#but I mean it's a nice panel and since this is a actual image of izuna

[66sharkteeth]

Weekly thoughts- Ep 180

Claude has literally nothing to do with this episode outside of that one panel, but that image is one of my fav panels I've drawn in ages so I'm using it.

Anyway... Such a fun episode! I really loved writing this one. Aaallll season I've been seeing people say they miss the old Lyss (which is a little ironic bc previous seasons I only heard about how much people hate her? I guess people will never be 100% happy when it comes to Lyss). But trust me, I missed writing her being fiery and spunky too, we just needed to get to the point where she could get her spark back and it's finally there. I mean, I do think a big part of her spark was her almost cartoonish hatred for blanks, so when she lost that, there wasn't as much for her to get giddy and violent over, but now she's got a blank to RESCUE so we can have it back.

As for the actual plot... haha, yeah, everyone 1000% predicted what was gonna happen with that serum. Last week when I said that I had a plan for this fake out and to let me cook... That's kinda all I meant haha. But it looks like you guys were able to figure out what I was cooking based on all the ingredients, which I'm glad! It means people are like...ya know, following the story.

Lyss and Nia weren't a duo planned from the beginning (I wasn't even sure until not long ago if it was gonna be Lyss or Desmond that "died" during the exchange), but they've been so fun to write together and it was just so nice to draw silly Lyss again. It's been ages since I got to draw her in more light-hearted scenes again.

Anyway, this was such a fun episode to write, tho this is officially the start of the episodes that killed me to draw and why I'm down to only 2 episode buffer. I think you'll further see why in the upcoming episodes why I'm so damn behind now, as the episodes lately have been taking far longer than average to draw.

[digisims2]

Sims 2 on Windows 11

Alright, the new computer with Windows 11 is up and running and Sims 2 has been installed. These are the steps I took to get it running and looking pretty:

Installed the game through EA App

I installed "George" so I won't need to start the game up through EA App and let it waste resources and spy on me.

I ran the 4GB patch on the Sims2EP9.exe and TS2BodyShop.exe

I ran Graphics Rules Maker and tweaked things through that enabling it to use my full texture memory etc

I installed the EmptyStandbyList since without it I got pink flashing very quickly

????

Profit.

If this helped somebody else out, you're welcome! :)

(long, pretty messy and image heavy version of this process written as I did it is behind the cut. I mean it, it's very long!)

added my graphics card in the video cards file manually

did the common graphics rules tweaks (these) manually

applied 4gb patch to bodyshop and game exes

tested bodyshop, it started up but has no smooth edges, otherwise textures are good and new projects export and import as supposed. 4GB patch works as supposed. It'll likely require tweaking it through nvidia control panel so leaving that for later.

Started up game, after turning the edge smoothing on it looks this good (no mods thus the boxy shadows):

6. However my log is reporting only 1gb of RAM for the game to use, will have to reapply the 4gb patch and try again. But it's using all 12 gb for texture memory so that's cool, I probably won't need to worry too much about pink flashing but I'm going to stress test it a little.

View distance maximized:

Shaders work:

"I probably won't need to worry too much about pink flashing" I said earlier and then left the lot and:

:'D But looking at task manager I see my standby memory has filled up the remaining RAM already so this is actually working as expected, I just forgot one step.

7. installed the EmptyStandbyList.

8. This is where I closed game, applied the standby memory fix, rechecked my exe and remembered that you weren't supposed to run it in compatibility mode so I turned that off but just in case I also reapplied 4gb patch and restarted the game. Now it's correctly showing me 4GB of RAM to use for the game so that should be handled.

Side note: Mr. Humble spawned, I haven't seen him for years as I have mod to stop him from appearing. Was this sim always so ugly? It looks like his face is melting.

No pink flashing after leaving the lot this time:

But it crashed when I clicked on the sims icon.

New try, game restarted and this time we'll go straight to CAS and... *immediately gets distracted* There are this many bin families by default?

I've used clean templates for years so this was an unpleasant surprise. I don't like them, you're all getting nuked soon once I've made sure the game runs as supposed and can go ahead installing clean templates. So then to the CAS, it loads and I click to create a sim and....

Oh. Okay then. :| Guess I'm missing some tweak still. Let's try graphics rules maker instead, it should also easily fix my resolution etc since I forgot to do that manually.

One restart later, are you fucking kidding me?

but hey, nice crisp textures. Too bad it's so tiny I can't see shit. (I realized this was my error after a moment, I thought graphics rules maker said minimum resolution in the spot I didn't change but it actually says maximum, so I fixed that and all is good) But I'm gonna ignore that now and try loading CAS again, pls work.

.... Hell yeah, at least that finally loaded up as supposed.

She is beauty, she is grace, maxis defaults really ruin her face.

After the final restart with screen size etc fixed I went back and forth to different lots trying to make it flash pink and it never did so I'm going to say this was success.

So to recap:

Installed the game through EA App

I installed "George" so I won't need to start the game up through EA App.

I ran the 4GB patch on the Sims2EP9.exe and TS2BodyShop.exe

I ran Graphics Rules Maker and tweaked things through that enabling it to use my full texture memory etc

I installed the EmptyStandbyList since without it I got pink flashing very quickly

????

Profit.

And seriously, that's all, even if this post ended up this long.

I still need to get smooth edges in bodyshop but that will likely be done with nvidia control panel rather than texture settings. Here's one more random maxis sims image to end this with a pretty picture instead of just huge wall of text.

[rmorde]

Trigun Manga Reaction

Starting off with Volume 1 - Chapter 1

I will always love Meryl's design. She is one of the most memorable female characters from my childhood. My most distinct image from Trigun 98 is Meryl showing off all her derringers from her coat. I love her and Milly a lot.

So, these two images make me giggle.

Ok. I have to do a double take here.

Is the Note: Staunch Pacifist here a "break the fourth wall" type of situation or an actual info people in the story know? Hmmm... from the animes, it doesn't seem to be common knowledge that Vash doesn't like to fight. People kinda shoot first and never ask later with him. I guess the many zeroes in his bounty just wipes off the "staunch pacifist" info from their minds or they think it's just a twisted joke to ignore.

AAAWWWW BABY!!!!

BABY NOOOO!!!!! He was just happily eating steaks!!! This is far more cruel than a ruined drink or hanging upside down!

Sigh... Really... Vash... Just really?! I guess Badlands!Vash isn't too OOC when he pulled this stunt then he's still weirdly horndoggy there ngl.

That's a nice nightmare face. Did Nightow ever make a serious horror?

Maybe I am just being weird here but this panel is really interesting because of the lack of details on this big guy threatening Vash. From his chest and below, with the exception of his hand holding the gun, there is nothing. He encompasses about three-quarters of this half page panel like a really big wall.

I guess the composition is supposed to show how he is trying to dwarf Vash. It doesn't work obviously since Vash looks so still and detailed in contrast to him. Idk. It's just how it comes across to me.

Pouty Baby.

Classic Vash.

Aah... The faces of people wondering how they shouldn't be alive anymore, but they still do because the scary Humanoid Typhoon decided to use a toy gun to shoot them in their faces twice.

Baby Girl. You should be in Sailor Moon.

Baby Gremlin Girl.

Clever Gremlin Baby Girl Vash The Stampede

Wait... FOUR?! FOUR PIZZAS?!!

Oh poor TriStamp Vash. He got hit by inflation hard. He can only get 2 pizzas with his one bullet!

Ok. So the Plants design from '98 are closer to the manga. TriStamp is new.

Oh my my my...

THE BADASS LADIES ARE HERE IN ALL THEIR GLORY!!!

Peak designs I swear. I mean. TriStamp Meryl's design is cute, but it is nothing compare to this beauty!

Remember this exchange from the '98 anime. Didn't really understand it until I got older and realized on hindsight what these assholes really meant. Ewww.

I wonder if, with how sensitive certain groups of people nowadays, these dirty lines will still get past the radar when localized or be changed altogether.

Oh... This is slightly different. Milly did understand what they meant and reacted to it unlike in '98 where she is just innocently confused.

This will always be iconic for me alongside Meryl's Derringers reveal. When I think of Trigun, these are two of the four images that come to my mind.

Oh... Oh... So, this stuff happens to Vash during the first chapter. I guess the animes are a bit more merciful that they have this happen after a few episodes at least.

Sigh... Whenever I have a bad day, I'll just think Vash has it worse. At least I get to fix my mistakes in peace and with help unlike him... Poor baby girl.

[oseike]

My mental image for Kim Rok Soo

I've seen some art of him and have come to realize the image on the novel cover was supposed to be Earth body, but by the time I saw it I'd already come up with my own opinions on his appearance, so I'm not going to set down my vision either lmao

> KRS grew up initially without proper food so he was likely underweight and didn't grow to his proper size, leading him to have a somewhat malnourished look to him

> This is supported by continued comments about his 20-yo self looking painfully thin

> I gave him bangs at that age mostly because he would have been focused a bit more on looking nice for job reasons, but he still doesn't have the money for nice hair products, so it's still pretty short hair

> Since this is also the body he gets in Central Plains, I decided to show his scammer smile too ahahaha-- How odd that must look to Choi Jung Soo and Lee Soo Hyuk, knowing that on Earth he was incredibly stoic and rarely gave a smile - let alone a big one. I didn't look up proper wuxia outfits so uhhh don't think too hard about the fashion djfjsh

> By age 36 he is healthier with regards to his physique, but a lifetime of being thin would likely mean he still would not be the type to bulk up. Getting large would require concerted bodybuilding effort, which he has no time for, and access to a lot of protein. Even if he had time and resources, it isnt really optimal for his own time management nor his actual needs. KRS is a very practical person, so I see him as someone who would prioritize logical self-sustainment: compact, lean muscle, making it easier on resources to maintain

> He might carry a bigger gun too, but I didn't feel like hanging one on him. It would likely be variable anyway, depending on what kind of monster his team needed to face. I chose to just draw the items he would always carry on him. I think he is also supposed to have a metal panel turned into a shield, which I probably should have drawn but didn't ahaha-

> Thanks to overwork, he generally always looked tired and stoic. I imagine his voice was pretty deadpan unless he speaks of something he has conviction for ("you must eat") or during combat if he has to raise his voice for an urgent command

> This older KRS probably has an electric shaver and just buzzes his hair periodically when it gets long enough. He's not vain, so gorgeous hair isn't a priority. I think to contrast this, the long hair he grows as Cale can be seen as him trying to set down this lifestyle, where his self-maintenance only focused on being combat-ready. It also can be seen as him trying to (pre-emptively) enter his "I am done with work" mentality. Fighting with long hair isn't actually logical, so maybe as he grows it longer, it's like mentally telling himself "it's fine, I'm almost done fighting, soon I can be a slacker" (lol)

[cocogum]

I'm sad the great wave volume is over and eager for the next. But I think I enjoyed following through your commentary more than actually getting the story xD

So, thanks for that.

I’ve been giggling at ur comment for two minutes now 🥰🥰

DON’T TELL ME NICE THINGS, MY JAW’S ABOUT TO POP OFF FROM SMILING TOO MUCH-

But in all seriousness, your lovely comment means more than you’ll ever know.

Every Thursday when a new chapter was uploaded, I found myself re-reading it repeatedly. I had to carefully organize my thoughts to articulate them clearly and in a logical order for others to easily follow. I also had to screenshot every panel I needed to reference in order to illustrate my points.

I often have to combine two or three panels into one using Picsart on my phone because Tumblr only allows 10 images and 30 images on the website. This way, I can avoid discarding or wasting any of the images I want to share. Additionally, I sometimes use ibisPaint X to cover up certain parts in images where I cropped them and it affected the appearance of the eyes.

But don’t get me wrong, despite going through this hell every Thursday night, the chapters were a joy to read, and I enjoyed reflecting on them while considering how to approach discussing them.

In short, it was hell but I enjoyed the full process 💖

But it’s obviously not over for the great wave series lol

Since the physical copy of the first volume featured 5 chapters (the 10 webtoon episodes got fused into 5 chapters), this means that we’re only at the very beginning of the Great Wave manga’s story. (I can’t believe we’re still at the beginning even though it feels like we’re already in deep shit 💀)

Tot pretty much confirmed on Twitter that there will be around 100 chapters to prepare for.

That means I’m aware we’ll see much more mature themes (*cough* chapter 1 *cough*) and much more graphic content (*cough* possible horrid assassination of the royal osamodas family *cough* no I am not delusional).

That means I’m aware I’ll have to keep this whole commentary thing going about a hundred times 😄🤭😁

But to know that you enjoyed my commentary more than the story is just-

Wow??? I am speechless???

Like-

What do I even say to that??

I get that the story gave us a huge weekly migraine cuz of the chicken and gorilla but omg???

I am genuinely happy that I made your migraine bearable throughout those weeks, thank you so so much for telling me 😭💖

Just the thought of knowing that you liked them makes me wanna bash some blue animals again 👹👹

I hope you’re having a wonderful day/evening/night imatekuani 💖💖💖

(I see you got a King pfp 👀 ur even more amazing for having good taste ✨💕💕 I’m also pissed disney had to end the owl house earlier than expected)

[cerealandchoccymilk]

Trigun Bookclub: Trigun Vol.1, Chapter #04

previous | all | next

This was actually pretty much ready last night but I hit post limit. L

I'm doing a deep-read of the Japanese original print (reread) and Overhaul 1.0 (first read) side-by-side, and writing down everything I notice from small details, version differences, translation differences, etc. (and being so normal(<-lie) about my faves as always)

As always, here are the non-analysis panels of the babygirls (!!!!! this time with Milly my beloved)

And the rest is under the cut :)

[link for if the images aren’t in horizontal rows]

Not as many this chapter since it's sort of between arcs.

Starting off with how this exchange between this guy and the mailman was handled! Originally, the "Thanks / Anytime" part was one speech bubble and came from the long-haired guy. He says「はいよ　ご苦労さん」(smth like "Alright. Thanks for your work."), and the tiny speech bubble from the mailman is a shortened form of "Thank you for your constant patronage." Because the lines become a bit redundant in English, Overhaul combined the guy's lines, splie his speech bubble, and moved the mailman's line to a more visible location. Just a little translation/typesetting trick I thought was clever.

April City in Japanese was stylized to Ainpril City.

I lied in the last post. Vash's antennae are back up; it'll still be a bit until his bent antennae becomes permanent. I guess it was just his hairdo coming loose during the Nebraska commotion.

And more MillyMeryl manzai routines!! I love them

This is definitely me reading into it too much... but I like the contrast between the girls, who have a job but are broke, and Vash, who does fuck all and even refused $$700 thousand but properly has money for the sandsteamer fare.

Also, he has a cool cloak! I forgot about that.

Tonis!! (remembering what happened to him in Stampede...ough......)

This conversation about Vash just... makes me Feel some Feelings. His pacifism and sheer niceness lights up the whole town. man.

Tiny detail: Silvie had a ruby note saying "store owner."

ok i'm as upset about this as yall are about to be. i am so sorry.

「うーん　少うしもったいなかった　かな」 もったいない itself could!! mean "to be too good for smth" ("that was too good for me"), but here, used by itself with no additional context, it defaults to "wasteful" → "Maybe I missed out..." 😭 but we can ignore this. acespec Vash must prevail. i'm very sad about this too.

This does not mean the translation or the common Western interpretation of this is wrong!!!! But this is definitely the way Japanese readers interpret this line, and probably the meaning Nightow intended. If there was something like 僕には before the middle line, this would've definitely gone the acespec route. Implied subject/object is a bitch

But with your help, we can all just forget everything I just wrote here and pretend it never happened! Deal? Deal.

Vash's agony is represented with squiggles in this panel.

I didn't notice this until someone else mentioned it, but this is a Wolverine reference!

Translation error - This line is by Kaito (the boy), saying "That's gotta be from the second time!" pointing to when Vash stuck his head through the vent himself.

food service au canon real.

That’s it for Chapter #04! As always, the Japanese annotations are in the reblogs.

[autumnslance]

Tumblr Cosmetic Customization Tutorial

You there! New Tumblr User with a default icon and header, no description, no custom URL, and not wanting to be mistaken for a bot--you just want to maybe figure out this weird hellsite and follow some people without being blocked, right?

Maybe you've been around for a little while, or are returning from that other hellsite, and don't know what the heck folks mean by enabling the custom URL and why are so many blogs opening on the dash instead of in a new tab?!

Let's sort this mess out below the cut with a screencap-laden tutorial, starting on mobile app (since Most new blogs start there these days, and many people use mobile more, or exclusively) and then moving to web browser for some other features that aren't available in the app (as of 1/27/23 anyway).

This is just going to be about cosmetic customization and accessing the correct blog URL and archive; Tumblr's many other settings and features for how you want to see your Dashboard and how much Privacy control you decide on are for your exploration (or another day and another tutorial, this one's long enough).

The tutorial blog itself literally took me well under 5 minutes to set up, and Tumblr guided me to customizing immediately. Taking the screenshots added a few seconds to the time; it's taken longer to write the first part of this post out. If you didn't customize the blog right away, don't fret! You can always tap the little art palette and cogwheel icons at the top of your blog to sort it out.

Now go below the link to see written instructions with image examples, including a few more with my cat:

TO BEGIN: In the mobile app, I make a new blog. For me, it's a sideblog under my main and existing sides, but otherwise this is all the same info. The following process also isn't actually all that different in web browser.

Now, you can change your URL later on if you want; a lot of folks do over time. Just be aware: changing your URL breaks any and all previous links to your blog, including any posts others have reblogged under "Read More" cuts, with the same result as if the blog was deactivated; the URL no longer exists, so Tumblr doesn't count it as "there" anymore.

Now that's out of the way, once I make a blog it immediately takes me to the Customization screen:

I can--and should!--give my blog a name and a description. Doesn't have to be long or fancy, and can always be changed later with no risk to your links.

I can tap the "Background" and "Accent" buttons to change the default colors, too. Let's go for something easy on the eyes by tapping on the colored circles to find some default options, or the wheel to grab a random custom one. I'm going to go to purple and find a nice shade there.

Next I will tap on the little default icon to choose an avatar photo. I can choose not to show it on my blog, and if I do, whether I want it to be square or circle.

I can also tap to choose a header image if I like. I'm just grabbing some images from my phone. I did have to redo the avatar as it didn't want to stay after selecting a header pic for some reason.

And then I made a quick post and pinned it, to let folks know that I am human and what the purpose of this blog is (lurking for now? A main blog for following while sideblogs get the content? In this case, a tutorial).

OK, so my cat for an icon, my copy of the fanzine I worked on as a header, a quick title and description, and a short post. Even if I post nothing else to this blog (and if it were a main blog; sideblogs can't follow others, nor send asks or replies), people will be fairly certain I am not a bot, hooray! And if I want to change anything, I can tap on the icons at the top of the blog and get back to these customization screens.

I CAN STOP HERE IF I WANT TO

...BUT WHAT IF I, or buddies, try to open my blog in a browser and it opens a dash panel? What if I (or others) want to access my Archive? Unfortunately, I cannot find the correct option in the mobile app at this point, so onto a web browser we go (on my phone or my tablet, or my computer).

I am using a generic default web browser where I don't have many extensions/plugins/addons enabled (though apparently I did set dark mode). When I tap/hover over my icon, it still shows my color option and everything I selected in app setup.

Here is where I am going to direct you to the side bar and the "Edit Appearance" button so I can point out some Very Important Things, even if you don't customize anything else ever.

When I open my blog's appearance tab, right away it's going to tell me some interesting things I have circled and pointed at on the below screenshot:

In RED I have circled my blog's URL: www.tumblr.com/lynmarstesting. This is why a blog opens in a dash panel instead of going to an actual blog. This is the new Default URL, I cannot access an Archive or other blog features like this.

The ORANGE arrow points to the feature we want, right below the "Blog name" and URL: "Custom Theme". When I swipe this feature to active, it tells me my URL is updated.

When I go to my blog, the URL in my browser shows the proper https://lynmarstesting.tumblr.com link.

And the blog looks...well, bare bones and empty, but a proper weblog page. And I (and anyone else) have access to my Archive! When, y'know, I have enough posts to make that a thing on this blog.

Now, if I or anyone else opens the blog by clicking my username or icon, it'll open a dash panel...but also show my actual @ and my proper URL link, so they can go to the blog itself that way if they want. Everyone wins!

I CAN STOP HERE IF I WANT TO;

there's no need from this point to keep messing around in a browser, we've done everything to 1) make ourselves look human and 2) make our blog properly linkable/accessible.

BUT WHAT IF...??

Once again, the little art palette icon at the top is our clicky-buddy, boxed below in orange:

This opens an "Edit Theme" sidebar panel where one can customize the blog. Each theme has different options, and Tumblr's default theme is honestly really modular; change colors, fonts, have multiple columns, add some pages (I've a whole other tutorial on that), etc.

There's also an "Advanced" pane, where you can mess with some other settings (the little ? icon on each line tells you what it does) and, if you're knowledgeable--or just bold--this is where you can add some Custom CSS.

Say the Default Tumblr Official isn't doing it, though; at the top of the Edit Theme pane it tells you your current theme, and there's a handy "Browse Themes" link.

This opens a drop down with multiple sorting options. I don't want to spend money on a premium blog theme at the moment, and the others are a mix, so let's check out the Free Themes options.

There's a lot of options here! Some new ones, some are sponsored, lots of variety. Even the "Accessible" theme I mainly use is there, in its barren glory, compared to what you can see I've made of it on browser (see that previous tutorial I linked above):

Again: Different Themes have Different Levels of Customization.

Some will let you change every color, the fonts, the frames, and so on. Some let you add links everywhere. Some barely let you touch anything. You can tap "Use" at the top to preview, and the "Advanced" pane will let you preview random pretend posts if you don't have many/any of your own to see how they'd look. If you don't like how something's turning out, just click back on "Free Themes" and look for another one.

PLEASE KEEP IN MIND READABILITY!!

When people follow links to your blog--like a Read More cut--they will see the post on your blog's theme and in your blog's colors. Even on mobile app, especially if you override the default mobile theme, your color choices will have an impact! Aesthetic is all well and good, but frames, fonts, colors, and so on, should be legible and readable to most people, especially if you mean to share a lot of text posts.

Another thing to note: Your theme will NOT appear on mobile app. It defaults to a basic setup in the app, keeping maybe only your colors. Any custom links won't show, and cosmetic site options and access are limited in a lot of ways. The site is usable on a mobile web browser, and will have those features there. I get around the app's inability to show my theme's links by adding them all to my informative Pinned Posts on each blog, but that's me.

And there you have it! How to cosmetically customize a Tumblr, in mobile app and browser, to seem like a real person and access the correct URL and features of your blog. Whether you're new or been here awhile, hopefully this helps answer some really basic questions about how and why to do some of these things.

Have a final full-sized silly Chel pic to say goodbye.

[minorisato]

i don't have a title for this one tbh

transformers / ratchlock / wc: 967 / warnings: NSFT / notes: N/A

Ratchet is tired.

He is, honest! He’s tired and he’s trying to recharge. He gets exactly 8 hours of off-time, not one second more, and he’s attempting to use every single one of those hours to sleep. After a long day of patching wounds and almost getting shot, he deserves it.

But he can’t. The fact he can’t makes him angry at himself, which in turn makes him more awake, but really, there’s a very simple reason he can’t sleep.

That was him.

That’s the thought, running back and forth in Ratchet’s processor as he stares up at the ceiling of his hab. That was him. He was there. He saw me, I saw him, we saw each other. That was him. He didn’t try and shoot me. That last part felt important, for some reason. Maybe it was just that he– Drift, Deadlock– couldn’t get a good shot from where he was, but Ratchet really had a feeling that if the ‘con wanted to shoot him, he would’ve.

But they saw each other. They locked optics. For one moment, one planet-shattering moment, Ratchet was back in the clinic, fresh out of university, staring at the most handsome mech he’d ever met– who apparently went on to make the worst decision of his life. They saw each other, they locked optics, and there was no mistaking that recognition on both ends. Deadlock recognized Ratchet as much as Ratchet recognized him.

In an absolutely awful move, a small part of Ratchet’s processor grabs onto that fact. He recognized me, with an air of flattery surrounding that knowledge. Staring up at the ceiling, Ratchet felt his faceplates heating up, and then got even angrier with himself for this line of thinking. You spoke once, and now he’s a ‘con, and he’s probably gonna try to kill you pretty soon to get rid of his “emotional attachments” or something– if he even has an attachment. He’s chastising himself in hopes that the thoughts will leave his processor and just let him recharge.

Alas, leave his processor they do not. Instead, that small part becomes so much more insistent. He could’ve shot you, and he didn’t, which must mean something, right? It says, and then all hell breaks loose. That single thought is all it takes for the rest of Ratchet’s processor to start generating other things; the ‘con coming to him, them talking in a battlefield. Deadlock being happy to see him, Deadlock becoming an Autobot (as if). Deadlock taking a hold of Ratchet’s servos, and looking at him in the eye, locking optics once more.

Leaning down, and– and–

Ratchet physically smacks himself. Don’t think about it. Sleep.

His processor continues. Deadlock’s servos around his waist. Deadlock pulling him closer, flush against his larger frame. Deadlock’s servos trailing down, further, further–

Stop! Stop it, stop thinking about it!

Ratchet feels his paneling shift, and his valve is exposed before he’s aware his interfacing programs ever came online. He groans, turning over, burying his helm into the berth. He attempts to offline those programs and close his valve, but finds that he can’t.

Frustrated, he hesitantly trails a hand down, running a finger over his slit. He startles feeling just how wet he actually is– seriously, this worked up? Just from a few mental images?

Biting his lip, and realizing that he’s probably not going to be able to sleep until he takes care of himself, he dips a finger inside, gasping at the feeling. It’s been a good few-hundred-thousand years since he’s done anything like this; turns out, being a war medic kills all your free time and your sex drive. The sensation is familiar, but blessedly refreshing, and soon he’s rocking his hips into it, slowly pushing in a second next to the first, using his other hand to rub his node.

His processor continues to work. He imagines his digits being a bit sharper, and imagines himself pressed against the large body of the ‘con. Drift did have a nice voice, Ratchet remembered, and his processor attempted to warp what he remembered of that handsome, low voice into encouragement for the medic. No doubt, he would sound a bit different now, but Ratchet could overlook that.

Such a good mech, imaginary-Deadlock said to him, taking my fingers so well for me. You love being stretched out like this, don’t you?

“Yes,” Ratchet gasped, offlining his optics, allowing himself to fall full-on into the fantasy.

You like being treated like this? By a ‘con? Like that I’m the one doing this to you?

“Yes!” Ratchet repeats, a bit louder this time, and he’s suddenly so glad his hab is soundproofed.

Could take you with me, back to the ‘cons, the voice says, and in the recesses of Ratchet’s mind he knows he’s really saying it to himself (which is probably worrying), but he’s too far gone to care. Could keep you in my hab, could treat you like the slut you are. You want that, Ratch?

“Deadlock,” Ratchet lets out, panting, fucking himself on his two fingers in earnest, picking up his speed. “Deadlock, yes, I– I want–”

You wanna overload?

“I want, I want to overload–”

Do it for me, Ratch. Overload while getting fingered by a ‘con.

A moment later, Ratchet’s joints lock up, and he falls forward, moaning into the berth. His valve clenches and unclenches around his fingers, transfluid dripping between them, down his servo.

Finally, his processor begins to calm, and he groans, removing his servo from himself. He should seriously go wash up, but as he thinks that, all of his exhaustion catches up with him, and he finds he cannot actually move.

Sighing, he figures, I’ll just do it before my next shift, and allows recharge to finally, finally claim him.

[bismuthburnsblue]

ok so!!! i revisited my work from yesterday, going in and properly blocking out the style lines and strap (still up for change as i get into better fabrics but this is a lot more representative of what they would actually look like now!) (though i am noticing ive set my hemline lower- even extending it on nora, when anne's is quite high, so ill have to see how comfortable i feel with that)

i also took a bit out of the hips on the ally pattern which definitely helped with the shape (i was really just being lazy not doing this, ive used this pattern before and had to do that, i knew it was gonna be an issue)

Theres more notes on my personal thoughts on both patterns below the cut :)

same cw's as before for body image stuff :) (maybe this is silly but i just feel far more comfortable putting warnings + a readmore for corsetry)

(also! i will be doing a post properly introducing this project soon :) ive got a lot i want to say!!)

First up! both of these patterns are by Aranea Black, pdfs of these patterns are still available online but her website is gone now)

Ally is a 6 panel corset with extreme hip spring- heres what the pattern looks like:

i do think the hip spring gives a really dramatic shape, but i do worry that with my upholstery weight faux leather, it just wont sit nicely. on this mock up i had to slit my entire seam allowance at the waist to make it not tuck too badly, and that means cutting my boning channel in half (i think, still deciding details like that) i cant really afford to waste fabric recutting panels if i sew it and it does tuck, either.

(Technically i do have the option available to me to do a twin stitch like Anne's original corset actually has, but this wouldnt be traditional, and wasnt in my plan (even if i wasnt gonna have the bones in the leather layer, i like the /look/ of felled channels on the outside.) a twin stitch however would probably negate most the tucking on the waist point, as it opens it up rather than folding to one side.)

Secondly, the one gripe i have about this pattern is that big line of wrinkles below the waist- now some of this will be from the fabric and it not being worn in, but the "daily wear" version of this corset ive made before still has some of these wrinkles even now, especially over the first hip spring panel. i know theres ways to adjust the fitting to counter the ones over the hip, but those i think are largely from the way the fabrics pulling around the curve- its covers such a large area its bound to pull a little weird in places. I really want a smooth look, a clean finish is the most important thing to me, and i worry no matter what i do they will still be there.

I will say, Ally has a lacing gap designed into the pattern, which is something i want, as Anne's corset has one, and it automatically gives you more leeway in the fit that patterns without it just dont have.

Nora on the other hand is 8 panels, with the hip spring spread across a much further space. On paper it looks much less dramatic, but theoretically should still hold a significant amount of shape, just distributed over more panels.

I guess that would be my first area of concern, that the shape just isnt quite as dramatic as the shape on Ally. i really want something quite striking for this project and though pattern modifications can be made, i was hoping to not have to do too much past simples changes.

The 8 panels also means this pattern will likely eat up more fabric. if nothing else, theres 4 extra sides of seam allowance that the other does not have (though, these pieces will nest together better, so it could end up being negligible) it is a concern however, as im working on a very tight yardage.

One of the immediate positives of this pattern however is the lack of that wrinkle band like Ally has. Since this is worn as an outer layer thats a huge point in its favour, a nice clean finish is basically the top of my requirements list.

Nora also has no lacing gap, which is an issue for the reasons mentioned above (annes costume has a lacing gap, but also lacing gaps give more leeway in the fit, allowing you to be a little tighter on some days than others.) Its possible to draft in a lacing gap relatively easily, but it is something i have to consider.

Its completely arbitrary, but i also feel like the way the strap joined onto this pattern was nicer- it lined up better with the pre existing panels and i think it'd join on as a continuous piece better. again, its extremely minor, i just think its cleaner with less fiddling on my end.

I think im still thinking the same way i was yesterday, that Nora is probably the pattern thats working better for me for this, but its still very up in the air for me. i feel like theres more pattern modifications to do there, but that its probably going to be worth doing the work? but i am definitely interested in what anyone else might think!

[mettywiththenotes]

Idr if you ever compiled them all into a post but thoughts on ch. 377?

I think I made 6 posts about the chapter (all about little details I think) but I never compiled them into one post. I guess I could do that now?

Super curious about who the hell this is. I wondered if it was Future Izuku but. idk, maybe a bit of a reach considering Izuku's left hand has scars all over it and there are none shown here. So now I'm wondering if it's either Future All Might (which would be really nice) or Future Tomura. Waiting for the reveal of Cherry Blossom Person

I did NOT expect the Twice clones to be coming through the warp (for some reason), so here I wondered if we'd finally get the answer to the question of "Does Tomura know Twice is dead?"

Tomura molting his skin and emerging from it really reminded me of the whole moth/butterfly cocoon thing that's been happening with him. Specifically these panels seem similar to me

Idk like. the whole emerging from the cocoon into someone even more powerful, which I guess, with 377, you could attribute to Tomura shedding his "shell" (aka the control AFO had over him in possession) and emerging from the "shell" as another person (aka a different person than he was a moment before. as in, no longer fully possessed)

Anyway, they seemed similar to me

Also curious with how the pre-transformation sequence had stars all around TomurAFO, very much looking like the OFA stars, and then he molts his skin and the image on the left being what they look like afterwards maybe?

Almost like cherry blossom petals 👀 Or you know, dead skin from the old shell lol

With The Boys - Here's what I have so far

I love the whole page obvs. Izuku's stance, the reference to him asking if Tomura was still in there, the mall reference, Tomura going from wanting Izuku's help to being like "actually, no." (cat behaviour), Izuku recognizing Tomura's personality immediately (which may have been because Tomura threw in the mall reference line. subtle, fr, since AFO probably has no idea that Tomura isn't being that sarcastic there)

So far from what I can tell (with some analysis):

The way Tomura talks here is very "Why did you want to know if I'm here? So we can hang out together? So we can hold hands? So we can frolic into the sunset together? No, we'll never do that. You have to fight me. You have to, since I'm your Villain." Comes across sarcastic and bitter, like he's already accepted that Izuku can't do anything more than fight him

Fated enemies, fated opponents, were always meant to fight etc. Maybe Tomura is the only one who believes that still - or believes it in order to shield himself from the "harsh truth" that "Izuku really doesn't want anything to do with him" - while Izuku just wants to stop him and save him now. Even though, deep down, Tomura really does want to be saved - Or maybe it's to do with Tomura's dichotomy speech, that all they'll ever do is fight and there's no reason to be wondering if the other is capable of being saved or not, idk

The use of ORE, a parallel to Kurogiri/Shirakumo in 373 imo

Reference to the mall scene which definitely has to mean that Tomura never forgot about that scene (we been knew)

If I'm to go a little further, the mall scene represents a sort of honest vulnerability between the two (mostly coming from Tomura) because it is an honest scene. So Tomura mentioning it here could also mean "You want me to be vulnerable and honest with how I feel? Am I supposed to admit that I want your help? No way. You can't do anything about this situation. Your only choice is to fight me"

Does Tomura have new scars along his cheeks?? They don't really look like the scars he had before imo

Notice how one side of Tomura's face has that usual grin that we've missed so much, whereas the other half of his face is all wide-eyed and looks a bit like he's sweating (nervous). This makes me think that the half of Tomura grinning with the hooded eye is Tomura mostly in control, while the one with the wide eye is the AFO side realizing that he might be fucked here

But that's all I've got for now on that scene

Back to the rest of the chapter

All I can say is it's a good thing 2nd stopped Izuku from using his quirk in the middle of the ocean. If Izuku had used it, he would have either gotten there on time but struggled to breathe and needing to rest (which he wouldn't have time for) or wouldn't have gotten there in time while still attempting to catch his breath. Not a good plan, Izuku

(to me, that just shows how determined Izuku is to push himself in an unhealthy way. not thinking about the consequences, just thinking about not being a burden to everybody, just thinking about not getting everyone super involved in his mission and risking people getting seriously injured/dying again)

Hmmmm. I am thinking about the vault door in the Void, the door that could allow them to "see" inside each other (or go into the other's mindscape 👀)

I also made a post about how Bakugou and Izuku both helped Tomura get control back. They didn't do it on purpose, but I still think their actions and attacks helped AFO's control become unstable enough for Tomura to get a real chance at getting most of his control back

Aaaand that's it I think

[spacedhead]

homestuck reread #6: a5a2 part 2

this shit is so trippy and weird and honestly scary im actually scared. the context for the first image is that jade is entering a dream bubble for the first time since her dream self is dead. the second image is daves dreamself looking into the void and seeing like the horrorterrors. and then jade sees them too somehow in the dream bubble.... its honestly horrifying and has me quite perturbed.

it seems like she is also perturbed. and PISSED AWF

IM INCLINED TO AGREE WITH HIM. SUDDENLY HE SEEMS SENSIBLE AND NORMAL I WOULD SAY. I WOULD CALL HIM THESE THINGS.

this is so funny i thought this was just a jade karkat and future karkat interaction but then fucking dave just Appears out of nowhere . so cool

LOOK AT MY SON (do not look at his computer. we wont talk about it) HE IS SO REAL

okay so theres been tons happening but im pretty sure i never got an explanation as to why daves bro is just randomly on LOWAS (land of wind and shade) . and why jack knew he was there. like what are these freaks doing on my sons planet. should i keep calling him my son. gay daughter or thot son

hate these guys but love sword fights so net neutral (secretly cool)

DAVE SPRITE!!! weird that he also knew to come to lowas. i feel like i may be missing some critical information

they are so cute

this is how i talk to my friends on the internet. except maybe with meows

oh god i think this is where everything goes to shit . with umbral ultimatum as the soundtrack. really good song! anyway. gonna watch this now

this is so bad oh man oh god

well. at least theres this. L mans

stop talking to gray text stupid dumb. i think the fact that i find this funny proves that my brain needs to be studied

wow check out this awesome panel. vriska IS the fire. the irons.... are john? irons in the fire. its the thing she always says. i uh i think i lost the metaphor

YESSS HE DID IT HE DID THE [redacted]

what a fucking crazy amount of wind my son has just summoned. that is so much wind. its covering the whole planet!!!!

i love how matter of fact he is about it. like oh this giant swirling vortex covering my entire planet? oh i did that? oh thats cool.

i never read into this before but damn its crazy that feferi is dead here cause the last time we saw her she was literally fine. what could have happened..... ( i already know)

OH HELLYES . HELL FUCKING YES I LOVE THIS SONG

me to your fucking house

dawwwwww

no need to serve this hard??? but pop off i guess....

not you too....

er okay tavros just tried to make jade his girl friend without even really knowing her and he was being really annoying and kind of an asshole while doing it and then she let him down nicely but then vriska was like bro that was the worst thing i have ever seen and was very VERY mean to him about it (maybe even more than he deserved) and then admitted to being the reason why jack noir is a super powerful evil creature now AND BONUS SHE GOT A VERSION OF DAVE KILLED >:((((

i dont wanna dwell on that though because one of my favorite parts of the comic is coming up right now :3

fun fact: "heir transparent" "doctor" and "planet healer" are all songs of john egbert :D

ANYWAY ITS TIME FOR ANOTHER GAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!YESSSSSSSSILOVE GAMING !!!! SBURB

8888)

he did it :)

i think this is a good place to end this one . general thoughts right now? huge. pog. things are happening. plans are being formed. i kind of glossed over them but rose and dave are planning to explode the green sun. john just went god tier. and jade is finally in. on the trolls side of things we finally understand why their session went wrong at the last moment, but it seems like even more has gone wrong since weve seen them last? feferi is dead. tavros wants to kill vriska. what could possibly happen next. tune in next time . i dont know when it will be. probably tomorrow. what with all the waiting i'll be doing.

[max-nexus]

KGTAC Analysis Pages 2120-2228: The Ultimate Analysis of Ultimate Destiny

First Analysis

Previous Analysis

Next Analysis

Welcome to the world's most delayed analysis post ever! Sorry about how long it took, i got busy for a while there. It won't clear up for a bit (Future note: It has somewhat, that's the reason why this came out THIS LATE) but I'll talk about that at the end of this analysis. Also, I'll begin to refer to the original Home-Skillet as Home-Skillet BETA because KGTAC Act 2 has had it's title drop. Like it was so late that my previous draft before uploading went up to 2070, my reason for not updating is College. (Future Note: Another thing is that some of these notes here are from when the pages originally updated, I'll include notes on if i got something wrong in those old ones.)

2120: I was right! Though i still think there needs to be a handle on the sliding door... Wait, is that a couch in the pool?

KGTAC PAGE 2121

2121: Well i had the right idea of the arrangement. Also… Does he have a second pool? I don't think his window would be facing towards the pool. Like unless I've completely misunderstood the angle Fred's room is at. This ain't right. Here are some more images to get my point across. Though i could be misunderstanding things. Due to this line in page 2098 "You continue forward until you take a LEFT (camera's right) at the end of the hallway." This says that he takes a right. Either way this makes no sense. BOTH IMAGES IN ORDER

KGTAC PAGE 2125

2125: Well, i guess he will never find out WHATS IN THE BOX! Although, it doesn't prevent someone else from finding it.

KGTAC PAGE 2126

2126: Wait, did Fred actually go to Easter Island? I kinda just noticed the portrait. 2127: I think this is Sour-Carbonation (Ana Hepburn) Since they use the same color. Its neat that they're using numbers, as they're on the phone (or in this case, the fax machine) (future note: i probably would've put in an image if i got this out ages ago, but since this came out so late, Ana Hepburn got introduced, so everyone reading this already knows who she is, and thus an image is pointless.) 2128: I wonder what's in the package? It's probably SBURB, that's what she gave in the original 2130: Huh, still in shadow. I think the game is probably in the box (due to the fact it'd be weird to mail a game in an envelope, not much packaging to protect it), but i wonder whats in the envelope. It's truly a mystery. (It was in the envelope)

KGTAC PAGE 2134

2134: YESSSS, FLOPPY-DECK BEING USED IN THE PLOT 2135: LETS GO!!!!…. Wait Fred! you need floppy disks!, you need to grab those too! At best that floppy-disk in there is empty. 2136: Nice, He got the floppy(Future note)... I wonder if he could copy items. Y'know like put an item on the FLOPPY DECK to put it in a floppy disk, put the floppy disk in the computer, copy it onto the computer, and copy that stuff onto another floppy. Breaking the law by copyin that floppy and learning a real life duplication glitch.

Image uses frame from KGTAC PAGE 2139

2148: YOU DON'T NEED A KNIFE FOR VANILLA ENVELOPES, EVERY ONE OF THOSE I'VE SEEN CAN BE OPENED BY HAND!!!! 2152: The plan is joever… What, you expected an in-depth analysis of the previous panels. I did too to be honest but everything there was fairly straightforward, nothing cool to point out. I'm honestly a bit surprised. I was looking for it, the best we got was a UPSIDE DOWN FLOPPY DECK!!!

KGTAC PAGE 2141

2158: Neat, Sburb! Published or made by Sky'Acom. Interesting that its not Skaianet, i wonder if this will mean something in the future. 2159: Neato, It also just came to mind that Fred over here never used a computer before so i can't wait for wacky Sburb Shenanigans, especially if no one else really struggles with the controls.

KGTAC Page 2160

2160: OOF, i was so wrong. It's not a copy of PHOTOCHAT, it's theme park... whatever that is... What the hell is "awesome suicide sequence" supposed to mean 2163: Huh, this implies that a family member of his owns GAME BRO, or he himself does. 2167: So.. that was the Intro Flash, fairly different from the original H-S Intro flash, (Future writings) Like it goes for a Normal homestuck-esque logo at the end, meanwhile in the original it was a fake out for the real logo.

H-S BETA PAGE 70 (end frame)

Honestly there's a lot to the original one, sadly there isn't much else to talk about here as its all fairly different but in ways that's more valuable as an interesting comparison between the two versions of Home-Skillet and not for theorizing about what happens next. I guess since i don't think i ever mentioned it. but Home-Skillet Beta Fred has a non-Sylladex inventory system until the author decided to just give Fred a Sylladex. This is very much unlike KGTAC Fred who just... grabs things... some mind bending stuff here i know. Maybe I'll talk about it in the future when there's more to KGTAC H-S, Like when it gets fully past the H-S Beta in terms of content.

ALSO A PIECE OF H-S BETA PAGE 70

2168: ITS HER (also future note, we didn't go instantly to Ana in H-S Beta)

2169: The name gag here is different, also H-S Beta's name gag is similar to Rose's name gag.

H-S BETA PAGE 176

KGTAC PAGE 2169

2170: Nice (i was right)

H-S BETA PAGE 178

KGTAC PAGE 2171

So yeah these rooms are fairly different. The H-S Beta one was very Rose reminiscent, down to the window. I guess to note whats the same we have

The heater

Books under the bed

The bed itself is the same design wise

a general "clown" theme

Honestly i don't have much to say with this room at the moment... The KGTAC version has a big YELLOW SUBMARINE PLUSHIE. Home-Skillet Beta Ana has 2 SBURB Posters and what appears to be a COMMODORE 64 floppy disk drive next to her laptop COMPARED TO G64 FROM GAME DEV TYCOON

I'm using the Game Dev Tycoon one since it gets the point across, and because i thought they looked kinda similar. But yeah... There isn't that much to talk about here beyond this.

GENERAL ANA COMPARISON: I used two panels to compare Ana's sprites from H-S Beta to KGTAC H-S It's so similar i thought they were the same, I had to overlay the two to notice the head is slightly different. (I used XOR on the KGTAC one and overlayed it on the H-S Beta one) The white pixels on Ana are the differences... I wonder why its so similar when Fred got a more notable coat of paint. y'know like slightly different pockets, belt is a few pixels different, etc. where you can tell it was redone a bit, meanwhile it looks like Ana at best got a slightly different head, with everything else being lifted from the original. I'm not judging, I'm just curious as to why its only the head that's different.

KGTAC ANA COMPARED TO HOME-SKILLET BETA ANA

2174: Neat, she still has a bubble deck

KGTAC PAGE 2181

2181: Cool (Just putting this here, i do like this a lot.)

H-S BETA PAGE 184

KGTAC PAGE 2182

2182: Savor this Folks! We got a nice comparison between H-S Beta and KGTAC H-S, We won't know when we'll run out of comparisons til we do. But for actual notes, Its interesting "The Theories Of The Strange" is the same book from H-S Beta, The difference in color is probably more so because of a filter being applied to darken things. on Commander and Sharks, the narration is notably different, The yellow alien used to be called Viola but is now Jacello. The green one used to be called Shark but is now Leonardo Travesty They also weren't Chefs, instead they went around the universe eating new "lifeforms" The closest things to being chefs was making food. In the KGTAC H-S Panel, the yellow text says "From the Edge(s?) of the Universe, the finest silicone based chefs share their secrets" (Wait A MINUTE, I JUST REALIZED "Commanders and Sharks" is a reference to "Commander Cello" and "Sharkalien") 2193: Wow, this is different 2194: Yeah, totally different. It was much bigger in H-S Beta. Like there's nothing here that's shared. Even the portrait is different, like look, that clown is at a different angle.

H-S BETA PAGE 236

KGTAC PAGE 2194

2201: Huh, i wonder why Ana has a keyboard here, In Home-Skillet she played a Saxophone, Here's the flash of that here.

HOME-SKILLET BETA PAGE 193 (FLASH)

2203: … huh 2211: OH! i actually have something to talk about there, something like this happened in the Home-Skillet Beta, but instead it was done by Fred to enter the basement of his house (which we have not heard of in KGTAC Home-Skillet, maybe its that mystery door?)

H-S BETA PAGE 94

KGTAC PAGE 2211

Extra Notes: I forgot Edmond existed. Edmond didn't do anything (since they're dead.) They also weren't prototyped so they never got to do anything, Instead it was a clown in a Birthday hat

HOME-SKILLET BETA PAGE 159 (FLASH)

Also Here is the Page 70 flash on YouTube for easy viewing if you're interested, all of these videos are unlisted since I didn't create Home-Skillet and it doesn't feel right to make them public. Only really putting them here since it shares some relevance with what I'm talking about here and well i haven't gotten any complaints so far.

HOME-SKILLET BETA PAGE 70 (FLASH)

Apologies for how late this analysis was, It wasn't THAT difficult to make this, its just that i didn't have much time due to starting college and being a bit overloaded with classes. Which meant what free time i had i used to game and read instead of hobbies like the analysis. (Like yeah... I had up to Fred's house part of the analysis done like 6 weeks before posting this... I just got the free time to finish this up recently and also that apology for how late it was was written around that same time.... So Yeah!)

What next for the analysis posts: I still want to make these, This post took many hours to make, Probably over 12 hours total (i should probably start keeping track of the time here) Like my final edit here was about 6 hours which was adding new things i noticed, all the flashes, the ending, clearing up anything vague, and fixing minor grammatical errors. I'm just imagining how long this would've taken if the author didn't take a break. I'll still keep making these, but yeah, These posts are definitely going to be rarer as i don't have a summer break's worth of time and due to the way these analysis posts work. (I talk about every page with anything to note, doing multiple re-reads of relevant sections, and generally looking around both fanventures.)

Whats next for my blog: It'll go back to normal with my reblogs, i sorta didn't want to reblog anything until this update came out so i can explain everything here. Hopefully no one here minds that since i have interests outside of KGTAC and Homestuck. (and even then, i didn't reblog Homestuck stuff, since i wanted to explain things first in an update)

Well I hope you all enjoyed the end of this analysis, I did my best to try and keep this as polished as usual. For some final thoughts, THE BOX is probably going to show up later as a Chekhov's gun sort of thing. another thing, WHATS IN THE PACKAGE!?!?! No, seriously, I've got no clue what it could be, it could be a sylladex, but that's sorta a big box, maybe a SYLLADEX STARTER SET (alliteration my beloved) would make sense in the box, we might get more hints later. Outside of theorizing, i do kinda miss the flash files. With flash files, i can grab assets out of them, which can be useful for seeing things you otherwise wouldn't, higher quality assets, and for asset ripping. You can't really do that with a video. Yet another thing to note is that the Act-Act structure for ACT 2 of KGTAC might be rolls, as that's how it was in Home-Skillet Beta (And yes, KGTAC does have ACT ACTS, in Act 1 it was END OF DAY X). Well anyways, if anyone has any questions, theories, or noticed i missed something, I'd like to hear em.

[goldenkamuyhunting]

Hi, I hope this is okay to ask / I’m not sure if your taking any questions now or if this was answered, but what do you think Sugimoto was doing between the time he burned his house down and left the village, to the time he was recruited ? I know he’s been described as a vagrant, but I still wonder..

If he was concerned with being carrying a virus and making other people sick, it leads me to believe for a good while maybe he was on his own off the grid—But also he ends up in Tokyo eventually so…I guess I don’t know what that blank space between could have looked like?

Hi!

Asking is always okay, although nowadays I’ve not much to say about GK.

The volume version actually gives us 4 extra panels dealing with how Sugimoto spent those two years in chap 275 (he left his village in 1899 and came back in 1901).

The panels show that Sugimoto moved from Kanagawa to Kyoto, implying he begged for money to survive.

There he ate the sparrow Yakitori he mentioned in chap 228 with a kind person who apparently gifted him with the coat Sugimoto wears when he shows up back in his village, just to see Umeko has just married.

He took 2 years to come back because he assumed if by 2 years he would show no syntoms, it would mean he didn’t got ill) and chap 175 has him also saying he avoided places that were densely populated.

We can speculate people wouldn’t get close to a beggar beyond what was recuired for them to toss a coin in his direction.

It’s unclear why he allows that man to get close to him, maybe by then the 2 years were almost gone by with him being always fine so he assumed it was safe enough to let him get close.

As you can see, always from chap 275, it’s only after he came back to his village he decided to go to Tokyo (sure he wasn’t infected since he’s been fine for 2 years).

Tokyo isn’t that far from Kanagawa (Kanagawa is currently a Yokohama district)...

...so it’s possible it didn’t take him much to reach it (we also know when he arrived in Tokyo it was still 1901, the year in which he came back to his village).

Along the way he might have continued begging or maybe Toraji did him at least the kindness of lending him some money.

We know he was starved when he got there because he was willing to eat from Kikuta’s bowl while being restrained by the officer candidates and, afterward, he depended on Kikuta economically, so I’ll say he didn’t manage to collect much money during the trip and, ultimately, decided to join the army to escape being poor and starved DESPITE BEING INFORMED A WAR WAS ABOUT TO START AND THEREFORE THAT HE RISKED BEING SENT ON THE FRONT LINES.

Likely he spent the remaining 3 years before the Russo-Japanese war (1904) being first trained as a soldier and then being in the Army at a stand-by.

So Sugimoto’s 2 years before joining the army were probably pretty bad as he spent them begging for money and keeping at distance.

The image in which he was begging shows him with a dog near, but since the dog doesn’t follow him to his village and dogs are meant to live more than 2 years, either it was a random dog or something happened to it during the travel.

So either he had a dog for a short while and then lost it, or he was always alone.

It’s hard to say what else happened to him, the guy he met to Kyoto seems really nice with him so maybe he spent some nice time in his care but it’s hard to guess more than this.

Still I hope it helps!

[hurlumerlu]

Kinnporsche week 2022

Day 5 : “Breathe” + hurt

The room is big and full of rubbish. There’s only one door, so no risk of anyone creeping up on them, but it could quickly become a death trap. There’s windows, of the wide, double-glazed kind, but they’re here to let the light in and not much else : no way for anyone to see them from outside, although…

“...ay !”

Porchay barely acknowledges his bodyguard. Are they sure the windows are secure? Even though the crates they’re hunkered down against should shield them from this side too, are they sure no one can make out their figures through the opaque panels? Bunrat sighs. Not unkindly, but not without irritation either :

“Mister Porchay. You need to breathe.”

Easier said than done. It had been a fairly normal day – as far as normal days go when you can’t take a walk outside without a security detail – until the first gunshot. Skills had done a weird 180°, suddendly facing Chay, and her jaw had been... Her jaw hadn’t really been there anymore. After that, Leo was shouting take him, go !, and then there was only Bunrat, steering him away with a firm hand on his neck, through shrieking packs of people, narrow streets and dirty corridors, until this door, until this room.

“Breathe”, she repeats.

“I appreciate the advice.” He’s a little surprised he can still talk, let alone form a coherent sentence, but it’s all stumbling out of him without his input. “Do you have any other tips like that? Stay alive, maybe? Don’t panic?”

“All good ideas”, he sees her shrug from the corner of his eyes. It’s a strange, one-shoulder thing. “Stay right there with me. Don’t move. If you must panic, try to be quiet about it.”

That might be the most words any of his bodyguards have said to him since he first met them. It’s at least partially his fault, because he just doesn’t know how to address them. He’s generally not the type to get tongue-tied, but what can you say to people paid to die for you? And despite how childish he thought it was, he did not want to talk to them. These walking, armed-to-the-teeth reminders that his freedom was so far out of reach.

Bunrat drawls more than she speaks, with a slow, rippling accent he can’t place, but there’s a nice quality to it, a sturdy contralto he wants to lean upon. It makes him look at her, actually look, for the first time since the attack began. She’s older than most bodyguards – which, according to Chay’s brother, means she’s either very good and not too ambitious, or lucky and not too ambitious – with a flat nose that must have met many hard surfaces. Taking in the set of her square jaw, he finally realizes why he’s constantly found himself humming Hey Bulldog for the past few weeks. And she…

“You’re hurt.”

She shrugs again. Now he understands why she doesn’t move her left shoulder.

“You’re observant.”

“And you’re funny.”

“It’s not that bad.”

“The joke or the wound?”

It’s her turn to look at him, a quick glance away from the entrance. She’s trying for unimpressed, but is definitely amused.

“Don’t worry about it. Help is on the way.”

“Shouldn’t you put pressure on it?”

“I’ll do it as soon as someone we trust opens that door.”

Someone they trust. That’s Porsche, really, because Tankhun stridding in here wouldn’t make sense, and Bunrat has no reason to trust him. As for Kim… now’s not the time to think about Kim, but he has probably moved on. And does Chay trust him? Anyway. So not the time.

“You said that Leo and Skills” – the image of Skills still alive, still fighting with vague remnants of her jaw hanging from her face, is almost as distressing as the knowledge she’s most likely dead, but he sets both aside – “you said Leo and Skills were good at their job.”

“I did. They are.”

“Then…”

“But so am I, so stop trying to give me pointers. I’ll take care of it when you’re safe.”

Porchay looks down at his hands. He knew, at least in theory, what having bodyguards entailed. The reality of it, though… he wants none of that. Skills spinning on herself, Leo’s go, go, go !!!, Bunrat’s calm vigil. He’s well aware it’s not about what he wants, but…

“Don’t move”, he says.

“What?”

“I’m gonna untie your bandana. Don’t worry, I’m not leaving cover.”

The only answer he gets is a string of muttered curses. They probably weren’t meant for his ears, but it’s okay : Chay’s not a snitch.

The wound doesn’t look terrible, more like a graze, but it’s still bleeding and that’s obviously bad. Hoping he’s making the right call, he gingerly presses the bandana against it.

“If I stay behind you, like that, I’m pretty sure you can still shoot people.”

Bunrat snorts.

“Leo’s right. You’re more than meet the eyes.”

Chay doesn’t respond. He had no idea Leo held even one opinion about him. But it’s good to have something to do, even if he’s not sure it’s truly useful, and he tries to focus on that. In the silence, he hears a shout. Another one. His name.

It’s not his brother’s voice, it’s not Tankhun’s or Leo’s, and it’s certainly not Skills’s. Something resembling inappropriate hope blooms in his chest. Maybe it’s time to think about Kim after all.

[animehouse-moe]

Animehouse at TCAF 2023

So for the uninitiated, TCAF is the Toronto Comics and Arts Festival, and it was held this weekend from Friday to Sunday. Sadly, I could only make the Sunday so I was unable to attend Mayuzuki's panel on the Saturday, but at the very least I made the signing on Sunday morning! All that said, this is just a little post sharing my thoughts and purchases from the festival as I had a great time and wanted to share that with people that were unable to make it there.

I'll get the boring stuff out of the way, my thoughts on it. It's a really cool and fun festival, I got there a half an hour before it opened since I had travelled from outside of the city, so I got myself a really nice spot in line. I was really surprised at how lax it was lining up, there were maybe a dozen people total in front of me, and the line only really started piling up in the last 15 or so minutes to get in.

Once I was in I got to take in the layout, which was rather cramped. I get it, they're operating it out of a library, there's not a whole lot of space. But I do still think it made for a bit of a suffocating experience when squeezing past people to walk in the narrow pathways between booths and bookshelves. Given the attendance, and the fact that it's free entry, I feel like they could really afford an upgrade if they required purchasing a pass for the festival. I'd 100% support it because it means the people that are behind it and participate in it as exhibitors could expand what they're doing and offer even cooler stuff.

Now, this is a comics and art festival, so I don't quite have a right to complain or voice my opinion, but I'll do it anyways. I love how they're integrating manga into the festival and using it to pull in people that might not otherwise experience comics in the more genuine sense outside of what's marketed by Marvel and DC. But I do also feel like they might try a little more to get a stronger response from that demographic. Both Denpa and Glacier Bay Books were there, and I feel like it's a bit of a missed opportunity to not have had them run a panel or anything for manga fans.

And last but not least, programming. I think it's really awesome that they're being proactive in getting younger audiences engaged in comics that exist outside of those big name ones like I said earlier. It's great to see them foster and encourage an interest that will help keep an industry going in the face of being overtaken in the public eye by superheroes.

Alright alright, manga stuff! Jun Mayuzuki was obviously the main attraction for me at the festival, so I made a B line for the signing table right when the festival opened. While I was there I bought this poster.

And I got this one for free with the signing.

And then of course there's the actual signature. I'm a bit (well really a massive) geek for this stuff so you know I had to get Mayuzuki to sign a JP copy of Kowloon Generic Romance volume 1 (real name omitted/edited out). It was a really great experience and Mayuzuki was incredibly nice, and seemed happy/surprised that I brought a JP volume to get signed.

Now, following that I've still got some cool stuff. Glacier Bay Books had a booth there and were selling some of the volumes they carry, so I picked up a pair I didn't have. Their quality really is incredible. Such a nice weight in the hands, the binding is tight without being rigid, and the paper quality when comparing to something like Viz is just stellar. Oh, and the color of the paper is dependent on the volume (Karman Line is blue/white while Mermaid Town is black with a red trim on the edge so the pages look red from the outside)

And Hollow Press came by and surprised me! These dudes are from Italy and are a horror publisher so I was super surprised to see them come all the way to Toronto for the festival, so I 100% had to pick up some stuff from them (not pictured are Grayworld & Crystal Bone Drive by Tetsunori Tawaraya because Tumblr is squishing the image horizontally for some reason). They've got really similar quality to Glacier Bay but put out a lot more smaller books than them. Still, great stuff (and for those in Canada, both Glacier Bay and Hollow Press titles are carried through The Beguiling!)

So yeah, a really awesome day where I got a lot of really awesome stuff. Being in Canada, there's not a lot of conventions or festivals that are easy or affordable to access, so a very grateful hats off to the team for bringing stuff to the general population that they can experience both in person and online!

[sovonight]

You have so many beautiful and nice drawings, I've always wondered what inspires you? (I mean, all the poses for the characters, etc., just really wow)

oh thank you!! i actually don't know if i have anything specific--i just keep my eyes open and whatever images that stick are the ones i pull from when i draw later haha

for poses particularly though, i used to plan poses as their own things, but now i think abt their readability & how they affect the composition of the panel/page instead. and since good readability & composition makes things look better, i feel like that shift has naturally improved my poses over time?