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#i'm going insane over that concept art btw
hellbatschilt · 1 year
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The Idia Starsending concept art is giving me "Why were you at mad at me island" energy
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marcy-bun · 10 months
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do you have a take in how a Sonic comic should be? Also I know what you think about IDW but what about Archie and Fleetway?
Take the classic IDW comics, give them more serialized storytelling, have the stories go as insane with its core concepts like fleetway (while using the JP lore as a reference btw), and boom that's my ideal sonic comic series.
As for archie, it's interesting. Because whenever I talk about how boring and safe IDW is I'll occasionally get responses like "well at least it's not archie!" But here's the thing.....I don't want either as ideal sonic comics because they're both complete opposite extremes.
IDW maybe a series that does nothing interesting with its world and characters, is too chicken to take risks, and is the equivalent of white bread. Archie is the fucking equivalent of a nasty patty though. Yeah the series took alot of risks but it also made some of the most vile and idiotic decisions I have ever fucking seen for sonic the hedgehog. They tried doing politics, they tried doing complex romance, they tried being edgy, and everytime they trip on their own ass for the most obvious reason: They don't fucking understand this franchise.
"oh but what about ian flynn?" I respect the work he put into cleaning up chicken pender's shit after him, and even then there are moments that leave me dumb founded like giving charmy brain damage as an excuse to write him more inline with how he acts in heroes instead of, you know, just leaving his character as is and not trying to force in everything from game continuity.
One of the most notable panels in archie that's a grim reminder that this series is suppose to be made for sonic the hedgehog, is a panel where sally dips herself in a piss pool as a means of """"self discovery""".
There was a whole team, that wrote this scene, conceptualized the background art and environments, sketched, inked, colored, and no one for a minute took a moment and went "???????wait what-"
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Look, I'm a firm believer that sonic as a franchise works best when it's taking risks and making bold decisions in both storytelling and gameplay, it's why I love SA2 as much as I do. But archie is a grim reminder that you need to limit yourself when it comes to making over the top ideas, and you ESPECIALLY need to be careful and know what you're doing.
As for fleetway, it and the classic IDW comics are the closest to my ideal sonic comic series, as it does a good job striking that balance of what IDW and archie were trying to do respectively. Is it perfect? no. There's still some weird plot points, but they're much more tolerable than rouge the bat getting into a fight with julie-su over knuckles to the point of her almost calling rouge a bitch.
People are also too harsh on fleetway sonic when at this time it was universally known that sonic is a punk teen delinquent with attitude and bite. But now people just want him to be a generic shonen protagonist. That being said I wouldn't want him to be THIS extreme, even though he's really funny. I personally would write him like yusuke from yu yu hakusho.
also the art direction in fleetway is insaaaane. i'm telling you if you're working on a sonic comic you GOTTA have an artist that's an expert on 80's sci fi aesthetics.
and uhh, yeah those are my feelings on these comics.
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versegm · 1 year
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Yooo how about Director's Cut on The One from Carcossa? Give me the downlow on awkward shadow roommate and hand licking lol
I SWEAR I DIDN'T REALIZE I WROTE SO MUCH HAND LICKING
God. This might get kinda long, lemme add a readmore right away.
As you can guess from the title, I wrote this after going insane over The King In Yellow for a couple weeks or so. Unfortunately I have since actually read the king in yellow and they're not nearly as good as the five wikipedia pages I dived through made it sound, but it was still a very fun time to write.
It was also very much inspired by the general concept of "the monster under your bed." You guys have that too right? Like, children's urban legends or whatever?
It's also a pretty old story, I think I wrote it in 2020-ish? But I think it still hold up well.
The monster in the story is named Cahors, which is the name of a french town. I picked that name because the King In Yellow has a running theme of characters with names starting in Ca- (Cassilda, Camilla) and I wanted to keep it going. The human is named Neha, after a friend I had at the time I wrote that story (Neha, if you're reading this somehow, hi! Hope you're doing well! :D) Neha also has a blink and you'll miss it cameo in May The Moon Shine Upon Camlann, as a treat. To myself.
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Carcosa's writing system is based on qipus btw.
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About ten years ago or so I followed writingprompt dot tumblr dot com, and one of the prompt was thus: the apocalypse happens, you are the last survivor, and one day you find a message that reads "last one up turns off the light," with no other purpose to your life, you decide to do that. For some reason, it struck me.
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I don't actually remember for sure, but I think my reasoning behind that bit was to showcase why Cahors affectionates post-apoc stories specifically. It's their way to cope with the fact that their world ended.
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Ok so this story was originally meant to be erotica, and this would be the big sexy showdown, but I found it flowed better without the sex. This is actually a recurring issue with my writing when I set off to write porn. It is unfortunate.
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LOOK I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO TELL YOU. THAT WAS THE FATEST WAY I COULD THINK OF TO LINK INTIMACY, TRUST, AND REALLY HAMMER HOME THAT CAHORS DOES NOT LOOK OR FEEL HUMAN.
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Very largely inspired by this piece of art that lives rent-free in my head.
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I'm just really proud of this bit :)
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I really wanted to do a callback to that one other scene in the middle of the story. I'm glad I pulled it off!
The story initially had another line about Cahors using their mask to extinguish the lights, but multiple people told me they thought it was confusing, so I removed it. It works better this way I think.
And there you go! Mostly it was me fucking around with worldbuilding and monster biology as you can guess.
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xanfeursel · 4 months
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heard you were bored so here are some questions :) (i realized halfway through that these are all durgetash because those little shits have taken over my mind) do you like leaning into the angst of durgetash or do you prefer the more lighthearted (aside from the atrocities) dynamic? if larian dropped a gortash romance, is there any icks that would absolutely ruin it for you?
or conversely, what would be the best thing they could add in a hypothetical gortash route?
what were your biggest inspirations for lophi and vyper? do you prefer one over the other or are they equal in your eyes?
(hopefully you won't have to answer these since you'll get out of work soon)
HELLO ANON. im sorry to tell you infact waited till i actually got home to answer these because i have!!! THOUGHTS and OPINIONS about the questions asked . thank you very much btw these are all really good questions ill have fun answering
FIRSTLY, it all depends on the kind of durge gortash is being paired w imo. with vyper i tend to lean more into These Two Are Fucking Insane while w/ lophi i lean more into the sort of melancholic 'angsty' side of durgetash that i think can be real yummy too. and it's all because of who vyper and lophi are as characters pre-tadpole, too. vyper liked being a loud insane freakus while lophi was a lot more reserved and kind of a miserable mess, and that informs their relationships w/ the characters around them. i think both are good and fun to explore and i definitely like exploring the more angsty side w vyper x gortash and vice versa w lophi x gortash, so. i guess both. really. LOL .
secondly, going to answer both of the gort romance related questions in one, but i think i'm probably in the unpopular opinion that gortash doesn't really neeeeeeeed a romance and i could go without it in game. i do think he deserves more content and screentime, but that's something i can say about orin also, and frankly a Lot of parts of act 3. me and act 3 have a toxic on/off again relationship. alright.
that being *said*, if i was mr larian and i was to implement a gortash romance, i'd have it be something exclusive to a durge/evil run. or at the very least, have it have consequences with your party (i.e karlach leaving or something. love gort but i do not think you should go off romancing him scott free).
i Do think having it be exclusive to a more evil-aligned run would help add more actual content to doing an evil run (and god knows we need some with how bg3 seems to like punishing people who just want to do the evil options They Gave You) and would make the most sense, but all in all i'd just hope it's handled better than the mizora sex scene cause god how that whole thing is handled still pisses me off. hopefully this all makes sense
tl;dr, its a fun idea but i can very easily go without it especially knowing how the game treated its one other antagonist romance option
now for the lophi and vyper question... i do obviously have my biases towards vyper /looks at my blog theme/, but i genuienlly cannot pick favourites with them besides that... i use them both to explore different aspects of the durge origin in different ways bc despite what some other people say i Do think you can be very flexible w durge as a concept despite the pre-established lore for them ^_^ and i think it's very fun to play around with.
as for specific inspirations, lophi takes a lot of insp from vintage pierrot art + has accidentally gotten a very 1920s makeup vibe in My Mind. i should also note her name comes from the scientific name for anglerfish, cuz thats what i had in mind when giving her those freaky sharp ass teeth i always draw her with
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and while of course, both of my durges are trans, lophi specifically was birthed from my want to make a dark urge that leans in as heavily as she possibly could in the whole trans allegory thing. so theres that as well!
vyper's specific inspos are harder for me to pinpoint cause he's much more of a 'made up as i went' character than lophi, given he was my First dark urge and i didnt really fully know what i was going into all this yet while making him (and also i was maybe a little bit high while doing so...lol) THAT SAID THOUGH, i did initially make him with akira fudo from devilman in mind. he has the horn style he does because it reminded me of devilman ... although the akira insp is very lose and barely effects his character now.. ~_~ despite bg3 being my main fixation atm devilman is still a very very important piece of media to me so vyper being loosely akira-pilled is not too surprising if you know me well enough lololol
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hazydaaze · 3 years
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An analysis of the Bold Type that I need to get off my chest (it'll be worth it, I promise)
I studied English literature at university, and it has always been instinctive for me to analyse characters, storylines, bigger pictures and under the surface tensions in film & tv. Discussing emotions, motivations and themes with my gf and my pals late at night is one of my favourite pastimes ever and I love everything to do with filmography and art ahhhh. (I wrote my dissertation on David Bowie & The Artistry of Sexuality, ya feel me?)
The Bold Type isn't filmography at all, but I think Jane Sloan and Jacqueline Carlyle hit different for me, being a queer woman in my 20s and a full-time writer. I can't really explain why. I guess there are a lot of queer female characters in film & tv that don't really feel inherently queer, and even as two identifying straight women Jane and Jacqueline felt queer to me. Their connection and understanding of each other was authentic and quite complex. I think they had potential to be something that we'd never seen before in mainstream media, because of their age difference and life experiences. I thought that was so compelling and so important to talk about and to give a recognised space to.
There is one thing that struck me most about them and it's insane to me that I haven't seen a lot of analysis on it, so it's the point of this post.
To my knowledge the show or actors haven't delved too deeply into it either, and given what went down I don't understand why people AREN'T talking about it. I wanted to bring it up. Btw, this post contains spoilers.
***Sexual abuse trigger warning***
In season 1, we learn that Jacqueline is the victim of rape, and the only person she has told about it is her husband, Ian. Given that she mentions that they've been married for around 19 years and the assault happened before they met, we can assume Jacqueline has been carrying the weight of what happened to her for over two decades. During all that time she didn't talk about it with anyone else, not a single other person.
And then Tiny Jane comes along. Jane Sloan, the big swing writer who just wants to write meaningful stories that help other women and girls that need it, like she did growing up. She fucks up a lot on the way and slowly begins discarding her judgemental opinions as she grows. But when she is at her best she has genuine compassion and empathy for people, and despite her reservations, Jacqueline gives her the opportunity to write about the story of a rape survivor and performance artist. She isn't aware, at the time, what that means for her own trauma or her own acceptance of it. But she does it anyway, because she sees something in Jane and she has seen it there from the beginning.
Jane starts to write and, as we know, in the most beautiful and compelling moment at the season 1 finale, Jacqueline is confronted with what happened to her. She stands in Central Park holding these weights, and you can see the crushing pain in her eyes as the realisation descends down on her. She shares a look with Jane, and a moment of understanding passes between them at what this means.
Despite all this, she lets Jane capture her trauma. She lets her publish her untold experience of her rape from two decades gone. She lets millions of people see her story in writing, with Jane Sloan's name printed above it. She re-lives and faces up to the harsh reality of that pain and that truth, through Jane.
Can you even imagine the trust you must have in someone to do that? The sheer love that took, for Jacqueline to give Jane her voice and her truth, with all its painful and hard repercussions?
This storyline is the boldest part of the Bold Type. It's the most honest and the most authentic. It captures the raw emotion of Jacqueline, and of Jane, and the two characters really see each other for who they are. It's one of the reasons why their relationship is so central to the other's storyline.
We don't ever see Jane truly unpick in detail what Jacqueline did for her. It spoke so many volumes and ... well, isn't that what love is?
It's this storyline that sets the tone for their relationship over the course of the show. Jacqueline sacrifices herself for Jane again and again. She publishes the article about the lack of accessible healthcare at Safford and gets fired for doing so, purely so Jane can afford to freeze her eggs. Jacqueline says there were a lot of other things that contributed to it, but Jane knows her article was the final straw, the point of no return.
Over a decade of pouring everything she could give into Scarlet Magazine and it’s readers, only to be gone in a second. All for Jane.
And again, in season 4, in the few real moments we are given between them, one of their final interactions is Jacqueline giving Jane the go-ahead to explore a story of potential abuse at States & Nations, a company Ian is associated with. Ian literally asks Jacqueline to stop pursuing the story, due to the sexual relationship he had with the source when he and Jacqueline were separated. When Jane challenges Jacqueline over her reasoning for pulling the story, she asks her to give the story a chance. Jacqueline lets her, knowing full well that it could prove irreparably damaging to her marriage and her family, and she does it anyway.
Jacqueline chooses the truth, over her career and over her marriage. She chooses Jane. As humans, there isn't much more you can give to someone else. I’m wracking my brains trying to think of a way Jacqueline could portray her love for Jane more, and I’m all out of ideas.
I want to reiterate again how insane it is to me that none of this is really acknowledged, or at least not nearly as much as it should be amongst the show, its creators and its viewers, Jacqueline continually falls on her sword for Jane (weird analogy, but she does) and it is repeatedly glossed over. Their relationship is quickly dismissed as a "mother Jane never had" or a simple "boss/employee" power dynamic, and it seems so hollow, unjust and sorry - so unbelievably boring - in contrast to the experiences they have shared together and the sacrifices they have made.
I understand Jacqueline’s character was based on Cosmopolitan Editor in Chief, Joanna Coles, and therefore it makes sense that this queerness to her relationship with Jane was not intended. However, it’s there. Everything I mentioned in the post happened on the show in canon.
In 2021, the possibility that these two women could have romantic or sexual feelings towards each other shouldn't be a stretch. If either of these women were male characters with this much intertwined investment, high stakes and sacrifice, there would be no doubt they would be endgame. They would run away, have the hottest sex, all the while their reputations would be forever ruined in the name of love. And we, as viewers, would celebrate it without question - we would never dismiss it.
The concept of what they are, and what they can be as two women should be able to live and thrive. It should be given a beating heart. In the very least, the reality of it should be on the table and up for debate. But for many viewers, and the show’s creators, it just isn’t. And here lies the problem.
Jane and Jacqueline have such a beautiful dynamic, it is so deep and soul-wrenching. How can we ever limit what these two women are and what they would do for each other?
I really hope that one day we can see a relationship like theirs given the queer space it deserves. Because it would've been the bold thing (and the right thing) to do.
I'm going to publish a longer and more in-depth article about this on Medium, because as I said, analysing is my favourite pastime and I can't stop doing it. But for now, this is all I can manage.
Edit: Read my published Medium article.
Here's to Jane and Jacqueline and what could've been.
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beatsfortheillperth · 3 years
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Words with Jetson
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Our next interview is with a producer and rapper out of a beautiful place known as Tauranga, in New Zealand, This creative is known as Jetson.
He happens to be one of my cat, Rain's personal favourites for sleep time and regardless of the amount of thumping bass Jetson's music creates and picture frames it knocks over, I understand why he sleeps so sweetly.
Probably a lot to do with the fact that bass has rhythm, just like the sweet sweet words Jetson correlates with his word-plays in tracks such as "Milk" and "SENSEI". Not only impressing cats, Jetson has made moves and connections beyond the long white cloud, proving isolation doesn't always silence brilliance. Jetson brings words any generation can hold some sort of relevance to, words that allow one to notice life moves fast and slow and sometimes you just have to chill and become an observer rather than an instigator.
This is something I feel Jetson has accomplished with his rather low-key approach to releases and interviews.
Jetson is a natural, a true prodigy of sound and a sharer of moods, and to me, is a reminder that with a little bit of passion and persistence, great things can happen, whatever your field.
Jetson’s collective and label - Chill Children is evidence of that, as through it , Jetson is able to work and release with producers and beat-makers all over the globe.
emo the optimist, BACKWHEN, fuyu, eets, and junyii are just some of the diverse talents working with Chill Children and everyone on the catalogue are game-changers that make music that’s anointed in chills. 
Creators that push boundaries and portray emotion through sound in the most soothing way, one must check Chill Children.
So with that I hope you enjoy rare words with the nuance wonder, and in his own words.
Sit back, relax, get baked, create, f**k it.
Enjoy and much love.
Hey man thanks for the opportunity to share words. Let's start with a few random quick questions to get things going. Favourite Beverage: Lemon water. Favourite thing to do in your down-time: Make music/skate. Views on Reincarnation: It will be cool if it is true but I guess it doesn't really change anything if it is 🤷‍♂️ Favourite Food: Sushi. Favourite Album of All Time: Tribe Called Quest - Midnight Marauders A song to break it down to: Ethereal & Playboi Carti - Beef A song to chill to: Durand Jones & The Indications - Cruising to the park Do you prefer Sunrise? or Sunset? Why?: Sunset, because I'm never awake for sunrise. A childhood memory in regards to music: I remember saving up to buy Graduation by Kanye West and listening to that shit front to back for weeks straight. Favourite Place to be: Probably on an island.
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Thanks for that, so let's start by asking what inspires you to produce and not only produce but continually produce, what to me is an array of tunes fitting so many genres?
Do you have a set of goals in place when you release a track or do you just hit upload and just hope people are feeling your sound?
What I like to listen to is constantly changing so I like to challenge myself to try and make the things that I'm inspired by.
I like to think that you never know what you're gonna get when you listen to my music but I've still got so much to learn and experiment with. I just try have fun with it and not think about it too much.
How long have you been producing music, and what did you find was hardest to get the hang of when it first came to producing beats?
I had no music theory knowledge or anything when I started making beats (I still don't have much) so there was a lot to learn right away.
Probably the hardest thing that I still battle with is knowing what you should release, what you shouldn't etc. It's hard to balance knowing when something is finished and when it still needs work.
Could you give a quick run-through of the process you follow when it comes to making a beat?
I try to change my process as much as I can to keep things fresh and fun for myself. But I really enjoy hearing a sample somewhere like keys, a quote or a rapper I want to remix, then I start working with that piece and see where it goes.
I'll mess around with the beat for a while and sometimes a track comes out. It can take one day, it can take months. Just depends.
Oldies are always goodies in my books and I have to mention your "bumps from 2014" mixtape, it truly is something special.
What inspired those little bumps? What were you doing back then? Also, can you remember the mood you were in when you made them?
I'm glad you like it haha. That was when I really had no clue what I was doing in terms of making beats, I was making all of those 'off the grid' in Ableton so I was placing drums in random places, I had no idea what bpm the samples were or anything. I really didn't know wtf I was doing, just going off of a vibe. 
My mood was really just being excited about making music, I was living in the basement at my mum's house blasting beats on the speakers all day.
[bumps from 2014] - https://soundcloud.com/sleepgodd/bumps-from-2014
You are also a rapper. My favourite NZ rapper to be more precise so thank you for the vibes you create. How did you find out you had it in you to rap and how old were you?
Damn, I appreciate that ✌️ I started rapping with a friend of mine, Jesse aka j cafe when we were around 20. We'd sit in my room smoking weed, and free-styling over beats on Soundcloud all night. 
Then we decided to make a track, so we found a beat and jumped in the closet to record some vocals on the laptop microphone.
We put it up on Soundcloud and I've been addicted to making music ever since.
Link to j cafe’s Soundcloud here - https://soundcloud.com/j-cafe
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Cover art for Jetson’s 2019 rap release - bluntscraps
Album cover art by Takuroh Toyama
When did you first start rapping in front of others? What did it feel like in the beginning compared to now when you perform live?
I was insanely nervous the first time I ever did anything live and that feeling really hasn't left me lol.
Except now I know how to deal with nerves a bit better and actually enjoy the whole experience of doing something live.
I definitely think I'm a lot better now than my first time doing it, but I still kinda suck 😂 Staying on topic with your rapping, material-wise you have mad skills, your music is forever helping me chill out so thank you.
When did you start writing down your words and turning them into structured songs? Do you have any other artists that inspire your writing style?
When I was younger I really liked the flow of rappers rather than what they were actually saying.
Dudes like MF Doom and Earl Sweatshirt really influenced me at the start wanting to come up with lines that were catchy and different.
To form an actual track I usually just mumble over beats to get the flow, then I start placing words in the spots where I think they fit.
Does your family know you make music? If so what do they think of it, any dance parties in the Jetson Family Household? 
My immediate family all know and support my music. My mum used to have one of my tracks as her ringtone for years lol.
No jetson dance parties yet, but seems like every year more people in my extended family know about my music.
You were also a member of NZ Duo, Chill Children of which you rap and produce with yet another kiwi talent, both having low-key approaches when it comes to presenting yourselves through social media. What happened with that?
Me and J Cafe started Chill Children as a rap project in the early days but we moved to different places in the world and started doing our own solo projects so things sort of stopped happening with it.
I still credit those times with really getting me started on music though. He's still making dope shit and we'll probably link up on a track soon.
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So then it became a sort of collective community, and through your Chill Children Soundcloud, you allow a platform for other artists to have their music heard.
Much Love on the concept, What inspired you to start sharing other artists music and what keeps you sharing? I'm very grateful btw, too many gems.
I work on music a lot with my friend emo the optimist (aka kodama) and we always wanted to run a label/collective kind of thing so we could release music from artists that we really liked.
After me and Jesse started doing our own thing, Chill Children seemed like the perfect place to start doing that.
It's one of my favorite things to work on as we have a hand in working with the artists on every release. I just love that we're able to share so much music that we really like with the world.
Check Chill Children here -
Bandcamp - https://chillchildren.bandcamp.com/
Soundcloud - https://soundcloud.com/chillchildren
Instagram - @chillchildren
Any new Chill Children material we should keep an eye out for?
We always have new music from new artists dropping so definitely follow our instagram/twitter if you want to stay updated on it.
We're currently working on a phonk compilation with guys like DJ Yung Vamp, Genshin etc. It's gonna be crazy 🤯
Back to your solo releases through your alias Jetson. What made you want to start putting out your material alone? Also, do you have a favourite Jetson release?
I really felt like I had to release music solo to see what I could do.
I've learned so much about myself through that process, became more confident and a better musician.
Probably my favorite rap track I've made is called 'Escape'.
Not many people have heard it but it's on Spotify and other places.
My favorite beat I've made is probably 'dylan rieder'.
Have to ask, are you working on any new releases we should keep an ear out for? If so, what can we expect with your coming releases?
I just released an album on Bandcamp called THROWED TAPES which was really influenced by DJ screw and other phonk producers.
I'm working on a lofi R&B tape for Bandcamp, a lofi beat tape, and I really want to release a rap EP.
Who knows when those will come out though haha
Taking it back a little to your rapping again I have to mention "Milk". What inspires the words in this track?
Also please share the story behind your track "Melancholy"? The words are somewhat mesmerizing, thank you!
With milk, I just heard the beat from bsd.u and really wanted to make something weird that just followed the flow of the beat.
On melancholy I tried to think about what I was saying a little more. The instrumental is so introspective and smooth I knew I had to come correct on it.
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THROWED TAPES By Jetson, released August, 27, 2020
Musical Recommendations?
junyii - emo the optimist - knxwledge - j cafe - jesse james solomon - the smiths - dj yung vamp - shuggie otis - hm surf - alicks - MIKE - baccyard - meraki soul - steve hiett I could go on for days though lol
Creatives to keep an eye out for in music and art? Takuroh Toyama (photography) Moebius (visual art) Steve Hiett (photography/music) Any Last Words?
It really trips me out that people enjoy something I love to do so much.
So just thank you for vibing with me, I have a lot more to share ✌️
Support Jetson here -
Soundcloud - https://soundcloud.com/highimjetson
Bandcamp - https://jetsonbumps.bandcamp.com/
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/artist/2bkf2PmiVyfCqg2uzIFIqJ
Twitter - https://twitter.com/jetsonbumps
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/jetsonn/?hl=en
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Milk by Jetson (Production by bsd.u)
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novarasalas · 5 years
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Second Look Review: Lion’s Pride 1 & 2
Part 1
So, this is it. The final battle for Earth. Everything that’s happened this season has been preparing us for this very moment.
I’m sweating, guys.
This is nonstop action. So many things are happening at once. So many bad things are happening to the protagonists at once.
I’ve heard the showrunners say several times now that this series is a call back to all the mecha shows from the past, and that’s it’s made for the fans of those shows. I’ve heard plenty of people talk about how nostalgic it makes them, and how it reminds them of watching the shows they used to love.
I was too young for the original run of Voltron, though, and I never really had access to other shows like Macross.
So, I understood in principle, but that same feeling didn’t hit me until these two episodes.
And now I'm’ going to talk about myself for a bit.
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I can’t even tell you the feeling I was overcome with the first time I watched The Power Rangers. It’s 1993, I’ve been 7 years old for three days, it’s Saturday, and my mind has just been blown. I can’t tell you what it was about the show, but all I knew was that I wanted to be a Power Ranger very, very badly. I can’t, though. But at least I can make believe every Saturday morning.
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Difficulty: I’m a girl. Girls aren’t supposed to like things like that. Martial arts, weapons, fighting? Inappropriate!
So, as my first act of rebellion, I became a wholly dedicated fan to this weirdly , edited-for-american-audiences sentai show.
I still have that guitar riff stuck in my head. It plays for me when I do things that my parents would find...unladylike.
So, from that day on, my love of mecha shows was on. My parents eventually relented, and I treasured the one action figure we could afford. It was the pink ranger, of course.
But I eventually grew out of my Power Rangers phase, and for years that love lay dormant. Sure, there were other shows out there, animated and live action, but I had no way of getting to them.
Then we got cable, which had Cartoon Network. And Cartoon Network had Toonami.
I was 13 years old, staying up past midnight to watch only-lightly-censored anime, and every night my mind was blown.
Gundam Wing was my drug of choice.
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And if my parents hated me watching the Power Rangers, they absolutely despised me watching this.
Despite the protagonists all being 15 years old, Gundam Wing was a mature story. It told of the hells of war, sacrifice, desperation, politics, romance?, and so many other things. It was so very cool.
My parents eventually relented on this, too. I still have the models they bought me.
I was waaaaayyy too into Gundam Wing. I threw myself headlong into the fandom, consuming every fanwork I possibly could. I spent hours going through Geocities web rings trying to find worthwhile fanfiction and fan art (my fave pairing was 1x2, btw.)
Eventually, I came to realize: this show is actually kinda boring. there’s no humor in it. It just...wasn't interesting to me anymore. It was my thing for years, and then suddenly...I was over it.
But it still holds a special place in my heart.
And I told you all of that to tell you this:
The space battles in these episodes remind of of the finale of Gundam Wing.
I felt a good bit of nostalgia, something that doesn't hit me very often. It was nice.
And that nostalgia reminded me of my first rebellion, when I as a girl liked epic space battles and giant combining mechs and nothing was going to take that away from me.
In a way, I still feel like I’m rebelling. And you know what? Being bad still feels so good.
I’m happy to have this show.
- - -
Atlas, known in Greek mythology, held the Earth upon his shoulders. That’s the story these days, anyway. The original myth is that he held up the celestial spheres, in which the stars and planets resided. He’s holding it all up, is what I’m saying.
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It’s very easy to see Shiro in all of this. He’s the leader of Earth’s forces, and is part of the last line of defense against Sendak. That’s a lot of responsibility. And he takes it all upon himself. He doesn’t hesitate to go to Sendak’s ship to disable it.
...could this guy be any more of a hero?
But we can’t forget about the ship Atlas, or it’s crew
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This thing is a beast, and has no right being so powerful. And without the ship, and without the crew to maneuver it into position to block the cannons, the Earth would have been done for. They didn’t do this because Shiro ordered them to.
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Shiro may be the face of the Atlas, but the ship would be nothing without it’s crew.
-
Back to Shiro now.
This fight he has with Sendak is...just insane. It’s so raw and personal, I almost felt like maybe I should avert my eyes.
But I won’t, for reasons.
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Quick question: How are either of them surviving this fall? They’re on the outside of a ship thats falling through the atmosphere, without helmets, and fighting. It’s a sight to behold, for sure, but it’s a bit much.
I’ll let it go, thought, just like I’ll let go the fact that the falling ship hit terminal velocity and didn’t leave a 100 mile wide crater.
I have to ignore that, because Shiro is defeated. And then this happens:
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Keith first killed the two pirates in the third episode, then Macidus in the sixth. Before that, none of the Paladins had been shown to kill anyone. I’m still sad about it, in a way. But...better Sendak, than Shiro.
This all seems very symbolic. Everyone seems to have their own ideas about what exactly it means.
In part, I would say this is another moment of Keith never giving up on Shiro. It’s not even about repaying his debt to him; you could argue that that debt was paid in full with interest a long time ago.
Keith knows how much Shiro has been hurt. From here on out, he’s going to make sure that no one ever hurts Shiro again.
As for people saying that Shiro should have been to one to kill Sendak….
I think that the less he has to fight, to kill, to call back those days in the arena, the more he can heal from the trauma of being The Champion.
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- - -
So that’s dealt with. Sendak’s dead. Earth is safe.
How’s everyone feeling?
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….ugh...stop that...lol.
Ok, whatever. Let’s go home.
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Mmm..yeah. This may as well happen.
Part 2
This fight is really something.
First off, I couldn’t help but think that this mech looks like Livia sas Junius from Final Fantasy XIV.
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Everything about this fight is terrifying and frustrating. They just won, and for the first time this season, too! And now they’re losing again.
We see now again what was proven in season 6: Voltron was once the most powerful thing in the universe. But time does this funny thing of marching on, and things tend to change along the way.
-
Speaking of changing…
Shiro experiences stress-induced-mech building.
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This whole process is amazing. The animation, the music, the timing...everything! Paired with the fact that I had no idea this was going to happen, I was blown away.
And we have no idea how or why this is happening. Could it be the Castleship crystal they installed in the ship? Is it the gem powering his arm? Could it be both? We definitely get some centering shots on those two items as the transformation happens.
Before, we’d been told that the comet ore had be the catalyst for Voltron’s indescribable abilities. But the Atlas is made from Earth materials, save for the new crystal.
Is it Shiro himself?
We don’t know what’s really happening with him. From Haggar’s experiments on him, to being trapped within Voltron’s quintessence, to being pulled away from the Black Lion and placed into a new physical form, a lot of magical hoodoo voodoo has been happening to him.
And let’s not forget: Haggar was most likely using him, in someway, to enter Oriande.
So, why did the Atlas transform? Because Shiro. I don’t know why, or how, but it couldn’t have happened with anyone else.
And with this new creation, he’s going to save his friends. Or...he’ll try to.
Now, for as much as I love the concept of the Atlas, I have a bit of a complaint.
So, I’m watching this thing transform, and everything is light and wonder. And then..I saw it:
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Shiro, probably: Fine! I’ll make my own Voltron! With blackjack! And hookers!
….
Have you ever been watching something and you feel all things at once?
That’s how I felt.
At first, it was like:
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then I was like 
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and then it was back to
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Then I paused the show and did the dishes.
Friends, I hate to say this, but...I don’t like how the Atlas looks. At all.
That transformation sequence had me high on wonder, but when it finished, I crashed back down, hard.
No amount of “ooo she thicc” jokes are gonna save me on this one.
...look at it’s legs!
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And what really gets me is that it threw me off so much, that I kinda checked out for the rest of the episode. That’s why these are the Second Look Reviews; because I was being too ridiculous the first time to appreciate them.
I’ve gotten over it at this point, but I was feeling an all consuming “what the hell did I just witness?” at the time.
--- -
Back to it, though.
Shiro transformed that whole damn ship on his own. He saw his friends in danger and he just...did that.
And it was enough to distract the enemy, but not enough.
Thankfully, Voltron was there to save the day.
And then…
Look, this was stressful. You know they’re going to make it; there’s another season left, for god’s sake! And Voltron, while dramatic and sometimes sad, is a hopeful story.
Our heroes can’t die, not now, not like this.
But they don’t know that.
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The transition to the funeral, with the lions in the background, was a cruel, cruel fakeout. The emotion in Shiro’s voice here really made me think for a second that maybe they’d actual, ya know...done it.
But it’s ok.
Everyones ok.
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And now, there’s the hope.
The entire universe is coming together to help the Paladins rebuild their home. The team has done so much for the universe, and have nearly sacrificed everything doing so (several times at this point).
This is the good ending. It’s happy, it’s uplifting.
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It’s not ending.
---
In summary:
It’s all intense battles and wild nostalgia. These episodes were beautifully put together, from scripting to animation to voice acting.
But just when things were nice and understandable, we get more questions. Questions that I can only hope we get answers to.
Next up: I’ve got a review summary coming up. I’ll talk about my thoughts on this season, the series as a whole, and discuss a few things about next season.
And I took this screenshot
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it doesn't have anything to do with my review, but I noticed that curl on the side of Lance’s face. It’s cute. I wanted to share.
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i-want-my-iwtv · 6 years
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Strange question but.. do people usually expect super super HQ stuff during the VC secret Santa thing? I'm new to the fandom and this will be my first time participating, and although I've been writing for years I'm still so nervous because everyone I've met in this fandom so far is insanely talented, and I feel like I can't live up to that. I'm still going to take part but idk, I've just been thinking about this a lot lately. Yay for nerves! Also have a lovely day I apologize for this
Hello and welcome to our gift exchange! Not a strange question at all, no need to apologise ;) Don’t be nervous, it’s all for fun!
I totally get where you’re coming from tho, we are definitely experiencing a surge of talent in the fandom, and it’s been wonderful to see such great response to #InktoberVC! 
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(^Claudia would totes join if she could, but she wouldn’t draw anything for the Louis/Armand ship lol)
From what I’ve seen over the years, ppl participating in the @vcsecretgifts exchange are happy to get any gift at all that relates to their prompt :D Even the best fanartists and writers talk about needing improvement in their work, and they know that we all have to start somewhere ^______^
Personally, I feel like the concept of a fic can make it great even if the writing style needs improvement, and similarly, I feel like great dialogue in a fan comic can elevate a piece even if the drawing itself needs improvement. I actually prefer to buy commissioned fanart in black & white bc I don’t always feel like a more “finished” look with color is necessarily better. There are some beautiful WIPs that stand up without being “finished”!
It’s all subjective, too, what I think is a “good” drawing or fic and what someone else thinks is “good,” but I prefer to think of all of it as being different styles. Some ppl dislike Jackson Pollock bc they see his art as splatter paint only (and therefore, totally unskilled), some ppl dislike Photorealistic painting for being too much like a photograph, despite the fact that it takes an enormous amount of skill.
We have ppl who participate who are unable to write or draw, but they are music buffs and make excellent playlists of songs for the characters/ships, or there are fans who do aesthetic photo sets, etc. Everyone participating is doing it more for the fun of giving a gift and receiving one, rather than one-upmanship. 
(While some gifts do get more notes/reblogs/comments than others, well, I feel like the only comments that really matter are from the specific recipient, so it’s very important to show gratitude for the gift you’re given no matter what it is! Bc smne made it for you!)
All the gifts on that blog are for all of us; it’s true for me that I’m more likely to actually MAKE a fanwork when there’s a deadline and someone(s) expecting it, so I think that’s what it’s more about ;D
Btw last chance to join! Sign ups close at 11:59 pm CST!
http://vcsecretgifts.tumblr.com/submit
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