, we still have Aragorn’s boots in play—in fact, the panels with Frodo and Pippin take place directly after their respective attempts at walking in Part One—but now we also have Gimli’s boots in play, as we can tell by the X pattern and the fact that Gimli is now in socks. I imagine he theorized the hobbits were only having trouble because the shoes were way too big for them, so he offered his own to be closer to the right size, and also lent an arm to Sam for stability.

The last panel of Part Two (pictured above) features Boromir and Legolas in poses from the Chris Evans Laughing meme and Aragorn posed like the Wheeze meme. That was a lot of fun to draw. X-D

My favorite detail is actually in Part Three: After faceplanting VERY HARD in Part One, Frodo makes a tactical decision not to risk the structural integrity of crucial corrective eyewear and sets his glasses aside prior to another attempt. This proves very wise. (Also when Aragorn bends over Frodo, he is of course wearing no footwear but socks, because Frodo has his boots.)

17. What did the drawing process look like?

I’ll be honest, I don’t really remember—since it was such a long time ago and I was drawing SO MUCH stuff back then—but I do recall that Part Three took a lot longer than I thought it would. But I know I was Very Excited to have the opportunity to draw such a hilarious prompt, so I had a lot of fun with it!

18. What was your favorite response to this post?

Probably all the new people who were seeing my art for the first time and saying something along the lines of “👀 nerd Frodo?? glasses?? inspired”. Also the one person who complimented Legolas with a ponytail X-D

19. [X] is my favorite part of this drawing; tell me more about it!

LOL there’s really not much to say! The thing that makes it funny is penny-anna’s brilliant writing; all I did was draw how it plays out in my head. But it WAS a lot of fun to draw those exaggerated faces. Pippin is GREAT for big facial expressions! LOL

ARTIST COMMENTARY ASK GAME!

[seregios-seer]

Monster Review: Najarala

(I’ll also be instantiate by a new rule here that any monster with subspecies/ wildly different fights from game to game will get the long post cutoff after base monster intros)

Snaky Jakey here is a funny one. This guy was one of the monsters that blew ten year old men’s mind when I first saw his intro cutscene. Najarala still defines the primal forest to me even now. It’s the first time Monster Hunter had a proper snake monster, but thank god not the last. The coloring on Najarala really strikes me sometimes, the muted tones still coming off vibrant in contrast to the fins (plates? Spines?) on its neck. I must say I have a weird outlook on this one, since I really like the design but it somehow still comes off as middling for me, and I’m not really sure why.

4U (IG): The actual fight with Najarala is just as unique as the snake itself. The most unique attack of his (that he really likes doing in my experience) is his coil. He makes a wide circle around you, and slowly pulls closer before bursting upwards in an inescapable burn. Requiring hunters to either find the gap in his loop or dive is really neat, but as a Glaive main I never actually had to deal with this attack. The second big thing Najarala has is the scale launch. The massive tail scales he launches from his tail being able to explode due from a follow up screech is really unique, although once again I never really found much difficulty in this, although the detail of being able to destroy the scales is not lost and very much appreciated. The biggest issue by far comes from the lunge and sliding attacks at the Najarala’s disposal, and are about 8/10 hits I take from this one. Despite this, I was well into master rank before I ever realized some of the bite lunges could inflict paralysis. Not sure how tbh.

GU (Various): This fight's a lot like the 4u edition, but it certainly feels like paralysis bites are more frequent in this one. When played against hunter arts, and I used a lot of diffferent ones against this one, it becomes a really short fight tbh. Najarala flees less, and doesn't seem to have the burrowing attacks like in 4u, which were already somewhat rare already. I'd usually manage a kill before the bastard even leaves the area more often than not, so I'm overall kinda shocked how much easier this fight is.

Rating: 7.7/10

Much like his biggest attacks, the design just doesn’t hit for some reason (still soo good though).

Tidal Najarala:

So it took me a looong time to hit G rank in 4u (I was an idiot kid when I first got the game, ok?) and when I finally did, the new monster subspecies felt so refreshing and unique, and this beautiful, glorious freakshow-colored reptile is right up there for me. The colors and the elemental effects really bump my personal opinion of Najarala as a whole. Plus the coloration and status given to being a G rank monster really lands the whole "exotic" aspect for me.

4u (IG): This fight is by far faster than the baseline Najarala, and that obviously bumps the difficulty quite a bit. The amount of slam attacks I got hit by really skyrocketed in this fight. It was a bit of a coin toss on whether it felt balanced or unavoidable, but more often than not seemed like my bad. The addition of a spit attack for instilling water blight really gave some ranged ability to this fight, although Tidal tends to do wide tail sweeps compared to the small swipes of the baseline species. One of these sweeping attacks is actually the pin attack Tidal uses, which I hate purely because it makes no damn sense. If you're hit on the right, why would you ever go flying perfectly forward? But that's really more a stupid peeve of my own than anything, and overall the fight is still really fun, even moreso than the base species after you acclimate from your first attempt.

Rating: 8.6/10

Preddy colors... so cooool...

[one-strugling-bean]

OFMD Random Commentary (Final Thoughts)

Okay so. I finished OFMD in 3 days. Season 2 is right at the door and I'm super excited for it.

While I wait though, I thought "Why not make a huge ass essay about my thoughts on the 1st Season?" And now here we are! And trust me I have tons to say. So without further ado, let's start:

Before anything else, I want to say, I had so much fun. This show was hilarious most of the time while still easily hitting me in the feels when it needed. By the end of the season, I wanted to adopt pretty much everyone and give them whatever they wanted. The romantic relationships weren't born out of thin air (although I think Jim and Olu could've been explored a little more) and the overall vibe of the show was so freaking inviting.

Stede and Ed were very captivating and their scenes together are always so evolving. Their actors convey strong emotions so freaking well. It's like I'm right there, in their heads, as the scenes play out, and I can tell what they're feeling perfectly just by looking at their expressions.

That being said, Ed was a bit harder for me to figure out than Stede. There were a lot of scenes, especially in the beggining, where I was at a loss as to his intentions. But it works in his favor (and the viewers') because Ed is a mysterious person for pretty much every character in the show. It's fun when everyone on screen is as clueless as us. It also contributes to the welcoming vibe of the show - it's like I'm there, just as clueless and scared as everyone else, trying to figure out what exactly makes Blackbeard tick.

And speaking of everyone else! My gosh, I loved the crewmates... I think I even said that at some point in an episode, but my favorite moments of the show were just the crew interacting with each other. Separated, each of them is nice and kinda funny, but together? They gave me the best laughs of the whole show.

It was the little things. Wee John, Roach, and Frenchie messing up a cross sign(?) for Nana, the flag-sewing arts-and-crafts, the rehearsal for the Fuckery, the Fuckery itself- just, everything.

As the episodes pass, and you grow to know the characters - recognize their faces, memorize their names, figure out the traits and places they take in the crew - they also grow to know each other. In the first episode they seem to be pretty distant from each other - acquaintances at best. But by the end you realize that that's changed - and you watched it happen. In every little scene, every funny comment or near-death experience - almost imperceptible on a first watch I think. Most of the time they just seem to be fighting each other. But those bonds do happen, and not just between the romantic pairs but everyone. Even with you, the viewer.

I think that's what makes the last "we talk it through-" "as a crew!" scene, followed by (or before) Lucius reading Stede's journal out loud, so powerful. I don't think I mentioned it in my post of the episode, but it gave me chills. You get this feeling of "we came so far" that just completely warms your heart. And you can see, in each one of their faces that they're all feeling the same thing. They came full circle from the first episode - they're not just a rag-tag group of useless people anymore. They're growing closer to becoming a family, a real crew. And it's fucking amazing.

TL;DR - they figured out the Found Family trope really well. And Found Family is my kind of thing soooo.

But oh well. Nothing can be good forever - especially if that thing is a happy ending in a queer show, so the rest of episode 9 and episode 10 happen. And the feeling of betrayal starts.

From a Gentlebeard/Blackbonnet perspective, the way I see it, Ed calling out the Act of Grace for Stede is the ultimate sacrifice from Ed for Stede. In contrast, Stede abandoning Ed at the dock is the ultimate sacrifice of Ed from Stede. See the difference? What I'm trying to say? I sure hope so, because I'm not sure I do. It just seems right when I say it.

Then Ed goes to the ship and everything goes off the deep end - ft. Izzy Hands being his usual creepy self.

Izzy.... creeped me out honestly. The whole time, not just at the end. From my peak on the OFMD fandom, he seems to be a pretty loved character, but I honestly dislike him a lot. I dunno. He was creepy and awful and did many horrible things for not-that-worthy reasons and I just overall didn't vibe with him. So I guess having him be the one to break Ed felt like a big, personal slap to the face. I dunno. Just wanted to call him every name in the book, you know?

(I also decided to take personally the fact that his name is a very common nickname of my name. I'll never accept to be called Izzy again. The PTSD and rage would be too much.)

Then, of course, we have Lucius's "death". Honestly? I don't think he's dead. He is too iconic to die in the first season. There's no way the writers didn't know Lucius was gonna be a fan favorite. The cliffhanger around his death was 100% planned as a special, last-minute, sadistic gift for the fandom. It will also probably affect something in S2.

That being said, I will only feel rested when I see him alive and well, nestled in Black Pete's arms. I gasped so loud when Ed threw him out of the ship you have no idea. I was so worried. Still am. That's how important his character has become to me. To most people, probably.

(I do think I saw a bit of Lucius's face in a random shot of the S2 trailer. His alleged self is pulling at someone's legs with Frenchie. But do not tell me if I'm right. I've been trying to stay away from trailer dissections.)

Frenchie and Jim also worry me greatly, but they seem to be doing good in the S2 trailer, so that helps. (Not Frenchie conquering his fear of cats by becoming one).

As for everyone else..... God, I was so horrified about their situation until that last scene. Stede coming in the dinghy might as well have been the sighting of an angel (I like to call this feeling the Sanji-backstory-PTSD). I've come to care so much about these characters, how was this show capable of tricking me like this??

Honestly, after all is said and watched, I'm unsure if I'm glad I waited so long to watch it. Because on the one hand, I won't have to wait months and suffer from the cliffhanger like most of you guys did (I feel for you all). On the other, I'm afraid I might've missed a few years of glorious fandom history and events.

I dunno, it's complicated.

(Send me links to all the best fanfics you can find - as long as they're in English and have at least 2000 words I'll take them).

But yeahhhhhhhhhhh, think this might be it for now. I don't know if I'll repeat the Commentary for S2- would you like that? If I get enough responses, Ig I will ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

But in any case, for now, I close. Hope you had as much reading my reactions as I did watching this show.

Have a nice day! ^^

[lord-shitbox]

Now, I uno reverse card your ask! I would LOVE to hear all your GozuMezu AUs and thoughts!!! It's so exciting to meet someone else in current day still into Nura 😭 And your art is beautiful!!! Thank you for feeding us 🙏

YAAY HAPPY ok to be real i don't actually think of AUs That much but I do like imagining them in other fictional universes....actually scratch that my one pet AU is imagining the Gyuki clan in the American Wild West cowboy era. They have a ranch on Nejireme Mountain and they run things in these here parts; the yakuza aspect remains, they're like a crime family and have significant power in the city. Mezu in particular herds the animals (Negoro and Uwajima are bulls in this AU) and isn't too keen on combat himself but can and will instigate a cattle stampede to wreck shit if he feels like it. Gozu is a crack shot duelist he likes pointing guns at people to scare them into obedience and he WISHES he could spin guns but cannot. he can do like basic tricks but the last time he tried to do a showy gun toss he dropped the pistol and it misfired and shattered a window & Gyuki yelled at him about it (see this post) (he WISHES. but cant and will die mad)

I don't have much art for this (all of it was drawn like. february 2021.) BUT here. ALSO IT'S CHRONOLOGICALLY FEASIBLE because the wild west era was like. 1800s ish.

OTHER THAN THAT THOUGH. mostly i imagine them being silly and stupid together. They have such a good dynamic,,, gozu is serious and aggressive and mezu is silly and friendly. they contrast each other so well & have been best buds for so long,,,,,,, They both like,., are really good material to work with for funny silly ideas, which I love, AND they can be fucked up / scary / covered in blood, which I also love. they have the range. it's wonderful.

LATELY I'VE been imagining gozumaru going to Tono because of this page from Nuramago Kage that @vistargalaxies sent me. He'd love it there he would have So much fun

bonus: I made them in Lobotomy Corporation. im like 18 days in but I give them the best gear I have at all times.

bonus #2 the first time I drew them Ever (late 2020. right before I went batshit insane and fixated on them for 6 months straight). sometimes I remember that the first time I found nurarihyon no mago i only saw season 2, which gozu and mezu are barely in, and didn't know there was a whole First Season I was missing until years later. its like. so insane I DID NOT KNOW WHAT WAS COMING TO ME

[speaking-from-the-abyss]

Some random thoughts on Obey Me! Nightbringer up to lesson 10 (with LOTS of spoilers)

If you ask why I'm making a post like this in this blog is cause I will defend that this is a queer coded game to my last breath –and cause is my blog and I do what I want.

Full disclosure: I'm not done with the first game yet so no spoilers for that one please. I'm guessing I'll get spoiled by Nightbringer anyways as the story progresses, and I already did lol, but I wanna gush about this game because I love it so much already.

Starting with the title screen, oh my gosh the art is beautiful. 10/10 would definitely buy a poster of this.

They continue using they/them for MC and that's a thing we all gotta appreciate. Thank u.

The layout and the art of the game is just SO PRETTY in general. Definitely an upgrade from the first game, credits to the designers and artists.

It's a rhythm game!! I like it, the gameplay is easy enough and in classic Obey Me fashion you gotta be really precise when you click or else, which adds a good layer of difficulty.

We don't have 8 different types of support items, just 4, which makes it easier to keep count of how many we have. I am still broke in-game to buy them tho.

WE CAN GET DEVIL POINTS BY COMPLETING LEVELS THANK U SO MUCH. In contrast, I feel like they give less materials when you clear a stage? I mean, they gotta balance it I guess, or maybe is just me.

The game was lagging like hell when I first started playing tho. Idk if it was the game or my phone that couldn't run it or what, but it's fixed now.

I love the fact they're using the character songs for the levels!!! I was waiting for the unit songs and they took a while, but they're there too. The remixes are fun and I can't believe how good they sound.

Speaking of sound, this game's ost is SO GOOD like huh? I was kinda expecting it cause it's a big production and all but bruh. Every now and then I end up having to stop because I gotta appreciate the bgm. There was this one funny song where a banjo started playing and I straight up laughed out loud. 10/10

MK is that you?

Coming back to the layout and the designs: THERE'S SO MUCH RURI HANA IN HERE!!!!!! Love it. 20/10. Best thing ever. Whoever decided to add that I hope they're having an amazing day.

Also, is that a Ruri Hana Miss Em?? Gosh I love this game.

And I'm not done gushing about the designs yet cause LOOK AT HIM!!! LOOK!!!! He's so cute!!!!🧡🧡🧡

HE'S SO PRECIOUS JUST LOOK AT HIM!!!!! 🧡🧡🧡

The art for the cards is really pretty and I need more Levi cards so badly asap

Also, there's a shit ton of extra content, wow. I'm not sure how I feel about the whole 3D models yet (mostly cause my phone only gives me bad renditions of them) but the extra content is slice of life funny bits. I like that they're voice acted, they're good.

Hey so y'know how you can click on the characters and get voice messages in the home screen and how you interact with them in the surprise guest screen? In neither of those I can click on Levi's tail and I consider that a crime against all Levi stans.

OKAY SO when this game was announced and as time went on and we got little pieces of the plot, not gonna lie I was worried. When it comes to time and time travel this franchise has a, well, a record. I'm still worried how it's gonna develop but for now I really like the things they're showing in the main story regarding the characters and the plot. Just, y'know, fingers crossed it doesn't become a mess.

Honestly the timeline is a mess already as it is. We met Luke and he has apparently just started learning how to bake, but in the first game he says he's been doing it for about 300 years, so it's been only 300 years between the end of the Celestial War and the beginning of the first game? Shouldn't the time be at least a few thousand years?? I'm solving this by doing a headcanon that time moves differently in different worlds cause otherwise the lack of coherence bothers me too much.

I'm so intrigued about Nightbringer himself. You think the prologue is giving us a red herring about who he is? Will it be a new character? An old one? Us from the future? They did a good job in implementing the mystery and I can't wait.

I was rereading this chat we have with them at the beginning of the game and something caught my eye:

Do you think maybe we'll start jumping between time as the story continues? So that we'll be at and see different time periods with different characters?? 🤔

This guy has an omurice for an icon when we all know he can't cook to save his life and I find that so ironic xD I like how much he's getting involved in the story so far too

I still don't know who gave them the right to go THIS HARD on a rhythm otome game. I love this thing what the hell. I wish I went this hard with my own projects.

That's all, I'll be waiting for more lessons to drop✌️

[sinelanguage]

and for the museum of the day i was Considerably more excited for: the National Museum of Modern Art!! splitting this into two parts for my sanity, main exhibit first

one thing that impressed me about this museum was the overall presentation of descriptions used. a lot of art museums will present some information and context to the piece, but the national museum specifically tried to encourage people to read the text (metaphorically) and engage in Thoughts. it was pretty neat to look at a piece then see what specific emphasize the museum curator wanted to put on something.

For example, Nakanishi Natsuyuki’s piece Compact Object was described like this:

Fish bones, a rubber ball, a clock, seashells, hair.. this egg-shaped object seems to be packed with the contents of a garbage can. Or is it a time capsule, capturing a fleeting moment during a certain era? Nakanishi staged performances by bringing these clusters of everyday objects into public spaces, such as in the streets and on trains. His intent seems to have been to carry a microcosm of the world in his hands rather than to produce a sculpture that sits on a pedestal.

which, imo, does a decent job at explaining the intent but also promoting people to think about the intent going into objects on a level a bit further than just “here’s what this means.” this was pretty consistent in the museum’s presentation, which I really appreciated.

The other thing I thought was incredibly funny was this fucking. diary entry they had on display. keep in mind i was dead on my feet in this museum writing down notes to post to my tumblr blog and then read kishida ryusei’s diary from 1923:

Woke up around 10 o clock with a slight headache. Not surprising since i was up unttl three last night talking with Senge [Motomaro] and others, and that's why I overslept. Took a bath after breakfast. Got on the 1:49 pm train to Tokyo and then a taxi to Shintomiza. The play was about to start. My seat was excellent. Sendai Hagi is a famous kabuki play, but it was the first time I had actually seen it. The scenes performed were: the Bamboo Room, Cooking Rice, Under the Floor, The Showdown, The Scar. All of these were fascinating. I's not often these days that l immerse myself as deeply in kabuki as I did this time.

me, two museums in, feeling a profound kinship with this artist from a century ago writing a diary entry about his hang over but going to tokyo for three plays. as i write notes in my phone about art. incredible.

For actual pieces though there were quite a few:

Kayama Mayazo, Waves in Spring and Autumn thought this piece had a lot of really neat spins on some classic imagery (mountains, seasonal trees, waves/water). I especially liked the details of the waves breaking— the waves themselves were this even, looping/fluid lines but the edges were crashing with noisy scribbles

Komaki Gentaro, Bricks and a Squirrel: this is one of those “can’t explain myself”. the bricks had a very weird wood grain pattern, paired with a squirrel in this frightening black orb, completely surrounded. sometimes ur just a squirrel in an orb

Nomiyama Gyoji, The Withered: i like organic things in weird, inorganic messes. this was like, a rat king but with branches, and it was confusing to look at. enjoyed it a lot.

Kodama Yasue, ambient light - sakura: this is exactly what it says on the tin but for what it is it works really well. it’s just the impression of looking up at Sakura blossoms through sunlight, and man is it effective at it. I think in person this works better just for the size and detail of it- it captures the feeling of looking up through foliage very well and was very pretty to boot

Takanashi Yutaka, Hongo: Mansada Parlor, 6-17-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku from Machi imo all of takanashi’s photos had this very lived in quality to them, like a photo taken of a place that feels deeply familiar and like home. The collection overall has these deep colors and contrasts with mundane settings and a large amount of visual objects/interest, so it made the feel of the piece really nice (photos here)

overall: really solid, probably doesn’t beat the contemporary art museum but that’s just because my taste is what it is. for an art museum though, i really appreciated the approach and curation

[shoheiakagi]

I agree with you about the tags u left on that anon being rude to ciassu! Seriously thats just plain so fucking rude smh. Anyway u ended your tags with mention of shuhei x yata that op was going to write and it got me curious bc ive never thought of that pairing before lol so now im wondering if u have any other yata or shuhei ships u like/can think of? Sorry for the random ask i just want to see if theres any other ships i can add to my list other than chitose x yata lol

Hi!! Thank you for reaching out! And yeah, I feel like some ppl just like to send anon hate cause they’re bored? Like what is the end game here? You’re not gonna be the person with the last laugh cause your ask is either gonna be deleted or responded to in a post. And like, if you think there’s other writers who post the same type of fics, then why don’t you just focus on them? People need to realize that writing fics and drawing art is a skill, and that the creator puts in a lot of time and effort into perfecting it for the audience. I just don’t get why some ppl act mean online, when they don’t have that same persona irl?? Like why act like an internet thug??

Anyways!

Yes, I was also intrigued when I saw how op was working on a ShouheixYata fic! Like I know some bits and pieces of how they’d interact as friends, but as romantic partners? I’ve seen some EricxYata and and ChitosexYata, but never a ShouheixYata. I’m sooo curious cause Yata is terribly shy when it comes to romance, while Shouhei is charismatic and nicer than the other abc boys. Like is Shouhei going to be all flirty and try to charm him?? Does Yata develop a crush on Shouhei which he tries to hide but miserably fails at it??

And I do!! So to start off, I’ll be honest and say that I’m not really fond of romantic!banshou. Its weird cause i have other ships with similar dynamics, and i also adore both characters individually, but im not the biggest fan of them as a ship. I think its probably bc i dont like how its portrayed by the very few fans they have, and how a lot of things about shouhei, end up revolving around bandou’s inferiority complex towards him (which really sucks as a shouhei’s girl who wants to learn more about him).

But despite being in my y/n feels for shouhei, i do have a few ships for him! I don’t think it’s as obvious as it was when i first created this blog, but shouhei/eric is the closest to an otp i have for this fandom. Its probably bc theyre my top two faves, but i do think they have strong potential to be a sweet and interesting ship, and the few interactions they have are so cute 🥺 the fact that shouhei is the only person Eric refers to by their first name other than Anna 🥹🥹 (although i do think its probably cause everyone refers to shouhei by his first name lol. If im not wrong, i think eric refers to fuji by his last name despite being very close). I also do think they’d look really good together! Despite Eric being unkempt and not into fashion, he is objectively very good looking and i think his sharp and cool features are a good contrast against shouhei’s softer and warm features. I genuinely do think shouhei is the second person eric is comfortable with, after fujishima. I also ship shouhei with chitose and akiyama! I think i started shipping shouhei with chitose sometime last year and honestly? I think they’d be a fun and hot pair. I can’t really see them being them in a serious and committed relationship, but i do think they would probably hook up here and there (or even just be really good friends, since theyre pretty similar to each other except for some differences). Akiyama/Shouhei is always going to be that one opposites attract/enemies to lovers ship for me lol. I wish their fight scenes from s1 were longer, im so curious on what the dialogue would have been like.

Yata was my first ever fave character/crush when i first got into K back in 2012, but unfortunately that died out. But i do think ericxyata is such a cute and funny pair! I remember reading this really old fic on them in which yata learns english just so he can finally respond to eric’s taunts, only to have the story end with eric kissing him on the cheek 💞 i don’t remember being sold that quick on a ship like i did with that fic lmaoo. They’re like my second favorite pair, but theres sooooo little content on them :/ thats what i hate about k. Most content are on the popular/designated ships, you barely see anything on different pairings/dynamics. Yata and Kamamoto are seen as platonic for the most part, but i can see some potential for it to turn romantic! Kamamoto is a ride and die for yata. Like if theres ever a rare chance that yata decides to leave homra (unlikely, i know), i do feel like kamamoto would probably join him idk. the loyalty there is really strong. I think yata and chitose would be interesting since chitose is a playboy while yata is a virgin, but its probably gonna end with a nasty heartbreak on both sides 😬

[cherrykindness]

wild tweets |

pairing: Harry Styles x Actress!Reader

summary: as newlyweds, you and harry read thirsty comments for buzzfeed.

warning: it's thirsty tweets, so below there is adult humor 😳

"It's a bright, sunny morning in Los Angeles, and there's nothing I want more than to be on BuzzFeed and read wild tweets alongside my husband."

"Thirsty tweets, babe." Harry corrected, laughing out loud with the producers behind the cameras.

"Thirsty Tweets." You said quickly, putting your hand over your mouth to stifle a giggle. "I'm terrible at that, I'm sorry. Can we start over?"

"Let's take a break for one to two minutes. You've given us a great introduction, Y/N."

You shook your head, smiling shyly before turning to Harry, who was already watching you with that easy smile at the corner of his lips. You liked how his hand remained firmly on yours, making those circular movements with the thumb that always served as a natural medice for your anxiety.

"You look so fucking beautiful."

The pleated dress with flounce sleeves fit you like a glove. You had made peace with the various shades of white since the wedding and knew that Harry liked to see you in that color too.

"Thank you, you're not too bad either, Styles."

You intimately suspected that Harry would always seem far beyond that "not bad" that came out as a euphemism from your mouth. He wore nothing but a pair of bell-bottom pants in a strong shade of blue and a soft vest printed with fluffy little sheep on a striped American collared shirt - in your opinion, no one could look better in farm animal clothing than Harry Styles and Princess Diana with her red "Black Sheep" sweater in the 1980s. In contrast, you knew your husband well enough to know that he was arrogant and knew exactly how hot he looked - you also made your thoughts clear enough when you kept him backstage beyond ten minutes in a rather heated kissing session.

"Are you anxious?" you asked curiously, remaining with downcast eyes fixed on the strokes that remained assiduous on your warm skin. "To read about how the whole internet dreams of fucking my wife?! Of course." Harry joked, leaning over to leave a small one on your cheek. "We agree on that, don't we? Although I'm a little nervous, I'm really interested to know all the crazy things they say about you. Everyone knows you're mine at the end of the day, that's enough."

At the end of the break, you and Harry made a silent agreement that you should be the first to pick up one of the scattered papers in the red pot. There were quite a significant amount of tweets, and as much as you were used to reading rather sordid things about your husband on the Internet, the excitement was there as if you were wading into uncharted territory.

"I would be a good girl all year round if Santa guaranteed me a threesome with Harry and Y/N Styles on Christmas Eve." You laughed, Harry staring at the camera with an expression close to the meme of the surprised Pikachu. "You guys are incredibly nasty, I love it."

"If that was the first one, I'm really worried about the next ones." Harry commented with a little corner smile, picking the next tweet out of the bucket. "I have an entire folder on Pinterest dedicated to Harry Styles' hands, and let me tell you why: those hands are art, and art needs to be recognized."

"What- Guys, you promised you wouldn't post my anonymous tweets here." You quipped with false reproach, laughing at your own stupid joke while everyone else in the studio did the same. "But I can't blame her, honestly." Shaking your shoulders, you opened another piece of paper. "Harry Styles finally confessed that he wrote Watermelon Sugar for Y/N!!!! Are you guys imagining the same thing as me?!!!!!! 🥵🍆💦"

"Exhausted emoji, eggplant emoji, and water emoji?" Harry frowned, staring at the tweet you held up. "I imagine you're in need of a vacation somewhere refreshing and you're craving a fruit that everyone eats like it's really a vegetable."

"That reminded me of that story-" You laughed, hiding your face on the table as Harry continued to offer a poker face to the camera, struggling not to keep up with you laughter. "I'm sorry, lovie, I have to share this with the rest of the world." You stated, wiping a few tears from the corner of your eyes. "Harry always wears those fancy suits to concerts, right?! Right! Turns out he looks really hot in some, like his ass molds perfectly into those tight pants and everything. I was home that night because I wasn't feeling well enough to face the big crowds, but I was still following everything on twitter. It was a concert in London, not so far from where we lived at the time, so it was obvious that he would come home after it was over. I follow some portals that do really fast updates of pictures, videos, etc; everything that happened at Harry's concert was on my timeline in a matter of seconds. When one of these profiles uploaded a picture of him with his back to the camera in a heavily accentuated black and white suit, I quickly sent him the image along with a peach emoji and then wrote "looks good tonight". He didn't reply to me until a few hours later, of course, but I obviously didn't expect a "ready for a Fifth Avenue peach salad for dinner?" and numerous cutlery emojis."

Harry rolled his eyes comically, indulging in laughter as did everyone else who occupied the backstage area.

"I'm against the eroticization of emojis." He said between uncompensated breaths, shaking his head negatively. "Let's go to the next ones, please, I'm already feeling exposed enough here."

"I like your old-fashioned spirit, baby." You assured him with a smile, laying on the sturdy shoulder hidden under the fluffy fabric.

Harry chuckled low, leaving a little kiss on the top of your head before selecting the next paper. The fans would die when that video aired, everyone was sure. You two easily forgot the cameras when you were side by side, and the public display of affection had never been a problem.

"My life mission is to look at someone the way Harry looks at Y/N and be reciprocated the way Y/N looks at Harry, then I could die happy." Harry read. "That was very good and healthy, thank you!" He smiled. "But don't settle for death in that case, please. Just make sure to keep that person around forever."

"Awn, we got so sweet now." You made a pout. "Thank you for sending us something so cute! I really hope you find the right person soon." Sending a kiss to the camera, you moved on to the next tweet. "I wouldn't want to get a golden ticket to visit Willy Wonka's factory, I would like to get a golden ticket to actively participate in Y/N and Harry Styles' Honeymoon.

"That was creative, so I will disregard the fact that you removed my last name from my wife's name." Harry joked.

"I will always be an Y/L/N." You flashed the tongue. "We had a great Honeymoon, but I know you guys already know all about it because there are pictures all over the internet of outings that I don't even remember existed."

"Even though we chose a rather reserved city, many paparazzi still managed to photograph some of our nights there." Harry agreed. "There was one particular day when we opted to have dinner at a restaurant near the beach. Y/N had found it even before the trip, it was pretty laid back and we could spend the evening at karaoke. I don't really remember what happened, but we woke up the next day with a terrible hangover, still wearing the clothes from the dinner and with several headlines saying that I was cheating on my wife in the middle of our Honeymoon with a blue-haired italian girl."

"That wig made me sexy, man." You blinked, laughing as you remembered the situation. "It's a shame the paparazzi only got low quality images, but I swear I looked really amazing that night. Italy, I miss you."

"We're coming to the end and I haven't had to ask production for a glass of water yet, thank you to whoever selected these tweets." Harry raised his thumb to the camera, smiling before turning his gaze back to the small paper he had chosen. "Y/N could literally punch me in the face and I would just bow down and thank them for it." He laughed. "She has heavy hands, so I would rethink that choice."

"It takes strong hands to be a superheroine." You blinked gracefully, referring to your works as a Marvel actress. "I move around a lot during the night, so I'll take this lovely opportunity to say that twitter can dismiss all the malicious theories about Harry always show up with a new bruise all over his body."

"Please stop making indecent assumptions while Y/N is aggressive with me at night only unconsciously, her father has access to social media."

You laughed, clearing your throat before reading the next obscenity aloud.

"I would sell all my possessions to have Y/N sitting on my lap for ten seconds."

"Oh my God." Harry laughed out loud, throwing his head back. "I should have said that in our wedding vows."

You shook your head, laughing low as you set the tweet aside.

"That was pretty funny and cheeky, I approve."

"Okay, looks like we finally got to the last one." Harry announced, waving the paper in the air dramatically before opening it. "Harry could literally crush me with those boots while fuc- I need that glass of water." He said dumbfounded, hiding his face between his hands after throwing the tweet over his shoulder. You laughed out loud next to the organizers, and meanwhile Harry leaned his head on your bust, staring at you still with wide eyes. "Please promise that we will be careful with our future children on the internet."

[clover-creations]

Hi!! these are Poltegoat and Luscangel, the monsters representing the Shadow and Radiant types! They are going to be used by the main character and rival of Ban Mah. I plan to do this format of post for all of the type reps (not sure if im going to do other monsters like this ^^;)

I’ve done an image like the first one for Micelium (here!), and plan to make another post with it’s opposite monster, shiny colorings, and pixel art

Micelium+Powketroo

Dracumulus+Canaroc

Jelvysprite+Cruistacean

Toxifarce+Suncrower

Any feedback would be appreciated :)

More information about them under the cut!

The theme for Poltegoat is that it starts off as a monster that’s very trusting, but goes through a stage of doubt and worry, but eventually becomes someone who learns to trust again while being able to stand up for itself

For Luscangel, I didn’t really have a theme in mind besides “funny snail with angel motifs with a candle on it’s back,” until I also got the idea for it to turn into lava. I did want it to look very friendly, but it’s harder to make it not look friendly. I also thought of making nods to the 9 choirs of angels, but it really didn’t go through except for maybe the last stage (it is very hard to convey human like appearance and clothes in snails).

1st Page: Design Changes

I had originally planned to do a before and after with the designs like I did for Micelium, but I got carried away with it. You can see their first drafts (and the first-first drafts of the first stages here) The general gist is:

POLTEGOAT:

Red coloring got swapped for the blue (Conveys the fact that it is a shadow monster better)

The first stage didn’t have the heart marking

Second stage only had it’s front paws disconnected, and the fur puff is on the paw instead of the leg. The tail was also shorter

The third stage lost it’s back fur tuft (?)  and gets marking on the back, and blue accents on the leg instead.The horn goes around the ear, and the ear sticks up. It also loses it’s goatee (bc I forgot about it..) The snake tail also gets eyes

LUSCANGEL:

First stage gets yellow at the bottom

Second stage gets more detail overall- starts to introduce the concept of it turning into lava, and gets an actual shell (that’s supposed to represent molten rock!) instead of still having a glass shell

Third stage  gets a canon at it’s shell, and is fully obsidian with yellow and red markings - the shell isn’t just made of glass anymore. Also more of the lava motif appears at the end since it’s turning black. The canon rim works as a halo and I thought that the red spots on it would be good at conveying the eyes of higher up angels, as well as the multiple wings

2nd Page: Foils

Since monsters get captured in cards, I thought it’d be fitting to call their alternate coloration “foils”. It’s basically the same concept as Shinies from Pokemon, but I wanted to have multiple because 1) there are shiny hunters that unironically think that shinies being more common lowers their value, and I like that shinies are easier to get, so there being multiple types of foils balences that idea, and 2) because they look cool

Poltegoat: The first foil is its “beta coloring” with the red instead of the blue, the second foil takes the colors of it’s counterpart Luscangel, and the third stage is supposed to represent how its type is “Shadow.” I’m not sure how well that’s conveyed, since I didn’t want it to be all dark colors, but I think the bright purple and blue contrast well with the black and dark blue, and it looks cool, and that’s what matters

Luscangel: The first foil is basically the trans flag. It was suggested by a friend and I liked the idea, and it looks great! I think it’s my favorite. The second is Poltegoat’s coloring, and the third is because of how it’s the “Radiant” type. Radiant is basically light and fire. It’s basically just the color of fire, I think the shell makes a good contrast and makes the other colors look brighter and warmer :)

Pixel Art

The sizes of these are 32x32, 40x40, and 56x56, and then upscaled to where they’re 10 times bigger on both sides, so they’re not super blurry. The sizes of the canvas are based on their sizes:

Poltegoat 1/2/3 : 1′6″ (46cm)* / 3′ (91cm) / 5′2″ (157cm)**

Luscangel 1/2/3 : 0′8″ (20cm) / 2′4″ (71cm)*** / 6′3″ (191 cm)****

*to horn

**to head

***to eyes, not flame

****to top of canon

Poltegoat also has older sprites (~June 2022):

(I’m too lazy to upscale these, sorry :,D)

-

Thank you for reading this far :)

[spiderdreamer-blog]

Assorted Thoughts On The Super Mario Bros. Movie Trailer

Yesterday’s release of the teaser trailer for Nintendo and Illumination Entertainment’s long-in-gestation Super Mario Bros. animated film unsurprisingly posted a whole host of Disk Horse, up to and including the voice cast, which includes celebrities like Chris Pratt and Jack Black as Mario and Bowser, among many others. Since these are among my favorite subjects to endlessly pontificate on, here’s a list of a various thoughts I had on the trailer and various flavors of opinions being tossed around:

-In terms of the trailer itself, I was quite suitably impressed! I was skeptical of the ability to thread the needle between the requirements of an American family film and the more freewheeling Japanese whimsy of the Mario franchise at large. Especially since, well, the last time we tried, we got 1993′s Super Mario Bros., an infamously bizarre boondoggle that seemed to think kids really wanted to see a cyberpunk dystopian version of the Mushroom Kingdom. Not helping is that Illumination is fairly hit or miss as a studio. The first Despicable Me remains an enjoyable outing (though I prefer that year’s Megamind in terms of a supervillain reformation story), and I liked Sing quite a bit more than I thought I would, largely thanks to Garth Jennings applying his history as a music video director to animation in ways I thought were quite novel. But on the whole, they exemplify much of what I dislike about American family films: loud, frenetic, barely letting the audience have a breath, and when they DO try and slow down and be dramatic, it rarely works in the same deft way that their competitors have made a stock in trade. In particular, I will never forget or forgive the complete fuckup that is the film version of The Lorax, one of the worst major animated features of the past decade.

-By contrast, directors Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic of Teen Titans Go fame (or infamy, depending on your POV) seem to have succeeded quite well at showing off a slightly gentler fantasy adventure vibe based on this glimpse. The primary focus on a singular sequence-Bowser’s invasion of the penguin kingdom-is smart, building tension with his arrival and then decimation, balancing things well with comedy beats like the penguins’ ineffectual snowball throwing. Even the penguin king (Khary Payton, likely doing a favor for his TTG buddies) comes off as a distinct character with the contrast between his regal manner and diminutive design. And the transition to Mario landing in the Mushroom Kingdom (seemingly going back to his original backstory of being a plumber from New York rather than a native), then meeting Toad is artful. Toad himself, played by a pitched-up Keegan Michael-Key, gets a funny moment that is refreshingly non-obnoxious, and we get a quick tease of Luigi (Charlie Day, perfect casting, no notes) running in fear from a bunch of Dry Bones into a gothic castle.

-Bowser himself is just fucking awesome and is very likely to be the best thing about this film. I had already been onboard for Black’s casting because he’s proven to be an excellent voice actor in the past with starring roles like Po in the Kung Fu Panda franchise. What pleasantly surprised me here that he’s thoroughly committing to a monster-y growl as Bowser rather than just using his normal voice. And he’s quite menacing in a way I’ve never quite heard from him before, booming and throwing his considerable weight around. I’m eager to see how he balances that with Bowser’s more comedic side, especially as relating to his amorous intentions towards Princess Peach. (Also, he’d better have a proper Villain Song)

-Which brings us to the other casting, namely Chris Pratt as Mario, who only gets two quick lines here. I was as confused as anyone by the casting at first, but his initial showing here has me more convinced he can pull off the creators’ vision for the part. Namely, he seems to be applying a faux New York accent rather than attempting to imitate Charles Martinet’s high-pitched iconic Italian squeakiness. I think this is a good acting decision on multiple fronts. I can’t picture that voice working well across the space of a feature film if we are meant to take Mario seriously as a character, and going for a lighter accent is easier to keep up across a full performance.

-Of course, this is hardly the only reason his casting was met with controversy and derision. Pratt, once a darling of the internet for projects like Parks & Recreation and Guardians of the Galaxy, has become more divisive in recent years due to both his acting limitations being exposed in other films and some apparently poor social views due to being both Christian and a member of a homophobic California church called Hillsong. Pratt himself has not said much on the matter beyond some slightly lunkheaded comments about Hollywood not being interested in blue-collar action movie protagonists. Now, as a queer guy myself, I certainly don’t like this about his life, but since he has not been an openly hateful presence to my knowledge (I don’t even know if he still attends Hillsong), it’s been easier to ignore. He has also been defended by his Guardians director James Gunn (who famously has a “no assholes on set” rule) and his Jurassic World co-star Bryce Dallas Howard, who recently revealed he helped negotiate an equal salary for her on those films. I don’t begrudge anyone who looks askance at him for his associations, but to me at least, this is not a situation like Jared Leto, who is both a weak/limited actor at this point in his career AND an asshole diva who may also be a cult leader via his shitty band.

-And there’s the other side of this, which is the actual talent scale. Like many actors who settle into screen star personas, Pratt has decided on “goofy manchild action hero” being his stock in trade for the most part. This is reflected in aforementioned roles like Guardians (where a frequent part of Quill’s character development is trying and not always succeeding to grow past those tendencies), as well as his voice acting roles like Emmet in The Lego Movie and Barley in Onward (a role that would have arguably been played by, well, Jack Black ten years ago). I don’t think this in and of itself is a problem, especially if they are pitching Mario to be an everyman protagonist. And let’s be honest, that’s at least SOMETHING compared to his current status as a monosyllabic mascot. Much like his Sega counterpart Sonic the Hedgehog, you need a little more meat to chew on in a feature film context. I think Pratt has done well in these roles (Onward in particular has some real heartbreaking moments thanks to his interplay with Tom Holland) and has thus proven he can hang in with a lead role that fits this context, as this Mario seems to be.

-Finally we come to the last part of the debate: whether Pratt should be playing this role at all compared to Martinet, who has paid his dues for over 25 years as the official voice of this character. I have no issue with Martinet; he has fulfilled that task admirably as well as offered more ambitious work as characters like Paathurnax in Skyrim. And he seemingly has a cameo in this film, which could net him more visibility and appreciation. Career voice actor Kevin Michael Richardson also has a role as Kamek, Bowser’s court wizard, in the film, so it doesn’t seem like that side of the industry is being ignored entirely (esp. since, as said, Horvath and Jelenic work quite extensively with actors like Payton and Richardson). But it has opened up the debate about picking high-profile celebrities compared to career VAs, who often do a lot more work and even now don’t always get the recognition they deserve. Let me be clear on my own standing: I adore voice acting and voice actors of all stripes. I consider some like the aforementioned Richardson, the king of kings Mel Blanc, Rob Paulsen, Frank Welker, Matthew Mercer, Cree Summer, Eric Bauza, and Laura Bailey to be among my personal icons and heroes. They absolutely deserve credit, respect, and proper pay for what they do.

-However. I think that we are in a place now where we can admit that many on-camera celebrities have developed the ability to give good performances even if they are often tapping into a pre-existing persona. It is a different skillset to only use your voice as opposed to appearing on-camera, but I have always thought that how this is spoken of makes it sound impossible for all but a select few like the late Robin Williams in groundbreaking performances like the Genie in Aladdin. And I don’t believe that is the case. I think voice acting is a broad range that can support different styles depending on the project, and that is not always “cartoon” acting where one is trading on an ability to do various exaggerated over-the-top accents and character types. Look at an actor like Kevin Conroy, who transitioned effectively from on-camera work because he gave psychological realism and weight to an iconic character like Batman. In both that and much of his other VA work, he is not doing “cartoon” acting, but finding the character within his natural speaking voice. Thus, an actor sounding “like themselves” can have its proper place depending on what the requirements of the story and character. While it is true that some actors have not appreciated this difference (such as Chris Rock infamously bragging that it was “easy” to play the zebra Marty in the Madagascar film series), I think we have come a long way from misbegotten projects like DreamWorks’ Shark Tale, where celebrities like Will Smith played pale imitations of themselves married to ugly-as-sin character designs.

-This may be a little off-topic, but I do think this has also improved things for diversity in its own way. The American voice acting scene has generally been majority white even for characters of color for much of its history, and this has often led to ugly burlesques and racial caricatures created with little regard for those characters’ actual lived experiences. Many have spoken of the difficulty of breaking into the industry because of these biases, as well as feeling typecast in “ethnic” roles rather than being allowed to explore a full range as an actor. (I will not get into the issue of POC actors themselves playing characters of different races, as I don’t think that is the same thing, nor do I feel qualified to speak on behalf of actors who do this) This has improved significantly in recent decades even if we still have a long way to go, and I think part of that can be attributed to not always relying on the primary voice acting talent pools. Take a film like Encanto, which has a mix of live-action celebrities with extensive VA experience (Stephanie Beatriz, John Leguizamo) and many Hispanic actors making their animation debuts like Jessica Darrow as Luisa. Because of this, there is a real authenticity to their performances that aids the cultural focus on Colombia in the film. I don’t know that you get that unless you think outside the box; indeed, Beatriz herself was considered for Luisa before the film crew met her and discovered she’s much more like Mirabel in real life compared to her other, more deadpan roles.

All of this is to say that ultimately, I’m just another guy with an opinion. If you don’t like Pratt or his casting as Mario, that’s your prerogative. I just like keeping an open mind, and we’ll see how things shake out next April.