#i wasn't going to upload these at first because I really just drew them for myself

[mossy-rainfrog]

hello everyone, I made a series of doodles to put inside of my copy of MobyDick and I would like to share them :3 pls enjoy:

[ID: Two traditional drawings. Ahab shows off his new pegleg with a flourish. Ishmael infodumps about whales to a fond Queequeg. End ID.] [More detailed ID in ALT.]

New Leg Goofin is for chapters 108-9, when Ahab gets fitted with his new leg! it's right before a super devastating chapter so i needed to make myself laugh lmao

Wikipedia Page About Every Whale is for the whole goddamn book, honestly, but I chose to put it at the beginning of ch.32, Cetology, where Ishmael really does try to explain every whale ever

[ID: A comic of Stubb and Flask bursting into Ahab's quarters, thinking the Captain is in danger, only to find Ahab and Fedallah playing a game of cards. End ID.] [More detailed ID in ALT.]

This gem belongs to p.344 where Stubb wonders if Fedallah means to kidnap Ahab, which was such a baffling ridiculous concept that I couldn't help but make fun of it. literally Ahab snuck this man on board bro, what the fuck is fedallah going to do to him. they're playing uno. shut up

[ID: Two drawings, with the first showing Pip after being cast away, haunted and alone on the deck of the Pequod. The other shows Ishmael and Queequeg homoerotically grasping hands while processing whale sperm. End ID.] [More detailed ID in ALT.]

this goes out to chapters 93-95, because the UNREAL whiplash from "a child was just abandoned at sea" to "hey let's be horny about whale sperm" is still the most insane transition of all time. Ish, what the fuck

[ID: A simply doodled meme diagram for how to greet a fellow amputee. The "wrong" answer shows Captains Ahab and Boomer shaking hands, while the "right" answers show Ahab in a handstand and then kicking his leg up high, both times to cross his prosthetic with Boomer's. End ID.] [More detailed ID in ALT.]

this goes out to p. 454. every interaction between these two absolutely delighted me but my mental image for the specific line about them "crossing ivory limbs" got. very silly.

[ID: A small comic of Ahab asking the Harpooners to give him blood to temper his harpoon in. They stare back at him with varying expressions of confused, uncomfortable disbelief. End ID.]

the last one, for p.504. yknow that feel when your boss just walks up and asks you to bleed on his custom made harpoon??? yeah uh. normal workday things

anyways thank you for reading, I had a delightful time making these and am so very fond of them all, so yea :3

credit as always for the designs goes to the darling @pocketsizedquasar , as well as credit for pricelessly annotating my copy of MD and thus getting me to actually read it, love youuuu💙💙

[ordinaryschmuck]

Why I Love The Owl House-Part One: The Characters

Salutations, random people on the internet who are already skimming past this! I am an Ordinary Schmuck. I write stories and reviews and draw comics and cartoons.

Back in 2018, when The Owl House was announced, I didn't think much of it. I looked at the teaser poster and knew that it would be a show that would gain a following, but I didn't think it'd appeal to me specifically. Then, in January 2020, just before the world made an oopsie, I saw that Disney Channel uploaded the show's first episode on YouTube. Having finished my homework and studying at the time and having nothing better to do, I clicked it out of morbid curiosity to gain a first impression of this series. And I'm not kidding when I say that the second the episode ended, I said, out loud, to myself, "I think I just found my new obsession for the next few years."

Yeah, I went from thinking the show wouldn't exactly be my thing to being obsessed with it. And obsessed I was! I wrote fan fiction and reviews and even drew a handful of fan art you are NOT allowed to look up due to how bad it is. The Owl House, with no exaggeration, also changed my life as it gave me quite a decent following on Tumblr for thoughts and stories I've crafted regarding the show and even gave me a new friend or two to share those same thoughts and ideas together. One of my closest online friends is someone who once reached out to me as a proofreader for a fic I wrote once upon a time, and I probably wouldn't have talked to them if not for The Owl House. I owe so much to this series that I adore that to explain what makes it so great...can't be done with a single review. I even considered writing a long review after Season One ended but gave up on the idea after realizing there's so much to talk and praise about the series. And that was with Season ONE! That was before Season Two made the show more spectacular in nearly every conceivable way!

So, yeah, we're gonna have to do this in parts, each dedicated to a specific theme. However, before we discuss THIS review's theme, I should get one thing out of the way: I'm not just going to praise The Owl House in every single review. There are problems to be had with the show, and I can't ignore them because the praises are stronger. I love The Owl House. I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't. But it's because I love it that I have to point out problems as they come because to truly love something means to take the bad with the good. And while there's a lot of good, there's still some bad worth mentioning.

With that said, let's finally begin by discussing the backbone of any series: The characters. And BOY, does The Owl House have a LOT of great, well-written characters, to the point where I initially considered that there wasn't a bad one in the bunch...I say initially because I finally woke up to how much I despise Tibbles (Yeah, wait until we get to him). Although, know that while discussing characters, we're not talking about one-offs like Bria and her lackeys in "Through the Looking Glass Ruins" or ones who weren't named in the show, like Amelia and Cat. We're focusing strictly on frequent players and fun side characters that nail the short time they appear. And we're also going in order from my least favorite to my most favorite. And just know that this is in order based on how good they are as CHARACTERS and not as PEOPLE. There’s a difference, and I’ll be able to explain as I go.

Now, without further ado, let's begin this wild journey together with the worst character in the series.

(Also, be warned, this is going to be the LONGEST post you’ll ever read. The Google Doc is 33 pages long…)

Tibbles: Yeah, really no contest here.

Tibbles is, quite frankly, the only character that I consider inadequate. I get the idea the writers were going for: He's a secondary antagonist for lighter adventures amongst heavier ones. The problem is that type of character does not function for a show like The Owl House, a series where the writers were told they'd be cut for time while working on Season Two and having little time for lighter tales. Maybe if the show had enough room for twenty more adventures or if The Owl House had a slight lean toward episodic misadventures like Amphibia, Tibbles might have functioned better as a comedic villain that occasionally screws with the main characters for filler. But because The Owl House has so much to do and would eventually become a series with no time to do it, Tibbles becomes more annoying when he distracts from the plot. Fortunately, he's only in three episodes. Unfortunately, Tibbles never becomes as entertaining as he could have been. He has one good capitalism joke, and that's all the good I can say about Tibbles. Let's move on…

Jacob: Another secondary antagonist that would have worked better if the show had more time. Maybe make him a constant threat (read: annoyance) to Vee or the rest of the Hexsquad while they're stuck on Earth. Instead, he's nothing more than a one-and-done threat who makes a singular cameo in the best episode of the series ("Thanks to Them"). At least Jacob being a crackpot conspiracy theorist is kind of funny. Otherwise, he'd be lower than Tibbles.

Perry Porter: He has next to NO character. Barely even a scrap.

He’s the father of one of our primary characters, and Perry has NOTHING going for him other than that and being a reporter. At least he’s not annoying.

The BATs: Yeah, might as well lump these three together because they started off making you think they'd do SOMETHING, only to have very little to do with the plot, with only one of them having a definite personality (It's Amber, and I love her).

Katya's kind of fun as this weird fanfic writer who has a hint of appreciation of showmanship, given how she very clearly wrote Raine's speech. But then you also have Derwin, who's so forgettable that I know for a fact that you had to Google his name to remember who Derwin is. These three are a mixed bag of sometimes being fun yet forgettable, to the point where I don't blame the writers for forgetting their existence when it came to the rest of the series. A shame, really, because there could have been something interesting to explore with this secret resistance organized by Eda's ex. The problem is, just like Tibbles, there's not enough time for characters like the BATs to flourish. They're missed potential, sure, but that doesn't make them bad. Just less than remarkable members of this very extensive cast.

Gilbert and Harvey Park: Have slightly more personality than Perry with Gilbert having more of a playful and laidback side to him and Harvey being the more serious and worried of the two. You can see glimpses of this through the little details like Willow falling onto Gilbert in that swinging memory in “Understanding Willow.” Gilbert laughs with Willow while Harvey looks a little worried. That’s sweet. They balance each other out.

Also, they’re gay, and gay characters are always better. It’s why they’re a step above the BATs. NEXT!

Warden Wrath: He has the same problem with Tibbles and Jacob, where Warden Wrath is a secondary antagonist in a show that doesn't really have the time for him to be as effective as he COULD be. What makes him BETTER is that Wrath is at least funny. Like, the man chopped off Eda's head and then asked her out. That's humor, baby.

Also, he's a good dad to Braxus, so...you know.

Though I will admit, I'm surprised how little a role Wrath played in the show. In "A Lying Witch and a Warden," he gave off main antagonist energy with his look and menacing demeanor. Turns out he's just a throwaway character, and that's for the best. He doesn't overstay his welcome, never distracts from the plot, and has a few hilarious lines and moments. Not the strongest threat or character, but decent's good enough for me.

Kikimora: I might be the only person who doesn't hate this little gremlin, and even I have to admit she's not that great.

Don't get me wrong, I adore how insane she acts and how obsessive she can be in wanting to beat Hunter, specifically. She has a lot of fun moments and, weirdly, looks adorable when not wearing a cone of shame. She has her fun moments...but fun enough to be a recurring antagonist throughout the series? To the point where the characters have boss fights with her in three prominent episodes?

I...don't think so. I like Kiki just fine, but only in spades. Her voice can get grading after a while, and you do get sick of her obsession with the Emperor's coven given time. She's at least funnier than Wrath, though. I will ALWAYS stand by that. But that's not enough to get her higher.

Adrian Graye: He's yet another secondary antagonist that would have benefited from more time...I'm noticing a theme here.

Eh. Either way, this guy's great. His whole schtick is being a bad and nitpicky director, and that's funny to me. It's what I would expect from the head of the Illusions Coven, who are witches best defined as ones with a sense of showmanship. Some might find Adrian annoying, which...yeah, he's kind of intended to be. But I get it. Not everyone would laugh at this guy as much as I do, and that's okay. Comedy is subjective, after all. My only complaint with Adrian is that we don't see more of him. He's too fun of a villain with an equally entertaining concept to be wasted as a one-and-done antagonist that resorted to only cameos in the future. Still, if the worst I can say about a character is that I want more of them, is that actually a problem?

Tinella Nosa: Also known as Dana Terrace's self-insert. She's used primarily for comedy, and thank goodness for that. I don't know if I would have appreciated this character as much as I did if Tinella was best friends with the main cast or had some stake in the plot. In fact, the one plot and subplot that feature Tinella in a prominent role was some of the worst the show has ever had. Thankfully, she's mostly a character for random comedic bits, and I really wouldn’t have it any other way.

Barcus: Another character whose primary purpose is to be funny. At least Barcus is a dog that radiates stoner energy, giving him a ton more bonus points.

Braxxus: ALSO a comedic character, but is only better because the joke's funnier. I mean, Braxxus is just a character who's a little toddler that looks and sounds disturbing. How can you NOT laugh at that?

Eberwolf The Huntsman: Quick aside: Was anyone going to tell me that Eberwolf was apparently a man, or was I supposed to find that out for myself? I mean, shame on me for assuming genders, I guess...But I'm pretty sure I wasn't the only one on that.

Anyways, Eberwolf is fine. In the short time he's in the show, Eberwolf offers great humor by being this feral little rascal that primarily annoys Darius. Not much to say other than that, and I doubt having more time would benefit Eberwolf. He really does scream "Comedy Relief" to me, and sometimes being entertaining is enough. Not everyone needs depth.

Boscha: Speaking of depth, I will forever stand by my claim that Boscha worked better as a one-dimensional bully than a three-dimensional one. Sure, three-dimensional bullies can be interesting because it leads to us learning why they do their harsh acts and that there are reasons why they're bad kids...However, that's why we have Amity. And for a redeemable bully like HER to work, you need an irredeemable one to show up to prove that not every little s**t can be better with time. Some are just sadists for no reason. And that's where Boscha comes in as a bully that knows full well she's hurting people but doesn't care because her only justification is that they deserve it. Why? Because Boscha believes she's better than them. That inflated ego makes her the perfect mirror of what Amity could have been and causes Boscha to be the best rival to Willow. Willow starts off with confidence issues, where even though she gains more of a boost thanks to her friends, there's still lingering self-doubt in the back of her brain. Boscha lacks that. She may do some affirmations to her reflection, similar to what Willow does in "Any Sport in a Storm," but while Willow briefly second guesses herself, Boscha says every word as if she knows its universal truth. So when these two go up against each other, it's great because it allows Willow to prove that she IS the best while proving that Boscha's the worst. It was perfect, and it's why I had no issues with Boscha remaining one-dimensional...But then the writers had to SCREW IT ALL UP!

Now, don't get me wrong. Revealing that Boscha had codependency issues with Amity and Boscha's other friends is interesting. There's just one problem: They introduce this idea in the second to last episode of the series. There's next to no time to fully flesh it out, leaving Boscha with a character arc that feels both forced and rushed. It might have been better if this idea had been established from the beginning instead of using most of that time writing Boscha as a one-dimensional bully with no depth to her. I still say she's entertaining, but maybe the writers tried TOO HARD with her.

Matt Holomule: But sometimes, it's better to try for a character that used to be the most universally hated.

How in the hell did I go from hating this little stink rat to being genuinely entertained by him? He's not my favorite or anything, but, like...compare Matt's first appearance with his last. He was an insufferable little prick who caused problems for Luz and Gus all because Matt wanted power and drama. That's it. Just those two things: Power and drama. Yeah, those are not great motivations for a character.

In fairness, it was clear we were supposed to hate Matt, and humor comes from watching him fail miserably. The problem is that he didn't do it enough, and while I'll laugh at the little stink nugget getting messed up at the end of "Something Ventured, Someone Framed," Matt still won by the end of the day, getting everything he wanted. He just got a little messed up along the way, is all. So while the idea is there, it's not strong enough to make the character entertaining.

But then the writers decided, "Hey since we're not going to try with Boscha, let's try SOMETHING with Matt." And it worked! "Through the Looking Glass Ruins" showed why Matt was such an insufferable, slimy weasel because he attended a school where the more powerful received more respect. Matt never got that in his old school, so he tried again in his new school, looking for power and drama because it's all he knows. Then by "For the Future," not only is the guy actually competent, but he's hilarious through false bravado and not being smart enough to know that he's been crushing on a robot. It's a huge improvement...but only from a character that makes three primary appearances and sucks with one of them. A character who's decent two-thirds of the time isn't too bad, but that still doesn't make him high up on my list, where characters are better for far more than that.

Viney: Or a character that has a better vibe despite...barely having anything to work with.

Viney...is insane. She dumps friends over the tiniest of misunderstandings and uses her griffin as an assistant for everything. She's clearly not well in the head...and that's what makes her entertaining.

Vine is a looney nut who might be unaware of her crazy actions. It's good fun, but the problem is that there's not enough of it. Like Matt, Viney has very few prominent moments in the series, and you can tell she's not as entertaining as she could have been. If the writers went all the way with her insanity or made her a character that's the textbook definition of "zero chill," you can bet Viney would be one of my favorite characters. As is, her craziness is only...a scrap of what could have been a great personality. I like her, don't love her.

Jerbo: Jerbo's higher because he has more of a well-defined personality. And he wasn't instantly unlikable, so...

And that really is all there is to say about Jerbo. He's fun as a fearful boy down on his luck and has a bit of intrigue with how he wanted to change the coven system forever. And he does, which is honestly pretty cool. Still, not a lot to make him higher.

Owlbert: Hey, look! It's a character that had a ton of prominent appearances in Season One and was all but forgotten in every season after!

This is a shame because Owlbert is one of the two palisman in the series that feels like a genuine character. The others are cute (my favorite is a tie between Ghost and Stringbean), but Owlbert, for a few episodes, felt like a prominent member of the cast with his loyalty to Eda and the connection formed with Luz. In fact, he and Luz had such a great connection that, for a while there, I assumed the show would do a thing where Eda passed down Owlbert to Luz as a form of passing the torch from the master teacher to the master student. But that didn't happen, which I can be fine with because Stringbean's perfect, and I will not hear any argument about it.

Still, it's weird how Owlbert showed up a fair amount of times in Season One, even having an entire episode dedicated to him, only to be forgotten and discarded by the time Season Two rolled around. And I know someone who'll be mad about that.

Bat Queen: And she's a character that had her own kind of potential only to be forgotten in Season Two. Only in this case, I'm willing to be more forgiving toward Bat Queen. It sucks that we'll never fully know who her owner is, but that always felt like a minor story beat for someone who wasn't that major of a character. Or, at least, someone who never had TIME to be a major character. The Bat Queen had intrigue as a discarded palisman who dedicated her life to looking after abandoned ones, but someone like her doesn't really have a place in the grander story of the show. Plenty of characters in the series have good reasons to have their stories continue or their personalities develop, whether having close ties with a main character or having a narrative purpose. Bat Queen doesn't really have either of those things, so it's why I'm not someone who’s losing sleep at night just because she has this engaging backstory brought forth but never followed up on. I'd still like to see it, but I always knew that after hearing Disney shortened the show, it was always going to be the Bat Queen's story that would fall on the cutting room floor. Missed potential for sure, but at least we had an interesting character for a short while.

Odalia Blight: And the winner for the worst mother of the year goes to--Yeah, I know. An easy joke to make. But I can't help it! It's always served on a silver platter!

Anyways, Odalia's the worst. Yet that's what makes her the best, funnily enough. She's the most snobbish snob that's ever snobbed while having zero respect for other people, least of all her family. You hate her with every fiber of your being, and you cannot wait to see her fail miserably despite trying so hard to reach the top. And Odalia absolutely is a character one loves to hate. She called Amity and her friends into the office and soon scolded Amity for not being in class. It is a challenge to make someone that kind of entertainingly despicable, yet the writers nailed it. However, they might have worked too hard to make us hate Odalia and not enough to deliver her just desserts.

I have no problems with Odalia being an awful mother, wife, and overall person throughout the show. I figured it was only a matter of time before she got hit in the face with SOME karma that would make it all worth it. Sure, it was nice to see her bend to the whim of a literal god that craved pizza bagels, and I do love that Belos, who values life less than her, didn't even want to use Odalia as his meat puppet. Still, she deserved worse. After everything Odalia did and the bridges she burned, it would have been nice to see either Amity or Camila knock her lights out for being a terrible mother. Hell, we even saw Kikimora doing community service and grunt work after her crimes, so it would be fitting to see Odalia right there with her. Or giving her SOME punishment other than making the last time we see her being Odalia standing off to the side and acting like she doesn't care that she lost everything. And that...doesn't feel right. After everything Odalia's done, we, the audience, and her family, deserve to see Odalia receive the worst punishment she had coming to her. Maybe not death or even going to jail. But SOMETHING is better than nothing. She was entertaining, but being so goes only so far without a proper failure.

...But at least she's hot. I know that's out of left field...but we all know it's true...Camila's still hotter, though.

Gwen Clawthorne: ...At least she's a better mother than Odalia?

Alright, I might be the only person who doesn't hate Gwen like others in the fandom, just like with Kikimora. But unlike Kiki, Gwen has much more to like...at least to me. Yeah, her falling for scams isn't great, and realizing the error of her ways could have been done better if not...quickly paced, but I don't mind her. Upon her introduction, it's clear that Gwen wants to try and help Eda with a vile curse. She may have been a bit hostile with her wording, but we soon learn that the curse not only turns Eda into a savage beast but one that clawed Gwen's husband's eye out and ruined the family business that's been around for generations. You can't really blame Gwen for being...agitated about the curse. Or wanting to try anything and everything to cure it. Yes, Eda's curse is often used as an allegory for a chronic illness. And a pretty decent one at that. But sometimes, with a story, you have to remove the allegory from what's shown, and doing so helps you gain more of a perspective for why Gwen reacted the way that she did. Was it right? Well...Not really. I guess she could have seen sooner that she should have been there for Eda instead of scaring her off, not to mention the damage Gwen caused in her debut appearance, but Gwen was at least quick enough to come around and realize what she did was wrong, and APOLOGIZE. Most parents like her won't be that easy, obviously, but another thing about fiction is that you have to realize that it's...fiction. Not everything equates to real life, and you should accept a character's choices and actions if it suits the story. Not many kids can do that, sure, and that's where the hesitation fits, but I think Gwen's kind enough to prove that she's worth believing in. She still spent years trying to help Eda, even if it was misguided, and was ready to kill the guys scamming her. Gwen is not a bad person. Her heart's mostly in the right place despite the troubles she caused, and I'm willing to bet she learned her lesson in the end. Just listen to her speech to Eda (and a little to Lilith) near the end of the episode. That's a mother's imperfect love if you ask me.

Masha: Admittingly, there's not much to them. Masha's a solid character. They have tidbits of personality as someone who's into the grim and horrifying but has a good sense of humor about things when they laugh off reading Vee an accurate fortune by saying she needed bath bombs or humorously sum up Belos' backstory about him being upset that his brother got a hot witch girlfriend. Plus, there's the genuine representation of having Masha be non-binary but still comfortable dressing and looking feminine. From what I've learned, being non-binary doesn't mean sticking to a gender-neutral style. Some like to look feminine, while others are fine appearing masculine, and it's cool for The Owl House to represent that through Masha. I only wish there was more about them. I could go on and on about most of these characters, but for Masha, there's not enough to go off of. It really is the good vibes and representation carrying them, but that's not much to complain about if you ask me.

Skara: SKARA IS THE BEST GIRL!

What's that? She barely has much of a consistent personality and is an over-glorified background character, if anything else? Well, too bad, because she's the best girl.

Honestly, I don't know why I love Skara so much. She hardly has any character to her, but something about her is just so gosh darn endearing. I'm telling you, sometimes a character can be entertaining by having a good vibe alone.

Steve: THIS MOTHER F**KER, however, had NO RIGHT being as entertaining as he was! Nor how popular!

Steve. F**king STEVE! All he had was one or two lines in a less-than-stellar episode, yet the fandom ADORED this mother f**ker! And, yeah, they were funny lines, but not "OMG, best character EVAH" levels of funny! But sure enough, people loved him! So the writers brought him back, and gosh dang it, he's so endearing! He's the most chill and reasonable character in the entire show! He gave King insight into who he was in one of the biggest character moments in the series! He's...NOT the golden god that I think people were picturing him as under that mask, but DAMN, is he still a handsome fella! He's so great, that I honestly wish he was in the show MORE! Gosh, DANG IT!

"If you love him so much, why are you acting angry about it?"

Because it's FUNNY!

"No, it isn't."

Yes, it is! Moving on!

Terra Snapdragon: Finally! Some good frickin' secondary antagonist!

Terra is why I hoped the series would dive deep into the other covenheads, primarily the clearly evil ones. This woman radiated supervillain energy as someone who seemed super sweet but would kill you with zero hesitation. And we learn in the flashback episode that Terra was somehow more bloodthirsty, having zero care for the lives of others, least of all children. The woman was despicable, and it was a treat seeing her return when she did. And, unlike Odalia, Terra had a proper amount of punishment. Sure, it sucks that she slinks away in the finale, but her forced to play pretend with the Collector while in an outfit that...did not work on her is pretty decent karma for someone who saw others as below her. Plus, she at least turned into a puppet for being too big of a big mouth, which is more than what Odalia got. I'd prefer if Terra had MORE punishment, but who knows? Maybe she went to jail or...tripped and snapped her spine off-screen.

If anything, my only complaint was that Terra wasn't in the series more. Make HER the main threat in "For the Future" instead of Kikimora and Boscha. THAT would have been fun. Regardless, she's entertaining enough as is, even if more screen time would have made her better.

Principal Bump: This man deserved more love...He said, while still leaving Bump below several characters.

For real, though, Bump deserves more credit, even from me. He's the school principal in a children's animated series, but instead of making him the demonic, overbearing dictator, the writers made him...the exact opposite. If anything, Principal Faust is more of what I would expect as a cold, careless, and horrifying hater of fun and children. Thankfully, that's not Bump. The man may be strict and have no problems throwing a kid into a detention pit, but he still cares about the safety and well-being of his students. Hell, he loves his students. Even with trouble-makers like Luz, Gus, and Willow, Bump can't help but cry because he has fond memories about the three of them and the trouble they caused. And while he can be dead-set in some ways, Bump is still willing to admit when he made a mistake and chooses to correct it, like in "The First Day" by letting the Detention Kids pick multiple tracks to study from. He's kind and reasonable, and that's what's to love about him. Plus, Bump's got some Grade-A snark on him. Some of the show's funniest and most quotable lines come from his dry remarks, and it's partially why he's bumped (ha) up so high. As I said, Bump deserves more love...It's just unfortunate that there are more entertaining characters than him.

Lilith Clawthorne: Admittedly, Lilith would not be up this high if she remained the person she was in Season One. Back then, Lilith wasn't the worst. She functioned nicely as a foil to Eda's wild side and had a great design for a secondary antagonist. The problem is that Lilith was a little boring, her motivations weren't made clear until the finale for the sake of a twist, and that same twist REALLY hurt her character...for about a week until everyone was quick to forgive and forget after a poorly paced redemption. And that's another fault of Lilith: Her redemption. She cursed Eda, ruined the family, ostracized Eda from society, hunted her down for YEARS because of blind faith in a man playing her like the cheap-ass kazoo that she was, and it all got wiped away almost instantly. Granted, there is one asterisk to this: It was all an accident...Sort of. 

Lilith did mean to curse Eda but didn't intend for it to last as long as it did. And you at least get a sense that Lilith feels some remorse for doing so, even stopping their first duel together the second Eda brought up the curse. The problem is that she doesn't feel enough, still treating Eda as lesser than her despite the two of them being close and Lilith supposedly feeling guilty about cursing her. And, again, it feels like everything got resolved too quickly. I accepted everyone is quick to say, "Everything's good for now" in "Young Blood, Old Souls," but only because I expected Lilith to get dragged through the coals in Season Two. But she didn't. She was quickly treated as one of the gang, and Eda did nothing but jokingly remind Lilith that she cursed her. You do that after years of getting over something, not after a week. So, as a redeemable antagonist, Lilith might as well get a C-...Thank goodness she became an entertaining character, regardless of that.

By Season Two, Lilith becomes an almost different character. Better yet, she becomes what I wanted Viney to be: Bats**t insane. Lilith is violent enough to tell Philip that he better be digging his own grave and punches him in the face without hesitation, ecstatic about banisters and having barnacles on her head, and willing to devote her whole life to an eight-year-old and perform blood sacrifices in his honor. The woman lost her mind, and I was all there for it. Even then, though, she still had a bit of intelligence, being hesitant to trust Philip after seeing some similarities to Belos and studious enough to figure out glyph combos herself. It's just that now because there are fewer worries and fears about keeping an image and being the best, Lilith can let go of inhibitions and go nuts. Her redemption could have used a lot more polish, but being so dang entertaining in Season Two is what made Lilith a character I couldn't care about to one I was excited to see when I could.

Alador Blight: Wish I could say the same about this guy...

I think I love the idea of Alador much more than his execution. Upon his introduction, he's presented as the lesser of two evils between him and Odalia, with Alador being easier to talk to without threatening to kill anybody and trying to find compromises that could stow Odalia's fire when she becomes unreasonably angry. Initially, one could assume that he's on the same agenda as hers, only to later find out that Alador's being mistreated too, with Odalia working him to exhaustion, too tired to even notice his children's problems half the time because he's too busy working for Odalia to the point where he never even took a sick day. In Season Two, this lines up with a lot of his behavior. It's why he acts so scatterbrained and unsure of what to do in most appearances. Or the way he tries to tell Odalia they've demonstrated enough with the Abomiton and how he forces a compromise by making Odalia stick to her word and sneakily tell her that being with friends makes Amity stronger, and how he promises to Amity to let Odalia back down in "Reaching Out." If you look solely at how he acts in Season Two, I believe it's pretty decent character work/development, showing a man who loves his kids but can't be the father he wants and needs to be because of his overbearing wife...However, there is ONE moment that spoils everything.

Yeah, that one. This is the scene that everyone points back to when discussing Alador's change of heart and whether or not he earns Amity's love despite it. He's very clearly on Odalia's side in this argument, being just as cold as her. Some argued that because this memory came from Amity as a kid, she might misremember the details and misconstrued how Alador acted that day. Even his silhouette seems different from how he looks in the present, and I was willing to agree because I remember days when my parents got a LITTLE mad, and it was the scariest thing in the world. However, not only would you be surprised how more traumatic experiences stick with kids, but the show makes it very clear that memories inside one's mind recreate things to the exact detail. Sure, there's the fact that it's Amity's recollection in Willow's brain, which, as far as we know, isn't as perfect as a picture. But The Owl House never explicitly establishes how weak a witch's memory could be while already inside a memory. It's a very weird distinction to make but necessary to prove that Amity's memory isn't as exact as it looks. Although, if you want explanations, I have some of my own. One realistic, another analytical, and one argumentive.

Realistically...this is a retcon. The writers had a new idea of what to do with Alador and realized, too late, that they had to make changes to his character for it to work. Changes that go beyond a scene where all we see is his silhouette. And when a retcon's made, it's sort of a team effort between the writers and the fans to explain how it works, with the writers providing the information and the fans analyzing previous scenes to see how it holds up. And after writing about how he's under Odalia's abuse and manipulation, here's where the analysis comes in.

Alador works so much and dismisses his kids because, if he doesn't, Odalia will have the kids do work for him. Not wanting to let them go through what he does, Alador reluctantly goes along with what she demands, only getting her to back down when he sees an opportunity, like in "Escaping Expulsion." Unfortunately, just like that episode, he's still on her side most of the time, doing what she wants and saying what SHE thinks is right even if he probably doesn't want to. Because if he doesn't, he and his kids are in WORSE trouble. That day, when Alador scolded Amity, might be a day when he felt like there was no other choice because Odalia left no room to back down and was forced to do and say what she wanted.

Plus--and here's where I get argumentive--We forgave this:

Granted, there are some arguments against this as well, one I'll get to when talking about Amity. For now, I will say there are three reasons why we're willing to forgive Amity: One is that she's a kid. People are more willing to forgive a child's behavior because they can outgrow it and become better. People have this idea that adults can't do the same thing, that they should already know better...even though adults rarely do, and they could live up to seventy while still unaware of how their behavior is wrong. Number two is that we spend more time with Amity, learning how much she regrets her actions and proving how she'll work hard to be a better person despite them. We can't have that with Alador because the show has to do so much and has very little time to do it. Some corners can be cut, and Alador was one of them. Thirdly, and this is the one I can't argue against, people understand Amity's plight because they WERE Amity. They've had experience with neglectful and abusive parents, and that experience beats any argument a person has. It doesn't matter if you, me, or anyone else argues that Alador isn't badly written. THOSE people, the ones who had an Alador of their own, will always feel uncomfortable by how the writers made him because those people know not every parent is like him, and they don't want kids thinking THEIR parents are the same. I mean it when I say I can't argue against that because that's a fair reason to not like a character.

Personally, I like Alador enough. At least, I like the idea he represents. It's good to show that parents can be mistreated too, especially a father because not enough people take men getting abused in a relationship as seriously as women do. The execution is a little sloppy because of that one scene in Season One, but it doesn't bother me. It DOES, however, bother others, and for reasons I can't help but sympathize. I won't call Alador a bad character, but I won't stop others from disagreeing. But at least his kids are great (and, yeah, we’ll get to them).

Dell Clawthorne: Dell's kind of both a symbol and a character.

Symbolically, he's the physical representation of Eda's biggest regret. She blinded and crippled her father, ruining the family business in the process. But the sad part is that none of it was her fault. Yet Eda still blames herself, not even wanting to go and SEE Dell because the pain of knowing what she did to him is too great. He proves that Eda can turn into what she is afraid of becoming. Something that we see in her nightmare in "Watching and Dreaming." Something that no one wants to be: A monster. A monster that doesn't deserve forgiveness or love. A monster that should be locked away for the safety of the ones she loves. But the crazy thing is that Dell DOES love Eda. He DOES forgive her.

Dell has every right to be angry. He lost his eye and his job. Who wouldn't be angry after that? And maybe he was for a bit, but I doubt he was ever angry with Eda, let alone resent her for it. Instead, after years of her running away and never wanting to talk to him again, Dell only wanted to see his daughter again. His scene with Eda in "Elsewhere and Elsewhen," where he clarifies that what happened was tragic but still loves Eda despite it, is one of my favorite interactions between two characters in The Owl House. And trust me, that's a hefty list to get on.

Dell's time on the show wasn't long, but what he does gives a lot of substance to the show for a guy who probably has less than five minutes of screen time (I don't know, I didn't do the math). Maybe he could have offered more, but I'm glad with what we still got.

The Titan: The same goes for this fluffy individual. We only knew them for a short amount of time, but holy hell, did the Titan make the most of it. Even though, technically speaking, we knew them the whole time.

I don't think I've seen a show where the setting happens to be an essential character in the plot. I'm pretty sure everyone assumed the Titan was a corpse that our characters had adventures on, and that's it. Any idea that they were a being that could talk to others could get shot down because the only person to "talk" to the Titan was Belos. And with him being the serial liar that he was, any fan could assume that even talking to the Titan was impossible, and meeting them was even more so. Turns out it wasn't.

And the Titan, the powerful being whose corpse is big enough to form a landmass, also turns out to be a chilled-out individual. There are brief moments of seriousness and even nobility in their final moments, but for the most part, the Titan is just a laid-back, jovial person. Personally, I'm into god-like beings that are like that. Not one that's wrathful or vengeful, but kind and acts like someone you could, I don't know, have a beer with. Not that I drink beer, but...you know.

Granted, the Titan WAS a bit wrathful with how they treated the Collector, but they clearly feel bad about it after finally realizing the Collector meant no harm, and it was the Collector's SIBLINGS who did the dirty work. The Titan admitted to making a mistake, making them both a kind god and a humble one. It amazes me how much characterization was given to the Titan in how little time they were officially introduced in the show. There are characters who are better after having more time, but there are also ones who might just be worse. So I appreciate that they made the Titan so top-tier, even if making them nothing more than the Isles, and the show's setting, would have been more than enough.

Emira Blight: I will forever be grateful for the course correction that the writers took with Edric and Emira, not only making them great supporting characters instead of semi-antagonists like in "Lost in Language" but also giving them their own personalities that help them stand out instead of being exact copies like most twins in media. Unfortunately, Emira might be the least interesting Blight sibling.

THAT DOES NOT MEAN BAD! Just because Amity's more engaging and Edric's more entertaining, that doesn't make Emira a horrible character because of it. It just means that, comparatively, she's not as high as her siblings. With that said, Emira's still pretty fantastic as the only Blight with a functioning brain cell. She calls Edric out for his occasional stupidity, gives proper advice to Amity when she's freaking out, and has her thoughts together because Emira didn't work herself to exhaustion. It also makes sense why Emira's a healer. She's there to keep her family physically and emotionally safe, making sure Edric doesn't hurt himself or counseling Amity when things are too overwhelming. Not only is Emira the most sensible, but it might make her the glue that keeps the family together. But despite that, she's still playful, still mischievous. Except, unlike her brother, there's a more controlled intelligence behind the fun and games Emira pulls. It's a bit more subtle, but it's there. So, while she might be the weakest Blight sibling in terms of story value, Emira is still a great character in her own right, being a fun yet essential family member with that perfect older sister energy...Mainly because she's the older sister, but my point still stands!

Edric Blight: Ah, the one Blight sibling that proves how most of the brains went to Amity and Emira while he got only the scraps.

Edric is not smart. And that very fact leads to two kinds of entertainment. Firstly, it's funny seeing his dumbass stumble through life. He tried to eat snow, attempted to keep a wild bat as a pet, couldn't pick up a hint to save his life, and ended up in a full-body cast after a reckless rescue mission. The poor boy is a riot because of how dumb he acts, which leads to the second thing entertaining about Edric: He's aware of his lack of smarts and how others see him as "The Dumb One." It causes Edric to be a little insecure about his talents, despite having great knowledge of Beast Keeping and decent skills with Potions. It's as if the writers saw the fans' preconceptions about Edric and decided to do something with it. Unfortunately, they only did it for one episode because we're strapped for time, but that brief instant of character insight is what's to love about this show. We have so many characters to use and so little time that instances like Edric helping Eda and King make a potion is enough to be considered great character development for someone who could have easily been "The Dumb One" and nothing more. He was funny enough with that simple character trait, but one tends to appreciate when a show goes the extra mile, even if it's for one episode only.

Hooty: Oh, Hooty. Sweet, dearest Hootcifer.

At first, I did not like you. You were an annoying addition as comic relief, whose screechy voice only made me hate you more. But then something interesting happened. As time went on, you became less annoying and more endearing by nature. Having an eagerness to please others mixed with a constant ignorance of social cues made you quite humorous. Yes, quite humorous indeed. The laughs brought forth by things you have done and said were plentiful, and I was delighted by each appearance you've made.

And best of all, dearest Hootcifer, you've made Luz and Amity a canonical couple. In an episode that will be nearest and dearest to many fans' hearts, you have not only brought out beautiful development between King and Eda but also managed the most adorable display of young love to occur. A young love between two girls, no less, meaning this moment of spectacular representation for the LGBTQA+ community is all thanks to you, a character best described as a "bird worm." That is both mildly hilarious as well as incredible.

Unfortunately, dearest Hootcifer, your time on the show was not perfect. Whilst Season Two was you at your best, it took all of Season One for me and others to warm up to you. And by Season Three, with every other characters taking story prominence, there was nary any time for you, Hootcifer, to add anything of value. You hardly had any lines, nor did you manage to have any final words in the series finale. Other characters in the series had faced this injustice too, but it is extra ludicrous for you, Hootcifer. You were there since that very first episode, becoming the fourth member of the Owl House family. To think that your last line was only in the second to last episode, despite how much of an impact you've left on the others and the fans, it pains me that you were one of the few cheated out the most with that final season.

Regardless, despite everything, Hootcifer, you are a well-done character with humor and heart. Tis no wonder that the show is named after you, for you are worthy of such an honor.

...In short, Hooty is funny, endearing, and surprisingly grows on you. I have...no idea why I gave that sentiment across in such a fancy way, but oh well.

(He deserves it anyways)

Flapjack: *Sigh* Another loving bird...

Just like Owlbert, Flapjack's the only palisman with enough prominence in the series to feel like a character, but unlike Owlbert, the writers actually explore more with Flapjack. But that may be because his story is tragic.

It is heavily hinted that Flapjack is Evelyn's palisman, who also lured Caleb into the Boiling Isles and indirectly sparked DECADES worth of...bad stuff. And within that time, Flapjack lost an eye and an owner and spent so much of his life alone. That is until he met Luz...who then introduced Flapjack to Hunter.

It really was a solid expectation subversion that Flapjack chose Hunter as an owner. He had a kind and playful energy that matched Luz perfectly, but no. He wanted Hunter, possibly because he looked so much like Caleb. And not wanting to lose another Caleb, Flapjack seemed to make it his number one goal to help Hunter in every way possible. That's when it hits you why Flapjack is perfect for Hunter: He's what Hunter NEEDS. Flapjack may have worked well with Luz, but Hunter needed him more than she did. Hunter was all alone for most of his life and went through so much emotional and mental stress in his unfortunate existence. Then here comes Flapjack, cheerfully supporting Hunter in his interests and literally pulling him to people who will make him happy. Flapjack's basically a therapy bird if I've ever seen one. And it really was nice seeing the majority of the time he's spent in the series be dedicated to making someone else happy...because it makes his death all the more tragic.

All Flapjack wanted was to make Hunter happy, ignoring the fact for so long that being near Hunter was the biggest risk that Flapjack could have ever taken. The second Belos might see Flapjack, he'd be as good as dead due to Belos' need to feed off the souls of palismens and because of Belos' hatred for everything that Flapjack represents. Yet Flapjack still stuck it out and stayed by Hunter's side despite these risks. His death was all but inevitable, but it hurt all the same because while we knew, deep down, it would happen, we didn't WANT it to happen. But it did, and it stings that a bird that wanted to do nothing but good only paid a horrible price for his kindness. On the bright side, Flapjack died doing the one thing he did best: Helping Hunter. No, SAVING Hunter.

Flapjack was loyal to the end, and we all love him for it. And miss him all the same.

Darius Deamonne: Hey, look! It's another character that's important to Hunter! And this one is FABULOUS!

I'll forever be blown away by the expectation subversion the writers did with Darius. Upon his introduction, you think he would be this menacing secondary antagonist the characters would have to fight through in a final battle against Belos. That was definitely the vibe I got from the guy, with how menacing he acted and how he looked in his abomination form. Turns out, most of that was an act...Most of it. I'm willing to bet that he really was ticked off by whoever was screwing with him, and his annoyance was real with Ebberwolf. But by using what we NOW know, it's clear that Darius was playing SOME of his behavior up to make it convincing enough that he's on the Emperor's side in case any ears are listening in. Belos does have eyes and ears everywhere, after all...somehow. Plus, it makes the reveal that Darius is on the side of good all the more pleasant of a surprise. He's certainly less menacing, but not as a fault. Darius still has the same snark and agitation towards people who are more, let's say, foolish than him, just as Darius did in his first appearance. It's just that now he's more subdued because he's surrounded by people who Darius doesn't need to scare. Even when dealing with the Emerald Entrails, Darius acted cold but reasonable. And when actually TRYING to scare the kids, you can argue he wanted to further scare them away from joining the Emperor's Coven, showing them what type of person they'd be dealing with.

But the biggest surprise came when he turned out to be a decent father figure for Hunter. Unfortunately, we never get to see him as an actual father, but it's still sweet seeing Darius show Hunter the first amount of respect and care from an adult the poor boy ever got. Darius shows interest in Hunter's interest, respects his decisions, and encourages him to be a kid and not a soldier, likely because Darius knows full well where that leads for the previous Golden Guards. It warms the heart to see how much Darius cares for Hunter, getting worried when he's in danger and feeling joy when he's safe and sound. It's all great...and it SUCKS that Darius is one of the few screwed over in the finale. No final lines, just pure silence...and some shipping fuel between him and Alador. At least there were still moments of Darius showing he cares for Hunter, and they're both happy together. I didn't really expect much from Darius. He was already fun upon his introduction, but having him become this stern yet caring person was such an interesting twist that I can't help but admire more. It's not what I expected, but I appreciate it nonetheless.

Vee Noceda: That IS her last name, and I will hear NO SLANDER ABOUT IT!

...Anyway, Vee's a great character.

I am forever impressed by how great of an, yet another, expectation subversion Vee is. Everyone, including Luz, upon first seeing Vee, saw her as an evil doppelganger trying to steal Luz's life. I still remember the shock and fear I felt when first seeing Vee, worried about what this could mean for Luz and Camila. And then we got to know Vee...and I much prefer the character we got over an evil clone or whatever the popular theory at the time was.

Vee, quite possibly, might have the most tragic life out of everyone in the show. She was born in a cage, was treated as a lab experiment and nothing more, gained a ton of PTSD surrounding rats and cages, and likely never knew the feeling of a warm bed or a good home-cooked meal until meeting Camila. Vee's life was a nightmare before running away to the human realm, and after learning about all that, it makes her finding a home with the Nocedas, being a part of their family, all the sweeter. A friend of mine said that her plan was a LITTLE flawed because Vee didn't know whether or not Luz would return, but in fairness, Vee said that she didn't mean to keep the act up forever, but Camila was nice to her. Vee was operating off of emotions due to getting an inkling of what love feels like, even if Camila's motherly love wasn't for Vee exactly. And with the family she's found and the friends she made in the Human Realm, it's no wonder that she prefers a life there, graduating high school with Luz and having a form for herself to gain an identity of her own. It's amazing how much care and attention the writers put into Vee and her story...Especially since she's basically a minor character.

Yeah, it's crazy to think that a lot of this stuff that happens with Vee is for a character with a substantial role in TWO episodes. Honestly, I wish she had more and could have time to bond with Camila and Luz, showing how much of a happy family she's gained. But, even after "Yesterday's Lie" ended, I already assumed the odds of seeing Vee again in something big were NEVER to become a reality. The shortening of the series, leaving fans with only half a season and three specials, meant that the odds weren't in Vee's favor to grow and develop more than she already did. In a case like that, you have to learn to accept what you HAVE instead of complaining that you didn't get what you WANT. And as for what we have with Vee, it's still good and compelling stuff for a character that makes two appearances. Sure, the potential of a greater character is there for Vee, but for a minor character, she's still really great. Now, if she was a MAIN character, THEN it'd be an issue...Speaking of which.

Gus Porter: Ah, NOW we're getting to the important characters.

Gus is...probably the least interesting out of the main cast. That doesn't make him bad, mind you. I mean, look how far he's come in this list. It's just that, compared to everyone else, Gus felt as if he had less going on. While everyone else was dealing with trauma, family issues, and self-worth, Gus was always kind of...there. The worst part is that there are a lot of hints of there being more to him. He somewhat admits to Hunter in "Thanks to Them" that, while things aren't awful, Gus isn't happy. He missed his dad, and Gus was the first to break down and cry after "King's Tide." There's something there to explore, but because it's a season where so much is going on and there's little time to focus on everybody, Gus, unfortunately, gets the short end of the stick when dealing with HIS trauma. And there's not much going on with his family. There's no discussion of what happened with his mom or any animosity between Gus and his dad. They have a healthy relationship together. Which is appreciative, don't get me wrong. But it's NOTHING compared to Amity's issues with her parents, Eda's strained relationship with her sister and mother, and Luz's difficulty in getting her mom to understand her. The closest bit of intrigue we get with Gus and his dad is how bored and kind of annoyed Gus looked during the Grand Prix in "Eda's Requiem." There could be something to explore there, maybe talk about why Gus went with his dad even though he clearly wasn't having a great time. Unfortunately, this was during a season when the writers were told the series would get cut, and they had to rush to close up as many character arcs as they could before reaching the end, with Gus, again, getting the short end of the stick. Thankfully, the show does something about Gus' self-worth, showing his doubts as an Illusionist and some anxiety about being used by others for personal gain. It's engaging stuff, but it comes at the cost of Gus being overshadowed by an admittedly cute couple and the fandom's favorite white boy.

We definitely get a good amount where I say that Gus is an engaging character, but never enough to stand above the others. And that, right there, is why Gus is the least interesting in the main cast. There are great things about him to explore, but he's never given a chance to truly shine. Thankfully, Gus is still great in a supporting role, acting as the group's cheerleader and hyping them up to do something. Or how he acts as the little brother, having sometimes naive optimism and playfulness compared to everyone else. He's still a smart cookie who knows when to be serious, but it's clear that he's the second or third youngest in the cast, right next to King or the Collector. So, while Gus would have been even better with more time dedicated to him and him alone, that doesn't mean he's any worse of a character because of it. He's still endearing with how supportive he is, even if that makes him less interesting than his friends.

Speaking of which...

Willow Park: Willow...has a similar problem as Gus, but it might be a little worse. Because while Gus has entire subplots in episodes dedicated to him and his issues, Willow has consistently shared the spotlight with other characters throughout the series, where they get a lot of development, and she gets the scraps. To the point where fans talk more about the people Willow has a relationship with instead of Willow. She used to have a friendship with Amity? They latch onto AMITY'S side of things. Hunter's her boyfriend? They latch onto HUNTER'S side of things. In fact, I think people talk more about her BULLY than they do about Willow. Rarely does Willow get any attention in the fanbase and even in the series, which is a shame because she IS a solid character.

Willow's your typical shy girl who learns to gain more confidence. Only this one has more of a violent edge and seems more than capable of killing someone for hurting her but doesn't due to her self-confidence issues. Plus, instead of stretching out those issues throughout the entire series, Willow gains more confidence at the end of Season One. An annoying thing about shy girls is that they remain progressively so, getting better through inches instead of miles. With Willow, she gets over it pretty soon, to the point where I genuinely thought Willow didn't have much to do in Season Two because the writers figured her character arc was done. Which is a shame because even though her friends have more development than her, Willow is a great straight man to their antics. She's often remembered as a friend with the one functioning brain cell in the group, acting as the voice of reason when her idiot friends have a dumb idea. But she's still supportive of their ambitions and adventures because THEY were supportive of her. It's her way of paying them back. Willow just has a better idea of when to draw the line.

Plus, there is an interesting idea about Willow that the writers manage to explore beyond her shyness, even if it's not to as great of an extent as everyone else's development. You see, Willow has a problem processing trauma. In "Understanding Willow" (which ironically helps us understand Amity better), Willow states that it's best to hide away what's upsetting her while saying, "Out of sight, out of mind." Only for that to QUICKLY backfire as Amity takes things further by burning the very thing Willow only wanted to hide. They both learn it's better to confront the things that make them uncomfortable, gaining an understanding (ha) that you need to face your pain to heal from it. Except that Willow somewhat forgot that lesson in "For the Future," which showcased what makes Willow great. She's there to help her friends and their issues but ignores her own because she believes her friends’ are more important. All the girl needed was a good cry over her dads, but Willow instead repeated to herself, "Keep it in," not wanting to let her own problems overshadow everyone else's, which caused her emotions to grow more out of control. This side of her is an engaging idea, and it sucks that it's only been explored twice while her friends got more development. I'm willing to blame the shortening of the series for this one because there's no way she only had such a small role to play in the series upon conception. Willow acts as great support like Gus, but she could have been so much more. And that's a "What if" that's going to unfortunately be lost to time.

King Clawthorne: I have mixed feelings towards King, at least in the first season. I didn't hate him. It's just that, within Season One, King hardly had a direction. More often than not, he was the comic relief that went off doing silly things in the B-Plot while everyone else went on the real adventures. It led to entertaining bits, like gaining an army of sentient stuffed animals or using the Owl Beast as a tool to dominate the playground. But then there were times when they felt like an unnecessary distraction, like being an MC at Grom or being mistaken as a substitute teacher. And most of the time, it's all for the sake of an unrealistic goal. I could tell from the beginning that he would NEVER be the actual King of Demons, and it was just something the other characters played along with because even THEY knew it would never be a reality. So there was never anything King could add to the show besides humor, which he did well due to Alex Hirsch's hilarious delivery with a few jokes. If King stayed the same as he does in Season One, he'd go just above Hooty as someone entertaining with a few solid scenes of heart with the rest of the main cast, but nothing more than that.

...But then the writers decided to make King an actual character in Season Two.

King became more consistent and engaging in the series from "Echoes of the Past" to beyond. In most of the series before this moment, King always went back and forth as either a child, a pet, or an immature adult with delusions of grandeur. Post "Echoes of the Past," it's pretty clear that King's a child but one with a bit more maturity than others. He acts naive and has a definite need to be protected at all costs when he acts sad. And Alex Hirsch KILLS it when portraying King's youth, where the times King cries or gets emotional sounds like an actual kid rather than a grown man playing a kid. His delivery isn't just good for humor but for some amazing voice acting that surprisingly adds to the illusion. It's sort of like how John Roberts convinces me that Linda from Bob's Burgers is a New Jersey Mother in a way that's better than any voice actress ever could manage. Sometimes, you need to give in to the illusion.

As for what makes King engaging, that's where his purpose comes in. King wanting to become the King of Demons and have people bow down to him is...cute and results in some good humor. But King wanting to know what he is and where his Dad came from? Now THAT is a way to make someone invested in a character we already enjoyed. King was entertaining before, but seeing his struggles to find answers about his past and heritage was always endearing and helped you feel for the little guy. And when he finally DOES get answers, it cleverly gives King what he wanted in Season One: To be something that people would bow down to in respect and fear...and King doesn't want that anymore. After learning he's the last of his species, that his blood family is dead, and everything is falling down around him and his found family, King doesn't want to be the monster everyone fears. He just wants to be King and have things go back to normal. Or, HIS version of normal, anyway. It's pretty compelling to show King's growth as comic relief to an actual character by giving him everything he thought he wanted, only to practically refuse it. King is almost a completely different character by Season Two, and it really is for the best. Season One King wasn't too bad, but his Season Two self really gave him the boost he needed.

Raine Whispers: Raine is best defined as a pretty flawless character. At least, in my eyes, they are, as there's not really a bad thing I can say about them.

Upon conception, Raine was nothing more than a love interest to Eda...and that tracks. So much of Raine's development and story occurs when Eda is there, fawning over them and wanting to reconnect. Even their debut episode was more about Eda's issues and how Raine was there to guide her to the right path when it mattered most. They're very much a character severely connected with Eda and never had the chance to star in the spotlight instead of sharing it. A shame, really, since Raine organizing a resistance against Belos could be enough for an episode of its own, but, unfortunately, not the case for a series that got shortened. However, just because Raine's a character connected to Eda, it doesn't make them any less fun or engaging.

First and foremost, you GET why Eda is so in love with Raine. Where Eda is an agent of chaos, Raine is more for CONTROLLED chaos, willing to join Eda to cause some mayhem but in a way where they don't get caught or in trouble. And that's just them as kids. As an adult, Raine wants to destroy a militaristic dictatorship from the inside out, determined to keep the act going and fight literal brainwashing no matter how often they get caught. They're also pretty determined, fighting against Belos infecting Raine's brain and fighting with their last breath when Belos tried to get to the heart of the Titan. Because while Raine was one for chaos as a kid, they're still a good and caring person. Raine didn't want Eda involved so she wouldn't get hurt and MEANT their promise to Luz to make sure nothing bad happened to Eda during their mission on the Day of Unity. But on top of everything else: Raine is a charismatic dork, having enough charm to make Eda the Owl Lady blush but still having the dorkiest smile when announcing their crew's name is "The CATs." Raine is ALL these things, and the result is someone who's a blast to watch, even if they're simply Eda's love interest. They still add enough entertainment and drama, even if some of it, unfortunately, focuses more on the Eda side of things. Would I love more of a spotlight to shine on Raine? Of course. They're an outstanding character who unfortunately got put through the wringer, what with being physically tortured, used as Belos' meat puppet, and MAYBE groomed by Terra Snapdragon (That creepy witch). But when a character's conceived as a love interest, even if there's more to them, you gotta take the good moments when they're badass and awesome and appreciate when they contribute to the story on the sidelines as a supporting character than a leading one. At least they were right there to kill Belos and lived happily ever after, snuggling with Eda. Not too bad for a love interest, huh?

Oh, and Raine's also the first non-binary character in a kid's cartoon with a major influence on the characters and the plot. That's pretty cool too.

The Collector: Here we have a character that turned out WAY better than I imagined. I didn't admit it in the past, but I was a LITTLE worried that the writers would make The Collector like Bill Cypher: A chaotic god-like character who takes pleasure in treating others like his playthings. And The Collector IS that...but there's something that makes them a different yet intriguing character: The Collector's a kid. Yes, he's a kid who turned the Boiling Isles into their playground and the residents into toys, but they’re still a kid.

Upon our introduction of The Collector, we're given this idea that he’s a sick and twisted little gremlin who's just as excited as Belos is about the genocide of the Boiling Isles (which might be an image aided by the fact that it's Belos' memory). But every time we saw them since, the more the writers leaned into the Collector's child-like behavior, showing that the reason why he might be all for Belos' genocide and treat people as literal playthings is that they don't understand what life and death means. He doesn't MEAN to be a problem. It's just that no one has ever taught them otherwise. And that's a more interesting way to go about this character instead of making The Collector a new primary antagonist. It might have worked fine, but when you make a character with god-like powers, it becomes difficult to believe anyone could defeat them. So, the idea to stop The Collector by TEACHING him what's right and wrong before it's too late is a clever way to go about things, especially when it's King that does most of the teaching, using his newfound maturity to teach The Collector what Eda and Luz taught HIM. The result is a new, engaging character that also shows the stellar development of another. Not too bad for someone added to the series at the last minute...Yeah, no, that's what The Collector is, though.

After finding out the series would get shortened, Dana Terrace and the writers thought, "Hey, let's just go NUTS this season!" So, they threw in The Collector as a way to add more spectacle to the final three specials of the show. Sure, the writers had SOME idea of what to do with The Collector beforehand. But after getting the bad news from the executives who decided the series no longer fit the brand, it was the final nail in the coffin to shove The Collector in there. And MAN, there is no better representation of the show's forced conclusion than The Collector, as they're this thing that ALL the characters react to, whether protagonist or antagonist, and are forced to work through their story arcs and character development around within the last few minutes of the show. It's a pretty fun way to look at The Collector, even if he's still a great character despite all they represent. Regardless, I'm still grateful the writers didn't just turn him into the new primary antagonist who killed the old one to show off their threat level...Especially since the old one is REALLY good.

Emperor Belos/Philip Whitebane: "YOU LIKE BELOS MORE THAN WILLOW, GUS, RAINE, AND EVERYONE ELSE?!"

Yes...As a CHARACTER. Not as a PERSON. Because he's NOT a PERSON. He's a FICTIONAL CHARACTER.

I'm serious. People should stop equating "good character" to "good person," especially in this fandom. You can't talk about how well-written Belos or Odalia are without someone coming around and saying, "THEY'RE AWFUL PEOPLE!" I know that. Most...SHOULD know that. But here's the thing: Belos is an antagonist. A character whose purpose is for the audience to love to hate him. If that's done well, he's a good character. And guess what: Belos does it REALLY well, to the point where he's one of my favorite antagonists in a Disney property. Probably one of my favorite antagonists of all time.

Upon his introduction, Belos scared the crap out of me. From his design to even the way he spoke sent chills up my spine. He didn't even SOUND all that threatening, with a deep and scary voice. He sounded like a dude, but it’s in the way he said things, as if Belos knew what he was saying was messed up. But he didn't care, almost like it was because he thrived on people fearing him. And that was just on his INTRODUCTION. From a few of his future appearances, the writers showed Belos acting MORE horrifying, having disturbing spells unlike anything we've seen before, being aware that SOMETHING is spying on him, and revealing that he has a curse that turns him into a somehow MORE terrifying monster. It was pretty effective in getting me to fear this creepy son of a non-witch...And then "Eclypse Lake" showed us his face, revealing that he not only SOUNDED like an ordinary dude but LOOKED like one too. Sure, he had that weird green mark that went down his face, but so much fear I had of Belos went away when I saw that he looked like someone's grandpa who forgot to wash his face. But as the show went on, the more it made sense to make Belos look like a regular man. Instead of portraying a fantastical evil, the writers went for a more realistic one...with supernatural powers, yes, but consider the villains of OUR world. They're people who look like you and me, using their faces to hide dark intentions and charm their way to a position in leadership. That fits Belos' actions to a T, and you see how perfectly it matches in real life when Luz voices her frustrations that no one can see how evil Belos really is, only for King to tell her that no one wants to realize that they've been following the wrong guy. Do you want to know why members of your family refuse to accept that a LOT of Republicans are evil? It's because they spent years, even generations, believing the opposite. So to tell them the truth, even if they NEED to hear it, they'll refuse any facts given to them. So having Belos be the exact representation of all of that, showing kids what to be wary of, is a great way to educate them to learn that sometimes the most dangerous people in society are those who control it in the first place. Even making him a grotesque monster doesn't really take away from the allusion but adds to it, letting Belos' true, inner self take physical form and showing kids what happens to these monsters when you're too late to stop them.

And that's not even getting into the motivations! I didn't feel TOO shocked when it was revealed that Belos was Philip Wittebane. Don't get me wrong, I was still a LITTLE shocked, but I predicted it and expected that Belos' big plan was to return to the Human Realm in some way, but that left some holes into why he spent so much time controlling the Boiling Isles to do it...And then it was revealed that Belos was a WITCH HUNTER. And I'll never forget the dread I felt when I realized, "Oh, they're doing THIS. Oh, no..." The level of fear that I once had for Belos skyrocketed once his real plan became clear and how INTENSELY close he was to reach his ultimate goal.

The scariest part of all is how believable it is. Given how real-world politicians are willing to wipe out an entire group of individuals just for existing, someone like Belos isn't too far of a stretch. Neither is how he came to be the monster that he is. Philip was only an orphaned child raised to believe that witches were Satan's spawn set to destroy everything. And one witch "stole" his brother, the only family Philip had left, and left him feeling like his rage was justified. Except...it's not. It was NEVER justified. Caleb left Philip on his own volition and, when Philip found him again, tried to convince the twit that Evelyn was fine. Philip could have easily taken his brother's word for it and changed. Philip would later have YEARS, possibly CENTURIES, to learn that he was wrong, but he never did. The conditioning was put too deep into his brain, and Belos was the result. I wouldn't say that makes him a tragic character, but it DOES explain so much about why he acts the way he does.

The best part about Belos is that he's consistent. Because of his conditioning, he never once wavers his opinions or questions if what he's doing is wrong. Belos considers himself the hero of his story and views Caleb and Luz as tragic losses. When met with the LITERAL GHOSTS of his sins, Belos yells at, or flat out ignores, them, proclaiming that he was doing the right thing and it's not HIS fault that their souls were too far gone. And with Luz, Belos tried to kill her on three separate occasions, actually succeeding the third time around. And when backed into a corner, realizing he's as good as dead, does Belos ask for surrender? Does he beg for forgiveness? NOPE! He initially tries to manipulate Luz, attempting to take advantage of her good nature into thinking he's good now. And, when THAT instantly fails, Belos yells at Luz, saying she's betraying her humanity and is nothing more than the very evil he spent his whole life fighting against. Luz doesn't buy a word of ANY of it, least of all when he says they're better than this petty revenge and killing out of a twisted form of justice. Even though that's exactly what he's been doing all his life.

Evil to the end, Belos is an antagonist that works because of how perfectly diabolical and realistically despicable the writers made him, making him interesting to dissect while having it feel so cathartic to watch him get stomped to death by the very people he hated. I could honestly go on and on about what makes Belos so engaging to watch and easy to hate...but this gosh dang review is long enough already, and I haven't even gotten to my top five favorite characters yet!

Speaking of which, let's talk about the ONE good thing Belos did with his life...After we talk about Amity.

Amity Blight: How's THAT for a smooth transition?

Anyways, Amity's great because with nearly every new appearance she's made, she becomes a better character, and I mean that in two ways. For one, she becomes more intriguing as we learn about her home life, interests, and motivations, all three being connected in some capacity. Everything that Amity did, she did because her parents (her Mom, mostly) told her to do it. Ending her friendship with Willow, forcing her to be friends with Boscha and her mean girl squad, be the best of her class no matter what, and join the coven that she slowly doesn't want to join anymore. These are all the things Amity was forced to do, and had no choice to do it.She had almost no free will, but that doesn't mean she couldn't rebel in the tiniest ways. She took time out of her day to read to kids and used the cover of it being extra credit to keep doing it. She has a secret room with a collection of Azura books to enjoy a fantasy series, idolizes the purest hero, and has some creative freedom if that fan art on her diary's cover is anything to go by. Even her bullying has SOME ways of cheating. Amity may have said that Willow had no talent, but it was an attempt to get Boscha and the others to stop while covering her tracks so they won't tell anyone she went soft on Willow. And in "I Was A Teenage Abomination," some of Amity's words almost sound encouraging. There's a mocking tone to a lot of it, but the subtlety of her going "keep it up" is still there. Sure, Amity would later have a rage later regarding Willow and Luz’s cheating, but even that is more or less justified. They broke the rules, and, knowing how Odalia reacts to failure, Amity is NOT willing to let go of her "Top Student" badge without a fight. Maybe I'm stretching, and maybe I'm looking deep into things that aren't there. But it's the same thing I do with Alador: When presented with new information about a character, it's a collaborative effort to look at what came before and figure out how it works. And I think there's enough to Amity's actions in the past that are justified by her motivations yet still have a bit of her good side shining through. Which is good because that brings me to the OTHER reason why Amity gets better with each episode.

Piece by piece, bit by bit, Amity becomes a better person after learning a new and valued lesson by the end of every episode. And unlike a blonde-haired character I hate from that frog show, Amity has a clear and definite desire to become a better person. The writers SMARTLY confirm early on that Amity doesn't want to be cruel. She specifically can't show weakness, so she builds walls to hide away her good side, believing that part of herself is weak. But through Luz, the best thing that ever happened to Amity, all those walls come crumbling down, and the Amity SHE wants to become would soon blossom. She's less reserved, more open about feelings, smiles instead of sneers, and acts nicer to Luz and others around her. There's still some anger, annoyance, and the occasional snark, but it was nowhere near as bad as how Amity USED to act. And through each wall that falls gives Amity courage to stand up to her parents and finally become her own person, to the point of dying her hair to reflect the kind of person she wants to be. By a quarter of the way through Season Two, Amity finally gains an identity that reflects what she always had hidden underneath. And it's satisfying...And then writers made her Luz's girlfriend.

Yeah, this is a complaint you'll often see floating around. The second Amity and Luz start dating, a lot of her individuality tends to trickle away, with most of Amity’s problems being related to or overshadowed by Luz's. Just look at "Reaching Out," which has Amity dealing with her issues of Alador's neglect and wanting to form SOME connection with him. But it's barely touched upon due to the real meat of the episode being Luz using the event as a distraction towards her own issues, which I remember more regarding that episode than anything Amity went through. And things get worse by Season Three, where almost every character has something to go through or a chance to highlight their grief, and Amity is...just kind of there, being looped in with supporting her girlfriend and dealing with an ex-friend instead of dealing with her own problems.

It definitely sucks that after all that fighting that Amity went through to gain independence and discover her true self, only to be sidelined once she gets it. But I will say that while Amity is forced into being categorized as Luz's girlfriend, that role still highlights Amity's development. She acts warm, kind, and, most of all, understanding towards Luz and her issues, the same way Luz acted towards Amity, proving she can give as much as she can take. It's not how I wanted things to turn out, but hey. At least Amity got a complete character arc before being pushed to the side. That's WAY more than what I can say about Gus and Willow, the characters introduced to us as Luz's best friends. Guess a girlfriend takes more of a priority.

But that's enough about the fandom's favorite white girl. Let's NOW talk about the fandom's favorite white boy AND the writer's favorite punching bag.

Hunter: In all seriousness, Hunter feels like a character where the writers went, "Hey, remember Amity? Let's just...f**king do THAT again. But BETTER."

And they did! Hunter pretty much has the same journey that Amity did as a character, but with all the strengths and NONE of the weaknesses. Upon his introduction, you think he's a charismatic yet evil little brat who doesn't value the lives of others with how quickly he threatened to kill Luz, Eda, and King. But, just like with Amity, the more we learn about Hunter, the more we realize why he WOULD act the way he did and even why he SHOULD.

Hunter is the supposed "nephew" of Emperor Belos, a man who hates failure to the point where he's ready to kill after you let him down ONCE, and you don't want to push his limits too many times. Hunter knows AND fears this fact, so he learns to hold his tongue when possible so as not to gain another injury during one of Belos' temper tantrums. So, Hunter does what he's told, acts carelessly toward others beneath him, and constantly tries to prove himself as a valued soldier instead of acting as a teenager. The poor boy has his own set of walls built up, and instead of letting the cracks grow, he often tries to patch them as quickly as possible because he fears Belos WAY more than Amity fears her parents. And rightfully so, because Belos would absolutely kill Hunter if he betrayed him. He's done it before.

Hunter being a Grimwalker shouldn't surprise me, as the pieces were there and...not really subtly hidden. Yet that doesn't change how horrifying it makes Hunter's situation. It's one thing to fear being replaced by a better soldier in his ranks or something. The fact that Belos can and will attempt to make a better, more efficient clone of Hunter and kill him if needed...makes Hunter digging his own grave in "Eclypse Lake" more fitting than we realized. It makes him not only replaceable but disposable, with that newly acquired knowledge making Hunter shatter, having a panic attack as it hits him all at once that his fears are more than justified. The worst part is that Hunter spent YEARS with that monster, never standing up because he couldn't do it as easily as Amity did to her parents. She can always run away, hide out in someone else's home to escape a mother who probably doesn't even want her. There's NOWHERE Hunter could go that could keep him away from Belos for long, what with him being the Emperor and Hunter having little to no friends. Thankfully, the ones he had did a lot of work.

Luz, Amity, Willow, Gus, and ESPECIALLY Flapjack all helped to give Hunter a better life. Luz offered perspective, showing Hunter that there's more to life than being told how to live it and that the authority figure he listens to isn't perfect. Amity represents evidence, showing Hunter that if you let good people in your life, they will help you with what tortures you. Willow gave companionship through herself AND a group of people that made Hunter genuinely smile for what must have been the first time in his life. Gus then offered comfort, showing Hunter how to calm his anxieties and fears he'll continue to have. And the one to provide all of these things is Flapjack, who gives Hunter perspective, evidence, companionship, and comfort through his own actions and dragging Hunter to people who could offer more. This gave Hunter a support group of individuals that slowly but surely gave him the desire to be the person he wanted to be and gain an identity. Sure, Hunter would build his walls back up each time they tore them down. But there were always cracks that made it easier to convince him what was the right thing to do for others AND himself. And it all gave him the courage to finally stand up to Belos, who saw Hunter as nothing more than a meat puppet, metaphorically and literally.

Hunter's journey does share a lot of similarities with Amity's. I will admit to that. But where she's later demoted as a character defined by a relationship, Hunter is a character that grew because of the support system he gained and was allowed to keep a sense of identity after his friends brought out his good side. They're the ones who guided him down his path, but what Hunter chose to do after was all his own. Plus, it feels SO GOOD to see that after Hunter's grief and knowing how many others before him died tragically to Belos, he gets his happily ever after. Hunter has a home life that's healthy, friends to support him, a girlfriend to LOVE him, and a chance to genuinely smile every day. He LIVED. He SURVIVED. And that must feel inspiring to those who feel there's no escape from the tragedy of their own lives. I love Amity's journey, but Hunter's definitely better and more impactful in ways you won't believe.

And he'd be the best character in the show...if it weren't the fact that I love three more. At this point, you can probably tell who they are, so let's get started with the fandom's favorite MILF.

Eda Clawthorne: I swear that Eda being hot isn't the reason she's in my top three...Maybe.

But for real, Eda is the only character on this list where if the show was about HER...I would watch it. There is SO MUCH about Eda that makes her a blast to see and a lot to dissect that makes her engaging as she is entertaining.

When regarding her personality/character traits, Eda is an instant gem. She's a con artist, frequently driven by greed, has NO problems breaking the laws, and is more than willing to beat up anyone who messes with the kids she's grown attached to. Now many, myself included, have pointed out that Eda's character shares similarities to Grunkle Stan from Gravity Falls. And...yeah, there's definitely a lot to compare, but there's much more to contrast to help make Eda stand out more as a character. For instance, while Stan one hundred percent loves Dipper and Mabel, Eda still feels warmer towards Luz and King. She may show some annoyance at Luz's enthusiasm or playfully mock King believing he's the most dangerous creature alive, but when it matters most, Eda's there for her kids. To protect, counsel, and sometimes cry over them when situations seem dire. Though she'd probably hate to admit it, Eda has a good heart and one that isn't buried after years of emotional baggage (don't worry, we'll get into that). And she doesn't need much bonding experience to help bring that goodness inside her. When Eda saw a little creature alone in a dangerous environment, Eda took it in and raised it as her own. When seeing a young girl with the same amount of spirit as Eda did when she was younger, Eda decided to accept that young girl's offer and teach her the best she knew. Eda was a caring mother figure to King and Luz when they needed her. As for being a teacher...she could have been better, what with barely teaching Luz anything. Still, she tried, and that's primarily in part because of her own love of magic.

Eda may be a criminal striving to get rich, but those two things aren't mutually inclusive like it is for Grunkle Stan. Eda's a criminal because she disagrees with this close-minded rule that witches should be in a coven, doing one kind of magic for the rest of their lives, except for a small group of elite soldiers picked out by the Emperor himself. Anyone with half a brain can see the flaws of this, and Eda was one of them, breaking the law for years because Eda couldn't help but see how it never made sense. So, she never joined a coven, something considered a major offense against Belos' rule, with Eda being considered a wild witch by her community. And the woman RELISHED that idea. Due to not joining a coven, Eda was allowed to do any type of magic she wanted without being in a stuffy uniform and listening to the vague lies of an evil emperor. It left her with a bit of an ego boost, claiming that she's the most powerful witch on the Isles, but at least Eda gets to do what she loves. Even as a kid, Eda had a PASSION for magic, wanting to learn as much as she could and knowing more than Lilith, a character proven more studious than Eda. It's why you can buy Eda being the better witch than Lilith, because while Lilith can understand the technique, Eda has a better grasp of how good it feels to do magic. After all, she loves doing it in a variety of ways. Even her being a new headmaster of a magic college makes a lot of sense. She may not have been the best teacher for Luz, but they were both dealing with a form of magic that neither really knew much about. The only time their teaching clicked was that moment when Luz had natural magic, and Eda could finally offer advice she KNEW would work. Natural magic is what she understands and has a greater passion for, and teaching "wild magic" to the new generation, giving them something she always wanted and a chance to learn further, makes all the more sense when you take the time to think about it. It's a side of Eda that I don't think fans talk about much. A shame, really. It's an interesting part of her that's worth sharing and deserves to have more attention drawn to it. The show certainly didn't...Though, to be fair, there was one last aspect of Eda's character that's, admittedly, more engaging.

Eda's past, from her family to her ex and to her curse, is a subject that follows Eda throughout her life whether she likes it or not. One way or another, something keeps crashing back into her life, and the results lead Eda into an emotional rollercoaster that ends in tears or violence. Some healing comes from it, but the tears and violence are still prominent. Her fights with Lilith, turning into a rage monster due to her mother's meddling, losing Raine, and her father wanting to talk are all emotional situations with Eda and the tattered relationships she had over the years. The hurtful part is how it all leads back to her curse, one way or another. I'll talk more about Eda's journey with her curse and the allusion it represents in future parts, but I'll still say that so much of Eda's pain, her drama, became prominent because of something Lilith did and how Eda reacted to it. She always ran away or denied there was a problem in the first place, making a horrible situation even worse as it left her burning bridges she'll want to rebuild later. And the worst part is that this is something Eda struggles with the most.

Despite all her pain and trauma, Eda tries to cover it up with jokes and a cocky smile or anger and determination. When the curse started overtaking her in “Agony of a Witch,” she looked at Luz with a smile to make things light, but the fear in her eyes betrayed everything. When losing Raine to Darius and Eberwolf, she choked back her tears and forced herself to focus on anything else. Because to her, it's better to deny how hard you're hurting than face it. She'll voice her worries from time to time but often hides just how strong those emotions are for her. And she definitely doesn't want to relive emotional memories due to how hard it was keeping things together the first time. The only time when Eda tends to embrace her inner turmoil is when things are so intense that she can't help but cry and voice how scared/worried she is. It weirdly makes sense that the only thing that could make Eda finally open up is facing the end of the world where it's not just HER who's in danger but the people she loves too. Because above all else, while she may hate to show it, Eda is a softie to the ones she cares about, especially Luz and King. The three of them have gone on so many adventures together and faced so much danger that you can understand why it's almost always them that brings Eda to tears. Luz's attempt at a goodbye in "Young Blood, Old Souls," King's adoption in "Eda's Requiem," knowing how deep in trouble Luz is in "Edge of the World," and finally revealing that there's no plan in "O' Titan, Where Art Thou." Those kids mean the world to her, as she would be nothing without King and Luz giving her purpose, love, and a healing heart...Which makes it weirder how little Eda got to do in Season Three.

Yeah, a lot of characters got the short end of the stick in Season Three, even members of the main cast like Amity and Gus. While most got some narrative or development, others got forced into the supporting role to help those more important characters. But for Eda, it feels weird because she's part of the main trio. Nearly every poster and promotional material featured Luz, King, and Eda. Nearly every episode featured Luz, King, AND Eda. And every version of the show pitched, even if they didn't look the same, it was always Luz, King, AND EDA. So to have a season where she takes a narrative backseat while Luz and King have more relevance to the story feels off. Although, to be fair, it's not like there was much to be done with Eda. Pretty much every narrative she had got wrapped up with Season Two. She's accepted the curse as a part of her, made peace with her family, and reunited with Raine (even if they didn't seal that deal with a kiss). It's almost as if the writers knew they wouldn't have a chance to explore Eda further with a shortened season, so they completed every arc they could with her in the remaining time they had left. So I can see why they didn't do much with her because what else could they have done? But it doesn't stop how weird it is that Eda could have easily been written out of the season if not for the fact that she's part of the main trio, and it'd be even WEIRDER to have a final season without her. Because, truth be told, the series wouldn't be the same without Eda.

Eda offers humor, heart, and tragedy to The Owl House. Her past, trauma, relationships, and love make for someone that deserves main trio status. Probably even main character status too. I would love to see more of her with how much intrigue Eda has, even if a lot of it is done already. Would I want to watch a spin-off of her as a teen? Probably not. But I wouldn't mind seeing more adventures this wild witch would get into.

Also, I'll say this much about her: There's a consensus in the fandom that Eda is the best mom in the show. And while she certainly is a great mother like no other...there's someone we ALL know, deep down, deserves the title for Best Cartoon Mom.

Camila Noceda: OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH, I have been waiting for this one...

Now, I'll be the first to admit that I am incredibly biased towards Camila. Upon her introduction, I always thought she was neat as a mother who truly cares about Luz, her interests, and her wonderfully creative mind. She said so within the premier. And even when sending Luz away, all Camila tried to do was look to the bright side and convince Luz that her summer won't be as miserable as she might predict it to be. Camila could tell that going to Reality Check Camp was the last thing Luz wanted to do, so Camila tried her best to make it seem like a fun time despite how down it made Luz feel. It shows that while she may not be a perfect mom for sending her daughter away, Camila is still caring enough towards Luz, and she wants her to be happy despite encouraging a decision Luz wouldn't like. I considered that a fascinating angle towards a mother like Camila, providing a reason for Luz wanting to leave but never out of malice. I liked it...But a quantifiable portion of the fandom did NOT, with too many people claiming Camila was an awful mother who hated her daughter. Camila had maybe a minute, maybe TWO minutes, of screentime, and that's somehow the interpretation people made. I wouldn't say I'm the best at analyzing and interpreting characters, which is a crazy thing to bring up THIS FAR into my longest review yet. Still, even I have to say that people's interpretation of Camila was a MAJOR reach. Like...how do you look at a woman who explicitly states she loves her daughter, gives her multiple kisses goodbye, and you immediately go, "Oh, she HATES Luz." How do you do that? And how do you claim she's a worse mom than Odalia? Yeah, that was a thing! People genuinely would defend Odalia for being a good mom with their last breath and then turn around to s**t on Camila. Even after finally meeting Odalia and seeing how bad SHE was, people still somehow considered Camila worse. I never understood how it got out of hand, and I'm convinced the writers somehow picked up on all this overreacting and decided to make Camila better with every single appearance she made soon after.

From that premier, I already gathered this idea that Camila was a flawed but caring mother trying her best despite mistakes. By "Yesterday's Lie," I was convinced she was the best mom Luz could ask for, even if powerful emotions caused Camila to make mistakes. When Vee acts like the "perfect daughter," you can see, on Camila's face, how Camila noticed something was off and how much she didn't like it. To her, "Luz" was throwing away everything that made her Luz, and Camila didn't WANT that, made even more evident by bringing all of Luz's stuff back in after Vee tried throwing them away. Then when the real Luz "calls" Camila, acting like her true self again, Camila seems ecstatic and is willing to play along with what she assumes is a weird game because she's so happy to see Luz be herself again. Through these small moments, you understand more how much Camila cares for her daughter, despite sending Luz to a camp to teach her to fit in better. It was an action done out of love, not malice. Camila couldn't be FARTHER from a bad person, as proven by how she reacts toward Vee. There may have been initial fear of finding out what Vee really was, but through some coaxing from Luz, all Camila can see is a poor girl locked in a cage and needing help. It's there that you understand where Luz got her kindness from. Because even though everything is going beyond Camila's comfort zone, the woman's still willing to kick a flat-Earther's ass to protect Vee. She's kind and warm to the people she cares about and violent to the ones that hurt them. Like mother, like daughter. But Camila isn't all too perfect. As the events finally come crashing down on her at once, she feels ALL the emotions as she has this breakdown. There's fear that Luz is stuck in a demon realm, anger knowing she WILLINGLY went there, and despair at the idea that Camila might never see Luz again. All of this leads to Camila BEGGING Luz to promise to come back, with Luz interpreting her words as "stay here and NEVER return to that awful place." This caused Luz to be fearful for the future, and more fans hyper-focussing on the negatives instead of the positives. They saw a mother telling her daughter to abandon everything that made her happy when anyone with a single functioning brain cell can tell you that it's just Camila being worried about Luz and not fully grasping the whole story. She knows Luz had SOME fun in the Boiling Isles, but Camila's strong emotions at the moment caused her to fail to understand why Luz loves it. Or, at least, misconstrue the facts, thinking it was just Luz living out a fantasy, the same thing Camila sent Luz to summer camp for. It might seem weird that Camila also focuses on the negatives instead of the positives, but in fairness to Camila, the woman went through the worst thing any mother can go through: Losing contact with her child for who knows how long. I can't blame her for her judgment being clouded by everything she's going through. Still, fans clung to the negatives, too...So it's good Season Three shut them all up for good.

Season Three might as well be the season of Camila, because of all the things Season Three did right, diving deep into Camila's character is one of them. Where her first two appearances showed how much of a caring mother she can be, Season Three took it up to TEN notches. She took so many children into her home when they had nowhere else to go, stayed up late to figure out how to get them everything they could need for a happy life, acted nurturing when they had a tough time, chose violence for someone even saying ANYTHING mean about her baby, and dove head first into a dirty graveyard pond to save a child. Camila earned the title "Mother of the Year.” And she wasn't even trying. But while the season shows how kind, nurturing, and even badass Camila can be, it also had her face some mistakes. Camila wasn't bad for sending Luz away or asking her to stay home. She's a single mother who lost her husband, who probably connected to their daughter in better ways and left Camila to do everything alone. She wanted to be the best possible mom but second-guessed every decision and was unsure if she was doing the right thing. So I like that most of this season is about her trying to LEARN from these unintended mistakes, asking for advice from Luz's friends, and finally sharing with Luz the mistakes Camila made and how she now comes to regret them. What's even better is that Camila tries her best to understand Luz's world. A lot of it scares Camila and makes her uncomfortable, even years after being aware of the Isles in the epilogue, but she still puts in the effort to TRY. It's because Camila loves Luz and wants to be a part of every aspect of her life. Camila may struggle, but she still wants to try. And THAT'S what makes her the best mom.

Camila is warm, loving, and just so much fun to see. She isn't perfect, but instead of denying those imperfections, Camila chooses to confront them and TRIES to better herself. It's evidence that not every parent gets the assignment as they receive it, but they're not instantly failures because of it. Yes, there are horrible parents who refuse to change, but I like that the show teaches kids that there are those who care enough to do better. That's what Camila is, and I love the hell out of her for it.

But do you want to know her GREATEST achievement? She gave birth to the best character in the show…

Luz Noceda: Luz Noceda. Luz fickin' Noceda. A character so good that I made an entire post discussing how she's a fan-frickin'-tastic character. And even then, it felt like I barely scratched the surface of what makes her so good. I mean, how can you accurately explain everything that you love about your favorite protagonist ever? Better yet, how can you summarize it for a review that's gone long enough already? Well, I'm at least going to try...Emphasis on try.

Luz is a character that won me over instantly. The happy, goofy character is always fun for me as I think they're perfect for humor and endearing entertainment. That's Luz to a T, as her antics and attitude towards so many things cause me to smile to no fail. How can I not when she has a kind smile as a snake bites off her doll's head or when she has an argument with her hands? Luz is almost always a delight, but what's interesting about her is that while she's primarily happy and fun-loving, that doesn't make her naive or stupid. Luz has a good sense of maturity, even before her angst arc (Yeah, we'll get to that). In "Covention," I was impressed by her response to Eda's disdain about joining a coven. Luz made it clear that she understands Eda's outlook but wants to go and make her OWN decision. In fact, Luz is mature enough not to follow ALL of Eda's orders. There are times when Luz DEFINITELY should, but I like how the writers gives her enough emotional intelligence NOT to listen to ALL of Eda's wild and free ideas of anarchy. She has enough emotional intelligence to know what's right and wrong at times but is still young enough to learn more when put in danger at a time she really SHOULD have listened to Eda. Luz IS a teen, after all. She wouldn't have all the answers.

But now that we're talking about her intelligence, that's probably an aspect of Luz that's looked over the most. Because Luz is smart, and that shouldn't be an argument. It should be a fact. The girl endlessly worked on glyphs until getting them right, often having scraps of paper lying around her after past experiments. And not only is she studious, but Luz is also crafty at any moment. Some of my favorite scenes with Luz are ones where she comes up with a great plan on the spot, like how she thought up a way to brand Belos as he was killing her. It makes sense the girl wanted to try out for theater because her improvisation is on POINT. And she has the power to back it up. I said in that character analysis that Luz is powerful but not TOO powerful. My good buddy @l-egionare pointed out how I misjudged how powerful Luz CAN be, given how a single plant glyph made that big tree in "Enchanting Grom Fright" and how she wiped the floor with Emperor's Coven members and Conformitorium guards. She certainly has the power. I highlighted her intelligence more because I love characters who win fights by outthinking their opponents rather than overpowering them. The truth is, Luz, CAN do some epic stuff. She's just not AS powerful as Eda and Lilith were at their best, due to Luz having limitations to her glyphs and how she sometimes casts them. Luz can be invisible but only for as long as she holds her breath, and the strength behind her glyph depends on how much she uses and how big they are. She can do great stuff, even with very little, but nothing TOO grand until the Titan gave Luz that power boost in the finale (which I didn’t initially want, but DAMN amI not complaining). Besides, as cool as Luz CAN be, and how underappreciated that part of her is, it’s not her best feature.

I think we can all agree that the best thing about Luz Noceda is her kindness. She’s not naive enough to believe that there’s goodness deep down inside everyone. Her kindness has limits and it says something that Luz’s first instinct upon finally meeting Belos for the first time is to go for the head. While she will help others that need it, Luz will still take the violent route if you mess with those she loves. Speaking of, do you remember your favorite characters? You know all that development and growth they all went through? Do you know who’s responsible for ALL of that? Luz, that’s who. She helped reconnect Eda with her family, led King to gaining a sense of identity, helped Willow blossom into becoming more confident, indirectly helped Gus make new friends, and helped Lilith, Hunter, and ESPECIALLY Amity become their truer, better selves. They wouldn’t be who they are now without Luz, as every person she made a connection with had their lives changed for the better. And the crazy thing is that’s…not entirely mutual. Another great point my buddy @l-egionare made is that Luz’s life wasn’t doomed for the worst, and his argument has legs. Luz could have made friends like Vee did at summer camp or befriended those two kids in “Thanks to Them” who seemed to love Luz’s brand of weirdness. After high school, Luz could have also gone on to be a writer, sharing her love of fantasy to the world. Heck, she might even  fall in love with someone else one day, like with a horror nerd that loves gore and doughnuts…Just spitballing ideas here. The point is that while Luz’s friends on the Boiling Isles ABSOLUTELY need her for a happier life, she doesn’t necessarily need THEM. It’s an interesting interpretation to think about that makes Luz even BETTER. She’s a protagonist that leads others to their change and growth, which is a primary directive for most protagonists. Not only should THEY grow and change throughout the story, but they should lead the rest of the cast to do the same. It gives importance to the main character, showing just how much they’re needed for the world and the people in it…Which is why it pains Luz to find out she’s indirectly responsible for some strife too.

Like most plucky protagonists, Luz goes through an angst phase, mirroring how the show started off as light-hearted only to become darker as time went by. Luz’s angst, in particular, started in “Young Blood, Old Souls,” where a bit of Luz’s wackiness remained, but she still slowly got more serious as Season Two continued. By the time we reached “Hollow Mind,” an episode that forces Luz to realize she accidentally helped BELOS, most of Luz’s silliness and optimism became fizzled out, with damn near all of it being gone by Season Three. This is due to her seeing what Belos almost accomplished and the damage that The Collector was already capable of. Luz was accidentally and unintentionally the cause of these issues, and it broke her for reasons that ARE understandable…but they’re not justifiable. You DO get why Luz blames herself for everything that happened. She prides herself on her kindness and helping others, with the idea of being a burden crushing Luz in “Separate Tides.” So, to find out that she’s accidentally responsible for Belos, it hurts her because it makes her believe she’s a burden to EVERYONE, to the point where she believes that the Boiling Isles would be better off without her. Even though we LITERALLY just established how that’s false. There are some haters and idiots out there who do like to point out how none of Luz’s friends wouldn’t have had any strife if she never came to the Isles. Except…No. They absolutely would have. I mean, do you SERIOUSLY think Belos wouldn’t have tricked anyone else? The man pulled off a genocidal scam for DECADES. He could have easily tricked somebody else to do his dirty work for a few minutes.

“But he was driven out of too many towns! No one would trust him!”

Which is why he made a false identity to fix that problem. For all we know, he could have done it sooner.

“But Luz gave him the light glyph!”

A glyph that did nothing but offer Belos a shortcut to finish a job he was already 99% done with. Besides, he could have learned it on his own or maybe even through The Collector, who already knows that glyphs are the language of the Titans. Belos’ plan would have gone forward no matter WHAT reason you bring up. And what’s weirdly interesting is Luz’s refusal to see it. Yes, Belos could have tricked ANYBODY, but it’s still LUZ that he tricked. That guilt eats away at her and I’m kind of glad it’s not entirely resolved by the series finale. Don’t get me wrong, I want my favorite character to live the happiest life imaginable, but there’s a sense of realism that, even though she killed Belos, there’s still a bit of guilt. It’s hinted that it sticks with her years later, as she missed birthdays just so she could help rebuild the Isles. Although, that doesn’t stop Luz from living her life. She still hangs out with friends, joins her school’s softball/baseball team, and goes out with her family. Luz’s guilt is a lot like that scar above her eye. It’ll be small and hardly noticeable on some days, but it’ll still be there, as a reminder that life isn’t a fantasy.

It’s pretty ironic that Luz escaped to a fantasy world to avoid Reality Check Camp, only to get a reality check anyway. Everytime Luz tries to apply her favorite book series or pop culture to a problem she and her friends face, it always goes wrong. Within the second episode of the series, Luz learns quickly that she’s not some chosen one predestined for greatness…I mean, she kind of is, but not in a way most fantasy stories tend to play it. Luz quickly learns that her coming to the Boiling Isles was an accident, and that the environment she’s forced to adjust to isn’t as pretty as it is in her books. Things are difficult and solutions are complicated with there being no easy answers. Luz learns this throughout her adventures and grows to understand that being a witch like Azura isn’t simple. Luz even goes through a sort of identity crisis, now realizing that her dream to be a witch was always a little too vague and that she has no idea what she wants in life after the adventure’s over. It’s a compelling aspect to her character to have Luz realize that she’s not your average protagonist. So many of us want to be the main character of the world’s story, when we should realize that job would be extraordinarily difficult. Luz learned that the hard way after experiencing pain, suffering, and literal death that will haunt her nightmares for life. I wouldn’t call Luz a cautionary tale of what happens when you continue to live in a fantasy. That’s more like Marcy from Amphbia. Instead, I’d say Luz is more of a representation of a character understanding the cruelness of reality, but through a fantasy setting. We all learn best through the things that interest us, and Luz is no different. And that’s one of the MANY reasons to love her.

I could go on and on about how much I adore Luz alone. And probably would if this thing wasn’t THIRTY-THREE PAGES LONG! And you can’t blame me. She’s my favorite protagonist in anything, and is definitely up there as one of my favorite fictional characters. There might be problems with her character, but I’m more than willing to overlook them because of how much I enjoy Luz and the journey she went on. She is flawless in my eyes, and I will never look at her in a negative light no matter who tries to make me.

And that’s it. That’s EVERY IMPORTANT CHARACTER in The Owl House…My goodness.

As you can probably tell, there’s a LOT of characters here. One could argue too many, as it becomes evident that a few of them could be better if the show had more time to let some of them grow. Unfortunately, we don’t live in a world where The Owl House had three full seasons and all the time in the world to let all its characters blossom into their beautiful selves. But with that said, there aren’t any characters in the show that I’m willing to call bad.

Okay, Tibbles is still inadequate, but he’s still not the worst. None of them are. If any character is lower than the other, it’s due to them being unable to compare to the rest of the show’s standard. Because The Owl House managed to have an expansive cast of lovable, endearing, and complex characters, with a lot of them worth a deep-dive analysis of their own. I can’t get enough of them and they will stick with me for a while.

But as great as these characters are…how well do they work TOGETHER?

Tune into part two, and I might just tell you.

Next part

[donutz]

Bobby Bearhug x reader Valentine's Day special[3♡8]

A/N|| Sorry for this not being uploaded on Valentine's Day, it was school and stuff, I was also very tired! And had to do Taekwondo(╥_╥)

—☆You are a smiling critter in this, if u want to know which one(but don't know what animal or insect to pick) you could start out as a sheep!

What did they do in the morning on Valentines?

— She woke up super early, searching every square inch of Playcare, making sure she didn’t drop anything while getting the supplies for her gifts

— She was stressing about it but she was pretty excited

— Also was REALLY hoping that nothing would get messed up or she forgot something

— Then she woke you up with a bunch of kisses!!

What did they do for you?

— Spent a few hours each day making and perfecting her gifts

—  Asked you to be her Valentines the first day of February

— Left a rose near your bed each day, and it slowly multiplied

What did they get you?

— A very big bouquet

— Your very own Bobby Bearhug plush(she kinda stole it)!

— A medium sized goodie bags that was decorated with hearts

— A card that was all about how much she loved you, she wanted to decorate the inside but she wanted all the space for her writing

— Another card that was just based on your favorite things

— And a drawing(with the help of Craftycorn) that was of your favorite animal, show, etc.

— She was going to give you her childhood toy, but you refused because that’s something she should keep, she was insisting but you couldn’t because you’re not good of keeping track of anything(in this story at least)

What did you give them?

— You feel kind of bad because you didn’t get her that much stuff as she got you…

— But anyways you gave her this plush of yourself

— Many heart candies

— A heart shaped box of chocolates

— And other heart shaped thingies(she loved all of them, especially the little plush of you)

Did they do anything special? (Extra hugs, kisses, changing their routine etc.)

— YES.

— She put a bunch of Valentine decorations around and in her beehive, aka her house

— She woke up earlier everyday before Valentine's Day 

— EXTRA hugs and kisses

What activities did you both do?

— Definitely represented what you could do for a friend on Valentine's Day for the kids’ activities

— You two also were holding the hands the whole time, while helping kids with the activity

—When the other critters were managing the kids, it was pretty cold, so you both sat on a big pillow with a big blanket

— Cuddling with each other, you also almost fell asleep

— Obviously, you both had a ‘date’

Did they seem brighter today?

— YES!??! IT IS HER DAY.

— Honestly this is probably the day she was born(human or toy)

Anything new about their appearance?

— She wore a little bow( ´ ▿ ` )

— And she made her rose scent stronger

How many times did they say I love you?

— Every time she saw you, which wasn't enough, the amount of times she said it by the way

— She was with you the whole day, so she added a lot more I love you's

Did they ask to be your Valentines, or did they ask if you could be their Valentines? There’s a difference!

— Her voice was all soft, asking you to be her Valentines

— “O-Or if you want it to be the other way around—!” I hate typing out stuttering dialogue, but it's what she'd do

What did they do the night before Valentine's Day?

— Try so hard to sleep

— Surprisingly could

— By thinking of you telling her to calm down

— Because she knows you would

Were they shy asking to be your Valentines or when they asked if you could be their Valentines?

— She was very shy!

— She was also trying so hard to not stutter

Did they add anything extra to their areas(their little homes)? Or their activities?

— She hung up a bunting(I had to search this up, it’s those lines that are decorated with things that get hung up)

— She spread rose petals on her floor, while doing it she was so jolly!

— She has a calendar, and on Valentine’s Day she drew a heart around it, on the calendar

— She also hung up a list, marking off the gifts she got/finished making for you

What did they do when it was time to sleep?

— She gave you a small smooch on your cheek when she was going to sleep

— Almost decided on staying up

Another A/N|| I will be closing requests for now, I want to finish this Valentine's Day special series and some other requests

Question♡ Did you celebrate Valentine's Day? If so, what did you do?

[amadeusgame]

The World's Longest And Most Sentimental Development Log (Marketing Retrospective)

It's been a month since the demo release, and Amadeus: A Riddle for Thee ~  Episode 1 ~ Waltz has just reached 100 wishlists on Steam. I'm incredibly grateful for the support and interest.

Because this has been the month following a major release, most of my efforts have been focused on communications as opposed to development. I still want to discuss these efforts, both as a retrospective for my own reference, and in case anyone else finds it enlightening. This was meant to be a short and to-the-point marketing discussion, but it accidentally... and inevitably... transformed into something incredibly long and sentimental.

The long and short of it is that I've had an overwhelmingly successful month by my standards. Discussing marketing means I have been analyzing why that is. In doing so, I slowly became aware of just how much of my entire life has been building up to this.

I originally planned to mention other things in this update... discuss the recent demo livestream, announce an upcoming "100 wishlists" celebration... but those no longer really suit the tone of this update. I will post about them another time. I wasn't prepared to celebrate 100 wishlists this quickly, anyway! I had no idea I would get that much in the first month! I'm not ready to make that announcement! I would like to do something appropriate for this milestone, so please give me some more time to put proper thought into it.

You can reference here for the livestream video and other resources: https://linktr.ee/amadeusgame

I don't expect very many people to read the rest of this. But I am writing it anyway because it's important for me to express. And if you got anything out of the Amadeus demo, you probably got the fact that I am a bit of a long-winded and sentimental person. Bearing that in mind...

On Marketing Amadeus

Overall, I tried a lot of different things—many of which flopped—based on the question "what kind of communications would I like to see, as an audience?" Some combination of all of these somehow worked. I don't think it is particularly useful to try and pinpoint what specific individual things made Number Go Up the most, because the real takeaway was that I put enough messages out in enough places that over 100 real actual human beings came across them and were interested in what I am making. That number is probably tiny to people trying to earn a living in games, but as someone just hoping to get my art out there... the number 100 is significant and motivating.

I am happy to share the things that I've tried, and my impressions of how well they worked for my situation and purposes. Before that, though, I must stress that having assets to share in these communications in the first place was an invaluable step, especially since visuals and aesthetics are a very core part of my game.

Creating Marketing Assets

(When uploading a game to Steam, there are approximately 8 million different aspect ratios and dimensions you need to create branding assets for, so I chopped that source poster up into different pieces and spent about a week just making different combinations of them to suit various needs.)

Again: I was not thinking ahead to the Steam page when I drew this in October, not really. I was just drawing something that I wanted to draw, inspired by art that inspired me. If I hadn't indulged that desire and "procrastinated" a bit, I wouldn't have the assets to advertise the game when it came time for launch! This is something that I've experienced again and again throughout the process of development: making things for fun, doing things on impulse, taking breaks and indulging whims... many of these activities somehow end up being essential for the game. If I had refused that self-indulgence to focus on Important Development Stuff, I wouldn't have the cool piece of art I needed to successfully advertise the finished game on launch. Moreover, the final art in the game would not be as good, because I wouldn't have gotten ideas about art direction from making this poster.

(Also... I wouldn't have had as much fun making the game. Since this game's budget is $0 and all of my free time, it REALLY matters that I am having fun while making it.)

Even more important than these visual assets, though, was the trailer. How many games have I checked out just based on the trailer? I recently purchased Raging Loop on Steam, a game I have been considering for months, because I finally watched the trailer and realized "okay, this game is me-core." The trailer is so important. It's not about how pretty the trailer is; it's about whether the trailer shows me a game that I, in particular, want to play. I don't know who my audience is, but considering my goals and inspirations, I think it is something along the lines of "hipsters who love some combination of Umineko, werewolves, and unique aesthetics." So I needed a trailer that would connect with those people. A trailer that, if I watched it, would make me realize hey, this game is me-core.

Making a trailer is its own skillset, though! Completely separate from game development. Communicating something in video form is different than communicating it in another medium.

Fortunately... I have actually done a lot of just-for-fun video editing projects very recently! I edited together a "trilogy" out of roadtrip camcorder footage I took, and also put together the video for an audio-visual collab album. I already have tools and a workflow that I like to use.

I am developing a game, but it has helped me so much to have experience making a stupid trilogy of camcorder footage roadtrip videos.

I worked on those video editing projects because they were fun. I had absolutely no ulterior motive. In doing so, I still gained an important skill that transferred directly to marketing Amadeus. As someone who has always struggled to focus on just One Thing, it's incredibly affirming to realize that having done a lot of random stuff is actually really helping me as a solo game developer. I feel like I've finally found an art form where this is an important skill, and not a hindrance or distraction.

So... well, I suppose this means that I have no useful advice for other developers. I want to be honest about my experiences, and my experiences are that I only was able to prepare good marketing assets for Amadeus because I did a lot of for-fun art projects outside of game development. From my perspective, this is amazing news: it tells me that allowing myself space to be an artist and a person outside of this project has actually helped make the project itself better. It tells me that there are no downsides to being experimental and giving time to other projects too. But to anyone reading this hoping for some advice on putting together marketing assets, I'm sure it's the least helpful or relatable thing in the world. I'm sorry about that.

Getting the Word Out

Once the demo released, it became a matter of presenting the materials I had in the right ways, and in the right places. This is what I have been spending most of my waking hours doing this month. A non-exhaustive list of everything I've tried:

E-mailed all of my professors from grad school whose courses influenced my compositions for the game in some way. (This wasn't so much about the numbers, it was just motivating to get nice comments back. :D)

Joined a few Discord servers for communities dedicated to indie game developent; tried to engage in meaningful conversations there and check out other games while also sharing my own work. (I'm asking others for a favor, to take a look at my work, so I try to check out theirs too in return.)

Posted the trailer on the Visual Novels subreddit. (This flopped.)

Posted weekly* on Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, and a few other places. (This has been the bulk of my ongoing communications; see below!)

Posted on a forum I joined last year to discuss music composition.

Found and followed a lot of other indie game devs making things that interested or excited me.

Shared it in a Discord server I moderate** as a "creative mod." (I host monthly art-focused events, curate spaces for sharing art, etc.; see below.)

Shared it with basically all of my friends! Especially friends who are also artists and creators!

To sum, I used every single available avenue to talk about it. But I really need to expand on the two points bolded and asterisked above. I have something additional to say about them, and I cannot overstate how much it matters.

*Weekly Posts

As indicated, ongoing weekly posts on various platforms are the meat of my marketing. I post regularly, but it's really important to me to not just post the same stuff all the time and annoy everybody. I try to highlight different aspects of the game each time, use different framing, and do a variety of weird and silly stuff. Some things perform unexpectedly well and others are complete flops. But I think it's been key to not be afraid of failure and just try things. That way it's still interesting to the people who already checked out the game, while hopefully reaching new eyes too!

(Full disclosure, however: sometimes I will do something that has 0 chance of doing numbers, just because I think it would be a fun thing to post. Since I am completely self-motivating on this project, I have to do things that are self-indulgent, or I will burn out. So, hypothetically, I might be compelled to, say, post a photo taken on an Instax analog camera of the game hooked up to a CRT TV.)

(Step 1 of marketing is to have fun and be yourself?)

BUT ALSO!

AND THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF THIS POST!!

I only have any sort of audience on these platforms because of other, unrelated things I've been doing for years. I met a LOT of people on Twitter and Instagram through cosplay and Tales of Symphonia speedrunning, who stuck around somehow. I met some people on Tumblr from recent Ghost Trick ROMhacking, and others from Homestuck meetups in 2012. I met people on Discord from a forum about video games I joined in 2006. I was already connected with a lot of like-minded people to share my game with! I know—I KNOW—that this is something that is only easy to say in retrospect, but: doing stuff and meeting people over the course of a lifetime has added up. I hope that this will continue to be true, and maybe some people who find me through Amadeus will stick around for whatever comes after, once I've fully completed the 5-episode story I have to tell here. And I will see it through.

So, please bear this in mind when reading about how I promote my self-indulgent game every week on Instagram. I did not attend Anime Expo 2015 in order to build an audience for the visual novel I would make 9 years later. I was just meeting and connecting with other cosplayers, because I thought I would still be doing cosplay indefinitely. But many of those connections have persisted over the years, and some of those people are interested in my game. None of this seemingly-unrelated life experience is wasted. In the words of one of my teachers from grad school, "it's an accumulated life." I have ended up somewhere unexpected, and I did not plan to end up here, but all of those past experiences were still a part of getting me to where I currently am.

**Discord Server Mod

I want to highlight this particular place where I've promoted my game, because it's important in a way that connects with basically all of my rambling above. I want to make it clear that absolutely everything that went well this past month started so much longer ago than that.

In this point, I am not saying "step 1 of indie game promotion: simply have been a creative events moderator on a Discord server for years first!" as this is incredibly useless advice. Hear me out for a moment.

About 2 years ago, there was no "creative events" moderator on this particular Discord server. It was mostly a space to talk about video games with friends. You could also post art there if you wanted, and you might have gleaned a react or two.

Also about 2 years ago, I began to think very deeply about my relationship with art and the internet. When I was a tweenager, there was this video game forum—a forum that migrated to the Discord server in question recently—where you could post your art (usually video game fanart, but could be anything), and the moderator would always engage with it and provide meaningful, thoughtful feedback. That space is one of the biggest reasons I drew so much when I was younger, and worked so hard trying to learn how to draw and shade and color better, because I wanted to have my efforts praised, and I knew they would be.

2 years ago, I desperately needed a space like that again. Lacking one, I decided to pick up the torch left behind by the moderator from my tweenage years, and become the person who would always, always provide thoughtful engaging feedback when people posted their work there. Literally some "be the change you want to see in the world" shit. I knew that someone else doing that for me fundamentally altered the course of my life, so I wanted to try and be that for others if possible. More selfishly, I hoped that this would also create the much-needed space for me to share my work and get feedback and responses, too.

Now, about 2 years later, that channel is pretty active. People regularly share their creative works, and it is one of my favorite places to post my own stuff because people are really good about engaging with each other's stuff there. It's been one of the most important places for me to share progress on Amadeus, because that external motivation helps a lot. And once the demo came out, I have absolutely no doubt that this server was a significant proportion of the initial support and momentum it received on launch.

I did not even have so much as a delusion of being a game developer when I made these changes in the Discord server. I was working in IT and considering applying to music school. I just wanted to build a community around art.

So, why am I writing about my 2-year journey as a Discord mod in my development update about marketing? Hopefully it makes a bit more sense now. I'm really trying to emphasize that the marketing I did this past month didn't start last month. It started 2 years ago on this Discord server, it started in 2006 when I joined that video game forum. Really, my marketing efforts have gone as well as they have because—whoops, I am tearing up writing this—I have made a lot of incredible connections in a lot of communities over the years, and now that I have something very important to me that I want to share, they have really helped support it. I've had some friends go so far above and beyond what I would ever ask them to do in sharing my game, and that kind of support just... I can't put a number on it; it's invaluable.

In Conclusion

Go to conventions and meet cosplayers. Speedrun a 6-and-a-half-hour-long JRPG from 2003 on Twitch. Join a forum and when it migrates to Discord, organize art events and comment on other people's work. Draw self-indulgent stuff and make silly roadtrip videos scored with Logic Loops. Make 90% of a ROMhack of a Nintendo DS game. Get completely obsessed with other visual novels on itch.io and write essays in their comments.

My name is Leo, and my marketing advice is You Only Live Once. I hope this helps. Have a wonderful evening and I look forward to presenting you with a more coherent update next month.

[exlimix1a]

is ok i ask can you do some tip for coloring? ps i try to coloring for my sun and moon but they look so bad X'D

HI. FUN FACT I DREW UP A RESPONSE TO THIS AND WAS LIKE "okay ill upload the photos and annotate it later" AND THEN I FORGOR. HERE'S WHAT I MADE FOR YOU.

This is generally my process when it comes to creating art as a whole and choosing colors for my art. I didn't use to do this, but recently I've begun using color-balancing tools to bring everything together! They really help in unifying the colors and pushing the contrast to where you want it to be. I used to feel guilty- like it wasn't "my own work" when I used these tools- but I spoke with a group of other artists and I came to realize that in the end, I still chose the colors and it was still Me! These tools are meant to be used in this way, and it's silly of me to not take advantage of wonderful tools because of my own pride.

This is going to be a long post, so all of my steps are under the cut!

1. The Drawing!

Pretty self-explanatory! Draw out the thing you want to draw. I like to keep my art as a sketch most of the time :)

2. Flat Colors!

I'll be honest- usually I approach colors more intuitively and based off of the ones I like the most, but I wanted to show you a more conscious approach! This image has a lot of information so I'll go through it step-by-step!

I made the background darker for higher contrast against the light colors of the design.

First, we'll look at the palette on the top right!

It's a little easier if you first have some colors to work with. This is my sona, and I already know it has red hair and light skin, so I can work with the colors around that! Depending on who you ask and what color wheels you look at, red is complimentary to both green (most commonly in color wheels) and cyan. Knowing this, and wanting the shirt to stand out against the red hair, I made it a pale green! I did similarly with the skin tone. The peach color is only a light tint of orange, so the complement would be blue! I noticed I had a lot of light tones so I chose a darker, desaturated tone of blue. Remember- complementary colors are more than just vaguely "complementing" the other color. Putting two complementary colors next to each other makes both of the colors stand out!

I felt as though I still needed another color, though! Because my red and peach colors are directly next to each other on the color wheel, they are analogous colors. I experimented a little bit and ultimately settled on using another analogous color as an accent- yellow! The brown of her eyebrows is more of a rogue color that might not necessarily fit most of the time- that's because it's more so meant to represent my Real Self, who has eyebrows naturally darker than its hair. Still, because brown is a darker tone of red (and orange), it worked out! The blush is also the skin tone, just slightly darker and with the hue shifted just slightly on the color wheel.

Next, we can look at color placement!

When choosing where to place your colors, it can help to have places where the colors are 100% locked in- for example, the hair and skin tone aren't something subject to change in this design. That means you can choose to place the colors around these two elements! Like I said earlier, I made the shirt a pale green because I wanted it to stand out against the red of the hair. I try to add variety in where the colors sit next to each other so that two different elements of the design aren't the same color. Knowing this, I made the shorts dark blue!

An important part of color choice is knowing when to reuse colors as well! Generally, the fewer colors you use the easier it is to work with them and make them work together. Using 2-3 main colors and finding places to reuse them throughout the design or drawing is a good way to keep your colors simple yet effective! You can also add an accent color that's meant to draw the eye to the most important parts of the design or piece! The two colors I reused within the design was the yellow accent color and the brown color of the eyebrows. The brown color is the one I want to focus on here because of its strategic placement in the shoes! I almost made the shoes yellow as well, but I found that the dark color of brown shoes against the light skin and the pose itself brought leads the eyes downwards. This is important so that the viewer takes in the entire piece! I also reused the pale green color (and some of the blue) as environment elements because I hadn't reused it in the design itself!

As a last note here, it's also very helpful to color your lines! This is totally subjective and up to you, though, depending on how it fits into your style and workflow. Because of the way I work, I set my lines to multiply and recolor them based on the colors around them.

Sometimes I explore with different color choices I wouldn't have normally chosen- like the purple around the edge of the skin! Without even realizing it, in hindsight, I believe I chose complementary colors for the lines as well (purple & yellow/orange).

3. Color Correction

Here's the finished base colors (without all of the writing over it!)

First things first- let's check the values!

What I'm looking for is to see if the values stand out well next to each other, and where my eyes are drawn to. What I see right now is that the shoes are where my eyes are drawn to first because of their dark color, and how my eyes are led back up by the plants and line of action. What I'm most aware of, though, is the lack of contrast between the hair and background. I could try to fix that!

Here are a few snapshots of my color-balancing process. I use a variety of the available tools, but most often I'm using Color Balance and Curves. These color changes are completely up to you and what you think looks better and more unified!

It's easier to see the differences if you open the images in new tabs and switch between them all. Notice the background becomes bluer, the colors change, and the values deepen?

These were the final colors I chose! Let's look at the values again.

Hm.. better! The values stand out better, but the problem with the hair still persists. I'll try to make the hair pop more with the final touches, but if it doesn't, I'll settle! I'm happy with all of the other color choices.

A little better! The white highlights help show the edges of the hair, and I attempted using a halftone to break up the hair and the background. They still blend in together, but I won't fiddle with it more! I've got a post to make, you see.

What do you think? C: Thank you for the ask, I hope this helps!

Here are some other resources that helped me with some similar topics! The colors you choose don't always have to be the actual color of the object you're drawing- the colors around influence how we perceive other colors. Knowing how to use these colors is useful!

[seahdalune]

Seana's 2023 art highlights

(surprisingly, not a reupload this time!)

January: i drew nothing! we're off to a great start.

February: i drew something! i love Champ even if i haven't drawn anything tf2 related since April. i think it was this piece where i decided to give Champ RED coloring. [link]

also, this is the month i made my second Moldy plush.... i wasn't very happy with this one, though. [link]

March: uhhhh. more of my tf2 ocs but i think those aren't that interesting. just go to my tf2 oc blog @brokenbrainstormbulb if you wanna see them honestly, i have an image limit to keep ffs. that said, this was around the time i got into TC2, so i drew a lot of that kind of stuff... i'm never drawing stuff for it ever again, sorry. [link]

April: look at the cool thing i drew for a fellow tf2 robot fan! now, this is the point in time where i start drawing more because of a certain interest, so look forward to all the art that'll come up here.....

May: wow, this really was my first public piece of Papa Louie art, huh. i was so proud of it when i showed it off on tumblr the first time... i don't like it as much anymore. for one, the office wall color is wrong.... i still can't believe Papa Louie was what got me out of art block, but god, i'm glad it did. i don't think i've drawn this much before, and even though the community's tiny, i'm glad to give back as much as i can. anyways, i said something like "it's so funny that people think they're either super married or divorced as hell" on the same post. i still think that, and it's defos funny as hell, but i've grown a kind of appreciation towards the ship as well. like yeah, you go girls, we love that extra slow burn with so many road bumps on the way! [link]

June: how the hell did i pump this out. this was also like a few days before i had to leave for the airport too... i don't know myself sometimes. i swear i still love Boigashipping! i just... i'm just busy with other ships okkkk [link]

July: i didn't draw anything...? i was in Bali. and i was busy selling adopt designs to draw anything substantial, oopsie! actually, i DID draw the first part of WDB... it's uh, still the only part. i'm sorry!!!! i'm sorry!!!! i swear i have the whole thing outlined!!! can you just give me anons about the story instead so you won't have to wonder what comes next!! [link]

August: TOSI fixation. it had not gone past it's conceptual stage, i must note. i do wish i would do something about it though. [link]

September: the art trade i did with my friend! actually, i was a few weeks late with my part, so it was supposed to be finished by August. oops. i like the textures tbh. my Chuseok drawings.... i need to draw more characters in hanbok, hee hee. [link]

October: (breaths in) ...this is the month i finally gave into the JoGotcha wantings. LOOK. ever since someone put the idea into my brain i couldn't get enough of it, and like,, nobody draws the ship anymore so i had to take matters into my own hands. this is the first ship i'm this obsessed with. i usually leave ship stuff to other people but this time that wasn't enough and i... i had to do SOMETHING, y'know? [link]

Cringetober? who's that? haha;; i stopped feeling like doing the whole list after less than a week. impressive.

November: oh look, Plushy Power League. Quinn didn't win, but i do like the thing i drew as propaganda, so whateves. the first Papa Louie character i ever drew (minus Chuck and Taylor)... did i change how i draw her? uhh. maybe? i'm not too sure. [link]

also look! the keychain drawing... i need to talk about my Gods and Monsters au again at some point. actually, since i last uploaded the image of my keychain, i revised it tons... it's kinda different now, and i defos think it looks better. this is actually the time i finally fixed the stupid display setting thing that was really messing up my coloring! [link 1] [link 2]

December: ...oops! tablet broke. and i got my 3ds back so i just didn't draw that much even after exams were over. didn't stop me from drawing though, and in fact i think i made something pretty neat with my christmas art.... even if it did come one day late. [link]

wow. that's a whole year of stuff... and that's defos a lot! i think i'm really happy with what i drew this year.... i don't know what was in my water the last few years but my art highlights felt really.... miserable? for some reason. i mean, yeah, i didn't do a lot of what i had planned (GOE ANIMATIC IM SORRY) but i can see that i've done just as much with my hands anyways, so like, who cares? plus, i always have next year... that's coming in 3 hours, oh god- so, maybe i won't be too hard on myself for not fulfilling my goals... like, i kinda glossed over it, but i did sell my designs for money, and that's like, really impressive! so many people around me buy and sell their art stuff already, so i guess i didn't really register it as something to be proud of... but doing that shit (making, and marketing) is hard!! so like, it's a wow moment for me!

anyways, i'm tired, i only came back home a few hours ago, and i need to get up again for church in a few hours.... mrphgdjd. lets stop being sentimental, and i'll see you people next year. that's a long way off! hope you don't miss me.

[20dollarlolita]

Okay, I'm still a little bit nostalgic, so let's go into the first six coord pictures I found on my long trip through my 2011 facebook and tumblr.

This is Alice in the Ribbon Kingdom OP, which was my first main dress piece I bought. Those socks are actually gray, and those shoes are jelly peep-toe flats that were so small that my heels were hanging off the end. This is definitely the earliest coord pic I have because it was from before there was the giant mirror at the end of the hallway that everyone knows me for now.

I think everyone has a picture of their "i bought the dress and had no accessories at all" coord. This was mine. You can't see my hair but I took the neck brooch off the dress and bobby pinned it into my hair.

Coord rating: 4/10, nice dress and nothing else works, please step away from the cat litter box.

I definitely wore this outfit and called it lolita. The picture I posted of it is a dead link but my friend drew Equius in the same outfit I was wearing. That's a handmade skirt and then a t-shirt with Portal and the TARDIS on it, a headbow I strip-quilted with random fabric, and then some navy blue knee socks. I do not remember the conversation that happened to make this picture happen.

Coord rating 6/10: that's not how casual lolita works but A for effort.

This was my first Bodyline dress, and I'd gotten it that day, and hadn't pressed it. Those are some factory creases in there. That blouse is just a normal pointed collar blouse that I think I borrowed from my mom. Once again, we have me pinning the detachable bows into my hair. It took me years to get out of this habit. That dress was also the first lolita piece that I sold, and I wish I could get it again. I wanted a piano lolita dress from the first second I had a piano lolita dress.

Those white socks I later sewed lace to the top of, and they're still in my wardrobe and are frequently used in current coords.

I wore this to my lolita mentor's house because I was going to buy something from her. I don't remember if it was my Shirring Princess OP or if it was a blouse+petticoat+ear muff+socks combo that I later bought, but I know I was going to her house to buy something from her.

Coord rating: unable to rate because I fear the consequence of breaking eye contact with the face I'm making at the camera.

And I know that because this is the Shirring Princess, socks, blouse, petticoat, and earmuff combo that I bought from my mentor. I was so lucky to have someone who was experienced in the fashion available to help me when I was new to this. She also was selling a lot of her stuff because IIRC she was in a bit of a financial pinch. It wasn't really cold enough for earmuffs but I wanted to wear them anyway because I didn't own any hair accessories at all.

Those are my Bodyline tea parties that I've currently painted gold and made into the world's most dangerous quad skates. Those

mental health discussion cw for the rest of this post.

This picture is really weird to me because it's the last picture that I uploaded online before my bipolar diagnosis. I got diagnosed with bipolar following a quite spectacular almost-term of college with an increasingly bad major depressive episode. So I look really weird to myself here, because this was the start of like, days at a time where I wasn't able to be happy and couldn't understand why. I spent this entire winter break thinking that if I could just get back to school then things would feel better, which. They didn't. I know that I bring up my mental health any time that I start talking about early lolita me, but that's because the main reason I fully committed to owning and making lolita is really connected to this major depressive episode.

I remember wearing this exact coord again at school, but I wore the socks over white tights because I had self-harm marks on my legs that I didn't want people to see.

Coord rating 8/10: It's got most of the right things but also it's basically an entire outfit I bought from someone else.

So near the end of that term, I was determined to be a hazard to myself or others and was ejected from housing, which was also its own whole mess (I can tell the story of the head of housing being told to put a 20-year-old girl on suicide watch and her deciding to just leave said girl with a group of people she didn't know and tell them to watch her because head of housing decided to do something else, but we can save that for later).

Anyway, when you're super fucking depressed and your entire life has flipped upside-down and you've been massively cycling because you've got bipolar and someone's put you on SSRIs, sometimes you pick a thing to obsess over. And I picked lolita fashion. A nice lady at my church gave me huge piles of random scrap fabric, and I just started making things. I still have that blouse. It's basically a dickey with sleeves, because I ran out of fabric and decided it wouldn't matter if I only wore it under JSKs. That bodice is just elastic bobbin shirring done super close together, so it doesn't look very mainstream lolita at all. Looking at that skirt, I think I made that skirt out of the very first Scottish Games skirt that my mom made me when I was like 7.

This picture is really weird to me because I had completely forgotten about this dress ever existing until I found it earlier today. This is also one of the first selfies I can find that was in this mirror at the end of the hall. I still take pictures at this mirror.

Coord rating 6/10: not bad for a handmade coord but baby me wasn't really sure what a substyle was. If I'd tried to commit to styling it classic or something, it could probably work. Nice hat.

I've mentioned this before but this picture is a big deal for me because it was taken at my job/"job", which meant I was considered stable enough that I was allowed to drive my truck again. It wasn't really a job as much as my parents church taking pity on me and allowing me to "be the receptionist" on the church secretary's day off. This was the church where as a child I was banned from talking about oreos.

I found that blouse at a thrift store and it was too small but it had a rounded collar, so it was the only black blouse that I had for probably years. I made the skirt based off the Innocent World Juno skirt without me really having an understanding of why that skirt is shaped the way it is. That hair brooch is from the Dollar Tree and I was so excited when I found it because I thought it was the most lolita thing I'd ever seen at the Dollar Tree.

At this point in time, I was making maybe one thing from my sewing stash fabric about every three or four days. The petticoat I was wearing with this was a completely new petticoat that I made out of pink organza. I'd also done a skirt completely covered in rick rack which I do not have a picture of. I was basically making things because if I stopped making things then I'd feel worse than when I was making things.

I had also stopped wearing my BtSSB dress by this point because I had some disordered eating stuff going on and the fact that the zipper was a little bit tight somehow mathed out in my head to be about worth as a human.

Coord rating 7/10: technically checks all the boxes but CAN WE PLEASE BUY SOME LACE

While I was in college at that last term, I found this bodyline blouse at a record store (for some reason??), and the high waist means I could wear it with my weirdly short blouse I made. I owned three blouses at this point: this one, the too-small black one, and the long-sleeved pink one. That was my blouse collection for way too long, because I just never bought blouses. The slouch boots are an interesting addition to this. That headbow was the other Dollar Tree hair brooch that I got the same time I bought the black one.

If you've been following along you're going to notice how bad I used to be about not wearing any jewelry. I'm still pretty light on the jewelry but at least I wear it now.

I assume that the yellow thing there with the green crepe back satin ruffle is somehow related to the purple skirt with the ruffle made of the same green crepeback satin, but I have no idea what's going on with it.

I do remember taking this picture at like 2:30AM. I don't remember why I was taking this picture at like 2:30 AM. I think it's because I'd just cut my bangs and I wanted to do a whole look to show it off? I'm pretty sure this was right about when I started cutting my own bangs and just pretending it was fine however they came out. This is different from how I do it now because now I cut my own bangs and then panic when they are not fine however I tried to cut them.

Coord rating: 6/10 can we please match the shoes and headbow, but yeah I guess it checks all the boxes or something?

.

Overall analysis: Okay, so the first thing that past me needed (wardrobe terms, not in terms of psychiatric care) was to actually get way more hair accessories. All of these really show a lack of committment to my hair department. I think at the time, I really didn't know how to coordinate pink hair.

I did the same thing that I currently do, which I need to stop doing, which is buying big pieces like dresses and skirts and then just not having any blouses and headbows and socks. But this habit really, really held me back in my early lolita days.

The biggest thing for me in terms of handmade lolita was that I had a really good petticoat, and that helps make even my less good coordinates and pieces read like they're much better than they are.

That said, I was just dressing in a way that felt better than not getting dressed at all. This last picture wasn't even four months after the initial nadir of the major depressive episode, and I wasn't going to be determined to be able to go back to school for a few months after that. This was basically the only part of my life that I had complete control over and I decided that this was the thing I cared about.

Because of that, it took me a really long time to start focusing on some of the really detailed elements of lolita, making things balanced and pretty. I was basically just throwing anything that I could find together and call lolita.

Anyway, I was talking earlier about how you get good at drawing by doing a lot of sketches and not caring too hard if they're the best thing you'll ever draw? I think that's what I did in my first year of lolita. I just put things together. They weren't good. The vast majority of the pieces up there I either no longer have or no longer wear. But I figured out some stuff. Other stuff took way longer to figure out, but I did get some stuff figured out.

Anyway, to anyone who is feeling like they're not experienced in lolita, here's an entire year of me figuring stuff out. The 2013-2014 collection of lolita fashion that I have is also not great, so we can check that out if we want, too. I'm still figuring things out. I don't think I'll ever not be figuring things out.

Also here's a quick glimpse at how good cell phone cameras used to not be. (I've actually adjusted the white balance in all these, so the original pictures were worse)

[lmttn]

Gabriel Knight 3: Day 1 Complete

After my initial post about Gabriel Knight 3 (which was itself just me restating a few Tweets I made about the game), I figured I'd keep writing about it until I'm finished with it. I guess this will be like a really abridged camcorder let's play, but maybe less focused on the game itself (For example, I don't think I want to reveal too many huge plot spoilers.) and more on my own thoughts on the game and maybe also the graphic adventure genre as a whole.

Before I start, maybe I should first talk about my own history with the point and click adventure genre. It's not very long. When I was a kid I played a little bit of Nancy Drew: Curse of Blackmoor Manor (2004) with my mom, and I thought it was really difficult and none of the puzzles made any sense and then I went back to playing Battlefield 1942 (2002). Not long later, after getting GameTap (points to anyone else who had it), I tried a few of the many old adventure games on the service, such as the first couple King's Quest games and some of the Myst games. You could probably guess how well those went for me.

It wasn't until last year, at a point in time in which I really felt like I had played everything I thought I wanted to play, that I decided I'd give the genre another shot. It was a good opportunity to explore what I had realized was a huge blind spot; I love old PC games, and this was once a marquee genre for the platform. The first game I played in this excursion was LucasArts's Sam & Max Hit the Road (1993). I just thought it was okay. I really liked Sam and Max as characters, but I wasn't that invested in the world they inhabited or the mystery the game saw them solving. In addition, I really couldn't recall a single puzzle in the whole game. That might be a good thing, since that means none of them must have been particularly infuriating. Next, I tried Full Throttle (1995), also by LucasArts. I didn't finish it because basically nothing about its story, world, characters, or gameplay grabbed me. It's allegedly extremely short, so for all I know I might have seen the majority of the game before quitting.

Up next was Sierra's The Beast Within: A Gabriel Knight Mystery (1995), which I'm just going to refer to as Gabriel Knight 2 or GK2. I was interested in it because it seemed like the polar opposite of the other two games I played. For one, it was by the other major graphic adventure publisher. But it obviously ran way deeper than that. GK2 was very different in terms of tone and presentation as well, being a dark paranormal mystery in a contemporary setting, played by live actors.

I ended up finding GK2 to be immensely charming. Gabriel Knight and Grace Nakimura, the game's dual protagonists, quickly became two of my favorite characters in the medium. The writing and acting were campy, but nothing felt forced or insincere. A couple of its puzzles were pretty frustrating, but they were worth powering through to see the next part of the story. Also, it had to be among the most homoerotic games to be released by a major publisher in the 1990s. Metal Gear Solid wishes. If you're reading this and you haven't played it, I highly recommend it.

Which finally brings me to Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned (1999). I first tried it right after finishing 2, but was scared off by its interface, which may have been designed by aliens. I'm not going to retread what I talked about in my initial post about the game, but trust me: it's fucking weird.

One of the most confusing things about GK3 is how it starts. The game's opening cutscene gives absolutely no context as to why Gabriel is getting his ass on a train in France. That's because the actual intro is in a prologue comic, which was included in the game's box, but bizarrely isn't included as a digital extra in the Steam/GOG re-releases of the game. Thankfully, it has been uploaded elsewhere.

Heartbreakingly, Dean Erickson did not return to reprise his role as Gabriel. Instead, Tim Curry—who voiced him in the first game—was brought back to play the protagonist. Erickson knocked it out of the park in GK2. He had a more convincing Louisiana accent than Tim Curry ever will, and he was significantly more capable of portraying Gabriel at his most serious. Curry's portrayal, on the other hand, is really over-the-top. Unfortunately, Joanne Takahashi, who did a fantastic job as Grace in 2, didn't return either. I can't comment on her replacement (Charity James) just yet, as Grace has had very little presence so far in my playthrough.

As I said in my initial post about the game, Gabriel Knight 3 used a completely original engine. It was probably going to be used for more than just this game, but GK3 ended up being Sierra's final adventure game. It's a shame because it's a really fascinating engine that, weird interface aside, opens up a level of fully 3D exploration that other graphic adventure games didn't have. Instead of pre-rendered backgrounds, everything is 3D: characters, environments, and all the little objects that inhabit them. The level of detail is pretty surprising, as some of these areas are quite big. You have a freely controllable camera that moves independently of the player character. In the two images below, you can see the same area through two cameras. The first is the default angle you see when you load into this area. In the second, I pulled the camera back as far as it let me:

Obviously, the ground textures have not aged all that well, and some of the skyboxes depicting distant mountains don't look too great either. The level of detail, however, is pretty impressive. All signs and posters in the world are fully legible, and the texture filtering is good enough that they actually still look very smooth when you zoom in on them. I should've taken some pictures of them to illustrate this.

The interiors look (and run) way better, and they also do a better job of showing off the level of detail this engine is capable of. You can pick up that crumpled piece of paper in front of the trash can. It's so useless that it doesn't even get added to your inventory, but it still has a whole animation and voiceover dedicated to it.

Gabriel Knight 3's game sections are divided very concretely. The game's "chapters" are presented as days, which are split blocks of hours. For example, Day 1 of the game is split into 10AM-12PM, 12PM-2PM, 2PM-4PM, 4PM-6PM, and 6PM-10PM. Thankfully, there is no time limit or real-time clock. Instead, essential story progress is what moves you from one time block to the next. As the title suggests, I just finished Day 1 of the game.

Day 1 has the notorious cat hair mustache puzzle. It is, to put it lightly, fucking stupid. To make matters worse, it is the first major puzzle in the game. I can't even imagine how many people bought this game in 1999 only to never see past this part.

While its tale of vampires, missing babies, secret societies, hidden treasures, and seriously unconvincing Scottish accents has me intrigued so far, GK3 lacks the camp charm of its predecessor. Jane Jensen can obviously still write convincing characters, and her sense of humor still shines through occasionally, but this game is way more stone-faced than 2 so far. But all in all, so far so good. If I can get through a puzzle so bad it has its own Wikipedia article, I should be able to comfortably get through the rest of Gabriel Knight 3.

[twoidiotwriters1]

Copycat & The Spider-man —(Marvel Fem!Oc)

Words: 1,082

Phase two Masterlist

Previous Chapter // Next Chapter

Listen to: ‘I Think I’m In Love’ -by Phangs

xxiv: Copycat & Spider-man.

"Happy valentine's!"

Peter's arm came into view, he was holding a sandwich from Delmar's.

"Your favorite," He kissed her cheek.

"Aww, you shouldn't have," She grabbed the meal and drew out something from her pocket. "Happy day..."

Peter opened the handmade card and found two tickets for the movies along with a handwritten note that read: 'Valid for one visit to the cat cafe c:'

"A coupon and two tickets for the movies?" Peter said excitedly. "You think Ned's free to go out tonight?"

"Hey, you're supposed to use those with me!" She pouted.

"Oh really? I didn't know," Peter smirked, he loved teasing her, she'd always been easy to fool.

"You're not allowed to be mean, Peter," C.C. bopped his nose. "Not today!"

"'kay, sorry," He grinned, wrinkling his nose to get rid of the sting.

"I got MJ a bar of her favorite chocolate and I bought Ned a brand new mouse pad— look, it's a dog laying on his belly, the belly's the bulky part!"

"Aww haha, that's so cute!" Peter responded. "Hey, the sandwich's only the first part of my gift, by the way! Don't think I'm done with you!"

"I hope you didn't try to go over the top, I told you there was no need..."

"No no, it's nothing crazy..."

He closed her locker and took her hand, walking her through the hallways until they found his locker.

"Look at this," He took something from the top shelf and showed it to her.

Peter placed it on her hands carefully, C.C. stared at the tiny crystal rectangle: It looked like the pads the Avengers used to project stuff, but this one had a plastic base on one of the sides, and there was a small switch under it.

"It's a digital picture frame. Turn it on and you'll see the pics I uploaded."

"Did you do this from scratch?"

"It wasn't hard! You don't have to use batteries or anything, just place it near sunlight..."

"What pictures did you upload?"

"The one I took the day we went to PYM technologies," he beamed, "it's crazy how different things are now... I put some from the day at Stark Expo, the homecoming pics you took with Ned, your birthday, thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's..."

"This is lovely," Her chest warmed up. "You're the best! I feel a little silly about my gift now..."

"I love your gift! I'll be careful to spend the coupon responsibly," He smiled.

C.C. pecked his lips. "You're the coolest boy I've ever met."

Peter's gaze softened, a little smile played on his lips. "I love you."

It was rare for C.C. to be rendered speechless, she didn't know what to say back, so instead, she buried her face on his shoulder and hugged him tightly.

The girl had been uncharacteristically quiet during the evening, it was putting her boyfriend on edge, the last thing he wanted was to make C.C. feel pressured.

"I'm ready to share," She spoke abruptly.

Peter stumbled over his feet and C.C. stopped him from falling.

"What'd ya say?"

She looked around and then offered her hand, Peter took it with no hesitation.

"What's—"

She dragged him into an alleyway, pushing him against a wall.

"Oof!" He coughed. "What are you doing?"

"Sorry," She stepped back. "You know I don't like cutting my hair..."

"Yeah?" He said in confusion. "Because you don't like how it looks."

"That's only half true," she stared at her feet, "I also dislike ponytails and tight braids, but it's not because of how they look... I love them, but..."

C.C. took a deep breath, she had to remind herself she was safe, sharing this wasn't going to hurt her.

"I've got a scar," She said. "It's ugly. It feels big and bulky, right where my nape is... that's why I don't like it when you try to play with my hair."

"Oh," Peter replied, finally understanding. "Does it hurt?"

"No, I just don't want to gross you out, so I never showed it to you. Not even Pietro knows about it."

"Gross me out?" He frowned. "It's just a scar..."

"Yeah, but it's big... and they... they did it to me," She fought back the tears. "I don't know why, but it scares me to think they put something in, that if they press a button maybe I'll die or..."

"Did no one ever try to check?" He asked worryingly.

"Banner didn't see anything wrong," She shrugged. "I don't know if I'm fine, but that scar is proof that I was once a lab rat. I hate it."

Peter grabbed her hand and turned it so the palm was facing up. He placed his own hand on top of hers.

"Show me?"

"It's ugly, Pete..."

"I just wanna know where it is so I stay away if that's what you want."

With both hands, she held his and pondered silently. Peter waited, he knew how things worked with her. Eventually, she guided his hand, his fingers moved through curls until they finally came into contact with skin.

"Doesn't feel that big," he whispered.

C.C.'s eyes brimmed with tears, he kept his hand where she'd put it and leaned down to kiss her. However, in the middle of the moment, Peter's index finger pressed a certain point and made her jump away.

Flashes of old memories disoriented her, Peter held her by the shoulders and called her name several times.

"Copycat!"

She gasped crashing sideways against the brick wall.

"What was that?"

"What thing?" He frowned. "You were fine and then you were crying out in pain!"

"I... I don't know," She rubbed her neck. "That'd never happened before..."

"Maybe you're tired..." Peter said, not really believing his own words. "It's been a long day, in a good and kinda bad way."

"All good," She corrected.

Peter nodded silently, pushing some locks of hair out of her face.

"You're feeling better?"

"Yes."

"Good," He guided her out of the alleyway. "I'll walk you home."

Her nerves were better now that she was at her doorstep, she turned the keys and opened the door, Peter was about to wish her goodnight when Pietro rushed past them ignoring C.C.'s scolding. He'd just come back from work, and in his hand, there was a letter.

"I got in!" He waved the paper in the air. "I got in!"

"No way!"

The couple walked over to their friend, Pietro squeezed them and Peter managed to lift her and the older boy at the same time, causing her to chortle.

"I'm proud of you, P.J!" She smirked. "I was expecting you to become a high school drop-out a week after you entered..."

"Told you I was as smart as any of you," He ruffled her hair. "Growing up doesn't sound as terrible now!"

"Yeah," She locked eyes with Peter, giving him a bright smile. "Not bad at all..."

Next Chapter —>

Taglist.

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[n1ghtcrwler]

Explaining my Departure

I've tried to focus on my writing but it hasn't clicked and every time I try to my mind comes back to this so I think I just need to get it out of my system before I can get anything of note done. But to do it I'm going to tell a story because of who I am, fundamentally, as a person.

A couple years ago, on twitter, I came across this writing podcast that billed itself as a community for all writers and got all this praise from people I was following for being super supportive of writers in general, and I checked them out and started following and interacting. Some months later they had a contest, in which writers were encouraged to upload a video of themselves reading a chapter of their book. The person with the most likes on their video won; I don't remember the prize, but I could see the numbers on my video and others and knew that I wasn't getting it. So when they had the live episode where they were going to announce the winner, I was there more to show support and cheer along with everyone than out of any expectation that my story would get mentioned; by this point, they had a few times called for people to share info on their books in replies, and had highlighted a few books each time, and to date mine hadn't been acknowledged, so that was what I expected.

But then they announced early in the episode that they were going to show a bit of each video that had been entered and give comment on the chapter, and I got kind of excited. It would be after they accomplished some other business, you know, put that stuff at the end so people watch the whole episode, so I spent the next hour curious what they would say about my story (since my book didn't have chapters as such, but rather short stories, I had read one of those). A big part of the conversation was on the nature of critiques, and the hosts went out of their way to talk for a little while about how obsessing about first lines was a bad method and no one respectable should judge a story by the first line.

They got to the chapters, hitting each one in the order it was originally submitted, and pretty quickly fell into a rhythm. For each video, they would play the first paragraph or so (roughly guessing by how it sounded), highlight something they liked about it, talk about how many likes it got, and then move on. Mine was in the latter half of the ones they went through. They played the first sentence and then immediately stopped it. "Does that first sentence hook you?" one host asked the other. "No, it doesn't," the second host replied, and they went straight to the next video. No listening beyond that, no further comment, nothing good or even neutral, no statement about how many likes it got. Just one statement that the first line didn't hook them, a criteria they had just condemned not a half hour earlier, and then jump ahead to the next. I thought maybe they were getting tired and wanted to speed things along so I watched the rest to see how they treated the remaining videos; every single one got the first paragraph or so, highlight something they liked about it, talk about how many likes it got, and then move on treatment.

I was hurt and angry. The lack of mention prior to that moment hadn't really bothered me, but now that they had finally acknowledged my work only to shit on it? That they broke their own standards just to insult my story and literally no one else's? I went back through our interactions to see if there was anything I did that may have caused offense to warrant such blatant and public disrespect and found nothing. I asked other people who were more emotionally aware than me and not connected to the situation to do so, and they found nothing. I debated for a week whether or not to bring it up, but ultimately decided that it wasn't worth it (just as it hasn't been worth it to name them here). The conclusion I drew was that this simply wasn't a place my writing was welcome, so I just left the community and went about writing my second book.

Now, I don't get much feedback on my books, but it is overwhelmingly positive. Having done more than one year of events now, I've had complete strangers excitedly returning to my table looking for the second book while raving about the one they bought the year prior. I get messages about how good the story is and demands that I hurry up and get the next book finished so they don't have to wait as long to continue. The bulk of negative feedback has been one of two things: people who told me it was too scary for them to finish, and that one podcast dismissing it out of hand. And what I learned from all of this is that it isn't my writing that's the problem (though there is, obviously, room for improvement and always will be), but finding the audience who will appreciate the stories I'm telling. It isn't worth my time to keep trying to find my place somewhere that doesn't have room for me. When a place makes it apparent that my stories will not get respect or traction there, it is better to take the hit and turn my attention elsewhere. I am slowly finding my people through this process, and I love every encounter with them.

Writeblr has shown itself to not be the place where I will find my people. I have spent years here literally giving my story away, tagging people who asked to be tagged in updates, engaging in the community to the best of my ability. I don't know if it's my story (genre? tone? style?) or myself (I can't keep up with tag games or the weekly events that seem to happen every single day now and I don't do visuals much), but I've tried, and it hasn't clicked. I have watched as mutuals write and reblog post after post about how we all need to be supporting one another and reblogging is the bare minimum around here and get praised for being so supportive of all the writers on the site while my story that I know is crossing their dashboards every single week day continue to get no likes, no reblogs, nothing. I've seen posts about how people aren't being ignored by the community, their posts just get lost in the noise, but that's bullshit. Every single post, literally hundreds of posts, from one specific person gets lost in the noise? No matter what time of day it goes up? Despite the lack of algorithm, despite doing everything everyone here says to do to break through the noise? Not one post gets through?

Don't fucking lie to me.

I'm not discouraged enough to stop writing, leave tumblr entirely, or stop trying to boost the stories I find on my dash. My stories will continue to get published, things will continue to go onto my blog for others to see and probably ignore, I'm still open to be on tag lists if people want me to see what they're doing; but Writeblr clearly isn't the place for my stories and it's exhausting and painful trying to find a place here. So I'm done trying to figure out how to connect with it. It isn't worth my time or energy to watch every attempt at connection fall flat anymore. I have stories to write and an audience to find. See you around.

[theopteryx]

6, 19, 30 for the artist questions

6. did you start traditional?

i did! back in the day the first fanart i posted was stuff i drew with pencils or microns and then scanned in and uploaded. i got a drawing tablet back in high school but it never worked for me well (it wasn't until years later i realized i had the wrong software) so didn't really use it for years. but for a really long time just about everything i posted was micron ink drawings and like prismacolor and copic markers. once i figured out the tablet better i made the switch and rarely go back.

19. do you listen to music while you draw? If so what kind?

i don't listen to much music because the time limit of a song is too short and i get distracted by changing the songs. the perfect background music to me is a movie i've seen a million times or a tv show i don't have to pay attention to or long youtube videos about influencer scandals or true crime or whatever. i listen to podcasts sometime but it's gotta be about something that doesn't have a plot or i'll miss the important parts and have to rewind a million times.

30. do you like drawing hands?

i do NOT, which i think you can probably tell from how well i can actually draw hands, lol!!!! i do practices based on references and am like 'great got it we're gonna nail this i understand anatomy this makes perfect sense' and then when it comes to actually drawing them every finger has eleven knuckles. i'm just leaning in at this point. it's a stylistic choice...........definitely

[cylidaeold]

Okay, here is an explanation of Kota's hyperfixations that nobody asked for! So, essentially, the characters I connect with are technically from media, but I spin them into my own thing. Essentially, what I do is write them as if everything that happened in canon did actually happen, but there's a whole 'nother more interesting plot line going on behind the scenes. I pretty much always give them abusive parents, S/A trauma, and a dead loved one (usually a sibling for some reason). This is projection (except for the sibling thing. I'm an only child, why do I do that?). I adopt these characters as my own. I build them lore, redesign them to fit my perception, and even commission art of them. I had Charm uploaded to Toyhouse for a while because I knew nobody had read Story Thieves, so I could get away with it.

Obviously, anybody who knows me knows that I adore Peter. He's definitely the character with the most lore out of any of them. He's probably my favorite character from anything ever, but my other babies aren't actually too far behind him, despite what you may think. Let's make a list, shall we?

THE HIGH COUNCIL

These are the ones where I could probably be clinically diagnosed as obsessive for. I adore them more than words can express.

-Peter (Divergent):

The ultimate baby. Come on, you know I adore this little gremlin. I write about him constantly, and he has too many AUs for me to keep track of. If I were to switch up some of the other Divergent character's names, I could genuinely pass him off as my OC at this point. I adopted him as a hyperfixation in 6th grade (When I was 10), so he's been my ultimate baby boy for five years. (I read Divergent before that point, but I didn't think much of him then.)

-Charm (Story Thieves):

My first fictional crush and gay awakening. I don't know why I love her so much. Maybe because she was the first deeply tragic character that I ever got to read about. Maybe because her beating up people just made me giggle. Maybe because she's just kind of hot. Either way, I took on Charm as a hyperfixation very early on in life. I remember being in third grade and seeing somebody with a Story Thieves book and thinking "Oh, I read those books a while ago! I like Charm!" so it was a few years before I was eight. Five or six, maybe? Either way, she was my first obsession, and I love her dearly.

-Courtney (Total Drama):

Ah, Courtney. The subject of almost as much of my fanfiction as Peter. She's a complicated one to talk about for me. I remember I first watched Total Drama three or four years ago, but I wasn't obsessed with Courtney then. I remember that she was my favorite character, but that's about as far as my affections went. That changed when I started getting involved in the Total Drama fandom space. I'm struggling to define exactly what changed about her for me. I liked the good Catholic girl persona the fanbase gave her, the numerous daddy issues, and her chemistry with Duncan. It was all just fun. I ended up getting a burning desire to rewatch the show, so I did. It was only about six months ago that I really took her on as a hyperfixation, but my traumadumping on her pushed her to the top.

THE TOP BLORBOS

Little guys who I love, but don't think about constantly. I'll draw them every so often and give them a bit of lore, but mostly they're just little guys that I like a lot.

-Shawn (Total Drama):

I have no explanation for this one. I think watching so much Total Drama just got to my head, and I latched onto a random character. Either way, there's no excuse for the three times I've fully rendered this man and the math book that is filled with sketches of him. I mean filled in the truest sense possible. I drew him in so many places that I ran out of space to fit even the smallest Shawn.

-Clove + Cato (Hunger Games):

Again, I don't have much of an explanation for this one. I just think that they're a lot of fun. I love the idea of them falling in love either before the games or during them, and it's such a tragic love story. I want to write an AU where one (or both) of them wins the games.

-Cassidy (And maybe Dick) (Veronica Mars):

I just love a tragic villain, and Cassidy fits that role to a T for me. I love him dearly, and think that there would have been so much potential had he stayed alive. Dick's reaction to his death is heartbreaking and added a new dimension to this, frankly, 0-dimensional character.

-???:

Who is it? What is it? I don't know. I can't put it into words. The things that bring forth this feeling, though, are Dream SMP, that biblically accurate angel god from Cult of the Lamb, and a few of my friend's OCs. I've tried to create and find characters that fit this strange feeling, but I can't. It's always out of reach, but I'm still fond of it despite "it" not being anything.

THE ANCIENTS:

These are my children, who I've lost interest in but obsessed over for years. I still think about them and am still fond of them, but they aren't obsessions or anything close to that anymore.

-Cat (OC)

Perhaps the only OC on this list. Cat was my main OC and all that I thought about for several years, but I just fell out of love with them eventually. Now they bring up some bad memories for me, and I'm happy to leave them in storage.

-Susie (Deltarune): I like women who can beat me up! This one lasted around a year. She was my homescreen on my phone and computer for a while, and I got my cousins to fall in love with her too. She's just a fun character. I don't think about her much anymore, but she's still one I'm attached to.

-Jamilton (Ship, Hamilton the musical):

Look, I'm not proud of this one, but it would be deceptive to not include it. I've read more of this pairing on ao3 than any others, I have fanart that will never see the light of day, and I thought about them constantly for over two years. I still have a soft spot for this ship, but it's not an obsession anymore (thank God).

-Darkstalker (Wings of Fire):

Ohhhh boy. I had the biggest crush on this stupid dragon for years and years. The longest out of anybody on this list, if I'm being honest. I was a horrible Darkstalker defender for a while, and actually built a dedicated shrine in my room for him. He kind of gives me the ick now because of all this.

-Varian (Tangled the Series):

BABY BOY! Honestly, I'm tempted to just spam baby boy and let it devolve into keyboard smashing, because that is the only way to describe how I feel about this character. The little guy!

-Tom (Star Versus the Forces of Evil): He's the only reason I watched the show. My first watchthough of it was actually just me reading which episodes he's in on Wikipedia and then only watching those. Was I confused? Yes. But I loved him!

-Finleap (Warriors): I can't explain this at all. I just thought he was cute in AVoS, so he became my favorite warrior cat. He still is, but mostly because of nostalgia. He takes up zero braincells now, to be honest.

-Tax (Hunger Games):

This one is a joke... I think. He's a character that gets one mention throughout the entire series. I thought it'd be funny to call him my favorite character so that everybody was like "Who?" but I ended up with actual backstory ideas. Either way, I love him.

THE FLEETING

Characters that I obsessed over for around a week to a few months, then it faded. I'm still fond of most of them.

-Red Son (LEGO Monkie Kid):

What a silly little man! I really like him! That's all I can really say. I've written him some AUs, and I just had fun whenever he was on the screen. He's a good time.

-Bea (Night in the Woods):

She's just well-written. I like shipping her with Mae, too. She's a cool character, and I still have a bit of a crush. She feels so realistic and a bit tragic.

-Klaus (Umbrella Academy): Traumatized gay drug addict? Count me in! He's the only one in this section with his own fleshed-out backstory written by me. I think about him the most out of everybody in this section and still really love him.

THE APPRENTICES

Characters that I'm building an obsession with, but they aren't quite there yet.

-Narinder, Baal and Aym (Cult of the Lamb): Just a demon dad and his babies! I'm giving this one a few months before I really consider it an obsession, but I do really love them!

-Ethan (Never Have I Ever):

What a silly man! He's hot, and you know I love the bad boys. This could just be a fleeting emo boy thing, or we could have a deeper connection. We'll see.

THE SIDEKICKS

These are characters that I only like in relation to another character.

-Duncan (Total Drama):

Only with Courtney. They have the most fun dynamic of pretty much any ship. I really love them together, and Duncan's fun with her.

-Pretty much every Divergent character:

I love them in relation to Peter! Especially Caleb and Molly. I like most of these characters fine on their own, but I love the Peter dynamics.

-Mae (Night in the Woods): She's a great and relatable character, but I honestly only like her to ship with Bea.

-Kris (Deltarune):

Is Kris even a character at all? They're just kind of the player. Either way, I ship them with Susie and I love it.

-Jasmine (Total Drama): I just like the idea of Shawn having a buff, tall girlfriend who doesn't understand him whatsoever. It's funny and cute.

THE UNWORTHY

Characters that were so close to being an obsession, but I lost interest just a bit too quickly for them to make a lasting impact.

-Logan (Veronica Mars): Okay, he's definitely my favorite of this group. He's such a funny little guy. Such a traumatized man, and it's hilarious that he keeps beating up people for Veronica. He's such a good boy, no matter what the show wants you to think.

-Hunter (The Owl House):

He's my favorite from the show, but I never connected to him on that deep level. I don't look at him and think of headcanons, I just look at him and think "Oh, he's neat."

-JD and Veronica (Heathers):

This is different from the others in this section because the interest never faded. I love them just as much now as I did a few years ago. It could never cross the obsession threshold, though.

-Anne Boleyn and Katherine Howard (SIX): Yes, I am aware of K. Howard's real name, but I'm talking about the Six version here. They're just fun little traumatized gals who I ultimately couldn't fall in love with for whatever reason. Maybe because they're real people, and adding trauma seems weird.

-Princess Carolynn + Sara Lynn (Bojack Horseman): Both of these have a similar vibe. I love them and think that they're incredible characters, but the show is so good that there's nothing I can do with them. There's no way to break them further, no way to improve their story. They're just great.

-Kitty (Glee):

This may be a joke. I don't know at this point. She does have some trauma points going for her, so that's something. I just think the idea of this woman nearly murdering her classmate by purposely giving her an eating disorder, showing no remorse, waiting until they're about to die to confess, then immediately being forgiven, and the whole situation never being brought up again is really funny. She is absolutely awful, and I love her for it.

-Newt (Mazerunner):

When I was watching the Mazerunner movies, I was bored out of my mind. None of the characters had any... well- character. So jokingly, I said "Newt's my favorite character because at least he has a cool accent." Fast forward three movies and I'm sobbing over his death. Somewhere, my joke attachment became real attachment, and I don't know how.

-Connor (Dear Evan Hansen):

Emo boy! What else is there to say, really?

-Angel Dust (Hazbin Hotel):

Once again, emo boy! He's got trauma and shit. Trauma and shit is relatable and a nice coping mechanism.

-Harley Quinn (DC):

I connect with abuse victims. What else is there to say, really? Her story resonated with me.

-Minthe (Greek Mythology):

This one is basically an OC because she's got one mention in Greek myths. Again, this is a connecting to abuse victims thing. I really starting loving her after Lore Olympus, though. I read it and thought "Fuck you, that's a messed up portrayal of this poor woman," and vowed to write her better. I still have some comic book pages of that, actually.

-Every character from Hadestown:

This is the best musical I've ever seen, and the relationships are so fun. I'm invested in Hades and Persephone as well as Orpheus and Eurydice.

-Dee and Heavy (Metal Family):

I just like their dynamic. Plus, Dee is an emo boy. You know the drill at this point.

-Feather (OC):

My DND character. He's very fleshed out (over forty pages of lore). I really wanted to force myself to love him, but I just couldn't. There was a stretch where I was very fond of him, though.

-Torpedo (OC):

This was a character in an old roleplay game I did with my friends when we were little. I still really love most of these characters, but it's more of a nostalgic connection at this point.

-FTSRTD cast (OC):

I had fun with most of the cast, but I never connected to any as much as I did Cat. There was a period where Ezra was my favorite, but that passed quickly.

-Asriel (Undertale):

I don't know why he's so far down. This kid is fun and I wish I could save him. I've listened to every His Theme cover in existence, and I still crave more.

[mliter]

Indivisible was a game i truly loved, with all of my heart. By chance, I took notice of this game when announced back in 2015. I played the prototype and i just stared at what i was playing in wonder. I was so enthusiastic about what i just played to the point where i learned how to set up a stream, and did my first ever livestream because i wanted to show this game that was magical to me to my friends. I was 13.

This game (alongside Skullgirls) drew me to the world of handdrawn animation for videogames. I remember being so into the production of this title. I would watch Mariel Cartwright's GDQ (?) animation demos, and i would reblog all of the animations that would be uploaded the game's offical blog. I had notifications for it even. I obsessivesly followed all of the artists involved in with the production of this game, because i was so drawn to it. I loved everything about it. From the character design, the music, the world, and the main character.

The game's setting and characters take inspiration from Southern Asian culture, and how it was applied was really cool. A lot of the RPGs I've played up until that point was the usual European knights and magic we've all seen. The culture wasn't something i was familiar with, and i really liked how it was applied to the fantasy they were going for. I thought it was REALLY cool. The world was filled with life, at every corner i explored.

The project was fully funded, and shattered a majority of it's goals. Meaning it got voice acting, a beautiful animated intro from the folks at trigger, and amazing music from Hiroki Kikuta. The music of this game wasn't that memorable, but it still had it's own distinct style that to anyone who played the game would instantly recognize. I wouldn't find it anywhere else.

The game had a wonderful cast of characters. A lot of artists you can find online today designed them. I can tell they loved these characters as much as i do. They put their all into them. From the Curious Ginseng and Honey, the determined Qadira, and the loving Thorani, all of these characters brought their own personality and a part of the region they came from to the party. Seeing Ajna connect with them and how she did was very fun to see. I enjoyed every moment i had with all of them.

The animation work, the voice acting, the location, the characters, the enemies, the movement, the music, even the bugs, it's all what made Indivisible what it is to me. These are the kind of games I love. As i played this game, I could feel the love that was put into this game and i could tell that the team loved to work on this. Real heart.

As long as i live, I will never forget this game, and the people that made it possible.

[jessiarts]

I just saw your content meme and that shit had me in tears. I'm sorry that happened to you 🥺❤

Thank you for your empathy. I'm sorry that it's happened to so many others as well.

I've been reading all comments and tags on that post. So many write how they have actually lost their enthusiasm for creating because situations just like that happened to them too often. I read one the other day that said they actually gave up writing completely because of it. That's heartbreaking to hear.

This is why we keep telling people to share, not repost, content. It really does take a toll on creators; both to feel your work isn't worthy, and to see that your work was worthy, but apparently not when posted by you.

Story Time (happy ending!)

I remember the first time it happened to me. I had a piece get quite popular, but I didn't know it for forever because someone had re-uploaded it to their own tumblr instead of reblogging it and from there it just got reposted over and over and over again across the internet-- without me. (In fact for years my original post from 2016 only sat at 12 notes. It currently sits at 15 despite being shared hundreds of times across the internet. Who knows, you might have seen it before. If so, Hi! I'm the one that drew it lol)

It wasn't until a friend shared it from a facebook page (not even realizing it was mine) that I even knew it had happened and when I reverse-image searched it I found the hundreds of times it had been reposted. (And if you google "Snape, Snape, Severus Snape -Dumbledore!" it's literally the first image result, and within the first ten if you google "Snape, Snape, Severus Snape meme" or "Snape Sandbox." Unfortunately those results all come from Pinterest. I just searched it again just for shits and giggles for this post and people apparently are still reposting it as early as 5 days ago. Heh.) My sister later told me she had seen it before too, had even thought "Heh, that looks like something Jessi would draw" but because my signature was cropped she didn't know that it had, in fact, been my work.

It's a conflicting, bittersweet, feeling to see that yes, so many people loved something you made, but you never got to see the happiness it brought people it until it was over, that it happened all without you, and knowing it's because someone took that from you. I honestly wondered what the point of continuing to create was if people were just going to steal my work, part of my soul, for attention and just leave me in the dust.

I've told that story so that I can now tell you of a happier story:

I had another post go popular on here. Only this time it didn't get reposted (well, it did from where I posted on Insta, but we're gonna focus on the happy that on here people respected me enough as the artist to not steal it this time lol)

This time I got to interact with everyone who enjoyed it- and it was so much better!

I was able to see how happy the comic made people in real time. I got to engage with people who thought the thing I made was cool. I got to read the tags where people wrote about specific parts that they liked and what made them laugh. I got to meet new accounts that had the same interests and engage with them. I still get notes from it popping up from time to time and every time it lights up my day to see that comic has made yet another person happy.

None of that was taken from me just so that someone else could gain attention using my work.

It was so much better. It actually encouraged me to make more art! I didn't care if it got popular, I was just happy that anyone enjoyed something I had created.

So, for anyone reading this, please: if you enjoy something someone created, please reblog it. Don't repost it.

And for the love of the gods, PLEASE let's all collectively stop giving repost accounts attention for stealing work from creators. They don't give credit, they don't ask permission, and they gaslight creators by telling them that they should be grateful for the exposure when in reality the creators don't get any. Repost accounts only care about exposure for themselves and growing accounts that they'll abandon or sell in a couple years anyway. It's never about the creators with them, they're only chasing clout.

Think about it, they could easily just share directly from the accounts of the creators, in fact it's actually easier to do so. The only reason to repost someone else's work is because you know it'll get your own account attention.

Let's give the attention to the people who actually created the art, not the people who stole the art.

[munstarr]

The Guardian

Hello everyone!! I just edited this again and decided to re upload because I wasn't happy with it originally and I wanted to write something id love, now I can say I am super happy with the outcome!! This will be a slow burn, eventually nsfw! Currently working on the next part! Id love and appreciate some feedback! Please feel free to DM me! Thank you so much for reading!!!  ❥ ❥ ❥ ❥ ❥ ❥ ❥ ❥ ❥ ❥ ❥ ❥ ❥ ❥ ❥ ❥ ❥ ❥ ❥ ❥ ❥ ❥ ❥ ❥ ❥ ❥ ❥ ❥ ❥ ❥ ❥ ❥ ❥ ❥ ❥ 

A little over eighty years ago Earth scientists sent out a signal into space in an attempt to make contact with other beings. In a surprising turn of events an alien alliance ship happened to be passing by, how had they missed earth before? Well the milky way was merely a skid mark compared to the rest of space. After months of back and forth between the alliance and Earth. Many planets had decided to make contact with earth with wonderful intentions and were more than willing to share their technological developments. In exchange most species requested to study human life and their history. After many trials and errors the Earth officially joined the planetary alliance. Together they worked out many systems and programs to mix species and learn from each other, Thus our current story begins!

Planet Yalnak was an unearthly forest filled planet with cool days and a deep purple sky. The program they had implemented was different from others in the Alliance. Humans could only sign up to live on Yalnak to be of service to the home species, the Nuks or to study a trade. Yalnak was one of the more stubborn planets who were hesitant, after learning of Earth’s hatred they were the last from the alliance to make contact. It wasn't until learning and witnessing of Human’s surprising endurance and loyalty that they joined and formed an earth acceptance program.

On Earth, Azura flipped through all the different planetary Alliance program brochures.She had been working as a hospitality and business specialist. Working towards her degree and getting to her dream job in less than three years time. After chasing her career goals she thought she would be happier. Another busy day of working had her coming home drained for what felt like the millionth time. She sure could use a change she thought. Sighing deeply she placed the brochures on the coffee table in front of her. ‘’Pfft’’ She blew a piece of coily raven hair out of her face, Maybe a hot bubble bath would ease her stress instead. Azura drew herself a relaxing milk bath, filling it with different oils; after setting out lots of candles she slipped into the hot soapy water. She sank into the tub closing her eyes, these were the only times she felt that she could truly relax. Her big bundle of raven curls spilled out of her clawfoot tub. Rubbing her rich mahogany body with her creamy bath butter, she whimpered. Her lathered up pink loofah traveled all over her , leaving a trail of bubbles all over her curvy body. It had been a long time since she’d had any sort of real pleasure. Not that she felt she wasn’t attractive, at twenty - four she was a small chocolate woman with a lean body and a bosomy frame ,or so she had thought. It had been a long while since she had been with anyone, let alone on an actual date. She sunk deeper into the warm bubbles as she roamed her body with the loofah, slowly caressing with the soft fabric. With closed fluttering eyes she imagined the type of person she fantasized to be with her. He was strong and tender as he gripped her throat tightly squeezing as he circled her clit with his strong roughened fingers. He caressed her hot button as her head fell back against his solid chest, nibbling her bottom lip as she let out a muffled moan. Azura imagined such a thing could happen to her. She’d gone through college as a studious maverick, putting her grades above all else. She was paying for it now she felt, getting nicely along in her career but feeling very lonely at times. She had been getting a degree in helping others have fun essentially, without ever really having any herself. Without even having any close family or even friends she was starting to feel more alone  than ever. “UGH” she grumbled aloud, splashing her hand against the water and huffing in frustration. Now she couldn’t even relax with herself! Of course, only she could make herself sad in the middle of a fantasy. She pouted and decided to drain the bath and cut her losses. After drying off and oiling herself up for bed, she slipped on a satin red slip with a lace peekaboo. Another night of eating dinner alone to the sound of terrible reality tv, after two episodes of bad reality she clicked it off deciding it was time for bed. On her way out of the living room she decided to toss her brochures into the recycling, none of the programs were right for her anyway she thought. Huffing she tossed them into the bin. One dark colored brochure had fallen out, she hadn’t noticed it before. It said very plainly in black letters on the outside the word “YALNAK” . Azura had heard of this planet, it had accepted the least amount of humans into their program, only posting new ads when they had specific positions open. She picked it up reading the first and only page which had ads for tradesmen to study and helper companions. Azura thought being a helper could be interesting but didn’t want to waste her time being a glorified errand girl. Every ad was submitted by individuals of the planet it seemed. There was an entry that caught her eye and was offering triple the pay! The only downside was that she had to submit qualifications and pass an assessment, she’d never been great at taking tests she thought.  The description was vague but seemed to offer interesting benefits and career opportunities. Her interest was piqued of course, so she decided to give in and opened her telepad to do the application, what's she got to lose?  After uploading her resume and completing the exam online she uploaded both to her telepad. This could be a long shot but she was ready for a new adventure, besides being a helper companion couldn’t be so bad. She decided to send an introduction to the ad placer to tell them about herself and to say how she could be right for the job and how she was ready for a change, whatever it was. Maybe it sounded desperate? No, she shook off that silly anxious thought and hit submit. After sending she smiled to herself and decided to go to bed, excited about new possibilities. A few days later Azura decided to check the ad to see the status of the position , since she hadn’t heard anything back yet. Checking her telepad she frowned, it said in bold red letters “FULFILLED”. She was disappointed but she knew it was a gamble to begin with and probably not even worth her time. Shaking off her unexpected disappointment she went on a run to clear her mind and think about her future. Her big coily space buns bounced on top of her head as she ran, her rich skin shining in the sunlight. After a few times around the block she was tired and decided to walk the rest of the way home to enjoy the cool breeze. Approaching her apartment door she noticed her mail had been delivered. She had received a large metal box and a thick black envelope place on top. Taking the huge box into her house she carefully sat it on her coffee table. “What the hell..” she whispered to herself. She sliced open the letter and it read  “ Congratulations Azura Elaine Emem from Earth, You have been chosen to be a helper companion for the honorable guardian Mirin”. She reread the letter in confusion, she was great at what she did but she wasn’t sure how she could be of any assistance to some honorable guardian! The letter continued “Please read the inclosed packets for further briefing on your new assignment”. Azura opened the box to find it contained brief information about the planet, it’s customs, and a request form for Earth foods she’d want while there, and last but not least a black square and a note. Azura picked up and inspected the intricate wax seal before carefully peeling it off and carefully unfolding the letter. In beautiful writing it stated simply ‘Dear Ms.Emem, I wanted to personally contact you because I am looking forward to working with you and want to set you up for success. Inside the black holding bonds I have included your uniform for the beginning days of training along with my crest, please wear this on your right side of your garment.’ With a short goodbye it concluded. Azura was stunned, she wanted a new life but wasn't expecting it to actually happen. She felt a new fire ignite inside of her, she was nervous for a new life but excited nonetheless. With a slurp of her melting iced coffee Azura smiled, wondering what sort of life she had signed herself up for.

[dsaf-russian-mafia]

Foolish Fools.

Hello. It's been a while. I am back

I remember when I first drew this comic. I don't remember when or why I stopped. However, I do know that when I did stop, it wasn't exactly a good time for me. I remember being embarrassed about myself, and my art. I remember thinking that it was "cringe", and that I was cringe for making it in the first place. I remember believing, for whatever reason, that whatever I did wasn't making a difference to anyone, and that I was wasting my time.

However, this all changed when I received a text message from one of my old friends from school.

She told me that she missed me, and she asked me how I was. I said that I was doing fine, and then we had a conversation. One of the first things that she mentioned was this Russian Mafia comic that I drew back then (some people liked to watch me while I drew, and she was one of them). She told me how much she enjoyed reading my comics, and she said that she hoped I was still drawing it, because she thought it was great.

That changed everything for me.

Before then, I never really had that high of an opinion of my own art. There was even a time were I threw away and deleted any evidence that I drew anything at all, because I was just so afraid of being "cringe" (luckily, this blog survived). But after that conversation, suddenly, everything shifted. I remembered how all my friends watched me draw. I remembered how people told me how great it was. I remembered how happy my friends were every time I uploaded a new page. I even remember an inside joke that I added in there once.

How could I have forgotten that?

It was almost as if, that whole time, I somehow became stranded in a kind of cruel darkness, where I wasn't able to see anything outside of my own fears and insecurities. That darkness might have been depression. That darkness might have been anxiety. But it's okay now. I pulled out of it.

I am looking through my comic pages now, and even though the shading was off, the coloring was inconsistent, the overall quality was barely readable and the anatomy seemed to have gone through spaghettification, I don't hate it at all. In face, I like it even more for that. Because it's art. Because people enjoy it. Because it was new. Because it told a story. That's why it's beautiful. Because I made it, and I put in a lot of work and energy to make it as great as I possibly could. That alone, and nothing else, is what makes art so valuable in the first place.

I am not cringe. My art is not cringe. There was not a single moment in time where anything I did was ever cringe at all. What I made was always beautiful, no matter how long it took me to recognize it.

And if you are reading this, you are not cringe either. Everything you do, like everything I did, is just as beautiful and valuable as anything else that anyone could have made.

So what will happen to Russian Mafia AU now?

Because it has been so long, a lot has changed, including my art style and mechanisms. I have also learnt new storytelling techniques, and know different ways of developing a plot. That's why I'm going to completely revive and renovate Russian Mafia AU into a newer, fresher comic:

Russian Mafia AU: Revolutionized (it's funny because Russian Revolution)

Don't worry, it's not going to be that different from the original. All the original characters will be there, plus all the original plot points that I planned out will be going in there too. I am also hoping that the revived version will be better quality, and more readable too.

When will the new version be out?

Dunno lol. I'm not that good with deadlines so I can't make any promises, but I'm going to aim for one page every two weeks, which seems pretty reasonable.

If you have any questions or memes or something, feel free to ask.

And remember: If I can revive my comic after 3 years of doing nothing, then you can do absolutely anything at all. Never give up on your dreams, even if you think they're long overdue. There is always hope. You can always start again, or start over, or continue right where you left it. I hope this atrocious comic can be proof of that.

I love you, and I'll always believe in you. And so will Artyom.