#also wanna learn cutout

[merrigel]

Trying to get a hang of toon boom harmony, so! A sketchy little walking practice

[yourmaidsp]

Hii,

I'm having big difficulty with digital coloring T-T Are there perhaps any tips u can give me pls? Ur so good at it

Hii! (˃ ⌑ ˂ഃ ) I'm so glad u come to me for help! Umm well I'm not that confident about my skills and techniques, but here's everything I've learned over the years

Also, bc I'm gonna do demonstration and detailed analysis, this will be the only time I make tutorial on coloring, I spent 5 hours making it, and I hope you guys are okay with it :3

( and sorry if I nag a lot(´ . .̫ . `) and forgive me of my poor english)

1. Preparation:

first u gotta analyze the image you want to achieve, if it has background, what environment will it be, indoor or outdoor? what time of the day is it? Do u need it to be stylized or realistic?

When your idea is finalized it's time to gather references, I'd recommend using tools like PureRef to make a ref sheet bc it can be set to always on top layer, it's easier to reference this way.

If you're going for a realistical color design, search for photos close to what you desire, especially film screenshots. Also I'd suggest that u start to take reference photos yourself, bc search on Google leads u to ai sometimes,

and those are no good (´ . .̫ . `)

(For surreal color designs I'll elaborate on the next chapter～)

(here's my all in one big ass ref sheet for sp projects

bc I'm lazy(´ . .̫ . `))

I suggest u make different ref pages for different illustrations.

2. Set Tones :

(I find this color wheel on the internet, we'll be using this for demonstration)

Now u have a ref sheet, hurray! It's time to set the tone!

Most of the time u want a consistent tone for the image, like, I wanna go for a green overall tone, I'd fill my cavas with a green background color. Then decide what other colors goes good with it.

here's how it works:

For coherent overall tone, most colors tend to be in places near your main tone. as seen in the color wheel, pick colors adjacent to it's position. We call these analogues.

A small porpotion of colors on the opposite side of your main tone can be used to break the continuety, just like in music, you purposely add stuff to make it less repetitive. It's called complimentary.The most contrasted two colors on the wheel.

I use these two tricks a lot, as seen in both these two paintings:

(I put the small orange/red dots near the edge even though it's not there, to emphasize the concept of light against the overall blue tone.)

(to make Butters stand out against the environment I give him an orange bucket and a more saturated skin tone :3 )

For extreme stylized tones, I'd suggest just go wild! experement and use colors straight out of instinct, use whatever that is on the colorwheel. Use a lot of contrast!

(for e.g, this piece about that stan and whales I've doodled, it's an imaginary space, so no realife coloring rules applied.)

Oh oh and um try thumbnailing different sets of colors! Make more designs in case u change ur mind-

Also you can find color palettes other artists summarized online, they'd be quite helpful. And when you're improving you'll have palettes of your own!

3. Analysis n Theories:

Now onto theories-

I'll just use this sketch as an example, it's easier to demonstrate - (thank u Stan_(:зゝ∠)_)

(this is gonna be the longest part pls bear with me´_>`)

First is base color, without lighting this is what most objects are. Imagine things like they're in south park, just paper cutouts, without being affected by any light.

If I use color straight from the show, he's base color would be like this. It goes well with the show's design, but I need to adjust it a bit when putting him in a 3d scenario.

tips: considering the overall tone from chapter 2 while doing this would help a lot. U can tweak the base color before you deal with lighting, for a better effect.

(for coherent tone, some adjustments are made, mainly reducing the overall saturation.)

Then is lighting, normally 2-3 sets of them. Let's do it layer by layer.

Main light source. If it's an outdoor scene, most likely the sun. And for indoor, a lamp, your room's light, or tv screen etc.

When there's one light, it cast one shadow, as seen in my demo, I assume it comes from the sun, it's higher than Stan and on the right side, and cast a 45°shadow to the left side.

In this step u don't want to overthink, just do one plain shadow, follow the structure of the objects you'r painting. You can find a lot of anatomy refs online.

Secondary light source. It can be used to elevate the mood, and in some cases creates a stunning silhouette.

Since he's in an outdoor scene, my secondary light might come from behind, could be sunlight reflected by a smooth object or sth.

tips: You can use rim light as in some cases. I do that when I don't know what to paint for background.

(this one consists of a warm rim light, to add a slight sacred feeling, and a vague light from somewhere to the left and above him, I make it a cold light source to cool down the skintone for a melancholic mood )

(it's my personal habit of adding tons of these, bc I love subsurface scattering!(it appears when your skin is in front of the light, like my hand here) I find them helpful if you want to indicate intimacy or vulnerability)

Another type of light u can add is environment lights, it comes from various objects around your character, it's a bit complicated, but we can do that later.

Okay, next step,we're gonna use the shadow we just created on our base color, u have different ways to do it.

The quickest one is just put your shadow layer on top of the base,and set the layer property to multiply , grain extract or sub.

This is similar to anime cel shading, add some highlight to the eyes, some variety on the skin tone (for lip, cheek and nose), then you're done! I used to do this when I color the animation, but for illustration I think it might be too simple. I'll show you how I do that when illustrating next.

So, 'member all the shadows we did after base color? Now we need to actually paint them.

In natural environment, your color for shadow should be more sturated than the light, if not affected by environment light and reflections. That's why I lowered the saturation for base color.

So here's the skin color, to find a shadow color for it, tune up saturation and tune down the light.

But this might be just a bit boring, and actual light have color, so either make it a bit warmer or cooler depending on the color of your main light source.

The sun is quite warm, so I'll be tweak it a bit toward red.

(ah, much better!)

Now apply the same method for everything. Pay close attetion to some details:

(the shadows of eye structure is like this, bc the lens is transparent.)

(do a dark shadow in the center of the head to make silky smooth hair, also make the edge of your shadow area sharp.)

(for dry and curly hair, the shadow pattern would be gradiented with small bumps, think about snowball, or cloud.)

Okay, now we finished the first layer of shadow and light!

Now, for secondary light, I chose a reflected sunlight, thus it'd be yellowish. and since it's reflected, a less saturated color

Now apply that logic to everything, remember to use strokes or a softer brush for the subtle lighting.

And don't forget about hair highlight and subdivision scattering!(for the ears mainly, u can add some under the nose aswell)

Another trick is that u can duplicate the line and Gaussian blur it lightly, then set layer to Burn or soft light

(Here's your nostalgic filter!!Neat!)

You can either stop at this step or go in for more detail. But you might need to know about the structures if u wanna do that.

Here's a site I visit for human anatomy:

We'll go back to face again. My habit is just abandon the line and merge all layer at this moment (It's not a good habit so I won't suggest u to do the same.)

Basically what you'll need to do here is to assume more environmental color reflected on to your character, like a bluish light coming from the sky. Also the inside of collar may recieve a warm tone from the skin, etc.

When you do the strokes, remember it goes along the direction of the structure, the length and density will create a sort of rythm, and showing the texture of things. Like, for the hat I'll use shorter and wider, bc it's made of wool.

Here's the outcome! It still needs some improvement, but very close to a finished work.

Some times I add a layer of noise texture to it, I guess you can do that easier on the phone.

4. Brushes n Textures

Oh um, this is actually a part I especiallly have no confident in,,,,, bc I'm not a big fan of using comlicated brushes or blending brushes. Usually I paint with TVPaint animation, for I also do animation and it's simplicity made me unable to be distracted by fancier techniques, I only use these two brushes:

(the basic clear edge round brush)

(and this pencil brush that can also spray paint)

Most of the time I find these enough for my works.

I'd suggest using Procreate, Krita, Photoshop and othe tool for more complicated brush use~

You can learn from some artists I mentioned in the next chapter for brush techniques~

5. Learning habits

So um another thing I'd do in my free time is just browsing Artstation and Pixiv, and if I find a good painting I'd analyze it, using the theories from chapter 3 and 4.

Here are some digital artists I like:

Gop gap, Tommy Kim, Krenz, Qqingyi

And some traditional artists I like are:

John Singer Sargent, Andrew Wyeth, Chirico, Alex Colville, Edward Hopper, Wu Guanzhong.

I hope this tutorial I make will be able to help~

Wish u the best of luck!

[collapsedglasshouses]

An Angel For Noah || Noah Sebastian x OC [Part 2]

DIVIDER ART WORK BY @cafekitsune

PART ONE

PAIRING: Noah Sebastian x Jules (she/her)

SUMMARY: Jules knew it would be hard to start her journey as an guardian angel, but the harder part was to let go of her past...

WARNINGS: mentions of panic/anxiety attacks, mentions of blood, swearing, (let me know if i missed something)

A/N: Let me just start with this: AAAAAAAH... thank you... Okay, let's just say this, I cried a little while writing this... This fanfic is gonna break me into pieces, but I can't suffer alone so here is part 2...

TAGLIST: @trvshdxddy @blackveilomens (if you wanna be added, pls let me know in the comments)

Keep in mind, this takes place in an alternative universe. Even though I write about real people, the way I write them has nothing to do with how they are in real life.

Jules took a deep breath and stared ahead of her. She didn't even know what to do now. Keaton had given her a name and where to find that guy. Noah Sebastian, singer of a metal core band called "Bad Omens", was living somewhere in this street and her first task was to find him.

Jules swallowed hard. She knew Keaton said, it would be easy and how guardian angels are always similar to the person, they need to protect, but at this moment, she couldn't think of a single thing she should have in common with this Noah guy.

She had been a violinist for most of her live, had been what people described as prude or boring and always obeyed to her parents rules. Literally everything she wouldn't think, when thinking of a metal band member.

She never had been a big fan of the harder kinds of music, calling herself a die hard Swiftie, during her short lifetime. The life size cardboard cutout of Harry Styles that was probably still standing in her bedroom couldn't have agreed more to that.

She sighed while walking down the street. She asked herself if Keaton couldn't have been a bit more precise with his explanations and instructions, when she walked up to the third door and didn't read the names she was looking for. It bugged her that she couldn't just pull out her phone to type in the address and she found it rather bold from those angels that they hadn't given her some kind of device or powers to make it easier for her to find her target. What made her even more mad was, when she realised she couldn't fly. She felt robbed. She was literally just an invisible spirit with a task to fulfill that wasn't just finding her well deserved peace.

She couldn't do anything cool and she was literally invisible to everything and everyone.

She stopped in her tracks, when she realised that. She was in fact invisible. How the hell was she supposed to help Noah, if he can't even see her? Was he even allowed to see her? She felt like she was part of an episode of Supernatural and was about to meet the Winchester brothers.

When she started to walk again, she let her gaze wander over the houses. At least she would be in a good neighborhood. Not like she had to worry about being kidnapped anymore (you know, the sad things women need to worry about) but it was still somehow calming her nerves a bit.

When she walked up to the fourth house, she finally read the last names Keaton had told her about. She was about to be pleased with her work, when she notices the next problem.

What now?

She couldn't just ring the bell and show herself.

Like...

Hey, I'm your guardian angel, your friend Keaton sent me.

She was pretty sure, she couldn't even show herself at all.

Jules let out an frustrated groan, before looking around, trying to find another way to get into the house. Sadly she had also learned the hard way, that she couldn't walk through walls, when she tried it about an hour ago.

She snuck around the house, just to find a fence, she definitely couldn't just climb over. She sighed again and looked at the building. It looked like a typical upper class house in Los Angeles. At least it looked like their music was starting to pay off.

She still tried to climb up the high fence and if she would have still been alive she definitely would have broken at least a bone.

"Why can't I just fly!" She screamed out in agony. "This is such bullshit."

While she continued to mutter out profanities and tried to climb up the fence, the front door opened and none other than Folio and Davis step out of it.

She stopped in her tracks, when she heard their voices.

"I thought Noah already went grocery shopping with Ruffilo?" She heard one of the guys say and was sure she almost reach high speed after hearing that name while sprinting to the door. She saw two men, one with with short dark hair and one with long hair and a streak of grey in it.

"Nah, Noah was in the studio all day and Nick drove to his girlfriend. I think that's on us today." The man with the grey streak in his hair answered, while fidgeting with his car keys.

She couldn't concentrate on their conversation any longer, her only goal being to slip into the house as fast as possible before it was closed again. Right before the second guy got the chance to lock her out again, she, again, ran as fast as she could and soon found herself standing inside the house. She literally felt like an intruder.

So, where is he? She thought to herself and carefully looked around the room, she was standing in. It was the living room. To her right was a staircase. When she heard some noise from above, she decided it would be best to go after it.

She took her first steps really quietly until she released that nobody would hear her, so her steps became a bit more eager. Quickly, she found the room the noise was coming from and to her luck and surprise, the door to the room stood slightly open. Just far enough that she would fit through.

From the inside, she heard someone singing quietly. She felt the goose bumps creeping up her arms and instantly knew without a doubt, that she would find the person she was looking for inside this room.

When the guy stopped for a second, she carefully made her way inside the small studio and took a first glance at the person she would protect from now on. When her eyes laid on him, she felt something inside of her, she never felt before. A feeling she couldn't quiet describe. There were no words in the world for the pureness she felt when her eyes laid on him. Something inside her just clicked and she knew she needed to be close to him.

She took a careful step towards him and took in his form. He was sitting there and played some soft tunes on a keyboard that was connected to his computer. His ears were covered with headphones. From her perspective, she could get a quick glance at his tattooed neck. A hand grabbing an apple and a snake wrapping around said apple perfectly. A clear reference to the story of Adam and Eve.

When he began to sing again, she felt herself drawn even closer to his presence and without even thinking she stepped next to him to get a better look of his face.

He had really beautiful dark eyes and if you looked close enough, you could notice the small freckles on his face. In this moment she was more than glad that he couldn't see her, because she was creepily leaning on the desk to see him better.

Than for a brief second his eyes shot in her direction. That almost made her fall over in shock. She held her chest when she backed away from him. For a moment she legitimately thought, he had looked her dead in the eyes. When her breath finally started to settle again, she noticed it must have been a coincidence, because when she dared to look at him again, he had gone back to his normal position.

At this moment she realised, how bizarre this whole thing really was. She was sitting in the room of a singer, who she hadn't seen or heard of before and was literally as dead as it gets. She stared at a stranger, while just being a fucking spirit in his room.

She wiped over her face in disbelief, before starting to walk up and down his room, while he was humming a melody. She had a feeling, like she couldn't breathe anymore. She was fucking dead. Her live on earth was over.

How the hell was she fitting to be a guardian angel? She didn't have a good attention span and now was suppose to watch a stranger's every move.

Why couldn't she just have her well deserved rest? She was fucking run over by a car. She hadn't even had her first relationship before she died. Why didn't her grandpa just babysit Noah? He had literally 70 years more of life than she had.

When Noah stood up from his spot, Jules was in tears. It was so unfair. Why her? What did she do to deserve this? She was a literal Straight A student, had good friends and did her utter best. Tried to be as perfect as possible. But nothing mattered anymore. Nobody would remember her and the afterlife was cruel enough to not give her some rest.

Noah made his way out of the small studio, but Jules couldn't get up. Her thoughts just didn't stop. She just wanted to go. She wanted to go back.

She couldn't even think about her parents, her chest starting to burn when she thought of them. They showed her nothing but love throughout her life and right now she had a feeling, like she never appreciated them in the slightest. While she was grateful for everything, she still thought far too often that everything in her life was simply given to her. Her parents worked their asses of for her to get the opportunity to go to Juilliard and she was so dumb to get run over by a car, because her phone was that much more important.

With that it was over for her. It felt like someone was clutching her throat. She couldn't take full breaths anymore. Her mind started to race even faster, while her tears felt like literal lava on her skin. She wanted to go back. Wake up in that hospital bed. See her family. Hold their hands. Never let them go. She couldn't do this. How the hell was she supposed to do this?

She cradled her head in her hands and laid on the floor in fetal position, when suddenly...

It was warmer around her. She instantly was able to breathe again. She opened her eyes and found herself back in that white room, where she landed after her grandpa talked to her.

She sat up and looked around.

Next to her sat Keaton.

"What's going on, Jules?" He asked her and stroked her back reassuring. Tears were still running down her cheeks.

"I can't do it, Keaton." She cried out so quietly, Keaton almost didn't hear her. "Why are you even here? Aren't you suppose to protect your people?"

"You are one of my people." He quickly told her. "Just because you are as dead as me, doesn't mean you don't need someone looking over you."

Her heart warmed with that statement. She couldn't believe her ears. Never had she felt so save like she did with him next to her. He made her feel save.

"How am I suppose to help Noah, when I couldn't even help myself?" She asked with a raspy voice.

"You can do it, believe me. I could do it too." He reassured her. "I thought I couldn't do it myself and look at me now. Sitting next to the girl I should have protected." He laughed bitterly. "It's okay to fail. It is more important to know you tried."

She saw how his eyes became watery and quickly reached out to put her arms around him. When he hugged Jules back, it was everything the both needed to go on. For the moment, she didn't want to let go of him, knowing the seriousness of their task would come back soon after. But suddenly...

... Jules heard a shattering noise from downstairs and was quickly snapped out of her thoughts and the save room. She set in the studio for a second. But without even thinking she found herself next to Noah.

She looked around her and was shook to see she teleported herself right next to him. Tears were still streaming down her face, but she immediately looked for Noah, who was now bent over the sink and rinsed his finger, which he cut. He was muttering profanities under his breath, while Jules still tried to contain her cries.

She knew she needed to get over this. It was hard, but this was her life now, if you could even call it that. This was her existence now and she needed to make sure Noah would be save.

She couldn't fail him too.

READ PART THREE HERE.

[doodlegirl1998]

I wanna make something clear.

I could care less if a character is being sexualized in some way. Whether it be a tease or just putting them in revealing clothing. That is inevitable in anime.

But there's a line to be drawn to where if crossed, just comes across as creepy and uncomfortable.

And that is when TEENAGERS are being sexualized.

BNHA is VERY guilty of this sense the female cast are always seen with big breasts and in revealing like clothing (Glares at Momo and Bubble Girl's hero designs)

Not to mention they tend to have little to no agency in the story and are just made to be eye candy.

Now I'm not stuck up or anything, I like me a good pair, BUT context matters!

TLDR: Sexualization in anime is nothing special. But when it's teenagers, literally minors, being sexualized. There needs to be a line in the sand.

Hi @theloganator101 👋,

Definitely agreed.

I feel like there's a stark difference between something tame like the girls wearing short skirts or pretty, but practical, hero costumes / swimsuits which is acceptable.

Vs

Having one of the girls be literally naked, (Hagakure) which is a health hazard on a very dirty battlefield and secondly... In a society where her job is fighting villains fails to protect her against any type of assault or injury. It's also especially meaningless when you learn her power is to manipulate light not just be invisible (why couldn't she just bend her light around a costume then?)

Or having Momo literally having to tear off her clothing to use her power when, zips exist, magnets exist, hell costumes that can adapt to her power should exist as evidenced by Mirio!!

To add to this, while she is not a minor, Midnight's entire act as a teacher, is clearly Hori's sex mummy teacher fetish made life which plays into the over-sexualisation of the female characters. (She gained depth into her character only through a Spin off!! Come on, Hori!)

Also as you mentioned Bubble Girl I have to mention both her and Midnight's costumes have NO boob support! Being well endowed women like them mean that they would definitely need it in an active job like heroism. But Hori is a guy so obviously didn't think or care about that ...*shrugs*.

It is evident to see that unfortunately the girls and women in MHA are mainly just pretty cardboard cutouts.

The main girls of the story in Class 1A Momo, Jirou, Froppy, Uraraka, Hagakure, Mina (but especially Miss Reccomendation Student with Creation as a power Momo) all should be as OP as the boys yet Hori never allows them to be.

[theloganator101]

Why we arent learning things about clas A1? Well, because if Izu has a support system what would be the fun for Hori.

He made class A1 face Izu in that horrible way in his vigilante arc and..."friendship is the key Izu" only then....it's proven how wrong they are.

But did they aknowldge that? Nope. And never will.

Also warning: wanna bet how Izu will save the world and not get credit again?

And that's the main problem I have with the cast altogether.

Most of them don't feel like characters.

They're cardboard cutout of characters, plot devices to be used for story purposes and never be needed or used again.

They don't have that strong of a connection with Izuku because we don't see him interacting with them as he was pushing them away to focus on controlling OFA.

And you WOULD think after Black Whip appeared, Izuku and All Might would have a conversation about telling 1-A about OFA because: 1) They literally saw it with their own eyes and might get suspicious.

2) Finally realizing keep a secret like this from everyone (even everyone close to them) is starting to do more harm than good.

But NOPE! They're still in the dark about it until AFTER Izuku left them with a note explaining everything!

So yeah, the cast is underdeveloped to where you can literally replaced them with talking bricks and nothing would change.

[snailpilled-and-based]

I've never been to Wilson's house but I wanna go!!! Anything notable? (I'm who you just rbed from btw... and i also like wilson* and american dad 😁)

*as is required to say, I also hate him

Well I learned that in his home in Staunton, he only lived there for like a few months. His dad got given a better job down in Georgia so of course they moved down there. We got to see how the Wilson's lived in that house which was honestly pretty awesome. They had a bed in the house that Woodrow and his first wife slept in 🗣️🗣️🗣️

I got myself two pins, two post cards, and a Woodrow coin to fuel my fixation!!!(I'll post some photos later)

My sister also took a bunch of photos of me in the museum, making me pose like Bella from Twilight with one of the Woodrow cutouts lol

They had the car that Woodrow rode in (The lady who works in the museum said the car still works :0)

They also had these stuffed animal sheeps called Wooly Wilson 😭😭😭 IT WAS SO FUCKING CUTE AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[mangora]

Everyone talks about weh weh all stars derailed my faves and yeah it did but if you’re gonna say that go all the way because it wasn’t just duncan gwen courtney etc like the second gen got hit ROUGH too. Zoey’s whole arc in season four was learning to be self-sufficient and stand up for herself even if it made her look bad, it was about learning to be confident and not fearing her peers’ judgment anymore. All stars, she’s a total people pleaser again and her whole store revolves around Mike, when Mike’s departure last season was what sent her into a character arc. Cameron, in a similar vein, learned to take pride in his own abilities, and use his kindness and intelligence to make a name for himself instead of cowering in the face of scrutiny for the skills he didn’t have. Now he’s a bumbling wreck again who can’t make simple observations for the life of him and never stands up for himself despite winning and earning so much good will for it, including from Scott and Jo and Lightning. Speaking of, Scott, Jo, and Lightning are…so weak in this season? I’ve heard a lot about Scott being nicer now because he figured Fang’s attack was Karma for his wrongdoings on Revenge, but even though I love the idea of that was the case it should’ve been established on the show. And with Jo and Lightning I feel like this is also Revenge’s finale’s fault but you think they’d change, after everything. Jo might’ve learned to be more respectful after Cameron not only bested her but still gave her part of his prize. Maybe Lighting would learn that winning means nothing and he will not be less of a man whether he lost or won the finale because the people who care for him are already here and making it that far is accomplishment enough and he will lose all the connections he has if he keeps pushing people away as if they’re obstacles also his dad is kinda ass. The only character who I’d argue not only holds continuity with his previous appearances AND gets better is Sam who I honestly loved watching become both more confident even without Dakota to help him, as well as do his best to contribute to his team both out of kindness and an attempt to make up for last season. He’s still sweet but has more drive directly inspired by Revenge. I’d complain more about Mike but honestly? He didn’t really even feel like a character that season. Besides his limited screen time, every appearance we do get from him is just him being like “oh no! My disorder is a burden again! Noooo Zoey!” Like yeah Mike and Zoey meant a lot to each other in S4 but they were still standalone characters. If Zoey weren’t here Mike would not have done anything in this season, it would’ve been total apathy. He’s just lost his edge. And I get it I guess, writers needed to make room for the focus on Mal who is also not very well written but I still love him and think they have so so much potential which should be obvious by now…but would it have been hard? To make them act a little less like card-board cutouts? Maybe have the S4-ers talk to each other outside of their teams? I like All Stars just for how absurd and fanfic-y it is, some of the episodes are even good as actual crossover episodes (I love No One Eggspects the Spanish Inquisition), but man. You could at least give a reason for the sudden character changes or even reversions if you wanna write them this way. Ok sorry lame rant over it’s just, Gen 2 deserves way better too they were ALL out of character and honestly at least characters like Duncan had changes that were interesting

[finalfrontierpublishing]

9 for the ask meme!

HI NERAKROSE! thank you for creating these question lists!!!

9. How would you describe your binding style?

i exist solidly on vibes and feels. my binding style is very much pantser and i have aphantasia, so i frequently don't know where i'm going (or i'm mostly subsisting on prayer and swearing hoping i get to where i wanna be).

i use a fair amount of HTV and paper for my book designs and my favourite thing to do is doing designs on spines (for both HTV/ decorative stitching), so i guess if i have a thing, that is kind of my thing, sometimes.

i would like to be more experimental with my binds, and i still have an extensive list of things i wanna learn how to do (backing books, leather binding, three piece bradel, complicated cutouts, more fancy embroidery etc) but i think i'll slowly get there. i've also started trying to do more things with flatbacks and doing edge gilding/ foiling which i've been enjoying. will probably try edge marbling once i can motivate myself to go back to marbling sessions/classes as well.

[lgcseojin]

✱  TRACK 011

— TRAINEE MISSION: reflection vlog

Admittedly, Seojin did not get into the rhythm of relaxation until well into the trip. It was difficult to mitigate his workaholic tendencies and move past the many people he missed back home. ( Not to mention the lull in his work out routine and the separation from his beloved container of protein powder and vitamin packs. ) On the eighth day, he finally learned what it means to relax, dipping into vacation mode a bit too late. So here he is, on the seventh, finally feeling the tendrils of having a "good time".

He flicks on the camera while everyone else is busy wandering around the ship with a calming view of the sea. He tucks something onto the chair while he readjusts his stiff body. It appears to be some sort of small cutout of a person.

Letting out a loud groan with a stretch, he waves before giving a casual greeting in that Gyeongsang dialect of his he is unable to push down. "Hey, it's Park Seojin." Midway through his greeting, he glares playfully off camera to an unseen trainee pestering him off frame from the doorway. "Now that there's a moment of peace, I finally have my thoughts together. Maybe it's the sea air." Sarcastic, given his propensity toward motion sickness.

He finally settles onto a chair, clumsily readjusting when he nearly falls backwards. It's familiar, he thinks; a similar feeling to when he shot the reflection for Spring Boys earlier that year. Next time, he wishes for something he is permitted to be more dynamic in.

"So, I'm not really big on the whole Disneyland thing we did yesterday and I just spent time getting souvenirs for my sisters but... the other places outside, I really liked. You can play around or just sit around calmly. Glad we went to a bunch of nice looking parks. Next time, I definitely wanna go bungee jumping or do something daring like that sky walk in... Europe? I don't remember where it is. Anyway," a smile begins to form.

"My parents are probably relieved I finally got to relax even though it took me a while to kinda... get used to not being on the go all the time. It's been hard to focus. My younger brother enlisted in the military right before the trip so it's been tough actually calming down. My mind's still reeling and I'm all over the place." He sighs, desperate to drift from the painful topic he brought up himself. "Learning to sit and chill... It's underrated, for sure. I'm glad they gave us a chance to do something like this. Oh, and I did like the workshops where we got to cook, especially. I got to show off my skills to the instructors." He sends an intentionally awkward wink to the camera.

Seojin suddenly reaches behind him to grab for the cutout he placed on the chair earlier. He presents it to the camera. It is the size of a standard piece of paper, the image of his good friend Baek Byeongkwan printed out on it. Laminated, of course, with a nice pair of plastic sunglasses that he places on it with tape. He places his own down over his eyes.

"Also, since Kwannie couldn't be here, I decided to bring this along and take pictures to show him while we're floating along." After detailing more of his various adventures, he stands and shows the cutout to the camera, holding a peace sign with his fingers in front of it.

"Well, I gotta go do my work out. It's leg day." He waves to the camera, and on the way out nearly trips over the chair. He scurried to the camera to turn it off midway into a curse from the pain in his shin under his breath. ( Hopefully to be edited out. )

[devilsrecreation]

So after watching Press Start To Laugh’s “If you talked in Poppy Playtime” and the sequel, I’ve come to the conclusion that the muppets should be in Poppy Playtime

Imagine the main gang going to the old factory for some reason (maybe cuz Gonzo wanted to explore it idk) and they find themselves learning the dark secrets about it. You’d have Kermit, Fozzie, Gonzo, Pepe, Animal, Piggy, Bunsen, Beaker, and maybe even Robin.

Dunno if all of them are gonna have grab packs or not, but I do know that Kermit, Bunsen, and Beaker are gonna be the ones solving all the puzzles since they’re the smartest ones. Of course, there would still be hilarious commentary and maybe even a few songs, but I REALLY wanna see them interacting with the toys, cardboard cutouts, and playing the games in Chapter 2.

Also, I lowkey wanna see either Fozzie or Robin notice PJ Pugapillar eyeing them in the Statues game and be all like “He’s watching us, Kermit….”. You know, like in 101 Dalmatians! (Hey, they referenced Beauty and the Beast before, why not other Disney movies?)

[arlecchno]

NEL IS MY BABY I LOVE HIM - scratch / block code is actually like the only “coding language” i know because im too lazy to learn anything else LOL (im gonna try to learn renpy someday for part 2 of nels game though … anything for my silly little alien boi) tbh , scratch isnt too difficult but its TEDIOUS AS HELL 😭 it takes forever for me to make the dumb textbox transitions because i have to keep scrolling up n down , even with copy paste i still have to edit and make sure the timings are correct its such hell lmao

the little emote is basically just a glorified version of me lol (because the laws of physics wouldnt permit me to have a cool hair style)

i own the jacket irl its absolutely sick

LMAO i honestly kinda wish i could relate to the issue that people find me scary , i feel like my life would be a lot easier if i was intimidating to people , because i actually most of the time do have murder / violence on my mind - but noooo im small and squishy LOL

damn ive heard of those kinds of windows , yk those memes where people go onto their balcony / look out their window with their phones and just see like a brick wall LOL . my balcony gets a really nice view of the city sunrise i think , even though ive only been up to see it once or twice

BOOM >:D

i think the silliest thing i own is a ziplock bag from 6th grade that is full of cutouts from my friends mathbook , for example:

for the question … top 5 favorite genshin characters ? and if you want you can explain why but its not required (also if you play on genshin NA servers , wanna add eachother ? i guess this counts as two questions so feel free to shoot two back at me if ya want lol)

wishing you the best on asphodelus !!

- jellyfish

i can absolutely agree that scratch is such a pain in the ass LMAO, it always takes up my time whenever i did it in computing class a few years back

the blonde highlights are an absolute hit for me bro... and that's the xiao jacket, right? (hope i'm not mistaken because i feel like i've seen those around twitter)

AND YES THOSE MEMES IS EXACTLY MY WINDOW VIEW OMG whenever i'm feeling like looking out the window all i see is a brick wall with my neighbour's unit greeting me, and suddenly my day gets so much worse /hj

and those sunrise pics are bomb!!! i feel like if i had a sunrise view i'd be up early every single day to watch it and take cute pictures (i'm literally up before 6 every day, unwillingly)

a ziplock bag full of cutouts...? from 6th grade...? damn looking at it made me realize that 6th grade was so long ago and that we'd do a lot of silly stuff at that age 😭 makes me remind of those times when i was so energetic lmao now i can't even go up a flight of stairs without complaining

i think i'd have to make a separate top 5 list for the genshin characters because i don't think i could combine both genders into one list 😔 i'm too indecisive for that

top 5 genshin men; kuni, kazuha, cyno, dainsleif and alhaitham!! kuni is pretty self-explanatory, but as for kazuha and cyno.... i've been in love ever since they first came out (for cyno i've been waiting since like late 2020 LMAO and for kazuha i first saw him in the beta leaks and vowed to save up for him ever since then) i've also pretty much been in love with dainsleif ever since his first appearance in the archon quest (was it in 1.5??? i'm not entirely sure) and for alhaitham,, well his very blunt personality (and also appearance) have intrigued me 😞 i am apart of the alhaitham fanclub now

top 5 genshin women; yelan, shenhe, yoimiya, yae miko and ei!!! i love yelan and shenhe the most tho, they're my loves and i'm just really in love with their designs 🫶🫶

it's also cool how i have most of them (except for alhaitham, dainsleif and... kuni, unfortunately). i'll most definitely pull for alhaitham soon and hopefully luck is with me hahaha,, i quite literally only have less than 10 pulls right now

and yes i do play on na!!! i'm not really online much because there's not much to do right now but yes we could add eachother!!

as for a question for you... how many 5* do you currently have in genshin? and who do you plan on pulling for next?

thank you!!! asphodelus is going pretty well for me i am really looking forward to this new series

and thank you once again for talking with me jellyfish hehe hope you're having a great day today!! :D

[dontgofarfromme]

hello gay audiobook anon here, so i am well into book 2 and i have to say there are so many people learning so many things about the ways their nephews and uncles and father figures like to fuck (burrich the bitey stallion be still my loins). my favourite tho is nighteyes chiming in every so often like a cross between the michael jackson popcorn gif and Texts From Dog

anyway, i am very interested in how gender is playing out too, like the world is built ostensibly equal (women as warriors and in all walks of life, female inheritance etc) but still very much not in practice? or is that just my perception? v glad to see molly, kettricken, patience and lacey (lacey!!!!!) balancing out the sausage fest a bit lol what r ur thoughts, & does the gender stuff develop more later? i assume so esp bc of the fool.

Oh my god unfortunately people continue to learn things about the sex lives of people of whom they definitely did not want to know anything about for like....ever in these books hdkhfskkd I feel so bad for Fitz 😂

The gender stuff in this series is.....something lol. It has a fair amount of female characters compared to a lot of fantasy series, and obviously the Fool challenges a lot of ideas about binary gender constantly through the series, but unfortunately I'd say on a whole I was more frustrated than not with the overarching messaged I got regarding gender. It's partially because of the fact that there are so many female characters and that the Fool seems to be so well written (as far as I can tell his portrayal as a nonbinary character appears to be taken seriously and done respectfully and with a fair amount of realism, although I'm not entirely clear on how intentional it was and I wouldn't say it's perfect. I'm also not nonbinary myself so i cant speak from experience, but I think there's quite a few rote fans who are and who have written on the topic if you wanna dig into that more) that I feel this way bc I feel like hobb sets you up in these books for something that will have some sort of positive or interesting or progressive thoughts around gender, or will at least show follow through with the way its set up six duchies society to interact with gender, but for the most part it,,,doesn't. Ostnetiably the country is completely unbiased when it comes to women holding land or titles or jobs that were traditionally male, but the actual way characters interact and the way characters perceive things like jobs and family and stuff feels like it takes place in a fairly rigid patriarchal society. This also makes it interesting when you go to other locations in later books that are supposedly more patriarchal and find that while there's more explicit "stay in the kitchen" behavior there, the ultimate roles a lot of characters get chucked into are like...very similar in the Six Duchies anyway. In addition to this the Rain Wild chronicles are just god awful when it comes to gender, just like truly the worst most "there are boys and there are girls and boys do this and girls do this and never the twain shall meet etcetc" and you keep reading and hoping there's some hidden theme or some way this is gonna get turned on its head and it does not it just continues to get worse.

THAT SAID I do think the female characters are for the most part engaging and well-rounded (if not always given the importance i think they deserve), and there are many of them. And the Fool is hands down the best character in this series imo, and the amount of focus on him serves the series well as it allows gender and identity to be played with and engaged with in a variety of ways while also ensuring he's a 3D character not a joke or a cardboard cutout who's there specifically and only to be a lesson for Fitz (again, I'm not like 100% sure how much RH was aware of what she was doing with him but if she's ever made a statement about it it was clearly less inflammatory than the shit she said about the fitz/fool relationship which is....probably a good sign). I just find she didn't think through the potential implications of some of her world building choices and got kind of stuck in the mould of "this is what a fantasy world is like." And also just. The entire Rain Wild traders series gave me pause as to what her thoughts on gender actually are lolololol if you're looking for a series to skip that is it!!!!!! It's not worth it for the cameos.

Also I know some of my gripes are very vague here but I don't wanna spoil you for things! I have specific things that annoy me about the way certain characters' stories turn out and also very specific gripes with the rain wild traders in particular that I won't detail bc I don't wanna tell u stuff you'd rather find out on ur own.

[thetoadghoul]

Volunteering: (Ohtani x Reader) <333 (Part - 2)

part 1!

plot: Wednesday’s game arrives which Ohtani invited you to, some bonding time before the first pitch <3 slowwwburn, long cause idk details are fun lol

Wednesday quickly arrived, made much faster by the crazy amount of work you were required to do for your ‘actual’ job. The last three days had been spent with you running around the LA area, as well as cyberspace, to serve your role as interpreter. It was hell, for more reasons than one. The biggest of all being that even though you were not in Japan at the moment, you were still required to wear a proper suit. That meant a tight navy skirt, stockings, and some blasted heels. Sexist men, long meetings, and endless paperwork aside, you enjoyed your job for the most part - but this aspect really wore on you. However, the pain in your feet wouldn't damper your excitement for tonight’s game. Today you were not actually volunteering at the Angels stadium.

The day before yesterday, when you were actually volunteering, a bashful Ohtani had tapped you on the back while you were picking up baseballs from the batting cages. When you turned around the giant man was holding out a lanyard with an attached document, marked ‘VIP Guest of Player’. It took all you had not to let your hands shake with nerves as you reached out and grabbed it gingerly.

“Uh, see you on Wednesday.” The man looked to the side awkwardly, running a hand through his hair.

“...Yeah.” You responded with a small smile, feeling stupid, but it was all you could think of.

“Well, uh, I better go...” He motioned behind his back with a lazy thumb, staring to jog backward.

You nodded quickly, rushing to go back to picking up balls before you said something super lame, or weird.

It wasn’t till you were on the way home did you take a look at the back of the stadium pass. It read ‘Guest of Shohei Ohtani’. So he had put in the request for you, that was just like him, so kind. It would be an understatement to say you weren’t excited for tomorrow.

-----

Currently, your heart was still racing, but for another reason other than a certain super cute and insanely talented baseball player. It was because it was almost three-thirty in the afternoon and you were running around your company-provided apartment, trying to get ready as fast as you could. Ippei let you know you should get there around four-thirty, by then the team would have been done warming up and starting to enjoy a pregame meal while the away team got the field to themselves. From that point onwards, pretty much everyone was free to relax in the clubhouse till just before the first pitch.

With little time to consider, not even enough time to take a shower after having just got off work, you went with an oversized red T-shirt, baggy jeans, and some cool Jordan’s. This was your go-to, and it was comfortable. You don’t have many clothes anyway, living out of a suitcase.

Right as you were about to run out of the door you remembered to grab your standard Angels cap, it had been provided to you as part of your volunteer uniform a while back, slipping it on over your tight work bun. You would let your hair down later.

All right, everything was in order, Uber scheduled, lanyard secured.

It took about half an hour to arrive at the stadium, and once it came into view, you instructed the driver to let you out in front of the ballpark entrance. It had been a long time since you got to go through the gates as a member of the audience, it actually gave you a wave of nostalgia seeing everyone in their gear, so hyped up for the game, tailing gating outside for what was probably hours.

Once you were through, you started walking through the concession stands and various other stalls, dodging around the fans that were already inside watching the warm-ups, as well as hanging out drinking and eating. There were pictures of Ohtani everywhere, people taking turns snapping pictures of each other in front of the various cutouts of him. The air was buzzing with energy, and it seemed like all for that guy. Honestly, you had worked for a couple different teams over the years, but you had never seen hype like this. It was surreal, seeing a legend in the making.

You smiled, gripping the lanyard around your neck, making your way through the stadium. Shohei was super nice to do this for you, really, you should show him your support. Maybe a quick peek in the team store would do? Plus, you deserved to spend some money on yourself. After all, this was the first time you had really been ‘out’ in the almost three months you had been in California. Your free time was either working, volunteering, video games, or sleep.

You took a couple moments in the Angel's merch shop, quietly perusing the aisles, keeping an eye out for any Ohtani-themed items. Unfortunately, there weren’t really that many, probably sold out by the fans. What was there, was way too small for you.

“Y/n, you here to watch the game?” A young voice sounded.

When you turned to see who addressed you, a familiar girl was standing there grinning.

“Hey Jordan! I didn’t know you were working tonight.” You grinned back.

Jordan worked at the store as a stock manager, she was close in age to you so the two of you often hung out. You had invited her over a couple times, both bonding over your love for crappy reality TV, beer, and of course, baseball.

“Yeah it was last minute, a girl was feeling sick and there wasn’t anyone else cept’ me.” She sighed.

“Bummer, text me if you need help?” You offered, to which she waved you off.

“Nah, you enjoy being here and NOT working.” She chuckled, walking over to organize a messy shelf.

“So, you looking for something in particular?” The girl glanced over her shoulder.

“Uh yeah, you recommend any cool Ohtani stuff? Or is there any at all... seems wiped clean in here.” You said while looking around.

“Ohtani? You here to cheer him on too then. Wanna catch his eye.” She teased.

“Don’t say it like I’m just here for my like, prince charming.” You snapped back playfully, but, maybe a little too fast.

“Aren’t you?” She pressed with an eyebrow.

“Okay, I’m leaving.” You pouted, fake walking away.

“I’m just kidding, actually, stay here for a second I might have something you’ll like.” Jordan yelled as she jogged off to the back room behind the counters.

You did as you were told and when she came back there was a large white Angels jersey in her hands.

“Ta-da!” She grinned, twisting it around to show the player’s name on the back.

“Oh, it’s in Kanji? That’s cool, I didn’t know these existed?” You questioned, running your finger over the ‘tani’ character of Ohtani.

“It’s the last one on the floor, had to grab it off the mannequin. Hope it’s not too big? It’s XL?” She questioned, passing it to you to hold.

“Nah it’s perfect, can’t you tell.” You joked holding the jersey next to you, while you showed off your oversized clothes.

“Figured it'd be fine, wanna get rung up? I’ll give you that ‘good good’ employee discount. But, don’t tell anyone.” She smiled, heading to the register, to which you nodded and jogged after her.

After you finished your purchase and waved bye to Jordan, it was time to head to the clubhouse. It was around five, so you were later than you planned but Shohei usually practiced batting in the cages a little while longer while everyone headed in. Slipping the plastic shopping bag into your purse, and ripping the tags off your new jersey, you slipped it on over your T-shirt, smoothing out the material as best you could. It felt great to finally have some real merch from the team, and part of you sort of wondered what Ohtani would think when he saw you. Hopefully, it wasn’t too much to just show up in his gear after he pretty much randomly invited you, let alone in the stadium-specific one, as you just learned from your colleague.

After you got to an employee-only doorway, you pushed on it hoping it was actually open. Ippei had also let you know via text that it would be unlocked for you. Another kindness of Shohei, not just inviting you, but making sure you had access to all the catering and AC inside the resisted area of the building. You slipped in and locked the door behind you, not wanting to encourage some intoxicated fans to follow. The hallway was empty and cool as you started making your way to the clubhouse.

You were admittedly a bit nervous by the time you got to the doors, feeling a bit awkward about strutting in as anyone other than a volunteer for the first time. Carefully you pushed open the door, making sure not to hit anybody. The room was full of chatter, some players eating, some playing cards, others watching TV on the room's monitors. You looked around for Ohtani, but he wasn’t there yet apparently. No matter, you strolled in and went for the snack area. Truthfully you hadn’t eaten since that morning, and that was just a toasted bagel. Turning your back to the rest of the room, you began filling up your plate with cocktail shrimp and grapes.

“Nice jersey.” Ippei said, coming up next to you, grabbing small sandwiches for his plate.

“Is that sarcastic?” You questioned with a smile, finishing your plate.

“Nah, I’m sure he likes it.” Ippei jerked his head to the left.

He? You leaned back to see around the man, meeting Shohei’s surprised face almost immediately. Had he been standing there the whole time? He had obviously been staring at your back, at his name, bashfully looking up to your face when you moved, blinking a couple times to clear his eyes.

“I uh, got it ten minutes ago.” You grinned awkwardly, pointing your thumb proudly at the jersey, hoping he wouldn’t think you were a weirdo.

The large player didn’t say anything, blinking more slowly this time before opting to just nod gently, with a quick “thanks for your support”, hurriedly leaning forward to start filling his plate with all kinds of foods.

—-

Once everyone had their food the three of you found a place to sit while you ate, it was at the back of the room away from the noise, and where the two usually sat before a game anyways. A small conversation started while the three of you ate calmly.

“Why... do you only have grapes, and shrimp?” Ohtani questioned suddenly, looking at your plate baffled. You looked down at it as well, pausing for a moment trying to find out what was so weird about that.

“Uh, well, it’s because... these things are... super expensive in Tokyo. It’s like a rich person food to me.” You smiled, eating a couple shrimps happily.

“Wow. That’s so sad.” Ippei chuckled before taking a bite of his sandwich.

Shohei on the other hand burst out laughing at your response, making you laugh a bit too at your pitiful confession.

“Seriously, I feel like a mega-rich, and very posh, Ginza lady right now - eating nothing but shrimp and fruit. So fancy right? ” You exclaimed, popping a grape in your mouth.

The Japanese player laughed even harder, tears building up as he wiped his eyes.

“Those people wouldn’t touch that stuff with a three-meter stick.” Ippei stated, letting out a small laugh.

“Just let me have my moment.” You pouted through a smile, shoving more shrimp in your mouth.

The other man calmed down finally and was now sitting there smiling while he ate.

“So, fancy y/n, are you okay to sit in the dugout tonight. Not too unrefined for you?” Ippei questioned with a smirk.

“That’s, allowed?” You asked, surprised.

“Yeah, if you want to. Can’t stay there the whole time, but.” The man responded nonchalantly, shrugging his shoulders.

“It’s the best place to hear, ‘the surprise’.” Shohei added, food in the process of being shoved in his mouth.

“Well, doesn’t seem like there’s any other option.” You smiled at the player, who nodded in acknowledgment.

“He’s batting first tonight, you won’t have to wait long.” Ippei spoke, starting on the next sandwich.

“Hope me being in there won’t be bad luck.” You joked.

“You believe in that?” Ippei smirked.

“My family ingrained it into me, wasn’t allowed to watch a single super bowl game in the living room till I literally moved out.” You frowned, stabbing a grape.

“Harsh.” The man smirked with a small laugh under his breath.

“You will be good luck, for sure.” Shohei leaned forward in a hunch to take another bite of food, smiling sincerely at you as he looked up from his food.

“Then, I will see to it that will become a very good omen. Please believe in me.” You responded in the highest form of keigo you knew, bowing rigidly from your seat for comedic effect. Since you never studied that level of grammar, it was really freaking bad, causing the two men to laugh again.

“You’re funny.” Ippei chuckled.

“Yeah, and your Japanese is so good though?” Shohei exclaimed, eyebrows raised, eyes wide.

“Nah it’s pretty bad, I fell off the study wagon a long time ago.” You laughed awkwardly, waving a hand in front of your face.

“You’d be there forever if you stayed on.” Ippei chuckled again, while Shohei nodded in sullen agreement.

“Writing would be nice though, having to look up every other kanji at the doctor's office, or like city hall makes me literally sweat, like, a lot. Buckets. But when I look around, I'm the only one.” You giggled.

“You’re so honest.” Shohei chuckled, wiping his mouth with a napkin, still leaning forward in his chair, you grinned back at him. Your eyes locked for a while, you had never noticed, but his eyelashes were sort of long.

At that moment Ippei had to take a call, letting the two of you know he’d be back in a bit, walking off. The two of you looked away and finished eating in silence.

When you looked up from your empty plate, the large player was now staring at you with a soft expression. The warmth in his eyes made you blush, he didn’t even break his gaze once he was caught like he usually did. You responded back to him simply with a shy smile, before being the one to avert your own eyes to the floor again.

Thankfully at that moment, a group of Angels came over, slapping the Japanese man on the back, starting up a conversion. They were going over strategies for the game and overall just getting hyped up. You didn’t have much to input, so you just kind of sat there enjoying the excited chatter. Shohei smiled merrily the whole time, inserting little jokes, completely affected by their excitement. The way he carried himself really reminded you that the essence of baseball was really just about having fun with your teammates and giving it your all. He looked simply happy to be there, and it made you smile too, just watching him goof off. It was charming to see his duality of being a just big kid with endless laugher, versus the super-serious, and seasoned player he was on the mound.

You were really trying hard not to but, you were rapidly developing feelings for Shohei. The last three months of volunteering here, you of course thought he was really cute and kind, classic boyfriend material. A simple crush, like many of the girls working around him, surely had as well. However the possibility of you two actually dating had always been a foreign concept, one which stopped you from even considering it, at all, you just didn’t know if you even could. With you both traveling for work, how would there be time? Plus, what about the media? His family? Yours? All those things seemed unscalable walls, that is, until this moment, when you could feel his gentle eyes on you once again.

Maybe, there was something? Or maybe, he was just a super nice guy, and you were treated no different than anyone else.

When you snapped out of your thoughts, Shohei was starting to stand up, grabbing everyone’s empties plates. He reached his hand towards you, asking for the one in your hand with a tiny nod of his head, to which you thanked him, stood up, and handed it over.

Well.

Either way, you were so screwed.

-------

Hope you enjoyed! <3

[gunkreads]

Okay. Just finished Faithless Hawk by Margaret Owen. I am. I am. Borderline catatonic. Knocked flat. Consider my flabbers gasted. Absolutely fucking floored.

Hefty spoilers, probably.

Ok so it’s two books: The Merciful Crow and The Faithless Hawk. Owen learned from Bardugo and kept her Russian-YA-fantasy series as a duology rather than a trilogy, which does wonders for the pacing, but that’s a whole other conversation. I have a couple things I wanna address front-and-center:

One, the way Tavin is written. I, as a guy, have never felt seen by male love interests. The books I’ve read that feature leading ladies with male love interests tend to paint them very, very flat; cardboard cutouts who are defined solely by their interactions with the protagonist. Yes. I know what you’re going to say. My pity for every girl and woman who’s had to grow up reading books in which they were treated that way is immeasurable. It really is. I truly feel so incredibly lucky to have grown up with a wide variety of easily accessible heroic protagonists of my gender.

But to move along, Tavin has this kind of softness to him that pierces a deeper layer of characterization than many male YA love interests reach. It’s really truly driven home near the beginning of Faithless Hawk when Fie touches his tooth and sees through his eyes from when he thought he’d found her body. That scene did more for well-written ManPain than anything else I’ve seen in recent memory. It gave him the full complement of ManPain Generators: a Fie-shaped hole in his heart, a distinct and clear goal to fill it, something that completely shreds all hope of doing so, and the ability to have a bone-rattling, gut-curdling sobbing cry about it. It was fucking good.

Two, the use of refrains. “When, not if” is the first really big one, but it’s far from the hardest-hitting. I love stories with refrains in them. Wheel of Time has its intro paragraph, Kingkiller has “a silence of three parts”, Red Rising has “live for more”, etc. etc. etc. This duology has a wonderful complement of refrains that do a good job of treading the line between “this is something a character would conceivably repeat to themselves” and “this absolutely fucks but nobody talks like that”.

Very specifically, the repeated mention of the Money Dance in all its forms. It culminates in that absolutely diaphragm-clenching final iteration at the gates of Dumosa, but every time it comes up it adds just a little depth to the world. Fie knows that a Money Dance isn’t always a dance and isn’t always about money, and that’s something I appreciate as a lover of incredibly strung-out metaphor.

Three, the unabashed badass factor. Owen isn’t afraid to dish out lines that just rip your ass to shreds and toss it down the storm drain to rot. Really, anything surrounding Tavin is so goddamn Zuko-brand emo in the best way and Owen smacks you with so many good fuckin lines. “The best thing he could do with his life was die” and shit like that. C’mon, Margaret. Man. Don’t do that to me.

And the fact that Fie being... uh... feisty... actually tracks. Those of you who read my long-winded rants know that I have a serious issue with a certain popular YA fantasy author’s approach to “wit”. Owen neatly circumvents that by having Fie’s feist come from something, rather than being a trait in and of itself. She does a consistently good job of building Fie up to outbursts; it never comes from zero. Fie can be collected when she’s calm, but the situation rarely calls for it, especially in the latter half of the second book, so it works well. Also, her scathing remarks are legitimately scathing and never feel like an authorial attempt to tickle my (the reader’s) sense of humor. There’s funny shit, for sure, but it’s entirely contained within the narrative and never asks the reader to step in and laugh with the characters; they’re already laughing themselves.

And also, can’t forget the whole “we’re here to carry you.” God damn you Sean Astin for making me read the words “carry you” in your voice.

Four, the names. Look. I’m a sucker for a good name. “The Eater of *literally anything that isn’t traditionally eaten and has some metaphorical weight*” is pretty much the best possible name ever. Little more need be said here.

Five, and this one’s more for me as a person rather than me as a shitty amateur internet critic, it makes me wiggle in my chair and go “Eeeeeeeee!!!!” a lot, it makes me laugh out loud in my stupid little strained giggle a lot, and it makes me cry a LOT.

Make no mistake, this book has its flaws. I’m sure. I bet it does. Probably. Somebody else could point them out to you.

No, I’m kidding. I can.

There’s something left to be desired with the philosophy behind the politics at the end; it’s a little uninspired. “Oh, yeah, we’ll abolish the monarchy and put up a ruling council” YEAH BUDDY NEVER HEARD THAT ONE. Not a big deal, all told, and kind of falls squarely outside the purview of the story’s main themes, but I do wish there was a little more complexity behind it. Felt like too neat a bow to wrap up with.

The book is far more about character than world. You really don’t see shit about the world except through Fie’s eyes and her secondhand stories from others. It leaves a world with a lot of mystery and a lot of untold stories. This would be totally fine, but for some reason I got the feeling that these stories were just a little too faint to make the world actually feel bigger than this story. Throughout the two books, I never had a moment where I felt like I wanted to know what someone else was doing. This could be to Owens’ credit--her characters are too interesting to care about anything else--but it does make the world feel a little smaller. Like I said, the bow that tied off the story was a little too neat. 

Tavin can feel a bit cardboardy at times. Maybe a lot of times. He’s very much cut from the “hot strong warrior boy with a sordid life who just can’t love you” mold and it’s kinda silly. It’s played fairly straight and it works just fine; serviceable if nothing else. He’s not particularly 3D--more like 2.5D, think Paper Mario--but his contours are defined by the way he bounces off Fie so it works out okay.

Honestly that’s kinda it for criticisms? I just liked the books a lot.

Unexpectedly pretty solid and casual gay and bi representation, as well as at least two characters, one named, who use they/them pronouns. Not something that makes the series any more worth reading than it already is, but worth noting and kinda nice.

Actually, to go back to the thing about the worldbuilding: weirdly enough, it reminds me of John Wick. Just the first one, really. You see the surface of this placid pond of a world, but there’s a chill that runs through your bones that tells you it’s deeper than it looks. You see the character move through it and you realize they know every single little tooth of every single little gear that moves this machine. To be negative, the ending of the series feels a little bit like if John Wick had ended with him just walking in and killing the whole council and then went home happily to his dog where nobody would ever bother him again and he’d take naps on rainbows and sip on sunshine.

I understand and appreciate a happy ending. I loved that it was an unambiguously happy ending. It made me happy, if you can believe that. But there can be happiness in complexity. Some threads can be left loose, some problems can remain to be solved, without making the ending tragic or sad. Could’ve been nice.

But yeah you should read these books. They’re very good and prove my point that YA isn’t an indicator of quality, but rather of audience. If you, like me, are in your 20s, just let yourself automatically age everyone up by 10 years and you’re chillin.

[theloganator101]

To be honest I feel like a lot of Class 1A's problems come from their lack of development. Due to the lack of focus by Hori a lot of them as the story has gone on feel like Cardboard cut outs.

The main members of 1A given focus by Hori

1) Izuku (Deku) - Mr Shonen Protag Main Character

2) Katsuki (Explosion Murder God Dynamight) - The 'Shonen Rival'. Although to me he's a poor example of one.

3) Shoto Todoroki (Shoto) - Deutragonist but even he has been sidelined in favor of Katsuki, his father and the Todofam drama a lot.

4) Aoyama (I can not stop twinkling) - the reluctant traitor.

5) Uraraka (Uravity) - the one who will save Toga whether Toga wants to be saved or not.

Nearly everyone else in 1A has begun to feel more and more like a cardboard cutout the more the story has gone on. Since Hori has been puppeteering them to do what he wants for the sake of plot when it should have raised more issues with them.

I.e the Class 1A vs Izuku fight being led by Bakugou - are we meant to seriously believe any of Izuku's friends just went with that? Wtf Hori?

Also I feel like fanon gives more care to those in 1A than Hori himself and gives answers to things Hori left hanging. Such as Denki, a joke character whose quirk fries his brain and a bit of a goof whose love interest is the one to laugh first when he does that to himself. The fanon have taken him and allowed him to come into his own and gave him more of a character with relatable struggles like learning difficulties.

All of this is sad because canonically the more that the story has gone on the more I find it hard differienate between any of 1A (other than the 5 I listed above.)

TLDR - all of 1A have missed potential and it seems like Hori has cared about them less and less the more the story has gone on. This is really sad because 1A could have been the basis for a really good support network and found family for Izuku.

This series is an example of the side characters being more interesting than the main characters.

Like Izuku is great and all but he gotten so watered down as the series went on, Uraraka's been sidelined to focus more on the stupid love triangle with Toga, Bakugou's an asshole, and Shoto's nothing more than a plot device in his own arc.

And I'm not even going into the whole traitor thing with Aoyama because that was just thrown in as a gotcha moment.

I wanna learn more about Sero, I wanna learn more about Hagakure, I wanna learn more about Aoyama.

These characters have stories waiting to be told but we don't get any of that. Hori's so focused on making a beeline to the next major plot point that the story doesn't have any breathing time to really get to know these characters and make a bond with them.

It really should've taken place over the course of 3 years instead of cramming it all into one because everything feels so muddled now that after the 1A vs Izuku fight, I just don't care for the canon characters anymore.

I'm with @marunalu when they said this, I do hope the villains win and this series becomes a tragedy because of them allowing people like Bakugou and Endeavor to get away scott free while the victims APOLOGIZE to them! It's not a good look for the series at all.

[angelofrainfrogs]

Welcome Home, Superstar: Ch. 10

Fandom: Five Nights At Freddy’s: Security Breach

Description: After defeating the glitchtrap virus and learning the truth about who—and what—he is, Gregory faces another big task ahead of him: learning what it’s like to be loved by the family he’s never had. It will take time to befriend the animatronics who previously hunted him, but with the help of Freddy, Gregory knows he can overcome anything the world might throw at him next.

Chapter Summary: Gregory celebrates his new family with a party full of food, laughs, and hopes for the future.

Rating: T

Read on Ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/37561549/chapters/95528071

“Gregory, you're a very smart boy, you know—and sweet one at that! I don't think any of the other kids would throw a surprise feast for us!” Chica said with a soft smile, clasping her hands in her lap as she took a seat at the table.

“Yeah, this is awesome!” Roxy added, sitting back down and grabbing her plate before Monty could take it again. She shot the gator a warning look, baring her teeth with a small but obviously playful growl, to which Monty stuck his tongue out in response.

“You made all of this yourself?!” Freddy asked, amazed, sitting down as well and examining the carefully cut pieces of food. They had quite the spread—everything the children's menu had to offer, and then some extra things Gregory had hand-drawn.

“Yes! I had to be fast, though!” Gregory replied, completely forgoing his own chair to settle comfortably in Freddy’s lap. He kicked his legs back and forth and pulled his plate closer to reach his cold grilled cheese sandwich.

“Well, you did a wonderful job,” Freddy praised, reaching around Gregory to take a few cutouts for himself. He glanced beside him, smiling softly, then put a few cutouts on Bonnie's plate as well before meeting Chica’s gaze across the table with a grin. “I am sure you are very happy about this, Chica! No cheese and grease to clog up your systems!”

Roxy and Monty grabbed handfuls of “food,” seeming not to care about what they were actually getting, though the grins on their faces showed that they were enjoying themselves immensely. Monty began chomping on the pieces of paper one by one until his plate was empty, upon which he stared hard at the dish for a few seconds before giving a shrug and beginning to chew on that as well.

“I also made another present,” Gregory announced after scarfing down a few bites of sandwich. He reached into his pocket and set the necklaces down on the table, and it was clear which animatronic they were meant for by the haphazardly scribbled colors on the dried macaroni. “I made one for each of you!”

Monty was quick to snatch Roxy's, grinning happily. “Aww, thanks, squirt! You're the best boy in this Pizzaplex!”

“Listen, you…,” the wolf growled, grabbing the red, white, and green necklace and giving Monty his instead. “I know that I’m the best and have the best color scheme, but you’ve gotta suck it up and—”

“Roxanne!” Freddy chided, covering Gregory’s ears. He’d forgotten how lax she could be with her language after hours—this was something he hadn’t looked forward to returning. When they were by themselves it was fine, but now that Gregory was around they had to be careful about what his impressionable mind might pick up on.

“Aw, that wasn’t too bad…,” Roxy muttered, then tied the string of macaroni around her neck and took a cautious bite of paper food, unsure if she really wanted to eat it.

Freddy picked up his own necklace, examining it closely. “This is wonderful, superstar; thank you! Did Sun help you with these?”

“Nope! I did it all by myself in the room! I didn't wanna stay in the daycare for too long—I'm still kinda scared of him…,” Gregory murmured with a grimace. He definitely didn't want Sun to turn back to Moon while he was there, so he was glad he left on time to avoid lights out.

“That was a wise decision,” Freddy agreed with a nod, understanding Gregory's hesitancy towards the daycare attendant. Moon had been one of the most aggressive animatronics that night, after all. “Perhaps we can stop by the daycare sometime and at least thank Sun for the supplies—both of us, this time.”

Gregory smiled nervously, nodding his head slowly. “I forgot that I had to return those, hehe…”

While this conversation was going on, Monty had picked up his own necklace and was turning it over in his claws, sunglasses pulled down on his snout to see better.

“Hey... Mine actually looks cooler than yours, so hah!” he exclaimed, giving Roxy a smug grin before gently putting the necklace back on the table and promptly taking another bite out of his paper plate.

“…You know there’s more ‘food,’ right?” Roxy asked, staring at the gator dumbfounded.

Monty didn't answer, although he took a deep inhale of unneeded breath as if preparing for a speech. Then, suddenly, he exhaled all the chewed-up pieces of paper in Roxy's face, immediately breaking into hysterical laughter afterwards. “Take that, puppy!”

Everyone simply stared at Monty open-mouthed, stunned by the audacity of his actions. After a few seconds of processing what just happened, Roxy abruptly jumped out of her seat with a snarl, only to crouch down and launch herself at Monty, physically knocking him out of his chair and onto the floor. Though Monty was stronger and heavier, Roxy’s quick reflexes and agility made them a pretty even match.

Monty continued laughing as he was knocked from his chair, completely unfazed as he wrapped his arms around the wolf. The pair began rolling around on the floor, causing Gregory to giggle at the sight. Freddy sighed wearily, shaking his head.

“As much as I would greatly appreciate a nice, calm meal—” He said these last few words a little louder, but Roxy and Monty were too involved in their wrestling match to hear him. “—it is good to see everyone acting like themselves again.” He smiled at Chica, appreciating her calm demeanor more than she’d ever know. “How is your pizza, Chica?”

“It's delicious! I want to teach Gregory how to make a pizza he can eat sometime—although it seems he already has experience in the kitchen!” the bird chirped, reaching over the table to gently pat Gregory’s head.

“I am sure he would appreciate a cooking lesson nonetheless,” Freddy said with a smile. “He certainly needs to eat more than frozen sandwiches!”

“Yes please!” Gregory agreed, kicking his legs back and forth excitedly.

Monty and Roxy wrestled for a few more minutes before finally parting. They stood and shook hands, grinning at each other amiably before sitting back down at the table, Roxy fluffing out her hair as she did so. As Monty got comfortable in his seat, he looked over at Chica wide-eyed.

“Wait! You have to wait your turn, Chica!” he exclaimed, folding his arms over his chest. “Gregory and I are supposed to golf next!”

“Oh, yes! I promised Monty that we would return to the golf course for a game tomorrow night,” Freddy said with a laugh, meeting Monty’s gaze behind his glasses. “You will need to teach Gregory the ropes; he has not golfed before!”

“Hell yeah!” Monty exclaimed with a wide grin, pumping a fist in the air and completely ignoring Freddy’s disapproving glare. “I can definitely do that! We'll have to practice, like, all the time though.”

Roxy grinned, her tail wagging slightly. “Once you get good, kid, we all have to play a game together!”

“Ooh, like when we all played Fazer Blast?!” Gregory chimed in, which made Monty let out a dramatically loud gasp.

“Y’all... played... Fazer Blast... WITHOUT ME?!” he asked, clutching his chest as he leaned back in his chair. “Why wasn't I invited?!”

“Oh, well, it... it was a spur of the moment decision,” Freddy tried to explain, feeling bad for not inviting Monty in hindsight. However, with the way he'd been acting, who could really blame them? “Besides, you had not been formally reintroduced to Gregory at that point, and we wanted the first meeting to be special!”

“Yeah, also… no offence big guy, but you can be intimidating to some of the kids and I think ol' Freddy here was afraid you'd scare poor Gregory to death.” Roxy laughed nervously, scratching the back of her head. “And, well, he kind of already had one of those experiences at my racetrack earlier that night, so...” She trailed off, shrugging apologetically.

Monty rolled his eyes. “I’m not intimidatin’!” He pulled down his glasses again to look at Gregory, wanting to hear his opinion. “…Right, squirt?”

Gregory smiled softly, quickly shaking his head. “I'm not scared of you guys anymore, so it's okay! I'm really just scared of Sun…” He mumbled this last part quietly, but the animatronics had no trouble hearing him.

“He sure is a character, isn't he?” Chica said with a giggle. “But he's a sweetheart—he really just loves making friends.”

“Yes,” Freddy agreed with a nod. “I was able to speak to Sun the other day and explained what happened as best I could. It seems that he understands at least enough to un-ban Gregory from the daycare, so that is a good start!”

“And even when the lights go out, he's still harmless,” Roxy added with a laugh of her own. “Moon is weird, but he just wants those kids to go to sleep; he'd never actually hurt anyone, just like the rest of us!”

Gregory hummed quietly, tapping his chin. Well, he'd have to see it to believe it, that's for sure. “He's still... creepy.”

Monty snorted at Gregory's comment, nodding his head quickly. “Yeah… He's an odd fella, I'll tell ya that.” He leaned his elbows against the table, grinning widely. “So’s that security guard! Y'know, squirt, while I was waitin’ for you earlier, I jumped out and surprised him instead of you! Then when I tried again, it was only Freddy…”

“Yes, I remember that very clearly...,” Freddy said with a sigh. “I fear that guard may not be cut out for this position; he seems quite frightened of us, even if we are not jumping out at him from dark corners.” He gave Monty a pointed look, recalling how he'd seen Monty scare the poor man. Because of this, Freddy wasn't surprised when the gator popped out of the same spot a few minutes later upon his approach.

Monty let out another hearty laugh, slamming his fist against the table. “Did ya see the look on his face?! I swear he peed himself!”

“I think he's really nice!” Chica said in the guard’s defense, setting her hands in her lap. However, Gregory didn't seem amused.

“I don't trust him! He seems mean to me,” the boy commented, shifting in Freddy’s lap so he could rest against the animatronic’s chest. “I don't like how he accuses Freddy of stuff either!”

“I think he is just nervous of what he cannot see,” Freddy explained calmly, giving Gregory a squeeze around the waist. “If you are invisible to him, imagine how it must look when I am interacting with you. I am sure if he were to encounter you on his own, he would not know what to do!”

“Pfft, oh now I've gotta see this!” Roxy exclaimed, throwing her head back with a laugh. She nudged an elbow into Monty's arm excitedly. “Let me scare him with you next time, Monty!”

“Please do not harass him,” Freddy said wearily, always the voice of reason. “He may say some rude things, but he mostly stays out of our way; what if he quits and is replaced by someone else who has even less patience for us?”

“Hmph!” Gregory huffed; he’d been fully onboard with Monty and Roxy’s plan until Freddy spoke up. “He just better not be mean to you guys!”

“Okay, I see your point Fredbear…,” Monty nodded, then tilted his head questioningly. “It really was an accident the first time but... Can Roxy and I jump out and scare him pleeeeease? Just one time!” He reached a clawed hand out towards the bear imploringly.

Freddy simply stared at him, then shook his head. “Do you think I would actually condone that, Monty?”

“What he's saying is that he's not gonna say yes, BUT he can't really tell us no,” Roxy said, shooting Monty a grin. “So that means hell yeah we can scare him, as long as Freddy isn't around!”

Monty was about to let out a whoop of excitement when Chica rested her hand against his, gently pushing it back down onto the table.

“Freddy is right,” she said, glancing at Roxy as well. “We don't want a super strict security guard to take Thomas’s place instead!”

“Ugh, no fair!” the gator huffed, stomping his feet to get out his little tantrum. Eventually he calmed enough to fold his arms over his chest.  “...Well, fine! But don't let him get in the way of my surprises!”

“I will do my best,” Freddy agreed, finally cracking a smile.

Roxy huffed as well, mirroring Monty in crossing her arms over her chest. “Alright, alright... I'll leave him alone, unless he bothers me first!”

There was a rare moment of silence before Gregory hummed softly, rubbing at his eyes. “When can I come watch you guys perform?”

“Ooh, yes! I'd love to have Gregory watch us!” Chica exclaimed, clasping her hands in front of her and batting her eyelashes in hopes it'd persuade the bear’s decision.

Freddy chuckled, running a hand over Gregory's hair. The boy seemed to be getting tired, which was to be expected—he'd worked so hard to pull off this amazing surprise, after all.

“I would like Gregory to explore his powers a bit more before he joins the crowd for one of our shows,” Freddy explained. “We are not entirely sure what he can and cannot do, and I do not want to risk anything happening while we are performing. The staff will not be happy if any of us run off stage in the middle of a set.” He gave Gregory a soft smile. “Do you think you can wait a few more days? I promise that you can see us before the week is out!”

Gregory nodded, trying not to look too disappointed. Although he understood why Freddy had to keep him away for now, he still couldn't help feeling antsy. He really wanted to see them perform, but Freddy had a point—he really should figure out his powers first.

“Too bad you won't be able to see my awesome skills on stage yet,” Monty said with a loud sigh, stretching out his arms and pretending to crack his knuckles. “But I don't blame you for bein’ excited to see me!”

“Whenever you're ready, I'll make sure you have the best seat in the house!” Roxy told Gregory with a grin. “You've gotta be able to see me perfectly since I'm the coolest, after all!”

“No way!” Monty exclaimed, nudging her in the side. “I'm sure Gregory wants to see my perfect angles!”

Gregory laughed, then looked up at Freddy as he grabbed the Bonnie plush from the nearby seat. “We'll both be there!”

“I am sure Bonnie would be thrilled to go to a show with you,” Freddy said, warmed by the boy’s thoughtfulness. If Bonnie was still with them, Freddy knew the bunny would love Gregory just as much as the others did—maybe even more so. Freddy gave Gregory another squeeze, noting how the boy’s excitement was slowly being replaced by exhaustion. “You look a little tired, superstar; would you like to call it a night? I believe everyone has finished their meals. There is no need to worry about cleaning up—we will take care of it before the day shift starts.”

Gregory let out a yawn, rubbing at his eyes again. “Yeah, I didn't sleep after you left since I was so busy! I also kinda kept walking into a lot of people… I need a loooong nap!”

“Aww, so soon?” Monty whined, then leaned across the table to ruffle Gregory’s hair wildly. “Well, I'll always bother ya later, squirt!”

Freddy didn’t bother trying to fix Gregory’s hair this time, sensing that this was going to be a frequent occurrence with Monty. Instead, he shifted the boy to hold him with one arm and stood up. “I am sure I speak for everyone when I say thank you for everything, Gregory; this was wonderful.”

“Yeah, thanks, kid!” Roxy added, standing as well so she could lean across the table and give the boy a high-five. “You definitely know how to throw a party!”

“I'm glad you guys enjoyed it!” Gregory replied with a bright grin, reaching towards Roxy’s hand.

“You get some good rest, sweetheart—you deserve it!” Chica said, watching Monty knock Roxy out of the way at the last second to steal her high-five. “Thank you for the lovely party!”

Freddy waved to everyone and then walked Gregory out of the bowling alley, listening to Roxy and Monty's playful bickering and Chica's laughter fading into the distance. He didn't speak while they traveled back to their room, allowing Gregory to rest quietly against him. Once in the familiar, cozy space, Freddy laid Gregory on the couch and tucked him in, finally smoothing out the mess of hair that Monty made earlier. He crouched by the tired boy’s side, smiling down at him.

“Thank you again, superstar; I cannot wait to see what fun adventures we will have in the future.” Freddy gently patted his head again, his voice almost a whisper by this point. “Sleep well, Gregory; I love you.”

***

Masterlist of chapters on Tumblr here!

Please check out The Superstar Series on ao3 for all fics in this series: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2726401