#bc while the character designs were only finalized with the website

[theneighborhoodwatch]

Something interesting is that another pic from Clown's site that is canon now is the one with Wally on the tall chair with the moon behind him, also at the staff-only exhibition. That one has Wally with the crosses on his lapels, along with the pic on the website proper of Wally painting Barnaby's paw. Clown had already said that the crosses were no longer canon, so why are they showing up now?

To Be Fair, that sketch of wally painting barnaby's paws was there from the very first iteration of the website (feb 14th 2022) and there's a bunch of concept art on the website of other characters from before their designs were finalized that doesn't really seem to indicate anything except "this is what we have on hand, so this is what we're going to use." although if they reuse old assets this often, i do have to wonder if they're ever going to get around to editing the rest of them at some point for consistency's sake, since that's what they did for the first batch of valentine's day art.

[my-castles-crumbling]

Writer anon, hello cas! I’ve been trying to write daily, but since it’s the end of the year, studying for finals, final projects, stuff like that I haven’t been able to, but I got a decent amount done this weekend, I think, I edited the prologue, a bit, and the first chapter is going well, kind of. But the characters were talking about the non-binary/genderfluid character all three of the main characters don’t have names yet but we’re going to ignore that, while they’re planning, and it bothered me a bit bc I’m still no figuring some stuff about them out. if you don’t mind I’m going to ask a few questions gender, and kind of how dysphoria and stuff like that works, and you don’t have to answer all of them, if it makes you uncomfortable, or you want me to message you directly instead if you want it to be private, that’s fine too, and you can just tell me that. you did offer like, awhile ago, one of my earlier asks, but you don’t have to obviously. And you aren’t the poster person for gender stuff, so it’s obviously ok if you don’t know the answer to all of my questions.

I’m cis, so I’m not really sure how the gender thing works in general, usually I just use whatever pronouns someone tells me they’re okay with, bc what they want to be called isn’t like, any of my business, and it’s the respectful thing to do. But if it’s they’re pov, it’s going to be mentioned a lot, so i need a general understanding of how it works.

so, they’re afab, and since it’s like medieval, they have to wear dresses and stuff, and they’re also like a princess (is that right, prob not, but idk gender neutral term for child of a monarch). I think that would cause dysphoria (?) I’m not really sure how that works either, but I’m pretty sure it’s where they feel crappy because how they look isn’t right (?) idk, like I said, idk much about the whole gender thing. Would that affect if they want to use she/her too? I was planning on them being non-binary and gender fluid, so they would use they/she/he, but I’m not sure about the whole thing, since I don’t understand it much. Ik from your pronoun card thing you’re ok with being called he/him by people close to you, is it different being called different pronouns by different people?

second thing, their name, I suck at naming things (shoutout to fantasy name generator and baby name websites) ik some people keep their name, but I think I want to change their name, as they change during their arc. Idk that many names that would fit them, that like match with the personality I have in mind ignore the fact that they have a design, personality, and powers but still no name, but is the name thing just a personal preference? From my general knowledge most of this gender stuff is a personal preference, idk.

third thing, I’m not sure how people like, figure out that they want to be a different gender, or like that the gender binary doesn’t like, apply to them, and I’m not sure where they would be, on that journey ig, they’re closeted, which is about the only part I’ve figured out bc they’re dad is a bitch. Idk.

that’s it, for now, I’ll probably ask more about it later. My motivation is currently here, so I’m excited to write today, hope you’re having a good day/night cas!

Hi hon! I'm just gonna copy/paste your questions below and answer as I go. Just remember that I am one person so my experience might be different than someone else's, and all trans people are different!

so, they’re afab, and since it’s like medieval, they have to wear dresses and stuff, and they’re also like a princess (is that right, prob not, but idk gender neutral term for child of a monarch).

I....am not sure what that term would be. I don't know if there even is one! You could make one up!

I think that would cause dysphoria (?) I’m not really sure how that works either, but I’m pretty sure it’s where they feel crappy because how they look isn’t right (?) idk, like I said, idk much about the whole gender thing.

Dysphoria is basically when your expression of your gender doesn't match how you feel inside (could be clothes, body parts, the way people are referring to you). It can be a physically uncomfortable feeling, mental discomfort, or a mixture. It manifests with many different symptoms, and can vary depending on the person. For example, sometimes I can get a stomach ache or feel anxious. Some trans people get a lot of it, and some don't!

Would that affect if they want to use she/her too? I was planning on them being non-binary and gender fluid, so they would use they/she/he, but I’m not sure about the whole thing, since I don’t understand it much. Ik from your pronoun card thing you’re ok with being called he/him by people close to you, is it different being called different pronouns by different people?

Everyone is different! Nonbinary people can prefer all different pronouns, depending on their personal preferences, so your character could have completely different pronouns to me. For me, I tend to like they/them the most, but I'm okay with she and he. Your character could be different, though! It really depends on the person :)

second thing, their name, I suck at naming things (shoutout to fantasy name generator and baby name websites) ik some people keep their name, but I think I want to change their name, as they change during their arc. Idk that many names that would fit them, that like match with the personality I have in mind ignore the fact that they have a design, personality, and powers but still no name, but is the name thing just a personal preference? From my general knowledge most of this gender stuff is a personal preference, idk.

Yep, definitely a personal preference! Some people like to change their name and others don't! It could depend on if their name is super gendered, if they have an attachment to it, and if they make huge changes in their transition. But yeah, def a personal preference. I didn't change mine- though I started going by a shortened version of it more.

third thing, I’m not sure how people like, figure out that they want to be a different gender, or like that the gender binary doesn’t like, apply to them, and I’m not sure where they would be, on that journey ig, they’re closeted, which is about the only part I’ve figured out bc they’re dad is a bitch. Idk.

That's also very different depending on the person, lol. some people just know, even before they're given the terms to express it. Other people start to realize after they learn more about it. For me, it was the second one. I found out about genderfluidity and I was like "ooo, that one."

that’s it, for now, I’ll probably ask more about it later. My motivation is currently here, so I’m excited to write today, hope you’re having a good day/night cas!

Okay! I'm sorry i couldn't be more specific, but as you can see- a lot of this varies! it's different for every nonbinary/trans person, you know? No experience is exactly the same.

Have a wonderful day! Good luck!

[saintlesbian]

hey I’m really interested in unreleased skylanders lore can you talk about it

hoooo boy while i don't know too much about the overall lore of skylanders since i haven't played all the games yet, i DO know a bunch of fun shit abt the figures such as:

during the first Spyro’s Kingdom demo (conceptual prototype of Skylanders) Spyro wasn’t even in the original playable character roster?? instead they had these five designs take the top spot for a bit:

most of these designs are mostly unchanged from how they look in the final game (Bash, Ghost Roaster, Boomer) but the two in the middle kinda fell to the wayside…

the red dragon (aka Fire Dragon) was originally a stand in for Spyro since Spyro was originally was just going to be the ruler of the kingdom or something and give the player quests, but the devs decided to make Spyro playable anyways (for brand recognition) and ditch Fire Dragon entirely since he looked too similar to Spyro… however, his character model (left) can still be found in the files of Skylanders giants, and some say the NPC Flavius (right) could just be a designed version of Fire dragon…

cyclops snail (aka tarclops) was also playable in the first Spyro’s Kingdom demo, but got such a drastic visual overhaul with time that eventually it wasn’t even tarclops anymore, instead he became Zap in the final game.

only thing from tarclops that really carried over into Zap’s final design was his moveset and colors…

but they did turn him into a hat in Trap Team so I guess that makes up for it???

Sun Dragon was basically a prototype version of Camo, minus the fruit powers. In game he shot fireworks and sunbeams as his moveset… I think he was heavily based on eastern dragons in his design!

also, even though he was cut from the game and replaced with camo, Sun Dragon does make a cameo appearance in the opening cutscene of Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure (maybe they used an older render of the animation that still had him in it by mistake???)

my fav of all the unreleased figures has gotta be heartbreaker buckshot tho. legit go crazy thinking about this one sometimes bc he looked so cool. unlike all the other unreleased characters that were just really early original concepts, heartbreaker buckshot was pretty much finished and ready for release. he had a gameplay preview cutscene of him rendered, figures printed ready for sale, and he had the spotlight on him on the Skylanders website for a bit, but at some point before release they just decided to cancel his release. heartbreaker buckshot was supposed to be a Valentine’s Day variant of Buckshot (since Skylanders sometimes did special color variants and even holiday themed variants) but at some point the designers realized his red eyes made him look less romantic and more creepy than intended, so they called the whole release off. there are some replica heartbreakers out there, but those don’t have the heartbreaker theme ingame (possibly bc they just removed that variant from the game too?? Idk)

but yea that’s all I remember rn abt unreleased Skylanders figures! I’ve been getting really into collecting color variants of Skylanders lately so um. yea!! I like this series a normal amount 😊

[rena-te]

I’m gonna throw some random thoughts/predictions about NEO at the wall. Mostly bc I’ve been thinking about this stuff for a while and need to shout into the void about it. (It will get into the Game’s Opening Sequence as well as any information that’s come out so far, just to mention it in case you were avoiding that content.) Join me for a lot of this down below the cut!

First of all, Tsugumi. In A.N.D we see her in a destroyed Shinjuku. Along with the visions of the future she gives Neku there are these messages.

“Everyone’s gone away..... All that’s left in the world is me.” (City being destroyed.)

“I can’t hear a thing...” (Tsugumi is walking the streets alone.)

“Hello? Is anybody there?” (Joshua shooting.)

“Somebody... Anybody... Can anybody hear me?” (Rhyme dying to (purple) shark noise.)

This last one isn’t a vision. It happens after Coco shoots Neku and he vanishes. Which leads me to think, since it is mostly a repeat of the first two future visions, it’s actually happening in this moment. It could be Tsugumi calling out one last time...... Before she’s overtaken by something?

“Too late... It’s all over...” (Same as first two. Tsugumi’s eyes notably turn red more than before.)

How is she giving Neku these visions? (It seems that she’s just calling out to anybody, and for some reason Neku heard her.) To send visions like that I’d think that Tsugumi is either Shinjuku’s Composer or maybe an angel? Or something else we’ve not seen? And they’re all visions of the future. Is Tsugumi speaking into the past as well as projecting those images? (We’re assuming that the reason for Shinjuku Reapers being in Shibuya is bc the UG in Shinjuku has been destroyed. So are the visions congruent with Shinjuku being destroyed or is the city being destroyed in the future, likely sometime between TWEWY and NEO?) The possibility of time travel makes things a million times more complicated.

Or maybe Tsugumi wasn’t quite sending him visions at all, and it was a kind of side effect of being linked to a Composer (since they are somewhat omniscient, and bc some of those visions were not really related to Tsugumi.) She was just trying to communicate with him, but some of that power leaked through their psychic bond and gave Neku a bit of clairvoyance?

If Shinjuku’s UG got destroyed, does that leave the Composer alive? We know that the Composer killing themselves would effectively shut down the UG, but if it happens the other way around? The Composer still exists, but would there be no consequence for losing an integral part of themselves? If the Composer’s connection to the UG is so pivotal, maybe the UG being gone is the reason why Tsugumi seems so...empty? (Is she so vacant that someone else is pulling the strings at this point?) It’s odd for Tsugumi to call out to Neku for help, but target him in NEO. (Given orders to target him.)

Also maybe the UG being destroyed but the Composer still existing explains Joshua’s....odd reaction to her? “How fortunate she managed to escape erasure.” Said when he was just in a position of wanting to kill himself in order to destroy his UG. He doesn’t use that sprite often ya know. It could explain the expression he has and the mumbled speech bubble used. Joshua said that he needed to get rid of His UG bc it could negatively tamper with the other grounds. To discover that could be done without killing himself... (And without him knowing of the apparent side effect of a “vacant Composer” Assuming that theory is true in the first place.)

But why does she have a Mr.Mew doll? Uhhhhh.... There’s also some time shenanigans happening too. And that throws many “what-ifs” into the mix, so I’ll avoid going down that rabbit hole. Basically I have no idea, the possibilities are kinda endless with time travel.

Another thing. This guy is also important. Very important apparently. I had a vague idea about him at first, a guess kinda outta left field, but I mean....I’m liking what bits I’ve scraped together for my guess theory by now. Onto speculating about Mr.Kubo here......

In the game’s opening sequence he walks right past Tsugumi (so connected to her in some way), leans in towards the camera, looks at you and does his little eccentric pose.

The only other characters who sorta look into the camera for the opening sequence are Shiba and Shoka, BUT in Shiba’s case it’s more like the camera is centered on him looking forward, and Shoka is more so interacting with Rindo with the way her scene was done. Here Kubo is just walking alone, stops and his eyes lock with the camera...... so wtf does this mean, you’re probably asking. It’s just a funky game introduction, it’s just this dude being weird. Yes, that is all true.

I know that he’s introduced in the line up as a Shinjuku Reaper, along with everyone else. But... I think this guy is Shinjuku’s Producer. If Tsugumi is Shinjuku’s Composer it makes sense for him to follow Her into Shibuya, he’s basically tasked to watch over Her.

Compared to the other Shinjuku Reapers, his color scheme is more...grey scaled. The girl has a grey suit, but Kubo doesn’t have any colors to his outfit at all. His clothes are plain compared to everyone else in this lineup. His facial expressions are the only...unique thing to his appearance. In the little bit of English dialogue we have of him so far, it seems that he’s giving us some kind of advice? And Fret looks to be put off with his eccentric (I can’t think of a more accurate word for it) demeanor.

So the middle aged man with an eccentric personality, with a tendency to give advice (?), pretending to be involved in the game in ways they are not, clothes styled in only neutral colors, and the funky little watch they’re wearing....along with the light poking at the fourth wall (Mr.H- “You mean those teasers?”) both Kubo and Hanekoma fit that bill.

Tbh Hanekoma is a bit eccentric, we’re just so used to how he is by now. The watch is just a minor thing that’s a fun little similarity in their designs don’t worry about it. Don’t tell me the watch isn’t important it ties everything together. Also after a quick goggle search, one website is telling me that Kubo’s name means “sunken ground” in Japanese and this other website is telling me what the individual kanji means, (I do not know Japanese in any way and am assuming that the internet is right about all this. I feel like it tracks with him being a Producer though.)

And just to cap it off, maybe Shiba was Shinjuku’s Conductor. If he rose through Shibuya’s ranks so quickly he’s gotta know what he’s doing. Did he throw Shinjuku out of balance and get rid of the UG so the Composer would be an empty puppet (like Tsugumi kinda seems to be.) Is that why he’s doing all this? Does he plan to become the Conductor (right hand man of the Composer) and then erase the UG, rendering it’s Composer vacant and take control? Shiba wouldn’t know about the Producer, naturally. Is that what it’s all culminating too? Will Joshua be in danger at some point from this guy? I’m wondering when the Higher Plane would step in, but this might just be Kubo’s job since Shiba was Shinjuku’s Conductor (and Hanekoma’s job, since it’s happening in Shibuya now) unless it gets completely out of control. They don’t seem to interfere much, just letting the assigned angels do the groundwork.

So that’s all my thoughts about stuff. I wouldn’t go into the game heavily expecting much of this though. As fun as theories are I’ll be fine enjoying the game for whatever happens. The world-building in twewy is just extremely fascinating to me and I love it so much. This is just my take on a “‘what if” situation anyways so nothing close to this may happen, hahaha. But speculation is very fun and I love to flex my twewy knowledge (it’s been next to useless for like 10 years. Finally twewy is relevant.

[loversarcanas]

1, 12, 17, 21, 22, 26, 27, 29, 43, 50, 52, 54, 59, 61, 62, 63, 64, 68, and 92 :3 (I def went a lil wild but FUN ASKS)

LISA HAVE I TOLD U I LOVE U YET BC THANKS I LOVE U!!!!!!

1. coffee mugs, teacups, wine glasses, water bottles, or soda cans? teacups! they’re so delicate and cute and have such pretty designs on them! (i actually collected tea sets for a short while before i ran out of space at home, so i want to keep collecting them when i move out and have more space). Coffee mugs are a close second though, they’re so cozy!

12. name of your favorite playlist? Aphrodite! It’s a playlist I made for my current D20 Modern character, and while it isn’t anywhere near complete you can listen here if you like!

17. most frequently worn pair of shoes? I have a pair of comfy white and pink flip flops that I’ve been wearing since last spring, i’m a total flip flop ho and I love how low effort it is to wear them

21. obsession from childhood? already answered! it’s pokemon!

22. role model? honestly I don’t really have any role models I can say, I’m someone who really wants to be my own role model and be a positive role model for other people!

26. favorite activity to do in warm weather? Swimming!!! Though I’ve only done it once so far this year… I feel like I could live in the water and though I’m a bit rusty on it I learned how to semi breath underwater for some short periods of time

27. favorite activity to do in cold weather? ice skating!!!! again its been way too long since i last did it but it feels so free and fun

29. best way to bond with you? talking about stuff we’re both into!!! i love making new friends talking about pokemon or anime or veganism, dnd, art, hobbies, lots of stuff!!! honestly just talking to people who are friendly and kind makes me so happy and is the best way to bond with me!!! (though i think you wouldl need a good amount of patience lol i get anxiety and forget to message back a lot…)

43. hoodie, leather jacket, cardigan, jean jacket or bomber jacket? cardigans!!! hoodies are a close second but i only like them in cold weather. cardigans are light and flowy and especially the long cardigans are my favourites

50. what made you laugh the hardest you ever have? oof thats kinda tough because ive laughed a lot but i remember this one time aaaages ago when my bunny hope was still alive, we had a box of thin mint girl scout cookies on our coffee table and she was having her free roam of the house. she sat on her hind legs at the table and pulled the whole box off and ran back to her pen with it!!! cookies spilled behind her on her way and she took one (1) bite out of like 3 different cookies before we finally got her. i loved that rabbit with my entire heart she was so funny

52. favorite font? i couldnt find the exact one that i downloaded a while ago but i like fonts kinda like this 

54. what did you learn from your first job? not to stretch myself thin to the point of tears every day lmao

59. if you were a video game character, what would your catchphrase be? i dont think i would have a catchphrase so much as i would just throw up a peace sign and call myself a dyke LMAO

61. favorite line you heard from a book/movie/tv show/etc.? kdjffhgskdl i feel bad i cant think of anything off the top of my head sorry!! ;;

62. seven characters you relate to? OOH HELL YEAH okay: Sayaka Miki from PMMM, Sayaka Maizono from Dangan Ronpa, Chiaka Nanami from SDR2, Nico Yazawa from Love Live, Dia Kurosawa from Love Live Sunshine, Yang Xiao Long from RWBY, and Glimmer from She Ra

63. five songs that would play in your club? God this is. such a good fucking question

Coloris - she

Hit and Run - Breathe California

I Like it Loud - Cash Cash

Play Hard - David Guetta ft. Ne-Yo & Akon

Casual Affair - Panic at the Disco

64. favorite website from your childhood? ABSOLUTELY neopets. that shit slapped and it still does (bonus second place was theN.com bc of that one avatar game i can not remember the name of)

68. worst flavor of any food or drink you’ve ever tried? i cant think all the way back but today i tried peach gummy rings flavored with lime chili powder and i almost threw up. i dont understand. i love both of these things separately. why do they taste so awful together…… top 10 anime betrayals

lamps, overhead lights, sunlight or fairy lights? ideally? fairy lights. i love the suttle beauty of dim lights. but im also a bitch who struggles to see so i need at least some of the other lights. rip

[theglguidetowebcomics]

The Webcomic Graveyard

There are plenty of amazing comics on the internet, but for every good one there seems to be 3 abandoned ones. You never know when one of your favourite comics will be dropped or even simply deleted, and if you’ve read a few webcomics it’s probably happened to you a few times. But, even if unfinished they’re interesting in their own way. So, why not take a short look at some these dead webcomics?

Firstly, the biggest problem with unearthing abandoned comics is they’re quite difficult to find, especially if they’re from the 2000′s or even early 2010′s. Because if they’re old, abandoned and on the internet, the lists that featured them or even the comics themselves can be long gone in hosting archives or lost with the domain, which isn’t a bad thing. They’re dead comics. But if I’m trying to find those neon coloured wonky lined GL stories where Amazons hang out; Main characters abruptly die in flames while everyone gives up on the quest in act 1; or love interests fly around knocking out angsty protagonists with alien comets left right and centre… Digging up the remains of some of these is going to be a challenge.

But that being said, let’s have a look at some of the good, the bad, and the tragic of abandoned WLW webcomics. And let’s see if digging these up is as fun as I thought.

Roxie and the Magic Taco

Years: 2015 - 2017 Pages: 114 Reason: Unexplained

First of all, of course there’s a GL comic about a magic taco. Second of all, what a title. This comic is all kinds of weird. it’s art style is painfully 2000′s with the grey shading, gradient backgrounds, geometric yet empty landscapes, and pixelated line work. And this was presumably made in 2015. Everything about this feels and looks like a competent 2000′s comic (minus the furries), but by far the weirdest thing about this comic was that even if I read it twice a while ago, I had NO idea I had only ever read a third of it until a researched it for this list. It went on a small hiatus in the start of 2016 posting a small how it was made list instead of a page which sent you to another part of the website if you clicked on it, so there was a whole year after that update which I had never read because I kept getting stuck on that damn update page without knowing. So I finally go to finish act 1 of this comic after 3 years, and man, what a page to end on. This comic started out as a small yet surprisingly sweet romance between two characters. Princess a heavily sheltered model(?) who’s father controls her day by the minute, and has lived that way all her life except for the few minutes a day where she takes off all her femme apparel and is allowed to wander around due to a lenient body guard. Think a reverse Hannah Montana if Hannah Monatana was secretly a butchy punk lesbian. And Roxie the stuck in the dead end job for 4 years cashier, who works for an insane grandpa who talks to a “Magic Taco” and has a huge crush on the supermodel princess, well, at least her celebrity persona. And the characters are weirdly… interesting. The plot as batshit as it is is alright, there’s clear conflicts for the characters and the twist before the comic ended revealed the “magic taco” actually existing? There’s definitley a few cons to it too, the art is awkward at times, The backgrounds are weird, and there feels like there’s something missing in the story. But weirdly enough, I still kinda want to know what happens next. But with what comes next though act I wrapped up on the 23rd of April 2017 with a message saying it would update again in June the same year. It never did. No more updates. No hiatus notices. Just an empty Tumblr, Facebook page, and badly designed website. Apparently act 2 had already been written, so who knows the story behind that one. An orphaned series.

Amazoness!

Years: 2007 - 2010 Pages: unobtainable Reason: Unknown/unobtainable

Alright, we’ve finally come across a comic that’s domain has been deleted (most likely due to the bills on the domain not being paid for a few years) and subsequently has had it’s entire archive destroyed (bar a few blurry Jpegs floating around). So information about this one is going to have to rely on what I can remember from 5 years ago. So… Buckle up, let’s horribly stumble through this one! If Roxie and the Magic Taco felt like a little like 2000′s comic Amazoness! by comparison eat’s and breaths 2000′s. From the early anime influences, bold colours, and ms paint vibes coming from every pore (not that ms paint is inherently bad. More that i’s used particularly). And, I swear, every abandoned comic has a bizarre premise and plot. So what is the plot? Good question. I’m not entirely sure myself. Amazoness! is set in 559 BC in a fictional Amazonian empire. Think wonder woman but ms paint, a little anime, and a whole lot more lesbian. They live in a women only empire with a giant infamous army, and generally despise men, which makes finding husbands difficult, they’re also basically all lesbians, which  makes finding a husband very difficult. Enter the main character (Left in the panels provided), she’s small and weak compared to her Amazonian peers, which as the next Queen, is a bit of a problem. So she goes on adventures around the ancient world (and by world I mean Greece before being cancelled). It’s a fantasy story with a lot of the 2000′s brand humour, blandish characters, and weird plot. It’s as 2000′s as it gets. But it did have a lot of standout jokes including the dark brooding Amazonian who was originally an ancient goth accidentally starting modern goth fashion in ancient Greece. There was also possibly a trans character, but being the comic that it was, whether that was their gender or whether they were going to become a cross dresser butt of the joke character is up for debate. Considering it was 2007 I’m not the most optimistic about that bit. All in all though it was the standard 2000′s fantasy comedy genre with some nice jokes, a few starts to some promising romances, a few bludges on some touchy subject material, and pretty forgettable art. Who knew what this comic would have become, as a young teen I wanted to find out, but now it’s just another orphaned series, lost to time. This is not a series that’s sorely missed, But maybe foggily remembered. Oh well.

Mora and Stima Apei

Years: 2016 - 2017 Episodes: 27 (Including specials + QAs) Reasons: Hiatus. Moving, free time, and starting another comic

What’s this? A webcomic that doesn’t look like it wears baggy jeans, plays snake on a flip phone, and bedazzle tamagotchis in it’s spare time? And I was this close to have a theme here. But, no. Mora and Stima Apei isn’t from the 2000′s or even 2000′s themed. It’s very modern from its story telling, to its art, to the fact that the authors are qualified in relevant fields. And rather than being specifically abandoned it’s been publicly put on hiatus with a notice and reason why. It’s always nice when creators do that. Whether it will actually be completed story though is still anyone’s guess. It’s still a webcomic. The comic however is pretty interesting, the visuals are a little rough at the start but greatly improve later on. The characters are beautifully designed, the colours are thought out, the tone is pretty clear, and the monsters are dark and twisted. And I’m always up for dark and twisted monsters. Con wise though is it’s a little wordy and poetic at times. Which I do understand is a style choice here, but at the same time I very much in the show don’t tell camp with things like this. It doesn’t do that all the time though. Plot wise though the comic is pretty straight forward, a women wakes up, can’t remember who she is, has a rotten arm, a elf lady in the room, and a skull on her head. Why? We haven’t gotten to the why yet. The art later on is gorgeous, and the mystery is enticing. But there isn’t enough yet to get a grasp on how good it will be, it doesn’t use it’s time well. Its not a bad comic though, it’s mystery and art is very well done. But, still can’t tell what it’s going to be from what there is. On the other hand though their newer comic is still coming out (albeit in early pages) and is extremely well done with nice art, visual story telling, and an intriguing plot. So as long as they keep making comics like that, I don’t mind how long this stays on hiatus at all.

[pendingoomething]

The Webcomic Graveyard

There are plenty of amazing comics on the internet, but for every good one there seems to be 3 abandoned ones. You never know when one of your favourite comics will be dropped or even simply deleted, and if you’ve read a few webcomics it’s probably happened to you a few times. But, even if unfinished they’re interesting in their own way. So, why not take a short look at some these dead webcomics? 

Firstly, the biggest problem with unearthing abandoned comics is they’re quite difficult to find, especially if they’re from the 2000′s or even early 2010′s. Because if they’re old, abandoned and on the internet, the lists that featured them or even the comics themselves can be long gone in hosting archives or lost with the domain, which isn’t a bad thing. They’re dead comics. But if I’m trying to find those neon coloured wonky lined GL stories where Amazons hang out; Main characters abruptly die in flames while everyone gives up on the quest in act 1; or love interests fly around knocking out angsty protagonists with alien comets left right and centre... Digging up the remains of some of these is going to be a challenge. 

But that being said, let’s have a look at some of the good, the bad, and the tragic of abandoned WLW webcomics. And let’s see if digging these up is as fun as I thought.

Roxie and the Magic Taco

Years: 2015 - 2017 Pages: 114 Reason: Unexplained

First of all, of course there’s a GL comic about a magic taco. Second of all, what a title. This comic is all kinds of weird. it’s art style is painfully 2000′s with the grey shading, gradient backgrounds, geometric yet empty landscapes, and pixelated line work. And this was presumably made in 2015. Everything about this feels and looks like a competent 2000′s comic (minus the furries), but by far the weirdest thing about this comic was that even if I read it twice a while ago, I had NO idea I had only ever read a third of it until a researched it for this list. It went on a small hiatus in the start of 2016 posting a small how it was made list instead of a page which sent you to another part of the website if you clicked on it, so there was a whole year after that update which I had never read because I kept getting stuck on that damn update page without knowing. So I finally go to finish act 1 of this comic after 3 years, and man, what a page to end on.  This comic started out as a small yet surprisingly sweet romance between two characters. Princess a heavily sheltered model(?) who’s father controls her day by the minute, and has lived that way all her life except for the few minutes a day where she takes off all her femme apparel and is allowed to wander around due to a lenient body guard. Think a reverse Hannah Montana if Hannah Monatana was secretly a butchy punk lesbian. And Roxie the stuck in the dead end job for 4 years cashier, who works for an insane grandpa who talks to a “Magic Taco” and has a huge crush on the supermodel princess, well, at least her celebrity persona. And the characters are weirdly... interesting. The plot as batshit as it is is alright, there’s clear conflicts for the characters and the twist before the comic ended revealed the “magic taco” actually existing? There’s definitley a few cons to it too, the art is awkward at times, The backgrounds are weird, and there feels like there’s something missing in the story. But weirdly enough, I still kinda want to know what happens next.  But with what comes next though act I wrapped up on the 23rd of April 2017 with a message saying it would update again in June the same year. It never did. No more updates. No hiatus notices. Just an empty Tumblr, Facebook page, and badly designed website. Apparently act 2 had already been written, so who knows the story behind that one. An orphaned series.

Amazoness!

Years: 2007 - 2010 Pages: unobtainable Reason: Unknown/unobtainable

Alright, we’ve finally come across a comic that’s domain has been deleted (most likely due to the bills on the domain not being paid for a few years) and subsequently has had it’s entire archive destroyed (bar a few blurry Jpegs floating around). So information about this one is going to have to rely on what I can remember from 5 years ago. So... Buckle up, let’s horribly stumble through this one! If Roxie and the Magic Taco felt like a little like 2000′s comic Amazoness! by comparison eat’s and breaths 2000′s. From the early anime influences, bold colours, and ms paint vibes coming from every pore (not that ms paint is inherently bad. More that i’s used particularly). And, I swear, every abandoned comic has a bizarre premise and plot. So what is the plot? Good question. I’m not entirely sure myself.  Amazoness! is set in 559 BC in a fictional Amazonian empire. Think wonder woman but ms paint, a little anime, and a whole lot more lesbian. They live in a women only empire with a giant infamous army, and generally despise men, which makes finding husbands difficult, they’re also basically all lesbians, which  makes finding a husband very difficult. Enter the main character (Left in the panels provided), she’s small and weak compared to her Amazonian peers, which as the next Queen, is a bit of a problem. So she goes on adventures around the ancient world (and by world I mean Greece before being cancelled). It’s a fantasy story with a lot of the 2000′s brand humour, blandish characters, and weird plot. It’s as 2000′s as it gets. But it did have a lot of standout jokes including the dark brooding Amazonian who was originally an ancient goth accidentally starting modern goth fashion in ancient Greece. There was also possibly a trans character, but being the comic that it was, whether that was their gender or whether they were going to become a cross dresser butt of the joke character is up for debate. Considering it was 2007 I’m not the most optimistic about that bit.  All in all though it was the standard 2000′s fantasy comedy genre with some nice jokes, a few starts to some promising romances, a few bludges on some touchy subject material, and pretty forgettable art. Who knew what this comic would have become, as a young teen I wanted to find out, but now it’s just another orphaned series, lost to time. This is not a series that’s sorely missed, But maybe foggily remembered. Oh well. 

Mora and Stima Apei

Years: 2016 - 2017 Episodes: 27 (Including specials + QAs) Reasons: Hiatus. Moving, free time, and starting another comic

What’s this? A webcomic that doesn’t look like it wears baggy jeans, plays snake on a flip phone, and bedazzle tamagotchis in it’s spare time? And I was this close to have a theme here.  But, no. Mora and Stima Apei isn’t from the 2000′s or even 2000′s themed. It’s very modern from its story telling, to its art, to the fact that the authors are qualified in relevant fields. And rather than being specifically abandoned it’s been publicly put on hiatus with a notice and reason why. It’s always nice when creators do that. Whether it will actually be completed story though is still anyone’s guess. It’s still a webcomic.  The comic however is pretty interesting, the visuals are a little rough at the start but greatly improve later on. The characters are beautifully designed, the colours are thought out, the tone is pretty clear, and the monsters are dark and twisted. And I’m always up for dark and twisted monsters. Con wise though is it’s a little wordy and poetic at times. Which I do understand is a style choice here, but at the same time I very much in the show don’t tell camp with things like this. It doesn’t do that all the time though.  Plot wise though the comic is pretty straight forward, a women wakes up, can’t remember who she is, has a rotten arm, a elf lady in the room, and a skull on her head. Why?  We haven’t gotten to the why yet.  The art later on is gorgeous, and the mystery is enticing. But there isn’t enough yet to get a grasp on how good it will be, it doesn’t use it’s time well. Its not a bad comic though, it’s mystery and art is very well done. But, still can’t tell what it’s going to be from what there is.  On the other hand though their newer comic is still coming out (albeit in early pages) and is extremely well done with nice art, visual story telling, and an intriguing plot.  So as long as they keep making comics like that, I don’t mind how long this stays on hiatus at all. 

[doodlewash]

I was born and raised on the Main Line of suburban Philadelphia, a key locale in the history of American painting and watercolor. Our family would spend summers at Longport, New Jersey, eight miles long and a few blocks narrow between the Atlantic Ocean and the Great Egg Harbor Bay.

One summer, when I was five years old, my mother sat me down at the edge of the Atlantic with a brush and palette of watercolors, plunged a sheet of watercolor paper into the ocean, handed that to me and said, “Here. Practice your strokes.” As she went about her own watercolor sketch, I began my practice.

My mother decorated the walls of our house with a large vellum calligraphed page from a church document, a reproduction of the Chi-Rho from the Book of Kells, a George Biddle watercolor of a rural cuban scene, a large, pre-Raphaelite Madonna and Child bordered with orange fruit, blossoms and leaves. By our front door hung a series of early botanical watercolor prints.

I think that she must have chosen most of my first books for their watercolor illustrations. She’d make garden designs with watercolor and pencil on tracing paper and I was named for the title character in a children’s book illustrated in pencil and watercolor by the author about a French Canadian girl who (finally) learns to draw in pencil and paint in watercolor on the Gaspé Coast.

With beginnings like that, it’s no surprise that I’ve dedicated my life as a painter to drawing and watercolor. In fact, it wasn’t till I started teaching the history of watercolor that I realized how many formative hours I’d spent surrounded by and examining watercolors up close and personal.

Because I had other skills to develop and situations to work out, it took a while for me to focus fully on watercolor. In my mid-20s, after studying with two fabulous teachers at Santa Monica College, I made photorealism portraits of, mostly, musical friends in L.A.; filmy, multi-glazed pieces with loads of pencil work from photos I’d take and then project and then labor over for days and days. I started showing as a watercolor artist and received my first professional commissions for these portraits starting in 1981.

Later, in Sarasota, FL, I turned to architectural portraits for a few years of, mostly, historic residences. Those were all made very early in the morning, plopped down on curbs in front of each building.

During my years of touring as a performing songwriter, I made small vignettes of scenes in Europe, New England and Charleston, SC, wherever I would find myself on days off. All of those paintings were made from a field kit of watercolors with a tiny brush on 4 x 6 blocks that I bought at a fab shop in Alkmaar, Holland. The buildings, travel scenes and subsequent work were all made en plein air, as they say.

Then I moved inside and made a series of large bouquets in Charlottesville, VA, The Age of Flowers. In 2006, I built a studio behind my home in Nashville, TN, where I finally let go of what I then thought was the crutch of pencil, of structure beneath my color and launched into a very long series called Landscape into Art which coincided with my watercolor blogging escapade.

I started teaching drawing and watercolor workshops over 20 years ago when I realized that the touring life as a solo musician was not healthy for me. In 2011, I created an in-depth, online course in drawing and watercolor for beginners. In early November 2016, I made a decision to read deep history and from that decision evolved a rather intensive series of online art history practicums through which we explore, with watercolor, the history of painting through different lenses 8-week courses. It’s been a lot of work and we all have learned a great deal.

Over the last 16 months, I’ve been making watercolor copies of historic paintings from, oh, 26,000 BC to the 1960s, mostly on Stillman & Birn Beta Series hard bound sketchbooks. I like the beta paper for it’s quality and versatility and keeping this project of almost 30 pieces bound together for the sake of order. (I’m a Virgo!)

Although Winsor & Newton paints and Arches paper were pretty much the only game in town for pros when I was starting out, I now use a combo of M. Graham and Daniel Smith watercolors (with a few faves from the Lukas and Old Holland lines). I’m quite fond of Lana and Fabriano papers but have done loads of work on what was once upon a time called Indian Village paper that is very heavy and very rough.

My creative process is ultimately intuitive. I have worked diligently for decades developing my technical skills but have never followed formulas or used technique tricks. I have learned to bow to my relationship with watercolor, which I consider to be a living medium, and allow water and color to teach me about my own process and what creative expression is available to us all when we check our egos at the door.

My work is really project driven. So, if I’m illustrating, making a new series of paintings, what have you, I allow the drawing and watercolor to serve the project. Although that being said, there are highly recognizable stylistic elements to whatever I make with watercolor. Some of those, like line and stroke, have always been with me. Other stylistic elements have developed through my practice and relationship with watercolor.

Nature, light and the medium of watercolor itself inspire me. While I have a line-up of interesting new projects in the wings, I’m fond of working on animals, and landscapes come through me intuitively with no model or thought.

I’m grateful that I was introduced to watercolor at the edge of the ocean in fresh air and sunlight. It connected me forever to the living quality of this medium that I love so deeply.

Visit my website to join me for my next free webinar on a Brief History of Watercolor and join my mailing list!

Suzanne McDermott Website Blog Music

GUEST ARTIST: "A Life In Living Color" by Suzanne McDermott - #WorldWatercolorGroup #doodlewash #watercolor I was born and raised on the Main Line of suburban Philadelphia, a key locale in the history of American painting and watercolor.

[hermanwatts]

Sensor Sweep: Pulp on Pulp, Sabatini, Jirel, Weird Westerns

New Project (Misha Burnett): A reminder that the collection of essays that Cheah Kit Sun and I are putting together is open for submissions. I don’t know that Pulp On Pulp will be its title when it comes time to publish it–I just needed to call it something. I am looking for essays from writers, editors, reviewers, and readers of fiction on the subject of what makes fiction fun. The emphasis should be on practical considerations–do this, don’t do that.

Writing (Amatopia): I recently put up a huge blog roll of sites I read and authors I want to spread the word about. Problem is, lots of them didn’t have websites or blogs to link to! Sure, there are alternatives. For example, I linked to many Amazon pages, either for the author or a particular book. But an actual web presence can make an author seem more official, and in the indie world, this is very important.

Review (DVS Press): Brian Niemeier’s new book is out now, and it’s a number one best seller. Let’s address one 100 IQ level comeback I see frequently when talking about shutting your wallet to the mega-corporations who not only don’t give a shit about the franchises that you grew up with, but actively hate you and your culture and want it (and you) dead: bUt yOu Use AMaZon/yOuTUbE /fAcEbOok/PAtreON.

Popular Culture (Wasteland & Sky): As you can see from the photos in this post, normal people were all over the arcades at its peak in the late ’80s to early ’90s. I know, because I was there. When the most creative and successful games from Double Dragon and Final Fight, to Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter, to Time Crisis and Dance Dance Revolution, were around, arcades thrived. By the end of the ’90s, the crowds got smaller as the games were shifting to home consoles. Normal people left, and developers abandoned the subculture.

Fiction (DMR Books): When I wrote my first post about Rafael Sabatini and his swashbuckling fiction, the concept for a series about the “Forefathers of Sword and Sorcery” here on the DMR Blog was still merely a glimmer in my eye. As with Arthur Machen, it’s high time Sabatini received his own entry. In this post, I try not to retread too much ground. For a more complete picture of the man and his work, I recommend that you check out “Rafael Sabatini: King of the Swashbucklers”.

Westerns (Brain Leakage): it’s not hard to see the appeal of stories about rugged loners living by their own rules. Nor is it difficult to see the appeal of books and movies that dwell on the majestic beauty of wide open spaces. Above all, Westerns are stories about personal freedom. After so many weeks being told where we can and can’t go, how close we can and can’t get to people, and what businesses we are and aren’t allowed to patronize anymore, who can blame viewers for looking to John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, and Yul Brenner for a little cathartic release?

Weird Western (Marzaat): There are new additions to the Weird Western subgenre all the time in games, fiction, comics, and movies. I’ve been interested in it for decades, starting with old Twilight Zone comic books and the Clint Eastwood movies High Plains Drifter and Pale Rider. The trouble is that, while I haven’t looked at every single example of the subgenre, I have sampled quite a few and most have been disappointing. For me, that disappointment comes in three areas.

Art (Broadway World): The Frank Frazetta The Serpent (aka “Aros”) Paperback Novel Cover Painting Original Art (Paperback Library, 1967) and Bernie Wrightson Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s Frankenstein Front Endpapers Illustration Original Art (late 1970s) sparked furious bidding to lead Heritage Auctions’ Comics & Comics Art Auction to $9,099,710 in total sales April 30-May 3. So strong was the demand that the Dallas-based auction raced past its pre-auction estimate of just over $7.3 million and boasted sell-through rates of 100% by lots and value.

D&D (Jeffro’s Space Gaming Blog): Magic is way more interesting. Tons of off the wall spells get used. Having to find magic the AD&D way creates one of the best incentives to adventure ever made. Success here– finding even two or three new first level spells– can fundamentally change the nature of the game and the balance of power between the first level classes. Exciting! With three big books of monsters instead of a “pure” edited down list of archetypes, the players run into something they’ve never seen before almost every session.

Art (Mens Pulp Mags): David is, among other things, an aficionado of men’s adventure magazines (MAMs). So, he knows that Eva is the most widely-recognized female artist’s model in the MAM genre, in addition to being a popular pinup photo model featured in various types of men’s magazines from the mid-1950s to the 1970s. He also knows that Steve Holland is the most famous male model in the realms of both MAMs and paperback covers. Holland is particularly well known for being the model artist James Bama used for Doc Savage, in the cover art Bama did for the Bantam paperback series.

Sword-and-Sorcery (Legends of Men): What makes this story bad is first and foremost the prose. Phrases are repeated in ways that only seem like that of an amateur author. In the opening scene, Jirel storms a castle and impatiently calls for Giraud’s head. Twice more we are told how impatient she is. This sort of repetition is rampant. More importantly, C.L. Moore does not follow the best practice of “show, don’t tell.” Rather than showing us that Jirel is brave Moore just writes “she was not afraid.” This frequent and another example of how the author comes off as an amateur.

Video Games (That Matt Kid): Conan has had quite the bumpy ride in his transition to the video game world. Let’s revisit some of the earliest titles in the barbarian’s gaming adventures.

Pulp Magazines (Don Herron): ere’s a shot of Kong emerging from an alley next to a news agent shop. More mags. The big model allowed panoramic shots and flyovers, but the level of detail extended to street scenes as well. Those shots are rich in every way. Relevant to our interests, there are numerous shots of newsstands, featuring a variety of magazines, including pulps.

Streaming T.V. (Running Iron Report): The world was living for real in the shadow of the fictional prophecy that forms the bedrock of Showtime’s new horror tale, Penny Dreadful: City of Angels: City of Angels is built around the seething racial tensions that simmered just below the golden surface of Los Angeles through most of its history. The planned Arroyo Seco Motorway (eventually the 110 Freeway running from Pasadena to downtown Los Angeles) will displace a Mexican-American neighborhood, just as the construction of Dodger Stadium would clean out Chavez Ravine two decades later. Nazis are infiltrating the film studios and the aircraft manufacturing plants.

Review (Paperback Warrior): After the pulp magazines disappeared, they were largely replaced by a more gritty and realistic magazine genre collectively known as Men’s Adventure Magazines (MAMs). These glossy, color publications featured stories and artwork by the same people servicing the men’s paperback original market in the 1950s and 1960s. Magazines like Adventure and Real Men were filled with colorful illustrations and stories designed to appeal to working class men returning home from the wars of the Mid-20th Century.

Fiction (DMR Books): Gustave Flaubert died on this date in 1880. While most famous for his novel, Madame Bovary, and dubbed “The Father of French Literary Realism”, Gustave nonetheless had a strong influence on the early formation of sword-and-sorcery. Salammbo–published in 1862–is loosely based upon the events following the First Punic War. The Carthaginians had lost their war with Rome and then decided to stiff the mercenaries who had fought for them. Predictably, mayhem and atrocities ensued during what has been dubbed the “Mercenary War”.

Fiction (Dark Worlds Quarterly): Fire Hunter (1951) by Jim Kjelgaard follows Hawk, chief weapon-maker for his tribe, as he makes innovation after innovation and leads his tribe to survive sabertooth tigers, rival tribesmen and grass fires. It was illustrated by Ralph Ray. Kjelgaard, who is best known for his Big Red dog books, serves up a fascinating tale of cavemen and invention that is plausible for the time but filled with action and adventure too. He attempts Burroughsian fantasy but strives for plausibility in a way that Jean Auel will make best-sellers of in thirty years. The film 10,000 BC should have used this story.

Gaming (Pelgrane Press): There’s value in seeing how a hero you know translates into Swords of the Serpentine, especially when that hero changes over time. SotS lets you play fledgling (less experienced) and sovereign (exceptionally experienced) versions of the same character, jumping back and forth in time between adventures in the same way a collection of fantasy short stories might jump between different eras of the same hero’s life.

Sensor Sweep: Pulp on Pulp, Sabatini, Jirel, Weird Westerns published first on https://sixchexus.weebly.com/