#also I actually own that marketable plushie

[abisalli]

Bruce Wayne in Bat-Wing Jeans (and other various sketches), because if I can't buy these, then I have to at least draw them

[sexybritishllama]

strap in folks it's time for another neopets drama update

some background reading before we begin: back when neopets wanted to introduce customisation (i.e. dressing up your pet) in 2007, they decided to 'convert' all existing pet art to align with a rigid body structure, rather than all having unique poses. it was just not feasible to create new pieces of art for hundreds of different pet poses every single time they released a new clothing them

customisation had been highly requested up until this point. however, the conversion was NOT popular. in some cases, particularly for basic colours, the change wasn't huge, but in other cases.... uh....

you get the idea. the more expensive colours like plushie, faerie, grey, royal and darigan got the worst of it because they had the more unique poses pre-conversion, and therefore it was largely agreed that the change to the stiff 'samey', frankly kinda goofy converted look did not look great

most users did not get a choice in having their neopet converted and it was done automatically, but if you had one of these colours where the change was huge, you were given the choice of converting or retaining the old pose (but not having the option to customise your pet). those pets that retained the old, pre-conversion poses are therefore referred to as 'unconverted', or UC for short

once a pet is converted, there's no returning to UC. you also couldn't create UC pets anymore, making UCs a limited resource that would only increase in value with time, particularly as people abandon their pets, leave the site, get frozen, etc.

i could write an entire dissertation on the drama that UC pets have caused for the pet trading economy, the neopet account black market, and general retention of the userbase, but to sum it up, people REALLY want UC pets. they are the single most coveted status symbol on the site

we skip forward now to 2023

the neopets team are planning to introduce UC pets back to the site, so that people will be able to create their own UC pets again for the first time post-converstion (legally at least)

they drip feed bits of information over the year about what this will look like. the main points are

changing a pet to UC will be done via some kind of item bought with neocash, the premium currency on neopets that you need to spend real money to get

putting this item on your pet will give it the UC art style appearance

so. not much really known. but expected release is set for january 2024

yesterday, they hosted an AMA focusing on the new UC pet system and how this was going to work. noticeably absent is any explanation of how much this is actually going to cost and whether it is going to involve any kind of gatcha mechanic, so that's causing our first lot of concern

second lot of drama is that the new UCs aren't actually going to be COMPLETELY the same as the old art, as they're making some small changes for style consistency, see below (old on top, new below):

the biggest drama, however, comes from how they're dealing with the 'original' UC pets. ALL pets will be getting forcibly converted on the 23rd, with anyone who has a pet that is already an original UC immediately receiving the UC neocash item. there's mention of possibly some kind of trophy or badge recognition for particularly old pets, but it's vague, and generally seems like it won't be possible to distinguish between the original UCs and these new ones

the people who already have OCs are not happy about this

people are allegedly pounding their pets, cancelling their premium, and quitting the site in protest. the boards are flooded with people complaining about the changes and laughing at the downfall of the 'neo-elite' in equal measure

it's t-minus 5 days until the second great conversion goes live. let's all pray for our souls

[masterhallmark]

Credit for discovery: @misscloudiedays

So a lot of people are confused as to how Epic Mickey Rebrushed meaning Disney probably isn't getting profits works, so let me explain real quick:

What's the Sitch?

If you go to the Steam Page, Disney is not publishing EM Rebrushed themselves like they did with the original EM games, another company ,THQ Nordic, whom Disney does not own is.

This likely means they sold the licensing rights to that company rather than accepting profit cuts.

How this works

Copyright holders often do this if they think the product would make less profits than what they sold the licensing rights for. For example, this happened with the author of the Witcher books, who thought the games would flop and sold the licensing rights instead of accepting a percentage of the profits. He later acted like the victim when the games actually ended up being wildly successful. This also happened to the writer of the American Pokemon Theme Song, who didn't know the Pokemon franchise was going to go on for decades and remain popular, though he was more chill about it and worked something out.

Basically, Disney likely had so little faith in the game, they chose to sell instead of accept profits, which would mean whether you buy or pirate the game wouldn't affect them, since they would have already gotten the agreed upon amount, and they'd probably piss themselves if the profits Purple Lamp gets is more than what they sold it for.

Would they actually do that?

For anyone who questions if Disney would really be dumb enough to do this, REMEMBER THIS IS THE COMPANY WHO:

SHUT DOWN AND ENTIRE VIDEO GAME DEVELOPMENT COMPANY JUST BECAUSE EPIC MICKEY 2 DIDN'T MAKE AS MUCH MONEY AS EPIC MICKEY 1

THOUGHT PEOPLE WOULD ABANDON CONSOLE GAMING IN FAVOR OF MOBILE GAMING

THOUGHT KINGDOM HEARTS COULDN'T POSSIBLY HAVE SEQUELS

HAD A CEO WHO THOUGHT ADULTS DON'T ENJOY CARTOONS

AND THE MOST RECENT BLUNDER OF ALL, THOUGHT DISNEY FANS WOULD PREFER A LUMA KNOCKOFF OVER STARBOY IN WISH, BECAUSE THEY WANTED A MARKETABLE PLUSHIE

Yeah, I think they're that dumb.

Bottom Line

For those participating in the Disney boycott, it is probably safe to get the game, and will not be a breach of your boycott. Buying the game would instead show support to those who actually care about the game while not benefitting the company that abandoned it.

That being said, this is not guaranteed to be completely correct. Keep an eye on things as it develops, and make your own decisions on the matter.

[bonefall]

Could the cats make little toys? Like making plushies out of plants or figurines out of rocks and sap or something?

70% of the toys they make are weaved or whittled. I actually made a small scene in the outline (which HOPEFULLY, i keep saying this, should be out Soon TM) of Darkstar's Commandment where she creates a wicker ball as a gift for Reedshine

^^^ These are willow balls! If you have access to willow trees, you can make these really easily. For Clan cats, it's a sign that you're a really good weaver, and making these is a big favor because they're naturally quite brittle.

These are the basis of the famous "mossball." Pure moss doesn't keep its shape if you kick it around; a wicker skeleton is stuffed and covered with moss so it doesn't hurt if it bonks you in the face. Usually, these are just kept in a pile somewhere any anyone can go grab and use one for games.

You can customize a ball for a specific person by sourcing some leather or linen, and then sewing it around the skeleton. WindClan has the market cornered on this sort of thing because of how many rabbits they hunt, but for RiverClan, SkyClan, and ShadowClan, pelts and flax are pretty valuable and not typically wasted on crafting good mossballs.

(SkyClan in particular is more likely to just trade kittypets for their excess toys.)

Even the best Clan cat artisans only whittle the sorts of figurines we might associate with small children. They're sharp-edged, simple, and look a lot like these;

They don't have "polish" figured out yet, so nothing they make looks "smooth." Some cat's going to figure out that they can rub the edges against the nearby exposed sandstone, but I'd leave that for a bit of a "genius" like Dustpelt or his mentor One-Eye to figure out.

They can also be made out of clay, but that's more common in RiverClan and WindClan where wood is scarce.

Figurines are often directly commissioned by deputies and senior warriors for use in strategizing, ESPECIALLY in WindClan where they have a history of needing to "visualize" the various parts of their open moor in battle plans. They can be simple toys, but these can get pretty elaborate as it's seen as a bit of a status symbol if the deputy's "pawn" of you is fancy.

Basically, it means you're important enough to be frequently included in battle plans, so much that YOUR pawn is customized. These will often be buried with the warrior, or passed down to their living descendants.

Figurines show up a lot in "channeling." The illegal, direct method of summoning the dead by bypassing StarClan. They aren't "consumed" by the ritual like more organic tokens, so someone who does a ton of channeling of a specific spirit will often end up crafting one of these.

There's various other toys too, but they're generally not soft or stuffed. Clan cats don't have "plushies," since they require a LOT of textiles and sewing which they can't experiment freely with.

And to close out;

Glue is made from animal hide, and is another one of those "high-quality" materials mostly used by artisans and patrol heads.

Making pitch from pine is dangerous; go here for a tutorial on that

Sap's not a great adhesive, but works fine for kittens just having fun.

Whittling, weaving, and molding are the skills usually used to make toys.

Yes, they make toys, and they love to play with them.

Most "crafts" Clan cats make are communally owned, personal belongings are usually very special.

[missashketchum]

Dorm Leaders with Ash's Pokemon!

It's time for Dorm Leaders with Ash's Pokemon headcanons!

Enjoy!

Riddle- Bulbasaur

Bulbasaur is the ringleader of Ash's Pokemon, and Riddle respects it a lot

to be able to keep 50+ chaotic Pokemon in line, despite many of them having the ability to toss Bulbasaur around like a salad

respect

Bulbasaur also has none of the Adeuce shenanigans and is constantly using his vines to stop them

Riddle and Bulbasaur have very peaceful teatime with each other

and by peaceful, I mean the two relax at a table drinking tea and eating cookies

while Ace, Deuce, Grim and Ash goof around

they need the "parental supervision" a Riddle put it

ignoring the fact that Ash has raised Pokemon from eggs like they were her own kids lol

all in all, Riddle and Bulbasaur are actually the most peaceful duo in this entire thing

Leona- Rowlet

ever since Rowlet arrived in TWST, Leona has been waking up with it sleeping somewhere near him

next to him

on his lap

on his shoulder

it was in his hair once

and every single time when he woke up, he would either scare Rowlet awake so it would fly away, or he'd just throw it

but last time he threw Rowlet, Ash threw him, so no more throwing Rowlet

as time went on, he sorta just learned to accept the fact that Rowlet was now his sleeping buddy

and no matter where he hid, he would always be found

no one brings it up to him either, because who wants to tell leona kingscholar that he's getting friendly with a fricking owl

that's right, no one

except Ash, of course >:)

Azul- Dracovish

Azul thoughts Dracovish was kinda derpy (tbh, he kinda still does)

but when he sees Dracovish's Fishious Rend practically obliterate the practice dummies

he suddenly glad that Ash didn't use Dracovish on him when he Overblot...

she did, he just doesn't remember :/

Dracovish was relentless btw

Dracovish loves being petted, and once jumped into the Octavinelle water tank just to make Azul get out of his office

then, once Azul gets out of the office, Dracovish pops out and asks for pets

at this point, Azul caught onto it, but doesn't have the heart to stop it

he won't admit it, but he does like Dracovish

Kalim- Totodile

Kalim and Totodile meet for the first time

then Ash has trouble getting Totodile to go back to Ramshackle with her

the two are immediately glued together and dancing and playing around in the water

jamil is tired

they're literally best friends when the day ends

Kalim and Totodile are hugging each other, huge crocodile tears in their eyes as Jamil and Ash have to physically separate them because it is past curfew, dammit Kalim

Kalim is actually one of the very very few that a majority of Ash's Pokemon like

Totodile especially

did I mention that they're best friends now?

cause they are

it's fun loving Water UM/Type solidarity

Vil- Unfezant

ahhh Unfezant

so agile, so graceful

done so dirty in all of her battles, she deserves better

Vil first meets Unezant as she's flying around with Ash's other Flying-types, and he's never seen a bird do as many elegant aerial tricks as her

is intrigued with how well maintained she is

meanwhile, Unfezant is wondering who the hell this boy is and why he's looking at her like that

is, ironically, unsettled by Vil at first because all he does when he sees her is analyze her, which makes her very uncomfortable

retaliates by sending string gusts of wind to mess up his hair

and Ash has to proceed to tell a very irate Vil that he's making Unfezant very uncomfy and the wind thing was her way of making him stop

guess Rook rubbed off on him more than he's like to admit...

slowly, Vil begins to actually talk to Unfezant, especially complimenting her flying prowess, and Unfezant starts to kind of like him a bit

now messes his hair up as a sign of appreciation :)

Idia- Pikachu

literally who else could I pick?

the biggest lil shit there is >:)

despite being a cat guy, Idia was immediately interested in Ash's only Electric-type

"kinda like a marketable plushie..."

was almost zapped for that comment

but he WAS zapped for picking Pikachu up to look at him

Ash tried to warn him, even went to grab Pikachu back from him

cue Pikachu zapping BOTH of them

cue Ash having to explain that Pikachu does that with people he doesn't like

also cue Ash having to explain that she's used to it because Pikachu literally electrocutes her as a sign of affection

Idia is mildly concerned, but seeing as she isn't hurt he lets it slide

tries to keep making friends with Grim and Pikachu and the two are not having a good time :/

keep the crazy cat boy away from the electric mouse pls

Malleus- Charizard

“ah, what a fearsome yet protective dragon you have”

“but… Charizard’s not a dragon…?”

cue blue screen

he even has Ash pull it up on one of her Pokédex’s

sure enough, not a dragon

at this point, with what happened with iris, Ash is used to people mistaking Charizard for a dragon

Charizard, however, is a bit ofended (cuz that's just how he is 😅)

so he tries to flame Malleus

doesn't work on him, but Ash gets caught in the crossfire and gets covered in soot

cue malleus being genuinely concerned for the human

cue ash having to explain she's used to it and it's a sign of affection

again

rather impressed with Charizard's display of moves

"dragon tail?"

"he's not a dragon >:T"

[silvermoon424]

Hello! I really want to get into collecting sailor moon merch but I was wondering if you had any tips? you've been doing this for a long time so I was hoping you could share your wisdom lol

You came to the right person! I've been collecting anime merch since 2011 and have a lot of experience with collecting in general. Some tips I have are:

It's better to buy one big/expensive thing you really like rather than a few smaller/less expensive things you only kinda like.

Prioritize shopping at Japanese sites (especially for vintage things) or direct suppliers like BigBadToyStore rather than buying from English-based sites like eBay and (US) Mercari. There are a lot of great deals on eBay, but you can often find things for cheaper on sites like Yahoo Auctions Japan, Surugaya, and Mandarake.

If you really, really want something that's being released now or in the near future, do your best to buy it right away. Once the official supplier's stash is gone, you'll be at the mercy of the reseller's market and their prices are often way more than sticker price.

Try to map out where you're going to display everything once you get it. My collection grew slowly over time, and I only just recently bought actual display cabinets. I would definitely suggest investing in display cabinets from the start (I got some good ones from IKEA, which is by far the best budget-friendly option)

Just collect what you want! Who cares if you have 20 figures of Sailor Jupiter and nothing else. It's your collection and your money.

I personally unbox everything I buy, but I do collapse and save the boxes just in case I need to resell the item down the line. Having the box will increase the figure's value, but that doesn't mean you can't display it.

That's all I could really think of off the top of my head!

EDIT: @desperatecheesecubes mentioned MyFigureCollection, to which I have to say: YES omg, I can't believe I forgot to shout out MFC! Not only is the site great for tracking your own collection, you can search for merch of individual characters (including alternate forms) to see what you'd like to track down. Also, oftentimes people will advertise that they're selling a figure/plushie/etc on the product page, so it's great to watch pages for rarer items to see if a seller will pop up.

[annes-andromeda]

hey! so i saw your wish rewrite outline, and i absolutely love every concept you came up with and i'm excited to see that you're turning into a fic!! i also saw that you own the wish art book and was hoping i could ask you something about it: does it actually say that star was intended to be asha's love interest at one point, or is that just fan speculation? not to say that if it's not mentioned in the book then it's not still possible! i'm just curious if it's something we know for sure because i've only seen the pages that mention how one version of him was a representation of her grandfather. also, does it say anything about what the story might have been like when star was human? because i imagine that whether he was ever written as asha's love interest or not, turning him into a cute little marketable plushie must have changed things quite a bit. thank you in advance if you choose to answer this.

Hello!👋🏼I’m glad you enjoyed the rewrite, which I did not expect to get so traction😅 I don’t know if you’ve seen the post I made with the link, but if not, here’s the actual fanfic, which currently has the prologue and first chapter!

But to answer you’re question: from what I’ve read, the concept art book just says that Asha and Star are “soulmates”, but whether or not they’re talking about human!Star or plushie!Star, it’s unclear. There’s also not a lot talking about what Star’s role would’ve been when he was still human.

The creators just mention that they were afraid human!Star would be too similar to the Genie, which is when they supposedly starting taking inspiration from classic Mickey cartoons to redesign Star into what he looks like now.

Hopefully that answers your question!😁

[st4rstudent]

tips on how to draw cogs?

truth be told, I haven't drawn many cogs (mainly just one or two), but I will try to answer this as generally as I can!

This is a long post so I'll post this under the cut.

my biggest tip, as well as for anything, is to break down the shapes. If you try to look at everything at once it becomes really easy to overwhelm yourself. Examples will be drawn sketchy, but hopefully the point gets across.

Our first test subject is mouthpiece which I've never actually drawn before [marketable plushies post doesnt count]. as you can see, I tried to break down a lot of the shapes into much more simpler ones. A lot of cogs seem to share some very obvious shapes, probably because a lot of them are object-related (normal cogs included- first that comes to mind are pencil pushers).

You can do this with really ANY character. Here's our second test subject DOPA for another example.

now these are mainly references from the pictures themselves, which are great as a starting point. my other big tip is just to practice. you don't have to do big full pieces every day, but even just little doodles will help you. i think its very rare for anyone do to super good their first time and this goes with anything, even if you're a highly skilled artist.

you've probably also noticed but I've left out details in my examples, such as the little dots on mouthpiece's eye borders. If you feel that adding all the small details would overcrowd your drawing or just not help it, then I think it's fine to leave them out (of course there are always exceptions to this but as a general rule, its ok).

along with removing details, i think adding details also cannot hurt [to an extent]. if there's something you think would look nice then add it. who cares its your drawing have fun. As an example I'll use prethinker. I always add the little line in the middle, which his model doesn't have. But this is also based off of the 1.3 promotional art as well. Another example could be that when I draw misty, I add a line that connects their eyebrows to their eye. idk just feels more robotic to me and i like it

and again as you notice, my drawings are not model accurate. your style is most likely not going to be exactly like the game and that's completely fine. adjust to your liking, interpret as you will. enjoy the process of creation.

And finally, I'll add my little tip for metal coloring. One thing about metal is that usually the lightest highlight is next to the darkest shadow

The gif goes as base -> shadow 1 -> shadow 2 -> highlight 1 -> highlight 2 -> cleanup + extra

I like to add a few light marks to indicate scratches. although if you wanted more depth, you'd take the darkest shadow and lightest highlight and put them together like this

often the metallic parts are not the focus of my works so I leave it without. As for the random black marks on the lineart, that just also gives it more depth.

And finally, look at other peoples art. Look at the way they draw and pick out bits and pieces of what you like and try to interpret that in your own style.

ok I think that's all. Hopefully this helped!

[doizy]

Wonderful Precure First Impressions!

I stayed up until way past my bedtime for the reveal (it was hard, I'm way too much of a morning person for this). I'll go go character by character first:

Cure Wonderful/ Kumogi

She is indeed a dog! And a cute one, the plushie leaks didn't do her justice. She's Friendy's pet, but i wonder if she's a magical dog that ended up as a pet, our if she's similar too Mofurun i.e. a normal dog that acquired speech/a human mind recently. I love her civilian design, it's really fun and cute, i love the ponytail.

Cure Friendy/ Iroha

When I first saw the leaks I was afraid that she was going to be too close to Mashiro in terms of personality, and we would have a similar dynamic with the lead than last season, but i was completely wrong! She looks like a pretty extroverted and energetic character! Also i like that she have a pretty different hairstyle than her cure form. She gave her last name to Kumogi, so I'm guessing they'll end up with a sibling like dynamic?

Cure Niammy:

Most likely a white cure with a blue subcolor. Probably my favorite design, she looks like she has a fun personality too, a bit full or herself. She's definitely the white cat Yuki-chan, even if it hasn't been confirmed yet. I'm very curious to see her civilian design too!

Cure Lillian:

Obviously she's Mayu. She look maybe a little bit older than Iroha. On the promo pic she's taking pictures of Yuki-chan so I'm expecting her to be the kind of person that is obsessed with taking picture of their pets (she's just like me for real).

Miscellaneous :

So we have those to character Satoru and Daifuku, and it once again it's pretty obvious who our midseason cure(s) will be. I'm expecting Satoru to have a similar supportive role to Ageha in the early episodes and to become a cure on his own later. Like Toei is going to pass the occasion to make a bunny themed character/mascot! And his outfit is suspiciously color themed (There's a quote on Cure Soleil's Wiki page where that says that yellow/orange cures are bit more free to be experimental than the pink and purple who have to be more marketable, so I think that's why he'll have a similar color to Wing). His design instantly reminded me of Yukito from Card Captor Sakura, and apparently the character designers does a lot of Clamp fanart that might actually be an inspiration.

The kirarin animals are the other mascot that will be included in this year tamagochi like toy. I'm expecting them to have a similar role to the star princesses or the elements spirits and that they will give the cures specific powers to collect as they rescue them etc.

About the merchandise it seems that we're getting different transformation item/wand for each pairs (RIP to the collectors wallet), so no hope to find the Mid season cure there, it's probably absent from the mirror pad update, just like majesty was, so it seems that they're hiding them well... The wonderful pact is really pretty I love how shiny it is!

There seems to be a lot of women in the staff this year which is really cool to see!

I think the season looks super adorable, and i can't wait for it to start!

[deviljesterlamb]

Jayce: Yo, Solomon. I'm heading out to buy somethi--

Solomon: *stares at Jayce, frozen in a panicked state, and is now a small plush*

Jayce: ...

Solomon: ...

Jayce: Fucking hell you got turned into a adorable marketable plushy...Sucks to be you.

Jayce: *turns around to leave but Solomon quickly clings to their leg*

Solomon: JAYCE! PLEASE! I MESSED UP ON A SPELL AND NOW AM IN THIS STATE! PLEASE HELP! I'LL DO ANYTHING!

Jayce: ...Anything?~

Solomon: ...I'm going to regret this...Aren't I?

Jayce: You bet!

Solomon: *sighs* Anything to get me out of this state sooner than later...I guess...Um...Just can you pleas--!?

Jayce: *picks him up and gently holds him in their arms*

Solomon: *blushes lightly, looking up at them in surprise*

Jayce: ...You're adorable in this state, and as tempting as it is to kick ya through a window like a football...I'll refrain from it, this one time...Also you better hold up on your word.

Solomon: I will. Promise. But can I ask what is it that you want?

Jayce: You'll find out in due time.

Solomon: ...Why does that worry me more.

[A day later, Solomon is back to normal]

Asmodeus: Oh...I can't find my credit card anywhere...

Solomon: Here, you can use mine for now. Don't worry about how much you spend. It's all on me.

Asmodeus: Oh my gosh! You're such a life saver, Solomon! Thank you!

Solomon: Here, let me paint your nails, I see them chipped again. Can't have you going out like that, not on my watch.

Asmodeus: Gasp! You're right! Thank you, hon~! ♡

Solomon: Anything for you, Oh Great Beautiful and Radiant Princess Asmodeus.

Asmodeus: *giggles* Oh, Solomon. I don't know what's gotten into you, but I love this special treatment and could get used to it~. ♡

Mammon: The hell is going on with Solomon? Did he lose a bet or somethin'?

Jayce: Nah, just holding up his end of our bargain. Also giving Asmo exactly what he deserves~.

Mammon: What?

Jayce: *pulls out their phone and shows a photo of Solomon in his used to be plushy state*

Mammon: HOLY SHIT! SO THAT'S WHY HE WAS MISSING ALL DAY YESTERDAY! HE LOOKS SO RIDICULOUS! BUWAHAHAHA!

Solomon: What's so funny? Hmmm?

Mammon: Eep!

Jayce: Just showing off how cute you used to look. Too bad it's over now.

Solomon: Actually...

Solomon: *pulls out a copy plushy of his own plushy form and puts it in front of Jayce*

Solomon: I asked Belphie if he could do me a favor...In return I'll do something for him. I hope it's to your liking~.

Jayce: *holds the plush, eyes sparkling at its existence*

Jayce: I'm gonna torture the hell out of him. ♡

Solomon: Haha please don't.

[66sharkteeth]

kind of venting here again since it's the smallest place w/ the least amount of eyes. but man it's just one of those days where i dont feel good about my work haha. well, i kinda do, but i keep getting reassurance that it's not.

like i dont know... I'm going to New York Comic Con out of my own pocket and the company I work for just...wants nothing to do with me. How insulting is that? I can only assume they're just...embarrassed of CoB for some reason, and my leading theory is they just think the art is ugly. I see them invite smaller creators to things all the time, so I know it's not a performance thing, especially with CoB regularly being one of the top scifis and I feel like NYCC is one of the few places where that's like...actually kinda relevant. To this day, it's still never been included in any kind of banner or promo either. I've been to the office and I see art of all sorts of series, bigger and smaller than CoB all over the office, but CoB's just no where to be seen.

I see all my friends getting their ANYC acceptances now too. I applied, but it's looking like I didn't get in based on my empty inbox. I dunno. Sometimes I feel good about my art. getting into NYCC was definitely a bit of a boost. But now I'm realizing I probably got in bc my art isn't...super duper anime? And now I'm not anime enough for ANYC. And that's just...the boat I always seem to fall into. Just so fucking middle ground that I fall between the cracks. My series does well enough that it's not considered a "hidden gem" but it's also not big enough to be one of the popular series everyone talks about. And thus just...nobody ends up talking about it. And the same goes for my art in general. Not quite anime enough to appease to the anime crowd, but it's also too anime to appease the more western audience. My skill level is also just...good enough that nobody tells me my art sucks, but also not amazing enough that anyone's blown away.

Though like I said, I'm pretty sure at this point it must just be...flat out bad according to...the company I work for. They act like they're embarrassed of it. Maybe the story sucks too or something according to them, but there must be a reason they're too embarrassed to put it anywhere in the office or ever include it any kind of banner or collage. They don't even want anything to do with Shnee who is just like...ripe for marketing lol. At least I think he is. I mean, his plushie did well. But they must think he's as ugly as the rest of the series.

I dunno. It feels bad. Every time I start to feel a little good about my art, Im just kind of reminded it must not be very good. Like damn it must be bad when even your mom won't put your art on the fridge huh?

[load-theloading-artist]

Hello hello everybody,

It is i, load.

Who is currently dealing with stuff related to that of art, where it is a being a bish.

to compensate, I'm making text posts instead, Hallelujah.

ANYWAY, i have some thoughts

about Mirage...

I feel so bad for Mirage. There was actually a lot of potential for her that wasn't used. 😞

She really could've been used in the story, theres plenty of ways of how. And interactions and scenarios she could've brought. She's a magical cat for crying out loud! An entity known as a spirit by the Daemos! AND APPARENTLY A RARE TYPE OF SPIRIT TOO! Leif said so!

And yet she does nothing. She doesn't even get double digits of screentime, i don't believe.

She ends up serving no purpose to the story. And I consider it a writing crime that the only purpose she had was for MARKETING.

She was used for being turned into a marketable plushie 😭😭😭

--

Additional info that confuses me:

In episode one, where Lady Grandma is the only one left and before the portal closes, She orders Mirage to protect the group, and Mirage goes through the portal.

But this scene implies that Mirage is Lady Grandmas familiar. Or Guardian.

And in episode four, where asch is about to use his fire magic on ava after she provoked him, rhys yells out to him to stop, and wittle bwack cwoud with fwoating eyes knocks the two away from eachother and then stares at them in a corner stwikeing fear into their hwearts...

Oh look its a really gorgeous kitty! (i LOVE Cloud Kitties' design gosh shes beautiful.)

But. The part that then confuses me:

Is neither Asch nor Rhys RECOGNIZE HER.

(I personally dont see it, Asch knowing her, because it seemed he was more embarrassed of showing he thought she was cute, rather than actually knowing her. Idk if it's me not getting social cues, though. Perhaps he was embarrassed to know her? Im not sure why he would be embarrassed, though... this also kinda disproves Her being his familiar that Lady Grandma ordered Instead. theres also additional interactions that are missing to prove this is the case. But back to our scheduled program; )

???

What? What do you mean they don't???

We have implications that she's Lady Grandma's familiar!

And perhaps Asch doesn't know his grandmother very well or isn't as close to her until more recently.

But RHYS OF ALL PEOPLE, her MOST TRUSTED student/disciple, should recognize Mirage!

And yet he doesn't! So Lady Grandma kept mirage a secret from rhys??

Why??

These spirits that tend to become Guardians seem to be general information. It wouldn't be suspicious to have a familiar?

Instead, perhaps a sign of respect, as they seem to respect spirits in general! (This would've been cool worldbuilding, a familiar binding to you being a sign you are someone to respect because they respect you.)

Unless she intended Mirage to be an ace up her sleeve? that not even Rhys could know??

*sigh* Sorry, my logical side of my brain is spiraling.

--

--

Mirage deserved better, and an actual purpose to the story!

Actually, heres some ideas;

SHES the only way Rhys and Lady Grandma could actual communicate. Rather than... that uh.. bathroom scene.. with the mirror.. and..

I uh get the reference to the mirror, alike "oh a mirror is a connection to a different dimension"

But perhaps Mirage could've acted alike the eyes and ears on earth for Lady Grandma, though maybe it leaves Lady Grandma back on daemos in a vulnerable state, so she must do this sparingly (ignoring the whole magic is going extinct bit...)

Perhaps Mirage could've translated Lady Grandma's words to Rhys via something like telepathy. ... basically, Mirage being used as a phone but with video and extra steps.

Additionally, she could've been used to letting Rhys know something has happened to Lady Grandma. That would be a fun scene.

Rhys talking to Mirage or just hanging out with her until the music stops, it goes silent for out of the blue mirage telepathecally speaks her own audible words;

"Danger. Lady Grandma's (life) is in danger."

Hahaha...

Though i like the idea Mirage does not have the ability to speak. But can communicate in something akin to like sandman or sandy from rise of the guardians. (It's a good movie, has some flaws, but it's a good watch.)

Maybe she can, but it's more like audio clippings from things she's heard to communicate.

Or even, with her dreamscape esque design...

She can communicate through dreams. Perhaps Rhys is asleep, but he dreams of Lady Grandma being in danger. Thanks to Mirage!

--

Actually. I would love for her to USE some abilities herself. Ya know?

Maybe she can make people fall asleep.

And so maybe Asch gets too violent at some point, and she just kinda.. knocks him out. With her tail like a baseball ba-(im jk)

Perhaps she can lay on someone and purr, and her purr magically heals people~

Maybe she can create illusions. Who knows!

But please, she deserved to be a proper character apart of the story instead of a tension breaker or marketable plushie... *sigh*

Anyway, apologies for my rambling. I just... i have SO many thoughts related to My Inner Demons. And i plan to one day speak about it in full (but possibly still in parts) when i am able to.

[sailoragere]

Hello, and welcome to the sweet home base of #sailoragere. (Promise I’m not a witch!) /ref

I'll be your host, Serendipity. Dipsy for short. If you didn’t read up there in my bio already, I’m white, and an autistic adult who is currently 25. You may be wondering,

“What is #sailoragere?”

It is to be an established hashtag to share and create age regression content related to Sailor Moon.

After close to a decade of shying away and being kinda desperate for agere stuff of my special interest, I felt brave enough to create this blog for the purpose of breaching--er..bridging the gap.

What will be featured? What can I post in the tag? What can I ask you/talk to you about?

Lots of things! For starters,

💗 Artwork!

💙 Fanfiction/Headcanons (AUs are encouraged)

❤️ Moodboards

💚 Outfit collages

🧡 Stimboards

and whatever else can be thought of!

(All versions/iterations of Sailor Moon are encouraged: Manga, 90s Anime, Crystal/Eternal/Cosmos, PGSM, CD Dramas, Stageplays, etc.)

On the blog itself, there will be a focus on positive posts, cute things such as plushies, toys, stimboards, stimming in general, aesthetics, “-cores,” that remind me of the characters and their canon culture. I will also be sharing my own works from time to time.

Sailor Moon used to be marketed primarily towards children in its American market in the 90s, but you may or may not have known that its Japanese target demographic used to be children as well!! There’s a seemingly endless amount of cute little trinkets and merchandise that appeal to me, therefore I’ll be sharing some of it here, too.

As for you, if you prefer to stay low or are just feeling shy/anxious, it’s okay. Just swap to Anonymous in the ask box and we can assign you an emoji to better accommodate you! (Please keep in mind I am chronically ill and will likely take a while to respond!)

I’d love to see what others come up with, and find fellow fans of Sailor Moon who also regress! Please spread the word by reblogging this post! (I could really actually use a boost)

Please click “read more” or “more” before following/interacting with this blog or hashtag! Don’t fall under any of the below and you’re good to to use the tag / interact!

‼️ The following will not be allowed nor tolerated. (In no particular order of importance:)

💔Pedophiles/Zoophiles/"MAPS"/"NOMAPS"/RADQUEERS

Self-explanatory.

💔Anti-antis"/"Proshippers"/Pro-fic/"Problematics" (literally so many different ways of putting this nowadays...)

Also self-explanatory.

💔Racism towards black, indigenous, and POC.

This will apply to any content shared within the blog or hashtag. Don’t drag others down for headcanoning or depicting a certain character as mixed Asian. Just so long as their canon Japanese culture and race are not being erased, anything goes. Anti-racist is the way to be.

💔Homophobia/Transphobia (TERF, Radfem, etc).

We love and support the LGBTQ+ community in this space. It’s totally valid to express gender and/or affectional orientation through your favorite characters. Romantic and/or platonic shipping is encouraged! (But please understand that shipping in a sexual context will never be allowed here or in the tag.)

💔Ableism towards autistic people (otherwise known as autmisia), or any other disability.

This includes anything relating to autism or disabilities be it a headcanon, piece of art or someone using the hashtag! The very person behind this blog is disabled and wishes to cultivate a diverse and inclusive environment for disabled systems, system littles, regressors, carers, and other individuals.

💔 Equating diapers to only a kink/fetish and/or something to make fun of/something that degrades a person.

They're inherently a disability aid, so they will always be included here!! Be ableist elsewhere. Same in bold goes for any other disability aids.

💔 Sexualizing age regression/agere and/or supporting others that do so.

Adult topics are not appropriate here and therefore will not be brought up. This is meant to be a space to escape and heal from that sort of trauma. (Personal to the admins in particular)

Speaking of trauma, that sort of discussion will be allowed, too, as age regression tendencies often stem from it. And these characters have been through it. Said content will of course be tagged accordingly. ^^

While this blog is fiction focused, above all, we care about the world and the people in it. The intention is to do that by sharing important posts about current events. I will tag those specific posts with warnings and #not agere just to be safe.

If I catch anyone misusing the tag for any of the above, you will be blocked! Please respect our boundaries for my sake and a lot of yours! With this all said, I cannot put forth the energy to scrutinize every single follower or interaction online anymore due to it becoming damaging for my mental health!

Play it safe and be kind to others!

[fennecfics-the-simp-king]

Pillow Tower

It is a Pizza Tower AU made by me that is basically the game mixed with Toy Story. All of the characters are toys now, and they’re sentient!!

The plot follows a stress toy, called Pepperoni, who is owned by his child owner, Mushroom. But uh oh!! He’s been misplaced and put in the attic!! D:

I’m still working on it and unfortunately I have very little digital drawings for this AU. but this does raise some interesting questions… (questions and answers bellow!)

Will this be a fangame?

no. This is just a fun AU idea I had while listening to the Toy Story soundtrack. It won’t turn into a game, it’ll just be showed by a series of digital & traditional drawings, ..along with some Fanfiction by yours truly.

Does it take place in the same universe as Toy Story?

Now this is a tricky one. I’d say yes, but also no. Although it does have the same idea as Toy Story, the toys are sentient, it’s also kind of mixed with Pizza Tower’s universe. As in, goofy ahh characters in place of humans, like Mushroom.

Will it be almost the exact same plot as Pizza Tower with all the characters having the same roles?

No, this is a problem I had when first starting to work on this AU. I tried to make the character designs too similar to their originals to the point where I was essentially just recreating them as marketable plushies.

Thankfully I caught myself and changed it up so I could have more fun with it while creating this idea. It’s actually kind of funny how much Pepperoni’s design changed when I realized what I was doing before xD-

In addition, Pepperoni’s personality leans more on the anxious aspect, and he doesn’t really get angry unless he’s pushed to his absolute limit. I kinda got the idea from the Inanimate Insanity s2 contestants- He’s a stress toy, therefore…he must be stressed. /silly

This is just the intro to my AU, I’m still working on the others designs so sadly Pepperoni is all you get for now. I will be posting more about Pillow Tower very soon though!!

btw… here’s an official account I made- I’m probably gonna be posting about this AU more often on there; @pillow-tower

[eldritch-muppetshow]

potential deltarune descendant/oc based on the spamton sweepstakes? they’re a darkner of the giant worm on a string, which i picked for a few reasons

spamton is a spam advertisement program, this guy is a computer worm— they match

the sweepstakes/spamton marketable plushies marked a point where spamton was (at least temporarily) quite popular outside his initial niche and drew in plenty of money— and this character is using their father’s image to sell their spamton-branded products, all while still letting him live in a dumpster while they reap all the profit/benefits. in other words, they’re a (metaphorical and literal) parasite. something that worms are often associated with

as for why they’re spamton’s kid: the blurb for the actual worm on a string could be interpreted as referring to a pet, but the fact that it refers to ‘settling down and having a (little worm) of your own’ kinda sounds like it could be talking about a child.

also: they don’t have arms, the sleeves of their trenchcoat are pinned to the back. under the coat, they’re a giant fluffy snake/worm creature standing up really tall.

[axollyon]

me (axo) (adri) (axollyon)

hii now that im actually getting some traction on this account i feel that i should introduce myself for real!

my website with links to all my stuff: https://axollyon.com/

i'm adri! or axo, or my full legal internet name axollyon, or whatevs. i'm 22 years old, agender, and use they/them pronouns. i make mods for games, and i've been doing this for about a decade at this point! i've been around a lot of modding spheres, and i have like 60 thousand cumulative downloads on steam workshop mods i've made for various games, so there's a good possibility you've heard of me if you've played them.

since 2020 though, i've been primarily focused on romhacking mario 64! i've made tools and smaller minihacks, and contributed a level to the highest rated sm64 hack of all time at the time of writing (serene fusion). the big thing i've done in this community though is running an organization called mario jams, which is like game jams but for romhacks. a ton of fun mods by other people exist because of this, which i'm really grateful for!

of course, modding isn't the only thing i'm interested in! eventually i want to get into making my own games. eventually. i also am a big fan of d&d and tabletop gaming, and have quite a few characters that i'll post on here from time to time. my favorite game of all time is probably tied between hollow knight and mother 3, but i also love outer wilds and rain world.

also as you can easily tell i really like axolotls lol. lemme set the record straight that i've been obsessed with them and centered my online identity around them for also about a decade. they put them in minecraft because of me and made them into annoying marketable plushies you see in malls because of me. i promise, trust me :>

some stuff i've made: