#hyla's blog of rambles

[hylasregillasisopods]

Pinned post/introduction

I'm Hylas, based in the northwest USA. I've been in the hobby since 2020. This is a blog to record and share my discoveries in isopod breeding.

Fair warning, posts here may be poorly written and rambly. Things like line tracking and preservation of hobby history are very important to me and the goal here is to make as much of my information available as possible. I'd rather write something down poorly than not write it down at all.

Any images I upload here can be reposted freely for educational or archival purposes. As long as you're acting in reasonable good faith, I'm cool with it.

I occasionally post about my adventures with other crustaceans (namely amphipods). Those posts will be tagged accordingly as "#other bugs"

Sad/bad news posts will be tagged as "#isopod sadness"

Seeing as this is a bug-focused blog. I currently only cw tag (#crowded bugs and #bug closeups) on original posts, not reblogs.

I'm happy to add more organizational or content warning tags on request.

[hyperfresh]

Today on Tumblr, I learn that Instagram image embedding is weird.

I'm writing yet another blog post about heptopods and I tried to embed a few posts from a few friends of mine who I absolutely had no involvement in their conversion.

See, DCync's post works here.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by DCync (@dcynced43)

My own posts, are of course, able to be viewed.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Hy & Lyla (@hyperfresh8080)

Zepht's posts? Yep, they work.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Zepht Hepto (@zepht.art)

Arty's? Uh... nope. It doesn't embed properly. At all. I can't quite understand as to why that is.

Usually, I'm able to just paste the post link here and it'll embed, like all the posts above.

It might be because this post in particular isn't able to generate an embed to use, unlike the other posts which can.

Instagram is a functional website.

[hyperfresh]

What could Hy look like next?

SPOILERS: Something like this. 👀 (And don't worry, my current Octoling's going nowhere!)

As you're aware, I make things on the internet! But the internet is also full of intellectual property, so... as much as I love my Octoling Hy (Octohy), I can't necessarily have that as the face of my online business - especially if I plan to register for an ABN at some point, which makes me accountable for business stuff, and especially when as much as I love my Octoling, the Octoling characters are not my property. They're Nintendo's. Have you seen what their lawyers are capable of?

So, the task is clear - to create a character that still pays homage to my love for Splatoon (Octolings in particular) but not a Splatoon character. Thanks to Zepht, an online friend of mine, we've been bouncing ideas between each other to create just that! The image above is a little sneak peak of Hyptoling taking a selfie, an expressive heptopod who shares quite a lot of personality between them and Octohy!

DON'T PANIC! - Octohy is going nowhere! Hyptoling will just be the character that will reflect some of my online businesses where absolute necessary - for example, my portfolio website and maybe my links page. YouTubers have gotten away with using IP from other games as their main identity (let alone IP from Nintendo: think Vicvillon, Mayo, LilKirbs and my friend liligravybread), so nothing will change there. Although, I would be interested in seeing if you'd like to see my YouTube channel slowly rebrand to Hyptoling, kinda similar to what hackerling did with her channel?

And of course, the Hyla identity is going nowhere. It's very much ingrained to my online presence. Old efforts such as Hyperfresh Media or SquidKid Network (remember those?) have been superseded by Hyla + Friends - a project I'm still working on, but can't share details about just yet!

I hope you like the new design, I think it's awesome (although I'm showing you very little of what it looks like, Zepht and I are still working on it!) and I hope you look forward to the full reveal once it's ready. Stay tuned! :D

[hyperfresh]

So, that happened. Here are my thoughts on the latest Splatoon 3 trailer.

Of course, spoilers ahead if you haven't watched the trailer. Go watch it first* before you hit "read more"!

*if you care about it: this is the Nintendo of America video

I'll be honest, my impressions on the trailer are mixed. The gameplay looks nice and I'm super hype for it! The story mode of course has me intrigued (just like how the previous story modes have). The new mechanics and weapons look cool as well! Everything revealed before this trailer was awesome.

This trailer however... worries me, and to explain why we have to look at the UI for Splatoon 1, 2 and the upcoming 3.

Etce - Splatoon 1 Meme Omnibus : Vol. I

Here's the UI for Splatoon 1 (nostalgia vibes anyone?) - notice the squid icons at the top don't have the weapons (just displays who's dead) and the timer is at the left instead of the centre. In terms of font, the timer and p counter is in bold Splatoon font while the "splatted" text is regular non-themed font.

Vicvillon - Splatoon 2 but I Start Over in 2022

Now, the UI for Splatoon 2. Notice how different it looks compared to Splatoon 1: the timer was moved to the centre and the icons on top now show weapons. On the right is a refreshed special meter and p counter, while the "cheers" on the bottom left got a refresh. This is the Splatoon UI that most people are familiar with - at the time of release, it felt fresh and new - and well-distanced from the previous release.

Nintendo: Splatoon 3 - Release Date Revealed - Nintendo Switch

And this is what worries me. Look at the UI for Splatoon 3. Apart from minor shape changes and tweaks, the UI is practically the same. There's almost nothing UI-wise that makes this different from Splatoon 2 (definitely different from Splatoon 1, but not the previous release!) Look at Pufuu's concept for example: I'd call this enough to distance Splatoon 3 from Splatoon 2.

Pufuu - The HORRIBLE addition to Splatoon 3

(Actually, why hasn't Pufuu been hired by Nintendo yet? This is SO much better, given with a bit more tweaking for it to be unique but still not be a pain in the eyes. This comparison probably between what was revealed and Pufuu's concepts is quite telling though...)

My worries could be completely unjustified - and you know what, that's fine. It could just be me being picky, but it is at least food for thought.

And for those who agree with me, it does make me worried that Nintendo got too comfy. They're not willing to refresh the game's looks if it still works out. It makes me worried that there might be recycled Splatoon 2 UI (and/or content), which makes Splatoon 3 less able to stand on its own two feet.

Especially when both Splatoon 2 and Splatoon 3 are on the same console, I do think that there needs to be more done to separate the two in terms of UI and make it look like the newer, fresher game instead of what just looks like Splatoon 2 on steroids.

I do at least respect the idea that it is April and things shown in this trailer are due to change, but September is only five months away... and this has me really worried that Splatoon 3 won't feel fresh enough for returning players, especially those returning from Splatoon 2.

This was written at midnight my time. If you read through all of this, I love you. /p

[hyperfresh]

oops, i need to remember i have a tumblr. i should really post more heh

by the way, if you haven't seen my twitter (where I'm somewhat more active), i now have a DNI (do not interact) page. you may want to check it.

talk soon-ish! maybe. -hyla

[hyperfresh]

It's amazing to see how my Source Filmmaker render work has evolved since I first touched the software in 2016 (yes, that Inkling is from 2016!)

Here were the faces of Hy's online appearance from 2016 onwards: top being the latest render! Seems the SFM output wasn't the only thing that evolved after all...

[hyperfresh]

A bit of spring cleaning on the Inkstagram

Hey there! I've been doing a bit of spring cleaning on the Hy & Lyla Inkstagram. You might've noticed a few IRL posts have disappeared from the page (so no more dog photos unfortunately) and some of the posts have been edited, but that's all for consistency's sake!

From now on, the Hy & Lyla Inksta will only feature Splatoon content - nothing else. I want to keep the page completely detached from what happens in the real world, and so I'll only be making IRL announcements through the Instagram Stories feature (where it'll probably link out to a blog post such as this). ^u^

My IRL stuff can still be found on Twitter, my website & Tumblr blog (what you're looking at right now). I hope you understand, and hopefully you enjoy the more consistent look of the Inkstagram page! :D

[hyperfresh]

A quick update here because I keep forgetting I have a blog: I've got a few plans but with university stuff kinda making things a little wavey, I'm not 100% sure when things would happen.

All I'll tell you is the plans I have at the moment. Can't tell you when they'll happen, but they WILL happen - I promise!

- I'm planning to livestream on Twitch when Splatoon 3 comes out, and hopefully play with a friend as we race to Rank X!

- Two apps that I've been using for the past year or two that've helped me feel more in control (a web browser and a banking app... won't tell you which ones!)

- The Daily Driver (I carry a Mac as an everyday laptop, it's pretty much for uni). How's it been? What other tech powers my daily life? What am I looking to next?

- And finally... shall I take you to a place where the world has ended and the earth turned to snow? I'm hoping to review a particular anime series that someone got me into... I won't spoil it here!

That's where my thoughts are and I really hope I get all of these thoughts turned into reality at some point. I'm not sure when, but it'll happen!

Take care out there. ^u^

[hyperfresh]

[ Reblogging is better than reposting! ]

Aaaand that's a dump! Here's all the renders I made for the latest thread of Insta posts.

The one I particularly like? Gravy. Look at her innocent tongue poke. Lyla's just being too diplomatic with her, they need to chill out ^u^;

[hyperfresh]

After a few hours talking with DC, I found Gravy hiding behind Sean's truck. She's got that very mysterious personality to her! It'll take a while, but I think we can get along. Lyla's just being too diplomatic with her. ^^; Uh... actually, does Lyla know where she went? - 💚 Hy

[hyperfresh]

Who *is* this Octoling? An annoying prick, that's as much as I could tell you. - 💜 Lyla

[hyperfresh]

Ugh! @lilijana_maticevska's relative(? I still don't know) is a pain in the bum when it comes to Turf War. I consider myself quite competent, but I might have to rethink that statement! Whatever Hy's doing is much better than what I am at the moment. Wasn't it hanging around in the city to meet the @dcynced43 guy? I should've done that instead, in pure hindsight. - 💜 Lyla

[hyperfresh]

While waiting for Lyla to finish a Turf match, I managed to find time to meet DC at the Square! The Crust Bucket seems to be one of his favourite places from what I can tell. I wonder how Lyla's doing, actually? I mean - they're pretty flexible, so I'm sure they're not even sweating. ^u^ - 💚 Hy

[hyperfresh]

Lili brought over her... relative(?) Gravy today. Trouble ensued, and Hy somehow slept through the whole ordeal. - 💜 Lyla

[hyperfresh]

Different angle of the photo Lili and Hy took yesterday! They both look so cute smiling at the camera ^u^ - 💜 Lyla

[hyperfresh]

We're back on Insta! ^u^ I went on a city stroll with Lili a few days ago! It was fun to hang around and talk to each other. We should really pop into the city more often - and with others, too ^^; - 💚 Hy