#blob monster challenge

[after-the-everything]

blobs in the sky

[flamingtoads]

A disastrous double date perhaps?

[truelillavender]

Days 3-5 of Groktober 2024! I have Day 6 finished too!

Day 3-The Blob

Day 4- Dracula

Day 5- The Mummy

[ashesbijoux]

Title: Blob monsters

Skillshare class:

“Always Drawing: 7 Creative Exercises to Jumpstart Your Sketchbook” https://www.skillshare.com/en/classes/always-drawing-7-creative-exercises-to-jumpstart-your-sketchbook/277788556

Instructor: Mike Lowery

Experience:

I have to say, I've never done a drawing exercise like this. It made me giggle and think out of the box. It was so much fun that it inspired 3 of my children to start their own sketchbooks. It was a warm up that I'll definitely be using again. My favorites are the worm dog and the snowcloud.

What do you think? Have you tried this or would you?

[thecuddlymuffintop]

Tonight, at 7 pm CDT, I will be streaming the next birthday donothon goal stream, the Try Not to Laugh Challenge, on both Twitch and YouTube.

You're always welcome to join me when I am live with the following links:

Twitch

YouTube

#trynottolaugh #VtubersEN #vtubers

[monsters-conquer-the-world]

OOZEPUNK

WHAT IS OOZEPUNK?

Oozepunk is the term I'm coining for the microgenre of urban heroic sci-fi horror-fantasy that first exploded in the mid-80s with movies, shows, and comics like Ghostbusters, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Toxic Avenger, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Hellboy, Street Sharks, and others. Lots of natural crossover with Biopunk and Cyberpunk, aesthetically and philosophically.

Your childhood trauma didn't let you forget Roger Rabbit heavily featured colorful nightmare slime, did it?

A ragtag gang of weirdos (often horribly mutated--more on that soon) band together to save a city that doesn't understand them. Grimy sewers, abandoned buildings and graffiti'd brick walls are lit up by neon lights, streams of mysterious, glowing goo and/or the unearthly lights of futuristic particle weapons--ideally all of the above!

Beyond the "cracked concrete and gutters full of liquid plutonium" aesthetic, Oozepunk prankishly asks "What if catastrophic aberrations of science, particularly DUMPING TOXIC FUCKING WASTE STRAIGHT INTO THE ENVIRONMENT created fucked-up monsters... but they're HEROIC fucked-up monsters!" These catastrophic aberrations of science grant the heroes incredible powers, but COST them their place in human society. (Ghostbusters and Roger Rabbit eschew character mutation in favor of discovering that the undead and olde tymey cartoons are real [and exploitable!], respectively. 'Busters and 'Toon sympathizers alike are treated like insane idiots and/or frauds in their respective universes.)

Oozepunk heroes are challenged not only by strange supernatural beings, but by human society itself. The Ghostbusters battle with local politicians as much as they do the undead. In the recent (and delightful) TMNT: Mutant Mayhem, Splinter warns the Turtles of humans and their obsession with "milking" mutants for their blood--on top of the villainous mutants they're trying to thwart!

Crank up the creep factor in Oozepunk and you get awesome anti-establishment goo-horror like 1988's The Blob, The Stuff, Street Trash, and probably a bunch more. Toxic Avenger is a batshit crazy splatter-comedy (i.e. classic Troma)... and still garnered sequels, a kid's cartoon and toyline!

And there's a Shredder's Revenge-style Crusaders beat-em-up coming out next year??

This looks dope as shit

Ghostbusters and TMNT are the only current, "evergreen" (or radioactive green!) Oozepunk franchises I can think of off the top of my head, but Oozepunk elements are buried in almost all of the stories and settings I love the most. Heroic kaiju like King Kong, Godzilla and Gamera paved the way for our freaky friends, but so did comics characters like Fantastic Four's Ben "The Thing" Grimm, The Hulk and Swamp Thing. Hell, I think I blame SESAME STREET of all things for starting me down the Oozepunk path.

Surprise! I've loved screaming trash monsters with secret hearts of gold since I was a fucking baby, and they've ALWAYS been there for me!

But it's not just Oscar, Sesame Street as a whole is a proto-Oozepunk utopia, years before the big Ooze-splosion of the 80s. Muppets, monsters, talking animals and chill humans all live and work together to scrape by with a little dignity in a gritty-but-wholesome urban world!

Sesame Street, a decades-long reminder that educational childrens' programming can and SHOULD be cool as hell looking and loaded with all kinds of friendly mutant freakuloids.

OOZEPUNK! Whaddya think?

[chaos-chloe]

Roblox Shenanigans - Pezzy x Reader

Summary: You and Pezzy play Roblox Doors {Clip inspo, link at the bottom}

TW: cursing, established relationship,

It was an ordinary Thursday in our extraordinary realm. The sun had set, casting a soft glow over our screens, and the rain pattered gently against the window, almost synchronizing with the rhythm of our keyboards, when Pezzy and I decided on a challenge. An ambitious one, filled with mysterious tunnels, hidden treasures, and lurking monsters.

“Where do we go, Mrs. Pezzy?” he teased, exaggerating the formality as I regained my composure after my previous mishap. He knew I always had a plan, despite our shenanigans. I could hear his laughter ringing from across the digital divide, making me chuckle as I fought off monsters in our virtual world.

With dramatic flair, I leaned closer to the screen, my character poised at the entrance of the split tunnels: the path of the unknown. “Into the right tunnel!” I declared, confidence lacing my voice. But never had I fathomed that a vile creature would leap from the shadows, its growl reverberating through my headphones—a cacophony of terror. The instant my character was devoured, I felt as if I’d just lost a crucial battle in a war I wasn’t even prepared to fight. 

“Did you die?” he chuckled, muffled behind his hands, still shaking with laughter. I could envision him—his playful grin wielding a power all its own. 

“No,” I said, the witty sarcasm dripping off my tongue. I slapped my forehead dramatically, accentuating my severe case of digital misfortune, despite the chuckles exploding like fireworks from Pezzy on the other side of the microphone. His laughter echoed louder than the game itself, a spellbinding melody composed by sheer joy.

As his laughter echoed into the digital abyss, Pezzy's character stood frozen before the ominous Door 0131, a gate to untold nightmares. “Alright it’s this one, duh.” He said overly cocky, I watched as he confidently approached, excitement shimmering in his words. It was the perfect setup for chaos, and I could hardly keep my composure, knowing I would soon be gifted with a front-row seat to his impending fate.

“That was so funny, how that just happened,” Pezzy remarked, still trying to gather his breath from my previous misadventure. His character seemed to leer at mine with a hint of defiance, ready to unravel the mysteries that lurked beyond the door he was about to open.

With a click, the door swung wide, unleashing a flurry of terrifying pixels—a grotesque black blob spiraled forth, tentacles writhing menacingly, and blood-red eyes piercing through the digital heart of the game. Pezzy’s reaction was immediate; a scream erupted from him like a geyser, filling the air with a shockwave of sheer terror.

In that moment, I was overcome with laughter, the kind that blisters the stomach and threatens to burst from every seam. I could feel my cheeks heating up, my skin turning a glossy red like a shiny garnet, as I wheezed for air in my rollercoaster of a reaction. The disconnect of our virtual facades and our real lives allowed for a hilarity that I rarely experience—a shared connection spike across headset wires.

“Oh, karma’s a bitch, ain't it, lovey?” I quipped through my half-laughter, half-gasping breaths, a triumphant smirk plastered across my face.

Pezzy, still rooted to the spot, looked as though the blob had stolen his voice entirely, his character’s legs trembling backward in a parody of cowardice. This was payback long awaited, revenge served cold amidst our friendly rivalry.

Pezzy, still recovering from the unexpected jump scare that had jolted him into disarray, took a moment to recalibrate himself. “Okay, okay, that was totally unexpected!” he exclaimed, his breath hitching between laughter and disbelief. As he wiped a tear from the corner of his eye, the remnants of his fright blended with the joy of our shared experience, like the afterglow of a summer storm. “But you don’t have to make it worse by laughing!”

“Ah, but see, that’s the beauty of gaming with you, my dear,” I retorted, still strewn across the floor like a carefree spirit who had just wrestled with the fates. My chair lay abandoned, a testament to the whirlwind of excitement that enveloped us. “It’s all about the unexpected surprises!”

With dramatic flair, I slipped back into my virtual self, my character standing still and composed, facing the ominous portal of Door 0131. Meanwhile, Pezzy’s character bravely wandered back toward the labyrinth, striding confidently toward Door 0129, swirling in an unexpected air of nonchalance. 

With dramatic flair, I stepped back into my virtual self, my character an unyielding statue facing the intimidating Door 0131 once more. The eerie atmosphere wrapped around us, cinematic in its presentation. Meanwhile, Pezzy’s character strolled with exaggerated bravado toward Door 0129, embodying an unexpected air of casual confidence that cracked me up.

“It’s this one, duh!” I exclaimed, the words bubbling up from my core like a playful potion, my virtual arms popping up in a grand gesture of mock authority. I had to seize the moment to jab back at him, throwing his own banter right back at him with a flair that rivaled any Shakespearean actor.

“It’s thise oene, dhuh,” he shot back, his words mumbled and distorted in a comical, over-the-top way. It was as if he was auditioning for some bizarre cartoon villain role—his voice sputtering with the fervor of dramatic mischief. The sheer absurdity sent my sides splitting, laughter erupting uncontrollably, like pie crusts giving way to an explosion of raspberry filling, with each breath pricking at the edge of my sanity.

“You didn’t know either!” he yelled in playful anger, throwing his character's hands up in exaggerated exasperation, a pixelated spectacle that turned my laughter into a full-on bellyache. He was feigning offense, but being with him—his infectious spirit—made everything seem infinitely more entertaining.

“Uhhh, that was actually really good karma,” I managed to say after a series of snorts and gasps, my giggles finally settling into joyous remnants of laughter still dancing through my system. “Tuhh that mimimi!” He mimicked me, dramatizing the absurdness of my words with a snort that would put any comedic performance to shame. 

Pezzy had a goofy face, sticking out his tongue and crossing his eyes, a gleeful caricature of absurdity meant to mirror his playful jab. It was a masterpiece of silliness crafted in a moment of spontaneity, and it only fueled the laughter swirling like a tornado between us.

“Okay, okay!” he said, chuckling himself. “Maybe we should just... collaborate this time? Let’s not get us killed by any more blobs or mysterious doors, please!”

“Fine, fine! But we are going to Door 0129!” I declared, placing a mock-serious tone on my voice to emphasize the gravity of my decision, though the twinkle of playfulness remained in my eyes.

With whimsical determination, we marched together to Door 0129, my finger hovering over the ‘open’ button like a superhero poised for action. The moment of truth approached, and the energy around us was electric, most likely because it was a rush.

[jesterjaxx]

I wanted to make myself a drawing challenge by randomly assigning the Gen 1 cast classic Halloween monsters/beings but i got to into it and it might be an au now

Anyways hes the list (i fucked up the randomizer it gave me doubles in some place)

DJ- Robot

Tyler - Harpy

Eva - Gargoyle

Noah - The Blob

Harold - Witch

Alejandro - Siren

Beth - Mermaid

Ezekiel - Ghost

Justin - Werewolf

Cody - Puppet

Trent - Werecat

Geoff - Frankenstein

Heather - Zombie

Gwen - Skeleton/Ghost

LeShawna - Chimera/Lizardman

Duncan - Witch (lmao he and Harold are beefing like crazy i know it Harold has 12 spellbooks hes memorized with their specific ways of casting and Duncan is writing runes on his knuckles with sharpie)

Bridgette - Alien

Owen - Plant Monster (swap with Bridge maybe?)

Izzy - Angel

Lindsay - Selkie

Sadie - Vampire

Katie - Zombie

Courtney - Demon

[explodingchantry]

I have a video essay planned for my opinions on the confused (not confusing, but confused) politics of dragon age and it will be like 7 hours long with only 3 views but it will be the best essay I'll ever write. As part of it I want to include sth interesting I've realized in my da2 replay: that of the different ways the qunari conflict and the mage conflict are written.

See, both conflicts are meant to be nuanced but actually have a pretty clear answer based on our own real life liberal ideals. For the qunari conflict, the ideal is "don't be fucking racist": characters who are openly bigoted against the qunari such as sister petrice are ridiculed by the narrative, which is obvious in the framing of all quests in which she takes part and in the dialogue and within the game itself; the enemies you fight which aid her are called "fanatics" and "mob" within the game. It is nuanced in that the qunari aren't exactly... Friendly, and they have a history of colonialism of their own, but the narrative is actually still pretty black and white. They remained peaceful for 4 years in spite of numerous provocation, until their literal most important cultural and religious artifact was refused to them which led them to violence to retrieve it. It's nuanced because it isn't "the qunari are fully innocent" but also isn't "the qunaris are cunts and the racism was warranted". The qunaris are people with flaws that deserve criticism outside of the fact that they're qunaris. The narrative is very clear that those who hate qunaris on principle are bigoted idiots.

For mages, and furthermore anders, suddenly the narrative is more muddled. You could argue it's because the situation is more complex, and in some ways you'd be right. But I was shocked upon my replay of how often anders' sanity is put in question. How even a hawke who ROMANCED HIM will call him deeply troubled to defend him, or downright call him crazy... Once again whilst defending him. The latter is admittedly partly due to purple hawke options sometimes just being.... Downright disrespectful and mean, but it remains striking. Even more so when you note how often anders' rejection of templars and the chantry are rejected by other characters, including mages themselves, whilst fenris' vitriolic hatred of ALL MAGES REGARDLESS OF BACKGROUND is only challenged by anders - who, again, gets his sanity questioned several times throughout the game, minimizing the perceived value of his opinions - and potentially hawke, sometimes, in a few dialogue options.

And don't even get me started on the whole blood magic portrayal lol.

You could attempt to say that, well, while the writers wanted the qunari conflict to have a clear answer, they didn't want it to be the case for mages. But.... Did they really? At the end of the game Orsino's stupid blood magic blob monster transformation is very obviously framed as tragic, meanwhile again Meredith's sanity is shown to have been compromised the whole time which puts every one of her previous actions into question. I'm pretty confident in my opinion that the writers likely meant the message to be "the mage/templar conflict in general isn't black and white but in this instance siding with Meredith is obviously wrong" (as a note: it is far more black and white than the narrative pretends it is and mages should be free, obviously.) this is backed up by the fact that, you know, SHE WAS THE FINAL BOSS AND WAS CORRUPTED BY RED LYRIUM.

There's a better, deeper discussion to be had regarding dissecting those two narrative threads and observing how the writers' bias affect both, I think. Because as soon as you try to say the writers write certain characters OOC or show negative bias towards a certain group, like mages, people will try to spin it as it being because the writers want to present a nuanced issue. The thing is that, yes, they are trying to do that - but they are doing it in an imbalanced, biased, and sometimes downright mean spirited way. Because I haven't even touched on how everyone refers to anders, even when they refer to him positively. There's always a but. Even deeply sympathetic characters disapprove of his activism. That sways the balance the writers apparently attempted to have. It sways it pretty fucking badly.

[seventeenlovesthree]

Digimon Writing Challenge - Mix and Match: Koushirou + Agumon + Friendship

[Yamato] [Takeru] [Hikari] [Sora] [Taichi] [Koushirou] [Mimi] [Jyou]

Summary: After defeating Mugendramon, Taichi's group, finally reunited, gets to have some well-deserved rest - but Koushirou simply can't seem to fall asleep, overthinking his previous quarrels with Taichi and whether or not he had gone too far by calling him out. Koromon, however, leaves him a piece of mind in this regard...

Word count: 947

Koushirou Izumi had always thought of himself as a person capable of controlling his emotions – at least up until the moment he and his camp companions had been thrown into a completely different world.

At some point, he had just stopped keeping track of the number of emergencies, near-death experiences and conflicts. Especially now that the fate of both the Digital and Real World rested on their shoulders, depending on them to beat the Dark Masters, it was tough to clearly remember all their adventures.

However, today had been a new first for Koushirou. This was precisely why he hadn’t been able to fall asleep yet, deep at night at a safe space Andromon had found for them, surrounded by the remnants of greyish debris and with a heavy heart pounding in his chest.

Never before had he opposed Taichi in that manner. Sure, he had disagreed with him on various occasions, had tried to hold him back whenever he did something reckless.

But never before had they gotten into an argument like this. Not really a fight, only close to a punch that was meant to cover up their whereabouts and yet… After everything Koushirou had heard, after everything Taichi had confessed to him, about his past, why he had acted as irritating as before…

It reminded him of his parents, all the suffering they must have gone through. Not even considering his own suffering at this point, because Taichi’s turmoil was all he could think about right now.

“What were you thinking?!”

“It’s my fault, I need to take care of her.”

“If you understand, quit ordering me around!”

Koushirou had tried to soothe him. To help him to take better care of himself. He had raised his voice – and even if he was aware that he had been objectively right to tell him to take a break, he now felt like he had disrespected him. Angered him. And although Taichi had apologized for his behaviour afterwards… It hurt.

And now he couldn’t sleep, dealing with a stubborn sense of guilt in his chest. What if he had permanently damaged their bond? What if Taichi would treat him differently from now on? All he could do was watching Taichi’s back next to him, who, just like Sora, Piyomon, Takeru and Patamon, was fast asleep, cuddled closely to Hikari, Tailmon and…

“Nyaaaaaargh… Koushirou?”

He hadn’t noticed Koromon moving and now, after a biiiiig yawn, the pink blob was sitting right in front of him, ogling him with his big red eyes.

“You’re still awake too? I assumed you would be out for at least a few more hours after defeating Mugendramon”, Koushirou whispered in response, only now noticing the huge scratch on the Digimon’s forehead he obtained by slicing up Mugendramon into a million pieces.

“No worries”, the little monster shook its entire body. “Hikari’s light made me feel all warm and fuzzy, so I didn’t lose that much energy, hehe! Tentomon’s more exhausted though, huh?”

They both turned around towards Tentomon, who had curled up into a ball right next to his human partner, guarding his laptop while snoring quietly and peacefully – which actually made Koushirou smile for the first time in hours. At least he was getting the rest he deserved.

“Did you want something in particular?”, Koushirou finally asked while getting up into a sitting position – only for Koromon to jump right into his lap.

“Mhmh! I wanted to thank you for watching over Taichi! I couldn't stop him earlier and… I know that he does everything he does to protect everyone around him, so… He needs to understand that he has friends to protect him too! That he is not alone!”

Hearing all that, Koushirou just glanced back to Taichi’s backside. It was almost like Koromon had summarized his own thoughts perfectly, even if it still left a small pounding in his chest behind.

“Friends to protect him too…”

“It scared me when you two almost punched each other, but… I guess that’s what friends need to do sometimes?” The Digimon looked lost in thought for a moment and Koushirou was certain that Yamato had just come to his mind. Understandably so, as both Taichi and Yamato seemed to be more physical when it came to bringing their points across. “He was a lot calmer after that, so you did the right thing! He was really sorry too, he didn’t mean to hurt you, so please forgive him, okay?”

Caught off guard once again, Koushirou blinked. Was it really that easy? Did Taichi maybe feel like he could be more physical with him too because they were… Friends?

“I’ve… Forgiven him immediately, Koromon, please do not worry yourself. But… Are you sure?”

“Huh? About what?” Koromon mirrored the blinking. “You always take care of each other and you always help Taichi like only a true friend does! Using your laptop, figuring out places and routes and mysteries when he doesn’t know what to do… I know you care about each other a lot, so… Please make sure Taichi always sees that he can rely on you, okay? He has me, he has everyone, but he needs to know it too.”

Maybe it really was that easy. Maybe he needed to stop overthinking. And maybe their friendship had become much stronger than he had given it credit for – even if it took Taichi’s monster soulmate to help him to realize it.

Despite the pain he had felt, he hadn’t picked the wrong path. And he would continue to stay by Taichi’s side, even if it meant calling him out, bringing him back on track. Like a true friend would.

“I promise I will.”

[after-the-everything]

[greyplainsttrpg]

More Greypains Campaigning Insight

Hello. My last post actually talking about Greyplains got more notes than I expected, so I will make another post about a current situation developing in the Greyplains TTRPG Discord Play-By-Post adventure which is relevant to talk about.

The situation is that they are in a tide-pool cave hunting eldritch dream-monsters. It seems that the monsters have domesticated Oozes (the larger family of Slimes, Blobs, and Cubes), and that their residue is mildly luminescent (and oily). Investigating the cave, they found a narrow passage that one character can crawl through. At the end of this passage, there is a large blob-slime that is encased around a treasure chest. Based on an earlier Arcana (Monstrology) check, the party knows that there are a few ways to handle Oozes. Each method has pros and cons in the situation.

Incinerate: Causes magically toxic gas to aerosolize and likely kill everyone who breathes it.

Freeze: Takes a lot of "cold energy" to accomplish. If successful, there is now a giant block of thick ice between the character and the treasure chest, and there is not a great way to generate the amount of force to break it apart from the chest.

Electrify: Destabilizes the electroconductivity of the Ooze from a semi-solid blob to a liquid. Now there is magically corrosive liquid spreading around where the Ooze used to be.

The player decides to go ahead and shock it. They get pulled back with a rope they were holding and narrowly avoid cracking their skull on the way out of the tunnel.

Now, there is about 500L of corrosive Ooze fluid sitting on the top of a pool that the party needs to enter later on. In the "unofficial channel," one of the players asks, "Would it eat through my bucket too quickly for it to be of any use?"

In Greyplains, Luck (specifically Luck->Chance->Subskill) is an important mechanic which exists to answer these sorts of questions. Players can choose to invest into Luck to make these kinds of questions result in a more favorable universe for their Character. In this case, the Player is asking whether or not the material of the inventory item, "Bucket" happens to be made of a material that is resistant to the corrosive. However, neither the player nor the Character knows what that would be. As a result, if they were to roll their Chance (Object) Check now, the challenge would be much higher than if they found out about a specific material that resists the corrosive that their bucket could be made out of. So the ideal question is not "what are the odds I happen to have the perfect bucket," but rather "is my bucket made out of X." Of course, they will need to play the game to find out what X is, and there are clues to determine what kinds of materials would resist the Ooze puddle.

Now, you might say that, technically speaking, I'm getting this backwards. Strictly, there are more things than X that resist Oozes, so mathematically it would be more likely for the bucket to be made of anything that resists it INCLUDING X as X is part of the category of things that resists the Ooze. While mathematically true, that is not how "wishes" work in fiction. All "wish"-like mechanics should be treated as a monkey's paw. The more specific the ask, the less likely for things to go terribly wrong. It's the difference between "I wish for a good night's sleep" and "I wish to personally have a good night's sleep that I wake up from tomorrow perfectly safe, healthy, and where I expect to be." The more bounded a wish is, the more likely that it will go off without major failure. While the less specific request could imagenably go wrong in all sorts of ways. Greyplains allows for this to be determined probabilistically based on the Player's choices in Character Creation vs. a Challenge number (which is itself variable, don't worry about it) set by the GM. The "going wrong" in the case of the bucket is "no, it's made of wood" to be a far more likely outcome if they ask the less bounded question. As the GM, encouraging my players to learn about what materials resist the Ooze is fun, compelling gameplay as the players pilot their characters to adventure and test various materials.

As a side note, the relationship between the quantuum and the narrative is why I argue that Greyplains in not really a "simulationist game" despite being interested in reality, physics, etc. The point is still the narrative, the universe is flexible to the Player's discretion.

I feel like a lot of GMs in most other systems would find this sort of gameplay frustrating and/or not supported with the system. However, in Greyplains, this kind of goofy magical physics v. contrived reality shenanigans IS the intended gameplay.

More importantly, by the player specifically withholding asking the question formally in the "official" channel, where actions and requests are burned into the reality of the fiction, they give themselves the opportunity to solve problems as the natural consequence of gameplay.

This really gets at the heart of why I like my own systems (and why I built them in the first place). It has a set of checks and balances built into the mechanics to engage with the fundamentally quantuum nature of a TTRPG session/world. Imagine this situation as a courtroom. The player is the prosecution arguing their case. They can get a better charge if they wait to bring the case to trial once they have more evidence. The GM is the judge and determines whether the arguments themselves make sense and that the evidence they bring to court are valid and in order. The Challenge works as the Defense, the barrier to clear in the case for the charges to stick. The dice (or the Character's Proficiency) is the jury. Ultimately, they decide whether the case of "is my bucket immune to Ooze corrosion" goes through with the conviction of "You wouldn't believe it, but yes." This isn't a perfect analogy because the GM does also determine the Challenge number and can give the Player Advantage/Disadvantage based on the context, but the book provides guidelines for how to set the Challenge and dole Advantage/Disadvantage based in the context of fair and reasonable probability.

Compare that to a story I got the other day from a player in a Numenera adventure. The situation was "door is locked." The solution was "my character is a werewolf, so I turned into a werewolf and broke down the door." I'm not saying that this is bad. I am saying that engaging with material science over the exact constitution of a bucket is more interesting to me, and I think to my players, than "push werewolf button and break down door."

[statecryptids]

Another Halloween invertebrate skeleton! Today it’s a plcozoan.

Placozoa are tiny, blob-like marine organism with only nine known types of cells held together in three cell layers like a sandwich. They have no defined organs and they feed by engulfing food in a pouch formed by their underside like an amoebae.

Genetic analysis indicates that they are the most basic lineage of extant animals and belong in their own phylum, Placozoa. They’re pretty much real-world versions of RPG ooze monsters.

This design was an interesting challenge. Other skeletonized Halloween invertebrates are at least based on bilateral animals with defined body structure. But how does one make a “skeleton” for an organism that has no defined shape or organs?

You make each cell a “bone”, that’s how. Although placozoans don’t have nervous systems, their cells do communicate through peptide secretions which may have given rise to neurons in other animals (or rather, this method of cellular communication is a model for how the earliest animal groups may have developed a nervous system). Running with this idea, I made each cell into a little skull since that’s where the nervous system “hub” is in bony animals.

Placozoans have structures called “shiny spheres” that release toxins to deter predators. Playing on this defensive aspect, I represented the spheres here as little protective fanged mouths.

Placozoans also have “crystal cells” which contain crystals of aragonite that act as statocysts to help them orient against gravity. Here I’ve represented them as diamond-shaped bones.

[fledgedragonfox]

Creatures All #1 - Acidic Blob

I have given myself a challenge. Draw every possible monster I can think of in my style. And here we start.

Acidic Blobs are classic monsters in RPGs and Tabletops. Most notably they star in The Blob (1958) and its more gory remake in 1988.

[newspropaganda]

Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal 2 - When Splitting A Season is Shilling Bad Writing All Over

Alright, so where do I even start with Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal II? If you thought the first season of Zexal was bad, then buckle up because Zexal II takes the dumpster fire and somehow adds even more fuel to the flames. This is a perfect example of a series that just doesn’t know when to quit, dragging its feet and pretending like there’s more to say, when in reality, the story’s dead on arrival. And I can’t help but compare Zexal II to the Power Rangers Neo-Saban era—it’s a perfect analogy for how both these franchises took massive steps backward by dumbing everything down for younger audiences, with absolutely no regard for long-time fans or storytelling quality.

From the start, it’s clear that Zexal II is just riding on the same bland formula that Zexal already beat into the ground. There’s no real sense of stakes or progression, just a series of badly structured duels that feel like they’re pulled from the worst Saturday morning cartoon clichés imaginable. The show lacks any genuine creativity in its storytelling. I mean, come on—brick walls, overly complicated monster designs, and zero substance in the narrative. You’d think they’d try to evolve the series by adding some deeper themes or pushing the boundaries of what Yu-Gi-Oh! could offer, but nope, it’s more of the same childish nonsense with little thought behind it.

Let’s talk villains. Dr. Faker, at the very least, had some motivations. Sure, he’s not exactly Shakespeare, but you can kind of see where they were going with him—he wanted power to save his family or whatever, standard Yu-Gi-Oh! fare. But Don Thousand? Oh man, Don Thousand is the absolute worst. He’s literally a cookie-cutter villain ripped straight from the Showa era of tokusatsu. Think about it: he’s just this ancient evil force who shows up because… reasons. There’s nothing compelling about him at all. No real backstory, no depth, just a stock "I am evil because the plot demands it" kind of character. It’s almost laughable how one-dimensional he is. Even Zorc from the original series had more going for him than this guy, and Zorc was basically just a giant evil blob with a bad attitude. Don Thousand is the epitome of lazy writing.

Now let’s address the elephant in the room: the series was clearly aimed at a younger audience. But this isn’t just “young”—it’s aimed at really young kids with, let’s be honest, low IQs. They dumbed down everything: the dialogue, the dueling strategies, the characters. There’s no complexity here, no nuance, no challenge for the viewer. It’s spoon-feeding time, folks. It’s insulting to anyone who grew up with the original series or even 5D’s. And here’s the thing, Yu-Gi-Oh! has always been about bringing in a younger demographic, but this is the point where the series went off the rails. They didn’t trust their audience to think critically or to handle more mature themes. Compare that to the first three series, where you had actual stakes and well-rounded characters. Yuma and the gang are just a bunch of cardboard cutouts designed to sell trading cards to kids who don’t know any better.

And let’s not even talk about the duel mechanics, because they go nowhere. The whole point of Yu-Gi-Oh! used to be the creativity in how characters could use their decks and strategies. But Zexal threw that out the window, especially in Zexal II, with half the duels turning into rinse-and-repeat patterns that don’t make sense. It’s as if the writers were more interested in flashy monster animations than giving us actual tension or innovation in the duels. They’re just bad, drawn-out spectacles, filled with asspulls and nonsensical card effects. And because the story was so poorly structured, it’s hard to care when the duels have zero consequences or emotional payoff.

Now, let’s give credit where it’s due: at least 5D’s made some kind of effort to fix its second half. Yes, 5D’s stumbled with its narrative during the later arc, but at least it tried to bring the characters back into focus and repair some of the mess it created. Zexal II? It just doubled down on all the worst aspects of the first Zexal series. And the pacing was atrocious. It dragged, and dragged, and dragged, until you were begging for the end credits. The series had no business even thinking about setting up a Zexal III, but they dropped hints for it anyway. Why? Who knows? Maybe they thought they could milk this disaster for another season, but the fanbase wasn’t having it.

And that brings us to the fandom, or at least the portion of the fandom that gatekeeps Zexal like it’s some misunderstood masterpiece. They’re quick to defend the show’s "heartwarming" themes and brush off all the legitimate criticisms as people "not getting it." No, it’s not that we don’t get it; it’s that there’s nothing to get. The show is shallow. The characters are hollow. The writing is subpar. Yet, somehow, it’s propped up by this small but loud corner of the fandom who refuse to admit that Zexal was a serious misstep for the franchise. They even point to its inflated ratings as some kind of proof that it’s good, but that just shows how broken the system is when it comes to assessing quality. It's like they’re watching a different show than the rest of us.

You know what’s ironic? Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS feels more like a Yu-Gi-Oh! series than Zexal ever did. VRAINS at least attempts to return to the roots of the franchise, with darker themes, characters that grow, and duels that require actual strategy. It's not perfect, but it’s way more in line with what fans of the original series expect from the franchise. Zexal doesn’t even come close. It’s not Yu-Gi-Oh!—it’s a Saturday morning cartoon nightmare that’s been turned into a hollow shell of its former self.

In conclusion, Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal was the franchise’s identity crisis put on full display, and Zexal II only made things worse. It dumbed down everything for a younger audience that was clearly seen as too immature to handle anything more than the most basic storytelling. The duels were bad, the villains were lazy, and the show overstayed its welcome. It’s an era of the franchise that’s best forgotten, and anyone trying to defend it is either blinded by nostalgia or refuses to acknowledge the very obvious flaws. The only thing Zexal did was set the bar so low that almost anything that came after felt like a step in the right direction.

[burnt-cheese-toastie]

so my brain is like, lmao what if you made something based on monster high, but like what youd do with it

so here we are-

the blob(1958)🫠

sweet and energetic, always has time for friends. with her kinda energy, she seems to be everywhere all at once! She loves watching movies at the movie theater

Invasion of the body snatchers(1978)🪷

Quiet and antisocial, she keeps at her school work and doesn't really have any hobbies.

Though always busy she does try to have time for her friends

She's Very bad with social cues but tries her best!

This was a random idea I had mainly to do art challenges

Just something for fun while I work on other things! It's not supposed to be monster high, just something based on its premise