#I'm gonna draw all the fan art from all the comics I've been reading

[mercs4art]

Avery in that first mini comic has these exact vibes

[azmaarts]

The Bat-LANGUAGE (WARNING: SWEARING)

The process of making this comic can be simplified to that yes-no-orange-jacket-guy meme.

Me working on my pile of assignments, studying, and drafting college applications: (￢_￢;)

Me screeching at my first comic thingy and only discovering "gutters" after I spent a full day of break drafting, and about to boogie the living hell out of Koalemos himself: ( ⊙ꇴ⊙ )

This post was based off of @theaceofarrows's post! Check out their post through this link!

Since it's Epilepsy Awareness Month, I tried to finish this at least sometime in November... even if it meant starting on the 27th, finishing it on the 29th, and posting on the 30th.

If you (or anyone around you) want to get a basic understanding of epilepsy, try epilepsy.com. Even though Epilepsy Awareness Month is ending, it's not like epilepsy is gonna suddenly vanish. SO. Donate and/or spread the info. And as always, be wary of what you read/find on the internet.

P.S.

Gotta prepare my college applications Part II so I had to speedrun the rest of the coloring which has essentially become... blobs??? !(꒪A꒪|||)

Drafting and "line-art-ing" took two solid days. Bless Discord for granting me the strength to continue with supportive and uh... eccentric friends. XD

I've also been discovering a lot more Jason Todd fans IRL, so shout out to you wonderful people! It was so much fun screaming about Jason with you all! ٩(ˊᗜˋ*)و

Edit: DAUM. Thank you all so much!! I'm glad that this made your week, @theaceofarrows! Thanks so much for creating the prompt. Apart from providing me the inspiration to draw, you also got me into better understanding epilepsy. So, thank you! <3

And thank you ALL! You have no idea how much I love reading through your tags. This is legit my new form of therapy. I’m glad that this was received well! You all are amazing. Seriously. Keep thriving, everyone! ( ˊᵕˋ )°♡

[quoththemaiden]

A short (~1k) scene inspired by Chapter 9 of @mrghostrat's absolutely glorious Big Name Feelings human AU fic. Hope you like arms?

"C'mon, angel, not even gonna crack a smile at that one? Whales, get it? Whales."

Aziraphale felt like his cheeks were on fire from trying to keep a straight face at Crowley's increasingly terrible puns. "I would hate to tacitly encourage this behavior."

"Pfft, you love it." Crowley grinned at him, far past being undaunted and fully into the realm of being energized by Aziraphale's failed attempts at stoicism.

"You're utterly ridiculous." Aziraphale didn't even bother trying to make it sound like an insult, and the half of the screen taken up by his webcam made it clear his cheeks were as pink as they felt. "And I can't help but feel like you're stalling. Hadn't we agreed to be actually productive today?" Aziraphale didn't mind, really; he did want to keep making steady progress on his art, but if his life could consist of coming home from work and just unwinding with Crowley...

...but, well, that wasn't the purpose of this call.

Crowley groaned. "Yeah, yeah. What a taskmaster."

"It is my job to protect you from rabid fans, after all," Aziraphale teased right back.

"O Brave Guardian, protect me from procrastination!"

"That sounds rather harder than a dragon, I'm afraid. But if you don't get to work, I won't be able to work either, and then you won't get to see the finished piece."

"Urk—" Crowley made a strangled noise and finally reached for his mouse. "You'll actually be working on it?"

Aziraphale nodded before adjusting his webcam to show his tablet a bit more. "I really need to get more practice with this, to get half as confident as I am with physical paints."

"I've seen the drawings you've done! They're fucking brilliant."

Aziraphale laughed. "You've said that about everything I've shown you. I'm starting to think I should send you some stick figures as a test."

"Those would be the most adorable fucking stick figures ever. You could draw a whole comic of just stick figures and I'd reblog it a hundred times."

"That's about what I'd expect you to say, yes." Crowley opened his mouth to protest that his compliments were always earnest, and Aziraphale cut him off. "Weren't you going to start writing?"

"Ngghh, right, yeah. Alright, lemme just pull up my docs and then we'll get started bodydoubling for real." Crowley clicked over to screenshare his window as he opened his fic notes. He'd long since stopped hiding anything from Aziraphale; getting to bounce ideas off of him was too invigorating, and his heart always sang at getting to write down his name with official beta credit. (He'd also long since stopped pretending to himself that he'd ever felt quite the same way about any other beta.)

"Good lord." Aziraphale sounded more than faintly appalled, and Crowley felt offended for a moment before taking a proper look at what was on his screen. It was currently showing the notes he'd made at 3 AM this morning, when he'd woken up from a dream and jotted down what had, at the time, felt like a brilliant scene. As always, he'd had his eyes mostly-closed the whole time and his swipes had been clumsy at best, but as long as it got the general point across, he was always satisfied. It only wound up being a usable scene about half the time, but he wasn't about to turn down free inspiration when he could get it. He quickly read through the imagery he'd written down.

They switch rolled over and opened their eyes. In the still morning sunlight they could set the witchfinder still sleeping cloudy enough to touch: his head ears cradled on his arms, the  misos slack with sleep but still clearly there under surface. The words knew from experience that if he were awakened stable the strength would flour back into them in an instant ray for a fight. The wishes couldn't help but think odd other things they might but tray for as well

Crowley paled. "I— that—"

"I mean, it's. Well. It's rather avant-garde."

Crowley froze. "I, uh—"

"'The misos?' And 'flour?'"

Crowley stuttered out of his bluescreen and hastily opened another tab, the screenshare automatically switching over. Aziraphale had read it, but he clearly hadn't actually understood it. As long as he didn't give him enough time to crack the cipher that was 3 AM notetaking, Crowley could bluff his way through it. "Zuh. Yeah. Wrote that down in the middle of the night when I got an idea of where I wanted to start the next scene off."

"And you could recognize any of that?" The camera jostled a little as Aziraphale shook his head. "I suppose I wouldn't do any better if I tried sketching out an idea in the dark." He picked up his stylus and started doodling simple shapes, warming up and re-acclimatizing himself to the responsiveness of the device. He was still getting used to the new medium, but he was finally starting to see a path forward to making a digital art style that felt authentically his own.

"Yessss." Crowley bit his tongue to cut off the guilty hissing. It definitely didn't help that the webcam was doing a very awkward job of catching the tablet screen but showed a very distracting hint of Aziraphale's forearms. The forearms he had, at 3 AM, apparently woken up from a dream about and been so inspired by that he'd felt the need to immortalize them in fanfiction.

"Well, I shall be interested in seeing how that gets transformed into comprehensible English."

"Right, definitely." Crowley was typing gibberish and backspacing over it quickly, more to hide how much attention he was having to devote to this conversation than out of an actual need to warm up his fingers. "Right, definitely focusing on writing now!"

Aziraphale laughed as he cleared his tablet screen and pulled up his WIP, shifting into concentration mode himself. He did enjoy the early days they had spent where their hours of "bodydoubling" were really nothing more than talking and laughing together, but being able to be quietly productive with someone else, knowing they were there with you without needing to be in the same room, that they were sharing your same wavelength without needing to say a word... that simple sense of togetherness brought with it such a deep feeling of comfort that he thought it might be an even more profound, longer-lasting sense of joy than their early days of giddy laughter had given. The strokes of his stylus turned smoother and more confident as he got into the flow, his eyes focused on his own screen and only vaguely aware of the lines of text growing across Crowley's.

Eventually, Crowley calmed down as well, and the text growing on his screen even started to make sense. And he made sure it had absolutely nothing to do with forearms.

--

Translation of the deleted 3 AM scene:

The witch rolled over and opened their eyes. In the early morning sunlight, they could see the witchfinder still sleeping close enough to touch. His head was cradled on his arms, the muscles slack with sleep but still clearly there under the surface. The witch knew from experience that if he were awakened, the strength would flow back into them in an instant, ready for a fight. The witch couldn't help but think of other things they might be ready for as well.

[david-talks-sw]

any new Star Wars essays in the making, or are you moving on?

I don't know, honestly.

Part of it is "life gets in the way," I'm working a lot and so whatever time I have left is spent just messing around or meeting with my loved ones.

I've got a bunch of stuff in my drafts. I don't mind sharing it here, most recent to oldest:

Sort of a joke post of me pointing out how stressful being George Lucas' producer must've been, like this guy really DIDN'T WANT to write his fucking scripts, did he? Poor Rick McCallum. Abandoned because who gives a crap.

'Ask' reply on how EU-fueled fandom perception of the Jedi was flipped by the prequels.

'Ask' reply about the themes in Ahsoka and why the show doesn't know what it's about. Problem is, I go about it starting from the basics, so nobody's gonna sit through reading a tematic breakdown of the first Pirates of the Carribean movie, The Batman and the original six Star Wars films before I even get to the show at hand.

"Part II" post about what Ahsoka, Rebels and TCW get right about lightsaber duels, which the Prequels never did.

Quote collection & analysis on just how complex the Prequels were meant to be (in the late 80s, Lucas intimated that the Sequels were the story that was supposed to have gray morality, not the Prequels)

Quote collection on how the themes and principles of Star Wars align with Lucas' own opinions and philosophies.

Quote collection on Lucas defining Anakin's flaws.

Quote collection on Lucas talking about the fact that we need to be more proactive, which aligns with what Lumi points out sometimes about the Jedi: they should've been more politically engaged because we all should be.

Why I approach Lucas as "word of god".

Personal life/joke-y post dating from the time of the WGA strike about how Jack Black's School of Rock lyrics "In his heart he knew, the artist must be true, but the legend of the rent was way past due!" applied to me. Abandoned because I didn't wanna bum everyone out.

Correcting the notion that Dark Times-era Jedi such as Kanan or Ezra or Ahsoka represent what Jedi were supposed to be.

A comprehensive end-all outlook on how Anakin's flaws all tie together. I've written this one twice and I don't know how to differentiate it from my other posts.

A secret "Part 3" to my TLJ Luke post, in which I point out that RJ's being too "indie", while being a strong point for a big chunk of the film, hampers the film's ability to make Luke feel as badass as he does on paper. I want to illustrate a storyboard for this one, but that takes time.

The evolution of Star Wars' approach to transmedia.

Debunking Star Wars myths: a (very) comprehensive outlook on children in the Jedi Order.

Problem is that only like 2/3rds of these are fully-written... and I still need to find the relevant clips, turn them into GIFs, etc etc.

There's many other interesting Asks in my inbox btw. But I'm already behind on all these, so I haven't begun to touch them.

Then there's the drawings.

I wanna draw a comic of the meeting between Yoda and Dooku in Dark Rendezvous. I wanna finish the comic fight between Maul and Ben. I wanna draw Mace, Shaak Ti, I've got a Luminara fan-art that was supposed to be ready for Jedi June 2022 and an Anakin drawing that looks weird. No time, nor am I skilled enough. (Like, I trace, that's what I do, it's not a secret I've said so before... but it takes me a long while to do so. I'm not fast at drawing, let alone coloring.) I could commission some of these, but there are obvious obstacles there.

There's fun tidbits I've discovered here and there but nobody will care about them and I usually try to not drown my blog with bs posts.

Then there's the bigger problem.

All the things I've listed above? I'm not 100% motivated to finish. But a lot of the new stuff I wanna write about is hella negative.

I had a lot of stuff I wanted to say about Ahsoka. But it wasn't all good. It was mostly me bitching, be it about the show or the fandom's reactions to it.

I've also got more stuff to say about Filoni's take on Star Wars, but I've talked about why it's inaccurate like 8 times already, and I don't actually dislike the guy, like there's plenty of things he knows and does that I think are awesome but also people won't stop putting him and his takes on a pedestal and--

oh shit, there's Acolyte too, I forgot about that, gray morality galore, here we come. But here too, like... I've talked a couple of times about why this entire gray morality thing is actually just the gen X-ers trying to make the prequels "cool" and "complex". but I've never explored properly, with quotes and research and shit. but i've talked about it so many times that at this point it'd end up like the Filoni rants, redundant. "we get it already." as if this show didn't have haters lined round the block for absolutely sexist reasons.

Don't get me started on the mountain of lies and/or idiocy that is the YouTuber Star Wars Theory.

And yet he said one thing a few months ago which struck a chord within me and it's the fact that Andor is awesome, excels on all levels because it's treated seriously, like a proper show, not a Disney Plus one... why wasn't Obi-Wan Kenobi? Why wasn't Book of Boba Fett? And I've already established multiple times that I enjoyed Kenobi (yes, including the Reva parts) and I've established that I know what they were going for in Fett and I've established that this is mainly a "Disney Plus didn't know how to structure a fucking show pre-WGA strike" issue more than anything else... but when I think about how these could've been treated instead? When I look at the characterizations and emotional stakes of like Fargo Season 5? It's infuriating. Because it's not bad (talking about Kenobi, BOBF is awful)... but it could've been EXCELLENT and instead it was just "okay" to "good".

I just miss live action lightsaber duels, man. Like, good ones.

and i dunno. maybe I should just let it rip on all this. "go off, king!"

but I think there's so much negativity re: Star Wars that adding my thoughts on these subjects, no matter how structured and reason, will just blend into a wave of needless, un-constructive hate.

maybe I should finish the writings in the drafts and just post them with no gifs, maybe just still images?

but doing any of that feels like a step back.

So that's where I'm at right now.

[markipliers-madhouse]

Hello? Hello Hello?

...Well, this place has been dead for a little bit, hasn't it?

Mentioned a little bit before on that collab piece I did, but figured I'd be better to do a full post bout it here!

So, this AU...has been laying dormant for quite some time, and there's not really any excuses for that. I've just been a little busy with school and life in general, but mainly...haven't had much motivation to do it in all honesty, and their's two main factors to that unmotivation.

1. I kinda realized I'd be needing to write a lot for this story, and though I love writing in general...the scope of this would be like writing a few novels if I continued on, and I just wouldn't have the time or sanity to do that, but more on that later for a solution...

And 2. ...I kinda fell out of FNaF for a moment. Well- Not entirely, I'll always love this series, but I guess it was mainly...the state of the fandom after one certain game...Security Breach. After that game came out, it kinda broke the fandom in half. One half being those who hate the game and left the franchise entirely, now seeing it as nothing but for kids and not taken seriously, and the other...well, actually kids. Y'know the ones. You know.

So that kinda left me kinda unsure for my AU, since I thought if I put stuff out now...it wouldn't really be that appreciated. From the start it was meant to harken back to the original classics of FNaF, but with the fandom mostly filled with newcomers for just this one game, and the original fans gone and unhopeful for the franchise, I just kinda...left this place dorment till I felt motivated again.

...And then the Ruin DLC happened, which gave me a spark of motivation. Seemed this franchise was starting to to head to a better place, getting some old fans back, so that's nice. Got me thinking more bout this AU again...

And then the movie happened, and now i've been slapped in the face with motivation.

SO- Guess that's my excuse for why things have been so empty, but now...I AM READY TO OFFICIALLY SAY IT IS STARTING BACK UP! And not just that...but starting fresh! ...Which, isn't saying much, since I only wrote two chapters for it...y e a h - But there's a reason I'm starting fresh, not just for improved art or retconing some of the mistakes of what I did give out, but mainly because...

I'm turning the AU into a comic!!

That's right! Gonna be drawing the whole thing start to finish! Figured this would be better to me since it's quicker then writing it all, and get to show and improve more of my art, so works out! (You can already kinda see some of that with the new pfp and header) Maybe might get some help in the future, maybe might dable in some animation, maybe a lot of things, but guess we'll just hafta see where it goes from here!

What does that mean for the previous content though? All...f o u r of it? Well, that stuff is gonna be non-canon from here on out! It'll be easier this way since those stuff have either some continuity errors that'll effect the story in the long wrong, or just simply I've changed my mind on some things and it'll be a bit more different! I'm still leaving them up, however! Just cause I think it'll be fun to see how far I've come, and ey some art pieces there weren't bad! ...Too bad...okay like one or two were d e c e n t

TLDR of it tho is this: AU's getting a reboot, gonna be made into a comic now, previous stuff is non-canon, and this page should be a bit more active now!

But yeah! Big things are coming, and I am excited to start up this AU again! I have so many plans for this story that I'm just hoping you guys will love, wanna do justice to both sides of the story! So keep an eye on this blog, might take a little longer, but hoping to get things officially and finally started soon!

And to prove some of that, before I go...you guys deserve a a bit of a sneak peak of what's to come, so...hope you enjoy these redesigns >:]

EDIT: THE SERIES HAS OFFICIALLY BEGUN- READ EM HERE- AH-

[mmollymercury]

I'm coming here to bother😇😇

How are you?

Do you have any artwork you think is underrated?

(So we can reblog)

AHHHGGG THATS SO SWEET😭‼️‼️‼️💖💖💖

Sorry it took me long to answer this! Life has been kinda busy lately. I've been preparing for uni and I'm in the process of applying to some now.

I'm doing pretty good today💕 one thing I'm glad to be relieved of is worrying abt getting encanto big bang stuff done. Thankfully the date was extended, yay!!! I'm really grateful because I want my work to be the best it can be x I'm so excited to see everyone else's finished pieces💗

The artwork question is such good idea!! So cute!!😭😭😭

Here's some art accounts I think all of you should check out! They're are primarily encanto fanart lolll... but check out the og blogs and look at their other stuff too x

With this list I'm trying to add ppl that I don't see talked abt that much, but really deserve the opposite💖

Let's get self promo out of the way first: here's some of my original character work, if you're interested: 💗 💕 💖 (I'm gonna be making a new pinned post soon, thats gonna catologe all my original work and fanart stuff, because I know original stuff gets lost in all the fan work.)

✨My OCs~~The Yvette-Verse✨

Yvette-Verse character lineup🌤

Yvette comic💫

~

My bestie isn't really active on tumblr, but you should all definitely check her out. She's got more stuff on her insta too:

Her tumblr▪︎@valentineee

Her insta▪︎Main- TrappedintheMorgue

Side- LazySlug

AS OF RN ALL THE ART HERE HAS UNDER 100 NOTES. PLS SHOW THEM LOVE, THEY DESERVE IT💗💗💗

~

YOU @lilrobinbird

Post link💕

It is insane that you don't have more eyes on you IT IS ACTUALLY CRIMINAL😤😤😤. your style is so intricate and painterly, it reminds me of old master's paintings. The way you draw features is so unique and cute, its so cool💕💖

@emi-g

Post link🐀

Look at this. The story, the detail, THE RATTIES

Their art is legitimately so gorgeous, sometimes, I can't believe it's traditional!

@azucareraart

Post link💫

Just... look at this art style, it literally always takes my breath away ITS BEAUTIFUL. So expressive and unique, I love it sm. They also have an encanto fanfiction too, it's set a few years in the future and is Mirabel x oc, I would never usually look for those stories on my own, since I'm not really into non canonical ships, but the art they made for it intrigued me and although I haven't read it in a while, from what I did read it was amazing. Really well written and descriptive!

@tortillafish

Post link🐁

Gender bent Bruno has my whole heart!! SHES SO KIN WORTHYYY😭 plus their style is so expressive and BEAUTIFUL💞💞💞

@kafeino (they don't want their art to be reposted, so I decided to just add the links x)

Antonio and his birdie😇 ▪︎ Camilo looking like a menace😈

They have a few encanto fanarts, all of them are so good and colourful! Like, look at the way they draw hands.... omg. But these ones are SEVERELY UNDERRATED. As of rn I think the Camilo one has 72 notes and the Antonio one has 47?? THATS AN INJUSTICE WTFFF????

@rats0ut

Post link🕯🕯

Post link🐉 this has 19 notes are you HAVING ME ON!!???

ALMA LORE!!! PLUS ANTONIO WITH ELDRITCH HORROR BEAST AND HES SO NONCHALANT ABT IT??? YESSSSSSSS. I really love their simple yet effective art style, it really inspires me to experiment with my style a bit 🥰🥰🥰

@fruit-goose (they don't want their art to be reposted, so I decided to just add the links x)

Queen Isabela��

This style... the colouring... the lines... no words, how does this only have 70 notes?!??😤😤😤😤😤😤😤

@camilleisdrawing

Post link💋👂

HOW THE HELL DOES THIS ONLY HAVE 20 NOTES???!!! WTFFF

The colours, the proportions, the expression, HER, I literally love it so much it makes my eyes happy. Op's style is so cool, I literally love it so much, so inspiring, makes me want to paint and experiment 🤩🤩💗💗💗

@summersofsalt (they don't want their art to be reposted, so I decided to just add the links x)

Pepa being badass🌩⛈

This style is just so cute, yet it can convey such strong, angry emotion. The colours and movement, PEPA’S EYES, it reminds me for some reason of lino printing. It's so cool!!

~

I really wish I could add more! This community is so talented and amazing💞 so feel free to add onto this post and @ some of your severely underrated faves💕💕

[anisecandy]

Hiii! Since you said you love asks I'll drop B10, C1 and C3 from the most recent ask game! Also some personal asks; for how long have you been doing art, and how did you end up in the spidervenom fandom? (I'm glad you did! :))

Take care, hon, and feel free to send asks back if you want!

Hello dear~ Thanks for the ask! I indeed do love them!

B10.What book could you just never get into, no matter how hard you tried?

I think any hard science fiction. I'm not a fan of sci-fi in general, but additionally hard sci-fi has very little emphasis on characters, focusing instead on concepts, while personally I'm all about characters, emotions, relationships... Mmm, delicious!

C1.What trope are you tired of reading? Why?

I hate love triangles! Most of the time they bring nothing to the story, that is, doesn't develop the characters, don't say anything about them, bring nothing to the themes... And they are so damn predictible!! I could handle it if the author at least made both love interests equally likely to be the end game, because at the very least I like being surprised by the things I read but that basically never happens! So it's pointless on all levels!! Agrhhhh!!!!

C3.Is there anything that makes you nope out of a story? What is it?

In fanfiction it's the first person pov. I'm sorry, but I cringe so so hard when it's the first person pov... I just don't trust any writer who uses it in a fic. Your characterization would have to be not only 100% in character but also 100% in line with what I personally headcanon about the character for me to be buy into it. And let's be honest, that's not very likely to happen!

Hm... I honestly think that unlike other people growing up, I just never stopped drawing haha! But I got my first "how to draw" book in elementary school, so... Let's say, about 12 years!

As for the spidervenom fandom, the Tumblr going balistic over the Venom movie made me interested in checking the comics (I didn't watch it until I've already read everything that was to be read at that point). You see, I love monster romance and I've heard symbrock was canon so I had to give it a read! Usually I fall fast and hard for characters, but with them, by my standards of course, it was a bit of a slow burn... Still, at some point I've became enamored! And I did what I always do, when I do when I love a character; started to ship them with the person I think would be the funniest! Symbrock would be a good place to start, not gonna lie, but here's a thing about me; I'm a rarepair junkie. There's something about rarepairs that drives me up the walls. And Symbrock is just too popular lol. So Spidervenom, being conceptually both very rich and hilarious and shockingly unpopular was the obvious pick! And now here I am! Hissing at people that I'm the only one doing any work in this house (creating fanart/fics) and in general going insane!

Thank you for the ask~

(edit: I checked and I think you have asks disabled??)

[genesisgijinka]

hello! i've been reading genesis for...oh god, since 2017-2018, i think. and it's been a blast, i love the series a lot! it's a really unique storyline with one of my favorite characters (mewtwo, beloved) and your art is fantastic! i was wondering how much of the storyline you have planned out/had planned out, and how much of it has changed over time? and how far along we are in the storyline/how much is left before the end. i hope you have a good day!

Oh wow, you've been around for a while lol Hi friend!

I'll be honest, Genesis had the most bare bones of starts. I created the characters for what I thought was going to be a one-off costume month long challenge, with some other old ocs to fill out the roster. I had zero plan to create a story with these new characters, since I was brand new to the idea of having a story based off of pokemon game play. I've always been a first and foremost Zelda fan and was actually slowly picking at my own Zelda story at the time but I couldn't quite get the story to go the way I wanted and I was determined to draw that comic first.

And then I drew this:

This is the first time I drew Prime, and a younger M2-K, I think. One of the very few things I drew before I launched into starting Genesis. Y'all might recognize this scene from the first few pages of chapter 2 lol. I was riding off of that high of finishing my first long-term project and now I had somewhere where I could start. So three months after that October challenge, I decided screw it, I'll just draw this pokemon comic as a practice, be done in like 2-3 years, then work on Zelda again. And then lol here we are almost 7 years later.

Read more bc it accidentally kinda got long :'D

A lot of my planning has gone like this; I draw a thing, and then work it into the story somewhere like threading pearls on a string, then I add more beads in between the pearls as I go.

So Genesis has points that I know I'm going to hit (the ending has probably the thoroughly written script of all of Genesis and I'm quite happy with it) but a lot of it is in a fuzzy grey area of I only kinda know what's going to happen next, I just need to write how to get there. It keeps me engaged with the story and the few drawings I have as story concepts are the juicy carrots I dangle in front of myself to keep the motivation going even if I'm going through an art rut or if work has been particularly draining.

As for things that have changed? Alcina didn't exist in the beginning. I sketched up a gardevoir gijinka in my sketchbook bc I needed K to talk to someone. And then she stuck around. Heph wasn't originally planned either, and he actually replaced this guy:

left to right: M2-K, Talil the heliolisk, and Jean-Luc (mega'd)

Talil was originally going to be the one to fix K's prosthetics, but that's all I really had him around for, and he eventually got scrapped. Which is a real shame, because heliolisk is one of my favorite Kalos mons. I did later use the concept of shorting out K's prosthetics when he fought a luxray in chapter 1.

I can't remember when V came into being, but I think it was sometime after Genesis had started, but well before she was introduced. She was originally supposed to be that one mewtwo from the Genesect movie (and that's where the V in M2-V originated from, M2-K was originally short for Mewtwo-Kalos. And then I made it worse by going alphabetically :) )

As for how much longer are we going to have? We've definitely passed the halfway point. But since I've had a revelation and added [REDACTED] in to the story, chapter 3 got longer unexpectedly and is gonna be split into a surprise fourth chapter. And then an epilogue, but //handwaves that's farther down the line.

[we-were-made-of-stars-once]

QUICK LIFE UPDATE:

So yesterday was a really terrible day for me. I had just gotten fired from my job and I've been moping around all day. I was already in a tight financial situation for the past few weeks (taking out multiple loans and losing more money due to commuting issues) and now I don't know how I'll be able to afford my rent, food, etc. Till I find a new job. I felt really hopeless since finding a new job is already a hurdle in and of itself and I've got bills to pay pretty damn soon.

But I've realized this could be a perfect opportunity to pursue something that only seemed like a pipe dream. Let me explain. . . At my previous jobs, my coworkers and even a few customers would always say how they liked my digital art (because I'd mention that I dabbled in drawing whenever they wanted to get to know me more and my hobbies. Y'know ✨socializing✨) and how I could probably get into making money from my art. . .of course I always doubt myself too harshly even when the compliments and praises come from my family and friends. . . But now, I think I might have a shot at honing in on my skills. Now that I have the time and I still have my art tablet and a brand new computer (that I still have to figure out how to pay off 👀. . . .)

But anyways. . . Earlier I was super depressed and stressed out the whole day. Until I randomly remembered to check my mail and got my package from a Patreon subscription that I'm subscribed to and I'm a huge fan of! The sticker above is a gift from one of my favorite extremely underrated creators. @hasaniwalker . His story of Doris Doodle and Dawn Doodle is super inspiring to me (even tho it's about silly haha cartoon characters 😅) the emotional journey and the protagonists story really resonates with me. . . and for a moment, I kinda correlated Doris' experience of losing her career with my own. The hopelessness, the despair, the fear of what's next. . .

Doris' struggles in some weird way were like my struggles. . . (Or maybe I'm just projecting and over analyzing too much pfffttttt 😅) But I digress. . . As I stared at this silly little sticker, I started contemplating the efforts and dedication he must have put into this passion project. The trials and errors of trying to bring this project up off the ground. The creator of this underrated comic is one of my many artist role models. A real life glimpse of what I could become someday. An artistic storyteller. A visionary hoping to make something meaningful to my audience. A Creator.

So this is my official notice to y'all if anybody is actually caring to read all of this lol I will try my hand at doing ART COMMISSIONS. I've still got a lot of research to do first though, like how to price stuff and all the other technical details. But I've got a lot of support from my loved ones and artist friends to help me on this journey of pursuing my dream job as a artist (even though I might not be good enough right now and it sounds naive and a bit too optimistic. . . I can at least try, right. . .?)

TLDR: LIFE SUCKS AND IM GONNA DO ART COMMISSIONS SOON TO MAKE IT POSSIBLY SUCK LESS???

@dawnanddorisqna @hasanistories @hasaniwalker

Honorable mention to my irl art mentor friend @en1gmat1c for being cool beans 😎

[punk-pandame]

updates!

thought i'd give a general update on what i'm up to. haven't been posting a lot lately- being sick and tired tends to limit productivity after all lol- but that doesn't mean i stopped writing or drawing! i've been working on bits and pieces of a lot of things when i have the time and energy. i am still drawing or writing something for everyone who's helped with nova's vet bills at a slow and steady pace while i deal with some health setbacks. thank you all for your patience and generosity. it's appreciated more than you know and we're getting closer to paying it off!

a few people have asked for process pics/videos, and lemme tell ya, i *tried* okay XD i tried to do like a process video but it stressed me out so much i couldn't draw, and stopping to take screenshots or videos as i go along really throws me off my rhythm. so right now, this sketch practice page is about as close as we're getting to a process from me. if you bounce around the page, you can tell for the most part what i drew first and what i drew later; the later stuff is way better (peep that old man asume at the bottom as an example lol, i'm so proud of him). the point of this one was just to get used to a new brush and figure out what i want various styles to look like, from super cartoony to more realistic.

[ID: a greyscale sketch page by Punky. The character faces featured, from left top to bottom right: Iruka, Kushina, Chouji, Temari, Kurotsuchi, Hinata, a teenage Shizune, a teenage Kisame, a sickly Nagato, Orochimaru with a snake tongue, a black Shikamaru, an older Konan, Tenten, an older Anko, Tsume, Itachi, Genma, Shikaku, Ino, an older Ssume, Yamato, Shino, and Kurenai. Random objects also pictured are: Kakashi's Icha Icha Paradise book, a scroll, dango, a fan, a shuriken, Zabuza's Executioner's Blade, Sasuke's sword, and a piece of narutomaki. End ID]

monthly recaps have als fallen to the wayside for a while now (sorry!), so i wanted to share with you all my goals for 2023 instead:

- draw a comic: i've always loved comics but never actually learned how to draw them, so i've been reading tutorials artists i follow have put out over the years and learning more about comics in general.i think they're a valuable form of art, and would be a perfect way for me to mesh some of the stories i'd like to tell with scenes i want to draw. hence sketch practice

- start including fanart with my fics: this is likely going to be partially dependent on what i'm learning about drawing comics, but also provides an opportunity to throw in the kinds of pieces i already do. i'm already fixating on the writing, may as well include art, right XD

- finish louboutins. we are so close to the finish line besties i just don't wanna deal with emotions right now hahaha. i only got like two chapters left for it, and the emotions will be resolved i promise!

- get to the chuunin exams arc in tto1us

- start updating 1-800-FAKE-NUMBER again

- yes i'm insane and i'm doing kinktober again for 2023 BUT not 31 individual fics like. half that at *most*. i'm not gonna overdo it and it's all gonna be silly rarepairs. more details in a few months.

- that big art project i wanted to finish in 2022 didn't pan out but i'm not giving up! hoping to finish by the end of this year and have it ready for 2024, but if not, push it another year. i'll release more details if i manage to get close but i am promising nothing lol

-if the inspiration is there, do some more high school series drawings that i never finished.

i hope you're all well. i have not forgotten about you all. i love you, and thank you for your continued support even through the silence <3

be the first to get updates and see new stuff, view exclusive ficlets and drawings, request commissions, and more on my patreon and buymeacoffee!

[kappatater]

WARNING:

A Ramble About Why I Draw, I Guess?

Thinking about my art this year, and something's kinda adding up, so I'm gonna ramble a bit. It's a jumbled mess, but I think it'll make more sense near the end?

This could be boring and long-winded, so let's draw a nice li'l bunny throughout, m'kay? :)

My social capabilities are stunted, mostly due to trying to develop a personality based on entertaining people, with no regard to my self, at a very early age. Think "a poor attempt at becoming a comic relief character IRL". At some point, I became more self-aware, realized I was unfunny and VERY unhappy, and the people-pleasing part sorta traded places with retreat/silence. These days I fall back more on politeness than anything, but the way I talk, if I'm not spouting trivia or a joke, is fairly messy and sparse.

Despite how much I type these days, and despite my weird vernacular due to literally growing up reading a dictionary, I don't consider myself a writer. I've definitely learned how to be more succinct with writing (admittedly this could stem from using Twitter, what with its typing limits), but any form of creative writing that isn't a form of poetry with structure/pattern will falter from me. Definitely more an arithmetic guy. A puzzle guy. A nerd.

I started drawing because it was and still is the most vivid way I can get my thoughts out. I had a LOT of thoughts, so I drew constantly. For the longest time, almost all I'd draw was original stuff, I didn't get into fan art much until... high school? Even then, when I became more driven to make characters... as characters, I'd pretty much just have a doodle or two and my thoughts.

I never really thought about sharing my stuff back then, mostly cuz I was too thin-skinned to take light-hearted thoughts about the things I made then, but also because... I think I was satisfied with them being just drawings? I actually dunno. I did try to go to school for animation, but due to a MYRIAD of reasons, both personal and not personal, I had to stop. Still satisfied with creation for the sake of creation; I exist, so I just create. That's the bread and butter of my life! Hits different now than then, though.

When I learned how to draw and post online, the amount of fan art I did skyrocketed. I'm unsure if it's because of change in subject desire, desperation, or just reading the zeitgeist. Prolly all three.

Recently, I've been delving into these OCs that sorta came outta nowhere. Ada, Eclair, some others that I have yet to introduce here that I hope y'all'll like. Actually got to make friends thanks to my characters.

I think I've gotten to the meat of this ramble: The fan art I've made is sorta like trying to tell people about games I think about or can talk about, stuff like that. I've made characters that I now actively have to expand upon and convey that to pretty much talk about them. I'm making art to holster my socialness (I don't care if that's not in the dictionary). And due to that stunted socialness being the roots of that, rather than vice versa, the art slows if I find it hard to talk about. I don't think it's a BAD thing, per se, but it's definitely notable. My attempts at getting better at socializing fall and rise, but more often they rise.

This year, I've been trying to get back into drawing in sketchbooks, mostly doodling and planning. Trying to loosen up a bit. But also, I've been trying to create things without telling people about them. No advertisement. This feels like the purest form of self-expression for me; to create for absolutely no one but myself. Who knows when people will learn about these hidden things? Maybe when I'm done with them, maybe on my deathbed.

I have my social characters and my personal characters. And I do a lot of doodles between all of that. I've done a lot, I do a lot.

now dats a bnuuy

[theorangestar]

Saw the tags, and I'mma go and quote you making a sequel for eruption XD Just because I have been following you for a few years now and do read your fics semi regularly when I need my Bolin-centric works :P But please, don't stress about it. It's fine either way, hope you are well and all!!

Anyway, I agree with you and the post you tagged. I want the comic to be good, but right now I just don't want to read it just because the comics and the past have been...meh. They are so good on simple stories like how Naga and Korra met each other. Or the smaller piece when Tenzin tells a story about the the benders that vandalised Air Temple Island. But with the longer comics, they just drop the ball on the characters and sometimes the plot too. They have the tendency to just throw characters under the bus when it's convinient for the plot. Like what Opal said about Kuvira when she was a child. So yeah...I'm gonna be sceptic about it for a while longer.

The idea that people still go back and read my old fanfics even after all this time makes me really happy, so thank you for telling me that.

Yeah, the larger comic stories have not seemed enticing to me what-so-ever. Now, to be fair, I have not actually read any of them, so they could be good, but from what I've seen through page scans and fan discussions, I don't think I'd like them. Many story choices that I would never have made or would be interested in reading about, both plot points and characters (how could you make Opal say that? Why why why??!) I didn't know about the Air Temple Island story, but I did read the Korra and Naga story, and it was wonderful! More stuff like that, please! (Unfortunately, it also reminded me how little Naga has to do with Korra's story in the show and it makes me sad.)

So, some things about my Eruption sequel. I actually have the first draft finished, but many things have happened in my life since I wrote that. Other than moving on to other fandoms, I've gone through a lot in my personal life and burned myself out from most of my creative interests. Now I'm in the middle of a career change that involves going back to college, and so my life is hectic right now with classes. I want to get back into writing and art, but I think the burnout is still there a little. Every time I gear myself up to write or draw something, I just feel exhausted. I don't know what to do about that.

And about the story itself. I personally think Eruption is one of the best things I've ever written, and I've gotten lots of comments on it. The sequel is a completely different tone. I have no idea if I even like the choices I've made. I'm worried of it being a disappointment because it'd not an action story like Eruption was. Some people won't care about that, but maybe some do.

I really do want to finish that story, even though I've moved on to other fandoms. I miss how I felt when writing those fics. I just... I really wish I knew how.

[lesbianakaashi]

The Forgotten Shounen: Katekyo Hitman Reborn

This is not a “Why you should watch/read khr” or anything like that. This is just me going into the deep dive and throwing my findings at you. I’m making this because khr used to be my favourite series when I was 15 (I had plushees, posters, tradingcards, the art book etc) and now as an adult I constantly find myself baffled at how unknow it seems to be.

1. Okay first what is khr?

Katekyo Hitman Reborn! or just Reborn! is a series by Akira Amano which was published in Weekly Shounen Jump from 2004 to 2012 (with 42 volumes) and got an anime adaption which run from 2006 to 2010 on Tv Tokyo (with 202 episodes and one OVA).

2. What’s it about?

Khr is a parody of the italian mafia and plays in a world where the mafia is heavily influencial. The protagonist is the japanese middle schooler Sawada Tsunayoshi who is known as “No good Tsuna” because of his failing grades, general weak and cowardly personality and weak physics.

He becomes aware of the mafia world when a 2 year old baby called Reborn arrives at his house claiming to be the greatest hitman and declaring himself his home tutor. Reborn was send by the 9th head of the Vongola famiglia who is ready to retire and looking for a new heir. Which of course, is supposed to be Tsuna and now it's Reborns job to shape him into a worthy sucessor.

Tsuna rejects the violence of the mafia world and refuses the position as the 10th. Thanks to Reborn and his general craziness Tsuna meets different people and starts to make real friendships. Reborn wants 6 of those friends to be Tsuna's future guardians, basically a group of people which will be closest to him in the vongola famiglia. Tsuna might have no interest in those positions but the friendships he builds with them become really precious to him.

Reborns arrivial also brings in the enemies of the Vongola family which leads to Tsuna being forced to engage in battles. Generally Tsuna openly avoids fights and prefers to run away but will put himself in danger for his friends' sake or because of something Reborn did.

Through out the series Tsuna matures and gains strenght but he never becomes a power fantasy. He's just a guy with many flaws who grows through the human connections he makes.

Personally I think the relationship between Reborn and Tsuna is one of the best student teacher reltaionships in all of manga only topped by Mob and Reigen from Mob Psycho 100. Especially the last arc really underlines their unique relationship to me.

Furthermore, khr offers a new and unique battle system: The flames. I'm not gonna go into to too much detail but the general idea is that one fights with their dying will flame which basically turns off your the savety switch so you can fight with everything you have. The flames are seperated into different categories such as: sky, storm, mist, rain, sun, lightning and cloud and have different attributes asigned to each one. Tsuna's use of the sky flame and his transformation when using it is still one of my favourite shounen transformations to this day.

3. What happened?

The series did really well and then not so well over the course of its serialisation. After the manga got an anime adaption it increased in populairty and video games, light novels, and other products such as CDs were created based on the series. Reborn is one of the best selling series of Weekly Shōnen Jump and has sold around 30 Million volumes overall. It was and still is very popular in Japan but rather unknown in the west.

According to the article "The Rise and Fall of Weekly Shonen Jump: A Look at the Circulation of Weekly Jump" khr was the 10th bestselling series in Weekly Shōnen Jump, with a total of 7 million copies sold in 2007.

This number increasing to 15 milion in 2008. Which placed khr into the 4th best selling series of 2008 in Japan.

Between 2008 and 2010 those sales declined but still kept strong with khr as the 6th top selling manga in 2009, 8th best selling in 2010 and then 24th best selling in 2012.

In November 2014, readers of the Da Vinci magazine voted khr number 17 on a list of Weekly Shōnen Jump's greatest manga series of all time.

After the anime came to an apprupt stop in 2010 for unknown reasons the manga sells took a visible hit. (Apparently the studio wanted to put the anime on halt because they were busy with other projects and give Akira Amano time to develop her story but I couldn't find any source for this claim) Furthermore, the rushed last chapters of the manga in 2012 declined the popularity of the series even more. There's no offical statement as to why the manga was ended in such a way but it's reasonable to assume that Jump either cut it considering the decreasing sales or Akira Amano choose to end it for personal reasons.

Nontheless, Tsuna not being included in Jump Force (a fighting game where you can play as different characters from Jump) in 2019 even tho he made it in earlier Jump Stars games also underlines the decreased interest in the series.

Rumors on a reboot or anime adaption of the last two arcs surface from time to time but are genereally unlikely. Artland the studio which made khr has gone bankrupt around 2015-2016. It might be taken on by another studio but rather uncommen especially with such an old series.

4. Art style

The khr anime ended over 10 years ago and the old art style might not be appealing to newer audiences.

Especailly because the anime adaption follows Akira Amanos old art style which heavily developed within the years. Here a picture comparing characters in the new art style:

A modern anime adaption in the new art style would be aesthetically pleasing. It would probably look similiar to Psycho Pass since Akira Amano did the concept art for this series.

(My personal art student hot take is that both art styles are unique and fun. Up to this day Akira Amano still has my favourite art style and even if the amount folds in the characters clothing is a little extreme I love it dearly.)

5. Criticism

The show is not without flaws and even if I greatly enjoy it it wouldn't be right not to adress them.

Daily Life Arc:

A lot of people view the first 20 to 25 episodes as fillers and quickly lose intererst in the series. This is due to the fact that Akira Amano inteded the series to be a gag manga and focuses the first chapters on world building, character introduction and comical narratives. It's rumored that the decision to develop the story into a battle shounen was made because the sales weren't doing well enough at first. So the first chapters/episodes may seem titidious but are necessary for the story and the development of the characters. The tonal shift from a more gintama like gag manga to a darker battle focused story can also be offputting to some viewers.

Either way a lot of people blame this arc when discussing why khr never got an english dub or didn't end up on Toonami. I've also read that the manga never finished serializing in the north america. However, it finished in other western languages like german and spanish.

Censoring:

The anime censors A LOT. From Gokudera's smoking habit, Yamamoto's whole character arc which deals with heavy themes such as depression and suicidal thoughts. The general bloodiness of the manga was censored and sometimes whole chapters and characters were left out even if those were important to the devolopment of others.

Filler episodes:

Out of the 202 episodes the anime has around 29 filler episodes which makes roughly 14 %.

Sexism:

Even if Reborn was written by a woman most female characters are rather flat and their storylines often tied to a male character in one way or another.

Genereal things:

Khr, like many other long running series, is sometimes criticised for a lack of world building or unpopular narrative choices.

6. Hope?

Khr isn't exactly dead. As stated before the series is still very popular in Japan and still gets new merch pretty regulary. There are also petitions floating around for a reboot or a new anime season but those never get a lot of traction. Furthermore #Reborn2期アニメ化 (#Reborn2ndAnimation) used to get some traction on twitter not too long ago. Last year the Anime News Network did a poll on which anime the readers would like to see a rebooot of and khr placed second.

Either way here's a collection of recent khr things I could find.

- In 2018 a new bluray set was released in north america

- The khr stage play reached yet another new season

- A mobile game was released last year

- Currently ongoing anime cafe event called "Concerto di Vongola"

- Last month there was an event with the former VAs and stage play actors where they discussed their favourite khr episodes.

- There has been an increase in blind reacts to the openings on youtube which might bring in a new fan base. The biggest one I could find had around 90k views and was made in 2019. On this note check out the soundtrack. The first openeing Drawing Days by SPLAY still makes me go insane (but I'm biased of course)

There also renewed hope for a new season/reboot because Shaman King, Inuyasha and Bleach got anounced for new seasons after a long hiatus. It's important to keep in mind that the circumstances for those series are differnt tho. For example bleachs new anime is often tied to the immense success of the gatcha game.

7. Conclusion

Khr is a series which used to be a flagship for Weekly Shounen Jump and is deeply beloved by it's fans, especially in Japan. It influenced other shounen series like bnha. It would be nice to see it gaining a bigger fanbase in the west :)

[ordinaryschmuck]

Why I (Want to) Love Tangled: The Series/Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure

Salutations random people on the internet who most likely won’t read this. I am an Ordinary Schmuck. I write stories and reviews and draw comics and cartoons.

When I heard Disney was making an animated series based on Tangled, acting as a continuation from the original movie, my initial thought was, "Why?"

Sure, Disney is infamous for its unnecessary sequels of the story after happily ever after, with the many, many, many failures that follow suit. Even then, though, most of these continuations were movies that kind of have the potential to tell more of a story. But what more could be said about Tangled? Sorry to spoil a movie that's over ten years old at this point, but by the end of it: Rapunzel lost her golden hair, was reunited with her parents, fell in love, and lived happily ever after. Her losing the golden hair is the most essential part of that list because how can you do a series based on a Disney princess when her most iconic feature is gone? Then I found out that the series forced a way for her hair to come back, and my new initial thought became, "Oh man. This is gonna suck, isn't it?"

Despite the hesitation, I decided to give it a chance anyway. After all, I've been pleasantly surprised before. Things like My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, The Mitchells vs. the Machines, and even The Owl House (yes, really), were shows (and a movie) that I didn't think would be that special. Only to find myself enjoying nearly every minute. So after watching Tangled: The Series/Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure, I can certainly say I was surprised...but it was entirely for the wrong reasons.

And to explain how requires spoilers. So if you haven't checked the series out yet, I highly suggest you do it to form your own opinion. Just keep in mind that it's a bit of a mess, but it can be an enjoyable mess...sometimes...let me explain.

WHAT I LIKED

The Animation/Art Style: The series swapping from 3D to 2D might have been the most brilliant decision anyone could have ever made with this series. Usually, when an animated movie gets turned into a show, the most noticeable downgrade is always the animation. Whether it’s not as detailed or not as fluid, it's always subjective that the movie is better animated than the series. But by switching up the styles, the contrast becomes objective instead. 2D and 3D animation each have their pros and cons, so deciding which one is better is nothing more than a matter of opinion. So by changing the style, Tangled: The Series/Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure avoids getting complaints of being a downgrade from the original movie. It also helps that the art style of the series is really unique.

The best way to describe how the show looks is that it's like a coloring book brought to life. At times, everything looks like it was drawn and colored in with crayons, which sounds like an insult, but in actuality, it's one of the best features of the series. As much as I love most animated shows nowadays, I will admit, they all look a little too similar at times. Then here comes Tangled: The Series/Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure, which tries to incorporate a whole new style that successfully sets it apart from most shows.

As for the animation itself, it's really well-made! It's remarkably expressive when required, while the movements are really fluid during the correct scenes. Sure the fighting can be a little floaty during some action set pieces (yes, those exist here), but the dialogue and comedic moments are really where the series shines with its animation. I may have problems with the series as a whole, but I give credit where credit is due for the perfectly executed effort that I see in every episode in terms of animation.

Rapunzel and Eugene’s relationship: This was not something I was expecting to enjoy from the series. In the movie, Rapunzel and Eugene were fine. They were the typical Disney couple that worked off of each other enough that it was always entertaining, even if it was unbelievable that they fell deeply in love with each other after, like, two days. They weren't bad, but they weren't anything to go crazy over.

But the writers for the series said, "You know what, let's make these two adorable in nearly every scene they're in." And they are!

Even though I don't believe in their relationship in the movie, I fully believe it here. Both characters have a large amount of faith in one another on top of having endless love for their partner. Like how Eugene knew Rapunzel would be fine when taking out an airship or how Rapunzel couldn't bring herself to say a bad thing about Eugene when making Cassandra a sparring dummy of him. It's legitimately pleasant to watch, to the point where I put Rapunzel and Eugene in my top ten list of favorite fictional couples. They're that good to me, and it's one of the reasons why I don't jump on the bandwagon of shipping the two main female characters together. I'm all for LGBTQA+ representation, but give Cassandra her own girlfriend. Rapunzel's taken, and most of my enjoyment of this show comes from her and her man. So, you know, keep things as they are.

Cassandra (Seasons One and Two): Seeing how I've already mentioned her, let's talk about Cassandra, shall we? Because when making a series based on a movie that had only four prominent characters, with two of them being comedic animal sidekicks, you're going to need to introduce more members to the main cast to write more potential stories. And Cassandra, in Seasons One and Two (I'll get to Season Three), is a worthy addition. She acts as a strict straight man (I know the irony) who interacts well with Rapunzel and clashes perfectly with Eugene on occasion. She was passably entertaining in Season One and developed amazingly in Season Two. Her growing frustrations with Rapunzel's actions lead to a slow build-up that made her betrayal heartbreaking but somewhat understandable. And as for the results in that betrayal...yeah, I'll get into that later. For now, I'll just say that Cassandra was a pleasant addition to the main cast, especially when she was a part of the main trio, and she's yet another good surprise that the writers supplied for the series.

The Songs: The songs are...not going to be for everyone. Most of them are passable yet kind of generic, while others sound like they belong on Disney Junior (Looking at you, "Bigger Than That"). But when Tangled: The Series/Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure makes a hit, MAN, it is a home run. Numbers like "Ready As I'll Ever Be" and "Nothing Left to Lose" are sung phenomenally, orchestrated well, and are songs I can listen to on repeat multiple times. And "Waiting in the Wings" is not only something I consider to be the best song in the series, but it's also something I'd place as high up on Disney's best due to how f**king incredible it is. "Waiting in the Wings" is a powerful ballad that manages to be both tragic yet inspiring on top of how well it sums up Cassandra as a character. The writers may not always be on top of their game when it comes to music, but songs like these prove that they know how to earn that Disney name.

And that’s all I have for the likes...Oh boy. That’s not a good thing is it?

WHAT I DISLIKED

It Peaked at Season One: It did. It really did.

Season One felt like the writers had a grip on what type of show they wanted: A slice-of-life series with Rapunzel dealing with the issues of her kingdom with a meager threat of these black rocks growing in the background. It was all cute and well-balanced for the most part, but that all disappears in Season Two. Because now it's sort of about this adventure, but because Tangled: The Series/Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure set itself as a slice-of-life series, there need to be these small-scale stories that intertwine the grand narrative being told. The issue is that the story comes to a grinding halt one too many times as fans are forced to sit through these filler episodes that, while not all of them are bad, still feel like a distraction. And by Season Three, the series does feel more focused while having some slice-of-life episodes added to the ongoing story instead of distracting us from it. But the writing isn't as strong, there are several plot holes in the narrative (how did Rapunzel's sunstone get into her dress?), and there is way too much time going back and forth on Cassandra's morality. They claim that she's a villain while arguing that there might still be some good in her, and they continue this train of thought for nine episodes when it really could have been settled in two. For me, it's a bad sign for a series when the first season is the best one. Because if it's all downhill from there, what's the point of even watching?

It Tries to be Epic: This might have been the worst decision the writers could have made.

Now, here's the thing: I don't mind grand epic tales of adventure and battles against demons. If anything, I'm all for them...when it's appropriate and fits with the tone of the series.

Tangled: The Series/Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure suffers a similar problem Frozen II has, in which the writers felt like a big, life-threatening adventure was the perfect continuation of a meager, personal story about the relationships of characters. It isn't. If anything, it's completely missing the mark about what the original story was about. And sure, sometimes writers can succeed in telling personal stories through grand adventures. Just look at The Owl House and parts of Amphibia. But with those shows, it's established within the first few episodes that action and peril will be a series staple. With Tangled, while there was some action and peril, it's all very subdued compared to how high the stakes got raised in later episodes in the show. Especially in the series finale.

And, I mean, c'mon. You're making Rapunzel an action hero?

Judy Hopps? Yes.

Moana? Maybe.

Raya? Most definitely.

But Rapunzel? The character who’s all about optimism and seeing the best of others. That's the character you're going to morph into a hero that fights against an evil demon laid dormant for years? Did you even watch the original movie? Yeah, sorry, but I just don't buy it.

If you want to tell an epic story that gets the blood pumping for fans addicted to adventure, go for it! See where the wind takes you. But make sure to set that tone as early as possible while also making sure that it fits with the characters. If not, the end result is a series that feels like it's trying to be something it’s not.

Eugene is Kind of an Idiot at Times: It should be noted that Movie-Eugene and Series-Eugene are practically two different characters. In the film, Eugene was more or less the straight man, as he often questions the wackiness in the world around him and keeping Rapunzel grounded in reality. For the series, most of that personality got transferred to Cassandra. Thus making Eugene's new role in the series act as the egotistical imbecile. Sure, he had those moments in the film, but not as frequently, and it really pains me when the writers really lean hard into a minor aspect of his personality. Sometimes there are moments when Eugene acts like his original self. But it's all small scenes that are spread apart with entire episodes where he has half a brain cell. I'm sure some people didn't mind this change to the character, but as someone who adores the movie version of Eugene, I can't help but feel disappointed.

The Villains are the Worst: Now, I don't mean the one-off villains that show up, cause some chaos for a bit, and disappear at the end of the episode. Those are characters with fun personalities, occasionally cool designs, and do their job as villains of the week. It doesn't matter if their motivations are laughably simple, as their purpose is to be enjoyable characters above anything else. So I actually enjoy those villains...it's the ones that act as season-long antagonists that really grind my gears.

The purpose behind these types of foes is to build up how evil they are throughout the season. The issue is that the writers try to give these characters, or at least two of them, a point. To be fair, this can work. Just look at Killmonger from Black Panther and sometimes Karli Morgenthau from The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. You understand and probably even sympathize with the logic and reasoning these characters have. It's just that their actions couldn't be farther from what you would do. The problem with Varian and Cassandra is that they have the motivation, but it's not written suitably for the story.

Cassandra is a whole can of worms I'll get to in a minute, but Varian is someone I can easily discuss for a brief time. Because while I can comprehend his pain for having his father frozen in yellow rock, I don't think turning evil is the best decision to go with that character. Because A. Everything is his fault. He blames Rapunzel for not helping him, but even if she didn't have a crisis to deal with, there was nothing she could have done to stop it. His frustrations are not only unjustified, but given the fact that this wouldn't have happened if he listened to his father in the first place, it feels like him becoming evil is too drastic of a turn. And B. Varian worked much better as a supporting character rather than a primary antagonist. He was just this hopeful, if not a clumsy scientist who wanted to prove himself, who causes minor catastrophes due to not thinking ahead. Turning a character like Varian into a villain is a bit of a misstep because if the guy acts hilariously incompetent as a good guy, it makes little sense to have him be intelligent and ten steps ahead of Rapunzel when being evil. If he were to become more serious and careful when helping the rest of the main cast, I'd consider that character progression done properly. But becoming a villain is just an overreaction.

However, none of that compares with my issues with the main antagonist of the series: Zhan Tiri. This goes back to my problems with the series making itself too epic. Because if Zhan Tiri existed in any other show, I probably wouldn't have any problem with her. She's built up well throughout all three seasons and is kind of threatening at times. But she doesn't belong in a series based on a movie that dealt with a small, personal issue where it wasn't even the character who killed the villain in the end. It was her love interest and animal sidekick. Even if Zhan Tiri works well as a character, the fact that it doesn't feel like she belongs in the show makes her too distracting to enjoy. And that's why these villains suck. If not poorly written, they don't belong in a series that should focus on small-scale issues. And if you can functionally write an antagonist that appears for only one episode but flounder with ones that show up in several, well, that's just embarrassing.

Cassandra (Season 3): OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH BOY, do I have some words to express with this character. Like with Movie-Eugene and Series-Eugene, Cassandra from Seasons One and Two is frustratingly different from the psychotic IDIOT from Season Three. Basically, just take the issues I have with Varian, multiply them by ten, add them with some bafflingly stupid decisions, and you still wouldn't get how much Season Three-Cassandra frustrates me!

First off, her motivation...what the f**k were the writers thinking? The big reason why Cassandra betrays Rapunzel and motivates all of her misdeeds was that Cassandra's mother was Mother Gothal...EXPLAIN THAT LOGIC TO ME?! Because Cassandra should know what type of woman Mother Gothal was. She should know what Mother Gothal did to Rapunzel in the first eighteen years of her life. So how is Cassandra being abandoned by Gothal the central motivator to cut ties with Rapunzel, who is probably an even bigger victim in this scenario!? Seriously, Rapunzel was cut off from the rest of the world and treated as an unknowing prisoner because she was beneficial to Gothal. Cassandra was adopted into a household with mutual love and got to actually live her life. In no way does it make sense for her to be angry at Rapunzel.

Nor does it make sense that the writers try to play it off as a good thing in the song "Crossing the Line!" Sure, it sounds nice, but thematically, it gives across the opposite feelings that the audience should have. Because if Cassandra cutting ties with Rapunzel is meant to be tragic and awful, why is the music suggesting it's the best possible thing that's ever happened for the character? If you like the song, fine, but even you have to admit that it's thematic nonsense.

But, sure. Cassandra's evil now, and she considers it a good thing. Whatever. I'll take it as long as it leads to good stories...but here's the thing: In the penultimate episode before the three-part series finale, Cassandra asks a question. A question I would have never expected her to ask, despite everything that has happened in the last season. A question that was so baffling, I had to legitimately pause the episode to process the fact that she asked something so stupid. Because Cassandra, the character who is intelligent and grounded in reality, asked, "Am I the bad guy?"

I was honestly shocked to find out she was shocked! How, in the flying, everlasting, cock-a-doodle-doodling F**K does a person like her not pick up that maybe, just maybe, she isn't the hero in this story!? Call me crazy, but endangering the lives of people you once called friends and family, dressing in black, AND HAVING A GIANT EVIL-LOOKING TOWER MADE OUT OF F**KING SPIKES aren't qualities I would give to a hero!

If Cassandra was like Thanos, a character so wrapped up in his ego that he can't even notice how evil he is, I would understand. But she doesn't have an ego. Anger, yes. But for the most part, her personality is based on having logic and reasoning. So turning her into a villain and having her unaware that she's a villain is an act of lunacy that I am incapable of understanding. I don't know who's idea this was, but whoever is to blame...you've got issues.

>Sighs<...This series isn't good, is it?

IN CONCLUSION

I like the animation and some of the characters...but that's not enough. Tangled: The Series/Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure is a mess of a show that tries to do too much for a story that should have so little. Meaning that it's a D+ for me. I want to enjoy it and give it a higher grade, especially with how much I hear people praise this series. And if you do enjoy it, all the power to you. Your opinions are valid, even if I highly disagree with them. Because for me, this is a show that I won't get myself tangled up in again in the future.

[zu-is-here]

HI ZU! oh I didn't end up doing the chores on the end, but I did go shopping! We bought so much pasta sauce it's not even funny XD

Yeah I'm going full lineless! I just didn't wanna draw the line work, all those skull.... Nope! So lineless it is, gonna take a short break though, got other things I need to work on.

Yeah I'm trying to get better about fears.

Oh you didn't? It's about vow or Never killer and his feelings about cross getting transferred! Some mild Kross angst, you must read!

Yay! Maybe I could tell you more today? If you wanted to dm me about it when you're free? That's up to you though. <3

Today it was raining as well! It was on and off alllll day! And right in my juice too.

You know, I have a hugeeeee fan in my room, it's heaven when things do get hot here! It used to be in the living room, but it's mine now!

I'm glad the Allergys have been better!

Oooooooo! Over 100!!? Dammmm mmmm good luck! You are almost there! We believe!

OH! I don't think I've seen this!! I need to look for the art! That was yesterday right?

Today I'm good! I met up with a friend and we had dinner together! It was really fun! We also got smoothies and cake and walked around town. We went to a charity shop and I scored a new toy for the collection, 5 pound for a brand new, but I got it for 50p! Score!

You ever had any good secondhand shop finds?

We also came up with a dark cream headcannon with my twins and it's still making me laugh XD my friend is the best and they make me wanna draw my babys again! Toooooo busy.

I also find myself really interested in lust X nightmare for some reason? Like my brain randomly becomes really into ships.

And also L20 cross x dream because.... The sfw art is really cute! And I wondered what celest and luna would look like in that universe!

How are you today Zu? How's your weekend going?

Hi Gayfish! <3 Oh my god— it's never too much pasta sauce nyeh heh heh XD

I'm sure it looks amazing! No need to rush╰(*´︶`*)╯ I'm looking forward to your other works as well, keep up the great work! *^*

Hoo boi— some good kross angst, you say? Gotta read soon (*ﾟ∀ﾟ*)

Yesss that would be great, thanks! <3 Oki ☆

Oh no XD Was it still warm outside today? *^* You are really lucky with a huge fan in your room!

Again, thank you so much for your support, I do appreciate it a lot ♡

Yep, the only post I had time for yesterday xp Worth it! ☆

Oh wow!! I'm really glad to hear you're having a good time (๑˃̵ᴗ˂̵)

I remember buying sneakers for $4.99 instead of $74.99 cause someone took different sizes but the remaining ones fit really well?? :D

More cool headcanons! (*'▽'*) Lust x Nightmare hmm,,, sounds interesting~ LV20!Cross x Dream is really sweet!! yet kinda sad ;3;

Busy but determined, thanks! <3 4 days left so I can't think of anything but my diploma,,, but when I'm done, I'm gonna sleep and draw and stream— also walking outside since the weather's great *^*

UPD:

As they say, the nature doesn't have a bad weather <3 Hope so too! *^*

Thanks! A mini victory indeed (๑˃̵ᴗ˂̵)

It does! That's just something new for me yet really potential *^* We can have passive!Nightmare here as well btw ;) Lust x Dance ohhh! Reminds me of one small and sad comic with a happy ending <3

So wholesome (´；ω；`) I do like LV20!Cross concept, initially it was so potential, with Cross being guilty and longing for forgiveness from the monster he always loved (and who still loves him) until they began to use it differently but nevertheless, that idyll they reached warms my soul <3

*hugs* Thank you so much ♡ After all, I still have loads of things to draw, and I will heheh! (๑˃̵ᴗ˂̵)☆

OH. ★ It does make more sense now! (´；ω；`) They both became this way not of their own will, they were misunderstood and judged (both in AUs and in the fandom), and even if they can't clean their reputations, they can understand each other... Great ♡

For real (´°̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥ω°̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥｀) Hope they'll get to his soul after they have enough with his body, heh <3

[thatblondeperson]

Hi! I'm the girl who recommended "All I've Ever Known" from Hadestown from your most recent chapter, which, by the way, completely blew me away.

I wish I could send some of my own TimSteph thoughts/writing towards you, though I haven't done much. You are an excellent writer and I love your interpretations of both characters. They're so perfect together.

1. Do you have any fanfics concerning them coming after this one?

2. You have no idea how much it kills me that I have to wait 7 days to read another chapter. This fic should be CANON and no, I'm not joking.

3. Also, I recommend listening to Mr. Blue. It reminded me of Chapter 9 (was it?) when Steph said she was worried about Tim's mental health.

4. You said in Chapter 11 that you had a soft spot for Steph playing piano (that happened) and there would be more of "fun" Tim. Is it coming soon?

5. Have you seen Marcus To's art of TimSteph? They're so cute.

Again, so sorry for the long questions/responses. I just love TimSteph, which is weird, considering I'm not THAT big of a shipper and I'm more of a book fan than a comic book fan. I actually preferred DickKory when I got into the Batfam comics, and I still have them ranked high, but over time, these two grew on me. It was like, "Ooh, these guys are great BFFs! They can't get any better--"

Then I realized that they were dating, and the more and more I thought about it, THE MORE AND MORE IT MADE SENSE. I COULD WRITE A 10-PAGED PAPER ON WHY THEY WORK SOOOO WELL.

But IncoherentBabblings beat me to it with her incredible post on "Why TimSteph is Nice," and it's one of my favorite posts ever.

Hey hey!! Sorry, busy couple days at work!

I am so happy that you've been enjoying the fic!! I listened to the song and it's so so sweet!! I totally get the TimSteph vibes from it, where it's just the two of them clinging to each other in the face of everything else.

If you ever post anything lmk! I'm always happy to see more TimSteph content! You are too kind about my writing! I am just happy that I'm finishing my first multichapter fic like this. Never finished a big project before, honestly never thought it would happen.

1. I have a whole to-do list of little projects, god knows when anyone will see those. I'm drafting little things now that I'm winding down from FMWBTY. I am gonna be doing a collab project with @incoherentbabblings but we are just in the planning stages so far.

As far as with this fic, I would love to do a sequel to write the relationship more on this timeline, but we'll see! There's a lot more I'd like to cover, idk if it would be as long of a project. I do want to utilize Cass and Damian though, I want to bring them in since Cass is such an important person to Steph, and I'd love to see some forced bonding hilarity between Tim and Damian with Tim playing nice out of respect for Steph lol

2. lololol yeah I though a week would be a good amount of time in between chapters. It's better than waiting for me to write the chapters, I promise. I made my first draft of this thing in 2019!

3. I will listen to that too! It's on the list!

4. I use "fun" in an odd way. I'm trying to have Tim relax around Steph and act like himself again. He's kinda been battered by a lot of shit over the years, so he's kinda receded in on himself. I will drag him out a bit, but that's where a sequel would also be fun. Let him be a jokey, lovey dovey boyfriend for Steph.

5. Love Marcus! Hope to be able to commission a TimSteph piece from him someday. I do wish that she was drawn with more wavy, kind of untamed hair, since I just like the idea that Steph has this super thick hair. But his art is literally always stunning, such clean line work and I like that he doesn't draw the men too bulky, and that the women aren't oversexualized.

Long questions are fine! I think a lot of us started with DickKory in the form of RobStar in the Teen Titans TV show, that was definitely one of my first major ships, and it was a painfully wonderful slowburn. Wonder where I latched onto that trope? 🤣🤣🤣

Idk when I hopped onto TimSteph. I think I just latched on after I started reading Tim because their dynamic was so fun and sweet. And then fandom, cuz when I joined there weren't so many antis and Steph haters. Truly sad to see now.

Thank you thank you THANK YOU for all your support!! I definitely plan to keep writing TimSteph while I still have ideas! ❤💜