#i was thinking about making a comics (or even a little animatic??) for the whole song

[ratatosk777]

Pierce the Veil - A Match Into Water

[slowlysoluminary]

Still working on that chapter. Don't worry, it's coming along! Yesterday i was trapped at a party for 10 hours and, being the introvert i am, decided to take a break from drawing for an animatic by trying to draw for this au instead. don't know why i didn't just do artfight lol

FULL KING REFERENCE PACK + SIFFRIN DUO POSTGAME REFERENCES

Notes and details under the cut

sooooo howsabout postgame content?

the original post talking about postgame can be found here but it doesn't go into too much detail

So post-game resetfrin and gloop. they go with the party, kinda like a lot of twohats aus? resetfrin goes with the party because they know mirabelle and kinda know isabeau from when he would get apprenticed by the king (long story), but also because resetfrin acted so much like the old siffrin they used to know that it felt odd to leave him behind.

gloop, however, WAS the old siffrin! the party knows this, they found it out in the last loop, and they've formed such a bond with them that it's as natural as it is in the original game. the only issue is: gloop has changed SO much. physically, mentally, even a pronoun change - the party wants to help her out, but they want to explore who this New Siffrin is, too. Isn't it ironic that the new addition is the one you know far more of than the old addition?

resetfrin stays siffrin because... uh. because he's always been siffrin? there's no conflict there. gloop, after getting their memory back, ALSO goes back to siffrin, because that's who they really are and they acknowledge that loop is their own person. they don't want to be reminded of their time as gloop, either.

so... they're both Siffrin. And they're both technically the same person. do you see the issue?? the two of them didn't. the party did.

there's a comic I'm thinking about making to explore the processes and conversation that happened to initiate the name changes. the long and short of it is they can't BOTH be siffrin, but neither of them want to be siffrin if the other one can't also be siffrin, so they go on separate journeys to find a new name. they come back together with the party afterwords and they both ended up picking the same name so it's back to square one.

they talk to the party the second time and after a lot of brainstorming land on Orion for resetfrin and Lux for gloop. it helps the party distinguish between them and helps me establish the difference between postgame content and in-game content

(plug moment but these names were suggested by @the-bitter-ocean who gave me like. a whole list of things i could choose from. oh the life saver. i didn't even think about what names they would've picked until xe helped. and ohhh theyre so good. he also has some amazing aus including a miraloops au that you should go check out. pretty please)

the hair thing is SUPER IMPORTANT i originally only did it because they needed a way to separate themselves from eachother, but i realized they would also have done it to separate themselves from the old people they used to be. very poetic. 10/10 thank you brain for the excuse

the colors for orion's alt outfits are just a limited color pallete, they're not actually the colors afaik. (<- says the creator) but Lux's colors are 100% the colors, yes. their star body is different from loop's, where loop's body is solid black and lux's seems to glow on it's own. do you see where the name lux came from.

it's really dysphoric. imagine being turned into a ghost against your will and losing your memories, and them after gaining your memories back you turn into a completely different body AGAIN and it's STILL not the original body you had. i would cry.

gloop/lux's eye is still blind. even as a ghost they lacked depth perception. L. since resetfrin wasn't with the party to lose his eye they don't have any vision impairment

actually, about that. funny little thing. if siffrin wasn't there to protect bonnie, who did? haha hehe. hey why does odile have her arm in a cast...

KING TIME

okay i got a lot of questions about it so i double-checked on the original post and. yeah it DOES say the king's name. both in the text and on the image. but you'd be forgiven for missing it because it's pretty small on the image and there's a lot of text to read through

anyway pre-madness king's name is Lazare!! he originally looks like the lithe dude on the left. he's scholar-ish, came to vaugarde on vacation before losing his memory, yadda yadda... a lot of his information is on the original post so I won't repeat anything that's already been said

he picked Lazare a few days after losing his memory. he never told his name to anyone in the town he was staying so all he got was "travelling one" and he really genuinely thought that was his name for a hot second until he realized that Vaugarde really likes adding -one to titles

i made his hair curlier! after drawing the king for the chapter cg i realized i did NOT makw his hair curly enough when drawing Lazare. his hair type is almost exactly mine, though mine has more define curls, so drawing it is a BLAST!!

Defender arc Lazare! He bulked himself up to come off more physically and mentally strong. is this a trans allegory? is the King trans or was the body craft just to match his perception of himself? not sure. At this point in time he's already travelled with siffrin for a bit so i like to think he's a teensy bit protective. somewhere between friend snd father figure. cool guy

you know who's not cool? this guy vvv

this is where the King becomes the King :3 his hair is OBNOXIOUSLY long, almost rapunzel-like but nowhere near as bad. it always covers one eye but it doesn't really matter which one.

the crown happens like... VERY shortly before he makes the wish and starts freezing people in time. hes lonely and isolated and its something like coping with his delusions about everyone being out to get him

that's not the way he thought in the original loop, but after the reset his descent is much faster and harder than the last. when Siffrin starts climbing the tower, yearning becomes animosity as he thinks Siffrin finally betrayed him like he "always knew they would." or something.

hey 16yo sif jumpscare!!! wasn't he on the original post too?

.

anyway!!! that's it! that's all! i swear it's all. inevitably I'll have to make gloop and resetfrin full references but I'm happy with the ones i drew in the original post which I'll probably end up pointing people to if they want to draw either of them. the king was the one i worried about most because he's so different from canon, and same goes for the postgame designs. even coming up with new names was worrying because they're practically not even the same person from canon anymore

but that's the fun thing with aus, isn't it? lol

cya

[ordinaryschmuck]

What I Thought About The Owl House Pilot

Huh. Never thought I’d get to do this again, but oh well.

Salutations, random people on the internet! I’m an Ordinary Schmuck! I write stories and reviews and draw comics and cartoons.

And, above all else, I LOVE talking about The Owl House. I have an entire masterpost dedicated to talking about every single episode of the show and I’m halfway through a six-part review discussing everything that I love about it (Part Four's coming when it’s done. Let’s say…late June. Early July at the latest). I figured that after I’d finished that whole deal, I wouldn’t have anything left to talk about when it came to this series. Then, out of nowhere, the show’s original pilot leaked online…Sort of. It’s just an animatic with the show’s original voice cast voicing MOST of the lines, but it’s very much the pilot episode. It’s just not a finished product and I won’t share a link because I don’t think it’s exactly…legal. BUT I will at least share my thoughts about it because, well…Look at my blog. The Owl House has become the BIG THING that I obsess over for a reason and I love that I got to see what’s basically an alternate version of the show that I love. What do I mean?

Well, a pilot is MUCH different from a first episode. Where the first episode is meant to sell the show to the audience, a pilot is meant to sell it to a STUDIO. It can happen at any point of the story or act as the show’s first episode. Just as long as it shows off the characters, concepts, and tone, a studio can look at it, greenlight it, and allow the show to continue, BUT with some extra notes. Sometimes, those notes can change the rest of the series where others can keep the pilot good enough to stay canon. Some best examples off the top of my head are the pilots for Regular Show and Rick and Morty. You can tell that not much changed from the pilots of those shows and what was initially pitched, but there are clear changes in tone, animation, and even personality. Skips sounds a little more illiterate and Benson being more informed of the consequences of something as simple as rock, paper, scissors in the Regular Show pilot and Rick is noticeably more reckless and unprepared for situations in the Rick and Morty pilot. Nothing is set in stone with a pilot episode, even the ones that are canon. For the case of The Owl House, it’s pilot is no exception. A lot of it is just the same as “A Lying Witch and A Warden” at least in terms of plot and themes, but there are so many changes that show off what the series COULD HAVE been instead of what it was. How different? Well, let’s go through it all.

But real quick, I’m not going to do the “Like/Dislike” format I’ve done for previous reviews. Instead, I’m going to look through this pilot, note the changes it has, and share my thoughts on them. There’s also going to be a few spoilers to what happens in this pilot, so if you haven’t checked it out then I suggest giving it a watch wherever you can find it. It really is interesting to get a peak into what’s basically an alternate version of my favorite show.

With that said, let’s get into it.

Some Things Stayed the Same: Like I said, it’s basically an altered version of “A Lying Witch and A Warden.” The plot is that Eda uses Luz to get King back his “crown of power,” with some bits and pieces carrying over. Certain jokes that must have been too funny to get rid of, specific lines of dialogue that hit just the right notes, and some aspects of the characters’ personalities being just the same, proving that they're already perfect the way they are. It’s the changes, however, that makes for something more interesting. For one…

There’s More of an Emphasis on Comedy: As much as I love The Owl House, I’ll always admit that humor isn't its strong suit. It CAN be funny, really funny. But the jokes don’t land as well as something as Gravity Falls or Amphibia. I can say that a part of that could be because Dana Terrace wanted a more serious show, and we definitely get a sense of how serious it could be later in the series. Here, in the pilot, it definitely seems like there was more of an attempt to make the show comedic. King’s crown isn’t in a warden’s cell held within a magical barrier that only a human can get through. It’s in a Principal’s high school, locked in a human locker that Eda and King treat as something devious. Amity’s friends aren’t preppy mean girls who seem like they could cause conflict to Luz and her friends. They’re characters used for jokes who are amazed by Luz standing up to Lilith. There’s less of an edge and more of a lean towards cutesy fun, waiting until the very end to reveal something heavy. To me, it makes the pilot feel MORE like a Gravity Falls clone than the final product. Because while Gravity Falls has its serious moments, it makes it clear that it was a comedy first, both in the pilot and final product. Any moment of heart or drama was overshadowed by one hilarious joke after the other. Now, “A Lying Witch and A Warden” had a lot of jokes too, but there were also these moments that hinted at something more. You have the oppressive looking prison, the grand beam of light hiding human collectibles, a crazy chase from a threatening looking warden. And yes, the reveal that Warden Wrath was trying to go out with Eda was hilarious, but a warden who tortures a prisoner for speaking her truth gives a hint of how dark this world can be. Meanwhile, a principal sending a student to demon detention feels more like a joke, exaggerating how strict some principals can be.

And keep in mind, I’m not complaining about the pilot leaning more towards comedy. I actually laughed a lot more with it than I did with “A Lying Witch and A Warden.” I’m just trying to explain how the tone is definitely going for something different than the full series. It might have that darker twist in the end, but even that is nothing more than a surprise. I'll get into why later, but while it has darker implications, it doesn't detract from the fun times to be had. Not by much. From what I can gather from the pilot, it’s definitely going for a series with goofy, fun adventures with a bit of heart to it. It’s just missing that personal touch that’s in The Owl House. One good example of how?

There’s Not Even a MENTION of Camila: Before you say anything, this has nothing to do with me being Camila’s number one fan, to the point where I almost made a side-blog dedicated to her (I really should get on that, though…)

I bring up this change because Camila grounds the story in “A Lying Witch and A Warden.” She draws Luz close to reality and is the first thing that comes to Luz’s mind when in real danger, saying, “If I die, my mom will kill me!” More than that, though, Camila is the one real connection Luz has to the human realm. She has no friends nor adventures, but Luz always has Camila, with even the first episode hinting that. So when Luz starts getting herself into trouble or choosing to lie and stay in the Boiling Isles, it lets the audience get ready for the inevitable drama that could unfold when Luz finally tells Camila everything. By removing Camila, though, the anticipation of Luz telling her mom goes away with her. At least, it tells ME that there’s less of a worry about Luz basically running away from home. Either this version of the show is holding off from that for a future episode or that Luz and Camila’s relationship isn’t close enough where it matters. This is speculation, of course, but I still stand by that a sense of something personal with Luz is lost for the sake of having fun and epic fantasy adventures with entertaining characters. It’s still good and entertaining, and the pilot does offer something else that’s personal, but it’s not the same as The Owl House we all fell in love with. Though, it’s notable that our main cast stayed the same.

Luz, Eda, and King: Overall, I’d say that these three, personality wise, didn’t change much. King’s probably the least altered, being the exact same character he was in Season One aside from MAYBE having a design change (It’s hard to tell through storyboards). As for Luz and Eda, they’re more or less the same. There’s a BIG change with Eda (That I’ll get to later), but her devil-may-care attitude is very much the same, as well as her snark and soft nature towards Luz and King. It’s her magic that gets the real boost, being able to do more like teleport across the Isles and turn into a…softer version of the Owl Beast at will. It’s pretty cool to see the power that this alternate Owl Lady has. And then there’s Luz, who’s still the lovable weirdo we all know. Though, this version seems a lot more dim and I’m not really a fan. How does she mistakenly give a book report in geometry class? How did it take seeing Amity’s witch ears to realize that she belonged in the demon realm? Luz had her dumb moments in the show too, but not to this extent. There was still a sense of maturity and cognitive understanding that made Luz feel like someone that seemed weird but intelligent enough to think herself out of a situation. This Luz seems more weird and focused on using brute force on a problem. In a way, it makes Pilot!Luz more of an…emotionally driven Star Butterfly. A fun and capable character, but not the same kind I had made several posts and reviews talking about how much I love/personally connected to her. But, comparatively, I guess it IS the most minor change that could be done to this character. Now let’s move onto BIGGER changes.

The Boiling Isles: The look and feel of the Isles remains the same, but the fact that it’s more connected to the Human Realm is intriguing. From what I can tell, the Demon Realm treats traveling to the Human Realm like it’s going to a new country. You visit, make some memories, and, for some, send your children over to be a foreign exchange student of sorts. Except that racism seems to be encouraged in this regard as the demons and witches don’t see humans worth breathing the same air as them. And some think it’s more than okay to hunt down and kill if one human trespasses into their realm. And the reason for THAT is implied to be Belos’ doing. Er, I mean–*Checks the leaked pitch bible*--Emperor Pupa? Uh…I’ll just stick with Belos. 

And that’s extra fascinating to me because Belos being a witch hunter was a major twist that spoke VOLUMES of the kind of people he represents. To find out that this version is more anti-human makes me curious of what kind of angle the show would have taken. Would Belos have been your bare-bones fantasy villain or would the writers find a different way to tackle his symbolism? And is the reason why the Demon Realm is more open up to the Human Realm because he hopes witches and demons can report about their enemies for a possible invasion? There’s no way to know for sure because that version of the story will never come to be, but it’s interesting to think of all the things we COULD have gotten. The same goes for other characters.

Amity: To think, Amity was considered important enough to be included in the original pitch pilot alongside our main trio. It makes sense. Dana Terrace has gone on record in saying that Luz and Amity’s relationship was something she wanted from the get go, so it’s smart to establish it as quickly as possible. Though the route they take is definitely different. Instead of being enemies to lovers, Lumity, in the original pitch, went for the friends to lovers trope…kind of.

Luz, in this version, is someone so desperate for positive attention and respect that she latches onto the first person in school that was nice to her. Except that Amity was looking for some quiet and just so happened to look like she was supporting Luz when telling everyone to leave her alone. It was an act of kindness, but not one done in generosity. It still meant the world to Luz, though, making her go ALL IN with friendship. Only to be a little too forward and creeped Amity out to the point where she was polite enough to say “Thank you,” but you could see the desperation in her eyes to be anywhere but next to Luz. Yet Luz doesn’t see that. She’s still too focused that someone was actually nice to her that she blindly follows Amity into a new world just to return a weird looking passport. Because Amity’s Luz’s friend now and friends do nice things to each other. Only for Amity to accidentally reveal that she couldn’t care less for Luz and shatter her hopes and dreams in one fell swoop.

In a weird way, I’d say Luz and Amity are off on a better first impression here than in the original series. There’s no attempted dissections or witch’s duels. Just…Amity trying to be polite in Luz’s presence only to act like your typical mean girl when she THINKS Luz isn’t around. Tossing away the drawing is harsh for sure, but here’s the interesting thing: Amity didn’t know she was talking to Luz at that moment. She didn’t even get rid of the drawing until someone drew (haha) attention to it. If anything, it’s worth noting that Amity still kept the drawing on her. Almost like, despite being weirded out by Luz, Amity felt as though the drawing WAS cute and only got rid of it when she thought someone would question her for having it. Can’t have that Little Miss Perfect status shatter over something some human gave her.

Am I reaching as a Lumity shipper? Oh, most certainly yes. But we all know the inevitable conclusion between these two. We know where they’re headed. Dana has been pretty adamant about wanting it from the start and this pilot sets the groundwork well. Knowing where these two will end up, it’s easy to make connections and hypothesize what means what. Plus, look at the face of shock and amazement on Amity’s face when she sees Luz standing up to Lilith. That looks like a girl who’s…feeling things for this human weirdo. They’re not off to a ROARING start, but I can see how things could improve between Luz and Amity. And who knows, maybe this version of these two might end up dating sooner with how quickly they seem interested in each other. Again, am I reaching? Most definitely, but I went without any new Lumity content for over a year so LET ME REACH!

The point I’m trying to make is that this version of Amity definitely seems a lot more chill and polite at the start, even though it’s likely she still has issues of even being FRIENDS with a human. But not everyone starts off polite.

Lilith: Crazy to think that Lilith started out as…basically a one-off villain like Warden Wrath. At least, that’s what I gathered from the pilot. The pitch bible hints that there COULD be more to her, but at the same time she gets sent to a fire dimension and loses a hand. That’s one-off villain energy if I’ve ever seen it. But if she is meant to be something more, I would love to see what differences could come of her being the headmaster of Hexside instead of Bump and how she could either develop into someone better through Luz’s influence as a student or regress into someone worse as she makes Luz’s school life a living hell. Whatever could come from her, it was kind of fun seeing Lilith act as more of a threat with her…out of nowhere ability to turn into a bat monster. It’s a pretty cool design and I love that it was brought out due to Eda’s constant pestering, proving that Lilith is still the same insecure nut that I love. And it is pretty great that this pilot confirmed that Lilith really did dye her hair to look more serious. You CAN’T tell me that’s not why the Lilith we know ditched the curly red hair.

But that’s about it when it comes to changes towards characters and locations. Let’s talk about the potential differences in the ongoing story.

Luz Stays Trapped Instead of Choosing to Stay: I mean, technically she chose to stay by breaking that key for no reason, but that’s more of a consequence of not thinking things through. She didn’t NEED to break the key, Luz could have just as easily pulled it out. Instead, she kicked the dang thing, leaving herself trapped in this new world. And it’s here that I would like to once again point out how this makes Pilot!Luz different and what’s lost by not including Camila. The Luz WE know would have been more careful. She always felt like someone who fought smarter, not harder, even in that first episode. Luz didn’t fight Wrath head on, she rallied a prison riot that distracted him long enough for her to hit a firework ball into his mouth. She’s intelligent and resourceful, where this one…kind of is? It was smart to send Lilith to the fire dimension, but again, not a great plan to break the key. Plus, without Camila, this doesn’t feel like as big of a deal as it could have been. Camila was the first person in Luz’s mind as she destroyed the portal door in the Season One finale. In the pilot, with no Camila, it feels like a non-sacrifice or even that big of a deal. She’s stuck, sure, but Luz doesn’t really seem to care that much. She feels happy being with Eda and King and doesn’t seem to be in that big of a rush to get home. Plus, it’s not exactly complicated to get back. There was a whole line of portal doors in the beginning that Luz could potentially sneak through and there’s not yet an established cannon that makes it seem like getting a new key would be difficult or even complicated. Once more, it gives the impression that this version of The Owl House would be focused less on personal stakes and more like giving Luz that fantasy adventure she’s always been craving for. It would make for a fun show, but not the SAME show. However, it is worth noting that there could be some potential drama. Especially for one twist that was a JOLT to my system.

EDA WORKS FOR THE EMPEROR?!: WHAT?!

I’ll admit, I feel like the reason why this is so shocking is because of the Eda I know and the Emperor I learned to fear. I mean, Eda, the woman who would sooner eat her own fist before even CONSIDERING helping Belos, even before the witch hunter business, was originally meant to HELP him. Of all the changes that the series could have made, this was by far the biggest. Everything that I thought to be constant turned out to be a lie and I was NOT prepared for it!

But again, the reason why I got that big of a reaction is because it goes against everything I knew about Eda. If this was my first introduction to her, it’d be less of a shocking twist and more of a…hook. Like how Invincible’s first episode (Don’t watch if you’re a baby) ends with a character you THOUGHT you could trust doing this intensely dark thing. The rest of the season is leading you to figure out WHY this was done and how the other characters would react, making you want to see more as the show inevitably leads up to this big conclusion that changes everything you once knew. The same applies here, with the reveal making me wonder why Eda would do this, how long she’s been doing it, how it will affect her relationship with Luz, and whether or not it’d be an easy fix. And much like the ending of Invincible’s first episode (Seriously, NOT meant for babies), this hook makes me interested in wanting to see what comes next. Except I never will know because that came from a version of The Owl House that will never exist.

The pilot is interesting because it shows me what The Owl House COULD have been. I wouldn’t say that it’s better than what we got or even that it’s a better first impression than “A Lying Witch and A Warden.” It’s definitely FUNNIER, I’ll give it that, but it doesn’t make the original pitch better, it makes it different. Everything looks the same and sounds the same, but the overall feel of this pilot makes it something that would have had a different story, tone, and ideas on how to develop these characters. Would I have liked it? Absolutely. It seems like a fun time. But that doesn’t mean I like the show we got any less. This was more like…getting a peek into an alternate universe where a show I already love would have been vastly different. And after over a year without any new Owl House content aside from stuff that fans have made, this was a very pleasant surprise that leaves me excited for the NEW fan content that springs from all this.

But that’s enough talking about a show that could have been made. Time to get back to a series that came into existence and I still love so much. See you all then as you all milk this gift that the internet has given you.

[sunnixsunshine]

topher and confucius being besties in middle school makes me happy, but it also makes me sad because theyre not friends anymore in high school. its a shame because they seem to be good friends :(

If my math is right, then they both may have been in the seventh or eighth grade when the whole Christopher Columbus debacle was starting up and eventually spread all over the news and internet. So I’m thinking Topher pushed Confucius away not wanting to drag him down and “get cancelled” with him. They both were already pretty active on the internet but mostly for silly kid stuff like just watching or making cringey videos and watching anime. Again, just silly kid stuff. Nothing serious really. But quickly they both turned to it as an unhealthy coping mechanism— Confucius losing his closest friend, which would later push his other friends away and deepen his usage of the internet as a result. And Topher using the internet to escape the real world and the crap his clone father did, it providing a sense of comfort and control, until he turned into what he is now; a Reddit user 😱

Little details I like to think about is them meeting in the fifth grade and bonding over Warrior Cats and watching the same content creators on their iPad because of course they’re both iPad kids(just Topher’s was cracked worse than satan’s asscrack and Confucius had the newest model lol). They made a whole Warrior Cats oc clan with the most complicated name possible and before they broke up they were even making a whole ass animatic with their thinly veiled Mary Sue self insert ocs except neither of them could draw, especially not cats. Like the little comic I posted, they pretended they were anime characters fighting. Yes, they both were the two losers Naruto running during recess. Yes they went through a phase of saying sugoi and kawaii and other Japanese words in nearly every other sentence. They had sleepovers almost every week and would marathon movies like the Twilight Saga and other movies they really shouldn’t be watching at their age but do anyway because their foster moms weren’t exactly paying attention to what movies they were picking out every week. They were just the embodiment of carefree cringe. Living their best lives. Just a couple of stupid preteens dorks.

Now, in highschool, they tend to just purposefully avoid each other. Even though deep down both of them really do miss each other. It’s just Topher is too busy being kind of an asshole and stuck in this state of self loathing and other issues and being an actual social outcast of his own making, and Confucius is too stuck in his phone avoiding his feelings and also now that he’s got JFK as a friend who likes FlipFlop (because of him) as much as he does it’s only further distracted him from his unresolved feelings over Topher and the good times they had together. They both deeply, deeply regret not going back and talking and staying friends. Because in truth Confucius would have probably stayed through the whole ordeal. Although I can still see them both being chronically online. Just together. And most likely worse somehow? And very, very annoying.

Sorry for the rambling, I just have so much soft thoughts about these two being former friends and the potential of them making up is what fuels me. I wanna write a fic about this sooooooo bad but I’m so busy and by busy I mean I procrastinate too much AND I’m busy aihdjsh I may start one tho and it may eventually get finished???? Question mark, question mark?????????????

[bluebunnysart]

(Chimera Teto x Android Miku WIP, another one, yeah, another one lol)

I may not finish WIPs but I can definitely start new drawings!! 😂Hahahaha ! I always try to make them chibis (for simplicity) but I also want to draw details/the full body, so of course it turns into a double full-body drawing that takes forever.... This isn't even the final lineart obviously but it's almost 5 AM again and I know I'm gonna fuss with this some more, so I guess here's a WIP so I can show off what I did at least tonight xD In case I decide to do other things in the meantime...

Tell me why I literally spent like 2 hours (fr) trying to draw Miku 'cuz Miku is hard asf to draw and challenges me to draw better 😂😂😂😂 Anyway (a long-ish) explanation of stuff under the read more 'cuz I don't want to take up people's dashboards. When I finally finish this drawing or the other one, I won't have to yap as much in the post too. xD

A series of things happened today that led to me creating this drawing. (Miku's prefinal lineart is done too btw, I'm just not showing her to you 'cuz no point spoiling the whole drawing lol, plus I might make changes.)

I went to the store for a brief moment 'cuz all my pens kept running out of ink and I was annoyed I didn't have any reliable pens and I wanted a pen to write a continuation to this AU, right.

When I went to the store, there was a song playing and I thought it sounded nice, what little I heard of it before I had to return to work. So once I left the store and was able to look at my phone again, I looked up this song through the lyrics I heard and I found it. And the whole song was even better than I thought: the lyrics and music are INCREDIBLY sweet and now I really like it. xD

Besides liking it in general as a song (this genre of song), I was ALSO super into it because I thought, "This is super End of the World AU-coded (Android Miku x Chimera Teto)" and it made me so happy, excited, and giddy lol.

Like, listen to this...

"When the cloud's above your head / And the sun's not breaking through / You know I'll be there to sing this song for you. / And it goes: / La la la / la la la la la~..."

This is absolutely something the Miku in my AU would sing. This is absolutely a song she and Teto would listen to together-- like, I could draw them listening to it together and that's actually practically what my drawing is lol. I could draw an animatic or make an MV to this song about them... I could make a comic where Miku is singing this directly to Teto and persuades her to sing it with her, especially the chorus (la la la) parts. I smile because in the first fic, Miku also goes "lalala~" (idk the number of la's lol), and it's not like what she sings is this or anything, but it's a small connection that I like. xD I literally discovered this song only today but this is absolutely a song Teto would have in either one of the cassette players or in the MP3 player. This song matches them and the AU too so Miku would absolutely sing it and like it a lot too. This song made me think of my AU and I was already excited/trying to keep writing more so I could get to the good parts, so finding this song made me really excited, ok. xD

Also I'm not sure how you WOULDN'T adore Miku if she sang something like this, especially directly to Teto (her only audience).

All the sweet lines and stuff made me super soft, so I put this song on loop and literally played it for hours. The whole time I was drawing too. It's just so cute and fitting and it's what made me create art for this AU again instead of making Turing Love fanart or one of the other dozens of ideas I have and whatnot. xD

That was a lot of words to explain what prompted this drawing in the first place when it wasn't planned in the slightest, but now I'll talk more about the drawing itself.

I was inspired by all the fanart I've received so far! It'll show in the final drawing. c: But when drawing this, I was looking at Slyvasta's art since I wanted to draw Slyvasta's version of Teto too. Teto is easiest to draw imo, so we've got the scarf, horn, wings, and tail. The pupils were actually added at the very end 'cuz Slyvasta's has sharp pupils and I thought that was cool and a good idea lol: this Teto's eyes can have sharp pupils (dragon/reptile-like) while Miku's eyes are more round yet robotic.

I was thinking about the flavor of tsundere that Teto is (in my AU) and this drawing was partially inspired by me wanting to clarify stuff about that. xD I did call her "cool, gruff, indifferent, etc." which is all true and does apply, but she's still playful and can be lively, even if she's been beaten down by exhaustion and gloominess, as I've mentioned. In other words, she never was a complete downer or anything (I know I said that before), but I wanted to clarify that she's not, like, the cold type who's ONLY frowning or who's grumpy either.

If I think about it, the "trying to act cool/indifferent" thing is mostly an act I think, yeah. xD Like, of course she'll frown or have a neutral uninterested expression if she's bored or she's been through annoying experiences (like starving or encountering various issues), but she's still kicking, if that makes sense. Like, the enthusiasm and zest for life isn't exactly there, but she's doing what she can to get by. I guess she's more of the type to distract herself and focus on other stuff so she doesn't get too existential? So it's not like she isn't lowkey depressed-- she's just the type to make jokes about it. She's basically original mischievous Teto but with some baggage she's carrying.

This might seem like a weird post now based on the stuff I'm writing LOL but I really did think about it, ok. xD The way to characterize her. And she has really valid reasons to be sad and everything, but she's not as harsh and edgy as her appearance implies. That's something that I really like about her: the gap moe lol.

So what does this mean in relation to Miku? Well, Teto is a pretty normal girl who's cool and nonchalant. She's probably arrogant in a cute way too, judging from her catchphrase and how she likes acting like a know-it-all and being praised/appreciated. But basically, the tsundere mainly comes out whenever she gets embarrassed.

The Teto in my AU can smile and has a couple of times, and she's nice because she helps Miku out before she even knows Miku that well. So....

She's probably the type to send Miku soft smiles without even realizing it. Like, she relaxes a lot and is happy or something and then her expression will turn so warm or gentle, I'm pretty sure. 🥰 Her tail and body language already gives her away, so I love the idea of her expression changing into a really affectionate one before she even notices or realizes it. She realizes she's been smiling the whole time after 5 whole minutes pass or Miku points it out and then she's like, "I-I wasn't smiling or anything?! (unsure why she's immediately denying it)" lol.

Anyway, THAT'S when the tsundere comes out. She isn't tsundere towards Miku unprompted, and even though Teto doesn't know how to deal with Miku YET, that doesn't mean Teto walks on eggshells around her or is curt/cold to her. Teto acts very naturally and herself-- she only gets tsundere whenever she's NOT acting like herself, aka being really weak or soft for Miku at different moments.

Her tsundere is a weak kind of tsundere too (unlike Neru, who isn't in this AU anyway), so she'll just get embarrassed or lie or act kinda awkward or prickly to hide her embarrassment (maybe a sharp word or two, along the lines of "Shush" and "Shuddup"), but in the end, she's a very cute and kind girl. 🥰 They both are 🥰🥰🥰

It might take me one or two more iterations before I'm finally satisfied with the final lineart, but this time, I made the time lapse longer, so you'll be able to see how I struggled to draw Miku for like 2 whole hours. xD

This, too, I want to color. I actually wanted to color my first drawing first, but then I discovered the song I mentioned earlier and it made me so hyped up that I wanted to create a whole new piece about it. Along with the other two songs that I associate with this AU, I was really happy to find yet another one. This song is cute in general too, so it was immediately added to my Motivation playlist. xD

With how hard Miku is to draw and how long drawing takes in general, it makes me even more impressed with Miku artists lol. Like, Miku is so demanding but I love her so of course I'll push through until I do her justice... I'm slow because I care a lot and want to do these two right, ok... xD Lineart and the like is more in my comfort zone, but I'll definitely tackle coloring soon; tonight's session only proves that it'll take longer than I expected/5 hours lol.

I'm not only planning to create stuff for my AU only-- I want to make all kinds of Mktt stuff. But I was really inspired by other people's art and this time, I even drew with their art in mind lol.

I have no idea how long it'll take, but I'll continue to make more art! To me, it's the clearest way I show/understand my love lol. I've been inspired seeing other people's art too, so I definitely wanted to draw my own....

Anyway, time to go tf to sleep. (it's 6 AM 😅)

[meezer]

being extremely negative about the new dragon age trailer. if you want to spare yourself that kind of rhetoric, please skip this post, no hard feelings

holy shit. holy shit it is. SO BAD. I will try to condense my criticism here. I feel stunned and a little bit sick tbh. this is unreal, unbelievably bad. link provided, so you can watch it and come to your own conclusions:

that was really something, right? let's discuss.

The Marvelization of Every Franchise You Love, For Fun and Profit

I watched it and scrolled down to the comments (where everybody is ripping it a new one),

and these comments made me realize, oh my god, this trailer is so... marvel. it's so marvel cinematic universe. just the silliness of it all, and the way the characters move, and the words they speak and how they speak them. the overall tone of everything. I would be very interested in going back and watching the other trailers in the series and comparing the seriousness and gravity with which they seemed to treat the upcoming game... versus this one. long gone are the days of the epic and gritty da2 trailer.

The Art Style

WHAT ARE THEY THINKING? OH MY GOD? I said before that it looks like a shitty league of legends animatic, and wow was I right. it is unreal how bad this looks. this is very subjective, but I think that this is all so violently UGLY. the lighting is garbage and makes everything look... dusty and grimy, the models look soulless. it looks like a cheap mobile game with shady microtransactions and lofty promises it doesn't even try to fulfill. I hope that won't apply to this game, but somehow I don't have much energy to hope anymore, because I'm aware that it's in vain.

seriously, look at this. these are TEN YEARS apart. ten whole years of development, only to go from this:

to this:

this feels like a fucking joke. I'm not saying realistic is the only worthwhile art style for video games. I'm just saying that whatever they're doing right now... is not it. and I'm clearly not the only one who thinks so!

semi-related, two things. first, what did they do to varric? why does he look... like that? I'm aware his appearance is slightly different in the novels and comics and whatever the hell, but it feels so wrong to see him look like this, it's such a drastic change from inquisition and ESPECIALLY from 2.

second, a lot of this looks AI-generated. credit to my brother for this observation, but since he pointed it out I can't unsee it. of special interest: the blood splatter effect at 0:52, which looks exceptionally cheap. the way varric's hair moves at 1:06. maybe we're just seeing things. maybe someone with a more trained eye and more patience will comb through the trailer and catch more of these little bizarre visuals.

The Characters

I'm perhaps a little negatively biased here, because I never cared about scout harding. I just felt like she was a nothing character. her being a full-fledged companion in this game infuriates me a little for this reason, and it does not bode well for my enjoyment of it. if nothing else she will be one companion I never take with me on missions and never talk to. I realize the world doesn't revolve around me though, so let's talk about the other companions, where we should all be coming at this from a neutral standpoint.

everyone else looks boring to me as well! it feels like we're just getting Brave Quirky Sarcastic Adventurer #75491 over and over, except they look different and have different classes. this might be because not much of their personality is showcased in the trailer, and what little personality is shown is very... marvel, forspoken etc. the only somewhat interesting character to me is the necromancer, and I certainly hope, if nothing else, this game will let him be morally gray/evil/fucked up, and not do the starfield thing of "every companion is a holier-than-thou lawful good hero and chastises you if you go against that."

if I ever play this, I'm thinking it might be the first dragon age game ever where I don't romance anyone. historically the romances have been some of my favorite parts of these games. it's a shame, but also, everything about this is so sexless, I don't really feel like I'm missing out. speaking of romance...

Did They Straight Up Just Copy Gale's Design

down to the forehead birthmark in almost the exact place, seriously. this feels like a real "we have gale at home" moment. and it might seem like an outlandish accusation to make, but it will only seem that way if you think these games are made in a vacuum. they are not. there are focus groups, research, and... devs aren't stupid, they will often look at the games around them to see what sells well. you can bet your ass the dragon age devs have looked at bg3 especially when it's been compared to their games so much, TO DRAGON AGE'S DETRIMENT. I mean bg3 literally filled a gap in the market that DA left open for... ten years. this isn't a secret to anyone. hey, larian had a companion who looks like this and uses magical abilities. maybe if we have something like that in our game, it'll be successful too!

Conclusions

I'm extremely disappointed. there was a very short time in my life where I was eagerly anticipating the sequel to DA:I. that time has come and gone, but I've still followed development from afar, so I could see what became of this franchise that meant so much to me growing up. I really wanted this to be good, obviously all DA fans did. it seems that, for now, we will have to resign ourselves to looking for the DA vibe in other places. I'm just sad that Anders, one of the most important fictional characters to me, ever, is confined to this franchise that has become less than a shell of its former self. it's become embarrassing. it's become AI-generated marvelized quippy slop, that we will one day look back on with regret and even more cringe than right now. I think Anders deserves much better. him and all the other friends I made in my time playing through this series.

[virusgeist]

Hi friend I rlly love ur art!!! I dont think I'm v good since I don't have much time to devote to drawing these days but I rlly rlly want to try making comics anyway even tho ive never rlly drawn comics before. Do u have any advice for starting out? <3

Hmm... I'm not sure I'm the best person to ask since I draw for fun and not professionally- but from my all around drawing experience;

I know when I started out drawing I took inspiration from my favorite artists or cartoons and incorporated it into my own art in my own way. Like my favorite things about their art styles or way they draw things I want to draw it like that too!

Once I developed an art style of my own I made my own kind of anatomy that fit my style too?? Instead of like real life anatomy- which I felt my simplified version of anatomy fit my art style better. I achieved this through a lot of sketching out and practicing which shapes I liked the best. Drawing real life anatomy can probably still help improve posing and how easy it is to capture it in the style your going for though. Also really good to look at references. It's not cheating I promise haha.

Also learning recently that just having fun is my main point when I draw since I'm a hobby artist. If I start focusing on how I wish it looked or perfection I get upset and start to hate drawing and making art. In all reality if you hate it and hate your art being all too self critical about it but you still decide to draw regardless. I recommend posting it i GUARANTEE it will vibe with someone. Someone will love it! Don't stop making art if that's what you really want to do.

Just have fun with it fr fr. Experiment with stuff and see what you like best and what's most comfortable for you!

For the comic making I'm not so sure. I don't make too many comics... definitely not the best person to ask there haha! Might look at some other comics and study how they draw each of the panels.

However I do make little animatic things which can be like a comic I suppose... and with those I always sketch out the whole thing before adding little details.

Aaaa sorry idk if any of this helps.. but I wish you luck on your comic making in the future!

/__\

[dangerous-advantage]

38, 40, 41? :3

[link to ask game]

(sorry for the wait, and thank you so much for the ask!!)

38. Would you ever write commissions?

oh, that would be so fucking fun.

i am perfectly fine with writing for passion, but if i were willing and able, i would absolutely write comissions. not even comissions (though, i will admit, it would be nice to spend hours of time and effort on something that would allow me to feed myself, haha.)

the only reason a balk at this is the same reason i balk at becoming an actual published author. i am very much a perfectionist, and that becomes even more apparent when i'm writing something for someone else.

i'm working on it (i swear, i am), but old habits die hard, and people-pleasing is one that is especially pervasive.

that being said, if i ever got to a point where i felt a little more confident about my writing abilities, and where i had more of an open schedule, i would absolutely write commissions.

i've actually already considered what that would look like-- i think i'd have different categories like how artists do, seperated by things like word count or type. it might be difficult to stick to something like that (especially since i am a very detail-oriented writer), but i can image having a category like 'character creation' (i love making characters/filling out those silly little sheets and forms. i used to have this huge, uber-detailed one that i'd fill out for all my ocs, haha).

i'd probably classify them in things like, 'drabbles' and 'character studies,' vs things like whole-ass oneshots. i can't see myself doing big, multi-chapter projects, just because i'm afraid i'd never be able to finish those, but smaller works with a few chapters, or maybe a series of oneshots might be possible.

i could see myself doing poetry as well-- i don't share a lot of the poetry i write, since it's usually just something for me, but i could think of some really fun ways to implement poetry into commisions, especially since it's a lot more of a 'stricter' medium.

for the time being, i don't see myself opening up commissions like this anytime soon, but like... if there's anybody who might be interested in that, maybe let me know? really it comes down to if anybody would want to commission me to write something for them, which i'm not sure there are many in the market for haha.

40. If someone were to make fanart of your work, what fic or scene would you hope to see?

(tw: mentions of blood/gore)

since the only fic i really have to write for at the moment is 'it was futile,' that's probably all i have to work with.

honestly, i would love any and all fanart of my works. like, if anybody ever makes anything based off of/inspired by my work, no matter if you don't like it or think it's bad, hit me up, because that is so fucking flattering to me.

like, as somebody who relies on motivation as a currency, the fact that you could be so inspired by my work that you'd whip out a comic or animatic or whatever is just like '!!!'

it's right up there with long-ass comments, because you know somebody spent time creating something like that because they really, truly did enjoy what you made. the day i get fanart for something i've written is the day that i peak.

to answer the actual question, at the moment, i... don't have anything off the top of my head? sometimes you'll read something and be like, "oh, yeah. this moment-- this moment-- is gonna be drawn." but those are often later on in stories.

i can think of some future scenes that might inspire fanart (i've shared one in particular with you over discord that i am so fucking excited to write), but as it stands, nothing really immediately comes to mind. maybe something from one of my upcoming chapters, but nothing so far.

if i had the artistic ability to do so, one scene that i always thought would be cool is from the first chapter of my fic. (spoilers from this point on, if you hadn't guessed already).

it's where leo has just defeated the kraang beast and is laying beneath it, slowly realizing what just happened while droplets of blood rain down on his face. very angsty, i know, but i feel it's a very pivotal scene for the chapter-- a turning point of sorts-- with a lot of emotions going on beneath the surface. also the image just goes really hard in my brain, haha.

some other scenes might be from chapter... seven, i think? 'the rest of us.' it's the future raph chapter, where he basically just makes the decision to (finally) create the resistance. while i was writing it, i just couldn't get the image out of my head of f!raph's hulking silhouette, standing against the backdrop of the burning city.

something about it-- the fear and terror of the people fleeing the area, looking up to see f!raph push away some sort of debris and step out in a shower of sparks and embers-- i dunno. it just... embodies this ideal of hope that f!raph brings to the apocalypse. also just a cool visual to me.

i guess another one might be the scene where f!donnie switches their headphones. i poured a lot of my own experiences into that one, and how i wish people might have handled things like that with me in the past.

i imagine a comic, maybe just a few panels, with donnie pressing his broken headphones to his head, as the static and noise and everything just gets worse and worse around him. and it follows this progression of everything just getting worse, until suddenly he looks up and sees, y'know, f!donnie.

and then, wordlessly, he gives donnie the other pair of headphones, and then just steps back and lets him have his space. and just... the immediate relief as soon as donnie puts on the new pair of headphones.

i dunno. it's a little silly describing it, but the ideas behind the scene mean a lot to me. i wrote that chapter while i was feeling really overstimulated, and tried to base it off of what i felt might actually help me in that kind of situation. so i guess it's a bit of a personal scene, haha.

just... that idea of not having to justify why you need something, or even what you need, because there's somebody else there who knows exactly what you're going through, and just wants to help. i think it's something a lot of nd people might relate to (though, who knows? /lh)

41. Do you tend to reread fics, or are you a 'one-and-done- type of person?

do... do other people not reread fics? like, not even the really good ones? never?

ok, that's not fair. sometimes, some fics really are just meant to be enjoyed once. an ephemeral experience that's treasured more for the memory of the moment than returning to it. and that's fine, and good!

i'm also not somebody who rereads every fic. usually, especially when following along with a fic i really like, i'll go back and reread chapters while i wait for the next one to come out. then when i'm done, i like to go back and read the whole thing without any breaks, because it's a bit of a different experience.

i'll also often just return to a fic to reread certain scenes or moments that really got to me in my first read-around. there are some fics out there that i do consider good enough for me to revisit and reread in their entirety again and again, like a book.

however, like there are some fics that are best read only once, some fics are meant to be read again and again. details and foreshadowing you might not have noticed the first time will become apparent, and it can be fun looking back and finding all the little details and the 'trails of breadcrumbs,' as someone once described it to me.

[drawnaghht]

lol I may have accidentally made a Tomoe Ame fan-descendant help

so basically, last month in April, I started writing down the plot beats for a story idea I got based on a little background detail in the show.

there is this white rabbit with blue hair featured in an ad and I thought it must be some super-subtle reference to a story idea the crew had but couldn't use. except when I looked it up in the episode itself, it was a cat, not a rabbit. However when I started looking for production art posted by any of the art crew online, I found this (from Guillaume Montoya's artstation portfolio):

so I had been right and she WAS a rabbit! I was so confused but so elated! It felt like some important detail!

So I started thinking: maybe the detail was changed to avoid the audience over-connecting the pieces that weren't there? The rabbits in the Miyamoto clan were rabbits with long ears, so this background detail definitely had to go, to avoid any confusion. after all, in the show Gen says, "first time I'm seeing a rabbit" - rabbits haven't been seen in a long time in Neo Edo. So what happened to em?

Then I started writing down more idea-lines.

Most obvious: what if this is related to Usagi's parents somehow? What if Chikabuma and the other gang leaders know something about this lost star?

Oooh, what if she's a lost spirit and the Ki-stone being less connected to the city means she can finally show her ghastly face?

Next obvious: Who replaced her? Who's this new white and blue cat? What if she's somehow related

I'll name her Tomoyo, and she'll sufferbunder this new role because she does not actually want to be famous for being famous... she wants to be a true samurai!

Today's thoughts: what if she's related to Tomoe Ame, becuase of the candy (get it? bc Tomoe Ame was based on the name of a candy... there's friendship candy in the show.......)

so that's the thoughtline I had behind this character xD

basically I had two character ideas: a ghost lady who hates Miyamoto Usagi and possesses Usagi to relive her glory days as a pop star and a Tomoe Ame-like character who unwantingly took her place and was about to see a lot of changes to her life. I’ve already got a whole 8-page doc outlined about the story I have using both these characters but i’m a bit scared to post it all half-baked as it is and would prefer to make it a comic/animatic, even tho both will arguably take longer to make xD

anyway, i have been silently thinking abt this since the start of may and idk when I'll post more abt it outside of twt but it's exciting to think about. I’m not that interested in making a “Tomoe Ame proper” adaptation, bc it seems like the show itself also wanted to give more freedom to interpretation + not muck up the history/future of the comic too much, so I’ve got my own historical sources of insp to look into for now. still excited tho! I don’t usually make fan characters or even many fan stories for things I like without a good idea.

[not-aurii]

everyone once they see my art: You're so talented!! Why are you studying psychology?! You should be pursuing art!!!!!

and then im here, with the knowledge that every time i post an art i do, it never reaches more than 10 likes anywhere. that not even my friends comment on it anymore (cuz they're the type that unconsciously believes its "wasted" if i dont make money from it, just like most people)

i dont think i can do it, it hurts too much to the see the piece i spent DAYS working on not do well where it "matters"

and i know i shouldn't care so much about social media. its my art, and so if i like it, it should be enough, right? but i do wanna work with it. i wanna tell my stories, make a comic, make little animatics about my dearly traumatized characters - who i love way more than life itself

but i dont think i have the strength to keep posting stuff and it going nowhere. thats my soul put bare for the whole world to see, and they choose to ignore it. and it hurts.

so im studying psychology

cuz then, when i do post my art, it doesn't have to do anything. i can feel bad about it not doing well without worrying about my bank account

[verdantglow]

that makes so much sense actually. i also am making some aus (unrelated) and am wanting to seperate them into little ficlets/art pieces/comics of the pieces that motivate me before even touching on an overarching story but also god is it difficult for me. if thats what works for you as well id definitely say treat it like that (also i would LOVE to see any animatics you do for this)

i personally am mostly watching the hermits doing their hermit crafting (currently watching 18 hermits simultaneously the hyperfixation is b a d) and a couple SOS members, though i plan to watch more of the creators. I've really only seen up to double life (all through grians pov), and i havent even finished that. in my defence, the "its for your secret soulmate" line utterly and completely destroyed me and i have NOT recovered since (i stopped watching his hermitcraft videos after that too until the start of s10).

i have made the resolution to go watch other povs but i need to finish his first rip.

ANYWAY BACK TO THE AU

How often do you think the vflarp games effect their out of game relationships? like obviously it led to them becoming friends and desert duo becoming "moirails" but like. Did double life cause a rift between grian and scar? has rendog being absent from the games had any significance on anything? (i havent watched further so i cant really give too many other examples). Do the winners get anything other than the satisfaction that they alone won?

absolute behemoth of an ask my bad

Yeah! There’s just something so appealing about being able to just jump around & do mini projects that go together rather than one huge one. I’m hoping it’ll hold off the burn out I inevitably get for my AUs. **stares off into the distance thinking about all my mega fics that only ever got three chapters** I get it being hard to break it down though! I hope you’re able to land at a place where you can create as easily & painlessly as possible. ^^

I feel you on the hyperfixation lol. I was doing that hermitblr survey that’s going around & realized that I watch every episode of a third of the server, & some to most episodes of another third. & there’s a handful in the final third that I’ve been meaning to watch, but haven’t gotten to because I’m so busy watching everyone else & thinking about fanworks. This season is just slamming all the good brain chemical buttons!

Tbf, “it’s for your secret soulmate” hit so fucking hard, I do not blame you an ounce for wanting to take a break after that! When you’re ready, I highly recommend Martyn’s 3rd life, it’s so good! I never quite got the Renchanting/Treebark hubbub as someone who’d only seen Grian’s perspective of that season, but after watching Martyn’s… The drama is just. So. Good. Martyn + Ren is just a combo of theatre kid lore nerds & it honestly slaps. Gem’s Secret Life is damn good as well, just ‘cause she got to be a chaos gremlin & we love to see it.

Oh yes, their VLARPing affects IRL relationships all the time! A lot of early relationships developed due to playing 3rd Life & those relationships continued on to influence who went on which ship once they reached adulthood! Obviously, we’ve got Scar & Griann, but also there’s Scohtt & Jimmie who became auspitices, & Wrehnn & Martyn who stick together & eventually become matesprits. Jimmie & Tangoh hit it off after playing Double Life as soulmates & eventually enter a [matespritship? Moiraillegance? Haven’t decided] as well. & of course, my beloved Boat Boys developed their weird whatevership around the same time. (Joel swears they’re pitch. Eethos never comments on it. The truth is somewhere around them being hate friends who are flushed for each other??? But fuck if you’ll ever get either of them to admit it.)

Things were pretty rocky for Scar & Griann after DL; the whole secret soulmate thing was a case of Griann being mildly annoyed with Scar & thinking he could get back at Scar/make Scar jealous. This blew up in his face ~*~spectacularly~*~ & it took quite a bit for things to heal between them. (Mummbo spent a lot of that time being very confused why the vibes on Scar’s ship were so fucking rancid until he managed to get Griann to fess up.)

There definitely is a plot related reason Wrehnn hasn’t been playing, but I’m holding back on finalizing anything until I get more of the out of game plot mapped out. But yes, that definitely affects/is an effect of things in game!

I think, much like in real life, winning is just for the prestige of it. Like, in this AU, the Life series is just a bunch of games they’re playing for the heck of it. Though this does make me think that I need to decide where these games come from, whether it’s a mass market thing or something Griann threw together or if maybe it came from some other outside influence. Hm…

[goddamnwebcomics]

Some feelings about that Kickstarter Pilot of P&C

So someone actually uploaded that animatic of Peter & Company, the one that was originally funded to be an animated pilot of the series through Kickstarter, and the results speak for itself. https://imgur.com/gallery/u4ysMiB 

Here are some screenshots as well if you fancy words from Jon’s mouth alone (Green Username): https://imgur.com/a/xA8oRr4 

I remember seeing this in the Peterverse server a year ago and honestly I was pretty disappointed. Don’t get me wrong. It’s a nice looking draft animation for what Jon pictures as an alright cartoon series for his main comic, but as I said before this is a DRAFT. After a DECADE since the project was FUNDED. This is the type of animatic that would probably take around maybe two-to-three years to make, and that’s assuming if this is the first or second one he made, so to see this as a result fills me with a lot of worries and doubts. I know he has multiple artists, voice actors and I believe a trusted publisher (The Channel Frederator Network) helping him, you can even visit his YouTube page and I believe in his Deviantart, Tumblr & Furaffinity pages (once you scrub through them) back when he was promoting it and other material around the old campaign, but once again his ambitions aren’t meeting reality. 

This short trek into looking up this animated pilot campaign for Peter & Company really reinforces one of Jon’s many problems: He has bad time management skills and poorly set priorities for his own work. From his webcomics, to his art, and even to this pilot, there’s only so many times I could run into this realization before the answer becomes too obvious to second guess anymore. It’s something I’ve grown more disappointed over when Lackadasiy’s animated pilot came out recently this year. You know, another webcomic that had a Kickstarter campaign two years ago and was successfully funded and released on YouTube for free under a publisher (Iron Circus Comics) in less of the time it’s taking for P&C to do? Yeah it’s most likely because the animated Lackadaisy short had a bigger crew, along with the comic being more popular and well known, but the series author Tracy Butler at least knew the scope of the short would take a lot more of her time and focus to finish than Jon seems to have thought with his series pilot. 

Having to look back into this whole thing makes me a little sad. It reminds me to not put too much faith into Jon learning from his past mistakes and improving from them again.

Yeah I remember you talking about this to me. It’s fucking insulting, and it really shows you Jon is a lazy asshole and doesn’t want to dedicate his time to anything.

Think about it, Peter and Company could have been one of the first animated series based on a webcomic in the post-Hazbin boom. But, maybe it is for the best since the actual comic isn’t that good either.

[russianstudyblr]

Week 16 Overview

Hello, happy Friday! Today was a good week. I really got back on track from last week, and since there’s a three-day weekend this weekend I hope to get even more ahead for Week 17. 

Good stuff from this week: 

We switched up our class sections (which isn’t necessarily a good thing because I really liked my old section) but my new section is also very good, and I’m still sitting next to my battle bestie as of right now, so that’s good. 

Got an 81 and an 87 on the Reading and Listening Mid-Mod 4 exams, but the teacher did say she graded us suuuper leniently on that, lol. 

Went to this monthly little resiliency meeting thing on Wednesday and I had a good time! My understanding is that people in this little club can get the chance to present a speech of sorts on a topic of choice that relates in some way to fostering a better student environment. I enjoy public speaking so I’ll probably keep going to these meetings and eventually prepare a presentation of my own. 

In general it was a pretty smooth week. Definitely better than the academic trainwreck that was last week. 

Bad stuff from this week: 

Brooo so my class used to talk a lot about how we had a really great teaching team. Which we did. But I think the reason it was such a good teaching team was because there were three teachers in particular carrying the whole thing. And now two of those teachers are gone! One got a new job and the other was involuntarily moved to teach another class. She said she really protested the decision but there was nothing she could do. So now there’s really only one teacher in our whole team who I look forward to having. The others are alright, but to be honest I just don’t like the classroom environment any of them create. But whatever, just have to deal. 

Started feeling a little lonely this week. The resiliency club meeting thing helped, but that’s only once a month so it’s not like I can go to it again soon. But something good is that I recognized very early on that I was feeling a little lonely, and I made sure to not let myself spiral like I normally would have done in college. I just acknowledged the feeling and made sure it didn’t drive any big decisions. Eighteen year old me could never. 

Plans for the weekend: 

Memorize all the new vocabulary I can

Maybe take a few hours one day to a quick review of past content

Do as much of next week’s homework as I can.

I also really want to do something creative on the side again! I just broke out the ol’ drawing tablet and started drawing a comic I’ve been drafting in my mind/on paper. I’ve also been thinking about animatics to make, and stuff to write, and songs on the piano to learn, etc etc etc. There’s so much I want to create but I don’t have any time!

That’s it for Week 16, then. I think this puts me at one third of the way through. Although I now know that my graduation date is February 1, which makes this whole thing 52 weeks total, but I guess those 52 weeks are counting the couple weeks after we DLPT and wrap things up. I don’t know. If the course up until the DLPT is 48 weeks, then I’m officially one third of the way through. 

Happy Friday, enjoy the three-day! 

[paintedkinzy-88]

How do you think your dragon balance au would react to little nightmares? Like the stars and nightmares gang.

-a shy annon

Like, the regular Little Nightmares?

... I like to think this is some universe they can look at like a movie, like Error and his Undernovela. Idk the logistics of that but that's what I'm going with, so I don't think so much I come up with an entirely different LN x UTMV storyline yUP--

The Gang's probably not all that phased, tbh. They've been to worlds just as fucked up. Maybe it hits a little close to home for Horror tho... The whole Eating Children thing I mean XD I've always thought LN was a lot like Horrortale, even the fanmade songs. Total animatic/lyric comic potential (winkwink). Killer'd probably vibe with Six ngl. Maybe not know exactly WHY until a little further in, but he just does. NM thinks it's horrible, yes, but his entire focus would be on reassuring Horror, and not smoking up the room cuz of the increased negativity oof...

Ink thinks its fascinating! Sad and freaky, yeah, and he feels so bad for the kids within it, but he's also seen/made worse. I like to think he enjoys drawing darker concepts sometimes, so he's probably taking in the scenery more than the story, even if only to distract himself from a timeline he and the Stars cannot help. Error's curled around him, but otherwise unphased. Blue probably left once the first big monster showed up, too afraid to watch a tiny child die when he can do nothing about it. Or two tiny children, if we're talking LN2. XD

...And if we ARE...

Dream sticks it out to the very end, just oh so hopeful that good prevails. He wants to know these children make it out okay so bad, man, and once it gets to the veryyy end, he's just mortified. (Ink and Cross probably aren't very happy about it either, honestly...)

[liloinkoink]

y’know there’s valid complaints to be made for interaction w fic in mcyt fandom in how little people comment, and it’s fair and i’ve seen it made and lamented it myself. stuff i’ve written for this fandom simply doesn’t get the same commentary as other stuff i’ve written, a sentiment i’ve seen reflected in other authors i’ve spoken to.

THAT SAID… on the same token, never in my life have i seen a fandom that does quite so much like… creation in response to fic?

like, every fandom i’ve been in has had its fair share of fanart and comics in response to fic, which is a really wonderful thing to do for a fic, but i see A TON of it here. it’s one of the things that most easily convinces me to read a fic—if i see art of it, i’m basically guaranteed to check it out. its like, one of the nicest things, i think, that you can do for a fic you like, so i think it’s really lovely how much i see it

and that’s not even all! i’ve never seen so much fic written for/about other fic—so rarely do i see it in other fandoms, yet i see it pretty often here. it’s so cool to finish a nice fic and see, appended to the end, a little litany of “works inspired by this one”

same with Whole Entire Animatics—ive only seen maybe three or four people animating for fics (which makes sense bc i cannot even IMAGINE how involved and difficult a process that is), but that’s not really something ive seen or even heard of anywhere else

and like. i don’t really have a point i’m making with this. i just think it’s real nice. shoutout to all the people who love the fic they read enough to create about it. you guys deserve credit for it

[jacketpotatoo]

Dear Evan Hansen Movie: Review (spoilers)

It says review but trust me, it’s more of a well worded rant than anything. Taken from my Letterboxd

Where do I even begin.

Okay, I enjoy the original musical. I have listened to the soundtrack more times than I can count and I've watched a bootleg of the original Broadway run, as well as many, many animatics. I was one of the people who saw the trailer and went oh crap - Kaitlyn Dever from 'Booksmart'? Amy Adams? From the people who brought you 'Perks of Being a Wallflower' and 'The Greatest Showman'? This must be in good hands, Ben Platt looking way too old for the role aside.

Haha.

Something that makes the musical actually work is the fact that it acknowledges the morally squicky situation and constantly calls Evan out on his bs. They allow you to sympathise with him while making it clear that hey, Evan is in the wrong here.

THE FILM CLEARLY DOESN'T GET THAT.

Instead, Evan is portrayed as the victim and they spend little to no time dealing with the moral and ethical complexities that makes the source interesting in the first place, even when that would be totally something that could be done with more emphasis on film than on the stage. They cut out 'Does Anybody Have a Map' - a song that sets up (arguably) the emotional core of the musical which is the mothers and their relationship with their sons and family. They cut out 'Good For You' which is (and I don't know how to emphasize this enough) SUCH A CORNERSTONE IN THE PLAY. It's the song where Evan has to face the consequences of his actions head on. But noooooooo. All we get is zero fricking resolution with the side characters that the film wrote pointless songs for to accommodate and Evan and his mum NOT talking things out realistically and lashing out like humans. I cried while watching that 240p bootleg of 'So Big So Small'. I felt nothing here. Instead, all the emotion the stage offered is put up in a blender of terrible sound mixing and hilariously bad VEVO music transitions.

Speaking of that, my gosh was the editing awful in this movie. The stupid, stupid quick-cuts during 'Waving Through A Window', the asinine repeated shot of Evan falling down the tree, THE ENTIRE 'Sincerely Me' I MEAN WHAT WAS THAT?? The whole film visuals felt like the Nexus ad in WandaVision. Y'know. The dreary antidepressant advertisment. Except one was ironic and the other was completely genuine. 

The thing with adapting Dear Evan Hansen into a movie in the first place is that it's a low-key kind of musical. Most scenes are confined to 4 walls and include very few people just conversing with each other. It works fine on stage but when you're shooting 50% of your film in the same location and all the shots are either framed similarly or are straight up comical, it's going to be a problem. It was visually, either uninteresting or plain bad.

I didn't think the performances were terrible, aside from Ben Platt (oh we will get there). I liked Kaitlyn as Zoe (I will admit, I am biased), the others were... alright. They were passable. I blame it on the direction and script because they're clearly good performers.

And now we get to Evan Hansen himself. The 'too old' thing has been talked about to death but it genuinely takes you out of the film as you can't suspend your disbelief that he's playing a teenager, especially when his peers actually do look like teens. Ben is also overacting so much. When in theatre, the exaggerated slouches and ticks work because he's on the stage. Most people are far away. But on film when everything is close up, his stuttering and shaking come off as so forced. I genuinely don't understand. I've heard great things about him in The Politician and he's fine in the Pitch Perfects so what went wrong?

The only thing I sort of maybe liked was them getting closure with the video of Connor playing the guitar. But then, they went and got Jared to look sad for Connor when he literally has been doing everything to propel his social status and has no emotional stake with Connor, only with Evan for using him. WHICH WOULD HAVE BEEN CLEAR IF THEY INCLUDED 'Good For You'.

I have calmed down since writing this and all I feel now is numb. I listened to songs from the original Broadway Soundtrack after the movie as it auto played on youtube and felt. Now I’m just upset that people would probably never give the stage version a shot anymore. Thanks movie. *sigh*