#creating an animation for this audio would be THE DREAM

[frodo-with-glasses]

If you haven’t listened to the audio Phil Dragash recorded for me at the end of our interview, you’re really missing out on a riot!

Turning the last panel into a GIF ate my colors, so here it is as a still image.

[fushiglow]

Gojō Satoru's rude awakening

I'm refusing to let myself seriously entertain the possibility that Gojō can come back after chapter 236. However, that's because I'm trying to protect my future self from disappointment, not because I think it's implausible — and I really want to talk about this image!

A couple of days ago, @runabout-river shared an interesting theory about what might happen next for Gojō. The post itself is well worth a read, but it was the choice of the above image that really set my mind alight. This scene is fresh in our minds after the anime adaptation of Hidden Inventory, and timing is clearly never an accident with Gege Akutami. So, why is it relevant now?

We see Gojō giving himself over to his past, lost in his happy dreams of his youth, only for Megumi — Gojō's first student and a symbol of the future that he envisions — to bring him back to the present by telling Gojō, "You're the one who called us here, please don't go dozing off."

In other words, "You're the one who dragged us into all of this, don't go pretending this isn't reality just because it's nicer in the past."

In my immediate reaction to 236, I said:

Gojō's dying bloody smile shows he's at least happy in his final moments. [...] Although, if Gojō actually is at peace in death, maybe that's the reason Gege will bring him back. He'll *never* let that man be happy, I swear.

It was just a joke, but seeing @runabout-river's post made me realise that Akutami has already set a precedent for 'punishing' Gojō for looking backwards. When he's dreaming about his past, Megumi scolds him and brings him back to the present. When he 'lets his mind wander' to his blue spring in Shibuya, he literally gets locked in a box where time doesn't pass, only to immediately find himself at the bottom of Japan's deepest ocean trench when his students bust him out to fix the problem he created.

As a side note, in both of these moments, the anime adaptation played a melancholy version of Gojō's Limitless theme — the audio representation of Gojō's youth. I'll eat my hat if it doesn't play again when chapter 236 is eventually adapted (I shared some more insights into some of the easter eggs hidden in the season 2 score in my mini review of the Hidden Inventory soundtrack if you wanna read).

If Gojō dies here, looking backwards to his youth, then he's taking the easy way out and that's what I find hardest to swallow about 236. Gojō leaves what is potentially the most difficult conversation he'll ever have — telling Megumi the truth about his father — to Shōko. He leaves his students to deal with the fallout of his failure to cremate Getō's body. He's saddling the people he loves with the responsibilities he leaves behind, and that's not fair.

However, we won't know if that's what's happened for sure until the whole story is told. Gojō doesn't mention his students in this chapter, and lots of people were bewildered that he seems unconcerned about their safety in a world without him. While that could simply be explained by his faith that they've "got it from here", there's a chance that he genuinely didn't think about it and he's about to get a rude awakening as his punishment — hence, "I pray that this isn't just a delusion".

I would *adore* it if Shōko dragged him back to life kicking and screaming, hauling him away from his pleasant fantasy of youth to tell him, 'No, you and Getō don't get to leave me behind to pick up the pieces again'. Because isn't that Shōko as a character? The one who's left to pick up the pieces in their wake? The one to heal the wounds and lay the bodies to rest while everyone forgets she's even there?

It would be the most character development she ever receives, and I'd love to see how Gojō and Shōko's dynamic changes when he's not the 'Strongest' anymore. So, in Shōko's own words:

[blossomthepinkbunny]

Vivzepop will always be the biggest issue with her own show if she doesn't change. And i'm not saying that because I desperately want to shit on her but rather because it's so clear that her attitude is what made Hazbin Hotel be so dissapointing after the long wait. The pilot released four years ago and Viv had these characters for much longer than that. One could assume that with this much time on her hands she would have a concise plan for how a series of her story would play out (I can imagine that having an own show is a dream for lots of creative people out there). And I get that that plan might get screwed up by a shorter episode count then expected, but she should be the one who knows her story best and who should know what stuff could also be cut out. The first season of Hazbin Hotel is so incredibly overstuffed with characters and plot that it completely looses the main premise the show was originally pitched with (the idea of a hotel were sinners are redeemed. As it is now the hotel is really not important at all). People have talked endlessly about how Viv can't handle criticism and it really sucks because criticism is one of the best ways to improve your writing, drawings, music etc. Without criticism you won't refine the thing you're working on in a meaningful way. Of course it feels bad when you put something out there you wanted to share and then people critique it, but that's part of pretty much every creative journey, or atleast it should be and Vivzepop shouldn't get a pass from this just because she doesn't like it. And there are great shows, movies or books that are rarely or almost never criticised. But the artists behind these works probably went trough years of honing what they do by being criticised for the stuff they put out. And I don't want to say that Vivzepop didn't work hard to make Hazbin Hotel, but it is hard to claim that she improves in her craft, when everytime someone says they don't like her show she throws a hissy fit. She wants the same reactions that these other amazing pieces of media get without ever listening to criticism. Which she sees as a personal attack rather than a tool that could help her to achieve the same level of writing prowess the creators behind media like that have. She believes she is already on the same level as them, just because she basically shuts anyone out who disagrees with her. There's this clip at the end of a Drew Gooden Video which I think sums up the situation with Viv pretty good (the Video is called "Leaving the YouTube Bubble"). He is talking about Lily Singh and her talk show but I feel like a lot of the stuff he says about handling criticism applies to Vivzepop as well.

(you might have to turn up the audio).

Unprofessional behaviour like that might be excusable when the creator is pretty young or they are interacting with publicity for the first time really. But neither of that applies to Viv. And Hazbin Hotel isn't just an indie animation pilot on youtube anymore. It's now a fully realized show created with a pretty prominent studio on a major streaming network and it should be held to the same standards as other shows or movies alike (not saying indie animation or animation on youtube doesn't have a standard but with more budget and support, there's obviously going to be different expectations for the show now). There have been issues in Helluva Boss and the Hazbin Hotel pilot ever since their release which could've been handled with more time and the new show. But Vivzepop shows time and time again that she isn't willing to listen to people who criticise her, which could actually lead to her show getting better. I don't like Viv or her work a lot. I think she is incredibly unprofessional and she has done her fair share of questionable or problematic stuff, which often leads to issues in her shows. There have been some characters I like, some songs or scenes that were pretty well done, very cool animation and an actually interesting premise on paper in HH and HB. There are things that make me come back to these shows to watch the next episode. And i'm obviously passionate enough about these shows to make whole posts about what I think was done badly and what could be changed. But for the aspects of HH or HB I enjoy, there are soo many more problems I have with it. Problems that won't go away unless Viv stops seeing every criticism as a personal attack. Because if Vivzepop doesn't stop acting like her writing is some unreachable stuff that needs no changes I don't really see a point in assuming that these shows will ever get better.

[aeroblossom]

narcissus without water; sou hiyori

i wasn't gonna post this here because i really reaaally hate it but ehhh fuck it we ball. 3-1 unused intro spoilers. does that even count. kanna route implied.

In the aftermath is cold. Icy, chilling cold. The immense rush of the impact lasted but a moment. Time is a fleeting thing for all who live, whether the hearts beating in their chests are made of muscle, or of metal; whether the circuits powering them and every moment of madness, every second of passion, every victory and every mistake, are made of grey matter, or of a network of microscopic transistors.

The merciless weapon, which had moments ago pierced through his torso, now meets him eye to eye. As if a deeply loyal animal that was too loved to know when to retract its claws, destroying everything in its path to be close to the one it owes its devotion to. Through flickering sparks in one eye, and slowly blurring vision in the other, he stares. He smells blood. The sight of it would not bother him in the slightest had it been someone else it was coming out of. But when you've lived as he has, blood seeping from a wound feels unnatural. And he'd started to believe he was finally rid of the last vestiges of his humanity. Red drips down the side of his face, from the grey matter in his skull that still held proof of something human. The emotion centers of his brain were dysfunctional since he came into the world. So really, it matters little to him. He can barely even feel the pain.

The thing that upsets him more is the red on his chest. It doesn't trickle down from his crown, but spurts from the gaping wound in his center. Sparks fire in all directions, somewhere in his ears he hears a low ringing of both his organic bodily systems as well as mechanical ones. The gears cry emergency, the cells cry of death. A realization supplied by his mechanical logic center creeps slowly into the back of his head, surrounding him fully until he submerges in acceptance. He has little time left.

Eyes the color of sea glass stare at nothing in particular, yet keep darting about, aimless, anxious perhaps, but with unmistakable defeat in them. Little light penetrates the coffin, brought in only by the gaping hole created by the drill. It illuminates a straight stripe across his now ruined body, one bright seafoam gaze and tousled mess of green last in the light's path. Dust particles shimmer like gold specks, his contemplative eyes fixating on their fluttering dance.

He hears distant voices, he thinks, if his audio faculties are even functioning by now. Crying - pained voices, happy voices. Meister's scrawny tone, and determined words from the young girl with copper hair. They must be huddling together right now. Allies. Cooperates. A team spirit reignited.

Petty emotion lurches inside him, wanting to shatter that nonsensical resolve with his own hands. He knows how to. Even now, it would not take much -

No.

It's over.

Defeat weighs heavier than how it first felt to have your flesh replaced by porcelain. It's heavier than the volume of crimson flowing from the wound in his chest. Not that he has needed to breathe in a long time, but here, now, he suddenly feels breathless.

Silence is the mind's curtain call. Contemplation weaves its way through his thoughts, thoughts that will soon fade. Thoughts that are firing wildly due to the vast amount of information being processed in these final moments, alongside a slow system shutdown.

It's a bit like he's dreaming with his eyes open, if you think about it like that.

Ah. He's wasted so much energy in meaningless thoughts. Not that it truly mattered at this point. Right... where had he gone wrong?

Hiyori, Sou. Assumed age, twenty. An easily recognizable mop of green hair, tied down at the ends into a neat rattail that didn't match how the rest of his hair looked. The nickname they gave him was his namesake hair. Tall, fairly lithe. Eyes a deeper colour than the hair, like pure, vibrant jade. Plainly, more than half of him was doll, and the vestiges human. What were once the tender hands of a real human are now porcelain and alabaster. Gears tick inside the system, rhythmic, he was a mechanical harmony. Occasionally interrupted by remnant humanity.

Living, breathing red pumped from his heart, no matter how much he'd separated himself from flesh and blood. The proximity of that living heart to electrical equipment gave him a quicker heartbeat than most. The proof of this regnant humanness now bled and ripped itself apart. He thinks he feels a bit of pain. This is probably the only physical pain he's felt since the last time he had real hands.

But it's not what he'd thought it'd be like. It does hurt, it hurts so much. Yet something else hurts a little more, something that rises from a faulty limbic system and creeps down in physical form to become surging pain in his core.

He observes, silently, the ache surge in intensity as the voices continue to speak. Words, thoughts, emotion, memory rapid fires in his mind. He tries to recall the path he'd taken so far, wanting to make out what error he had made to make him up end like this. This would not do, after all.

But no matter how he tries to focus on this endeavor, a recurring feeling scratches inside him. A sharp pain, tearing him into two. He feels he recognizes it as something from impossibly long ago. Suddenly, he realizes, in that silent grave of his, that he was entirely alone in this death. His heartbeat begins to ring into his ears alongside the periodic beeping of his system going into overdrive.

System warnings, words ringing in his head, and the wildly pounding heart, all converge like oil and paint into a wretched musica humana.

It's really stupid. Hilarious, in fact.

He wasn't human. He hadn't been so for a considerably long time, as far as himself was concerned. Death... to him, wasn't it trivial? An infinite amount of copies of himself can be made. It's meaningless, however many times he dies.

...And yet, here he was.

Does Hiyori Sou feel? Does he regret? Does he hurt?

Does this largely doll, barely human, ever find himself lonely?

In the moments that follow, the emotion that grips him next is sheer horror. At not just these intrusive questions, but his body's physical reaction to it.

Something clouds his vision much more heavily than before. What little he could see before him twists into an oil painting, unrecognizable, an intense pain radiates inside his neck, like strangulation. And then he heaves a sigh as a singular, pearlescent tear streams down his face.

He can hear Meister's scratchy voice from a while ago, before any of this. Before all of this.

So you can cry too.

He had said, as Hiyori leaned against his screen and shed tears at the sight before him. Him, of all people, mourning - it was, of course, an unbelievable sight. At the time, he had found it jestly insulting that Meister would imply he couldn't cry or feel such emotion. So what makes this different? Why does it feel so different?

Ah, it really does feel like the entire world is making a mockery out of him. But perhaps this is a fitting end for himself. Villain he was born, villain he will die.

Death holds little meaning to someone like him.

It's almost time. His thoughts begin to slow down to a grinding halt.

He faintly registers some shifting sounds. The coffin he resided in is being laid flat on the ground. Will it be opened next? Will they see him like this?

A light slam signals to him that the coffin has been taken down. The drill carefully withdraws, now leaving only his mauled body behind. The sound of dust and rocks crumbling, and then light filters into the depths. Though it gets brighter and brighter, he finds his world only becoming darker.

Meister is the one lifting the lid. He has it propped up with one hand, the other on his knee as he knelt down, chewing on a cigarette, inspecting what he was seeing with a careful, suspicious, and yet rather surprised expression. Tia Safalin stands beside him, one hand on her chest and the other seemingly reaching out to touch him in the coffin. He knows hearing is beyond him when he sees the anxious woman mouth his name, when he watches them talk amongst themselves, and can't make out any of it. It's probably too late to worry about what it could be.

The crying doll leans down, placing one hand to his face. As if the plaster skin wasn't stiff enough, he finds himself turning into what may as well be stone. She inspects his head wound. He can't move his eyes anymore to follow her actions, but he can still vaguely feel them. The small hand moves down slowly, tracing a line across his face and down his chest, analytic. She shakes her head with a sigh upon the damage to his torso.

It's really over for him, isn't it?

Her finger ghosts its way back up, this time lingering on his face. He notices the slight dumbfoundedness in her expression, pressing slightly to make sure she was seeing right - the tear stains on his cheek. He wants to smile, all of a sudden, but he no longer can.

As she concludes her inspection and stands up, hiding her expression with that stupendous hat, he faintly wonders if she's crying too. Is she crying for him? No... that would be ridiculous. There wasn't anyone left who could cry for him. In death as he was in life, alone.

Mere moments remain for him, and he wonders, for the final time - should he have led a different life, would there be comrades by his side? Does there exist a world in which Hiyori Sou, too, has allies?

Vibrant seafoam eyes darken like a wilting flower, unable to make out anything clearly, shedding one final tear.

[p-receh]

I'm very curious for 2, 7, and 12 :]

Would love to hear your hcs!

Alright! Which character btw? How about Boboiboy as a starter? 😅

2. Favorite canon thing about this character?

The fact that he's ambidextrous is really really amazing as a character. Not only he wields two weapons but also can constantly switching between right and left handed side in the midst of a battle.

And I be honest, the fact that Monsta keep that movie 1 white hairline glitch as canon is what people called a "Serendipity" or happy accident. Another serendipity glitch in animation media for me is the iconic nose touch scene from httyd 1.

Who knew this bug could become his sole identity? It doesn't lesser his image but it does made 10x better as the result of a genetic mark within generations. Thus it creates "the Butterfly Effect" in designing Amato and adult Tok Aba.

In sense, Oboi become a shonen character since child with that look lol

7. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like?

I don't follow much with what happened to Boboiboy's fandom recently, still making me a headache whenever I visit, but I always appreciate when fandom united to correct blatant hoaxs. It's often surprised me.

Oh and memes lol. Screenshot memes whenever new episode arrived is a never not entertaining cus it was usually flooded in my timeline. 🤣

12. What's a headcanon you have for this character?

Since I only made headcanon for elementals, I think it's not fair that the real main protagonist has not yet get his headcanon. My bad :p

Oboi may or may not able to make a clear communication with Amato after all these years and I have two scenarios:

If Tok Aba still alive, Oboi might be more comfortable and more open to Tok Aba about his daily life rather than Amato. He still talks to him, but struggles to keep up a simple conversation from both ways, and eventually Oboi starts to make excuses to end it by "Helping Atok at his shop".

If no. 1 doesn't happens, Oboi might a bit cold to Amato at first. He try so hard to avoid any conversations with him and just focus on continuing the Kokotiam Shop as an escape route.

One of my questions regarding him, "How does he remember every events during split/fusion/3rd tier?" My deduction to this headcannon is this: firstly after he wakes up all memories will be blur due to his dizziness in the aftermath. He might remember some of it but his brain is not yet fully capable to comprehend all of it quickly. Then, all those event will be shown during his sleep. It sometimes disturbing his sleeping schedule and wakes up abruptly in the middle of night from a lucid dream.

Idk why, but between Audio sensory, Visual sensory and Action sensory Learning technique. Oboi is the person who learn and solve problems by practice it in real time. He may not the guy who absorb a quick information, but when he tried to think about it, he implements his thoughts by action such as moving hands or walks around. (I onced very obsessed with psychology especially with self learning types during my high school days but now I forgot most of them lol)

He has a hidden fanatic side of him all over the news as a hero with the evidence of all his photos from movie 1. He might eventually remove them when he gets older. He doesn't want to admit his embarrassment with his obsession publicly lol. (Of course he treasure it somewhere )

I forgot where's the source of it, but I read a post that Oboi once tried to cut his white stroke hair but it grew back. He never knew why but he eventually let it be afterwards. Maybe he wears that hat not only as a gift from his dad but also to cover his white hair? Idk :-\

That's maybe all headcanons I got so far. I guess I'll admit I might need to dig for more Boboiboy magazines and older post of his social media ones. There's still so many trivias that I missed throughout my life. :(

[starshower1215]

Levihan - Rewrite The Stars Conceptual Animation [Duty vs. Temptation]

I could absolutely draw this as a low quality animatic, but I do not have the digital means to draw it easily (I have a phone and fingers), so here's the concept for it. Indulge in my bad imagery writing and use your imagination.

Zac Effron's lyrics play the role of the temptation of love personified, whereas Zendaya's lines showcase Levi and Hange exerting their denial in the face of duty's call. In my imagination, the personification of temptation is a silhouette of the starry night sky in the form of Levi or Hange's body, it depends on the perspective of the character. Those stars represent not only a heaven, but the death that's beyond that, so ultimately, it is the personification of peace/temptation.

In terms of scenery, the first verse (taking place in a very hopeful atmosphere, based on Zac Effron's tone and lyrics) would occur in Levi's half-dreaming state in the forest. Picture an initial, distant voiceover of Hange's "Maybe we should just live here together. Right, Levi?" On the name Levi, the distorting audio follows (with the Rumbling stuff beginning) and the world warps, the screen going black and silent. Then:

"You know I want you/It's not a secret I try to hide." Notice how the reverberating echoey music comes in... ("I know you want me/so don't keep sayin' our hands are tied") The scene redraws itself, brightened by the stars, and a tiny flame in the air morphs into Hange's figure. Then, ("You claim it's not in the cards/And fate is pullin' you miles away...") Hange's wavering star silhouette offers their hand to Levi, and the camera zooms in on their hands, positioned like those in Michelangelo's legendary Creation of Adam. Levi's wrist is chained with a manacle. In the backdrop, a series of translucent memory images flicker, and at ("But you're here in my heart") it is, of course, a flash forward to their goodbye, Levi's fist on Hange's chest. The camera turns to Levi for the last two lines ("So who can... /you're my destiny?") to showcase his hopeful, yet hesitant expression as he reaches for them, stars in his stormy grey eyes, because it's too good to be true to him. Especially considering this is a dream.

Then comes the chorus, ("What if we rewrite the stars?") and Levi's hand grasps hers, and his manacle breaks off just as Zac Effron's voice raises on "re." In an otherworldly [delusional] moment, Hange pulls him up, and the chains and bandages drift to the floor like ribbons in this walking-on-air, no-gravity situation, because it's not so heavy to bear if he has them. Star Silhouette Hange takes him on an adventure Aladdin's Flying Carpet style, over flaming water, land made of ice, fields and fields of golden sand (Armin and Eren for real). They skim over the ocean's water, reflecting the stars above, and Star Hange is becoming more and more lifelike as Levi disrupts the sea with his fingers in the water, unearthing a bioluminescent wave in their wake. At "So why don't we rewrite the stars?/ Maybe the world could be ours," they have your stereotypical tension-filled romantic moment of near-kissing, and at the drop of "Tonight," the carpet thing (?) overturns and Levi and Star Hange plunge into ice cold water.

In the instrumental interlude, Levi is shown writhing in the starry water, which is wrapping itself around his body until it takes his shape, creating Star Silhouette Levi for Hange's verse two.

"You think it's easy/You think I don't wanna run to you" The atmosphere is more pensive in an office illuminated by the moon, with Hange at her desk's side when Star Levi's hand falls on her shoulder, like a way to coax her to go to sleep (he is Moblit's successor). "But there are mountains" He stands over them, takes the green coat off of their shoulders, removes her glasses... "And there are doors that we can't walk through" and his hands stall on Erwin's emerald bolo tie. "I know you're wondering why because we're able to be/Just you and me within these walls" His hands begin to slip it off in slow motion... "But when we go outside" Closing in on Levi's face... "You're gonna wake up and see" Possible profile perspective as he pulls them in by the tie... "That it was hopeless after all" Close in on Hange's profile, her shoulders and gaze falling on hopeless and their fingers stopping his hands from going any further as they turn their face away (melodramatic).

"No one can rewrite the stars" Star Levi explodes in a kaleidoscopic supernova (She overcame temptation!! Somewhat), and the luminescent supernova shards are caught in the breeze ("How can you say you'll be mine?/Everything keeps us apart/And I'm not the one you were meant to find"), encircling Hange in a glittering tornado as he raged and destroys everything like that time he "saw a cockroach." He kicks a table over and the contents scatter, a journal skidding to the ground at his feet.

"It's not up to you/It's not up to me" Hange slides to the floor in her despair... "When everyone tells us what we can be" as she studies the emerald amulet against a blurred background when the camera focuses on the journal, the one she and Levi had found (Ilse's journal), reminding her how it all began. "How can we rewrite the stars?" Hange's eyes tearing up. "Say that the world can be ours.../Tonight"

"All I want is to fly with you/All I want is to fall with you" A million flashbacks ensue, of Levi and Hange training and soaring through the trees together with their ODM gear, gazing at the stars on the rooftops, cleaning (ha). "It feels impossible/It's not impossible/Is it impossible?/Say that it's possible" Recreation of the actual The Greatest Showman characters on the ropes, because it has to be delusional like that, when Zendaya and Zac collide and the momentum sends them into a spin, but with ODM gear (not possible, I know, who cares?).

"How do we rewrite the stars?" But it's the memory of themselves... "Say you were made to be mine" just messing around as they always did... "It's up to you/And it's up to me" when Hange wore no amulet and Levi had no bandages "No one can say what we get to be" and they were lost in ignorance's bliss.

"And why don't we rewrite the stars?/Changing the world to be ours" We have a view of their boots landing on the soil with a thud, bringing us back to the forest to watch those memories of them be carried away by the breeze, leaving us with the bandaged Levi and bone-weary Hange. It is dark, and the world has gone quiet again.

"You know I want you/It's not a secret I try to hide/But I can't have you/We're bound to break and my hands are tied"

...Anyway. That was exciting. Thank you for reading if you came this far.

The ship is this: "I know you're wondering why because we're able to be/Just you and me within these walls/But when we go outside, you're gonna wake up and see/That it was hopeless after all"

The entire show is: "But when we go outside, you're gonna wake up and see/That it was hopeless after all"

I would also find an alternative for any kissing in the concept, because kissing is fine and okay, but I like the idea of characters, and people, expressing love in different methods (not sure how to elaborate on that).

[feathersketchcreations]

wowee. Been a long time since I've drawn my Helluva boss oc Remi.... for those that have a hard time reading the picture: hey all my helluva boss art support! To those that follow my Helluva boss artwork, I'm really sorry for inactivity in the fandom. it's been really hard to stay motivated in this fandom while also trying to Juggle working on my indie show Elementals of tsikiri! For those who may not know, I just released an official Trailer for my show. (link to trailer for ya here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4ICX6IMa2s ) and I'm trying to raise funds on a Kickstarter so that I can raise money for the show so I can hire in animators. The team I have started out as a Volunteer work team. but I'd like to change that and pay the my team as well as expand out so we can hire animators. if you're a fan of my helluva boss work you've followed for so long, It would mean the world to me if you all shared the trailer AND the kickstarter around to help an indie developer such as myself reach my dream goal of bringing out a beautiful indie show. as a fan of vivziepops shows helluva boss & Hazbin hotel, she and her team have inspired me to create my own show. I even did an art piece of Blitz bullying one of the villains of my show named Mongrel because the va for blitz, Brandon Rogers himself actually bullied my voice actor saying his IQ is lower then his. and I actually got it signed as a poster from brandon when I met him in vegas back in april! lol We already have so many concept artists on the team, and voice actors. we just really need extra hands on the animation and storyboards. but I cannot do that without the help of the kickstarter. (if curious feel free to check out the link here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/xxfallenambitionxx/elementals-of-tsikiri-indie-animated-pilot?ref=user_menu ) I love all of you, and it has been amazing to be in the Helluva boss community. you all have helped me so much with my insecurities and self hate I used to have on my art. without this fandom I don't think I'd be brave enough to try to reach my goal of making my own show. it would be an honor to see some of you in the already growing fandom my show seems to be achieving ever since the trailer debute July 4th. I do have an official site at the moment for the show, with a fan page of all the ocs people have already submitted! feel free to check it out! https://www.elementalsoftsikiri.com/ocs.html The Pilot episode's audio is 100% complete and ready for animation! so even if the kickstarter doesn't get backed we're still gonna do our best! Tysm for reading. this isn't goodbye. I'm just not gonna be too active with my art while I work with my team on my shows development! Art (c) mine Remi (c) mine Helluva boss (c) vivziepop

#helluvaboss #helluvabossoc #helluvabossfanart #helluvabossart #hazbinhotel #hazbinhoteloc #hazbinhotelfanart #hazbinhotelart

[veenxys]

「Haikyuu boys as your virtual friends」

⤷ Bokuto

he’s the best friend anyone could ever have; he’s always the first to text you good morning - completely ignoring the fact that he’s sent you over twenty tiktoks or cute pictures overnight - and always says something cute like “you’re truly amazing,” “i love you so much!! have an amazing day my beautiful” with a lot of cute emojis. he always responds quickly and is always available for you; loves making calls at random times to see how you are or what you are doing, but mostly loves at night where you tell each other about everything that happened in your day and anything that comes to mind. he loves your voice and could spend all day listening to it. he also saves all the photos you send and saves it in a special folder on his phone to always look at when it misses you. he sends you gifts quite often, trying to show all of his love for you through little things you mentioned that you thought were cool or that he saw on the street and remembered you.

⤷ Kuroo

he can’t go a single day without talking to you. he is such a great listener and loves to give you advice and listen to you; he loves to know that he is now part of your life. he is also very thoughtful and playful; always asking if you’re alright, if you’re taking care of yourself. he’s also very playful and fun; always making some funny or sarcastic comment with anything just to make you smile, even just a little bit. he don’t pressure you, but he loves it when you send pictures or videos or audios. he also expects you to feel comfortable and open up to him in your own time; but always making it clear that he will never judge you or laugh at you. he is also very supportive and always supports you in all your dreams and ideas. he loves to facetime with you and talk for hours or just feel your presence while he does his own thing. he doesn’t admit it, but he’s jealous of your friends.

⤷ Atsumu

he is very affectionate and kind to you; which makes you create high relationship expectations. he always sends pictures or videos of what he’s doing, and it’s often something cute or funny or a picture of him in the mirror after a workout/after leaving the gym. he also loves to hear your voice and loves to call you - mostly facetime where he can flirt and play with you freely and smile at your cute reaction - and surprised (in a good way) when you flirt back - he makes playlists for you and reads the books you love most only to find little parts of you on the pages. he also sends you cute and unexpected gifts with a handmade letter that always makes you melt and fall in love with him even more. lots of inside jokes and pranks that no one would understand; as if the two of you created a special little world where love and joy reign.

⤷ Osamu

he always smiles embarrassed and even passionate when you send him something cute or just a picture of you; he’s completely surrendered to you and can’t show it too much at first, so he always sends you a heart emoji or something when really he wants to scream for everyone to hear how beautiful and amazing you are. he always sends you funny or cute animal videos, memes and recipes he sees on the internet and says “i’ll make this for you when we meet”. loves planning a future with you, even though you’re just friends, he can’t imagine his life without you anymore. he cares a lot about you and always knows when you are sad or angry, and he is always more than ready to listen to you and help you with whatever is needed. he loves to tell you gossip about his brother or his friends and he loves it when you tell him too; he always has to get away from his friends because he just can’t stop smiling or laughing.

⤷ Oikawa

he’s the kind of friend who loves to facetime with you, but he always puts his image as the biggest and keeps looking at him while you talk about anything. despite this, he is a great friend who is always with you, regardless of the situation. he loves teasing you and playing with you, but he also knows when to be kind and respectful. pretend not to, but smile silly and love it when you send him a picture or video, or just call him. at night, he is imagining you; what are you doing, how are you doing or what it would be like to be holding you right now. he is so attached to you that he no longer knows to see a life where you are not.

⤷ Nishinoya

he loves planning every detail of how the two of you are going to meet, how it’s going to happen, and where you’re going to see each other. he loves to imagine hugging you or just having you around, it’s one of his biggest dreams that he can’t get out of his mind. whenever you post a photo, he is the first to comment; it’s mostly just nonsense and hysterical screaming and emojis, he also loves using giant copypastes about how beautiful you are. pictures of you always have 30+ comments just of him praising you. you don’t know, but he also puts your pictures as wallpaper because looking at you always makes him happier. loves to call you and doesn’t mind if you spend all day talking, when you hang up he always gets upset because he wants to talk more and more with you, even if he doesn’t have anything else to talk about.

⤷ Kenma

he is shy at first but starts to get carried away after a while because he really likes you. he likes to send you random memes and videos that he knows you will like and he feels a slight heat build up in his chest and cheeks when you laugh or say something cute to him. he also buys you games so the two of you can play together and he loves that; the intimacy you share in the middle of the night. he likes to sleep on call with you; something like knowing you’re close to him even when you’re far away makes him feel calm and less alone. he doesn’t say, but he can’t stop thinking about you or what it would be like to finally see you in person, what it would be like to be able to hold you and have you by his side.

⤷ Suna

he’s the best friend and listener you can imagine, but he’s not used to sharing much of his life with you; he’s reserved at first, but after a while he starts to open up and tell things about his past or about his family and friends; when you listen with excitement and show him that you love to hear him, he feels a warm feeling rising in his chest and a smile growing on his lips because he realizes he can tell you everything, just as you tell him everything. he also tries to participate and find out more about your interests; read your favorite books, watch the movies or series you love so much and listen to your favorite song and artists. he loves talking about these things with you because he thinks it’s beautiful the way you talk with so much excitement and love. whenever you are alone at home, he calls you to keep you company; even if you don’t want to talk or have something important to do, he just stays on the other side of the line, letting you know he’s there, and you’re not alone.

⤷ Sakusa

you are the only person he trusts and likes to tell you things because he knows you don’t judge him and he feels extremely honored and grateful to have met you and to do the same for you as a thank you. he won’t admit it, but he always does his best to make you smile; sending random memes that he doesn’t think is funny but he knows you do, and even sending him pictures of himself because he knows you like. he also likes to send you gifts; books, letters, matching necklaces or bracelets and things he know you’ll love. when you send him a picture of you, he stops for a second and just admires you; he knows every detail of you by heart and always looks at your pictures with his eyes shining, when he locks his phone and puts it away, he realizes he’s smiling like a fool.

⤷ Hinata

if he could, he would talk to you all day. his heart warms a lot when he thinks that even far away, he has someone who understands him, who loves and respects him the way he is, and he tries to show all his gratitude for you through photos of him making heart or videos where he shows you where he is or what he is doing and saying at the end “i love you, take care” and even cute gifts he sends you - but he is anxious and often ends up telling you what the gift is - he introduces you and shows you to all his friends because he loves you very much and wants you to feel closer to him; even his mother and sister know you and love you too. he really plans to see you in person one day and can’t wait for you to see him play one day.

[im-totally-not-an-alien-2]

Halloween prompts no. 10

The demons instructions had been clear. Infiltrate the house the new Lazarus pit had taken over and report back. They were six highly trained assasins. This should have been easy.

The city of "Amity Park" had randomly appeared in the woodlands of Illinois with no warning or reason. All the buildings were in ruin and looked like no one had lived there for years, yet no vegetation had reclaimed them. The house the pit was in was the most eerie thing however. A thick glowing ooze seeped from the darkened windows, metal supports jutted up from the top of the building from where they had supported something massive once upon a time. He was embarrassed to admit he just now realized that the entire city was completely silent. Even the animals that should be out this time of night were no where to be found. Odd.

The Lazarus House- as he'd taken to calling it- opened its front door as they approached. The long unnerving squeal from the henges truly set the horror movie tone. It felt like something inside was mocking them. Daring them to come inside. Entering they found the living room to be a completely ordinary, save for the fact that all the decor and electronics were decades out of date and the glowing green ooze was all over everything casting a dim grow on the entire space. There seemed to be writing on the walls made in the slime, but they had no idea what it meant. Thankfully their goggles were capable of both video and audio recording as well as establishing a live feed from which the Demons Head was no doubt currently watching.

They came across a door with glow in the dark star stickers and space shuttles on it, but the door wouldn't budge. Even using explosives on it didn't seem to phase it at all. They came across another door with the name Jasmine spelt across it and this door opened easily enough inside was a very feminine room loaded with pinks and lace save for the window which was just as blacked and ooze filled as the others and filled with a heavy sadness. The saw a laptop and made a note to retrieve it on thier way out.

It didn't take long after that for things to start going to crap. First, one of his team had mysteriously disappeared. Then one of the doors slammed shut immediately after one of them entered and he knew that the screams that followed would haunt him for the rest of his life. Things continued this way with thier team being picked off one by one until he was the only one left.

He sprinted down the stairs after his attempts at breaking one of the windows proved futile and would up in the basement, which turned out to be the location of the pit. The vibes this room gave off were comforting on the surface, but had an undercurrent of apprehension. Like someone was holding thier breath and waiting for something to happen. This place seemed to be a lab of some sort with metal walls, scientific equipment strewn about and a machine in the far wall making large gaping hole that sparked with electricity every so often. His focus snapped back to the pit once he realized there was something moving in it. His other assasins? No. It was a single figure and far too small.

A white haired child floated to the surface of the pit, glowing just as brightly as the waters themselves and his eyes were filled with that God awful green. Instead of enraged he seemed distracted, dazed-as if half caught in a dream. "No, you're not the one." He said blankly, no emotion evident in his voice.

And then everything was black.

Ras Al Ghul stared at the screen, contemplating. A child living in a Lazarus pit? How would that effect the body? Was this child perhaps created by the Lazarus pit? Was that why he could seemingly control it?

---

Red Robin looked at the house warily, then back at Jason who was refusing the leave the vehicle they have in. Jason had tried to stop him from leaving it as well but that didn't work out very well for him.

He swears the house welcomed him in. Every door his came across was shut tight and wouldn't budge no matter what he did. The only exceptions were the door to the pink room where he found and retrieved a laptop and the door that lead to the basement were the Pit was most likely to be. Finally resolving to go down there he stood on the stairs as the door slammed shut behind him.

Taking a steadying breath he walked down to investigate the obvious lab, starting with the large hole in the wall. He was careful not to go inside it and get shocked by the electricity sparking in it. He stuck a USB stick into one of the nearby machines and began downloading whatever information was on them when he hard something behind him.

Spinning around he saw nothing. Wandering over to the pit he reached down to collect a sample when a white gloved hand grabbed his wrist from the waters. A figure slowly emerged with white hair and familiar glowing green eyes, "Its you. You're the one from my visions."

Tim only had time to hold his breath as he was dragged under. The...pit creature held his wrists as his legs fused together and formed a tail that was then used to wrap around his own legs, keeping his pinned at the bottom of the pit. During his thrashing he looked over and saw another boy that looked exactly like the one that was drowning him but the outfit and hair was the opposite of the original. It was by staring into the black haired teens glassy blue eyes did he realize what he was looking at.

A corpse.

He was going to die. This guy was going to kill him. It was only after the panic left him along with his breath that the infamous calmness that came with drowning seeped in and he heard what the being had been saying to him, I'm so sorry. I never wanted this. At least I can teach you how to use your powers

Powers?

Yes, so many powers! Flight, intagibility, plasma blasts, telekinesis-

Red Robin wanted to listen more even if to only gain a better grasp on this things abilities but he was fading fast. He was dying.

Soon

Tim didn't know what that meant since he was very clearly dying and just before everything went black he felt a kiss be placed on his forehead.

Thank you

The next think he knew he was waking up to the worst pain he had ever felt in his life. He was being electrocuted. No, he wasn't being killed again he was being resuscitated. He gasped as he sat up hurriedly only to realize he was still in the pit. Oddly enough all the pit water was gone and he and that guys corpse were laying on the dry ground inside of it.

A pained groan from the teenager next to him made him switch gears. He was alive? The boy immediately apologized to him after he came to, but wouldn't say anything other than that he was sorry. He grabbed Tim's wrist and flew them out of the pit. It was then that he noticed all the goo was gone but he didn't have time to question it as the other teenager flew them up and through the ceiling and out the front door. They stood there for a moment, silent while Tim watched the other boy shiver. Probably in shock, he thought. This must have been traumatic for the guy, heck it was for him.

It was then that Jason charged at them, not ran, charged and punched the other guy in the face, "What did you do to him?!"

"I'm sorry!" The other guy cried from his place on the ground.

Red Hood aimed his gun, "What did you do?!"

Tim reached out intending to stop Hood from shooting someone when he noticed his gloves were white instead of black. His heart dropped when he looked down at himself. All his colors were changed. The blacks had become whites, his reds had become a pastel yellow. It reminded him too much of the being from the pit. "What?"

The teen appearently did something Hood didn't like and a shot was fired into his shoulder. The guy cried out before giving one last apology before telling them, "I'm sorry. I was fading. I needed the creation of another to heal myself." He then vanished, leaving Red Robin and Red Hood alone in front of a brick building that was slowly starting to crumble before thier eyes.

No, not just the building. All of them. The whole city was crumbling around them and they needed to get out. Now.

They raced out of there with Red Hood cursing the entire way. RR pouted about needing a charger to start up the laptop seing as it was the only thing they got out of that crapshow of a mission. Hopefully the USB wasn't destroyed and he could access it later though it outside connection he used as a failsafe. He needed to know what was happening, not only with that kid but now himself.

[accessible-flatland-art]

Here's a post with tips for writing your own image descriptions.

If you have Flatland OCs you regularly post art of, and would like to help me at least tag them properly, here are the tags I use for this blog, saved to a notepad for easy copying and pasting as needed.

If you want to help, you can go through these and create a specific tag cluster for your different OCs for me to copy and paste.

Just pick out whatever here is relevant to your OCs, and put it in a paragraph, separated by commas. It should include their name, anything you think people would want to search for (like Queer characters), and if applicable, the title of any stories they appear in.

I have been considering adding tags for the shapes of each characters, so you can add that in as well. (Ie: Rectangle, Cube, Straight Line, Kite, ect)

Then you can send me the results in an ask, and I'll be able to save those to a document, so all I have to do when I reblog your OCs is copy it in and all the right tags will show up.

You can have each character's tags separated by a paragraph.

IE:

Billie: [paragraph of tags separated by commas]

Bomb: [paragraph]

Joe: [paragraph]

I'm not sure what the character limit is for asks these days, but feel free to send as many at a time as you can fit in an ask.

Including the names of the characters in your art whenever you post them will also help.

_____

described images, described art, Flatland, Flatland art, Flatart,

transcribed audio, transcribed lyrics, lyrics, music,

Photoedits,

Physical books,

Flatland a Romance of Many Dimensions, Flatland Illustrations,

Book collections, Flatland collections,

The Color Revolt, Configurationism, Circularchy,

Stylized form, Literal form,

Flatland animals, Flatland rabbit, Flatland bees, Flatland horse, Flatland chicken, Flatland dog, Flatland cat, Flatland mouse,

Flatland technology,

Flatland anatomy, Flatland worldbuilding, Flatland cosmology, Flatland structure,

A Square, A Sphere, The Grandson of a Square, A Square's Wife, The Wife of A Square, The Sons of A Square, The Great Great Great Great Great Grandfather of A Square, The King of Lineland, The Monarch of Pointland, Chromatistes, Chromatistes the Pentagon,

memes, Flatland memes,

Public domain characters in Flatland, Flatland versions of characters,

Public domain characters,

Family Trees, Comic, Animation,

Flatland OCs, Original characters, Flatland original characters,

Character reference,

Disabled characters, Neurodivergent characters, Physically disabled characters, Characters with mobility aids, Characters with disability aids, Characters with prosthetics, Characters with canes, Characters with walkers, Characters with swimmers, Characters with glasses, Characters with wheelchairs, Characters with chairs, Characters with sleds, Characters with crutches, Characters with rollators, Characters with scars, Characters with facial differences, Characers with limb differences, Characters with visual impairment, Blind characters,

Queer characters, LGBTQIA+ characters, Gay characters, Bi characters, mspec characters, Lesbian characters, Trans characters, Nonbinary characters, Characters who use neopronouns, Aroace characters, Aspec characters,

Black Characters, Characters of color,

Irregular characters, Deirregular Characters,

Werestars, Stellanthropes, Shapeshifters, dragons, serpents, weredragons,

Characters with wings,

Sphereland, Flatterland, The Arts of Being, The Breaking Point, Neopronouns in Action, Flat Dreams, Flatterland, Flatland the film 2007, Flatland the movie 2007,

Neopronouns in Action 062, Neopronouns in Action,

Neopronouns in Action 090, Neopronouns in Action,

A 2024 Flatland Summary,

Tarzan of the Apes, Mickey Mouse,

Dayo,

Esther Flat Dreams, Nora Vigenere, Nora Flat Dreams,

Pollux Codex, Madelyn Schwarz-Carver, Hunter Schwarz, Marianne Smith, Michael the Misogynist Pentagon, Providence, Nature, Providence and Nature, Germs, Mr Square, A Shape,

Oblisi,

Liam,

A Son of A Square,

Cy,

Frau Line,

Lily Cipher,

Ruth Galton, Ruth, Liz, Elizabeth Huntsworth, Stella, Orbis, Irene Huntsworth, Mama Huntsworth, Chief Jr, Atlas Huntsworth, Atlas, Vance,Vance Huntsworth, Elijah, Elijah Huntsworth, Jasper,Jasper Huntsworth, 01 Isosceles,

Vincent, Trey,

Rutabega,

Hauntlight the Irregular Line, Cenotaph the rabbit aether, Sirenade the Irregular Multiangulus, Raptigan the _, Avispa Oro, Beatris Baker, Mo Guy, Unnamed characters, Billie Bob and Joe, Billie the Straight Line, Bob the Circle, Joe the Hexagon,

Jerult the Irregular Kite, Cairis Garret the Equilateral Triangle, Letel the Isosceles Triangle, Aralinda the Straight Line, Leteralinda the Straight Line, Ambrosine the Straight Line, Lucille the Straight Line, Carolayn the Kite, Tristram the Isosceles Triangle,

Arsenn Lupin, Arsene Lupin, AScrossover, Arsene Lupin crossover, Ortence Daniel, Hortense Daniel,

Flyssa of Ib-Wa, Dearg of Ib-Wa, Lieutenant Kellite the Configurationist, Grandna Tuokeli,

Vikki Line, Victoria Line, Lee Line, Jubilee Line,

Huffy,

Bill Cipher, Gravity Falls, GFcrossover, The Book of Bill, The Mother of Bill Cipher, The Father of Bill Cipher, Dipper Pines, Mabel Pines, Ford Pines, The Axolotl, Andrew Kryptos, The Mosaic,

Carlton,

Randie,Gravity Falls, GFcrossover,

Spacelanders, Flatlanders, Linelanders, Pointlanders, Hyperspacelanders, Higher Dimensional Beings, Beings From Unknnown Dimensions, Planiversers,

Alternate Universe Forms,

Video, autoplay, GIF, Autoplay, WIP animation, Unnamed Animation 001, Animation,

Flatland Merch, Art you can buy, Art you can print,

Art templates,

plush, plushies, arts and crafts,

Ty for adding it to the original,:), ID added in reblog, ID in original,:),

Plain text ID added in reblog, Original ID in ALT text, :),

[youhavenoideahowbadiwantthis]

I watched a movie last night that I had a difficult time with. I didn't want to see it, but then I ended up enjoying it for the most part, but then I'm just a little annoyed with how much better it still could have been.

I'm talking about Wish. Spoilers ahead.

First, the things I liked:

Ariana DeBose was a very good lead with a great voice.

Chris Pine was wonderful, if not a little campy (which made him more wonderful). I would put, "This is the Thanks I Get," up against Bruno any day. Fight me.

The songs were mostly good with some stumbling here and there.

That fuckin' star sidekick is adorable.

The lore-building, especially with it being an, albeit heavily foreshadowed, twist, was surprisingly decent.

The runtime is an hour and a half. Perfect.

The things I did not like or was fairly indifferent to:

The performance of, frankly, any of the characters other than Ariana DeBose and Chris Pine.

Alan Tudyk as the obnoxious unfunny goat. My 4-year-old is more naturally funny than they wrote this character, who is played by an incredibly gifted, comedic actor.

The plot just wasn't interesting. Antagonist want more power; protagonist want stop bad guy. Obviously, I'm being reductive, and the concept of restoring people's lost dreams so they may pursue them for themselves rather than leave it up to an omnipotent being, is something I agree with wholeheartedly. I just feel it missed the mark in so many other ways that the plot suffered under the weight of terrible performances and animation.

The animation was bad.

Obviously, it's a technically marvel that they can create something like this just 30 years after Beauty and the Beast (which has objectively better animation). But parents might notice something uncanny about this movie. It's almost like a slightly more advanced cel-shading that they use in Disney Junior Shows like Myra the Royal Detective.

It feels lazy. Again, OBVIOUSLY work went into this, and I applaud the animators for doing something I couldn't dream of, but it just looks meh.

The performances of her seven-dwarf-analog, friends was fucking abysmal. The voices barely match the characters and were just obnoxious the whole movie. I appreciated what they did with Jennifer Kumiyama's character as far as representation, but it also felt like her voice was mixed really high in the audio and it was exhausting to listen to.

Also, having the seven dwarf friends that aren't dwarves is just weird when you consider everything else. Taken literally, this movie essentially acts as a lore-igin film for the enchanted mirror and Cinderella's Fairy Godmother. But the mirror is in Snow White. So...are these supposed to be the dwarves or just identical two-dimensional characters defined by literally the same traits as the dwarves or a multiverse thing or does it not matter at all?

Anyway, this was just a quick rant about a movie that I feel was unfairly, harshly judged. It's better than I expected, but worse than it should've been. 6.5/10.

[andromedavwrites]

Hello dear fellow eah enjoyer. I have a question for you since your page is about the eah reboot.

You see, I really liked the first book "The storybook of legends", I think it's really neat and the story is so interesting and well written. Are you going to follow the book's lore or will you perhaps create another and different lore?

AND,second, ypu know what would be REALLY cool? To creat the characters in stop motion technique. You know, by creating the dolls etc.

This one is unachievable dream but DUH.

hi!!! i love talking about this sort of thing!!!

The reboot is going to be a mix of the show and the books!!! i’m spending hours in front of my computer listening to the audio book and translating it to script format!! i’m intercutting it with scenes from the original animated show and i really hope it comes out well on the screen!!

to address the suggestion in the second part, i think that would be really cool(but also really, REALLY expensive, i’m pretty sure stop motion is the most expensive media for tv, it’d be different if we were doing a movie)

i’m planning on it being live action, and i have a cast of actors that i would like to have play the characters(and some characters that i have no idea who should play them)

[fellhellion]

excuse the frankly awful recording but I had to do a work around to actually capture any audio lmao. Anyways, if my shaky cam cuts off the subs too much the transcript is:

———

[Dos Santos] “Uh, 2099, ladies and gentlemen: Miguel O’Hara. This is - uh. I just have to say it here, so it’s officially on record. This is my dream come true.

[everyone laughs]

[Dos Santos] “This is muscle bound, tearing through walls, we call him Property Damage Spider-Man.”

[Thompson] “And I just have to say it - so it’s on record. Making fun of him was my dream come true.” (Emphasis mine)

[everyone laughs]

[Powers] “He got quite the upgrade, didn’t he?”

————

I just wanted to put the full recording of their conversation out there as I. Honestly don’t think the way they speak of Miguel denotes hatred for the source material?? Within that particular segment of the directors commentary, the entire exchange appears very lighthearted?

And considering Thompson is joking about making fun of the character over a clip of Miguel acting like he knows what he’s doing when he’s wildly unequipped and then getting shown up for that - a joke the comics also like to make about him - I’d argue this isn’t alluding to the team secretly hating the character and writing him the way they do because of that.

Not even mentioning the fact that later in the same sequence, they talk about how excited they were to have Rick Leonardi on board to create the art tools which would sketch shadows on Miguel specifically in a manner that would be a homage to Leonardi’s art style (something they reference again in the slow platform scene too). These are details you’re literally not going to pick up unless you’re a huge art nerd or paying extremely close attention to the animation.

By all means, critique the creative choices taken with the character and problematic implications that arise from them (I wrote an entire 1.5k essay on some of my concerns). But I feel like portraying Miguel’s characterisation/depiction in this film as something born from actively maliciousness on the part of the directors and writers towards the comics just isn’t substantiated.

[grim-faux]

Do you think Six and Mono’s clothes being there, probably means the events of LN2 already took place? Didn’t Noone mentioned they were torn off or something?

It is all very ambiguous, which is just a theme the LN world rolls hard with.

With the Seamstress or doll maker, it is possible this creature has a relation to the puppet-doll that was in the circus. But we'll come back to that in a sec here.

From Noone and the audio, it sounds like the Seamstress was making things. Like the puppet-doll Noone bashed with a bottle. She might have been creating costumes for dolls or the puppets and other toys, and that is where children like Mono, RCG, and Six received their essential articles of clothing. Even the cardigan Six wore at the beginning of LN 2 was a little larger on her. Lollypop kid from the digit comics was noted to be wearing form fitting clothing and shoes, the shoes are very unusual for children in Nowhere. Either they enter through the dream state the way Noone did, or the shoes wear away to nothing from traveling and rot. It is speculated that Lollypops kids articles of clothing and shoes resemble that of the Bullies in the school. Shoes will wear out fast when subjected to the elements, and many of the children Noone encountered had ratty or worn out clothing. But having sturdy clothing is an essential to these kids, as noted by Mono's very important coat, and Six when she found the iconic rain coat.

The chest may have been a container for eventuals. After all, we never learn what became of the Seamstress or how Noone escaped. It is possible that in the encounter with Noone, the creature was dispatched as many are following an encounter or terrorizing children. So the chest and all its contents may have been moved, or the building it was stored in collapsed, as many buildings in this world seem prone to do. It is as well probable that time parallels of Nowhere are not linear to the world Noone inhabits normally. She could be going backwards or forwards in time, but I doubt she would be looking for specifics attributes of when she is arriving.

The massive clock and stone giant may have been later in the Nowhere worlds chronology, compared to that of the Circus and the Dwellers/Bloats.

We're returning to the doll-puppet and the Seamstress here. Noone speculated (or figured out) that creatures 'adapt' and evolve to the environment of their surroundings. The Sewer Dweller dwells in the sewer, the Teacher has a long neck, the Hunter discovered extremes measures to 'welcome' nosy neighbors. The Seamstress was a doll, and she could have made a doll-puppet for the man in the purple suit. To what purpose? The puppet-doll may not have been for the man in the purple suit, but was meant to run the circus himself. A proprietor for the Seamstresses behalf. Thus, she made the clothing for these little buggers.

Like the one puppet pinned to the table with scissors. There could have been a whole colony of those things. The Seamstress may have been creating the Bullies for the teacher as well (girl power go). It is without doubt that there is no clothing made for children of the Nowhere world, except for that made specifically, or for toys and puppets. Which is an eerie take. The children are only able to acquire new clothing made specifically for toys or strange animated puppet-dolls. And the seamstress may as well get inspiration from children who are wearing such articles of clothing, and imitates them. She might also be snagging the clothing from children and refurbishing them for dolls and toys.

So the yellow coat in the chest may not belong to anyone specific, it likely was not Cece's. It has not found its eventual forever child yet.

[jmechner]

Karateka Climbs Again

When the Digital Eclipse team told me they wanted to give my early game Karateka "the Criterion treatment" and re-release it in a deluxe remastered edition, I couldn't quite picture exactly what they had in mind. Their enthusiasm and evident passion for video game history inspired confidence, so I said yes. I never in my wildest dreams imagined how far they'd take it.

The photo above captures my dad's reaction as (age 92) he watches himself climbing up onto the hood of our family car forty years earlier. He's wearing a karate gi at my request, in a Super 8 film I shot at age 18 to create rotoscoped animation for Karateka. (This was three years before I pressed my 15-year-old brother into service as the model for my next game, Prince of Persia.)

Digital Eclipse has reconstructed my Super 8 rotoscoping process — from film to pencil tracings to pixelated game character — in their interactive, hands-on "Rotoscope Theater." And that's just one element of "The Making of Karateka." It's packed with audio and video interviews with me, my dad, and game-industry luminaries; a podcast about Karateka's music (which my dad composed); rare original design documents; excerpts from my journals; and 14 playable games — including not only the final Apple II, Commodore, and Atari versions of Karateka, but also work-in-progress builds I submitted to Broderbund along the way, tracking its development from prototype to gold master. All the games are playable on a choose-your-own nostalgic menu of period monitors and TVs, with optional audio commentary and a "watch/play" mode that the Dagger of Time would envy.

As a bonus, they've salvaged and resurrected my never-before-published arcade shoot-em-up Deathbounce (the game I made before Karateka, which teenage me hoped would be my ticket to software success in 1982)… and the one I did before that, an unauthorized Apple II clone of the arcade hit Asteroids. Incredibly, they've not only remastered Karateka, but also remade Deathbounce, using today's technology to reimagine my 1982 prototype as a jazzy twin-stick shooter. All these are included and playable in "The Making of Karateka."

If "The Making of Karateka" were an interactive exhibition in the Strong Museum of Play (from whose collection many of the archival materials came), it would require several rooms and a full afternoon to explore. Now, you can download, play and discover it at your leisure, on your favorite platform. Details and links are on the Karateka page on my website.

With this release, Digital Eclipse has set a new bar for game-development history preservation. I'm touched and honored that they chose Karateka as the first title in their planned Gold Master series. I can't wait to see what comes next.

[alexissara]

I'm In Love With The Villainess [Audiobook] Vol 1 Quick Review

Wanting to support Yuri Audio Books and knowing I had a big move on my hands, I preordered Volume 1 of I'm In Love With The Villainess's Light Novel's Audio Book. So with that I've finally got to experience the Light Novel outside of bits people have posted online over the years or translated bits that were online for free I had read before they were officially published.

I'm In Love With The Villainess is a series that I really have been loving and love a lot in concept, finally diving into the Light Novel I'd say there are some small areas that I like better but typically the manga and light novels see a marked improvement with the benefit of being created after the story was completed, understanding the characters on a deeper level and a fuller understanding of the world.

Rae comes off as a bit more pathetic in this version, like I knew she was a little pathetic but being in her perspective in the light novel makes her seem like kinda a worse person and a more lonely person. I think the manga and anime work to make Rae a little less pathetic by solidifying the friendships between Misha and Lene as well as making the princes feel more like friends to Rae. The light novel itself has Rae single minded in her obsession with Clair willing to have no values, no friends, no life, no dreams, everything for Clair because Clair was her comfort character. I think it is fun how much she hates Rod, I do like the few more insights into the politics of the world and the game you get in Rae's perspective in the light novel but the added details are minor, Rae as a narrator is often simply reserving information she knows from the audience even though they inform her actions which feels odd for a first person narrative but I understand the desire to have more freedom when writing and not wanting to lore dump every 10 seconds.

The commoner movement arc is solid in concept but it being bolstered up by a pair of straight incest siblings to kinda hand wave away some of the complaints as well as an enemy nation makes for weak conclusion to the arc that otherwise was bringing solid political points. I am aware later in the narrative we'll get more but since in this narrative Rae is quick to basically just say whatever she thinks will make Clair happy and is devoted to Clair to the point in which she states she would kill people for Clair that were sort of friends to her it really feels like Rae has no moral base line. It undercuts the intention of the politics when it's hard to get a read on what the tory really wants you to think about them.

The incest itself having a discourse around it is wild to me given it's emulating narratives from Visual Novels and put on characters who in the game would have simply been considered villains. It humanizes them and gives them more because that is clearly one of the points of this Light Novel, like it's on the title, She's In Love With The Villainess. So it only makes sense the story itself was to have an empathetic view on the characters who were written to be a particular way. It's fine, it motivates a pair of characters to do some fucked up things but ultimately that serves the plot well and it isn't like a long easy on why sisters and brothers kissing is cool or whatever.

I do love the conversation about queerness and I do think that Rae being pathetic is part of the point like, that conversation has Rae cast herself as the fool on TV playing up her queerness for our entertainment. I think it adds to the plot, it sets the stage for Misha being an ally [and queer herself], it hints at Lene's own non normative taste, and establishes firmly that Clair is homophobic at the start. Rae is the sad Haley Kyoko listening Lesbian who only falls for straight women maybe because she doesn't love herself so she aims her heart falls for exclusively unavailable women as a form of self punishment.

I feel like a lot could have been done better but it is an interesting enough spring board to where I do believe if I had started with this I would be interested in reading Volume 2 but judging volume 2 a bit more harshly to see if Vol 3, 4 and 5 were worth my time or not.

In terms of the audio book performance this was my first audio book ever so it's kinda hard to say what is good or bad. I think Courtney Shaw does a fine job but she really only is fun with her voice performance when she is voicing Clair. Lene and Rae have clear distinct voices but the men do tend to blend in together which works fine for a story being told from Rae's perspective honestly. It did drive me up the wall to call Lene "lean" rather then how it is pronounced in the anime or how I read it. I do wish the voice for Rae was a bit more dynamic, Rae was very dry, like well preformed certainty but I feel like it could have used a touch more flavor. I do wish that the audio book was sorted into more sub chapters, since the light novel is only 3 chapters for the main meat of the story you have very long blocks of time that represent each chapter and it is much harder to simply go back to a part you wanted to listen to again or anything. Still it was an overall good production and I don't regret picking it up.

If you enjoy these reviews you can read more, I write lots of them and if you really enjoy them I can always use support over on Patreon and Ko-fi.