maniacwatchestheworld - Tumblr blog

[maniacwatchestheworld]

I have many a character, but no character design for them. And I also have many a character design, but no actual character attached to them. Rarely do the two ever meet together.

Just... Sobs. Why do I have to be like this...? >.<

[maniacwatchestheworld]

[maniacwatchestheworld]

[maniacwatchestheworld]

Don't mind me. Just making a silly little edit. 🩵 (And I would have doodled over Gilda's face too... If I had any idea how to foreshadow her fate by doing so!!!)

[maniacwatchestheworld]

You know... The fact that Stanley Pines has a symbol meaning "Danger" burned into his back like a tattoo... Gotta say. That's kinda hot... >.>;

[maniacwatchestheworld]

So when I was visiting my ex in Oklahoma this past week, it turns out that his current girlfriend is a hobbiest t-shirt designer! And so now I'm just trying to think of stupid, silly custom t-shirt designs that I wouldn't be able to get anywhere else. :p

So far my best idea is a shirt that says "Prosecutors will be violated" with an image of Harvey's (Two-Face from Batman) face getting melted above it lol

[maniacwatchestheworld]

Oh, how I love tea so very much. u.u

Shame about how low my caffiene tolerence is so that every time I have a tea that so much has a hint of caffiene in it, it makes me anxious and jitter so much that I feel like I'm going to clip through a wall. u.u

[maniacwatchestheworld]

Okay, so here's a Harvey thought! What if when he was in college, he decided that to make a little extra money on the side (in my mind he was always born dirt poor, and while he was able to get a VERY handsome scholarship, he needed to take up extra work for food off-campus and other little bits and bobs) he decided to become a model for the students of the art program. Mostly a still life model, but he would model for anything the art department would ask of him. And that's how he and Gilda met! From this, perhaps Gilda actually ended up making a very famous statue of Apollo modeled off of him, hence the nickname. :p

[maniacwatchestheworld]

I've been in Oklahoma visiting my ex for the past week. So if you've been wondering where I've been, that's where! I am home now. I came home and pretty much immediately slept for 14 hours lol

[maniacwatchestheworld]

I think that I like thinking too much... >.< I really need to come up with a way to enter blob mode while laying down in bed, relaxing...

Cause like... Sometimes I think too much and I end up stressing out for silly reasons and end up making myself feel bad from overthinking. I need a way to easily become brainless and enter a state of not thinking at all while laying down in bed... Difficult to think of something that would be the proper balance though... >.<

[maniacwatchestheworld]

So I'm not a furry. But I'm also not not a furry either, you get me? Like, I wouldn't call myself a furry, but if someone called me a furry, I wouldn't be offended, y'know? I understand the appeal and can get behind the aesthetics. But I'm asexual, so that whole aspect of it is pretty lost on me. But I know that it's not only a sex thing, and again, I can enjoy the aesthetics and understand where furries are coming from with their platonic enjoyment of it. I have no desire to be a furry animal critter, but I can understand what the appeal of it is. I am not on all levels except physical a wolf, but I used to growl at people and threaten to claw and bite when people got into my space when I was a cringy teenager (like all teenagers are). Like, I don't think that furries would want to associate with me on that basis, but I certainly wouldn't mind being absorbed into furry spaces either, y'know? So I'm a furry but also not not a furry.

In any case, lately I've been thinking of making a fursona for myself. You know. For fun! Creature design can be fun! And incorporating humanoid aspects of that can be fun too! But I just want to know. At what point does something start counting as a fursona? I just want to know specifically where the line is for making an OC and character so that I can tell when I've crossed that line. Because like... I EXCEEDINGLY like hybrid designs! But does that count under the furry umbrella? I can't really tell. At what point of adding animal traits does it become furry? Are there any furry subsections I need to keep in mind? Because I've been considering making a Pokesona for the fun of it as well. I just need to know where the lines are, y'know? For my own enrichment. Also you know. I wouldn't be opposed to doing furry art on the occasion outside of this. It's just not something that I really think about very often. :p

[maniacwatchestheworld]

There are two wolves inside of me.

One that persistently desires attention and positive affirmation. The other craves creative freedom and to do whatever the fuck I want. They are constantly locked in battle.

I like kicking what would get me a lot of notes in the head for the sake of doing whatever I want. But MAN is it a bummer when I work hard on something and make something that I put a lot of thought, effort, and time into only for people to not care! Like, it's fine, the act of creation is primarily a selfish one for me, and I do it more for my own sake than others, but man is it a bummer to not get validation on what I make. :p

[maniacwatchestheworld]

Would winged people count as insects? You know. 6 limbs and all. What other features would be needed for a winged human to be considered an insect...?

[maniacwatchestheworld]

Heyo! Time for some more Meiji Hoenn alternate Pokemon designs! :3

So the top is alternate Dragonite, bottom dragon is Dragonair, and the whole line on the right is the Magnemite line!

These dergs are living in volcanoes hence the alternate colors. :p Meanwhile the Magnemite line are electric/ground. They change color depending on how magnetic they are. And the last one, one of the mites turns into a ring and they can levitate! (They haven't figured out how to do it on one thing yet. :p )

[maniacwatchestheworld]

So I've been working on a thing lately! I kinda sort of want to run a ttrpg campaign that would kinda sorta capture the spirit of Pokemon: Legends Arceus, but that takes place in Meiji Hoenn instead of Sinnoh! I've accomplished quite a bit on the setting, and now I need to design some regional and era-specific variants of some of these Pokemon! So here are some designs that I thought would be pretty easy to pump out!

On the left I designed some regional water-typed variants of Ekans and Arbok because like... Why aren't there any water snakes in Pokemon...????? They are water/poison types and are much much friendlier than Kantonian Ekans and Arbok! They both have rattles to ward off any critters that they don't want to bite, have bright belly colorations, and the belly pattern on Arbok's belly is inspired by butterflies that have eye-shaped patterns on their wings that look like eyes to ward off predators! All of this is to scare other critters away so that they don't have to hurt them when they're feeling threatened! Because when you really think of it, it's actually kinda nice and generous of rattlesnakes to make a sound before biting you as a warning. So this is a much friendlier regional variant that doesn't actually want to hurt anything that it doesn't need to for survival! Also this version of Arbok is indeed skinnier on the top half of its body than Arbok. You know. For fun. :p

On the right I decided to design an organic version of Iron Valiant. I've been thinking of using the name "Glaivant" for it, but I don't know if it rolls off the tongue quite as well as Gardevoir and Gallade as Pokemon species names. >.< In any case, these evolutions are exclusively non-binary/gender unknown! In this setting I wanted to create this evolution variant to kind of make a statement about gender and sexuality before colonization. One of the main conflicts that I want to explore in this setting is that of modernization vs tradition and what is lost when you pursue solely one or the other. In real life Japan, they didn't have the same perceptions of gender roles, and gender and sex in general as western traditions do. The idea of people existing in ways that didn't match stereotypical gender norms of the time, and people and/or creatures existing outside of ordinary gender confines was not unheard of or even necessarily particularly unusual before Japan decided to modernize and westernize itself! Gender existentialism was just not nearly as relevant in Japan before it largely decided to colonize itself! These facts reflect quite obviously in art that was created at the time and in art that comes out of Japan today as well, and Pokemon is no exception! And so I wanted to reflect that with this Pokemon design in this pre-modern Pokemon setting!

Lots and LOTS of impassioned gender ramblings below the cut. >.< (Sorry, it got long FAST because I have A LOT of feelings on Gardevoir and gender. >.< )

In fact that was one of the reasons that I genuinely quite loved Gardevoir when it was created and came out all the way back in gen 3! And it's why I've always had quite a strong dislike of Gallade. Because to me, when I realized that Gardevoir could be female OR male with an even 50/50 gender distribution as a kid, it really made me open my eyes to just how bullshit western ideas of gender were! Because the things about Gardevoir's design that made it look feminine upon first glance to a western audience could be interpreted as masculine from a different perspective! Its "dress" could also read as a kimono. Its "hair" could be seen as a helmet. Where "pretty lady in a dress" was seen by many "young noble Japanese warrior" was an equally valid way to look at the Pokemon depending on its gender and your cultural perspective! It was masculine in a way that is very subversive to western gender stereotypes, and also Japanese in a very interesting way that said something interesting about the culture Pokemon was created in! And while I couldn't express that in words as a kid, I LOVED Gardevoir for it!

And then Gallade came out! And I hated it! Because literally the only thing that I could think of for why Gallade was created was because too many people complained about how girly Gardevoir was while also being an incredibly cool Pokemon and so the boys wanted a Gardevoir too. You know. When the boys already had a Gardevoir for boys. Aka Gardevoir as it was. And so I have always disliked Gallade for this. Also its design looks tacky in some ways, and the fact that people kinda just see Gardevoir as "female Gallade" to the point where some people will only refer to any Gardevoir and the species as a whole by she/her pronouns instead of gender neutral pronouns, even though you can still very VERY much evolve male Kirlia into Gardevoir, has always infuriated me. I thought that Gardevoir's gender ambiguity was SO COOL as a kid! But then that was taken away from me when Gallade was created and could ONLY be male, and to me everything that anyone ever does with Gardevoir and Gallade since then has just reinforced stereotypical western gender norms...

... At least until they created Iron Valiant. Because just... I LOVE Iron Valiant so so SO much! It's SO cool, and SO gender, and the best part about it to me is that it's getting back to what made me absolutely LOVE Gardevoir in the first place by being a species that is entirely genderless/non-binary while presenting as both male AND female at the same time! And so I wanted to make a version of it that was organic and actual flesh and blood like the ones that came before! Because I genuinely think that it would make a LOT of sense and be excellent if it turns out that there WAS a genderless evolution of the Ralts line, historically speaking, but that it went extinct after Poke-Japan modernized, westernized, and started practicing gender in a similar way to the west. This genderless evolution of Kirlia, while rare, was just something that happened sometimes and no one really thought it was weird or commented on it because gender wasn't really thought of in that way before western conceptions of gender came along. And it was perfectly natural for some Ralts to grow up and evolve into this variation and was in fact a sign of great strength. They were admired for their strength and abilities over everything else, and the fact that it didn't fit into male or female in terms of gender/physical sex was maybe a little strange to think about, but perfectly natural! But then western conceptions of gender came along, tried to force this species into a box, and for that, it went extinct. By embracing the western world and abandoning their old thinking of gender and sex, sadly that left no room for this unique and powerful Pokemon to exist, so it went extinct. It's one of the ways that embracing modernization and abandoning the past and the cultural identity that made the area unique causes irreparable harm. In a way, this Pokemon's cultural background and lack of gender was what made it strong in the first place! It's not a Pokemon that can exist as long as a western and essentialist view of gender reigns supreme over the world. And it's a genuine tragedy that it just doesn't exist in the modern world... But it COULD exist again if the traditions that don't view gender as this essential, black and white thing, returns at large! Let's just hope that we aren't all robots before that point happens! And in this setting of Meiji Hoenn? It's here. This species is surviving and thriving. And no one really thinks that its unusual for it to be here and for it to no longer have any gendered sex characteristics because that's just how it naturally has been and doesn't really warrant much comment.

[maniacwatchestheworld]

Comic book fans: Gotham Nocturne is so slow and boring! And I just don't get what the Orgham's plan is! Or why Batman is trying to stop them!

People with actual taste: Gentrification. The story is entirely about gentrification. And if you don't understand that or why Bruce wants to stop that, then this whole story is just not for you. :/

Just saying. Like, I absolutely get why Gotham Nocturne might not be to your taste. I absolutely agree with you that it's been one hell of a slow burn type of story! It's not really a story for action comic fans. But that's why it's in Detective Comics and not the pages of Batman! Ram V clearly has an artistic vision that he is pursuing for this storyline! You may not like the artistic vision, and it may not be to your tastes, but DAYMN you've gotta respect the vision! It's not going to be a story for everyone. Especially not the stereotypical cis, straight, white, neurotypical, able-bodied man that people imagine reads comics. But for those of us who aren't that and get the artistic vision just... DAYMN is it a treat for us! So it continues to utterly baffle me whenever I come across reviews of Gotham Nocturne that clearly don't understand what Ram V is doing and complain about it. It may not be for you, but everyone I talk to who has been keeping up with it has been LOVING it!!!

[maniacwatchestheworld]

Heyo! So I was just curious, if I actually started openly offering commissions, would anyone here or following me actually want to buy? Consider this just sort of an interest check of sorts for commissions. :p