#so this is like. from memory lol

[creaturefeaster]

IS THAT HAMBURBER MIME

this one. yeahs its hamburber

[dr11ft]

chicana miku 🤎

[forgettable-au]

CHAPTER TWO | The Scientific Method

FORGETTABLE-AU (page 73-77)

* His brother is annoying.

[BEGINNING] [PREVIOUS] [CONTINUE]

[nellasbookplanet]

I'm hardly the first to make this observation, but the problem with many self-proclaimed cozy stories is that they're so scared to take risks, scared to do anything that could make the reader even slightly uncomfortable, because being uncomfortable isn’t very cozy. Characters lack in flaws and messiness; conflict is lackluster or quickly resolved or avoided altogether; a darker moment must always be followed by a peptalk, never lingered on; moral ambiguity is eschewed, because anything else would be problematic and messy. If a main character has flaws it’s always those of the good victim, someone who needs to heal and be validated but not grow and be challenged. Challenge, of character or reader, is anathema.

As I'm playing Stray, I'm struck by the thought that this is quite possibly the coziest piece of media I've ever experienced. You're playing as a little kitty cat. You’re carrying around a tiny robot companion in a backpack. Your enemies are tiny white blobs called zorks. There are game mechanics to meow and scratch up people's walls and furniture and knock paint cans off shelves and take naps. The pacing rarely rushes you, rather actively encourages you to slow down. You can stop and listen to a guy play guitar, or look for flowers to gift someone, or take a nap on a cushion while beautiful scenery full of plants and fairy lights roll by.

But it’s also a game set in the ruins of a near dead world. The cute blobs will eat you alive. The robot you're carrying is an uploaded mind earnestly struggling through an existential crisis and mourning an entire species. Under the plants and the fairy lights is garbage and rust and buildings falling apart. There’s no sunlight. There are creepy eyes watching you in the sewers. There’s classism and oppression and the downfall of man.

And through it all, the robots who inherited the world are working so hard to find pockets of hope and happiness. They paint and play music and play games and dance and grow plants and create cozy little homes for themselves. They resist for the sake of freedom and autonomy, they create an entire language, they dream of a world most think they'll never see.

This dichotomy of dark and light is something I see often in (better) cozy media. Dungeon Meshi is a fun cozy adventure where they make delicious food and talk about self-care. It's also about grief and the inevitability of death and the impacts of social inequalities. The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet is a cozy found family road trip in space; it’s also about the difficulties of understanding each other across cultural barriers and the massive ramifications when we refuse to do so. Legends and Lattes is basically a dnd coffeshop au; it’s also about struggling to find happiness and purpose and self-worth after a life of violence, not knowing if you're able to successfully achieve anything but bloodshed. And All the Stars is full of found family and pastries and characters just hanging out; all of this happens as they're hiding and fleeing from invading aliens who see them as nothing but a resurce to be used. One of my favorite episodes of critical role is the beach episode of c2, where they basically just hang out; this happens soon after they buried their friend who died trying to save them, as they're trying to figure out who they are and what they want after his loss.

And that’s the thing, isn't it? Any story that is uniformly the same thing all the way through ends up as bland. A grimdark story that never offers respite or moments of hope will numb you to the horrors, removing their bite. A cozy story that offers nothing to be struggled against, nothing for which cozy moments and aesthetics is a break, lacks impact. A story needs ups and downs, a rhythm of misery and hope.

[bacchuschucklefuck]

they tried to rebrand as The Criminals but riz is literally the city council's treasurer and also turns out people in their late 20s don't really name their friend groups. so now they're The Intrepid Heroes

[shrimpricebowl]

oh thank god

[turtleblogatlast]

AU where Leo is trapped in the Prison Dimension for months instead of minutes and the only way he gets by with his sanity intact is through recording himself talking to his wrist comm.

When they finally manage to get Leo back and make him rest up to heal, Donnie can’t help but listen to the recordings left behind.

He’s not sure what exactly he’s expecting, only that his subconscious is screaming at him that it has to be heartbreaking, that it has to be torturous.

Instead, what Donnie is subject to is a full thousand hours’ worth of Jupiter Jim and Lou Jitsu crossover fanfiction. More than one part in the series. Spanning well over a million words.

(The worst part is that it’s actually good.)

[aashidoodles]

Part 2 of this comic

[lynnetendo]

some sifs I drew from memory into my sketchpad while I was at a family meetup... i thought it'd be fun to digitalize the more original style ones with a pixel brush and the ones that were more my own artstyle with my usual brush (initial pencil sketch under the cut)

unironically, any notable change you see between the traditional sketch and the digital version only stems from the fact that i had no space on the real paper e.g. the sketches being repositioned or sif's hat not being curled downwards everywhere was because i could actually use the space better digitally lmao

[faunandfloraas]

fav skz // Canteen! Canteen! Canteen!

[anonyanonymouse]

I don't know what to say. It was beautiful. It was everything I wanted out of the book and I am so happy. They went through with destroying his horn (just one!) and he is experiencing the long-term consequences of it. Lilia died and both Malleus and Silver brought him back with true love and a wish, because true love conquers all... Just what the original movie would have wanted 😭

And Malleus, Silver, and Sebek sobbing so much over him. He really got to find out just how much he means to them 😭😭😭 and I adore how after all this time, when Silver and Lilia finally got the chance to talk one on one, they were just talking casually about trivial things in their lives. Silver even said there was so much more they should have talked about... But that normalcy is just what they need after everything

The way Lilia still after all that time thinks so little about what he's done for Silver, asking him if he'd rather keep his blonde hair color. The way Silver was so happy to describe just how much he loves his hair and how important it is to him. Ohhhh,,,,,...,,.,,....

I really like that Silver gave away his armor. His reason for it is so him. He wouldn't want to keep a weapon that he just puts up on a wall and never uses, he wants it to be used for something important. It's such a nice way for him to give back to STYX and the island!!! He doesn't directly say it's because of the armor's association with KOD, and I think that's fine. He really made his peace with having KOD as his father, he's accepted it as part of his life now!

AND THE ADOPTION. IT'S EVERYTHING I COULD HAVE ASKED FOR!!!! Silver and Lilia are both so so. Oh my god. They mean the world to me. I can't believe Lilia's reasoning for not giving Silver his surname is the exact same reason Silver was afraid to ask for it. He didn't want to burdon his kid with the name of his "real parents" enemy. Lilia when I GET YOU. And Silver LAUGHS AT HIM FOR IT!!!! The only other time we ever see him laugh is when he's a kid!!!!! And his laugh is just as sweet now as it was back then 😭

Lilia Vanrouge's adoption of Silver Vanrouge is officially valid in the country of Briar Valley. Silver is now Lilia's true son. The game has been building us up to this moment for 5 years and I am so happy 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 Silver's profile now officially says Silver Vanrouge. I can stop tagging him as twst Silver / twisted wonderland Silver / ect and just tag him as Silver Vanrouge. I'm so happy

All the ghosts of the past got to come back to life and dance in peace with each other at last. Malleus got to meet his mother and Silver got to properly meet his parents, and we got to see Leah!!! Both Malleus and Silver got to thank their parents for protecting them so that they could live in a world with their loved ones, and got to tell them to rest in peace at last. It's sooooo sugary sweet oh my god. THIS GAME!!!!!!

[thepixelatedbunny]

*Sigh* I spent way too much time on this

[poliodeuces]

stairway to heaven

—

edit: i don't know if it's just from my phone, or it's tumblr compression, but this looks unfortunately so so blurry. better quality on my twitter 💥

[shakingparadigm]

NOBODY is allowed to be happy and EVERYONE is doomed

[bacchuschucklefuck]

doing chibi is a good design exercise bc it forces u to think on shapes n essential details, essentially thumbnailing ur designs. its also a terrible design exercise bc it ends up looking cute no matter what

[thatnununguy]

Got into Guilty Gear, helped me get through a really dry no-drawing period :)