#anatomy is a little wonky but we ball for now

[daily-isabeau]

ISA YOU DONT KNOW ANY SCISSOR CRAFTS

[theonetruegnome]

Do you believe in maaaagic!

As this universe's Bubba is currently running around like a toddler on crack with Dandydoe, we outsourced him to crafty.

Mana mare!

Mana is the group brains and is often the one to point out flaws in plans or give sound advice, such as 'Don't put that in your mouth, you'll die' or 'Somebody get Conk down from that tree!' or even 'Eli, nobody can legally give you rocket roller skates'. She seemingly knows a little bit about any and every subject, ranging from anatomy and biology, to basic mechanical engineering and tinkering, and her favourite subject is chemistry. She tries not to be a spoilsport to her friends, though glaring safety risks cannot be ignored. Her friends have been seriously hurt before, and more stupid- *Ahem* I mean 'flawed'- ideas aren't going to help.

Being a unicorn, she has innate control over magic and spells, and she has almost got the hang a few basic spells (in this and my main critter head canon, anyone can learn magic, it just usually takes Centuries to become decently good. Unicorns are an exception. Their horns act as spiral focused conduits to channel their power through, making them idea magic users and the main ones who do in society). Her horn has only really just grown in though, so she is having a hard time at controlling her powers, and they often 'go wonky' or activate when she doesn't want them to. For instance, once she tried to conjure up a nightlight for one of Dandy's younger siblings, NOT FOR HER SHE DOESN'T NEED ONE, and she ended up somehow turning everything in her room burgundy, much to Dandy's chagrin. Or there was the time she got so upset that she got her first D+ on a test, She unconsciously started setting random things around her on fire. That was a fun day! She sometimes gets frustrated by the whole thing and has to take a step back to breathe, recuperate and tell herself 'It's normal. I am normal. Nobody will judge me'.

Ok mana, just breathe... In through the nose *YAWN* A-A-And out through the mouth... You'll get the hang of it eventually.

Yeah! And besides, you're already better than us at tons of stuff! Like trivia, or being a safety freak!

Dandy! Don't listen to her mana, it's very sweet you worry about us.

Didn't I say that?

She doesn't do everything with magic and tries to avoid unnecessary use (probably 'cause of the wonkiness), but still gets frustrated and saddened when she can't even do a basic spell and has to ask her parents for help. They have told her, it's normal for all unicorns of her age, and she'll grow into her powers, she is strong and resilient and so so so smart it wouldn't even matter if she never does magic again.

Speaking of, her family is a fairly unusual case among unicorns. Most unicorns are very wealthy, high and mighty, quintessential 'old money' types. They are usually the sorcerers and alchemists to kings and noble houses and are very rich and very powerful. Mana's accidentally squandered their wealth on booze and amateur acrobatics lessons generations before she was born, and were cast from upper society. They earn enough to get by but can never really rejoin the upper crust. Oh, they still get an invite every year to the infamous House Vergand Gala ball, but are often turned away at the gates with most the other 'disgrace' families. Some at the ball say seeing them trudge away, shoulders hunched in defeat, the little foals holding onto their parent's hooves is the highlight of the evening entertainment!

In hindsight, It's probably good that she grew up away from those freaks however. She's not snobbish. She doesn't believe she's superior to everyone. She has a thirst and passion for knowledge borne from her mother reading to her nightly and enjoys the company of others, trying to treat them as equals no matter how different they may be. And that, I would say, is something no amount of silver or emeralds could buy.

And now, upon thee a curse! A curse of poorly written trivia and character quirks!

She and her family speak 'the king's English', so a posh English accent, and tend to use flowery and expressive language compared to all the other critters. Despite this, half the time she doesn't know what the words actually mean, only when to say them.

Her favourite book is 'Charlie and the chocolate factory' because she can relate to the main character.

She has a twin brother named Harry HistoHorse. He's like her in every way, even down to his love of learning, but his subject of expertise is history. The only physical difference between the two is his horn spirals up and to the left, hers is up and to the right. They even swapped friend groups for a day and nobody noticed, aside from the fact Mana's voice was weirdly deeper that day and Harry kept talking about acids and potions or something like that.

She and Dandydoe have a competition to see who can solve the most murder mysteries before the detective figures it out. Currently, Dandy is winning 17-12.

She can list every amino acid, in order of complexity and base components, but never remembers any of her friends' birthdays and always asks whom is next.

Finally her charm is a crystal ball shaped to look like a lightbulb and her scent is lambs ear.

TL;DR she's essentially if bubba was poor and insecure about not being able to do magic

[elliotoille]

Do you have any advice for understanding hands better? I’ve been practicing them for years but feel like compared to other aspects of anatomy it’s the one thing I haven’t seen much improvement in. I draw both from life and images and draw nearly everyday but nothing I’m doing seems to help

I personally get by mostly from remembering poses that I’ve already practiced a ton, like I figure out how to draw it once and am able to file that away in my brain and use it again later, and tweak bits of the pose or the level of simplification to suit what I’m drawing. 

I’ve paid special attention to drawing hands for like.... most of my life so I have a LOT of poses I’m easy comfy with now, but when I need to figure out something complicated or new, I can usually work it out by breaking a hand down into shapes, remembering a few key points/”rules” from what I’ve learned about hands in order to help me break it down in a way that makes sense. And if that’s not enough either, then I take photo refs. 

^^^ here is a pose I use a ton. I have a quick way of drawing it from various angles. the first time I had to draw a pose like this, I had to think and figure it out, but in drawing it a bunch of times and having to use various angles like this, I’ve eventually come up with a quick, reliable way to draw it from a few of the most common angles that fits the style I like to draw in. I’m blessed with a good memory for observations, so when I see a beautifully posed hand, I can usually really quickly analyze what I like about that pose and why, and that helps me absorb it so I can recreate my saved impression later. But I know not everyone thinks the same way. it might benefit you to quickly scribble down a study in a sketchbook when you see a pose you find beautiful and want to learn from for later.

^^^ here are some poses I had to stop and spend time figuring out, calling up the “rules” for how hands are built to kind of logic-out how they should look from angles I’m less familiar with. results can be mixed, but... if I end up with something expressive that fits the style of the rest of the drawing, I’m usually really forgiving of fudged anatomy or slightly wonky proportions. as long as the thumb is on the right side and there aren’t too many fingers, that’s a great start lol.

^^^ and here are ones I had to take reference-selfies for. I try to use this as a last resort because 1) it’s a lot of trouble 2) interrupts my drawing and 3) if I’m not careful I stick too close to the reference, and the drawing ends up with the hand looking referenced and the rest of the pose not, which is jarring to me. not to mention I have tiny manlet wrists that without fail, look horrific and emaciated in photos, and the lens distortion makes my fingers look scary too... ugh, photo reference has definite flaws. I actually don’t like the look of drawings for which I can Really Tell the artist drew from photo reference, because most often that means they’re taking the ref too much at face value and incorporating ugly lens distortions into their drawing. so I have to think extra hard not only about interpreting the ref, but also might have to make multiple passes just to get the hand to look normal, AND match the style of the rest of the drawing.

Anyway, here are some of the ““rules””” I mentioned earlier that I fall back on to help me figure out more complicated poses:

1. probably seen this before, but basic proportions. the palm is usually half the total height of the hand. obviously you can mess with this purposefully. 

2. I think of joints as like, ball joints or hinges. I find that easier than trying to remember bones & muscles. here’s a drawing of the wrist as a hinge. note that when you’re thinking of it this way, it’s a shortcut, but a shortcut is only good if you use it with precision. notice the pin for the wrist hinge is not just halfway, it’s closer to the top of the hand. being precise about that is what allows this shortcut to work. the heel of the palm juts out, while the top of the hand transitions into the wrist quite smoothly.

3. simplified planes. planes are important yo. in super simple terms: top is flat, bottom is round. this works on the fingers too, actually. the tops are bony and tendony, and the bottom is where the fat is, so it’s rounder and soft

thinking of the hand as abstract shapes REALLY helps simplify the task of drawing hands, and is just as helpful even if you are drawing from reference. I can say “the palm is a box” and obviously the palm is not really as simple as a box, but if I think of the palm, wrist, and each finger joint as various shapes of box, then all of a sudden, psychologically, my task is SO much easier. I’m not drawing a Hand, which is hard, I’m drawing boxes, which is easy.

4. that prominent knob some people have on their wrist? that’s on the pinky side.

1. the knuckles aren’t really a flat row on top. the hand is like a cup right, so your palm can hold water and things. so we can think of the hand as a box to make figuring out the pose easier, but when it comes down to it, you’ll want to make it more of a curve. this curve is why you can see multiple fingers in a side view

2. when curled up, the fingers nestle together. the fingernails also turn slightly toward the center. even if I’m simplifying the hands significantly, I usually still draw the fingernails because they are SO useful for communicating the pose of the hand effectively.

3. lots of people suggest to think of the hand as a mitten, grouping the pinky/ring/middle fingers and singling out the index finger. this works great, the index finger is more independent from the other three. on the flip side, those three are really stuck together; if you’re drawing the pinky curled up all the way, then you better not draw the ring finger sticking straight up, cause that would HURT. anyway, singling out the index finger leads to more interesting poses in my experience.

1. this is another illustration of top = flat and bottom = curved. this is a really easy way to organize your line quality. straight lines and sharper angles where there is bone, and soft gentle lines where there is muscle and fat. your drawing as a whole will read very clearly if you find some guidelines like that to stick to, as it means all your lines are intentional and thoughtful.

2. this one’s about overlaps. when forms overlap, it makes a crease, and when you draw that crease you’re communicating which form is in front of the other. in the second drawing I reversed all the creases, and it looks.... messed up. think about how pieces connect.

so when you’re trying to make up a pose without using specific reference, I think it’s good to think about the.... flow of energy through the pose. honestly, I know it’s really abstract, but if I have an ability to make interesting poses that communicate weight and movement, the things that make people say your character feels ALIVE, like they really EXIST in a space... it’s because I started to think of poses this way. imagining streams of energy bouncing through the body, flowing down the limbs and out through the fingers. this is why hands are so important to me, cause they’re where the kinetic energy of the pose ultimately ends up. I talk about it when drawing the torso and arms and legs, but an interesting drawing has a bounce back and forth between opposites: for every curve, an opposing straight line, alternating back and forth down the entire body. if you’re sensitive to the energy of the pose, then even very simple poses will be interesting to look at.

anyway, with regards to hands, I imagine the energy getting sort of cinched in as it passes through the wrist, and then emanating out through the fingertips. I hope my drawing at least SORT of communicates this imagery. it makes sense because that’s BASically how the bones in the hand are anyway. and then the right side of the image above is just demonstrating some highly simplified gestures. see how the fingers fan out and curl in, rarely parallel to eachother. when you’re figuring out the pose, using a line to stand in for the row of knuckles is super valuable.

aaand finally, here’s two hands where I intentionally neglected correct anatomy and proportion because I felt it worked better for the style of the whole drawing. Left side: since this is a really simple and cartoonish style, I was thinking back to kids’ and shoujo manga I have read where the style was very solid and distinctive, but definitely NOT overly concerned with correct anatomy, or even really drawing hands, uh, “well” at all. to me, that sort of approach has a Look that I like to invoke sometimes, since for years I felt like I learned a bunch of anatomy and proportion and drawing from life actually in detriment to the liveliness and appealness of my drawings. this hand is mushy and makes very little sense, but it turned out as intended. Right side: sometimes I like to pretend fingers only have 2 bones in them, cause i am a Queen and i do what i want

and there you go. I hope that helped, like, at all? Look at real hands and photos of hands and hands in motion, but also look at drawn hands as well. find what you like, and work towards expressing that yourself. and remember the hand is part of the whole drawing. not only in the art style like I’d been talking about, but because the angle and placement of the hand is reflected in the angles of the arm, which in turn reflects on the angles of the shoulder, which affects the whole torso, etc etc etc. and the techniques you can use to understand and draw the rest of the body, works on hands too. as you improve everything else, your hands will improve as well.

DISCLAIMER: I whipped up these diagrams quickly, they’re not meant to be good drawings or accurate refs, just diagrams to illustrate my thought process lol

[yfere]

Shipping Calculus! Live Updates from C2E57

In which the M9  have the most intense non-combat episode. Light, save me from this madness. Masterpost here. This week, we have

+5 to Matt/Mispronunciation “Siggel” returns! YES!!!!

+18 to Caleb/Caduceus as Caduceus is the first to very emphatically endorse Caleb’s choice with the dodecahedron, saying “I am proud of you” and “You made the right call.” Caduceus also getting very pumped about Caleb’s “Let’s Stop The War” idea, all “Destiny? Destiny? Is this your destiny??? That’s so wonderful!!!!” How for some reason Caduceus thinks Caleb is the person he’s supposed to convince that keeping the favors from the Bright Queen in the Bag of Holding is a good idea. Like, that can be a group conversation Caduceus, you don’t just need Caleb’s approval.

+2 to Jester/Essik “I think that you’re very handsome and we should be friends” says Jester, and Essik is very flattered and pleased.

+2 to Caduceus/Essik “You seem like a man of taste,” Caduceus says, doing that Grinning Thing He Does because Caduceus is a Big Flirt. “I like him,” he says. I think I know what that means, but unfortunately this flirting, while more sincere than Jester’s seemed to fly a little bit more over Essik’s head.

+10 to Caduceus/Pissing In the Wind which gets a little racy when you consider that Caduceus worships nature. This a golden showers thing?

-5 to Yeza/Food—in which his gorging makes actual boning unfeasible.

+8,800,000 to Nott/Yeza HOLDS HER. DOESN’T CARE ABOUT HER BEING A GOBLIN. COMMEMORATIVE TATTOOS. “SHE’S ALWAYS BEEN AMAZING.” “MY WIFE IS A MERCENARY THAT’S SO COOL.” JOINING HER TO SLEEP ON THE FLOOR DKSJKBKSABBJKGRBUWEIH;WEIWEKWsASNJKDABJhi HIWEWEhiabkdvjb  K KI OWKSAFJX,WH’H FJKBEBJGKU ;w; lhelh

+25 to Beau/Jester as Beau makes sure Jester knows that if the circumstances were different, the harness thing might have been enjoyable. Also, having Jester’s feet on her back was a little funny. Jester saying “You look so pretty though” about Beau--in the harness? That’s what the notes say. Holy shit. Beau going out of her way to acquire the BEST ROOM for her and Jester in the inn, and stanning Jester’s detective skills to Fjord. And lest we forget, Beau and Jester learning that maybe Jester doesn’t exactly have the most accurate idea of love, but Jester turning to Beau as someone she can talk to (and maybe learn from?) about it. Beau. Beau. Teach her. 

+30 to Fjord/Caleb as despite Fjord’s unease with their situation and reluctance to Dive Headfirst Into The War like Caleb, he still finds himself Beyond Charmed by Caleb’s awkward stanning of Nott to Yeza, Nott’s #1 fan. Caleb supporting Fjord’s bid for free food, saying “Fjord, I believe the words used were ‘Heroes of the Dynasty.’” Caleb sneakily finagling his way into getting them to room together with a ridiculous excuse about Caduceus being So Tall he needs to share a room with the Second Tallest Person, meaning Caleb just Has To Room With Fjord, This Is Entirely A Practical Matter It’s Not Like I’ve Ever Tried To Make This Happen Before. Caleb attempting a little callback, letting Fjord know he ~~~appreciates~~~ Fjord and is inspired by all the crazy risktaking that Fjord represents. And somehow, not realizing that saying “Sometimes you have to get a little crazy” while you’re in bed, in a room alone with someone has very specific implications. Fjord saying “What, right now??” in response, like he’s Surprised but Not Against it, and sticking his face in his hands in Peak Embarrassment when he finds out Caleb did not mean what he thought he meant. Fjord thanking Caleb, which gains an extra point because Fjord did it by referring to Caleb’s balls. Points taken away because Caleb did not set up the Alarm in their shared room while naked, even though everyone else at the table really wanted him to.

+3 to Caleb/Hopebringer It turns out Caleb actually super duper likes being called a big fat hero. The last time he was this pleased with himself was after he and the crew just murdered a slavers’ den—here, Caleb channels his inner bard by screeching about how they’re all “Heroes of the Dynasty” and “Heroes of the Empire (soon)” to everyone who will listen. Beau also solidifies (albeit with sarcasm) that Caleb has a cool Hero Name now as “Hopebringer,” which sounds like a badass sword. Please keep the title.

+5 to Beau/Leylas as Beau’s arguments against mass murder to the Bright Queen are met with a “coy grin,” followed by Beau apologizing for being “too forward” followed by the Bright Queen saying she’s very “surprising” My…..my god the subtext.

+1 to Jester/Leylas as Jester joins the Caduceus Clay School of excessively admiring a person’s armor when what you really mean is that you find the person underneath the armor super attractive

+8 to Caleb/Jester as in the face of Jester’s ire Caleb reassures her that he will bring her back to her mother should she ever want it, and Jester believing him (and Caleb perfecting the spell to do just that that very evening). Caleb smiling when Jester ribs him about his sour face while he talks about being hopeful. Caleb supporting Jester’s quest for desserts and pastries, asking for the “local special” for her and apparently joining the Caduceus Clay School of showing love by making sure people are well fed.

+8 to Jester/Fjord as Jester is the first to notice Fjord’s quiet unhappiness and encourages him to talk about it when it looks like he won’t to keep the peace. Defending Fjord from Nott’s barbs, saying “Don’t make Fjord cry!” Fjord’s playfulness and shrugging off his concerns when he says “I’m just suspicious” but Jester reassuring him his feelings are valid and make sense, even though she personally likes and is inclined to trust the Bright Queen.

+4 to Caduceus/Fjord as Fjord is thrown by Caduceus’ extremely dark and very cheerfully delivered humor. Caduceus reassuring Fjord that they have more chances to learn the things Fjord wants to know now than before, and also reprimanding Nott for making fun of Fjord—”You’re making fun of his tennis wrist, come on.” As a guy with a wonky knee he can probably relate to Fjord’s struggles.

+3 to Caleb/Leadership as whatever Caduceus says about not there not being leaders in the Mighty Nein, he still treats Caleb as if he were in charge. Caleb continuing his pattern where he tells everyone who is going to be roommates with who—why he’s so interested in directing the M9 sleeping arrangements is, uh, an interesting thing to consider.

-5 to Caleb/Plot Relevant Magic. Despite Caleb’s wide eyed wonder “That’s fascinating” at dunamancy, when Nott tries to get him spells he immediately derails the conversation to talk about WE MUST SAVE THE CITIZENS OF THE EMPIRE FROM NEEDLESS WAR, and when Beau is like “so don’t you want this time magic stuff” he immediately starts going off about WOULDN’T IT BE GREAT TO JUST MURDER THE CERBERUS ASSEMBLY AND SAVE THE EMPIRE FROM THEM. Mind not too focused on the magic now, huh?

+1 to Jester/Tattoos She………gets to tattoo? The quality though………….

+2 to Fjord/Detective Work as he asks the most relevant Ljore Questions about what the Krynn are and believe, earning some brownie points with the Bright Queen in the process. Also following up on the Ghostlands question and emphatically deciding Not To Go There, though we all know that the next job they take is going to be in that exact location.

+100 to yfere/The Luxon because I personally want to convert to this religion, warts and all

-50 to Sam Riegel/Anatomy So the reason this shipping calculus was delayed was because I did, in fact, destroy my laptop to protect my eyes from the return of the Goblin Boob Miming. NOT ONLY THAT, but miming putting on the perfume in Certain Locations……NOT ONLY THAT but the “square peg in a round hole” comment………….I hate him. I hate him.

[gumnut-logic]

Unfortunately my fic writing will be slowing for the the next month. I have work commitments that can no longer be ignored (if you’ve been wondering how I’ve been writing so much, it has been because I’ve been ignoring everything else, bad Nutty!). I have promised myself some fun in December, so hopefully I can do some more then. In the meantime, I’m going to try and restrict my writing to after 10.30pm, so the fic will be short and a little wonky as I will be tired :D It will be a challenge, but I have to do it, I have clients waiting and November is going to be hell to get everything finished. ::pouts:: I just wanna write fic :( ::pouts some more::

Anyway, here’s tonight’s installment. I drove 420kms today (day trip for fun :D), so yeah, I’m tired and a little dopey. I hope you enjoy it anyway.

Warm Rain Series, Virgil/Kayo, set sometime after ‘The Proposal’. Spoilers for ‘The Proposal’. This one is for pure fun :D

Virgil stared into the mirror and fiddled with his bow tie. No matter what he did, it didn’t sit straight. Its deep charcoal grey worked perfectly with his pale grey shirt, but for some reason it just refused to behave.

In the end he gave up. It would just have to stay that way.

His waistcoat was yet another shade of grey, this one darker than his shirt, but lighter than his tie. He shifted his shoulders and the familiar ache once again warned him that he still needed to take it easy. His ribs and right arm still not entirely up to par.

The jet-black jacket matched the black pants, but was short and angular at the front with long tails at the back. Virgil was not new to formal wear, his status as the son of one of the wealthiest men on the planet came with its list of necessary formal engagements, but still, this was one of the rarer getups.

But it was all for a good cause.

Each year, Tracy Industries held a Halloween Charity Ball with all the proceeds going to victims of disaster. Each year, the brothers would scroll through the list of horrors that had happened the previous year and find those who needed the most help. It was a way to follow up on the first responder work they did, and often it helped offer a little closure when some of those rescues weren’t one hundred percent.

This year Virgil was attending with his fiancé.

He grinned into the mirror. The term was still new and it continued to tickle his fancy. He fingered the ring on his left hand for the umpteenth time, the etched dragons rough against his skin.

The last piece of his suit was a thin cherry red scarf which he draped around his neck.

Black shoes, silver cufflinks, check the hair, face, nails, another self-conscious smile in the mirror and he was ready.

He and Kay weren’t able to arrive together. Kay was flying in from Jakarta after following up on some rumours about a new terrorist cell brewing in South East Asia. It wouldn’t normally be something International Rescue would become involved in, but the rumour included not-so-natural disasters and Colonel Casey had asked for Kayo to look into it, with Brains for technology back up should they need it.

So, no shared limo or grand entrance for Virgil and his new fiancé. Oh, there was a limo, but it contained four other Tracy brothers, two of which would be a challenge to contain, another who might kill them if not restrained, and one who was probably being dragged along kicking and screaming around about now.

As if on cue, voices in the hallway outside his room suddenly increased in volume and something, or someone, collided with his door.

Walking over, Virgil stood back as he opened the door. And just as well he had, as a human shaped pile of red sponge foam fell backwards onto the carpet.

His youngest brother looked up at him from the floor. “Hey, Virg.” Those blue eyes roamed up and down. “Wow, you look totally dapper. Who you supposed to be?”

“I’m rather inclined to ask you that question. Though not until I find out why you are on the floor.”

“Gordon tried to stab me with his trident?”

A blink. “Gordon has a trident?”

“Of course, I do.” And a spangly, half naked Neptune walked in the door.

Virgil shouldn’t be surprised, yet every year, Gordon provided an eye opener. There were sequins and glitter and barely any solid material covering necessary anatomy. And all in blue and green and tinsel and, yes, a trident.

“Interesting choice.” Virgil squinted. “You’ve grown a beard?” And he had, it wasn’t much more than rough blond stubble, but definitely there.

“Sure, I do need to look the part.”

“Interesting part.” There was definitely skin glue involved with some of those sequins.

He looked back at his youngest brother who was clambering up off the floor. “And your part is?”

“Oh!” Alan grinned. “Check this out.” And his brother knelt down and folded himself into a car. A red racing car.

A moment and he unfolded, standing up once again, apparently not so random chunks of foam sticking out at all angles, still grinning. “I’m a Transformer.”

Virgil blinked. Alan had a foam car hood as a bonnet. “I admit, that is a good…design.” Okay, it was clever.

“So, who are you?” Alan’s eyes were eager.

“Not telling.”

“Hey!” Wow, the two of them could be choral.

“Not until Kay gets here.”

“Ooh, are we a pair, are we?” Gordon’s jiggled his eyebrows.

Virgil levelled a look at him.

Gordon held up his sparkly hands. They had body paint on them as well. “Okay, okay, I know you two are all engaged and lovey dovey now…”

Virgil reached over and ripped a sequin off his brother’s chest.

“Ow!” Gordon slapped a hand to the injured spot. “What did you do that for?”

“Hmph.” He shrugged, smirking. “I thought that was skin glue. Have fun getting all those off later.” He reached over and gently pressed the sequin into a bare patch of skin. “Did you forget it was for wound repair? And I hope you’ve restocked our supplies.”

The look on his brother’s face set Virgil grinning as he waltzed past Gordon and out into the corridor. Score one for brother number two.

Unfortunately, distracted, he didn’t see brother number three and collided with him, nearly sending both of them to the floor.

“Oh, god, sorry…J-“ His hands met soft silk and he looked up, this time truly focussing on his tall brother.

Oh my god.

-o-o-o-

[otakween]

.Hack//G.U.+ (Volumes 1-5) - Final Thoughts 

Okay, my brain is going to be so scattered by the time I get through all these different versions of G.U. I feel like I’m going to forget what’s canon and what’s not. The movie, manga, and novels are alternate re-tellings but the changes they make are so random that I don’t really understand why they bothered. You would think it would be due to time restrictions but the manga was 5 volumes!! I don’t think they needed to change anything in this case. 

Thoughts:

-I would say this was better than XXXX but the storytelling was still very rough. If somebody picked up this manga without prior knowledge they would be 100% lost for sure. (Heck I was kind of lost and I know everything there is to know!) The fact that it was 5 volumes compared to XXXX’s two volumes allowed it to be less rushed at least.

-The art isn’t hideous but the anatomy is wonky and the action scenes are VERY hard to follow. Many times a character would react in shock and I would have no idea what they were reacting to.Also, Pi’s boobs are just beach balls in this.

-The translation work was pretty dang sloppy. Lots of typos and weird localized names of things. 

-Just like Cubia in XXXX, I was not a fan of Kazumi’s character. He felt very shoe-horned in at the last second and had the generic “power-hungry” villain motive. Also, his design looks like a vocaloid reject lol

-Shino was weird in this. When she woke up she was basically like “lol not interested” to Haseo and then was obsessing over Ovan. Also, she apparently was willingly attacked by Ovan...okaaay.

-The manga dialogue simultaneously cranks the gay up to 11 while being all “no homo” by pairing Haseo and Ovan off with Shino and Atoli. That’s some vintage, queer baiting bullshit.

-I feel like the only thing that made this manga worthwhile was the attention to the characters’ real life selves. It’s a shame that we only learn these details in the manga which isn’t even 100% canon?? Does that mean their IRL appearances aren’t canon? People act like they are...It was weird that they kept using Haseo’s real name in-game repeatedly. Like...why suddenly call him Ryou Misaki? 

-It was pretty depressing when it showed Ryou and Chigusa IRL and Ryou was a total asshole to her? Chigusa even said “you’re not like Haseo” which just makes it feel like their game relationship was a lie. It would have been better if there was a IRL follow-up at the end. I need closure that Ryou has a nice side like Haseo!

-It cracked me up when Shino just showed up at the end like “Wat I miss?” Lol thanks for nothing. -Insert “Shows up late with Starbucks” meme-

-I didn’t realize the Kuhn was Sieg!! (Or maybe I just forgot lol). I enjoyed the little Liminality reference. It’s kind of annoying how they are super vague about all the connections to the original series though. “Seven years ago there was a CERTAIN boy who loved a CERTAIN girl.” Just say the names! 

-It was nice to get some extra character interaction: Pi and Kuhn, Zelkova and Aina, Atoli and Haseo having some realistic banter about the network crisis... 

-I suppose they called it “GU +” because it elaborated on the ending of the first 3 games but now that there’s a 4th game the name doesn’t really work haha

All in all this was a pretty rocky read. A lot of the dialogue was just bland exposition from the games, the art was hard to follow at times, and they rearranged plot elements in confusing ways. I’m still glad I read it, however, because it brought in some real life snippets that I thought the games and Roots were really lacking.

I give .Hack//G.U.+ Vol. 1-5 a 5 out of 10