#...maybe if i do something a lil cartoony??

[cryptidhusband]

i wanna do that one art prompt i've seen floating around sooooo bad. but i feel all arted out.

[inbarfink]

Okay, so I just found out that I can watch the whole 2015 stage production of ‘Shock Treatment’ on YouTube and, like, I have… so many thoughts and feelings. It really does demonstrate how Shock Treatment’s biggest flaws is just how unfocused and messy and… just needing one or two more rewrites to reach it's full potential. 

Like there are a few tweaks to the dialogue that makes the whole narrative a bit simpler and easier to comprehend, the satire is a bit more focused on the core themes, I thought most of the jokes were pretty solid (and the more sexual ones offer somewhat of a stronger thematic link to ‘Rocky Horror’) and now there’s actually Shock Treatment in the plot of Shock Treatment!

I do really like how they tweaked the lyrics of some of the song to smooth over some of the remnant ‘these were written for a very different RHPS sequel and re-fitted into this plot’ weirdness. I especially like ‘I they need some young blood’ and the change to the title line in ‘Looking for Trade Fame’ and ‘Look what I you/he did to my Id” (meaning Farley). Sometimes ya just need to change just one lil' pronoun and the whole-ass song makes a lot more sense. 

But the biggest positive change this Stage Version brought is the cast. Because ‘Shock Treatment’ the movie just has way too many characters. Like, look at this compared to RHPS’ cast list.

While this is maybe a natural result of the setting shift from an isolated castle to a whole town, it also leaves a lot of the secondary cast feeling flat and with no real space to develop. Comparing both of Little Nell’s roles is probably the best example. Nurse Ansalong is fun and Nell's performance is great as usual, but she’s just kinda around to be a RHPS nod and so Little Nell has Something to Do in this movie and an excuse to run around in a sexy nurse’s outfit. And these are all noble goals but… well, Columbia was an actual character, as campy as RHPS is, she was a character with emotions and pathos and tragedy and an important narrative and thematic role. Ansalong just never had the time to develop into someone with even a tenth of that depth.

(It also makes ‘Shock Treatment’ waaaay harder to Shadow Cast.)

So the stage version just cutting her out and… basically cutting everyone out except for Brad, Janet, Farley, the two Dr. McKinleys, Betty and Ralph just gives a much better chance for all of these characters to feel like actual people. Campy, exaggerated cartoony people - but definitely people. 

Like, we get to spend a little more time on making the manipulation of Janet into a superstar feel more gradual and convincing. Which both help her work better as… basically the Emotional cornerstone of the whole story and make the villains feel more despicable and more competent. Which of course really helps the two Dr. McKinleys since all of Farley’s other minions have been cut. In general they get more opportunity to say funny stuff and can really see how they use their faux psychology and therapyspeak to control people. 

....There's some level where I maybe think this script went a little too far in the other direction. That it's kinda disappointing that this Janet didn't never quite go off the deep end like her movie counterpart did. In general this version's slightly more.... grounded vibe - compared to the Movie's kinda Surrealist Nightmare Vibe - is one of the things I feel most conflicted about.

Like on one hand, this kinda campy nonsense world where gameshow hosts committing husbands to mental asylums and living your whole life on a sound-stage are normal is one of the most compelling parts of 'Shock Treatments' satire and it's kind of a shame to lose it... but also this more grounded tone creates a story that it's easier to follow an, more importantly, emotional stakes it's easier to get invested in. I think the Ideal Perfect Version of Shock Treatment’ that Exists Only in My Brain would be, tone-wise, in the middle between the movie and the stage show, but also maybe lean more towards the stage version?

The added details that Brad and Janet’s marriage has been hitting a rough patch because Brad has been fired from his job just as Janet has gotten a promotion (which I think is a detail from "The Brad and Janet Show" draft that was dropped from the 'Shock Treatment' movie?) adds some thematic resonance about the characters dealing with the Changing Times, the idea that Brad might feel emasculated with Janet’s success while has been (temporarily) regulated to the role of a househusband is maybe understandable but it is also understandable why it would frustrate Janet and thus lives her open to the McKinley's manipulations. Again, the characters are still kinda campy, still kinda silly - but having a bit of grounding for Brad and Janet’s relationship does help when this is basically… all the emotional stakes in the story.

Now, in the Ideal Perfect Version of Shock Treatment’ that Exists Only in My Brain, the rift in Brad and Janet relationship would’ve been created by the lingering effects of the events in the Frankenstein's Place. Janet would rather pretend they never happened but Brad is still visibly reeling from that time he got forced-femmed by aliens. And although the events of ‘Rocky Horror' did definitely happen in this version, it’s mentioned as just a throwaway joke (“We’ve been through so much together! Infidelity, homicide, aliens, fishnet stockings… and that’s just the engagement party”). Still, it was a funny throwaway joke - and the promotion-and-firing idea they went with makes thematic sense in this version of ‘Shock Treatment’. 

Farley Flavors also get a bit of a ‘boost’ from the trimmed cast but… honestly the changes to his character are the ones I am most split about. Because this version of Farley Flavors is generally better because there’s a bit more… flavor to him. A more visibly wacky personality, a few more gimmicks to him. And when I first saw him I was actually… pretty hyped about him as the main villain.

Because, okay, the main problem with Farley as a villain is that, despite Cliff De Young’s excellent performance, he really is just another Evil 80’s Businessman and that feels a bit bland in the wacky world of Rocky Horror. Like, the whole ‘long-lost twin brother’ twist is supposed to feel like the counterpart to the Alien Twist in RHPS and a parody of stupid soap opera twists in general. But… the thing is that even before we found out he was an alien, Frank was already an incredibly distinctive and unique character. Being revealed as an alien in the last act of the story doesn’t define him.

But since Farley doesn’t have as much going for his character, the stupid parody long-lost brother twist does end up being his defining trait and it makes his whole character feel lackluster because… it’s a stupid parody twist! 

But since Twenty-Fifteen Farley is Fairly Far-Fetched right from the get-go this means the twist has more of a chance to feel more like the original Aliens Twist. Plus, there’s bits of dialogue here and there that feel like Foreshadowing. Farley constantly reiterates that Denton is his hometown, and that he’s a self-made man (which connects to the briefly-alluded-to implication that he was adopted into a poorer family than Brad’s and that's the source of his resentment), him saying some very Ominous Things to Bard at the end of ‘Lullaby’

And then…. It turns out this version decided to cut the long-lost twin thing!

Which… honestly I probably should’ve seen coming from the casting choices. 

And like, I see the logic here. Obviously the double-casting gimmick does not work on stage, that was supposed to be a parody of soap-opera twists and that element is a lot more downplayed in this version of ‘Shock Treatment’ and like… since this plot point has been already been heavily criticized in the film version I can see why they would want to cut it. 

But… it’s not just that I feel like this twist would’ve worked better in this version it’s also that… cutting this plot point and replacing it with nothing just makes Brad - who is already kinda relegated into glorified McGuffin for most of this story - feel like he had even less to do with the plot and makes Farley’s apparent animosity for Brad even more inexplicable and shoddy.

Like, Farley still says he chose Janet ‘because of [Brad]’ so I guess we’re supposed to believe that he just finds Brad to be such a massive lameo that it makes him seethe with a burning hatred of a thousand suns. Which is an even flimsier motivation than that Twin Stuff in the movie. 

‘Duel Duet’ always has that problem that it was originally written for two characters with a very powerful well-established rivalry and emotional stakes (Dr. Frank N’ Furter and Riff-Raff) and then had to be transplanted into being about these two schmucks who barely even know each other. And removing the Twin Twist just kinda removes whatever emotional stakes they did have and exacerbates the problem. 

.....Honestly, I think the main way to really ‘fix’ Duel Duet is… instead of that one kinda ‘Girl Power’ moment they tried to give Janet that I feel is a bit too heavy-handed and obvious…

Just make ‘Duel Duet’ a Farley versus Janet song!

Like, Janet is unquestionably THE Main Character of the story with the most important emotional journey of all of the characters, she was the core target of Farley’s manipulation and the focus of his schemes, she’s the one who actually got to interact with him and developed any sort of relationship with him, the focus of this scene is on how Janet realizing she has been used by him, she already spends all of Duel Duet physically kicking his ass…

Janet should also be the one to musically face-off against Farley, especially if you remove the only reason why Farley has to hate Brad so much. Like, yeah, she does get to beat him physically... but because this is a musical - the Songs are the thing that gets the biggest emotional and narrative priority. The person who gets to Duel Duet with the Farley is the person who really beats him. And this is really moment that should belong to Janet in this version of the story.

And maybe removing one of the few Things Brad actually gets to do in this plot which is also his Big Musical Number would kinda suck for him, but… well, this version also gives Brad a nice lil’ Triumphant Reprise of ‘In My Own Way’ where he reaffirms his love for Janet and maybe you can expand that into his Big Musical Number and… y’know, if the rift in their marriage was at least kinda about Brad’s insecurities about Janet becoming the Main Breadwinner of the household… Maybe it’ll be a good resolution to his story to embrace being Janet’s little Damsel in Distress?

(I mean, I think this is an element in this musical as it is but.... but you could've leaned into it more!)

And with both Oliver Wright and Macy Struthers cut, that gives more material to make Betty’s character more interesting. Without Oliver, Betty generally gets to talk about her ongoing investigation with Janet - and that means the two of them get to have more interactions and a more visible friendship. And on the other hand, She starts out as Ralph Hapshatt’s cohost, putting on a very Macy-esque false smile and pretending they’re still happily married. It’s a fun, character-specific spin on the whole ‘falsehood of television’ motif of ‘Shock Treatment’. 

(Also since Oliver is cut, it means Betty, Janet and Brad sing “Anyhow, Anyhow” as a trio. Which… I think that means they’re gonna have a threesome. And you know what? I support Janet Majors and her two girlfriends!)

And Ralph… really got the biggest boost in personality from the trimming of the cast - especially as most of the singing roles of these cut characters for assigned to him. Like, okay, I think something that’s kind of a problem with the ending of the original ‘Shock Treatment’ is how… unambiguous it is when compared to ‘Rocky Horror’. 

Because ‘Rocky Horror’ has a very morally ambiguous cast - pretty much every character has some element that makes them at least a little bit sympathetic and also… well, if not morally wrong than at least an (Audience Participation Voice) ASSHOLE (but also yeah, a lot of them are morally reprehensible even when working against other morally reprehensible characters). And the ending leaves it ambiguous whatever Frank got what he deserves or whatever his death is a tragedy, or some combinations of the two. Not to mention the ambiguity of what happened to Brad and Janet; whatever they’ve been liberated or exploited or corrupted and whatever or not they’re better off being left behind on earth or remaining in Frank’s clutches.

And meanwhile ‘Shock Treatment’  has a VERY clear-cut ending. There is a unambiguous differentiation between the characters who are the Good Guys, and those who are Bad Guys and those who are the Bad Guys’ Gullible Victims. And, like, yeah, all the Bad Guys succeeded in their evil scheme and and are now basically literally rolling in cash

…but literally any character who has any redeeming qualities gets to happily escape this Nightmare Studio while singing a cheery song about sex. 

Even Oscar Drill and the Bits, who are quite literally Bit Characters and have very little characterization or connection to our Main Foursome, get to escape. Basically just because what little we got from them made them seem like a nice group of young gays and they never did anything bad. 

And all of the people who stayed behind were portrayed as such exaggerated cartoonish bigoted caricatures literally rushing in excitement to get themselves exploited. Nor do we get any moment for our protagonists to show any sort of concern or regret or sadness about these people who they've known all of their lives. So it’s really hard to care about them as, like, Real People who've been duped into being ground down by this awful machine of capitalism and conformism. 

I understand the idea that having a wider cast makes Denton feel more like a Town compared to the isolated feeling of the Frankenstein’s Place, and that seeing all of these people fall for Farley’s bullshit in their own slightly-different ways help drives home how prevalent and influential and powerful this capitalist proudly-selfish image-obsessed philosophy really is. But… none of these characters get enough time to develop into anything but shallow parodies of Society. There’s just not enough humanity in them to sell even an ounce of the tragedy of Columbia and Rocky's deaths. 

So condensing all of these slightly-different characters into Ralph Hapshatt… that really made him the most complicated and morally-ambiguous character in this whole musical. Because, yeah, he is a self-obsessed sexist asshole driven primarily by a desire for fame and fortune but…

We spend enough time with him to humanize him. To see how he’s struggling with internalized homophobia and how he does have his doubts about what Farley and Co. are doing to his best friends even if his thirst for fame keep winning the moral battle and that said thirst for fame is pretty obviously born from a desperate need for love and validation that this homophobic corporate world just can’t give him.

So when the show ends with him being happily strapped unto to the Shock Treatment device he illegally modified with his own two hands because he just can’t allow himself to refuse a chance to star on TV - on some level this is karma, but it’s also a grim reminder that even if our threesome of heroes are happy and free, this exploitative entertainment machine also 'just got to keep going', just got to keep grinding down other people in the name of mental health, the American family and quality entertainment. 

And although we’ve technically scaled down from a whole town to just one guy, this feels so much more tragic because as selfish as Ralph is, and as silly and intentionally-ridiculous as the writing is sometimes, he still feels so much like a person. 

[lokiina]

WIP whenever~

So I know I got tagged a bit ago by @pinkyjulien and recently by @cybersteal (there may have been a few more I missed dfkjghdfg)

AIGHT. It's not super informative cuz I been working too much, trying to move and had to travel recently for a funeral. So brain's been a moving a lil slow and needs a break... BUT:

Mods:

I have a billion things on the go at any given time. It's like, questionable on when some will get finished. But I do have a silly Prop coming soon. So be on the look out for that. No preview or hints cuz it's intended to be a surprise. But I've been giggling a lot at it in the background.

Writing:

I'm a horrendously slow writer and I work in lil bursts but I've been working a bit more on adding to my lil blip I've thrown together on ao3 for Zayn and Dino. So maybe a lil chapter 3 will be up soon.

As poor lil demisexual Zayn has started to malfunction not knowing what to do with sudden feels he doesn't usually experience. Zayn.exe has stopped responding 👀 But also possibly featuring a very pissed off Dino too.

Art:

I've been def trying to do a lil more art as well, even if it means doing things really really slow in the background. I keep pondering the possibility of offering some form of commission maybe with my lil cartoony style like this cuz I'm pretty good at plopping those things out at a decent pace if I don't try to overkill details. 😂

I wanna be able to get myself a good gaming chair for the new place so I can have something better for me than a shitty kitchen chair and flattened cushion. So the money would probs go to that if I do.

tagging; I haven't been on here enough to see who's done shit recently so if you already did pls ignore. Also never any pressure anyway. @dreamskug, @arcandoria, @lucky38-2077, @chooh2, @a-pirate, @sammysilverdyne Also whom ever else might wanna take part, you can consider this a tag. 😘

[wherefancytakesme]

Salty Ask List

What OTPs in your fandom(s) do you just not get?* /W/anDom! It just feels really heteronormative to me, and the art I’ve seen looks far too lovey-dovey for those two.

Are there any popular fandom OTPs you only BroTP?* /S/ylander. Wander and Sylvia are one of the very few male/female duos that are really close purely as friends. It should honestly stay that way, if not just to show how close you can be to your friends too. Also /S/keleton Dance. Wander is asexual af to me.

Have you ever unfollowed someone over a fandom opinion? Nope, I only follow crew and art blogs. But I’ve defs blocked artists who were homophobic.

Do you have a NoTP in your fandom? Are they a popular OTP?* /B/lack Eye. I just think of those two as they gayest of all 5 mains, so there’s no way I could possibly be comfortable imagining them together.

Has fandom ever ruined a pairing for you?* I almost had Sylava ruined for me. Almost. Because of... uh... a certain someone I think we all remember.

Has fandom ever made you enjoy a pairing you previously hated?* I started coming around to Tumblesquid. It counteracts with my headcanon, but I love the idea of Wander being subtly married to Jeff the whole time.

Is there anything you used to like but can’t stand now?* I didn’t mind WOY nsfw before, but now all it ever is is Dominator or one of the female characters made to look sexier than they are. People who think Dominator’s hot should actually take a look at the series as a whole, dammit. It’s good.

Have you received anon hate? What about?* Nope! I don’t allow asks.

Most disliked character(s)? Why? Lil’ Bits maybe? She’s a little gimmicky for me as a villain. At least Awesome is fun to hate... Sort of, lol.

Most disliked arc? Why? The arc that got teased in The Robomechabotatron, but ONLY because we never got a 3rd season to develop it. Now it just looks like, “Haha jk we’ll never team up again, we learned nothing.”

Is there an unpopular character you like that the fandom doesn’t? Why? The only I can think of are the sexy princesses from The Hot Shot. I think it’s funny that the staff wanted to joke about Disney princesses who are conventionally attractive and look nothing like their cartoony fathers.

Is there an unpopular arc that you like that the fandom doesn’t? Why? I guess no one’s a big fan of Hater crushing on Dominator, but while it IS a little typical, I really loved watching Hater be a dork when we know that Dominator WILL NEVER LOVE HIM.

Unpopular opinion about XXX character? Dominator’s not that hot? Just because she has an hourglass figure doesn’t make her automatically attractive. That said though, I’m not usually into those types anyway. Goth OR femme fatale.

Unpopular opinion about your fandom? Are there any opinions on us at all? We’re so small, haha. Um, I guess that we’re more determined than some think. I bet Disney’s like, “Look, see? They’re quiet now, they forgot about #SaveWOY just like we thought”. Bitch nah.

Unpopular opinion about the manga/show? Um, the old dA beta comics? Um, I guess I don’t like beta Sylvia. Maybe everybody didn’t like what a buzzkill she was, but I also found her super ugly.

If you could change anything in the show, what would you change? I’D GIVE IT A THIRD SEASON, OF COURSE.

Instead of XYZ happening, I would have made ABC happen… Instead of only getting queer rep past with little jokes, I’d put in as much blatant rep as possible. WOY’s in space, there’s no such thing as human sexuality/gender standards.

Does not shipping something ‘popular’ mean you’re in denial and/or biased? In denial, not really. Biased, it depends on the situation.

What is the one thing you hate most about your fandom? That it’s getting smaller and smaller.

What is the purest ship in the fandom? Demurra and Drake! That’s canon, but still. They are so healthy and wholesome and defy all expectations!

What are your thoughts on crack ships? They’re usually pretty fun, purely for the sake of messing around with characters that would never interact.

Popular character you hate? Awesome. I just... wanna friggin’ curb stomp him whenever he’s onscreen. (But I do like watching him get wrecked.)

Unpopular character you love? Was there ever anyone unpopular? Frederick the worm faded into obscurity pretty quick I guess, but I still love thinking about him and Ryder teaming up and the latter working out his issues through the former.

Would you recommend XXX to a friend? Why or why not? OF FUCKING COURSE I WOULD! Who the hell DOESN’T support SaveWOY?!

How would you end XXX/Would you change the ending of XXX? Oh no, I ain’t touchin’ that one. All I want is to know the intended ending. THEN I will tell you what I might have wanted.

Most shippable character? Wander, dude. He’s the fandom’s shipping bicycle. But for me personally, I ship Peepers with most everybody. Everyone male at least.

Least shippable character? Brad. He’s eventually happily married, but the dude did not deserve anyone before then. And I mean, now that he IS married, he’s off the market anyway.

[chiisana-lion]

1 and 23 for the ask game <3333

(ask game)

1) How would you describe your style Honestly have no idea on this one. ig i can't deny its anime/manga adjacent but ive been wanting to make it a bit cartoony lately ?!??! I know i get a lot from other people saying my art is on the pretty soft end though asjdkghhjkgds however you take this as

23) What's something you hope people notice when looking at your art I like to sneak in little details every so often !! lately been messing around w eye pupils like these for example, making it into a heart or attempt at a little bear-like shape

maybe its on me for drawing on such small canvases but it usually goes under ppls radar but i do not mind at all its just a lil fun thing for Me

[confetti-critter]

Random 🎂 facts:

-it can change its colours and appearance at will, but seems pretty insistent on looking Like That

-it can change the colours of other things so if you want something to be a different colour, it can help. (just hopefully you want it to be obnoxiously bright. If you want the thing to be a dull colour you'll have to ask it really nicely because it takes more effort. Beige is impossible though)

-its deely-bopper antennae colour and the brightness of its fur are tied to its emotions (when it's really sad or upset, it gets duller in colour. It might even go completely colourless!). If it's super happy it might start shining all over

-Its blood is thicker than human blood and is prismatic (I would go with some bright solid colour but thats a homestuck thing I'm pretty sure). saliva+tears kinda have a gasoline-on-concrete effect

-if you were to put your ear up to its antennae, it would sound like a burnt out lightbulb (what, you've never shaken a burnt out lightbulb and put your ear to it? Next time a lightbulb in your house goes out shake it and put it to your ear), and also it would feel like an old tv screen

-its "nose" also feels like an old tv screen (is it actually a nose? there's no nostrils....) and if you touch it you'll most definitely get a little static shock

-its eyes are probably the same way, but don't touch its eyeballs pls :(

-despite sounding like lightbulbs, its antennae aren't fragile like them. (Idk if they can ever crack/break but if they did, that wouldn't turn out well I think)

-it doesn't blink often, but when it does it makes a lil cartoony noise (like the "squemp" from spunch bob)

-it's always moving in some way (even if it's just whisker+antennae wiggles)

-it can sprout insect-like wings out of its back, but it hurts and makes a horrible ripping sound so you don't want to watch that. The wings can shed and regrow

-Its insides definitely look more alien than human, probably more insectoid (maybe it even has…..mechanical parts??)

-when escaping a situation it prefers to sorta.....pop out of existence. It can only do this in short distances, and if you're around it when it happens your ears pop like you're on a plane

-its voice sounds like a mixture of insect chittering and a garbled voice I heard once when I had sleep paralysis (my eyes were half open and everything was wavy, and the voice came from behind my door and I somehow knew it was an alien's voice. :3 tee hee)

-its laugh is sort of like the sound laminate paper makes, and it can make all sorts of cartoon-y noises

-it doesn't seem to need to eat/drink, but it does anyway, preferring sugary drinks/baked goods/candy. It can also eat non-food things and not get sick

-it's sensitive to smells/sounds/feelings. When it's good its GOOD YIPPEE!!!!!! 🎉 But when it's bad it's BAD YUCK HISSSSS!!!!!!!!! 😡

-if you ask anything about it it'll just sorta shrug (where'd you come from? Do you have like....a spaceship? What's your gender? What's your sexual orientation? How old are you?🤷🤷🤷🤷🤷)

-Jermaine (the assistant manager of the fun centre that 🎂 lives in) says that it must be "at least in its late 20's" because it rickrolled him once

-(they don't talk face to face, just through word docs on the same office computer from time to time. Jer types a message while he's working and 🎂 replies after hours when it's up)

[birdmitosis]

SO OKAY. THE SPIDEY HIGH SCHOOL AU DREAM? I’m capitalizing all of this because I know it’s actually a lot easier to read for a lot of people when there’s a ton of text and in like. Actual paragraphs.

So okay god this one’s crazy. I almost never dream. Sometimes when I do I know I dreamt but can’t remember jack shit. At least half the time when I do remember it's a fandream. And I also have this thing happen where half the time I am a character in the dream but DECIDEDLY not me. Sometimes I’m even a specific fictional character? Or a character that is like... both me and a fictional character at the same time? Or a fictional character and also someone else, but it’s someone else who’s not me? And half the time I am not even in the dream but instead watching it like a movie, or even in one memorable case reading it like a doujinshi. And both of these halves... often happen in the same dream going back-and-forth. And tbh, it owns! Anyway, this specific dream was a High School AU Spider-Man dream, as I said. It actually had very little Spidey all things considered... Or rather, I think for the most part I was Spidey or the equivalent?? Who'd only very recently gotten bit and was still figuring out how to deal with that? I was mostly Parker, IIRC, and only a little “also me” or “also another person but not me” so I’ll just say Parker. And Parker was a girl, and I think a trans girl, besides being me but not me. But it was also like watching a cartoon at the same time in some ways. And this was a High School AU in the sense that like... not only was Parker in high school, but all the villains were also in the same high school? As like. Students. For no reason. Everyone was around Parker's age despite this making no sense. Okay go with it. Literally ALL I remember even semi-clearly about this particular dream was a Tinkerer-focused part BECAUSE OF FUCKING COURSE. Tinkerer is MY blorbo and I’m just gonna have to live with that for the rest of my life. And like all of this was like... not quite 100% pre-superhero/pre-supervillain, but everyone just kinda getting started. Besides Parker just recently getting The Bite™, the various villains were just dipping their toes into Misbehaving, in a not full-on crime way for most of them yet. And Mason was introduced just causing general chaos with the tech in the lab just for fun? Making machines go haywire and all with other students caught up in it, not really in super dangerous ways but there was a lot of General Cacophony as like people were spun around, sprayed with shit, etc. And Mason was REALLY fuckin amused by this, like, obviously so. And there was so much chaos that no one else really noticed there was a specific person behind it despite it being kinda obvious if anyone... looked over at him, lol. And there were these fun little... like... cartoony "introduction cards” that popped up when important characters were introduced. Just like, saying their names and a few lil facts about them, and it was really cute. I know one of Mason's was “knows he's a genius, unfortunately” and another was something like "buys into his own hype"? And also something about liking to cause chaos or trouble and being the tech guy. In like a little bullet-point list of like THE IMPORTANT THINGS TO NOTE format. Super cute and endearing element. Okay so anyway! No one noticed there was even a specific guy behind this haywire stuff... except Parker (who... at this point was me?). Parker noticed, and Mason noticed that Parker noticed, and Mason retreated out to the catwalk that was outside the lab(? Why was one there? No idea. I'm pretty sure there was also a FUCKING WATERFALL. Like maybe it was just an artificial water feature but still! Seems pretty hazardous and pointless for your high school science lab, cartoon/dream!) And Parker/I followed him out to confront him. But in a like... initially trying to figure out what the fuck way rather than a fight way. Trying to be like hey, actually, what is up, why are you doing this? And when Parker asked him that, Mason seemingly opened up to her, like, seemed to crack a bit emotionally and be legit vulnerable to her? And it seemed legit kind of sweet? He mentioned troubles he was having and how he was just frustrated and pushing the boundaries of what he could get away with tech-wise and he didn't actually want anyone to get hurt... And then Beck fucking came up behind Parker and DRUGGED HER. With a chemical on a rag that made her forget the entire last five minutes, including having seen Mason responsible for anything! Mason had just been distracting Parker so that Beck could sneak up on her! And at that point the dream pulled back to let me see a more cinematic/“watching a cartoon” view of the rest of the scene, so like, I wasn't Parker anymore? I was the camera? So I’ll just say Parker from now on. Beck’s “intro card,” by the way, included “theater kid” and “the only person Phineas Mason hypes up more than himself.” Like I was getting the strong impression that a)these two are usually insufferable, which made Mason’s seeming to open up to Parker more touching and like, actually significant! until SUDDENLY IT WAS A RUSE, and also b)these are the Those Two Guys who are inseparable a lot of the time and no one’s sure if they’re best friends or dating and just. Dream. I love this, 100%. This ruled, give me this all the time. Anyway, after drugging Parker, Mason held onto Parker and Beck held onto him and they fuckin put Parker IN THE WATERFALL off the side of the catwalk, and Beck started shouting for help while they both held onto Parker (and each other) for dear life. RISKY FUCKIN STUNT, YOU TWO, STOP THAT. And they concocted a story for the teachers that Mason had come out because he'd gotten overwhelmed and panicked from all the chaos, and both Parker and Beck had followed him out to check if he was okay (which, like, made 100% sense for both in-universe, no one would’ve questioned it, because Parker’s thoroughly decent to classmates and Beck and Mason are often inseparable). And Parker had also seemed pretty overwhelmed as well, and had just suddenly passed out and almost fallen, and Mason had grabbed her and almost fallen himself until Beck grabbed him. And so Mason then had an alibi that had him looking even better than innocent, because like, obvs he'd been busy when all of this had happened! And not only that but his instinctive quick action had outright helped save another student's life! Obviously he could not have been involved in any of this bad shit! And when Parker woke up she was left completely confused and a little alarmed but didn't have any reason to suspect them! Because she didn’t remember anything, and Mason didn’t really seem like the type and had apparently helped save her life, and like, she also didn’t ever have a reason to suspect Beck would be in on it because, while he was around the lab too, he was like, not tech focused at all? He was into chemistry. And so they both 100% got away with things, entirely, and were super pleased with themselves. Like I’m pretty sure they stealthily high-fived or fist-bumped at the end and no one noticed. And I can't. Fuckin believe. This is just what my dreams do sometimes! I’m still laughing at this shit. I wish badly that it really existed because I’d watch a whole cartoon of this legit, even one that was a bit less canon gay than my dream was leaning. (But let’s be real I’d love that more.) ANYWAY, THAT’S THE HIGH SCHOOL AU DREAM POST I TRIED TO PUT IN THE TAGS. And failed because I ran out of tags. But here it is, it’s A Lot and I love it way too much.

[alicenpai]

recent pandora hearts doodlz (vanitas anime hypeeee)

some thoughts! kinda felt like changing up my art recently...! i haven’t been super happy with my art and progress during quarantine. i feel that although lineless work looks GREAT, the way i do it - i lose a lot of details n depth that could be otherwise be easier ? more effective? to achieve via lined work. and doing overlapping limbs/objects in lineless is HELL (my 2 character drawings... i’m looking at you.) my art has went from anime -> more cartoony and my influences mix a lot..!! even so i think it was like, 50% anime and 50% cartoony since i started animation school. it was never 100% anime or 100% cartoony. but now i kinda want to put ..more ? anime influences? back in? but with more utilization of shape language and stylization? so then it’ll be like, 60-40 or maybe around 70-30. i did the will of the abyss (image 1) above as a lil experiment and i think it turned out pretty successful! (it was also a study off a photo for the pose, and some other photo refs for the lighting.) and i think i’ll be moving in that direction with my art. i want to improve in depicting depth and anatomy.. my anatomy isn’t so hot. i want to be happier with the art i make :> IF ANYONE REMEMBERS THE 2012 WOTA PICTURE. YOU ARE TOO OLD. GET OUTTA HERE (joke) i remembered recently that 5 years ago i bought crimson shell for a dear friend.. so i ended up buying a volume for myself (FINALLY) and it’s coming in the mail soon, i’m so excited TT

[astralibrary]

2021 art summary!!

this year i challenged myself to do at least one finished-looking piece per month SPECIFICALLY for the purpose of making this summary look nice, which! i think i pulled off 😎 (though i also think it may have lead to a bit of burnout towards the end so maybe i’ll take it a lil easier this year hehe..,)

the main things i focused on this year were developing my chibi/cartoony style (featured in april, may & june) and trying to figure out a good consistent workflow to get my pieces looking polished without straining my hand- basically, speed and efficiency 👍✨

i also did a lot of animation! mostly just little things for challenges and such but all very fun to do; definitely a skill i want to keep working on and improving going forward!!

ALSO i reached a Big big milestone byyyy opening commissions for the first time this year! 🎉 it’s something i always dreamed of doing “once i got good enough” so it’s kinda surreal to actually make it happen, you know? though i’m not the best at putting myself out there quite yet, i’m still proud of myself for taking such a big step! hoping to build more on what i’ve started this year ✌️

speaking of things i’d like to improve on this year, posting more consistently is deeefinitely one of them;;, i did a Lot of drawing in 2021 but there are still things i never even posted, even though they were finished?? part of it is me waiting too long and then feeling like the “moment” has passed, or putting too much pressure on myself to make the post Perfect- def gonna try my best to tackle these issues and hopefully share more of my art because that’s something that’s important to me!

finally, to round things out: in 2020, i said that i finally felt like i was starting to get back on my feet with art after years of dealing with hand strain, and that i hoped to keep the momentum rolling in 2021. i can say now with confidence that i can for sure feel that momentum carrying forward- just looking at 2021′s lineup compared to 2020′s i can see myself learning and growing, and that’s so exciting!

honestly, the last month or so has been a bit slow in terms of art, and it’s been a little disheartening, considering the long stretch of months and months on end i spent last year consumed by my love for art, drawing almost every single day, never quite able to satiate the hunger to do more. it feels like i’ve broken a streak, or lost something that gave me the will to keep it going.

but taking this step back to look at everything i created over the last year, sifting through folder after folder to decide which pieces i wanted to include, and then comparing it to last year’s art summary, or even the year before’s- it just kinda puts things into perspective in a very reassuring way.

i’ve come this far, and i’m going to go further still. every journey requires time to rest; i’ll recharge, and once i’m ready to go again i’ll be out here drawing and improving like i’ve always been. i can’t wait to see where i’ll go this year!

it’s a lil late, but happy 2022 to all of you! thank you for joining me on this humble lil art journey of mine; i hope you’re looking forward to the next chapter as much as i am! 💗💗💗✨✨✨

[rotten-dan]

i don't know much about do/n't sta/rve, but the fact that all the characters had their own lives they'll never get back to and they're in this purgatory (plus literally alone when you're not doing together, although maybe together is more canon i dunno), that kinda puts me off a bit. in terms of, enjoying whatever story exists outside of the gameplay. like at least with gu/ngeon, all the characters are more just archetypes, but also they do ultimately work out their shit and escape, y'know?

in en/ter the gun/geon the characters are technically also trapped forever. there is always a version of them in the gu/ngeon

I believe D/ST is much more canon than the solo game, at least i think so. Wes's lil lore thing says that out of the good things from being trapped here is the new friends so thats canon (also who else would've saved him if not a friend?)

idk if they are trapped FOREVER, they got all this magic and science and about 20 heads working together. Wag/staff is even doing some....hologram/teleportation stuff into this world so!

(side note: i believe some of em dont have anything to go back to)

I'm also very much like "I dont want to play something that is going to be a bummer" ive talked about this before.

Don/t S/tarve just did a rlly good job at presenting it in both seriously sad but also cartoony logic thing going on, the characters even make jokes and puns about situations so I guesS THEY Takin it well.

Also also Also: Found family

[theharlotofferelden]

So yesterday I had lunch with my mother-in-law and sister-in-law and ended up scheduling an tattoo appointment because SIL thought it would be a good idea to get a tattoo in honor of her stepdad (my father-in-law). We weren't able to get an appointment though, so we scheduled one for today at 7pm, which worked out for me because I actually wanted to design my own tattoo (and maybe create something for them).

SIL wanted the tattoos to be squirrels because FIL apparently really loved them (MIL and I suspect he was autistic like me so this may have been his special interest) and actually went to see a squirrel circus at one point. So these designs are reflective of that.

At first I was super interested in these designs of squirrels running, but ended up not finishing them because I didn't know how well these would translate when scaled down to 2inches (he told us he uses fine needles for stuff but I'm always worried about bleeding). I also wanted to get something small that could fit on my foot on my inner heel, so I decided to go with this design:

MIL wasn't fussy but SIL was looking for something a bit more cute/cartoony, specifically this design, which at MIL's suggestion I created my own version of.

MIL liked this so much she refused to let me refine it further (saying that if SIL wanted to get something altered or add anything she could just ask the tattoo artist to do it). It's so hard not to mess around with it tho, I just want to tweak it a lil bit and thicken up some lines, but i'm trying to respect her wishes.

Just thought I'd share these because honestly it was kinda fun and they are super cute. (I'm kinda sad I'm not getting one of the top two because they are honestly adorable imo but idk where I'd put them.)

[thedailyvio]

Every now and then I feel bad for giving 0 context for anything, so gonna quickly summarize my story stuff under the cut

The Traveler’s Found (TTF)

Skye, Gill, Marth, Kydin, Leo, Kira, Krieg, Heiwa, Narcissa, Sebastian, Vadim, Bahemek, Xenon, etc

TTF is hard to summarize because it has 10 story arcs and they all lead into the other, but the plot begins with ‘A wizard terrorist attacks the king of Hou’lu sending two girls on a quest to stop him’ which sounds so simple doesn’t it -sobs-

 Very adventure, political intrigue, slice of life elements

They basically travel all over the world, and I’ll quickly summarize what that’s like by listing each countries major influences

Hou’lu: Italian Renaissance, China

Sunobor: Medieval Germany, Japan, Inuit

Haldon: Folk Mexican, Folk Italian

Lavynna; Byzantine, some inspo from India to structure of things?

Gehinna: Ancient Hebrew

Parappa: Egypt-Germany

North Desert: Russia-Arabic

Harpies (more a tribe): Maasai

TTF of them all gets the most complicated but very incrementally, so it’s the hardest to express much on. But they get a cool hard magic system based on 10 elements so

Also TTF dragons are sentient, intelligent, and morally complex

—

The Miyoré Schism

A prequel to ttf by about 900 years

Faolan, Mien, Enlai, whatever I name the girl, Jiao

The plot here is a bit simpler

What happens when the one who pulls the blade only those Chosen by God can touch is among the race of people thought to be destined to serve?

This focuses largely on the Sha’li of East Hou’lu. As a race they have very distinct white hair, pale skin, and red eyes. At this time in history, monster taming was very common as well, so most the characters have a family or personal monster. Sha’li also have an ability to become “invisible” but in actuality they are lowering their ‘presence’ or ‘noticibility’ to all non-Sha’li

This story draws largely from Tibet for its aesthetics

—

Kingdoms

Ariella, James, Charles, Kiba

I have uprooted a lot about this story and not yet relayed it, but so far

A girl who wanted to become a soldier but was refused strikes out on adventure to do what she can for her country on her own- but to her chagrin gets a tag along

This story likely will have a soft magic system, and is definitely still based on Victorian and Japanese aesthetics. It’s actually a specific era of Japanese history but I can’t remember which. Possibly 16th c?

Despite this, it’s a low tech world.

Most fantasy type creatures/races do show up in Kingdoms, unlike my other stories

Dragons exist in Kingdoms but are universally evil and nobody has ever killed one

—

Magic and Cannons (MnC)

A wip name still

Cusick, Agathe, Romana, Kordell, Levi, Maureen, Ames, Sung-jin

I’m still figuring put the plot to this honestly, but the first bit is definitely

‘A narcissistic man is captured as a PoW and must find a way to escape’

There’s just three countries of any importance to this world, and it’s much less whimsical in nature than the others, being closer to reality in some ways, and having a lot more tech. Though it vibes as subtly cartoony in how characters have slightly exaggerated aspects to their personalities and behaviors.

Delemar is the country Cusick is from and is based on Wild West in many ways, they’re a very independent people which can be good and bad, they also give no hecks about safety and are pretty wild in general

Choson is where Romana is from and they are much more interested in normalcy and order, which can be both good and bad. They prefer reptiles and fish as pets to mammals actually, which feels important to mention. If you know much about history, I suppose it’s clear they draw a lot from Korea for aesthetics.

Choson is also a very mixed population in terms of race, which Delemar is very much not.

Kievan is where Agathe hails from and is based on Russia. In each case I tried sticking to 1850s-1900s ish for my influences of these countries, though socially they are very diff.

Kievan has an affinity for wine and is the only country that appreciates using electricity for power. They have harsh winters, especially compared to the other two countries which tend to be more tropical in climates. Kievan is less developed so far, but they tend towards legalism there, and while that can be bad, they are also the one not involved in a pointless war, so

MnC is what I call glasspunk, Delemar and Choson rely on ‘reactions’ for their energy sources, which I can only explain as ‘you know how if you mix two volatile liquids, they could explode? They harness the energy from such things’

This is possible because their magic system is a type of alchemy which has allowed them a lot of reactions not available to us, and with this they’ve been able to get treated glass which is nearly indestructible, great for containing anything they need.

Magic is still something within the individual, but in MnC the extent of what it does is change the properties of whatever you’re touching with your hands. If you specialize in using this and inventing things based off of things with changed properties, you’re called a mage.

MnC has a lot of strange tech this way, including trains, vehicles, customizeable guns, staves that through weird tech stuff can have sort of elemental effects, etc.

Electricity is not compatible with reactions btw, because it can cause them to explode outside of when they’re meant to, kinda like smoking by a bunch of canisters of gasoline, it might be a lil risky. So societies that use reactions do not use electricity and have things in place to get rid of it, and societies that use electricity don’t use reactions. Combining them can get cool tech, but is inherently risky.

oh whoops I went off there, huh. Oh well it’s not seen as often as the other types of societies/magics I listed so

Dragons in MnC are animals (technically wyverns?) and have been domesticated to be work animals. No fire breath but they do have a strong venom, I think a neurotoxin type?? And the insides of their mouths are orange 👀 oh and the domesticated ones are reflective like mirrors ish

—

Children of the Little Mine (CotLM)

Geno

This is the only one I plan to make a novel, because it’s set in 1950′s-1960′s New York City and I don’t care about those aesthetics at all

I don’t have it planned out very far for plot, but basically a gremlin thief boy of 17 has a strange ability to manipulate how gravity effects him, and seemingly nobody else in the world has this. But one day during a break and entering situation, Geno finds another boy with an ability, and from there they decide to try sticking together a bit to figure out why, and maybe put together a heist against a mafia boss in the mean time (two stealy boys)

This is very close to being historical fiction aside from abilities, which are /extremely/ rare in this world. I’m very inspired by Artemis Fowl and A Separate Peace for tone, and plan to have middleschool boys as my target audience. Though I love fantasy and such, this one’s still a bit close to my heart anyways

Anyways literally nobody asked for this I just do this to myself. I seriously wanna start practicing comic making skills, but I can’t do that too much for a daily thing when I can usually put in an hour at best. I’m trying to find a sweet spot for it all, but it may yet be awhile before I can post literally anything that sheds light on who the heck any of the chars I post are.

I want to though, and I’ve been running this blog for years now, so best to assume it’ll get there someday. I have still written a lot and planned out things, so progress still happens behind the scenes. Aside from the last few months but that’s not uncommon for this time of year. If you actually read this, thanks euchjsd I don’t think many will, but having it here makes me feel a bit better

[fandomlurker]

A Ponderous Rewatch: Cameo in Sir Yaksalot

We’re having a mini-post about a cameo for this entry, and it’s the longest and most involved cameo yet. Plus, it’s animated by TMS Entertainment, which is always a delight to see.

Let’s take a look at “Sir Yaksalot”.

This has nothing to do with Pinky and the Brain, but I thought I’d point it out anyway since I find it delightful. Back in the late 1970s, TMS Entertainment animated the Lupin the 3rd “Red Jacket” anime series. In this episode the very first populated scene has an appearance by Jigen, who is one of the characters in that anime. I imagine this easter egg flew right over the heads of most of the western audience back in the 90s. It’s so charming that TMS made reference to their old work all these years later.

If you’ve never watched this Lupin the 3rd anime, have a few out-of-context bizarre and funny moments from the series to get a taste of it. It’s a delight.

Anyway, the basic run-down of this episode is that it takes place in Camelot, where Sir Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table live. All is pretty peaceful until a dragon starts attacking the place, burning down houses, and roasting people alive in the street.

…Like so.

But hey, that doesn’t have anything to do with our duo of mice, right?

Well, I hate to have to spoil the whole twist to the situation here, but it’s kind of important to do so for the analyzing purposes of this rewatch. So what’s the twist?

The dragon is actually a mecha assembled and piloted by Pinky and the Brain.

I’ve gotta say, this is actually quite bizarre for the duo to do. Brain’s plans are nearly always non-violent. And even if the odd plan involves violence or lasting harm, Pinky is quick to admonish Brain for doing so.

But now in this episode we have them terrorizing a kingdom, burning down houses, burning folks left and right… What’s going on here?!? I mean, I guess the part where they’re roasting people is moreso in a cartoony character-is-just-blackened-with-soot-and-they’re-fine kind of way, but still.

OH LORD, IT’S HEADED FOR US!

Anyway, the “dragon” defeats the knights of the kingdom and begins trying to break into the castle.

We’re going to skip a large part of the story here as it doesn’t involve the mice directly. All you need to know is that King Arthur asks Merlin to conjure up a brave and powerful knight to slay the dragon…and Merlin’s magic summons the Warner Siblings instead. Eventually, the Warners agree to do their best to get rid of Camelot’s dragon problem.

Meanwhile, the dragon has gone back to the kingdom at large to continue the rampage. I guess the castle door was too much of an obstacle for some reason?

Oh no, they’ve spotted something…

BOYS, NO! What the fuck?!?

I guess…I guess you could say that since this is actually a mecha that we’re looking at here, this old man would just be held hostage inside the belly area and our duo is just doing a really good acting job at the moment. However, this is still something that’s really, really out of Pinky and Brain’s usual modus operandi. Maybe Brain’s the one doing all the work at the moment and Pinky’s somewhere else in the mecha, distracted and unaware of the chaos happening? That’s the only way this could make any sort of sense to me, and having Brain working by himself without Pinky there do second-guess him and be his conscience usually results in Brain getting more carried away and having his morals slip a bit.

“Comedy! Dragon comedy! The best dragon comedians in all of Camelot!”

Oh thank goodness for your distraction, Yakko!

“Right here, free peasant with every drink! Oh yes, right this way, sir!”

“Hmm?”

The dragon goes right on in. Curiosity got the better of Brain, I suppose.

“And now, dragons and drag-ettes, the Camelot Comedy Cabaret presents the funniest dragon in all of Camelot: Henny Dragon!”

Oh my lord, Yakko, that dragon kigurumi is adorable!

“Ah-haha! Thank you, thank you! You’re too kind!”

“Hey, how about that lady in the lake? I mean, how long can she hold her breath?”

Aww, Wakko has one too.

“Hehehehehe…”

All right, this is totally not Brain at the reins anymore. He’s not one for these kinds of jokes. I’m guessing Pinky got curious about what was going on and Brain let him have control for a little while?

“Candy? Gum? Dynamite?”

And there’s Dot in her own costume! You look very cute, sweetie.

The dragon shakes his head in refusal, but—

“On the house, sugar.”

The dragon’s all blushy and he mumbles something unintelligible and waves in thanks. Yeah, that’s definitely not Brain controlling the mecha anymore.

“How ‘bout that King Arthur, huh? I’ll never forget the first time we met—“

“—but I’m tryin’.”

Oh boy, the dragon’s laughter is getting more intense and…umm. Hmm. I think we all know where this is going.

“I’m slayin’ ‘em.”

[snerk] Thanks, Yakko.

“Hey hey! What’s green and stands in the corner?”

“A naughty frog.”

We’ve got full-on belly laughs here, folks. It’s only a matter of time now.

“Naw, really, you’ve been a great audience. We’re outta here!”

Welp, here we go.

Yeah, sorry. This one’s all on you, buddy.

HOLY SHIT! That’s much more violent an explosion than I was expecting!

See you, space cowboy.

There’s the reveal. How did Brain (with some help from Pinky) assemble a mecha like this in medieval times? He’s just that good, I suppose.

This junked mecha is giving me Five Nights at Freddy’s vibes and I’m not sure how I feel about that.

“Ah hehahe—‘naughty frog’! Narf! AhHAhaha!”

There’s our boys! Man, TMS makes them so adorable. Look at Pinky’s smile! He’s so precious. And Brain is, too, even though he’s so frustrated right now. ‘Lil grumpy-gus…

“Hysterical, Pinky.”

BONK!

“Zort!”

“…Mice?”

“But WHY?!?”

Honestly, King Arthur? Same.

“We were trying to destroy Camelot in yet another attempt to take over the world.”

W-were you, now? I… Listen, I know you’re not one to think about the details at all, Brain, but this is on a whole other level.

“Come, Pinky. Back to the drawing board.”

“’Stands in the corner’… ‘Naughty frog’… Ah HAHAHAHA!”

SMACK!

“They’re Pinky! They’re Pinky and the Brain, Brain, Brain, Brain--!~”

SPLAT!

That’s it for the cameo. It sure was…something. I honestly don’t know quite what to make of it. The whole Pinky and the Brain twist doesn’t really work unless you make some leaps of logic to try and puzzle out who was in charge of the mecha and when, and it’s an overly aggressive and violent plan…which is very rare for the two mice.

At least the animation was a joy to look at!

[ginwhitlock]

Southbound ch 1/ ch 2 / CH 3 : Null Wind

After the Cullens leave her behind, Bella is left to pick up the pieces by herself. A year after her eighteenth birthday, a split second decision lands her in her truck, running far away from everything she has ever known. She decides to go south. What will she find in San Angelo, Texas?

I’d never felt so warm.

The golden light streaming through the open windows heated up the room in a dry embrace. I could see the filtering haze over every piece of honey-lacquered furniture piece in the living room. Bookcases lined up and down the walls on either side of the front door, highlighting a sitting area around a hand-tooled turkish rug. The dining room to my immediate right looked unused but tidy. For some reason, the live oak table looked like it could comfortably seat four. Who else did Peter entertain?

A drawn-out wind carried through the windows. I’ve had to learn that Texas breeze is just that-- a breeze and nothing more. Had I not already had to endure the minimum eighty-five degree heat shield for the early majority of my life and not to mention the last two months, my jeans would feel like I was carrying steel wool up a mountain. 

“Here Bell-- if I can call you Bell,” Peter started, arm still resting on the bronze door handle leading to the outside behind me, “go ahead and kick up your feet on the sofa and I’ll getcha somethin’ to simmer down this blasted heat.”

I could hear his wooden heels click on the tile as he retreated into what I could only assume to be the kitchen, being that the floor was formatted like a doll house. Walls dividing the arid space without exception. 

Esme would have been horrified. 

The thought of her heart-shaped face made my heart flip, the stoney exterior cracking and shifting in my chest. The brick wall I’ve put up started to claw its way out of my throat. 

I slunk over to the dusty-looking brown chair in the corner, its position allowing me to see the front door and the kitchen opening to my right with ease. All my exits are straight-legged in front of me. If I bolted before he came back in, I could make it to the door handle in just enough time. But god, what would I do then? If the truck is on it’s last leg-- if on any legs at all-- I’m sure it's hardly worth a likely buckshot in the ass. 

As my back pockets touched the softened hide my brain went into full overdrive. 

What do you think WERE doing? We should be on the road, basting Lynard Skynard in some southwestern dry county, not act like you’re meeting a boy’s parents for THE SECOND TIME EVER! Do you not have any common sense? What would happen if Edwar--

“I hope you like sun tea.”

A rough-knuckled hand held out a glass filled to the brim with squared off iced cubes and murky brown liquid. The cup glittered with a department store shine. 

They must’ve been his special ones. Guess no one gets guests out here. 

My hand slowly reached out and took it, a tentative sip following, my fingers sliding on the chilled surface. It tasted like roses and honeysuckle, a contrast to the red dirt lining my soles and the open air around everything here. 

It was only then that I realised he had taken off his hat. 

His eyes were beautiful. Mahogany stained, hand-sanded, fired art. The swirling of reflective speckling nearest his pupils brought out the darkened freckles on his cheeks. His sandy blonde brows shaded his lashes in a trimmed fence line. Peter looked the part of a country, fair haired, Marlon Brando, and I realized in that moment my stare was reflecting in his eyes in a glass-like mirror. My brain swam to the surface, focusing on the change in his facade. 

His mouth set in that same childish grin, matching his soft, playful features. “Again with the staring. Do you do much else darlin’?”

A beet red blush spread across my cheeks like margarine. I could feel the long forgotten heat spread down my neck and onto my chest. 

As I was about to speak, something changed in his whiskey-soaked sightline. His almost boyish features hardened into a grimace. His hand fisted my own, setting the tea on the coffee table at the crease of his calves. 

Finding my tongue growing heavy in my mouth I spoke, “Pe-ter is everything okay?” My eyes raced to his hand as it rose to his collar. 

In an instant his face physically uncramped, the smile coming back to features, wolfier now more than ever. But his eyes gathered into slits in a humourless way. 

“You just have such a pretty blush, Bell, you flush like a schoolgirl, ya know that?”

His voice came out hushed. Slow as molasses on a frigid winter afternoon. Like each word was a connecting jigsaw puzzle and he was looking for the next piece. In response, saliva ran down my throat like I had had a cold, the heat rising through the air and into my head. The knot in my stomach felt like it was tightening, closer and closer to snapping if he leaned any farther into my face. 

A rogue wind blew through a set of copper windchimes on the front porch. 

Peter’s stare disconnected as he rushed to pop open the button of his collar in a quick flick of his fingers. A true smile replaced the earlier one and spread over his upper lips and into his eyes. His mouth reminded me of a slow, murky river. The kind no one should go into without a life jacket. But the kids still try it, and all you hear is shouting from a town over, nothing coming from their mother’s lips but sobbing for the next forty-odd years. 

“Oh lord-- sorry lil Bell, didn’t mean to get in yer space like that, the south winds here are just…” His voice hardened, “just wash somethin’ over the house… over me today.”

His feet, still clad with his cowboy boots, shifted around the stump of a table and to the couch he had mentioned before. It’s long back almost obscured the front door with his added height. 

Without the coffee table, with our feet outstretched, we could’ve touched. 

I calmed down my breathing enough to speak coherently, “No… I get it. Definitely… get it.” A swallow followed to bring the collection of spit back down. 

Jesus Bella could you have gotten that out any less freaked out? Something is thoroughly wrong with this man PLUS whatever the hell ‘winds’ he’s talking about, you could very well be putting yourself in more danger than you ever had in Forks. He could be plotting to dump your body out in the desert for god sake. 

Or he just thinks you’re pretty. Maybe this is just how cowboys act, huh? This could be what you’ve been wishing for for months, Bella. Some cowboy to take you away. Wait... how does that song go? A bastardized voice came from the back of my skull. The same sickly-sweet tone that turned off my blaring alarms around…

“So what brings you to San Ang?”, Peter rolled out, his feet landing on the table, his hands stretched out behind his fluffy blonde halo. A small sliver of pale skin could be seen right above his belt. I looked to the floor before answering, only adding to the stupid blush which hadn’t left.

“Just traveling. Relationship went bad. Could even say it nuked my life.”

The oddly reassuring nod from before came back in full force, a stark contrast from the baited silence he blew across my face what seemed like just moments before. If he tries something, what does it matter if I tell him the rest of the story? I sighed, my body curling forward to grab the glass again. “He just sort of left me. He took my heart with him, you know. For a year I wandered around my hometown, numb to my core, just looking for anything he left behind. I even had a friend try to pull me out of it. I think I ended up pushing him away before I left.

“So now I’m here. Came into Texas maybe a month and a half ago. Just followed the road signs,” My eyes snapped up to his, “there aren’t any on this road.”

Peter’s brows quirked up in a laughably adorable way-- am I really calling the potential nutbag adorable?

Almost as if he felt my mood change, he laughed. A full belly, hands on his chest, forehead wrinkled like the Sunday morning newspaper, laugh. 

The sound eased away my present fear and outrage just a hair. 

“My lil Bell-- don’t you get what private property means? You’re smack dab in the middle of abouta’ hundred acres of nothin’, missy. The mud you found yerself on was just a walkin’ trail through the land.”, Peter belted out, body leaning forward, his hands lowering to his knees. 

My thoughts raced, but only one sentence formed in my mouth, its edges familiar window glass, “It’s Bella.”

A snort started his response, “C’mon. A little girl like you don’t wanna be referred to lika singin’ cartoony princess? You gotta be shittin’ me darlin.” He blew out a harsh stream of wind through his teeth. I could almost visualize him sitting on a porch somewhere spitting out peanut shells, dust coating the tops of his jeans. 

“Listen I don’t need your sympathy or your criticism of my ability to navigate. I’ve been doing just fine on my own, just let me see a phone and I’ll get outta your hair.” My body became heated with a different kind of feeling, the anger rushing through me at his insult. I stood up, my jeans ripping away from the leather seat. 

His form didn’t move an inch. His eyes rolled into his head and went to stare right back at me. 

“Bell,” I pinched my eyebrows together at the nickname but he continued, “I’m not insultin’ ya, I’m proud that you got this far south on yer own two feet. I have to say I didn’t expect much from a girl sleepin’ in her own truck in the middle of some one-way backroad, but you’re surprising’ me in a lot of ways.” His eyes swept to the kitchen for a quick second. 

“Oh and Bell, The nickname works. Trust me on it. It’s that voice of yers. Sounds like Christmas carolin.”

My face constricted in a dumb-found expression, the observation rattling me to my core. I’d never thought of my voice as anything other than dull compared to the Cullens. Some lifeless monotone of a teenage girl. His face looked sincere, the braziness fading behind his eyes. He looked even sweet as he said the last few words. Like there was a memory he wasn't sharing in between them. 

I managed to get out soft ‘thank you’ as my anger faded to a null ache. My hands climbed up my hips to my collarbones as I held myself in a self-cradle. 

I could almost hear a piece of the cement around my heart cracking in the nonexistent wind. I had left my light jacket in the truck, and yet, I felt as if I was hiding behind another barrier, a straight jacket around my collapsing sanity. Their memory, their mob horns tic home and their sing-song voices and their obviously faked investment into my life trying to weasel its way out. 

“Sweetheart you’re rocking.”

Looking down at my posture I could see the slight sway to my stance, a mechanism I had developed just nights after He left me in the forest, Charlie had said it was a self soothing technique. I just thought it was proof that I may be actually losing my mind. “Oh, Sorry.” My legs brought me back down to my seat in a slow collapse. 

His smile widened, his pearly-white teeth showing themselves off for the first time. I expected a crinkle to appear around his eyes, but it never did. I wondered what it did look like when the lines overcame his face in the night, what kind of beauty showed through when he was alone. 

“Nothin’ to be sorry about Bell, I get what you’re doin’.”

I nodded my head, almost not present in the conversation. My eyes glued to my lap. 

“And about that phone… I called my brother earlier, he’s on a huntin’ trip not far from here. He should be home soon and I’ll have him fix up your truck. No worries darlin’, no worries.” His hand found hovered over the bridge of my knuckles making my eyes drift up into his. I found a genuine kindness in them, and something else I couldn’t identify. Again, there was something about the words as they curled through his mouth. Like he knew something I didn’t. 

Peter’s hand slowly retracted to his belt, the shine of the metal highlighted by a beam of sun through the windows. It bounced back onto his skin, creating a shimmer. 

My thoughts captured that and put it into the back of my mind for later. “When is he gonna be back?”

A determined gleam sauntered into the quirk of his lip. 

“Tonight my lil Bell, he’ll be back tonight.”

For some reason my stomach twisted at his words, and not just at the warm butterflies the nickname started to ignite. 

[inikavulpixelreviews]

Let’s Talk About Pokemon - The Impidimp Family

859: Impidimp

Yet another Pokemon I fell in LOVE with the instant it was “revealed” during an E3 demo. And then kept waiting for a formal reveal that somehow never came, even though it's showed up multiple times during SwSh's hype cycle. What gives, with that?! That was so weird. There was even conspiracy theories that they wanted to show Impidimp but didn't want to acknowledge it simply because if Alakazam inspired conservative Christians to “boycott” Pokemon for “supporting devil worship”, than who knows the uproar that would've happened if Pokemon was advertising its newest game with a tiny, imp-ish little demon boy! Though at the same time, unless you're just a REALLY crazy conservative Christian, you're not really trying to fight Pokemon anymore since that battle's already been lost over two decades ago.

Impidimp was also pretty divisive when it came out, with most of the criticism coming from its big and perfectly round head while also having very noodle-like limbs. While it was somewhat of a put-off to me at first, I grew to love how cartoony and rubberhose it looked, like it could've been one of The Devil's minions in Cuphead. And of course, imagine my glee when it turned out it was our first Dark/Fairy type!

This rotten lil shit is also just plain perfect, design-wise. I love the pointy bat-esque nose with a single nostril it apparently uses to sniff “negative energy”, a sustenance it gets when it annoys things! The mischievous look only helped by it constantly giving a raspberry. It even has an odd little ponytail on the back of its head, which looks like a single bat wing. How adorable!

860: Morgrem

Morgrem here is even snazzier, with it growing out its hair into a slick emo sort of look that stands out WAY better than it does with Drizzile. It even incorporates something similar to an imp's tail in its hair too, which works into its theme of a trickster. The Pokedex states that it'll bow down as if begging for forgiveness, only to then stab its opponent with the spear in its hair once their guard is down. Which is exactly what its signature move “False Surrender” does!

I really dig the oddly Christmasy color scheme too. The green is pretty much only there to set up the coloration of its final evolution, just so it doesn't abruptly turn green, but for a mid-stage coloration it looks pretty nice actually! It's just a nice shade of magenta and green.

Personal Score: 10/10

861: Grimmsnarl

So I was kinda disappointed to see most of the line's charm dissipate with Grimmsnarl here... no more emo hair or dumb smile or hot pink skin. Instead it gets pretty overpowered by its own hair and a newfound interest in green. It did eventually grown on me more, even if I STILL don't like it QUITE as much as either of its previous stages.

But it seems like it goes from a devlish imp creature to more of an ogre or troll, with it sharing the major signifies of “big, hairy, and green,” but all doing it while still holding onto the more goblin-esque aspects of Impidimp and Morgrem. It may look muscular at first, but it's actually still pretty scrawny for its size! It just covers itself so much in hair that the hair has formed a psuedo-muscle tissue around its body! It's a really neat way to do an “exposed muscle tissue” type of look without it looking overly gross.

Its design is also all-around solid, being hard to find any one single flaw with it. Again, I miss the colors we had before, but the green covered by the black is still a pretty dang cool color scheme. Especially when the tiny dash of red bits get added in too. But to go along with how its muscular body is a facade, it has attack animations where the hairs on its arms slip off and become more like tentacles. Really creepy concept for a “hair” creature!

Well. I said there was not obvious flaw with it, but really I mostly wish it was a bit more imp-like or even full on devilish. Even considering Pokemon got away with an imp monster very reminiscent of a cartoony red-suit Lucifer, maybe a full on “devil” of sorts would be a stretch for Pokemon. But it still would've been so COOL.

G-Max Grimmsnarl:

Grimmsnarl gets a G-Max form just like its partner in hair-based designs, and this is definitely really highlighting the look of a monster making muscle tissue out of its hair. I do like that so little of Grimmsnarl itself is left uncovered in this state, especially seeing how small Grimmsnarl itself is in that hair mech it's made. So we're left to believe Grimmsnarl's size hasn't changed much, but its hair is what got a growth spurt! It's another G-Max that's a harmless add-on that I would've been fine not being there, but it doesn't hurt to have it there.

Personal Score: 9.5/10

Though once again, it comes with the lame gender ratio of 100% males. Which makes even less sense, given the fate of this species now lies in the hands of Ditto. And I guess now every design that falls into the human gender roles of “male” is getting stuck with an all-male gender ratio too. But I’ve already done the rant yesterday so pbbth.

BUT ONE THING that’ll bug probably me and me alone about the Hatterene and Grimmsnarl lines is this right here. If we combined the two, we would’ve gotten my ideal WITCH Pokemon, easily. AAARGH. It doesn’t affect the score any cause obviously I should review what’s there and not base it solely off a ridiculously specific hypothetical but. ARGH regardless.

[Archive]

[amserpand]

There are other things I could be thinking about and there are other things I could be posting and yet instead of something cool to celebrate Getting An Art Degree, Class of 2019, here we are, it’s 2012 again, I’m 18, and 80% of what I draw is winged men in suits

I’ll probably try to make something more Expressive and Fun later, but I wanted to hammer out some face designs first.

^V^V^V^V^V^

I refuse to draw real proper people faces so these designs are based on vague recollections of fan designs I liked Back In The Day, forgetting good omens existed for five years, watching the entire series three times over and then some.

For Crowley--

Pointy pointy man what more is there to say. I’m sure there’s a bit of tennant in there somewhere if you squint and ignore what a face looks like. Did love his just off of natural human ginger read hair, and particularly enjoyed when his eyes looked just uncanny big and round and snakeish. Not super settled on this hair (was going for something like the lil horns so many sneak into Crowley’s hair but it wound up just looking wonky from this angle. Maybe another time)

For Aziraphale--

Love love loved anytime they lit him up from the back and his hair did the wispy glow thing and if I feel real up to it i could do a proper painting to that end. I also liked how at certain angles his hair looked like lil wings on the sides,,,,cute. The face shape was harder,,,Crowley goes extra cartoony under my hand and it took a while to find a good direction to stylize Aziraphale in that felt equally intentional and landed somewhere around Asterios Polyp but I think I’m satisfied. :)