#i have not seen one bad design

[zecoritheweirdone]

wanna preface this by saying that i am. So normal. anyway i just spent the last week redrawing scenes from mystery skulls animated but as that hermitcraft au i posted about a couple times. you guys should watch msa it is. so so good.

[blueskittlesart]

*sigh* thoughts on Nintendo's botw/totk timeline shenanigans and tomfoolery?

tbh. my maybe-unpopular opinion is that the timeline is only important when a game's place on the timeline seriously informs the way their narrative progresses. the problem is that before botw we almost NEVER got games where it didn't matter. it matters for skyward sword because it's the beginning, and it matters for tp/ww/alttp (and their respective sequels) because the choices the hero of time makes explicitly inform the narrative of those games in one way or another. it matters which timeline we're in for those games because these cycles we're seeing are close enough to oot's cycle that they're still feeling the effects of his choices. botw, however, takes place at minimum 10 thousand years after oot, so its place on the timeline actually functionally means nothing. botw is completely divorced from the hero of time & his story, so what he does is a nonissue in the context of botw link and zelda's story. thus, which timeline botw happens in is a nonissue. honestly I kind of liked the idea that it happened in all of them. i think there's a cool idea of inevitability that can be played with there. but the point is that the timeline exists to enhance and fill in the lore of games that need it, and botw/totk don't really need it because the devs finally realized they could make a game without the hero of time in it.

[psychomusic]

oc time again! + her town & culture (heavily inspired by pre-roman italic populations)

she is suri sauthon (later suri laran, after her marriage). her story is linked to my swtor imperial agent, but most of her life for like. the one year away where she meets him, is spent in a town in the mountains of mirial.

despite mirial being cold and desert, and many cities developing underground, her town flourishes thanks to a force nexus, venerated in the form of an ancient, sacred, alive crystal. the ecosystem of that mountain depended on what "the horned crystal" was capable of giving them, but mirialans couldn't live off of that alone, so they developed trade and some rudimental technology, even if oftentimes it was bought thanks to the highly profitable trade of a plant used to make medicines that slowed down aging and had overall healing properties.

note: everything that's generated by this nexus has these healing properties BUT they have to be processed, except for those who bathed in the waters of the cavity under the crystal - the "real" nexus, but not the worshipped one. the waters were sacred but they were not thought to be miraculous, unlike the crystal, who instead was thought of as the keystone of the ecosystem: without it, everything would fall apart (and that is partially true: the cavity was the "real" nexus but thanks to the crystal, also strong in the force, the properties were spread all over the mountains). those who bathed in the cavity's waters - so, all of the town, who had a sort of baptism there - could eat the plant, make whatever food with it, and not only that plant, but everything generated by the nexus, that, again, had similar properties. this allowed people to live up to normal life-spans without advanced medicines or, much, really. to those who didn't live there, though, after the processing, had incredible effects, slowing down aging - for those who took it regularly - and making people able to live up to half a century more than the average]

originally, there were four tribes of nomads that lived thanks to horned farm animals that decided to settle down into one bigger town and other smaller settlements, to live off of transhumance. this division of the tribes stayed into the political and social organization: every person belonged to one tribe specifically, and had slightly different rituals and culture. for examples, each tribe had their own priests and healers, with different techniques and traditions. the town, tho, was guided by a group of people in the high priesthood, a position you could reach only by having earned the trust of all tribes. those high priests had many roles: they guided the people into sacred processions common to all the tribes, they managed the trading with outsiders, they did the maintenance of the temple of the summit (the one that functioned as casket to the crystal) and created a special liquid to offer the crystal that helps it grow.

this particular temple was important because 1. it was very visible, from every angle of the town, and it became an important identity symbol; 2. it stored the venerated horned crystal; 3. it had the altar where sacrifices were made for the crystals. that altar had a hole connected to the cavity, that allowed the liquids to reach the underground; 4. it had various symbols: statues representing each tribe + the high priesthood, and typical mirialan tattoos carved into the wood of the trees that served as columns for the temple, symbolizing 8 values that who dared to enter HAD to have; 5. it was on the way to an important lake (called "mother lake" because the lake the town was built around to depended on the waters of that other lake) where they traveled to in important processions; 6. it was said that a the wizard who unified the tribes made it with its magic, making the plant grow to hold the temple's roof. this wizard was, actually, a force user, obv.

BACK TO HER THOUGH: she's daughter of one of the high priests, who was in charge of managing the trades with outsiders, and lives in a house on the mountains with her mother and him. her parents are from different tribes (that's one of the things that earned him trust from the 4 tribes): when a child is born from two different tribes, they don't pick one to allign to, but they're usually linked automatically to the one with more relatives in it (in her case, the father's tribe: she had many uncles and aunts on his side while her mom only had one sister).

later, though, she got quite tied to her mother's tribe due to a mysterious illness that only her mother's tribe healer was able to cure. she spent 4 years (from 10 to 14 years old) living with the healer and learned her secrets. to better study, she wrote them down. when she returned home, she studied to become a priestess with her father. at 22 (the average age: you can't become priest before your 20s), she was supposed to take a test and become a priestess, but the healer of her mother's tribe died and the tribe asked her to take her place. she couldn't technically do that, but both tribes estimated both her and her parents and she was allowed to become both. she then decided to try to become a high priestess, and became one at 25 (a quite young age). being part of the council, she tried to convince the various tribe healers to unite their knowledges and write them down, and eventually made it. healers still remained tribe based but they now had an "upper, inter-tribe level" similar to high priesthood.

years later, the sacred horned crystal is stolen from the temple by some Hutt mercenaries looking for a profit. given the trust she has earned from all the tribes and the fact that her father is the high priest that deals with outsiders (and she's been hearing stories and advice about it since she was little), she is the one tasked with getting it back. without the growing crystal, the keystone to their ecosystem, the village would have lasted only a few years. in hrr quest, she meets imperial intelligence agent tar'x laran and, as they "solve the mystery" and fight to have it back, they get closer. they'll get married and have a daughter, Vegoia (who's the only one who actually will get to the plot of my story. this was all background)

[jackawful]

Y'all have got to realize there are ways to protect older teens from sexual predators without insisting that teenagers don't think about sex or sexuality until the magical moment exactly 18 years from their birth. Trying to reduce harm to teenagers (especially teenagers online!) is a good and valid goal but pretending none of them have ever viewed porn or fucked isn't it. You've gotta acknowledge that if they don't have safe ways to explore their sexuality with peers they are going to explore in unsafe ways & that secrecy, shame, and censorship are what open the door to predators & allow them to normalize unhealthy power dynamics.

Shit like (professed) minors allegedly being on ezra's site is most likely the result of that community being the only thing they could find that treated them as like, humans with autonomy and desire, and that's a pattern that plays out with adult exploitation of teens in-person too (the "you're so mature for your age" routine). Of course teenagers exploring sexuality for the first time fell into a community that told them they weren't bad for being attracted to adults or having sexual desire in the first place! Thing is, an "Adult Attracted Minor" is like, the default state of teenagerdom.

The shit that's actually been demonstrated to help with this isn't carceral whackamoling of bad actors - it's giving teenagers education about healthy relationships and power dynamics and safe sex and yeah, kink, and also giving them the autonomy to make their own decisions about sex. Specifically, you let them know that it's normal to be attracted to adults but that adults trying to date or fuck them are in a position of power that means those relationships can't be healthy. In absence of that, teens are vulnerable to the first adult that appeals to their need to be taken seriously. And for fucks sake, using "minor" to equate teens with young children in these cases makes this tactic easier for abusers to pull off, not harder, because it is self-evident to teens that they have more capacity for autonomy than the average 8 year old. Sure, it makes the people you're targeting in your callout Sound Worse, but it also immediately loses you credibility in the eyes of teenagers themselves.

And for fucks sake, don't let a handful of bad actors using a leftist framing for that old song and dance lead you to believe that's what youth lib is about OR take away focus from all the times the right wing has systemically & institutionally done this.

[peteytheparrot]

Reading comics with cats / warrior cats comics is such a pain in the ass because I swear to god every single character design looks the exact same but only with slightly different features like do you expect me to remember which one has slightly more white on their face or what their eye color is please I literally fucking can’t 😭😭😭

Like they all look like this

[s-wave-entertainment]

I'm thinking about them again (nuzi).

Y'know, Liam once said that he had built N and Uzi with the other character in mind. I thiiiiink it was in some interview... might have been GlitchX, I don't remember exactly, but I know he said it. Now I may not be him, but I've only written a character directly for another and then killed them for story progression once.

I just. I don't want one to have to go on without the other. He could kill them both and I wouldn't care as long as they were with each other when it happens. Just. God. Liam I'm begging you.

Sorry if this makes no sense it's like 1am I got a headache and I'm just thinking about my beloved pookies

[mechaseraph]

A Patren -1gou design attempt. Based on one out of 3 unused VS Changer lines (other for Lupin Black and Patren 0. Have no ideas for em, sadly, aside from 0 likely being white ranger? -1 and Black's lines sound more wicked, so I assume they are "evil" rangers, hence the look of this one)

Notes and thoughts rambling under the cut

Zombie and Vampire was rather random, but fitting idea to give something unique and "wrong" to those. That's to say, I only have possible thoughts about -1gou role in context of the show 1.5. Or well, in context of my idea? It takes closer to end of the show, so putting whole new 3 rangers seems to bloat the plot/cut the focus

Yea, judging from the name I feel it be logical to assume it is Keiichiro. Idk human experiments from ganglers y'now. Would happen after 44? or mb early, if to put "skinwalker satoru" 2 ep arc earlier as well (I'm trying to think in context of the show's format)

He's likely not having a good day

Feel Gouche still would want to open up Noel with her knife, so would send -1gou to grab him for her. And to overall support motws and/or "play" with kaitous and cops' feelings.

Could learn Kairi's identity this way? I feel it might trigger him out of the -1gou state for a moment. Classic plot of bringing corrupted protag/main character back to normal through "feelings/pushing on what's important to them" follows.

Okay design notes now

White neck-overall main mold thing across all 8 suits? so I assume this one would have it too

He is black ranger, again, going with whole double red idea of the season, so double black (but again I have no idea where would Lupin Black show up...)

It did turned up more like having palette swap with Lupin Read though...At base elements, I feel.

The legs likely would be of the same base mold as patrens have, I'd liked shoes themselves be more sharp but ig you'd better take this as my style thing, not actual design element. Same goes for claws on hands.

Potential VS Changer darker recolor? The VS Vehicle likely original and idk please I have no idea how to design those, sorry

Anyway, think this is all I remember wanting to say. Honestly, just wanted to try and design this one to see how close I might stay to og style of the suits (ngl...I only really like Patren X, other ones are...well, they are ok ig. Thieves get point for collars). I did take some parts from X, obviously...but still feel that realistically, the jacket/coat would be part of the suit's pattern </3 and I don't like it myself.

Oh yea also, corrupted protags, am I right? <3

[aneldritchmoth]

Back from the art grave HELLOOO INTERNET

I found out about I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream. This was originally an inside joke but I had to make it happen. Have my AM "human" design. :3

Anyway if AM has no haters I'm dead.

BONUS The Amazing Digital Circus meme

Since it's what got me into the rabbit hole of the story that is I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream in the first place. I can't stop thinking about it now, whoops. LOL

[hercarisntyours]

his ass is NOT turning!! (human! Oplita/Arion Hadestown au)

[prototypelq]

listening to dark souls design critiques works better than therapy, tried and true method I promise

[infinite-bleps]

I'm so late about a bunch of choices books. Why did no one tell me there was a "crossover" book with Open Hearts and Hearts on Fire and that the cover looked like this?

This genuinely looks like a shitpost meme edit. I almost choked on food while laughing.

[bloomingbluebell]

can i say it now?

sage of time/time powers didn't make sense for totk zelda. at ALL.

when in botw, before the calamity, in aoc, did she EVER show an affinity for time powers? i get that it was like this sort of. hidden power kind of thing, but it still doesn't make much sense. not for zelda.

[craftlands]

Idk I feel like the people who Shamane, Kaalaa, and Kanjira are supposed to represent should get a say in if they think they are offensive in some way

This also will sound kinda off but I think there are way worse depictions in other media.

That isn't to say there shouldn't be a discussion this is just my opinion

Also just cause I am bad at paying attention but is Kanjira Indian or something else

I was looking at the description that gives her age and it just says unknown but I may have missed it in dialogue

(Oh and if you are one of the people that the characters "represent" then sorry if this came off as rude)

Kanjira's Indian, but the "fortune teller/thief" design is very much rooted in Rromani stereotypes and she plays a lot into those -- i'm honestly just thankful that the g-slur never got dropped as i was legitimately waiting for that to happen every single time she was onscreen, it's That Obvious. there's a long history of discussion of these tropes and how they're harmful -- while i am not able to find specific sources at the current moment, they are absolutely out there.

i'd also like to point out that she speaks in broken English nearly constantly. you could argue that this is "because she's a kid and English isn't her first language" but i would like to then point out that Matilda, who is two years younger than her, almost never does the same thing despite English also not being her first language (and her showing active disdain for learning it). that's... really not great!

Kaalaa Baunaa i think is... the least bad, having played the story? her design is still, to be blunt, rather sexualized, but there's at least been some amount of effort as far as i can tell (i do like her connections to astronomy, which is a very long tradition in India that dates back very far). i'd love to see her in actual traditional garb still, but she's definitely the one i'm least equipped to speak on.

Shamane though. oh boy, Shamane is a mess. i love him as a character, he's a delight, but there are a lot of reasons his design is a problem. when i talked about the "ear feather" thing i was more or less explicitly referencing this post, and his name is... questionable? more pertinently, though, he's using a hell of a lot of Native American aesthetics and stereotypes (he's a "shaman" with deep connections to nature, he has "native patterns" baked into pretty much all of his animations, i could go on it gets so much worse) for someone who is ostensibly the child of a regular Indian family.

so... yes, SWANA, Rromani, and First Nations people should get a say in if they think these designs are offensive. and they have been saying designs like these are offensive for years.

[obstinaterixatrix]

I have a friend whose favorite series is a•t, which, Yknow, I am trying so hard to be polite about having extremely different tastes. but I cherish & support her and when it comes to bday presents I’m either waiting for someone to express a need/want for smth during any time of the year & just buying it & going ‘happy early/late birthday’ OR I’m planning months in advance (& sometimes collaborating w/ folks) for The Perfect Present but I can never bring myself to get something I’m halfhearted on… I’ve been on & off scrolling thru mercari/ebay/amazon/aliexpress and feeling very Eh abt the quality/size/price and was almost close to just getting two small cheap but cute plushies (13 cm & 10 cm :/), then on ebay I saw smth that was 20cm (good size) and actually very cute, but it was like $50 for the plush & $20 for shipping and while I cherish my pal I am not dropping $70 on a plushie (AND ESPECIALLY NOT ON A•T MERCH). so I do a exact match search of the specific brand and find one (1) online store selling it for $20 (incl shipping) (they’re having a 20% off sale). which is suspiciously low so I made sure to look up reviews outside the site & it looks legit, so I’m gonna buy it & hope that even if it’s not legit it’ll be an acceptable quality bootleg, and if it isn’t even that then I still have a month and a half to get one of my backup plans. in a week we’ll see if I get a Perfectionism Win.

[wayfinderships]

Good evening gamers! I hope everyone's day has gone well! :>

As for me, I'm just thinking about all my familial f/os. Specially my kids and fankids-

[moth-spiderling]

Things do get better.

Life can be cruel and unforgiving, like a writer killing off the most beloved characters and making everyone suffer through a lot. Yet every bad moment eventually shall pass.

We don't stop reading a book, just because the writer made things seem grim for a bit. We shouldn't stop living just because we're afraid it'll get worse.

Things can go badly, sure, but they can also turn out for the better. You can also survive.

Even giving up for a day, a month, a year, does not mean your life is not worth living.

It doesn't mean you're gonna be stuck here forever. It just means that for now, maybe for a long time now, things have been rough.

And you need a break, and a hug.

And someone to tell you, that you are very much loved, even if Life (as the most bitter and inspired writer) has decided to take it out on you.

You are loved, you're not weird, and you deserve good, beautiful, lovely things.