#I think it's the drawing. It sapped all of my creativity

[sorrel-the-kabbage]

I haven't posted in forever (and I don't have access to a lot of my old art rn so I can't keep posting those until I do) so here's something I drew the other day!

Shinsou!!! This was originally just show/pose practice but I blinked and suddenly it was a fully shaded fullbody scene lol

[rqbossman]

Hello Mr Bossman! (and possibly anyone else who reads this)

Its an honour to be here, I have a few questions. First i appologise for the long paragraph, you may dismiss it for the questions at the bottom. For context, i am here after finishing TMA and being up to date with TMAP, i then went over and listened to RQG, and have just finished listening to Epilogue 3 and might i just say, good sir I am grateful for your podcasts. I am currently just a few months away from my final exams of High School, and as someone who even just 1 year ago was very lost, struggling with school and being just overwhelmed. TMA isnt exactly comforting, but the characters and plot managed to serve as a good form of escapism while sorting myself out. I found my self engaging more in creative things that i had originally put aside in favour of maths and science (which i hated but thought i needed to do). I started drawing again, even if just fanart. and i found things going well. By finding podcasts, story telling and these communities have helped me in my own understanding of what i want in life. I got an ADHD diagnosis earlier this year, and almost directly after started RQG and as my first hyperfixation (that i was aware of as an hyperfixation) gosh dang it hit hard. (in a good way). Ive been able to do so much more creative writing and drawings, and got re-involved with a small dnd group with some friends who i played one game with almost 4 years ago now. So overall, inspirational sounds cringe, but it was. Im doing my best with the upcoming exams, but trying to get in to Medicine is not my only prority, and the fact ive been re-introduced to my first love (Literature and story telling), im planning to go do an Arts degree and i know i wouldnt have been able to confidently make this decision, or even have survived this long in the school system without the work you and your coworkers do. Now the sap is out of the way, Question time! (if you could answer even just one of these questions it would be so cool)(they go in order of RQ relevant to random stuff)(dont feel pressured to answer all/any. i know i wrote alot): 1. what would you say is the best way to draft out a long-form story. (with "Erasing the Line" as an example) Did you start at the end, with the links to the overarching plot.

2. When working with the players (in a form of TTRPG), what did you do to make sure you didnt miss relevant timing of plot points/ avoid creating spoilers while still giving enough detail?

3. What are good places to start with making a job out of storytelling/voice acting/audio etc. In the case of RQ, how is this a job and where do i sign up please! /j (what i mean is, how is best way/how did you find all the people involved and was there a common path that you were all on before getting to where you are now?) 4. Do you have recommendations for Terry Pratchett Books, i may be an literary-leaning student, but it seems i have never actually properly read any of his books. so where is best place to start?/What did you read first?

5. Similar authors or similar inspirations? Did you have a favourite podcast you listen to in your free time that you havnt had a hand in producing/directing/working on. 6. Favourite song/album/artist. And more specifically, what you like listening to in background when doing either writing or (for ttrpg) character research/game planing. 7. Since the olympics are on at the moment, what has been your favourite sport to watch, if you have been watching at all. Thank you for your time :)

Thankyou for all the kind words. Knowing our work is helping people really keeps our engines fired up. Let's see if I can't answer your questions: 1. I "sandbox" which is where I just shove everything I can think of into an unorganised bullet point list. Characters, setting, plot, all of it in one big mess. Then I decide what type of story you want to tell, copy and paste to a new document and then start to organise the thoughts (with the sandbox on standby if new stuff comes in I don't know what to do with). I think of it like scultping, you cut away bits and reshape until something comes out the other end that is story shaped. Only then do I attempt to build the sandcastle and put something coherant together like a synopsis or scratch draft etc.

2. Very tricky. I did a complete review and update of all notes after each recording session and don't forget the audio eas edited. I made lots of gaffs that you never heard as audience.

3. I contacted anyone I could convince to take part and just proved I was serious by overworking. I don't reccomend that route. Unfortunately it really is "who" you know. That doesn't mean chase established professionals as much as it means you need to get out there and associate with other up-and-comers who match your vibe. For me the route was long and windy and not a particularly good example. 4. I normally recommend people do not read his books in publication order. Don't get me wrong, its wonderful watching his craft grow from one title to the next but I would recommend new readers tip their toe into his later works to see if they like where he ended up before committing the time. I often recommend 'Monstrous Regiment' as people's first one. My favourite though is 'Thief of Time.'

5. I don't get much time to listen to podcasts in the last couple of years. I used to listen to a lot of non fiction. 'Stuff you Should Know' and that ilk. I also read a fair amount of classic YA fiction to unwind (Windinsger trilogy, Bartimeous, stuff like that.) 6. Paul Simon's Graceland but when working I assemble a playlist for each seperate project that is tonally appropriate. If I really need to focus I listen to Classical Minimalism. Or the Old School Runescape soundtrack. I'm allowed to be ecclectic. 7. I am actually in an incredibly busy work crunch at the moment so haven't seen any of it!

[jawbone-xylophone]

Still not entirely happy with my characterization, but I do like the slightly experimental choices I made here. I just think Hypnos and Thanatos are extremely divorced, and it's partially because they both think Hypnos should be exactly like Thanatos. Neither of them is sure when it all fell apart, though.

Flavored with an eldritch being having body dysmorphia, and also copious flowery language surrounding People Dying.

~🥀🦋🥀~

It's an old and rotten unraveling, this thing between them.

Before earth and air, before moon and water, there was a suggestion of what could be. And it writ upon itself Night, and it writ upon itself Love, and the darkness filled itself with a thousand shadows, a thousand stars.

And they learned to sleep. And they learned to dream. And they learned to die.

They learned many other things, of course, and Hypnos learned at the knee of Mother Night what gave men delight and terror. He liked to be gentle with them. He liked to weave dreams of river mist and poppy stems and stardust, let mortals taste a little of immortality away from bloody work and bursting callouses. Everyone, everywhere, deserved something nice in their lives.

He'd really thought Thanatos agreed.

Sleep is the midwife of the gentle dead, after all. He lowered their eyelids, fluffed their pillows, reminded them they were loved, drowsy souls all wrapped up in a neat little bow for his brother to take below. They'd danced this dance for aeons, before Time fully knew its own name. A matched set, hand in hand, waltzing the thin blurry line of oblivion and eternity.

They were twins. They should have had an understanding.

Up the hallway Hades loomed over his desk, pinching the bridge of his nose to stifle a gold flush of rage in the wake of Prince Zagreus's latest antics. Mother Nyx hovered outside the prince's door like she'd just happened to be there since the dawn of time for no particular reason, and something about it- her hands, her jaw, the smoke-pale skin they'd all consciously matched to mark out family, was just... a lot. A lot to handle. Honestly, just a little bit hilarious.

He'd been using a human-shaped body for so long it had involuntary responses now, wasn't that funny? Thanatos had come by... some timeless amount of time ago, maybe a decade, maybe a year, to tell him to get better at record keeping. Registering new shades. It wasn't a bad job. It wasn't an ideal job. It could sure prove he wasn't incompetent and clingy and dependent.

All he had to do was stay awake and friendly and not do anything creative, with zero help from anyone, and try not to accidentally slice his hand on his quill every time Thanatos dismissed him. He bled poppy sap, after all, not ichor like the Olympians.

It was kind of funny. Very funny, actually. He really had no reason to bleed anything- he might as well bleed ichor, if he could. Something to work on after his shift maybe. If he dreamed hard enough, he might change enough to improve something. He'd only really remembered in the last millennia to keep the number of his fingers stable. Sometimes he'd wake up with more or less. Maybe that was a problem.

It wasn't, once upon a time. It'd just been him and Thanatos on the banks of the Lethe, dancing the way flowers and butterflies do, drawing souls gently down into that final sleep to end all heartache and pain. Something gentle. Something good.

Hypnos let his papercuts scar like a human, trying to keep track of the last time his brother gave a damn, and got back to work.

[skaldish]

re: the last ask you responded to, I love the description of your relationship with Loki so much! It sounds exactly like what I'm seeking in relationships with deities. I would love to hear more about how you developed a connection that is so playful and fun, and what that looks like in day to day life (whatever you're comfy sharing of course). It just made my heart so happy, like I could feel both of you smiling as I read :)

Well, to be honest, I befriended Loki purely by accident.

Years ago, before life got hard and my creativity was sapped dry, I used to write tons of original fantasy stories. By extension of this, I also made tons of OCs.

One day in 2014, I decided I wanted to create a character who was the epitome of a magnificent bastard—an absolute conniving, rakish, and hilarious sonofabitch—and after months of trial and error I finally struck on an energy.

I was ecstatic to finally get the character down, but as time went on I noticed he seemed to do what characters normally don't do and act outside of my own whims and desires, like he was autonomous. He gave me no inspiration for his story, but tons inspiration for hijinks we'd get up to together (which I would then draw pictures about). He would also sometimes just...leave my head for days or weeks on end before returning. All of it actually weirded me out for a bit, but ultimately the joy of the relationship outweighed my fear of not really knowing what was going on.

But this ignorance couldn't last forever, and three years lafer my character revealed himself as Loki. To say this broke my brain is an understatement; it shattered my concept of reality, and rebuilding it was legitimately one of the hardest, scariest periods of my life.

So it wasn't all playful fun. There was an initiation involved. And the strife it caused nearly convinced me to kick Loki from my life for good.

These days I understand my cluelessness was actually what saved our relationship. There's no way I would have interacted with Loki on the basis of who he is, had I known he was a god. I would have interacted with his role as deity, rather than his personhood.

I guess the trick to fostering relationships like this one, is to interact with deities as people, first and foremost—people who have their own opinions, agency, values, and personalities that aren't beholden to archetypes or societal roles. Interact with them on the basis of who and how they are in relation to you, rather than as deities, archetypes, and/or allegorical devices.

Likewise, avoid slotting yourself in a role in relation to them. You are likewise a person, and not a societal role or archetype. Communicate your genuine thoughts and feelings. Be yourself, however you may be in that moment.

And then see what comes of it.

I did not (and do not) intentionally craft my relationship with Loki to be playful. Our relationship is playful because we play together, and we play together because we enjoy it.

I likewise did not intentionally craft my relationship with Eochu Bres (minor Irish deity, Brigid's husband) around discussions of philosophy and magic. We end up discussing these things because they're topics we're excited by and enjoy talking about together.

While I do have more cordial interactions with deities I don't know very well, even these are still rooted in being genuine. I don't hide how I feel (which is very often "shy and awkward") but this seems preferred over any performances, no matter how lavish.

So yeah. Be yourself, not who you think you need to be to please them.

[pupstim]

Im rly shy but I just wanna say that despite only being in the fandom for like a month, everyone has been super welcoming and engaging, and just so so nice.

I'm mainly a Bad Main but I've been watching other streamers and its so amazing to see the streamers come together as a community for this block game and create something it feels like everyone can participate in. And it feels like a lot of that reflects as well here on qsmpblr. People are very respectful and are so creative. I love seeing all the different theories, artwork or stories going around and its kind of inspired me as well. I dont think I've been this deep into writing in like 7 years and I've been drawing more for the fun of it. Its just... this community is so fun to be in. Doesn't feel like an obligation and, i know this has been said before but everytime I see someone familiar in my notifs its like I'm getting a smile or a wave from them and it just is really nice. Yall are so damn nice even though I've only been here for about a month and its crazy. Thats not even touching back on just qsmp and the streamers themselves.

Hrf I just wanted to add to the sap pile and am quite pumped for the new streamers to join. Thanks for reading

[bromcommie]

15 questions for 15 friends

Thanks to the wonderful folks who tagged me! @between-a-ship-and-a-hard-place @buckrogers @booksandabeer (thriving on the alliteration here y'all) Tbh I'm having a great time finding more out about you guys <3

Are you named after anyone? >>> Nope! My parents had it down to two names and for the longest time I thought the other one was way better suited to me. The one that got away, if you will. I think the meaning of my name is kind of cheesy, but at least I'm cool with it now.

When was the last time you cried? >>> Hm maybe like a week ago, watching a movie (which wasn't even all that sad. I think I was happy crying for the most part, lol)

Do you have kids? >>> Nope.

What sports do you play/have you played? >>> Currently taking a dance class, some yoga. I did karate for a long time before the worst of my teenage period got to me, but since then I haven't been all that active save for the occasional course. I do wanna get more into martial arts, though.

Do you use sarcasm? >>> Often.

What’s the first thing you notice about people? >>> Depends, really. General vibes, I guess, or voice and speech. Hair, too.

What’s your eye color? >>> Hazel.

Scary movies or happy endings? >>> Happy endings, all the way. I love dark stuff but ultimately I'm a sap, and I'm not a big horror person save for a few exceptions.

Any talents? >>> I enjoy creative stuff like visual arts and writing, and I'd like to think I'm good at it sometimes. Picking up new languages, I guess. I'm an alright cook, and I really enjoy doing that, too.

Where were you born? >>> @booksandabeer said in the capital of a state that no longer exists, and I'm gonna have to steal that because lol, technically same.

What are your hobbies? >>> Writing, videography/editing + photography, piano, language learning. Making edits about my stupid little blorbos on here. And I'm trying to get back into drawing atm.

Do you have any pets? >>> I have two cats that hate each other (and only occasionally like me).

How tall are you? >>> 5'8". I think.

Favorite subject in school? >>> Art history, history, languages.

Dream job? >>> With every passing day I'm less and less sure about what "dream job" even means, honestly. For the time being I'd like to pursue a career in film production, though, whatever that may look like.

I'm not sure I know 15 people irl let alone here but:

tagging @village-skeptic, @dharmasharks, @vostok3-ka, @theairshiphangs, @painted-doe, @dontcallmebree , @one-eyed-bossman, @gyokujyn and whoever else might like to join in. Obv no pressure and apologies if I overtagged anyone who's already done it!

[altraviolet]

Oh man now that I've seen TWO asks this day about Soundwave dying, is that the inevitable conclusion to this fic? Did I miss this big spoiler somewhere or all the clues to it? I don't remember seeing a "Major character death" tag, either.

Or is this people speculating and doing "what if"? ...not that I'd be adverse to it, especially if it made sense to do so!

Also I completely understand about work sapping all creative juices. While I don't write (I've dabbled in the past, but little 3k words or less things for OC's way back in the LJ days), I used to sketch, draw, paint nearly every day for hours before I ended up in a corporate 9-5, full time job. Even doing customer service jobs, I was able to sketch on napkins and scrap receipt paper and sticky notes.. and now I just.. can't. Its unbelievable how mentally draining full time jobs can be. Every now and then I'll get the sketch pad or watercolors out,but it's maybe once or twice a year now.

I've seen writers who do ko-fi for tips or writing commissions for certain stories (I remember a tf author I used to follow did this - where a story was only continued if the chapters were commissioned) - or even patreons, where they set up an early access to the newer chapters, and the cut scenes, additional content - have you thought about those? I think you've got a big enough following where it could be feasible to go part time! And maybe fund a self publishing of an original work sometime down the road!

>is that the inevitable conclusion to this fic? Did I miss this big spoiler somewhere or all the clues to it? I don't remember seeing a "Major character death" tag, either.

The major tag on the fic is "Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings." You haven't missed a big spoiler or clues. The influx of "WHAT IF HE DIES" was puzzling to me, too, but I rolled with it.

I'm curious why people think Soundwave is going to die, when one of the major themes of the fic (at least to me, inside my head) is bringing people back from the dead. Not literally, of course. But... but did they see the whole point of what Rodimus is doing? Trailbreaker, Ambulon, and Mirage? Skywarp? Literally pulling Soundwave from the shadow zone, where life is not worth living?

There's actually a lot more I want to say on this, but I don't want to spoil the story. I have a FAQ planned for when the fic is done and I address death in it, and my approach to writing it vs JRO, and the aforementioned major theme.

I'm guessssssssinnnnnnng people are going the doom route because of the Scavengers, and because Soundwave keeps getting injured and can't be healed, and because... ? I feel like stakes have been high in the past, so maybe that's part of it, too. I won't say anything else for now, though.

This post got long so I'll put the rest under a cut.

>Its unbelievable how mentally draining full time jobs can be.

good god, yeah. low key, I used to be an artist (mostly hobbyist, a few pro jobs). I gave up and went back to writing because it's much easier/comes more naturally to me, and that's all I have energy for. I fuckin' mourned stopping art, to be honest. but you know what, I'd rather have Echo Garden than slog through commissions. I learned I'd rather create my own things than do things other people want me to do. so I guess learning that about myself was ... good. it's absolutely unbelievable how draining a 9-5 job is. I will admit I am jealous of people who have spouses or understanding parents that allow them to do art full time by providing a safety net in the form of housing and health insurance. jealousy is very human, you know :D surely there is a better balance out there for us ;A;

>I remember a tf author I used to follow did this - where a story was only continued if the chapters were commissioned

oooohhhhhhhh you know... I get it. I get people need money. but that doesn't sit right with me. I would not withhold fic like that.

>patreons, where they set up an early access to the newer chapters, and the cut scenes, additional content - have you thought about those?

I've thought about it only in the fanciful sense. To be honest, unless I was getting enough support to quit my job, it's not really going to change my life. Like, how do I say this. I won't have any more additional time in the week to write if I make $50 extra/month through patreon. I'll still be doing my full time job AND I'll have an obligation to write for people. Does that make sense? Unless a patreon offsets the actually draining thing in my life, it's just another thing I have to do.

Although 'early access to chapters' sits way better with me than denying future chapters UNLESS funded. Though paying for fic is a huge gray area and I don't think it's wise to poke that beast...

>I think you've got a big enough following where it could be feasible to go part time!

thank you, I appreciate your kindness here :D I don't think my following is big enough, though. I think the readership is maybe 1400 people? and a bunch of those are minors and most of the adult fandom is fucking broke, lol. (the tf fans with the money tend to be the major toy buying ones, not the fanfic reading ones. Stereotype, but that's my observation)

and part of the problem is my place of employment. I asked, years ago, if I could go part time (so I could practice art) and my boss said no. it's a full time only position ;A; which is why I say, unless patreon can fully support me, it's not really feasible. freelancing incurs a higher tax rate and you don't have any health insurance, so I'd actually have to make more than I am now... and given the number of absolutely fantastic fan artists I see struggling to make it with patreon, I know I can't (since fan artists make more than fan writers)

I hope that my answers don't sound dismissive. Thank you very much for your empathy and kind ideas. I don't think the fandom can support me monetarily in the way I would need, and I think their interest in me will drop as soon as Echo Garden is finished. I base this statement on the fact that TEG has exponentially higher stats than any of my other fics.

The people clearly want only one thing, and it will eventually end xD

If you or anyone else thinks I'm looking at this wrong and there may actually be a way I can write without dying, please let me know. I've thought about this for years and the above is what I've concluded.

Thank you again for the kind ask! <3

[iheartgod175]

Hey everyone!

As you may have noticed, I disappeared both on here and on Twitter/X for a week and a few days. Nothing bad happened to me personally, I promise, but I just got hit with the worst case of creator burnout that I’ve ever had. Literally thinking of opening this app was making my head hurt and just sapped away any and all creative energy.

So, I turned off my notifications for the socials that I used and decided to take a week long break to just refocus. I realized, then, that I’d made this app (and creativity as a whole) as an idol. I was relying more on it to be happy and fulfilled rather than focusing on the important things of life (my faith, my family, my responsibilities). On days where I couldn’t create anything, where I couldn’t force my brain to come up with one sentence or one idea to draw, I felt like a failure. That, plus the negative energy maelstrom that is X, contributed to making my anxiety worse.

Over the course of a week, I noticed a change in my mood—I felt much lighter without that pressure on me to make things, to where I could enjoy taking the time to create. I was able to pick up some studies on diligence, and even made headway on chores. I picked up a little writing challenge, which was to challenge myself into starting a new 15-minute writing habit. Overall, I started off small, but it snowballed into me making headway into a WIP that I’ve been putting off for ages. Sure, it’s a rough draft, and sure, I’ll have to go in and make some big edits and changes. But what matters is that I MADE PROGRESS. I actually did something.

But yeah. I don’t have much else to say here, other than I’m sorry for leaving you to worry for so long. But I’m back, and I’m feeling more motivated to create!

[wahbegan]

So here's my thing with franchises is that you can't just generate ideas out of nowhere, right? That's not what creativity is. Everything has an influence, whether it's another work of fiction or something from the real world or whatever, you can't just pull a plot or a monster design or a character out of your ass. This is why when Lovecraft tried to describe things beyond human ken he just faffed around and vagued about how horrible it was, but wouldn't put down anything concrete. Because you can't imagine something beyond human imagining. Quick, think of a color that doesn't exist. You can't, it's fucking impossible. You are always inspired by something. You are always going to feel like you're ripping something off.

Now, the problem is that when a franchise starts, let's use Silent Hill because that's what prompted this TED talk. Silent Hill wore its influences on its sleeve, but they were numerous and weird. There was a lot of David Lynch in there, well let's not mince words there was a lot of Twin Peaks in there, there was Stephen King in there, there was fucking Kabbalism and old-school alchemy in there. You can see all of those influences very clearly, but together, they make something very unique.

But the longer a franchise goes on, the more outside influences fade and the more you're just drawing on one influence, and that's the existing franchise. Silent Hill games have felt old hat for a long time because they are only drawing on one inspiration, and have been for a while, and that's other Silent Hill games. The reason people are excited for Silent Hill f more than any other game they announced is because it doesn't read like its sole influence is Silent Hill. It seems like it's heavily inspired by Ryukishi07's other work. Which is fantastic. People dumped truckloads of cum in their drawers over P.T. because it was creative. By which, i mean, it had a lot of influences OTHER than just Silent Hill.

But fans, the clingy complain-y dipshits they are, aid and abet the creative death of franchises, because they WANT the only inspiration to be the parts of the franchise they liked, but they also want it to be good and feel original and those things are kinda mutually exclusive. It's just such a limited inspiration pool that it seems like the same thing again and again and again. It becomes creatively incestuous if you get what i'm saying. Silent Hill has been THE SILENT HILL 2 SHOW for way too long, and it's sapped the creativity out of the franchise.

So that's the problem with franchises, that's why i love shit like The Last Jedi even though THAT shit was hotly divisive, and that's why my advice to young creatives is this: you're always going to be ripping something off. That's just how things work. The trick is to rip off a little from a LOT of different things, and make them into your own special gumbo. And if you're going with a franchise, rip it apart, pull out minor bits and pieces you personally like but nobody was ever gonna expand on, and smear them all over the walls with whatever the fuck other influences you want to mix them with.

[milliesmusings314]

Headcanons on Gold and Red Rings, Chaos Emeralds, and Sonic's Iconic Forms

I've been wondering for a while about how the rings and Chaos Energy in the world of Sonic the Hedgehog might work, and I've come up with a few ideas that I'd love to explore.

Of course, my musings don't take into account all of the established canon, as some elements have been changed or discarded over the years, and said musings started before the two latest games in the franchise. But this is mostly just self-indulgent creativity anyways, isn't it? No need to think too hard about the absolutely pin-prick fine details of a franchise that's been ongoing for 31 years and counting, I'd be giving myself a massive headache if I tried.

So, without further ado, let me share how I like to imagine the way that rings and Chaos Energy work in the Sonic universe.

I like to imagine that the golden rings found throughout the zones are a physical manifestation of positive energy. Depending on the amount of positive energy present in a location, the rings can range from being abundant to scarce. For example, when nature is being oppressed and drained of life by the mad doctor Eggman's machines, the rings can become increasingly difficult to come by, as he saps the resources from the land and tramples on its life. In contrast, the buildup of negative energy in an area could lead to the manifestation of red rings, similar to those found in Sonic.EXE fan creations, especially their portrayal in "An Ordinary Sonic ROM Hack", but, y’know... without the crappypasta entity really being at all involved. These rings have the power to cancel out the collected golden rings, thereby weakening the player who is not protected by positive rings.

It would honestly be pretty cool to see SEGA add something akin to this, and develop this whole concept of positive and negative energies further, after involving positive and negative energy in the plot of Sonic Adventure 1 and not touching it again past that.

The Chaos Emeralds, on the other hand, possess limitless energy, but said energy is inherently chaotic and discordant. The Master Emerald, capable of unifying the chaotic energy, serves as a controller, enabling its user to create or destroy. If one uses the energy from the Chaos Emeralds without unification, the result is purely chaos and discordance, a mishmash of positive or negative energy.

Super Sonic is a result of harmonizing the energies of the Chaos Emeralds towards the positive end. You know the deal with that - fifty rings, seven emeralds, and you're golden. Literally.

Hyper Sonic involves harmonizing the energy through the Master Emerald instead, before this energy somehow being purified and refined by the user. Hence the white quills that flash the colors of each of the emeralds - purity of energy combined with a resemblance to the energy’s source. This is the part I've thought the least about, but I still feel like this makes some amount of sense, or at least I hope it will.

Fleetway's version of Super Sonic, meanwhile, came about from the raw unharmonized combination of positive and negative energy within the Emeralds, resulting in disharmony, dissonance, discord… chaos, aptly enough, which is exactly what the transformation resulted in.

Drawing from the negative energies, finally, results in Dark Super Sonic. When Dark Sonic appeared, the only real source of negative energy anywhere near Sonic were the fake Chaos Emeralds. Sonic had previously been able to utilize Chaos Energy by using a fake Emerald that was created by Tails in Sonic Adventure 2, which allowed him to Chaos Control himself back onto the Space Colony ARK, but I personally doubt that Sonic would be able to sustain a real Super transformation with fake Emeralds, even if he had as many as he would normally need, especially since there were very obviously more than seven fake Emeralds visible during the scene in which Dark Super Sonic made its singular appearance. I’d probably say that Sonic has some innate positive energy enabled him, one, to utilize the fake Emerald to perform Chaos Control, and two, probably just to be as powerful (and don’t forget fast!) as he is by default.

This explains Sonic's ability to effortlessly use the Chaos Emeralds. With others, it appears to require either extensive training, such as with Tails in Sonic 3 & Knuckles, who was only able to transform once the energies were already harmonized through the Master Emerald, but became able to use only the Chaos Emeralds alone to transform once Mania came around, suggesting Tails’ adventures in the interim allowed him to somehow gradually unlock the understanding of how to harmonize the energy of these gems, or a deep knowledge and understanding of these gems, such as Knuckles after serving as the guardian of the Master Emerald for fifteen years by the time Sonic and his friends arrive.

Not only that, but it also explains positive energy of Sonic explains why the Dark transformation was easy to undo with just some words from Eggman. Unlike the Super transformation, which adds positive energy on top of positive, Sonic's innate positive energy actually hinders his Dark transformation. This is because his positive energy cancels out some of the negative energy, and since, once again, the supply of negative energy from the fake Emeralds is limited, the transformation wasn’t going to last very long if it were left to continue anyways, with how much of it Sonic was using up at once.

TL;DR: Gold rings represent positive energy, red rings represent negative energy, Chaos Emeralds contain chaotic energy that needs harmonization, Super Sonic is a positive harmony transformation, Fleetway's Super Sonic is unharmonized chaos, and Dark Sonic is a negative harmony transformation, hindered by Sonic's innate positive energy when the negative energy is limited.

[marsipain]

hi i literally know nothing about cyberpunk but im DROOLING OVER UR DESIGNS…i like do not have the patience or mind to ever do smth like that so its so cool to see other ppl make really cool designs for several characters like wow. i think zane and harumi r my favorite IM OBSESSED.

what kind of things did u use for inspo ?😳

OH MY GOD?? OH MY GOD?? THE CLAM IS IN MY INBOX?? DIES

anyways hihihi sorry it took so long to answer this eeee

Okay so I didn’t actually do that much formal research for it, because anytime i try to do that i feel my creativity and livelyness is sapped out of me (probably one of the reasons i hate school lmao) anyways

It’s actually a really funny (and long) story how this au came to be, so at first i saw the party clone of MK in lego monkie kid (this won’t make much sense if you haven’t watched that show sorry, but also at the same time if you haven’t YOU REALLY SHOUDL ITS REALLY GOOD AND THE ANIMATION MAKES ME DROOL NGL) and i was like yo wouldn’t it be cool if Lloyd had an evil party clone too? and then it expanded to an RGB evil clone au (cuz i’m a sucker for RGB siblings haha) and then i got the idea for nya to be a racer and to have a cyborg gf (cough cough pixal) and i was like okay scrap all the clone stuff were making this a completely independent au because this is MUCH cooler. and yeah, idk where the whole cyberpunk thing came from, i just thought it would really fit into the themes of fighting rings, clubs and races :DD

After that i was a bit busy for a while with school (just like i am now :c) but the brain rot for this AU was still going strong, so I made a pinterest board where i saved just a fuck load of cyberpunk shit that i thought looked cool, and whenever i had time i’d use those to draw the designs! here are some sketches with their references :D (zane and harumi included since they were ur favs! ps zane is my fav too, he just gives off such manager vibes but, hot, HAHA)

(ignore the lines, procreate just fucks up stuff if you change the canvas size and you try to access prior versions of the drawing through the timelapse option lmao)

anyways as you can see not even all of the references are cyberpunk stuff

AND YEAH I USED UR LLOYD AS INSPIRATION, I REALLY LIKE UR ARTSTYLE OKAY MOVING ON

some of the stuff was different and changed a lot through the process, like for example i decided against harumi having the furs because she would never wear them in this AU, she needs practicality in her fighting matches haha. I also changed a lot of lloyd design, cuz i was like “hehe, heelies” cuz zoom zoom, yk? and then u have zane, which was really straightforward coz i had almost exactly how i wanted him to be set in stone in my mind xd

Here’s a link to the pinterest board if ur interested! there’s a bunch of stuff in here i never got to use, so if anyone is interested idm it being used for stuff ^-^

ANYWAYS THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SENDING IN THIS ASK, I HOPE IT WASNT TOO LONG AA

[cafecourage]

I know I asked if I could just send in the prompts, but my suddenly burst of creativity for drawing shifted to writing and so you have Dragon au! Content that started off as normal content. It was supposed to be all Wild legend and warriors with the 2nd prompt but I got impatient and wanted to send it now.

“jealous? who, me? impossible” *is actually seething with rage & jealousy*

At first I thought both prompts would both be warriors, but after thinking it over I think this particular one would also fit Wild and Legend.

We saw how Wild reacted when Four told him that seeing Twilight (his long-term/only friend, albeit a dif version of him) would do more harm then good, who's to say how'd he react to seeing someone try to take his s/o away from him in front of his very eyes (esp if we're doing guide/Isekai! Reader).

Reader, one of the only people who were there for him when he woke up with only his name, Reader, who cheered for him and helped pick up the pieces of himself when everything seemed overwhelming and hopeless, Reader, who now seems bored to tears at the clearly unwanted advance.

Adding this on because I forgot we're doing dragon au for these. Adding onto the thoughts above, not only is Wild slightly possessive of things/people that are close to him, dragons are as well, so it's a habit that kinda feeds into itself in that aspect. Wild's instincts were left unchecked for too long, or maybe said 'checking' was forgotten alongside everything else over 100 years ago, so he acts more on his heart than his brain. As if that wasn't enough, Wild doesn't have anything grand to his name, so he feels the need to impress them in some way in order to make Reader stay (which is exemplified if the two aren't even together yet). Maybe that's why that person was even able to get to Reader from under his nose.

Either way, Wild is nothing if not a hero, and their hero in a dusty blue champions tunic comes to save Reader from a mildly inconvenient tragic fate. The poor soul who flirted with reader sees the same guy that just took down a stone talus in 5 minutes come marching straight towards them and boy does he look angry. Wild doesn't even make it to the two before the sap just takes off, leaving a very smug reader.

He denies even being jealous because he, again, doesn't want Reader to feel smothered and leave; but also because now, upon seeing the amused look on their face, he feels like a child along with still having feelings of jealousy.

With Legend a majority of it is just Legend himself, he has a pretty decent grasp on his instincts (not including the hoard) and would rather die than let you see him like that. However, Legend is also pretty insecure in himself and how others see him. Legend doesn't have many people close to him, and he's not too keen on gaining them in fear of it being a repeat of his uncle and Marin, his nearly impenetrable shell is both his blessing and his downfall.

Legend, even after everything that's happened, wants to be loved, he wants someone to come home to and while Ravio was nice, he too had to leave. Then reader comes in, in all their...weird and overly-optimistic glory, then suddenly Legend isn't alone anymore. While Legend wasted almost no time in claiming you much to the others' amusement and offense

("you mean to tell me that I had to spend weeks to get you to at the very least tolerate me. Only for them to show up and get a claim instantly?!" "I guess you aren't as great as you think you are" "...>:(")

He's still unsure that reader will even stay. He's aware that he's not the biggest dragon, or even the nicest. The only thing that he's got going is his massive pile of stuff in his eyes. He has powerful weapons, rupees, bracelets and glimmering jewels that'll make even the captain's head turn. But that works for dragons. Reader isn't a dragon. And while Reader was clearly honored that he trusted them enough to see it, their interest was only curiosity towards the stuff, not in relation to him. They don't see his hoard--no matter how massive and shiny--as a worthy reason to date him. And while he's glad they aren't superficial, he's cursing at the thought of being emotionally vulnerable enough to tell them.

'That's okay!' Legend tells himself. Even if his stuff didn't work, Legend knows he's doing something right because even after everything: they choose to stay by his side. Even when presented with 6 other heroes that Legend seems worthy, at the end of the day, Legend can look over his shoulder and know that Reader is right there next to him.

His confidence stirs however, when he sees you getting talked to like you're some floozy. Legend, for all his insecurities and bitterness, is also protective of the people close to him but especially of reader, who has never stepped foot into Hyrule before. Legend also doesn't take too kindly to random people with too much audacity barging in and trying to take what's his. So yeah, Legend tells off that rando, and he would do it again in a heartbeat.

He won't, however, admit to ever being jealous. Nope, not in the slightest, Reader just looked like they needed help, and Legend was the closest one around (why was that? He doesn't answer, and starts towards the inn, not giving you a chance to continue on). Still though, in order to seemingly reassure himself, Legend turns his head around, and Reader is right there looking back at him, even if they are laughing at him being jealous.

I love reading these but also I have 0 idea what this is referring to. But hey! more dragon au content!!!

[bigsnzstanacct]

I've seen a lot of members in the snzblr-sphere openly condemning gAI and its use. I guess, I wonder how that makes you feel since you use it quite frequently here

Well, this is a sneeze fetish blog but since you asked… here’s a sermonette on AI, lmao:

I work irl in an industry and in roles that have I think fairly significant risk of being displaced by AI in the next 5-10 years, so I have some empathy and understanding particularly for visual artists who feel that all generative AI is parasitical not only on work they and their friends may have done in the past, but in particular harmful to their ability to be paid for their work presently and into the future. And in fact for the purposes of visual art I rarely/never use generative AI anymore, not so much because I found it unethical, but just because it isn’t very good at drawing what I want to see. But like idk if people want me to delete the generative AI images I’ve posted in the past, I would, sure.

I feel quite a bit differently about generative AI text, and that’s probably just cause like… listen, I can’t draw for shit so on some level I don’t really feel qualified to understand how visual artists feel about generative AI, so I think in that sense it’s maybe easier/healthier to defer to practicing artists who feel strongly and otherwise mind my business. But I am a writer, both in the context of this fetish community and irl (technically getting paid—albeit a very small amount—to write for a bit starting at the end of this month, actually!) And for me generative AI is a really effective tool for combating the anxiety of the blank page and virtually nothing else. Like it’s not… good… at writing? And because I’ve used it so much I currently don’t have any fear of it becoming good enough at writing to replace professional writers? (Also at a deep level, I do believe that novel ideas and perspectives exist and the core social utility of writing is to provide those new ideas and perspectives, which I just don’t think generative AI is capable of doing, at least not any time soon). But on some level that makes it perfect for churning out endless variations on simple sneeze fetish themes that land in our silly fetish horny hitboxes. So because it is not capable, in my opinion, of replacing professional writers even for basic corporate marketing type shit, I see it more as a tool for writers to use as we see fit? And I have zero problem using the tool to recreate slight variations on the theme of “big sneeze blows things away” to satisfy fetish cravings and frankly I think y’all should use it in the same way lmao. And also use it to help you write actual stories! It works well as essentially an outlining tool. I wouldn’t even use it to generate dialogue or language because again I think it is very bad at that, but it is good at like… providing options for how a story could flow from point a to point b. And sometimes just revising something is easier than starting from scratch, you know?

AND THEN more broadly, I don’t think that generative AI is inherently harmful, I think we (as Americans/westerners/consumers in capitalists societies, not as sneeze fetishists lmao) have a social structure that makes it potentially harmful. The issue with generative AI taking your job isn’t that it’s going to replace your true original artistic expression, your brilliant webcomic, your sprawling fantasy universe, your masterpiece painting. The issue is that it’s going to take your bullshit graphic artist job for a marketing firm, or even your job as a storyboard artist, etc. AND maybe it SHOULD take those jobs! If gAI can speed up the intermediate stages of artistic production like storyboarding, then great storyboard artists can simply work on more films, enhancing the quality of those films, by using AI to speed up their work. And for the marketing gig, if that work that frankly does more to sap creative energy and funnel it towards greasing the bullshit wheels of capital could be done by generative AI, that would be GREAT for artists, *if* the value created were shared equitably across society. If there were an “AI dividend” that took 50% of the savings created by generative AI and invested it in grants and free classes and free drawing tablets and free housing and funds for creatives to do creative work, then you wouldn’t need the bullshit marketing job that saps your energy, you could work part time in a job unrelated to art and still afford the necessities of life while you work on the stuff you actually care about.

But, of course, we have a bullshit capitalist system. But even within the confines of that system, trying to just reject a productivity enhancing technology rather than harnessing it to the benefit of workers (rather than just allow capital to use the technology as it sees fit, which we have seen unions like the WGA in particular fight very effectively against, SAG-AFTRA less so but that’s a whole other can of worms) is, imo, always a fool’s errand. What we need isn’t to ban AI or create taboos against its use; what we need to emphasize that it is a tool for creatives to accelerate our work, to create more time for us to attend to the details, to ultimately help us make better stuff (and here I am lowkey or maybe high key talking about my day job tho I am being intentionally vague) rather than simply a way for capital to cut down on labor costs. Don’t hate the new robot player, hate the game lol. And in all seriousness, *organize* so that the game gets better rules. And share some of the benefits with capital too, because that’s how it works in the mixed economy (for now). AI generally is eventually going to automate away a lot of junior and entry level work in my industry… and I actually think that can be GREAT! Because then junior level people can actually be apprentices to the creatives that are doing the jobs they one day want to do, instead of getting stuck (as I did, for nearly a decade) doing boring technical work under the guise of assisting creatives, but not actually getting any better at the creative skill you are supposedly apprenticing to one day do.

“But bigsnzstanacct, what if I really love my marketing job greasing the wheels of capital using graphics and art work?” you say. Awesome! Then you should be mastering generative AI to get the most possible benefit out of it, because After The Revolution, we will need people to get the best out of the generative AI and touch up their work and fix their errors either inside or outside of the gAI programs. That is also part of how we harness AI to actually benefit society, by getting good at using it.

So anyway, sermonette over tl;dr: message me or send me another ask if you want me to delete my old posts of generative AI images; generative AI and AI as a whole is just a tool, the tool in itself is not good or bad, the institutions shaping its use are good or bad (and the capitalist institutions that dominate workers presently are very very bad and will incline towards using AI badly and in an anti-worker way in already precarious creative fields, BUT there is power in a union, and we can work together to improve the institutions such that AI can benefit us all, perhaps creatives especially.)

[1eos]

i’m experiencing almost the same thing currently. i’m 23 and possibly about to get hired at my first full time job as well and had a similar irritation of not being able to possibly practice my hobbies or work on my bigger aspirations bc i have gotten burnt out at part time jobs also but i like to keep reminding myself that i have to start somewhere and even tho my start to those bigger aspirations might come a bit later than i expected that time is still going to continue anyway. im not very good at encouragement but i just wanted to let you know you’re not alone in your worries. i hope it works out for you!!

:') thank you for this anon. ive been pondering on this for a while and it really does help to know im not alone 🧍🏾‍♀️ idk knowing we're all experiencing the same growth all over the world makes me feel like i don't have to blow everything up bc other ppl have made it thru before me and are making it thru now therefore....i can too. WE can too!!! all the tumblrinas in their 20s hand in hand beginning our conquest of the work force

and i think im so scared that as a creative the 9 to 5 will continue to sap out all my energy and i'll die unfulfilled BUT i just have to keep reminding myself that this shit isnt forever 😭😭😭😭😭😭a full time job isnt creativity death unless i let it nd i refuse to let it happen. ill sneak my tablet into the office and draw there if i have too!!!! anyways thank you so much anonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn im no longer scared....we got this.....

[the-martyrfication-of-the-matron]

I’ve been sapped dry of all of my creativity.

I can hardly even think up a good post to make, let alone write or do the drawings I’ve said I’d do.

And it makes me feel so guilty even though I know I shouldn’t.

So… old Travis sketch I guess

[in-my-feels-probably]

Congrats on 300 followers!! I requested a ship for your 100 celebration and I remember loving it so much! It's been so amazing to see your blog grow! May I please get one for stranger things this time around? I'm a straight female, she/her.

My favorite songs are - sober by lorde // quiet light by the national // mutual future, Roddy and end of beginning by djo // Maps and different today by yeah yeah yeahs

My favorite quote - Any line from the Beatrice letter, (it's here if you wanna read it, it's well worth the read!) but my favorite has to be - I will love you if I never see you again, and I will love you if I see you every Tuesday (...) I will love you as we find ourselves farther and farther away from one another, where we were once were so close. I will love you until the chances of us running into each other slip from skim to zero, and until your face is fogged by distant memory (...) that's how I'll love you even as the world goes on it's wicked way.

I love this because it's really heartfelt and it really must be a privilege to be loved this way!

I'm fairly introverted and it takes me a while to warm up to people. I love reading, my room is filled with stacks of books. I adore adventures, witty and playful banter, pulling harmless pranks, joking around and having indepth discussions on anything and everything. I love helping out and people come to me to vent or for advice and comfort. I'd consider myself really smart and I'm very ambitious; I love being the best at everything I do. I daydream a lot and I'm a hopeless romantic! I enjoy all forms of art and I have quite a few creative hobbies! I'm 5'9 and I have long and curly dark brown hair and brown eyes. I dress mostly in relaxed suits, blazers and coats and I love the occasional dress or sweaters layered over a white button down!

I'm really sorry about how long this ask got! Thank you so much, congrats once again <3 <3

hi! don't worry about the length, detail helps. thank you for participating, and thank you for sticking around and supporting my work, I really appreciate you <3

you have really good music taste, i like lorde and djo a lot too.

thank you for sending the letter, that was really sweet. i'm normally not into the really sappy poems, but there's something about hopelessly romantic people that draws me in. i think we all want to be loved that way.

i ship you with steve!

he's such a sap, and desperately wants to be loved the way he loves other people, and i think he'd find that in you. while i don't consider him the most academic or witty, i think he would enjoy joking around with you and having hours long conversations about anything, just so he could be around you and listen to you talk. also, i'd consider 5'9 to be tall, at least for a girl, and something tells me a tall girl would have steve whipped. from the way you dress, i think he'd find you a little intimidating, but he'd be drawn to you. in a similar way to nancy, i think he'd find a powerful woman attractive.

this is cheesy, but i think he'd be genuinely lovestruck by you, and would follow you anywhere just to be around you. he'd be bored out of his mind sitting at the foot of your bed, watching you read or catch up on school work.

he'd huff for the thousandth time in the past 5 minutes, and you'd finally pause and look up. "you don't have to be here, steve. i told you i'd be no fun today."

he'd quickly shake his head. "no! no, i'm having a blast, really."

you knew he was lying, but you also knew he never really liked being alone, and would make up any excuse to be around someone, especially if it was you. you'd sit in silence for a few more minutes, occasionally glancing up to see steve, all spaced out with a dopey grin on his face.

"what is it?" you'd finally ask, putting your book to the side, giving him your full attention.

"nothing," he'd murmur, cheeks heated when you caught him staring. "it's just a privilege to be loved by you."

that would be enough to make you melt into a puddle, so in awe of how you found someone that was so like you, and who understood what it was like to want that ache in your heart and the butterflies in your stomach.

you'd move all your things to the side, laying back against the headboard, opening your arms. "alright lover boy, that might be the sweetest thing you've ever said to me. come here."

and he'd happily oblige you.

hope you liked this, thank you so much again for participating and supporting. you sound really cool, i'm glad to have you here :)