#i'll learn woodwork so you can get that thing you like

[as-rare-as-trees]

My fatal flaw is that if my friends jumped off a bridge I'd do it too

[medicinemane]

You know, I think if I was obscenely wealthy what I'd do is commission artists to make a piece of their own choosing and then give it away to some poor broke sod for free/open up a commission slot where I paid but someone that normally couldn't afford it got the commission

Basically, my house would fill up at some point, you know... and I gotta pace myself, so I'd really have to say sometimes "your art is great... but I don't think it's what I personally am looking for in my house specifically"

So instead I could make it so that people who can't normally afford art could get a piece (I've been there plenty)

If I had the money to do it, it would be a win win win. An artist would get money and get to create, I'd get to see a picture of their work, and someone who didn't have the money to buy art would get art which is very important to me

[punkitt-is-here]

How can I cultivate the same, "just keeping making stuff all the time" kind of energy you have? It's very impressive and something I wish I could do!

well, theres a couple reasons i think! one is that i just found ways to be satisfied with small amounts of work. its in part because of my ADHD, but my parents were always trying new things (motorcycles, leatherwork, acrylic paint, collage art, photography, video editing) so that definitely rubbed off on me; i had a great example of people just wanting to try stuff. i keep making stuff all the time because i love trying out new things; you don't have to be an expert to try something new! you just have to have a desire for it! wanna make a zine? google it! wanna write a comic? give it a shot! wanna get into woodworking? buy a carving knife and find a stick or something! i think theres plenty of ways to find entry points into interesting stuff and you gotta let yourself be okay with making shit that sucks just because its fun. which leads me to my second point!!

im okay with being dogshit at stuff! i try new things, i kind of suck at them, and i think it's either 1. cool that i made it this far or 2. kinda funny that this is what its like at the moment. i know that sucking is never permanent, everything can be improved with time, and rarely does anyone ever magically get good at something first try. i think of myself as a talented artist, but its over the course of 2+ decades of drawing; im always improving, and no matter what im going to find things i want to get better at, so why fault myself now for not being perfect? a couple of months ago i really wanted to try woodcarving, so i made spoon with my dad. did it turn out great? not really! you cant even use it as a spoon! but im glad i tried it, it was fun, i had a great time with my dad, and now i know a little bit more going in next time. the idea that you have to be perfect or make tangible progress every single time you try something new is a recipe for burnout. i promise you, it doesnt matter if something doesn't come out like God's Gift to Humanity! Did you have fun? did you learn something? are you satisfied in some small part? good!

(pictured: tha spoon)

last, im just really easy to please myself! I'll make a doodle or implement an idle animation in my game or color a piece and go "wow! thats so cool i did that :)" and it really is just a matter of realizing that its fucking COOL to create stuff, no matter how small! whatever you made didn't exist before you, especially in your own unique way, and now it does! doesn't that rule?! i'm obsessed with it! even if its just a stick figure, its a stick figure you made, and it wasn't there before. thats fucking awesome!!! art is so cool!!!! i think that being happy with small goals and victories is a great way of trying out new things and showing off cool stuff u made, no matter what skill level. :) this turned into a whole big thing, but i hope this helps! tl;dr is try things if they seem fun, be okay with not being good at them, and find stuff about it that makes you happy or satisfied!

[levyfiles]

one thing thats startling to me about so many responses is people saying they dont care about x show or only want to see ryan and shane doing things, so why should watcher want a higher budget? surely they can just axe the shows 'noone' cares about and just upload low budget videos of ryan and shane messing around?

its breathtakingly entitled. god forbid they should want to do things that are more artistically fulfilling than a vlog. and its telling that the shows people are saying 'noone cares about' are all stevens. hes just as much a part of watcher as ryan and shane and deserves the same artistic freedom. people need to get that through their heads

That's also part of the problem. Not only is Ghost Files artistically fulfilling to them but it's also the thing they made that was getting the views. We wailed about WWW for years since we lost it but the refrain has always been "we know you love it but the views don't match and we have no sponsors for it" and that's the crux of it. We will be getting the low budget stuff because they'll have the budget for more employees (and hopefully they'll learn to delegate more) which frees them up to do the low stakes content.

Don't even get me started about the racists coming out of the woodwork to paint their precious granola eating communist by brand white man Shane as a pure innocent victim of evil capitalist Steven who makes shows that don't contain puppets and songs. I'll just get meaner. It pisses me of like nothing else.

[hollowtones]

ayy monhun fan! what are you thinkin of what we've seen of wilds so far?

The initial trailer they dropped months ago was pretty cool. "World" is my least favourite game that I've played (even thought I liked it a lot!!), and 90% of why I felt that way was "this is the first time they're making a game of this scale / scope / direction", so it's exciting to see them make a successor to it now that they're not also learning how to make a game like it from the bottom-up & not also building the tech side of it from scratch.

Big desert environments have me excited!!!! I love the way these games do deserts. I'm always dreaming of Val Habar. I love the colour palette they're using for this area. Big fan of Yoshi being a new mechanic. In general I'm noticing a lot of things in "Wilds" that feel like a really cool mix of ideas from "World" and "Rise" in a way that feels a little more grounded. It's cool that they're bringing back a buddy you can ride around on & control. I wonder if they'll let Yoshi fight with you. I don't remember if they showed that off already. Getting to hotswap between 2 weapons without having to run back to base camp feels like a big deal that I haven't really wrapped my head around yet.

The focus mode thing seems fine. More granular control over aiming sometimes seems neat, & the footage we've seen makes it feel like positioning & animation commitment are still a part of it, which I like. Expanding part-breaking into "opening wounds that take more damage & enable special attacks" seems cool! (There was a similar-ish tenderizing mechanic with the Clutch Claw in "Iceborne", and I fuckin hated using it. Loved the idea of it at first. Having to do this whole separate action that interrupted the flow of the fight in a weird way to enable more damage felt awful after a while!! And they designed all the fights around the fact that you have it & use it! So I'm glad they're seemingly taking what I liked about it & chucking out the rest, haha.) I remember there was some hubbub about focus existing at all when news was first dropping. Some people were mad about it? I feel like this happens every time they announce a new Monster Hunter. They reveal a new feature, and a couple guys crawl out of the woodwork to go "THEY HAVE MADE THE VIDEO GAME PITIFUL AND EASIER - THIS IS THE DEATH OF THE FRANCHISE!" The franchise has died every game since the first one, by my count. (They end up buying the game anyway, of course.) I hope they put out a demo soon, though. I wanna get my hands on it & see how it works in the middle of a fight to see how I actually feel about it.

Weapon & armour design so far has been great. Happy about that. The bits of NPC designs we've seen have been cool. I don't really like the smith's look very much. Which makes me sad because I'm pretty sure she's supposed to be Little Miss Forge. LOL

When they first showed the game off I remember thinking "yeah, that's cool, I'm looking forward to this, but it's coming out Next Year & we're not even halfway done with 2024." Well now we're almost two thirds of the way through the year. And they keep dropping gameplay trailers. And they look hype as fuck!! And now I'm feeling more impatient!!! I wanna try this shit out soon!!! I wonder if they'll drop a public demo after Gamescom or something. I wonder if my computer could even run it...

I liked the way Hunting Horn played in "Rise" but it's cool to see the more traditional recitals back. (But faster!! And with new combo paths!!) I think I've spent a cumulative hour or two watching that horn trailer over and over again for little details. The funny bubble reminds me of bead of resonance but it seems like it might also be some kind of AoE team buff? It could also just be extra damage like bead was. But I loved bead. So I'll take it. Being a Hunting Horn fan is accepting that you'll be playing an entirely different weapon in every subsequent game, so I suppose I fuss less about whether or not it plays like any one specific game. But mannnnnn it looks cool as hell this time around.

[niyana-the-ambiguous-mobian]

I know it's not Wednesday for this, but I have to share it before I lose it.

Unbreakable bond headcanon time:

Sonic has a little bit of a skill for woodworking, something he usually doesn't brag about, but is a cool skill to have.

Yeah, he was around 12-13 at the time, but he has the rad skills for days.

Well, he decides to make something for Tails, who was about 4 or 5 at the time, as a first birthday present to the kid.

The one thing he notices is that Tails is small, small enough to where he usually has to help him see over the counter in the kitchen or in the bathroom to reach the sink. He decides to make the kid something that will help him to reach high levels he can't reach, a footstool.

So, over the past couple of weeks, he starts to work on it, letting Tails help him with the safer stuff while he handles the more difficult parts.

"Sonic, is it ready yet?"

"Not even close to ready."

He saws and drills the attachments as Tails watches from the porch, drawing in a coloring book that he had got for him.

"How about now?" Tails called out from the window of the living room.

"Not yet!"

He files off the rough edges and places on the finishing touches. Taking a can of paint, he coats it with the with the brightest color of yellow he could find, that way the kit will be able to find it easily if he needed it when he wasn't around.

"Now?" He could hear Tails behind him, the sound of the makeshift stick sword whipping through the air as he swung it around.

"Hmm, we're getting there."

Sonic hammers in rubber stubs at the bottom, so it wouldn't slide around the wooden floors, which tended to be slippery.

"Well, now?" This kid really needed to learn the word "patience" on a daily basis.

"Let's see...."

Today was the day. He brought Tails outside, covering his eyes and bringing him over to where he had the stool.

"Ta-da! Happy birthday, keed."

The kit stayed silent as he gazed upon the footstool, his tails lowering to the ground as if he was... disappointed. Sonic felt a twinge of worry rise up on seeing his unreadable face.

He was looking forward to this for days, what's the sudden silence?

He was about to ask what was wrong before Tails beat him to it.

"It's missing a face."

"Huh?"

"It's face. It doesn't have one."

"Oh, Footstools don't usually have faces on them, bud."

"They don't?"

"No."

"Well.....can mine have one?"

After asking him in that manner without the usage of the dreadful puppy dog eyes, he couldn't say no to not at least trying to grant that wish.

He quickly rushed inside and grabbed his pocket knife, carefully carving two eyes against the surface, adding a smiling mouth to add to the detail.

He held the stool up to him, showing him the newly made face. "There you go, how does that look?"

Tails face instantly lit up as he lets out an excited gasp. "It looks so cool!"

He took it from Sonic and quickly climbed up onto it, holding his arms out as it wobbles under him.

"Look, I'm almost as tall as you now!"

Sonic compared Tails' height to his with his hand. "Oh man, you're right! You can definitely reach the ceiling with this, little guy."

Tails then flew around him, giggling excitedly. "You're the bestest, the greatest, awesomest brother ever!" He launched himself at Sonic’s torso, knocking them both down into the grass.

A painful wheeze escaped from Sonic, but he fought through it. "The bestest you say?"

"Mmm-hmm! These bestest of the best!" He exclaimed, nuzzling his cheek against his.

"I'm glad you like it."

"I love it! I'll take good care of it, forever and ever!"

"Oh, yeah? Guess I found the right kid to build it for, huh?"

===

(Basically, it looks like this, but with a painted yellow with a crudely craved smiley face on it)

[bunchashapes]

any music recs?

i could have made this very short or entirely too long. i opted for the latter:

HAVE YOU LOOKED FOR SOME NEW MUSIC TO LISTEN TO? LOOK NO FURTHER, FOR HERE IS

I know. There's a lot of music out there. Well have no fear, because I've selected, organized AND categorized a fine number of music selections, just for you! I tried to keep it to just stuff you probably haven't heard of before, but I make no promises. Hopefully you'll find at least one new thing you can take with you into 2023.

MAKE YOUR SELECTION:

1 - MIKE, I'M LOOKING FOR SOMETHING TO GROOVE TO. SOMETHING I CAN GET DOWN AND VIBE WITH OR PERHAPS LISTEN TO WHILE I WORK:

Sounds good! Let's start with a few of those:

Vulfpeck - Okay you may already know about Vulfpeck. Sorry. If you HAVEN'T, they're a wonderful group of dudes from Michigan that are all insanely talented. They have a wide-range of styles they cover and pretty much every member has gone on to do other solo stuff, which may also suit your interests. They also have a spin-off band called The Fearless Flyers that I'll cover a little further down.

Jacob Mann (As well as his Big Band) - Jacob's solo stuff has a nice laid-back feel to it, while his big band stuff is slightly more bombastic, but all of it is fun and groovy. Great example of a musician effectively switching between different toolsets, whether its a whole group of talented musicians at his disposal or just a bunch of nice Roland presets.

EMEFE - They haven't been very active lately but EMEFE is an incredible ensemble with plenty of amazing music for you to listen to. Their live album from 2017 makes me wish i could go back in time and watch it live.

Louis Cole - Louis Cole's also pretty popular, but maybe you haven't heard of him! Originally hailing from Knower, he's collaborated with a ton of musicians (including Vulfpeck AND Jacob Mann Big Band, mentioned above) as well as produced an impressive array of solo music. I can't understate how much I love this guy.

Thundercat - Know who else he's collaborated with? Thundercat. Have you listened to Thundercat? You should really do yourself a favor and listen to Thundercat.

Sammy Rae and The Friends - Only learned about Sammy Rae very recently but The Feeling (linked) was an earworm that lodged itself in my brain for months. Infectiously positive vibes, a great ensemble and really brilliant singing.

Silk Sonic - Okay they played at the Grammys so it definitely doesn't count as a deep cut but listen to Silk Sonic anyway okay? Okay.

2- MIKE I NEED SOMETHING THAT WHIPS ASS. SOMETHING TO COMPLETELY KNOCK MY SOCKS OFF.

Can do. Your metric of kickass may vary but at least one of these should work for you:

King Gizzard and The Wizard Lizard - King Gizz has put out such an unbelievable volume of music that it's hard to just recommend ONE thing from them. I've linked Nonagon Infinity, a great little album with the fun gimmick of seamlessly looping front to back. They really haven't put out a single bad album, so just go wild.

Royal Blood - Royal blood's bassist plays through an octave pedal, giving their stuff this fuckin' beefy sound that's well-rounded enough you'd never guess the band is just a bassist and a dummer. Their style has gotten poppier lately but it's still all worth listening to.

Tricot - Tricot's been around for around 10 years now and their stuff has only gotten better over time. I feel like Math Rock is kind of an obtuse genre for most people but their recent stuff is absolutely worth checking out even if that's not your usual sort of thing. Makkuro (真っ黒) is my favorite album of theirs by far.

Thank You Scientist - Stranger Heads Prevail is probably one of my favorite prog albums ever and you'll probably like it too. Insanely good ensemble (the amazing triple threat of sax/trumpet/violin is such an integral part of their sound) and really fun vocals.

Nova Collective - Another incredible prog group. As far as I know they've only put out one album but it whips ass.

Ask My Bull - These guys popped out of the woodwork a few years ago and I've been obsessed with them ever since, I can't wait to see what they do next. If you're a horn-loving freak like me you absolutely need to listen to them.

Fearless Flyers - The previously aforementioned Vulfpeck spin-off band, guest starring Mark Lettieri of Snarky Puppy and the incredible Nate Smith on drums. Their album Tailwinds is easily one of my favorite albums ever, the addition of a sax trio takes their stuff from incredible to legendary.

Daikaiju - Kaiju-themed surf rock. That's really all that needs saying.

3 - MIKE I NEED SOMETHING THAT'LL MAKE ME SAY "DAMN THAT'S COOL"

Well you're in luck! A wide range of things fit the bill:

Snarky Puppy - A powerhouse jazz/funk/rock ensemble full of insanely talented musicians. Just give this song a listen, you won't regret it.

The Dear Hunter - Dear Hunter (not Deerhunter. Different band) has remained my favorite band since high school. The band has a number of different projects, A collection of EPs for each color of the rainbow, a 5-part rock opera/narrative concept album (with a 6th part that may be a movie??) and other more straightforward albums that still cover a broad range of genres and styles. I think they're great and hopefully you will too.

Hiromi Uehara - Hiromi's probably my favorite pianist ever. Just watch that video. She's ridiculous. She also plays in an incredible trio and guest stars on my favorite Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra song! Preposterously talented and insanely fun to watch. I love her.

The Bad Plus - Speaking of great trios, you can't go wrong with The Bad Plus! Really vibrant arrangements and generally incredible musicianship throughout their work.

Esperanza Spalding - Obscenely talented bassist AND singer AND songwriter. As someone who sings and plays bass (not at the same time, of course) watching her do effortlessly do both at the same time is mesmerizing. I love her.

Chon - Chon's also pretty big now but I want you to imagine you're me at a Dear Hunter (see above) concert back in 2015 and one of the opening bands walks onstage and you're like "well okay what's these guys' deal" and then they start playing these fucking insane picking solos in perfect unison. I literally couldn't believe what I was seeing. I wish everyone could experience Chon through those eyes.

4 - MIKE THOSE ARE COOL AND ALL BUT WHAT I'M REALLY LOOKING FOR IS SOME MUSIC TO GET BUNDLED UP AND GO TO SLEEP TO

You need ambient? I got your ambient right here.

Hiroshi Yoshimura - I was first exposed to the wide, wide world of Japanese ambient music back in college and in all my years since then, few things have been able to beat Yoshimura's atmospheric soundscapes. If you need music to shut your brain off (and who doesn't, from time to time), look no further.

Chihei Hatakeyama - Another Japanese ambient powerhouse, Hatakeyama's got a huge discography of music and all of it will knock your lights out (very pleasantly).

Green-House - Very much inspired by Japanese ambient, Green-house is described as "music for plants". I only wish there was more of it.

Joep Beving - Not exactly an ambient artist but a masterful practitioner of minimal, atmospheric piano. His style is understated but filled with emotion, a great mix of more classical elements with a modern cinematic flair. Great to work to!

5- MIKE EVERYONE'S TALKING ABOUT JAPANESE CITY POP, JAZZ FUSION AND EARLY ELECTRONIC MUSIC BUT I DON'T KNOW WHERE TO START. GET ME ON THE GROUND FLOOR HERE

You got it boss:

Yellow Magic Orchestra - You've probably heard of these guys by now. I've only known about them for 6-ish years after they had a moderate burst of fame here but I think it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say these guys were one of the principle pieces of genetic memory that coalesced into the DNA of modern electronic music. All three of the principle members, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi (rest in peace) have all had really prolific solo careers in a ton of styles of music that are all worth your time.

T Square - An absolute titan of Japanese jazz fusion, their album Adventures is a veritable Rosetta Stone of video game music, directly inspiring a good number of video game songs including the dang mario brothers theme! Their stuff is an absolute joy to listen to.

Tatsuro Yamashita - Yamashita is often called the king of city pop and is (according to wikipedia) credited for pioneering Japanese "soft rock". Having grown up on the pacific coast, there's some ineffable truth in his schmaltzy surf music that touches me deep in my soul. You may not have the same experiences as I do, but I hope listening to him will allow you to tap into that divine spark and enjoy it for yourself.

Masayoshi Takanaka - Perhaps not quite as famous as Yamashita, Takanaka is a brilliant guitarist and musician known for that same schmaltzy pacific rock (just look at that damn guitar. I love him) as well as a number of other styles of rock and jazz fusion. He's got a huge discography and it's all incredible.

Casiopea - I would be remiss if I didn't mention Casiopea. I'm not an expert in Japanese music obviously, but I think it'd be fair to say they and T-Square are the two titans holding the glory of late 70's-early 80's jazz fusion like Atlas shouldering the world. Do yourself a favor and listen to Mint Jams.

Himiko Kikuchi - Truthfully I don't know much of Kikuchi's discography other than Flying Beagle (linked) but she absolutely killed it. Do yourself a favor and listen to that too.

6 - WELL MIKE THAT'S ALL WELL AND GOOD BUT WHAT IF I WANT SOMETHING WEIRD THAT DOESN'T FIT IN ANY OF THOSE CATEGORIES

I'm always happy to recommend unconventional stuff. Here's a few albums that I love to close us out:

Tom Waits - Alice - First of all, you should listen to Tom Waits. I know you know him as the Funny Voice Guy but he's had such an incredible musical career that starts great and only gets more and more amazing over time. Anyway, in the 90's, Tom and his wife (and writing partner since the 80's) Kathleen Brennan were scoring weird experimental musicals in Germany, namely The Black Rider (also worth listening to) and Alice. The musical is a strange extrapolation of Alice in Wonderland, namely inspired by Charles Dodgson's (Lewis Carroll) relationship with Alice Liddell, generally accepted as the real-life inspiration for Alice. Though the actual specifics of their relationship are uncertain, the age discrepancy and Charles' general fixation with Alice leads many to assume....the worst about their relationship, an interpretation the musical runs with. The actual musical is hard to find evidence of (there's some documentary footage from the 90's and I've found the script) but Tom rearranged his music for the show and released it in 2002, which in my eyes is the definitive version of the music. The album is unbelievably melancholic, heart-wrenching, at times deeply uncomfortable, and absolutely filled with beauty. Lost in the Harbor is maybe one of my favorite songs of all time. If ANY of this sounds even slightly interesting to you, I implore you to check it out. It also has Colin Stetson on saxophone and clarinet, which segues quite nicely to the next album.....

Colin Stetson - New History Warfare Vol. 2 - You may have actually heard Colin's music before, he's scored films like Hereditary, Color Out Of Space and the newest Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie. New History Warfare is one of his experimental solo projects, most characterized by Stetson recording basically everything in a huge room filled with microphones, creating this incredible impression of scale. It's filled with some of the craziest shit I've ever heard someone do on a saxophone; long, galloping phrases with no pauses for air thanks to circular breathing, mixing in the sound of the valves opening and closing, and an incredible unnatural-sounding delay all achieved with live recording. The Righteous Wrath of An Honorable Man is one of the coolest things I've ever heard in my life (you've probably already heard it before) but the whole album is absolutely captivating.

Caroline Shaw - Partita for 8 Voices - Caroline Shaw is an amazing musician, singer and composer. All of her stuff is really beautiful and worth listening to, but few things stand out as much as this composition, written for and performed by a cappella group Roomful of Teeth (which is probably the sickest possible name for a choral group). I feel like a cappella music has a woefully bland perception among most people (thanks in no small part to Pitch Perfect); all lavish arrangements of pop music with absolutely no soul. If this is what you think all a cappella music is, I urge you to listen to this album. It's a masterful blend of speech, song and energy, filled with a vibrancy and passion I have a difficult time putting into words. You really just have to listen to it.

[buffyfan145]

Watched the first 2 episodes of "The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart" on Amazon and they did such a great job adapting this!!! :D I read it but it's another thing to see it on screen and with such a great cast. So many twists and how all these secrets get revealed. It is hard to watch at times but this is Alice's story and her learning the true history of her family and overcoming everything she goes through and learning the language of flowers and their meanings. The soundtrack is really good too. I'll watch 3 later tonight but then it's weekly for the other 4 episodes.

Then I have to add being a fan of LOTR/"Rings of Power" seeing Charlie Vickers in this role is such a prep for how we're going to see him fully as Sauron in season 2 and beyond. His character Clem in this is so similar and can go from terrifying to charming and loving and back in an instant. You get why Agnes fell in love with him, as did others, and we even have a child actor playing a younger version of him in flashbacks on the flower farm with his mom. He's also extremely gifted in woodworking just like Sauron with blacksmithing and jewelry, and uses that to charm over his wife, daughter, mother, and all the people in his life. Plus, it's mentioned he wasn't like that as a child by his sister Candy similar to how Mairon was "the admirable" and changed later and if I'm remembering right Melian (the fellow Maiar that a lot consider to be like his sister and also was associated with Yavanna like he was) said that she could still forgive him because of who he was before.

Then this little girl playing younger Alice looks and feels so much like Celebrían and how we've written her in our fics. She associates fire with her dad and water with her mom, also thinking of the selkie myth to describe her parents and that her mom needed to go back to her people in the water but her dad wouldn't let her go. Then her being named for "Alice in Wonderland" and then thinking of how Celebrían went to Valinor after her tragedy where Yavanna, Melian, and the rest were all there. There's so much already I can see us Haladriel shippers using for edits, gifs, fics, and fanvids. It's surreal sometimes for me how I pictured her and them and then now seeing this and there's likely to be more.

[thebibliomancer]

Essential Avengers: West Coast Avengers #46: FRANCHISE

July, 1989

Great Lakes Avengers Assemble?!

I have been waiting for this.

I've read this issue before, in a collected edition of Dan Slott's Great Lakes Avengers miniseries. But now I have all the context leading up to this and I'll get to see what else this wacky group did in their early appearances.

And, hell. Out of everything in the Byrne run so far, this is his first shake up that's not deeply annoying!

Byrne is the one who pulls the trigger on the idea of a third Avengers team teased when Vision was trying to expand the Avengers. But not quite as he enVisioned it.

Hah.

Last times on West Coast Avengers: Between issues, Tigra, Hank Pym, and the Wasp joined the West Coast Avengers. Then Vision got kidnapped by every government in the world and disassembled into a pile of parts. Hank Pym puts everyone's favorite synthezoid back together but he's all white now and he doesn't have emotions and only has Avengers case files for memories.

The American government also forced the West Coast Avengers to take on US Agent or else reprisals. Hawkeye quit in a huff after US Agent tosses him after Hawkeye tried to punch him.

We learned in the big Avengers meeting over in Avengers that Hawkeye has a new group so let's get into it.

Geez, Mr Immortal, you're a bit manic there.

A bank robbery is happening at the Milwaukee Farmers and Merchants Trust. And we know this is Milwaukee because one of the robbers very considerately wears a Milwaukee jacket.

A dude we'll later learn is called Mr Immortal drops down from the ceiling, quips a bit, dodges some gunfire, hits a couple dudes, and then... doesn't dodge some other gunfire.

That looks like it hurts.

The robbers gather around the dead, deceased hero to make sure he's really dead.

And he's gotta be, right? Half of his chest is bulleted to hell.

And then things go to hell. For the robbers.

Flatman swipes the hostages with his stretchy definitely not a spoof of Mr Fantastic body. Big Bertha OH YEAHs through the wall. Dinah Soar flies through a Doorman shaped portal in another wall.

The Great Lakes Avengers are usually treated comically. They're a ridiculous team, operating in a ridiculous area, with ridiculous powers and the big joke about them in the Dan Slott series was how they were constantly overshadowed by the official Avengers and how none of the other heroes wanted to interact with them.

Except Squirrel Girl, who they hired by sorta lying that they were the real Avengers.

Ridiculous group with ridiculous powers they may be but in this action sequence, they're coordinated. They had a good plan to distract the robbers so the hostages could be pulled out of harms way. And then their ridiculous powers took down the gunmen no problem.

Yeah, these guys aren't going to be fighting Doctor Doom without hefty authorial fiat (but isn't that the way all comics work anyway?) but they're not bumbling amateurs.

And I appreciate that.

Last robber standing backs away in shock horror... right into the arms of Mr Immortal.

Who is not, in fact, dead. Or at least, he didn't stay dead.

Immortal, y'know?

Robber: "They're poppin' outta th' woodwork! Who are these geeks? Milwaukee don't have no super heroes!" Mr Immortal: "Guess again! Y'all are gonna be seein' a lot of us from now on! Y'all are gonna be seein' us in your nightmares!" Robber: "Wha...? No!! You're dead!!!" Mr Immortal: "Wrong-o, creep! I'm just as right as rain! But you aren't gonna be! By the time I get done with you... You'll prob'ly never be anything like right. Not never again!!"

Mr Immortal apparently goes a bit berserk after resurrecting.

He punches the robber down and then starts stomping him.

Flatman has to pull him off the guy. And Mr Immortal won't settle down until Dinah Soar talks to him in an empty text bubble.

Dinah Soar is the only one who CAN get him to calm down.

Flatman guesses its some kind of hypersonic. In the later Dan Slott series, its revealed that its actually True Love what does it. Yes, for serious. It was sweet, actually.

Last member of the team comes into the bank and tells the rest that there's a bunch of police and reporters who want to know what the devil is going on.

Mr Immortal goes out to address the crowd and press. When reporter Peggy Allen asks him who this group of do-gooders is, he dubs the team...

THE GREAT LAKES AVENGERS!

Hawkeye hears the news report in the random motel he's staying in after rage-quitting the Avengers.

His first instinct is to call the team and let them know about randos infringing the brand but then decides 'fuck 'em' because he's still mad about the government meddling in the team.

There's a knok knok knoking on Clint's door and making his bad mood worse, its Mockingbird.

He is very sarcastic about his day being ruined but she says she's here to save their marriage.

News to him. He thought they were dead set on getting a divorce.

But time off-panel and with a different writer has cooled Mockingbird's head. And since they're both going through some trying times now, maybe they should rethink things.

Hawkeye: "You mean now that I've been kicked off the team I founded I'm all of a sudden a pitiful soul so you've gone all maternal and decided to come back to the roost and take care of me! Well, thanks but no thanks, Bobbi!" Mockingbird: "You're not being fair, Clint. Although I guess that's nothing new, is it?" Hawkeye: "And just what is that supposed to mean?" Mockingbird: "It means you have all the sensitivity of a brick. I got mixed up with the Phantom Rider because he drugged me, used me, and when you found out, did you react like a husband whose wife has been assaulted? NO!! You went off on some stupid macho kick! And I was hurt enough to pay you back with your own coin. When I needed you -- maybe more than I ever have before -- you were too busy stroking your wounded male ego to notice. Something that could have bound us even closer together drove us apart. Well... that damage is done. Now I'm here to see if it can be undone. Because, heaven help me, in spite of everything, I still love you!"

I can't believe Byrne of all people is cutting through the bullshit and having Mockingbird say 'hey all that stuff we were yelling about wasn't the crux of the issue and you were being a major asshole, Clint.'

He's re-litigating a lot of Englehart's stuff. Redoing the Tigra plot. Revising Englehart's origin for Vision. Shoving people that had quit back onto the team.

I didn't expect him to use this power for good.

Because the Hawkeye/Mockingbird falling out was bad. Maybe in character for the two stubborn jerks. But it needed another look and here we are, taking another look.

Mockingbird doesn't even entertain the notion that its really a philosophical disagreement about cowboy manslaughter.

I'll have to see where it goes. Because it could go poorly in its own unique way.

Back over at the West Coast Avengers Compound, US Agent has made a good impression on one person and only one person.

The new cook, Mrs. Heyges, who is pleased to see someone that actually enjoys a big breakfast.

Most of the West Coast Avengers only have a slice of toast and some orange juice.

US Agent: "A man has to keep his strength up, Mrs. Heyges. And, of course, breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Besides... You're almost as good a cook as my mother!" Mrs. Heyges: "Well, gracias, sir! I know that must be quite a compliment."

Based on her comments that she doesn't get to really cook for the others, US Agent muses that he should introduce a proper meal schedule.

Then, Tigra happens.

Looking for a proper meal of her own.

A.k.a. chasing a mouse.

She's seemingly gone full feral, although she doesn't have that same alien cat look she did last time.

Either Byrne thought better of it or it comes and goes for some damn reason.

She chases a mouse in, hisses and growls when US Agent grabs her, and sullenly creeps away when he slaps her for trying to bite him.

The cat instincts have taken over.

(I don't love that we're doing this again but it is better than her trying to hump everyone? I mean. Slightly better. The main reason I'm annoyed is that we're just doing this plot again. In a vacuum it wouldn't be so bad.)

(Also also, last time she jumped through a window to chase a bird. I can only assume she's destroyed the local bird population. Folks, Tigras are inside Avengers. Keep them inside for their own health and for the good of the ecosystem.)

Mrs. Heyges says that Tigra has been hunting the mice that get into the pantry. And she's new here and didn't really want to tell an Avenger what to do so she just sorta figured. Hunting mice was part of Tigra's job??

US Agent declares this very gross and decides something has to be done!

I mean. Something does need to be done. It speaks ill of everyone that nobody has noticed Tigra's issues until now. And the only dude that sorta knew she was going through something was Hawkeye and he stormed off in a huff.

I guess Wanda is going through some stuff. And Wonder Man is being kind of a creep about Wanda's stuff. And Vision is very neutral on everything these days. But fucks sake, Wasp or Hank Pym. You two are the adults here!

Over in the A-plot, Mockingbird has convinced Hawkeye to go to Milwaukee to check out the group calling themselves Avengers. Because it beats him sitting around feeling sorry for himself for rage-quitting the West Coast Avengers.

Although, he's rewritten history so that he was unjustly fired.

But since he had the impulse to go check out the Great Lakes Avengers, why not ride that impulse into something productive?

So over in Milwaukee, the Great Lakes Avengers check out mysterious lights over the Germania Building.

Mr Immortal sends Dinah Soar to check out the roof of the building and has Doorman make a portal (with his BODY) so Flatman can get inside the building and look for a way to let everyone else in.

Flatman thinks to himself how weird it is that when he goes through Doorman, he feels like he's briefly in another place entirely. Like, not even on Earth anymore.

Apparently, a subtle nod to Doorman's powers working through the Darkforce Dimension.

Up on the roof, Dinah Soar gets ambushed and captured by some manner of bola arrow.

At the mercy of this mystery assailant, Dinah Soar takes out a little whistle and sadly tweets on it.

Mr Immortal and Big Bertha hear the sad tooting and realize Dinah Soar is in trouble!

So Big Bertha gets Mr Immortal to hang onto her back and high jumps to the roof to get him there in a hurry.

To the mystery assailant's bafflement.

Mr Immortal: "You get clear now while I take care of this clown." Mystery Assailant who is definitely not Hawkeye: "'Clown?' Takes spunk to wear a suit like that and call somebody else a clown, pal!"

Glass houses, mystery assailant.

Big Bertha falls back to ground level, laughing all the way.

I am not sure why she does this. In other stuff, she's usually one of the more serious members of the Great Lakes Avengers.

Anyway, some more Great Lakes Avengers thoughts. Presumably Big Bertha could have pulled herself up onto the roof. She's got super strength. But mystery assailant has already captured Dinah Soar so Mr Immortal is going in alone to feel the guy out.

He doesn't die when he's killed. He's the best for gauging threat level.

He's also a clown, whether or not you think his costume is sillier than anyone else's. Lets say Hawkeye, for the sake of an example.

He acrobats around mystery assailant and proclaims "Okay, wiseguy... I don't know what your game is... but you're way out of your league... now that the Avengers are here!"

Leading mystery assailant to reveal himself to be... AN IMPOSTER DRESSED LIKE HAWKEYE??

Hawkeye: "'Dressed as Hawkeye...??' I am Hawkeye, an' I'm here to find out what you so-called 'Avengers' think you're up to! In case you don't know it, buster, the Avengers' name isn't up for grabs by any ol' Tom, Dick, an' Harriet!"

So Mr Immortal kicks him in the face for impersonating an Avenger. That's rude, y'know. Probably not a felony BUT MAYBE IT SHOULD BE.

Mr Immortal: "You think you can defeat the Avengers by pretending to be Hawkeye? The real Hawkeye would have blocked my attack easily!"

Mockingbird shows up and repays the favor by kicking Mr Immortal in the face for kicking Hawkeye in the face.

She explains that Hawkeye sucks ass at close quarters combat. I don't think that's entirely true but I like to think Mockingbird isn't above being a little petty.

Mr Immortal is alarmed that there's a woman impersonating Mockingbird now!

It turns out that Mr Immortal is almost current with superhero gossip.

He knows that Mockingbird and Hawkeye have split up, he knows that Mockingbird quit the Avengers. He doesn't know that Hawkeye recently also quit the Avengers.

So you can see where the confusion comes from.

You might not see why Mr Immortal decides his next move is to backflip off the roof.

Maybe he wanted to see how the "imposters" would react to it.

Well, not personally. He'd have to rely on someone else telling him how they reacted to it. He's temporarily dead from hitting the ground really hard.

But Flatman saw the whole thing and realized that Mockingbird sounds sincerely distraught that a dude just died.

Hawkeye: "Flatman?? I don't believe it! You got a partner called 'Ribbon?'"

Its funny that DC comics is apparently fictional within Marvel because the Avengers have also met the Justice League.

Silly comics.

Mockingbird berates Hawkeye's joke for being inappropriate. A man just died!

Flatman awkwardly explains that Mr Immortal doesn't really die.

So at Mockingbird's request, they all convene at Great Lakes Avengers' HQ... er... Big Bertha's place.

It's a fancy place.

Hawkeye asks how she can afford such nice digs but it turns out that when Big Bertha isn't superheroing, she's supermodel Ashely Crawford, darling of many Vogue covers. One of the highest paid models in the biz.

So Hawkeye asks what a successful model is doing "playing super hero."

And again, at this point the West Coast Avengers are silly. They're comical. They're not a joke.

Big Bertha: "I don't think of it as... playing, Hawkeye. None of us do. We're all just as serious about this as you are."

Yeah, Hawkeye!

Mockingbird asks how the group got together... and why "Great Lakes Avengers"?

We don't get the whole story now but it's implied that Mr Immortal go them together and stated that the name was his idea. He wanted to maintain the coastal theme but there's no north coast so...

But the real question that Mockingbird is getting at is who do the Great Lakes Avengers think they are, using the Avengers brand without permission? The Avengers are pretty fussy about who gets called Avenger! Says the lady who is not currently an Avenger!

I don't think she actually cares. But she assumes Hawkeye cares and she's here to get his mind on anything but fuming about US Agent or her.

Annnnnd Hawkeye has changed his mind!

Hawkeye: "I'm startin' to think maybe this Midwest team isn't such a bad idea. Your powers are kinda funky, and your code names stink... But with the proper management... my management... This could be a heckuva team!"

Ah, dammit, Hawkeye! You ragequit one team so you're going to force your way onto this one, huh?

I don't know how it will be handled immediately in this book but after the fact, in the later Dan Slott series, the Great Lakes Avengers view the whole thing pretty cheerfully.

The big league came down to coach their team. It gives them credibility and helps them be better at superheroing, which they're all pretty serious about.

I'll have to see how it unfolds as it goes though.

Current team lead Mr Immortal is still regrowing his brains and hasn't expressed an opinion on Hawkeye's pending takeover.

It is so funny though! Hawkeye gets forced out of the West Coast Avengers slash quits so his rebound is to just take over someone else's team!

He does the same thing when he accidentally screws himself out of a spot on Busiek's Avengers! Tracks down the Thunderbolts and goes 'my team now.'

It may be his real superpower.

Anyway, the other B-plot.

Wanda seems to be doing better after the whole husband robot thing and dropping a cliff on Wonder Man. Maybe. Hard to say. She's had a good swim, at least.

And then Roberto Carlos of the Avengers Compound Support Staff brings Wanda a letter from the Absolon College of Robotics.

Remember Absolon College had that big list of mutants to do Something With and Wanda is the one they settled on?

The letter claims that their research into artificial intelligence may be able to restore Vision back to his good ol' self.

Is... is it public knowledge that Vision was taken apart by the government and had his brain FUBAR'd??

Because if not, that's a red flag!

The other red flag is that the letter is from Jeremiah Random, which sounds like a made-up name!

This is going to end badly! And I'm not just saying that because the next time box says THIS ANCIENT EVIL!

Follow @essential-avengers because woo! Great Lakes Avengers! Love those guys! Like, comment, reblog maybe?

[shmorp-mcdurgen]

Would you give me some headcanons about Seth? And some about his “ kids? “ because l platonically love this man 🥰

Well. I mean. any headcanons I make are basically canon cause it's my au but yeah I'll share some small things about the guy and his found family-

(I rambled a bit whoops uh, read more)

-Seth is. a walking trash can, if you dare him and give him enough money he'll eat nearly anything. as long as it won't kill him-

-I've established he plays acoustic guitar, though he also likes woodworking, even though he never has time to pursue that hobby

-Knows a lot about guns. like. a lot.

-ALSO knows so much about cryptids and monsters, he'll ramble about them for hours if given the chance

-Doesn't draw much but he's pretty good at it.

-Stims by shaking his arm by his side or bouncing his leg. also just paces around. if especially stressed he'll hit his head though-

-He. sometimes forgets to take care of himself. like he needs to be reminded to take a shower or eat sometimes.

-Fucking. loves his friends. (platonically of course.) They're the family he never had and he'll kill for them.

-Speaking of which he's very good at fighting and is strong enough to knock someone out with a punch so. yeah-

-Has. like. no clue he's not straight nor completely cis (aroace, and He/They) cause he just doesn't know the terms. he's supportive definitely but man he has no idea. took him being told by either Gabriel or the rest of the BPS for him to realize that-

As for his "kids":

-Cesar's actually a decent cook. could be because he worked at a diner but he also learned some things from his mother.

-He's the closest to Seth. He never had a father figure in his life so Seth really took that role for him.

-Actually a bit of a goofball. loves joking around, though it also means he's a bit reckless at times. Sometimes not recognizing danger.

-Freezes when scared. he's had to have been saved by friends multiple times because of this.

-Struggles with frequent nightmares.

-Knows how to play piano! also is a pretty good singer too-

-Sarah has an interest in the supernatural and paranormal. which is why she joined Seth in the BPS to begin with.

-A great artist! She took on the hobby from Mark.

-A bit demanding at times, and once she has her sights on something, she'll want to get it done no matter what-

-Sometimes bosses Seth around. Mainly to get him to clean the apartment or even take care of himself. She scares him occasionally-

-Also pretty damn strong. won't hesitate to punch someone.

[smithysmith77]

Things I wish someone had told me about having a baby

*solely based on my own experience and not with the expectation that everyone's experience will be the same!*

Induction can take days

Induction can give you false contractions that really hurt

Epidural gave me uncontrollable shivering and pins and needles on my entire lower body but I'm glad I got it as it helped me stay calm and in a positive mood

If you get an epidural they will put in a bladder catheter and afterwards you can't feel your bladder and have to try really really hard to pee, because the urge to go isn't there. Very weird

Your butt region can hurt more than your vaginal region after giving birth/tearing

Bring soap/body wash. You will be covered in so many fluids after birth and I forgot to pack soap. Had to settle for a really good rinse.

Your milk won't be in right away and babies usually drink colostrum instead. HOWEVER sometimes colostrum isn't enough and if your baby is crying at the breast, turning bright red all over and hasn't peed, they are probably dehydrated and they need some formula! (Forever grateful to the nurse that told me this and fed him because I had no idea what was wrong)

Babies have the instinct to breastfeed but not necessarily the technique. My son was really bad at it for a while. We kept trying and it got better, but sometimes it doesn't and it is OK to do formula or pumping if it makes things easier for you!

People downplay the "baby blues" because they don't want to scare you but like. Wow. I wish I had done more to make things easier for myself beforehand, like clean the house, meal prep, etc. You don't believe it but you really won't have the time/ability for a while. Set up visits with your support people as soon as you can. I really needed them.

Everyone says, "It gets better! You got this! You're a great mom!" Which are true! BUT I feel like no one gave me actual concrete coping methods for when you're living minute by minute IN the anguish. So I'll share what helped me:

- the thoughts/mantras "I don't *have* to do this, I *get* to do this. This experience is a privilege. "

-And, "You can do hard things. Just do the next hard thing. "

Freaking podcasts. Ugh. Saved my sanity to hear sane, rational, interesting, funny adults talking in my ear when I was caught in the monotony and chaos of the newborn phase. You won't have two hands to read a book or even look at your phone a lot of the time. TV is fine for some but I found I liked something portable that kept my eyes free to watch my baby.

Walking with baby. There will be times when they will just cry, it's normal, safe and mundane. But it can be extremely triggering if you're not used to dealing with it. I used to get so panicked when I ran out of things to do to keep my son happy. That feeling of not knowing what to do was worse than the crying. After a couple months I learned to just start walking when we got to that point. Babies love it and it usually helped relive gas etc and put him to sleep eventually.

If you can, GET OUT OF THE HOUSE. So many times it calmed my son down just to have a change of scenery, and helped me from going stir crazy and/or breaking down.

It affects your relationship, if you're in one. I couldn't sleep in the same bed as my husband for two months and when we did interact it was often rushed or interrupted. Try as hard as you can to carve out a few moments of meaningful connection time. Go on dates, even just for an hour, if you have someone who can babysit.

You will need help. Some moms just want someone to hold the baby for a bit so they can make a meal, meditate, whatever. Some moms want to hold their babies while someone else does the dishes or makes them a meal. I know not everyone has close friends and family but people do tend to come out of the woodwork when you have a baby and I encourage you, unless you think the person is unsafe to be around, take their offers of help. You have to put on your own life vest first, you know? A mom that's at her wits end is better than no mom but a mom that's feeling healthy is even better. Let people help you, if you can.

Good luck ♡

[ask-agent-rapzutin-vodello]

Hmm.... hey, interns? Did you have any secret talents you never found out, other than your psychic abilities?

[Norma] That sentence ...doesn't make sense. How can we know if we have any secret talents if we never found out about them? It's just-

[Lizzie] Norma, stop being a pill about semantics and answer the question.

(Inters chuckle)

[Norma] Ugh ...secret talents ...do I have any? (Frazie leans over and whispers a suggestion in her ear) (Gives Frazie a playful push) (hushed voice) I am not telling them that.

[Frazie] Oh, c'mon, it's cute!

[Lizzie] Okay, now I'm curious.

[Norma] And you're gonna keep being curious.

[Lizzie] Compromise! How about we all start and you get the last word?

[Norma] (Pause) (Blushes as Frazie nudges her) Okay, fine. Hey, where's Raz, by the way? I just noticed he's not here.

[Frazie] He's helping Milla and Mom making dinner for tonight. By the way, you're invited too.

[Norma] Thanks.

[Lizzie] Are we done being wholesome? Let's get on with it! Oh, and Raz's hidden talent is hair styling and fashion, just gonna call that out.

[Adam] (Chuckles) I'll start. Turns out that playing around with my yo-yo's all the time made me realize that I'm actually ambidextrous.

[Sam] (Jokingly) I thought you were straight?

(Everyone chuckles)

[Adam] Har-har. No, seriously though, I didn't realize it was happening at first. I was writing something down, dropped something, switched over my pen to my other hand, grabbed the thing that had fallen on the ground and while I was checking if it wasn't broken or something; I just kept writing.

[Gisu] That's cool. When I was home for the summer, I helped out in a neighbours workshop, who is a professional woodworker. I got curious, he showed me some techniques and it seems I got a knack for woodworking. I'm thinking of making my own boards.

[Sam] I know how to do Mongolian throat singing. (Clears throat)

[Morris] Sam! Window accident? Remember?

[Sam] Oh yeah! I forgotten about that. Nevermind then.

[Morris] I know how to make mixtapes. I started making my own since last Summer, when we were in Brazil, after Espen showed me how.

[Adam] How are they, by the way?

[Morris] They're doing fine. They are thinking of coming over to America to learn business management, since they want to open a Music Label after they graduated.

[Lizzie] You guys know needle felting? That art thing where you stab at felt a million times until it becomes something? Me and Millie started doing that and I am apparently a natural at it.

[Norma] (Scoffs) Right...

[Lizzie] You don't believe me? Who do you think made that Cthulhu plushy that's menacingly looming in the corner of my room?

[Gisu] For real?

[Lizzie] For real! Okay, that leaves Frazie and Norma. Spill the beans, you two.

[Norma] (Groans)

[Frazie] (Giggling) You want me to tell them? (giggles as Norma just nods with an expression of defeat) Me and Norma have taken up a new hobby in secret a couple of months ago.

[Gisu] Hang on, is this about why you two disappear for hours sometimes?

[Adam] We just figured you two got somewhere private and ...well, got funky with each other.

[Norma] Don't ...ever use 'getting funky with each other' ever again, Adam. And it's not that!

[Gisu] Stop dancing around the issue and just tell us.

[Frazie] (Laughs) You guessed it!

[Gisu] What?

[Frazie] Dancing! Me and Norma have taken up Swing Dancing a couple of months ago and she's a natural pro at it.

[Morris] No!?

[Lizzie] For real!? Norma's got two left feet!

[Sam] Seeing is believing!

[Adam] Yeah, now you gotta show us!

[Norma] (Groans and tries to burry her face in her knees) Please stop...

[Frazie] Oh, don't be like that. You're amazing at it and we have so much fun during lessons. Our teacher says that Norma learned so quickly, she thought that Norma lied about being a total amateur.

[Norma] And she asked Frazie - pleaded, more accurately - to keep the extreme flexibility and contortionistic moves to a minimum, because she really freaked out some of the other people.

[Sam] Oh, now I gotta see this.

[Morris] I'm getting the music! (Hovers off to his room) I'm sure I got something in my collection.

[Gisu] Adam, Sam, help me clear the room. And get the camera, Raz will surely wanna see this. (Uses TK to clear the couch and table)

[Norma] Guys ...

[Frazie] (Gently takes hold of Norma's hand, looking pleadingly into her eyes) Norma, will you please dance with me? It would mean so much to me... I'll make it worth your while.

[Norma] (Blushing) Okay, fine. (Grins) But if we're gonna do this ...let's do it properly. You ...gotta wear the dress.

[Frazie] Yes! As long as you wear the suit. Let's get changed! (Grabs Norma and Drags her towards her room.)

[Norma] Be right back, guys! You better get the music ready.

[Lizzie] (Laughs) Oh, she's excited now. (Pause) Hmmm, swing dancing ...didn't Millie say she wanted to try that? (Shrugs) Oh well, you only live once. I'll text Mills about that later. (Grins) Right now, we've got a show to prepare for.

[the-beleza-muscadine]

💎I have eyes like diamonds💎

Hi there! Welcome to my blog!!! I'm your host, Beleza Muscadine, but you can call me Bel

I'm a fashion designer and makeup artist who lives with my husbands, Vanilla and Tippy, and our son Ramón 😊

💎Passions and interests:

• Art

• Makeup and fashion

• All things snake 🐍 I literally love snakes, but you have to respect the animal too, okay? My stand is a snake, his name is Gilded Cobra, he's very sparkly and blue with gold! But anyway, I just think snakes are super cool and interesting, plus they help get rid of unwanted pests, and they're super fun to study and watch and I like everything about them! I'll post about snakes and stuff, but I'll always tag it as "tw snake" or "snake tw" and all that, you know? Tell me if I forget to tag something!!!

• Space

• Woodworking and sculpting, especially when there's a man with a sculpted figure ahuhuhuhu 🤭

• Medical science, yes even the yucky stuff interests me. I don't even know why though, like, I shouldn't even want to see more, but I guess it's just morbid curiosity? I don't know but I can't just look away, and then I get curious but grossed out at the same time and it's just a whole big thing!

• Scary stories and Creepypastas! Especially video game Creepypastas! Oh, and horror games. Tippy and I have a habit of watching YouTubers play horror games before bed and our husband scares the heck out of us when he opens the door 😭

💎Stuff about me:

• I'm 6'2" (188.976cm) tall

• Birthday is March 25

• Favorite colors: aqua, periwinkle, gold, white, and pink! I love bright, fun, and pastel colors 🩵🩷

• Favorite Food: ramen with two over easy fried eggs, extra points if it's spicy!!!

• Some people say I talk too much and tend to ramble but honestly I think I talk just enough!!! I just have a lot to say and I'm not really bothering anybody I don't think, unless I actually do start bothering people when I talk too fast or too much or maybe too loud? Am I a loud person? I don't think so, I think I just have a lot to say, yeah, like I said before, that's all!

• I used to be pretty mean and kind of a "bully" or whatever, BUT I'm recovering and learning to be a better, nicer, more thoughtful person and stuff. I know I can slip up and say something unintentionally mean, but I will apologize and catch myself........ I think it started back when I was a kid, I felt kind of like an outcast, you know? I was bullied a lot too because people thought I was ugly and so they were mean to me, but then I started being mean back and it was a huge mess. That, unfortunately, started becoming my personality and I would get what I want by being mean and manipulative. Instead of actual confidence, I was arrogant and insecure. But now I'm legit more confident in my appearance and myself as a person, and I understand how others feel when I hurt them and whatever! So yeah

This is a blog for me to post about my thoughts and feelings and whatever!

💎More info below💎

Beleza Muscadine is an original character created by me: @sapphire-heart-tippy . This is a roleplay and "just for fun" blog. He is not a real person (although, he feels real to me in a certain way) and everything that's posted here is part of an alternate universe called The Sapphire Heartverse: Sugar Crash Void Bash, which is an alternate universe for JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.

Although Bel started off as just an original character for JJBA, he is not strictly attached to JJBA. Bel is my character and will most likely "follow me (my self insert)" to different franchises.

There is even a slice of life alternate universe called "The Bellflower AU" where Beleza and I meet in college and fall in love.

There will be more info to add later

[horce-divorce]

I think that anon belied a common misconception among many well-meaning people, too, that is actually worth addressing, wrt my donation posts: I DONT usually get money from strangers, and I DONT put those posts up with any expectations at all! Sometimes they don't work! Sometimes we get nothing for weeks on end, or just $5 here and there, and we go a month without everything that we need, and we make do with what we can find anyway.

But the thing is, when I do put up a post and I ask for money, I'm NOT asking strangers. I have a TON of connections near & far that I talk to online. I'm putting out a call to all of my friends, giving them an update, and saying, "hey if any of you is better off right now, we could use a hand!" often my friends are no better off than me, and they can't help. that's fine! Its hard times for everyone! that's why I know they don't begrudge me for asking.

In fact, a lot of my friends send me money WITHOUT me asking!! one of my IRL friends has learned to recognize when I need more help and I'm playing it down. They gave me $60 just recently, after I waffled for hours about taking their money, and finally told them I could get by the rest of the week on $30-50. Another friend, someone I've known since we were toddlers, sent me $80 out of the blue several months ago just bc she missed us and was thinking of us, and she had a little extra. Last time we talked to her, I mentioned how our food stamps got cut, & we'd be out for another week. She venmo'd me $30 labeled "pizza tears" before we even got off the phone (which I think was hilarious fwiw). A different friend recently heard that Bel and I wanted to go on a date to taco bell, and when I said we could do it for under $20, she gave me $50 and said "make sure you get the cinnabons!!!" Another friend bought me winter boots and socks this year as soon as i said i didnt have any- THE best, warmest, cosiest socks I've ever owned. Last year, one (1) of my tumblr mutuals covered my ENTIRE cost of post-op care for top surgery. I said "I'll probably need $$$" and they covered all of it! That same person has bought me groceries, meds, and gas on many other occasions, too. All of these people are folks I've known for years either thru tumblr or IRL.

Very occasionally, it's a newer mutual or even a stranger. One time, when I was still on Twitter and very early in my transition, I said something about how gender affirming my old high school Chuck Taylor's were and how I missed them so. My mutual from another COUNTRY immediately sent me $60 for gender affirming Chuck Taylor's. I haven't spoken to that person since Twitter went south, sadly. If youre still out there, I named my shoes after you, Bergamot & Jones, and I think of you every time I step outside. Another time, a guy who wasn't even my mutual sent me a bunch of binders and boxers for free. Sometimes even my old coworkers from my mall days pop up out of the woodwork and send me 20 bucks or something.

I have more stories like this. Not even just about money. Like that guy who saw me pop a flat tire in the mall parking lot and insisted on changing it for me.

I actually also never feel guilty about asking for what I need, or accepting it, and you shouldn't either. I don't like this idea that you need to grovel and be exactly This self-flagellating and full of hatred and remorse to ride and earn one (1) morsel of kindness. What do I look like, a Catholic? You dont have to apologize for wanting to stay alive. You didn't ask to be born, and you weren't the one that put a price on living!

You know what I do instead? Pay it forward. Yes, I ebeg often, yet I, too, will sometimes send $5, $10, $30 to people I care about whenever we wind up with a little extra. You can't save money as a poor person anyway, it doesn't work, so why cling to my last few pennies when someone else could use it right now? I've watched Bel give away his last $5 to a different homeless person twice since we've been living in the car. One time we stayed and had dinner with the guy and his dog. He was a hitchhiker named Ray and he was SO interesting to talk to.

There are studies that show that the most generous people when it comes to donating are NOT the people with the most money. It's the poorest ppl in the community who have been or are in your shoes, and who know how you feel, who pitch in when you need it most. Hence the community $20. The idea that panhandlers are expecting something from well-off strangers who can't empathize with us is like... kinda silly lmao, we know most of those ppl hate our fucking guts and want us dead, actually. (Are rich ppl really just that threatened by the idea of sharing that they see someone going "help please (generally speaking)!" And they immediately go "ugh, ME????? How dare you ask ME specifically for MY hard earned money?????" Idk it kinda tracks.)

I also use a jovial tone in a lot of my posts because I have to ask for help a lot, and it gets tiring to everyone to constantly hear "I'm soooo sorry for being such a needy piece of GARBAGE, AGAIN, I really hate that i have to do this, but..." because that's just The Friend Who Is Apogizing For Breathing. That doesn't feel good to hear any more than it does to say, no one likes that. And yes SOME people DO want you to feel that way about needing help- but its not going to be the people who will help you, I promise you that. Also, think about what you're saying when you talk about yourself like that. Why are you garbage? Because the cost of living is too high? Because your boss doesn't pay you a living wage? Because your landlord wrings you dry? Because you can't afford your meds or food? How is any of that actually about you at all? How does being hungry and wanting to live make you garbage???

Deeply unfortunately, you also tend to get more attention with a chipper tone and a preemtive "thank you" instead of an "oh God oh God oh God I'm so sorry I'm so fucking sorry, fuck!!!!" I also won't imply urgency where there isn't any. Sometimes we DO need money asap and it's like, we'll literally be stranded in the woods with no food if we don't get it. But other times, we need money, but like, we have time to figure it out. I save the urgency for the times I really need it.

Instead I focus on the positive: I DO have a lot of friends who care about me, all over, and even strangers who care about me, too! Those people have been keeping my ass alive for YEARS! They shouldn't have to do that! I shoudlnt have to beg to continue to use my own organs! But also, how cool are my friends for being the realest commies I know??? They're not going to just let me die out here. Why would I be sad about that? Why would I feel bad about people caring about me and wanting to see me pull through? Why would I apologize for proving that the human loving spirit is in fact alive and well? In the times when there IS less urgency, I think it's just nicer to my friends to make a lighter hearted post once in a while- you know, for the ones constantly seeing this stuff and helping me out. I think it's nice to acknowledge them in a positive way, instead of always being like "god im do sorry that im STILL BREATHING, i know you guys HATE that!!!"

Like. Idk if this is making sense. Remember that post where the person was telling their partner, "I'm just so worried that you'll think I'm stupid and want me to shut up," and their partner said, "Thats kind of mean, I wish you wouldn't think of me that way"? It's like that. If your friends and mutuals wanted you to shut up and die and feel guilty for living, they wouldn't be sharing your posts or donating to you, and it's kind of... mean? To get off on that foot. It's like we expect people to only help us begrudgingly. Thats not true at all! Donation posts are optional. Most people who reply to them do so because they're in a position to help and they WANT to, because it makes them feel good.

It's thanks to my friends that I am still alive to make all these delightful posts for them to read. They want me to stay alive because they like having me around. So i try to continue to be that presence in exchange for their love and suppport, and yes, i will incorporate that into my posts asking for help, especially if its a less time-sensitive ask. Idk like, re-framing a situation and focusing on the positive is a basic coping skill from many types of therapy and I hate to say this but it really is good for you. (Also fwiw I try to always say "thank you" to every individual who sends me money, each and every time. Sometimes they don't let me send messages back thru the pay apps, and sometimes I forget, but I try to every time.)

Plus, damn near EVERYONE needs help right now! Poverty and income inequality and chronic houslessness and chronic ILLNESS are all at ALL TIME HIGHS. Pre-covid 25% of the population was disabled. I wonder what it will look like next time we get a handle on those numbers?

So just to be clear, again: I don't expect donations to pull us out of poverty! If that were realistic, it would have already happened, ive been doing this for a decade. I don't expect strangers to have a stake in our situation, either. All either of us want is to be able to keep living our lives as best as we can for as long as we can- and a lot of our friends, and other people, DO sympathize with that. That's a point of pride for the community I've chosen for myself. I refuse to feel guilty about surrounding myself with caring, wonderful people who actually read my posts. That sounds like a pretty big win for me actually lmao.

AND I refuse to feel guilty and self-deprecating over circumstances that are out of my control and don't actually weigh on my character whatsoever. Being disabled isn't a character flaw. Being unemployable bc of my symptoms isn't something that's "wrong" with ME. Being homeless during an ALL TIME RECORD HIGH of homelessness ISNT something thats "wrong" with "me," and it's not something I would want anyone else to feel guilty over, either! These things don't determine who I am as a person or the impact I have on the people around me. Clearly I continue to have a positive impact and be a good friend, or asking my friends for help wouldnt be keeping me alive. I simply don't have enough followers to get that much money from strangers lol. And I have more followers than a lot of people (around 1500 currently).

So yeah, this is to everyone else who's ever felt horrifically guilty for asking for help online or otherwise: even if you dont have a lot of connections and you ARE asking for help from strangers, needing one another isnt a character flaw! The people who care will WANT to help anyway, period. It makes people feel good to know they can help. And yes it does make people feel better to hear a "thank you! we are still alive and happy to be here!" Over a "fuck God I'm so sorry I'm still alive and burdening you all so with my high cost of breathing!!!!" I'm so sorry that you have to have a body! Me, too, bud. It's rough, but it's gonna be ok.

Anyway needing help is morally neutral. Now im just thinking about the way the upper class has poor people at each other's throats for the perceived "selfishness" of needing help- because in a world where you are constantly burnt out from work, and the value of a dollar is so horribly out of proportion to the effort it takes to earn, sharing that hard-won effort with anyone else does sometimes feel like too much. Im thinking about the way hoarding wealth & resources & keeping them behind paywalls is seen not only as morally superior but a sign of objective intelligence and life skills, vs how the way sharing is construed as foolishness, the way needing help to stay alive is construed as greed, while the upper class that literally stays healthy and youthful and thrives on the blood, sweat and tears of the lower class gets to pat themselves on the back for being morally superior, individualist, and "not needing anyone." Kinda makes me sick when I put it like that!

Anyway. Again, needing help is morally neutral, especially in this economy, and I refuse to hate myself for circumstances that aren't my fault and for having people in my life who are invested in me and want to see me pull through. Everyone deserves friends like that, and I hope you find them.

[blindedguilt]

You seem like the kinda person that would make a shrine website for leonard and I love that <3

//ANON TY OMGGGGGGGGG

//I meant to get to this when it was posted but the squeal i sqeulled when i saw it I SHOULD TOTALLY DO THAT FJDJDNDNCJSKSK

//i made an alt that's pretty much just sharing pictures of him and like a million BLOGS already but a website??? hmmmm....

//I don't know much about HTML or CSS (ccs???) In general (Pathetic for my age, I know) but I WANT TO NOW SO BADDDDD OMG

//i know spacehey is a pretty good place to start.... they have ppl who are REALLY talented so maybe I can run a Leonard fan-blog there???? But omggggg it's SUCH an amazing thought he deserves it sm I love you anon and I love this idea THANK YOUUUUU fhdjsndbcjsksns QWQ❤️💖💗💞💘💗❣️💕🩷💝💗💕💓‼️ if i ever do I'll have to share it on this blog and my alt ficjdndnd honestly such a wonderful idea................... putting that up with my Drakengard confessions blog idea since!!!! Fellow Leonard fans need a place to go (and i NEED to find some to talk to since a lot exist!!!! But very few will willingly come out the woodwork for obvious reasons unfortunately as I've learned :( its hard out there for us) I've considered a lot of things INCLUDING a server but unfortunately i suck with those so im like "nope" lol

//plus he has his own dating sim i should hopefully be playing soon, and unfortunately while screenshots aren't allowed (Quotes are though!!!) I'd LOVE to make a review on it, I played the trial half-ironically thinking it'd be moderately funny since the premise was so insane, BUT OH MY GODDDDDD the non-gag route is actually REALLY sweet im not even kidding hhhhh

//I love this little hermit so much <3 wonderful suggestion anon and I'm so honoured u would think that fhdjsndbcjsksns

[sanversandfriends]

One way to spark a writer's enthusiasm about a WIP is the promise of accompanying fan art. Not only is it exciting to see your story brought to life, but to paraphrase @Morganastorm24, even a small shift in perspective can inspire you to take a wildly different approach. Today, she'll share some of her inspirations along with advice on how to get started or unstuck.

Tell us a little about yourself. How long have you been creating fan art? What were some of your first subjects and what ships/characters in the SG universe have you illustrated?

I mentioned in my writing answers that I've been doing it for as long as I can remember, and the same applies with art. I'm generally a very creative person - writing, drawing, crafting - you name it, I'll happily do it. 

I inherited my creativity from my grandparents, or so I'm told. My grandfather used to drive buses back in the 50s and 60s and on his breaks he'd park up somewhere and sit and sketch his surroundings. For no reason other than he wanted to and liked doing it. He also enjoyed woodwork and crafting miniature models of things out of wood. He built me my very first dolls house and I helped him to decorate it and furnish it with miniature furniture.

My grandmother was a seamstress for the theatre and made all the costumes for various productions. She'd sketch the designs out first, and then sew all the costumes by hand. She was also a writer, though she kept her stuff very private, because it was a hobby for her but not one that she felt comfortable enough to share. Sometimes, I can understand why, because I feel the same. Growing up, I loved spending time with both of them because they shared their skills with me. 

What are your favorite mediums to work with?

Photoshop is a big favourite of mine, because you can do pretty much anything, so long as you can find the right images to merge together. I also love using pro-markers and other comic book markers.  What kinds of scenes do you enjoy illustrating? Do you have any favorite tropes or themes? Imagery that you like to work with?

I love to do anything, as long as I have a clear vision of it in my mind (when using photoshop), or I have an image I can use as a reference (when I'm drawing by hand). The only thing I can successfully draw freehand without any reference is a horse (my lifelong love of the animals showing through there). When I worked in a children's nursery, we often drew large images for the kids to decorate which would then be displayed on the walls. I was always the one who ended up drawing said images, and to be honest I loved it. When I left that job to start my current one, I was gifted two of the last things I'd drawn - the rose from Beauty and the Beast, and the Coca Cola Christmas Truck. I've kept them to this day, and they're in a protective folder in storage. 

Any advice for aspiring fan artists?

One thing I learned in art lessons when I was at school (and it has stuck with me to this day), is that if you're struggling to draw something, change the perspective. My art teacher told us the following story about a disabled man, and I've tried and tested this method myself. It really does work!

A young man in a wheelchair was asked to draw his wheelchair. He hated the thing, saw it as a hindrance that cut him off from everything that he'd been able to do before he was confined to it. It was a reminder of his past life and everything he had lost, so when he tried to draw it, he was full of anger and resentment, and eventually threw his pencil down in frustration, declaring that he couldn't do it.

Instead of giving up on him, his teacher took the wheelchair, turned it upside down and told him to try again, but don't draw it as a whole. See the individual shapes and draw those. Focus on one shape at a time. So the young man did. He drew what he could see - circles, squares, triangles, rectangles, cylinders - and when the teacher took his piece of paper and turned it round, he had drawn a wheelchair.  All because changing the perspective of the subject and breaking it down into basic shapes had made his brain approach the task differently.  So if you're ever stuck on something and you don't know how to move forward, or do what needs to be done, try looking at it from a different angle. It could be literal, like turning the chair upside down, or it could be figurative, like seeing a circle instead of a wheel, a tube instead of a handle, that sort of thing. Change the perspective and you might just surprise yourself.

Thanks for sharing with us, Morgana--and for making us continue to swoon over Alex!

And Maggie!

And Lena!

And...