#cartoon universe live q/a

[cutiekaijumuseum]

A little trivia for those that just got introduced to Ultraman thanks to Ultraman Rising

You know that part where baby kaiju Emi is shown a kids cartoon with an earworm of a song?

That cartoon is real!! It's called Kaiju Step Wandabada and it stars cute kid versions of different monsters from different Ultraman series (mostly the original from 1966 wich Rising is also based on). The opening shown in the movie is in stop-motion while the cartoon itself is in 2D.

The Ultraman heroes don't appear in person, but bizarrely enough they seem to exist as fictional superheroes in-universe, with the kaiju kids having toys and dolls of them. It's no surprise Emi liked it so much! She would be right at home in this show!

The episodes are 5 minutes long, there are two seasons of 26 episodes each for a total of 52. The official Tsurubaya channel has the first episodes of both seasons uploaded...

...but the rest were sadly only up for a limited time cuz gotta sell the dvds. What is officially available online right now is a series of educational shorts.

Some years ago Marvel Comics got the rights to make Ultraman comics and made a mini-series called "The Rise of Ultraman" (no relation), and these Kaiju Step designs got to appear as part of in-universe instructional videos about dealing with monsters and aliens:

So let's have a quick rundow on the little monsters and where each comes from:

Pigmon or Pig-chan is the main protagonist and new kid in town (forest). This coral-looking guy is one of the most iconic and recurring ultra monsters and the go-to kid-friendly one, as he stood out among the original set of kaiju for being friendly and heroic (as well as human-sized). He has the bad habit of dying in many of his apperences but fortunately that's not the case here.

Kanegon or Kane-chan is the second member of the protagonist trio, and the most energic and simple-minded. A coin purse monster that eats money, and usually a human kid under a curse. He actually pre-dates Ultraman, appearing in the black-and-white anthology series Ultra Q wich had monsters but not superheroes. Fortunately this one doesn't need to eat money and was born a kaiju.

Alien Dada or Dada-chan is the reliable but temperamental inventor of the trio, he dreams of building a rocket ship. One of the most iconic villains from the original 1966 Ultraman (and that's saying a lot), it's a weird alien with weird powers looking for human subjects for his weird experiments, like testing his shrinking ray. He really earns the name of a weird art movement.

Gomora or Gomo-chan is probably the most iconic ultra kaiju of all. Remember how in Ultraman Rising there is this whole sequence where the dad omniously talks about fighting him? There is a good reason for that. Gomora had the only two-parter in the original 1966 series, and was able to actually defeat Ultraman in their first figh. He's essentially Godzilla if he lived underground rather than underwater (He's even been a good guy and had a robot counterpart). Here, however, Gomora is a chill guy who's passionate about agriculture. (btw, you can also spot Gomora in Rising on a screen around an hour and eight minutes into the movie).

Red King or just Red is another iconic ultra dino, that looks like corn. In the show he's brute but well-meaning, and has a friendly sport rivalry with Kemur-chan. But in the Ultraman series he's a sadistic and murderous bully who beats up weaker monsters but gets his butt kicked rather easily by Ultraman (although more recent incarnations have have been more positive, both in his fighting ability and sometimes even becoming a loving father). (and yes, you are right, he's not red).

Jamira or Jami-chan is a passionate archeologist and fossil collector in the show, whereas in the original Ultraman he was a human astronaut that got infected by a virus. He hasn't appeared much beyond his debut... but doesn't need to, as his episode was very memorable in how sad and tragic it was. I can't imagine the target audience's whiplash seeing this cute creature one moment collecting fossils and the next having a horrible sad death. I guess one could say the same for most of the characters, but this one takes the cake.

Miclas or Mic-chan is the youngest character, a baby, and loves bugs. He was one of the "capsule monsters" from the second ultra series, Ultra Seven. Sometimes the titular ultra wouldn't be able to fight himself so he would summon up to three very loyal monsters from little capsules to do the fighting instead (or at least buy some time, they weren't very strong). One was a triceratops, another was a robot bird, but the most iconic had to be Miclas because really, what even is he? Some kind of bull toad hybrid? (By the way, fun fact, the capsule monsters were one of the inspirations for Pokemon).

King Joe (yes, that's his name) or Joe-chan is a robot controlled by alien invaders and is to Ultra Seven what Gomora is to the original Ultraman: he's the subject of a two-parter and was able to beat the hero to a pulp at first, made harder to fight by his ability to divide into three flying parts. Fortunately this Joe is very shy and very friendly.

Eleking or Ele-chan from Ultra Seven is another of the "mascot" ultra kaiju. If two ultra kaiju have to appear in anything, chances are they will be Gomora and Eleking. In fact, in Ultraman Rising you can see Eleking in a monitor right next to Gomora (around an hour and eight minutes in). It's a dinosaur-like eel monster with (of course) electric powers, and the enforcer of an all-female bug-like alien species set to conquer the earth, that are nonetheless very affectionate towards their pet-weapon dino-eel. The fact that Eleking's masters are always women may explain why the Kaiju Step one is a very femenine and elegant girl despite having King in the name, though no less dangerously electric.

Alien Guts or Guts-chan here is a very little alien bird child who can multiply into three separate individuals to cause all the destruction in their sincere attempts to help out. The original duo from Ultra Seven meanwhile are ruthless alien invaders that are infamous for freaking crucifying the aforementioned hero, leading to decades of japanese media having christian imagery for the sake of looking cool, most notably Neon Genesis Evangelion, because these birds did it first and it looked so cool.

Alien Kemur or Kemu-chan is a very agile alien that comes from the distant future of 2020 to consume humans and extend his lifespan. Here he's a friendly but competitive ninja from the present, and has a rivalry with Red King being the speed to his strenght. Like Kanegon, he pre-dates Ultraman, being from Ultra Q.

Motokureron or Kureron-chan originates from the whimsical, fairy-tale like Ultraman Taro. A kid found him as a baby and fed him until he grew to giant size, but when the kid couldn't feed him anymore he turned destructive; fortunately he was easy to pacify with food, including the kind that made him shrink. He retains his glutonny and clumsiness in Kaiju Step, often doing the bad thing (tm) so the others can teach the kids in the audience why you shouldn't do the bad thing (tm).

Nova or No-chan originates from the surprisingly dark Ultraman Leo. This creepy and bizarre ghost-like alien created a red mist that made people go crazy, and manipulated a kid with illusions of his deceased family, and under his cloth there are lots of tentacles and a scythe. So of course, in Kaiju Step she's a happy and energic little girl that loves to sing.

Mugera or Muge-chan is by far the most obscure kaiju of the cast. She's from the 2001 series Ultraman Cosmos, the one where the titular hero protects monsters instead of fighting them. Mugera is an ET-like cryptid that lives in an amusement park that only kids can see, with the ability to fix toys and heal wounds with her magic. After the amusement park closes down she phones home and the protagonists have to protect her from the goverment wich is a little too eager to shoot down the UFO that came to pick her up. In Kaiju Step she likes reading and plants.

And that was your daily dose of kaiju sugar, that may be overdose because you probably already met Emi. Cheers!

[blueikeproductions]

The Trigger collab animation came out and it’s the best thing Transformers has done in the current decade.

Truly a love letter to Transformers from G1 to EarthSpark, it squeezes in everything it possibly can from most media. However the catch is that it’s only animated media and the live action movies, the comics (any assorted manga, Marvel, Dreamwave, IDW & Skybound) aren’t referenced, while some Japanese exclusive stuff gets a lil’ bit more attention (understandable since it’s, y’know, Japanese fans being nostalgic about the anime they grew up with).

Transformers Go, Q-Transformers, and the Beast Wars anime got particular attention.

This shot of Liger Megatron and Green Lion Lio Convoy is especially cool.

I think initially I was expecting a Trigger animated greatest hits from select moments from each show, and while they still technically do that in spots…

It’s mostly a mega crossover with different characters interacting otherwise.

And it’s all the better for it.

I mean where else are you gonna find TFA Optimus about to smash Masterforce Overlord’s face in?

There’s no real narrative, it’s just random cool shots though the closest thing to a framing device is the PV opening with Vector Prime looking down on Cybertron across all time lines.

Regarding EarthSpark’s contributions to the short, they’re minimal. The Terrans and Mandroid don’t appear at all, which is a little bizarre.

ES Megatron appears among the other Decepticon leaders instead of being with ES Optimus on the Autobot leader side.

You’d think Mandroid would be there next to BWII Galvatron instead, but I guess not. Sadly they omitted RiD15 Steeljaw too, instead using RiD15 Megatronus Prime’s floating head.

SatAM Robotnik voice: Ah well, life is not perfect.

The main ES rep are the Maltos.

This just reinforces ES needed to be 2D, because they actually look good. Roche’s style doesn’t work in 3D.

Anyway the human cast they chose for this final shot amuses me.

Love seeing my favorite Clays being included. The lack of RiD Steeljaw (G1 Steeljaw did appear with Lio Junior and RiD15 Aerobolt though) is forgiven.

Anyhow, the specific use of the Clays, the (S3) Witwickys, the Maltos and the Onishis (this is especially funny since Koji’s mom never met her universe’s Optimus) is somehow very random, but also kinda appropriate. Like I get Spike and Dot’s families, since it serves as bookends, but the Clays and Onishis still feel a bit random. Still, including both Robots in Disguise families is a nice touch in my book!

The short ends with a different bookend as mentioned.

What starts out as G1 Prime & Megs transitions to ES Prime & Megs shaking hands. The old with the current series. It works~! I admit I’m surprised they didn’t include TFONE somehow. I know it’s technically not out yet, but there’s enough material to have had Orion and D-16 have some kind of tussle. It would’ve been an interesting way to tie it into the above scene and this one:

When it comes to general rep, the stuff that gets the most focus is G1, Beast Wars, Animated, & Galaxy Force. Cyberverse doesn’t really get anything beyond the leader shot, but there is this awesome but very random shot of Croaton over looking Holi’s Rescue Patrol walking on a beach littered with the dead bodies of the generic Decepticons from “War Dawn”.

Sucks to be you guys.

It also occurs to me the Rescue Bots cartoons appear to be omitted along with BotBots, but that might partly be due to them not having Japanese releases? I’m not sure, but it’s funny how Q-Transformers is acknowledged of all things, but not Heatwave or Burgertron. Maaaaybe that’s for the best on the later…

Still the PV is a blast and is pry the most earnest passion project that GETS Transformers vs what we’ve been getting post Aligned cartoon wise.

I still hope this leads to a proper TF anime series made by Trigger, like what happened with Gridman. We need a return to good 2D animated TF shows and not more CGI slop like WFC or S2 ES. That Beast Wars and Machines are still superior despite being retro by today’s standards says something…

The catch however is the original video is region locked…

but some fans have ripped it and posted it on their YT:

So go check it out while you can! It’s pure Energon-y goodness!

[physalian]

On Writing Characters That Don't Or Can't Speak English

This such a fun dynamic, honestly and more fantasy and sci-fi should implement it. You don’t even have to design a fantasy language, although writing that character’s un-written dialogue constantly as narration might get old.

I haven’t done this with any real-world languages or cultures but a tiny advisory: Take care in how you describe the cadence, tonality, and gesticulations of characters meant to represent real world cultures speaking in their languages. You can get unintentionally discriminatory very quickly, so do your research and hire sensitivity readers.

With that said!

There’s a few points I want to cover here.

1. How your characters communicate without dialogue

This also concerns characters that cannot learn the dominant language, whether they’re a fantasy character that just can’t make those sounds, or they’re deaf or mute or have another disability that makes verbal communication difficult.

You have so many options and you can have so much fun with it. You can make your own version of a sign language or a code language that only your core characters or a group they belong to can communicate in. Create your own pidgin or medium of communication, like a soundboard of different tonalities or a thought-to-speech translator like a Speak n’ Spell, or an Etch A Sketch, or have a magic hologram subtitle display before them. Or like the Q*Bert dialogue bubbles in Wreck it Wralph where the translation is never given, only the detailed response so you can fill in the blanks.

One of my favorite cartoons is Transformers Prime. It’s based off the character designs from the Bay live action movies, not the original cartoons, so the machines they transform into are modern and updated and there’s a few references to the Bay movies’ lore sprinkled about, but not a required watch for appreciating the show.

In it, Bumblebee carries over his inability to speak due to a damaged voice box. I imagine he now communicates in a series of beeps and bleeps because the cartoon didn’t want to pay the licensing fees for Movie Bee’s jukebox dialogue, but it works way better here. Why? Because, I think, and I do not suffer from any speech impediments, that it better conveys the struggles of a disability.

Bee never speaks and his dialogue is never subtitled. The audience is only clued into what he’s saying when other characters respond to him in an unambiguous way so, like Q*Bert, you can fill in the blanks. He isn’t universally understood, either, only one human and the other transformers can understand him, so when he’s with other humans in a dangerous situation, their inability to bridge the language gap becomes a very real problem (that no one ever blames Bee for).

Also, Bee is never once insulted, belittled, demeaned, or mocked for his speech impediment and he’s a badass character in his own right. He’s not “the robot with the speech impediment” he’s “the badass sportscar scout with a heart of gold, and who also has a speech impediment”. The only time it’s talked about negatively is by the main villain, who’s trying to be an asshole about it, but even then, Megatron never thinks Bee is less capable for it, he just thinks everyone is lesser than himself across the board (Megatron is also responsible for his disability ‘cause Bee was captured and his interrogation went poorly, if you needed another exhibit of the Big M’s sadism).

Bee’s damaged voice box is almost never central to his arc, either. He gets one two-parter where he loses his ability to transform and takes it super hard, since he’s already damaged and sees himself as less useful than the rest of the team without this critical ability.

Again, I don’t have this disability so I can’t comment on how respectful it actually is to those who do, but from an outsider’s perspective, I think Bee is a fantastic example of empowering disabled characters and giving them substance beyond their disability—cannot comment on how they ended his arc and resolved the impediment, or that it was resolved at all.

2. How you describe those unwritten words

Doubling down here: Do your research so you aren’t stereotypical and insensitive, please.

Still going off the assumption that you aren’t just writing this dialogue in the other language for now, like a character who only speaks in Spanish and you have the dialogue there in Spanish that I may have to translate separately, like in Spiderverse, or the Gaelic in Outlander, neither of which were subtitled for non-native speakers.

Since you don’t have the dialogue there, you are relying entirely on tone of voice, gesture, volume, and facial expressions, so dial your descriptions of those up to eleven—especially if this is a character who over-gesticulates to better get their point across.

You can also have the characters they’re closest to pick up on a few of their common or significant phrases to convey the connection and friendship they share.

In Outlander, at least the first season when they’re actually in Scotland (easily the best season), there’s entire scenes in Gaelic and all you have as an audience member is their tone of voice and gesticulations, and sometimes you just have to presume the gist of the scene because an English speaker isn’t present and they only give the gist a few scenes later. One in particular comes at the end of the season after an extremely traumatic event that happened to Character A, arguing over why he wants to end his life to Character B. One would think that this gut wrenching dialogue would be critical to understanding the scene but the two actors go above and beyond conveying the critical emotions behind what they’re saying, so the words don’t even matter. If you were deaf, you’d understand the scene as effectively as someone who doesn’t speak Gaelic.

Can’t confirm but I think they did this very much on purpose because Gaelic isn’t getting any more commonly spoken and you’re meant to feel a little alienated by it and only those who know Gaelic can get the full scene, like it's just for them. Can’t confirm the accuracy of the dictation or translation of the language, either, but the ‘alienating’ effect always leaves me utterly fascinated by the language. You cannot ignore the Gaelic to just drone through the subtitles, you have to pay attention.

3. How that character bumbles through the dominant language

This one is for non-disabled bi or multilingual characters or those who could learn the dominant language but haven’t had the time or opportunity. Depending on the character’s skill with the language, they can Spanglish their way through with awkward parsing still using their native languages grammar rules.

I can’t speak to this, I only know very clunky Spanish. I can say my efforts to speak in Spanish are always done in excitement as I get the chance to practice this language, and then the pressure to translate on the spot has me forgetting words I definitely know how. I get by, even if my conjugations are botched, and me, looking as I do, definitely catch people off guard when I respond to them in Spanish, generally followed by smiles at my attempts.

Just recently I had to perform tech support for a family in my apartment complex. They needed to print a thing and the printer wasn’t connecting. We gestured and pointed our way through getting their files onto my USB drive and plugging that direct into the printer, and doing one copy at a time, it was a whole thing with me bumbling through printer tech support in basic Spanish because they didn’t know a single word of English. But by god, we did it.

4. The conflicts that arise from mismatched dialogue

On a more big picture level, miscommunication through to a mistranslation can range from comedic to critically life-threatening, and it can be a recurring hurdle for the character or team to consider and plan for.

Comedy wise, mistranslations can be hilarious. Characters blanking on the word they need and being entertainingly frustrated, or taking a roundabout way to get to the word they need by piecing it together. Characters who don’t get a joke that only native speakers would know, or translating a joke in their language that isn’t as funny in another language without the other parlance.

Or just two characters who have to cooperate to survive and who don't have a common language to make that cooperation easier. I *love* gratuitously violent action movies and just the action genre in general, even if the story is cheesy or dumb. One of those movies is Alien vs Predator. In it, eventually, Protagonist 'enemy of my enemy's her way into an alliance with one of the Predators, against the much larger Xenomorph threat.

He doesn't speak anything other than growls and she only speaks English and though the movie overexplains many things (probably because the producers didn't trust the audience like the writers did), they have several moments together where he has to give her critical survival information, like "I have a failsafe bomb with a very short delay we need to run right now" and "Use this meat shield to protect yourself against their acid blood" and "You're an honorary Predator warrior now I must do this ritual for you" and can only mime his way through it, and through the power of gesture and charades, they make it work.

Drama wise, I live for big problems coming unexpectedly from small, human mistakes. One translation error can snowball into some horrible consequences.

—

Big picture, though, you do your fantasy or sci-fi world a disservice by not considering multiple languages, even if you don’t write them, or multilingual characters and the problems and world biases that arise from these different groups. Dead languages, rare languages, languages associated with the villain group or minorities. Languages that only one character is fighting to keep alive, or a language that, when spoken, comes with some sinister side effects (like Parseltongue or the Black Speech, the language of Mordor).

It really adds to the immersion when you have an expansive story that doesn’t just assume English/Common is the law of the land, or that all your fantasy/alien species can or want to speak it.

[candyh0rns]

MEET THE ARTIST

So hi there folks! I decided to put some information about myself here!

"PERSONAL" INFO

• I go by name Mozzy/Candy Horns

• I'm 17yo my birthday is on 11 August

• You can use any pronouns, I don't really

care about that ;0

(I just don't feel comfy to reveal my gender online so I think they/them will be the best choice for me)

• I live in Poland

• I speak in english/polish (mi jaja)

• I LOVE CARTOONS 🫡🦅🦅🦅

LINKS ↓ 💛💛💛

📷 Instagram

🎧 Spotify (playlists)

💐 Pinterest

Q&A

• REPOSTS - I really do not like that, unless you credit/tag me in repost then go ahead💖

• ART COMMISSIONS - I'm not into any commissions for now, but it's not crossed out for future ;D

• ART TRADES - Oh sure! If I find some time I would love to trade!

• ART REQUESTS - For now, nah :p

• ART COLLABS - Yea sure! But not always I have time for that 🥹

• Had any more questions? Feel free to ask!

FANDOMS

★ Sooo there is my whole list ↓

(idk if I remembered everything lol)

• Welcome home puppet show

• Adventure Time

• Steven Universe

• Digital Circus

• Sonic the hedgehog

• The Fairly OddParents: a new wish

• Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous/Chaos Theory

• Omori

• Gravity Falls

• Good Omens

• Stranger Things

• Indigo Park

• Pokemon

• Luca

• Total Drama

MY CHARACTERS

So as you can see I have a few ocs, I'm planning to make a cartoon with them in future. For now they just my characters with a story attached to them :'))

Maybe I'll start a comic with them, who knows 🤷

Thanks for reading pookie

(⁠っ⁠˘⁠з⁠(⁠˘⁠⌣⁠˘⁠ ⁠)💕

👁️

[dynared]

New York Comic Con 2023 and the Energon Universe panel is in the books

And while the room wasn't COMPLETELY full, there was a big crowd for said Energon Universe panel. Daniel Warren Johnson, Robert Kirkman, Joshua Williamson, and others came to the panel to announce that their plan involved making all these disparate parts work together as a series, including Void Rivals, which Kirkman specifically said was aiming to feel like it could have been a sister line with the Joes and Transformers (and considering Hasbro owns the property, probably means if it is successful they'll get toys of their own).

Some highlights and spoilers -

Daniel Warren Johnson knows people are upset at Bumblebee dying and frankly, does not care. "I feed on your tears", was his quote, which got a big laugh. Specifically, he didn't want to draw Bumblebee, hence his death in Issue 1, a death that he and Kirkman have confirmed will stick and Hasbro was totally cool with. With Bee dead, the panel concluded that there's more freedom to work with other characters and a lot more tension about who will live and who will die, since plot armor due to Hasbro demands is not a thing in the Energon Universe.

There was a big focus on GI Joe and how it will connect with the Transformers since the idea is that the Transformers' appearance causes the world to shift in a major way. The Duke miniseries will focus on how a traumatized Duke deals with the fallout of his fight with Starscream in the upcoming Transformers #2, and how Joe is founded specifically to combat them. Rebranding the Joes as an anti-alien strike force/international crisis team also seems to be a way to deal with getting away from the "jingoistic army toys" stigma that hasn't played as well since the Reagan years (even if most Joe fiction like Larry Hama's comics condemn blind jingoism). Interestingly, the initial lineup includes the Baroness, who's traditionally a high-ranking Cobra member and romantically entangled with Destro.

3. Cobra meanwhile is shown to be what is specifically described as a horror comic about Cobra Commander using the discovery of the Cybertronians to fuel his plans for world domination, and how Cobra Commander brings together a lot of disparate elements that otherwise would never have worked together to join his quest for world domination. More fuel is thrown on the "Cobra Commander's Luger is actually Megatron" fire, but of course, nothing is confirmed.

Another surprise for the initial lineup is the big guy in the back is Mercer, a character introduced in the GI Joe movie as an ex-Cobra officer who had "seen the light". Whether he does this time is another matter.

4. Back to the Transformers. The running idea (besides a minor but notable undercurrent of "Screw IDW") was that this is using the cartoons as gospel rather than the comics, but it will eventually expand beyond that initial concept using other characters. Specifically, during a quick Q&A at the end, someone asked about the Japanese characters, and Kirkman said while he had no immediate plans for them, he was actually a big fan of Star Saber, while Johnson mentioned liking the Japanese openings. A far cry from IDW making them all villains and losers.

5. Johnson is a big fan of wrestling. Kirkman, not so much. This led to some funny banter on stage about Johnson's tendency to fill fight scenes from the initial script (which will often just say "Character A and Character B fight") with wrestling moves like Optimus Prime introducing himself to Starscream with a Rainmaker Lariat before giving him a German Suplex. Despite Kirkman not being a fan, everyone on stage and the crowd seemed to agree that it gave the fight scenes a dynamic look that is new to the Transformers.

6. Void Rivals has not been forgotten in all this. While after Issue #6 it will be taking a five-month break, the series will continue to serve as the backbone of what's going out outside of Earth.

Including the teased appearance of the Quintesson Judge. Kirkman also promised more backstory, like possibly getting to see the Skuxxoid's family and other species that are part of the cartoon lore as part of his efforts to build out the universe while still making Void Rivals its own thing that is engaging without the other series.

7 The main goal of everyone is that while all the various series are part of a big story that is the Energon Universe, the reader can read just one and get a full experience. That being said, it's clear that the ultimate goal is for them all to work together.

And those are the highlights of the panel. Fun times are ahead if you're a Transformers fan, and after years of mismanagement and neglect, it sounds like the GI Joe-related stuff will be very interesting to see. Still, the focus right now is the comics, so my pie-in-the-sky theory about this being a dry run for a big animated show in the vein of Invincible will have to wait for another year.

[echologname]

Murder Drones: N's a metaphorical biscuit

Source: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/what-is-a-british-biscuit

Since the creator's were originally considering giving him a British accent (mentioned in the live Q&A with the cast on Cartoon Universe YT), I'm using English biscuits as a basis for these points, which some may be sound logic and others a bit of a stretch.

The etymology of the word, "Biscuit," means "baked twice," in Latin. As to our knowledge, N's been reprogrammed ("baked") twice, first to be a butler and secondly as a disassembly drone.

In terms of personality, N's as sweet as sugar which were only added to biscuits a little before the 7th century to make them more palatable.

"[Biscuits are] one of the first industrially produced products in the world." This was at the rise of the Industrial Revolution when biscuits were mass produced on steam powered machinery, similar to how robots are created both in modern day and most likely the future with automation replacing more and more jobs done by hand.

"In New England, it was sometimes called “sea biscuit” or “pilot bread." N's literally a pilot.

"If a biscuit was soft, it had gone bad." This comes from biscuits originating as an ancient form of MRE/hardtack, something deprived of moisture for a long shelf life that's a quick source of calories and not provide much nutritional benefit. In N's rebellion against JC Jenson out of empathy for the workers (a "soft" emotion), as J said, such drones are "corrupt" in the eyes of the company.

As a disassembly drone, N has an inherent need to consume "Warm sweet," oil in order to prevent overheating and exploding (dying), but this flaw is intentional to ensure DDs do they're job and never return to Earth. Tea is also a liquid that's typically served hot with added sweetners like honey or sugar along with some firm biscuits on the side which are best consumed dipped in the tea to soften them.

Chibi N with a Jammie Dodger.

[tiptapricot]

1,000 follower celebration!

Ty for everyone who voted on what to do :-D I’ve decided to take the top two choices so people can do things depending on their energy levels, so!

Draw/Write/Create this in your style:

Make something based off, expanding, or rewriting the prompt(s) below and either submit it via the ask box or make your own post and tag me! I’ll also be checking the hashtag #1000 tip fruits if you’d just like to put it there :-) You can make fic, art, meta, headcanons, collages, whatever you’d like! There is a general prompt that can be used for fandoms, OCs, or however you want to take it, as well a few fandom specific prompts. You are welcome to do any you’d like or combine a few if you’re interested in a crossover!

Ask Game:

My ask box is open to general Q’s about me, my writing, specific fics, characters, fandoms, etc! I won’t answer anything intimate about myself, but am open to nsfw hc asks about characters or ships as well :-) Any headcanon posts will be shorter than my normal ones but I’ll still try to give a good batch of thoughts!

Both these “events” will be open until the end of September! I’ll be reblogging stuff people make, but it’s a loosish period as there’s no contest or raffle or anything at the end and I mainly just want people to have fun :-)

💕 Thank you all for being here in my goofy corner, and I hope we can continue to vibe and grow as we continue to in our own lives :-D 💕

(Prompts below cut)

General prompt: Small things make up love languages. Intent with care, wanting with direction, and sometimes even just a reminder that one party values the other. It’s not a science, really. Everyone is different.

Moon Knight (comics or show): Jake often finds himself in the middle of disagreements, caught between Marc’s militaristic necessities and Steven’s push for comfort and collection. Today, however, he’s taken a firm side, and no one will make him budge.

WWBN (marvel special): With all the universes out there, the line between hunter and monster often blurs. It’s odd to see a case, however, where everything has been swapped while staying so closely the same.

TLB: There are many nights Michael doesn’t remember from the summer of 1987, more now that he’s grown into grey hairs and spotted fingertips. Sometimes he still tries to imagine what it may have been like between flickers of firelight and the flash of fangs, if nothing than for his own amusement.

BnT: Ever since they grew far enough out of trick or treating age that it felt strange to go door to door, Bill and Ted have been trying to establish a new Halloween routine. Ted’s not so sure about this idea, though.

Spider-verse (characters and/or ocs!): An anomaly manages to break free in HQ, spreading a mass of glitches through the building that send several spider people tumbling into dimensions not their own. Whether via escape or rescue, there is a mess that needs cleaning up, and fast.

DC (comics, cartoons, live action, whatever!): It’s not the first time heroes from the future have met heroes from the past, but it may be the first time they’ve managed to get lunch without a world ending event hovering on the horizon.

[kinagossip]

Saw that you asked for a timeline a couple weeks ago ab her ex! I was around since the start of Tina officially streaming (among us era being 3 yrs ago wtf…) but I remember the timeline of Tina and her ex relationship, when she met everyone, kina timeline, etc.

December 2020:

- Tina and Karl first meet in one of the otv among us lobbies, they were very silly funny and got along quickly

- That same day they followed each other on socials, and subbed to each other on twitch; karl tweeted to her that they should play more games (bonded over shared interests)

- They played and interacted in the big OTV rust server

January 2021:

- Karl gift 50 subs to Tina, and she also mods him

- Karl who was in Tina’s chat and she asks him to join the lobby she was in

- Tina tweeted that she was cold and Karl suggested she buy a scarf that he also owns so they can match (she did buy it)

- Karl joins tina art streams

Feb 2021:

- Corpse Karl and Tina made a discord vc where they hang out, talk and play games offline (they named it ‘not live’)

- Karl told Tina he’s watched her youtube vids and he knows her impostor tells

- Salad gang gets formed by corpse; they all always hang and talk in the middle of the night

March 2021

- Tina’s ex tweeted that they broke up on 3/2, and tina takes almost two weeks off from streaming

-A few days later, on 3/6, tina & karl meet up IRL in nyc to see corpse’s billboard

- Tina starts streaming again and then karl lurked in her chat and gifts subs, while he was busy doing a podcast w train

April-May:

- Tina starts posting forh0nktwt selfie days

- Karl commenting “M’LADY awooga” under tina’s ig pic and tina commenting “SIR *awooga*” under his pic (to which he replies ‘on the main? 😳’)

- Karl and Tina talk ab going to ny again or just traveling together

June 2021:

-fan spotted Karl at vegas airport around 6/6, where tina recently moved to

- One of mr beast’s guys posts an ig pic of the crew at breakfast, which revealed tina and karl at the table eating with them

Aug 2021:

-Karl and Tina meet in la again to eat dinner with salad gang + quackty, both went shopping with brooke and then met up with corpse together

Sept 2021:

- Tina went to vidsummit with karl and then went again for karls interview

- Tina talked ab how karl was the first person to like cartoons as much as her and when they first started talking he gifted her a signed comic

Oct/Nov 2021:

- Tina and Karl go to universal with q on halloween, both wearing matching slytherin outfits

- Kina watch cartoons with each other on stream

Jan 2022:

- Tina watches cartoons w Karl in vc then raids him, karl also watching cartoons w her in vc

- Tina and Karl wear the matching puppy cat scarves that he recommended the year before

Y’all kno the rest✔️

THANKS :D i looove kina timelines because everyone sending them adds a few different details. very interesting.

i'm interested in the portland theory btw, if anyone has any other details or leaks that could persuade people. i know it's been talked about but maybe a timeline on that would help visualize it if anyone wants to make one.

other timelines that were sent to me are tagged with #kina timeline too

[postalollie]

OLLIE!!!!!!! Do you have any pdude hcs to share :) also I just wanted to say,, I think u are the backbone of the whole postal fandom 🫡💪

HAIII O MY GOD THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU TO BE SEEN AS THAT IS A HONOR !!!! I DO HAVE SOME IN MY NOTES APP!!! BE PREPARED THERES A TON ;--;

-part brazilian

-he can speak portuguese (br) and actually stayed in brazil for a while and has family there, but had to leave after a certain "incident" so he left to avoid getting arrested by police, he went to United States when he was close to 17/18 ish

-his uncle Dave has more money than he looks, he’s from the american side of the family and would sometimes visit him in Brazil when he still lived there

-doesn't like closed spaces 

-has very little memory of his time at the asylum or the events of postal 1, but what he can remember he tries to forget

-he doesn't regret his past actions, just feels angry be cant forget them

- surprisingly he has knowledge on various topics, anatomy or even cooking, he knows a little of everything

- does target practice either with bottles or dead people he finds on the street

-has autism, has motor stims, oral and visual stims

-he tried growing his hair out again one time, it didnt work so well, but hey! third time’s the charm!

-bisexual with a female alignment

-ostriches weird him out, he's not scared of them and can be in the same space in them just fine, he just thinks they're weird

-loves conspiracy theories, and actually thinks some are true, the ones hes more interested about are aliens, as well as celebrities and stuff like that (but not q anon type of conspiracy)

-speaking of aliens, he thinks they're neat!

-krotchy in the postal universe is an animated cartoon which also works as a brand, with krotchy as the mascot (think of like hello kitty or mickey) which has both adults and kid fans, but mostly adult

-postal dude has a special interest on krotchy, his type of special interest is the one that last years and doesn't have a lot at once (just like me fr) krotchy episodes of his cartoons also serve as visual stims to him (put him in front of those baby sensory videos and he'll be like O_O)

-the person he admires most and is his inspiration is Duke Nukem!

-one of things he likes to eat is açai

-if he drinks energy drinks, he gets an really REALLY intense sugar high, which is why he can only dual wield after drinking it, but after it he’ll just pass out, doesn’t matter where he’s at

-salty over sweet guy also

JESUS THAT WAS LONG I'LL PROBABLY MAKE LIKE. ANOTHER POST WITH ALL OF THESE WITH LIKE FANCY DIVIDERS AND STUFF BUT THATS ALL OF THEM!!

[solaflaire]

Starham: Q and A (Second set of 50 Questions)

Link for questions: 500 Good Questions to Ask - Find the perfect question (conversationstartersworld.com)

What was the most unsettling film you’ve seen? • 9, directed by Shane Acker (Shane Acker - IMDb) and starring Elijah Wood (Elijah Wood (@elijahwood) / X (twitter.com))

What unethical experiment would have the biggest positive impact on society as a whole? • The experiment that made Captain America, Captain America.

When was the last time you were snooping, and found something you wish you hadn’t? • When I was a kid. I was snooping in my mother’s room and found my Christmas presents in her cupboard.

Which celebrity or band has the worst fan base? • Chris Brown or Blink182.

What are you interested in that most people aren’t? • Stationery

If you were given a PhD degree, but had no more knowledge of the subject of the degree besides what you have now, what degree would you want to be given to you? • Statistics.

What smartphone feature would you actually be excited for a company to implement? • iMessage

What’s something people don’t worry about but really should? • The difficulty graduates are facing trying to get a job.

What movie quotes do you use on a regular basis? • “No Cuts No Buts No Coconuts” from Disney’s Wreck-It Ralph

Do you think that children born today will have better or worse lives than their parents? • Better

What’s the funniest joke you know by heart? • What do we say when a factory makes just enough? Satisfactory.

When was the last time you felt you had a new lease on life? • After figuring out what I wanted to study: Mathematics.

What’s the funniest actual name you’ve heard of someone having? • Question. In South Africa, there are attendants who fill your vehicle with petrol. The attendant that was assisting my friend has Question on his name tag.

Which charity or charitable cause is most deserving of money? • Animals

What TV show character would it be the most fun to change places with for a week? • The host of Total Drama Island.

What was cool when you were young but isn’t cool now? • Cartoons

If you were moving to another country, but could only pack one carry-on sized bag, what would you pack? • My travelling documents and electronics to keep myself occupied for the flight. Anything else I would thrift or get at a discount store.

What’s the most ironic thing you’ve seen happen? • Body builders getting called out for “boosting”.

If magic was real, what spell would you try to learn first? • Expecto Patronum

If you were a ghost and could possess people, what would you make them do? • I don’t know. Possibilities are endless though.

What goal do you think humanity is not focused enough on achieving? • Innovation

What problem are you currently grappling with? • Eating less chocolates/food😂

What character in a movie could have been great, but the actor they cast didn’t fit the role? • Steward Little should have been voice acted by someone with an English Accent. That would have made him mysterious.

What game have you spent the most hours playing?

What’s the most comfortable bed or chair you’ve ever been in? • I have a YouTube Channel where I play games: Starham. Favorite game: Horizon Zero Dawn on PlayStation 4.

What’s the craziest conversation you’ve overheard? • The FBI conversation on the mafia. I am kidding. My mom on the phone ordering my gift on the phone.

What’s the hardest you’ve ever worked? • My projects at university.

What movie, picture, or video always makes you laugh no matter how often you watch it? • Any YouTube video of this guy: JobbytheHong - YouTube

What artist or band do you always recommend when someone asks for a music recommendation? • Glass Animals

If you could have an all-expenses paid trip to see any famous world monument, which monument would you choose? • The Pyramids

If animals could talk, which animal would be the most annoying? • The monkey

What’s the most addicted to a game you’ve ever been? • Pokémon Emerald. Replayed the game so many times.

What’s the coldest you’ve ever been? • Right now.

Which protagonist from a book or movie would make the worst roommate? • Pikachu from Pokémon

Do you eat food that’s past its expiration date if it still smells and looks fine? • No

What’s the most ridiculous thing you have bought? • Haven’t been making any purchases but I am interested in buying an iPhone Pro Max/Samsung Galaxy or Huawei Mate to use as a camera for my YouTube channel.

What’s the funniest comedy skit you’ve seen? • Go on YouTube and just watch anything from the channel: Comedy Central. Please be of age when you go there. Also, PewDiePie, prior to his break from daily uploads.

What’s the most depressing meal you’ve eaten? • I was eating cereal and watching TV one Saturday morning and then Pikachu lost to Raichu. Yeah, I was not the same after that.

What tips or tricks have you picked up from your job / jobs? • Stay away from people who tell you what they plan on achieving in the workplace.

What outdoor activity haven’t you tried, but would like to? • Hiking

What songs hit you with a wave of nostalgia every time you hear them? • Glass Animals – Heat Waves

What’s the worst backhanded compliment you could give someone? • I never thought that dress would fit you.

What’s the most interesting documentary you’ve ever watched? • Anything about animals. Primarily marine life.

What was the last song you sang along to? • Post Malone - Wow

What’s the funniest thing you’ve done or had happened while your mind was wandering? • I walked into a girl I had a crush on.

When was the last time you face palmed? • When I thought I had money but was at the counter and then only realized I spent it the day before.

If you were given five million dollars to open a small museum, what kind of museum would you create? • Toys and memorabilia

Which of your vices or bad habits would be the hardest to give up? • Honestly, watching YouTube.

What really needs to be modernized? • In my country, it would be trains.

When was the last time you slept more than nine hours? • Many years ago

[ohhkaty]

Record collecting is an expensive hobby but it also honestly brings me so much joy. There’s still so much I want to buy and will buy (tbh) but I keep going to record sales and not remembering what I own and almost buying doubles of the same album, so that’s why this list exists. But I also saw folks publishing their lists earlier and I love seeing what people have in their collections (truly I’d love to see yours if you wanted to post it!) If you ever want to talk records or music I’m your gal ♡ 

A Abba - Super Trouper - Voulez Vous - Greatest Hits Vol. 2 The Animals - The Best Of The Animals Arcade fire - Everything Now Arlo Parks - Collapsed In Sunbeams Aqua - Aquarium

B Bleachers  - Bleachers MTV Unplugged  - Take the sadness out of Saturday night  Beyonce - Lemonade - Renaissance Billie Eilish - Happier Than Ever  Barenaked ladies  - Original Hits  Bo Burnham - Inside  Bob Seger - Stranger In Town Billy Joel - 52 Street - The Stranger - Glass Houses - An Innocent Man The Beatles - Help - Yesterday and Today - Abbey Road  - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

C Carly Rae Jepsen - Dedicated - The Loneliest Time Cat Stevens -Tea for the Tillerman Creedence Clearwater Revival - Chronicle Vol. 1 Cheap Trick - At Budokan

D Dirty Honey  - Dirty Honey Dodie  - build a problem  Dua Lipa - Future Nostalgia  Dee Gees - Hail Satin  David Bowie - Legacy (The Very Best Of David Bowie) Dolly Parton  - Greatest Hits  Diana Ross - Swept Away - Summer 

E Elvis Presley  - The Essential Elvis  Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong - Ella and Louis  Etta James  - At Last  Edith Piaf  - The great Edith Piaf  Elton John - Greatest Hits  - Greatest Hits Vol. 2  - Captain Fantastic  - Honky Château  - Here and There 

F Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes  Florence and the Machine  - Lungs  - Dance Fever  Frank Ocean  - Channel Orange (yes this is a boot) Fun  - Some Nights  Fleetwood Mac - Rumours - Tango In The Night - The Dance

G Greta Van Fleet  - From the Fires  - Anthem of the Peaceful Army  - The Battle at Garden’s Gate  George Ezra  - Gold rush kid  Grateful Dead  - American beauty Genesis  - Invisible touch  The Guess Who - The Best Of The Guess Who 

H Haim - Forever EP - Days Are Gone - Something To Tell You - Women in Music III Harry Styles - Harry Styles  - Fine Line - Harry’s House Hozier - Hozier - Wasteland, Baby! Hall & Oates - Rock 'n Soul Part 1

J Jill Barber - Chances Jeff Goldblum and The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra - The Capitol Studios Sessions Jeff Lynne’s ELO - Alone In The Universe Joni Mitchell - Blue Jimi Hendrix - Are You Experienced Janis Joplin - Greatest Hits - Pearl Jefferson Airplane -Surrealistic Pillow Jethro Tull - Stand Up Janet Jackson - Control 

K Kacey Musgraves - Golden Hour - Star-Crossed  Khruangbin and Leon Bridges - Texas Sun - Texas Moon Kate bush - Hounds Of Love Kansas - Leftoverture

L Lorde - Melodrama - Solar Power The Lumineers - The Lumineers - Cleopatra Lizzo -Coconut Oil - Cuz I Love You Lauryn Hill - The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill Lana Del Rey - Born To Die Led Zeppelin - In Through The Out Door 

M Maggie Rogers - Surrender Mother Mother - Dance And Cry Mumford and Sons - Wilder Mind Mika - Life In Cartoon Motion Matty Matheson - A Cookbook (yes this is a real cookbook, it comes with a zine!) Marina And The Diamonds -Electra Heart Minnie Riperton - Les Fleurs: The Minnie Riperton Anthology Meatloaf - Bat Out Of Hell Mr mister - Welcome To The Real World 

N Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats - Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats The National - Boxer Nico - Chelsea Girl Neil Young - Harvest Moon Neil Diamond - Live At The Troubadour 

O Orville Peck - Pony - Show Pony Orla Gartland - Women on the Internet Olivia Rodrigo  - Sour 

P Phoebe Bridgers - Stranger in the Alps  Paramore  - After Laughter  Prince - Purple rain  The Mamas & the Papas - The Papas & the Mamas The Police - Zenyatta Mondatta Paul Simon - There Goes Rhyming Simon - Graceland  Pat Benatar - Crimes of Passions 

Q Queen - Greatest Hits

R The Regrettes - Feel Your Feelings Fool - How Do You Love - Further Joy Ramones  - Ramones 

S The Sheepdogs  - Live At Lees  Spice Girls  - Spice  The Strokes  - Angles 

The Struts  - Strange Days 

Silk Sonic  - An Evening with Silk Sonic 

Simon and Garfunkel  - Bridge Over Troubled Water 

T Taylor swift  - Lover  - Folklore  - Evermore  - Midnights  Trixie Mattel  - Two Birds/One Stone - Barbara  Twin shadow  - Eclipse  - Twin Shadow Tears for fears  - Songs From The Big Chair  Toto - Toto IV Toronto  - Get It On Credit  Talking Heads  - Remain in light 

W Whitney Houston - Whitney  - Whitney Houston 

Y Yola - Walk Through The Fire - Stand For Myself Years and Years - Palo Santo

Z The Zombies - Odessey and Oracle - Oddities and Orcales  

123 The 1975 - The 1975 - Being Funny In A Foreign Language

Movie Soundtracks - Labyrinth - The Virgin Suicides - Eternal Sunshine of - School Of Rock - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - Promising Young Women - Josie and the Pussycats  - Almost Famous -Rocky Horror Picture Show - Up - Space Jam  - Little Shop of Horrors  - Grease - Saturday Night Fever - Xanadu  - Ghostbusters - St. Elmo’s Fire

Television Soundtracks - The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina - Stranger Things Vol 1/2 - Stranger Things Vol 3 - Euphoria Season 2 - Steven Universe 

Musicals - In the Heights - Hair

[retromutagn]

poppy, rose & southernwood for mayhem don as well <3

botanical headcanons ! / @mutagn

poppy : what comforts your muse ?

mans is big on comfort media :) he has some shows for example that he'll rewatch over and over -- various things, but esp like soul e/ater, the old pokemon cartoon, etc. ESPECIALLY pokemon actually. and ofc he's a mm boy so he is so close to his brothers! he'll actually listen to their advice unlike other donnies

rose : how much does your muse value other people ? do they wish to have many friends , lovers , and/or associates ? are they an easy person to love ?

very much on the valuing other people. i think mayhem don is less aware of his pacifist leanings than the other donnies are, at least atp -- they've yet to have fights where their lives weren't at stake, after all. but he's definitely still got it and would really prefer that violence be minimized as much as possible. for the second q, he doesn't want to have a ton, no; he just wants a few close friends and to be generally respected :) for the last, he is in fact the most friendly and inviting of the four. i think the culture of their universe lends itself well to someone like don, who is unabashedly himself and knows how to find his people.

southernwood : how seriously does your muse take themself ? do they prefer a solemn & intellectual atmosphere or do they delight in jokes & banter ?

he loves the humor and having fun...i think that does mostly come out around his brothers though. when he's with his school friends or on his own, he's much quieter and more to himself. that's mainly a comfort thing, though. his school friends are all super quiet, which he loves, but he's also used to being jokes with his brothers :) it helps that when it does get overwhelming, don can put on his headphones/hang in his autism tent etc and know that the others will still adjust to include him.

[ladysunamireads]

YinHuFu Twins

YinHuFu Twins by RMoonberry

The Yiling Laozu was famously known. His achievements in the war were notable as his descent into madness and arrogance. The creator of the vilest weapon: The Yin tiger tally.

Now living in isolation with the Wen remains, Wei Wuxian must find a way to survive and suppress the cursed seal with the resentful energy of the burial mounds.

However, instead of being suppressed, the seal's power grew and grew, even when they were now two fragments, transforming into something entirely new.

Wei Wuxian had no idea what to do with two cursed girls.

I'm posting this half asleep so I apologize in advance for the mistakes

Words: 1317, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Series: Part 1 of The YinHuFu Twins au

Fandoms: 魔道祖师 - 墨香铜臭 | Módào Zǔshī - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù, 魔道祖师 | Módào Zǔshī (Cartoon), 魔道祖师Q | Módào Zǔshī Q (Cartoon), 陈情令 | The Untamed (TV)

Rating: Mature

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Categories: M/M, F/M

Characters: Wèi Yīng | Wèi Wúxiàn, YinHuFu, Yīn Tiger Seal, Lán Zhàn | Lán Wàngjī, Wēn Qíng, Wēn Níng | Wēn Qiónglín, Granny Wēn, Lán Yuàn | Lán Sīzhuī, Jiāng Chéng | Jiāng Wǎnyín, Jiāng Yànlí, Lán Huàn | Lán Xīchén, Lán Qǐrén, Yin'er, Fu'er, YinHuFuTwins

Relationships: Lán Zhàn | Lán Wàngjī/Wèi Yīng | Wèi Wúxiàn, Jiāng Chéng | Jiāng Wǎnyín/Wēn Qíng, Jiāng Yànlí/Jīn Zǐxuān, Lán Huàn | Lán Xīchén/Niè Míngjué

Additional Tags: Angst, Fluff and Angst, Reincarnation, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Spirits, Spiritual Weapon, Humor, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon-Typical Violence, Internalized Homophobia, No beta we die like wei wuxian

Read Here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/48722479

[marzipanandminutiae]

pet peeve

the ice-cold Take that “well, Belle and the Prince will probably get executed in the French Revolution!!!!”

the original novel was published 50 years before the Revolution even started

so like. assuming they both live to be 70-something, and the French populace still feels the need to revolt in a world where the reigning monarch- or the reigning monarch’s father or grandfather -learned not to be a selfish dick from a fairy’s curse, sure, that MIGHT be an issue. pretty big “might,” though

people really do see “17-″ at the start of a year in French media and jump right to a specific 10-year period at the very end of the century, don’t they

(I’m more interested in the possibility that the United States might not exist in this universe, because the ruler of France is too concerned about getting their country through difficult financial times to get involved in a foreign war. since, you know...either taught not to be a selfish dick via curse, as stated above, or raised by someone who was)

[slashscreen]

Concept art for a The Owl House-inspired open world RPG

Here's a bit of concept art for an Owl House-inspired open world RPG I've been cooking up in my free time.

I'm not ready to reveal a title or more detailed info although god knows I have a lot floating around inside of my brain. What I can say, however, is the Premise:

An undead scientist, attempting to build a teleporter, accidentally brings you, a human, into a grotesque but whimsical world of witches, centaurs, elves, dwarves, and demons- and where humans have been extinct for a thousand years. What starts as a simple quest to find a way home turns into an archipelago-trotting adventure with strange cults, otherworldly beings, dark secrets, and where all life on the planet is at stake.

So far I have been designing this game to have more of a focus on memorable characters and customization (read: dress-up) than strictly combat, which is something I have found lacking in other games. (I've realized I've been writing this sort of like a cartoon, so I'll lean into it and see where this goes. This means that yes, there will be a beach "episode". Tug on my balls one by one, Disney. I'm not sure how, but it will happen.)

I don't have any character/species concept art I am willing to show at the moment, because I'm currently redesigning the visual style of the game. Sorry! I'll share it soon, though.

Also, you get a grappling hook. So there's that.

Other general info:

Q) Does this take place in The Owl House universe? A) No. This is not an Owl House AU/Fan game. It's its own thing with its own rules and lore, but borrows heavily from the show. It might be helpful to this on this as like Vast Error and Homestuck.

Q) Is there actually a game being actively made? A) Yes! There's not much to see, though. It's still at the "Everything is a cube and a capsule" stage of development; I'm focusing on getting a solid foundation laid rather than making any visible progress, which is important for a large-scale game. I've made significant progress, though: I estimate I am about 75% done with the base gameplay elements and making it, you know, playable. For the technically inclined, I have done the following (from the perspective of someone familiar with the Skyrim Creation Kit): - Cell streaming (plugin) - Cross-cell persistence - Goal Orientated Action Planning for NPCs - Lua/Moonscript VM for programming AI and acting as the equivalent of Papyrus (Plugin/my own work) - Player like movement and stuff - Dialogue using the Yarn plugin - NPC inter-cell navigation (think exterior to interior. Very difficult.) - Granular world simulation using Unity's DOTS - Physical properties of items (Systems game stuff, like Breath of the Wild) - You can harvest plants! Holy shit - You can read books

Q) Can I play the game right now? A) Hell no. Not yet, anyway. I'll release an alpha demo at some point, though, which will include: - The Marrows (Right arm of island), the first of currently 8 Prefectures (Analogous to Skyrim's Holds), which itself contains 1 city, 3 towns, 4 regions (geographically distinct areas. Two of them are pictured in the art above) - 30 ish quests? - Representative gameplay - Introduction to the major characters and the antagonist (This world's Belos and Hunter)

Q) What kind of mood is this world going for? A) Mostly lighthearted with some serious moments.

Q) What other influences does this world have? A) Lots. - FLCL (Should be apparent in the combat) - The Elder Scrolls (duh) - Bloodborne - Amphibia - Hyper Light Drifter

If you have any questions, feel free to ask! I can't promise I will be willing to answer them, though. But then again, I am always happy to blab on and on about the world that live inside my mind.



[transformers-fan-continuities]

Spotlight: Ties That Bind

This one’s a doozy folks! If you missed the last spotlight you can go read it here, but strap in for The Ties That Bind, an absolutely brilliant take on humanformers. It’s hosted here at @tiesthatbind-tf​ created by @artsy-hobbitses​!

Q) Give us a run down of your cont! What's it about, what's it called, what's it like?

Ties That Bind is a humanformers-based original continuity which is part Science Fiction and part Alternate History where the invasion of Quintessons and introduction of their technology to Earth in 1920 sets the world and humankind on a completely different trajectory. The active narrative spans a period from 1920 to 2070, covering the First and Second Quintesson Wars, the interplanetary Antillan War (leading to the creation of Unicron on Mars) and the Great War which involves the Autobots, Decepticons and Functionist stalwarts, and how it affects the characters.

The cast is pretty sprawling and the narrative is mostly centred around human drama with bits of humor interspaced and a dash of horror (mostly centred around how the previous government often chose to utilize the technology left behind from the Quintesson Wars to create new systems of oppression, which affected many of the characters, in the name of worldwide rebuilding efforts).

Q) What characters take the lead here? Any personal favorites?

I will admit to this continuity being very much heavy on the relationship between Old Bastards  Optimus Prime and Megatron, which is given considerable weight as they were best friends who had known each other since childhood and were deeply intrinsic to each other’s growths as individuals, which makes it all the worse when guilt and betrayal enter the party. Despite being captains in two corners of this battle, there’s a part of them that just cannot let go of their pasts together and they need to reconcile with how this will affect their agenda (Megatron) and how they lead their team (Optimus) who don’t necessarily share their history.

Other characters with significant development include:

Starscream, a Cold Construct in a toxic working relationship with Megatron with whom he is hiding a dark secret, who struggles to balance the underhanded viciousness he believes he needs to gain power and his innate desire from his Senate days to make the world a better place. 

Windblade, a Camien native who fights her government’s apathy concerning the situation on Earth which they see as unsalvageable compared to their more Utopian society. 

Prowl, a Cold Construct raised from childhood to be a cop in a police state, who finds out that he was brainwashed several times  to ensure his obedience and efficacy as a government asset and is now working to reclaim some semblance of the humanity he was never allowed to feel and figure out how much of him is who he really is and how much is programming.

Hound, a sheltered Beastman who joined the fight to ensure that Beastmen the world over would have the same rights he did in his homeland of Shetland Isle, but is forcefully stripped of his humanity and faced with his animal side during the war and has to relearn what personhood means amid his trauma.

Q) Is there a bigger point to this, like a theme or some catharsis? Or is it just fluffy fun?

God with the amount of time I spent sleepless trying to figure out how the logistics of this or the semantics of that were supposed to work in universe, I cannot for the life of me say it’s fluffy fun, but I can’t exactly say it hasn’t been pretty engaging either!

There’s elements of war being messy for everyone involved where there doesn’t seem to be a clear line between friend and foe at times, but I think for most part it prescribes to  Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s belief that people are inherently good, but are corrupted by the evils of society. Despite its dark themes (Including but not limited to child abuse, torture, illegal experimenation  and brainwashing), love and friendships do prevail, kindness does beget kindness, found families are made, even the smallest actions matter, and things do get better because there are people on both sides who genuinely want to, and strive to make it better.

With Cold Constructs and Beastmen, it also delves heavily into what it means to be human; to have agency and personhood.

There’s also a strong undercurrent of taking responsibility for one’s actions, even if they were made with the best of intentions (Avoidance of this is what eats up Starscream and Megatron from the inside, and what Starscream eventually embraces).

Q) How long have you been working on it?

There’s two answers to this!

I’ve had a Humanformers-related universe going all the way back to 2007 around the time the first Bayformers came out---basically I had a choice between learning to draw cars or draw people (I was an anthro artist back then) and I immediately chose people.

The 2007 draft however had no worldbuilding or connective storylines and was mostly a fun little venture into character design and practice which were actually instrumental to me experimenting and learning how to draw humans properly.

I left the fandom for about a decade and when I came back to it in late 2020 around September via the War for Cybertron series on Netflix, I immediately got hooked on the 2005 IDW comics I missed out on and wanted to get around to updating my old designs as well find a way to translate several of the concepts I wanted to explore in a human sense, so the 2020 update became its own full-fledged original continuity with detailed worldbuilding and history.

You can see the artistic evolution of several characters from their original incarnation below!

Q) It’s incredible to see your artistic improvement too! Give us a behind-the-scenes look! Show us a secret ;))

Say hello to my workspace! I’ve been working exclusively on the Ipad Pro since late 2016, which is fantastic because I can basically whip up concepts and sketches on the go anywhere. Nowhere is too out of bounds to work on TTB!

Also, do enjoy this sneak peek at true!form Rung, whose synthezoid human body took years to perfect.

Q) YESSSSS alright I must admit this is one of my favorite Rungs, and certainly my fave within TTB. Amazing. Phew, anyway. Where did you draw inspiration from? What canons, what other fiction, what parts of real life?

TTB was initially conceived as a faithful retelling of the IDW 2005 narrative before it was transformed into its own continuity and as such, it borrows heavily from concepts and mirrored plot lines introduced in that run! I chose to have the series inspired off it specifically for the amount of history and worldbuilding it introduced to the franchise.

Anime like Gunslinger Girl and Beastars inspired the depictions of Cold Constructs, especially the more harrowing aspects of their upbringing as government assets instead of children, and Beastmen (Beastformers) in TTB.

I haven’t depicted the world itself in my art all too much, but the architecture from Tiger and Bunny, which has sort of a futuristic Art Deco feel to it, is what you’d usually see in major cities. There is an in-universe reason for that---with a Point Of Divergence set in 1920 followed by 25 years (an entire generation) of progress basically being kicked to the curb due to the Quintesson wars, mankind was basically in a time-locked bubble until the end of the wars, and by then their heroes were 1920s-style rebellion leaders, which lead to 1920s fashion (especially among the Manual Working Class---Megatron, Jazz and Optimus all rock 1920s fashion at some point of their lives) and architecture being celebrated and retained as sort of a reminder of how things were before The Invasion. This anime’s background design is also where I adopted the tiered system TTB’s major metropolises are often built on (with each tier being designated to a different working class) from.

The main artistic style itself is a love letter to 90s cartoons, in particular Gargoyles’ deep and drama-driven character narratives and designs as well as The Centurions’ take on body armor logistics.

I also take inspiration, especially armor-wise, from the characters’ given heritage and background. As an example, Hotrod who is depicted as Irish has the flames on his armor done up with Celtic knots. Welsh aristocrat Mirage’s armor bears olden knight-style filigree and has his Autobot logo designed as a coat of arms. Indonesian Soundwave’s armor and Decepticon logo takes cues from Batik and Wayang Kulit while their mask is based off the Barong.

Q) They are absolutely gorgeous! Show off something you're really proud of, a particular favorite part of your cont.

The worldbuilding in general! Most Humanformers I’ve seen tend to treat it like a fun exercise which it is and is definitely valid, but I found myself wanting a full-fledged world to lose myself in and I sought to try and make that world myself by drafting a detailed history and timeline of events which would affect ongoing narratives, having indepth worldbuilding to include almost all societal aspects of the universe and  expanding on the concept of Beastmen and Cold Constructs existing in a human setting.

I’m not so secretly proud of the research and diversity included to make the cast look like the multicultural, globally-based team that they were meant to be instead of being locked to a single region! My original draft from 2007 was, to put it simply, quite culturally monolithic and I wanted to improve on that aspect with TTB.

I’m also proud that I’ve kept to it this far! I’m a notoriously flaky person jumping from one idea/fandom to another and to have kept at this continuity for the better part of ten months is honestly a personal feat.

Art-wise, this scene depicting a young Megatron working alongside Terminus and Impactor (cameo by @weapon-up-wallflower​‘s OC Missit!)  is definitely one of my favorites since it helps build up the world they live in and plays to familial bonds and comfort found in one another despite their less than ideal circumstances.

Q) Everything has come together so beautifully, you absolutely should be proud. What other fan canons do you love and why? Would you like to see them interviewed?

I am dying to hear more from @iscaredspider​’s Sparkpulse continuity! Her designs are MIND-BLOWINGLY GORGEOUS and I want to hear more about what inspired her to work on it!

Also YOU. Yes YOU BLURRITO. LET ME HEAR MORE ABOUT SNAP.

Q) [wails and squirms away in the mortifying ordeal of being known but in a very flattered way] I WILL SOMEDAY I PROMISE aflghsdjg thank you QwQ

Well that was fantastic, Oni, thank you muchly! A magnificent continuity with so much to look forward to! Coming up next is another personal fave of mine, the first inspiration for SNAP, so stick around...