#ig it would work for 2d also

[osophobic]

questions for your ocs

Want to make your characters have more depth, but don’t know how? Well I found a series of questions months ago, maybe a year ago, idk. POINT IS, it’s a great questionnaire for a new oc or oc you’re having trouble with. 

NOTE: this was posted by someone on tumblr, I just can’t find them nor do I remember the name. If anyone knows, let me know, and I will delete this and reblog OP’s post instead.

1. What would completely break your character?

2. What was the best thing in your character's life? 

3. What was the worst thing in your character's life? 

4. What seemingly insignificant memories stuck with your character?

5. What is your character reluctant to tell people?

6. How does your character feel about sex? (this isn’t too important imo, but it depends on story)

7. How many friends does your character have?

8. How many friends does your character want?

9. What would your character make a scene in public about?

10.  What would your character give their life for?

11. What does your character pretend or try to care about? 

12. How does the image your character tries to project differ from the image they actually project?

13. What is your character afraid of?

14. What is something most people in your setting do that your character things is dumb?

15. Where would your character fall on a politeness/rudeness scale? 1 - 10

There’s a couple more questions but I can’t find the screenshot of the post. AGAIN, these aren’t made by me, credit goes to OP. Let me know if anyone knows who they are, thank you.

[ottiliere]

hello! ur posts on the vagus nerve and its connections to digestions have encouraged me to do a lil mini dissertation thingy kinda focused on it/around it, ur big thread on PVT and everything really piqued my interest when i read it and i just held onto it for like a year or smthing until like last week when i started the project. Ik u said recently in one of ur posts i believe that ur not going to post the big dirk PVT post and im not here to be like yo post it because i also think u said that ur kinda moving away from like hs/dirky stuff rn ?? (im forgetting if i saw that sorry) but yeah i just wanted to say thank u etc etc, like ive never done an ask before so sorry if this is phrased weirdly but ur blog is just like one of those blogs that fundamentally changed how i view certain things in life for the better lol, like whether its ur beautiful representations / depictions of mental health in like just beautifully painted art (seriously the way u make it look like idk how to word it cartoony/really 2d but then it stands out against the background + if u zoom in and see the tiny pixel details == it makes me mad) or just like the huggeee long form posts that i like to chew on and save cuz theres so many details that AFFAAT like the way you talk abt the topics u portray has made me concious of how i would want to do so in the same way ig u get me. anyway this got really long and idk if i come across coherently, but ur just a random person on the internet whos art and written thoughts that u decide to share makes me happy when i see it == makes me pace around my room and distract me from this fat essay lmao so tldr: i really appreciate what u do + i hope like that ur doing well and that u keep arting and thoughting no matter what it is that u choose to focus on

(uve made me comitted to reading jthm, playing psychonauts and giving jjba w/ dio another go lmao) 🫶🫶

Hello! I’m sorry this reply is coming so late, this ask in particular is very sweet and has stuck out to me.

I’m really happy to have introduced you to PVT, this is something I’ve heard from a few different people on here and it’s very sweet… I did my thesis on it in college and the time really flew by while working on it, things you don't think could possibly attributed to "nerve issues" being nerve issues is always an eye-opener, isn't it? being able to research things that interest you & access information in general really is a privilege in this day and age.

“The topics [I] portray” are very important to me, so it’s heartening when others take interest in spite of the obvious deterrents. A lot of what I love making art about is unpalatable to most, and while I do understand the reasons for that on principle, it can make things feel a little insular. I genuinely believe there’s a lot of value in depicting tableaus of misery.

The last year has brought a lot of very unforeseen changes, and my life is quite different from when I initially made this blog to post about him! That’s also part of why I’ve been so sparse here…though I’m working to change that quite soon. I love sharing my work, and I’ve had the privilege of meeting some truly wonderful people through this website. That said…with where I’m at now, I’m not sure I’ll be posting the Dirk essay anytime soon, I’m afraid.

I’ve undertaken a few ongoing projects, one of which in particular is an original project I plan on sharing publicly here hopefully within the next month or so. I hope it’s something you & anyone else who’s stuck around with me here will enjoy, but failing that, I’ve really enjoyed working on it thus far.

Thank you for the sweet ask, take care, and good luck with your project!

[justasunflowerseed]

I have so many ideas for a creative project that I don't know where to start, like my brain keeps coming up with ideas and concepts and stops halfway when it gets to actually writing it down and trying, so....

PLEASE HELP ME CHOOSE WHAT PROJECT TO WORK ON 🙏

I will start to actively work on whatever wins the poll, and will constantly update every weekend on my blog, I can't promise any quality or fast progression, some of these are projects in areas I have 0 experience in, so just vote for whatever you think sounds the most interesting ig, but please vote so I'll have something to do!

I don't have a preference for any of these, that's why I'm asking tumblr!

no results option, choose something, please I have no idea what to do

if any of these sound interesting or confusing, there are explanations under the cut:

~•°•~.~•°•~.~•°•~

JEWISH MINECRAFT

either a client side mod or a plugin for Minecraft server that add Jewish elements to the game, main concept I have thought of:

kashrut laws, the mod will keep track of the kashrut of you, your tools, and your food (meat/dairy/parveh/non-kosher). for example: your sword starts as kosher parveh. you kill a cow - your sword is now kosher for meat and you have a kosher raw meat. you then kill a pig with the sword, your sword is now not kosher and you have a non-kosher raw pig meat. you then kill a cow with the sword, you have a non-kosher raw meat. you cook and eat the kosher meat, you get a kosher(meat) status for 3 in-game hours, you then drink a bucket of milk, the status changes to not-kosher. idk how to make your tools kosher again yet.

a tracker of in-game Minecraft days, whenever it gets to the evening of every 6/7 days (friday evening), Shabbat will start, indicated by some sort of pop-up. using any of your tools on shabbat will turn them non-kosher, villager trading will either be turned off or there will be a warning not to trade with them, and same thing with every working station + crafting table. building and breaking blocks with your hands is allowed, so will crafting from your inventory (unless it's food), farming will cause the resulting crops to not be kosher. Shabbat will end at nightfall of the 7th day.

my experience: Ive never made a Minecraft mod before, but I have experience programming in Java, so it can't be that hard to to at least some of these.

TIME LOOP GAME

a mystery game where you relive the same day over and over again, with no information saved between runs except the player's understanding of the world. the goal is to find out what causes the time loop and break it. loosly inspired by kindergarten, undertale, and a certain b movie that I don't know the name of.

I don't know how to explain the visuals I'm imagining, but it will be a mostly 2d plane you walk on, and interacting with NPCs will open a virtual novel type screen.

you'll have a "clock" at the top left corner, each action during the day will cost a certain amount of time (a few minutes to a few hours), the game will be balanced to give plenty of rooms for mistakes as to not make it stressful, and since every time loop is the exact same, making a mistake will only send you to the start of the day, where you can attempt the same thing again. (and if there are repetitive aspects like idk mini games there would probably be an option to skip them if you already completed it in a previous loop, that's the only thing the game will keep track of ig)

there's only so much you can do it one day, and certain things will require the player to possess information from previous loops, and so runs will differ and evolve as time goes on, there will also be bonus "routes" to learn more about the world and the characters in it.

idk what the mystery is yet! the story is very early stages.

my experience: I have no fucking clue how to use unity, I made a flappy bird and a platformer without levels, but I still haven't fogured out how OOP works with this thing, andy brain can't figure out how tf you make stuff like dialogue. it would probably take me a long time to make a working prototype.

UNDERTALE TIME LOOP FANGAME

this is THE EXACT SAME PROJECT AS THE ABOVE ONE, but as an Undertale fangame instead of an original story. and I do have a concept for this one!

you play as Frisk in the pacifist ending (NOT after a genocide route, pure pacifist with potentially multiple neutrals) (also not as the player controlling Frisk), living out your happy ending. it's been a few years, you've grown, humanity mostly accepted monsters, and the underground is mostly abandoned as monsters moved to the surface. You've lost your powers a long time ago, not that anyone knows about them, and you have no reason to use them again anyway, you have everything you've ever wanted. but one thing is missing: Flowey.

his determination has been deteriorating over the past few months, and it's gotten harder and harder for him to move. he started spending all his time at Chara's grave in the underground, and you visit him once in a while.

the game is during his final day, you find out, the last bits of determination leave his body and he turns back into a regular flower. but you're determined to save him, and so, your powers return, and you're able to go back in time to the start of the day, and start reliving it over and over, looking for a way to save him. a happy ending means for everyone.

it might be a bit more story heavy, it might even have Frisk being an actual character as they're free from the player's control, but it's the same concept and same mechanics.

my experience: same limitations as making an original game, but I also don't know how good I'd be at keeping the characters in-character for this.

ROTTMNT AU COMIC

this is a project I've already started on my shared tmnt sideblog with @remitiras. it only has 1 post! 😭

I have the second part halfway done on my computer, but I didn't like the writing for parts of it and couldn't find the motivation to properly rewrite it yet, so it's been on hiatus for 4-5 months.

I made the concept while having a hyperfixation on rottmnt, and Cass Apocalyptic Series specifically. since then I've moved on and I'm not as invested in the fandom or the story, but it's still something I wanna finish someday. it has a mostly finished outline, and a large collection of plot ideas, it's one of my most detailed creative projects to date! this would be a good practice for making comics and stories.

my experience: again, it already has a chapter, although pretty ugly in hindsight, the wip second chapter has a much better panel layout. I've never made a real comic before, but me and reminhave a pretty good grasp of the rottmnt characters and they're kinda helping me write it.

CARTOON CONCEPT FROM WHEN I WAS 12

despite having the idea for 8 years, I can't for the life of me decide on a name for it. lmao. the concept is as follows:

do you know these stories where the main character is living a normal and sad life until they find out their word actually has some sort of magic and an entire society of magic people living (mostly) in secret from regular humans? Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Gravity Falls, Danny Phantom, Fairly OddParents, I can't think of any other examples rn. these usually (but not always) accompany a chosen one plot of the regular person finding out or growing to be the savior of the group.

now what if, multiple of these stories happened at the same time, in the same world, to all of your best friends?

that's the concept of my story! in it, the main character, Sapphire, moves to a new small town, and slowly finds out each one of her new friends are the main character of their own magical/paranormal journey.

I have uploaded some concept art to my blog already: one, two, three.

if this win, I will not make it into a full fledged indie cartoon bye myself (lol)

rather, I will write down all of my ideas and make more concept art, for characters and scenes. and will share it on my blog.

my experience: this is mostly just writing down preexisting ideas I never had time to write before, and drawing concepts I didn't have the motivation for. so I have the experience for this.

COMIC OF CHARACTER TRAPPED IN A MAGICAL LIBRARY

this is a comic I planned for practice! it's a comedy with simple colors and backgrounds so it's prerfect for practicing my comedy skills and writing episodic one-shot content. this time it has a name!

Endless Library:

the character wakes up to find herself in a library, but the bookshelves strech on to the horison and the books seem to be about the most random and wild things ever. there's no exit in sight. join in as she slowly goes insane and starts consuming the paper for substance, I swear it's not a horror story!

I already have 2.5 episodes drawn, it's a very simplified artstyle, and the background is super simple, it really got me to experiment with perspective. I keep picking it up for a week or so once every few months and I haven't touched it in almost a year, so I don't really remember more than the general plot. it will probably have ~100 short episodes? I still didn't figure out the ending.

my experience: I got a lot of indifferent to good reactions to my first chapter! so this will probably be the easiest to finish as long as I have the motivation, I also don't have to worry about experience with comics because the style is super simple.

PERSONAL PROJECTS

projects that won't be able to be shared with othwrs online :( they're fun and all but I'd just feel like they'll be a waste of time. these include:

making a hub on a new Minecraft server I joined, including multiple farms and a shared storage system. It just started so I still haven't logged in.

finishing my base on another Minecraft server, I like it hut I'm 50% of the active players.

making cute coasters for my apartment, and prettifying my apartment in general.

writing cringe low-effort fanfics for my eyes only, I will never ever share them sorry

drawing regular fanart

choosing one doesn't mean I won't do the others at all! it's just what I should focus on during my limited free time. right now I'm at a point where I can't focus on any project at all because I feel guilty ignoring the others.

also if you actually read all of this I'm sending you virtual hugs, thank you so much for actually taking interest in my unhinged ramblings 💗✨

[neverhadamonster]

Hello! I'd like to request Hifumi (if you write him) with a Plus sized Fem!Reader that is the Ultimate Ballerina, but she is insecure about her body. If you don't write Hifumi; then Soda is ok

SORRY THIS TOOK LIKE TWO DAYS SOMETIMES MY TUMBLR DOESNT WORK

also why not both

-----------------------

Hifumi Yamada

-Hifumi actually finding love that isn't 2D??? Woah????

-But he won't mind if you're plus sized since, let's be honest with ourselves, he himself isn't in the best shape

-He's completely enamored with you tbh. You could do or say anything to him and he's at your feet like a dog

-And that previous headcanon works for your talent too! A ballerina and a fanfic writer? Odd combo but it works out.

-(non despair) If you go to like competitions (i know nothing about ballet) he is always gonna attend. Something planned the same day you have a performance? He's choosing you.

-When you're feeling really bad about how you look, he will insist that you are the most beautiful person on the planet and not even the likes of 2D can compare to you

-If you're into it, he'll gladly watch anime with you.

-----------------------

Kazuichi Soda

-Another great comforter if you're feeling down. Like Hifumi, Kaz will insist that there is nobody more beautiful or prettier than you.

-Not even Sonia.

-He really likes your talent too. Again, like Hifumi, he's enamored. Another one who will treat you like a princess

-Probably a pet name he uses

-(non despair or after the ending ig) Kazuichi will go to your performances as well. There's no way he would miss even one.

-And he won't mind what your shape is. You're hot/pretty/beautiful/gorgeous just how you are.

-----------------------

I literally had to Google what a ballet show is called im so dumb 😭😭😭

[thrilling-oneway]

OKAY N25 event is starting tomorrow and it's lasting 12 days but who cares I need to word vomit about event spec instead of doing my homework.

WxS event is Tsukasa no question unless the devs have given up on 2D:3D MV ratio given the updates. I mean daichan basically confirmed it on the stream lol. Anyway Tsukasa has never had a vsinger on one of his unit gachas so that's gonna change probably. I noticed they've been putting out cards for vsingers other than the starters/miku probably to show off the new costumes that didn't get L2D, which leaves us with MEIKO. However, she's been on 2 WxS events this year (one of which was Tsukasa's) so I'm ruling her out and am willing to just settle for KAITO (doubtful about Miku considering the likelihood of her sanrio 4* being soon).

Anyway as for the others definitely not Nene. She's been on all of Tsukasa's gachas so far give her a break please. Staff actually caught all of wxs up on exchange cards now but I'll say 3* for now just because it's been longer since her last one than her last 2*. Now the 3rd 4*. Emu or Rui? On the one hand, Emu has less cards than Rui and less 4*s this year, but on the other hand, she's been one 2 Tsukasa banners already when Rui's only been on 1. But then again, Rui needs a 2*. And I'm tempted to say this could be a wxs boys centric event given the teaser, but then again you have events like BFBY, BFST and woao which have significant characters as a 2* or just not at all. And then again, Emu has a 4* lim coming up, so her getting a gacha card followed closely by a lim is somewhat unlikely (although has been done in the past). And then there's the fact that if Rui gets another 4* he catches Miku. Fuck. OH actually WL lims are gonna make Kanade and Mizuki equal with Miku lol so yeah here we go

Either Tsukasa/Emu/KAITO + Nene 3* Rui 2*

or Tsukasa/Rui/KAITO + Nene 3* Emu 2* (emnn can be swapped in this instance tbh)

mm maybe meiko still works looking back after i finished this post

AND then for mixed event I'm still standing by my initial school festival spec. Probably Nene banner and Kami 2-A lims. Nene's last lim was the vday one 11 months ago, Akito's last lim was his fes about 5 months ago, and An's was the 2.5th lim 8 months ago, so it works. An's been an exchange card recently so 4* for her is fairly likely anyway, plus Nene pretty much guaranteed to be an exchange card on the Tsukasa event. This could be an Akito banner ig but I've tentatively got him down for White Day rn, however he doesn't actually have a mixed event stamp yet, but he could get one even if it was a Nene event anyway. Slap a WxS vsinger (Rin?) reward card and idk maybe a Toya 2* (or Rui if he isn't 2* on the Tsukasa event) and bam.

nene/an/akito + rin 3* toya or rui 2*

N25 has to be the first event next month lol since WL doesn't count as part of the main rotation and saying those a lim cards is fucking stupid they're barely lims. On one hand, it's been a year since the last ena event, but Kanade has less events than everyone else and also Ena sanrio lim. I would've said Ena 4* for Kanade event but we're gonna scrap that and for now i'm tempted to say mafuyu again i know she's been on 2/3 kanade events so far but hey if nene can go 3 for 3 on tsukasa gachas then sure. i would have said mizuki but once again. lots of 4*s already. this gives kanade the most 4*s in the game but who even cares atp not clpl that's for sure.

kanade/mafuyu/kaito + ena 3* mizuki 2* (mzen are swappable)

kanade/mizuki/kaito + mafuyu 3* ena 2*

then maybe a leoni honami event with ichisaki 4*s, shiho 3*, vsinger 2*. also this or n25 is the xmas event. and fuck knows who new year could be. mizuki? n25 hasn't had a NY banner yet. fuck do i know.

[russilton]

I was wondering why you draw Lewis’ hair as just squiggles coming out of his forehead and not in any defined pattern. Because typically IRL his hair is parted in places and you erase a lot of detail.

Honestly, part of it is a stylistic choice and part of it is cutting corners on detail to create a recognisable shape when too much detailing ended up making him look bald. Rather than it being a perfect copy of one of his haircuts it’s a blended slightly fictional version of several- which is an approach I took to most haircuts of real folk.

I also started drawing Lewis around Brazil/qatar 2021 when his partings were a lot closer, and I believe these are partially faux locs rather than the twists he usually has now- so you’re right that there’s absolutely lost detail there because I’m still working off an old style

Once you get past the recognisable hairline, the layers of parting became really hard to define without looking overly detailed, so I went for a shape of his hair rather than detail that layering

It’s sort of the same reason I don’t draw more realistic detail in georges hair either, it’s more of a cartoon shape than a real visual copy of his hair, because when too much focus is on mirroring the real look 1:1, it becomes more striking how the rest of his face isn’t exactly right. Instead, like with Lewis, the hairline and overall shape is priority, and layering lost to that shaping, it is admittedly hard to make a 3D shape fit a 2D style, and I won’t pretend I’m great at it.

That being said, I’ve never been super happy with how I draw lewis’ hair, and I’ve been making an effort with some recent unfinished art to experiment with new detail and some textured hair brushes I picked up from black artists on IG. I haven’t found something that works with my blocky blunt line art quite yet, which is why I’m still working on it, and as you can see below I still haven’t found something that helps with the layering

I’m in a very filtered corner of f1 where I don’t see much outside of real photos and gewis, so if anyone has favourite examples of how creators they like have stylised lewis’ hair, drop them in my inbox! I could use extra inspiration, and I would love to see any other examples of how people have cartoonised twists vs braids in a cell shady style to make it clear they are different patterns bc I’ve been struggling!

Tldr: it’s partially a style choice and partially a lack of skill, I’m working on it, would appreciate inspiration from other artists!

[istherewifiinhell]

doing my remedial tf hw [rewatching the ep i feel asleep during]

anyway u can really increase u understanding and appreciation for what goes in to Making A Show Good. by watching bw, arm and en.ergon. which maybe thats not what u want from watching a show. maybe u just want a show that IS good. well too bad.

like okay. bw, late 90s cgi cartoon [an expensive one tho, or so the wiki keeps telling me]. arm, 02 anime but first unified producted between the 2 toys companies. En, 04 cgi anime. same voice cast for all em [as dubbers in the 2nd two]. En being the sequel to arm so they really ought to be the same characters even, tho in pratice its like... ehhhhhh.

like just constantly thinking about, okay what conditions are the VAs performing under, script writers/translators. how that all affects performance

and ofc animation, well does it need fidelity? verisimilitude?? what makes something look cool? or funny? or emotive, or affecting.

and like. these all kinda can just lead u to shitting on en for looking like ass and being made on the fast (and possibly cheap?? idk.)

BUT THEN u also get to think about the designs themselves, which, toy companies. not really remotely the show makers faults [probably?] and in terms of what could have been done to best SERVE the show being made OR the toys in production like. and ill tell u what it wasnt. of making the most bulky greebly design ethos so far and trying o directly translate that as accurately as possible.

cause its just. these 'cell shaded' black outlines behemouths with maybe very little rigging? they cant emote at all. the lip flaps are some kinda 2d thing, and if they need to move their eyes or jaws u know, facial expressiony things, they can add 2d DRAWN shots [not like. more than 3 an ep] for that...

also they dont seem to be doing cgi in the way id think of it like. 3d models in a space with a camera? i think its all or mostly composit? [so they dont get the befits of say, size consistency]

like its kinda notable bw, is the cgi show, and also the era where, there not fucking CARS! theres a lot more... i mean a guy who has two cheetah legs sticking off his back is... weird... but at least his shoulders arent like shot compostionally impedingly wide cause they are the tires and suspension for a truck? u feel? the one character model who IS a vehicle is infact, the stand out for just kinda. weirder, interactable challenges. his sheer Biggness at least IS absolutely reflected as. not a plot point but. story point. he cant inhabite the same spaces as the other characters. they really block out those interactions in a way to show that instead of fudging it.

BUT ALSO like. i dont like the pure like. DESIGNS of arm that much, they DO have a lot, big... hmm i wanna say maximalism [which. lol. not be confused with maximals... which is what u call auto.bots when they are. yes. animals] but its 2d animated with such swag and style [mostly. it was ALSO a rushed production(>_> yikes)] like. the design of what im looking at is SUPERCEEDED by HOW it is presented? ig? or that also they CAN just fudge things. THATS WHAT ANIMATION IS FORRRRR. ohhh who cares what poses this guy could actually make, or how that would effect the camera shot. just kinda. u know. make it cool. make it LOOK GOOD.

and anyway ironies of ironies. a cool picture that is NOT what the toy looks like, but like, at least has its spirit, its probably more likely to make u want the toy, or have. fond appreciation for it lets say. not even getting into like. interesting story and character work that makes/manipulates u into wanting the thing cause like ohhhhhh thats my guy. u know. toyetic media things. bloribofication under capitalism.

[lilikags]

hello help pls i cant decide which nazuna outfit to cosplay next (after rabits uniform(which im working on rn))

Nazuna FS2

super cool sexy niichan

⁃ im kinda, ueeh about showing so much skin but at the same time it would prob make wearing it not too hot (which is very much appreciated cuz u know the weather here ;-;)

• has card cg, live 2D, and 3D model easy to get reference pics

• more complicated and has lots of details idk if i can trust the cosplay studio sewist people to make it super accurately + def expensive

Nazuna whisper of spring 4* (en server)

so pretty so beautiful

• only has card cg, live 2D, and promotional chibi art, no 3D = harder to get refrences esp for the backside and lower body, but ig i can use izumi as a reference??

• almost genshin level complicated and detailed idk if the people who will be commissioned to make it can make it accurately, also def very expensive cuz its long and flowy and has a cape + bnuuy ears

• long flowy = lots of fabric = hot to wear.;-;

if only i knew how to sew i would do it myself Imao, i could learn but i dont have the materials or time and patience HAHSJA the only thing i can do is paint a tshirt like how i did summer casual nazuna XD

Yeah isn't it rainy season in a few or something so something easier to move in is better

And yeah the weather there is always like that so fs2 100% also easier cosplay

Akdhkeejrj me I did a yelan cosplay but didn't have the budget to order a wig

[ontowanderlust]

Hi! How are you? Hope you are doing great! It's me Cecilia. There were so many different bots that were subscribing, and it began to annoy me, so here we are. It's still me, law major student, who likes one particular 2d man and sometimes overthinks things & questions some of her life choices.

Oi, I almost forgot what I wanted to say, I did get the credit, so now I have enough points to pass exam! Yay🥳

PS. Sorry for bothering, just thought that it not bad to tell you, that I changed blog, so you won't get surprised (idk who in this world would pretend to be me, but still)

How are you such the sweetest thing? 🥹 May I please keep you in my pocket forever??? You?? Just?? Singlehandedly?? Made?? My?? Day?? 😌✊🏻

I am doing as well as I can be. I have been accepted in the job that I wanted for months now and while it’s quite heavy in terms of workload, I have been adjusting swell enough. I really just need enough experience for me to go work somewhere else lmao.

It’s quite draining, ngl. So I haven’t really had the time to let creative juice flow out of me until recently- it’s still a bit tricky to find inspo in terms of writing or creating something cause all I really want to do is to just lie down and stare into the void lmao. (Well. Welcome to the workforce, ig?)

Life update: I’ll be attending my first ever concert- a korean pop group that I’ve been in too deep lately. 🥹🥹 let’s all hope my claustrophobia won’t act up in the middle of the concert cause I’ve got no one with. Heh.

I am super duper grateful for you! Thank you so so much for checking up on me, you precious hooman! And I am ecstatic to hear that you got the credit! Yay! I hope law school treats you well (funny story, there’s an au that my friend just dropped and the ml’s a law student. 😅🤭 it’s written in filo tho soooo hehhe)

I am also happy to hear from you! Thank you for letting me know about your new blog!

- always always rooting for you, dearie! 😘😘

[x-raei-s-art]

So I started to do a WHOOOOLLLEEEE lot more work for me on redesigning the 2012 turtles, at this rate it might just be considered a whole AU ig.

LEO was the first one I started re-re-re-re-multiple re's-redesign and I decided each turtle will be a certain species. For Leo I decided he was going to be a Diamondback Terrapin, if by chance you don't know those turtles are white as paper so yes he is the lightest skined tone of the rest. I still need to figure out the color palette and if it's anything of a struggle like April's, I'm going to have a blast lmao.

Next up is Raph, he was based off the Barbour Map Turtle. I wanted his design to be a lot more buff, but I still wanted to try and portray his shortness of 2012 Raph, these sketches don't really show that. Reason being as to why I want him to be short is because I think that both Leo and him would be twins, despite the major difference in species they were pretty much born at similar times (Leo is considered the oldest twin lol)

Onto Donnie I based him of the Scorpion Mud turtle. It's a simple turtle pretty much, a lot of browns and such. My redesign of Donnie is definitely doesn't really match OG 2012 Donnie's facial design as he does have a different mask than him. Other than that, body structure is pretty much similar although he will be more evidently taller than the rest of his sibilings

So far my favorite design is Mikey he is based off the Spotted Turtle. As the name suggests, that turtle species has a lot of spots, and therefore I tried to incorporate a lot of spots in a way that if it were to be 2D animated, it wouldn't be a pain on the animators. His front shell did change on the full body sketch because I felt like the previous one would be a fucking hassel to deal with if he would be drawn often. You will also notice some other small changes from the previous one but other than that it's pretty much the same.

I do wish I had the tools to try and create these in a 3D format as 2012 is in 3D, maybe then I can get a better idea on how these guys will look in a 3D space. I do hope you like my redesigns, I felt like Leo was my biggest challenge when it came to redesigning, idk why he was hard to do but I eventually figured him out a bit.

Next update on these guys would be some color pallete references. While I work on those, do give some criticism on my sketches and I might incorporate them in the digital versions.

[ne0nlightzz]

Ngl I regret not bringing my laptop or at the very least my tablet and a screen pen bcz rn I wish I had one or the other at my sisters- I wanna work on writing or smt since we're not doin much but I low key hate working on stories on my phone bcz the formats are different and all... also rly wanna play fnaf but that's on my laptop at my parents place..

Ig I just get to just go paint that shelf and crap? Not that its bad, I just didn't bring my electronics or my pony beads atleast, just brought my 2ds which I have like 3 games that actually are worth playing and it ain't keeping my attention- I'm also out of meds so idfk what to do there bcz I'm here for like another week and my mama only gave me a week of meds plus two extra in my case, I took the two 'extra' that are technically my second dose that she doesn't normally let me take- so idk what to do, I'm bored and white collar ain't keeping my attention bcz TV just isn't working rn- it's also been raining all week so yay that's fun...not rly but yk- might have to go to my parents for a day to get actual clothing and meds, my laptop and maybe my school books and crap but my sis would have to bring me and she doesn't want to leave the cats for that long and my mother refuses to drive me anywhere near my sisters house and won't even drop me off. Yeah idk this is just a rant, might go paint that shelf for my bunk, aka the closet my bed is in bcz it's a bunk bed closet and I've been working on a shelf 4 it- might post pics later too, I free handed the TaskForce141 logo from cod on the side and a skelanimals

[greywindys]

I'm pretty sure the whole band are in the cult, since Russ is wearing the Pazuzu logo as a shirt, and other art shows 2D and Noodle in these matching pink/purple hats. So I don't think Murdoc is the villain, per se, I think he's actually the protagonist here.

I'm doubtful that they'll actually use the cult theme in any manner other than aesthetics, though. I think it'll mainly just be stuff like Murdoc telling people to wear pink at the concerts if they truly "follow his teachings".

Yeah, I think they're all a part of it too, but as the other anons ended up highlighting - Murdoc is set apart from them, either in full on cult leader garb, or as the only one with a more subdued style, implying that he's either the "leader" or has some outside knowledge. Instinct would tell me that this doesn't mean it's a good thing. The likelihood of Murdoc doing something that isn't negative with whatever advantage (we can call it that, ig) he has here is faaar more unlikely that their usual structure of Murdoc doing something to get the band targeted, or actively working against them. Murdoc’s always been one of the protagonist (arguably THE protagonist), with the caveat that he’s also usually “the villain.” I don’t see them breaking away from that...If this is indeed a Lore™ thing.

But also I completely agree with your second point. Realistically, I don't think this is leading up to some big story, or if it is, it’ll be brief or explained away by the end of the album era. It'll probably be used in marketing and aesthetic and PR. Which I don't mind at all! I think that could be fun.

[cafedanslanuit]

I’m sorry to trauma dump here but-

One of my uni classmates just announces that she’s pregnant and I believe she lives with her boyfriend already and all (they’re 21-23), and then there’s me, who even though I don’t want to be a mother, I am 20 still living with my parents, simping over 2D men and I feel like I’m missing out on life for some reason 🧍🏻‍♀️

One of my biggest dreams is to share my life with someone who loves me (ik it sounds cheesy) and I just feel stuck in my home town, being treated like a child even though I’m an adult and I’m also SINGLE 😭🤚🏼

hi i can relate to this so much

first things first, you're not missing out or cheesy!! but if i've learnt anything from my past relationships is that when you're in the lookout for a relationship, you end up in bad ones. since you're actively looking, you're more prone to look over red flags that you would normally notice. also it's more probable you would settle rather than go for someone who you really, really like.

but hey i'm not here to say "enjoy being single, blablabla" because wanting to be in a relationship is very valid. but simping over 2d characters can actually help you to figure out what it's exactly what you want. and it sounds silly but in moments of my life when someone asked me what my type was or what i was looking for my answer was a very low-bar reply ("someone who won't cheat") or a very vague answer ("idk... someone funny ig"). and having so so so many characters in animes can actually help you draw a pattern of which ones you like, which ones would you date irl and which ones you wouldn't.

this is very funny because i've seen a lot of my mutuals that simp for levi ackerman saying they wouldn't date him irl, and that's perfectly valid. and it's good you learn how to differentiate between freely simping and what type of person you would actually date.

my advice here is focus on yourself, but without leaving the want to be in a relationship beside. but try answering to yourself what do you truly want in a partner? what would you be willing to compromise on? what wouldn't you be able to compromise on? it would be so cool if you actually wrote it. because when you are in a relationship again, sometimes love makes us forget/dismiss our boundaries. so it would be good if you could go back to a time were you set your boundaries without feeling in love with someone and seeing if you're being true to yourself.

what i found that helps as well is working on your love language. for example, mine are words of affirmation + gifts. and i'm... well, a romance writer lmao and i also have this huge pinterest board filled with ideas for gifts. it's not the same as having a partner but it does let me express myself creatively in topics about love, while i wait to eventually find someone <3

[you-are-crazy-beautiful]

Continuation of ask:

Favourite character and why?

I think, this will probably come as no surprise that my favourite character is Miss Kieu My Vu herself. Not only in Druck, she's my favourite character in the whole skamverse!

Yeah, so you know how I said I'd probably end up writing an essay about Kieu My at some point...you probably weren't prepared for this anon, because this is legit like a thesis 😬😆

I can't tell you how much I love Kieu My, honestly, after every clip with her, I would actually say it out loud.

I had my headcanons of what I thought she was going to be like based on S5 and her activity on IG (who she follows etc.). I thought she was probably a bit insecure, a nerd, and going to be a really soft LI. When she said 'Bro, what heart', I laughed because I knew she was going to be one of the greatest LI in Skamverse, and boy is she! So one reason she is my fave is because I literally watched the character that I had written in my head, come to life in front of me! ✨

It actually really hurts me and makes me sad knowing that a minority of people in the fandom are sending DM's to the writers saying Kieu My wasn't written well and underdeveloped because they want a Kieu My S7😰😡. They did such a stunning job with her and it pains me to think they might think they didn't.

Some people are saying that her background didn't get explored, but I would argue that it definitely did, we know she has a good, supportive relationship with her parents, that she cares about her Vietnamese heritage, that she feels insecure speaking Vietnamese as she's a 3rd generation immigrant, and her parent's didn't teach her it in great detail. She feels she owes her parents for giving up their dreams and all the hard work they do to make sure she has a good life, which I really relate to because that's how I feel with my mum, even though they don't expect anything back.

Also, you never get the whole background of a LI explored🤷‍♀️ I also argue that a detailed 'background' does not = development or a character getting fleshed out. For example, Maya in SkamFr got a really detailed background, which she explained to Lola in ep 3. I love Maya, so this is not a dig at her. Yet, besides from explaining why she ghosted Lola when she found out about her addiction problem, they didn't give her much more personality than 'the sunshine' to Lola's darkness, and imo she's quite 2D. Development is loads of things, it is a personality being exposed, insecurities being addressed, change in behaviour.

Even in just episode 1, Kieu My already goes through great development. In 5x10, she is still seen as the aloof Insta and quite superficial. Then in the first clip of 6x01, you can see how awkward she is (I cannot express how good Nhungi is with the little details). The way she doesn't understand Fatou's question about what she's doing and replies straight faced that she's walking on the pavement 😂 The stuttering when she asks to use the skateboard. The first hint of her insecurity when she says she bets Fatou never fell off. Which can I just say, I love that line! Because as if Fatou would be able to use a skateboard the first time she tried. It shows Kieu My's insecurity but also how she views Fatou as this cool and collected person. Then when Fatou says she did fall off and laughs, Kieu My lets out a nervous breath to herself. Then laughter is heard, and she starts looking around self-consciously. I think it's probably a mix of thinking people may be laughing at her putting herself out there and looking like an idiot on the skateboard, along with her inner biphobia.

Then the clip in the Physics class we saw the first on screen hints at nerd Kieu My. I went nuts that day as we also got the text between Zoe and her talking about the Bio test, and how Kieu My was studying for it despite the answers being leaked. Druck said Nerd-Kieu My rights!✌ I love that Physics clip so much because as soon as the teacher finishes the question, Kieu My has her hand raised to answer, but also note she doesn't make the hand high or easy to see, showing us she doesn't draw attention to it. So, already in ep 1 you have Superficial-Kieu My -> awkward, nerd Kieu My. DEVELOPMENT!

Please don't interact with this if that's your opinion that she isn't developed. You're entitled to your opinion, but I will not read or answer it.

One of the things I was pleasantly surprised with was that although I thought she was going to be soft and insecure, I thought she would try to hide it behind the Ice queen personality more, and fight her feelings.

It was probably during the NYE clip (which is also maybe why it's my no.1 clip 🥰) that I realised they weren't going to go down the route of her holding onto the 'cool girl' image. She was so shy and could hardly keep eye contact with Fatou when she was talking about her dream of studying Mars❤

I remember there was genuinely like 2 people other than me in the Kieu My fan club when she wasn't responding, and it was strange to me because she said in ep 2 that girls scare her and she doesn't know what to do. It didn't make sense for her to ghost Fatou for any other reason, as girl had spent 11hrs talking with Fatou a week before. The moment in ep 4 when Fatou talks to her in person and she's the shook Mr Krabbe meme 😂💀

She really spent the whole week reading Fatou's texts and then f*cked it up herself by trying to get Constantin off her back. Then my girl came through texting Fatou everyday Sun-Wed, until Fatou responded on Thursday. She really grabbed the bull by the horns and straight up asked Fatou on a date in the geekiest way possible. I'm sure she suggested the table tennis bar because Fatou did, so she thought 'this must be an appropriate first date venue' 😂. The last line on Thursday when she said she can't get Fatou out of her head 🥺 The amount of vulnerability, she's so brave 🤧

Volunteering to do the project with Fatou, again showing her bravery and not caring about what anybody else thought even with the rumour going around and Constantin sitting next to her!

Turning up with the plate of Vietnamese pancakes, and doing the nervous bounce she does. Revealing to Fatou that she doesn't think she's good enough, and everybody thinks she's perfect, and the pressure she puts on herself to live up to that. Crying when she thought she had blown her chance to be with Fatou. She's too soft I can't take it! 😭Even the detail that she always tries to hold Fatou's hand for comfort 🗣🗣

Getting her girl, and then immediately setting up a date. Laying herself bare about her inner biphobia, and Fatou being the first girl she's been with, her dreams of being an astrophysicist, and nerding out about the history of the universe 🥰

I absolutely love how she's the one to initiate the first kisses and touches, she just went in with both feet and never looked back, fighting her fears to be with Fatou. She is so brave! Which makes all her gestures of love even more immense! They would be incredibly romantic gesture anyway, I mean climbing a roof in her fancy clothes *swoon*, but the fact that she is doing it, despite being terrified🗣🗣

Being a straight A student, but not caring about the presentation and just Fatou's wellbeing. I burst into tears when she asked the teacher to stop and then argued back to him.

Showing how she finds it hurtful that no one really sees her and they only care about her looks. One of the things I was constantly blown away with was how Kieu My kept being given the space to speak. There's at least 3 key scenes where she is just allowed to breathe, and talk about her fears and issues, which I think is so rare.

How she is also an absolute 🤡 Referring to Fatou as Axolotlgirl in texts, sending Fatou songs and that she can't help think about Fatou while listening to them, but not knowing why and that she is in love. When she is too scared to talk to Fatou, but got her nails cut ASAP, and was liking all of Fatou's IG posts. Telling Fatou to stay away from her because she is so hurt but then having a full on breakdown for 2 weeks, calling people at 3am, and stalking Fatou's IG, accidentally liking posts, and thinking Fatou was moving on with Ava 🤡

Being such a caring person and going to help Constantin at 11pm, no questions asked, and keeping an eye on him at the party, making sure he was drinking water. Being there for Fatou because she knows something is going on, even though she's been hurt in their last interactions. Helping her parents at the store with no complaints, but fitting in time to print old Maths workbooks to help Fatou 🥰.

Getting a gold turtle and carrying it in her pocket because she was too scared to give it to Fatou! Setting up a stargazing date in someone's bedroom in the middle of someone else's birthday party 💀

Apologising to Ava because it's the right thing to do and not because she's with Fatou.

So, as you can gather, I think Kieu My is alright 😜

Thank you to the writers and Nhungi, because you really knocked it out the park with her!❤

[tfw-no-tennis]

ani....morphs.....

ok so picking up after the david trilogy, which hit hard as FUCK, we have book 23, which basically was a semi truck that ran over my corpse, jesus christ, they really followed up the david trilogy w/all that....

23 was so so good and also painful. its the culmination of a lot of tobias’s characterization in the series thus far and also we finally get the reveal we’ve been waiting for about elfangor....ooooh man 

and there was a lot of painful stuff in this book but the worst imo was tobias wondering if it were possible that somebody wanted him and would take care of him, only to have it all come crashing down in the worst way when it turned out aria was visser three in morph, ouch. 

that was so brutal augh. and when he figured it out and just crash landed and kept thinking about how he wanted to die and how he was stupid to think he could have a home...bro get these kids some THERAPY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

so yeah that book was absolutely brutal but also so good...and it further fleshed out the animorphs working as a near-flawless team, w/the whole setup of tobias meeting w/the lawyer being so airtight and well-planned 

also more free hork bajir!! its cool that there's stuff happening w/them offscreen, I like that 

I literally had to take a break from reading the books bc the david triology + 23 was like so much, and also bc the olympics were on and all my time got dedicated to watching those, but then I opened 24, not sure what to expect, and BAM it was the helmacrons lmaoooo

I don't even remember the helmacrons but ig a lot of people hate them? lmao so that whole reputation preceded the book and I was like oh wow time for a change in tone

which wasn't wrong but also I liked that book?? I was never bored, even tho the whole thing was patently ridiculous and also had very little bearing on the overarching story

but I think it would be a standout if it were a TV episode w/a good budget - the visuals were amazing even in text, and I can imagine all the cool shrinking/growing/cellular stuff would be WICKED cool visually (ideally 2d animation but an ant man-esque live action adaptation wouldn't be terrible if they had the budget for it)

whatever let me dream. so yeah I didn't hate the helmacron book even tho the helmacrons themselves were...sure something. lmao I think they come back? that should be interesting

next book is the arctic one, we have yet another alien of the week style adventure - I liked this one too, it felt like more plot-y stuff happened since they destroyed the base, and marco’s POV is always fun 

I do find it funny/interesting how sometimes when the animorphs do something - like in this book, destroying that base in the arctic - it doesn't really seem to impact the yeerks much/it doesn't get brought up much after that. and then other things like them destroying the ground-based kandrona get mentioned a lot (that example is understandable tho bc that WAS a big deal). its just hilarious to me how blowing up entire building complexes has become so routine that it isn’t even worth mentioning at this point

Also I adore when they meet other random people/kids and are chill w/them, like w/that kid they met in the rain forest earlier on w/the time travel 

the descriptions of the brutally cold weather were great. I hate the cold so I was like oof this is a nightmare lmao

also ig that was the first ghostwritten book and I did kinda notice it was slightly different than usual? maybe? I could be imagining it tho 

okay but book 26 tho...BOOK 26. bruh 

that was SO good and I really didn’t know what to expect - but when we finally revisited Jake’s dream w/crayak I knew it was gonna be good (but I didn’t expect it to be a chess game war epic..!)

basically I loved it. SUCH a good Jake book - I really appreciate his character now as opposed to when I was 10 and often overlooked him (sorry jake).

similarly, when I was a kid and read these I sympathized a lot w/the chee and felt bad for them towards the end of the series when they had to get more involved in the war (genuinely don’t remember what they even do but ik I felt bad) 

but now I've basically 180′d and I'm like damn those chee sure are hypocrites huh. 

like they could solve So many of the animorphs problems but their stringent adherence to nonviolence leads to them actively getting in the animorphs way sometimes? and obviously pacifism is a complicated topic, but in this case it also intersect w/the whole ‘child soldier’ thing, and as beings who are insanely old and wise, the chee probably shouldn't just leave all the dirty work to a bunch of literal middle schoolers

aaaaanyways. there’s so much I love about this book. the iskoort! they were sure something. and the ‘plot twist’ that they are actually 2 beings, the Isk and the Yoort - and the Yoort are essentially Yeerks - that slapped. the symbiosis of it all! 

I loved the part where they all realize what this means, that this is why Crayak wants the iskoort destoryed - because someday the yeerks might come across them and realize parasitism is not the only way. I love it! 

alas I don’t recall the iskoort returning in the story (but also my memory is terrible so who knows?) but still that would be cool

basically I feel like this is the book where Jake Truly comes into his own as a leader, in every sense. he outmaneuvers Crayak, and even the ellimist, who’s yanking them around in his own way

the scene where jake shoves the howler off the cliff and jumps off and morphs and acquires the howler...that was fantastic and tense. 

also the murder is definitely becoming more overt. I mean, it has been for a while, but it isn’t really pointed out as much anymore. oof

more on the chee - as Jake points out in this book, and other characters point out in other books - the chee could have saved the pemalites, but instead just stood by while their creators were slaughtered. on the other hand, jake says, what do the chee do AFTER they’ve killed the howlers - where to point them next? when is the end of their violence? 

buuuuut also standing by while atrocities occur is pretty damning, as is frequently mentioned in this series - from the very beginning, when marco initially doesn’t want to get involved in the war at all, and the other animorphs basically tell him that turning his back on the war and acting like he doesn’t even know it’s happening would be immoral and cowardly (which imo this reaction helps to push marco in the direction he ends up going, but I digress) - this topic comes up again in 19 when cassie quits the team and rachel is upset bc she sees it as cassie elevating her own feelings above the greater good (as in, as long as cassie feels good about how she acts, it doesn’t matter how much preventable evil the yeerks are committing while she turns away). etc etc. but that’s essentially what’s happening w/the chee - even tho they help w/intel, the lack of any sort of Action on their part means that they’re essentially allowing awful things to happen when they could prevent them. this is rambly but basically...animorphs deals so much in grey areas, and the chee are noticeably black and white in their actions, despite falling, in a meta sense, in an extremely grey area. its such good, thought provoking writing!

anywayssss I keep talking about the chee lmao what else was there. oh YEAH jake and cassie kissed for the first time awww that was super cute 

and ofc immediately marco teases them as asks jake if he’s gonna kiss him next, and all I can say is...marco is a bicon 

also I love the background worldbuilding w/the iskoort, how they have all these groups and guilds and stuff - its not dwelled on much, which actually works really well to give the world/species a sense of lived-in realness 

okay oh man and the reveal at the end that the howlers were just like...children who thought the whole thing was a game...AUGHH man that’s sooo fucked 

like, when jake morphs the howler and has rachel ready to knock him down in grizzly morph if he gets out of control due to the howler’s murderous instincts, and he morphs to find that the howler is...playful, like a dolphin morph. SUCH a good fucked up sense of dawning horror there 

and the fact that as far as I can tell the chee KNEW this, but wanted revenge anyways, so they let the animorphs assume that the howlers were Evil On Purpose

also I love smaller moments, like jake seeing that ax is ashamed for briefly running away during one battle w/the howlers, and then entrusts him w/an important task bc he knows that ax will see that as redemption - and when everyone thought jake was dead and were so happy when he wasn't (they all love each other so much im gonna cry about these child soldiers augh)

basically that book was so good

man one thing I absolutely love is that the longer the series goes on the more obvious it is that andalites, despite inventing morphing technology, barely use it themselves 

like, most of the andalite characters we see barely morph. its kind of a last resort to them, as they’re already plenty dangerous in their regular forms 

meanwhile for the animorphs, that’s all they have to fight with. that’s their only weapons against the yeerks, and its so fun to see them use the power in so many varied ways, and so creatively, while the andalites have barely scratched the surface of their own technology

its also interesting to contrast against the yeerks who start out w/absolutely no technology, and the andalites share some but not all of their technology w/them...its too bad that morphing technology was just starting out cause that would’ve been interesting

like imo a lot of the conflict w/the yeerks could’ve been avoided if they could just nothlit into better forms - of course, there’d still be plenty of yeerks who want to go start wars or w/e, just like pretty much any species in the series, but a lot of yeerks would probably be like ‘yeah I'm good’ and just chill out as nothlits

also people online love to talk about how humans are alienfuckers and would definitely have sex w/sentient aliens and whatnot, and while I'm not saying that's untrue, its just funny bc in animorphs the truest alienfuckers are definitely the andalites

as of the hork-bajir chronicles, we now have a second instance of an andalite morphing another species to be in an inter-species alien romance (and eventually have kids) 

speaking of, I don’t think I’ve talked abt the hork bajir chronicles yet??? even tho I read it a while ago lmao 

HBC was great...I honestly haven’t really run into an animorphs book I’ve actually disliked at this point, I’m sure it’ll come w/all the ghostwriting and whatnot, but I’ve liked at least some aspects of every book

anyways HBC was great, and it’s funny bc I remember that I read this book as a kid, and yet rereading it now I didn’t remember a single bit of it lmaooo

I really liked the framing device of the free hork bajir telling this story to tobias. I also liked how we know from the beginning that this story wont have a happy ending - we know all the hork bajir end up enslaved by the yeerks, but it’s still somehow hopeful at the end? I think this is largely due to the framing device tbh. 

also I love toby, and I love that the First free hork bajir named their kid after tobias ;_; 

and oooh mannn I LOVED the different POVs from this book. all the characters were so interesting! aldrea was fascinating - I really like the increasingly negative view of the andalites that the readers are getting, all while maintaining the sense that they aren’t like, actively evil, just that they have their issues - like aldrea’s arrogance, and the general andalite arrogance which lead to the loss of the hork bajir. also, who knew andalites had their own brand of sexism? Ls

I did like getting a female andalite tho, that was cool. and dak was really cool, he was such a good, compassionate character who was able to maintain his morals in an interesting way throughout the story

and VISSER THREE...or should I say esplin 9466, because he’s not visser 3 yet...getting his ‘origin story’ was excellent - I really like how we’re learning about visser 3 backwards - we start off the series w/him as the main villain, and he’s campy and menacing, and then we see him in the andalite chronicles as a power-hungry sub-visser trying to climb the ranks and eventually getting alloran as a host, and then back even further here, w/the start of his focus on the andalites and the beginning of his ambition. its been very cool and interesting to see

plus, the beginning of the yeerks as we know them! seerow! alloran! it’s a party and nobody is having a good time, except for some of the yeerks. 

I like how it’s pretty obvious that the andalites are well-meaning with their interactions w/the yeerks, but go about it the wrong way - they give them enough technology that the yeerks realize there’s a whole world out there to experience, and then they blockade the yeerks on their planet and tell them they can’t leave. nnnnot the best approach imo

again, as I said above, I’m interested in how things could’ve gone if the andalites had given the yeerks morphing technology early on - could a lot of the conflict have been avoided, or would it have been worse? the yeerks seem pretty evil in this book, immediately jumping to enslave anyone they can. otoh we hear from esplin that not all yeerks like having host bodies, and find it overwhelming, preferring to swim around in the yeerk pool as a slug - I assume as host bodies became more available this type of thinking was probably stamped out in yeerk society or w/e, but there are a lot of interesting what-ifs in the situation 

I loved the scene where esplin first experiences having a host, and immediately knows he can’t go back. there are a bunch of great sensory descriptions, and it’s a nice scene to pinpoint as a foundational moment for the visser three in the current story, who spent a lot of time and energy getting what he sees as the best possible host body, an andalite

I find it interesting how much visser three clearly respects the andalites, even while constantly deriding them. and you can see the origins of that here as he immediately focuses in on the andalites, working to become an expert on them in order to make himself useful enough to move thru the ranks

another thing I like is how esplin seems a lot more crafty and ambitious than the visser three from modern times - I would guess that reaching his goal (andalite host body) and being given all that power was detrimental, playing on his weaknesses instead of his strengths. basically, I don’t think it’s ooc or anything, I can see how HBC-esplin became animorphs-esplin, especially w/TAC in between

as for seerow...poor dude. you really do have to feel for him, because you get the sense he really did just want to be kind to the yeerks, but it was borne from a place of pity, and he (and the other andalites) consistently held too much power over the yeerks for the species relations to ever be truly equal and functional 

AUGH I have so many thoughts about alien space politics. omg. I need to talk about the actual story lmao

so yeah I also feel for aldrea, she had a rough time, watching her entire family die and being thrown into a hopeless war

and then the andalite council or w/e not listening to her bc she's a girl AND seerow’s daughter...oof

also, I really really liked the running theme of the andalites - specifically aldrea - looking down on the hork bajir as ‘simple’ and constantly underestimating them, especially dak

and I like how this is portrayed as a bad attitude for aldrea to have, and she still remains and interesting and sympathetic character even while having obvious flaws. it’s about being 3-dimensional baby!

and oh man I love that dak realizes that aldrea looks down on him, and his entire species, but he can see that that’s how the andalites are, and it all connects back to the beginning of the story w/the yeerks, bc the andalites looked down on the yeerks and treated them with pity and kept them pinned under their proverbial thumb ‘for their own good’ and look how that turned out 

but dak is wise and kind enough to not hate aldrea for this, even acknowledging when she’s using him, but not pushing her away because he recognizes good in her too - and she ends up changing, partially because of his faith in her

and I feel like it can all be compared to that scenario of like - a hypothetical creature that lives in a 2D world suddenly being thrust into a 3D world, and comprehending what its seeing, and understanding that there’s so much more out there outside of the flat lines of its world - and then its dropped back into 2D-land with the knowledge of all the stuff its missing out on, and no way to get back to it or explain it to anybody else

I loooove that ‘trope’ or w/e you wanna call it, and it’s done beautifully here w/the yeerks - whos the say they wouldn't have been fine in their pool swimming around; as esplin said, a lot of the yeerks were terrified of having a host, it was only from the andalites’ perspective that their lives were sad and pitiful, and the andalites showed them what the world could be like, and then said ‘no, you can’t travel the stars like we do, you have to stay here on your planet and do what we say.’

and then again, w/the hork bajir - dak talks about how, even though he drinks up the knowledge that aldrea gives him, in the end it might have been better to just have lived peacefully, not knowing what was in the sky or the Deep - as aldrea says: “It was too late for Dak: he knew that the stars were not flowers.” 

plus the hork bajir having to go from a completely peaceful species who don’t even understand the concept of violence, to a bunch of soldiers fighting a war...oof 

basically everyone in this story uses the hork bajir. the yeerks use them as hosts, the andalites use their planet as a convenient place to dump seerow and then take their sweet time coming to help, and the arn created them as means to stabilize the planet, but block them off from their society and refuse to help when the yeerks come

like, the arn modifying themselves to be un-infestable by the yeerks and then being enslaved for physical labor instead? oof guys. if they had teamed up w/the hork bajir resistance things might have gone better, but probably not 

more on aldrea - throughout the story I was always thinking ‘how am I supposed to see her? as a good person, or as a bad person?’ 

as a POV character, especially a ‘good guy’ andalite, you just start off automatically thinking of her as a good person, but as the story goes on, she starts getting lost in revenge and begins using dak and the hork bajir, and you’re left wondering if this is a story about her slide into darkness, and then towards the end of the story her character development culminates in her making the decision to stay w/the hork bajir, and the be with dak, and that’s about when I went ‘ohhh right this is animorphs so every character is pretty much gonna be grey’

I feel like that moral grey-ness was on full display w/aldrea, and I really enjoyed that. I love so much when characters who are good do bad things, for good or bad reasons, especially in media like animorphs that’s aimed at kids. it’s so compelling. 

oof, and the ending when aldrea convinces dak to mobilize the hork bajir and teach them violence...and dak asks her if she’s ever killed another andalite, and she’s horrified, and says of course she hasn’t, and he says that that’s what she’s asking him, and all the hork bajir, to do - to kill their own people, even if they are being controlled by the yeerks. biiiig oof. I love that dak can keep up w/aldrea and her andalite supremacy attitude - it seems that the non-andalite characters who get along best w/the andalites are the ones who wont take their bs 

what else happened....oh my god how could I forget about alloran, and his quantum virus. oooof. I like how we find out about alloran in parallel to visser three, in the same backwards way - in animorphs he’s the tragic host of visser three, in TAC he’s the disgraced but still semi-respected war-prince who becomes the first ever andalite controller, and here he’s the guy who decides to commit some war crimes because, hey, we haven’t tried that yet 

but yeah that was fucked up, I love it. I’ve said it before I think but I like that alloran isn’t some perfect martyr tragically taken by the yeerks - it’s a lot more compelling that he’s a very flawed person who was taken as a controller partially due to his own bloodthirstiness. 

but yeah, the part where aldrea morphs alloran and ‘sneaks’ into that room was great. aldrea’s dedication to disposing of the virus is a great indicator of her character development - it really feels like the straw that broke the camels back w/re: to the andalites not being what she thought they were, w/their tardiness coming to help the hork bajir planet and the way her father was treated being the precursors to this realization. it all culminates nicely in aldrea saying ‘fuck this actually’ and nothlit-ing into a hork bajir.

and it’s really tragic but realistic that even though aldrea and dak end up seeing eye to eye at the end and getting together, the virus ends up being released anyways (and fails in its objective to stop the yeerks from using the hork bajir - the whole thing was p much a lose-lose situation oof), and aldrea and dak still die fighting a hopeless war 

but then we have the free hork bajir on earth, including toby, who, like tobias, has andalite ancestry, but no DNA to show for it - I like that they have that connection as well as tobias being her namesake

so yeah I enjoyed that one and its many-layered themes

WOW this got long uuuuuhhh ok I think i’ll leave this one off here. at the time I’m actually finishing the writing and editing, I’m on book 35 lol so I have some backlogging to do. never fear, I have a lot to say....

[sunshinetoshi]

plss petty + pretty made me laugh ♥️ also i hope your assignment went well!

samee overthinking will make me second guess every message and email i send to someone idk well 😔

no me too bc i thRIVE off of my friends' boy stories partly bc i don't have any truly interesting ones myself (rip) but they're so fun

okay speaking of main character love stories, LITERALLY one of my friends is so pretty and nice that she has been stopped at school irl by strangers who wanted to give her their numbers seVERAL times. she talked about boba with a cute group project partner to break the ice and then he took her to his fav boba places. she once went to a club event for her friend and a guy in the club kept inviting her back even though she wasn't a member before eventually asking her out. a guy who worked at a cafe she went to during work breaks would flirt with her and give her discounts and extras with her order and she wanted to get his number but then her shifts changed and she never saw him again. she once went to a bakery and the cashier wrote on the receipt that she was pretty and she would have gone back bc she thought he was cute but she was on a trip so she couldn't. i knew some of these guys too and they were actually decent people??? things didn't work out w any of them long term for legit reasons but they all ended on decent terms and?? THE POWER???? can i have this too pls

(preferably w an anime crush but you know, irl works)

im sorry that was so long but i kept thinking of examples ajlnfjdgk

-🍁

oooo thank you!! i cracked myself writing it HAHA and my assignment?? i hope it went well too 😳😳 LMAO i was typing so fast trying to turn it in on time i probs made zero sense

SENDING MESSAGES YES. yall dont understand how long i stare at my phone before pressing send (and then if the convo is REALLY back and forth and i dont have THE TIME to overthink i'm just panicking BAHAHA - OR if i try to relax and just live in the moment it's fun until i think BACK on it later on 😩😩)

YOUR FRIEND OMG. that's all so!! ahh!! ig i'll patiently wait my turn for some main character screentime

okay i know i might EVENTUALLY settle for a 3d man (sad) but i will NOT settle UNTIL he resembles my 2d selfships 🤧🤧