#website design bend

[orlocalmarketing]

Need of Website for Local/Small Business

Your small, local business is part of the digital revolution, and a website is the best way to make your mark. Worried about how to structure a website, what to put on it or how to run it? There are plenty of trusted professionals who can take care of developing a website for you.

[brailsthesmolgurl]

WARDROBE MALFUNCTION!

A smol bird requested for this to be written and so here I am, playing fairy godmother! If any of you have any sort of requests, just drop me a dm as I am revived from my death and ready to write more delulus as your solulus!

Context: What happens when your outfit decides NOT to cooperate with you? What will the boys do for you?

Disclaimer: This one-shot is created with me studying their lore on various websites and social media so that I could get a better idea on what colours they like/represent and what style they lean towards. Some of you may disagree but its okay! You can read it as it is and add in your own imagery of a suitable outfit by your hubbies! Warnings: Fluff that might rot your brains.

RAFAYEL

"I am almost done with this piece," Rafayel spoke, eyes still glued to his canvas, one hand holding up his messily stained colour palette, while the other held the brush as he drew strokes across the canvas. "Why don't you go and get changed as you wait for me to finish off this bit, yeah?"

"Yes sir." You quirkily replied and you stood up, spotting him sending you a teasing look given the way you addressed him. Earlier on, some strangers had came by Rafayel's mansion with Thomas to deliver some clothes. Apparently, these clothes are custom made by those luxurious brands specifically for Rafayel. Thomas addressed it as this was one of the ways the luxury brands show their support towards Rafayel's works. ONE OF THE WAYS... At this point, you are convinced that Rafayel is a huge deal and having luxurious brands begging on their knees to work with him sounded like a dream that would never come true to you.

The dress that sat on the bed was delivered for you as well, as per Rafayel's request. There was objection amongst the team that were handling the sponsorship and ambassador deals for the brand. But Rafayel spoke through the phone like he owns the company. "If she does not get a gown, then our business ends. Right now." He hung up abruptly, and the next thing he knew, the dress showed up at his door in less than 30 minutes.

Any brands, regardless luxurious or not, knows the right way and only way to please Rafayel. One wrong move and you are off the chart and some other brand may easily replace you. Hence, nobody dares to mess with Rafayel. Except for you. "The dress on the bed is yours!" He shouted from the living room and you picked up the dress.

The chiffon textured dress is of a forest green colour, going all the way down to your ankles. The strapless design made you gulped as you are not used to outfits of this measure, given the nature of your work, whereas your attire has to be 'appropriate for work in times of need'. Touching the inner material, you sighed in relief as you realised that there was bra padding for you hence you do not have to go all the way out to get a new bra just for this event.

Putting on the dress and zipping it up was easy, and you fit almost perfectly into the dress. The keyword being ALMOST. As you lifted your hands up, the dress started sliding down like it is a floatie on a wet water slide and woop, off it went and onto the ground. You panicked, bending down in one fell swoop and trying to gather the dress so that you can pull it up to your chest again.

But it does not let you go past the waist area unless you unzip it. Groaning, you struggled to find the zip as the dress is really puffy and you did not want to ruin the designer dress. "Is everything okay?" Rafayel stood at the doorway, leaning against the side of his door, as he watched you with amusement written all over his face. He has been standing there for quite a while hasn't he?

You gasped, pulling whatever that is on the floor to cover your chest area and he walked over, analysing the dress and scowling when he found out the reason. "I should have gotten them to measure you instead of just bringing you a standard fit." He took his phone out of his pocket and tapped on the screen a couple of times. His eyes looked back at you and you bit your lip in embarassment. "Your curves are way too beautiful to be hidden amongst this pile of leaves."

His comment made you giggled. Guess he has the same thought as you. "Toss the dress aside darling, I will get you a new one." Another few taps of the finger, he shows you the dress he has in mind. A purple dress with extravagant sleeves, puffing out like how a jellyfish would and you instantaneously knew why he opted for this dress. "I like purple better anyways."

"But wait Rafayel... this dress is not entirely scrap, maybe I can sew a temporary knot on it to tighten the top so it won't fall off. And there is really no need for you to get another custom one for me as we are running out of time." Your suggestion made him stare at you, purple-blue pupils blown wide as if he has really just witnessed a shark eating grass. iykyk.

He walked over and grabbed you by your waist and pulled you close to him, so close that you could hear the sound of his heart against yours. But at this moment, maybe he could hear yours louder than his. "Nobody can put a price on your love for me. EVER. But, I can sure as hell throw out any price on anyone, regardless the amount, as a representation of how much you worth to me." You looked away immediately, eyes stared at the arms that were holding you in place. He kissed your forehead, chuckling, before he pressed his phone against his ear. "Now, let's see who can make this dress for the price I am willing to pay in 30 minutes time." he makes me feel something

ZAYNE

You waited on a bench in front of Akso Hospital. You figured it would be a great idea to wait for Zayne as he finishes work early today and you might be able to grab dinner with him. You were mindlessly scrolling through your phone, looking through your daily for-you-page before a shadow loomed over you. You looked up and no doubt, it is Zayne aka the great and almightly Elsa.

"How long have you been sitting here?" He asked you, before handing you a candy that he had fished out from the pocket of his trench coat. "I was planning to meet you slightly later at your condo." The thought of him initially wanting to surprise you made your heart fluttered. You see, Zayne is a more upfront guy so having him to plan surprises are one of the uncalled scenarios.

"I had only been here for a couple of minutes." You lied, taking the candy out of his palm and unwrapped it before you tossed it into your mouth. The raise of his eyebrow towards you made your breath hitched as he knew you too well that you could not lie to him in his face. "Fine, I had waited here since 5pm." This made Zayne looked down at his wrist watch.

"So it's been an hour and 15 minutes?" He side eyed you and you admitted it by nodding your head. "Next time, it would be better if you were to just wait for me at home. If it wasn't for a full deck today at the hospital, I might just be covering shifts for other people and that might be inconvenient for you." But, he himself actually noticed you exactly an hour and 15 minutes, from his office's window, before his upcoming surgery. He had another three surgeries lined up for the night, but fearing that you may end up waiting the whole night for him, he decided to cancel his schedule for the night and transfer the case to other doctors. Even workaholics take a break. iykyk

"But I just wanted to come over to check up on you. I even chose to sit outside so that you would not be distracted as you are working." You pouted, hands picking at the hem of your shirt. You felt Zayne's hand landed on the top of your head, a gesture of love and comfort. He patted and smoothed your brunette strands back and you stared up at him. "I shall wait for you at home next time okay?"

"Now that's a good girl." killmeplease Zayne smiled warmly. "Now, lets get you back alright? My car is parked right by the road side. Come on." Hands around your waist, he slowly walked you over to his car. The smell of his cologne lingered on your nose, the smell of mint and dashes of cinnamon. Just like his personality, icy as mint but warm and welcoming as cinnamon once you get to know him.

He opened the car door for you and as you walked over to get into the car, your shirt got hooked against one of the metal wires that went astray from the metal fencing and the next thing you heard was the sound of a ripping cloth. You yelped as you stumbled and Zayne slotted himself right in front of you, shocked as well and using his body to block you from falling further. "Oh my..." Your cursed under your breath as your hands were against his washboard abs, steadying yourself. doublekill

He guided you into the car slowly before getting into the driver side himself. When he had started the car and turned on the air conditioning, he turned to look at you. "How bad is the rip?" He asked and you lifted the hem of your shirt, showing the rip that is around 4cm long.

"Why does this have to happen to one of my favourite shirt?" You frowned, fingers won't stop touching and fidgeting with the ripped edge.

"Do they still sell this shirt?" Zayne asked, hands reaching over to tug against the shirt, as if to examine the material of the outfit. The shake of your head made him sigh and he gestured to the glovebox. "Open the glovebox and take out the black pouch please."

You did as you were told and you watched in confusion as he took off his trench coat and placed it onto your lap. The coat still radiating warmth that was collected off of his body heat. He opened the black pouch and laid it flat on the arm rest of his car, and inside of the pouch was an array of threads and needles. "Are these suture needles?"

"Yes." His response was prompt. "Take off your shirt and hand it to me please." He requested and you gulped. Using the trench coat to block his view, you slowly took off your shirt and then wrapped his trench coat around your whole front. You knew that he had probably seen many naked bodies given his line of work but something about this scenario, with you being with him only in a car, felt very intimate and it made you very anxious. "You know how to sew?"

"I am a doctor, I know how to suture. And it is the same concept as sewing, but only with different kinds of needles and threads." He then started sewing, his concentration a trait you find admirable. It did not took him long when he finished sewing your shirt and he handed it back to you, the thread sewed on has gaps of equal length and was tied off neatly. As expected of one of the top doctors from Akso Hospital. As he started driving, he added. "Although I had managed to sew the shirt for you, I believe with my connections, I would be just as capable to find you the same shirt. Then, you would never have to complain about this being your only favourite shirt."

XAVIER

You were going about your day in your own house before you heard your doorbell ringing. You placed your bowl of cereal down and took a glance on the clock on your phone. Who dares to threaten your peaceful weekend? You went over to the door and you opened it to reveal your blond hair lover. "Xavier?" You asked, eyebrows furrowed when he smiled at you.

"Good morning, I see someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed." He teased and stepped in, holding out a parcel for your. "I believe this belongs to you?" The small rip at the top side of your parcel indicated that he probably took a peek on what's inside. Acknowledging the parcel, you took it off of his hands and you blushed, tucking a few stray strands of hair behind your ear.

"Good morning to you too. I guess I might have accidentally wrote your level instead of mine." You bit your bottom lip and you heard him chuckle in return. "But thanks for coming down to deliver this to me when you could have just asked me to get it from you." "But I wanted to see you personally. And seeing the clothes that are in the parcel, I thought I could get to watch you try them on too." His blunt answer made you stare at him like a mad man. His blue eyes however, glinted with nothing but honesty. This guy may be mysterious but he sure is straightforward in stating what he has on his mind. He probably noticed the way you reacted and he took a step back, retracing his words and slightly coughing to ease the awkwardness. "I mean, I would like to see you trying out these new outfits that you had gotten for yourself. It would be a good past time for me."

You chuckled at how goofy this guy is and gestured towards him to go and sit at the couch. You went into the room to get yourself changed and it was as if today is your fashion show day. You strutted out in different outfits, layered against one another and watched the way Xavier would react to you, either fascinated, or straight down confused. There was even this one time, he would just have a blank expression where you wore an oversized shirt under your tshirt. Clothing trends on the streets nowadays baffles him and he wondered if he was the one that was left out from the fashion ring.

Your last outfit featured you in a semi see through tank top and a pair of cargo pants. Not to mention, the tank top seemed to be too small for you as the way the blond boy sees it, it was holding onto your figure for dear life and barely leaving anything more to one's imagination. And the thought itself ticked him off. When you looked over towards Xavier, he does not look surprised nor confused, but rather bland. "What do you think?" Your tone came off to be amused and you did a twirl in front of him before you took a seat right next to him.

Xavier anxiously gulped and looked away from you, his voice low as he muttered. "I don't think this outfit looks nice on you, girlfriend." The way he shifted in his seat made you cornered him against the couch even more, wanting a better explanation. "The top you are wearing. I don't like it."

"And why so?" You asked, looking down at your top and adjusting it. "This is the trend nowadays, they call it the Y2K trend I think. And this tank top was on sale, so I just got it."

"I can buy you some other clothes. Even the ones that are not going to be on sale." He retorted, eyeing the tank top you were wearing with an underlying anger. "I just don't think I would like to see you wearing this in public. It is too revealing, and I guess tight on your body."

His answer painted your cheeks red and you gasped. What were you thinking? Of course you had forgotten about his possesive nature. He does not show it much and having such a pretty boy face like him further disconnects the word 'possessive' from his character. He reached into his hoodie's front pocket and pulled out his phone, opening up an app and handed the phone to you. When you refused to take it, he lifted his torso off of the couch to 'force' you to take his phone. Just like how you had previously pressed your body against him, this is his turn to take his small and sweet revenge. You panicked as he closed the gap between you two and within the next minute, he was pressed against you, one of his hand at the side of your head and another still holding his phone up to you, his gaze intense. "Just choose whatever you want from my phone, my card information is all in there. And perhaps before you check out, you can let me double check on the outfits you are getting." He low-key demanded before he explained himself for such a decision. "I just don't like nor want people staring wrongfully at what I treasure the most."

Another fluff for another day. I already did my best in having to think of different wardrobe malfunctions as I did not want one theme of wardrobe malfunction to be stagnant across the whole story for all three of the boys. SO I hope you would understand my lovelies. :,) I am very very free so I will be posting more regularly for these few weeks. SO please do show me more love and support as that would aid me in my motivation in writing!

Do check out my other works as well!

HOW WOULD THE BOYS REACT TO YOU FORGETTING ABOUT YOUR DATE?

DAMNATION

Hope your Delulu is satisfied my lovelies <3

[lookingforhappy]

ok im getting serious deja vu with this so i think someone else has done this before, if anyone knows who/where then pls link me, but in the meantime

Umbrella Academy Trading Cards (i think)

source: the Behind the Scenes book

transcripts:

Ultra-Strength - 10/10

Mind Powers - 2/10

Nimble Dexterity - 4/10

Supernatural - 3/10

Time & Space - 1/10

Spaceboy's super powers give him ultra stength so that he can face down the Umbrella Academy's greatest foes. He can take a 1-ton stone to the body and still bounce back to fight again!

Ultra-Strength - 5/10

Mind Powers - 1/10

Nimble Dexterity - 8/10

Supernatural - 2/10

Time & Space - 1/10

The Kraken is the ultimate fighter - well-rounded and agile. He has an uncanny ability to throw knives at targets in a way that bends the laws of physics. Against the Kraken, no hiding spot is safe!

Ultra-Strength - 3/10

Mind Powers - 9/10

Nimble Dexterity - 4/10

Supernatural - 3/10

Time & Space - 1/10

The Rumour is the premier situational manager. Her ability to implant irresistable impulses into the minds of others lets her clear the battlefield, keep citizens safe, and drive villains crazy!

Ultra-Strength - 2/10

Mind Powers - 4/10

Nimble Dexterity - 3/10

Supernatural - 9/10

Time & Space - 3/10

The Seance's supernatural skills let him speak with spirits and gather intelligence. He is the master of illusion and the otherworldly, and foes never know what to expect!

i think one of the designers messed up here bc Five's power ranking is exactly the same as Luther's in the version published in the BTS Book:

Ultra-Strength 10/10

Mind Powers - 2/10

Nimble Dexterity - 4/10

Supernatural - 3/10

Time & Space - 1/10

But the version found on the Prop Auction website is the accurate version:

Ultra-Strength 2/10

Mind Powers - 2/10

Nimble Dexterity - 3/10

Supernatural - 3/10

Time & Space - 10/10

The Boy is a space warping master, turning dangerous moments to his advantage by teleporting and traveling the dimensions to gain position over foes and turn the tide!

Ultra-Strength - 2/10

Mind Powers - 2/10

Nimble Dexterity - 3/10

Supernatural - 3/10

Time & Space - 10/10

The Horror looks cool, calm and collected, but don't let him fool you. His body hides a secret of monstrous, transformational power that lets him wreak haavok on villains and send them fleeing!

[cy-cyborg]

Hi, I was wondering what sort of leg prosthetic would work well in a fight? I'm designing a magical girl OC with a prosthetic leg and want to incorporate a rather more pink and sparkly one into her magical girl form. I know you can get blades for running, but would those be better than a normal prosthetic for running and leaping around while bonking monsters with a magic stick?

Hey there, I think I remember seeing your question on my old account right? I'm so sorry it's taken me so long to get back to you!

So a blade probably wouldn't be ideal, but a hybrid might.

Blade prosthetics are very good for running, but are absolutely terrible for literally everything else, including standing or walking. Essentially, blade prosthetics are modeled off of digitigrade legs. For the non-furries on my page, digitigrade legs are what cats and dogs have on their back legs where it bends at the knee, then bends back the other way at a second joint before their feet.

[ID 1: A pair of black running blade prosthetics with yellow edges. Their wearer is out of frame but we can see they are running along a track. /end ID] [ID 2: A photo of a cheetah from the side. In the photo we can clearly see the structure of its legs, as described above. /End ID]

This is actually their ankle, and their "foot" is their toes. This arrangement makes these animals really fast and nimble, but it comes at the cost of lower balance. That's not an issue when you have another two legs to help keep you steady, but when you put that onto a human we start having issues. This is why if you watch any races where the competitors are using these prosthetics, they almost always fall over, especially the double leg amputees. Essentially, the shape and springiness of a blade gives you a massive speed advantage (so much so that amputee runner Oscar Pistorius had to be given disadvantages in order to compete in the Olympics with able-bodied runners) but it essentially moves the ankle joint and heel - the one our brains automatically know to weight bare through - up off the ground. The closest an able bodied person could get to the feeling of running on a blade would be to wear a pair of stilleto heels with the heal removed, and a spring on the bottom.

Hybrid feet though are a combination of blade feet and the regular feet amputees usually get. They are like tiny blades, but they usually have a foot-shell on the outside so you don't see it. These hybrid feet give you some of the extra padding and suspension you'd get from a running blade (which makes running/jumping etc more comfortable) as well as a bit of a speed boost, though not as much as the big ones, and they don't come at the cost of your balance, which you'r character will need when fighting.

Ossur's Flex foot range are a good one to look at for refeance, I used them when I was doing martial arts, as do a few friends of mine who are still doing it. This is a link to their website, it's got pictures of what they look like both internally and when people are using them, and I beleive theirs a booklet you can download on the page as well if you want to read into them a bit more. This isn't the only one of course, but it's the one I've used before:

I'm planning to do a breakdown in a little bit more detail about the different types of prosthetic feet and what they're good for eventually, but for what you described, I think this is what would work best.

[sniffanimal]

I'll give a proper review when they actually get here but I ordered my 2nd pair of Billy shoes and I was so impressed with my first pair!!! I only even had to order a 2nd pair bc I wore out the soles wearing them every single day for 2 years (the new pair I bought has boot-like rubber soles that should be able to handle me)

but in case you've never heard of them, Billy is a company that makes adaptive and accessible shoes! they have everything from sandals to sneakers to running shoes to snow boots!

this is the pair I just ordered! notice the zipper goes all the way around the toe box: these shoes are incredibly easy to put on. they come with a little tassel on the zipper that is pretty easy to grab onto and pull, or easy to hook something like a carabiner to to pull on. These shoes also come in 2 different widths, Medium and Wide, and the wide ones particularly are designed to fit over AFOs and other foot braces! my previous pair fit over my foot braces just fine! the top of the shoe opens up completely so there's no stuffing your foot into the shoe, just unzip, place your foot, and zip back up

I just wanted to shout out this company because accessibility is for everyone! I normally don't need accomodations for putting on my shoes (I prefer slip-ons so I don't have to bend but it's not a big deal), and I usually wear my braces at night when I sleep, so I don't Need shoes that fit them. BUT accessibility is for everyone! I like having shoes that are easy to wear and can fit my braces if I need them! and the adaptions in these shoes don't take away from my ability to wear them at all! Plus since I'm a Men's 7/women's 9, I just barely fit into their kids shoes line hehehehe

Also, for anyone it might be relevant for, you can buy single shoes on their website, if you need one shoe or need two different sizes! they also offer guides on which shoes fit AFOs the best!

I know for sure Target sells them in their stores if you want to go try a pair on in person! they might only carry kids sizes though, not sure.

[bel1ewrites]

The Alcohol Helped (Tara Carpenter x Reader)

a/n: sorry about the drought.

Description: It's too hard to stay away.

WC: 1.8k

Warnings: sorority setting, mentions of drugs and alcohol (underage drinking), drunk Sam and Tara, idiot reader with top energy, I changed the ages of Sam (22) and Tara (19) to fit the narrative better

COLLEGE parties are never as fun as you think they’ll be. Maybe it’s the lack of alcohol in your system, possibly the absence of mind bending drugs that makes them seem kind of, well, lame. Being the designated driver always reminds you of the pure stupidity that flows through sweaty, half clothed twenty-somethings with a knack for getting themselves into trouble. 

“Oh president!” slurs your new assistant. Sam had secured her position after being one of the least insufferable people you’d ever known. Her first night in the house was spent drinking and watching all of the Pitch Perfect movies with you well into the early morning, and her second night was spent signing all of the new members up for random websites after acquiring their emails. 

“Hello, Samantha.” 

She giggles at the formality, drunkenly mocking the way you said her name and gripping your shoulders, looking into your eyes with serious intensity. “My sister loooves you.”

Tara. A new addition to the sorority. She didn’t even really have to rush due to her sister being your second in command. She was all doe-eyes and sickeningly sweet smiles, raven black hair and the kind of face that had recently begun to creep into your dreams. Truly the picture perfect active. 

“Does she?” you’re smirking a little, arms crossed and back pressed against the cool, probably germ infested wall. Vibrations run through you with each pump of the bass in some mind-numbing song. 

“Mhm,” she hums, a dopey look on her flushed face. She lifts her hand from your shoulder and boops you on the nose. “We were dancing with Chad, and Chad was all,” her voice deepens in an attempt to recreate his, “‘You’re soo beautiful Tara blah, blah, blah, we should blah, blah, blah’ but then Tara was all,” this time her pitch rises, “‘No, Chad. I’m totally… no you’re like my brother blah, blah, I’d never do that with you blah, blah, blah I wish Y/N would blah, blah, until I blah, blah, blah.”

“First of all, stop saying ‘blah, blah, blah’ before I punch you, and second of all, what did Tara-”

Speak of the devil, she’s stumbling towards you, drink sloshing around and spilling over the sides of her cup. Her cheeks are red, her eyes wide and sparkling. 

“Sam, come do another shot with me,” she’s begging, tugging on her sister’s arm. It’s a weak tug, fueled by her foggy mind. She hasn’t noticed you standing there, too preoccupied with her mission to get more alcohol in her system. 

“I don’t think you need another shot,” you cut in. Typically, you didn’t really care what the members of your sorority did in their spare time, so long as it didn’t interfere with their performance. Tara was nineteen. She was old enough to do as she pleased for the most part, and even if she technically wasn’t old enough to drink, she was still an adult who could make her own decisions. That being said, you couldn’t help but feel protective over her, brushing it off with some half-assed excuse about how she’s Sam’s sister. 

Round, brown eyes blink up at you as she processes your presence. 

“I mean,” she stutters, “let’s go uh… form meaningful connections?” 

“Nice one,” you’re running a hand through your hair, slightly damp with the perspiration that comes with a night full of standing and watching. 

“Well,” Sam starts with a little laugh, “I’m gonna go somewhere else.” Her figure retreats, blocked soon by the current of shifting bodies. 

Tara sways lightly on her feet. Midnight black strands of hair fall from her ponytail, framing her face with a flaw free air of carelessness. She’s wearing a cropped tank top and baggy jeans that make her look shorter than normal and sit perfectly on her hips, smudged eyeliner resulting in a strenuous difficulty for you to keep your hands in your pockets. 

“You know what we should do?” she’s grinning, eyes droopy. “We should dance.” Her hands reach for yours as you attempt to maneuver out of her range, aware of what a bad idea this is. 

You tell yourself you tried, but ultimately you fail to keep her off of you when she grabs your forearms and places them on her shoulders, backing up and effectively pulling you away from the comfort of your wall. With your arms resting casually over her shoulders, hands limp and unmoving, she sighs happily and clings to your torso. 

“You’re the perfect hug shape,” she mumbles, words muffled with her face against your ribbed tank. She’s breathing you in and humming.

“What does that mean?” Your voice is low and what the two of you are doing couldn’t possibly be defined as dancing. She’s hugging you tight, hands around your waist, and you’re holding her to you, one arm curved around the back of her neck and the other still hanging off her shoulder. There’s a comforting sway, the both of you rocking side to side soothingly. 

“I mean,” her hands are moving on your back, “You have such a sturdy body,” fingers slip beneath the hem of your shirt, “muscular and soft. Tall-” (“Everyone’s tall to you,” you interject.) “-and you smell so good all the time. It’s like some sort of sorcery. You’re like a hot, good smelling witch or something.” She’s fumbling over her words but you’re barely listening, focused intensely on the way her nails run over your bare back from under your shirt. 

Tara Carpenter has her hands under your shirt and it’s so hot where you stand but you’re shivering and pulling her closer. Tara Carpenter is scratching your back and you're stone cold sober but you can’t think through the fog in your mind.  

“I love this shirt on you,” she groans. She’s groaning and her hands are on your naked back and you’re holding her to you and all you can think about is her.  

“Yeah?” your voice shakes a little.

“Mm,” she nods against you. “It’s sexy.” 

It’s your turn to groan. It’s too much and you’re dangerously close to cracking under the sexual tension. 

“I’m gonna go get Sam.” you gently nudge her off of you. “I think you’re both in need of a glass of water and a bed. “

She’s frowning when you walk off. 

—-----

By the time you manage to drag Sam away from her game of beer pong and into the car, Tara still hasn’t spoken more than two words to you. She sits silently in the backseat and picks at her hands with intent whilst her sister insists on taking aux to listen to the Tangled soundtrack the whole way home. Every once in a while you glance in the rear view mirror and catch her eyes before she looks somewhere else again. 

As soon as the three of you clamber out of the vehicle and through the door, Sam heads for the leather couch in the common area and falls face first into it. You hang up your keys and watch Tara stumble slightly as she makes her way to her room. 

It’s silent, the sound of the heater kicking on fills the space around you along with your racing mind. Had you taken it too far with Tara? Did you make her uncomfortable? Maybe you should bring her some water and leave her an Advil for the morning. 

“Tara?” you call from outside her room, water and medicine in hand. She’s still awake, light on and soft music playing, muffled by the shut door. Beneath the light thrum of the melodies you can hear soft sniffles and little whimpers that make your heart drop in your chest. 

Tucking the pill bottle beneath your arm, you turn the knob and slowly crack open the barrier between you and her, still not peeking inside. “Tara?”

A pause. “What?” her voice is watery and you finally gain the courage to step inside. 

Her room is so impossibly her that it’s shocking. Soft white walls covered in bulletin boards, a few shirts scattered around the floor in a mess that seems intentional. It’s contrasting with the current state of her. Her eyes are puffy, cheeks still flushed from earlier, deeper now with the addition of tears. With the comforter pulled up over her neck all you can see is her face.

“Tara,” her lip quivers, face crumpling. “What’s wrong, baby?” Placing the things on her dresser, you rush to sit on her bed and rest a comforting hand on her forehead, moving the hair stuck there out of her face. She only cries harder.

“I’m sorry,” the bed shifts as she turns to lay on her side and face away from you.

“For what?” Confusion filters through you. If anything, it’s you who should apologize. 

“Making you uncomfortable with everything I said earlier,” she replies, body curled into a ball beneath her blankets. “It was really inappropriate of me.” 

Uncomfortable? The only thing that was uncomfortable was the metaphorical boner you got every time you were in her general vicinity, and that had nothing to do with anything she’d said. 

“Wait,” it clicks in your mind, “when we were dancing?”

She nods. 

“Tara, I wasn’t uncomfortable,” you rub circles on her upper back through the layers, “Hell, I was too comfortable.”

The gears in her mind turn weakly and she turns to look at you with wet eyes; asking, “What’s that mean?” with a sniffle.

“It means we were swaying and you were rubbing my back and calling me hot and I had to step away before I did anything irrational.” She’s on her back now, staring up at the ceiling fan silently. “Not because I don’t want to do… irrational things with you- it’s just that you’re Sam’s sister and I don’t want to complicate anyth-”

“-Sam’s the one who told me to go for it,” Tara informs you. Her tears are gone, their pathways dry on her face. “Said she’d had enough of our eye-fucking back before she’d even had her first shot.”

Agape. Your jaw is agape and you close it before opening it again like a fish out of water, struggling to find a response. Sam was the reason you’d tried to keep your distance; stuck to admiring from afar and aspiring to be close. Was the attraction that obvious?

“I only got the courage tonight because I’d caught you staring at me all week,” she finally smiles, “But the alcohol helped I guess.”

A noise of pure embarrassment emerges from your throat and you fall back against her mattress, crossing your forearms over your blushing face. Clearly you needed to work on your stealth abilities. 

The surface you lay on dips with movement. Tara’s warm hands wrap around your forearms as she struggles to pull them away. It’s truly laughable how little she moves them. She manages to uncover your eyes, her own sparkling with unknown emotions, a warm smile on her lips. You peer up at her with a hidden grin on your face. 

“So,” you start, “a hot, good smelling witch, huh?”

[voldkat]

guess who figured out how to do botched 3d modeling . and continued doing so for the entire day . to feed the shape autism

this was inspired by the fact that i have hyperspecific headcanons for how the geometry of their heads and antennae . like every time i draw them i picture their shapes in my brain and rotate them . it's so fucked up /silly

also note that none of their face patterns are dented into their heads !!! the website just kinda fucks up and gets confused sometimes when merging shapes lmao all of these mfs have flat faces

sorry unparalleled innocence fans inno is not here again because i am Still trying to figure out its colors ( getting distracted and forgetting to ) . i might make a follow up post with its model if i ever get around to it ( and might model my ocs along with it )

closeups of each iterator ( sorted by age ) + design notes for all of them + the tinkercad project link below the cut :3c

LOOKS TO THE MOON

MEWNIE !!! a fairly normal looking iterator head . spherical shape . flat cylindrical earpieces with slots to support the antennae . doesn't get any more standard than that WEHBHJF

her antennae are very much standard too !! average height , average width , rectangular little things with singular yellow strips near the end . just an average old model during a time when the ancients were still in the middle of figuring things out

and also the circle mark on her forehead looks more like a crescent moon or a pearl in my design . which is very cool ( symbolism for both her name having "moon" in it and the fact that she's in the scholar passage )

SLIVER OF STRAW

ok . her design is also fairly standard but her antennae are a bit Strange . i figure this might be around the time the ancients are starting to experiment a little , but not as intensely as they do with the second gens

the rest of my iterator designs with antennae have sharp bends and are usually flattened prisms or extruded shapes , with the silly color patterns clear and visible on the side faces . sliver however . she's got ROUND !! almost like some sort of stretched out cylinder !!! AND her color patterns are on the top face and actually dented into the antennae , making it hard to spot them !!!! what a fucked up design . why is she like this /silly

nothing else of note to say tho so we're moving on :3c

CHASING WIND

WE'RE IN GEN 2 NOW GUYS !!! i actually Don't have a hyperspecific headcanon on what their antennae look like so i just eyeballed it based on how i usually draw them . they're certainly a weird shape . rectangular-ish prism thing that gets wider at the top with an ellipse cut out of it . and the color patterns are at the base of the antennae instead of near the top like they usually would be . they look like fucked up bug horns almost

you see the front of the antennae ? where the oval cutout doesnt reach ? yeah . that's not a modelling mistake . that's intentional . there's one little section where the top is nice and flat . what the fuck is up with these tennas /silly

i may give them a secondary pattern on their face later like suns' Lines On Face (/ref) if i feel like making that a signature design choice for gen 2 iterators . but for now all you get is Peculiar Antennae

NO SIGNIFICANT HARASSMENT

OH BOY . EASILY the one with the weirdest head shape . extruded rounded square for a head . screen face . no antennae at all . fucking Gamer Headphones . he was built WAY too different . built correctly ( fit for his purpose ) but also not ( breaks every single known iterator puppet design convention ) /silly j

on a more serious note , his earpieces are significantly thinner ( more flush with his head ) than average , and don't have the antenna notches !! that's the only reasonable comparison i can make tho because he looks SO Fucking Different

there are other little details that i feel i have to mention . like his screen is dented inwards a little . his 'mic' thing isn't touching his face but only by a slim margin . his fucked up eyeball isn't flat or dented in but actually extends out in the shape of a semicircle ish thing . yeah that's about it honestly

SEVEN RED SUNS

okay back to relative normalcy . except the shape of their antennae fucked me up SO bad that it was the sole reason i decided to model these fucks in the first place

they're almost triangular prisms but the outward facing triangle is like slanted inwards slightly . which makes the upright lateral faces weird right trapezoids instead of rectangles . but also they have extra joints at the base of their antennae which allow for more movement !! Thankfully those joints a pretty normal shape ( ordinary cuboid )

also another detail i want to mention is the Lines On Face . the lines bend at 90 degree angles . the left / right sides disappear below the earpieces but the bottom sides kinda just . Stop . after some point . idk that's all i have really

FIVE PEBBLES

AAAAND with gen 3 we've looped back to fairly standard looking !!! he looks just like his sister but with the colors swapped around , and longer thinner antennae . and the fuckass stripes on his face i guess . one of the newest models , yet with little to no thought put into customization , since his creators are getting tired of waiting

it's interesting to me how he's the only design without a symbol logo thing in the middle of his forehead . perhaps the ancients ran out of feasible forehead symbols ? or maybe just a staple of gen 3 iterators ? who knows . all i can do is speculate and make shit up

AND !! as promised , the link , except you'll have to make an account to see it for some reason :

[sixlane]

tricks up sleeves and all that

rosekiller microfic | 1,180 words | magician Barty, single dad Evan

The first thing Evan thought when his daughter told him she wanted a magician at her birthday party was how did I raise a child who enjoys close-up magic? It wouldn’t have been his first choice, probably wouldn’t have even been his last. He would’ve gone with something classier, more elegant, like a tea party or a day at the museum. Something to live up to the extravagance of previous years. Sure, Eleanor is only seven but that doesn’t mean she can’t enjoy the finer things. 

So, in between meetings and phone calls, Evan researched children’s birthday party magicians, and as you’d expect, not much was living up to his standards. After days of sifting through resumes and background checks, he was eventually able to find a well-designed website with good reviews and speak to a representative who promised to send their best.

This is why Evan is so confused when he opens his front door to find a tall, lanky man in ripped jeans and a worn out t-shirt, his look complete with ruffled hair, an eyebrow piercing, and excessive amounts of tattoos. 

“You must have the wrong house,” Evan says. He thinks he should probably close the door but something about this man is intriguing. He wants to look for just a second longer.

The man leans back to check the address beside the door. “You’re Mr. Rosier, right? I’m here for the birthday party. I’m Barty, the magician.” 

Evan raises a brow. “You don’t look like a magician.”

“Were you expecting a full tuxedo? It’s like 95 degrees out.” A tilted grin spreads over his face, showing off a pointy canine. “Here let me show you.” Before Evan can back away, Barty is reaching behind his ear and producing a shiny quarter, flipping it between his fingers confidently. “Ta da.”

“That’s hardly magic,” Evan says, crossing his arms. He better get a full refund if this is the best they had.

“No, you’re right. That’s just the decoy.” He raises his left hand, and between his thumb and pointer finger he holds Evan’s watch, which had previously been secured to his wrist.

Evan’s mouth drops open slightly. He hadn’t even felt it. “That’s not magic either, that is literally stealing.” He snatches the watch back, putting it on.

“It’s the art of misdirection,” Barty explains. “I do a dumb coin trick, and while you’re paying attention to that, I do something more impressive. It’s like, the basis of all magic.”

Evan doesn’t even know what to say. This man has just pickpocketed him on his own front porch and now he wants Evan to let him into his house? 

At the same time Evan is getting ready to slam the door in Barty’s face, Eleanor appears at his hip, smile wider than a mile across her face.

“Is this the magician, Dad?” she asks, tugging at his shirt while she bounces up and down.

“You must be Eleanor,” Barty says, squatting down so they’re at eye level. He’s performing now, Evan can tell. He lights up and his smugness from before is washed away. “Would you like to pick a card?” 

Eleanor nods enthusiastically.

Barty pulls a deck out of his back pocket and starts shuffling. Evan watches the way his fingers move deftly around the cards. Bending and flipping them expertly before fanning them out in front of her.

“Okay, go ahead. But don’t tell me what your card is, just show it to your dad and put it back anywhere in the deck.”

Eleanor does as instructed and shows Evan the card, ace of hearts, before sliding it back in.

“Thanks Eleanor, that’s great.” He starts shuffling the cards again, adding in flourishes here and there. Evan watches intently, trying to track his every move, see where he might be switching cards out or taking a peek, but he moves too quickly for Evan to stay on top of everything. “Now Ellie, can I call you Ellie?” Eleanor giggles and nods her head. “Your dad here,” he tilts his head up at Evan, “has already seen me do a trick similar to this, but I think I can put a new spin on it, what do you say?” 

Eleanor looks up at Evan, affronted. “Dad! You’ve been playing with the magician without me?”

Evan hears Barty try to stifle a laugh and feels the beginning of a tension headache spreading behind his eyes. “I was just making sure he was up to our standards,” he grits out.

“Don’t worry Ellie, your dad was just doing his due diligence.” Eleanor looks appeased and waves her hand in a motion that tells Barty to continue. He does one last shuffle and then reaches behind Eleanor’s ear. When he pulls back, he has the ace of spades in between his pointer and middle fingers. “So Ellie, was this your card?” 

She looks confused and a little disappointed. Evan holds himself back from kicking Barty directly in the face. “Um… close,” she says. “Mine had hearts on it.”

Barty looks at the card. “Huh. You know, sometimes the cards don’t always do what we want them to so we have to shake some sense into them. He starts waving the card quickly back and forth. When it comes to a stop, Barty holds the ace of hearts where the ace of spades had previously been. He smiles in triumph. Evan still kind of wants to kick him in the face.

Eleanor lets out an excited squeal and rushes forward to tackle Barty into a hug. “Can we keep him, Dad?” she screams directly in Barty’s ear. He doesn’t even flinch.

Evan lets out a resigned sigh. He’s really never been able to deny Eleanor anything, so he steps to the side, opening the door wider, a smile tugging on the corners of his mouth. “Of course Eleanor. Go gather your friends in the living room. Barty will be right in.” He places a hand on her head as she runs by.

Barty stands up and straightens his pants out, sliding the deck back into his pocket. “Good enough?” he asks, shrugging a shoulder.

Evan scrutinizes him for a second, running his eyes over every inch of the man. The line of his cheekbone, the curve of his neck, the way his thumb rubs a circle into the side of his pointer finger. There’s something about him. Evan hasn’t heard Eleanor scream that loud since Pandora got her a bug collection kit for Christmas last year. 

“I want you to know that I keep a detailed inventory of everything in my home, so if you steal something I will find out, and you won't be happy about the consequences.”

Barty smiles, something mischievous glinting in his eye. “We’ll see about that,” he says brushing past Evan to make his way into the living room. Evan closes the door behind him. Right before Barty turns the corner, he throws something over his shoulder. Without thinking, Evan catches it. His wallet. With the ace of hearts sticking mockingly out of the top.

[tomswifty-fr]

I think my number one art tip that isn't actually drawing related is that you have to curate a bunch of reference/inspiration resources and it can't just be pinterest or google images. You need your own stuff.

Option one: Photo books. Get them from the library and copy or photograph your favorite pages. Even better, you can buy these at thrift stores or library sales for cheap. Or you can pirate legally download them, which is less recommended because half the appeal of these things is flipping thru them and they look great on a shelf. The good ones are gonna be glossy and huge.

(first six I grabbed to photograph: cambridge glass, stained glass, and oriental rugs are great to grab ideas for patterns/color palettes; weathervane has great stylized animal designs; movies is for people, poses, and clothes; bilder is mainly people and cityscapes)

Option two: Non-google, non-pinterest websites. There are two paths here: big galleries like DPLA/Europeana/Wikimedia Commons/etc or specific topic websites (I get a lot of use out of UniformFreak, Featherbase, and Skull Index). Bookmark them when you find them bc who knows if you'll be able to find them again. The advantage of the first is a lot of options, the advantage of the second is they can get real specific.

(theoldrobots.com, incredible collection of robot pictures)

The main advantage of these is you're gonna be getting unique reference materials. A lot of times, photos in print books aren't gonna be available online because the photos are taken specifically for the book. This especially applies to older books which may not have an ebook version or have been scanned.

Basically, the idea is that the more wells you're drawing from, the better your stuff is gonna be. Google images, etc., is great if you need to quickly check something like where the leg bends on a horse or find a mechanical shape to trace for a sketch. If you're browsing it for ideas... use something better.

[emilybeemartin]

Inktober Days 22-24

Day 22: "Scratchy"

Saguaro, cholla, prickly pear, pincushion, hedgehog, barrel cactus—how magical are these amazing plants? Iconic, unique, perfectly tuned to their environment. The pleats on a saguaro help it bulge and shrink to accommodate water availability, and the inhospitable trunks provide shelter for desert birds. 

Saguaro NP produces some of my favorite educational videos in the system, thanks in part to Feature Fridays with Ranger Freddy Gutiérrez Fernández-Ramírez. Just to add to the scritchy-scratchy theme of this prompt, some of the more unusual videos featuring Ranger Freddy show how to remove jumping cholla barbs from your skin and clothes. Rangers in Saguaro carry hair combs in their first aid kits—and it’s not to fix flat-hat hair!

Day 23: "Celestial"

In recent decades, park managers have come to recognize natural soundscapes and pristine night skies as tangible resources, just like clean air, land, and water. As I was entering the NPS field, a big effort was kicking off to designate certain units as Dark Sky parks, and Big Bend is the king of them all. It has the lowest levels of light pollution of any park in the lower 48 and is famous across the NPS for its breathtaking starscapes.

Protecting natural darkness opens up amazing new opportunities for visitors and rangers. I love assisting with night sky programs, because I remember how I felt when I first traveled away from the greater I-85 corridor and saw my first pristine night sky. It’s a primordial type of magic to see stars unveiled from urban lights and humid haze. And the good news is, unlike other endangered resources, dark skies are salvageable. When towns and cities take steps to reduce their light and air pollution, there’s no slow, agonizing recovery—the stars come right back. They’re just up there, waiting to peek at us again.

Day 24: "Shallow"

I have to confess—I used to look down on Congaree, despite it being the only national park in my home state of South Carolina. I thought of it as muggy, buggy, and a bit boring. But when I was researching wetland habitat for A Field Guide to Mermaids, I was stunned to realize just how special this landscape is. Our country used to be covered in immense floodplain forests along river corridors, but the natural flood cycles that made these lowlands so fertile also meant the land was prized for agriculture. Rivers were straightened, forests were cut down, and the rich soil was planted with crops. Because of this, Congaree protects the largest swathe of bottomland floodplain forest left in the United States.

And it’s a gorgeous park, as well. There’s something evocative and eerie about walking the elevated boardwalks over tea-colored water. Spooky cypress knees reach up through the water like outstretched arms, and several massive national and state champion trees loom up out of the thick forest.

This park may not have the accolades some of the grander, more storied parks have, but I’m proud that it’s my home state’s park and glad that it protects one of the last intact forests of its kind.

------

Another big thank you to the folks who have preordered Thirty-One Days of National Parks: The Artbook! The Big Bend page features a little guide to starhopping from the Big Dipper out to other stars!

[formlines]

Red: A Haida Manga - Sheet 07

Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas

from the website:

Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas (Haida) is known for pioneering the hybrid “Haida Manga” style. “Manga” are Japanese-style comics that developed out of ancient caricatures, illuminated scrolls, brocade prints, and were influenced by the arrival of American and European comics after World War II. Yahgulanaas’ hyper-kinetic drawings combine the bold lines of traditional Northwest Coast design and the narrative form of manga, to retell the family legends in a genre-bending, mind-twisting way. The combination of these two cross-Pacific cultural artforms is an exhilarating and successful genre pairing that he has explored across multiple media.

Yahgulanaas’ masterpiece is the 18-panel, 15ft long narrative mural, RED. Painted in 2009, RED was the culmination of two years of storyboarding and three months of painting. Yahgulanaas’ art is chameleonic throughout, showing tell-tale influences from Hokusai to Eisner, MAD Magazine to Edenshaw to Picasso.

This open edition run of prints debuts with Stonington Gallery. Each sheet represents two sections of RED’s narrative, and comes with a reproduced artist’s signature. Printed on high quality watercolor paper, the prints have been color-matched to the original watercolor masterpiece. The full mural is 18 sheets, though they may be purchased individually.

The plot is based on a story from Yahgulanaas’ family. Red and Jaada are orphans growing up on Haida Gwaii. When Jaada is captured by raiders from another village, Red swears to recover her. Red becomes leader of his village, but can think of nothing but his missing sister, and brings his people to the brink of war and disaster in his quest for revenge.

Yahgulanaas made his formal American debut in 2015, with a solo exhibit at Stonington Gallery, displaying RED at SAM, and having work enter the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Limited and open edition prints of RED are available through Stonington Gallery. A book form of RED is available through booksellers.

Click here for a digital edition of the catalog

[macguffinandco]

Upriver, Downriver is now available!

So, a while back we ran a Kickstarter for a tarot-infused magical river game called Upriver, Downriver, and we’re pleased to announce it’s now available for general purchase through our website!

Upriver, Downriver is a queer fantasy tabletop roleplaying game about sailing along a magical river, and persisting on an impossible journey. Inspired by the Tarot, it was written by our dear friend Ella Watts, with development and editing by Sasha and layout (and river design) by Jonny. It also has some fantastic art by Max Degan and Cael Lyons.

Together, you and your crew will swear a magical oath to reach either the Source of the Great River or the Sea. No one has ever come back from either destination, and each has their own challenges and rewards. But, whatever bends your journey takes, once you’ve sworn your Oath, your soul is committed to continue on towards your goal. Even in death, your ghost will be bound to your Oath and your ship, compelled to complete your voyage.

During your travels, you'll visit enchanting, enigmatic and hostile locations along the River. Each location is tied to one of the major arcana, and is home to its own unique characters and challenges. Your trials and triumphs are determined by dice and tarot cards. What you do with the hand that fate and the River deals is up to you.

It’s a beautiful game, and we couldn’t be more thrilled with how it came out, so check it out at our webstore!

[littledeathleather]

hey y’all! my life is starting to get back on track (knock on wood) and I have a few small but exciting (to me, at least) announcements!

1.) the strap-on design has undergone a slight modification based on feedback! the thigh loops will now include an adjustable slide on the thigh loops for easily adjusted sizing!

2.) there is now an option to use the same style of slide on the waist, replacing the standard belt-style buckle! this may be better for folks with limited fine motor movements, but please note you won’t be able to fully unbuckle it, so you will HAVE to step in/out instead, which may be harder for those who can’t easily bend down. the slide style allows for a mode adjustable length than the buckle, so it may be a better option for anyone sharing with a differently-sized partner.

3.) website update!!! no more annoying “please put everything in your order notes” shenanigans! measurements and color will now go directly in the product fields! woohoo! any upcharge options (stamping, custom painting, etc) will still be a separate listing.

we’ll continue to tweak the website as needed; please let me know if anything doesn’t work as intended! these updates are also in advance of new products & customization options coming soon! ;)

[basbird]

I must say, it is really annoying going to websites for linens or clothes that claim to "bring you 100% unique artist created designs" that have very obviously switched to AI generated imagery once it became accessible to everyone. Was going to buy some work out tank tops and noticed the designs were obviously generated once I got a look at them on my monitor. No thanks! There was one website that I bought a few woven blankets from, and this one has been around for a while. pre-AI, all their stuff was either independently commissioned designs or prints of old public domain paintings. I liked that they were paying artists or breathing life into classic pieces. Now almost all of their blanket designs are obviously AI generated imagery. Some of the tells are embarrassingly obvious (like a blade on a sword that bends halfway through). I bought some of their older designs that are verifiably NOT AI, but I won't be shopping there again for any reason. Idk man, I put art up in my house or on my body because I care about the human labour and vision that went into it. Not interested in decorating with machine generated images that imitate real art. There's no point.

[shimmerloid-ai]

Preliminary Considerations - Which Vocal Synthesizer Software is Right for You - Paid Synthesizers

Hello everyone, Shimmer/Ripple/whatever you want to call me here. Sorry for not posting for a while, I've had a lot of stuff going on in my life (I turned 20 last week!), and have been busy with using vocal synthesizers than to make a blog post about them. I hope this article was worth the wait.

Last time, I comapred various free vocal synthesizers, and this time, I will be showing off the most popular paid ones. Quick disclaimer; I do not own all of these softwares, and will not buy the ones I have just to test them out as they are not cheap. I got feedback and advice from my friends who do own these synthesizers, along with Reddit posts and other forums. The piano roll images for the softwares I do not own are from various websites and vsynth users who I will be crediting in the captions. VOCALOID4

(Song: Devil's Manner by Konnichiwa Tanita-san; UST by Moru, Tuning by me)

When people think of the VOCALOID user interface, this edition of the software is probably what first comes to mind. It is very popular for a good reason; it’s got a simple UI and release of some of the best VOCALOID voicebanks; including Hatsune Miku V4x, Megurine Luka V4x, Kagamine Rin and Kagamine Len V4x, Fukase, Otomachi Una Sweet and Spicy, Megpoid Gumi V4, and Yuzuki Yukari V4. V4 also introduced the “GROWL” and “CROSS-SYNTHESIS” parameters! Despite being the sister software to UTAU, it is a lot easier to install voicebanks and plugins into VOCALOID4, and you do not need to worry about phonemizers or resamplers.

Pros:

Can use every V2, V3, and V4 VOCALOID voicebank

Growl and Cross-Synthesis (also known as XSY; allows you to combine any two V4 voicebanks of the same character; such as Fukase’s Normal Japanese voicebank with his Soft Japanese voicebank or Gumi’s V4 Sweet voicebank with her V4 Adult voicebank) parameters

Can use job plugins to simplify the overall tuning process like in UTAU, Open Utau, and SynthesizerV Studio Pro

Pitch Rendering function allows users to see the pitch of notes

Really beginner-friendly (this vocal synthesizer was the one that taught me how to tune)!

Cons:

Is no longer available for purchase on the official YAMAHA website; you can only obtain it through Mercari (that was how I was able to get it), eBay, or through piracy

No piano roll tuning; users are restricted to the parameter box

Can not use V1 or V5 and higher voicebanks

The breathiness parameter gives a metallic effect instead of the desired whisper-like outcome

VOCALOID5

(Song: ID Smile by Toa; UST by K3RA; Cover by Shara Delvia)

The next edition of VOCALOID that was meant to change the playing field for vocal synth users. With an entirely new UI and never-seen-before features, VOCALOID5 was designed to simplify and enhance the overall vocal production and tuning process.

Pros: 

Dark mode at last!

Unlike the previous editions where you had to purchase a voicebank to use VOCALOID, VOCALOID5 comes with four free voicebanks

Preset phrases that beginners can play with to learn how different vocal properties can result in different sounds

Preset “attack” and “release” pitch bend effects

Easy pitchbend and vibrato adjustment using the “style” and “emotion” tools

Automatic breaths

Can be used as a VST plugin in almost any DAW or as a standalone editor

Over a hundred style and voice colour presets (Rich, Husky, Hard; Melodic, Diced Up, Bent; Lead Vocal, Chopped, Pitched)

Tons of audio and mixing effects

Fixed breathiness parameter 

Cons

Appears to be no longer up for purchase through normal means, YAMAHA has  pulled it from the VOCALOID website to promote their newest engine, VOCALOID6

Does not support V2 or V1 VOCALOIDS

Does not support job plug-ins

Does not have the Cross-Synthesis parameter

Not worth the price

No piano roll tuning

VOCALOID6

(Song: Unknown Mother Goose by wowaka; VSQx and Tuning by me)

This is the most recent edition of VOCALOID that is up for purchase from the official website. With this installation of the VOCALOID software, the highly anticipated AI VOCALOID voicebanks have come into existence so that we can enjoy GUMI AI, ZOLA PROJECT AI, and Otomachi Una AI at last! It also comes with many other fresh features that were not present in VOCALOID5.

Pros: 

Multilingual(Japanese, English, and Chinese) AI voicebanks!

A total of ten VOCALOID AI voicebanks

VOCALO CHANGER: works similarly to plugging an RVC model on top of an audio file, but legal

The doubling feature allows instant harmony creation

Fixed breathiness parameter 

It can be used as a VST plug-in in most DAWs. or as a standalone editor

Included with the CUBASE AI DAW

Can be purchased at a cheaper price by upgrading from previous VOCALOID editions

Every feature that was present in VOCALOID5 is included in VOCALOID6!

Cons:

The AI voicebanks are of poorer quality compared to SynthesizerV; they are not easy to tune in the slightest, and you can only edit three parameters (pitch, pitch bend sensitivity, dynamics) unlike the normal VOCALOID voicebanks; not including the style presets

For the desired results in VOCALO CHANGER, the audio recordings must be clean without any flaws, otherwise the audio will sound distorted

Does not support V2 or V1 VOCALOIDs

Does not support job plug-ins

Piapro Studio V4x

(Song: Enjou Alice by Maiki-P; UST by KIRI; Tuning by Me)

Following its departure from YAMAHA, Crypton Future Media created a new vocal synthesizer to promote its new V4x Cryptonloid voicebanks. With its VSTi compatibility and E.V.E.C. feature, this software gave a new feel to tuning VOCALOIDs all while maintaining the features from the vocal synthesizers that were developed by YAMAHA.

Pros:

Bundles with Cryptonloids include Piapro Studio V4x and Studio One 6 for free; an incredible DAW

VOCALOID4 with a different, cleaner UI

Compatible with V2 (some of them), V3, and V4 voicebanks

Enhanced Cross-Synthesis parameter; now you can cross-synthesize two completely different VOCALOIDs (such as Hatsune Miku V4x Original with Megurine Luka V4x Hard)

E.V.E.C. with a press of a button; in VOCALOID4 you have to edit phonemes manually

Improved breathiness parameter

Ability to change the wallpaper of the piano roll and icons of voicebanks!

Can be used as a VSTi plug-in in most DAWs

Cons:

Does not support job plugins

Not all VOCALOID2 voicebanks are supported; such as Utatane Piko

Does not support NT voicebanks

Playback is not always on time with piano roll; you have to scroll as the vocals play unlike other softwares (this could be a glitch for me however)

No piano roll tuning

Can not run it through Studio One 6 (despite being included with the bundles), it can only function in Studio 5

Piapro Studio NT

(Song: vivid by Utsu-P x Yuyoyuppe; UST by pifuyuu; Cover by AfiqTV)

Yes, Piapro Studio NT (an acronym for “new type”) is completely different from Piapro Studio V4x. This successor to the latter vocal synthesizer is entirely separate from YAMAHA, and was created for Crypton’s NT voicebanks. It no longer requires the use of a DAW, and was carefully designed with resynthesis technology for efficient vocal creation through the research that was conducted by the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST).

Note: As of August 2024; Crypton has shifted their intention to release the other NT singers to getting back with YAMAHA to develop Miku V6 AI. We will be getting a Piapro Super Pack in a week (it is currently available for preorder). The package contains remastered versions of Miku V4x Original, Rin V4x Power, Len V4x Power, and Luka V4x Natural; along with V4 versions of KAITO and MEIKO. The former V3 voicebanks will come with growl features, and although there will be no appends, you can cross-synthesize any of the new Cryptonloids to produce unique sounds. In addition, Miku NT will be receiving a massive new update in the future.

Pros:

Piano roll tuning at last!

New accent feature and E.V.E.C

Comes with Vocal Drive Plugin for growl and scream effects

Cons: 

Not compatible with VOCALOID voicebanks; Miku NT is the only usable voicebank to date

Harder to tune in

Missing parameters such as pitchbend sensitivity 

Plugins are not compatible

SynthesizerV Pro

(Song: Underworld by niki (reverse); SVP and Tuning by PixPrucer)

This is the complete version of SynthesizerV Basic. It has suppressed VOCALOID in every way possible; from having insanely good AI voicebanks, to a multitude of features, this is probably the best paid vocal synthesizer available for purchase as of now. Honestly, I could only find a few downsides to this software because it’s that good, and one of them is more of a personal preference than a major issue. YAMAHA seriously needs to take notes from Dreamtonics.

Pros: 

The synthesizer and voicebanks are much cheaper than any of the VOCALOID engines

Comes with Mai; an amazing female vocalist

Piano roll tuning

Auto-pitch tuning makes the pitchbending process much easier 

Paid voicebanks come with THREE activation codes so they can be used on multiple devices

Allows scripts (basically plug-ins but for SynthesizerV)!

Cross-Lingual Synthesis; allows Japanese voicebanks to sing in English, English voicebanks to sing in Japanese, etc

Really complex phoneme customization

Vocal modes for full A.I. voicebanks

The audio to midi tool we’ve always wanted for VOCALOID; it turns wav. files into an amazing SVP (I know V3 has the Vocalshifter plugin… but it’s kind of trash in my opinion as it only works with Japanese lyrics and goes crazy with trying to copy the vocalist’s tone rather than just the pitchbends)

Frequent updates!

Cons: 

As the voicebanks are ultra realistic, it’s not the best for those who enjoy more robotic voices, as seen in UTAU and VOCALOID

Crashes every now and then

Still no glottal effects 

ACE Studio

(Image Source: https://support.acestudio.ai/article/62-3-2-the-main-ace-studio-screen)

ACE Studio is a newer AI vocal synthesizer. Like DeepVocal, it features characters that originated from other softwares such as Namine Ritsu, Luo Tianyi, Kurobousuku, Yuezheng Longya, and many others. It also has a heavy emphasis on Chinese vocals. Most importantly, Ace Studio had a mobile version called Pocket Singer!

Pros:

Piano roll tuning

Can cross-synthesize voicebanks to your liking to make your own vocal synth (Pocket Singer has a simple yet cute OC maker)

Simpler pitch editing

Cons:

Subscription based model on both platforms

Some of the voicebanks sound too similar to each other

Pitch editing on a phone is not fun

The phone number sign-in thing is a pain… why don’t these guys have my regional  phone code as an option?!

One of the developers was exposed as a pedophile and proshipper; and some of the voicebanks used A.I. artwork; I personally don’t feel comfortable using a software made by people like this… ew

I’m just going to say it; SynthesizerV Pro is probably your best pick here, in terms of both price and versatility. You get so much out of this editor at a good cost, and it’s super easy to use! However, if you prefer robotic voices and can get your hands on it, then go with VOCALOID4 as it's pretty beginner friendly. If V4 is not an option, then you may have to deal with V6. 

Now, even though the latter software is not as easy to use as the former, a new lightweight singing editor designed for V6 and V5 called TuneLab has been recently released! It allows for piano roll tuning, along with better cross-synthesis usage. I will cover this software in a later post as I am still trying to learn the ropes of it.

Finally, as I have stated in my other post, take my statements with a grain of salt. Pick whatever synthesizer you want based on your interest; whether it is a fun feature or a specific singer you like. 

Hope this helps! In my upcoming post, I will recommend some VOCALOID voicebanks that are easy to use for beginners.

[hucklebucket]

So I've been stuck on the couch with a cold all week and today, instead of relaxing like a normal person, I made this floor plan of the living quarters of Icarus Hall. Figured I'd share it here in case anyone else needs help visualizing where everything is. (It's easier to read if you view it full-sized.)

I based this mainly off of blueprints from the set designer's website and various shots from 4x10, but I am fully confident that it is not to scale and some of it is wrong. The furniture (especially the murder board and some of the tables) moves around from episode to episode.

The location of Nancy's bedroom is purely an educated guess—in 4x10 Nancy is standing in that bend in the hallway and looks back in that general direction, presumably toward her bedroom.