#I wanna think of a way to simplify it cause all the different parts to it is really tough on my adhd brain

[artofapeach]

Felt like drawing Olivia

[duckieduccss]

NEW KAIJU OC?!?!

Well, yea technically. Basically i was interested in figuring out how id go with making my own kaiju. At first i wasnt sure where to go for designing one. So i chose to base it off another existing kaiju for inspiration. I kinda wanted to go for a dragon type kaiju (i like dragons) and the only thing i could think of was Ghidorah so i went with that (now that i think about it more, I could’ve maybe used Manda too prob but oh well, Ghidorah was still a good option). I added some different details to mine that make it unique to the og Ghidorah

My idea was that it could potentially be a relative to Ghidorah (being of the same species) but still far apart from one another to the point they arent all that aware of the other existing (theyre in for a shock when & if they do encounter each other lol). This version actually relies on cosmic energy derived from such sources like stars & generally anything that produce some form of energy within the vast universe (basing it off how Ghidorah themselves originally came from space & this variant being much more dependent on that factor). It stores that energy & relatively stays in a dormant stage for an extended period of time until when faced with the challenge to defend itself or fight off those it deems as a danger. Then it would release all that ginormous amount of space energy that manifests itself as a rapidly expanding glow of extremely bright light. Enough to cause extreme damage & bring down the opposition. It can gather energy by using special crystals it can grow (took that also as inspiration but from Space Godzilla) & become as some form of attracting & absorbing the energy. In a way, the energy is like its main source of food & energy to maintain itself (right after releasing a lot of it during its final attack of using that glow, it would be put in a highly vulnerable state if not recovered by regaining some energy back soon enough). For the most part, they mostly sleep (being lazy 24/7 just like me fr lmao) to keep all that energy but can be potentially dangerous if disturbed or provoked in some manner

(Here’s a better closer look at their faces. Realized the canvas’ too big to properly see each of them-)

The name of this kaiju you may be wondering???

It’s Ryudorah

(Yea i know im the most creative person out there. I combined another nickname i use for myself and just added the end part of Ghidorah’s name to make it clear it’s related to the other kaiju. I couldn’t think of anything else im sorry😭)

And also each head has its own individual name:

Do, Re & Mi

(Named after intervals in the musical scale (ex: Do, Re, Mi, Fa, So, La, Ti, Do)

Did i mention this kaiju can also technically sing too :)

I did have a lot of fun with coming up with the concept for them (tho it honestly took longer in designing them due to a busy schedule ive been put in as of late & finding the time to finish it) but im glad to finally be able to share this with you all. Hopefully I can share more about them soon (i have a whole google doc’s worth of lore lmao) & probably draw them again (tho maybe a lot more simplified by then). Didn’t wanna overwhelm ppl with the huge amount of info so I’ll prob slowly reveal more over time.

[Another thing too is that i still am new to the fandom (tho with more knowledge from getting to learn more from the source material) & most of this i gathered from already know stuff i knew. Tho im also open to feedback & maybe some ideas to add onto my own kaiju. So id very much appreciate it if there’s any suggestions from you guys ^^⭐️]

(I’ll only be taking constructive criticism btw. Anything hateful will obv be ignored)

[brooklynisher]

I enjoy your art and value your Steam Powered Giraffe opinions.

Therefore, which robot is most likely to own and use roller skates/blades, and what would they look like?

- @steambot-sparky

First of all: Thank you :]

Second of all: My first thought went to The Spine due to Roller Skate king.

I find Roller Skate King to be a unique song in terms of their Hero songs because it deviates from the original formula quite a bit. If you listen to Captain Albert Alexander, Rex Marksley, and Airheart back to back, you’ll notice that they have a really similar structure. But this song is much different, focusing mainly on how cool the Roller Skate King is rather than his life story. Also the genre. It all makes that song seem like a massive tribute to Roller Skate King rather than just another story. Also, “Roller Skate King, knight me if you can, 'cause I wanna roll with you across the land”

I THINK IT’S SAFE TO ASSUME HE ADMIRES THE GUY AT LEAST

I think he’d wear simple black and red skates since those are his favorite colors canonically. Maybe he’ll put a little glitter on the red parts if he wants to spruce it up a bit. But only a modest amount.

Zer0 might canonically have roller skates if you consider the Not Live and Not in Person! show canon. They’re mentioned during the whole, The Spine is stealing all of Zer0’s wheels segment.

I like to think he’d go for a purplish blueish colored skate. I guess I associate that with the Lyin’ Awake music video more than anything else, but that palette suits him. He would like that they stand out under black light. He would also try putting glitter on, but he wouldn’t be nearly as neat and as careful as The Spine would be. It’d get everywhere.

Honorable mention: Hatchworth I feel like isn’t much of a skater, but he does love his Heelys.

The others I feel like the others would enjoy skating, but wouldn’t really be too into it.

Rabbit wouldn’t go out of her way to roller skate, but wouldn’t mind joining her siblings. She’d still have a good time. She’d like those vintage looking skates with the dull colors and the few curvy lines from the back of the skate to the center. Of course, she won’t be afraid to add her own personal changes. She might prefer blades over skates.

The Jon would probably be the most likely to skate around unprompted. Not necessarily because he loves it, though he probably does, but more because he likes to be unpredictable. He’d wear black skates with a simplified rainbow pattern plastered on the sides.

Upgrade is more into, what she considers superior, ice skating. Though she is a bit out of practice. She would find herself imaging it more than doing it. She’d wear pretty pink skates, complete with satin textured ankles.

[princess200417]

I think Sammy is hilarious at this point. She just pulled a random post about the void state and said it is dangerous and said it is just a meditative state that you can shift.She should have researched it at the least.When she said i am always right, i lost it fr.LMAO! 😭☠️

Well you know sometimes I don't agree with Sammy either, once she said that you can only shift into Harry potter world(and ofc other "imaginary" worlds)only through sleeping,in your dreams etc,which is wrong bc People here on Tumblr and not only on Tumblr can confirm to you that it's not an illusion but it's the truth

And as Sammy has stated previously,she is on her own manifistation journey and learns new things too,for example almost a year ago she made a video with success stories that had to do with manifesting out of thin air and waking up in a different environment etc,which as she said ,once believed it was impossible, but now her belief changed when she herself manifested out of thin air

jUst trust yourself and make your own rules, Sammy is just another coach,she makes mistakes too you don't have to follow her every word, Sammy has her own beliefs and her own rules as well

Now back to her words about void, well it's not dangerous at all and I don't think that she ever called it dangerous,she said that using sleep paralysis in order to enter the state is dangerous,she called that method dangerous not the state it's self

And now as to her comparing void to sats(she didn't do it in the video but under a comment once ) it's different,bc in void you loose every connection/contact with the 3d, while in sats you just affirm or visualise till you fall asleep,you don't shift anywhere you just Affirm before sleeping 😌😴 lol

Also once she had said that you can revise things like a stain on your t shirt but when someone commented how they can revise a text never being sent/disappearing from the conversation on social media,she replied that the person will just forget the text but the text will still physically exist which is completely false and kinda (sorry to say that) makes sammy look like a 🤡

She was the one who introduced me to loa but she always preached about us being limitless and even made videos about god state but when people asked her if they can do this or that she said yes you can but it won't change/come in the way you want it/imagine it

Like lolllllll are you kidding bro?Are we limitless or limited?just decided Sammy like seriously

Anyways,all in all, just don't listen to anything that she says THAT HAS TO DO WITH LIMITATIONS AND DON'TS CAUSE LIMITATIONS DO NOT EXIST WITHIN THE MIND/4D/IMAGINATION

Plus I love how she said that it's been trending these last couple of days while it's been MONTHS😆😂😂😂

The only part which was correct and true was the part in which she said that we shouldn't overcomplicate it and that it is a meditative state and that it's not the only way to manifest instantly bc it's true you can manifest INSTANTLY by just affirming none needs void except if they like it so much to the point they wanna enter it

Oh plus what's her obsession with saying that Tumblr people don't know anything about loa/void?like Tumblr is the place that helped me manifest the love of my life and the place which boosted my belief and lastly made me enter void and get my dream life,like lol i can't understand her "obsession" with bringing Tumblr down, Tumblr has some of the best advice best sucess stories and best motivational posts and quotes and simplifies the law sooooo much plus it reminds people of our limitless and extra powerful minds

Honestly she is Great and I adore how much she has evolved but sometimes she seems not to be so loyal to the belief that we are limitless gods

Anyways I don't want this answer to be very long so I'm just gonna say one more last thing:We are limitless, void is easy and safe, void isn't the only way to instant results, people should research a bit more before they speak bc sometimes even for a short period of time , it has a negative impact on people's mood and mindset 🙌💖

Oh plus one more thing I wanted to add is that you can check out on YouTube bry's garden of Eden, it's a manifistation YouTuber who has entered void and talked about it in a video and justs generally makes videos about void state and also about manifesting things that people consider too impossible like supernatural powers and also back in August of this year she made a super interesting video stating that there is no difference between myths and "reality" so yep she is the only truly"teaching" limitlessness so yep you can check her out

[nerves-nebula]

do you have any video(s) or sources for learning how turtles chirp? I too am of the flavour of autsim that repeats sounds and ouhouaherg I don't have the spoons to find a good audio one

also omgg i can't think of a good prompt but i just wanna say your rottmnt art is soo good. lik uhhggfg. i am froathing. i love them and the redisgns for your au are so shaped omgg. they are the most shaped. i am chewing on them like a squeaky toy. i love ur brain ideas 100/10 epicc

I do NOT have any videos/sources because every time I look it up (like 3 times a day at this point tbh) all the videos I can find have ABYSMAL quality, or take forever to get to the noise, or are of turtles having sex. And almost all of them are different species GUHH.

my chirps are going more off the IDEA of a turtle noise tbh, than actually imitating a real one. Although mine are heavily inspired by what I remember of my sisters pet turtle (we gave her away when I was younger though so it's been a while)(She was a red eared slider named Marina)

anyway i got distracted halfway through answering this because it caused me to go on a hunt for a really good video with CLEAR AUDIO of a turtle making SOME KIND of noise so.

here's a video from the smithsonian which has really good audio, but only really shows you one chirp sound and its from an unborn turtle. STILL its really cute and is basically what I'm going for when I do my chirps.

here's one of the first videos I found that shows a box turtle chirping/croaking, but you have to turn the audio up a lot to hear it. and also the entire time the turtle is just absolutely failing to eat a worm. just doing a dogshit job at eating a worm. embarrassing!

ive found in my (admittedly limited) search that its way easier to find videos of turtles hissing than anything else, cause hissing is loud enough to get picked up and probably more entertaining to upload. i dunno!

as for HOW turtles chirp I've got no idea, all I've learned so far is that they don't have vocal chords apparently.

BUT NOW ONTO THE MORE IMPORTANT PART OF THIS ASK: the part where u compliment me :3

i am SOOO flattered you like my rottmnt art fadsfdsf I've been having a lot of fun with it.

the redesigns for my AU/kind of totally new version of TMNT were fun to make cause I basically wanted to make them super simple so that I could draw/doodle them fast. you can see in some of the developing sketches I made how I simplified the head shapes a ton.

honestly I'm most disappointed that I can't think of anything to do with them/don't have the time to draw them a ton right now cause I LOVE LOVE LOVEEEE their little angular faces. Especialy donnie, donnie is soooo shaped and i love how his snoot looks <<33

but yea hearing that you like my stuff really helps me want to POST MORE OF IT fsadfsdf. sometimes I post a lot and what I'm really hoping for is just someone to say they like something I made cause I need a pick me up or I'm bored or something sdfsdfsdf. sso thank you !!

[kob131]

I no longer forgive Type-Moon on Tumblr

You wanna talk shit about me, I will respond. Regardless of being blocked or not.

A character being more than initial appearances and having more to them than just being an asshole is not “bad writing.” Merlin *is* a sleazy douchebag that people barely tolerate, but he also has a heart underneath it all. That’s called showing and not just telling.

Except that no one ever acknowledges that heart, instead they just treat him as a dick. They keep showing one thing but say another, that's my fucking problem here.

But here’s the thing: The fact that Merlin feels guilty about his past actions does not automatically make him a good person, and so by extension Proto Merlin not showing guilt does not make her a bad person. They are both trickster type characters who cannot always be trusted, who’ve both caused their share of good and bad in Camelot and both are handling it differently. But a lot of fans seemed to jump to conclusions that because Protolin isn’t secretly stricken with Catholic Guilt she must be “evil,” which I think is pretty unfair.

But it...kind of does. It shows that he understands that what he did was bad and even the OP admits that his motivation for being trapped in Avalon is in part because he's punishing himself for interferring in Arturia's life. And even then, considering that the World literally could not afford any other outcome besides the one Merlin helped cause- I actually have to question if it was even amoral in the first place.

And while this would normally lead me to say Proto Merlin is the one who is badly written- She's actually the one where people's treatment of her makes the most sense. She's actually the nominal hero that the writing keeps trying to say Merlin is. So...The original kind of has to be badly written. As paradoxical as it sounds.

I admit though that I don’t know a lot about Protolin and haven’t read Fragments, so I’m trying my best to hold off judgement. I don’t expect or want her to be an exact clone of Merlin, because that would be kind of boring and superfluous. FGO kind of dropped the ball on her by making her a Pretender and then not giving a good reason beyond “Oh she’s pretending to be Merlin’s sister!” but they do set up hints that there’s more to it than that. Hopefully we’ll get to see more of her there.

And yet you're about to do said judgements in the tags. So much for that eh?

At no point did I say that I wanted her to be a copy of mainline Merlin. If anything, it would make more sense to infer that I would want the original to be more like Proto. That's stupid but it at least follows some kind of logic from what I said.

#merlin: *is given more characterization than just being a shady asshole everyone hates*#kob: this is bad writing!#''i like mainline merlin'' you sure don't sound likeit

Really? What part of what I said indicates this? In fact, the point of my reblog is that Merlin DOESN'T have that characterization of being a shady asshole despite the writing repeatedly claiming that it does. That Merlin's negative qualities are either so downplayed they barely exist or that they straight up aren't shown. He's not a shady asshole- he's just a goofball. No matter how much the writing tries to scream that at me.

But that's probably too many words for you so let me simplify it in a way I know you understand-

Just because Merlin is likeable doesn't make him well written.

Just because Proto Merlin is unlikeable doesn't make her badly written.

Not like my opinion on a character in FGO has changed *cough* Morgan *cough*.

P.S. And-...

.....Wait.

...Oh. It's you.

Hi Celtic, still salty that I called out your bullshit eh?

[pensando-thoughts]

Saw the fnaf movie and I want to have a talk cause I have all these thoughts about it and I haven’t felt this way since stranger things season 4 lol.

I’m just confused (?) cause like there was a lot of different pieces of the lore in just one movie. So like before I go into breaking down my thoughts I want to say what my expectations are before I saw this movie so there’s some understanding. I thought this movie was gonna give a cohesive big picture type story on the lore. I thought that since there was a rumor it was gonna be 5 movies, I was under the impression that this movie gonna lay the lore out. I was really hoping for a cohesive story.

So now the movie I liked parts of the movie I liked the fact that attention to detail on the lore and the fans were in mind. What I don’t like is the storyline they decided to do, just to simplify my feelings for people who haven’t seen the movie I ultimately thought that they put bits and pieces of the lore in the movie i don’t wanna say for no reason but it did make me go hmmm what just happened. I don’t think the story was…good?. The costume and filming, and actors did a good job! I really wanna emphasize that lol. Thank you to @raminbootss on tik Tok for posting a slid show of the lore for the games.

‼️Spoilers after this/ I essentially write an essay and ramble please read at your own discretion. ‼️

So I’m assuming people who’ve seen the movie are reading this, but I’m going to briefly write down the movies lore.

Mike and Abby are siblings, there was a third sibling called Garret

Garret is kidnapped from the woods by William Afton

Mike has ptsd because he was there’s at the kidnapping but can’t remember the kidnapper’s face (guilt)

Mike induces dreams to revisit the memory to force himself to remember the kidnapper’s face

Vanessa comes in is a cop and later is established as Aftons daughter

Afton kidnapped Garret and other children Vanessa helps Afton cover it up

It’s a stupid simplification, but this is just so it’s understandable. I’m gonna essentially attack this one by one. To me it doesn’t make sense why Garret was kidnapped in the woods by Afton specifically. I feel like it’s so random/unnecessary to have it in the woods because it’s outside of Aftons mo in the established lore. If the story is to have Mike have zero familiar ties to Afton I think a better route to just have Garret be kidnapped so that way Mike is projecting on to the ghost children as a way to have redemption for not saving Garret. The movie sets it up this way in the first half where it felt like there was gonna be this big reveal with maybe Mike having some sort of connection to the kidnapper. However Vanessa throws that all off with being Afton’s daughter. Like Fanf 4 they use the concepts of dreams and memories cool nothing wrong with that I think that it was a good way for the ghost children to communicate with mike. My biggest grief I think is that Afton is controlling the ghost children. I think it would’ve been so much better to have the children ask Mike for help to find peace. This also would’ve been a better way for Mike’s character to deal with his grief of losing his brother cause now he can move on.

Moving on to Vanessa, I think that the introduction to Vanessa is done too early. Vanessa’s character in this movie is a caretaker to the animatronics because she feels guilty that her dad killed these kids. Which is fine I don’t mind this being a thing since it’s up to debate on security breach being cannon or not. I just think that the setup of Vanessa is done poorly maybe it’s the fact she was a cop where she honestly had no business being at Freddy’s instead of doing her job before the reveal of her being Afton’s daughter. They could’ve made her the morning shift security guard I think that would’ve made better sense cause now she can have a way to talk to Mike. She’s just is suspicious off the bat when she’s a cop, and can’t establish trust with Mike. I think they’re was a better way for her to have a redemption because Mike and her share a similarity, the both share guilt of not doing something to help these kids that died.

Let’s get into Afton so the set up for him is actually great because if I remember correctly during the beginning of the game’s release a theory did float around that maybe phone guy is the killer so he had a great set up I just don’t understand why the reveal of him being Afton is done so early. On one side I understand the fact that everybody knew that Matthew lillard was already gonna be Afton from the moment the trailer is revealed. It’s hard to make that twist be entertaining when the audience knows what you are going to do. On the other hand I don’t think Afton was utilized properly. So many different routes could’ve been taken. Also why did Afton kidnap Garret in the woods??? Anton’s m.o is he kidnaps children from the pizzeria in the bunny suit which they kept in the movie for the five children why kidnap Garret? He wasn’t even stuffed in a suit. In my opinion the movies opening scene should’ve been taken place in Freddy’s. This is blumhouse they’ve done horror they’re could’ve been a really strong suspense scene of watching this kid get kidnapped or seeing this kid get in the suit literally anything and really playing off the audience’s anxiety. If you do it this way you can still have Mike relive this memory. Anyways it’s revealed at the end of this movie that Afton is controlling the ghost children with a drawing so that they do as they’re told. Which like sure okay? I understand that they wanted to put drawings to be involved but I don’t know if I buy it. They also just kill Afton how he’s established to be killed in a spring lock suit how are you gonna set up a sequel that way? There is no build up or like finally you get what you deserve. The bad guy we watch died and sure he says I will come back but like…idk I think ultimately it doesn’t make me want to see a sequel because they’re was no cliffhanger or suspense. The vibe is just off. Matthew did such a good job though that phone scene really hyped up everything.

I tried talking about this to my sister but she said that they wanted to open this up to newer audiences. I think that’s lame because when the first game got released the hype about it was the mystery what is the bite of ‘87 who killed these kids, THE LORE. This movie doesn’t do that it answers all the questions in the first movie into a pretty little bow of oh Afton did it and now the ghost children kill him the end. The video-game went viral proving itself that the story set up will bring in a new audience that mikes background had to be changed. I feel like Mike is the catalyst for Afton to be caught so for it to be changed is a really huh moment for me.

[jamieedlund]

So we know your thoughts about Aaravos and Callum, what are your thoughts about the Mage fam?

I haven't thought of them in a long time and also I had no idea what mage fam meant until you told me it's team rocket I mean claud sore and lord virginia's family wheezes

Um... Huh.... I don't know if I wanna make this another lengthy answer so I'll do my best to make it brief...

Keep reading if you're ready to see me lose my sanity again. If not then just look at this cute Cally and Aary doodle of them trash talking "someone" You know you love them.

1. I will never understand viren's motivation nor do I love him as a character. . . Actually nah... "do not love" is still putting it very mildly. I despises the cartoony villain vibe that they wrote for him. I think he coulda been a better written villain but I just...hmgggggg the writing pisses me off. I would be smiling with genuine happiness if he's dead for real this season. I see no appeal in him. Fuck that guy.

2.Claud...

I sorta? understand her...but i feel like I don't ...like her as much as I should...Is it the gas lighting...? Is it the very cringe romance they wrote for her and Cally? Is it just something part of her personality that I don't...like??? No idea. I read something here about how she was murdered as a character (albeit I don't really notice it but if you say so I suppose???) I'll tell you what though I really wanna see her becoming the main villain of the show. She will be a very compelling villain in my opinion. It's all gonna be super fun with her.

#freeaaravosfrombeingcalledavillainofthiscursedshow

Also they missed out the chance to do what is in my opinion one of the most interesting dynamic in this entire show: Raydia.

I'm not a huge fan of shipping nor do I go around spilling things about ships but I see so much potential in these two it's baffling like why didn't the writers go for this duo? They'd be fun as heck girlfriends - or just besties for now if romance isn't on the table yet WHICH I DON'T CARE FOR EITHER WAY, just give them a chance man.

They have so much to play off each other like daddy issues, their own very strong views the world, that sweet sweet enemies to besties/lovers trope is going on strong here. PLUS THEY'RE SUPER DUPER GOOD AT WHAT THEY DO AND IT'S AMAZING. Like bruh callum was BARELY an enemy they're like chill after 2 days I cannot --- *face palm* anyways... She's semi wasted in that aspect.

Soreeeeee-n

By far the only character in this show that hasn't been a running mouth piece for the writers very bad, overly-simplified view of good and evil

(except for that one episode in season 3 where he's like "someone who tell you to do something bad and convince you it's good is a villain" like woah woah woah woah hold the phone okayyyyyyy this line applies to viren and VIREN only. Because in the context of Aaravos the man just really wanna get tf outta jail does ANY OF YOU KNOW WHAT IT FEELS LIKE TO BE LOCKED IN FOR 300 YEARS?! uh nope cause YOU WOULD HAVE DIED A LONG TIME AGO AFTER LOOSING YOUR DAMN MIND. So to me when he says this it felt like the writers are putting words into his mouth and trying to foreshadow or tell the viewers that oh yea aaravos is TOTALLYY A VILLAIN NO- like fuck that shit ohmygod - if it's been 300 years and the only way out you can see is feeding to a terrible man's ego in order to get him to do what you need YOU FUCKING TAKE IT. That doesn't make you a villain that makes you more of an enabler. AND IT'S NOT LIKE HE CAN DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT IF VIREN CHOSE TO NOT LISTEN TO HIM SO POINT. AARAVOS. I can think of like 5 different ways where Cally can turn the situation viren was put in with aaravos into something fun, wholesome AND DEFINITELY WOULD NOT FRAME AARAVOS AS A BAD PERSON AT ALL fuck-)

hasn't received arguably a lot of special treatments in order to make him look good and is the only character I understand the most. He's overall well-written and I love him very much. I think he should receive more love and be appreciated a bit more by the people around him. Most of his action makes sense to me and that is all I need to put him as my most favorite canonically speaking.

[seance]

Good for you! This is YOUR blog, you should totally put whatever is making YOU happy on it!

(And tbh I love watching people I've followed fall into new fandoms! Sometimes it gets added to the filter list, but more often it's a recommendation for something new to watch 🙂)

♡♡♡ thank you, this is so nice! that post was lowkey part of a bigger conversation that i'm still not sure i can put into words properly without risking some misunderstanding so it got simplified to the max. but yeah exactly, the good thing about this site is that we have functional tools to curate our experience and to be honest, i don't think it's strange or impolite or whatever to even unfollow someone if your interests don't align anymore and they haven't done that for a long time, you'll probably end up 'meeting' them again some time in the future.

i'm extremely chill about that, i have blacklisted stuff just cause it irritated me that day and i didn't want it on my dash, without having to vague my followers about it and without needing to 'suffer' through it.

on the other hand, as you said, tumblr is also one of the biggest marketing display of our time! it's mostly how i discover new stuff too, simply cause i wouldn't have any other way to know it even exists otherwise. and sharing a passion with other people is always super fun, that's what i love about giffing and taking the time to really explore the characters and their dynamics, the fact that people can give their own feedback.

but there's also a lingering feeling of constant judgment re: certain fandoms or things. take marvel for example, that's a dumpster fire, the one true depiction of capitalism engulfing a franchise. there are plenty of issues and poor writing choices that we can discuss all day and damn, i sure do discuss them often if i'm gonna be honest (just not here personally). but at the end of the day we can all still sit back and cherry pick that one character or scene that made us go 'oh okay, that's fun' while the plot was probably imploding in the background. cause that's the definition of entertainment and if i wanna play around with that, i gotta be able to do it without feeling like i'm facing the spanish inquisition, you know? sometimes things are not that deep. and sometimes things are (the whole jkr + hp debacle comes to mind) and they need a different approach. that's more or less a glimpse of my angle here ahah sorry for the impossibly long reply, i just really wish gifmakers in particular would feel free to relax and work on whatever they want, no matter how old, small, perceived as weird, the fandom is ♥

[dex-xe]

I’ve made Spotify playlists inspired by each of the ghosts and I’ve made these little written pieces to talk about them. if you wanna read them, please go ahead - if not then enjoy the music!!

This is the Captain's playlist:

Moonlight Serenade - Glenn Miller

This is one of my favourite like old WWII style songs, I just think it’s beautiful and really great to dance slow to (at some point in my life I will dance with my husband or wife to this song in our little kitchen, and then my life will finally be complete). It’s in Doctor Who (in The Empty Child) and Jack and Rose dance to it in front of Big Ben, like it’s a really great scene in one of the best episodes of Dr Who ever. So good and a great WWII song.

Soldier - Trixie Mattel

Yes, I know this is about Katya’s issues and everything that happened with that but like it is also like very accurate to the Captain’s arc. Like “soldier, take your time” is like yeah?? I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I don’t believe the Captain is even remotely aware of the fact he’s gay cause like I don’t reckon he understands love or the fact that he’s got feelings like that, I don’t think he knows so yeah take your time to figure it out yeah, Captain.

We’ll Meet Again - Vera Lynn

This song seems to have taken a new meaning in pandemic times but Havers leaving Button House and (I assume) never returning but like the Captain staying at Button House completely in the dark as to what happened to Havers and therefore living with the possibility of Havers returning.

HEAVEN - Troye Sivan & Betty Who

Obviousssss, but this song was such an integral part in me figuring shit out about my life. Like, I was 14 and a massive Troye fan when it came out and (growing up in a working class, strict religious, small town family) the music video was literally my first understanding of the fight for queer rights. I knew about LGBTQ+ identities and identified as a variety of queer labels at the time I was completely unaware of the entire struggle that had come before me and seeing photos and footage of this fight for the first time was O.o Anyway, I'll stop talking about myself and say that I’m incredibly happy with the hc of the Captain trying to learn a bit more about queer history in his journey to accept himself.

In Our Bedroom After the War - Stars

The poor Captain, let the man love I beg. I have so much love for stories and hcs of the Captain being sweet and being in love like pls ily.

Achilles Come Down - Gang of Youths

This might actually kill his gay little soul but by good it would be worth it!! I’m gonna go off on a bit of a philosophy tangent but what were ya expecting from me honestly: the sample used in Achilles Come Down is an extract from a 1942 essay by Albert Camus who, alongside Kierkegaard and Nietzsche and the like, wrote about the concept of ‘the absurd’ which is a tricky concept but a reallyyyyyy simplified version of it is basically the idea that humans constantly search for a meaning and purpose for life and the universe but the universe does not provide answers to that which causes human distress. Basically, what I mean to say like isn’t that concept just so Captain?? Like he searches for meaning in war and can’t see life beyond the war because that provides him purpose, you know?? But yeah, it’s a banging song and I’m sorry about the tangent.

Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy - Queen

Ya saw this one coming :P Well he just is a good old fashioned lover boy so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

William, It Was Really Nothing - The Sm*ths

Even just the name being right is like *chefs kiss*. Yes there are lines in this song that are just shit and reallyyyyyyy show the views of M*rrisey and his general shitty behaviours.

It’s a Long Way to Tipperary - John McCormack

It’s just a fun song.

You’re Somebody Else - flora cash

LGBTQ+ staple really, ik it’s about being trans but I wanted to include it because of the recent Ben Willbond interview when he talks about how he’s interested in the contrast of a confused authoritative figure. Like the Captain is such a contrast and I love that in characters.

It’s Been a Long, Long Time - Harry James

Like I’ve said repeatedly, I wanted at least a little bit of time specific music for each of them I could. So yeah there’s a few for the Captain, WWII music is such a vibe tbh.

The Boxer - Simon & Garfunkel

I’ve always interpreted the song as being about loneliness and well, Captain my boy that you. Like he’s literally surrounded by people 24/7 but is so very alone. When the others are all watching tv in Redding Weddy and the Captain is just sat in the window watching for Havers is just so pretty and I think it’s really telling of the relationship he has with the others.

The Arrow and the Aim - Nadia Reid

Pretty pretty song, the voice is *mwah* but that’s irrelevant.

Ramblings of a Lunatic - Bears In Trees

Okay but like yes. The Captain is so alone like despite being around people literally all the time - not being able to escape you might say. Is he aware he’s different? Like what goes on in his head, will we ever know?? Cap, you gotta start talking to people, man. You gotta open up cause you will go crazy, Ik it’s been 70 years fella but seriously you’re gonna go crazy soon.

Death with Dignity - Sufjan Stevens

Just a beautiful song, and yeah with the Captian being the way he is and so focused on the war and military and the idea of "death with dignity" is pretty prolific. Given that we're fairly sure the Captain never saw any action, would he be considered to have died with dignity?? Maybe, maybe not idk.

I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major General - Arthur Sullivan & John Reed

That one scene where Alison is trying to sleep and the Captain is just sat beside her bed singing this. Like that’s so funny XD It’s his little head bob as he sings like that’s so good.

Kiss Me Goodnight, Sergeant Major - Arthur Askey

I remember my nan had an Askey record and she used to play it all the time and this always made me laugh cause 5 year old me couldn’t get the image of a really strong and tough soldier being all motherly and yeah I just wanted to include it :D

Teddy Boy - Paul McCartney

The Captain’s name is Teddy, I take no debate on this. Just the idea of the Captain’s backstory, like a childhood backstory for the Captain genuinely makes me cry. I know a lot of people have shared their stories of their interpretation of the Captain’s childhood and they’re all sad and I love them all :’) (Specifically a big fan of Operation Keep Calm on AO3 and what they’ve done with the Captain’s character and story, 10/10 would recommend but it’s not finished and I really hope it is at some point ily).

O Captain! My Captain! - The Static Shift

Just an interesting song, yeah? “I believe I’m in my prime”/“In my bally prime”, you get it XD

John My Beloved - Sufjan Stevens

I love this song (no I’ve never seen the film and no don’t really intend to) It’s just sweet, you know, and the religious elements etc yeah that’s good.

[h2ojustaddmako]

Headcanon: The Origin of Mermaids & Magic

Wooooooo...it’s been a long time since I’ve written one of those. I can truthfully say I’m been sitting on this one for maybe over a year...letting it cook up inside me...like a dumpling of information. Okay, weird image, i get it, but that’s the truth.

Basically today I wanna go over a little idea of mine I’ve had for a long time, and every time I rewatched the show, it was fed and grew larger and larger, with more and more information to help me piece out the puzzle of mermaid powers, and why all you thought you know was absolute garbage.

As I went over in my (pretty popular, if I may) post about how the powers work, mermaids use electromagnetism in a way that helps them alter the magnetic field around them and manipulate water in multiple ways to be able to “control” it. The moon is magnetic, and so is Mako Island, therefore, something in the full moon evokes the powers. But what is it?

While watching season 3 and Mako Mermaids as a whole, you’d realize they are more similar than you’d think. Actually, the lore introduced in season 3 seems to be the base foundation to the entire world-building in Mako Mermaids. One thing that is highly notable is the appearance of the crystals. Moon crystals, as I call them, can indeed release “moonlight”, this blue, hypnotizing energy wave. But that’s not really moonlight, per se. You see, moonlight isn’t a real thing in nature; the moon doesn’t radiate like the sun, it’s just reflective, and it’s surely not deep blue. And so, the so-called moonlight in the show is actually something else. Like the stones of Mako, the crystals in them also originated from the moon, and Mako (and every other “moon pool” out there) is probably sitting on millions of them. Considering how many were inside that one piece Ryan and Sophie tried to grab, the foundation of Mako Island is rich with these blue bitches. Now, these crystals are unique because they store inside them the secret to mermaid magic. 

You see, throughout the Mako show, one of the most valuable items are these little ‘moon rings’. These little rings with a nice, big blue crystal right in the middle. While the show never explicitly reveals that the crystals are originated from the moon pool, or Mako at all, but given the pretty obvious design choice, it’s very clear to us that it’s more than just an artistic design. They also work in a very similar way - they both radiate blue energy that is very strong, and have serious powers. Mako gave us a very big hint to the origin of that, by saying the moon rings need to be recharged in full moons. That’s when the power of the moon is the strongest. Now going back a little, we said the moon doesn’t really shine a light of its own, so what are we talking about? Well, like the crystals on the rings, the crystals on the moon absorb power daily, from the sun and space. The sun uses a strong magnetic field, holding the planets and what-not spinning around it in perfect rings since the creation of the solar system. The crystals on the moon absorb that power, and every night, the moon radiates it back to earth, to its cousin, Mako Island. Simplifying things, the moon absorbs power and in return release it towards Earth, only for that power to charge the entire Mako Island crystal colony. Many have spoken about the weird sensation Mako gives them - electromagnetism, and no wonder mermaids feel it stronger, since they are sensitive to it more than most people. The girls felt the comet getting closer because a part of them is now sensing magnetism in the environment.

So Mako is charged with energy, so what? You see, the moon pool’s shape is very interesting. The decision to place it at the bottom of a volcano isn’t just a creative choice (though it is very cool). The shape of a volcano is that of a cone, of a funnel, if you may. The moon centers around the small opening above and radiates into the moon pool itself. Unlike the rest of the island, which seems unaffected during full moon nights, the shape of the moon pool allows the power to get trapped in the spacious room of crystals walls, awakening the power that is also trapped inside the crystals themselves, probably magnifying the intensity of it by a lot. Add the fact that the full moon is the stronger of the faces of the moon considering all of it is facing Earth and you have yourself a force not to be played with. That means that the moon pool as a room has very strong energy to it, one that apparently can turn someone into a mermaid. 

The mystery of why a mermaid, of all things, and what mermaids have to do with the moon is still a puzzle left to be solved. But one thing’s for sure, mermaids are not natural creatures, despite what Mako Mermaids tries to sell you. They have too many human characteristics to only be relatives to humans and go through such an evolution is a short (evolutionarily speaking) time. Plus, no power in the world can turn you into something you’re not, and for Lewis’ examinations and the medical tests they went through in the “fake sick” episode, it’s pretty safe to say that genetically, mermaids are very slightly different to humans, and it’s not something that can be detected without looking into their DNA. But that tells us enough to safely bet that the origin of mermaids is human, and not another species adapted to live in the ocean.

And yet - sea-born ‘natural’ mermaids are so different from humans. They can siren sing, they give birth to “hatchlings” (whatever that means), and heck, some can even speak to sea animals, what’s up with that? Well, these could all be considered under the umbrella term of rapid evolution. In simple words, rapid evolution is the process a species goes through in order to adapt to a new environment that is foreign to it and different from its natural habitat. While humans don’t really have a natural habitat, we are land animals, and therefore, to live in the ocean we’d have to adapt to different factors. The transformation of the full moon only does about half the work, but a mermaid like Cleo couldn’t live in the ocean forever, as we saw when she ran away. She was hungry, ‘cause she didn’t know how to hunt. She was tired, ‘cause she didn’t know where to sleep safely. And you would be too, if you were to be thrown out of your natural environment and into some place you may have the physical skills to handle, but not the knowledge.

So my theory goes as follows: in an order of events, at some point throughout Earth’s history, a piece of the moon detached and entered our atmosphere. The piece broke off, landing in several places around the world, such as China, Ireland, perhaps the Caribbean as well, but the biggest piece landed off the coast of Australia. The new mass of stone tore through the layers of the Earth, resulting in an active volcano, that eventually cooled down and turned into an island. Million of years later, ancient humans, probably a male and a female, discovered one of the moon pools around the world (probably Ireland), sometime around 3000 years ago, before the first mentions of mermaids in Greek mythology.  Said humans were probably considered as witches, gods, beings of magic and power. It is not far fetched to assume they may have escaped into the ocean. Perhaps more people were interested in getting such powers; maybe it was more than two, maybe even tens of people. Mermaids were considered as monsters, beings of evil to be feared of, and when Christianity rose, perhaps unholy abominations. The moon pools were considered supernatural places. All that led to merpeople being secluded, escaping humans, and accepting the ocean as a new home. They adapted quickly, and with time, the mermadic gene was implemented into their DNA. They were still humans, just highly adapted to life underwater. With the industrial revolution, the stories of mermaids became nothing more than folklore, one with ancient gods, monsters, and myths. Every now and then someone saw a mermaid, like Christopher Columbus, but who would believe a person that saw a being half woman half fish?

this actually started as a whole other headcanon, but go figure

[autisticshadowthehedgehog]

Sonic X Theory: the other Ultimate Lifeforms

In Sonic X’s adaptation of Sonic Adventure 2, they make an interesting claim about the Ultimate Lifeform prototypes on the ARK. When Rouge hacks into the base, she informs Shadow of one thing- he wasn’t the only prototype from Project Shadow that escaped the ARK massacre. 

[ID: screenshots from Sonic X: one of Rouge looking up Project Shadow, surprised and reading “Shadow? Secure and dispose?” Another shot of two escape pods falling towards a planet, with the caption from a GUN soldier: “Our mission ended when we sealed away the prototype of the ultimate lifeform.” End ID.] 

Rouge makes the claim that neither of these escape pods was Shadow... so in X Canon, is Shadow even who he thinks he is? And just as importantly... who are the other prototypes? 

Full theory under the cut. 

So first off. Let’s look at Rouge’s claim that Shadow isn’t who he thinks he is.

Part One: Is Shadow from the ARK?

[ID: screenshots from Sonic X of Rouge and Shadow talking, with the following dialogue:

Rouge: This is the progress report for Project Shadow, a plan to create the ultimate life form. The body they created is still held there.

Shadow: I know. That’s a prototype. I’m the Ultimate Lifeform they created afterwards- 

Rouge: Two capsules were ejected when the ARK was shut down. But neither was found. They couldn’t lock up in prison what they couldn’t find. Do you understand? I wonder who you really are.

Shadow looks troubled. End ID.] 

So two capsules were ejected and neither was found in the fifty years it’s been since the accident-- except I think Rouge is wrong about one thing. Shadow is who he thinks he is- because his capsule was sent out alone. It must have somehow not been logged. 

How do we know this? Shadow’s flashback of being sent away and the man who worked for GUN are completely different- first of all, the GUN soldier doesn’t remember her saying anything to Shadow, or Shadow even being there- it seems that she died to send away something or someone else. Second- Maria is in a different position around the lever in both flashbacks. See the GUN soldier’s first-- 

Though we don’t see the full room, we get the sense that it’s small from the other shots that I don’t have the time to screenshot. She’s around an elevated platform not attached to a wall, and either facing the pod she’s sending away or in a completely different room. 

But, both of Shadow’s alternate memories of Maria sending him away-- the first one more stylized, the second one we can assume more real-- neither looks like this. 

In both, she’s in a differing position. In the sepia flashback, she’s not facing him, and pulling a lever attached to a wall. In the second flashback, she’s already on the floor, and the lever pad we see would cause her to be facing away from Shadow. In neither of these do we see any evidence that anyone other than Shadow and Maria are in the room or even nearby. 

Shadow also has enough evidence he’s who he thinks he is- he has the right powerset, the GUN soldier says that they did, indeed, seal away an Ultimate Prototype, Gerald mentions Shadow enough in his monologues, and... honestly there’s really no evidence that he isn’t Shadow, other than the two pods. And two pods? Shadow was sent out alone, we saw no evidence of a second pod in either flashback. So he wasn’t with anyone else. 

So what’s the conclusion? The conclusion is that these are two different events- one where Maria releases Shadow, and one where she releases another- or, possibly, the others, the two pods that were logged as escaping. 

Maria either freed Shadow first and then the other two, or she freed the first two, got shot, and then managed to survive long enough to send Shadow away. Either way-- these events are separate.  

So what was in the other two pods? Two other prototypes of the Ultimate Lifeform, clearly, but nothing like the Biolizard, they’re too small. 

Now let me ask you something... wouldn’t it make sense for the Ultimate Prototypes to look similar, if they were similar lifeforms? 

And who do we know who looks similar to Shadow? 

Part Two: Sonic is an Ultimate Lifeform

[ID: Shadow looking down at Sonic, and saying, “I see. We actually do look alike. It’s like looking in a mirror.” End ID.] 

Okay so like. Unless you’re very colorblind I think you’ve noticed that Shadow and Sonic are completely different colors. But let’s ignore that for now-- they do have a very similar silhouette... in fact, Shadow’s silhouette is incredibly close to SuperSonic, which is Sonic at full power. And in-universe, they look similar enough that in low lighting pretty much nobody can tell them apart. 

And not just that- Sonic has a lot of power for a seemingly “normal” mobian. [Yes, I know they don’t use the term “Mobius” in Sonic X but let me simplify this somehow.] His superspeed, ability to survive so much shit... he’s powerful enough that he presents a rival for Shadow without chaos emeralds (though Shadow is nerfed a little by the Inhibitor Rings- more on that later). 

[ID: Sonic and Shadow racing; they are keeping up with each other. Shadow says, “It seems your appearance isn’t the only thing that’s similar to me. Who are you?” Sonic responds, “I’m me.” End ID.] 

Shadow’s right- their appearance isn’t where the resemblance stops. And of course there’s probably the most damning similarity-- they are the only two characters we see go Super and have the ability to control the Chaos Emeralds.

[ID: First image is SuperSonic and SuperShadow, having absorbed the power of the chaos emeralds. Second image is from the Third Season, where a MetaRex shouts, “There are two individuals [referring to Sonic and Shadow] who can draw out the power of the Chaos Emeralds?” End ID.] 

Oh and SPEAKING OF Sonic/Shadow similarities-- there’s a scene in Season Three where Sonic is being lectured by the villain about how all life ends eventually so why bother etc. and Sonic says that life is worth the good bits, all that jazz. Here’s the scene:

And exactly 1:25 in.... guess what starts playing

This song is scarily similar to “Recollection of the Ark”... Shadow’s sad song about his memories of the ARK... while Sonic is being lectured about still having faith in humanity. You know. Like MARIA WANTED.

Interesting how we know absolutely nothing about Sonic’s past, huh-- pretty much all we have before he meets Tails is that he says he’s fifteen years old, but honestly... are we even sure about that? First of all, if Sonic was revived alone, there wouldn’t be a way to tell his age, he’d probably just accept the first age someone assigned him. 

Alternatively, we know from the end of Season Two and the beginning of Season Three that time works in a very wonky way from Earth to Mobius- in the ~2-3 days Sonic’s alone with Chris, a week passes on Mobius, despite the fact we know he can chaos control at any time. In the third season? Six years pass on Earth while six months pass on Mobius. So time doesn’t really work in a reasonable way, meaning it’s possible that Sonic is fifteen... and he lived fifteen years on Mobius after awakening, while fifty years passed on Earth. 

And we know for a fact that travel between Mobius and Earth was possible even before the events of Season One... because Eggman was born on Earth.

[ID: Eggman looking shocked and turning around in a chair, announcing, “I was born in this world!” End ID.]

Eggman was born on Earth and somehow ended up on Mobius-- but he was young enough he didn’t realize until he saw that Gerald lived on Earth. So was he in the second escape pod? It’s possible, but I don’t think so-- he’d have to have information on Gerald, and it seems he had a picture of Gerald and Maria, so it’s likely he traveled with a parent or guardian, or at least some kind of family history, which I doubt Maria would think to store in an escape pod while everyone was running for their lives. This plot element was probably just to set up that travel between the dimensions happens more than we think. 

Neither escape pod from the ARK was recovered, probably because they ended up on Mobius. 

It’s most likely that they Chaos Controlled into the other dimension-- I know I said Maria probably wouldn’t think to store anything other than the lifeform themselves in the pod, but if the lifeform needed Chaos Emeralds to practice/control their powers, or the Chaos Emeralds were already stored in an escape pod for safekeeping-- or if, possibly, GUN was attempting to capture the Chaos Emeralds as well, and the Robotniks knew that they would use them in a destructive way-- all that combined could mean that the emeralds would also be important enough to send away in a pod. 

If even one of the pods had Chaos Emeralds, it’s possible that the lifeform inside could have sensed danger and unconsciously teleported them to the most safe place from GUN-- another world where GUN didn’t exist and couldn’t reach them. And even better-- a world where mobians like them lived. 

From Sonic X lore that I don’t have the time to find and screencap, we know that the two worlds used to be the same but split at some point in history. If this was after, say, the events of Chaos destroying the Echidnas-- which, sidenote, interesting how they disappear and nobody knows where they went, so it’s possible that Chaos straight-up split the dimensions just to get rid of the Echidnas-- then enough of their lore could remain. Old cave paintings, wall carvings, etc., could show enough mobians that scientists could probably think “oh, wow, that looks like a god figure. might as well design our ultimate lifeform after that, esp since they had this god that could control chaos and the chaos emeralds came from here.” 

Wanna know what’s interesting about those ancient echidna temples? Guess who’s there-- if we go by Sonic 3 & Knuckles, a game that ofc had been released by the time X was being written...

SuperSonic. 

Both the ultimate form of Sonic, and the silhouette of Shadow. 

So let’s say they find this on the ARK studies, and they’re like “okay so our ultimate lifeform goal is a hedgehog. Got it.” There’s two options after this:

They make Sonic, but deem him a failure for reasons and cryo-freeze him until they need him or can release him. They then proceed to make Shadow, who they believe actually is their ultimate lifeform. 

They made Shadow first, but after a while kept experimenting and making more prototypes, just in case, or possibly because they decided Shadow wasn’t powerful enough. However, the prototypes weren’t ready to awaken before the ARK massacre, Shadow never met them. 

So as I’ve made clear, I’m pretty sure that one of those prototypes was Sonic-- who, of course, has no idea. Either he only entered consciousness after arriving in Mobius, or his memories of the ARK were so vague, traumatic, early, or a combo, that his mind blocked them out. Either way, it doesn’t matter, what matters is that he and Shadow are both prototypes, which is what gives Sonic his power. 

And Sonic’s power, btw, isn’t limited like Shadow’s. Because he doesn’t have inhibitor rings. 

If prototype!Sonic was sent away with inhibitor rings, he ditched them. Which would make sense, especially if he woke up with no memory of the ARK and didn’t know why these weird bracelets were on his arm. He would notice that the rings slowed him down and ditch them fast. And that’s assuming they even stuck rings on the prototype. 

But if we do assume they stuck rings on the prototypes... maybe we can find the other lifeform that was sent away along with Sonic. 

Part Three: Who is the Third Ultimate Lifeform?

Okay. Let’s do a headcount. 

Who, in Sonic X, 

Existed on Mobius at the same time as Sonic, 

Doesn’t appear to have a lot of power but has a lot of incredible strength if you pay attention, 

Sometimes shows strange abilities, such as far leaps into the air, a speed great enough that they can sometimes catch up to Sonic (though not as great, possibly because of the inhibition), even potentially the ability to summon weapons out of thin air, 

Looks similar to the Mobian Hedgehog-- or, perhaps, with influences from a Mobian Echidna, who were the ones who had the SuperSonic glyphs in the first place, and thus could potentially serve as a design point, 

Wears rings around their wrists at all times?

[ID: Amy Rose being absurdly powerful in several screencaps, often glowing; though this is normal anime expressionwork, it is something that exclusively happens to Amy in Sonic X. End iD.]

And, of course, this beauteous moment: 

[ID: A scene from the season two finale of Sonic X. Eggman’s ship, on which Amy’s hammer is stuck, is high above her, and Eggman taunts “It doesn’t matter if you’re angry because your hammer is stuck up here!” In the following image, a moving gif, Amy summons a hammer out of thin air, a puff of smoke coming from it, as she is still glowing with a fire-like energy. Eggman’s robots shout “She has another one! How many does she have?” End ID.]

That’s right! This was all an excuse to spout out my “Amy Rose could kill God” propaganda! But it’s not propaganda if I’m right!

Part Four: The Lifeforms

So. It’s been a couple months since I made this post, but I was rewatching Sonic X with my sister, and we did notice that you do see prototype lifeforms for a flash in the GUN soldier’s story.

[ID: Screenshots from Sonic X; The GUN soldier narrates his story, as we see GUN soldiers arresting scientists, while standing in front of empty tubes of bubbling green liquid. The caption reads, “There were many rumors about ARK. Such as doing research for eternal life or creating the Ultimate Life Form.” The GUN soldier steps to a tube that has something in it. End ID.]

We see a brief flash of an experimental lifeform in this memory, as seen above; we also see two more, the ones that were explicitly stated to be the ones Maria was freeing.

[ID: Screenshots from later in the same episode of Sonic X, the first showing two tubes with dark figures inside, surrounded by dark blue bubbling water. The next screenshot shows Maria preparing to free them, with the captions reading “An experimental life form? She’s planning to free it!” End ID.]

So, these silhouettes. Let’s uh. Let’s take a look at those huh

Now, the bodies are too thick to be standard mobian bodies- but we can also see wires attached to the prototypes, as well as, you know, whatever that liquid is. It’s entirely possible there’s something wrapped around their bodies, to keep them safe/asleep/etc.

But..... ok so I might be reaching here but analyzing the face silhouettes, using red lines to mark quills and green to mark potential laid-back ears, it really could be long-quilled sonic and short-quilled Amy.

As well as this, in the shot of the GUN soldier looking at a prototype, I swear I can see a mobian ear.

tl;dr this is all fascinating me and I think we should let the Sonic X crew return to making this show as if they never left so that we can get answers to this

[imgoingtocrash]

Made of Iron, Born of Fire: The Fanmix 

by @imgoingtocrash

Listen on Spotify and 8tracks

Read the series on Ao3

AKA: A labor of love for @savvysass’s birthday!!!!

What can I say that hasn’t already been said because we’re both incredibly sappy people in our Author’s Notes? Writing this series with you has brought me so much joy in the last two years, and I never could have hit over 100k words without you. Here’s to whatever we write next in the series...and all of the WIPs we’re working on right now...and only god knows what’s next for us personally and professionally...and most importantly, to you on your Birthday. Thank you for being such a good friend, in both fandom and outside of it. I’m so, so thankful to know you and love you. 🥰

Director’s Cut Below, because we all know I love talking about this series, and yes, that does extend to why I picked these songs. (And also maybe because these song choices only make sense in my brain and hopefully Savannah’s?? Who knows! Feel free to ask questions if you want but let’s be honest this series and fanmix are most importantly for us, because we love the series so dang much.)

My Wildest Dreams by Ron Pope

I spoke in riddles and in rhymes, but my time with you has taught me to simplify, you’re not quite what I pictured you would be, you’re better than my wildest dreams.

We’ve talked about this one before, and I’LL TALK ABOUT IT AGAIN!!!! Ron Pope is so good imo, and this song wowowow the father-child feels, but especially with Tony and newborn Peter a la A Foreign Feeling and A First Time For Everything.

Big & Scared by Raleigh Ritchie

I want to be better for you, let me do that now, you’re my favorite human, so you should be prepared, I’ll help you get through it, when you’re big and scared

We’ve mentioned Tony’s thoughts about legacy multiple times by now, and I think this song really represents Tony looking forward to the person Peter could be become and that “breaking the cycle” mentality of supporting Peter even when he’s not a perfect father.

Legacy of Sadness by Ron Pope

irrational as it may seem I guess I’m sorry, even though I know that none of it’s my fault, it is easier for me to count my blessings, than to cry for every single thing we’ve lost

I have 0 shame putting these two songs by Ron Pope almost back to back because they’re the opening and closing of an album dedicated to his child like...it’s so perfect for Tony and this theme of reflection on who he is and who Peter will become/is becoming and all that entails.

this is me trying by Taylor Swift

They told me all of my cages were mental, so I got wasted like all my potential, and my words shoot to kill when I'm mad, I have a lot of regrets about that

I wrote something...very sad but also soft recently??? and this is for That it’s about pre-CW Pepperony being separated and the road to them trying to come back together including Tony working on himself and I love it!!! It hurts really good!!! This whole song is perfect for it and I can’t wait until people get to read it.

Be Good When I’m Gone by Four Year Strong

I'm sorry I can't stop to listen, but I've got so much to do and I've got some place to be, the house looks like the aftermath of a hurricane, I hope it stays that way

Tony being a busy parent but doing his best to make time for Peter in his life and making that time count has been something super important to illustrate to us, especially the transition from being a CEO to being a superhero and how that changes how Peter sees Tony’s absence over time.

I Won’t Back Down by Johnnyswim, Drew Holcomb & The Neighbors, and Penny and Sparrow

Tony puts on the original version by Tom Petty in Home Is Where The Heart Is, but I think this cover has a very slow, emotional undertone that’s really great too. The interludes, if you didn’t catch it, have all been featured in a fic previously.

Let It Matter by Johnnyswim

So if it matters let it matter, if your heart's breaking let it ache, catch those pieces as they scatter, know your hurt is not in vain

Pepper in Never Tell Me The Odds ALL DAYYYYY. She’s the emotional rock of that fic (and of our Ironfam TBH) and it’s all because she allows herself to feel her feelings and encourages the Stark boys to do so as well.

Simmer - Acoustic by Hayley Williams

And if my child, needed protection, from a fucker like that man, I’d sooner gut him, cause nothing cuts like a mother

Post-Home Is Where The Heart Is...y’all know Pepper’s not that mad about what happened to Obie. Also just Pepper when someone hurts her family?? I always write it as her sort of putting all of her emotion into something she can control and doing it well, so, this song is all about that.

Tightrope by Nia Hendricks

one step after another, keep holding on to each other, don’t look back, move on and let go, that’s how you walk on a tightrope

Pepperony trying to navigate their relationship and the insanity of superhero stuff and also co-parenting. It’s all excellent, I love them so much, I enjoy writing it so much!!!!

Dancing With Your Ghost by Sasha Sloan

Never got the chance, to say a last goodbye, I gotta move on, but it hurts to try, how do I love, how do I love again?

This song is tilted towards romance, but if you’ll remember, we’re a Pro-Tony Survives Endgame AU series, so it’s not about THAT...but well...Infinity War sure will hit something fierce for certain non-romantic relationships in this series, huh?

The Bones by Maren Morris

Call it dumb luck, but baby, you and I, can't even mess it up, although we both try, no, it don't always go the way we planned it, but the wolves came and went and we're still standing

Post-Endgame Ironfam!!! Tony and Pepper married with their kids, their family and HAPPY...THIS IS WHY WE DO ALL OF THE ANGST...FOR A FAMILY...WE LOVE THEM

Carry on Wayward Son by Kansas

Considered Pepper and Peter’s ‘song’, as it’s referenced multiple times in the series, and was one of the bigger solidifying moments of their mother-son relationship as a whole.

Mundane by Hardcastle

And I’ve been sinking into silence, dwelling on my thoughts, and in these months, I haven’t felt that most conversations have left me anything but blue

Peter’s selective mutism was something very special to us when we originally had the idea, and making sure we talk about it and utilize it in the right way is something we’re still working on, particularly with the Therapy Fic we’re brainstorming atm.

survivin’ (One Eyed Jack’s Session) by Bastille

What can I say? I'm survivin', crawling out these sheets to see another day, what can I say? I'm survivin', and I'm gonna be fine, I'm gonna be fine, I think I'll be fine

Spoiler Alert: Peter’s not fine, like, a decent amount of the time. But he’s sure trying, and we love him for that.

Jacob from the Bible by Jake Wesley Rogers

Mama, don't worry, it took me years, to say I'm sorry, to see your tears, Mama, forgive me, I grew up too fast, but it's not on you, it's in the past

Mostly part of Peter growing up to become a hero and realizing what his parents--particularly Pepper--have gone through for him to become the person he is today, but that sometimes he still doesn’t feel like he’s making them proud enough.

Compassion Is a German Word by To Kill A King

Don't be so arrogant, you ain't no different to anyone I've met, we're all the heroes in our own film, or maybe the villain in someone else's

Spider-Man being an excellent superhero boi!!! Being kind and good!!! We love it!! Also, I put a TKAK song on...a LOT of my playlists, because I think they’re great.

brutal by Olivia Rodrigo

And I'm so sick of seventeen, where's my fucking teenage dream?, if someone tells me one more time, "Enjoy your youth", I'm gonna cry

I mean...this song is such a Teenage Mood...I had to do it...

In The Wee Small Hours Of The Morning by Frank Sinatra

So, I had this cute little scene in my head that went with this song for SO LONG but there wasn’t really anything for it to fit into so...yeah that’s part 2 of Savannah’s Birthday Gift, a little soft Baby Peter drabble. Fluffy Goop from top to bottom. That can be read here.

Home by Phillip Phillips

Just know you're not alone, 'Cause I'm gonna make this place your home

...I know it’s not original, okay? It’s found family, it’s great, I don’t care!

Comes and Goes (In Waves) by Greg Laswell

And this part was for her, and this part was for her, this part was for her, does she remember?

This song is good family angst in general BUT these specific lyrics made me think of Mary and that they never forget her in their lives despite the other stuff going on (because we refuse to let them).

I Have Made Mistakes by The Oh Hellos

I have made mistakes, I continue to make them, the promises I've made, I continue to break them, and all the doubts I've faced, I continue to face them, but nothing is a waste if you learn from it

No one in the Ironfam is perfect, but they all do their best to try and grow even when they’re scared they’ll never be able to. The ups and downs are all par for the course of this series to us.

Easy Days - Demo by Bastille

Cause I don’t wanna fall back again, back into the easy days, everything was so simple then, little fires burned away

Strife is a part of life, and the family in this fic growing through their loss and struggles and moving ahead as a unit to get to a better place is super central to making the fic what it is...but it’s easy for them to remember the old days before being superheroes and wishing it was simple again.

North by Sleeping At Last

Let the years we’re here be kind, be kind, let our hearts like doors open wide, open wide, settle our bones like wood over time, over time, give us bread, give us salt, give us wine

The way Tony went from feeling so alone to having an entire built family that’s so full of love and everything he never dreamed of...*screams into my pillow* I love this series so much thank you and good night!!!

[troop52]

do u !!! have any character theme songs for the troop boys? Like any songs you think really fits them (and why u think it fits)?

THATS A GREAT QUESTION!!

Before I get into it Im going to plug this collaborative Troop Playlist on Spotify, feel free to add onto it!! Continuing with my picks

I think a lot of the songs I associate with The Troop in general are just because I happened to listen to them around the same time I got into the book in the first place (So they could only be tangentially related BUT only if you squint hard) Example: Drunk by The Living Tombstone, cant really tie it into the story but in my mind its linked Some better, more fitting songs under the cut (Side note its LONGGG IM SORRY... Also its all YouTube links because some of these arent on Spotify :'^()

Disclaimer -Like 95% of my choices arent really a "These lyrics match up exactly 1 to 1" but more of an overall "the vibe/general idea its trying to capture lines up" type thing. If that makes sense.

Its Alright by Jack Stauber: Kind of self explanatory, I think its a perfect song for these guys. From "It's alright, I'm here, Everything's alright, Feels weird but calm, I wanna hear It's alright" to the whole sound of it- its all great. Equal parts distressing and sad with an almost eerie calmness to it. Despite it all theyre gonna be alright, right?

The Second Little Piggy by Worthikids: Another one that I think is sort of self explanatory- at least with the chorus. "If my brain turns to mush, If the shit hits the fan, Will you be my friend?" Kind of the falling apart of everything, specifically their relationships, in light of the incident.

Poor George by James Supercave: Another case of "listened to at the same time I read the book" BUT I was actually making a Troop PMV script with that song. I never finished it but maybe Ill revisit it... just for you

Cold Summer by Le Matos ft Computer Magic: I dont even think this takes place in the summer but the VIBES and also it came from Summer of 84, which is another good piece of murder boy media.

Treehouse by Alex G ft Emily Yacina: This is a Eef and Max type of song because they are bffs and thats final. Basic song because Im not creative, but I think its a nice heart to heart theyd have (with Eef doing the talking)

Fifteen Minuets by Nick Krol: On the flipside heres a song that goes with Eef and Maxs friendship fracturing, once again more from Eefs side than Maxs. THE GIRLS ARE FIGHTINGGG

As far as songs for the boys as individuals hmmm thats a good one that I havent thought about as much...

MAX + The Ghosts by The Real Tuesday Weld: That survivors guilt... lyrics arent like a perfect match but I think it gets that sort of hollow feeling across. Hes haunted man... + Final Girl by Electric Youth: Ok its a little funny because har har Final Girl Trope but I mean HE IS ONE. ANd dont look at me its a nice song- "Others were gone, and you kept going on, You know they never really noticed, you were always different, One by one, They're all done, And you're the last one standing" + Going Grazy by Lonesome Wyatt and the Holy Spooks: HONESTLY this could go for all the characters but Im tagging it onto Max because hes the one who has to deal with the aftermath of losing everyone (sorry survivors guilt Max again </3) "Everyone's saying my mind is unsound, 'Cause I always see you when you aren't around" "They're gonna wrap me in a jacket of white, And lock me away in a room without light" is what cements it as a Max song for me

EEF + The Existential Threat by Sparks: Once again starting sad, I link this one specifically to his paranoia about the worms- especially with lines like "Can't they see the existential threat is on its way". Kind of exasperated no one else can see the danger (he thinks) hes in. + Wrecking Ball by Mother Mother: I know I know its basic but I cant help it!!! Eef anger issues arc we are shaking hands me too + Haunted by Laura Les: Eef struggles with people seeing him as "just like his father" and I think we can get some good angst out of this track if we keep that in mind. Especially the back half of the song with lyrics like "Do you think I'm frightening?" and "Mirrors shatter when I'm passing, broken glass and crashing" since he is just a reflection of his dad (to others at least). Also song good.

KENT + Goodbye Mr A by The Hoosiers: Mfw the disillusionment with authority sets in. I think the vibe fits when he had that little epiphany about how adults are fucked- not perfect but it gets the idea across me thinks. + I'm Gonna Win by Rob Cantor: Ties into his need to "win" aka be the best at everything, be in charge, all that jazz! Hell do whatever it takes to be successful, even if it hurts. That was a little emo + Toba the Tura by Forgive Durden ft Chris Conley: Not to be emo again but "They say you're gifted, well I just see a scared kid. They must have flipped it, your skills are latent. O, you snuffed the glow. Replaced it with coals. Threw away the throne... This mess that you've made, it's a six-foot grave. It's a home for your lonesome bones that remain. We'll disappear, but you'll stay here to rot" AND SO ON AND SO FOURTH representing his fall after it was revealed he was sick. He was referred to as "the uncrowned king" and was on top of the world but then POOF that all crumbled and it was made out that he basically deserved what happened to him. It would be fun to make a pmv of him with this song (Simplifying my thoughts a bit because Ive already written a LOT)

NEWT + I Earn My Life by Lemon Demon: Ok a little Kentcore but Im actually having a hard time coming up with songs for Newton so here we are, they can share. Newt existential crisis moment time I guess + Know How by The Crane Wives: POV Newt struggles with going through with the plans he makes to keep everyone safe (stopping Max from touching Kent, going back into the cabin, etc) "I am not brave, I am not brave, I keep my focus on what is safe, You drew a line, made up your mind, And now I'm struggling to realize" And also maybe struggling with his place in the group and as a person in general- all that living through his cousin thing. "I gotta wrap my head around, What my heart is telling me, I've been trying to drown it out, Just because I know what I am, I am supposed to do now, Doesn't mean I know, Doesn't mean I know how" + On The Outside by Oingo Boingo: Idk man. Hes on the outside lookin in!! Loner nerd!! Its ok though, we still love him

SHEL + Bad Blood by Creature Feature: The lyrics speak for themselves: "I can guarantee I will do evil things, The only way that you can stop me now, Is if you put me in the ground, Somewhere I'll never be found" + Frontier Psychologist by The Avalanches: Hinges on the fact that the principal or whoever was like "Your sons a freak" and Shels mom was like "HES PERFECTLY FINE" while Shelley was like dismembering an animal or something + Johnny by American Murder Song: The songs good but theres this ONE LYRIC that sucks so the link provided is an edited version and also a lovely Warriors oc video I think you should all enjoy and support <3 Anyway Shel would be Johnny I could see this song being a scene in the book. Field trip to Shels house and they find his murder garden

If anyone wants more for Im not opposed to making another post :^)

[etihw000]

You, Boun, Ninja and Taxi were my inspo for doing character designs, though I have to ask, what was the logic of the fashion you gave when interpreting the skins back at like 2013/2014? I could never figure out how to get that 2010s mcyt aesthetic of designs.

i’m gonna put this here for future reference: i do not want to answer asks that mention taxey. so if anyone else had sent in an ask involving her i probably deleted it and will continue to delete them, sorry.

but you tickled a bit of my rambling bones because i do like to talk, and she is part of what happened (i will hereby refer to her as T); so here we go.

i think you can separate my designs into two eras: before-T and after-T. before T came around, my designs interpreted the skins pretty literally. here’s bodil, here’s sky/ty/mitch/jerome, here’s bashur, and here’s jason.

my explanation on this: i was 13 and didn’t really like challenging myself. i’m pretty sure i took jason’s design from dopier, for example. so i took the easy way route out on a lot of things! 

but most notably, i didn’t want to draw complicated designs like sky’s. so the answer was very simple and clear: obviously, put it onto a sweater! i’m sure it was originally meant to be armor, but i didn’t want to draw armor. that’s too much thinking, too much highlighting, and i just wanted to pump out fanart for what i liked.

i didn’t like drawing checkerboards, so i switched them to lines.

i didn’t want to draw an anthro, so i just made it into a bear hat ala michael (i’m pretty sure this bear-type hat was more prominent in 2014, but it seems to have been simplified into just a hoodie with bear ears?).

i didn’t want to draw a humanoid watermelon nor did i even know where to begin with that, so i just drew bashur’s skin as a human and mirrored the design onto his hair and everything else was kept similarly.

it’s what happened with jason’s design - remember his astronaut-y outfit? yeah, i changed it to a hoodie shortly afterwards with an astronaut-y print. hated drawing that shit, challenging yourself is dead.

so in early 2014 (i came to the realization that i actually didn’t draw mcyt in 2013; i started drawing it in 2014), honestly just look at the skins you want to interpret and go with the simplest possible outcome. the end.

however, if you’re talking a bit later with the more unique designs - there was one notable thing that happened that caused it.

T.

see, i was a cranky little 14 year old child who got way too much attention. and with that attention came people copying my art - and one of them was T. 

i was highly uncomfortable at the time because, well, when you’re 14 you want to be unique as possible; you wanna stand out. and i was the only one who drew mcyt in this vaguely anime style way (because it wasn’t minecraft). and because we were all fucking weebs i assume people just started copying my art style wholesale.

see, people would mistake me for T. and vice-versa. i was extremely unhappy with this bullshit. “why are people mistaking me for this person,” i thought very unhappily to myself. and because i didn’t want to change my bloody art style, i decided designs were the way to go. so i went a bit crazy with it.

started out pretty simple. i cut ty’s shirt slightly differently (it still plagues his fanart to this day, i’m sorry ty). i gave bodil a beanie. everything was fine.

and then i still didn’t fucking want to draw checkerboards, so i just made a unique design for mitch. it followed with zek (the jacket on the right with the blue), who also had a checkerboard print. 

i did not want anyone replicating what i did, because it pissed me the fuck off something fierce. and i don’t know nor do i remember this clearly, but i’m pretty sure T started doing the same damn thing anyway. and i’m pretty sure it’s only T, because when I talked with swift and jasie they didn’t remember doing this shit. it was literally the two of us and whoever happened to be watching us do it.

it wasn’t meant to be easy to replicate. 

it was meant to be a bitch to replicate.

(i did it with rage too. the man didn’t even have a checkerboard skin. the long hair also plagues his fanart to this day, too. sorry rage.)

the other designs (ragegaming-era) were in 2015. and i was still the same angry 14-year old kid, especially since the T situation hadn’t gotten any better. we were still being mistaken for each other. people were genuinely confused about which of us were who and i don’t know how to explain to you how much anger was packed into my tiny 14 year old unsocialized body. 

i genuinely still don’t understand it now because our art styles were fundamentally different.

so i pitch you this question: what happens if simple skins meet this anger at being copied when even the simpler prints intended to be a bitch to replicate end up being mimicked, especially when the person you didn’t want copying you followed you into a wholeass new fandom? (we were more divided than now; TC and Crew were two completely different fandoms lol; we didn’t generally unite ourselves under ‘mcyt’)

you end up with other weird attempts. strangely asymmetrical cuts. even more complicated patterns. i apparently hid these but it was hell, i tell you. 

but i can assure you that the patterns on my designs were almost always symmetrical, albeit colored differently from the other side. the asymmetrical parts were different - a cut, a rolled up pant leg. something that you could do with a regular article of clothing. i know that in my circle there were some people that would have different length in shoes. i never did that. i would literally never write words on a shirt, too. i wasn’t one of those graphic tee people.

then i guess in late 2015 i got tired of it all and went back to the simple times of just not wanting to draw difficult designs before quitting altogether.

so you want to know what defined 2014 designs? 

it was a 14 year old’s absolute anger at being copied to fucking death and having to be mistaken for other people.

i hope this helped and i am now going to choose to forget that i ever decided to answer this ask. not because it was a bad ask, but because i don’t like thinking about T in particular. 

thank you for indulging my rambling bones. here’s a tl;dr for you:

Before-T designs (simpler)

the interpretations are literal.

if you can’t tell what’s going on, just make it a sweater and copy the patterns on the skin 1:1.

if there’s a different head (jason’s astronaut helmet, jerome’s bacca head) just make it a hood or a hat.

After-T designs (more difficult)

you still don’t wanna draw things out of your comfort zone, so stay out of the armor/anthro business.

give every design two layers - three at most. 

you love hoodies :)

if the skin is simple, use slightly different shades to add patterns (i believe he had a plain blue hoodie and plain black pants).

want to be even MORE unique than before? add something asymmetrical. remove a sleeve, roll up a pant leg, or something, but never shoes or gloves. they are sacred and you shouldn’t do that to them.

idk someone pointed out that i was apparently allergic to necks because i kept giving designs chokers or scarves or whatever. they’re usually solid in color

[rigelmejo]

So what my June-July study plan ENDED UP being:

Clozemaster experiments - mainly going by common words or fast track (listening game mode), or radio mode (so just listening in background generally - which I could do more if I tried). I’ve been doing mostly Japanese and a bit of Chinese, most days.

Reading guardian (partly L-R method, partly just re listening to chapters, partly redoing old chapters, partly just reading the actual physical book in my hand just... in general engaging with the audiobook and textbook lol)

Reading tiny bits of textbooks/study books (very tiny bits, just random stuff basically, watched a little of that YouTube Learn Korean in Korean cause it’s cool tbh.. I rediscovered my Barron’s At A Glance Korean book, which btw the At A Glance books are all great they have grammar guides and pronunciation guides and a bunch of useful words they’re compact but very nice I used to have a French one).

Language Exchange 1-2 hours a week. Not much but it’s regular and requires me to speak and write 30 min to 1 hour a week so it’s more than I had to have an active vocab before this lol...

Basically I’m busy with things. Anyway I will mention at the end of July if Clozemaster’s been useful! I am fairly sure I’m just planning to keep doing this stuff through July. I have other books I wanna read and clozemaster easy to just do randomly, and guardian I still want to keep reading.

My thoughts after just a few days are: I like Radio mode mainly because I will actually do it (whereas flashcards I will forget and am not always in the mood if I remember). I like that I see text during Radio mode if I want to look (again like flashcards but I don’t have to remember). I like that clozemaster specifically limits reviews per day so you always see a mix of new and old sentences (which is good since I get demotivated by reviews-only). I actually am noticing some clearer understanding of some parts of Japanese, mainly because I’m seeing SO MANY sentence examples for each grammar point and word (in the common word track), whereas in Nukemarine’s LLJ memrise courses I didn’t usually see “weird to me” but super common grammar early on and regularly at random.

So I feel like these clozemaster sentences are much more similar to stuff I ACTUALLY see in manga etc grammar wise and word usage wise - as in a mix of politeness levels, some shortening of common words, a mix of whether it’s in hiragana or kanji, different conjugations and verbs stacked together and common phrases. Which if you’re a total beginner might feel drowning tbh. But I’m at a point where Kanji generally look familiar so it’s just sound being drilled in for me, and I know a lot of the basic N5-n4 grammar and bits and pieces beyond from other stuff, so I can recognize if I’m looking at adjectives or verbs doing something and if it has to do with politeness or grammar.

One thing I like a LOT about clozemaster and I’m not even sure if it’s intentional but it splits off things like なさい as “do”, like ください which is like please do X, so you can see like しださい　- please do something, it splits of たい as “want” to, so したい　want to do, 見たい want to see. And like if you’ve read genki you’re used to those endings as conjugations of verbs, but seeing them like this sort of like their own verb attached to another verb stem makes it easier for me to recognize the verb stems, and the conjugations and their specific purpose. I’m not explaining quite how it does it since I’m not looking at the app this second, but just this way of breaking down the words is something I haven’t really seen in textbooks, and usually word lookup apps only look up the word stem so you can’t click たい to figure out that part and if it’s part of a new word or part of a conjugation (and if so then what it means). Clozemaster also links all definitions to jisho.org so I can go read more thorough explanations.

I think the clozemaster sentences would compliment reading a grammar guide like my Japanese in 30 Hours, or Tae Kim (which helped me with grammar a lot), or Cure Dolly. Because these sentences are good examples of realistic in life stuff you might run into but not simplified to only have one “new” grammar thing per sentence. So grammar specific sentences made as examples would be nice as a comparison to get a better handle on the rules/concrete patterns (ohhh or my Japanese Sentence Patterns book). However I am pleasantly surprised to find few actual totally-weird sentences so far in Japanese or Chinese (just some not literal translations so far), so I do actually think yeah Clozemaster would probably be a relatively similar substitute to learning a language primarily by sentence mining (like people who collect 2k-20k sentences from media with around 1 unknown things per sentence and learn by studying those sentences with srs flashcards). I see the benefit in the sense that... again, these sentences have more frequent examples of grammar I actually run into in shows and manga, versus my learner-material-made sentences in Nukemarine’s Memrise courses and Genki that do NOT cover this stuff this early (or Tae Kim’s which only barely touches on a few of these in the first section).

However, of course being more like what I see in manga and shows means it’s also less transparent to understand (and explained less well), so it really does feel a lot like studying ones own self-made sentence cards just less geared toward you personally. So a person who enjoys sentence mining would benefit more just continuing to sentence mine probably, but for a person who only wants premade convenient stuff (hello), this feels like a good balance between Nukemarine’s much more learner-geared material and native-material sentence mined stuff.

I also happened to find audio files for glossika back when it was a book and! I have some opinions. Mainly that it is literally premade “audio flashcard files” which I love studying from. So I will be experimenting with using those at some point - I will say the old glossika books opened with summaries of super important grammar words, key words, and grammar, which is nice and reminds me of when I look up about 300 keywords and a grammar guide when I start a new language. I also like that glossikas audio files seem to basically be like JapaneseAudioLessons.com or my Chinese SpoonFed Audio files. Which I learn very well from, particularly listening skills and some shadowing practice. And the glossika files have real voices so that’s nice (compared to clozemaster which has phone voices).

I’d still like to read... a lot of the books I got... see I just am trying to get through some lol ToT