#hobby advent

[mightylancergames]

Welcome December we have not seen you for ages. As we count down to Christmas let’s see what you got behind your Mighty Lancer Games hobby Advent Calendar.

Remember we also do gift vouchers that can be used online or in store so spread the word

https://www.mightylancergames.co.uk/pages/christmas-gift-ideas

#MLGadvent #christmas #flgs #lgs #hobby

[kenro199x]

LEGION

SHONEN-RIC EXCLUSIVE DEFOREAL

[panvani]

But idk ironically the discussion of literature online is often done in the name of "anti-elitism" but basically comes down to people insisting that poor people / disabled people / women are just categorically too stupid to understand words on a page. Literature is not accessible to everyone and there are a myriad reasons why someone would dislike it as a medium (either with which to engage or create), but as a whole literature is one of the least expensive, least physically demanding mediums common to Western culture. Film and TV are basically totally inaccessible to the average person as mediums in which to create, painting (either digitally or physically) is expensive and physically demanding, and video games have a massive skill barrier to creating an even comprehensible product. The sole requirement to creating literature is understanding a (written) language! Anyone can make a book so long as they have access to a word processor or physical writing implement! That's not to say the academic understanding of literature is not MASSIVELY classist/racist/misogynistic, or that there is not cultural investment in creating this elitist mystique around literature, but like... the way that is addressed is not by dismissing literature as a medium or art form, it's by giving marginalized people the chance to engage with literature

[soy-sauce-and-mothra]

Hey! Are there blacksmiths in your story? I'm a hobbyist blacksmith and I'm here to help!

Blacksmithing is one of those things that a lot of people get wrong because they don't realize it stuck around past the advent of the assembly line. Here's a list of some common misconceptions I see and what to do instead!

Not all blacksmiths are gigantic terrifying muscly guys with beards and deep voices. I am 5'8, skinny as a twig, have the muscle mass of wet bread, and exist on Tumblr. Anybody who is strong enough to pick up a hammer and understands fire safety can be a blacksmith.

You can make more than just swords with blacksmithing. Though swords are undeniably practical, they're not the only things that can be made. I've made candle holders, wall hooks, kebab skewers, fire pokers, and more. Look up things other people have made, it's really amazing what can be done.

"Red-hot" is actually not that hot by blacksmith terms. when heated up, the metal goes from black, to red, to orange, to yellow, to white. (for temperature reference, I got a second degree burn from picking up a piece of metal on black heat) The ideal color to work with the metal is yellow. White is not ideal at all, because the metal starts sparking and gets all weird and lumpy when it cools. (At no point in this process does the metal get even close to melting. It gets soft enough to work with, but I have never once seen metal become a liquid.)

Blacksmithing takes fucking forever. Not even taking into account starting the forge, selecting and preparing metal, etc. etc. it takes me around an hour to make one (1) fancy skewer. The metals blacksmiths work with heat up and cool down incredibly fast. When the forge is going good, it only takes like 20 seconds to get your metal hot enough to work with, but it takes about the same time for it to cool down, sometimes even less.

As long as you are careful, it is actually stupidly easy to not get hurt while blacksmithing. When I picked up this hobby I was like "okay, cool! I'm gonna make stuff, and I'm gonna end up in the hospital at some point!" Thus far, the latter has yet to occur. I've been doing this for nearly a year. I have earned myself a new scar from the aforementioned second degree burn, and one singe mark on my jeans. I don't even wear gloves half the time. Literally just eye protection, common sense, and fast reflexes and you'll probably be fine. (Accidents still happen of course, but I have found adequate safety weirdly easy to achieve with this hobby)

A forge is not a fire. The forge is the thing blacksmiths put their metal in to heat it up. It starts as a small fire, usually with newspaper or something else that's relatively small and burns easily, which we then put in the forge itself, which is sort of a fireplace-esque thing (there's a lot of different types of forge, look into it and try to figure out what sort of forge would make the most sense for the context you're writing about) and we cover it with coal, which then catches fire and heats up. The forge gets really hot, and sometimes really bright. Sometimes when I stare at the forge for too long it's like staring into the sun. The forge is also not a waterfall of lava, Steven Universe. It doesn't work like that, Steven Universe.

Welding and blacksmithing are not the same thing. They often go hand-in-hand, but you cannot connected two pieces of metal with traditional blacksmithing alone. There is something called forge welding, where you heat your metal, sprinkle borax (or the in-universe equivalent) on it to prevent the metal from oxidizing/being non-weldable, and hammer the pieces together very quickly. Forge welding also sends sparks flying everywhere, and if you're working in a small space with other blacksmiths, you usually want to announce that you're welding before you do, so that everyone in a five-foot radius can get out of that five-foot radius. You also cannot just stuck some random pebbles into the forge and get a decent piece of metal that you can actually make something with, Steven Universe. It doesn't work like that, Steven Universe.

Anvils are really fucking heavy. Nothing else to add here.

Making jewelry is not a blacksmithing thing unless you want jewelry made of steel. And it will be very ugly if you try. Blacksmithing wasn't invented to make small things.

If there's anything here I didn't mention, just ask and I'll do my best to answer.

[veneataur]

A New Yorker Cover a Day Puzzle, day 24

A New Yorker Cover a Day Puzzle, day 24

This image, as with the last of the Storring puzzles, was the perfect end to the collection. It doesn’t matter that this image is from 1936, it’s still so true. I don’t have kids, but I imagine that I probably did this to my parents when I was younger. That might have been the reason they started letting me and my brother open the gift we got each other on Christmas Eve. It helped to ease some of…

[pressmost]

Ardagger - Frühstücksnews - Montag, 21.11.2022

Ardagger – Frühstücksnews – Montag, 21.11.2022

Sehr geehrte Gemeindebürgerin! Sehr geehrter Gemeindebürger! Das große Ereignis dieses vergangenen Wochenendes – das war der Hobby-, Kunst- und Handwerksmarkt in Ardagger Markt. Enorm gut besucht war der Markt und bestens organisiert. DANKE vor allem an das Organisationsteam vom Aktiv Club Ardagger! DANKE ganz besonders an Brigitte Fröschl und Birgit Morawetz für die gesamte Standorganisation.…

[welcometomyoasis]

Year end traditions with seventeen

Synopsis: what year end traditions the seventeen members would have with you, the reader.  Svt x gn! reader | fluff | 1.9k words | warnings: alcohol A/n: Happy Holidays everyone! Have a good rest!

Seungcheol and you would host a big feast with friends and family. While both of you as hosts would prepare most of the food, everyone was welcome to bring their favourite foods. You would all watch the sunset, maybe play some games, or watch a movie. The most important thing was that you were all together. The end of the year was a time to be nostalgic and reminisce, and that’s what you all intended to do. This time was special to everyone. You all carved out time in your busy schedules to be able to spend the time catching up with each other. Sure, you kept in contact during the year, but being physically together, basking in the warmth, each other’s presence, laughter and love? That was a feeling that no text or video call would be able to compare to. 

Jeonghan and you would visit seasonal farmer’s markets. Regular farmer’s markets were already fun, but seasonal ones? You should see the joy and childlike excitement painted on Jeonghan’s face. Seasonal farmer’s markets don’t happen every often, and some of the booths are different every year so you both make it a point to go. Jeonghan loves collecting adorable objects, especially handmade trinkets. As someone whose hobby is to put together legos or build tiny things, Jeonghan can appreciate that the artists poured their hearts, hard work, and time into each of the objects. Ultimately, you both would pick out a few that you would decorate your home with. Each of these pieces are unique, the only ones of their kind. To you and Jeonghan, these unique pieces made your home feel even more like your home. 

Joshua and you would take a road trip with no real destination. Okay, so you do book lodging for the few days you would be out of town. But, you both don’t have any real plans or a specific route that needs to be taken. You both just set off and see where your hearts want to take you. If there is anything that catches your eyes, you make sure to take a detour. You’ve found nice restaurants, a forest path, and many other hidden gems along the way. By the time you actually make it to where you are staying, you’re both exhausted. Still, the detours are worth it. You know the saying it’s about the journey not the destination? Well, it’s true. With Joshua, these journeys are always unpredictable, but undeniably full of laughs, fun, and new precious memories.

Junhui and you would make DIY advent calendars. You would both spend the whole year collecting little things that you can put inside. It could be a big present like jewelry, or it could be as simple as a napkin from this restaurant you went to for a date. Even joke gifts like a q-tip have been placed inside the calendars before. Watching each other’s face light up in joy, bewilderment, and sometimes feigned annoyance is almost as fun as making the calendars. It’s also a way for you to reminisce about what happened over the past year. You tried buying advent calendars from the store before, but those didn’t have the same kind of sentimental value that your homemade advent calendars do. The homemade ones reflect the love and memories that are special to the two of you. 

Hoshi and you would engage in a mistletoe war. The rules were simple really, you were both supposed to place mistletoe in the most ridiculous, most obscure places around your apartment. Then, you would try to get each other to go stand under the mistletoe. Hoshi won one year by attaching the mistletoe to the top of a thin wire which he attached above his hat. Yes, he looked ridiculous as if he was wearing a banana rack, but he was so smug when he won. Then there was the time you won by taping the mistletoe to a sweater hanging on the laundry rack. It might seem silly, but it was the silly little game you both enjoyed playing. Plus, there weren’t any real losers to the game since you both got kisses out of it. 

Wonwoo and you would go stargazing. You could see some stars from where you were living with Wonwoo, but the stars were so much clearer if you went out of town. You would both plan the trip extremely carefully, specifically choosing a day when there was supposed to be clear skies. The perfect stargazing spot has to be chosen as well. It was a tedious process. But definitely worth all the planning. Whenever you arrive at the spot with Wonwoo and you set up all your stargazing equipment, you both are in awe at how clear the sky is, and how clearly you can see all the constellations. You would lay next to Wonwoo, curled up by his side as you both pointed out all the constellations to each other. Sometimes, you both would even see a really rare constellation or star. That said, as much as you enjoy stargazing with Wonwoo, much to his adoration, you never fail to tell him that he was the biggest star in your life. 

Woozi and you would build pillow or blanket forts. Woozi wouldn’t want to go outdoors. He would prefer to stay indoors with you. So you would grab every single blanket and pillow from your apartment and bring them into the living room. Woozi would take charge to build the fort, using chairs and clothes pegs to hold the blankets in place. The pillows would make everything warm and cozy. He even strings fairy lights around the fort, and brings a battery powered lamp inside. It’s like camping, but without having to leave the comfort of your apartment. You would spend the time inside reading, talking or listening to Woozi produce new music. When the day ends, you both would try to spend the night there in the blanket fort. Sadly, you both usually only spend 1 or 2 hours sleeping there before your backs cry out for you bed. Still, the blanket fort remains up until the new year, a place for you and Woozi to crawl into for cuddles and quality time spent with each other. 

Dokyeom and you would write letters to Santa Claus. Writing letters to Santa Claus is always fun no matter what age you are. Whoever says adults can’t write these letters is a killjoy and would make Dokyeom so sad (we wouldn’t want that would we?). Just the thought about writing the words dear santa makes Dokyeom break out into a fit of giggles. Honestly you both wouldn’t even really write anything important like what gifts you wanted or what you wished the new year would be like. It would be more of a random letter filled with whatever you wanted. You both would feel so dizzy with happiness running to the post office to post the letter to Santa. Sure, you both knew Santa isn’t real but this is such a fun tradition. Something about it makes you feel warm, fuzzy, and content. Maybe, just maybe, it’s Dokyeom’s smile when he looks at you in glee when he finishes writing the letter? 

Minghao and you would go to a distant cabin to relax and get away for a while. Minghao would prefer to wrap up the year and welcome the new year in peace. Even if he couldn’t fly you both to a different country, he makes sure to whisk you away to a distant place for a good year end break. He strongly believes that if you can, you should take the time to rest and relax. The places he chooses are always beautiful, surrounded by the sights and sounds of nature. Morning sunrise walks, sunsets on the porch watching the warm orange light from the sun fade into the surroundings. This time spent with Minghao is so precious and you both are definitely rested before having to go back to real life to face the new year. The little year end getaway is like Minghao carving out a little oasis for the two of you so you can bask in each other’s presence. 

Minggyu and you would make mulled wine and spiked eggnog. Mingyu loves alcohol, that’s no secret. The year ending means that it’s time to make these special seasonal alcoholic drinks. Mingyu is also such a gentle soul and he would be the kind of person who would want to share all the good things he cooks with others. You both would brew a huge batch together every single year so you could give some to your friends and family. It’s always fun to stand around the kitchen preparing the ingredients with Mingyu. You do snitch some fruit much to Mingyu’s amusement and annoyance. He whines but never kicks you out. He loves your company and your help in the kitchen. Being with him in the kitchen is such an intimate, domestic moment that you hold dear to your heart. At the same time, you can see the passion he has for cooking and that fire that is ignited in him makes you swoon and fall in love with him all over again. 

Seungkwan and you would just sit together on the couch and recount all your favourite memories from the past year. Seungkwan doesn’t seem like the type who would like really extravagant year end traditions. He prefers to spend it simply with you in your shared apartment. You both would usually make a hot beverage (hot tea or hot chocolate with tiny marshmallows were your go to choices), and sit on the couch just chatting about everything and anything. Sure, you both do this pretty regularly, but something about the end of the year puts you both in a sentimental mood to recount all the little moments spent together. Time flies when this happens, and before you know it, the new year comes around. It doesn’t matter how seemingly simple or mundane talking on the couch may seem, you both immensely treasure each and every moment spent with each other. 

Vernon and you would make personalised ugly sweaters for each other. But it wasn’t as simple as you going to a shop that customised clothes. You both would venture out into the craft store every year to find the perfect materials to decorate the sweaters with. You both would buy glue, stickers, yarn, gemstones, a CD (?) and anything else that your hearts desired. Making these sweaters together was always a fun activity. By the end of it, you both would be covered in glitter and glue, but it was worth it. The sweaters got more and more ridiculous looking every year as both of you wanted to outdo each other. Still, you both really enjoyed the process. You might look stupid covered in glitter and glue while wearing the weirdest sweaters ever, but at least you both would look ridiculously cute stupid together. 

Dino and you would watch holiday movies. Okay, it wasn’t really holiday movies in the traditional sense. No Christmas movies, no road trip movies. Rather, both of you would watch the movies that you watched together during your first year end break as a couple. It was a funny story really. On the first day of your vacation that year, you both settled on the couch and were just flipping channels on the television. You happened to stumble upon this obscure movie channel with a mix of all sorts of weird, but enjoyable movies. Somehow, watching these movies felt right with Dino. And you both vowed to do it every year before new years, just as you both vowed to spend every year end together as much as possible in the future.

taglist: @weird-bookworm @wonijinjin @babyleostuff @wishing-fieshes @kwanienies @mayashu @megseungmin @porridgesblog @haecien @mirxzii @scoupsofcherries @eightlightstar

[prokopetz]

Random indie RPG design observation:

For the bulk of the hobby’s history – i.e., before the advent of open source publishing software and cheap digital distribution – fancy page layout on your character sheets was for the big publishers.

Everybody else just laid their character sheets out in a fixed-width typeface and hoped for the best, and one of the tricks that indie games would do to help that work was to adopt sets of attributes where all the attribute names have the same number of letters; that way the columns would naturally line up without having to do any stupid tricks with spacing.

You’ll see this in action in a lot of the “standard” attribute sets that keep popping up in various indie games.

Body, Mind, Soul? All four letters.

Prowess, Insight, Resolve? All seven letters.

Heck, my own Costume Fairy Adventures gets in on the act – Moxie, Focus, Craft, Grace, Shine, all five letters. (Not gonna lie, I was actually pretty proud of making it work with five attributes rather than the usual three!)

Though it’s no longer necessary, a lot of games continue to do it out of tradition; even if you have no plans of publishing yourself, it can be a fun exercise to see if you can figure out all-the-same-number-of-letters attribute sets for hypothetical games of unusual genres – e.g., what would an attribute set for, say, a competitive cooking game that adheres to this constraint look like?

Give it a shot!

[gatheredfates]

ALAICE DEVERAUX

Nicknames: Not applicable. Age: Twenty-one. Nameday: Twenty-Seventh Sun of the First Astral Moon (apparently I gave her my birthday, so that might change!) Race: Duskwight Elezen. Gender: Cis female. Orientation: Straight? Profession: Lady of the House of Deveraux and Dubois, last remaining survivor after the Dragonsong War; apprentice baker and occasional confidant to Firelight Trading Company.

PHYSICAL ASPECTS

Hair: A light blue, leaning more into teal. She tends to style it in loose curls around her shoulders. Eyes: She is heterochromatic! One eye is teal, the other is a steel grey. Skin: Pale with a silvery undertone; it tends to reflect whatever light hits it, rather than possessing it's own distinct colour. Tattoos/Scars: None of any note.

FAMILY

Parents: Lord and Lady Deveraux, dead by Alaice's sixteenth year. It is said that Lord Deveraux attempted to defend his wife from the dragons before he was engulfed in flames. No remains of her mother have been found. Siblings: Not applicable. Grandparents: Not applicable, more unfortunate souls lost to the war. In-Laws and Others: Alaice has a child from her first marriage, a daughter called Alyna. Her husband, Draeir Dubois, died under mysterious circumstances in the months preceding the Ishgardian/Dragon peace treaty, bringing no end of speculation from gentry and smallfolk alike. Some suspect his desire to expand his house beyond Foundation's spires drew ire from the High Houses and he was made an example of. Others suspect a more... intimate cause. Without a murder weapon or obvious intent, none can deduce a proper suspect.

She is particularly close to @riftdancing's Siyoh Mari who, whilst not understanding a lick of Ishgardian gossip, will happily entertain the confusion over a cup of tea as Alaice dramatizes. This leagues better than Elandervier who told her she'd 'rather chew on a voidsent's ass' and leaves at the very mention of anything to do with the city. She has an extremely complicated relationship with the other Elezen due to their mutual upbringings, trauma and reconciliation.

When Firelight is conducting business in Ishgard, she can be seen at its patriarch's side helping him navigate the intricacies of the city. Pets: Unless you count the many birds that have taken residence in her gardens, not applicable.

SKILLS

Abilities: Alaice is ice-aspected to a dangerous degree, and it's an element she has always tried to keep under wraps for fear of heresy and expulsion from the Holy See. As a result, the magic is unpredictable and emerges as a by-product of extreme situations/emotions. Only a select few people know she possesses such an ability. Hobbies: Like all ladies of her standing, Alaice was given a proper education including tutelage in deportment; music, song and dance; needlework and painting — among other gentle pursuits. She has a particular affinity for bird watching and, in the advent of her husband's death, has sunk herself readily into her little business as a baker.

TRAITS

Most positive trait: Alaice possesses a remarkable capacity for trust despite her confinement and husband's abuse. Worst negative trait: Her naïvety. As a woman constricted by the societal expectations of Ishgardian women, Alaice knows scarce little about the world around her — or even Ishgard proper. It is something she is working constantly to undo.

LIKES

Colours: Blue, white, silver, gold and shades of brown. However, given Ishgard's proclivity to the cold, any colour that can break through the sheen of snow is a welcomed addition in her eyes. Smells: Anything floral and/or citrus. These are not necessarily smells she will wear, but remind her of a time before the Calamity when the climate of Ishgard was better suited. She's also partial to vanilla, almond and loves the smell of rain. Textures: Knitted wool and smooth glass (or ice, though she tries not to think too much about it), the gentle prick of pine and the grooves in wood and stone. Drinks: Champagne, white wine and mead. She's also discovering some enjoyment of red wine, stay tuned if she gets more extreme!

OTHER DETAILS

Smokes: Rarely. She smoked recreationally after her parents died, a sort of 'dare' from the other ladies in her company, and took it up in secret as a way to release anxiety in the early days of her marriage — away from the prying eyes of her husband. Alaice quit after becoming pregnant with Alyna and hasn't taken it back up due to associating it with those negative experiences. Drinks: Semi-regularly. Much like smoking, she quit entirely when she got pregnant and tends to only partake as a social nicety. She can acknowledge where she was falling into unhealthy patterns when she was married and tries not to go back to those places. Drugs: Not applicable. Mount Issuance: Not applicable. Alaice was fed on the indoctrination by her husband that is not a lady's place to traverse, but that men should come to her. If she is needed for Firelight Business she will be escorted by their couriers, but she has no vehicle of her own. Been Arrested: No. Being a suspect was traumatic enough. Why would she kill her lord husband?

Tagged by: @eriyu — at least for this one! I'm going to try and do one character per tag. Tagging: @thefreelanceangel, @hythlodaes, @piyopikamika, @sealrock, @thevikingwoman & @yloiseconeillants! If you'd like a chance of being tagged, you can like my permanent interaction call here!

[crevicedwelling]

So who's in charge of naming the bugs? Why don't all bugs get non scientific names?

whoever formally describes a species gets to name it. this usually means listing taxonomically relevant information about how it differs from its relatives, like the number of spines on its legs or bill length or how the scales on its head are arranged. if you’ve got something new, then you can give it whatever name you want. binomial names are essentially permanent and extremely hard to change. however, if someone already described that species without you knowing it (maybe 200 years ago, even) or it turns out that it wasn’t unique enough to merit species status, then the older name almost always takes priority. new species, and these sorts of changes, are managed by the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (there’s different one for plants).

as for common names… nobody is in charge of those! …except for the English common names of birds, determined by the International Ornithological Committee. organizations might try to standardize common names for fish or mammals on a smaller scale, such as per country, but birds are the only group with an internationally standardized system.

common names generally only apply to species that are well-known or otherwise noticeable by people, like butterflies, beetles, flies, and wasps. flashy things or economically important pests or invertebrates named to raise awareness about them get common names, because those are things people care about. common names start getting weird and inefficient when you’re dealing with hundreds of species that are visually pretty much identical and will never be noticed or seen by anyone except biologists who won’t use the common names anyway. in general, scientific names are better to use since they are better organized and (typically) universally recognized by biologists.

there are official common names for all 11,000 birds because from a human standpoint, many look or act or are distributed differently, and they’re things non-scientists will go out to look for. however, you’d need orders of magnitude more names for all the beetles, there’s 400,000 of them! I can’t imagine how convoluted a naming system they would need, plus, most people aren’t ever going to use those names.

however, with the advent of citizen science projects like iNaturalist, and unusual interest in certain taxa such as the pet isopod hobby, many species that otherwise wouldn’t have common names are getting them! technically you can make up a common name for any critter (other than birds, because Bird Common Names Are Official)—which speaks to the unreliability of common names. still, they’re sort of nice to have when speaking about them in a more general context, and maybe help people get more interested in creatures when they don’t have to struggle with a binomen (although quite frankly I think Latin/Greek is not half as scary as it looks to some).

[charlotte-of-wales]

Reading is one of HRH Princess Stéphanie’s great passions. A hobby that she now shares regularly with her two sons. In support of this activity, the Princess participated this year in the Advent calendar of the non-profit organization “Freed um Liesen”.

[shinysamurott9]

Since I've been thinking about the series again after replaying some of the games, I wanna share some Megaman Headcanons I have bouncing around. In no particular order:

-X isn't very fond of his armors due to how they serve to upgrade him into a more effective weapon of war, but one of the only ones he actually has a fondness for is the Falcon Armor because he enjoys simply flying with it.

-Zero has the idea to have himself sealed away after the events of X6 but doesn't actually act on it specifically because initially there's reconstructing the world to take care of, but after that he wants to make sure he leaves the world in good hands, or more specifically he wants to make sure X and later Axl will be able to handle things on their own.

-All of Prairie's plushes in her room are custom made by her, including the boss plushes you get for Lvl 4 Victories. This is a hobby she picked up after Zero 4 because she wanted something to give to Ciel whenever she was feeling down. And she later improved her craft and just kept doing it fir herself.

-Ashe regularly holds onto treasures she finds on her adventures if they can't fetch a high price or they come to have some kind of sentimental value. Sone of her notable treasures include: A double gear refresher pickup, a weapon container from X8, a Magnet Beam projector, Magma Dragoon's beads and a Rare Metal from X8. Most of these she doesn't really know what they are so she just calls them whatever she comes up with.

-Ciel is still alive by ZX Advent as she has the same mechanicsl upgrades as the Sage Trinity, she's just still in hiding. Specifically she's hiding in Cyberspace with the help of the Mother Elf, hence why no one has been able to find her.

-Part of Prometheus and Pandora's early life was being used as test subjects for early Model Ws as Albert knew it would be mentally taxing for them and if they died in the process it would still be early enough in their lives that he could just make new ones.

-Prometheus and Pandora, if given the opportunity, would have the ability to use Model A. In canon, only a descendent of Albert can have enough of his DNA to actually use it, Grey being an exception as he was created with the DNA requirement already met to properly fulfill his purpose. However because they were direct creations of Albert, created so early in his plan, he made them as if they were actually his children. So they actually have the DNA prerequisite. It would be cool and I feel like there's enough wiggle room and ambiguity to justify that working.

-Like the Archie continuity, Axl survived until the Elf Wars but died either during or shortly before the final battle with Omega.

[jessicanjpa]

Here is your Twilight Advent Calendar for 2023!

🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲

Instead of candy, here are some bite-sized headcanon prompts for each day throughout December 1–25. Each one is simple enough to answer with a quick headcanon post, but your ficlets, fan art, and moodboards will add some extra sparkle!

You can answer each prompt on its day or schedule your posts ahead of time. The tag is #twilightadvent23.

🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲

Dec. 1 - Who is Rosalie's favorite vampire friend outside of the Cullens? What does she like to do with them?

Dec. 2 - What is Emmett's favorite board game or card game? How has he modified it to be more challenging?

Dec. 3 - Pick one deceased Twilight character to draw or tell us more about. How would the Twilight universe be different if they were still alive?

Dec. 4 - What does Sam like about being the alpha? What's difficult about it? And how does he feel post-BD1 about Jacob's new role?

Dec. 5 - What is each Cullen's favorite college major so far? What new major should they try someday?

Dec. 6 - What was it like for Eleazar to see the Volturi/his fellow guards again in Breaking Dawn?

Dec. 7 - Choose one Twilight couple (or an AU ship) and tell us about an argument they've had. How did they resolve it in the end?

Dec. 8 - What was it like for Jasper to train and fight in the Eclipse battle after so many years of peace?

Dec. 9 - What is it like for Carlisle to work as a doctor now versus back when he was alone?

Dec. 10 - Pick one of the witnesses in Breaking Dawn. What was it like for them to stay at the Cullens' home for those two weeks? Who did they spend time with?

Dec. 11 - Besides painting, what art forms does Esme enjoy? How do you imagine her art room/setup looks? (Fan artists, want to show us?)

Dec. 12 - What changes did the rest of the family see in Edward as he began to fall in love with Bella?

Dec 13 - What were Maria's thoughts when she heard about the gathering in Breaking Dawn?

Dec 14 - Tell us about an OC you like, either your own or someone else's. Include a drawing, moodboard, or playlist if you'd like to!

Dec 15 - Tell us about a point in the canon timeline where things could have easily gone in a different direction. How differently would things turn out in this AU?

Dec. 16 - How close do you think Charlie and Renée will come to knowing the whole story eventually?

Dec. 17 - What do your favorite Volturi guards do for fun/hobbies?

Dec. 18 - What are some things the Cullens do every time they move? Does anyone have any rituals re: leaving a location or starting at a new one?

Dec. 19 - Tell us some headcanons about a Twilight character you don't usually post about. Write a ficlet or include a sketch, moodboard, etc. if you like!

Dec. 20 - Headcanons for the summer between Twilight and New Moon (Bella/Edward or other characters)?

Dec. 21 - Pick any five characters. What's something they always carry with them?

Dec. 22 - What did Alice do to pass the time pre-1948?

Dec. 23 - What's one of your favorite scenes in Twilight (books or films) and why?

Dec. 24 - What Christmas/holiday gifts are your favorite characters exchanging this year?

Dec. 25 - For one of the Twilight vampires, tell us about a Christmas or winter memory from their human days.

🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲

Bonus for new year's eve - What resolutions are your favorite Twilight characters making for the new year?

🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲

[thecrazygamingzombie]

How Viviziepop kickstarted the third wave of indie animation.

Okay, I've been seeing a lot of people talk about the tweet below and how Viv doesn't deserve to take credit for the success of other indie animation projects online but the fact of the matter is...she does, in an indirect way at least.

First, let's start off with a brief history of indie animation:

everything started out on a site called newgrounds, I'm sure you've all heard of it. Created by Tom Fulp in the 90s to show case some of his half baked game ideas. Which eventually evolved into a place where indie creators could post anything they wanted without fear of censorship; the rating system that automatically removed any posts that dropped too low being the only source of quality control.

This gave indie animation it's initial foothold online but without any way of obtaining a revenue stream it never really moved beyond a fun hobby done to practice one's art/coding skills or just screw around with friends online.

This problem got more significant as time went on and many of the teenage artists that gave newgrounds it's inital success, such as RicePirate and Tom Fulp, grew into young adults who needed a revenue stream. Luckily they found one in the form of youtube.

With these monetization policies, many indie animators were actually able to go into animation practically full time. Their pre-existing income bolstered by that of youtube and what followed was a golden era of animation, just an explosion of content across the board. You had stuff like Eddsworld, Salad Fingers, ASDF movie, and tons of other creators bursting onto the scene.

all putting their content out there on Youtube for the world to see. All bolstered by revenue coming in from Youtube...but the good times never last

See, back then youtube's monetization policies were pretty simple: the more views your channel got, the more money you'd make. Great for short form animators and also great for clickbait youtubers who abused the system with deceiving thumbnails and titles!

To combat this, Youtube changed it's monetization policies in March of 2012: instead of being rewarded on view count, monetization would instead reward the time watched during a video. Which created a system where longer videos with frequent uploads were rewarded

In theory this was supposed to stop clickbait videos as people would just watch for a few seconds and leave. But in practice? It meant that animators were put at a heavy disadvantage as now they'd have to put in significantly more work for the same result.

This caused a complete and total crash of indie animation online. Between an unfair algorithm and the rise of gaming channels, most indie animators couldn't gather the same level of funding they could before and had to either quit or scale back.

Only the big name animators who could coast by on brand recognition such as Harry Partridge and TomSka among several others, or larger channels with dedicated teams similar to tv studios such as Mondo Media and Rooster Teeth. Were able to keep going.

This started a brief dark age for online animation until the advent of story time animators. People like Jaiden Animations, Swoozie, and TheOdd1sOut who relied on simplistic art styles with minimalist animation that focused on content reminiscent of old vlogs where the animators simply share stories from their everyday lives that allowed them to put out longer videos faster; thus working around the monetization system that had put so many animators out in the cold.

While they didn't solve the problem, in some ways they made it worse by starting a trend that attracted countless copycats, they did help sustain an interest in indie animation online and ensure there was a consistent audience for such a medium.

Now it wasn't a total wasteland mind you, as I said there were still plenty of animators who survived the purge. There were even a few channels such as Shut Up Cartoons and Mondo Media, again, that helped produce dozens of animated series from indie creators.

But even at it's best, these series were still very amateurish. The passion was obviously there but these were still very simplistic flash or stop motion animations with low budgets and small teams, focusing more on episodic skits than any sort of overarching plot

This environment of amateur passion projects, where animated series were usually very small scale and never really escaped from the limited sphere of youtube, went on for several years and kept the animation community alive. Until Viv posted Hazbin Hotel and brought about the third wave of indie animation.

Unlike the previous examples, Hazbin Hotel was a VERY different beast from most indie animation. Not only did it have an extremely distinct visual style but the animation was so fluid, so professionally made, it felt like something you'd see out of a mainstream studio. It felt leagues above the average indie project in terms of quality.

Now Viv had already a decent audience from her Zoophobia webcomic, her speed draws, and the die young video. So it wasn't like she was starting from nothing. But there was no denying that this new form of animation caught people's attention and caught it FAST.

You all can probably recall the explosion of discussion that surrounded the original pilot and how it was all the internet was talking about for awhile. Viv road that wave and used the momentum to launch 'Helluva Boss' another indie production with a similar style.

This made her even more popular, especially when she started cranking out new episodes of the latter series with the same high quality as before, and soon her fanbase swelled to millions. A fanbase that was more than happy to crowdfund Viv's work through patreon and merch sales. Then other animators saw this and realized that there was a sizable audience for animated content; one that could not only sustain professional level animation, but was desperate for more content of this scale. Soon several other series started cropping up like MurderDrones, Lackadaisy, Monkey Wrench, and the Amazing Digital Circus. All of which followed Viv's lead of producing high quality, fluid animation with overarching plots that drew funding entirely from legions of online fans.

For the first time in a long time, indie animation was breaking out of it's original platform and reaching far more mainstream audiences than it ever has in the past on a scale never before seen and it's all because Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss kicked off this new animation renaissance!

Now I'm not gonna say Viv was solely responsible, the series we enjoy now have thrived primarily on their own merits and the creative minds behind them.

But as it stands, her work played a big role in setting the stage for other indie animation projects and creating the perfect conditions for them to thrive amidst the current digital landscape. Like it or not, Viv is the catalyst for modern indie animation. To deny Viv her rightful place in history out of spite is nothing short of historical revisionism.

Give the gal her due, she's done some amazing things for this crazy world we live in.

Here's the videos I got most of my info from, it's important to cite one's sources after all!

[veneataur]

Michael Storring’s 12 Days of Christmas, day 7

Michael Storring’s 12 Days of Christmas, day 7

This is another one set somewhere in Germany. I know that there’s the scene down in the front, but it’s one that we’ve seen before, so I’m more drawn to the castle in the mountains. Is that our class puzzle castle? Is that Neunschwanstein? While I don’t want another puzzle featuring Neunschwantein (unless it does something totally new with the image), I would like to see just these building with…

[mariloveesblog]

Hi everyone👋, my name is Mari and I am a crossdresser. I have always had an interest in women's clothing👗👙👠, but with the advent of social networks, it has gained a new meaning for me, because there is an opportunity to show myself to people. In fact, I am very glad that I have such a hobby, it helps me not to eat everything, follow a diet, take care of myself and strive to be in good physical shape💪 I focus mainly on athletic girls, they inspire me a lot. I wanted to say a huge thank you to everyone who likes my photos💋💋💋