#why do they basically have the same proportions

[lolitslloyd]

babies are just sentient american girl dolls

[beatcroc]

200

aka ''who do you play in ringracers'' well, 1, the whole fucking roster at once, 2, every most extreme/polarized/minmaxed edge of the stat layouts, and 3, mecha sonic specifically.

everybody give it up for 100 hours of ringracers

[shodansbabygirl]

ive gotta make more playlists on my phone my shower was a fucking trial and a half today

[roguerambles]

I understand the disappointment, I really do, but I think people might be blowing the whole world state thing a bit out of proportion. "This is SPITTING IN THE FACE of long-time fans" no it's not Steve, calm down.

The series has always had to compromise when it comes to the state of the world because so many of the choices (especially from the end of Origins) were so wildly different that trying to build a sequel from so many conflicting factors would be more or less impossible. It's why we've never seen the Architect again, because him being alive or dead has HUGE ripple effects that are damn near impossible to write around.

Heck, it was entirely possible for Anders to die at the end of Awakening, but the writers wrote around it by saying "oh no he actually faked his death" even though logically that made very little sense because at that point he'd have absolutely no reason to do that? But Anders was in the sequel so that had to come up with something.

Basically nothing from Dragon Age 2 was important in Inquisition - Hawke siding with Mages or Templars made no difference, Anders being alive or dead made no difference, whether Carver or Bethany were dead or Wardens or whatever made no difference. We got some flavour text and that was literally it, everything else played out exactly the same.

Hell, the Temple of Sacred Ashes gets blown to bits at the beginning of Inquisition, rendering everything to do with that quest from Origins basically moot. And we've never gone back to Orzammar, and everything we have heard from it has been kept super vague, because depending on who the King is and if Branka is still alive things would look WILDLY different. Crafting a new story there would be borderline impossible because the dozen different possible world states make the foundation shaky at best.

It's why I highly doubt we'll be able to side with Solas and help him tear down the Veil because that would result in basically a whole new world being created. Imagine them trying to make Dragon Age 5 and being like "okay 50% sided with Solas and tore the Veil down and 50% kept the Veil intact....wtf now what do we do--?"

Again, I understand the disappointment, but I just hope once the dust has settled and people calm down a bit they'll see that, realistically, very little has changed. Your saves are still there, your experiences and enjoyment of the games and the characters and the story are still there, but they were always gonna have to draw the line SOMEWHERE.

And that's not to say none of our previous choices will come back - if we get another game, or a spin off or something they'll probably do what they're doing with the Inquisitor now. They're just taking what's relevant to the story they are trying to tell, and leaving what they aren’t going to use presently ambiguous.

[otterloreart]

MLP-Takara generations: a design experiment

Takara MLPs are considered generation 1 My Little Pony; the original ponies look like little horses and the takaras are obviously very different.

But the standard MLP toyline underwent a lot of changes throughout the years... so, if the takaras had been successful, what would their changes look like?

Generation 1 year 2+ takaras.

Year one MLP was only a few ponies with a single color of body + matching hair... just like the takaras. It was year 2 that they introduced unicorns. pegasus, and seaponies.

You all know I've already been concepting these so it's not surprising at all. As MLP g1 went on, they ended up doing more and more gimmicks throughout the 80s which would also be kind of fun to see the takaras do... (hint hint if you want me to draw those lmk which gimmicks are your favorites)

I also think they should bring in markings like the normal ponies but that could be part of the gimmicks. Maybe on their cheeks, or on their bellies like care bears?

In the later years og MLP also had a lot of variations on the normal pony body type, so maybe you could also see the takaras with that kind of variant, so that might be cute:

Moving on!

Generation 2

If you aren't big into early gen My Little Pony you might not know that generation 2 didn't do very well; it was a reboot of a beloved franchise, it was new, and different, and all that jazz:

Main differences between them and g1: first, you can see they have a very late G1-type body, which is why I pointed out the thinner pony in g1. Their face is less detailed and rounder, but they have a little more expression, very smiley.

Their ears have a more horse-y curled in shape, they have fur around their hooves (in g1 only the boy ponies had hoof floof), and they have a gem in their eye.

Also they had a lot more moving-leg gimmicks where you could push one part of their body and another would move (eg push tail -> bobs head)

So you may ask, how am I could to g2-ify the takaras? After all, they are already much rounder than the g1 ponies. Well, I'm not going to make them just *look like* the g2 ponies, although I'll borrow more elements.

Instead: I am going to take and exaggerate all of the differences that I listed above and see what we come up with.

So! Here is my idea for g2 takara pony. I feel like its the exact balance of very cute and something that would upset collectors familiar with the original takaras, just as g2 upset the g1 fans.

First off, she's thinner, the iconic takara nose is removed in favor of a sculpt with a smiling mouth, the legs are more horse shaped with fluff and human fingers to match the additional foot detail. a lot of people find the g2s a little "uncanny" so I feel like this works.

The sparkley eye gem and ear shape are just straight off the original g2s, just to have extra gimmick to it (also the og takaras basically had the g1 ears)

g2 came out in the late 90s so I like to imagine the pony eyes would be extra shoujo too

Finally, a ball jointed head for more flexibility. (yes the arm would be posed like that in the doll, because its a more dynamic pose, and we can also assume that the larger size allows the doll to have a joint with more flexibility)

g2 had pretty similar gimmicks to g1 but also had some light up ponies, so maybe the takaras could have some with that gimmick too

fun fact, g2 MLP was sold for a longer time in Europe and performed better there.

Generation 3

Generation 3 ponies are a pretty clear return to g1 MLP style, kinda scrapping most of the changes g2 made, other than proportionally thinning out the ponies a bit.

g3 ponies have very similar face sculpts with bigger eyes, nearly the same legs, and their heads just a bit bigger in proportion to their body

They do remind me a lot of the g1 Petite ponies, which were 1 inch sculptures that also had those proportionally bigger eyes and chunkier legs.

I have here included the g1 so you can see the slight changes better! I think the main difference would be the g3 takara would be a lot rounder, smoother, and cutesy-er. While the original has the hello-kitty simple cute look, the g3 version would definitely have like eyelashes and big eyes.

The only other thing to note about the body is some bigger ears, a generally rounder face, and round feet.

There weren't many gimmicks super /unique/ to g3 but one I wanted to highlight was the Breezies. G1 did have the flutter ponys, which were ponies with butterfly/dragonfly type wings, but the breezies are like their own little species AND they have antennae. While the flutter ponies were sort of graceful and thinner than the other ponies, the breezies are like little chibi-er ponies.

A little bit Littlest Pet Shop-core, since its the early 2000s too.

SPEAKING OF

Generation 4 Generation 3.5

Before there was gen4 there was a subset of Gen3 ponies with a different and unique style. They were basically an exaggerated version of the Breezies with even bigger feet and tinier snouts. They are also VERY littlest-pet-shop-core.

So, pretty straightforward changes

Just an even more chibi, kid-ish style pony. I think the g3.5 ponies were even meant to be kids. So this is just an even more child-friendly, littlest pet shop type horsey.

Generation 4

So, obviously generation 4 ushered in a whole new era of My Little Pony with its unique and bright artstyle, which did need to transfer over to the ponies

Personally, while I love g4 in a lot of ways im not a fan of the toys in the same way I am the other generations, their little noses have shrunk to specks, they're skinnier and more big-eyed than ever. Well, g3.5 was pretty big-eyed but at least those ones were like little kids.

This is such a drastic shift from g1/g3 and even g4, I would be unsure about the takaras.

So: eyes, bigger. Snout, so tiny and so smooth. Ears, bigger. Hooves are flatter and parts of the legs are just kinda featureless. a longer neck. They released a decent amount of ponies with plastic hair this gen, too.

I was struggling to come up with a doll for this one, but I finally realized I was doing it backwards. The thing that makes g4 stand out, I think, is the fact it was fundamentally designed opposite from g1. Lauren Faust, an animator, designed the ponies and the toys had to be designed around her art.

So the primary difference was considering what a tv show- a tv show concieved in the 2000s and airing in 2010s- and I did look into some kids properties from that time period as I was designing

I think these Strawberry shortcake dolls are really close to the concept I'd want for a early 2010s mirror of MLP g4. So basically these toys but more anthro.

I ended up making a 3D mockup so I'd be able to plan the different angles and keep them consistent.

The eyes are kind of far apart but I think thats true of the g4 pony toys as well. Again, because of the way the g4 show was stylized as animation, there was sort of cheating with the anatomy, especially on the face.

Generation 4.5

Gen 4.5 was a spinoff of gen4, just like gen3 had 3.5 where the ponies are more chibi. More big eyes with even bigger ears and a face like... a cats? instead of a horse. Hoof fluff again.

I think this nailed the style without being as much of an outright copy. The bendy arms with fingers seem so silly but also I think that matches the vibe/artstyle.

G4.5 don't look like horses to me really at all though, they're like cats with hooves. Out of all of them we've seen so far they're suffering the most from "predator eyes" where they've gone so far as to make their eyes just face forward.

Generation 5

Generation 5 premiered with a CGI movie, so the toys that would be released are fairly on model with their movie selves except for the fact their heads are smack dab in the middle of their neck which i find extremely unsettling and dislike

We've gone full "predator eyes" (no the predator eyes thing doesnt 100% biologically hold up but I find them freaky and I get to say it) AND full human eyebrows stenciled in like a makeup vlogger in the same color as the hair.

The ears are back to cup shaped (more horselike) but again the face is round with a little muzzle (more catlike). The hooves have really detailed feathering on the legs. Otherwise the body is mostly just structured like the g4 body (except a bit longer) just with more specific horse details.

These continued the trend of having a lot more articulated versions with moving legs as well. I think given that most dolls these days have articulated elbows and knees, it is reasonable to expect the takara g5 dolls would too.

Again, I made a 3D model so I could keep it consistent from various angles.

ta-daaaa heres my takara pony generations 1-5 lineup! Tell me which youuuuur favorite are. if you want.

[colourstreakgryffin]

Idk if requests are open but if they are may I request a Mammon x plus sized curvy reader with AuHDHD if that's alright?

Oh… darn. Well, Mammon probably won’t be lenient or nice about it. He is that type of guy so whilst he’s a bit offensive, I hope it’ll be okay. I’m not personally mocking being plus sized or having AuHDHD, I just doubt Mammon would be nice about it at first— but anyway

Mammon- Greatest Self

Straight up… Mammon is pretty goddamn crude and a big selfish bastard. He doesn’t apologise for anything he does and he doesn’t regret being judgemental or discriminative since he only cares for himself

So, when he sees you… a ‘unappealing plus sized brat with a fucked up head’ that’s apparently his new employee, has him apathetic and disinterested so he doesn’t even care to be nice nor ease up his toxicity as your boss

Mammon didn’t really fear insulting your physical body or your psychological issues. He finds both of them very annoying and he cannot bring himself to be patient with you, so for the first few months he had you hired. He treated you badly…

However, for the first time in his life, the Sin of Greed… genuinely felt something bad for somebody else upon making his nasty remarks when he saw the way you were upset over him

Mammon doesn’t know why but he ended up changing his attitude with you since he couldn’t take the sharp stabs in his heart anymore! He can’t insult you without hurting himself. Eventually, he completely silences his bad treatment and tries his best to compliment you

Mammon actually really don’t believe that disorders exist at all and when you, when gaining back trust to your Circus-decored sin boss, explain what AuHDHD is… he does his end to not laugh at the nonsense and listens up. He doesn’t get all this medicine and this treatments yet he keeps trying to understand you anyway

Mammon likes his people attractive and thin and curvy. Whilst he doesn’t think plus sized is attractive at first, he also thinks that there is a POSSIBLE chance that a plus sized curvy person can be hot and eventually, he does view you that way… your plush curves is soft and squishable

Honestly, he thirsts over you like crazy. Mammon loves to kiss and suck your soft plus-sized belly and waist. Feel your bigger thighs and your nice thick ass… he loves the same you feel, you’re amazing and he basically pants over your body

This is a lot less sexual but romantic passion, Mammon doesn’t find anybody sexually thriving but romantically thriving. It’s why he likes your body, he likes to dress you up and put you nice clothing and shoes… oh, it makes him flutter!

Don’t worry, Mammon will NEVER let anybody insult your body or your conditions! He did previously but he doesn’t anymore since you’re now his beloved partner so if anybody even dares to make fun of you, he’ll devour them whole with no hesitation whatsoever

NOBODY hurts his beloved little kitten!

Mammon is the type of pampering lover, he enjoys giving you all kinds of wonderful presents and items pretty much 24/7 since his love language is in the form of ‘receiving gifts’. It’s spoiling but it’s his best strength, getting the best things since whilst he hates spending money. He’ll spend it on him and you

Mammon is not usually a patient man at all but he is always doing his best for you since he has some weird obsession over you that he can’t explain at al! He does his best to be patient with your conditions and understand your different attitudes aren’t intentional… even if your tones may offend him

Mammon may like you a lot but he is still a awfully greedy money-eyed prick so he’ll market you in whatever your best skill is so he can profit from it but he will gladly give you… a proportion of that income gain. He only slightly exploits you where he exploits everybody 100%

Mammon enjoys having you match him in clothing or accessorises! So, he likes to get you to wear whatever he is at the time, I’m afraid you’ll have to get use to this little cute thing until he gets bored of it… which will probably take some time so he’ll make you his Mini Me and admire how cute you look!

Mammon treats you like a Prince/Princess/Royal amongst the workplace so you get special privileges, and his employees do as you want when you want by his command. If you’re hungry, they give you food first. If you need time alone to handle your AuDHD, they are to leave right away

Mammon personally doesn’t think you need to do anything for anybody else so when you tell him, after a long day, about people saying you need to lose your weight. He’ll basically say; ‘you don’t need to change for anybody’ but if you ever want to change your plus-sized form, he’ll be there to support you… in the most Mammon way

Now. To top up your relationship with the Aussie Greed King, Mammon is not the most perfect boyfriend and he’s always trying to improve his ugliest traits to not hurt your feelings so he needs time but he does love you and he’ll show it

“Eh? Do’n wan’a perform this year, babe? Ya’d make a’ adorable one, ya know. Crikey, crikey. Ay, I was just saying, doll… don’t need to hiss at me like that. Lucifer’s will. Would ma’ performin’ with ya help at all?”

[joydoesathing]

what would happen if anatolii knew about this. What was Nacho thinking just running away was he that different compared to now

*cracks knuckles*

hoooooo boy, get ready cuz i got a whole character arc below

(again this is just my take on the story, so it's highly headcanonned)

"I'm sorry for running away. I'll make sure to make it up to you and your mother..."

nacho was more reckless back in his former years when he was first having a fling with frances. but when he did get her pregnant, he realized that he messed big time. realized that not only he's got a child on the way but has no means to provide for them both and isn't personally ready for big commitments like being a father or even getting married. why would he be? he was barely even 20. he never really thought that far ahead.

he didn't want to ask his parents for help. they'd definitely kill him if they figured out he got this girl they never met pregnant. he didn't also have the guts to tell frances the bad news.

his buddies at the time, who were just as reckless and short-sighted as he was, recommended that he could just... leave all that complicated and deep mess with frances behind him. just run away.

i mean he could do it. like him, frances probably wouldn't turn and complain to her parents first for help (for the same reason nacho wouldn't turn to his own parents for help) . his parents doesn't even know they had a fling together. even if she will become desperate enough to find them and try to turn to them for help, would they even accept her? let alone believe her?

"you wouldn't get in trouble. there's no one else that knows about it than you two."

" i mean, i'm sure she'll figure out something. she should know at least the basics."

that's what his buddies kept on assuring him. but even he could see that just up and deserting frances like that is just straight up cruel.

but was he in any room to still complain? it's not as if he had the resources nor the strong will to commit and face the heavy consequences of his actions.

and with that, he ran off but wracked with the small feeling of guilt.

while he tried having his new start, that feeling of guilt just grew bigger and bigger and started eating away at his conscience. he kept on trying to deny and delude himself with the words of his buddies, but it did nothing to stop that guilt completely.

it made him finally see that he's nothing more than a dirty dog running with its tail between its legs. a jerk and a coward. he had a feeling that he was going to have his comeuppance and it wasn't going to be pretty.

and so it did, a year and a half after he ran. his partner, depressed and completely driven to madness , tracked him down and almost murdered him in a psychotic rage.

he was forced to see the result of his cowardice and neglect. he didn't blame frances for doing that. who wouldn't go mad if they've been abandoned by someone who thought they could trust?

after she was stopped, he decided not to press charges on frances , although that didn't stop her from still getting institutionalized. being incapable to care for her child, nacho finally decided to man up and take his and frances' child up as his own and take raise him.

he knew that it's such a scummy thing to do. to just NOW take up the responsibility when everything was blown out of proportion. but he decided to not run away now, just because of that. his son needed a parent more than anything else now.

as he went on raising anatolii, he felt that he had absolutely nothing to be praised for. unknowing people says: "you're such a strong man, raising a son all by yourself."

he just did what he should have done from the start. right now, he takes care of his son wholeheartedly as an act of repentance, for both frances and anatolii. to show that he's truly sorry for being the coward he is.

for now, nacho is keeping the truth the whole mess between him and frances well-kept from anatolii. the only thing that anatolii does know about his mom is that she's alive but never drops by to visit due to some "personal problems and conflicts". but nacho always assures him that his mother loves him no matter what.

[aerequets]

Ur art is such an inspiration and motivation for me, as a fellow artist. I’ve been following ur stuff for a bit now and I was wondering how you decided to draw loid, yor, and anya the way you do. I say this bc I really want to start making my own fan arts, but i struggle to take this anime style and have these character read as [insert character] without it being in a “anime style.”

And I guess this applies to any character you want take from a media, and translate it into your style. Bc i don’t necessarily think ur art style is considered “anime” i kinda just see it as an abstraction ig. But even if it is, it isn’t in the style of anime show is yk? Yet the characters read as who they’re supposed to be.

And I think a while back you u mentioned that you were struggling on decided how to draw loid. ig i wanna know How did you come to the decision that “yes, this looks correct and I wanna draw him like this.”

Is it finding defining feature and proportions? Just messing around until you figure something out? And I assume you make a character sheet to keep it consistent?

Like i literally go to art school but cant draw anything without a reference photo and it killing me 😔💀���

Sorry for the yapp i’m just down bad rn and really love ur work. Please help be get out of the reference photo trap😭

Also sorry if this reads weird and has errors i’m sleep deprived and can’t bring myself to go back and reread

WHAIUGOUGH???? UR TOO KIND??? THANK U

i will try my best to answer below, but i dont think it is anything profound or super secret lmao

so i think that artists get really caught up with finding/establishing a style when they are first starting out. i say this because i was no different. to me it was like 'oh if i have a style then i am a Real artist instead of just a copier'

but like, i think that order is backwards. like the more that you draw things you enjoy, the more those drawings will become your own and in your 'style' if that makes sense. heavy emphasis on the quantity here. you just gotta go really at it. and the best way to do this is through sheer quantity tbh.

however at the same time, i dont really agree with the whole 'draw x things per day every day' thing cuz sometimes thats just hard man. i mean you mentioned you were in art school so you're probably drawing every day anyways, but for a hobbyist or fanartist (me lol) its mostly based on whether u feel like drawing or not. Which is why its rlly cool when you have a show/book/movie/anything you're really into which makes you want to draw more! it becomes something fun rather than a chore.

so basically, dont view a style as something you have to develop right away, or turn drawing into a chore, because that will be very counteractive trust me.

another important thing i wanted to mention, you said "reference photo trap" but ITS NOT A TRAP! USE REFERENCES!!! REFERENCES ARE IMPORTANT AND GOOD (i am assuming you already know this, but using references is not the same as tracing. just to make it clear)

this is another thing common with newer artists (and of course how i used to be), where you feel like you have to draw 'from your mind' for it to be an indicator of any skill. NOT TRUE!! you need to use references to get better!

lastly, to answer your question (as best i can lol) there was never any point when i decided 'yes this is it' when drawing. you just draw and draw and keep changing and growing. it is a little of everything you said (defining features, proportions, messing around) but it is also just drawing a lot and having fun! :D oh and i definitely do not have a character sheet. i am not anywhere near that organized LMAO

[bloomeng]

I'm a little nervous to talk about this because the internet is truly the place where nuance goes to die but fuck it I'm going to do it anyway.

So misogyny in fan spaces. There's so much that can be said here, but I want to focus on a trend I've seen in fanfiction for years. This isn't a call out to anyone in particular or a fic that I read recently, it's just something I want to talk about.

There's a range in which I see misogyny displayed in fanfiction. The most subtle version is when a fic has a large cast, but despite this, the female characters just float in the background as accessories. Writing big casts is difficult and I understand that (it's part of the reason I tend not to like big casts) but despite this all the female characters will remain less developed than their male counterparts. The other version is they will exist only to advise or prop up a male character, which isn't to say that a female character can't play that role in a story. On an individual level, it's not an issue, but when it's the only role over and over it becomes an issue. My solution to handling big casts is to break them off at times into pairs/smaller groups and allow everyone to have their moment. It doesn't need to be perfectly balanced but even small moments could go a long way.

The next step up is literally ignoring them altogether. I understand not every character is going to feature in every story. Time and place and all that jazz. But it's telling when they're so clearly written out of a story for the sake of not addressing them. If we can cram in all these male character cameos we can do the same for the women. Personally I feel writing is stronger if you only include characters for a purpose beyond them just being there (and it would be two birds with one stone bc that would automatically allows for more depth), but this is fanfic that I'm discussing, where fan service rules everything.

The third trend and arguably the most egregious I refer to as the “Sakura Effect.” The Sakura Effect is when an author will include either a pre-existing female character or an original female character for the sole person of villainizing her to extreme proportions. It’s scary to me because as much as media can be misogynistic this is so much worse in my opinion. As fans I would hope we would be better but then I see characters flattened or created simply to be awful. And yet “no one” sees the issue in that.

I’ve seen authors go far as to say apologize in the notes about mischaracterizing female characters for the sake of the conflict. Like we’re so close to recognizing the issue yet so far. Also for some reason it’s socially acceptable to add character bashing tags to fics?? I see this the most with Naruto fics, but to this day I will never understand why people feel the need to establish how much they hate a female character in a fic that doesn’t even touch on them. Or they warn people that they made her evil bc they hate her??? Like ok so we’re recognizing the problem and doubling down. Cool.

I once saw someone create a female character for a fic who was described as ugly and with a ton of acne and a bunch of people called the author out for the description and its subsequent streotypes. The author responded by basically being like I hear you but I don’t care. But I was also concerned that no one else in the comments was concerned that the character was female as well.

I see this trend with people to make these super creepy stalker female characters as conflict for their mlm ships and it’s just like…. do we not see the inherent issue in this. We complain about the treatment of women in the source material and then we (fan culture) turn around and make arguably more offensive characters.

This is a fairly ranty non-nuance, doesn’t even touch on intersectionality, look at misogyny in fanfiction but that’s all I have the capacity to discuss today.

[halfnekoslair]

My dolls)

Photo by ig @gray_valet

Hi guys) The package with the previous mouse group order arrived in the US. The rest does not depend on me. So I'm making a post to show everything I can offer. Shipping from Russia is quite expensive, starts from about 70 USD for EMS, which I usually use. So it makes more sense for foreigners if someone organizes a group order to share the shipping cost. This has already been done twice. And I believe there is a discord group about this. But I will give you approximate numbers: This is about 70 USD for up to 1 kilogram 90 USD for up to 2 kilograms and about 105 USD for up to 3 kilograms.

This post is going to be huge so I'll put the prices on top:

15cm mouse. 73 usd for standard colour. +7 usd for extra colour.

25cm turtle. 230 usd.

28 cm 1/6 boy doll. 110 usd for Eirwyn 120 for character heads cause of their hair/ear parts.

MSD Eirwyn. 180 usd.

Speaking of group orders I would prefer not to go above 1000 USD in one box because I don't trust US Customs one bit. And if something bad is destined to happen - I would prefer it not to be a terribly large amount of money.

I can change the prices over time. I most likely will. I'm just groping for a while. The difference in price is more due to the amount of manual work I have to put into the doll than to the size. Turtles are far and away the most complex. And human dolls are less time-consuming. If I make a few and feel that it is more difficult or easier than I thought - I will change the prices. As you can see, so far I have only sold mice.

So what do I offer?

I'm obviously offering mice.

This is around life size mouse doll. Almost 15 cm standing tall and including ears.

I use ABS-like photopolymer resin for these dolls. Because it is easier to work with and looks more polyurethane-like. Mice have a lot of small delicate parts that would be harder to make look good with a harder resin. So it's a tradeoff. I prefer aesthetics over durability. I am not saying that ABS-like resin is too brittle. Many people use this type of resin for dolls. Especially small ones. I am just explaining why I use different types of resin for different dolls. I might consider printing a mouse with the tough resin I use for my larger dolls but that would cost more because it would take more time to post-process.

The colors "from the can" are gray and white. I can also print beige and chocolate at any time. Because these are the most basic colors and I can cut the leftovers. (Beige and chocolate may differ slightly from time to time because I due them myself. White and gray are constant.)

I can mix any color (green, purple). But there must be 2 or more mice of this color in the order. Otherwise it will be counted as an extra color because I will have a lot of leftovers that I will not be able to use.

There is also an option to add pink paws or tail or both. If the doll has 2 colors in it, it is counted as an extra color.

2. Turtles.

Photo by ig @gray_valet

Yes, I finally decided to try and start selling them.

They are 1/6 size. About 25 cm. A little shorter than Barbie. But wide and heavy.

There are 4 sculpts. Each of which has an individual head and some differences in the body.

Officially I name the sculpts by numbers, not by character names. but I think the characters are pretty obvious.

So #1 (Leo)) He's my princess >W< Lol. Sorry. This sculpt is quite beefy. But has the most delicate face and front shell of them all for my taste.

№2 (Raph)

This one the widest and most monstrous of them all. He was actually designed to be a little shorter than the first one, but he refused and ended up the same height.

№3 (Don) He is a little taller and thinner than the others. I tried to make him more human in proportions and face.

№4 (Mike) He's the baby of the group. I still wonder if I made him too small. But I like him as is.

Each of them has 3 faces on magnets. Neutral, angry and happy.

For turtle dolls I use a tough resin. Because they are actually big, even though they are short. And they have quite a strong elastic tension. It's a little less pretty than the ABS-like. But it's really tough. I have a video of me throwing it on the pavement.

Turtles have 3 colors. For the skin, plastron and shell. You can send me a picture and I will try to dye the resin as close as I can.

I will add 2 pairs of the chosen color eyes and 1 pair of white to the doll.

I can also print basic katanas and sais in a size suitable for the doll. In a random color.

3. 1/6 youth doll.

This body is about 28cm and is sculpted to represent a teenage boy in a Barbie-proportioned world.

This can go with my original Eirwin head and resin hair

Or an anime head with a hairstyle representing a character from the Genshin Impact game.

(Keep in mind that 1/6 of the sculpts has sculpted eyelashes) At the moment I have

Tighnari with magnetic ears (It's my friend's doll)))

and Cyno

Lol I even made his hair articulated.

I also tried to put a Barbie head on this body and it wasn't terrible)

I print these dolls with tough resin as well. Even though they are small they aren't very detailed so it's just nice to have a little more durability.

I can try to dye the color you want. But I can't promise 100% accuracy because one is the pictures on the screen and the other is the resin and pigments. And also I do not recommend dark skin colors. because this resin is very thick and it can reject the pigment while printing. With dark colors it can lead to a slight difference of the color between parts in one doll.

And last but not least...

4. MSD Eirwyn.

The MSD version of this sculpt has some differences from the 1/6 version. It has a wider neck, smaller eyes, and no sculpted eyelashes.

Eirvin is 45cm tall and is adjusted to fit into my company MSD doll group. (Photos with Dollzone and Resinsoul)

10mm eyes, 55mm feet. The only non-standard part of him is his butt. It's quite wide for a MSD) But I like the silhouette.

I print my dolls with full infill so it weighs the same as the cast doll.

Obviously I'm printing such a big doll with tough resin. And with such a size of parts I'm mostly calm for this doll. My cat has already given it a couple of test falls from the table.

For color - I also do not recommend dark here. For large parts and almost 10 hours of printing it can give a big difference in color.

I don't mind answering questions and taking additional photos if needed.

Congratulations) You survived my longest post.

[strangegutz]

OC ask: what kinda shoes do the cast go for, for either 'what they actually wear' or 'if discomfort/money was no object'. Eddies a boot man we know this, but I like hearin about costuming minutia and practical choice v indulgent is fun.

i am SO glad you asked, because i’ve been wanting to draw this up-

First off for all of them- Boots are necessary down in The Gulch- gotta watch out for cactus needles, rattlesnakes, dirt and dust, plus your modes of transport around town and out is a few horses and motorbikes.

We all know about Eddie’s attraction to- proclivity towards- propensity for wearing cowboy boots. He likes them big, long, and gaudy. Eddie doesn’t really need to worry about comfort, and would prefer to buy some secondhand boots he likes and get them fixed up over the years of wear and tear. Down to footwear, Eddie likes to put on a big show of being ostentatious and loud- makes his dead silence on jobs that much scarier. No matter the occasion, he wears the same basic western silhouette- spurs optional

A whole shoe rack of winklepickers. Over the years, Zeki’s learned he has to lean in to his gangly proportions instead of trying (and failing) to hide it, so why not just go with the longest, shiniest, pointiest, 80’s gothiest boots he can find. He came to The Gulch with some regular dress shoes, but Eddie got the kid squared away pretty quick- especially if he was going to be chasing snakes all day. Sometimes he’ll go for high heels, if he has the excuse to wear them, and has some regular cowboy boots for labor or field work.

If she can kick the shit out of someone while wearing them, White will wear them. A tiny woman needs some big fuckin’ shitkickers. Mostly black boots, with a few white pairs here and there. All of her boots are pretty beat up, but keeps her Right-Dead boots maintained for the professionalism.

Felix is pretty new, so he doesn’t have much of a collection of shoes yet. He would LIKE to wear stuff like Eddie does, but isn’t super confident, and they’re pretty uncomfortable to him. He feels best in low heeled, wide, round toed boots. Mostly in shades of brown and black, he’s trying to find more boots with flashy shafts.

supplemental viewing: my OC pinterest boards have so many shoes saved in them!!

some eagle eyed viewers may notice that i very much enjoy drawing shoes

[bogleech]

Why do the adult stages of insects have short lifespans?

Most animals can't reproduce, and most don't even develop the organ systems to do so, until almost the end of their development. Many mammals are actually rare freaks for their ability to start reproducing as little as a third into their lifespan, and keep reproducing over and over until they die; it's an extreme and radical survival strategy we evolved that comes with some pretty severe trade-offs, in that we have high energy demands and require so, so much food in proportion to most other organisms, not to mention all the ways those reproduction systems can take on illness, malfunction or hurt us. Other animals like birds and reptiles and various fish opted instead to reach adult size as fast as they can, build the reproductive system, and then just take it easy: they live a long time and can mate more than once, but they don't do so constantly and don't make that many young. The MOST common strategy in nature, basically the default norm is to devote most of your life just to eating, growing, and storing resources in your body, then "spend" all the resources you can on reproduction, giving so much of your energy to your babies that it actually kills you. The upside is that this is why most animals make hundreds or even thousands of young in one go, which better guarantees that at least one will survive. Salmon and octopuses are two of the most famous non-insects that do it that way, but so do thousands of other mollusks, fish, members of the various "worm" phyla and others. Many insect groups hyper-streamlined this, so they have a larval stage that's just an eating machine, like caterpillars and maggots, possessing only the bare minimum anatomy they need to keep on eating and growing and nothing else, usually incapable of even traveling from the same food source they were born on. They then use up all of this stored energy to create a body that is perfect for perpetuating their species, including more mobility (such as wings) to spread their population further. Insects exhibit almost every variation there is, but many insect groups hyper-streamlined the basic method so they have a larval stage devoted to non-stop eating, like a caterpillar or a maggot, devoid of any anatomy that does not help it collect all the energy it can as continuously as it can, then use up that energy to build an equally dedicated mating form, which may last only days or weeks because it even gave up the ability to eat as it devoted as much of its body as possible to making those babies in that one big go. There are still many exceptions including insects like cockroaches who mirror the mammal strategy of mating over and over for a relatively "long" adult life, or insects that still only mate the one time, but still at the end of a fairly long adult life that continues to eat and store energy. The most extreme exception to this might be aphids, which continuously develop clone offspring and give live birth to them for their entire life, by which I mean some aphids are born already pregnant with their first clone. These actually still go through a normal mating process too, though, when a winged male finds them near the end of the year, and then they die after laying proper eggs that can survive the winter. The non-stop clone babies are just so that one female has even higher odds of mating with at least one of those males, because now there's 10,000 of her for him to find. To understand basically everything in nature you just have to understand that: 1: life forms actually work like video game characters in that they constantly "farm experience" (nutrient energy) they have to spend on their unique spread of stats and abilities (every body part and system comprising them) 2: every life form evolves as if the only goal of that entire game is to generate offspring and increase the odds of their survival, literally no matter what must be sacrificed.

[evidence-based-activism]

I keep seeing this claim that schools/the education system today are designed for girls and disadvantage boys and that’s why girls and women are out performing boys and men at basically every level of education. Does this claim actually have any merit or truth to it? Because tbh I have a hard time believing it and I find it interesting that this seems to be the popular explanation for why girls are doing better in school when I somehow doubt a similar explanation would be widely used if girls were doing worse.

Thanks in advance and I hope you have a lovely rest of your day (or afternoon/evening/night)!

I hope you have a lovely day as well! I know this response took a while, so I hope you still see it!

Evidence For and Against a Gender Gap in Education

There's been a lot of reporting about how boys are "falling behind" in education but there is ... much less evidence to support this. (At least for young children, who are generally the focus in this sort of conversation.)

To start with, we can look at the data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), which is "a congressionally mandated program that is overseen and administered by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), within the U.S. Department of Education and the Institute of Education Sciences" [1]. Using their data explorer to examine trends in performance, we see very similar performance between boys and girls in general. However, looking at the most recent year for any particular subject and grade level (grade 4 ~ age 9; grade 8 ~ age 13; grade 12 ~ age 17), we can see some small differences.

Boys have higher scores than girls in:

Mathematics (500 point scale for grade 4 and 8; 300 point scale for grade 12) in grade 4 (-6 points), 8 (-2), and 12 (-3)

Science (300 point scale) in grade 12 (-4); girls and boys show no significant difference in grade 4 or 8

US history (500 point scale) for 8 (-4) and 12 (-4); girls and boys show no significant difference in grade 4

Geography (500 point scale) for grade 4 (-4), 8 (-3), and 12 (-5)

Girls have higher score than boys in:

Reading (500 point scale) for grade 4 (+6), 8 (+8), and 12 (+13)

Writing (300 point scale) for grade 4 (+17), 8 (+19), and 12 (+14)

Civics (300 point scale) for grade 4 (+7) and 8 (+2); girls and boys show no difference in grade 12

So, according to a standardized test measurement in the USA, there is little difference in boys and girls performance. Where there are differences they: tend to be small (mostly single digit differences on 300- and 500-point scales) and varied in direction (i.e., boys score higher in some things and girls in others).

Notably, there are substantially higher racial gaps (20-30+ points) in these subjects, suggesting that there isn't a "boy crisis" there's a "marginalized races crisis". (For both sexes, but, interestingly, more so for boys.)

In addition to that, this examination of longitudinal data [2] reaches essentially the same conclusion (different direction of gap by subject, small effect size, bigger racial difference, etc.) but also concludes that most boys "gain ground" as they age. This Dutch article [3] examines several large-scale national and international datasets and also comes to the same conclusion. (Importantly, however, as this will come up later, they did find substantial gender differences in "non-cognitive domains".)

All in all, this suggests the empirical evidence for a "boy crisis" in grade school education is weak.

That being said, there are a couple measures that do provide support for the idea specifically in older students. First, Brookings analyzed data from the Department of Education [4], and found that there is a sex gap in high school graduation rates such that a lower proportion of boys than girls graduated. Notably, however, this gap is much smaller for Asian Americans and White Americans than for Black Americans and Hispanic Americans, which suggests this is – again – more of racial issue than a gender issue.

In addition that, women are outpacing men in college entrance and graduation in the USA, according to the Pew Research Center [5]. Specifically, 39% of women over age 25 have a Bachelor's degree compared to 37% of men. However, when considering only the most recent cohort (adults aged 25 to 34), 46% of women have a Bachelor's degree compared to 36% of men.

Importantly, however, this difference is not driven by structural inequality. For individuals who did not earn a Bachelor's degree, 44% of women report financial constraints and 38% report family obligations, compared to 39% and 35% of men respectively. In contrast, 34% of men reported they "just didn't want to" and 26% report they didn't need it for their desired job, compared to 25% and 20% of women respectively. This does not support the narrative of an external "boy's crisis".

And, in addition to all of that, men are still the majority in highest paying jobs, the majority in governmental and commercial leadership positions, more likely to be the primary or sole earner in a family, and earn more - on average - that women [6].

I'd propose that any differences in educational achievement – if they existed – would be irrelevant without a similar "real world" impact. That is, what does it matter if girls outperform boys on reading tests (or boys outperform on math tests) if they are not also gaining ground in their adult professional careers?

---

Boy's Behavior

Having established that there isn't very strong evidence for a sex gap in educational achievement, I want to note that there is evidence for another type of sex gap: behavior.

This study [7] actually provides evidence that nearly all of the sex differences in grades (i.e., girls receiving higher grades from teachers in primary school) is dependent on the student's behaviors. In other words, once adjusted for "noncognitive skills", differences in grades disappears.

And remember that Dutch study [3] from earlier? They also found that teacher rated young girls "substantially more favourably than boys" for "social behaviour and work attitude". For older students, boys rated themselves less "peaceable" than girls.

The common belief that female teachers (as compared to male teachers) hurt boys performance also appears unfounded, as indicated by this review article [8]. These studies [9, 10] also draw the same conclusion, and additionally suggest that boys behavior/attitudes in school is worse than girls for both female and male teachers.

(Some people may read this and think that this is the result of girls "maturing faster" than boys. So, I'd like to point out that is almost certainly a result of socialization. Someone else has written a blog post about this topic [11], but also see this post about brain sex that also considers the reach and effects of early socialization.)

---

Conclusion

All in all, there isn't strong evidence of a "boy's education crisis". While there are gender differences in education performance they vary by subject and grade level, tend to be very small (much smaller than other demographic differences), and don't appear to have a "real world" impact.

There is evidence that boys are less disciplined and less positive in educational environments, a difference that is most likely driven by how boys are socialized in comparison to girls. (For example, boys are encouraged to be more out-going, girls are more likely to be praised for "good behavior", girls are included in chores more often and at younger ages, etc.)

I hope this helps!

References below the cut:

NAEP: National Assessment of Educational Progress. (2024, March 21). About NAEP: A Common Measure of Student Achievement; National Center for Education Statistics. https://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/about/

Husain, M., & Millimet, D. L. (2009). The mythical ‘boy crisis’? Economics of Education Review, 28(1), 38–48. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econedurev.2007.11.002

Driessen, G., & Van Langen, A. (2013). Gender differences in primary and secondary education: Are girls really outperforming boys? International Review of Education, 59(1), 67–86. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11159-013-9352-6

Reeves, R. V., Buckner, E., & Smith, E. (2021). The unreported gender gap in high school graduation rates. Brookings. https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the-unreported-gender-gap-in-high-school-graduation-rates/

Parker, K. (2021, November 8). What’s behind the growing gap between men and women in college completion? Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2021/11/08/whats-behind-the-growing-gap-between-men-and-women-in-college-completion/

Schaeffer, K. (2024, February 27). For Women’s History Month, a look at gender gains – and gaps – in the U.S. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/02/27/for-womens-history-month-a-look-at-gender-gains-and-gaps-in-the-us/

Cornwell, C., Mustard, D. B., & Van Parys, J. (2013). Noncognitive skills and the gender disparities in test scores and teacher assessments: Evidence from primary school. Journal of Human resources, 48(1), 236-264.

Coenen, J., Cornelisz, I., Groot, W., Maassen van den Brink, H., & Van Klaveren, C. (2018). Teacher characteristics and their effects on student test scores: A systematic review. Journal of economic surveys, 32(3), 848-877.

de Zeeuw, E. L., van Beijsterveldt, C. E., Glasner, T. J., Bartels, M., de Geus, E. J., & Boomsma, D. I. (2014). Do children perform and behave better at school when taught by same-gender teachers?. Learning and Individual Differences, 36, 152-156.

Carrington, B., Tymms, P., & Merrell, C. (2008). Role models, school improvement and the ‘gender gap’—do men bring out the best in boys and women the best in girls?. British Educational Research Journal, 34(3), 315-327.

Graham, R. (2023, September 22). Do girls really mature faster than boys, or do we just force them to? The Noösphere. https://archive.is/2023.09.22-090402/https://medium.com/the-no%C3%B6sphere/do-girls-really-mature-faster-than-boys-or-do-we-just-force-them-to-68e31307abf3

[lilith-vodkaaunt-of-demons]

I just finished watching Encanto for the umpteenth time, and I have to say, I'm really disappointed that it feels like every time someone talks about understanding or feeling empathy towards Abuela Madrigal that the conversation inevitably turns to people accusing the poster of abuse apologia. I understand why Abuela Madrigal behaved the way she did, that does not mean I condone it. I can feel empathy for a person and understand their behavior while simultaneously condemn them for said behavior.

And I feel like this ties in to this trend of "Media that portrays a negative behavior at all is just as bad as media that glorifies that behavior." Which itself ties into a trend of Anti-Intellectualism, because ultimately what the message becomes is "Anything or anyone who doesn't demonize or villify this Bad Thing to cartoonish proportions is Condoning it, because portraying Bad Thing in a realistic way leads to Understanding it, and once people Understand it, I'm no long allowed to treat people who have done or are that bad thing like they aren't people anymore."

Addiction, for example. As people come to understand that Addiction isn't a moralistic failure, but an actual chronic disease that can even be genetic, it's becoming less acceptable to treat people who suffer from Addiction as non-people anymore. And you can SEE people fight against it because they WANT a target they don't have to treat with the basic respect people deserve to be treated with. With the way some people act about Clean Needle Initiatives, or Narcan, or Fentynal Testing Strips, you can tell that what they really want is to continue to be able to treat someone like they're below them. But as people come to understand why people do the things they do, it becomes harder and harder to do that.

Which is to say, I empathize with Abuela Madrigal. I understand why she acted the way she did, but I don't condone it.

And personally, I think the movie did a great job subtle queuing up why she behaved that way. That every issue that the individual family members brought up that they were worried about was something Abuela also worried about. She had the same pressure to fix everything that Louisa did, the same pressure to be perfect like Isabella, the same responsibilities to make sure all the towns people were taken care of as Julieta, and the same requirements of keeping her emotions under control like Pepa. All of her kids and Grandkids were mirrors into what Abuela was also having to deal with all by herself, so yes, I understand why she acted that way, and I do empathize with her, but I also understand that her reactions to all of that were still wrong.

Even Mirabel, arguably most of all, was a reflection of Abuela. Mirabel was a reflection of Abuela's internalized feelings of Unworthiness. That she didn't deserve the miracle that she'd been given, and so when she saw someone who was not given a miracle, she dumped those feelings of unworthiness onto Mirabel. Mirabel was never going to be good enough because Abuela didn't think of herself as good enough, and she took it out on Mirabel.

I could actually break down how all the powers of the Madrigal Family find their roots in Control, which is the root of Abuela's inferiority complex, but I'll save that for another time if anyone is interested.

[breakfastatmiles]

Your art is wonderful!!!

A constant inspiration to my own creativity and art work. Could you explain some of your art style to me? I’m interested in looking at a bunch of different ones to try and finally find one for me.

Goodnight!!🌙

Thank you so much! That means the world to me! I’d be happy to share some of my process with you 😄

Keep in mind I’m completely self-taught, so this is just the process of how I make my drawings and not any sort of professional advice 😅 apologies for the long post ahead 😪

Starting with the basics, my biggest influences are Jin Kim and Ami Thompson. Both are amazing character designers and I really admire their stylization and expressions. Whenever I feel stuck on something, I always go back to their drawings for inspiration.

I typically start in Procreate with a canvas size of 3300px x 4200px or 11” x 14” with a DPI of 300.

I put my reference in the corner of the canvas (in this case it’s a screenshot from the movie She’s the Man) and I start my rough sketch (emphasis on rough). Sketching is probably the longest part in my drawing process because I’m focusing on expression, composition, proportions, etc. This usually has about two to three passes before I move on.

Then I lower the opacity of the sketch and clean it up with some lineart on a new layer. Lineart doesn’t play a huge part in my style, but I still like to play around with line weight. Since I knew this was going to be a fully rendered piece, I didn’t spend much time on lines that I knew were going to be removed later in the process.

Underneath all of that, I use the skin tone and color the base of the character. I make sure that I color ever so slightly past the lineart, for reasons that will be important later. This part can be tedious, especially because I use a textured brush, so there are a lot of gaps that I fill in later.

Then using new layers with clipping masks, I start the flat colors. Nothing too crazy here.

I’ve made color palettes for characters and backgrounds that I typically draw, so this way it speeds up the process and maintains style consistency. If I need a color that I don’t normally use, I’ll just play around with the colors until I find something that fits well with everything else.

Next, on a multiply layer, I add some basic shading (with the skin tone color) and blush (with an orange-pink color). I also move onto the background. Some are more complex than others. If I’m going for a more cinematic look, I’ll fill the background in with some basic shapes and blur it slightly. Thankfully the background was pretty simple in this reference.

I start checking proportions now that everything has basic colors. Then I duplicate my lineart layer and change it to a pinkish-red and put it on multiply mode and turn down the opacity. This is why the base color layer needs to line up with the lineart, otherwise there’d just be gaps underneath. Instead of erasing my black lineart layer, I put a mask on it and just keep the eyes and eyebrows.

Then I start working on the shading and hair, which is an entire process in itself. Maybe I’ll make a tutorial on that one day 😅

I also use some vivid light and soft light layers and put in some subtle colors for extra pizzazz.



Then I add a hard light layer to the eyes for that glossy look and on a normal layer add some white details just to make some things pop more (like the nose, lips, eyes, sometimes hair, etc.)

I did make an eye tutorial a while back, but my process is still the same!

Lastly, I spend a lot of time playing with different blending modes (multiply, add, soft light, vivid light layers) and really focus on the lighting. I used to focus on adding a lot more details and make the coloring more realistic, but I found that the more simplistic coloring was easier for me to do and fit my style better. Sometimes I still tend to go too far with the details and realize that it looks better when I tone it down a bit.

That’s pretty much it! Let me know if you have any questions! Hope this helps. Have fun making art!

[sophsicle]

Hi!

I've seen several posts floating around about the prank being used more for drama in fandom and that it wasnt really that big of a deal. And I know that canonically remus wrote it off but I seem to remember in choices exploring remus being upset for a bit. Do you think in general it's true that it's out of proportion?

I just know that I've seen some great and well thought out answers from you and curious your thoughts.

Hope youre having good weekend ❤️❤️

Hello! So, i find the idea of something being used by writers "just for the drama" *derogatory* inherently funny. because. as a writer you should be looking for ways to create drama, that is basically your number one job. In canon the prank is a big deal, it just isn't a big deal for Remus and Sirius because JKR wasn't trying to do anything with them. It was a big deal for James and Snape.

now. personally. I think that making the Prank matter, adds really interesting emotional dynamics to the marauders. If you are writing Wolfstar, it provides excellent foreshadowing for the distrust that we see in the war, and it also showcases a darker side to Sirius's character, something that is very interesting to explore generally, but also if you are writing Regulus as well. Sirius is always seen as the "good" brother, but the Prank really complicates that narrative because it shows that Sirius can be selfish, thoughtless and amoral in the same ways that Regulus can.

basically I think, realistically, if Sirius and Remus are supposed to have any kind of believable relationship at all, it doesn't make sense to me that the Prank wouldn't be traumatic for them both. and i have gone on separate rants about how to me, the most sacred thing to James Potter is his boys and how devastating it is for him to realize that Sirius is capable of violating that.

ANYWAY absolutely not blown out of proportion, in fact, make it bloodier i say! Make it messier! Drive the knife in more! why would you waste such a beautiful opportunity to make all our favourite lil guys hurt so bad.