#oof...idk how to make backgrounds..

[sparklykat-hideoutenthusiast]

A WIP I'm working on:

Removed the color I added already since it would spoil the final piece 🙃

Ramblings in tags 👇

[illusioncanthurtme--art]

This may be a silly question… but I’m an artist trying to learn backgrounds. I’ve studied perspective until my hands fell off, but I don’t know how to choose an angle or not make things look wonky. I’ve tried asking a lot of artists, but I’m hoping to hear more than “just draw backgrounds”, because I have been, but I’m not improving.

Do you have any tips on how to practice?

The anonymous ask is much more recent but it reminded me of another ask from @cerealssoggies i forgot to answer thats, OOF... gotten old. Sorry about that. I'll answer your ask more directly at the end of this.

I'll talk about the perspective ask first. Anon... I'll answer your question as best as I can!

I think what makes perspective tricky is the beginning, when you're using perspective lines and grids and such to map out the picture. Because the actual technique of 2 point perspective isn't hard or complicated, it's getting the scene to look the way it does in your head thats tricky. I'm talking about the metaphorical "camera" location, angle, and... idk, focal length? If I'm using that phrase correctly.

So you can draw something like a simple square bedroom, and by the time you're done placing your horizon line, vanishing point, and perspective lines, and actually start drawing, you realize it doesn't look like how it does in your head. And from there, it's hard or nearly impossible to move things around to look like your vision, so you'll be tweaking each thing individually: uhh, let's move the horizon line down, the left vanishing point further? The right one closer? Both further? Huh??? And it's frustrating.

I've found, if you're drawing an environment from your imagination, the best way to start is to draw an teeeeny tiny thumbnail sketch. The smaller the better. Not just environments, but any drawing idea is easier to map out when it's smaller. Your brain can latch onto the visual as a whole when it's all tiny on a piece of paper.

Drawing my current blog header, the one of ford's research tent, I had a similar pickle. I knew exactly where I wanted the camera to be, in the corner of the tent, and I knew I wanted the camera to be more wide, so you could see most of his tent while keeping the feeling that it's small. I started digitally with perspective lines and quickly got frustrated. SO - I took to my sketchbook and thought reeeeeally hard about what it looked like in my head, and tried mapping it out in a tiny tiny thumbnail. Here's what that looked like:

This was closer to what I wanted than what I first had on my computer. I knew from there that I wanted the furniture items to be closer together and the camera higher (you can see my scribble writing saying this), so I scanned my thumbnail, and drew on top of it to get closer to the vision. Then, from there, I was able to add a proper perspective grid based on what I had already drawn.

THEN you can finally get down to the fun part - actually populating your room with furniture and details. I put this sketch on paper and did most of the real drawing traditionally:

In summary: instead of jumping straight into perspective theory, thumbnail the idea as rough as you can. Then base the angles of the perspective lines on your thumbnail.

But.... even still, I don't have the strongest ability to picture things mentally, and not everyone is gonna be able to do that (although it is a good muscle to exercise.) Sort of a segue into the second ask - those backgrounds of dibs car? I straight up traced over pictures I took of my car. I'm not the biggest advocate for tracing, it does kind of feel like cheating, BUT for the purposes of this animation? There's no point in getting on a high horse. I needed to draw his car like 10 times and there was no reason to torture myself. I did photoshop some of the photos before I drew over them because the focal length made the car look bigger than I wanted it to? And a lot of it was guessing what the car looked like behind the front seats, etc.

But this does remind me of an exercise I did in school for an illustration mentorship class. The mentor for one unit was a set designer working for Netflix. She was given photos of a room that a scene would be shot in, and she drew the set on top of it: like furniture, decorations, etc. So my assignment was to choose a stock photo, and do some world building concept art based on the photo. From the photo, you can figure out the perspective by identifying lines/angles that theoretically lead to a vanishing point. You need at least two lines, and you extend them really far and see where they cross. Where they meet is a vanishing point. Find two vanishing points and they are level with the horizon line. Then use the perspective dots you just found to draw furniture, items, and you can even get creative and change the shape/height/size of the rooms/buildings/etc, while still using the same perspective.

If an image from the internet feels too much like cheating (it SHOULDN'T, you'll only learn from it and your drawing won't look anything like the image by the time you're done), you can always take your own photos. This technique is honestly what made me enjoy drawing backgrounds in the first place. It made it fun! And drawing should be fun.

I still do this sort of thing today. Here's the reference picture I had my sister take of me for my Fairy godmother illustration. (This is from a couple years ago.) I drew on top of it in photoshop to get my best guess as to the lines and angles. I didn't trace this one, but I did use it very heavily for reference!

So I guess... to summarize both techniques, don't jump right into perspective. Best way to start, that's fun and not wildly frustrating, is to use a photo. If your vision is hyper specific, start from a tiny thumbnail and work your way up. Then the fun part!! Populating the scene with furniture and items and fun little details.

To answer @cerealssoggies question more directly: omg, thank you?? :O💞 I'm always so wowed when people talk about my prints and where they put them. I'm really glad you like the fairy godmother one! My mom also has one hung up in her room lol!

My advice on the design front isn't as specific, because that always felt like the easy part. Once you have the room or whatever mapped out, it's just about drawing all the Stuff. Which for me usually means getting in the head of the character and asking myself what sort of things they'd have around themselves and their environment. And obviously if the setting isn't a characters room/personal environment like the previous three examples, then you'd just have to think about what the environments purpose is, and what sort of stuff would be there. When I'm thinking about a background before I draw it, I'll ask myself what items or features it will have. For the ford tent, I made a list of all the stuff I thought he might have in there (I googled winter camping trip packing lists, as well as science-y tools and gadgets). For dibs car, I asked people on tumblr for suggestions as to what I should put in there.

And look up references! Reference is always a good thing.

In real life, I'm a maximalist and a clutterbug. This bleeds into my drawings - I like it when an environment feels full and lived in.

Here's my bedroom lol.

WELL typing and compiling this took up a greater portion of my Friday but I really hope this was helpful to you and others!!

[kozachenko]

[Click image for better quality]

I FIGURED OUT A WAY TO FUCKING MAKE THE IMAGE SMALLER FOR POSTING ON TUMBLR WITHOUT SACRIFICING THE ACTUAL QUALITY OF THE IMAGE OH MY GOD

Ok so, what I did is go into the clip studio paint file, make a new file, copy and paste the group in the original file, merge everything, get rid of the extra stuff outside of the canvas, and then make the flattened image smaller and crop the canvas. Once you have that, export it and you're done. This helps maintain the actual quality of the image and also helps shrink the file size down to something actually postable (if anyone has a better way of doing this please tell me)

[Edit]: Ok I guess posting something to Tumblr just naturally compresses the image a bit more somehow because I'm looking at it now and zooming in too much makes it a bit blurry so I'm still gonna have to futz around with image quality for future pieces oof

Artist's Note:

I'm so glad I figured out a way to do this because I like working on a big canvas so I can get as much detail in as I possibly can. Only problems are how laggy it gets while drawing lol.

I had an idea for a drawing with Reimu and Zanmu because I really like thinking about their potential dynamic a lot. I also wanted an excuse to draw Zanmu again but in my normal rendering style because last time I drew her she was in my more sketchy style with generally flat colours so I wanted to draw her again. Speaking of, looking at the sketch for this is a jumpscare that I never enjoy seeing, like, man am I glad I didn't use those for my final piece.

Also about her spear. I was originally gonna make it like the ones she had in game, but it kinda threw off the whole piece. It was too big, too blue, and too flat, so I just went "fuck it" and gave her a different one instead. My headcanon justifying this is that the ones she uses in game are for danmaku battles whereas in any other fight she just uses a proper yari, or she still uses the yari and just makes it all glowy to power it up, maybe both lol. I pulled as much inspiration as I could from Sengoku era spears, and even put in some blue into the decorative part of the spear and also added a little skull to pay tribute to the original spear. Also, in my research I saw some art of izanami and izanagi making japan and saw that the yari izanagi has had a little decorative tassley thingy on it so I took some inspo from that and just made it one of Zanmu's tassles (Idk when that art was from or if the spear was still accurate to Sengoku period Japan but hey, probably the same reasons Eirin puts little bow ties on her arrows, it's just for personalization purposes).

I love rendering hair and clothes so much omg, while I like the super curly hair Zanmu, the longer, wavier hair suits her better for this drawing (I imagine it only does that like how Ghibli characters hair moves when they feel angry lol). I love making Zanmu's hair all messy and crazy, as well as giving her grey hairs, this woman has aged like a fine wine. Also, if the hem on the ends of her sleeves, top of her shirt, and her pants look like gold to you, that's because it is! It's fairly light so she's not collapsing under the weight, but it's gold! (I don't care how impractical it is, it's just cool). Not the undershirt though, it's made of a gold fabric. I had a cute idea with Reimu's hair to make it have a red shine to it. I also changed up Reimu's outfit so it isn't just a blob of red. I like it a lot when Reimu's skirt and outfit is segmented into different layers, so I wanted to incorporate that.

I tried to draw their hands differently as well, but IDK how noticeable that is. Also, I am super happy with how the side profiles for the two of them turned out, I used to struggle a lot with how to make the side profile of a character actually look like the character, so I'm really happy that they actually look like themselves.

Also added in the tree and rocks in the background as an homage to Zanmu's character art in Touhou 19, just because I was getting kinda stumped on what to do with the background lol.

In terms of a story idea with Reimu and Zanmu, idk why but the potential plotline of Zanmu wanting to ascend to godhood is so fascinating to me. Like, it is very possible that if she just convinced everyone she was a god (which would be very easy for her to do), she would become one in a heartbeat. Also, if she were to become a god, with her ability to return stuff to nothing, could she hypothetically get similar abilities to (Jojo Part 5 spoiler btw) GER? Like, idk about the death timeloop stuff, but the concept has been haunting me every night as I have been trying to find loopholes in GER's ability for a while now ( for no reason in particular). Back to the main topic, I imagine that she would probably tell Reimu that if she were to become a god she would take over the Hakurei shrine since the god there might as well be dead, and Reimu just says to her, "Over my dead body bitch." Like, I have no idea how to summarize their dynamic but like, it's the type of hero-villain dynamic where the phrase "We're not so different, you and I" would definitely be a phrase said during a fight. I think that if another IN style game were to release, Reimu and Zanmu would be in a team together. They could also have an interesting mentor and pupil kind of dynamic. Can you tell that Zanmu has been charging my mind rent these part few months? Like, instead of living in my head rent free, she kinda just uno reversed the whole situation and now she's the one charging me rent. What happens if I get evicted from my own brain? Actually, scratch that, I don't think I wanna know.

[snowthedemonfox]

Time to go through the entire episode 4 trailer!

I've been busy most of today, so I've only now gotten the chance to sit down and go through everything frame by frame. Like last time, I'm going to have to split this post up into parts. I'll leave everything under a read more to prevent spamming people's dashes though lol. Just know that everything will be in the reblogs!

I’ve resorted the screenshots to be in order that I think they’ll happen in the episode btw, or at least my best guesses.

Gangle and Ragatha hanging out in the tent, would not surprise me if Jax shows up and throws that baseball right in Gangle’s face to break the mask (hard to tell if she’s wearing comedy or tragedy). Maybe instead of Jax breaking her mask, Ragatha accidentally breaks it? That would explain why Gangle seems to get into an argument with her later in the trailer.

Also, baseball. Ragatha. Ragatha with a baseball. Wasn’t one of the teased adventures a baseball one? And it’s probably going to be episode 5? The Ragatha episode? Nice foreshadowing, Glitch.

Okay so very obviously her mask is broken now, thanks Jax (or Ragatha, you never know). You can see Zooble’s hand on the left, they’re probably about to offer some help. Is Zooble the one who gave Gangle her new mask? I guess they do get along pretty well.

I do wonder where Zooble got the mask from. Did they make it? How? The star and swirl do look like random parts they’d have in their Zooble box. Two other details I’d like to point out is how Zooble’s door icon is flipped. Gangle’s looking into a mirror, the icon shouldn’t be facing the right way. Cute duck toy though, Zooble. I like it.

Also is that an abstraction figure on the desk in the background? Is this related to the figurine thing from Episode 2?

Oh and I guess everyone gets those stacking ring and building block toys, since Pomni has the exact same toys in her room.

Okay first of all why are Pomni and Ragatha walking in from the right? Their rooms are on the left, along with Jax’s. Were they looking for Gangle to start the adventure, and checked her room first? That IS on the right side, so it makes sense if they were walking back from there. They look confused, maybe they’re wondering why Gangle is looking in the mirror. Maybe they’re wondering what she’s doing in Zooble’s room.

Regular Caine and Bubble activities! Maybe today Caine gets interrupted by someone while explaining the adventure? Because that would explain a few things.

Like, actually checking the suggestions box. Is it attached to the pole? How the hell are the others supposed to reach it if it’s all the way up there? I guess they’ve managed a way to do so because the box is overflowing with suggestions. I guess Caine almost never checks it, which…. oof. Maybe Pomni asked if they get any input on the adventures, reminded Caine the box exists, and now he’s going “Oh shit I can’t let them know I haven’t been reading these!”

Yayyyy Kinger <3 Probably watching Caine go over to the suggestions box lmao. I wonder what he’s going to be doing while everyone else is on the adventure?

Okay yeah it must’ve been attached to that pole, it’s now broken. Weird that we’ve never seen it in previous episodes, that would’ve been a nice reference. Caine’s probably going to grab the first suggestion he sees (That being a fast food adventure? Who would’ve suggested that? Gangle? Would explain why she’s the manager, she’s the one who suggested the idea) and go with that for the day’s new adventure. Bubble I don’t think you should lick that by the way.

Maybe the manager’s office? Or maybe this is one of Caine’s secret rooms where he brainstorms adventure ideas? Idk. I do like the motivational posters in the background though.

You can kinda see Gangle in the reflection of his eyes, so he’s maybe talking to her. Thanking her for the idea? Telling her how to be the manager?

Probably some fake ad sequence to put between them moving from the Tent to Spudsy’s? Gangle girl calm down pls you’re scaring me-

Yayyyy it’s the scene from the Feb trailer!!! But now it looks even better!! It looks like it’s still early in the day based on the outside weather. Jax has to work the drive thru it seems, that doesn’t seem too difficult. I guess. I’ve never worked at a place like this. I wonder what that room on the right is. Maybe they all spawn in with their usual outfits, but that room acts as a changing room? Is that Caine’s hand? Maybe Jax refused to be a part of this but Caine dragged him in there anyway to get into uniform lol. Does not look like he’s having a good time.

Orbsman!! First thing I noticed is that he seems a bit… lower quality than all the other character models we’ve seen. Caine must’ve really rushed this adventure, and that’s going to become a bit more obvious really quickly. But for real dude why are you so tall wtf.

Oh and Ragatha is at the cash register with Pomni! Maybe they both start out there, but Gangle makes Ragatha work with Zooble on the cooking because of all the orders? Sorry Pomni, you’re on your own.

What do you do when you need NPCs, but don’t have the time to make new ones? You reuse old ones! Why else would the Gloink Queen be ordering burgers?? I was just as surprised as Jax when I watched the trailer.

Is this the Karen NPC I’ve been theorizing exists? If so, Pomni is not going to have a good time. Maybe this is just after Ragatha left to help Zooble?

This has to be a timeskip cut somewhere, right? It’s probably boring to show the whole day of nothing but customers ordering food and then leaving. But I can’t tell if this is early morning, or late afternoon. How long are these guys even supposed to be working for?

This has to be at least after Ragatha leaves, cause you can only see Pomni at the register. I can’t see any NPCs though, did most people leave?

Look at her, she looks so damn tired. Pomni I’m so sorry you didn’t deserve this.

If you’ve seen my other post on this topic, you’ll know that I 100% believe Gummigoo is ordering something in this moment. The trailer put this scene immediately after showing us the Gloink Queen. If Caine reused one NPC, he’s going to reuse another. I wonder if we’ll see Max or Chad? Or one of the ghosts from Episode 3? 

Either way Pomni is not going to have a good time. I doubt Gummigoo even remembers who she is.

Yeahhhh she doesn’t look like she’s handling this well. Gummi probably just walked off to go sit down somewhere? Or maybe he just got his food (which, damn, that must’ve been quick) and is walking to one of the tables. Pomni’s trying her best to act normal and okay but you can clearly tell she isn't.

This scene is odd because it’s the only one that looks like Glitch intentionally cropped something out. Is that something perhaps a gummy crocodile? Pomni please get off the floor who knows what’s been there. That’s not healthy. Also?? Don’t you have a job to do??

[skyfallscotland]

my notps: bodhi/ridoc and violet/cat

I'm going to address Violet/Cat first. I think it's well known I think Cat is an absolute piece of work and the fandom give her too much credit. I mean, don't even start me, it's been one of my biggest bug bears lately. Do not accuse fanfic writers of demonising her, she came that way.

In regards to the pairing though...it could work. Would I personally read it? Probably not, but I think if given a really good redemption arc—one better than *checks notes* finding a boyfriend—I could see it. Of course, that would all be predicated on Xaden being idk dead or something, sooooo yeah.

Bodoc...oh god the bodoc. I'm signing my own death warrant here, I swear.

*deep breath*

I'm going to hold everyone's hand when I say this...the fandom practically created the Bodhi they adore. He has very little substance in the book. Bodhi is this fandom's Darcy Lewis. We know next to nothing about him and honestly, half of what we do know, we know from Rebecca's interviews and not the series itself.

Do I like him? Yes! But it's kind of weird to me that everyone insists we know more about him than say...Rhiannon. It's almost like he's got a cult following. He's the One Direction of this fandom and I am terrified to say it kind of kills the vibe for me. He's definitely the one you don't want to admit you're not vibing with out loud, because people will come for you...but here I am, doing it for you, anon!

I sound like a broken record but this series has such a large ensemble cast that you genuinely don't get that much background or substance...for anyone. We get his general demeanor and attitude, enough to know what he's like, but what he's thinking? What he cares about? All guesswork. He's shippable with almost everybody because he's a fun little template you can superimpose however you like.

Ridoc has more depth, in my opinon, after Onyx Storm, and everything about him is easy. To me, Ridoc is the fandom bicycle—shippable with practically everyone. There are opportunities for some really fun romance no matter who you put him with.

Which brings me to yes, I would read bodoc, though personally...I find it a little boring most of the time. I think their affinity as a ship lies in both of them feeling like they're not enough—that angst gives you some juicy bonding material, but without it...they're a bit mundane?

I enjoy it in The Underpants Heist because I think Yanny has a good thing going with grief and jealousy and all these other things that make it compelling (though I'm not up to date on it right now), but in other works it can just seem...boring? Background? Filler-esque? And I'm saying that as someone who's written it!

I think the fandom just defaults to it now as the most popular pairing for each of them, but that doesn't make it compelling. There are definitely instances where I think oof, it would have been more interesting to pair him with [character], you know? Or to make him aroace—I find aroace Bodhi very compelling!

I did proudly suggest Ridoc/Sawyer for dead on arrival, because I thought it would be fun, which is how it's meant to be!

Ultimately, no shade to those who ship it—as I said, I've written them as a side-pairing myself!—it's just not the default for me, I suppose. I enjoy it when it's fun though! 🖤

[c-art00nish]

So uh. I made some Ocs for @elmushterri stories.

"The Knight’s Handbook" + gunntech because I swear they had me on a chokehold with how amazing the concepts are (*´∀｀*)ﾉ

First starting with The Knight’s Handbook;

Matilda Grayson. An OLD knight, she's been around for some time, but oh well who keeps count of the years anyways?

She died protecting her little brother from- what was it again? Nevermind, that's all she needs to know.

While I got carried away in her fighting poses + awakened form, she doesn't use them much actually! Her main hobby is cooking and if she could do anything other than being a knight then that would be it!

She does just enough knight work to not be scolded around or anything, but most of her time is spent either cooking in the kitchen of the castle or around earth tasting all new combinations of food!

Personality wise she's mostly chill (unless actually pissed off) and goes with the flow. Ever since there were two queens she's pretty much neutral on either, both are actual kids and Matilda is totally side-eying the fact that literal teenagers have so much responsibility on their shoulders.

Ig in the story she'd still hang around the castle and spend her time as always, though if there were to be a takeover from another queen, she wouldn't mind if she got to stay (also totally not to make sure the other teenager with too much angst eats well)

That's about all I got from her for now, but I still have another oc! (^o^)/

This time from Gunntech;

Oof! Isn't she a fun one?

From all the gunntech ocs I've seen (correct me if I'm wrong) none are non-gunntech kids, so I decided to play with that!

I thought it'd be fun if someone had a conspiracy-esque blog about the Gunntech company, that someone is her!

But she didn't start off as anti-Gunntech, oh no, she was actually a really big fan! It also helped the fact that her bestfriend was child of one of the engineers at Gunntech (oc not drawn yet). But one day he just. Dissapeared.

One thing led to another and a rabitt hole was open, every inconsistency that may seem like a coincidence. Every whisper or rumor about something else going on inside those pristine walls. Every single thing is recorded on her blog.

Ofc it is like, very unpopular bc who would dislike the very-good organization that saves the day every day? (With child-soldiers)

I think she'd be hanging out really, REALLY, in the background until last season when the city(town?) needs to be shown what's going on in this facility. Idk, I'd say she'd be a hacket-trope character and then get her hands on those info.

Anyways that's all! And a lot- (゜ロ゜)

[astro-nomaly]

Talk shop Tuesday actually I want to know Lloyd’s family background. Always. I love lore please yap to me abt it

shit I keep forgetting about talk shop tuesday oof

Okay this is technically about the human x alien greenflower I mentioned yesterday but I'd be lucky to mention any of this in the actual fic

OKAY SO oni and dragons (which I'm actually gonna call + base on Aztec Quetzalcoatl bc that's a dope ass name and design) are both alien species and (since I'm taking a lot from the whole Tumblr "humans are space orcs") the 'First Realm', aka the planet, is a 'category 5 death world' bc that's dope as hell. Average war going on between the species, average FSM getting born as a peace-making tactic only for each side to go cray cray trying to get him to fight for them, average FSM peacing tf out like a king. Etc etc, FSM runs around the galaxy for a while, encounters evil Overlord conquering planets and crap, beats the shit out of said Overlord, and establishes Ninjago as a planet and core of a unified federation for the now freed galaxy.

He has both Wu and Garmadon (doing a thing here where Quetzalcoatls produce sexually whereas oni produce asexually, which ends with FSM being capable of both but popping out two kids asexually) and leaves them in charge of Planet Ninjago after he dies probably. Garmadon also has an (asexually produced sorry Misako) kid in the form of Lloyd. Idk whether due to Clouse or something else, but Garm eventually decides that Ninjago should be heading a universe-spanning empire instead of maintaining intergalactic peace and other such nonsense and starts waging wars. Wu kicks him off the planet and keeps the kid. Garm goes on to start his own Evil Empire Darth Vader style while Lloyd is raised in relative peace. As for how Lloyd meets the rest of the team, I think I'll go with him getting kidnapped as some form of ransom, either against Wu or Garm, and the team assembling bc they want to collect the bounty for finding Lloyd and returning him. Wu sees their potential and decides "you're mine now" and just fucking keeps them lmao. Eventually they all start actively fighting Garmadon bc he's being a dick about conquering the universe and they're sick of his shit

And this has NOTHING TO DO WITH THE GODDAMN ONESHOT jfc this is literally all background except for the barest bones of 'my dad is an evil warlord from outer space' I'm going crazy

Anyways I already know everyone's alien species so. I mean. There's that

[cuephrase]

Of the DC comics you've read so far, what would be your top recommendations for people to check out/what have you enjoyed the most?

when i tell you i have been thinking about this all day- i have been thinking about this. all. day.

so disclaimer, as of writing this, i have only read 31 runs from start to finish and 18 arcs/events outside of those runs. on top of, everything i've read so far has been strictly robin-centric, so dick, jason, tim, and damian. (i have read all of steph's robin appearances lol, but i haven't gotten to reading material for her, like say batgirl 2009, yet.) i've also decided not to rec from any run i'm currently reading, so for example, you won't see any batman: gotham knights recs here. because i'm most well-read on the robins, i'm only going to rec for them.

also, i'm going to operate under the following assumption: you've got a basic knowledge of the robins. none of these are where i would necessarily recommend anyone start reading about the boys, but i do think they'd be pretty interesting if you're already somewhat familiar with them and don't want to commit to reading whole character backlogs. does that make sense? i hope that makes sense.

alright, let's do this!

DICK GRAYSON

oh god. this one is actually so hard because he has so much great stuff, but then also i have like a love/frustrate relationship with so much of it. like for instance, i really enjoyed The New Teen Titans, but also lowkey can't stand space adventures so whenever that went down i was like 😀👍. but okay. hmmmm.

i have two preboot recs, with explanations + caveats.

devin grayson's mob!dick arc, so Nightwing 1996 #99-100, 107-117. caveats: it doesn't really get to finish playing out/wraps up weird because of editorial changes/infinite crisis. but!! it's a super interesting look at how dick handles...failure. how he values himself in light of that failure.

tomasi's run, but specifically #147-153. (listen, i love the dick and tim moments in 'freefall' but the whole eternally pregnant lady thing was too weird.) this is classic, hyper-competent dick, okay? he's such a bad-ass. and an idiot- bro literally flops his severely injured ass over the bars of his glider and rides it UNCONSCIOUS back to the batcave. i can't with him. poor alfred. anyways, he deals with two-face, always a good time. and then at the end, as a treat, he cries because bruce is dead. so fun!! what was my caveat here? oh yeah, he has a girlfriend. i don't remember her name, she serves like...very little purpose, the whole relationship is very minor/background okay, but like it was so unnecessary. he can be single, dc, it's okay.

for post re-boot, just read tom taylor's run!! it's the best thing ever!! zero complaints!!

HA. yeah, just kidding. that run is very like/frustrate for me lol. oh man i'm struggling here. it's not all bad okay, i'm just really picky, and i haven't re-read any nightwing n52 and onwards since my first foray into comics (8 months ago) so my memories of these are the foggiest and i'm not sure how i feel about all of it in light of what i've read now. yk what, i'm just going to...not rec anything. sorry!!

JASON TODD

his comics either go so hard or they're absolute ass, why is there no in between. istg, i can't figure out why writers struggle with him so much?? well. i mean, i do have theories. but you didn't ask for those!

pre-boot:

detective comics #569-574. robin!jason in the hands of writers who like him is so much fun. which, don't get me wrong, i don't flat-out hate how starlin writes him, but i think you get a more well-rounded view of jason as robin when you also see him in 'tec. jason and bruce tangle with the joker, scarecrow, + mad hatter, and all of those adventures are...idk if they were intentional foreshadowing okay, but reading those and knowing where the story goes? oof. especialllllly #574. caveat: #572 is pretty light on jason, but he is great when he's on panel!

reboot:

probably a very basic answer but rhato rebirth (2016) #1-13, annual #1. i abhorred n52 rhato so i almost skipped rhato rebirth since it was still written by lobdell, but i'm really glad i didn't. i really enjoy jason's relationship with bizarro + artemis, but especially with bizarro because i think jason struggles a lot with feeling like a doomed creation, so yk, parallels. i want to say more but i know i'll get too wrapped up in discussing jason so i'm just going to stop myself.

i actually really enjoyed task force z, too. i think about tfz #8 so much, jason is such a manipulative little shit and i love it. he's so- i can't. i can't get into this rn, it deserves its own post(s).

overall for jay, i need people to read something other than utrh/lost days/b:ul 1-6. i love those, i do, but they aren't the only good pieces of jason content!!

TIM DRAKE

MY BELOVED!!!!!!!!!! in my heart of hearts, i just want to rec his whole robin run lmao. dick was my intro, okay, he is why i decided to start reading comics, but tim, specifically his robin solo is why i'm still reading comics. hooked me fr. and young justice 1998, ugh love. but it has been a minute since i read these as well, so hmm. okay okay okay

pre-boot:

batman: prodigal. short version, tim is robin to dick's batman. super fun. there's a solid amount of dick and bruce angsting too, which, love. tim is honestly just thrilled that jpv is out of the batsuit and even happier to working with dick. very cute.

robin #46. listen. they're all superheroes okay, they all feel pressure to save people. but tim...losses get to him. the amount of times that he gets shoved to a breaking point and then...gets back up. keeps going. *screams*. anyways!! this is not tim getting back up, okay? this is him being shoved way, way down. it's so good.

teen titans 2003 #20. tim's dad has died. he shows up for his weekend at the tower anyways. he is not okay. that's it, that's the pitch. i did not like...mmm at least 80% of this run okay, but a few of the issues HIT and this was one imo.

reboot:

*deep sigh*. look. tim is not tim for like basically all of n52, although there are moments here and there were he feels like himself. i did not like his 2023 solo, the best parts of young justice 2019 imo are the character designs, (except for his drake costume, what was that omg), and i haven't read any rebirth batman/'tec yet. except for zdarsky's run. which. tim is good there! but yeah, not really a whole lot of material to work with + very limited reading experience atm.

DAMIAN WAYNE

god, i love this kid. nature vs. nurture fascinates me, and so much of his story digs into that on top of trying to figure out who he is apart from all of that. i will say, i'm not a huge talia fan and by that i mean, i have no idea who she is "supposed" to be, like i have no frame of reference for that atm, so if you are a huge talia fan these recs might not hit for you because from what i've observed from her fans she is not well portrayed a whole lot since becoming his mother? i think one of the things that is normal is dick absolutely disliking her though, which cracks me up. there's this older batman story (batman #322-335) where bruce works with talia and dick goes running to selina and i was so entertained. what were we talking about? oh! damian!

preboot:

batman and robin 2009 #10-12. damian is struggling, with a lot of things. the fact that bruce might be alive, what that means for him and dick, and his mother's puppeteering. there's this line that kills me: "can't you just love me for who i am? not what you want me to be?" and the thing that gets me, is the use of who vs. what. because he could have said, "not who you want me to be", but he doesn't

reboot:

batman: shadow war. this is post-alfred's death, and honestly, most damian stuff post city of bane is pretty juicy, but there's this specific moment in shadow war: alpha #1 that had me speechless. just like 😧 i love bruce, but that man has some of the most chronic foot-in-mouth disease. oh but fair warning, for whatever reason they don't draw dami's mask connecting?? it's so- it drives me nuts.

JUST FOR FUN

these are just two issues that i enjoy for the brother content!

nightwing 1996 #25. dick and tim's relationship makes me ILL. *ahem*. this issue is mostly just super cute and fun, (there's like 0.2 seconds of angst when tim asks dick if he ever thinks about jason 😭) and i adore it sm. fun fact, it's actually one of the first comics i ever bought!

batman 2016 #16. unfortunately, tim is not here for this, but duke is! jason and damian's interactions in the background of bruce's Very Serious Speech are excellent. bruce is so dramatic and his kids are so unserious.

what i've most enjoyed

i've enjoyed the majority of what i've read, even titles/events i wasn't particularly looking forward to but had on my tbr for whichever character. i'm going to break down most enjoyed into two catergories, arcs that i loved top to bottom and then the guilty pleasures. this is not an exhaustive list, just what immediately came to mind.

top to bottom

bruce wayne: murderer?/fugitive. shocker, ik. but it's just, it's just so frickin good. i've said before, and i'll say it again, gotham war could NEVER. this right here is peak batfamily drama. the tension? the mystery? the angst? i knew nothing going into this okay, and truth be told, when i started it i was like "oh joy. another event." because i was just trying to read the 1996 nightwing run, but i'd committed to reading in full all the events it crossed over with. but i was invested so quickly. and like, i loved how the narrative supported the possibility that bruce was the murderer, because like, you know there's no way, but the more that comes out the more damning it is, and so you're like really dying to know what actually happened and i feel like the reveal was satisfying.

batman: city of bane. i'm going to cautiously put this here, because there might have been something i didn't like but i cannot recall it for the life of me right now. something about me is i love when the heroes lose. infinity war, empire strikes back? love. and ik bruce takes back gotham, but they lose alfred, okay, they lost. i also didn't expect to like this arc, i decided to read it because i wanted to know how alfred died. and first of all, i was shocked, even though i knew it was coming because i expected it to like happen towards the end. but nope. just *snap*. and then later when bruce is back in the manor and is confronted with alfred's body and his good-bye message? oh. my. god. i was bawling. despite my penchant for sad narratives, i don't tend to cry that much, but this got to me so bad. like i had to pause because i couldn't see. amazing.

red robin. his cowl is so ugly, but i really do love the run. i see a lot of discourse about it and also a lot of...interesting fanfic takes, so i don't really talk about it a lot here because it feels like most people are kind of tired of hearing about this run, which fair. i really enjoyed it as a sequel to his solo robin run. tbh, i almost put this in the guilty pleasure catergory, because there are a couple things i don't totally love, but like if the others are 10/10, this is 9/10.

young justice 1998. i love this comic so, so much. i don't even know what to say, i get so overwhelmed with joy when i think about this comic. nothing has hit the same way with this group since either, which is a crime. i need a title with this team so badly.

guilty pleasures

these are all runs/events i know some/most? people cannot stand and i totally get why, and i have problems with them, so i'm probably never going to rec them in good conscience but also like i can't lie and say i don't like them. these are not recs, okay? okay.

robin war. is it a hot mess? yes. but there is not a whole lot of canon content out there with all the boys working together, okay? so much of that event had me banging my head into a wall, but for me, there were a handful of pearls in there. i mean honestly, if i listed out pros and cons the cons list would be way longer but those pros are very precious to me.

batman and robin: eternal. very similar reasoning overall to robin war. plus cass finally came back!! i missed her. i love robin!dick and batman content, and the kids working together. this is probably my least favorite guilty pleasure though, okay, it's on thin ice.

grayson. listen, i love janin's art sm. i'm pretty neutral about spy stuff, so like i don't engage with it a whole lot. meaning, although i've heard it's tropey af in regards to the genre, i'm not familiar enough with the genre to be like trying to dig my eyeballs out with blunt spoons at the cliche of it all. the constant sexualization of dick got old super fast, and her name may have been helena but she wasn't- my list of dislikes is lengthy. but idk, i had fun with it. and imo it does have some genuinely great moments, i love dick in the desert with the baby, the ache i felt when dick wanted to come home and couldn't get a hold of bruce, issue #12 stabs me in the heart- the dick and dami reunion? stoppppp. i feel like this run and the ric grayson era are dick's most out there lmao

so yeah!! thank you so much for this ask, i had sm fun answering it. if you have any recs for me, feel free to drop them :)

[wowowwild]

Apollo Justice for the character ask!

Character Ask

Favorite thing about them: He wants so bad to be the normalest guy ever but can't stop having anime protag moments and it's killing him, sometimes almost literally. He has such intense 'I just work here' energy. He is just a little guy (he is not).

Least favorite thing about them: There is nothing wrong with him but I do have complaints about what the new writers did to him. I'm not getting into that right now.

Favorite line: There are so many good ones so I made categories and picked one for each. Not included as a category was every time he learns something new about Phoenix and is immediately suspicious that this man is committing crimes.

brOTP: Hmmm... Between Athena and Ema. I feel like he would see Athena as more of a little sister (sister as a short hand for someone he feels some what responsible for and cares for in a platonic way) since she's 18 when they meet and he's 6 years older, the maturity gap would be noticeable (also she is the same age as his actual sister I think it would feel like having two in his particular situation). He and Ema are just haters together and I love that for them.

OTP: Well... You know me... It's Klapollo. But I'm also down for Claypollo and Justquill. I could see a Mayapollo qpr potentially. It was presented to me and I'm still thinking about it. I also love to slap him into Pollycules. (shout out to Bag-verse, my crack fic that became an au with sequels and spin-offs and I mention at every opportunity, seriously I've worked hard)

nOTP:  Prefacing with: ship and let ship, do what you want forever, they're fictional. However some of the Apollo ships squick me so hard like Athena, Aura, Pearls, Phoenix, and Edgeworth. And idk if I just end up in weird corners or if these are actually prevalent or what. Not my problem though bc I know how to avoid stuff I don't like and I just super want to reiterate that I am not judging people by the art and fics they make, consume, enjoy, etc. Live your life.

Random headcanon: I have??? So many??? He talks to his cat as if he can talk back. He's trans. He likes to play classic video games. He actually goes to the market and a butcher, not just a grocery store. After Clay's death he keeps up with Mr. Terran. He like lemonade in the way that he would order lemonade out at places, not just drink it when presented, he would actively choose it over other options. He's super competitive at certain things, especially if you present something as a challenge (but not a dare, he doesn't do dares). He's afflicted with le tism. He likes doing paperwork, but hates having to do paperwork. He reads manga and watches anime. He doesn't get literary classics. Except for The Great Gatsby. He gets that one. I also think he'd like Moby Dick but only if he didn't have to read it for school. Hates Frankenstein. Don't get him started on The Lord of the Flies. He thinks poetry is really cool but thinks he's bad at it (he's not). He journals and likes to draw funny little stick figure scenes in it sometimes.

Unpopular opinion: He doesn't like Phoenix. He grows to care about him, but he doesn't like him.

Song I associate with them: Actually Apollo by Last Dinosaurs gives me like... depressed and done with Apollo. After everything I think that's where he's at. Also I'm so bad at songs for characters. There are only two songs on my Apple Juice playlist.

Favorite picture of them: You can't do this to me. How can I pick one? Originally this sentence was a list of my fav Apollo artists but then it got too long. With official art I love whenever they have him in a corner/background extremely shocked and/or judging which seems to happen a lot. And every single fan art of Apollo and Mikeko my beloved. And the fan art of him punching Phoenix. Do it again, I say. Or when he's drawn as just a little guy with big angry eyebrows and you can absically only tell its him bc of the horns. Oof and when people turn his horns into bangs? Or they're longer and get pushed back? If I saw an Apollo Justice no one would be able to stop me.

Um, anyway, I'll just link some. Hampter, perceiving, homebody, roleswap, different roleswap, other different roleswap, left hook, cute <3, sad, waa shenanigans, oh my god the second to last panel, i think about the outfit in this post all the time. I picked not ship ones.

[paulilily]

Ok, Idk if I'm going crazy or what.

I was listening to music on YouTube, one of those channels that put the lyrics of the songs in bubbly lettering and soft backgrounds.

Anyway, I'm doing my things and suddenly hear a line that reminds me of my most recent trauma, which is Nagi's death, ofc.

-On a second note, how did Reo manage to get divorced and widowed, all before being properly married, at 17? Dude is way ahead of his age-

Anyway, I was listening to a song and suddenly I'm like "oof, that sounded like it came straight out of some epinagi emotional moment" I look down to the screen...the background is purple.

I laugh to myself.

Next song rolls around (it's a random yt generated playlist, I didn'tpick it) it reminds me of Nagi's gay ass monologue, all the 'I need to be who Reo wants me to be bc he's so dazzling and I wanna stay by his side forever' and I'm like wow what a beautiful song. It's purple again.

Now I think I might be hallucinating and that, since I'm a nagireo obsessed stan, everything reminds me of them. Another song starts and I swear I'm not lying to you, every single line sounds like a fucking poem written by the Nagi himself as a confession to Reo before parting. I, sucker for tragic songs, (but not tragic endings) have never heard a more romantic and desperate song in my life. And I kid you not when I tell you that it was the very same violet shade you and I know. Like looking straight into Reo's eyes while hearing Seishiro pour his heart out.

I'm done, that's it. Is there not a single doomed soulmates song that's not purple coded? Is the algorithm doing this to me on purpose?

At this point I just hate them for loving eachother so much and not being able to say it properly, and thus making it everyone else's problem even mine.

The only thing keeping me from never reading blue lock again is thinking that Nagi will make a grand comeback and then smooch Reo out of his mind in front of a ton of people just like he's being humiliated in public now and only cares about his partner. For the time being, we'll miss you sleepyhead 🙏😔 Praying for your greatness.

[dhajetii]

Netflix DMC Reactions/Commentary

Been a while since I've done this. I think the last time was for the HBO Last of Us? Either way. Here's some of my random thoughts as I worked my way through Devil May Cry.

I played (and enjoyed) the dmc video games back in the day and i was, unfortunately, excited about this show going in. I wanted to have fun here, as I've had fun with the franchise in the past. And I did. The show is a fun watch. I think both fans of the franchise and new arrivals who know nothing of the games and just want a kickass gory anime to watch can enjoy this.

Some of the comments i make kind of spoil plot lines from the games and the show itself. This is commentary for all 8 episodes, listed in order.

EPISODE 1: some random merc: gets decapitated me: giggling and kicking my feet. "Good start!"

KEVIN CONROY?!?! i didnt know he was gonna be here T_T i miss you man

OMG thats a remix of Vergil's theme <3 i recognize those lyrics

how come only like 1 person was dancing in that club wth XD

Kevin Conroy's character doing these interrogations is doing NOTHING to separate this character from Batman in my head so far.

hmmm I wonder why this shapeshifter just happens to know what Dante's "dead" brother would look like as an adult when he "died" as a child?? MYSTERY OF THE AGES

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

EPISODE 2:

ohhh is that Lady? <3 Lady <3 i forgot she was gonna be in the show ngl i only watched the trailer once a long time ago

why dont they fucking ask dante? why go in guns blazing?? fucking americans (i say as an american)

KEEP ROLLIN' ROLLIN' ROLLIN' - i do love the music so far. At least they havent dropped the ball on that yet.

your life worth half a mil? dude, value yourself more than that.

unflinching Kevin Conroy. Very Batman of you KEVIN. Ah, until you bring god into it ok nvm. The separation between this motherfucker and Batman has begun.

I want pizza. GDI Dante.

jfc idk what pool balls are made out of but ok. those are SOLID

i wanna replay dmc 3 now.

THE SWORD<3 i wondered where you were Rebellion my beloved

freshmen never do their homework.

-----------

EPISODE 3:

oh we actually got Lady's backstory. Neat.

LOL all the Capcom references.

"OTHER PROTOTYPE"; give the lady her cannon-machine gun- thing! I forgot the name! But it was cool! Queen maybe? Just looked it up: Kalina Ann. IDK where i got Queen. Must be some other killer machine thing from somewhere else (OTHER THAN FF14)

i cant tell if Dante is playing stupid or this is early enough in his timeline he genuinely doesnt know about his heritage yet.

REBELLION!! plz be sword time. I need sword time.

Honestly, I kinda like the Rabbit's attitude/vibe

you know what lady could use rn? A GIANT FUCKIN GUN-CANNON

WENT AT HIM WITH A FUCKIN KEYBOARD LOL WHAT

REBELLION!! I really like swords ok. im just a simple little guy with simple tastes. swords are sexy.

LAST RESORT remix :o !

ok whatever this bike is made of is tough shit this is what all cars and tires need to be made of.

DEVIL TRIGGER BABBBBEEEEYYYYY. Awh. JK. not yet. tease. He'll get there.

-----------

EPISODE 4:

BABY VERGIL<3 baby dante<3

ugh, Conroy-not-Batman, stfu. I cant believe im asking you to stop talking. But stop talking. Sorry Kevin.

Dante's momma isnt the only human who wants to fuck a demon. Damn. this black and red one with the wings <3 badass

oh no the humans are dying. So anyway this background music is good.

i feel like im supposed to care more about this hit squad of soldiers? but i really dont with the exception of Lady. Girl has enough trauma already give her a break.

ah, i see. Prediction: Rabbit was besties with Sparda once upon a time I'll bet, and he didnt appreciate being left behind and trapped in Hell with Mundus

oof. more Trauma for Lady. Nothin' like a good ol' drug-induced mind fuck to darken your afternoon.

DEVIL TRIGGER <3 at least partially!! he's gettin there <3

historically, demons in this franchise have all been the same. They've not really portrayed them like this before. At least, not that i can remember. I'm not opposed to this direction tho.

-----------

EPISODE 5:

ok we're gonna have a very long-lasting fall sequence i see. That motorcycle a couple episodes ago lasted much longer than it should have too. This might as well happen.

NGL when i saw that keypad on the wall i immediately squinted at it to see if any numbers were faded to Sherlock Holmes the fuckin' code.

Right. Back to falling. OR, hear me out, fully devil trigger and use your wings, Dante.

you know, all that falling shrapnel would totally rip a parachute but okay. You know, i kind of hate the random details i choose to apply reality to and which details i let slide lmao. Like ah yes, the parachutes are the MOST unrealistic part of this show for sure, mhm.

Lady is so smart <3

devil trigger. devil trigger. devil trigger. YEAH BABY LETS GOOO

Lady really adapted and accepted this new situation with these Makaian REALLY fast for someone deeply traumatized by demons since childhood, (but i guess there is also whatever those horror-flashbacks involving her dad at play here). But good for her for being able to distinguish between civilians and the actual enemy. I'm not used to this whole refugee dynamic with the demons from a dmc franchise but I'll take it. Considering Sparda cant have been the only "good" one capable of emotion/love/empathy/etc.

LOL lady calling Rabbit's operation nazi-esque is fuckin' hilarious considering USA-VP is moments away from eradicating a bunch of ppl based purely on his religious-fueled hatred of something different from himself. Also "funny" considering current real world events. Gotta love the point made when humans turn out to be the "monsters" Rabbit used VP's hatred and he played his part perfectly.

I'm still unraveling Rabbit's trauma, but he definitely has a dislike of demons and humans both it seems like

-----------

EPISODE 6:

Rabbit backstory time? ah, incorrect. more Lady. No? Both :o okay.. why both? :o

Dad goes full mad-scientist. Oh. Oh no. I know where this is going. Right, yeah.

OH-HO! it is also Rabbit backstory. Well shit. Well then. No wonder.

Huh. Sudden change in art style. Its cute tho.

Sorry kid dont mind me while I bop to this sick tune while you run for your life.

OK, so this is really adorable and moving. Oh damn the other shoe is gonna drop soon aint it? ugh. FEELS!

OH SHIT this is the Evanescence track playing. And here's the (more) trauma. oof.

wait a minute. There has to be a reason they're running both of their backstories in tandem like this. oH FUCK! Im remembering something Lady said a few episodes ago about refugees. well shit.

But if Rabbit...? then why'd he ...?

oohhhhh. :x

Madness is the emergency exit. And Rabbit just took it.

Ok. ok. ok. HOOOOO. ok.

yeah so my prediction for the Rabbit's backstory earlier was WRONG

-----------

EPISODE 7:

OH! OH! "Flare for the dramatic".... blue shit..... VERGIL!!<3

<3 Lady being a badass once again x2

KALINA ANNNNNNNNN. there's *my* LADY

to hell with you, Dante!

LOL

Honestly, Rabbit has a point.

-----------

EPISODE 8:

whew. okay. final episode. now its time for America Darkcom to be just as demonic as the demons.

bunny has a backup plan.

LOL enzo ships it.

ugh, this guy.

ooh another severed head

kinda hope Anders kills the VP or at least tries

oh enzo no D: .. T_T

i honestly expected Lady to use Kalina Ann more than she did all of once.

oh hey you got dante to bleed finally. Dont let it get on the necklace my dude.

"built on misery" hey thats where im from! Missouri!

rip. but like, not R.I.P. but like ripped rip.

smh, Lady!

o shit.

HAHAHA here's the Green Day, LMAO. American Idiot playing during these last few moments is just... this feels a little too on the nose maybe?

...sigh. Well shit.

oh fuck Uroboros. There you are, you bastard. (BURN CORPO SHIT)

FHJKSDHFJDKSHFDJKSFHDSJKHFS. VERGIL. VERGIL. VERGIL.

<3 Yamato <3

fun that they did a remix of Vergil's theme from dmc 5 but i like the OG better, those vocals are *chefs kiss*

-----------

in summary: this was fun. the music is good. the plot wasnt bad. something slightly different from what they usually do while also being slightly the same. but honestly i think its kind of appropriate given current events the last few years. its sayin' something.

[the-way-astray]

I don't know if we're all sharing our journeys with you about how we came to our conclusions about Keefe and Fitz, but here's mine:

About a year ago I read Flashback for the first time and that was when I first started to realize that Keefe was manipulative (I know I know, it's a basic argument at this point and it makes people mad when it's brought up, but that's what I noticed, and I wasn't in the fandom so this revelation was.... revelatory?), but I still thought to myself, oh yeah that makes sense given his background (which I still do believe but now it's just too annoying for me idk), and then reading his POV in the Flashback short story, I thought to myself, 'huh, he's saying the perfect things, isn't he? Almost like it's propaganda or something....'

A bit later I went to the internet, and learned that it is very very popular to not like Fitz at all (though I had already seen that in the real world talking to other people in real life), and to compare him to Keefe a lot. So I think that's why I started disliking Keefe, the way so many people perceive him (and compare him to Fitz) just soured my opinion of him. And I know people like to say "you can like both!" And while I do agree with that I don't think that anyone who doesn't isn't less valid or less mature than those who do, which I think is the attitude of some people who make that argument.

Anyway. That is my story (I don't dislike anyone who likes Keefe and Fitz or who likes Keefe and dislikes/hates Fitz)

had to do a different graph for you since your opinion over time wasn't all over the place like summer's was.

the one summer sent was because i asked about her story specifically, but now that you mention it, i do want to know everyone’s stories about how they decided what their opinions on fitz and keefe are. i should create a tag . . . anyway send me your stories everybody! i’ll make you a messy little visual.

interesting that flashback was the book that made you see him as manipulative. i personally think it starts a lot earlier, and gets particularly bad in nightfall. and yeah, i talked about this in my rant, but shannon randomly decides to have keefe say all the perfect green flags in flashback/the short story to cover for the fact that his actions literally do not match his words.

i'm not a fan of the idea of a "basic argument" or "complex argument", i'm more of a fan of "valid argument" or "invalid argument". like if an argument is good, it's going to be repeated . . . because it's reliable? that should be a point in its favor not a strike against it. and i'd say saying keefe is manipulative is a perfectly valid argument. but i'm also heavily biased. obviously.

i’m gonna be so honest, i have no idea why people hate fitz so much. like yeah, he gets angry, but he does apologize and try to get better, which i don’t see with keefe. i don’t hate fitz haters and unlike a lot of people in keepblr, i actually respect them, but i don’t understand them.

there is definitely an attitude of people thinking you’re less mature or not as valid if you hate on fitz or keefe. i think, as long as you’re mature about it (and don’t send weird asks), you can dislike whoever you want, and you aren’t a bad person if you do. the idea of "you can like both!" is very true, but i think we do need to respect haters. and i'm not just saying that as a keefe hater. fitz haters (as long as they aren't being weird about it *cough* "Just because your gay doesnt mean Sophie is!!!" anon *cough cough*) deserve respect, as well. acting like hating a character is immature is ridiculous. they are fictional. they are not real. chill out.

oof, i just turned your ask into a rant. sorry . . . moving along . . . i, too, do not dislike you if you like keefe or hate fitz. i'm actually pretty neutral on fitz myself, wouldn't say i'm particularly insane or obsessed with him.

[princeofmisfortune]

I don't really like how this one turned out 😅. I think I messed up the rendering and oof I tried a background but idk how to feel about it. I'm not good at backgrounds in general lol but something about bushes and trees I just suck at jshshjs. On the bright side, the poses turned out pretty good at least! This was a sketch request that I tried but didn't think I had the skill to actually make cause I don't know anatomy. So I'm surprised that I drew the poses without a reference.

.

-No reposting-Click for higher quality-

[kozachenko]

Artists note:

I had to take a screenshot of this piece because dear lord the exported file size is too fucking big for the tumblr upload because when I tried to change the resolution from 1200 DPI to 600 (which usually works) IT SOMEHOW CAME OUT BLURRIER-So yeah I'll have to figure that whole thing out, so I'm just using the screenshot from my fucking files of the 1200 DPI version for now oof💀

so yeah I'm back, and I drew some fanart of Zanmu because her character design is amazing and I have a fun time drawing her :)

Experimenting with this style where I use a lot of textures and stuff, as well as making a new way of rendering stuff like weird plasma fire... stuff (idk what to call it). Her lance/spear thingy is also very fun to draw, thank the lord for clip studio paints layer border thingy

Below are some of the stages of working on this along with the background since I like how it turned out a lot

[after-nine-at-the-oasis]

YESSS WE'RE FINALLY BACK :'DDD

Me not them but yk

Ayy step :D

Hi Janine 🥰🥰

First cut away since I'm back 🥳

Lol honey

Iconic

Okayy okay :D

Is this bougie jingle bells

Ope

LOL sorry see I'm also too young Janine 💀

Oh she's eating though xD

The teachers vibing in the background lol

Sorry Janine you're just old xdd /lh

Hi Jacob 🥰🥰!!

Ayyy well he knows it :)

Y'all I missed themmm :'D

Jacob why do you know it lol

See that guy gets it xD

AYY AVA!!

Hi Ava :DD!

Them all eating it up wait I love it so much 🥺🥺🥹

The pause and then back into it

LOLL that was iconic xD

SLDKFJKDS xD

I mean she does have Christmas songs I think

But nah this sounds fire xD

LOL

AAHHHHH FIRST INTRO BACK 🥰🥰

Y'all ik I've been putting it off but it's just the motivation 😭, I love this show so much :')

Hi Barbara :))!!

Lol they're eating

Idk if they'll get that

Uhh

It's a little hard to explain

Aww yay 🥰

The switch from singing back to talking was interesting lol

XD

Loll sleigh xD

Go off Barbara 🥰

AWW wait 🥺🥺

UAAHHHH stoppp that's so sweet :'))))

I'm not okay <333

She is adorable :'D

The little snowflake gosh I'm not okay

Hi Melissa :DD

That's a lot lol

XD

Dang lol o.o leave him alone

Hi Gregory 🥰!

She's got a point though it's different xD

I love Jacob knowing :) and she doesn't even hate him for it 😌 besties your honor

Are you gonna be there xD?

LOL not formally invited 💀

HELP xD

:OO brotherrr :D?

(pretending like that's not the one detail I knew before this episode came out like 4 months ago lol)

Lol the new plastic xD

Calebbb okay :o

Ayyy :D

"It's not" "Okay 😐" XDD but also 🥺🥺👀 Jacob angst

Yeesh 😬 so basically since the show started

Oof :(

Aww wait 😭😭 stop I'm not okay

Hello 💀 WILD

Aww Gregory :'))

HELP he's the younger brother 💀 xD

"Alright dog I tried" xDD so real

There's only so much they can do when it's the situation it is lol

XDD

SLFKFJKD the wait list 💀

Ayy go off

Lol xD

:o our girly's back :)

>:O OH HECK NAH

Get em Barbara

I mean ik they're 5 but xD

I mean you can :((! Even if you don't celebrate

Or like in a non Christmas way :D!

Hi Mr. Johnson :)!!

LOL

Lol the visit to the second floor xD

Ooope is that the brother o.o

"The story was fishy but I gave em a visitor's badge just to see what would happen" HELLO 💀💀 XD

Icon

Jacob looks scared xD

YOOO YUP IT'S THE BROTHER!!

How are there exit doors if it's the second floor- nvm

:O they do look like siblings

Aww soft Jacob 🥺 like not in a sweet way on a thrown off way but still, I love him <3

Unrelated but he deserves to be an older brother yk <3

Just like in general

Loll

XD Ava's shock

LOL this guy's crazy, love em (unless he's directly hurt Jacob then he's dead to me)

Help oh no 💀 Jacob's going through it

Oh gosh xD

He does look older but Jacob feels older yk xD or like face wise idk, it makes sense

LOL Ava, so real xD

Aww lol but they're both still nerds xD

Oope okay

Jacob looks stresssedde 😬

Lol to the cameras xD

Yeah bro's probably like "so what's with this 😃👁️👄👁️", about the cameras xD

💀

Jacob is going through it xD

This man is like a dog though, love it lol

[incomingalbatross]

Finished my first week (I don't go in on Fridays) of Commute Listening! (Plus a day technically because I did have to go in last Saturday.)

Here's the summary of the undertaking so far...and of just how much car/public transit time I've logged:

Bach's Brandenburg Concertos 1-6 My beloveds--the only classical music that IS for sure on my faves list, because in the period when I had a CD player in my bedroom and about three CDs, these were two of them. Still not sure how well I could identify them, but I recognized them once they started playing and greatly enjoyed them.

Artifexian podcast ep 1. Interesting! All about worldbuilding. Just far enough removed from my own interests (yes I love fantasy, no I don't enjoy worldbuilding, it took me years to process that) that I can listen as, like, a spectator, but also listening to two people who do love worldbuilding makes me feel more positive about it. Like the energy.

Several Masses by Haydn (St. Cecilia, Mass in B flat, Mass in honor of the Blessed Virgin). Beautiful, obviously, but... did not grab me. Might just be that Masses and commuting are not the right combination. Might be my chant-inclined mind going "you're drawing out the words too much." Idk.

Art of Manliness ep 1, about Easy Company. INteresting and informative—a window into a subject I wouldn't have sought out on my own.

Out Alive ep 1. About a skier buried in an avalanche! Again, not something I would have sought out myself, but hearing the skier and the other people involved talk about the impact of a crisis situation and near-death experience, without any polish or dramatization... oof. Really interesting.

Reply All Billed as a "podcast about the internet," the first ep was about a social situation enabled by the internet. Also interesting as a window into someone else's personal experience that I don't think you'd quite get in any other medium than this unpolished interview format. This time about relationships instead of death, though.

In the Wind (album) by Peter, Paul and Mary. Branching aside from classical for some folk, since I was in the headspace for something between podcasts and instrumentals. Good! I recognized several of the songs but definitely not all. They also reminded me of several other country and folk artists I could listen to if I want to keep going down that road, in addition to listening to more of their work.

Vivaldi Concertos for Diverse Instruments GOOD. I loved these! They got stuck in my head afterward! Definitely want to try more Vivaldi. Also reinforcing my theory that any kind of music is good music if it involves violins going wild.

Mozart Violin Concertos 3-5 ALSO very very good. And I think I could hear the cleaner/plainer sound of Mozart as opposed to the baroque I'd just been listening to.

My Writing Sucks podcast ep 1, in which an author lovingly roasts her 14-year-old self's writing. Very fun. Endearing. Kinda makes me want to pull out my oldest, worst writing and approach it from an outside perspective, which I think would be Growth if my fragile ego could actually follow through on that. :P Maybe after a few more episodes of this.

Pints With Aquinas episode 1. This is an introductory episode giving background on Aquinas, as opposed to later episodes which will have more actual theology. Already good, though. Little harder for me to stay focused than some of the more fun ones, but I'll be coming back.

Classics for Kids Short and educational segment about classical music. Definitely told me things I don't know! A little short and a little flat in delivery for my needs, but good stuff.

Stuff You Missed in History Class ep 1. Interesting, but same issue as the above—it was just short. I need to check if episode length varies, and if they're all short I might load up six or so at once to give it a better trial. It was interesting but I couldn't get much flavor from one segment.

In conclusion, this project is definitely a success so far. I've been enjoying my commutes even when there's traffic, and I feel like I'm taking in things that I enjoy and are constructive in some way! It's fun for me. And I have a bunch of podcasts in store for next week that I haven't even touched yet.