#i started this as a rant

[teecupangel]

Shoutout to @fanworldbuildingfun for adding this fantastic comment to my post about the Altaïr armor in the Destiny-AC collab:

This stupid attractive overachiever almost managed to replicate Isu technology with only 12-century tech and an Apple

LET'S TALK ABOUT THE ACTUAL ARMOR IN AC THEN

So this is the Armor of Altaïr that we all know and grieved over (curse you, Cesare Borgia!!!! I spent hours trying to get this armor!)

We might even say that some of us have yet to move on from such devastating loss (fuck you, Cesare Borgia)

Anyway, from that image alone, it's hard to distinguish which is part of the armor and which is Ezio's fashion sense.

Here's another image then:

Looks better? Is the white undershirt really part of it? How can we be sure which is actually a part of the Armor and not simply added by somebody else before it was locked underneath Villa Auditore?

So how about how it was sketched in the Codex then?

Simple. Almost looks like Altaïr only did the chest armor and the rest were added later on (or, perhaps, Altaïr only sketched the chest armor)

The sketch does make it easy to compare it to a similar armor: The Isu Armor from Origins and Odyssey (Valhalla not included because that Isu Armor looks totally different)

If we compare the Isu Armor (using the Odyssey ver because it's clearer) to the sketch of the Armor of Altaïr:

We can make an argument that the sketch looks like what a 12th century scholar would draw after having a (perhaps a bit blurry) vision of the Isu Armor.

We might even say that the sketch is most probably the final draft based on the Isu Armor, focusing more on defense by developing a closed area on the chest instead of the Isu's open chest area.

The entire Armor of Altaïr was created during Altaïr's time. He's noted as the only creator which meant he probably did everything by himself like the overachiever that he is

. This includes the materials he used for it which he created thanks to the Apple.

This page from the Codex meant that, not only did Altaïr create his own version of the Isu Armor, he actually created a similar (how similar it was would be questionable because of the 'further refined' that he mentioned) metal to what is used by the Isu Armor.

And there is one metal that we are sure that the Isus used.

(Does it have a similar color to the Armor of Altaïr?)

Which meant that Altaïr was able to recreate (degree of success questionable) Adamant in 12th century Levant.

Alone.

And Adamant is known as:

Considering there was no mention of the Armor of Altaïr having mind control capabilties, it's probably safe to assume that Altaïr was only half-succcessful in recreating Adamant because whatever metal he used in the armor was definitely nearly indestructible.

You wanted me to imagine Altaïr with 21st century tech at his disposal, @fanworldbuildingfun? Here's my initial analysis made with not enough sleep + trying to finish this while eating lunch at work:

The creation of the Armor of Altaïr was due to the Apple providing him with the information. If he has an Apple under his control in the modern day (or if he is a reincarnation of the 12th century Altaïr with all his memories intact) and enough resources, he will definitely create a better version of this armor using a more refined version of the Adamant metal. Depending on how much resources he manages to acquire, making more armors is not out of the question.

If he doesn't have the Apple providing him with this information and only has, maybe, stories about how Ezio Auditore used to have an 'invincible' armor?

He'll have debates with Shaun about it. Shaun will be on the side that the armor is as invincible as the stories say because of his love for conspiracies and Altaïr will argue that the 'invincible' part could simply just mean that it was strong enough to block arrows and blades. It would be useless if hit by a bullet or a cannon ball.

This debate will annoy both of them so much that Altaïr will go "You want invincible? Fine! I'll show you what an invincible armor should be!"

And, propelled by annoyance and the desire to have the final say, Altaïr will make his own 21st century version of the Armor of Altaïr.

During the initial planning stage...

"Oh, cool. You making an Ironman suit?"

"........."

"uuuhh... Altaïr?"

(furiously destroys everything he's already made) "Desmond."

"Y... yeah...?"

"Not a word to anyone about this."

He will later present a detailed schematic of an armor set that can, in theory, be created using 21st century tech.

It must be stressed it looks nothing like an Ironman suit.

(for the record: the early concept for the armor does say that it's meant to be Leonardo Da Vinci's invention but they later pushed it to be Altaïr's instead, probably to further develop Altaïr's 'sorta mentorship' setup in AC2)

All images from AC Wiki (you guys are the true MVPs of this fandom)

[spitblaze]

considering how many transmascs were legitimately way angrier BEFORE starting T and have since calmed down significantly have we perhaps considered that maybe the reason so many cis dudes are angry and aggressive isn't because of testosterone but maybe. like. personal issues. unmet needs. a social climate that teaches them that there are only like three acceptable emotional outlets for men max and one of them is being angry and shouting

[acorviart]

everyone should attempt an artisan craft at some point in their life because it would cut down the number of comments questioning why handmade goods like ceramics or textile craft or woodworking are so expensive

and this is an unrealistic expectation, but I think the attempt should include seeing through to the end at least one "finished" item, no matter how clumsy or lumpy your first attempts might be. like to me, there's a huge difference in perspective between attempting to learn how to crochet or throw a pot for a few days, acknowledging that it's harder than it looks and giving up, versus committing to finishing that scarf or clay pot you started and working on it for weeks while you painstakingly learn from your mistakes and grow attached to your project while also simultaneously hating it.

once you finish the latter, your perspective changes from "why does this crocheted blanket cost $200" to "holy shit I can't believe they're charging $200 for this crocheted blanket instead of $2000" because you may have known crocheting is hard, you may have easily agreed with the idea that "handmade goods take time and effort" even before attempting a craft, but now you know firsthand the absolute time sink it takes to make things. like yeah dude, that one item took you 2 months to make and probably wasn't even an ultra complex item if it was the first thing you made, now imagine attaching an hourly wage to that time to calculate the cost (and this is ignoring every nuance of the artistic element and master crafters being able to work faster/charge higher because of their years and years of experience)

anyway this rant has been motivated by a comment I saw on someone else's ceramic post asking why a mug was $60 and they understand it's handmade but $60 just seems overpriced, and bro do you know how long ceramics take to make. that mug probably took at minimum 3 weeks between how long it takes to throw the mug, dry partially, trim the mug, dry fully, bisque fire, wait a day for the kiln to cool, sand and paint and glaze, glaze fire, wait a day for the kiln to cool, take product photography of the mug, write description and list the mug online for sale, im not even including the skill needed to complete all these steps without the mug literally exploding or collapsing while also making it an appealing piece of art, aaaaaaaaaaaaa

[solsearchingnights]

"Minecraft needs to be rebalanced! It's too easy to get mending! It's too easy once you have elytra! All the challenges and bosses are optional!"

Yes. That's the point. That's GOOD actually. My little brother needs to be able to play minecraft as much as I can. It's a sandbox game, not an RPG. You can create difficulty and add challenge and modify files! Those are features in the game and regularly adjusted for just that purpose. But the base game is meant to be accessible and universal.

Especially when a lot of "content" comes in the form of professionals, people who earn a living being good at the game and have hours a day to put into it, our perspective is skewed. I love the hermits, but any time they say a farm "only took two hours" to build? I cringe. When hypixel pvp creators talk about how lame netherite makes vanilla gameplay, I sigh. And when someone complains that it's too easy to cheese a mechanic or obtain a villager trade I kind of want to scream.

It's easy *for you*. It's boring *for you*. It's not that it needs to change drastically, you just need to approach it differently. You have a moral objection to how "easy" it is to get a mending villager? Make the rule for yourself that you can only get mending from the loot table. You think elytra take the fun out of travel? Don't use it.

And before you say "well can't they just use accessibility features to make it easier?" NO. That's not the point of those features. Accessibility features that disable quicktime events or remove puzzles aren't to make a game easier, they're to make a game PLAYABLE. Accessibility features in minecraft are to disable view bobbing, change the visual distortions, add directional subtitles....things that make the game playable to people who need them.

Basically, please chill the fuck out about minecraft being easy. If it's too easy and you can't come up with a solution for that, maybe it's just not a game you enjoy playing. Download a mod pack or go play something different.

[crumb-crumblet-s-crumbington]

"You and me, Ethan. Together we go save Rose, and then we can grind Miranda into paste!"

[vampimull3t]

SAME FUCKING PICTURE

[pastabaguette]

look guys i don’t like to argue but i hate it when people portray equius and nepeta like this:

i mean, they’re both just thirteen, come on.

equius is not her parental figure, and nepeta isn’t a fussy baby that can’t eat her fruits and veggies! equius isn’t some malicious evil guy, he’s just a stupid little teenager. that goes for eridan too (and i guess like, all of the trolls, but especially those two). nepeta’s not some innocent little baby. she’s the same age as all her friends. she kills huge wild beasts on the regular for consumption.

a lot of dubs i’ve seen, too, make nepeta sound like a toddler, and equius like a whole grown adult man, and i don’t really like it because neither of them are those things. (granted, i don’t watch too many dubs, so maybe i am wrong on this)

[bleakbluejay]

you motherfuckers have no concept of what "land back" or "decolonize" even mean. you're too busy demonizing entire groups of people, terrified, shitting yourselves, that they'll do even half of the horrors to you that you've done to them for decades or centuries. this shit comes off as hella racist for real. you hate arabs so much. you hate first nations people so much. you hate black people so much. even if you sympathize with them, you can't fucking bear the idea of them gaining freedom, independence, autonomy, safety, because you're so, so scared they'll hurt you back and cause chaos in the streets. these same people who just want to rebuild. who just want to go home. who just want to see their families again. who just want food. who just want medical care. who just want dry, warm shelter. you're so focused on the ideas of colonization, of "us vs. them", of one people displacing the other for a state to exist, that you cannot comprehend coexistence, and your only idea of peace is if an entire group of people were just gone and dead.

grow the fuck up. for the love of GOD, grow the fuck up.

[jellyaibo]

closed species are so funny like what if i just make a design . will you fucking stop me? ooooOOoooo ill make a primagen oooOOoO THE PENCIL IS ON MY PAAAAPER OOOOoooOoOOo

[exhausted-undead]

ah, young love (they will hate eachother at some point, pinkie promise)

[yunmaobao]

NINJAGO DRAGONS RISING SEASON 2 SPOILERS

dramatic recreation of the worst/best scene this season. no im not okay.

[bixels]

I think 90% of my gripes with how modern anime looks comes down to flat color design/palettes.

Non-cohesive, washed-out color palettes can destroy lineart quality. I see this all the time when comparing an anime's lineart/layout to its colored/post-processed final product and it's heartbreaking. Compare this pre-color vs. final frame from Dungeon Meshi's OP.

So much sharpness and detail and weight gets washed out and flattened by 'meh' color design. I LOVE the flow and thickness and shadows in the fabrics on the left. The white against pastel really brings it out. Check out all the detail in their hair, the highlights in Rin's, the different hues to denote hair color, the blue tint in the clothes' shadows, and how all of that just gets... lost. It works, but it's not particularly good and does a disservice to the line-artist.

I'm using Dungeon Meshi as an example not because it's bad, I'm just especially disappointed because this is Studio Trigger we're talking about. The character animation is fantastic, but the color design is usually much more exciting. We're not seeing Trigger at their full potential, so I'm focusing on them.

Here's a very quick and messy color correct. Not meant to be taken seriously, just to provide comparison to see why colors can feel "washed out." Top is edit, bottom is original.

You can really see how desaturated and "white fluorescent lighting" the original color palettes are.

[Remember: the easiest way to make your colors more lively is to choose a warm or cool tint. From there, you can play around with bringing out complementary colors for a cohesive palette (I warmed Marcille's skintone and hair but made sure to bring out her deep blue clothes). Avoid using too many blend mode layers; hand-picking colors will really help you build your innate color sense and find a color style. Try using saturated colors in unexpected places! If you're coloring a night scene, try using deep blues or greens or magentas. You see these deep colors used all the time in older anime because they couldn't rely on a lightness scale to make colors darker, they had to use darker paints with specific hues. Don't overthink it, simpler is better!]

[sharkylad]

Thinking about the fact that Mabel and Dipper didn't know they had two great uncles.

Yeah they are 12 and at 12 I had a shotty understanding of my family tree- But really? Nobody brought up their great uncle? Stanley? Especially since they'll be staying with his twin brother, Stanford?

Shermie never went to Stan's fake funeral, which to me means the twos relationship was strained on some level. If Shermie is older that means his view of Stan was poisoned in some way, that even as kids they weren't close. If the Shermie is younger then he never even got to meet Stan and all he knew about him was how he failed his family. Hell, people probably barely mentioned Stanley TO Shermie.

The fact that Stan had become a black stain upon the Pines family name makes me so vividly upset. Stanley faked his death and the family just- seemingly decided to strike him from the record. To pretend he didn't existed to spare themselves the sadness and shame.

Stanford and Shermie Pines. The only children worth mentioning of Filbrick and Caryn Pines.

It was never Stanford that was lost to the world. It was Stanley, ever since he had to leave New Jersy- it was always him that had to be struck from the record. Change his name, change his state, change his affiliations, destroy the remains of ghost that was Stanley Pines. Kill him so the family doesn't bring him up, doesn't ask questions, stops asking "Stanford" about his twin.

I just keep thinking about the fact that since the day he made one single mistake all the way up until Ford walks out of that machine- Stanley Pines was killed and did not exist. And Stan himself had no one to blame, he had to play the part in his own demise- He is the only one who ever knew Stanley was alive and has been for decades.

He lives in the multitudes of every personality he's ever taken, all in the hope that he himself can stop being Stanley Pines.

[go-star-sailor]

transfem wirt truthers wya

[piastrispastry]

I will continuously defend Logan Sargeant until the day I die and I hope everyone who interacts with me knows that.

[nonbinary-vents]

This has been an absolutely horrible couple weeks for the Jewish and Israeli community, so I want to throw in at least a tiny bit of hope in here. Amina Hassouna, the Bedouin girl who was severely hurt in Iran’s missile attacks, has been recovering well and seems to be in good condition! She is described as being ‘fully conscious’ and ‘communicating and smiling’. Two bomb shelters have been placed in Al-Fura, the town that she and her family are from, as well.