#i wanna change that and polish some designs :3

[creaturefeaster]

I haven't been able to draw in a little while now...... but i feel the urge boobling(bubbling) underneath....... i think it may be time to update some character designs.

[darkdemeter]

HABITS OF MOTHER NATURE’S WILL

◤✘WANDA MAXIMOFF SERIES/AU'S | CATALOGUE Wanda Maximoff x Werewolf! GN/Female/Male Reader, (Platonic) Avengers x Werewolf! GN/Female/Male Reader ISSUE NO.#1

NOTES: ↳ Finished it nice and quickly, I was a bit unsure about this piece and was probably gonna scrap it before I posted the teaser. I was surprised to see how many people liked the teaser alone, and the taglist life chose me! Didn’t think that would happen so soon sooo that’s pretty cool, so if you wanna join that then let me know! I’m looking at potentially doing some more werewolf reader soon, with a piece (or multiple pieces, idk yet) called ‘The Convict Wolf’. Again I’m not the best at fluff so there is quite a bit of angst in there too as well as some humour. I think this turned more into a slight! Wanda x reader than an actual Wanda x reader. So… sorry bout that. Usage of Y/N as well. WARNINGS! ↳ angst (reader has insecurities/self esteem issues) — Tony being a bit of a dick — some minor language — some weird fluffy humour? — mentions of a “passed relative” in said humour — minor name calling and usage (“mutt and stray/pup”) — and I think that’s it?

✎ 3.4k

@alexawynters

↳ WANDA MAXIMOFF TAGLISTS

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Mother Nature decrees that her law is absolute. Her will is to be respected, and all are intended to follow in her great design.

You do not change it. You embrace it.

And this applies to you as well, thanks to your common ancestor, that you shared the habit that left you tracking the red ball Tony kept bouncing against the polished floors like it’s the only thing in existence that mattered to you. And maybe because it did.

How could this happen? No high risk missions or deadly villains to stop from achieving world domination. No, today was one of those special days where you and your fellow Avengers could relax. And with the full moon so close, what better combination?

What you wouldn’t give to suddenly be on a quinjet flying into enemy territory. Nothing like a good fight to get the blood pumping.

For everyone’s sake, you tried to keep to yourself for the past week but you’d exhausted your options. Walks in the park weren’t cutting it - not to mention the other dogs started it first - and you’d already destroyed five punching bags in the gym just prior. The treadmill be damned, you weren’t burning any energy on that.

Your last resort was to sit in the common area with your favoured beverage, a cool rag and some TV to calm the intense wave of anxiety. However, by her divine intervention, your beloved crew had come to flock in.

Mother Nature knew you were a pack animal at heart, as both human and wolf. It was how she made you.

The ensuing anxiety of being in a crowded space enough to put you near over the edge. It’s not like your heart rate only picked up a few hundred beats more when Wanda walked in.

When a few of the new arrivals waved and greeted you, you shared a hesitant yet trying smile and equally reluctant nod in return.

The battlefield was the only place you felt comfortable around your new comrades. But without missions or villains you were still getting accustomed to life at the compound; adjusting to life around people.

You were still considered fresh. A new recruit to the team. As Tony liked to call you… a pup.

Fuck, how you’d bite back your snarls from that term.

Fury assigned you to the Avengers some months ago. And though you had no intention of staying long, the missions kept coming in and a lot more required your specific skill set.

You remember as though it was yesterday that Tony said, “Alright Fury, we’ll adopt the stray pup. Just don’t go ripping up the furniture now.”

Suffice to say, you broke your own record at doing just that in under 3 hours.

“I think they’ll settle in just fine,” Fury had chuckled with a clap to the billionaire’s shoulder.

You shake your head at the memory. Still, if felt wrong to feel certain things for one of your teammates already. It wasn’t like you felt you really had a chance with her anyway.

The thought made your eyes falter from the now still ball for a moment, clutched in Tony’s hand as if it were your heart.

‘Who am I kidding?’ You chuffed silently to yourself, ‘She wouldn’t take a chance on me, I’m a damn mutt!’

Your self esteem issues had to wait though.

Thump.

Thump.

Thump.

‘Ball.’

‘Ball.’

‘Ball.’

Your entire head at this point tracked the ball’s movement, but your mind was still distracted by Wanda. The idea of her wanting to play ball with you, to spend those moments of intimacy with you. Tony’s words zeroed in from a muffled backdrop to the forefront of your mind.

“And that is why red indeed travels at a superior speed to any other. Ergo, why my suit is red, brilliant, eye catching and can beat anyone.”

You could hear the collective groans and disguised snarks beneath coughs without the noise being present. It was in everyone’s eyes and their scents.

Your eyes froze on Wanda, her striking eyes bore into yours with no hesitation. No fear.

‘How long has she been doing that?’

She offered one of her smiles that made your heart swell and stop at the same time, that made your searing skin cool and rise with goosebumps.

‘She’s so beautiful when she smiles like that.’

If she had one of those smiles then… you knew that grin that spread across her lips and showed a thin line of her teeth.

Your eyes gave away the betraying thought that you knew. Her smile turned grin riddled with mischief spoke volumes.

‘She read my damn mind!’

“I don’t think that is actually possible, Tony,” Sharon said with a click of her tongue and a disbelieving squint to her eyes.

“Oh no, it is,” Tony replied with a nod, “I’ll show you how the colour of this ball determines the speed in which it returns to my hand.”

He held up the ball in his hand, a proud display of its immaculate accomplishment, just a throw away.

Shit.

You bite down on your lip hard to suppress the whine coiled deep in your throat. A deep heat settled all along your neck and your ears.

Wanda still stared at you even in your peripheral.

Tony flicked his hand forward and the ball flew forward, bouncing once against the floor and bound into the wall with a determined thump before Tony caught it again, mouth agape to huff in his triumphant display in tandem with a curt yelp.

A good throw. Bad timing.

Everyone’s eyes had diverted to you. Their attention captured by the sound you made. Even Bucky, the stoic and reserved man who hardly acknowledged anyone with anything other than a grunt, appeared surprised if not the slightest bit intrigued by this new discovery.

You didn’t dare risk a second glimpse at Wanda, the flush in your neck seeped higher up into your face. Not that the shock and interest on everyone else’s faces were easier to process.

But you couldn’t face Wanda’s eyes now.

She had read the racing thoughts you couldn’t keep in line. Who knows how much she read about how alluring you think her scent is, how you whine and whimper whenever you hear her softly cry when in the privacy of her room because you wish to be there with her, her hand running through your fur to comfort herself; to let her know you’re there for her. How much it hurts you that she would never see you as nothing more than the mutt of the team. A beast that maims and runs rampart whenever you lose yourself to anger.

A lovesick pup.

You feared that the hot sting of tears was sure to follow any moment now.

Your fingers tightened against your legs, nails not longer the tamed length you maintained them as. In their stead were claws.

“Something wrong, pup?” Tony teased and you didn’t refrain from the rasped snarl that rose in your chest. Your teeth - and fangs - bared.

Fuck. Why did Mother Nature have to make you the way you are?

“Tony,” Sam warned, eyes cast between the two of you.

“What?” Tony only shrugged as if he wasn’t intentionally pissing you off and embarrassing you at the same time. “I just wanna make sure our new recruit here is alright, I mean, they have been temperamental over the past week. Chewing on expensive furniture and specially crafted improvements to my suit—“

The ball flew from Tony’s hand just as he was about to make a show of the ball again, the unmistakable red, misty tendrils swiftly brought it to Wanda’s hand.

Everyone was silent as they glanced between the red ball in Wanda’s hand and you. Their combining scents overwhelmed you to a new height. The fear that pinned you in place made the skin along your arms radiate with heat, either from the desire to run with your tail between your legs or to get defensive; to ‘wolf out’ as the others had called it. It didn’t help when Thor made an attempt to say something but otherwise thought better not to say what was on his mind.

Wanda eyed the object that held your attention. And you in turn couldn’t help but study her. Something in the way her eyes twinkled with curiosity, her lips pulled to one side as if to contemplate heavily on the fact that this ball held you in a vice grip.

Your short temper as of late, how you’d skulk around, much to the dismay of everyone fearing you had turned into another Bucky. The guy wasn’t that bad, you’d give him credit for that, the guy had a lot on his plate.

But what Wanda was perhaps most interested by that whenever she was present in the same room as you, all that would vanish. At least for the most part.

But to her, you would ask her how she was doing or even compliment her. Little did she possibly know that it was because you had felt a little courageous to take that small leap of faith to tell her she looked good.

But she might as well have that knowledge now.

You weren’t sure if it bothered you or not that she read your mind. Invaded your thoughts. In some weird way, you wanted her to. But you also feared her rejection.

But in the end, it all made sense. No one else pieced it together but her. And this time, she didn’t have to read your mind to do it.

She could read you. She knew you.

“It’s the full moon tomorrow night. They’re anxious.”

You were often lucky to avoid this topic with the others. They’d just chalked it up to catching you at the wrong time, that the mission was a hard one that day and you had some pent up anger to burn. The other half, you’d be out of the compound. Taking a much needed break at your apartment, visiting your sick grandma who they suspiciously noted you saying had passed away years ago three times now. But who was counting.

Never did they realise it all happened around the same time every month.

But Wanda did. She noticed it.

You brave to stare into those eyes you were content to drown in but find something else. It’s mysterious. Not what you’d expect to see in her eyes when she looked at you of all people.

“Y/N, Fetch!” Wanda cooed as she tossed the ball away from her. It’s a primal instinct that ignited within you at that very moment. A natural, engrained sense and desire.

How Mother Nature intended for you to react to survive or to have fun, your skin tingled with the sensation all too familiar.

The shift is over within the blink of an eye, seamless as you launch yourself over Wanda’s sitting body after the ball, large paw-like hands scrapped across the floors as you skid to a halt and the ball captured within the grasp of your maw.

Your tail wags involuntarily and your ears pinned against your head as you bashfully ducked your head at the sound of the others who chuckled and praised your reflexes.

It felt nice. Wanda turned in her spot on the couch to peer over at where you’d jumped over her, chin tucked into her folded arms.

“Nice catch,” she giggled and you swore she could see your blush in this form, “bring it here.”

Hesitant, you take a step forward and then another, your eyes cautious as they wandered over the others in case they deemed your advancements were dangerous to be left unchecked.

Rarely did you allow this form to take around them without the proper surveillance equipment and safety precautions. They already had Bruce to worry about losing control as the Hulk. They couldn’t risk you as well.

But no. They marvelled in their stares, smiles of contentment encouraged you to approach Wanda. You let the ball fall into her grasp with a small whine, ears still pressed back.

“Don’t be shy, Wolfie,” she whispered, the sound soft for only your ears to hear. You liked that nickname. You could only hope she would continue to use it.

Wanda raised the ball again only for Tony to interject. “No! No, you are not playing fetch in this compound, Miss Maximoff.”

Wanda smirked at the look in your eyes. The same one you had right before you tore up all the good, expensive furniture within that 3 hour window.

A few more throws turned into furniture shoved aside to make room. Tony remained in the kitchen, arms folded and a scowl etched hard into his face, it would take a miracle for Pepper to wipe it from his face.

Everyone else was too engrossed in the game of indoor fetch, all having had a couple of turns by now with throwing the ball. Bucky humoured you once and threw it, an approving nod when you caught it. Clint, Thor, Peter and Scott fought hard to get the ball numerous times, Natasha and Wanda were promoted to ‘ball-directors’ so everyone had a fair go.

But Wanda maybe got an extra throw in once or twice - by order of Natasha.

Steve now held the eye catching sphere in his hand, high above his head. Though with your stature in this form, it was rather tricky to keep it away from your snapping jaws.

You yipped and howled in anticipation before Steve tossed the ball and you leapt after it. You caught it before it could bounce off the wall. An eruption of claps and cheers followed immediately, your ears flopped back as you whine softly with that feeling that buzzed in your ribcage.

“Bring it here, Wolfie.” Your ears perked up high and alert at the soft tune of Wanda’s accented voice. A few of the others couldn’t refrain from laughing a little at the sight.

Whenever they had permitted you to shift on mission skirmishes, it was all done through protocol and extensive preparation to ensure you were stable.

And they only saw one emotion when you changed. Aggression.

To finally get the chance to play and be comfortable in your own fur felt good. Shit, well beyond good.

“I was promised the next throw! Come on, give the ball here, Y/N,” Sam called with an outstretched hand.

Even if Sam had a point, you couldn’t stop yourself in your approach towards Wanda, who now was crouched down with her hand out to receive the ball.

Her eyes were soft in their gaze as they pierced through the veil of your own. It was like she could see the humanity deep within you.

Her magic touched you differently, prickled against the shell of your mind, you welcomed her in.

‘I see you as more than you realise.’

A whimper crept up your throat in response, ears tucked back and eyes often shrouded with the thirst for carnage grew to relax. Become tender in the embrace of her eyes - her soul - touching yours.

Your fur bristled suddenly and you shook your head with a huff. You dropped the ball into her hand and she threw it down the long hallway.

You bound after it, your claws clinked against the tile floor, your breath hot in ragged pants as you gave chase. Each bounce of the ball echoed faintly in the back of your mind, too occupied by the words Wanda spoke through your mind.

It was the first time you’d heard her voice in your head. And you enjoyed it. It settled you into a sense of calm.

You didn’t register the elevator doors open ahead of you, Nick Fury stood with files tucked under his arm.

Your eyes shot open and you swore you saw his unpatched eye mimic yours. Your weight was too much to control with the momentum you had backed up behind your pursuit in a cramped hallway. You skid to a halt but slipped forward, the force of your body knocked Fury and yourself back into the elevator.

A series of cringed groans and gasps reminded you of your teammates as the elevator doors closed behind you.

You’d knocked Fury into the buttons and now, your destination was another floor.

Sheepishly, he could tell, you whine a pathetic sound in your apologies. You shuffle in the elevator that was almost too tight for the two of you to fit with you like this.

“So,” Fury said after a few moments of silence, eye intently watchful of the floors you both now visited. Some had agents give pause and a receptionist even dropped her cup of steaming coffee at the sight of you.

“What brought the wolf out?”

He turned his head slightly when you grunted, ball held up in your mouth to show him what had ensued before his arrival.

It felt like hours that the rest of the team stood in their places, eyes stuck on the elevator door you and Fury both disappeared into.

“Do you think he’ll be mad?” Wanda asked, voice coated in a toxic amount of unease.

She was scared what would happen to you. As a matter of fact; everyone was scared.

The government knew just enough and that was a hard - yet private - case that was not disclosed with the public.

Your existence and your species as a whole had to remain top secret. One slip up that was determined out of hand would grant you a one way ticket to who knows what for punishment.

“It’s okay, Wanda,” Clint assured, “I doubt Fury would do anything like that. I mean, he brought them to us.”

“He’s right. No way would Fury do something like that,” Steve added, firm in his judgement or perhaps what he hoped for.

“We will… figure it out if it comes to that,” Tony sighed from his place. Not often did Tony jump to your defence in cases such as this.

But in the end, you’d proven yourself mostly to be trustworthy.

He had some inkling of reason to believe you wouldn’t cause intentional harm to the team.

The elevator pinged and everyone held their breath as the doors slid open.

Fury and you stood side by side, gazes directed down the hallway towards your team. Your eyes immediately sought out Wanda who gave you a smile but her brows were furrowed.

Fury held up the ball as he strutted forward, like an obedient pup, you followed close to his heel.

“Next time, take the game of fetch outside,” he advised and threw the ball forward and Tony caught it swiftly.

Another good throw. Really bad timing.

You were still hyped up and because of that, you charged forward and closed the distance within a matter of milliseconds.

“Wait no—!” Tony grunted as he was pinned to the floor beneath your weight. “Get. Off!” He growled and you slinked away from him with your tail tucked.

The others did little to hide their laughs at Tony’s unfortunate expense.

“Good job,” you caught Bucky mutter to you as you joined Wanda’s side. You chuffed rather proudly and your head held high.

Steve aided Tony from the floor. “Alright, Fury. We’ll note that down.” Steve flashed a toothy smile and wink your way.

“I have a mission briefing. Ya’ll better buckle up and dress for the cold. You’re going on an undercover operation located in Alaska.”

“Alaska?” Wanda asked in sync with your curious head tilt, ears flopped to the side.

“Alaska. And you also have a guide present right now who is familiar with the territory.”

It didn’t take a second long for your team and yourself to gather what Fury meant, his single eye on you knowingly.

Fury left some time later after he handed the files over that provided more information on your new task in Alaska.

Wanda turned and knelt down in front of you, a hand ran through the thicket of your fur. The act itself made your eyes droop and your chest rumble. Wanda couldn’t keep the full, toothy smile to spread on her lips.

“I think this gives us all the perfect opportunity to play more fetch with our beloved wolf.” Wanda’s words didn’t go unnoticed by the numerous hums of agreement. Truly you felt seen by them all. For the first time perhaps ever, you felt accepted.

You even looked to Tony who shrugged with an eye roll. “I suppose I could indulge in a couple throws myself. So long as I can test my new theory of what travels faster: the wolf or the red ball?”

“Wolfie,” your team chimed in claim of their theory right there.

Your pack that Mother Nature intended for you.

[ask2pame]

regarding your rant on frances design: TELL ME ABOUT IT. tbh i think all the designs peaked with beautiful world, and everything after that was just...discount budget versions of whoever theyre supposed to be. the beautiful world designs are GORGEOUS on their own, but compared to world stars? theres no contest. some designs i do like, like england looks nice, if not a little too polished, and portugal is really cute, but everyone else just got twinkified and butchered. and i love a twink! i do! but they look like they could be swapped out with my little pony designs and it wouldnt make a difference. france to me will always be a blonde with a ponytail, a little unkempt, with chest hair and stubble and flamboyantly manly with a touch of tragedy. thats france to me. not whatever waif they cooked up in the more recent series

// ok ok i can't tell if u mean like ''oOOOh tell me about it' as a phrase or u actually are inviting me to tell you about it but i'm going to take it as permission to ramble <3 but im putting it under the cut so i dont spam

okok so UR SO RIGHT i think the new designs are so OFF... like it kinda lost the plot. the characters are all weirdly polished?

ok im just gonna run down the characters i have a lot of thoughts about CUZ my god

ENGLAND!!! its gotta be beautiful world

cuz the early seasons england gets his crankiness on point but this design fits just how cranky and posh(?) he is, like he dresses like an old man and wears outdated 'punk' fashion, he drinks tea like an old lady.. it fits hes cute and expressive.

this england isLOSING hair where did his EYEBROWS GO!!!! thats HIS WHOLE FUCKING CHARACTER but also i really dislike the change from him going from a dirty blond to a bleach blond... doesnt work...

i want my man to look like he has a nicotine addiction, rugged and smug as shit. i think they leaned too hard on the 'tsundere' trope for him cuz hes not puffy cheeks with pouty lips hes an old man with a laundry list of war crimes

-

ROMANO

ok. this one is a little hard cuz romano is good in ever season but he has these little minor changes that drive me CRAZY but my favorite will always be the earlier seasons

this ver of romano was a NASTY bitch he just showed up to be an asshole and i love it so much , i love his hair being dark brown with brown eyes ok , at the minimum his design fit his voice...

for beautiful world i think hes cute but i really don't ? like his eyes being green? like i dont know it just never felt right to me:( i like him having brown eyes

and later his design leans into the prev but when u look at him u don't see that one guy who REALLY doesn't wanna be here hes . too soft?

and the newer romano does have the bad attitude but now he's suffering from the 'progressively becoming a ginger' syndrome that a lot of hws characters have now

-

RUSSIA

my pick for him is all over the place bc i think his new design is SO FUCKING CUTE like i wanna bite him and crocodile death roll him but i think he is SUFFERING from cuteness.... hes so . soft?

earlier seasons of russia showed up just to say some morbid shit and be brutal as fuck but he could also lean into being cute, thats his whole gimmick, cute but scary. his current design is cute with no threat.

i think beautiful world had that balance between cute and scary, he was cute and say mean shit like before and was ready to throw down any time america showed up, thats his whole deal. and you know at the bare minimum he's supposed to be fucking BIG and world stars makes him look like a fucking twink

-

SPAIN

beautiful world was WORKING to make spain look good, he was ugly . he was boring. and then he walked in with a new tan and a warm hair color and the cutest smile (tho its hard to find pics of spain in these seasons cuz hes younger in a lot of them) and then it's just

what the hell happened here. i feel like im going insane but did his skin tone get ashy? like it looks more grey. and i know saying spain is 'tan' is generous but what the fuck happened. why did all his colors dull, why is his hair so . boring. where did the body mass go, where did the attitude go... world stars spain is very 'head empty' and not in a good way ....

-

CHINA

one of the most overlooked characters but i love him

i think my favorite ver of him is still his original cuz i preferred him with dark brown hair and dark brown eyes and he's side part... it was so cute... and they swapped it for a middle part .... </3

like he was so cute ;; plus i preferred him as this kinda irritable older know it all character, like he was groaning and huffing and did NOT want to be there. but then he kind of got? infantalized(?) i think they wanted him to be cute but idk if china is considered one of the ancient nations by its own rules, then can we tone down the :333 factor on him a bit

like just comparing but this might be me raise hands at hima for this characterization. what did you do to my boy

like do u see it. am i crazy

-

these bitches

these 4 just suffer from success in their OG and the beautiful world just made them way better (except i miss italy's darker hair </3) and then they just got handed bad animation in world stars

ok thats all i have time for rn BUT YEAH

[noellevanious]

what sonic game should i play first, and which ones should i avoid, if there are any

hmm... depends on what you want!

If you want a more 2d platforming experience, Sonic 1, 2, or CD are my go-to recs! just stick to the IOS/sonic origins versions that support widescreen! Sonic 3 & Knuckles/Sonic 3 A.I.R. can also be good, but you should play through at least 1 or 2 to really appreciate just how much went into it comparatively!

if you want 3d platforming with focused and refined gameplay, i'd recommend sonic adventure 2! if you want 3d platforming that's less polished, with a splash of a bunch of different gameplay experiences, sonic adventure 1 is super diverse thanks to its hub worlds and how differently every character plays (big is a charming change of pace for example, ignore the idiots that call all sonic fans furries and say Big sucks)! (i'd also recommend emulating Sonic Adventure 1 on dreamcast over playing the DX port on steam/gamecube, but the PC/steam SA2/SA2B Port is fine!)

If you want "Boost" gameplay, which is essentially a 3d platformer if it was more like a racing sim (think Forza or Need for Speed), I'd recommend Generations or Colors! There's drifting, and generally the stages are more like giant race courses with simple obstacles that rely more purely on reflexes than controlling the character in a space!

Lastly, if you wanna try some open world stuff, apparently Frontiers is considered pretty good! It still mostly plays like a "Boost" game but considering the reception of most sonic games since 06, the fact that I've never really heard bad things about it since its release is nothing to sneeze at!

Avoid Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) (unfinished, and the gameplay between the 3 characters is boring and stuck between platforming and the future "Boost" gameplay), Sonic Unleashed (has good Boost gameplay but you have to deal with the Werehog Beat Em Up stages which are Not Worth It), and Shadow the Hedgehog (not as tightly designed as SA1/SA2/Heroes, a lot more Grungy which may or may not interest you)! I will say though, if you get into the Sonic series, you can enjoy pretty much any game released outside of purely unfinished or poorly made ones like 06 and Sonic Boom! The core focus of "Platforming but Fast" is pretty consistent!

Ooh and highlights for spin-off games for me are Sonic Riders (absurdly good mascot racer/snowboard hybrid game and a sort of precursor to Sega All Stars Racing) and Sonic the Fighters (really fun and simple 2d fighter that can be bought and played on the Xbox Live Arcade), and Sonic Robo Blast 2/Sonic Robo Blast 2 Kart (SRB2 is a fanmade 3d platformer that's been actively worked on for 20+ years, and SRB2Kart is a fanmade mod of that platformer that's super popular for being a rly good mascot racer!)

I'll also pass it on to followers if they have personal reasons for recommending some games!

[vadapega]

ALRIGHT, WHO LIKES TO GO DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE FOR THIS ONE?

So here's the deal, these sprites are not pre-rendered, which... looking closer at them, makes a whole lot of sense

But guess who also isn't a pre-render, yeah it's this fella right here from Sonic 3!

And I do mean it, with some minor pose changes (fixing some misc. weirdness but also adding it's own), everything checks out.

But you wanna know why I even know all of this? Why it's even something I noticed right away?

Cause I was commissioned to do a rotation animation for Khalifax10 not too long ago, which is the end of a wonderfully long chain of sprite edits

Sonic 2 -> Sonic 3 -> Sonic Mania -> Sonic CN -> Shadow CN -> Khalifax10's OC

...the Tail is completely custom tho, screw the baby stationary tail from the originals

Now this isn't the end of the story, cause I was asked about the Advance sprites right after and lo and behold!

They too got a hold of the homework and changed it enough so the teacher couldn't tell! (the advance spritesheet on TSR doesn't center the sprites, sorry for the wobble x.x)

They're more based off of the Sonic 2 iteration rather than Sonic 3's which is a good call since the Mohawk-like spines are easier to read and translate better into the more stylised Advance artstyle.

Most changes seem to be at the end and start of the animation, mainly because it wasn't smooth at all in Sonic 2 and that transition happens more often in the spring animation while Sonic 2's was designed mostly for the corkscrew.

Curiously, the peak frame is missing, though looking at more Sonic Advance footage reveals they didn't need it as that's when it transitions back to the advance walking style.

Arms are kept more "static" during the rotation to make them less of a mess when animated.

Moral of the story: It's ok to reuse assets, make sure to polish them first.

[landminousbodaciousness]

@mostpowerfrog I MEAN. aside from my last post being insanely wrong, i was like also kind of right but i must admit i didnt expect it to be this cute <;3 good work on this thing !! and by this thing im talking about vampire x hunter if it wasnt clear ;;

let me ummm dump about the whole thing here real quick. so overall, its great !! and like it feels like it hit me way harder cuz of how long the wait was between the updates so i was just like getting residual hype in the background from wanting it to be complete and then when i saw u actually post about it was all like: It's feasting time. and like it was so worth !! the story doesnt need to be super complex to suck me in but it still had like really interesting elements to it that like make more sense now considering the direction u went

like, for some reason i expected it to be more wrapped up even tho i kno thats not really your style so i didnt even consider it going this direction BUT that also means my first post may be more true further into the story like arcen questioning his whole motivation for this and the whole bannon clan and also more stuff about vance and and. ugh this is also one of your strengths where combined with the exposition and worldbuilding and characters and the small bit of story we get to see it really makes it seem like theres a whole world with a grand long story to tell if we were to ever explore it which is SO COOL but at the same time kills me a lil bit knowing ill never have like 300 chapters of your comics ...

that leads me to ask, do you have a lot of ideas for your comics that dont make it in or do you just have this small story you wanted to tell and then had to come up with all the stuff around it to have an excuse to make it? like, "ok, cool design just dropped. i wanna have him fight some other guy cuz its cool." and then coming up with a motivation for the mc and the whole story? or is it more like you already had some plans for characters and a story like this and then just had to execute it?

but umm yeah i def like this more than tenfold rings EVEN THOUGH tenfold rings has the same strengths and it was still great but this feels like you took that in stride and then made a more polished pilot for a potential longer story, aswell as having like way more of a settled(?) artstyle... ?? ok at this point im just saying words but i mean its even more flowy and the pacing is suited exactly to my taste and the paneling is really cool and the art is kind of like janky on purpose? like working with a pen with no line weight change or tapering and then allowing some parts to look super off-model to exaggerate the characters better while still having a lot of cool perspective shots and composition, n then also not trying to make aspects look too polished like some lines in the background will be going to the middle of nowhere but the overall composition and look from afar is so strong it doesnt even matter (it kind of makes it sound like an insult but this is great i tell u bc i spend way too much time focusing on polishing some random thing no one will care about) so basically you kno where to put your strengths and what people will actually pay attention to so you dont have to spend too much work

the action for me is also way more readable i remember being a little lost in some panels of tenfold and it wasnt exactly focused on action so it didnt matter too much but everything in vxh is readable and that makes the action scenes feel like ... awesomesauce swagaliciousness !! ive gotta say i aspire to learn your ways because therses so many cool small things i keep noticing on rereads that you did with the art and i especially love the paneling and use of contrast IT JUST LOOKS SO GOOD !!

im sorry though that you had to fight thru artblock n burnout to just get it out, def fine with you doing whatever for your next projects as long as it makes you feel more comfortable with creating the stuff and without burning yourself out n all that :v whether its more pilot comics or some longer form thing or some other medium idc!! u can probably tell im insanely rabid about your art so ill literally take whatever you make. and this is like supremely strange to me because im never obsessed with anyone elses art so i guess you somehow managed to scratch that itch no one else could thus far :O

so overall thoughts: vampire x hunter SUPREMELY goated and you should feel good about it forever. and good luck with every endeavor you ever pursue in the future forever +maximum

[ineffable-masquerade]

Bio, da loooong way

in case u dont get the joke in the title, click here.

______________________________________________________________

What this post is about

My little description post for stuff about me that goes more in depth about what I like and a little about my personality. Keep in mind I am in the baby stages of my tumblr blog development since I'm still a kid, so my blog is prone to rapidly change. I mainly reblog stuff, but it's still a cool blog so if you want funny stuff, cool art, and the occasional miscellaneous tumblr post.

Anyways here's a little description about me:

A tiny little goofball, I am. A smart one I'd say. A genius, even. I am transfem and bisexual. Please for the love of god do not look at my likes or who I am following💀

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Games/communities/shows(will be added soon) I enjoy

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Communities I am "in" (I don't directly participate in any community stuff for anything yet) besides when I went to a pride parade once):

Guilty Gear Strive community, Omega Strikers community, LGBTQ+ community (i feel like that was a given), Super Smash Brothers series community.

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Games I play:

Super Smash Brothers Ultimate, Roblox (only the good ones on there, ask me for the specific ones I like if you want. If someone asks, I will include them here later.), Slay the Spire, Peglin, Omega Strikers, Bloons TD6, and Hades. I also like FNaF World, it's just a pleasant game.

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Games I spectate (not play, but watch):

Super Smash brothers Melee (and a little of the others here in there, like Smash bros 64 combo tournaments), Guilty Gear Strive, and a little bit of SF6 here and there.

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List of blorbos:

ALL OF THE BYTE BREAKERS (from omega strikers)

All 3 of the Byte Breakers happen to be my 3 favorite characters in Omega Strikers. I love the entire cast of Omega strikers, but these 3 not only are on the same team but are also just the three parts of my personality and I LOVE IT. Anyways, If you wanna see who they are, here are some VERY short descriptions/my thoughts on them:

Finii

she's my spirit animal

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Zentaro

He's cool. He just runs around my mind slicing random objects and it makes me happy.

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Ai.Mi

She's a sassy, heterochromatic, cute catgirl with amazing design and an awesome personality.

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Edit: finally expanding this list cuz I actually have watched some stuff now, starting off with:

Gojo Satoru from Jujitsu Kaisen

He's just... so funny. And cool. And hot.

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Wow, you actually read all that. Thanks I guess. All my original posts are tagged as "#Masquerade's babbling", any art I reblog is tagged as "#art", any memes I make or reblog are tagged as "#meme", there's also some "#hornyposting" but I try to keep it at a minimum since I am a minor (I'm not very good at doing that so bear with me), and if you just wanna see my handpicked soup of content that is my blog, just go in raw. If there's anything I forget to tag, tell me so I can make my trash can look more polished.

[weekend-whip]

*slams hands on table* what was the inspiration behind Olivia’s character and how did you develop her/how has she changed over time

Once upon a time there was this seemingly unnamed yet intricately designed character in The Lego Ninjago Movie that I had always felt could’ve used a little extra polish, especially when it came to making the Shark Army much more of a threat. Upon doing a little research for Book 1 of Legacyverse (as I wanted to incorporate as much movie!DNA as possible, which is also why Jesse is now a whole thing come Book 2) and then learning she had a name, I knew I immediately wanted to use her. 

She would be perfect—a way to have an inside man on the opposite team even with Garmadon’s absence, a middle man to showcase the other side of the story, someone to actually give some heft to the Shark Army’s existence as a whole...

But how? For starters, how do you create a character out of someone who only has scraps of a personality made from about six lines of movie dialogue, one lil’ boss battle in a licensed video game, a love for smoothies/slushies, a penchant for being kinda lazy at a job you’re otherwise pretty passionate about, being somewhat sympathetic, yet still scarily dangerous, sinister, and borderline psychopathic when pushed too close to edge? 

...you turn her into Nya’s best friend, I guess. 

When I was first trying to incorporate Olivia into the world, there was the dilemma of how old to make her. She originally started as an adult (roughly around Tox’s age), but then I couldn’t come up with a non-generic, not necessarily Garmadon-ordered (and not-creepy) reason for why she would’ve been so focused on Nya in the first place, and it would’ve made it harder to make her sympathetic later on. 

So I bumped down her age to 16, put her in the high school with everyone else to allow for more opportunities to actually have her be a character, and turned her into Nya’s friend to establish that initial emotional connection and the eventual tragedy of their fallout *-*)9  

She...was originally going to be a lot colder and distant than she is now (and you can kind of still tell from Chapter 2 of Book 1 and bits of The First Day of School chapters in Book 2), but then her crazier, wilder, louder side started leaking out and her dynamic/rivalry with Kai turned out to be so much fun that I knew I wanted to build on that more, and it wouldn’t have been possible if she was entirely on “the dark side”. So now she is extremely morally gray and we’re vibing with it! Wild Card, baby! Chaotic Neutral!

...and that’s also partially why Bridget became an unintentional Ascended Extra, because someone had to fill the hole Olivia’s original plot line left behind :V

I also made her father the previous General #1 to ground her roots in the army more, and to provide a strong reason for why she’s so dedicated to Garmadon’s cause in the first place (and...why she would stick with it even after things happen). It’s not just what’s she grown up to be able to do; it’s what her father truly believed in, and things certainly haven’t gotten better with Wu hiding the truth of everything...so, what’s really wrong with letting Garmadon destroy the lies of society and starting anew? If she stops following Garmadon...the alternative’s not really much better, is it?

Anyway somehow she’s maneuvered herself into a secondary main character, which I love...but it’s also important not to forget that she’s still an antagonist, even despite having bigger fish to fry at the moment (ha). Like, have you SEEN her slasher smiles?! Nightmare Fuel. I’m not even kidding. Every time I dare to look at the worst ones where’s she attacking Lloyd there’s chills up my arms and I break into a cold sweat my god—

...Ahem. So, for now, let’s just say she’s aboooout 1/3 of the way through her arc. Maybe 1/4 if I wanna be kind. 

@shark-general-1 @asher-hyperfixation-hell I know you guys are Olivia fanatics so this one’s for you too snksnksnk

[astarionposting]

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for all your lovely screenshots and overall artistic contribution because you've got such an eye for this, gods *swoons*... Now, while I'm totally in love with Freya/Frey, Lilith (and they're my beloveds lol like every time i see them, how R U NOT ROMANCEABLE AND ACTUALLY IN-GAME??)) but will there be any like mods-listing post about Malenia or genuinely more content on her or is that something to be expected on the Gale blog? .3.

Thank you so much! I’m so soooo happy that you really like them :)

I do plan on doing a mod list for Malenia (I just need to ‘polish’ her up—as in, I need to make some changes before I’m fully satisfied with her design) and more content, but since I am romancing Gale with her, I’ll probably post more content of her on there, but for any mods and random little things, it will be posted on here instead since this is my ‘main’ blog, and not just astarion (even though that is my name, I just don’t wanna change I’m too attached 😭)

I need to get back to posting some Astarion stuff tonight, but then I also have some ideas for Frey and Malenia/Lillith that I’ll try to work on as well and hopefully get posted in a few hours. I would expect a mod list for Malenia by then too since I don’t need to change her much.

Thank you again, anon! I’m always nervous posting content about my ocs because I get in my head and think “no one actually cares” or that it is “annoying”, so it comforts me to know that there are people who care and enjoy my content for them 🥹🥹🥰

[banana-breadses]

holy shit your object show as a whole sounds so interesting if you woulnd't mind i want to hear more

okie lets go! (long ramble ahead)

My show is called Roll Credits!

plot wise its just your standard object show with challenges eliminations and a huge plot thing later in the season! the characters is where it gets fun ;-)

here are the first drawings of most of the characters. its not the best, but they're all here! lets go in order:

Water Bottle(she/her): Athletic! likes sports and excersise. complete opposite of Towel.

Towel(she/her): Lazy! likes television and sleeping. complete opposite of Water Bottle.

Textbook(he/him): Smart! is a green book! i have since updated his design, and added glasses and some blocks of text on his cover. also BAD AT TALKING

Rubik's Cube(he/him): Organized! basically my younger brother's self insert. dont know much about him but hey he seems cool.

Sugar Cookie(she/her): My girl! love her! first character of them all,an oc before i wanted to make a show. Ive talked all about her before, and I love her <3

Snowflake(he/him): honestly he's the one ive thought the least about. cool guy, really chill(pun intended)

Drum(they/them): Likes music i guess. I love them but all conversations end up in an argument because of the ~transphobic family~

Bowl(he/they/it): Cool guy. also a god. this was drawn before he was a god. doesn't talk i also have an original drawing for God Bowl that i dont really like anymore but if you wanna see it... (more lore to come!)

Bill(he/him): Rich! Bowl's best friend, and talks a lot. makes up for Bowl's silence.

Sunglasses(both he/him): the hosts! individually their names are Sun and Glass. Sun is excitable and energetic, and Glass is a cool guy.

Measuring Tape(she/they): Mom friend? i think? no matter what I am in love with their shape!!! she's so cute!!1

Glow Stick(she/her): rowdy teenager! likes to party and have fun. Her emotions do get really big(like me!) and she changes mood really intensely really quickly.

Flashlight(she/her): Cute girl! love her! she's the youngest of the group. kind to everyone, knows everyone, but doesn't have any real friends. Until now! with compassion she and Glow Stick become good friends :)

Speaker(he/him): didn't have a personality, but now he still doesn't! yknow how Rob in TAWOG forces his way from a background character to the villain? Speaker's kinda like that. doesn't have a personality, but hacks into the settings of the show to give himself one.

Pinecone(he/him):!!!!! the angry one!!!! used to be a criminal. he has been cloned!! and he doesn't really know it. as far as Pinecone knows, he got hit with a sciencey beam and thats it.

Marble(he/him):uuuuhh a last minute addition. dont know much about him. :/

Key(he/him): very calm. Kinda like Candle II. his eyes are always closed because when he opens them theyre so shiny it would blind everyone. why? you'l never know(unless you ask him(he polishes them(with bleach)))

Twig(she/her): TWIG!!!! Love her!!! very soft spoken and loves her leaf. doesn't understand people all the time, but she tries :o)

Mushroom(she/her): the mediator. Likes gardening, and tries to keep her alliance from falling apart.

those are all the main characters! there are a few side characters like the mafia, their parents, and the gods.

okie the mafia:

Coney(he/any): Pinecone's clone. wants to distance themself from him a lot, so he became a criminal! leads a band of friends despicable objects.

Poinsettia(she/her): tries to stay calm. Tall. super cool

Butter Knife(they/them): anxious to all tomorrows. i have never seen them not anxious.

Tie(he/she): chaotic. has maybe killed someone for real......? she wont tell.

honestly the mafia is just Team Rocket level evil, but Coney honestly tries to be bad.

their parents are just a few things ive thought about. Sugar Cookie's parents are Chocolate Chip Cookie and Cake, Rubik's cube's parents are Puzzle and Paint Pallet, and Measuring Tapes parents are Ruler and Tape. Ive come up with more(not all of them).

TAPE!!!! LOOK AT HIM!!! HE IS SO SHAPED!!!

the gods are still a bit of a mystery to me. there are twelve of them, (all dishware) but the only ones that are really important and fleshed out are Bowl and Plate. Plate was Bowl's caretaker when it was young, and after Bowl ran away, she got really depressed and holed up in the gods' realm. they all have varying numbers of eyes and wings.

here's a picture of Plate and a ladle guy i might make a god.

okie those are all the characters! (not even all of them I still havent mentioned Doll or any of the alliances ;))

[nameification]

ALSO 1, 3, 5, 7, 14, 16, 27, 28, 30 for the artist asks? :)

1. Art programs you have but don't use

mmm krita and... well I have the entire adobe creative cloud at my disposal but I just. don't. honestly nowadays I've been doing a lot of my stuff traditional with just like. my sketchbook and my favorite pen but for digital I will use csp.

3. What ideas come from when you were little

...so I had this character. Merivette. right. she is like. the archetype for most of my focus characters for most of my stories and her original thing was that she was an scp doctor that did dimension fuckery (like 507) but then she just became like. idk she became part of the vivienne character archive mythos ig

5. Estimate of how much of your art you post online vs. the art you keep for yourself

OMYGOPD FUCKING. I'd say a good 70-80% I don't post ??? maybe upto 90-95% ??? that'll probs drop down to like. 35-50% if I start learning how to use insta but since I can't exactly work easily at fucking school I barely post stuff I would think looks good enough for my tumblr. ye I mentioned insta but that is specifically gonna be like. doodle dump

7. A medium of art you don't work in but appreciate

FIBER ARTS!! fiber arts, 3d modelling and traditional painting. god. what I would give to have skills and knowhow for 3d modelling. this is reminding me to get back into bookbinding and scrap booking sajosdf

14. Any favorite motifs

... stars. I mean obviously with my current brainrot being like. about the skies and the stars and the things beyond and b elow the earth of course stars. eyes too ig but like. kind of a given

16. Something you are good at but don't really have fun doing

landscapes and comics. comics I can't will myself to drawing something over and over and having to make it look decently polished. landscapes I just fret over the details too much. getting more used to comics and the likes specifically cause. yknow. I wanna make animatics

27. Do you warm up before getting to the good stuff? If so, what is it you draw to warm up with

OKAY SO I love just. doodling random shapes as warm up. and then also I will like. doodle a bunch of stuff related to said character on a separate page and maybe some small doodles of the character. specifically for the shapes I'll do different directions of hatching for them and in areas where shapes intersect I'll make it kinda like a cross hatching thing

28. Any art events you have participated in the past (like zines)

uhhh not really ? They're usually around the time I get burnt out or am buusy. like you know I tried artfight but that literally started around the same time as my school year. and then the school is also hosting a zine but they started it during fucking hell week so they extended the deadline but I do not have any full illustrations at the ready so maybe like. next year or maybe I rush something up idk

30. What piece of yours do you think is underrated

with all the art I am currently proud of rn I think just the character design refs that I have up for asotfs. you can see a change in how I draw in the ones I have but I like them. I do not post art often .w.

[meandmyechoes]

since there's no serial star wars until august and it's a series i'm not sure i can sit through i'm gonna turn this into sentai brainrot.

i like kingoh this much i've watched every episode at least three times and trying to piece together all the information. i love rita so much i'm planning kingoh FLT and dissecting their costume and sewn a plush and possibly will buy a toy during its run

now i'm just racing to finish kingoh brainrot before May 4 so I can concentrate on Visions vol 2. After Sixth debut I probably had to put things on hold for real to do school work. I hope.

it's plot-heavy and serial unlike your typical sentai but almost typically anime/shonen with a heavy fantasy setting and character designs. but do you need more reason than 'rita kanisuka' to watch it. and the tokusatsu action/direction is so good.

practically:

i started a toku sideblog @mofffun anyway so i will be free-r over there. kinda wanna post opinions here and gifs over there lol. maybe polished gifsets here and random gifs over there. my queue is low in the tens but i certainly have many SW stock. i won't remove that completely just, not actively going for it? i'd still do regular tag searches on top of what came on my dashboard, but i might not write/talk about SW for a while? i still have a couple books to read

it feels weird because i became an SW centric blog since I came back 3 years ago. Not to say I didn't have other stuff chimed in but it's been 95% SW running non stop for 3 years. It's weird to have a sudden shift that stays. It's even weirder when you think when i first started this blog in 2012, it's as multifandom as you can get with 5 regular ones. so fuck it. i care about followers and feel a duty to provide? like an editor to a magazine? but probably just overthinking it. i won't force anyone to continue following if they are not into what i'm putting out. it feels weird but i'm just gonna talk about kingohger as much as i want to now. maybe change the blog description in a bit so that i don't feel disconnected. it's MY blog.

Talking about fixating on kingoh. I love the thrill of collecting clues and unraveling its plot. I love thinking again. I love that it gave me a reachable goal to work towards. Though half the time i'm just shouting RITA KAWAII/KAKKOUI i don't really pay attention to what's being said. It's been saccahrine the past 48 hours and i'm exhausted and elated. they got me crawling my ass up sunday at 8 to watch nitiasa live again.

compared with star wars it's just, ₻₻₻ (<- scribble). Mando s3 was a letdown and nobody cares about tbb. i can't stand how hype ppl are for the ahserka series and it feels like a minefield getting to know others with that hanging. sometimes i had to listen to ill-informed forum bros dissing, and when i look at official stuff, i begin to question who's actually keeping the lore.

it's not all negative. i still haven't done a totj!togruta analysis (even though i don't really want to think about totj itself because all it is to me is episode 5). i'm still super excited about SWC2025. i still love ahsoka (yes holding that throne against rita). I know I will be blown away by Visions as well. But I've been letting that define and govern me for too long it's time to let somebody else have a chance.

I'm crazy scared i won't be able to finish work this time. i'd hate that. i'm working the courage to tell my fam i need some space but, every time i actually said that, it's no use anyway. because i'm special. i'm responsible. what i do will never be enough.

i also try not to think to much about the society or where i will be in five years. it's like, some of the things i ultimately want can't happen unless you give it a few years of effort but i don't dare to dream that far. eh

well good thing ko let me think all that. i like thinking. i like writing.

[wiredalienvampire]

OK so, my thoughts on the don't hug me I'm scared tv series (warning for spoilers)

I don't know how to fully organize them so I'll just start with my biggest thought

The characters (specifically the main 3) are much more fleshed out and have more defines personalities and while it's much different than the original series and was much different than I thought it would be I still love how they're characterized. They're assholes who share a brain cell but at the same time you get the idea that they still care about each other no matter how often they bicker and fight?? U know with how red guy interacts with yellow during the car scene when he was talking about living in a community in episode 5, yellow guy and red guy grieving over duck in episode 2, that one fucking scene when red guy and duck guy say they like looking at each other in 6...love wins/hj. Sure it's mainly the trio being assholes for the sake of comedy but idk those moments kinda tell me that they secretly care about one another. When it comes to the individual trio themselves they're wonderful, duck guy is this fussy unhinged chipper asshole and is the funniest character of this series,every time he yells or says something out of left field in episode 2, it always kills me I love him. Red guy is an absolute blorbo, he's much more different than he was in the YouTube series,he has more emotion and enthusiasm in his voice instead of being monotone and bored sounding which felt surreal to hear but I got used to it pretty quickly,its still deep and calm sounding but I don't mind the change, he has a similar wacky quirk to him like the other 2 characters but is still more of a middle man and is much nicer than them,he's pretty dorky,weirdly friendly and just really laid back and awkward,and I love him <3, I loved him in the YouTube series and I love him even more in the tv show. Yellow guy is an interesting case,he's kind of a punching bag when it comes to some of the shows jokes especially when it comes to the trio but hsi personality is much more close to his pilot counterpart, he's naive,innocent and child like but has a sense of edge to him like when he literally hit duck with broken glass the end of ep 4, he's also more blunt? I love him alot and his role in the 6th episode is something I think about alot.. if you know then u know..

Another thing I wanna talk about is pretty much the tone and changes the tv show has in contrast to the web series

This series is more focused on comedy with the banter between the cast and also the surreal humor being put up to 11 which is the best parts of the show, its much more fast paced and wacky which is super entertaining, it still had the horror from the original series and while I perfer the more eerie horror of the web show the tv show is amazingly terrifying,it's much more gory and you get this sense of dread when your further in the episode and it really makes you uncomfortable at points like the end of episode 5 or just the entirety of episode 2,like Roy being implied to have cannibalized the family in the end is genuinely scary like Jesus christ 😭. I appreciate how it kept the spirit of the show in general even if it's much different than its counterpart and it just feels like don't hug me I'm scared.

And I also wanna talk about the production value of the show and God is it amazing

I love the different art mediums the show uses,like 2d animation,stop motion, claymation,it makes the series much more unique and it's just so well done, the set design is great, and everyone looks so colorful it makes me so happy, off topic is but I love the references and fanservice the show gives like teacher cameos and references to iconic lines from the web show, like pesky bee, the old teachers like tony,Colin, the fucking lamp, and even the steak guy at one point,it's fun Easter eggs for fans while also being enjoyable for newcomers, everything looks so polished.

And last thing I wanna talk about is the story, like the original show,shit hits the fan during the later episodes but are hinted with the continuous shenanigans with the teachers, it starts getting real with episode 5 and I genuinely got really invested,wondering what will happen next and man the ending is something I won't stop thinking about aside from the scene with the gay puppets, I wanna know more about Lesley and how the whole thing shoe does works because she seems so interesting and I hope that they're would be more episodes so we could know more about her

So those are my thoughts on the series, tldr it's freaking wonderful and worth the 6 years of waiting,it might have alot of differences from the web series but there's something for fans like myself to enjoy! I loved it alot and I'm just so happy this show got to see the light of day <3

[l-a-l-o-u]

super curious abt ur opinions on tlovm. would u be willing to talk abt it??

Two other people (@raycowboyroy and @sapphiczorua) asked me so I guess I'm doing this!! Ty for your interest in my opinion ♥

So!! The Legend of Vox Machina. The tl;dr is that I'm a lil disappointed in the quality of it, but I'm still very very happy that it exists. I have a ton to say about it after watching the first 3 episodes, so I'll organize my thoughts into a list of positives and negatives. But first, some context for my silly little essay:

• This is my personal opinion, and from what I've seen so far, most people love the show. So, please don't decide to avoid it because of me. Check it out and decide for yourself!

• I'm an animation professional so I have a trained eye for animation... and I'm really nitpicky about it! I'll complain about stuff that the average watcher wouldn't even notice

• Critical Role has been a main interest of mine for the past 3 years. I know the story of Vox Machina by heart and actually wrote a big chunk of the main characters' articles on the wiki. That means it's really easy for me to compare the two stories, and also that I already know what's going to happen most of the time

• I had really high expectations before we saw the final art, and that influences the way I feel about the show

Okay with that out of the way, let's start with the list of things I liked in the first three episodes!

• I like the story changes that were made so far. I'm glad we got to see Brimscythe - now we get to see the entire Chroma Conclave story! The way the reorganized some plot elements to shorten the storyline without taking away the main elements has been very well executed so far. And that must've been pretty challenging, what with hundreds of hours of content to distill into a few episodes.

• The voice acting is overall great! My favorites so far are Pike, Scanlan and Keyleth; their line deliveries make them very easy to get attached to. Percy is also very nice, although I wanna wait until I see how he'll be in the Briarwoods arc.

• I enjoyed the group interactions a lot! Every time two main characters talk to each other I can feel their connection and their history. The scenes in Greyskull Keep were especially nice and reminded me why I love this group! Scanlan and Grog's dynamic is especially entertaining.

• The Briarwoods....... hhhnnng

• I really like the backgrounds. There's a lot of great establishing shots where you can appreciate the environment designs, and the artstyle is really solid and pleasant to look at.

• Great use of color to set the tone in every shot. Not every animated series does that! It helps a LOT to carry the story and adds an extra layer of immersion. Plus, it adds a layer of mush needed polish on the animation.

• The storyboarding / photo direction is nice so far. Apart from a couple of awkward shots, I like how they frame everything, it flows well. As they say, good cinematography is when you don't notice it. I especially enjoyed the opening scene of episode 3 with Percy's memories.

• This is probably my favorite Scanlan design yet! I like it even better than his campaign art and comic book design. It's perfect for him. Keyleth is also really well executed overall

• I love that they made Gilmore fat and gave him eyeshadow. King shit

• I just love the fact that this series exist honestly! I love that a group of people managed to turn their silly little friend activity into an entire production. The CR cast looks over the moon about it, and I'm very happy for them.

And now for the depressing part! Here are the things I was disappointed by.

• I saw this coming a mile away with how much the cast insisted this was "adult animation" in interviews, but it really started off kinda crass. A lot of scenes, especially at the start of episode 1, feel like they exaggerated the gore, language, and gross moments just for shock value, and I just thought it was unpleasant to watch. They show vomit and peeing and gory deaths on screen and it's all front and center - I feel like there's a better way to make an audience feel the weight of the action without actually shoving it in our face, ya know? But I guess it was funny in a few places.

• Although the story is well planned out, I think they fell a bit short on the pacing. Many scenes feel very rushed, with too much happening and not enough time to really appreciate it. There are things that should have lasted longer so we can actually feel their emotional weight. For example, the scene with the fisherman's family was nice, but it didn't feel like we were supposed to care about them at all. So when Vox Machina uses their death to motivate their new goals and morals, it fell flat to me and wasn't super believable.

• I wish they would tell us more about how the group came to be. I already love Vox Machina, but I feel like a new viewer would have a hard time getting attached to them. When Keyleth asked “why are we even together?” and nobody answered her, I was like yikes. She’s right who the fuck are you!

• So far the tone of the show doesn't feel super solid. Is it supposed to be funny? It doesn't feel like a comedy, apart from a few jokes here and there. Is it a serious high fantasy adventure? I think that's what they're going for, but so far it lacks a bit in charm and lore. I'm confident this will pick up later in the season though.

• I've said this before, but I really don't like the art style they picked for the characters. It's really a personal preference, but I also think it does a disservice to the animation as a whole. The designs are a bit too realistic and complicated for a television production. They have a lot of elements and little things poking out, making them harder to move in three dimensions.

• I said earlier that I like the use of color, but most character designs are the exception. A lot of them I find weirdly desaturated, which doesn't help to integrate them in the bright environments. Some characters, especially Vax and Pike, have a weird greyish tone to their skin that constantly takes me out of scenes as I stare at them in confusion.

• There are several elements in the main characters' designs that I dislike - again a lot of it is personal preference.

• Vax is my least favorite. The furs on his shoulders make him like he's wearing a football uniform, and he looses all of his twink charm. The top of his hair looks weirdly flat in many shots, and the lines under his eyes are so pronounced that it makes his look a lot older than he is whenever he's not smiling. He doesn't really feel like Vax to me!

• I also dislike Vex's design: she has three belts for some reason, and her tunic is such a bright blue that it looks off next to every other desaturated character element. She also feels too old and not quite like herself, especially without her braid in the front.

• Some very minor things: I don't really like that Grog is blue now, and I CANNOT take Percy seriously with that hair.... And they made Keyleth short?!? at least its not extremely obvious

• Like I mentioned earlier, there were a couple of awkward zoomed-in shots here and there. You could feel like they were trying to be cinematic, but they stand out too much or they're not amazingly executed, taking you out of the moment.

• I thought Scanlan's songs were overall not great. I liked the one he sang to open a door tho!

• The 3D animation was awkwardly integrated with the 2D. The horses were especially jarring. But at least the dragon animation was well made, it just didn't fit super well.

• And lastly! I feel a bit let down by the animation quality. It's really good for the budget they had! I just wish they had more budget lol

That last bit is its own section because there's a few things to unpack.

I wanna preface this by saying that I absolutely don't think the animators did a bad job. The poses are nicely drawn, the layouts work, it's not hard to understand the action, etc. They obviously know what they're doing. Traditional animation always has a less polished look in a television production, because you have to animate more scenes in less time. That means less time for polish and touch-ups. Like I said before, the character designs are also difficult to animate. And I believe that the CR cast, ie. the producers, specifically asked for an animation style similar to anime (because they're attached to it, having done a lot of anime voice work) and also similar to 80s cartoons (for nostalgia again). And, well, anime and 80s cartoons are notoriously cheaply made, with very little budgets and a lot of cut corners. All of that helps to explain why it looks the way it looks. And I absolutely don't think it's bad animation - it's good, it does it's job, and I think most casual watchers will probably not be bothered by it. I'm a silly fool who just wishes to see my favorite thing have movie quality animation! Plus, the CR cast seems to love the final animation, which, awesome for them! It's their characters after all.

Let me explain what I mean. If you compare the animation in the show and the animation in the opening, I think even the untrained eye will notice a significant difference in animation quality. You could even compare it to The Legend of Korra, a show with a very similar art style. The opening of tLoVM was done by a different studio (Grackle), and they likely had a lot more time to polish every shot. Everything seems to move more fluidly, the actions have more punch, and everything is constantly in motion. So what's the difference? The answer is that the opening's animation follows the 12 principles of animation! You can learn more about the 12 principles here if you're interested.

In a production, the first step of animation is to draw key poses: the start of the movement, the end, and a few important poses in between them. When a production doesn't have a lot of time, they go from pose A to pose B to pose C by drawing the inbetweens at an equal distance from each other, going from pose to pose in a straight line. There's a LOT of that in anime. The movement works, you understand it, but it's kinda.... bland. It's stiff and robotic and a little boring. No action has more weight than the one before or after it, they're all equal. I barely noticed any anticipations, follow-throughs, ease-ins, ease-outs... not a lot of arcs either. They used a lot of still poses where only one body part like an arm, a mouth, or the eyes move on their own layer. Facial animations are limited, with characters often starting and ending a shot with the same facial expression. I don't think I noticed any deformation - nothing moves in an elastic way, nothing bounces or stretches or squashes. They did do smears here and there but that's pretty much it. And I want to reiterate that it looks fine and it works! They had less time to make it and less frames to work with.

All of that affects the acting. I don't mean the voice acting, I mean the body language, the expressions, you know!! Acting!! There's acting in the key poses, but so much of acting comes from HOW you move. And when you're trying to cut corners, oftentimes your animation won't do the voice acting justice. One scene that comes to mind is at the start of episode 1, after they've been thrown out of the tavern, and Scanlan turns to ask for his clothes: something covers his mouth, and even though Sam is delivering his line in a really peppy way, barely anything moves. That line deserved so much better!!!

There’s exceptions of course! Some shots, especially the action ones, are a lot more put together. I think overall, I’d give the animation quality a 7/10. Because the layouts and key poses are really good, and they cut corners in a clever way, so it works really well. I do think Titmouse deserves praise for their work! They did really well!! The animation quality is most likely due to budget limitations, and if less episodes had been made, it would've likely been higher. But they made the choice to write more of the story, and I think that in this case with how much material they’re adapting, that's not a bad decision. I wish The Legend of Vox Machina had a big production budget, but it didn't. And that's just life!

As a last thought, I just wanna say - this could've been a lot nicer if they had more cartoony designs. Do you guys remember the picture they used in the Kickstarter days? Sometimes I look at it and think about what could have been... They could’ve done cutout animation, even. That could’ve turned out nice. But oh well! The showrunners are happy, and for such a personal project that's what matters isn't it?

If you read all this hello!!! I hope you had fun reading this & don’t forget to love each other ♥

[painted-fanbird]

Finally started reading the Inkheart trilogy! Which is my best friend’s favorite book series, and I am literally obsessed. Like, my brain chemistry is actively being changed and I’m absorbing all that good writing directly into my soul <3

So here are some Dustfinger doodles I did to work out his design before I moved on to a bigger and more polished illustration with him. I love Dustfinger so very much lol. I wanna hug him and give him a kiss on the head XD

[riverpatel]

[ LISTEN HERE ]

notable lyrics.

1.  There is a house way down in New Orleans / They call the Rising Sun/And it's been the ruin of many a poor boy / And God I know I'm one 2.  Future outcasts and they don't last / And, today, the people dress the way that they please/ The way they tried to do in the last centuries 3.  And you'll ask yourself / Where is my mind? / Where is my mind? 4. Ask me if I'm happy / I don't care / Maybe I'd be happy if you give me drugs / Ask me if I'm happy / What does it mean? 5. "Run, run, Lost Boy", they say to me / "Away from all of reality" / Neverland is home to Lost Boys like me 6. And the boys always call, and the girls do too / Because in my world, I'm constantly, constantly havin' a breakthrough / Or a breakdown, or a blackout / Would you make out with me underneath the shelter of the balcony? /  'Cause I don't need anyone, I don't need anyone / I just need everyone and then some 7.  Dreamers are selfish / When it all comes down to it / I hope one of you come back to remind me of who I was / When I go disappearing / Into that good night 8.  I feel like no one wants me/ And I hate the way I'm perceived / I only have two real friends / And lately, I'm a nervous wreck /  'Cause I love people I don't like / And I hate every song I write / And I'm not cool and I'm not smart 9. Don't let those demons in again / I fill the void up with polished doubt, fake sentiment / Surrender yourself 10. Drunken in Seattle / Two more Xans and without a paddle / I don't remember your face / Or your hair, or your name, or your smile  11. The world is a curse, it'll kill if you let it / I know they got pills that can help you forget it / They bottle it, call it medicine 12. Memories tend to just pop up / Drunk pre-meds and some rubber gloves / Five thousand people with designer drugs / Don't think I'll ever get enough 13. I wanna prove my love before I leave / I wanna make you come and scrape my knees / Want you to bite my tongue until I bleed / And you can put these fucking words in my obituary 14. Maybe I need therapy / Maybe we need less of me / I will make myself smaller before / Completely Exploding / Maybe I should get some sleep / Cause i’m Godless Lawless & non-monogamous 15. Just take my hand and we'll abandon this world / We'll wash those tears away / You're young and beautiful, and I'll love you always / We got no time for pain / When it's just you and me in ecstasy 16. Don't want cash, don't want card / Want it fast, want it hard / Don't need money, don't need fame / I just want to make a change / I just wanna change 17. The happiest I've been's at a party / Wasted with my friends and why not / We die, then it's over / So fuck being sober 18. Oh, you clever little things / The sycophantic teens / What a precious basket case / Now shut your dirty mouth / If I could burn this town / I wouldn't hesitate 19. To the ones who never left me, we've been down this road before / I'm so sorry, I'm not sober anymore 20. I'll stay in the pool and drown / So I don't have to watch you leave / I put on Survivor just to watch somebody suffer / Maybe I should get some sleep 21. The truth is I am a toy that people enjoy / 'Til all of the tricks don't work anymore / And then they are bored of me  22. I caught a fleeting glimpse / Out of the corner of my eye / I turned to look but it was gone / I cannot put my finger on it now / The child is grown / The dream is gone / I have become comfortably numb