#I need to try drawing a walking cycle for them or in general....

[buttercupshands]

twitter already saw this one, basically just me trying out drawing a cutscene bc I wasn't sure if I can

Not exactly made using coding at this point

Skemch dump bc why not

Don't let me listen to vocaloid songs while I draw

Same here, just me silly-ing with stuff

[itsjustlux]

Screw It, Tony Baddingham Analysis

Written before I made my alt for this kind of thing and don't feel like deleting it. Enjoy.

** TW for unhealthy power dynamics and discussions of ab*se/violence/violence towards women. Honestly, the man is just a walking warning, read accordingly **

Let's talk Tony. Because I can't help but be constantly intrigued by this simultaneously devastatingly sexy and utterly rizz-less (did I use that right? Kids these days...) sad wet cat creature.

He's relatable. Understandable. Someone who's been constantly put on the outs for being "new money". As someone who's spent her whole life trying to fit into academia and traditionally wealthy spaces and failing spectacularly, I understand that. And I understand the thought process that having enough money, and enough status will finally make it go away. They can't make fun of you if you're the one in control. If you're the one calling the shots.

I see Tony as a character fundamentally motivated by deep, deep insecurity. We don't know much about his childhood (season 2 I beg), but I would put a fair amount of money on him being the sort of traditionally bullied nerdy kid. The kind that starts out well-meaning, but eventually just fucking snaps. Tony is the kind of character determined to either make those around him fall in line or pay the price. When put through this lens, he just sort of looks like a child throwing a temper tantrum.

Because, while Tony's motivations come from a reasonable place, the actions he takes are so far out of the left field he blasts himself out of sympathetic morally grey dude territory straight into the land of big bad evil guys like a member of Team Rocket. See, it's Tony's continuous feeding of his bottled-up resentment and shame that fuel his ego and general shittiness. He is capable of being a decent human being. Everyone is capable of that, I think. But he's trapped himself in a cycle of rage and isolation. The more angry he gets, the more people will leave him. The more that happens, the more isolated and ashamed he becomes. The more that happens, the more angry he gets. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy.

It's why we get that sort of switching on and off of different personalities. That sad, wet cat creature I mentioned in the introduction? That's who Tony really is, underneath all his schemes. When you see that, you're seeing a genuine representation of what's going on inside his head. When he's angry and cruel, that's who he really is. Everything else is an act. Charming, confident Tony? A lie. Sweet, sympathetic Tony? A lie. Any time he needs something from someone, he puts on that charismatic personality. If he needs to draw them in, to pull them in closer so he can feel better about himself, he puts on an act. (Bonus points that DT is so good at what he does that it works on the audience, too)

The irony, of course, is that if any of that behavior was genuine, he'd probably have a hell of a lot of an easier time getting what he wants.

Oh and that last scene? Isn't that just the perfect epitome of all of this? Because it's a result of him trying and failing to pull in Cameron one final time, first with that false personality, and then with who he really is. And, of course, who he is is Not Great (TM), and she knows that. So, he's screwed from the outset. And she hits him with the goddamn trophy, the physical representation of what he's achieved. Proof that he can do more, that he is more than some misfit kid. Demonstrating once and for all that no, Tony. You will never be more than what you are. What you have always been. Even while your show plays in the background, even in your giant office, none of it matters. You have lost, and you will always lose. You will lose the girl, you will lose the company, you will lose the legacy. All of it.

So, now it's time for a little customary speculation. In the event he survives (and that's reliant on like...several factors so this all might be moot), I can see a few different directions for his character. Full disclosure, I haven't read the books. So, this is purely going off of the show and what they've put forward. There are a few places we know we're going to end up. Taggie/Rupert is endgame, Tony will 'lose' again in some fashion, and Cameron/Tony is pretty obviously done. The most likely scenario is that Tony will continue to lash out, and may become an even bigger threat now that he's heartbroken. Some grand final attempt to hurt his rivals, and then some final crushing defeat. I could also see them taking the route of a more obsessive Tony. Some Kilgrave vibes towards Cameron could be horrifying, but not unexpected. It would really push the question of how much he actually cares for her versus how much he thinks he cares for her. All of this keeping in mind he's probably going to have further conflicts with his wife, who's the only one who sees the real Tony and isn't scared off by it. Whatever happens, it'll be interesting.

I'll definitely be tuning in. ;)

[leapingbadger]

The Misunderstanding (A CodyWan Story)

Summary: Cody and Obi Wan are still trying to figure out the intricacies in the early days of their relationship. When a miscommunication threatens to derail everything, they must both be vulnerable enough to talk it out.

Cody quietly rolled out of bed. It was still the middle of the night cycle, but he needed to leave before his presence in the temple became an issue. The bright lights of Coruscant shone through the large, arched window to the right of the bed, illuminating the far wall.

He pulled on his blacks and worked to pick up the pieces of his armor that were scattered on the floor. Obi Wan huffed in his sleep, rolling over so his sandy hair fell over his eyes. Cody smiled, the great Jedi master, Obi Wan Kenobi, curled up like a little loth cat, tangled in bedsheets.

“Something amusing, Commander?” Obi Wan asked sleepily.

Cody chuckled, “Of course not. Sorry I woke you,” he said, walking softly over and sitting on the edge of the bed, “I have to go.”

Obi Wan propped himself up on his elbow, his free hand brushing the hair out of his face, a wry smile on his lips. “And why do you have to do that?”

Cody rolled his eyes, “You know as well as I do if I’m found wandering around the temple in the morning, the rumor mill will start.”

“I would theorize that you wandering around in the middle of the night cycle would have much the same effect,” Obi Wan said, cocking his head to the side, eyebrow raised, “come back to bed.”

“I can’t. There are some reports I need to finish, and we need to protect…”

“Don’t say my blushes, Cody, I assure you it is entirely unnecessary.” Obi Wan said with a grin.

“Fine, but what about mine?” Cody replied.

“You wouldn’t be the first to have a dalliance with your general. Look at your friend Bly. He and Aayla are practically married.”

Cody paused, his eyes on his hands, “Is that what this is? A dalliance?”

Obi Wan huffed and sat up, “Of course not,” he said gently, his hand reaching up and tracing the scar on the left side of Cody’s face. “You know that’s not the case. I didn’t mean it that way.”

Cody nodded, suddenly feeling out of his depth. What had started as a stollen kiss in a hidden alley had become an all-consuming and incredibly complicated relationship. They were together almost every day in an official capacity as General and Commander. He knew that Obi Wan cared for him, cared for all the clones, often putting himself in incredibly dangerous situations so he might save them.

And for his part Cody was more than willing to die for the Republic, and for Obi Wan specifically. He would trade his life for him every time, even before their relationship had changed. But could he even call it that? Somedays it was all business, war, fighting, exhaustion, and others they were meeting each other in low lit spaces in camps across the galaxy, acting like lovesick natborns.

“You are conflicted,” Obi Wan said, his thumb gently drawing circles on Cody’s cheek.

“And you’re tired. Get some rest. I’ll see you later.” Cody said, leaning in to kiss the Jedi’s soft lips, his well-groomed beard tickling his chin. Obi Wan’s hand tightened around Cody’s jaw as he started to pull away, kissing him deeper.

When they finally parted, Cody smiled, brushing the hair out of Obi Wan’s eyes. “I’ll see you in a few hours.” he said.

“Uh,” Obi Wan said as he collapsed back into the bed, pulling the covers around himself, “that seems entirely too long, but if you insist, Commander.”

Cody pressed the door release and walked out into the dimly lit hall of the jedi temple. He only had to walk through a few corridors before getting to the more public sections. Once there, he wouldn’t look quite so out of place.

He turned to head down the corridor and collided with a tall figure in long, black robes.

“Commander?” Anikin Skywalker said, a confused expression on his face.

“General Skywalker, Sir. I’m sorry, I didn’t see you there.”

“It’s no problem. Is everything alright?” Anakin asked, his eyes flicking to Obi Wan’s chamber doors.

“Ah, yes sir. General Kenobi and I were working on some…battle plans.” Cody lied, knowing very well a jedi would be able to sense deception easily. He wished the floor would swallow him or Obi Wan would wake up and come up with a better excuse.

Anakin simply rolled his eyes, “Eh, it’s the middle of the night and we’re not on an active battlefield. He works you too hard. Do you want me to have a word with him?”

“Oh, ah no sir. It’s okay. War doesn’t sleep, you know.”

Anakin stoked his chin thoughtfully, “I suppose not. Still, I’ll tell him to go easy on you. You need your sleep too, Cody.”

“That’s very kind of you, Sir.” He replied. Sleep was currently the furthest thing from Cody’s mind.

“It’s fine, I had to talk to him about keeping Fox out late a couple of weeks ago. Some business with the criminal underground. Honestly, does the man not sleep?” Anakin said, knocking on the door with his gloved right hand.

Cody froze, his ears buzzing and stomach dropping, “You said with Fox, Sir?”

“Yeah. Such an insufferable clone.” He said absentmindedly as he banged in the door again, “Oh, excuse me, Commander, I meant no disrespect. He’s just…It’s funny you two obviously look so similar but are completely different.” Anakin said with a chuckle, “Come on Obi Wan, I need to talk to you.”

“Well, er…goodnight, General,” Cody said as he turned to leave. He was halfway down the hallway before he heard Obi Wan open the door.

“Oh, it’s you, Anakin. I thought you might be someone else. What troubles you at this late hour?”

Cody lingered long enough to see the door close and walked solemnly out of the temple, not running into any questioning Jedi the rest of the way.

***

Obi Wan woke with a groan and reached next to him, only to remember that Cody had left hours ago. It was strange how quickly he had gotten used to his commander’s presence in his home, and in his bed. He wasn’t a stranger to the occasional liaison, which he was freely able to enjoy per the Jedi code, but the situation with Cody was different somehow and while he was cautious not to get too attached, he found himself longing for his presence at every opportunity.  

Of course, he had been in relationships before. He had even considered quitting the order entirely for Satine, but he had never trusted anyone as implicitly as Cody, not only with his safety and his life, but with his heart and soul as well.

He groaned again as his alarm sounded. He was sure one of these nights he would revel in undisturbed sleep, but last night was not the night. He had finally managed to push a sulking Anakin out the door as Coruscant’s artificial sun started to rise. He would be late this morning but didn’t much care.

After a quick stop in the fresher and some clean robes, he stopped by the council room for new orders. He and the 212th would be heading out later that day with Anakin and his 501st in tow. As taxing as the war was, Obi Wan enjoyed getting away from the capital and seeing the galaxy, even if it wasn’t exactly on his terms.

It was also easier to catch slivers of time with Cody in a more relaxed setting when they weren’t under the watchful eye of the council or being shot at, of course.

Despite his bravado, Obi Wan was well aware of the trouble that would arise if his relationship with Cody were to be discovered. At the very least, their working partnership would be terminated, and he would be given a new commander.

His shuttle from the temple dropped him off in front of the battle memorial. His eyes traced over the endless clone numbers listed. He wondered if perhaps it would have been a better show to include their names, after all, no clone he had ever met had willingly gone by his number.

The venator had been undergoing some maintenance while they were stationed at the capital. Obi Wan was glad it hadn’t taken as long as expected. While the temple would always be his home, the proximity to the senate and politics always gave him a rather unpleasant headache.

He smiled as he made his way to the command center, nodding politely as clones saluted him as he passed.

“Ah Cody, there you are.” He said with a grin on his face. His mind flashed back to the previous night, and he had to fight to contain his blush. Thank the force there weren’t many people around.

The commander was at the helm, his helmet tucked under his arm, a data pad in his other hand.

“General,” he said curtly.

Obi Wan’s smile faltered slightly at his Commander’s tone. As far as he knew they had left things rather pleasantly in the middle of the night, however, Cody’s demeanor indicated otherwise.

“Are we ready?” Obi Wan asked, walking over to him and looking at the holographic battle plan casting blue light over the room.

“Affirmative, Sir. All men are on board. We are ready when you are.” Cody said, failing to make eye contact with him.

“Wonderful news,” Obi Wan said jovially, “you may depart when ready.”

“Sir,” Cody said before turning and leaving the room.

Obi Wan followed, his pace quickening to catch up with the commander in the bright white hallways. He brushed his hair out of his face hurriedly, “Commander, may I have a word?”

Cody had put his helmet on since leaving, making it impossible to detect his facial expressions, not that Obi Wan had to rely on that, he had the force. Cody hesitated as his General called him, however, indicating that he did not want to stop.

“Is everything okay, Commander?” he asked, stepping aside as a battalion made their way through the halls.

“Yes, Sir. We are on schedule.” Cody said robotically.

Obi Wan chuckled and moved closer as the final stragglers hurried out of the way, “that is not what I meant. Are you okay?” he asked again, his voice lower so as not to be overheard.

“Yes, Sir,” Cody said again, his feet shifting as though desperate to keep moving, but realizing he hadn’t been dismissed.

Obi Wan stroked his chin, a calming habit he’d picked up in his early days of training Anakin, “I see. Perhaps we can discuss this later,” he said pointedly.

“As you wish, Sir.” Cody replied before walking down the corridor alone.

Obi Wan fought the urge to follow him, the glow from last night fizzling in the sterile, white halls as he watched his Commander walk away from him.

***

“We’ve still got a few hours in hyperspace before we arrive. Why don’t you and your men get some rest, Obi Wan.” Anakin said on the bridge. “Rex and I will keep an eye on things.”

“A splendid idea, Anakin after my rather rude awakening this morning,” Obi Wan said with a smirk to Cody.

“If you’ll remember, I did apologize.” Anakin said pointedly.

“Yes, I do remember from the depth of my sleep deprived brain.”

Cody was glad he could hide his smile behind his helmet as Anakin rolled his eyes dramatically, “Go to bed, old man. I’ll call you when the fight starts.”

“You’re too kind.” Obi Wan said with a smile to his former padawan, “Come, Cody, we are dismissed.”

Cody nodded and followed Obi Wan out, instantly darting to the left and to the barracks where he could finally get some rest. Obi Wan followed, his feet in step with his own.

Despite his best efforts he hadn’t been able to avoid the General on the ship. His mind kept jumping back to his conversation with Anakin and the implication that Obi Wan could be sleeping his way through the GAR.

Cody tried to tell himself that it didn’t matter. The General was a flirt of the highest order, his silver tongue had even made Ventress pause on occasion. But he couldn’t help feeling hurt, like he was replaceable, just another clone in the sky-blue eyes of his commanding officer.

“Would you care for a nightcap?” Obi Wan asked, pausing at the door to his quarters. The hallway was empty, and the pull of the General’s silky tone and smirking lips made Cody’s resolve falter.

“I…I think I should probably get some rest, Sir.” He said. He couldn’t help his voice from sounding formal. His hurt was choking him, and he was lucky his voice was working at all.

“Cody,” Obi Wan said softly, his eyes darting left and right to make sure the corridor was clear. “Please, I don’t understand what’s wrong. I assume I have done something…”

Cody shuffled his feet and looked down, “This isn’t the place for this conversation, Sir” he said at last, the anxious feeling in his stomach eating away at him.

Obi Wan pressed his hand to the door release and walked inside, “Then, may I suggest an alternative location,” he said, perfectly framed in the middle of the door, a glass of amber liquid already in his hand.

He was smooth, Cody had to give him that. With a sigh of frustration, he followed his commander into the dark room.

The Jedi barracks on this venator were much more pleasant than those for Clones. It was to be expected, of course, but Obi Wan’s quarters wouldn’t have been out of place at the temple. Reed mats covered the floor. A small cushion on top for meditation. A bed, larger than the bunk Cody slept on, was pushed against the far wall.

Obi Wan handed him a drink as soon as he placed his helmet on one of the many bookcases in the room.

“Thank you.” He said, downing the whole drink in one.

Obi Wan raised his eyebrows, “I see. It’s going to be one of those conversations, is it?” He sat down on the edge of the bed, one leg over the other and held up his drink in salute before downing it in one gulp as well.

Cody put the glass down and stood awkwardly in front of the Jedi. At some point, one of them would have to start talking and as he was the one with the issue, it was likely going to be him.

“You still seem conflicted, my dear, Commander…”

Cody hesitated, not wanting to feel vulnerable or stung but knowing if he didn’t say something, it would be impossible to work with the General in the same capacity. That realization scared him more than he cared to admit.

Cody cleared his throat, hoping to rid himself of the stone that had been lodged in it all day.

“This…’dalliance’ of ours…” His use of the word made Obi Wan flinch, “I…um…how many others do you currently have?”

“Other…dalliances?” Obi Wan asked, leaning forward so his forearms were on his thighs. “My dear Cody, I only have eyes for you these days, I’m afraid.”

Cody pursed his lips skeptically.

“You don’t believe me?” Obi Wan asked, a smirk forming on his lips and having the opposite intended effect on his Commander.

“You are quite the flirt, Sir.” Cody said before his brain could stop him.

Obi Wan laughed outright now, “Don’t be ridiculous. I am not.”

Cody tried to stop himself but felt a smile cross his lips, “Obi Wan, you flirt with clones, Jedi, even Ventress,”

“It’s all in good fun. If I didn’t banter with her, she’d have killed me twice by now.”

“Fox,” Cody added, his chestnut eyes trained on the Jedi to see his reaction.

“Commander Fox?” The General asked, his eyebrows creased in confusion. “I rarely interact with…oh” he said finally, his eyes growing wide. “Did you, perchance, run into Anakin this morning?”

Cody felt heat climb into his cheeks, “Briefly, yes.”

He watched Obi Wan take a deep breath and shake his head, “I’m assuming he told you I worked late with Fox a week or so ago?”

“Yes, in the same way we work late, I’m assuming.” Cody asked, suddenly feeling bold.

“No. Fox had a suspect who gave him my name. He came for assistance to interrogate him as I had met with him before. It was work, Cody, nothing more.”

 Cody felt his stomach flip. Was it relief or fear that he had already ruined something so new? He felt limp and silly and wasn’t sure what to do with his body.

Obi Wan set his glass down on the bed and crossed quickly to the Commander. “I am sorry if you were hurt by Anakin’s miscommunication. I meant what I said. Since that kiss in the alleyway and a long time before, I have only had eyes for you, dear Cody. You were right this morning, we do have to be careful to spare each other’s blushes, but I am willing to do so, if you are.”

Cody’s heart thumped in his chest, “I am.” Cody said.

Obi Wan smiled as Cody wrapped his fingers in the Jedi’s robes and pulled him into a kiss.

“I do have one final question…” Obi Wan said

“What’s that?” Cody asked, his forehead on Obi Wan’s, his eyes lingering on his lips.

“Would you like to take a nap with me?”

Cody laughed and nodded, “Absolutely.”

They both crawled into the soft bed, Obi Wan tucking his head under Cody’s chin as the clone wrapped his strong arms around him. Cody smiled as he heard the Jedi’s soft breathing before finally drifting off to sleep.

***

Cody woke with a start as the alarm sounded, signaling 15 minutes until they came out of hyperspace. He ran his hand through his hair and turned to look at his sleeping Jedi, curled up next to him.

“Stay a few more minutes,” Obi Wan grumbled, his eyes still closed.

“No time.” Cody said, leaning over and kissing him hastily.

Obi Wan’s eyes shot open, his hand pulling Cody closer so he couldn’t escape just yet.

“Obi Wan, I have to go.”

The General sighed, “I know. I’ll see you out there,” he said, with a smirk. “You should be clear.”

Cody nodded as he threw his bucket over his head and pressed the door release. He was a few steps out of the room when he saw Rex round the corner.

“Rex, any updates?” he asked.

The captain matched his pace, “We’re gunna be in for it when we drop out of hyperspace. Better get ready,”

“We’re always ready, aren’t we?" Cody said with a chuckle.

“I suppose so” the clone responded. He looked back at the door Cody had just come out of, “glad you made up,” he said with a wink.

Cody froze, “What?”

Rex stopped and made sure no one could overhear, “I knew something was off between you two. I’m assuming you’re back on track?”

“Rex, I…”

“Don’t worry, it’s our little secret. Just glad to see you happy, Vod.”

Cody smiled and he watched Rex walk away with a little lap to his nose. He was happy, he thought. He looked back and Obi Wan’s door and smiled.

[deepdreamnights]

More video tinkering with Vidu 1.5

Vidu hit 1.5 this morning for testing, which I get access to as part of the artist's program. While making raw material for a "Big Professor" project-

(Shown here to establish a 1.0 baseline)

-I nuked most of my credits, I've still got enough to try out the new features and give you all a rundown of them.

First major change is resolution options. Fast, 720, or 1080. Shown here is my first attempt at a 1080 gen, using the same prompt as above. While most vids in this post will be gifs for ease of use, this one is an MP4 to provide full evaluation.

Ignore the odd playback speed, since that's something you'd fix in post. The gif at the start was one of my most stable renderings of Big Professor under v1. Got some minor wonk in the details, little distortion around the prof's claw and the kid in the first half second, but otherwise well above the average of the 1.0 versions I've been working with, especially the clarity on the button text.

The second one is a re-run of the same prompt, minus some detail issues with one shin, the level of consistency is promising.

720 can go up to 8 seconds, 1080 tops off at 4. At present, 1.5 does not have an upscale function. If you're not tinkering to test out prompts I'd generally recommend 1080, even for lower-res projects, for the purposes of being able to crop and/pan.

For most of these, assume I'm using either 720 or 1080 gens.

Multi-Subject Reference-to-Video

THIS is the big winner of the setup. Previously, ref-to-video only could handle a single referenced subject image. The current setup now allows you to reference up to three per generation.

Those can be characters, props, or settings, and it can be used for morphing effects. This is good, because first-frame-last-frame is more finnicky than reference-to-video. The obvious use is to create multi-character scenes, and it works well for that:

But it has other uses. For example, here I used:

And while this one was reversed and trimmed, it displays the potential for using the feature for transformation sequences. The backgrounds are especially helpful, since Vidu's internally-generated toon backgrounds are very modern and digital-painting-looking (the gif of Mrs. Nice turning back and forth into Mrs. Nautilus at the top of the section didn't use a background image reference) and as always, I like it retro.

To that point, using the more comic-booky Mrs. Nice control drawing didn't work near as well as the more period-accurate one:

And while I'll personally be cutting out frames to produce a more accurate 1980s TV animation look, the raw fluidity is bound to appeal to the majority of users, and minor issues like the color of Mrs. Nice's blouse changing mid-transformation are easy enough to fix manually (though if a flaw looks enough like a traditional animation screwup, I might just leave it in)

And another fun feature? Movement amplitude control.

In my last post about it, I said Vidu likes to move, and if you need a more subtle shot, like this one, setting the movement amplitude control to small is your move. (Funny how the robot interpreted the book binding as a mouth.) If something's too static you can up the movement as well, but I haven't had that problem much.

In terms of generation quality, 1.5 is a good but not huge leap up from 1.0. at least in terms of what I've made so far. Aesthetics are very similar, but issues of tearing, distortion, and wonky action are lessened.

And it's way better at understanding triceratops, so thumbs up there.

This is one of my wonk-tests, but man, check that walk cycle. This is why the movement controls are important, sometimes when set to auto a dialog scene becomes a weird chase.

Now, in terms of generation costs (and this can always change), 1.5 seems more expensive but in the end it works out more or less the same.

A 1.0 quality 8-second gen upscaled to max res would be 24 points (16 for the quality 8-seconds, 8 for the upscale), and an 8-second 720 render is also 24 points (as is a 4-second 1080).

Yeah, you don't want to use "Fast" in most cases. While both the 720 and fast versions here both have flaws (Bruce's disappearing popcorn bucket, etc), the 720 res version is substantially more on-model for both characters.

To close out, a bit of fun wonk. To try out the effect, I prompted using a "Specialist Matt Trakker" G.I.Joe/M.A.S.K. crossover figure as a character reference, to see if it could translate a character from toy to live action. And it can-

Though it is very, very literal.

The combination of live action-esq person and accurate G.I.Joe joints is harrowing, but there's potential there for some wild variants on the Toy Story/A Christmas Toy/'Wynona's Big Brown Beaver'-Music-Video-by-Primus concept.

[aspaceformbf]

7 December 2024 Live Charity Stream Transcript - Part 2

Link

---

(I might assign some of the voices wrongly.. welp)

42:45

Fuboo

So I've got a little goodie to share with you guys. So.. what I've got here is not the final product.. it's not the final product.

The uh.. the folks here they.. oh there it is. They don't just quite understand Peter just yet, you know this is just like their first test animation to show what they can do.

We corrected them on a few things especially the walk cycle but we got a little animation right here that I would like to show you.

There we go. Look at him, look at that boy. You guys seeing this boy here? There's no sound to this one.

We already corrected them on this so..

So happy. What a happy boy.

44:40

Fuboo

You know what, we're gonna show you guys one more animation because we've been going through the process of looking for.. for animators and.. it's been interesting, that's for sure.

It's just mainly been looking into um who can execute what and all that kind of stuff but uh.. yeah. So it's just.. it's been quite a process of uh trying to find those that can match the style and everything like that. 

There's this one.

That was another fun one. You're spoiling us? No...

Alright and then.. one more here, and I do love this one.

Natalie

Someone said I'd get stabbed just because I'd be stopping to watch how he's been.. how he's been walking.

- Everyone laughs -

46:15

Fuboo

And this-

Yayyy! See that one, that's a game over I think.

---

Natalie

Kota just said

"but my Favorite Animation is The one with the Shampoo that you already have in the Game! can't you ask them to make the other Animations?"

That's Honey who.. is a friend of ours.

Fuboo

Don't worry we will be seeing her again. 

((Woobz : Peter telling the mcdonalds worker that y/n didn't want pickles))

- Space : I needed to save this comment because LOL - 

Andrew (Don)

I was about to say "Did they put honey in their hair or shampoo? What? It's going to get all sticky!"

Fuboo

Is that the shampoo of '87? *laugh*

Oh, Peter didn't like that comment.

---

48:00

Fuboo

Oh gosh what's that eyebrow. He's got the sassy eyebrow. 

You can ask people who join my streams, I do this very often *laughs*

Natalie

Someone's asking

"Does Peter wear wigs, has he worn wigs, will he wear wigs?"

Fuboo

Um.. has he worn wigs? No.

Will he? If you ask him.

Magic (TK)

So no, yes, yes

Fuboo

No, yes, yes *laughs*

It's not like he likes you.. baka.

49:05

Fuboo

These are lockers by the way.

Seems frustrated about something~

---

50:00

(Kat joins the call)

53:12

Fuboo

"What's Peter's favourite Pony?"

I wouldn't know. Peter Brony.. oh my gosh.. nooo.. don't make me do that.

55:55

(Art Done!)

---

Fuboo

Alright so let's go ahead and open up some lore Q&A. Let's see.. yeah. Yeah let's go ahead and answer some of your most burning questions.

Everybody's still talking about Rat. Drunk Peter. Draw shirtless Santa Don. That's my Christmas present, not yours *laughs*

Magic (TK)

You should draw TK as one of the many.. one of the many characters I've dressed as for Halloween.

Fuboo

Oh gosh. How many characters did you dress as for Halloween?

Magic 

So far I've dressed as a Gryffindor student, Maleficent and male Cruella deVille.

Fuboo

Nice.

---

56:50

Natalie

Someone's asking

"Who's Peter's favourite Invader Zim character?"

Fuboo

Um.. if Peter watched Invader Zim.. it would probably be Dib. Poor misunderstood baby. No one ever believing in him.

---

57:15

Natalie

Someone says "You should draw Don as Santa"

Magic (TK)

That wouldn't be Father Christmas, that would be Daddy Christmas.

Fuboo

Daddy Christmas! *laughs*

Kat

Nyooo.. I'm not sitting on his lap. You can't make me.

Fuboo

Aw. You'd say that if Don was murderous.

Andrew (Don)

We have to start charging admissions.

*laugh track*

Kat

If he was yandere, sure, but otherwise, no.

Andrew

Look I'm only gonna be a tsundere if I get like $100 dollars a piece.

Fuboo

Maybe 200 if I'm feeling generous.

Kat

If I say please and hand you a quarter what will that get me?

Andrew

Uh.. I'll look at you with disdain and then walk away.

Magic (TK)

I give that away for free.

---

59:00

Fuboo

Will there be more mechanics or minigames? Yes. Yes there will be.

59:25

Fuboo

What would Peter do if YN was already married? Um.. YN's significant other would suddenly go missing and Peter would be there.. his usual hijinks honestly.

Magic (TK)

I was thinking anonymous divorce filing.

Fuboo

Yeah, just out of the blue!

Kat

Falsified blackmail and showing up saying

"Wow.. can't believe you cheated on them like that. Time to get a divorce."

(Sara Wolf - Peter's like "aw man so sorry abt your shockingly terrible husband and how he definitely left you of his own free will. lemme help pick up the pieces bb<3")

---

1:00:10

Fuboo

What size is Peter's-

Natalie

I have a question.

Fuboo

Yes.

Natalie

Oh go on.

Fuboo

No go ahead.

Natalie

I was gonna say someone's asking

"ive had this question for a long time, if everyone in ybf has something creepy/weird about them then what’s up with TK??"

Magic (TK)

TK used to burn ants as a child.

Natalie

Why?

Fuboo

Why not?

Magic

Someone has to.

Fuboo

That's terrible

Andrew (Don)

Put those little guys in their place.

Fuboo

*laughs* You can hear no regrets!

Magic

I mean.. I mean they had it coming, they had it coming, they only had themselves to blame.

If you'd have been there, if you'd have seen it, I'd bet you would have done the same.

Fuboo

Wow that.. that kind of rhymed, nice little poem there.

Magic

It's from Chicago.

Natalie 

In honor of Wicked coming out, I'd like to see TK doing a cover of "Popular"

Magic 

Eh.

---

1:02:25

Kat

A question asks

"What would Peter ramble about when he's drunk?"

Magic (TK)

He'd give away the locations of all the bodies.

---

Natalie

What would Peter do if Y/N is Asexual, would he force them to be with him anyway, or how would he go about it?

Fuboo

He would try to go about it by eventually making it to where YN loves him, he.. yeah he's one of those.

---

1:03:05

Fuboo

Day 5 will be soon. Very soon.

---

1:03:22

Kat

Question: Is Peter insecure about his baldness?

Fuboo

Yes

Magic (TK)

Especially since TK roasts him for it.

Fuboo

Yeap. Have you seen TK's hair?

Nice thick flowing locks. Yes TK has long hair, they just tuck it away underneath their beanie.

---

1:03:40

Kat

This is kind of a double question. Would Peter let you have multiple pets or chickens like a chicken coop?

Fuboo

Yes

Kat

I love this question, we're answering it. What is Peter's favourite Christmas movie/song? Please answer it Fuboo, I am on my hands and knees.

Fuboo

Like fuboo listen you don't understand- let's see.. Christmas. Christmas Christmas Christmas.. uh..

Carol of the Bells and It's a Wonderful Life.

Kat

I love him so much, I'm so happy.

Fuboo

You're welcome.

Natalie

I would have thought that his favourite Christmas movie would be Love Actually

Just because of that one scene with Andrew Lincoln stalking Kira nightly and showing up outside of her door with the, the board things pretending that it's carols, you know the one.

---

1:05:25

Natalie

Someone's asking "Is Peter a good chef?" and the answer is no

Fuboo

No... nooo..

Magic (TK)

Don't eat anything Peter gives you

---

1:05:47

Magic 

This is an interesting one 

"Peter and Jack Skellington share similar traits"

In what sense? ..Round heads.

---

Kat

There's a question that, pertaining to the game and its timeline 

"how will YB and YG Connect? Will there be a Canon ending in YB which leads to the beginning of YG or will the Games Play in different universe or timelines?"

Fuboo

Yes. So keep an eye on that. Don't worry it will all come together, okay?

We actually plan on having a uh, a spinoff that bridges between the two so yeah, a lot more games in the works.

---

1:06:30

Fuboo

You know what, Peter is such a hairless horse. He's so hairless, oh gosh.

Natalie

He's giving me like uh.. what was that fucking short called.. Charlie the Unicorn?

Fuboo

Charrrlieee!

Natalie

He's giving me that vibe.

Fuboo

Charlie the unicorn.. he's so bald, he's a hairless horse.

Andrew (Don)

If his neck was a little longer, it'd be like a llama. I feel like no one has seen llamas with hats.

Magic (TK)

That's actually just giving me um, just bald Kuzco vibes.

---

1:07:35

Fuboo

There we go. He's the only bald pony in that world.

1:07:35

Magic (TK)

There's a question in here that I saw, what TK's favourite song would be.

Fuboo

Um..

Magic

Shall I answer that?

Fuboo

Yeah go ahead.

Magic 

The Miley Cyrus cover of "Like a Prayer". That's the first thing that pops into my head.

---

1:08:35

Natalie

Someone's asking

"What is the cast's favorite thing to do on Christmas?"

Magic (TK)

Yeah my favourite thing is eat, drink, eat more.

Natalie

I think they meant the characters, not the actual, literal cast.

Fuboo

Yeah, yeah I know that. The characters. Okay-

Magic

I was answering in character. God, can't you tell?

Fuboo

Okay so Lucy, she LOVES christmas. Christmas is her all-time most favourite holiday okay.

So she just, she just goes all out. We're talking like day one after halloween, the Christmas tree goes up kind of thing. So she just decks the halls instantly.

---

Um let's see.. TK, TK's got the huge family circle and they celebrate a variety of celebrations around the holidays. So it's just one of those things where they all just get together and just do the seasons really.

They do uh, they do Christmas, then they do Hanukkah, Quanza, they just, they just do it all you know, cos.. why not? More of an excuse to get the family together so..

---

Let's see.. and then Don doesn't celebrate Christmas.

Yes he's lame but uh he does this one thing where he does bring out his mom's little uh decorative holiday bears and just lines them up on a shelf and then calls it good. Does it for her.

---

1:11:00

Kat

There's a question. Kind of two questions here but they're kind of the same..

"What would Peter do if YN loved a pet or Rat more than him?"

Fuboo

He'd understand. Nothing against the babies.

Magic (TK)

Yeah, animal cruelty, that's where Peter draws the line.

Fuboo

Yeap.

Kat

They can't help getting your affection. They're not conscious and able to say "Hey, you want to go out for a milkshake?" 

Magic

Even serial killers have standards.

[the-oc-lass]

Cody Day 2024

So APPARENTLY it's Cody day and I just missed that, but if you think I'm going to skip out on an opportunity to write about one of my favorite little clone guys, you'd be SORELY mistaken.

I'd love to draw him too but there's like 6 hours left in the day and I have other things to do, like eat and shower and homework.

ANYWAY, those of you who know me know that I'm the OC lady and for that reason, I'm going to write a little drabbly thing about Cody and my OC, who is like an adoptive mom to him and many other clones (see this post if you want to learn more about her). If you aren't interested in ocs, feel free to skip, the drabbly thing will be under the cut. Oh and also, the clones call her "mum" because Temuera is from New Zealand and that's how they refer to their moms (or, that's at least how my old friend referred to her New Zealander mom). Also, no idea if it's ooc, it's been a while since I watched anything with Cody in it.

Anyway, happy Cody day to all, now enjoy the first bit of Star Wars content I've written in months. Btw @langsnscraps since you've been asking for SW content for a while.

It's late in the night cycle. So late that The Negotiator is practically silent. His general and most of his brothers are blissfully asleep in their barracks, but Cody can't bring himself to do the same. He can't sleep yet. There's a cup of caf nearby, though he can't remember when he got it or if he finished its contents. Doesn't matter. He's too focused on the work in front of him, ignoring the insistent tug from his eyelids. When he hears something behind him—the door opening followed by footsteps, he quickly realizes—his hand jumps to his blaster and he whips around, ready to draw it if he needs to. But as quickly as his fight reaction was triggered, it's soothed. Onteile Tiax is standing a few feet away, a calm expression on her face even as she holds up her hands. He exhales, hand falling back to his side.

"Sorry, mum," he mutters. She lowers her hands as well, folding them in front of her as she tilts her head.

"It's alright, Cody. I should know better than to creep up behind you," she says. He frowns slightly at her.

"I could've hurt you." The calm expression shifts to one of soft amusement, and she raises her eyebrow slightly. Alright, that's probably not true. He sighs and turns away from her, looking back at the holotable in front of him. He can hear her moving again, and she eventually appears at his side.

"Can you not sleep, Cody?" she asks, voice gentle and concerned. He shakes his head and looks down at his data pad.

"I just have a few things I need to do," he mutters. Her gaze weighs on him, but he resolutely keeps his eyes on the information in front of him.

"I worry for you," she says suddenly. He lifts his head to look at her, met with a look of apprehension. She lifts a hand, gently cupping his face. "You put far too much on yourself. I just want to make sure you're alright." He leans into the affectionate touch, just a bit, and offers what he hopes is a comforting smile.

"I'm fine, mum," he says. Bright eyes inspect him carefully, and he feels her stroke her thumb across his cheek for a moment before her hand falls away again.

"Would you like some help?" He considers denying her offer, telling her that she should go back to bed, but he admits that company sounds nice. So, he nods, and she smiles softly before picking up a data pad of her own.

~~

When the work is done—or, at least acceptably lessened—she finally convinces him to go to bed. He walks at her side through the empty halls, The Negotiator humming around them. He takes a moment to look at her as they walk. She's not much taller than Cody himself, but the way that she carries herself makes her seem towering and important. She doesn't hold any official military rank, but she looks like she holds a great deal of authority. People respect her most everywhere she goes. Walking at her side always makes him try to stand just a bit straighter, hold himself with more confidence. A small, unspoken of part of him wants to make her proud. They stop outside of her room—because Cody is a gentleman and promised to walk her to her door—and she turns toward him.

"Promise me you'll rest, Cody," she says. He smiles slightly at her.

"I'll do my best, mum." She smiles back at him.

"That's all I ask." She reaches out, and he allows her to tilt his head down slightly so that she can press a warm kiss to his forehead. "I'll see you in a few hours, Cody." When she releases him, he looks her in the eye again, nodding.

"Sleep well, mum." She nods as well, and he steps around her to walk to his own room.

"I love you, Cody." He pauses, looking back at her. "I just wanted to remind you." His chest is filled with warmth at the affectionate look on her face, and he smiles at her again.

"I love you too, mum."

[imperator-kahlo]

TLOU 2x06 "The Price"—First Watch

Very disorganised thoughts—and spoilers—below.

I cried my eyes out which I guess was the point, so score one for you Mazin.

But I feel weird and bad about some of the things this season seems to be saying about violence and violent people. I wrote a bit about this RE Ellie's arc and especially that scene between Tommy and Gail in 2x03 here; I convinced myself while writing it that this episode, with both Gail and Eugene, would shed more light on that particular interaction and on show!Ellie's trajectory.

It hasn't.

I think how they did use Eugene was effective, don't get me wrong. Ellie going to St Mary's herself wouldn't work in the show. Eugene's death very efficiently provided Ellie the last bit of information she needed to put together what really happened in SLC: Joel will lie to her face if he thinks he knows the best and safest thing to do.

And overall, the Joel-Ellie relationship stuff was great, I thought. Joel fixing that goddamn guitar, my heart. The museum. Beautiful. In an ideal world, I would have liked some breathing room between the final moment of truth for them and Ellie's deciding to try to forgive, but Bella Ramsey sold it, I think.

But back to that frustrating scene in 2x03. Gail's conviction that Ellie is a liar, not a person who lies but a liar, is even stranger to me now. Gail clearly believes at least some of what Ellie told her about Eugene, because she tells Joel in 2x01 that she hates him for shooting her husband. Grief can cloud our judgement, but it's hard for me to understand how she could walk away from that interaction with such anger and contempt for Ellie, while retaining compassion for Joel.

So I'm left with a sinking feeling that the theory I posited in the linked post might be right: that Gail sees the same thing in Ellie that David did. That some people can't be saved (can't change?).

Joel and Tommy's childhood flashback is maybe supposed to be something like a challenge to that notion. Violence, in that case, wasn't in the blood, but it was an ingrained part of the Miller family culture. Nevertheless, every generation can do a bit better. Can change enough to do a bit better.

And Joel didn't do a bit better—he turned that whole cycle around. He was a great dad.

What bothers me about that, though, is Joel repeating the conversation his dad had with him with Ellie. That the love he had for Ellie drove him to that violent act, but maybe she can do a bit better. That's Mazin drawing a parallel between what Joel did to save Ellie in SLC and the Miller family's history of domestic violence. If love drove Joel to do what he did, are we supposed to infer that love drives some parents to violence against their kids?

I don't know. I need to rewatch, and untangle my thoughts, and probably chew on the completed season for a while.

But for all I love this story, the game, the show, the characters, the perfomances... it's perhaps not the sort of story I want to see while fascism is ascendant, you know? Cycles of violence, love driving you to extreme acts? All well and good in a post-apocalyptic video-game world of extreme scarcity and constant physical danger. They keep the narrative chugging merrily on. They make for incredible drama. But when you put it in a prestige TV show, and dwell lovingly on those bleak themes, they take on... I don't know, resonance? It feels more like the creators are trying to Say Something about humanity, and the things they're saying kinda suck?

I don't know... A Paradise Built in Hell by Rebecca Solnit has been on my to-read list for ages and I finally picked it up recently. She writes about natural and man-made disasters, and how we assume that people in a survival situation will panic, act selfishly, descend into a more animalistic state. But the research doesn't bear that out. People tend to be altruistic and cooperative, coming together in neighbourhoods or communities to keep each other alive. To keep one another's spirits up. A lot of the negative social outcomes of disasters are actually a result of elite panic: the authorities assuming the public is a problem to be controlled and that the existing order must be preserved at all costs, despite the upheaval.

You could argue that The Last of Us actually portrays this pretty well: FEDRA acted as it did because of elite panic and enforced order in the QZs at gunpoint; Jackson is what happens when people are free from elite panic and come together after a disaster to engage in mutual aid. But it seems to be missing the deeper point: we're social creatures, and we like and help one another. Love doesn't drive us to violence, selfishness, and tribalism: hierarchy does.

[fearcrowz]

Sorry if there is something that was repeated or you've answered already with these. Skimmed through the info on here for a bit for a set of questions. Mostly worldbuilding for these. What is the energy source of the station? I would assume running several sentient AI systems would be a major power draw. Is any of the AI in charge of making sure power doesn't run out or managing where it goes? Does something happen to an AI if they run low on power like Baymax (Big Hero 6)?

Is food and other resources in the station brought in from the outside or are there systems in place to be self sustained? Which AI would be in charge of supplies?

Is there a known order to when the AI were all built? Is each one a fully unique code or is there a base mastercode that they all start with that is then worked on to the final result?

Does the facility serve a specific meal at the same time each week like how navy ships will traditionally always serve something specific on the same day to help people keep track of what day it is?

How big is the facility? Is it to the scale where people would need an internal transport system or vehicles to get around to places or is everything within walking distance for people?

Does the human staff come up with any theories or myths about the station or the AIs after being there for a while, like any ghost stories or conspiracies they think of?

You knock it outta the park as always, Pups!

Not only are there satellites in the middle of nowhere where this station is, there is also wind turbines and a lot of them. They are scattered about miles away from the entrance in a sorta circle that powers the specialty generators, which are also charged with special meteorite bits they have found as an energy host. As for if the AI keep track of it, they do not. I suppose Percy would be more in tune with the energy placements but nah, it is mostly just the human workers that manage all that. The AI never really run out of power, as the metal they are made out of (as well as the facility) is a conductor for their specialized meteorite hearts. This is sorta spoilerish but you can have it as a little treat ehehe. The armor that everything is made out of is called Paragon's Alloy, and it is a weird white space mineral they found many years ago that they chose to replicate and build with it.

They have shipments of food brought in! Meat and vegetables and such are brought in through shipment trucks in through secret tunnel systems. I am sure there are some experiments going on out of boredom to help produce certain foods with special UV but even though they can make a robot out of a space rock, they can't make a stubborn plant properly grow from the depths of the station. And again, it is more of a human job to manage all the supplies and stuff! If I were to pick a bot though, it prolly be Nel.

Vin, Thaddeus and Nel were the first blueprints. Vin was first, then Thaddeus and then Nel. They were made by Dr. Edward Penrick (Thaddeus' assistant) using the blueprints and recipe of Paragon's Alloy from a former creation another built. Then, with Edward's grandson's help (Ulysses Penrick), they made Percy, Repo and Clip. You can tell the difference in creation by the black screens in the first generation and then the more unique faces and white screens in the second generation. Their base would be their core and metal they are all made of. They all have a special motherboard that has the information of their assigned duties, and from that and the advancements in their technology, their odd "hearts" and metal they are built out of, they sorta just develop their own personalities, with their jobs still being number one.

They try and keep it a variety with food so it doesn't effect morale. They don't want bored people or someone developing an eating disorder from the same junk every week. I am sure it cycles through the month but it is quite a big variety!

The facility is massssssssiveeee. There are elevator systems and stairwell but its mostly walking. Despite being a large facility, there is a lot of rooms and that keeps it more situated, also there are a lot of areas certain groups aren't allowed to be in which blocks out the space. Its more vertically massive than horizontally massive, but it is still very large in width. Waste division actually has more use with vehicle machinery as they have to drag large heavy things from one end to the other, and the spaces are large enough for this.

Oh I am absolutely sure the workers have some stories. If they are working night shifts and hear a weird scraping sound, or see a shadow in the halls, or a weird sound or voice.... Or that the Director is some kinda soul sucker, or that the AI Leads were human once and made of fleshy nasty meaty bits inside... Who knows what people come up with or believe, but there is prolly pleeeeenty of stories to go around.

Thank you for the questions!

×❤️×🩵×🤍×🩷×💚×🧡×💛×

[hauntedwizardmoment]

HELLO, this is your open invitation to talk about any song choices or parallels on your jace-and-jaceclones playlist collection that you wish to elaborate upon, bc I've been listening to them all weekend and I'm absolutely obsessed. Incredible music selections and I'm possessed with emotions now; thank you for your work 🫡

OH MY GOD YES okay so i think i'll start with just like. the general comment that i used songs from a lot of the same artists on them because i wanted them to feel/sound similar but also have distinct vibes - i think a different mcr song appears on each one, there's jack off jill on three of them, etc.

buuuuuuut they also all have at least one pick that's wildly different that i kind of think as the standout/signature song. i wanted to represent that theyre all Of the same guy (jaceprime) but theyre different facets of him: devotion, hedonism, rage. also because i'm insane they do have an order to them and there's an arc within each one

ETA after i finished writing all of this: jesus fuck it got long i'm so sorry i'm insane

i'll go in the order that i finished them in:

for j2 (the acolyte), the vibe is probably the Most distinct from the other three, since his starts out so happy and optimistic; all the small things! baby you're a haunted house! look at these lyrics!!

theyre love songs!! ringtone, too, that's the one i think of as j2s signature song, since it's in a wildly different genre. ringtone is also where the playlist kind starts to get an inkling of despair and tragedy, too

spellbound + heaven, iowa + closer kind of make up a weird trilogy in my head of "j2's thoughts when he and porter are alone together" since it's like, feeling an inexorable pull towards him, feeling so so so weak for him, and of course: religious devotion mixed with intense horniness.

i feel the need to justify the "closer" pick for j2 and not j3, i did go back and forth on it but honestly it's like... j3 doesnt worship the same way j2 does. j2's the acolyte, not the whore. thats also why tourniquet, shame, and all again for you are on here.

lastly for j2: drowning lessons is the unofficial j2porter vegas wedding song to me. the imagery of it is so evocative. look at this.

for j3 (the whore), obviously the vibe is like, getting railed within an inch of your life. but i also wanted songs that conveyed a sense of desperation + misery and self hatred. because j3 has issues and problems.

give 'em hell kid + celebrity skin + ponyboy are like. the Fuck Me trio. j3 wants you to want him, he looks good, he knows he looks good, what are you gonna do about it? he's got a half-life of his own and he's gonna spend it with the hottest people he can.

straight to video, joyriding, and everybody's fool are what i was talking about re. desperation, misery, and self-hatred. he's never been fulfilled or felt like he has a purpose the same way j2 does. he doesnt like looking in the mirror longer than it takes to put on his makeup.

violent pornography + eat me alive are like, two sides of the same coin in my head. more Fuck Me vibes but like, this time with a definite sense of danger and obsession. obligatory choking mention. obligatory erotic cannibalism mention. these things are basically part of the starbreaker bible atp.

and for j3's signature song: living dead girl by rob zombie. he IS the living dead girl to me!! he's jace post-resurrection, trying to fill up the new void inside him with anything, be it pleasures of the flesh or just straight up flesh. he's back from the dead and he's gonna make it your problem. unlike j2's born sexy yesterday he's more like. resurrected sexy (and evil) last night.

for j4 (the devil): the main thing here was like. rebellion. going against the narrative that's trying to draw her in. she's gonna escape the cycle or die trying.

i think my favorite pulls for this were playing god, losing his touch, and going under, which in my mind made up like a trio of being fed the fuck up with someone and walking out for good. there are also a couple songs on here like dead throne and IAGTKTPOTUSOA (cant type out the song name now jic the fbi is watching) where i was like... j4 would listen to these while she's mad. she deserves to have her metal and harsh noise moment.

ofc j4 is still Of Jace so i had to include i hate everything about you, whore, and noise and kisses because unfortunately he's still attracted to porter. why is whore on here but adrenalize was on j3 (the whore)'s playlist? well. whore is WAY more of a Fuck You than adrenalize.

and j4's signature song is ofc ptolemaea. no matter how hard she fights back and how close she gets to escaping, she always ends up back at porter's side. it's inevitable.

aaaaaaaaand lastly for jace's playlist (the one): i think everyone's already noticed that half of this playlist is where the titles for my fics come from but i did want to say that explicitly.

jaceprime's playlist is very much about devotion even when it hurts. giving up parts of yourself to make someone else love you. being doomed. not being understood even by the person who knows you inside and out.

its also like. sleepless nights and waking up disoriented and unsure of who you are. feeling crushed and abandoned but too proud to do anything about it. brain stew, i slept with someone in fall out boy, and broken bones are very that.

i did include drowning lessons on this one again, i think it's the only repeat i have, and i didnt want to but man it's what i listened to while i was writing jace getting strangled to death in his marital bed so i HAD to. i also think it fits because j2 and jace are funhouse mirrors of each other and it's fun to think about how they're both interpreting the lyrics in very different ways.

for jace's signature song, it's dig up her bones. he got brought back wrong in service of an evil plan! it doesnt matter what came before, who he used to be! that jace died and now this one's here to stay. it's similar to j3 on purpose, but j3's more jennifer check while jaceprime is more bride of frankenstein.

lastly, white crosses is kind of the bookend to this whole deal because of the i'll make my way back home to you chorus. that's very starbreaker to me. at the end of the day, theyre each others' homes. theyre all they have left, even if they hate it.

[lunapwrites]

The other day I sat my mom down to try and teach her the basics of tarot and realized that all of my (mostly self-taught) knowledge is extremely specialized in a way that really only makes sense to me and me alone, and that I couldn't teach her to do readings for other people because that's... just not how I tend to engage with the cards. So that was... fun.

In other news, did a reading yesterday that I would classify as a first:

I have uh. Never seen that before.

It took me a while to get the general grasp of what this was on about, since the king and queen almost always represent a person, and almost always my partner and I. So to see them show up to this extent was... unsettling.

It doesn't help that my question was unfocused; I was cycling through several things I'm worried about in my head as I shuffled, so I wasn't sure what we were latching onto. And - provided I'm reading it correctly - the answer is... all of it.

Strength has many tangential meanings, but in this context it's asking me to work on my emotional regulation. To practice having the patience and build up the necessary "muscles" needed to get through the high octane times ahead. I have the tools I need. I just need to practice using them.

King of Pentacles is almost always my partner when it shows up, but not today: today, we're talking about planning ahead. About taking a slower, more methodical approach. Again, the key word here is patience.

King of Cups is asking me to set boundaries, and to find a balance between my logic and emotions - I don't want to completely detach from things! But I need to be in tune with how I'm feeling enough to know when and where to draw lines, and to be able to articulate why.

King of Wands is reminding me of my goals, and asking me not to lose sight of them - whatever else happens. I have a vision, and I'm going to need every ounce of charisma I possess to make it a reality.

Finally, Queen of Pentacles: my card. What it's really stressing here is balance, specifically between work and home, self and responsibilities. This is where the previous four cards will be culminating. A slow, steady tightrope walk, keeping my eyes focused on my end point and nowhere else.

The rune of the day yesterday was Ingwaz. We are at a major turning point, and the energy surrounding my possible projects/endeavors right now is overwhelmingly positive. I am freeing up energy to allow for new experiences (which I have been!) Generally an auspicious little guy.

Anyway, the fact that I pulled four court cards and a major arcana here is big. This is my deck grabbing me by the shoulders, sitting me down, and looking me dead in the eyes while delivering a lecture of epic proportions. Big energy at play here, lots of potential. The time to take advantage of it is now.

[karkkidoeswriting]

My advice to those with ADHD who are suffering from shorter and shorter attention span: get obsessed.

You can use your ADHD to relearn long form attension, but you need to follow your interests and whims, you can't force it. Something you get obsessed in can't be passive though. Passive consumption is not engaging and stimulating enough for the brain to get you in hyperfocus, but training your hyperfocus muscles also does train your attension span muscles so passive focus will get better too. I have found that your best bet is to hyperfixate on creating something yourself. I've been devouring scientific papers just to find out how natural dyes were historically used or could be used today for fabric printing and how traditional batik printing worked. As a result I made a table runner.

Developing a hyperfixation allows you to hyperfocus for hours to a task, in fact, it forces you to do that. Suddenly you are capable of extreme concentration. So feed your interests regardless if they are weird or trivial or unmarketable. Water them regularly as if they are plants. Do not kill them by placing them out of sunlight. And do not, in any circumstance, care or give any thought for weather you are "good enough". Learning a new skill is the most stimulating thing there is, and it involves you starting bad at it. The result of any creative process is secondary. You have to get obsessed with the process.

Warning! Hyperfixation might cause neglect of every other aspect of your life. There's no known mechanism to stop it. I am not responsible for any damage a lifelong obsession could cause.

Also I do have another tip for ADHDers that doesn't involve a danger. When you're trying to focus passively, do something with your hands/body that doesn't require active thinking. For example weather I'm listening to a lecture, podcast or audiobook, I'm always either drawing or handsewing. It keeps my brain stimulated without impeding with my concentration. Another well-worn option is to go for a walk while focusing on listening. Moving your body and doing something stimulates the brain and stimulated brain is more capable of concentration.

In general always think about the level of stimulation of your brain. ADHD at it's core is chronic understimulation of the brain, which is why our brains are not able to concentrate properly or direct that concentration effectively and are always seeking that quick and easy stimulation. But you have to nourish your brain with good whole wheat stimulation not fast food stimulation. That's why exercise, outdoor activities, handcrafts, creative hobbies and learning new things are your brain's best friends. But again do not, I repeat, do not try to force yourself to do something that doesn't spark joy. You will just spend all your stimulation spoons with nothing in return. Cultivate your flights of fancy into genuine interests instead.

Also let go of hyperfixations you lose interest in. Do not try to drag corpses with you. Bury their corpses into the ground, it nourishes the ground and will let you grow a new interest. You have not failed, if you didn't achieve what you wanted or get "good enough" in your hyperfixation before losing interest. None of that was the point. The process was the point. And you had fun. Those are the important things. Beside that if you keep dragging along the corpse of your already dead hyperfixation, they can't move on and be reborn. Hyperfixations tend to come in cycles. If you don't sour your enjoyment by forcing yourself, they will become interesting again after you focus on something else. I have found that at least for me it works best when I rotate my hyperfixations based on my mood and enjoyment. It keeps them engaging and freshly interesting. I have an ever increasing pile of unfinished project, which used to feel disappointing, but after I let go of those standards of success, I was able to come back to those projects time and time again, and slowly finish them one by one.

Please do things to strengthen your attention span. It stresses me out so much when people just accept their small attention spans and cater to them without any acknowledgment that they are making it worse by doing that.

There is a reason attention spans are worse now and it didn’t just happen by chance. Media and the internet designed it that way and we went with it because it was easier.

Some of us with ADHD and brain fog need to meet ourselves where we’re at and lengthen our exercise span by watching a two minute video instead of a one minute video. Some of us need to sit down and read a novel with our phones turned off.

Wherever you’re at, just realize that not doing things that feel hard will keep making your attention span worse.

[freya-development]

Stop-Motion Animation

For our fourth assignment of the semester, we were tasked with making a stop-motion puppet from scratch and then animating it into a walk cycle.

I started out with some concept work in my sketchbook. I knew that I wanted my model to have large feet as we'd discussed in class how stop-motion models need to be able to balance and I didn't want mine to be top-heavy. My solution to this was to base it off of an animal with large feet, and the first that came to mind was an elephant, so I started drawing the idea after some initial doodles of other possibilities such as a two-headed witch (which I decided against due to the proportions of the body). I quickly decided that I was very happy with it and proceeded to move forward with the design, drawing out the plan for the wire frame to scale.

I then set out to make the armature for the model, basing the measurements off of the drawing I'd done for reference. To make the wire frame sturdier, we were shown how to use a drill to twist two pieces of wire together so that they would hold more easily. I used wire cutters to cut the wire to the length that I wanted and then started twisting them together to form the frame. Once I was happy with this, I used tape to hold it together while mixing milliput together, which I then used to solidify some of the places where separate pieces joined, such as the hips. I also used this to fashion the feet, as we needed to put slots in for bolts that would help secure the model to a specific table when filming a walk cycle. I then left it to dry.

After the milliput had properly hardened, I started making the overall shape of the model using sponge that I cut to shape with scissors. I also used hot glue to help secure pieces into place. One adjustment I had to make was to the feet - while in the original drawing they were essentially a flat stump at the end as part of the leg, the way I made the armature meant that this would be far more difficult to line up properly and risked causing problems with the legs bending, so I modified it slightly to have more typically shaped feet.

With the shape down, I then started to paper mache over the model so that it would be easier to paint. I did this by painting a water and glue mixture onto the newspaper, which allowed it to stick together and form a solid, smoother surface. It struggled to stick to the sponge, however, which is something I'd keep in mind were I to do this project again. The newspaper indeed served its purpose and made the model far easier to paint. I started by painting a layer of white paint to block out the newspaper print, then covered the several parts in grey paint meant to imitate an elephant. I also sponged on some lighter and darker patches just for some variation in skin tone. I also painted some white toenails onto the feet and some eyes onto the head.

The last parts of the model were the clothes and the ears. The ears were simple as I cut out some card and painted it, then hot glued them onto the head of the model. The clothes were far more difficult. To make them, I took one of my dad's old t-shirts that he no longer wore and cut pieces out in order to make pieces for a shirt and trousers, which I then stitched together to the best of my ability. I also realised I hadn't made any hands and wasn't sure how to so I covered the ends of the arms with gloves, which were bits of fabric tied on with string. The headband in the original design was scrappped because I tried and failed to make it work, as was the more complex version of the outfit as I have little to no textiles experience and therefore reframed it to be something more realistically attainable.

With the model made, the last thing to do was make a walk cycle. I used reference images of people walking online to get a general idea of how I wanted it to look before doing so, using Dragonframe to get the images for the video.

Were I to do this again, I would definitely try to include more personality into the walk, potentially making a 2D animation as reference beforehand. I would also try to remake the clothes sp that they look more robust and potentially more complex as well.

[pixeljade]

AI isnt ingerently bad in and of itself, all it is is machine learning systems which can be applied to ethical sources and used for all kinds of things. The problems are specifically that they are 1) often used currently as smoke and mirrors for theft in cases like the text and art generators. if you train an AI on sources you dont inform of this and compensate properly, it is simply theft put through a blender to hide it; 2) it is being used to replace jobs of people in an era where jobs are still necessary to survive. Duolingo for instance fired most of their translator staff, and translation is increasingly a job being replaced by AI. Those Translators affected deserve a safety net for the collapse of their industry. This is also true of a lot of the non-text-and-art AIs, where they replaced jobs which used to exist...but its starting to become a more significant problem now; 3) It can lie and quite often businesses are propping it up as a source of accurate information. Theres been a number of mushroom identification platforms which have been using AI and making up shit, which could easily get someone killed. AI should be illegal for use such as that outright; 4) It can retain and amplify biases of the people it is trained on. I'm sure we've all seen the video where the guy asks an AI to create images of autistic children, and how it produced a bunch of sad white boys. Some AI companies are trying to fix this by throwing in "diverse" as a keyword for the AIs, so they dont do that, but thats really just a band-aid. Even looking at AI training in Videogames, lets say they use it to animate a walk cycle for a gay character, and they logged mo-cap videos of several actors who they told to walk like a gay character. It might end up showing those characters walking like a stereotype. The AI model needs some built-in way to recognize biases and counter them intelligently, and I'm not enough of a programmer to figure out exactly how--honestly, this isnt even a fatal flaw, I'd say this is just one we need to be aware of and improve the technology with it in mind.

Like. There's plenty of uses of AI which are good. Its just that there's flaws which, in the current model, are being brought to light by the way people are using this new technology. If we put in some regulations to protect jobs and eliminatetheft and misinformation, and refine the technology further, I do believe we can find a way to integrate AI into life in a way that is ethical and helpful. For instance, as a cartoonist, I hate drawing backgrounds: if I could draw a handful of backgrounds in my style and train an AI on it, then use it for backgrounds I dont care much about (and edit them so that they fit a little better) I think thats fine. There's no theft, there's no misinformation, I wouldnt be hiring a background artist since I'm poor anyways so its not a job loss, and if any biases do show up I'm at least there to filter them. There ARE ethical uses, we just have to start approaching this issue with nuance in order to divide the ethical from the unethical.

Some of y'all will see the word "AI" and freak out without actually processing anything that's being said like a conservative reading the word "pronouns"

[timpac-capstone]

Week 4

The one thing I'm most anxious about in my project is voice acting. I definitely want to have some dialogue in my story but the more I brainstorm the more characters seem to get involved and in that sense, I might have to look into hiring professionals. I am not a voice actor or an actor in general, I've done skit videos before but I'd hardly call that acting because I'm acting like myself with a layer of sarcasm rather than trying to put on a performance. Even when I watch professional voice actors do their performances I still feel a bit of secondhand embarrassment. I found this video by ProZD who is a professional voice actor/YouTuber on "How do you get into voice acting" and it's the answer that I expected which is you just do it and eventually you get better through trial and error. However, this is more so for people who are trying to get into the industry and not techniques to warm up your voice, how to find a voice for a character, or what microphone to use. But one thing that did stick out was that you have to get over that feeling of embarrassment of performing in front of others and once you learn how to do that you're pretty much halfway through the battle. Ideally, the only voice actor in this project will be me but I need to first get over my embarrassment of performing.

This is a snip bit from a much larger Behind The Scenes bonus video that mainly focused on the Ed, Edd, n Eddy: The Mis-Edventures video game. This clip specifically focuses on the show, such as what was the process of making the characters and how Danny Antonucci came up with the concept of the show and its characters. I watched this about 7 years ago and it was the first BTS video that I ever saw regarding how an animation was made. I had no clue about walk cycles, turnarounds, or model sheets up until that point so it was interesting revisiting to see what information I still retained after all these years and what Danny Antonucci's creative process is compared to other creators and showrunners.

I found this guy about 2 years ago, he's an animator from Canada who works for many big-name Japanese anime studios. A lot of what I know about animation production is from this guy, it has been really helpful in learning the differences in animation between the West and East and what is similar. It has also been very insightful as to how he got into the anime industry considering he is from Canada, the secret being having a really good and active Twitter account but that's probably not the case anymore. He mainly uses Clip Studio Paint since that's the standard in japan but that is a very expensive program and I'm sure Krita works just fine. Recently he's been doing a lot of tutorials on After Effects which will definitely be useful for me since I have some experience with that program.

I've only done a few digital drawings in my life and absolutely no digital animation so it is a big stressor on me because I keep saying I'm going to learn Krita but digital art is just so uncomfortable for me to do. I've only just recently gotten my drawing skills up to where I want them to be and that was because of a personal year long competition I did with my friend in which we had to make a drawing from scratch every single day for a year. However that was mostly all traditional, there is clearly I much different process for digital art but it's a bit difficult to figure out because to make a good digital piece requires your own personal preferences and knowing the limitations of your digital art program. It isn't as easy as just finding a single tutorial on Krita because every bodies work flow is different and when I see these 40 minute long tutorials I feel like I'm gambling away time I should be using drawing and making stuff in Krita. This is a channel I found this week that does ten minute long time-lapse videos on animating in Krita, I feel that these give me more exposure as to what the workflow in Krita is like and I don't have to spend much time watching his videos so that I can go on and do my own thing.

REFLECTION:

This was a much more research oriented week, I probably won't have time to put what I learned into action this week but still pretty useful information that I will definitely go back to eventually. I feel this process will become a lot more easier when I know what story I want to tell so that definitely will be my next goal to get done during this week.

[jonathankatwhatever]

For some reason, I am so relaxed that I can’t remember any of the work done earlier today. I can read it and it makes sense, and I can see myself sitting down or walking while typing in the rain, but it’s like I’m not spending any cycle time maintaining memory. This seems to relate to the ideas about a breakable heaven, one which doesn’t last because it’s not connected to the infinite process which generates the finite construction of gs. Might as well say finite heaven, because each life’s choices are finite, so you can’t add them up to get infinite, and an infinite heaven isn’t breakable because you always get an infinity left behind. It’s more that you break off a piece, a finite piece, and that is the heaven we can currently address because we’re not connected to the continuing count in higher dimensions. We’re not carried along, however viewed, whether as an identity or as part of a set, like a set or form which embodies that which isn’t continuing, like that which is borne into the past until it loses attachment to the infinite gs construction process, which is finite. That is weird to say, but I’m trying to get out that any construction of grid squares or in grid squares is finite, so we can view the continuing process as localized to the wavefront, to the effect of the sK and zK rotations and flips which generate cardinal and ordinal counting along the real line formed on the szK.

I just caught some mechanics: look at counting along szK and note that it counts in both 1Space and 0Space, as both 1 and root2. And note that these map to xK and yK. That gives two observations: that we map root2 to a 1-0Segment or we map a 1-0Segment to root2. Think of that as compressing and expanding. Then think of that extending over more gs, so more and more compresses and expands, and obviously patterns thus occur in that mapping, and these carry the various counting types, like SBE and fCM, between 1Space and 0Space.

To be clear, I’m seeing counting as extending the same in each axis but the maps being different 1Space to and from 0Space.

Why am I considering only 1gs at a time? Why not an Alternation? Like 2:1 and thus root5. Doesn’t this map 1Space to root5 0Space? Yes. The Alternation forms are a subset of the potential connections. But say we have 5gs along sK, and we read that as translating to a 5Square. Different or same? The recombinant 5Square versus the quadratic version, meaning square root. Recombinant because it takes the 1Space, adds it, and then takes the square root of that result. So, after some thought, that means this calculated nSquare also fits to the Alternation derived nSquare, which means the spaces somehow relate. How? I mean root5 is 2:1 Alternation, and you know how that draws, while 5gs can be in a line or as L5. I have to go where this wants to go. Can’t force it. Same as with my choices in life: I need to find the positive Pathway, the one which continues.

So let’s take L5 and say that maps to a basic 2:1 Alternation. This can be both hands because we can count either way along L5. So that particular L-count has an equivalency or identity with an Alternation form. It says that 5Square lays out over L5. There would be a map like this for each Alternation form.

I keep returning to faithfulness. It’s a tight loop. Comes back often and in many variations. Faithfulness is a way of keeping connection alive, like ancestor worship.

This is sinking in: when we have finite gs construction, as we must, then we do get a Boundary of that which is minimized. I’m startled to realize the work from what is now yesterday was correct. I was really pushing it.

[lnkedmyheart]

Sorry, genuinely trying to help but I'm aware that completely out of the blue, unsolicited advice generally doesn't work and people need to reach their own conclusions. No pressure to respond. I don't remember what I wrote but I think my intention was to convey how aggravating for people's mental health it is to feel powerless and how detrimental it is to focus on things that will exacerbate those feelings. There are only a limited amount of things that are within our control and other people's bad takes are usually completely outside our sphere of influence. We know they're wrong and that makes us feel powerless so we want to change them, so we try to address bad takes, but we can't change other people so we keep seeing the same bad takes, so we feel more frustrated and more powerless than we started out. Sometimes we end up creating negativity bubbles with other people who also hate the same takes we do and end up feeding each other's negativity spirals. In the simplest words, it's a cycle that isn't beneficial for us and it's unproductive (in terms of mental health not capitalism. In the sense that our actions make us feel worse long-term instead of better). A productive approach would be shifting our perspective to within our sphere of influence and what we can control. We have influence over how we react to things and how we feel about stuff, which is why focusing on the things we like and talking about why we like them makes us feel good because we're in control. It's productive in terms of mental health, it's rewarding, makes other people feel good, and people can bond over shared interests. This type of approach is is also more likely to sway people into seeing things from our perspective. Anyway, I just sent you that ask because I agree with a lot of your posts and I think they're even better when you're actually talking about the things you like. I don't know if you've noticed but you've got a ton of people dumping their negativity in your asks, and I can't imagine how exhausting that must be. Also I have an insufferable need to talk about ways to manage and improve mental health.

I'm cool with people being negative in my asks. I am of the opinion that you should be allowed to dump your negativity into a post on your blog (not in character tags because I dont wanna insert negativity into character tags) because otherwise it keeps building up inside you. I like Oda a lot more now that I have people who seem to share my frustration with Oda's characterization in the fandom and the consequence it has had on the way Dazai is viewed by people. And I have a healthy life outside socmed in general so I'm never really bogged down by the frustrations of bad socmed takes. Like, these are 2d drawings on a screen, if it really starts getting to me more than I can stand I just log off and walk my dog or go out for lunch with my friends.

I'm glad you like my takes, but I am not gonna stop talking about things or takes that annoy me because I NEED to talk about them so that I stop feeling like Im alone with that opinion. Because I'm tired of having to make my blog a place for only others to enjoy. Its a place where I say whatever I want as long as I dont hurt anyone or their feelings.

The mental health thing when it comes to Dazai takes are more because the antis keep invading positive spaces to drag him or chuuya or skk or aku or whatever they decide to dump on that week.