#which is one of the reasons i just can't go back drawing pokemon

[yamarts]

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[gemapples]

my new year's artwork won't be done until tomorrow, but i at least wanted to make a little post celebrating it before it turns! see you in 2025 ❤️

going into a personal ramble about my year under the cut. im mostly just talking to the void but feel free to read if you want!

this year has been. wow. if i had to put the definition of an emotional rollercoaster it would be this year for me

so much happened, yet so much DIDN'T happen simultaneously?? i don't really know how to think tbh 😭 i think above all i'm relieved it's over and i get to (hopefully) have a fresh start again

i got a lot accomplished this year. i graduated and got a degree which is a huge thing!!! i went for and accomplished lot of difficult things i had to do that i wouldn't even think about considering last year, and i feel my mental health has been beyond improved from it. last year i took note of how i consistently put myself in a box to make others happy, and i noticed i significantly improved in regards to how i see myself and made sure to put my own health first. there's still MUCH more to work on, god, and i've still been struggling with it, but i've been taking steps and that's all that matters to me. i want to continue taking better care of myself next year

on the downside though.. a bunch of personal stuff i had no control over happened in july and to put it in a way, i was scared for my life. it's settled now, and even got better, but i haven't been that terrified in a very long time. it was so difficult for me to cope with and i'm very grateful it's not something to worry about anymore, but i would be lying if i said i wasn't scared for what horrific event next year will bring for me. i noticed the past few years, something awful happened that made me seriously question, doubt or even straight up hating myself :') and i'm not looking forward to experiencing that again next year in the slightest. but at least, i'll try to get better at it

i've felt pretty disappointed and unhappy with my art this year as well, for whatever reason. it was mentioned to me that it could just be burnout (i HAVE been drawing more consistently than i ever have throughout this year, especially due to college, which makes sense) but whatever i try to do experimental-wise, i just can't be happy with it. i think the major reason is the way i've been shading, because i might be instinctively holding myself back. i don't want my art to be too eyestrainy or give people headaches by looking at it obviously, but i feel like as a result i've been making my art feel too "muddy" for my liking. so! i decided one of my new years resolutions will be to be way more spontaneous with the way i use colors and try not to put that box on myself. one thing i can say is, i tried a Lot of new things with art this year, including working on complex backgrounds, putting in way more effort into pieces enough to be full illustrations, etc etc. and i hope to break a ton more boundaries next year too. regardless, i can't thank you enough for your continued support. it seriously means a ton to me. i know i repeat myself a lot but i always mean it

hopefully 2025 will bring us more kirby too! we haven't had a full year without a new kirby game since 2021, and even then forgotten land got revealed! so i get the feeling something HUGE is coming. also looking forward to pokemon legends z-a too (im insane over it). and the hypothetical manager magolor plush. <- copium.

thanks for reading, and i hope 2025 is a fun, enjoyable year. hopefully it'll be nice to us

~ mac ❤️

[sparklingdemon]

What was the inspiration behind pkmn-monochrome may I ask?

ough. what a good question. i feel like i've been asked this before, but i can finally dive deep into it now that The Reveal is out.

the inspiration for pokemon monochrome was… myself, really.

cody was even initially designed as a sona to represent myself - but eventually i wanted to give them a backstory that solidified them as their own character and give myself an excuse to draw them more, so i created pkmn-monochrome on a whim to make up the lore as i went along. but there were always two things about cody that i had solidified, even back in the beginning: cody was the hacker all along, and was secretly pretending not to be- and they were haunted by the ghosts of their three pokemon, each representing both the gen 1 games and cody's own feelings.

there are a lot of facets of cody's backstory that were directly inspired by my own feelings/experiences with pokemon. or rather- my slow, painful, and messy breakup with modern-era pokemon games.

pokemon is (and probably always will be) my special interest, but i gradually became really disenchanted with the games over time. i think the rot started with the 3DS games (XY played it too safe/basic and felt too small, ORAS was too easy and cut out emerald-exclusive content, SUMO was a good story but too hand-holdy, and then USUM was a cheap re-skin that took too long to get to the interesting parts & ruined the story that made SUMO good). USUM was the last pokemon game i ever bought, because i wasn't impressed with what i was seeing for the upcoming switch games at the time. let's go was a tie-in to a mobile game that i never liked in the first place, SWSH looked underbaked and was cutting out the national dex for the first time ever (and selling SOME of the missing pokemon back to you through expensive DLCs). they created pokemon home, which was the straw that broke the numel's back for me - i didn't want to pay for a subscription service just to keep all of my beloved childhood memories in one safe place. there was a time where all you needed to transfer pokemon was hardware, and that option was being ripped away from me.

it was around that time that i really struggled to cut modern pokemon out of my life. i know it sounds dramatic, but i really do think a part of myself died back then, and i felt a huge grief for losing it- for knowing that if i continued to love pokemon, i would get left behind by the folks who still buy these games that i felt were rushed, unsatisfying, and had predatory business practices. i no longer wanted to be one of those snobby pokemon fans that said "oh, well, even if you criticize it, you're still going to buy it anyway." i couldn't see things the way they did anymore, i couldn't just say, "this game has its problems but i like playing it anyway." i just felt empty.

so like cody, i attempted to make a kanto-centric rom hack, trying to sort out those feelings. the project fell through very early on because i don't actually know how to make a rom hack, but those old ideas were eventually recycled into what became modern day pkmn-monochrome.

but don't get it twisted - just because cody's backstory was directly inspired by my own experiences, that does not make cody a 1-to-1 reflection of me as a person. to me, cody is like a dark, twisted, bad timeline version of me where i never figured out how to healthily sort through my feelings, and instead let them consume me, choosing to take my pain and rage out on others. cody is a very unhealthy person whose actions should not be glorified or imitated. but that's what's so raw and real to me about cody as a character - those feelings could happen to anyone. what's important is what you do in reaction to those feelings. you can't control your emotions, but you can control is your actions. you can't blame your emotions as the reason you hurt people - just as cody can't blame pokemon for the reason they lashed out at red/leaf, their pokemon, and all of the players who unconditionally loved and trusted cody.

monochrome was made for me to sort out my own twisted feelings - sort of like how cody made their rom hack in the first place. but i think it's a lot more healthy for me than it was for cody. because unlike cody, i do still like pokemon - i'm okay with being stuck in the past, loving the older games and not the new ones. it doesn't make me any less of a pokemon fan, and i've found friends out there who feel the same way. i hope the story can help people in the same way it's helped me - identifying my own toxic behaviors and how to avoid them. i hope people can learn from cody's example of what kind of person they shouldn't be.

thanks for the question! i know it's a deeply personal answer, but monochrome is a very deeply personal story to me, haha.

[subway-boss-jericho]

(threataning with art anon) yes! Rambles! Also you are so incredibly real for imagining all that stuff in different mediums (I have had similar experience) wish I could make a full animated film. That would be So Cool.

And! At one time or another I think I’ve read through the majority of the aus, but you are so right I freaking. Love the Mech AU. And coupled (uncoupled) looks like it would a verrry interesting character study (in like a “I wouldn’t do this but ingo would. Huh” kinda way)

help I’m reading them all again

also! I am here to encourage prattling I love prattling (it gives me more ideas for drawing-)

Hiii hii welcome back thank you for continuing to enable me :D

:D Yayy I'm so thrilled you like them. I never know if people actually think my wild bullshit is interesting or they just follow me for one thing (wheeze) ((Which, to be clear, is still totally fair and valid. No shame)) Of the AUs I've uploaded, I think the one that has gotten disproportionately ignored the worst is Coupled (Uncoupled). I am fucking obsessed with the coupled twins, and you're exactly right on the money there because holy Shit it's Such a character-study-rich situation to put them in. They were my in my top 3 indisputably Favorite AUs for a very long time (along with Steady Tracks and Spirit Keeper as the other two) and while I feel like I'm not super vocal about them they're still extremely high on that metaphorical list.

Realistically I could never actually list my Favorites, for the same reason why I can't really pick favorite pokemon. I like all my AUs for different reasons, so I may like one aspect of a given AU more than a different aspect of a different AU, but actually Ranking them As Favorites would be virtually impossible. Just know that I'm horribly fucking ill about coupled uncoupled more than most of the other smaller ones. Some day I'll vibe check you all so fucking hard with art or animation or writing out of left field that is about them, and then none of yall fucks will ever be normal again /lh /j

Actually. I've been struggling to write a caption for this thing so I can post it for months. Check this out:

I'M SO NORMAL ABOUT THEM.

Slaps top of this guy. He can fit two people's worth of the worst existential socio-emotional crises in him. I love gel pens.

I've decided to keep rambling about whatever the fuck on this topic, but I'm putting a cut here for my sanity:

Anyway! I really did make this AU entirely because I saw a fandom trend and went Whoa! Did we consider The Implications! And then didn't wait for an answer. Considering the implications is actually the Thing I Do the Most as I am writing in general, as any friend of mine can easily confirm. It's how a decent number of my AUs happened. I also have a trend towards either 1. trying to make an AU that doesn't touch on anything I've seen other people doing or 2. is explicitly inspired by what I perceive as trends in the fandom. Coupled Uncoupled is one of the latter, being directly inspired by Diamond Crossing. God I was not normal about diamond crossing. I'm Still Not Normal about diamond crossing.

I'm a HUGE fan of fusion in media, just in general. I don't actually know a whole lot of examples off the top of my head other than steven universe, but fusion as a concept drives me totally crazy. What if you and your friend/best friend/closest ally/rival/enemy/lover/a stranger etc could be the same person through a process so crazy intimate and vulnerable that it forces you to expose your deepest weaknesses, insecurities, emotions and motivations fully and without restraint. Sure I can be normal about that 👍

But yeah coupled uncoupled isn't like, me looking at Diamond Crossing or any other fic for that matter and going "I could do it better/I don't like insert plot point A," it was actually me looking at diamond crossing and going holy FUCK this is the COOLEST SHIT I'VE EVER SEEN. I need to participate in this or I am going to die. Then I came up with a million different ideas of fusion stories I thought would be interesting to tell, identified aforementioned trope of using the b2/w2 DNA splicers as a plot device, and went. ohohohohohohhoohohohoo i could do something silly and fucked up me thinks.

What if fusion was great and cool and awesome and a coping mechanism for a trauma/grief and also not what you thought and also more than you bargained for and also didn't give you the closure you were expecting and ALSO you didn't know how to make it stop.

Fusion as a mistake. Fusion as a regret. Fusion as a character flaw. Fusion as a major conflict (that isn't inherently connoted about?? forms of abuse and toxic relationships?? can we use fusion as a metaphor for other nuanced things too?? pls let me have this /lh)

Anyway their story is extremely complex and just by listing off ^ that I am extremely underselling the level of interwoven conflict and complicated emotional states of all parties involved so please do not misunderstand and think that one of the twins is fucked up and evil. I swear i didn't mischaracterize them that badly 🤣 The main point of the story, just off the top of my head, is actually focused around the theme of vulnerability, conflict resolution, and the strength of relationships founded on communication.

Trying to avoid spoiling The Entire Plot because I really think Coupled (Uncoupled) is going to be my next major fic project but in essence it does get better and this new tool available to them only opens the door for them to be closer than ever before and express care and compassion in new ways unique to them. i might make myself cry if I keep yammering. i care them

God I totally just used your ask as an excuse to go off. I've been doing that every time you send an ask, actually. This is why I love asks. Tysm <3 And I hope you enjoyed reading or if you didn't and TL;DR then basically god i'm so ill about them.

Every day I think about how a friend of mine made an entire animatic for this AU and yet we can't put it anywhere because we both want to remake it digitally. thats going to be one hell of a day when that bombshell drops

Thank you for the ask, and as always thank you for listening!

Coupled (Uncoupled) Masterpost

[kafus]

ok i've decided i want to infodump about vee and nova a little after all! because uhh not only am i impatient because autism but i also. want to dip my toes into talking about this. just days ago i was still terrified but now i am Tentatively Brave... if i can talk about it here casually like this then i should be able to write a more formal summary later some other time

i've tagged this post appropriately (at least i think i have, feel free to suggest if i should add more) but also a heads up here too before i keep talking that while i'm not going into graphic detail on anything there are STRONG themes of organized sexual abuse of a child, sexual abuse of animals, and grooming! (there are no disturbing visuals in this post, just text)

IF YOU CAN'T READ THIS POST THAT'S OKAY I STILL LOVE U

takes a deep breath alright so the deal with these two. back all the way in 2021, i decided i wanted to make "vent ocs" as in i just wanted some concrete/consistent designs i could use in vent art drawings that weren't a direct reflection of what i envision myself to look like or whatever. i was going through a lot in 2021, in december 2020 i had just gotten my first big repressed memory back and my life was in a whirlwind of change and heavily increased PTSD and DID symptoms, so i was using art a lot as an outlet. in the end i settled on this drawing, based on the design taste i would have had as a young person (god the quality is so old now LOL i've improved a lot but anyway)

i was intending for these two to be just visual designs and nothing more than that but i got attached and actually ended up giving them a whole storyline and everything, which is something i admittedly hadn't done in a long time up to that point so that's cool.

the reason i preface explaining the premise of the storyline with this is because i think it's important to acknowledge that these two are intrinsically tied with my real life and the feelings i experience as a CSA/OA survivor. not because i think someone has to go through awful things to write or draw about them necessarily, but because i am passionate about expressing myself. it's important for me to be seen in some way, to be heard after years of silence. it is not safe for me mentally to share the exact details of my abuse online rn (and please don't ask for them!) but i also don't want these two to be removed from the message that i survived something and this is me making art about that in an abstracted and magical way with a fictional universe that brings me a lot of comfort. i hope this makes sense lol

oh and also with that in mind if you think for even a second any of this is a weird sex thing for me or some shit please stop reading this post and go do something else with your time. this is my trauma expression and i don't need to be compared to the people i was abused by when i was a literal toddler thank you!

AANYWAY so! premise! gonna be point blank with it! vee (not her original name but shh) is born as a normal 100% human girl, aka without the eevee ears and tail. she is groomed from a very young age (like, toddler age) and eventually abducted by her groomers which happen to be members of... well right now it's team rocket because i haven't spent the time to worldbuild a new villainous pokemon organization yet. roll with me here. she is taken to a remote facility out in the middle of fucking nowhere and is never returned to her previous life or family.

Why? well i'm glad you asked! the org is running a bunch of different experiments in this facility and one of them happens to be trying to enable humans reproducing with pokemon. this doubles as both a money thing and a power thing. they seek out a child as the victim of these horrible experiments because children are easily malleable. way easier to control a child than an adult who already has a firm identity/self.

vee is the child they chose. surgery is forcibly done on her to give her working eevee ears and tail, and also like, fuck with her body chemistry and stuff. she's biologically part eevee now. yes this is bullshit pokemon magic science LMAO but she is kept in this facility and chronically sexually abused for a few years by pairing her with various mons and trying to get eggs to happen.

the experiment isn't working though so they hypothesize that giving her a dedicated partner, especially of the same evolutionary line, would help, and they raise nova from birth as an eevee to take on that role. eventually the two of them are paired together. despite the acts they are forced to commit on each other and the abuse they endure, they actually become inseparable very quickly cause like. they don't have anyone else. and also they just genuinely care about each other. additionally at this point nova has evolved into an espeon and has telepathic powers, so him and vee can communicate linguistically with each other, so you know that helps

generally my current focus of this story is in the early years, when vee is 12 and younger, before they start realizing that shit is fucked up and they need to escape (up until that hypothetical point they have been successfully groomed into believing everything happening to them was not abuse/was normal). i have left out a metric fuckton of detail here just to get across the basic premise. i am constantly exploring vee's psyche, nova's psyche, it's like an in depth exploration of the mind of an abused child in horrific circumstances and god it's cathartic. i love these two so fucking much

btw i guess this art has more context now huh haha after i infodumped off the plot to my sister they looked at this art again and was like. OHHH THIS IS EVEN MORE OMINOUS AND HARD TO LOOK AT WITH CONTEXT. AND I WAS LIKE YEAH!!!! YOU SEE THE VISION!!! THE SYMBOLISM!! ETC!!!!

uh yeah if you read this far thank you and i just wanna say i've been building up the courage to talk about these two for GENUINELY two years, it has been over 2 full years since that initial drawing, and i am nervous and jittery posting this but i do not want to die without having shared my work with the world and i'm willing to take the risks to get my voice out there. so you reading it is very much appreciated ur like my first step into being more confident as a survivor lol

oh and fwiw despite these guys being so correlated with my trauma it's not offensive to make headcanons or ask me questions about them or compliment darker art of them however you want, in fact i love that shit!! please i've been holding these guys back for two years i have so much to say that hasn't been said. as much as i am nervous i am EXCITED

[thephooka]

How we got here from there

Or, the long journey of a longform long-running webcomic about a long man with long wings.

In the spirit of @feathernotes and @phantomarine who have been talking about just starting your webcomic and not worrying about being "ready", I was inspired to do a post about White Noise's origin! I'm a little limited by the fact that I either left behind or destroyed a lot of the art I have from prior to 2009, so you'll have to take my word for it.

Cringe Truth below the cut!

The Cringe Truth of White Noise is that it has its roots in a Pokemon x Yu Yu Hakusho x self-insert(s) roleplay thread I used to do with an internet friend I made on Neopets guild forums way back in 2002-ish. We would come home from school every day and RP over AIM, and then when we had to get offline, whoever left first would email the other one, and we would continue via email until we were back on AIM at the same time.

Liya was my self insert.

This isn't even remotely the earliest art of her, it's just the earliest I have on hand. I was drawing her for almost a decade by the time I drew this one. Imagine the earlier drawings as being like I traced over Sailor Moon characters that I printed out from deviantART and gave them a brown ponytail.

The funny thing is Liya really hasn't changed much from her original form! I also had loose brown curls that I kept in a ponytail 24/7 to the point that it showed when I had it down (which is why her hair is 'dented' like that). I did it because I was trans and didn't know it; she does it because she hasn't realized she can just cut it off and be butch yet.

Other characters that date back from this time period: Yoshi (originally an InuYasha/Rurouni Kenshin pastiche), Hawk (I don't remember when he got wings but they were white at first), Numair (named after the Tamora Pierce character and filling a Koenma kind of role), Helly (sort of--I had an elf character named Kamui who had the same temperament, and he was eventually transmuted into Helly) and...Kurogane.

I've never named Kurogane but he appears in the background of the comic a few times, as my own personal inside joke.

Vlad came along somewhere between this RP period and planning the comic, but I can't remember when or why. I don't have drawings from that time (~2004?) but he was the first character I drew when I got a tablet for the first time.

Everyone else came along later when I started actually planning out the comic.

All this said: the reason I started White Noise as a weekly webcomic is because I wanted to learn to draw better.

At the time I was in college majoring in animation, but I didn't feel like I was learning very much at all (the program was badly structured; I had more art history classes than anything else. It was a mess.) I was also working nights in order to feed myself, and so had a lot of downtime. I had this story rattling around in my head from my RP days, so I figured, why not just give it a go?

For posterity here's a photo of a chapter 1 panel in progress, back in 2011 with my typical college diet in the bg:

(Chapter 1 was originally pencil on paper, scanned in and colored in PS. I later re-drew it to make it fully digital to match with the rest of the comic.)

There's been a lot of talking about not waiting until you're 'ready' to start a webcomic, and I agree with that sentiment. Try framing it like this: making a comic every week for years and years will improve your art way more than any prep work you can do before starting the comic. It's like learning to swim. You can read about swimming all you want, but you're not going to really figure it out until you do it. If your early comics are bad, well, that's normal. It used to be an expected part of doing webcomics; I blame the shift into expecting webcomics to be polished from start to finish partly on commercialization in the space, but that's an angry rant for another time.

With this background, here's the collage I posted for WN's 10 year anniversary back in 2021:

And now we're here.

So do your webcomic. Put it on ComicFury or make a janky little site for it. Be okay with imperfect pages and be prepared to shout into the void for a while. Even if it's always a hobby, if it never makes you a dime or wins you any awards--that's fine! You'll be a lot happier if you learn not to worry about that stuff, and just make something that will help you grow and make you happy. We could do with a lot more work like that in the world imo.

[deltaqueen184]

my thoughts on monsters at season 2 ep 1-5

episode 1

i like that we see Tylor family more and just be outside of monster inc more

it nice that val hang out tylor family

tylor why are you complaining to a child also i love that kid was "dude i'm like 6 and i have coloring to in the morning" i hope tylor doesn't have kids

i grad fritz, cutter and duncan are still around i was kinda worried their forgotten

clair what happened to brock did johnny kill him probably not

i was kinda surprise jack and jill were conjoin honestly

idk man i like johnny and clair kids okay there funny

nice parallels man

episode 2

i like roger man he to care more about mift than tylor

good to know how the monsters world treats alternative fuel bad

does anyone else think the guy in the hamster wheel is one of tylor old design kinda what they did back in season 1

honestly if a kid screams and laughter in a giant can make a big explosive and in mu a group of adults could cause a disrupt power in make me think that mixing adults screams and laughter will be nuclear

episode 3

i can't tell if johnny is being stupid and smart while talking to tylor probably the latter

i can't believe this show is woke or something/ joking honestly i find it funny that the reason there at the restaurant tylor is at is cultural appropriation than the place being closed or something

why are so many songs about screams

good job cutting back on the soda fritz also sorry for not getting promote duncan

i can't tylor left his deceased grandfather suit in the closet

roze why are you kissing the waiter did something happend between you and gary did they break up are they i open relationship would they fake dating just to get mike under skin

oh sully i don't think johnny change at all

episode 4

wow fear co is really big

god i love joy so much her design remind me of dragapult from pokemon

chet bubby i don't think johnny love you man

like the chat between rosie and tylor like yeah not everyone can a jokster i guess

i how val or just more to monsters inc treating the kids as kids then a energy source also val could make parent honestly

episode 5

sick burn sully

everyone thinking the stoop is for sale is funny

i ready like old monster lady and her alive scarf thing

tylor had to let go of the past

detective duncan is best duncan also absent father which fuels my theory that duncan and declan parents are divorce and with their respected parent

duncan being into gilf ha i really want draw him simping for Tylor grandma

man tylor family is really poor hope they get their big break

also tylor grandma being a former scarcer is awesome

that all for now i'm gonna to draw now

[rosemirmir]

Tagged by @stickers-on-a-laptop for this! Thanks for the tag. :D

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

152 across my three pseuds, 123 on my main/fic one, 25 for my art one, and 4 for my meta one.

2. What is your AO3 wordcount?

77,898

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Mainly tokusatsu, and old anime. Though there's also some Zelda, and a few other things in the mix too.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Excluding the one that got hit by a kudos bot its:

Please Bird Call Responsibly (Ankh/Eiji, T)

A Reminder (Ankh/Eiji, E)

When It's Spring, and You're a (Horny, Horny) Bird (Ankh/Eiji, E)

Tell Me Your, Tell Me Your, Fantasy, Fantasy (Ankh/Eiji, E)

Hot Weather, Popsicles, And a Touch of Mischief (Ankh/Eiji, G)

5. Do you respond to comments?

Yeah! Sometimes I forget because memory issues, but I like to respond to comments whenever I get them.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

This one. (Post OOO 10th, probably the only thing I will ever write that's compliant with that film XD)

7. What is the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

That's a good question. I would say this one?

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I haven't gotten any yet, I think locking my comments to archive users only (mainly because of all the spambot problems) is a big reason why.

9. Do you write smut? If so, which kind?

I do. I just write it for the ships and characters I want to center it around. I've always joked "You can tell I'm really invested in something if I write/draw smut for it".

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest crossover you’ve ever written?

I do when I have the idea! They're fun to do. And I would say the fic where I make Ankh have incredibly awkward sexual tension with The Owner from Den-O is up there.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes! Two times, both in Brazilian Portuguese. :D

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I have not, but it would be fun to give it a try one day.

14. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

AnkhEiji and Mayalock. I refuse to pick one over the other.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

There was this one WIP I had where Ankh and Eiji are dealing with a heat wave I don't see myself getting back to anytime soon. (Unless inspiration strikes during the summer.)

16. What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue and characterization! I've had people point it out to me before as well.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Descriptions of things, I've always struggled with that. Which is why its something I've been really working on with my writing as of late to try and improve at.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I don't think I've done it yet (If I have I can't remember right now, memory issues) but the approach I would take is italicizing it to differentiate it.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Pokemon! I'm pretty sure the first fic I actually wrote was a pokemon one. Though none of those have survived throughout the years.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

I would have to say Wrap Me In Your Wings (And Hold Me Closer) is my favorite fic I've written so far.

Tagging @belovedstill @xing-hua @buddyaldridge @droppedalltheseoreos @dragonofeternal @setsuntamew (No pressure!) And if you see this and want to do it, go for it!

[duckapus]

Decided to draw the crusty old bitch herself, Cursor! Yes there's a reason she doesn't have a face, which ties into a wild idea I had for a backstory for her.

First off, unlike most of the other admins in the main group she wasn't hired as an Admin; she was created to be one.

Mass-produced, actually.

Basically, back in the old days when Adminspece was still trying to establish themselves as the peacekeepers they are now, they just couldn't recruit and train new Admins fast enough to keep up with the demand for their services. So RNG (this was back when it was still in R&D and hadn't yet conducted the experiment that gave it its Pokemon transformation ability at the cost of its original model) came up with the idea to create brand new programs with all the training already programed in.

It heavily based their designs on the Stick Figure society in the Stick City server (that one city from the AVA series. keep in mind there was a plot-important crossover with that back in the Goomba Arc) since such simple models would be easy to make a lot of. They weren't as strong as other kinds of programs, but they had the ability to change color at will (valuable for programs that already don't really stick out in a crowd since there's stick figures everywhere on the internet) and it made them extremely good at Fusion, to the point where they could manage it with just about anyone at any time, wouldn't experience post-fusion hangover at all, and the resulting fusions were much more powerful than you'd expect. Thanks to these abilities, they worked best at infiltration and support.

Anyway, Cursor's one of those Stick Admins, and she was really good at it too, especially infiltration. Though, she didn't go by Cursor back then, her original designation was Algorithm.

Here she is when she was first made...

And here in her prime.

She had a long, very successful career, up until a mission went horribly wrong. Basically since Stick Admins fuse so easily one of her targets got the idea to force her to fuse with them. This wouldn't have been so bad because that's absolutely happened before and the Sticks have ways of dealing with it (being good at fusion also means being good at being a fusion, not just being good at fusing), but in this particular case said target was secretly a virus.

...Yeah she barely survived and was horribly traumatized. She can't actually fuse at all anymore, at least not without having severe PTSD flashbacks, and she changed her name and base color scheme to distance herself from the event (and to keep the virus who did it from finding her again). After that she was transferred to an office position, one which happened to be in one of the divisions handling the SMG project, and in the nine years since then she's been the Cursor we all know and hate.

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

Also, you remember the bit of that non-canon arc she was introduced in (where she orchestrated Lil Coding and Lily's deaths) where she disguised herself as Lil Coding for reasons I can't remember? Well, I got the idea that there might have been some side-effects from changing her model that drastically, so here she is post-reveal:

[reinabeestudio]

Well I'm bedridden and bored as hell. Thus, I'll finally share some lore about the heart-themed ship. And about certain item they share

(+ adding context to this drawing)

Well, the thing with the necklace was not something planned by him. It just... happened.

You see, he went to search some place to eat on the island. Inside of one of these places, he spotted Miel. Sitting by herself, looking rather pensive as she fiddled with the petal of a blue hibiscus. He decided to approach her—by sneaking up on her, laughing when she jumped. She punched his arm when she recovered with an annoyed expression, calling him an idiot, which only made him laugh harder as he took a seat next to her. He glanced at the flower before looking back at her.

“What, you gonna eat that or something?”

“Haha, real funny, Oak. No, one of the waitresses gave it to me. It's to be worn, you see.” She pointed at another customer, wearing a red hibiscus in their hair.

Dammit, there she was with the 'Oak' thing again.

“Told ya to call me Blue. Being called Oak makes me feel like my gramps!”

“Why are you here, Oak?”

He started to think that maybe she did call him by his last name just to annoy him. But you know, he was there because of her.

“What, can't we have a nice friendly moment? We're in the same team.”

“I can't fathom why you would want to spend time with me.”

In that moment his trademark smirk shrinked a bit, when he heard her voice sound... well, sad. Alright, perhaps this was more serious than he thought.

“There's something on your mind.”

“And when not?” she replied with a light chuckle. Nuh uh, he wasn't gonna let her slip away like that. He scooted a bit closer to her on their seats, putting his arm around her shoulder.

“C'moooon, pidge. You can tell me! Just between us.”

She looked at him with a raised eyebrow after the nickname, silently looking at him. He could feel the gears in her brain spinning in that moment, thinking of what to do.

Ultimately, she sighed and looked back at the flower on her hands, feelings its soft petals.

“What is there after Pasio?”

“.... Huh?”

“When we're done with Pasio, I assume Leaf and Red will go their ways.” Yeah that sounded like his rival. That hermit. “What about you? What will you do?”

That was actually a good question. It got him thinking for several minutes, humming in thought until an answer came to his mind.

“Fieldwork, probably. My job makes me travel 'round the regions a lot.”

“.... I see. Of course, that makes sense....”

The absolute dejected look she had after answering told him that was probably not something she wanted to hear. It broke his heart a bit, to be honest.

“And you? What're you gonna do after this?”

“Ah, me? That isn't important, I was just curious—”

“Miel.”

The sudden serious tone caused her to look at him, visibly surprised. She looked... nervous. Which meant he was getting somewhere. He had to keep talking or she'd close off again.

She sighed. “I.... I don't know. I have nowhere to go. It's... it's scary out there, I don't know what to expect.”

The way she talked about the world sometimes, she sounded like she's never dealt with Pokemon before. A dumb thought, but it's a thought that kept popping up on his mind.

“.... Oak? Can I be honest for a second?”

“Uh, sure?”

“You're the only thing I have.”

That shouldn't have made his heart beat faster. Not when she was looking at him like an abandoned cat.

“I-I mean that I have nowhere to go,” she quickly corrected herself.

There was silence after that. Not an awkward one, but rather a silence of processing and understanding. Was this the reason behind she kept 'taking things slow' in the island? Did she really have nothing else to look forward to afterwards?

“I got an idea,” he said, breaking the silence. Miel didn't look at him but she didn't stop him, so he took this as a sign to continue. “I'll show ya around.”

That made look at him, her fingers no longer fumbling with the petals of the flower resting on her lap. “I'm already familiar enough with the island, Oak.”

“Wh- no, I meant I'll show ya around the world!”

“Ah, I see.....” Give her a minute. “WAIT, are you suggesting I travel with you?” There we go.

“Yeah. Why not?”

“I appreciate the offer, but I don't think it's wise to accept. I'm not very familiar with battles and Pokemon, as you have seen.” She sighed. Which meant she was going to be honest for a second. “I wouldn't want to be a bother while you work.”

“.... Say, I got another idea. A challenge!”

His idea was simple: he would help her during their stay in Pasio. He would help her with anything involving training and raising Pokemon—who better to guide her than one of the former Champions? (and he bet that Leaf and Red wouldn't mind lending a hand, being part of the team as well, but he wanted to train her himself)

But she must battle him after she defeated the Elite Four. Only the two of them, a real battle, 1 vs 1. If she wins against him, she'd prove to be strong enough to get out there and face any challenge that comes their way. Together.

Miel seemed to briefly ponder over it before extending her hand to him to shake on it. “Alright. It's a deal, Oak.”

“A deal? Nah, pidge. Ain't like that.”

Blue could feel her eyes on him as he reached behind his neck and took off his heart necklace. There were no words between them as he slided off the blue half of the pendant into a different black cord he had on pocket (he couldn't resist chuckling softly when he noticed Miel's small surprised gasp while looking at whatever he was doing so intently). Next he fastened the cord with the pink half back in place before he turned his full body towards her on his seat.

“Stay still, Miel.”

He leaned in closer and clasped the necklace with the blue half of the heart around her neck, tracing the cord and the pendant with his finger. Gee, he could feel warmth radiating from her body. He forced himself to pull back lest the urge to close that distance won.

“There! It's a promise.”

Miel examined the pendant before she looked up at him with a smile. Fuck. Fucking christ, that was so pretty. She was so pretty. Keep it cool, dude.

“A promise, you say. That sounds nice, Oa-..... Blue. I'll hold you to that,” she said as she leaned her head on his shoulder. “Pink looks good on you, by the way.”

He wrapped an arm around her shoulder by reflex as that trademark smirk on his face only grew bigger.

“And blue looks great on ya!”

You can read this and this if you are interested in some sort of follow-up to this, as well as more lore (?). And if you wonder why he's so weak to her smile, that's a little reference to how they met ∋( :]

[iantimony]

2023 year in review roundup

wow!! what a fucking year!!! goodbye and good riddance! happy first day of 2024!

this year i did 37 tuesdayposts! there were 53 tuesdays so that's about 70%! some of them were on fri/sat instead as shabbosposts but i think posting on tuesday or even monday does just work better for some fucking reason. maybe because friday and saturday are days that i am most likely to do New Activities for making/playing/watching/reading??? and so on monday or tuesday i can recap the just-finished weekend. shrug! we love tuesday so it's fine.

listening listened to all of twilight mirage and a little over half of partizan! shrieking shack podcast, just king things, well there's your problem, miscellaneous music (maneskin probably a notable winner in there)

reading a lot of little articles. a little tgcf. SO much fanfic. 'every heart a doorway' (bad). 'birthday of the world' le guin (good).

playing a little disco elysium. a little minecraft. a little nier automata. a little hadesgame. a LOT of pokemon go. and i got into magic the gathering this year!

watching a lot of youtube videos. so many gd youtube videos. evangelion, history of the world part ii, cunk on earth, vox machina animated series, cowboy bebop, first season of peaky blinders, the new tgcf donghua season!

making i did very little drawing/painting/illustration beyond life drawing a few times...however i was very prolific in crafting! i also theoretically made valentines gifts. i do not remember what they were tho lol.

fiber arts: i completed a big embroidery project (fermenting dregs album art hoodie), quantum shawl, mesh market bag, case for my knew laptop, finished that blue tank top even though i hate it, fixed the lining on my yellow knitted cowl, made a little knitted headphone top cover that i will probably redo differently, headband ear warmer for my roommate's mom, and FINALLY i just barely finished the scarf for my SO before the end of 2023!

print block carving: wristwatch print, gavelbocken holiday card print

misc/writing: some songxuexiao fencing au. some harrowhark abhorsen au. neocities website!

and so much pottery! this is all of it, barring the things i already gave away as presents before this photo (two pots and a little box and the little raven guy), but wow! that's so many fuckin object!

misc what a fucking year. some bad! had to file a big car insurance claim! got really sick while abroad and that persisted for a long fucking time! mini summer breakdown! some good stuff too - passed quantum mechanics FOREVER good fucking bye, did my first successful academic conference, finally started feeling better around the end of the year! learned my lesson: it's not fuckin worth stressing yourself to death over, and also i can't just Be At Home Aimlessly for months any more. it's bad for my mental health.

reviewing 2023 resolutions and goals --> I’d love to start writing again and play more horn but we’ll see i basically didn't do any creative writing at all this year barring a few lines of fanfic ideas (the abhorsen/tlt crossover one) HOWEVER i READ a lot of fanfic to marinate in and i played a LOT more french horn!! i joined the little youth orchestra which is like, uber goofy, but it means ive been playing on a regular basis again!

--> I also wanna listen to more weird music, and invest in actually owning some files, especially for some of the lesser-known bands and through bandcamp and stuff i spent all year meaning to do this and kept pushing it off so it rolls over into next year.

--> I really want to kind of dial those [unhealthy coping mechanisms] back again, focus more on existing in Reality and more in each moment, which hopefully will also help with some of the skin picking and other anxious habits that resurfaced. maybe more yoga, maybe re-establishing a meditation process lol lmao. nah. but definitely rolling it over into 2024.

--> I would love to think more about my fashion and how I present myself too, and work on making and tailoring more of my clothing in general actually not bad! basically zero tailoring but i did a pretty good job wearing some cute outfits.

--> I’ve been pretty good about being active so I’d like to keep that up, I still can’t do a pull-up but maybe this is the year! (lol) I should also start doing some minor exercises for my shitty arthritis toes to keep those okay once again: lol lmao. health issues had me really regress in some of my gains goals. plus side is toes are doin pretty normal.

--> a lot of last year was kind of a wash regarding research so I’m really looking forward to refocusing on that and really getting things moving. oh it moved! in a good way! i'm making good progress and hopefully i will keep that momentum going!

--> finally! I want to get back to tabletop! I miss doing it so much! it fell by the wayside for me because of how busy and overwhelmed I was, especially this past fall semester, but I want to start running and playing games with my pals again a little! i should have been putting these in playing as i went oops. the tabletop group i've run was a little fallow this year due to at least half of our group, including myself, not being in Tabletop Mood but we've played a lot of res arcana and other such games instead.

i had a few other resolutions in my digital planner on my ipad that didn't go in the writeup last year: namely, practice languages more (i did practice my mandarin a little but did not really learn any hebrew or korean unfortunately) and establish a non-software component of my research (nope, not in the cards, but i'm hoping to do something else this summer to let me get better with physical data/setups), and finishing the masters degree requirements (that will be the end of this upcoming spring semester), but overall i really did hit most of my resolutions and goals! even with being ill for a while! (except the finances. i am simply not looking at them <3)

2024 resolutions and goals

definitely some rollover! i will format this to hopefully be a little easier to respond to next year:

- get back on a regular workout schedule: swimming 1x a week, weights once or twice a week. would like to try and work towards my One Pullup goal again. would also be cool to try and work towards a hand/headstand. - try and be more mindful. i'm going to continue the grief therapy but also think about meditating more, doing more yoga, and so on. - there's a gallery on main street that solicits work from local artists for bimonthy themed exhibitions and i really want to submit at least one thing to it this year! the one due by end of january is themed 'florals', and the one two months after that is 'layers', so i'd really like to submit something to one of those. - more weird art! use that big canvas i bought in literally 2022! paint!!! - finally put together that travel journal from korea & japan (and also scrapbook-ify the papers i have leftover in a pile from that) - also, maybe do current scrapbook a little different? might need a new binder at the very least. - hang up that expensive quilt i bought in august - speaking of quilt: do some hand quilting, english paper piercing! i have so much fucking fabric! - find a new apartment to move into that hopefully won't suck! - try to secure some sort of summer internship or project that will let me develop some new skillsets that i might not be getting with my current research - finish the masters degree - write...a paper? for the work i just presented??? - keep tweaking neocities and make some more pages - keep track of recipes this year as well in my making section

i might start a little spreadsheet this year to keep better track of all my stuff because i really did Not want to go through all my separate listening and reading sections and extract what i liked the most, etc. this post required me to first back up a few extra early tuesdayposts from this year to dreamwidth, and then skim all of them to accumulate the above, and that was kinda a pain. and i love an excuse to start a new spreadsheet.

we did it! happy 2024! i don't think i have anything else to add to this wrapup but if i think of something i'll tack it into the upcoming Normal Tuesdaypost tomorrow! good job good night and good luck everyone!

[taffywabbit]

ok story time let's go

(i guess CW// religious baggage? vaguely cult-y stuff? Mormons?)

so i was laughing at that (presumably bait) tweet that got screenshotted and reposted on here, with the person claiming that y'all is a problematic term used by "bigoted southerners" and someone else dunking on them, because I'm Canadian and I say y'all ALL the time. and like, that by itself wouldn't be too notable - there ARE rural areas of Canada, particularly over in Alberta/Saskatchewan, where the local accent and slang have convergently evolved into something very similar to Texas (and I DID actually grow up in a town like that, though i never picked up the accent myself).

what makes my adoption of y'all particularly odd is that I picked it up in the Caribbean of all places. if you are familiar with my Not-So-Secret Tragic Backstory then you MIGHT know where this is going already.

I was raised in a Mormon family, so when I was 18 i was basically required to go do the missionary thing with the white shirts and ties and nametags. (this is very funny considering my current status as a gay trans furry artist and leftist, but this story isn't really about that.) I got assigned a random location in the world, and was shipped off to the Eastern Caribbean for 2 years. it was very hot and sweaty and overall not a very good time for me, the world's blondest palest scrawniest teen who would have to walk around all day every day in office attire.

ANYWAYS a few months after my mission began, we got a new mission president (the old guy assigned by the church to be in charge of all the missionaries in a region, along with his wife). while he was generally a pretty jovial friendly guy, he also had an occasional tendency to powertrip and institute random arbitrary rule changes whenever he felt that the missionaries weren't performing as well as he'd like and the numbers were down. with missionaries, there's a huge focus on "exact obedience" and "consecration" - this idea that the more single-mindedly devoted you are to Doing Missionary Stuff and Thinking About Jesus and Never Having A Single Fucking Independent Thought In Your Head Or Taking Care Of Your Personal Wellbeing Or Enjoying Yourself, the more god will bless you with like. charisma superpowers or something. to just change people's minds on the spot as you blast them with your Conversion Beam. and therefore anytime that ISN'T happening (y'know, because people have free will, and also because being Mormon is wildly unappealing to any reasonable outsider), it clearly MUST be because those darn young punk missionaries are probably thinking too much about their partners back home or drawing Pokemon fanart or collecting distractingly colourful neckties. can't have that!

so with all that context, I can finally get to the point, which is that one day our mission president decided the reason nobody was knocking on our apartment door begging to get baptized was probably because we, as missionaries, were too casual in our interactions with one another. specifically, he took issue with missionaries calling each other "dude" or "bro" or "man", or referring to each other collectively as "you guys". he insisted that this was "eroding the dignity of our sacred calling as missionaries" and that we should instead strive to call each other "Elder" and "Sister" (the titles used for male and female missionaries respectively) as much as humanly possible.

specifically as an alternative to "you guys", he suggested we start saying "Elders and Sisters" every time we addressed a mixed group of missionaries. which OBVIOUSLY sounds really fucking stupid. and I was in a leadership position at the time, so I had to deliver instruction/training to the missionaries in my area every week AND call them to check-in every night. being a missionary and constantly being commanded to do incredibly stupid arbitrary things really brought out my latent rebellious streak, and there was NO fucking way I was going to say "Elders and Sisters" if i could avoid it - the only people who actually complied with the new rule were immediately identifiable as goody-two-shoes and suck-ups and everyone wanted to push them into the ocean.

so INSTEAD, i and several other missionaries quickly realized that we could simply get away with saying "you all" or just plural "you" with like, a hand gesture to show we meant the group. which naturally just evolved into y'all pretty quickly because it's an incredibly natural contraction of words and it just feels good to say. and the mission president never complained about it, because we weren't using cool youngster slang like "guys" or "dudes" and instead it just sounded like a fun twangy rural affectation. and then i just kinda kept saying it for the rest of my mission, and continued saying it after i returned home and went off to college in the city and all that jazz.

...absolutely no clue where I picked up saying "howdy" all the time tho. i don't have an excuse or backstory for that one lol, it's just fun to say

[tokyoteddywolf]

This isn't an ask for the Giratinas, I just really wanted to gush about how cute they are.

Of course, I am a bit biased, with Giratina being my favorite Pokemon, but the little wyrms are SO CUTE! I love them and want to pet them and play with them.

Thanks! They're my favorite thing to draw :D

They're babies! I have this personal headcanon that there are True Gods aka Rulers, ones that don't leave their Domain, and then Sub-Rulers formed from the Ruler's power. Kind of like dew sliding off a leaf. Those "drops" form into baby Legendaries, the catchable ones. Rulers can't be caught (or even seen normally without frying your brain bc gods cannot be perceived by mortals) but Sub Rulers can, which explains why you can have multiple Legendaries running around.

So the little wyrms are newborn technically, they don't have a physical body yet, they're just little smoky wisps of power right now, until their first century at least. Then they form a proper material body and learn to shift back and forth between forms!

Usually the babies will start managing portals or go out exploring, but uh, the mortal realm is a bit... well. You'll see. They're scared of it for a reason.

[amelikos]

Some character notes and episode notes for HZ048, writing them down for future reference.

The ep starts with Roy doing some training with Hogator and gets too fired up during it. Afterwards, the trio heads to Bowl Town and a festival seems to be taking place. They meet Hassaku (Liko calls him sensei too!) who explains that it's an art festival that takes place every year and that he is there as an art instructor. Colza's sculpture of the Black Rayquaza and the Kimawari is at the entrance of the festival and is the centerpiece of it (nice that they brought it up again after HZ010). Roy asks Hassaku if Colza is at the gym because he wants to challenge him so he leads the trio there.

Hassaku and Colza have nicknames for each other, which Liko notices and she asks them if they are friends. Colza explains that Hassaku is his mentor and that he helped him when he was going through an art block and that his current art style took shape thanks to him. They go back a long way.

Liko's dad shows up too, and she is surprised to see him there. He knows Colza (which was brought up before in HZ009 and HZ010), and also Hassaku. Makes sense that the three of them seem close given that they are all artists. Liko tells her dad she passed her basics test. She also introduces Dot to him since it's the first time they meet. Dot seems nervous, and Alex tells her that he heard about her from Liko. Dot is going out of her comfort zone a lot since the beginning of this chapter, she is meeting new people and feels a bit anxious about it.

Roy tells Colza that he is there to challenge him, and Colza is also curious to see how much Roy has grown. However, he has no time since he is busy finishing an art piece for the festival so Roy has to wait. Hogator seemed curious about it. Roy tells him he can't wait because he wants to get stronger to battle Rayquaza again, but Nemo shows up and suggests they battle. She also tells Roy that since students can't use Terastal against each other during the course, she'll go by these rules and won't use it against him. Roy tells her she can use it though, and she points out he seems confident. Interesting exchange there.

Either way, they battle. Nemo seemed happy about Roy's Hogator learning new moves. She just seems to be about recognizing potential where she sees it and encouraging it, because she brings up the word "fruitful" a lot. She wants to participate in Roy's growth as a trainer (which she did in this episode). It started raining partway through their battle and Roy didn't notice it, which is one of the reasons why he lost because he was so engrossed in the battle that he didn't pay attention to his surroundings. Roy immediately wants a rematch against Nemo and says he lost because of the rain, but Colza tells him it's no use and that he cannot win as he is now.

Hassaku suggests that they should all try making art pieces for now. The rule is that they should make a piece together with their Pokemon. Liko and Dot are on board, but Roy still wants to battle Nemo. Liko says it'd be good for him to switch things up, and she makes him notice that Hogator seems interested in Colza's art. So Roy is willing to try for Hogator. Nemo leads the trio to the gym, which serves as a public workspace during the festival, so they can make their pieces.

Liko decided on painting something which fits her since she likes drawing and she is creative. She wondered if she could paint something nice like her dad (which is cute, because she admires him as an artist). She got help from her Pokemon who all painted with her. Nyarote was really into it too and used her paws and bud. Liko ended up doing a painting of Oliva and called her piece "Oliva in full bloom". Two things I like about it. The proximity Liko feels towards Oliva (the first of the Six Heroes she met after Rayquaza, the first one she decided to help, Oliva showing up to protect her from Spinel, and to help her calm down Galar Fire, Oliva being a Grass type like Nyarote fitting Liko's themes of life etc, there is a lot going on here and I like that Liko just feels close to Oliva and decided to paint this Pokemon specifically). Also liked the use of "full bloom" in the name of the piece, like in Liko's Terastal phrase (which I think fits Liko's character since she really is blooming alongside Nyarote and revealing her potential, being more courageous and going forward, etc).

Dot took on a more mechanical project. Kanuchan liked the material so she decided to give it a try and really got into it. She asked Roy to let her borrow Kaiden. It was nice to see a one on one interaction between Roy and Dot (they have moments, but usually we see more Liko and Dot or the trio in general, so it's always cool to see Dot interacting with more characters one on one). I also always like when a character lets another borrow their Pokemon, because it shows trust between them (and we need to see Kaiden more, so it's good she thought about him). Either way, Dot made a ferris wheel and had her Pokemon and Kaiden help show it off with their moves.

Roy took on a clay project. He is into crafting things (after all, he made a secret base back in his island, and he created things several times during the show like when he wanted to help Kaiden, he also fixed the ship flag etc). Hogator was looking at art of Lizardon, so they decided to made Lizardon with clay. It's always adorable when they emphasize how much Hogator looks up to Lizardon and wants to be like one someday (which, btw, is a good way to use older gen in contrast to the current gen, and how the mentor character, Friede, has these older gen Pokemon and inspires the kids etc, there is a lot to be said but I just like how Horizons uses these concepts efficiently). Either way, at first Roy couldn't use the clay well so Colza gave him a hint that anything in reach or in sight could be the clue he needs to create his art. Roy eventually figures out that he needs to use Pokemon moves as materials, and that hints can be found in all places (and the same goes for battling). He managed to complete his piece and its title is "I wanna get stronger", which is inspired by both his and Hogator's feelings. Colza was impressed, and deems that Roy is ready to take on the basics test.

On to the battle (Hogator vs Usokkie). It was good. I think new BGM were used during it? I hope we'll get to hear more new tracks during this chapter. Roy is growing more strategic as he managed to guess who the real Usokkie was (after the latter used Subtitute) after seeing it sweat from Hogator's Flamethrower (it wasn't Roy's initial intention, but something he managed to see after his consecutive use of the move, so maybe in the future, he'll try to think more before battles or come up with similar strategies using his environment or things he notices etc). Roy used Terastal too, in response to Colza using it (different from Liko, who used it first against Kaede). His Terastal phrase was great. For a character like Roy, I would have expected something going on about "fire" or "passion", but the fact he talked about the crystal of his dreams caught me off guard in a good way (he is much more of a poet than I thought). There is this longing feeling to it, in relation to his dream, which I find interesting. He also used "shine", just like Liko (which makes sense since Terastal is described as the phenomenon making Pokemon sparkle and shine like jewels, so maybe Dot will use that verb too for her own Terastal phrase).

Either way, Colza knew most of Roy's moveset but the one thing he didn't account for was Hogator knowing Nitrocharge, which is eventually the move that defeated Usokkie. Roy won the battle (he faced Colza and lost before, so I figured he'd win this time, but it's still satisfying to see the buildup paying off!). I like the way Roy's growth as a trainer is depicted tbh (it's slowburn, he is taking small steps every time but it feels organic to me). Colza congratulated him and told him he passed the basics test. Also liked that Roy was specifically set up to face Colza, who is an artist, because as an artist, he takes time to analyze things etc, and that's something Roy needed to learn since he is more impulsive and tends to act first and think later (he tends to be hasty and impatient but needs to take time to think.. Roy is quite perceptive already, he just needs to make a conscious effort not to rush).

The ep ends with Dot feeling nervous knowing she'll take on her test next, and the trio deciding to visit the food stalls at the festival. (The preview was also cute, because Liko and Roy hype up Dot for her test and she is a bit embarassed about it)

Anyway, this ep was written by Michihiro Tsuchiya. The most recent ep he wrote was the Nyahoja backstory ep. He also wrote Hogator and Kaiden's argument back in HZ017, among other things (so it makes sense Kaiden appeared here).

Additional note, but Colza's way of speaking is kind of funny. I didn't pay attention that much to the way he spoke back in HZ010, so it kind of surprised me seeing him refer to others casually as "kisama" and talking in a grand way.. On the other hand, Hassaku seemed overly polite in his speech pattern.

[rp-commandersignas]

Commander Signas as a Pokemon!

Related to [this post.]

I was originally planning on making him a Staraptor, but I felt like their aggressive nature and reckless fighting style conflicted with Signas's more cautious and calculating way of doing things. I also felt like a more brain-focused pokemon would suit his personality better, so I chose Beheeyem in the end. In a way, him having a giant head and smaller body also fits since his mind is his greatest strength.

The only thing I don't like about Beheeyem is the fact that they can tamper with people's memories however they please. Like... This thing could ruin your life. 😨 Luckily, Signas would recognize the damage he could potentially cause with this power, so he'd hold back a lot when using it. I can imagine that the most he'd do is make a foe forget that they saw him, or temporarily forget who he is so they'd leave him alone.

Also, one thing you may notice about him is that he's a shiny. This was actually an accident on my part. When I was first imagining him in my head I was like: "I'll just make his eyes blue to make him more recognizable." Then I found out that shiny Beheeyem *also* has blue eyes, so I decided to go the rest of the way with his colors.

As for how he'd behave in a story (set in the Mystery Dungeon world), I think Signas would be the least alarmed out of all my muses, but he'd also have a million questions. When he'd wake up on the beach with the others, he would stay completely calm and begin analyzing his new surroundings. I think he would be the first to get his bearings, and he would be able to gather several facts about about their current environment using his calculations. I even imagined him using the shadows to calculate the circumfrence of the planet at some point, and finding that it's somewhat smaller than the Earth. Overall, his intellect would be exactly the same as when he was a reploid, but now he'd be able to read minds, and even look into people's memories with a bit of concentration. He'd also have the odd habit of raising his arms and flashing his lights in sequences every time he'd talk to people telepathically. Nobody can understand the code except for him though (which is innate knowledge for this pokemon species). I'm not really sure whether he'd translate this secret code for others or not, but knowing him, he'd more likely keep it a secret.

I also think that even though General would be in the 'party,' Signas would kinda end up as the leader in the beginning since he'd already have a clear plan of action. He'd also be a source of stability for the others - who would definitely be pretty confused by this whole situation. Also, due to his investigative nature, he'd often go out of his way to ask questions and learn more information about this new world. I can imagine him mainly trying to piece together how he and the others got here, and how to return home - if possible. He'd also quickly figure out that this world seems to operate on different 'rules' than his own, so he'd start recording them so that he wouldn't be caught off-guard. I can imagine that when the group would find a town to settle in, during the night Signas would find some parchment and start writing a bunch of notes and drawing charts so he could share them with his friends. I can imagine him even making the beginnings of a type-effectiveness chart, which would be filled out as he'd observe (and participate in) numerous battles. Also, for some reason I get the feeling that he might not need to sleep as a Beheeyem, so he'd probably be doing that all night. If I go with this headcanon, I can also imagine him looking at the stars and trying to see if he can recognize any constellations, but he wouldn't be able to find anything familiar - indicating that they could be at a completely unknown point in space. Maybe even an entirely different universe. I feel like deep down, even he'd be a bit troubled by that thought. If he can't get back home, he can't lead the Hunters anymore, or fulfill his promise to his creator. He'd also never see Alia again... He'd probably decide to keep all of this to himself for the time being.

While writing all this I also kept imagining how Signas would move. I pictured that most of the time he'd be levitating with his arms folded behind his back, but I also imagined him sometimes perching on surfaces that would normally be too narrow or fragile to support his weight. Sometimes he'd walk around normally if he's in an enclosed space, but I think he'd usually prefer to hover around since it would take less effort. It also kinda reminds me a bit of how Meta Knight always stands on things to make himself seem taller in the Kirby anime. So... Maybe this is something Signas does subconsciously since he used to be WAY taller.

Anyways, I guess that's all I have to say for now. Since you've made it this far, here's a scrapped black variant of my design:

I honestly think this looks way better, but I decided that it strayed too far from what a Beheeyem could plausibly look like.

[nemesis-is-my-middle-name]

Oh see, while I'm sure I'd feel rather hunted if I actually like, met a giant jackrabbit man who looked like That, when I saw your picture something about him triggered an instant cute aggression response hard. Which I'm not usually prone to, so that was an interesting experience lol. My second response was the same one I had the first time I saw the Hisuian Zoroark design, which was to vibrate out of my skin over how cool it looked followed immediately by the intense desire hug and pet it. Considering that the only reason I actually got pla was because I wanted a Zoroark, that's certainly saying something. I'm a big fan of emaciated-looking character designs, especially when it makes them look kinda haunted or feral, and you hit it spot on, perfect 10/10.

Oh good, I'm glad you don't mind! If I do end up posting some of them, I'll let you know (if you want me to) and link back to your drawing so that people know the credit for the fantastic character designs go to you!

That's true, the Galaxy Team and Ginko Guild would have the widest variety since they probably come from all over, though there are enough marshland and heat-adapted animals out there that the Diamond Clan probably is pretty diverse too. The Pearl Clan would definitely be the least diverse in general though, because there are only so many types of land animals that are able to live full time in a tundra. And I could see Ginter as a goat! Or like a donkey or malamute that hauls stuff around.

Though here's something I just thought of, would Sabi be considered unlucky to the Diamond Clan as an arctic animal? She's not really safe to stay in the mirelands, which might be part of why they made her a warden so early, so she can't ever come home for very long. And unlike in the Pearl Clan, the Diamond Clan probably would view that as a type of exile, because she doesn't have the option of spending time with the clan as a whole. Right now she still has her baby fluff so technically she could have had more time with them, but maybe when Braviary's old warden retired (or died), Adaman thought it best to just move Sabi into that position once it was clear that they got along, just so that she wouldn't have to actually be exiled when she got too old to safely stay. When they meet up they have to do it in the highlands where it's not too cold for Adaman and not too hot for Sabi. She herself doesn't actually mind, because she's young enough that she probably hasn't actually internalized their beliefs that much, but I bet it's hard being a kid without your family or friends to play with anymore. I wouldn't be surprised if she ended up going a little bit feral living out there with just herself and wild pokemon around for the most part, but if she really got hungry for people interaction she could always hang out with or prank people in the highlands, and with how young she is even the Pearl Clan might tolerate her being around more than they have any other Diamond Clan member in the past.

Oh, actually, maybe when Irida makes that first step by asking Adaman for help with Ingo, it opens him up to asking Irida for help with Sabi after he decides to make her a warden. But where Irida just wanted advice on how to keep Ingo, you know, alive longer, Adaman was asking if Irida could maybe look out for Sabi, at least somewhat, just so that a tiny child doesn't die out in the wastes because she didn't know how to find/cook food or take care of a wound like an adult would. Although, even if he didn't, I think that noble pokemon don't actually care about Clan lines, so if she did get hurt Braviary would probably just drop her off at the Pearl Clan settlement and demand she get treated, and like hell are they going to go against a noble's wishes, which is something I could see happening in canon. Lmao, that's a great point about Mai and Ingo though, I can see that exact interaction perfectly. She tried, not her fault if he doesn't want to listen.

Lol, Very Complicated is right! In OoP, Kamado was able to get to her in a moment of weakness, but you can tell throughout that Irida cares about Ingo and had in fact trusted him quite a lot, enough to vouch for him and confide in him about her role as a leader in any case. This is just taking that up a notch or two by mixing in the fear that comes from knowing there is a good chance her friend might die. That is an excellent plot device, plus it'd be very fitting considering that he saved Sneasler and now her domain is one of the only places he can actually safely be. He was, it'd look to them, clearly meant to be her warden with how neatly things had slotted together. I'm not sure if Irida would divulge how poorly Ingo was doing, but if the people of the Pearl Clan were prone to traveling around there'd surely be at least a few people who saw Ingo for themselves, especially if part of his role was helping them traverse safely through. So they'd know this nice, helpful, polite man (who, yes, is frankly very odd), the man who had saved their noble and was destined to serve her, was consistently looking worse and worse. Maybe they bring it up with Irida and she has to explain what she knows, and some of them start bringing things for him when they know they're headed his way, like food or mittens to replace his lost gloves or something. What he loses in a long term ability to survive in Hisui he makes up for by gaining a little bit of community.

hehehe that's so fun i love that, ty. i can for sure get the cute aggression response too. fucked up jackrabbit guy...

:0 yeah i'd love to see it if you end up posting it!! for sure!!

donkey is another option for ginter, yeah... or maybe an ox? something that's good for hauling and pulling large weights. very funny in comparison to his employee, a dove, the least draft animal to ever exist,

oof, you're right, sabi would probably have a pretty tough time in the mirelands as a penguin. she's definitely way more suited to the region where she's warden than the one where she was actually, like, born. i wonder if there's something where she's like, a child of the previous warden, and the Animal Roulette got confused about which region was "home" and went with an arctic animal because her parent spent so much time in the icelands. (...something something, au where braviary's former warden was sabi's mom and her father is gaeric, who hasn't told her or anyone else bc of clan tensions, but now she's taken the position so he has an excuse to keep an eye on her under the guise of assisting his fellow warden)

also the idea of her just wandering into the pearl settlement to hang out, aww. the other kids probably wouldn't think too much of it, depending on when they get taught about clan affiliations and all that (and besides, she's a warden, aren't the rules kind of different around there?) so they're happy to play games with her until braviary calls her back to go do warden stuff. that would have its own issues, though, if the diamond clan grows concerned that pearl might be manipulating their warden... teaching her about the False Sinnoh and trying to convince her to change allegiances, disrupting the balance throughout all hisui... (they're not doing any such thing, in fact the adults probably avoid discussing sinnoh with her as much as possible, but you know how people are)

i wonder if, if she's already hanging out with pearl enough, it might not go in the other order. like, it's adaman who first asks irida (or the pearl wardens or something) to keep an eye out for sabi, because it's really nonstandard to have a warden this young and yeah he's worried about her, ok? this concerns them too, anyway, since wardens are sort of both clans' business. and it's that shaky gesture of trust that prompts irida (because this is, strictly speaking, interfering in ingo's business and she isn't sure how he'll take it) to ask him about ingo, later.

and yeah of course it would look to them like ingo was like, sent to be sneasler's warden. though i wonder if, even if some of them saw him, they'd even notice how much he'd changed, considering they probably see him only infrequently and most of what they remember is "weird alarming rabbit thing" which is a description he just fits better than ever, lol. still, though, they'd probably pick it up via behavior if nothing else—that he constantly seems only half-present in conversation, etc—and do what you said re: trying to help them to the extent that they're able