#this post has been in my drafts with the first 3 pics since last december btw thats how long ive been thinking about him

[deimostes]

happy pride post this hammer the hedgehog (transmasc amy rose)

(no ship tags please!)

[fuckyeahgoodomens]

Good Omens graphic novel update: December 2024

We promised a graphic novel treat for December to send off 2024, which we have at the end of the update, so let's dive in!

Colleen has been working diligently ahead of the graphic novel going to print next month, which she discussed over on Patreon. For those looking for more behind the scenes on both Good Omens and Colleen's work more broadly, we recommend either following her Substack, or subscribing via Patreon, as she approaches the finish line.

A snapshot from our production HQ where dummy books of the graphic novel, slipcase and other editions of Good Omens have been arriving thick and fast. The graphic novel (slipcased version shown) has quite the heft to it. It's going to be such a magnificent object inside and out.

Here, we're testing out the various papers, finishes, embellishments and more – everything is falling into place!

Merch-wise, some more delights. The A.Z. Fell & Co tote bag design is in, one side in celebration of our favourite angelic bookseller, the other as if it's been purchased from the bookshop itself, so you can take your pick.

We've got more pins that will be available in the 3-pin set add ons. While the full list will be available in 2025, we're happy to share a few more to get excited about:

On the trading card front, have a look at some of the base deck designs by Steve Gregson and Kirsty Hunter in situ as this all comes together rather nicely, and causes a heated game or two behind the scenes.

And, a quick admin note to wrap up that we always recommend checking the FAQ page as a first port of call for any queries. If you have questions tied to specific tiers, we'd suggest checking the last few updates if your answer can't be found on the FAQ. If there is any information required for your pledge, we will be in touch. We will be back at full steam in the New Year!

Thank you.

So, to wrap up this year's updates, we give you the draft of the full first scene of the graphic novel, artwork by Colleen Doran and lettering by Lois Buhalis. If you'd like to wait until the graphic novel publishes in Spring, skip everything after the ducks!

To 2025 🥂

Until next time.

+ post from Colleen Doran:

Good Omens: You Get...Stuff Like This

In the most recent Good Omens update at the Kickstarter, a few people got upset at the suggestion that you have to get past my paywall here to see Good Omens updates.

Except you really don't, and the post doesn't actually say you do. You get a bit more, like pics of my studio, a discussion of tools and process - but not all of that is exclusively about Good Omens.

I think the Dunmanifestin team just wanted to draw a little attention to my blogs and other works, for which I am very grateful.

As my Patreon supporters already know, Good Omens info posted here gets to the Substack and Kickstarter eventually. And since most of my posts here aren't just about Good Omens, but my other projects and personal stuff, as well as links to our weekly Virtual Art Studio sessions, I think I'm justified in keeping that material behind a paywall.

In fact, I don't think I've posted much stuff about Good Omens since the summer: pages of flats like the one you see above, a few studio photos, and color tweaks.

Also, me boo-hooing about my nerves and health.

But for those who feel left out missing even this small amount of stuff, then the screen shot above is for you.

That's called a flat.

It's a prelim color before adding final color.

Here's what the final color looks like.

So I've posted a handful of this sort of thing since this summer, but frankly, there's even more of my sketches and so on posted at my Instagram that aren't here at all.

For those who don't know, I am doing most of the color myself on the book, but I am working with assistants. I'm not sure how much the Dunmanifestin team wants out there before the big reveals, but here's a snippet of a sky.

In the first image, my flat color.

And after my assistant worked on it.

Here, I've done a repaint. Sometimes I do very extensive repaints after the assistant works on a page. Sometimes not so much. I didn't use assistants on many pages at all. About 80% of the labor on the color of the book is my work.

However, the assistants have been a big help, and I am very appreciative of them.

I will make a point to go through all my prior posts and get every single bit of art that you haven't seen and make it public for all of you in the coming weeks. I need to excise it from previous posts. As I respect the privacy of all my readers, I never make prior posts public without their permission as they may not want their comments or identities to be public.

Thanks so much for everything!

[itmightbemikey]

So yeah I'm becoming increasingly convinced I am actually living in some sort of horror story.

Okay, so, late last March I am up at like 3 AM like pretty much everyone was around then because time had just become utterly meaningless in that first month of Quarantine, just sort of pacing around my apartment like you do you are stuck in quarantine and it is 3 AM. Look out my front window, and across the street a couple houses down I see this:

Just, a big ol' cross of big red lights, just lighting up a porch.

At 3 AM.

Totally not ominous or anything like that.

I hopped on to Nextdoor to see if anyone had commented on the cross or explained it or wtf was going on, and, hidden among the 'found pet' and 'missing pet' and 'oh no a person in a hoodie walked somewhere in the general vicinity of my house plz be safe everyone' posts, there was this message, presented in it's entirety:

I have no idea what the reunion area is, I'm sure it's a charming place for... reunions, I guess, but, timing sure is a thing.

Anyway. Red Cross. It's just there, and as far as I can tell it's lit up 24/7, just there, outside my front window. Being an ominous cross glowing a bright red. Some peeps on Discord suggest that maybe it's just some sort of Easter decoration they had put up, and while that's not exactly a normal thing it at least sounds reasonable, so I just roll with that theory. Some people just be weird like that.

Anyway here's a pic I took in September.

Yeeeeeeeep. It's still there 5 months later. And it would remaion there until the end of November, when it finally goes away and is replaced with some sloppily thrown up christmas lights.

Though when the cross disappeared is also when my upstairs neighbor also just up and vanished too?

Like I don't have an exact timeframe on that, I just kind of noticed his van was no longer around. And then mid December a cop shows up at the building's front door, asking for him or if I'd seen him, because they found his van. It had seemingly been abandoned in a parking lot at the county event center outside of town, and they were trying to get a hold of him before it was impounded. Told them I hadn't seen him in a couple weeks, cop left to do other cop things, and I just kinda... sat with that for a while, because there really wasn't anything I could do beyond telling the cops "yo I haven't seen this guy for a while".

The Polar Vortex. My apartment was absolutely frigid, it couldn't get above 50, but my furnace was working and putting out heat. No idea where I was losing the heat, couldn't find any significant drafts that hadn't been there in previous years. So I trudge down to the Ace Hardware to get a space heater, pick up this tiny little personal desktop heater because it was literally all they had left other than the giant fuck-off propane heat cannons designed for heating warehouses or construction sites, and walking back up to my apartment building I look upstairs and see

The windows are wide open. All of them. In fucking February. And, since there's still been no sign of the upstairs neighbor, that means that they've been opened since late November, early December.

So my gas bill for Dec-Feb is an absolute fucking nightmare but that's besidses the point.

Skip forward to this week. Wednesday the landlord shows up, asking if I had any leaks in my apartment, there had been water leaking into and pooling in the basement. I tell them no, but mention that I think the guy upstairs from me hasn't been in his place since begining of december and the windows have been opened, maybe a pipe burst up there, to which the landlord looked.. confused and concerned at this. Which was a bit odd, because I'd figure the lack of rent checks after 3 months would have been noticeable, but maybe there were advance payments, who knows.

Anyway, landlord and his contractor got in and also called the police, they didn't find anybody up there (as well as no reports of him showing up in area hospitals), but they found the source of the leak. His toilet had been clogged and continually overflowing.

For Three Months.

Hey at least I know exactly why part of my bathroom ceiling had collapsed a month earlier. (I had reported it to the property management company but they apparently never forwarded the message to my landlord).

But hey, the windows are closed now at least, and the leak fixed. Anyway, the next day, I step out to pick up a package that had been delivered, and upstairs I hear a tap.... tap.... tap.... tap.... and sigh, thinking "Oh boy, what the fuck is leaking NOW." So, I head up the stairs to see if I could find it. I round the corner in the stairwell, start heading up the second stretch of stairs, when up over the banister pops someone wearing a full-on Gas Mask.

I certainly wasn't expecting that.

Turns out it was my other upstairs neighbor, she was sorting through some containers filled with items damaged in a house fire and was wearing the gas mask so as to not have the ash irritate her lungs, which she has issues with, and it was the respirators on the gas mask that was making the tapping sound. Anyway, we get to talking, she asks me if I know what's going on with the guy in the apartment next to hers, and I tell her the stuff I know, the cop, the landlord, the toilet, etc. And she tells me that around late November, she had started noticing a bad smell up there, but then one night shortly after she noticed the smell she heard a lot of stomping around and a loud ruckus in there, and it was after that that she too noticed the windows had been opened and that the shared wall between apartments had gotten ice cold.

Aaaand that's where I'm at right now. 10 ft below all of that. Just... living with all that information in my head. Had I mentioned that I'm on three different medications for anxiety? I'm on three different medications for anxiety, and I have all of that in my head. It's fine. I'm fine. It's Fine.

Anyway, if some of the worst stuff that's just circling around my brain meat comes to pass, well, I do have a way to defend myself. Because I got this nifty-ass corroded to all fuck Pipe Wrench that just so happened to fall out of my bathroom ceiling in January!

It's Fiiiiiiine.

[gay-jesus-probably]

You have a lot of fans wondering what happened to you in fan fiction. Like me. My gay Jesus, where has our savior gone?

...bro....

Okay first things first: that is probably the nicest thing anyones ever said to me???? holy shit anon i love you.

Secondly... yeah theres not really an excuse here, i just... havent been feeling it. 

Not helped by the fact that I got a new laptop back in the spring, and while I transfered all my files over no problem, I was pirating microsoft word on my old computer, and my usual source of pirated materials (read: dad) gave me a file for it that my computer immediately read as a nasty virus and now refuses to ever interact with again, so. while i have everything, and can look at it whenever I want, i can’t interact with my files in any way shape or form. like, no edits, no additions, i can’t even fucking copy+paste. So I’m using google docs now, except with literally all of my WIPs, the outlining and new chapter files were not complete. So if I want to do any work on them, then it’ll have to be split between beginning on a Word doc, and then picking up on google docs partway through, which seems real fuckin inconvenient so it hasn’t happened yet.

My options are to either cough up and buy the microsoft package, which i dont have the money for, or to find a better pirate source, which is also not an option bcause dad is a giant drama queen and he flips shit and has a guilt trip meltdown if he thinks hes not being appreciated, so me informing him his pirated word didnt work several months after he gave it to me? will not go over well, so there is not a chance in hell i’m doing that. The only solution is to go on my old laptop where i CAN alter the files, and copy-paste them all into google docs, but like... hooooly shit. we’re talking a lot of content here. my outlines tend to get... lengthy, because they’re mostly me rambling to myself. and there’s a lot of WIP projects i’ve got. basically i COULD handle it, but i’m too lazy to actually do so lmao, especially since the whole process would take twice as long cause my old laptop has some case damage around the hinge, which is also by the power button, and means that if the screen moves at all there is a 75% chance it will turn off the laptop. and that gets real old real fast.

All that clusterfuck aside, if we’re talking specific projects, then the rough summary is under the readmore:

Displacement and Division: Haven’t been feeling it. Don’t think I’ve written any new content since I last updated, which was... aaa while ago. I promise, no matter how long it takes, I AM coming back to this one. It’s too far to walk now. It just... may take awhile. Doesn’t help that the outlines and a fair chunk of the next chapter for both fics are locked up in Word. Don’t obsessively check for updates, but hang in there. I’m coming back.

Hooked Into A Machine and Nobody’d Even Notice At All: Both were initially created due to the Great Gods of Hyperfixation causing me to lock into Be More Chill when i discovered it, quickly burn through the entire fandom, and start frantically producing my own content out of sheer frustration. When the hyperfixation wore off... i was able to enjoy non-BMC content again, and wandered off. Whenever I wander back in, updates will occur. ...Don’t hold your breath on these.

Ghost in the Machine: Mix of the two problems, as it was written in the middle of a hardcore Tron hyperfixation, and when I came down, I wandered away. Chapter 3 is about halfway done, only problem is that’s... all locked in Word. Yeah. There’ll probably be more whenever I come back to Tron. It ain’t dead yet.

Cold Flame/Lunam Ignis: Honestly, trying to write a full blown fic of this concept was probably stretching it a bit for me. I had ideas and scenes for Axelnort in DDD, and I wanted to use them, but I felt the need to build up to them first. That... was a mistake, because I didn’t really have anything for Days, and only a handful of stuff for KHII. Honestly, I’d safely call Lunam Ignis dead, I have 0 plans of coming back to that one.

Seemingly Simple Things: These were two blurbs written as a joke, that I probably should not have tried to continue. Don’t expect a chapter 3... well, ever. Apologies all, but I feel anything further would roll over from ‘funny’ to ‘forced’, and I’d rather not. It be like that sometimes.

I’m pretty sure that’s all of my WIPs? If any of these made you go ‘wait what the fuck when was that’, I’ve got an AO3 and an FF.net account, and tbh? my crossposting is not reliable. Some are on both, but a fair amount of fics have just been posted to one or the other. It be like that.

I know I’ve been dead since January (on FF.net) and April (on AO3), but you are going to have to wait a bit - we’re back into NaNo season, so fic is not high on the priority list at the current moment. Apologies, fam.

And now the good news! I AM still writing plenty! Just, none of its gotten to the point of being postable. I’ve had some less intense small fandom hyperfixation frustration fic bursts, so if anyone’s also into TribeTwelve, Stand Still Stay Silent, or Check Please!, then there may be some content going up from those - I’ve got multiple fics in progress for all of those that aren’t just self indulgent fuckery, and will be posted if I can work on them enough to make the plausible.

As for my WIP’s, as I said above, Ghost in the Machine DOES have a chapter 3 about halfway done, and a complete outline for part 1, so that finishing is looking very good whenever I get around to it.

With Displacement, while the next chapter doesn’t have much, the outlines done through to part 7, so I know exactly where we’re steering this trainwreck, and I’ve got a few rough drafts of key scenes in part 4 and 5. I’ve also started on interludes 4 and 5. For those curious, interlude 4 is several non-Evie clones in the 420th unknowingly re-enacting Die Hard, and Michelle’s hair dye saves the day while also causing some truly impressive property damage. The stains left by that incident are never coming out. Interlude 5 is less fun, and more character exploration - namely, the main characters and their thoughts on Michelle. After the events of Part 5, trust me - there’s going to be a LOT of conflict in that area. Especially from Obi-Wan.

As for Division, while I admit the outline is a lot more shaky, and there’s less actual work done, I DO know who the cast is and what I’m doing with them, and I’ve got some rough drafts of crucial scenes, even if I don’t know exactly where those scenes happen yet. It’s gonna be a ride, yall.

And the final, most important piece of good news: As I’m sure you’ve noticed, i am a bitch that really likes talking about their writing. Literally anyone can hit me up asking about anything of mine, and I will probs spam you with a small essay, such as I just did. Tbh, if someone actually did message me to talk about my writing, I give it like a few hours of chatting before I’m linking that someone to a relevant google doc, and/or explaining the entire plot. ...Provided they’re cool with the spoilers, mind you. I ask that first. So seriously - while updates may not be coming until december at the earliest, if you want something to tide you over, be it rough drafts or just paragraphs of information, hit me up. I am literally always down to enthusiastically rant about my writing lmao.

...That goes twice as hard for my original projects, fyi, if someone sent me a message asking about my NaNo project I’d probably cry with joy and tell them everything. it helps me Plot.

The other benefit to messaging me is that I have good cats who are very cute and loving, and I have a compulsive need to show Every Single Person i interact with pics of them, so that’s another inevitable to talking to me.

look at these good kids

[stevenstamkos]

Can you do a primer on julien/pl? I'd love to write fic about them, but I just know bits of pieces from your hcs. But they're both so big and soft????

Hey! So when I started writing we’re not here to take part (we’re here to take over), I didn’t think PL/Julien would be more than a one-off pairing that I’d write once for fun, so it’s been thrilling to find that people are interested in them!

So there honestly isn’t much interaction between the two of them, I’m sad to say. They’re friends, and they’ve been teammates a few times, but the part about them together is gonna be fairly short, sorry! I’d love to tell you about them anyway, bc I love them. I’m so sorry for how long this is. This isn’t a primer, this is an essay with pictures.

Part 1. Pierre-Luc Dubois

A good French-Canadian boy from Rimouski. He was drafted in 2014, 5th overall to the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles (CBSE) in the QMJHL

Look at him, he was so small. He grew up so fast :’) You might know this team as the junior team of a three-time Stanley-Cup winning Penguins goalie who is now in Vegas. Anyway! Luc’s played three seasons in the Q so far, so if he doesn’t make the NHL in 2017-2018, it’s back to juniors he’ll go. Not to Cape Breton though, but we’ll get to that later.

The Eagles are kind of tragic? But they’re good boys. They almost always make the playoffs but they just don’t make it past round 2, rip. Luc loved it there though (at least according to what he said after he found out he got traded).

So he had an incredible season in 2015-2016 leading up to the draft, posting 99 points in 62 games for a neat 1.6 PPG. (HE COULD’VE GOTTEN TRIPLE DIGITS but he got his ASS SUSPENDED for the last game of the season omfg.) This led to him going from a projected mid-to-late first rounder to top 5, and he ended up being selected 3rd overall by the Columbus Blue Jackets in the 2016 draft, to everyone’s surprise. Really, we all thought Puljujarvi was gonna go third. But nope, it was always gonna be Luc.

Btw his draft day suit? Beautiful. Even when I didn’t care about him, I loved it. Please watch the video of his draft just for the jacket lining, if nothing else.

Btw before things get dismal, I want to point out that he has the cutest friendship w my boy Thomas Chabot, bc they’ve played together a lot on national teams, so. Also has an adorable friendship with Evgeny Svechnikov, 10/10 would recommend checking that out

(That’s Svech on the left, and Max Lazarev in the middle)

Anyway Luc got cut from CBJ camp and never played a single game for them, got sent back to CBSE for the 2016-2017 season. And things didn’t go well for him because a few vital core players had left (like Svech) and Luc was not having a good season. He had like, 18 points in 20 games, not even a point per game. People were calling him a bust by like, early December.

Early December is also when he left CBSE briefly to attend Team Canada WJC camp, where he also found out that CBSE had traded him to the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada. And like, Hockey Canada camp was in Boisbriand, literally in BLB’s arena. So I wonder how that felt.

Anyway, we all knew how Team Canada did. Silver. Yeah.

Have this cute photo of Luc talking to Beaner instead.

(People were still calling him a bust though bc he only got 5 assists in 7 games which is Just Not Good Enough for a third overall pick)

So after the WJCs, Luc started playing with the Armada, who were legit contenders (sorry CBSE but it’s the truth) and his production kicked back up: 37 points in 28 games, and he never went more than three games without a point. BLB was like the fifth seeded team in the Q, and Luc led them to the finals. Where they got swept by the Saint John Sea Dogs.

If I had one gif to describe Luc, it would be this one. (x) Oh but there’s also this gifset where you can clearly see him saying “Stop fucking complaining!”

Overall it was a pretty rough year for Luc. WJC silver, got ripped apart by the media, got traded from his team, made it to the finals only to get swept (and not just swept but shut out in Games 2 and 3, too). Awk.

But Luc himself is a sweet, sweet boy, tries to look chill and cool all the time and is mostly successful until he opens his mouth. He’s terrible at baseball and is pretty funny. An incompetent boy, the baby of the family, probably doted on like crazy by his family. So precious to everyone who meets him. Also was super beloved on CBSE before they traded him :( He’s feisty as hell on the ice. 100+ PIM during his draft season, and this season if he didn’t miss so many games bc of WJCs, he prob would’ve done it again or at least gotten close. Just a messy, horrible dork despite his ~suave~ persona.

Part 2. Julien Gauthier

Another good French-Canadian boy, this time from Montreal. He was drafted to the Val-d’Or Foreurs (VDO) in the Q in 2013, 6th overall, so he’s played four seasons there now and is no longer CHL-eligible because of that, so if he doesn’t make the NHL this season, he’s going to be in the AHL.

He comes from a family of body builders. And you can kind of tell.

There’s a whole feature about his family’s bodybuilding.

Anyway. Julien played for VDO since 2013-2014, winning the President’s Cup in his first season. There are pictures of him lifting the Cup, but he was like 16 and he had 24 playoff games’ worth of shitty facial hair, so you can imagine why I’m not putting a pic here.

In the 2016 draft, he was taken 21st overall by the Carolina Hurricanes, their second first-round pick (they took Beaner at 13th). Which sounds pretty good until you remember that he was projected to go like, top 10, and possibly even top 5, but after the midseason his ranking just. dropped? So that probably hurt. But he looked good at the draft and he looked happy, so that’s all that matters

(You can prob tell by now that I am very interested in draft day suits)

So Jules was sent back for the 2016-2017 season, back to VDO. He was doing really well there too, and got invited to play for Team Canada at WJCs where he posted 5 goals and 2 assists. And then immediately after WJCs were over, he got traded to the Saint John Sea Dogs (If you don’t know anything about the CHL, hmu for a more detailed explanation on why the fuck CHL teams trade away their best players).

Here’s the thing to understand about the Sea Dogs this year. They were a fucking juggernaut. They were the top-seeded team and they ate other teams for breakfast. They went 16-2 in the playoffs, sweeping three teams and only losing two games to the Chicoutimi Saguenéens in round 3. (The first time Julien faced VDO, his old team, post-trade was in round 2 and the Sea Dogs swept VDO.) And they swept BLB in the finals and made it look easy, and Julien scored four goals in two games. He only played two games in the finals though bc he got his stupid ass suspended for the final two games.

And then they lost to the Erie Otters in the Memorial Cup semifinal, but I’m allergic to that memory, so here’s Julien lifting the President’s Cup instead

Half his insta captions seem to be emojis, and it seems like 50% of the time when you communicate with him, all you’re gonna get is three emojis in response. They’re probably all goat emojis, bc that’s his nickname. Julien literally says that he uses social media to look at memes and share them with friends. He prob thinks he’s a bad boy but he’s soft as hell.

Everyone likes to tell him how big his body is, or talk to him about how big and thick he is, and he knows about it. (He…definitely knows about it.) He likes fishing and swimming and he has a super cute dog named Rosie. And he has Spongebob sheets.

Oh yes and his tongue is out like 70% of the time (x)

Part 3. Luc/Julien

I sort of made this pairing up on the spot? So there’s like, not a lot, but I can try. First can we talk about how nice they look together though. Luc is 6′3″ and 203 lbs, Julien is 6′4″ and 225 lbs. Okay just wanted to establish that.

I honestly have no idea when’s the first time they met each other, because Canadian boys in the same CHL league seem to all know each other from birth or something. They saw each other around during the 2014-2015 season, when Luc was a rookie and Julien a sophomore. CBSE and VDO aren’t in the same division though, so they only saw each other twice a season. And it was almost always messy lmao bc CBSE? knows no chill. Luc fit in perfectly there 3

They were very briefly teammates during Hockey Canada training camp for the 2016 WJCs, but Luc got cut from the team. Jules made it as the only undrafted guy, but Canada came home with sixth, so. Yikes.

During the 2015-2016 season, they got compared to each other a lot in Franco-Canadian media because they were the two best prospects from the Q. It was a weak year for Q draftees, but those two were up there. Julien was actually ranked above Luc at first. So there were a lot of these:

And they did interviews together:

(Did I mention that Julien had flow until right before the Combine? Raven made this gifset specifically to make me scream, which I did, very loudly.)

The good stuff really happens in 2016-2017, after they were drafted. In November, we had the GIFT of the super series (ok so it’s called the Canada-Russia series now, but whatever). Luc was made captain of Team QMJHL. He wore the C, which was a gift I did not deserve. Julien wore the A, bc of course.

They had so much chemistry on a line together. I shed a tear when I think about it. They helped each other score at least three goals that I can think of, in two games. Also, their cellies were cute, bc Julien gives good hugs (x)

They won both games and Canada won the super series. And THEN less than a month later, we have the WJCs, which is where the bulk of my feels came from. DID YOU KNOW THEY WERE STALLMATES. This seems an inconsequential detail, but I was very excited when I saw it in a random video. (Listen, when there is this little content of your rarepair…)

OH and let’s not forget the celly that started it all. Semifinal game against Team Sweden, Julien scores the go-ahead goal (and eventual game-winner), and is shoved by someone and falls on his back. Luc, in his screaming ecstasy, tries to catch him, fails completely, and decides to drop on top of him for my favorite celly of the year:

I get attacked every time I remember this celly happened. I imagine it’s even better in video form, but sadly they DIDN’T SHOW IT MUCH. Still, check out that bit until 1:36:23 though bc that’s when Luc tries to catch Julien when he’s falling and utterly fails, and decides to just. join him on the ice. It’s cute.

(Have you noticed that every time they celly together, it looks like they make out a little? I’m like 3-for-3 on this.)

And then they lost in the shootout in the gold-medal game to Team USA :( Neither of them was used in the shootout. And then they were both traded to their new, Cup-contending teams that made it to the finals, and Luc was a feisty little shit during that series and so was Julien, and it was a lot for my heart. I maintain that if Julien weren’t suspended, they would’ve fought at some point.

They got compared to each other again, during the series. Several times.

And yeah, that’s like, basically it? I love them both a lot, they’re good boys, so I figured I might like them together too, and I did. My rarepairs all subsist on daydreams and way too much knowledge about their individual QMJHL careers ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

(Matchy matchy)

[ajedialone-blog]

So this has been one of the hardest years of my life because of personal things. I began in March ‘16 over on @thetruthsweclingto-archive as my first star wars rp blog. I branched out, but not much, onto @deviousdecoy and @senatororgana, and a bit with @rebelofalderaan.

Eventually I had to take a big break, about 6 months, while I was in and out of the hospital. I tried a small sideblog, @passionyetpeace, for awhile, with multiple muses before I switched back to mains, just to recuperate. So I thank you all for welcoming me back here on @ajedialone and @ofashandruin with open arms, and I’m glad I was able to come back in good health as well. I was finally able to work up the confidence to play Vader/Anakin, and I’m so glad I did. (There MAY be a third blog in the works, but I’ll cut myself off there : ) )

I made Obi-Wan on December 20th, and am already at 156 followers, while Vader was made the 23rd and has 93. That’s amazing, so thank you guys so much!

Please keep in mind that I am here for you if you ever need reassurances or are having a tough day. I may not be the best speaker, but I can listen. I’m the awkward Dad friend. : )

I’m sorry if I missed anyone! If we’re mutuals, feel free to add me on Skype ( pirateloser ), just let me know who you are!

Special People;

@thiswxldwxldworld- Laura you are so SO important to me. We’ve been friends for around 3 years, I think? But I never hesitate naming you when someone asks (or doesn’t ask ) who my best friend is, I don’t care where you live, even though time zones SUCK. You’ve helped me so much, I’m not sure I would have made it otherwise, and I hope I was and continue to be the same support for you. Also stop buying me such good holiday gifts!! You’re making me look bad.

@mynameisanakin- Shayla Shayla Shayla. I’m so glad Kennedy made that post calling for people for an obianidala thread, because it meant I met you when I did. You’ve made me feel so happy and validated in the short time we’ve known each other, and I love how our minds work (sometimes dangerously) together. I hope we continue to be this connected for years to come. <3 (Also ty so much for the matching friendship bracelets like wtf you’re perf)

@liibcrty- Kennnedy! You’ve been nothing but lovely since the first time I met you, even though I was shy at first on skype (but now you know me for my true self, which is probably WORSE ) It was fun encouraging each other on school work this year, while also not fun because....school. You’re great and I love reading your ooc and ic stuff with other female muses because....girls, man.

@arbitrxte- Rebecca! Thanks so much for listening and being someone I can vent to, while I’m someone YOU can vent to. It’s been fun, and I hope it will continue to be. I’m SORRY I’m so slow at drafts this time around, oops, lately I have no concentration for long threads but I’ll GET ON THAT. You’re lovely and I hope you know your writing is wonderful, your portrayal spot-on, and you’re unique and a valuable Padmé to me. I’ll always be here to encourage you on that.

@ahopefulbunch- Louuuuu. We’ve been round on Skype forever, even with spaces where both of us were busy with irl stuff and didn’t get to talk much (ok, sorry, ‘twas the depression) I’ve always admired your ability to speak out and your strong opinions on things. Also your unwillingness to take shit from others. I’m here whenever you need me, even if time zones really fuck it up sometimes, but hey, I’m always gonna reply. You’re my twin ^^ And I will always send u cute twin and red panda stuffs

@shadowofsherwood- Lee my son, I’m such a proud Dad. I enjoy the lil snapchats I get when I see them (I’m terrible at that I’m sorry) and the animal pics u send me and ur gay horse. You deserve the very best from life and I’ll support you always and also fight anyone for you (though you’re pretty good at doing that yourself) but I got ur back son.

@tachiisms- I’ve dubbed you the most welcoming person in the SW RP world for awhile now! I’m itching to answer my inbox things from you once I get into my rp mindset and Obi-Wan cooperates (which he hardly ever does with Siri, he just wants to banter) Thanks for getting me into Jedi Apprentice (I still need to read more stuff oops)

@beyonderiadu- I know you’re not active right now, but you mean a lot so I’m adding you anyways. I love our lil ginger babies and the lovely chats we’ve had ooc. I will always love my OCs, and you’re definitely one of the top ones on my list.

@feelxdontthink- We haven’t talked in forever, but I really hope you’re okay! I miss writing with you and doing OOC headcanons and stuff, but I hope everything’s going good in your life : )

People I’ve grown close with, though mostly IC and OOC on dash;

@the-delusion-of-a-dreamer- I really miss our Obitine stuff and hope to get back into it soon! You’re a darling and I love reading your silly tags on OOC stuff and getting mad along with you @ unnecessary manpain and poor treatment of female characters. Literally Satine, right?

@bencannolikenobi- We didn’t talk much before because I was such a shy baby before?? But yes I’m keeping you okay? We’re gonna do all the rp things. Thanks for getting drunk with me last night lol.

@datapadz- You’re always so encouraging the few times we’ve talked OOC! I hope I get SOMEWHERE with our threads this time, haha, Ben’s often left speechless over Galya and never expects her to do/say what she does so he always has to sit on it for awhile.

I know peacexquiet deleted her blog, but I just wanted to make a note here that I truly treasured her and Obi-Wan adored his sad padawan so much. You’ve been great, friend!

People I’d love to RP more with;

@anewvoice /@askywxlker / @beautifulkindbutsad / @beforedcrk / @cfmartyrs / @crossingstars / @fineknight / @forcedrebel / @messedupmiinds / @paxjinn / @rebelledhope / @snxps / @stellacoronae / @sxnofthesuns / @tatooinetot / @theirmothcr

People I’ve followed forever from many blogs;

@captaxn / @galaxyslasthope / @ifeelitagain / @isooto / @jedialis / @justcallmejolly / @lxdytano / @master-jedi-shaak-ti / @oftwileks / @snippylittletano  / @synnagedrow / @tatooinejedi

People I haven’t interacted with but admire from afar;

@binarywake / @blindedspectre / @commandeursniips / @forgedinglass / @ncthingtolcse / @noretii / @rebelresolve / @sinsof-ourfathers / @violetbalance

[gosatsuvns]

Weekly Update #228 - 2018 Wrap-Up

Welp, this is awkward. First of all, I need to apologize for the lack of a weekly update last Saturday. The funny (well, actually rather sad) thing is, I had prepared the update in advance and the draft was ready to be published. All I needed to do was to hit that "Publish" button last Saturday, but I kinda totally forgot about that... "orz

To be fair, I was basically away from home all day and only got back somewhere around midnight. I guess at that point, I was too tired and my mind too occupied with other things to think about it...

This really bugs me now. After all, in all this time I've been doing these updates, that's actually the first time I forgot to post one! Aaaaahhhhhhhh, my beautiful track record... stained!! Q__Q

Well, there's no use crying over spilt milk. If you're curious about the contents of last week's update, I've just published it as well, so you can check it out here. It was a short post anyway. The really important thing brought up in it is the release of the next part of our extended GENBA no Kizuna demo, which patrons can now play test here!

But yeah, with that out of the way, let us move on to today's actual topics!

2018 is about to end and a new year itching to start. This one certainly was an eventful and rather unexpected one for me personally. It went into directions I would have never even dreamed of one year ago. As a result, what I had planned to accomplish throughout 2018 didn't quite work out, at least in regards to visual novel development.

For instance, I had to realize that working on two projects at the same time didn't quite work out as I had hoped it would. The initial idea was to alternate between them whenever I would get stuck. So if I'd hit a wall on GENBA and would need to think about how to proceed, I could work on SHINRAI in the meantime and make some progress on that. Sometimes, it can be nice to get a breather and focus on something else for a while. It can clear your mind and you can return to the other project with a fresh outlook.

In the end, however, I guess I'm just the kind of person who works more efficiently when I purely focus on a single thing. That's how we got SHINRAI done after all. Despite the constant urges to work on so many other things, I managed to stay on track and not get distracted. So maybe that's the key to success. At least in my specific case.

Either way, around the midway point of 2018, we decided to purely focus on GENBA. SHINRAI's sequel hasn't been ditched entirely, of course, but for now, GENBA takes priority. It's the shorter of the two projects, it chronologically takes place before SHINRAI, and it provides (optional) introductions for characters that will play a big role in Withering Without Hope.

You will still be able to play WWH without ever playing GENBA, but checking out the latter beforehand will provide you with some more context and background information in regards to the police investigators that will be involved in the case.

We have also already accomplished a lot more on GENBA in terms of writing and asset work, so that's why we ultimately decided to focus on that project first. Nevertheless, I also made some neat writing progress on WWH earlier this year.

(And on that note, if you're curious about the setting of WWH and want to get an actual first glimpse at what the location looks like, I've published a new special blog post on Patreon, featuring a WIP-preview of the very first background art!)

Earlier this year, I was thinking about releasing a demo for WWH in December, containing the entire prologue, but... that obviously didn't work out. We did, however, release a demo for GENBA's prologue in April and have since begun to work on an extended version of it, featuring even more content! As mentioned in the beginning of this post, the first half of it can already be checked out on Patreon. Work on the second half still continues, so the public release will happen some time early 2019. But we'll get into more detail about that in next week's blog post!

In any case, 2018 didn't work out as I had envisioned it. But that doesn't mean I see it as a failure. On the contrary, privately at least, it actually turned out to be one of the greatest year's of my life! And ultimately, I still managed to accomplish a lot of things I'm proud of in regards to VNs too, even if they're not necessarily what I had originally planned.

I would have liked to release the extended GENBA demo this year as well, but I'm still proud of the progress we have made on it thus far. We did, at the very least, release an early demo of the project earlier this year. And speaking of demo releases, there is also the one for Pitch Black Serenade, which I have to mention here, since I've gotten personally involved with the project as well.

It was a lot of fun to work with Kuna and I enjoyed proofreading the script a lot. It's an unconventional romance/mystery VN showing a lot of promise, so if you haven't gotten around to it yet, I highly suggest checking it out! It's more than worth your time!

Besides, eventually, Kuna will be working with us on our future projects as an artist, so you might as well use the opportunity to get familiar with her art! I really can't wait to see her breathe life into our characters and worlds!

Now, I guess I could also mention the release of The Day Akatarou's Blood Ran Out, a dumb little 4 minute VN I made over the course of a weekend earlier this year. This was really just me fooling around with Visual Novel Maker to see what it's capable of, but it was an enormous amount of fun as well as a fun change of pace. With this one, however (even if it's just 4 minutes), I'm really not sure I could tell you it's worth your time, haha.

I'd really like to do something like this again, but with a bit more effort put into it and no use of pre-existing assets.

Anyway! Overall, I couldn't be more happy with how 2018 has turned out. One of the biggest problems we're facing at the moment is that we're still at the start of our new project. A lot of assets are still missing, but once we have completed the extended demo, a huge chunk of the character sprites will be done, for example, so development should continue at a much quicker pace afterwards.

I will be talking about our plans for next year, specifically January, in next week's update. But for today, I guess it's time to not only wrap up 2018, but also this post! Once again, a huge thank you to everyone sticking around and following our progresses! The support we're getting means a lot and is a driving factor behind our motivation to continue! And rest assured, we're fired up to provide you with a lot more content next year!

Now, before I leave, I'd like to share two more things with you, which have also been added to our gallery. This morning, I received this super adorable Raiko from Khana:

But that's not all! For Christmas this year, Natsu drew a little pic featuring Shiku, one of the four suspect characters you will get to meet in GENBA! It also features Fujisa, one of the characters appearing in Pitch Black Serenade:

Now with this, I wish you a great end to a hopefully satisfying year! Please enjoy the last few days of 2018 and have a safe transition into 2019! Until next time, take care! :3

(Oh, and speaking of the new year... patrons can now also check out a WIP-look at our New Year's illustration!)