#it’s just about giving us a new character design to draw. a new mask to add to luxu’s growing pile

[marie-m-art]

Good Animated Omens - Behind the Scenes

Here's a behind-the-scenes look at the walk cycles I animated of Aziraphale and Crowley (original post here).

I'll reiterate that the character designs are @lookitsstevie's creation! I made builds in Toonboom Harmony based on their designs, and then animated the builds.

Long post under the cut, organized into four parts. Feel free to jump around or just click through the images and gifs to get an idea of the gist. (At least take a look at Part IV, where you'll see a version of Aziraphale without his jacket and a closeup of Crowley's torso!)

Hopefully this is interesting even if you don't know the first thing about animation. It's not a step-by-step-from-scratch tutorial, but it might give animators some ideas to think about when trying this software!

I'm happy to answer questions about what I cover here - comments, DM's, or ask-box questions are all fine by me. If you like any of the new gifs and want to reblog it on its own, I can make new posts for those upon request! (I'd prefer you don't reupload them, but if you do please at least credit me with a tag to my account - thank you!!)

Part I: The interface and some basics

Above is a screencap of the software interface.

In the centre is the Camera window, where all the drawing and animating is done. 

To the left, the Node View. It's a representation of how the pieces and layers that make the characters are grouped and connected to each other, which is what makes a character "build". Every piece in this window is called a node, and there are different types. Light blue "drawing nodes" contain the drawings themselves. Each drawing node usually has a green "peg" attached; the peg is used to move and rotate the drawing piece; you set a pivot point on each peg. Light grey nodes are groups that have more nodes within, and dark blue nodes are added effects (eg masks, the blur for the halo, etc).

Below, the Timeline - it's where keyframes are set and tweened. The red square dots indicate there is a new keyframe on a particular frame; the white dots indicate keyframes are on layers nested somewhere under the topmost visible layer. All the pieces of the characters can be found in the timeline and correspond to the pieces that exist in the Node View (and Camera). Typically you work with a collapsed view of the build layers in the timeline, which allows you to set keyframes on multiple layers at once.

To the right, a few tabs in this window - Tool Properties, Colour Palettes, and, shown on top here, the Library. The library is where you store your builds, so that you can bring in a fresh copy when animating a new scene. This library tab also has the Drawing Substitution window, which shows thumbnails of every drawing contained in a drawing node when that node is selected.

A second of animation is 24 frames long. Finished animation will often have keyframes on every second frame with the tweens removed, to help simulate the look and feel of traditional animation - this is known as animating "on twos", and saved time, money and paper in the old days. If you leave the tweens on, and/or have keyframes on every frame, the animation is "on ones".

My walks are on twos - it's the look I prefer.

When I say "tween" I'm specifically referring to the software feature that will automatically calculate and interpolate the path between two different poses/keys of a peg. An inbetween could be the result of using a tween, a new drawing, or both. On twos, an inbetween will look the same as any other keyframe on the timeline when you're finished - its relevance as a concept is during the process, not the end result.

Quality animation is achieved via a combination of moving/tweening pre-existing drawings using their pegs, and adding new drawings as hand-drawn inbetweens when needed. Toonboom Harmony also has nodes called "deformers": they offer a way to tween the shape of a drawing without needing to redraw inside the drawing node. (Part IV has the explanation for which pieces I used them for, and why.)

Part II: Navigating the builds

This is what their default poses with no animation look like.

Animation using builds is sometimes colloquially referred to as "puppet-style animation" because the way you can connect body parts to each other feels like making and handling a 2D digital puppet: you can connect a hand to a forearm so that they can move as a unit, and you can connect that unit to an upper arm to move the whole arm as a unit, and that arm gets connected to the torso, and so on.

When you want to connect two pieces, like a hand to a forearm, then you create another peg in the Node View and attach the two body parts together under that new peg. The screencaps below show the nodes that make up Aziraphale's and Crowley's entire builds inside their respective groups:

Things got a bit sloppy ... It looks extremely complicated, but once it's set up, you don't have to think about it too much when you're animating!

And I've zoomed in on the nodes that make their arms so you can see how there are pegs on top of pegs (all the green nodes), with wires connecting everything:

As I explained in Part I, new drawings are added and contained within a body part's drawing node (the light blue ones under the green ones), and the Drawing Substitution window is where you can see all the drawings that exist in a particular node. In the timeline, you set keyframes for moving the pegs, and you also choose which frame the new drawings will appear when applicable. You might have a lot of drawings stored in the nodes, but only what you set to appear in the timeline will be visible in the final animation.

You can select a body part in the camera view, and then find the corresponding layer in the Timeline or the Node View by pressing the "o" keyboard shortcut. If you select a body part by clicking on it, and then press the "b" keyboard shortcut, you will jump up to the next peg it's connected to. You can hide and unhide pieces using "d" and "a" respectively.

In the first capture above, I'm showing that the arm pieces can be moved separately or together, and you can see how the pegs in the Node View light up when I select them in the Camera window (hiding them turns them red). In the second capture, I pop down to the timeline to step back and forth between the poses - the light grey row (it appears between the rows of red dots) represents the hand's drawing node in the timeline.

Part III: Summary of animation process

In my head I imagined how their walks would differ from each other - Aziraphale bouncier but with very straight posture and limited arm movement, vs Crowley slinking and swaggering all over.

I also knew that I wanted the animation to look good for both a walking-on-the-spot version, and as a version walking across the screen (both versions are at the top of the post!).

Then I started doing some rough animation.

I set aside my finished builds for the roughs. For each character, I made a few drawing nodes and two pegs; a peg for the up-and-down upper body motion, which I tweened, and a peg for moving them across the screen. The legs and arms are drawing substitutions.

With these extremely rudimentary rough "builds", I worked out - how many frames long the walks would be, - how far the characters would move across the screen each step, - how much the upper bodies would move up and down, and - the key drawings of the legs and feet.

I didn't worry about animating clothing, hair, or Azi's arms in the rough stage. For those elements, the drawings would be spaced really close together and would be easier to figure out with tweens. (Note: this rudimentary setup would be sufficient if you want to clean up and inbetween characters by hand frame-by-frame instead of making full builds; my preference is build animation because the process is more fun for me)

Then I started working with the finished builds, using the roughs as a guide, and established the broadest motions first: the up-and-down motion in the upper bodies (I set a keyframe at the lowest point, a keyframe at the highest point, then tweened between them) and how far they'd travel across the screen. Then the feet were done.

I went back and forth between viewing them walking on the spot and walking across the screen to make sure that both versions worked. I also made sure they crossed the same amount of ground relative to each other.

After those crucial parts, I moved on to animating their arms, hair, torsos, clothing details, and finishing the legs, not necessarily in that order. I simulated twisting/rotating their torsos in 3d space by moving their waistcoats and lapels.

The first gif switches back and forth between versions (imagine a background scrolling by when they walk on the spot). The second gif is an example of bad "footslip" - they're moving at different speeds, and if you pay attention to their feet, Aziraphale appears to slip on ice while Crowley appears to slide forward on skates.

"You go too fast for me, Crowley!"

Part IV: Extras and details

Here is a version of Aziraphale's walk without his jacket, and a closeup of Crowley so you can see his swaying hips better:

One of the cool things about animating with builds is they lend themselves well to small modifications; the jacketless version took all of five minutes to make.

I'd be remiss not to include a close-up of Aziraphale's hair, the real star of the animation :) (Crowley's hair is also animated but I purposefully kept it understated since it's a much different texture.) And a closeup image of Crowley's snake tattoo:

The biggest unit for both of them are their upper bodies, which includes their pelvises. The up-and-down motion is only on one peg instead of on every single piece, which is handy because it means I can hide just that part of the animation when I want to work on the clothing details:

During the process of animation, I am often hiding then unhiding pieces like this so I can see what I'm doing.

Their clothing ended up being a lot of separate pieces, which I kept adding during animation rather than before, as it was hard to predict everything I needed. Their clothing also incorporates cutters (aka masks), and deformers (see explanation in Part I). In the next set of gifs the deformers show up as green outlines with handles and get turned on and off.

Aziraphale's torso functions as a mask for his clothing. The shape of his torso subtly changes via deformer. His lapels and waistcoat have V shapes that are masks/cutters (they cut a V shape out of those pieces); the same pieces that make the cutters also are used for the black lines of those V shapes via a special layering setup. The main shapes of his lapels are animated with deformers, and you can see how far beyond his torso shape they extend when I turn on the deformers in the second gif.

Deformers work best for shapes that change a little bit, and/or slowly. The minor shape changes in his and Crowley's clothes ended up being a great use case for deformers, because they pretty much tweened perfectly.

The reason I didn't use them on Aziraphale's legs was because those shapes change significantly between keys; I predicted I'd have to re-adjust every frame of a tweened deformer, so I drew the inbetweens by hand (halfway through, I realized I probably should have used them after all, but I was in too deep by then; hand drawing was fun though!). Deformers worked well on his bottom jacket:

Crowley's pelvis is layered above and below his thigh pieces and has a deformer. Also take a look at all the drawing substitutions for his hands:

And lastly the deformers on the hair:

Epilogue

I'm hoping the gifs all play at the same speed for everyone as they play for me. Hopefully the demo gifs are at least watchable, if not super clear... (I'll listen to feedback on the presentation of the information, for if I do similar posts in future!) Don't hesitate to ask questions about anything I covered, or about any details you noticed that I didn't elaborate on!

ko-fi.com/marieanimate

I'm shy about mentioning it, but I set up a Ko-fi account in case this post compels anyone to leave a small "tip" (but reblogging and sharing is just as good)!

Thanks for reading, and have a nice day!

[hezuart]

LITTLE NIGHTMARES 3

aaaaaaAAAAAA

DANG OKAy

So I had a premonition for Little Nightmares 3. Last night I had a dream that Mono was just growing old in a tower he chose to stay in as a hermit and just retired there. The runaway kid's real name was revealed to be "Gilbert" and he summoned UFOs that performed a wicked cool airshow over the sea, but then the USA government shot them down and captured them for experimentation. The government was also after a bunch of super powered teenagers and children. They all swam away and tried to escape. Six was amongst them. One of the teenagers took a liking to Six and used her powers to change Six's (super long???) hair a bright red. It was then revealed the government figurehead in charge of the capture raid was Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story. I should also mention every single person including the kids in my dream looked like they were from the Lorax movie. Like imagine Little Nightmares but all Onceler style. I woke up to several dozen messages of Little Nightmares 3 trailer and well... I'm very relieved it's nothing like my dream.

~~~

Anyway! I had very low, negative expectations for LN3. I didn't think it would ever come out, and if it did, it wouldn't be the same. I am SO glad to be wrong. This developer apparently also worked on Little Nightmares 2, so they had a feel for the story, concepts, atmosphere, and gameplay. Little Nightmares 3 trailer doesn't give us a ton to work with, but I see high inspiration from previously unused concepts. Like the crows and mirrors in the Little Nightmares comics, and the giant baby from Little Nightmares 2 concept art.

The crow boy looks as though he can go through mirrors and technically fly with a black-feathered umbrella he uses to float. The girl has a wrench, and at first, I thought she was wearing an ugly gas mask, but it's apparently an old-fashioned pilot hat. So I touched it up in my drawing to make it look more recognizable... and cute. Already their designs are very intriguing. Can't tell what the full story is about, but they're new characters in a new setting, I'm very excited to see the world get expanded!

It's still a somewhat different style and atmosphere to the previous two games, but this developer really seemed like they paid attention and made it as authentic as they possibly could, and for that I am so grateful, I respect them so much. I am now changed! I've got a hopeful and optimistic mindset for the future of this series.

ESPECIALLY AFTER LEARNING IT'S ACTUALLY GONNA BE CO-OP. HELLO?!

WHO WANTS TO DROP ME OFF A CLIFF?? LETS DO IT

[p0rk-guts]

"Pork you literally posted Charlie a few days ago why are you so Hazbin obsessed rn-" ssshhhhshhsshhs.h........ anyway

VAGGIE REDESIGN! And I changed her name also bc I'm jus like everyone else fr. Meet Verbena :)

BREAKDOWN BELOW!👇🏾+ Exorcist uniform redesign :3

Starting with her name this time. Back when she was still a sinner apparently she was Salvadorian and since she's (apparently?) not a former human at all I decided to take a small creative liberty with her decent and made her Venezualan instead. SOUTH AMERICUH❗❗✊🏾 I'm pretty sure Verbena flowers are native to South America so that's where the name comes from.

Onto the design! I don't have much to say abt her design honestly. It's not egregious, but it doesn't really speak to me either. It looks like simple formal wear or uniform with some strange meaningless accessories attached. And those weird itty bitty shoes that look like they're part of her thigh highs... I'm starting to think all the characters's shoes were a last minute afterthought. All and all it tells us nothing about her character. The hair wings are cool tho so I did steal those

Also the whole deal with her eye is strange to me. Why Is the floating X there??? It's a real physical part of the world, other people can see it. Do pink X's always float over angel wounds? If her arm got chopped off would an X float over it? Was it like. A fucking curse visual placed by Lute as a constant reminder of her disloyalty? Why did Carmilla point out it was an obvious marker for her being an angel???? My brain can't fathom why it's canonically attached to her wound. If she was a sinner I'd kinda understand but. Yeah idk. Weird

Also her missing eye does not look like an empty socket it looks like a purple circle was sticker pasted on to her face. It's very flat. How did we go from this

to this

(IT'S EVEN OVERLAPPING ONTO HER NOSE IN THIS SCREENSHOT WHAT IS THAT THING.)

Anyway. I made her hair resemble Polyphemus moth wings because 1. They have eye looking spots and angels are all eyes and 2. Well. Polyphemus has 1 eye. So . 💀

Her overall coloring however is inspired by a Promethea moth. I could say it's because Prometheus defied the gods and Verbena did a similar thing but the real reason is I made a spelling error while initially looking for a Polyphemus moth reference 💀 but hey they both have eye spots! And Iike their coloring for her way better

I also redesigned the exorcist uniform for her redesign bc I wanted her outfit to have reminiscent elements from it.

I gave way less time to the uniform designs, but I still had some main details I wanted to adress. I don't like how they have no armor save for their helmets. Their arm and leg pieces are made of some flexible material that tears easily. It's not giving soldier it's giving soldier costume from party city. The devil like horns are also confusing to see on an angel and the paradoxical design is never addressed. They can be evil and look imposing, but the horns just seem kinda nonsensically on the nose to show how evil they are. At least to me.

In my designs I gave them actual metal armor on their bodies so you can easily tell they're soldiers and it makes sense for them to battle in armor anyway. I also gave them more light "angelic" colors with gold details bc I wanna use gold as a symbol of angelic nature in my rewrite. I wanted their masks to show completely static expressions with wide grins to show how unnerving they are and to allude to the idea that everyone is happy in heaven, and they're all happy to do what they do.

Verbena's belt and shoulder pads draw visual similarities to the pauldrons and mid section pieces in my new exorcist uniforms to draw a connection between her and her past. The Blazer draping behind her back is also supposed to mimic the visual of folded wings. I also tried to do this with all the gold details in her design. The big hoops and belt we're 80's inspired because I decided to follow how in one of her old designs she died in the 60's (even had the big hoops and everything). In my rewrite exorcists are all former humans but I'll get into that later. Also she's got an eye patch now! Just. A normal one.

Charlie is still taller than Verbena just like in the original and idk how tall Vaggie Is exactly but Verbena is like 5'5 while Charlie is 5'11. Verbena's also got more muscle on her bc unless their muscle mass is hidden magically or they don't gain muscle for stupid dumb idiot lore reasons all the exorcists look way too slim to be military grade soldiers but what do I know

I combined a lot of pointy shapes with boxy shapes bc— more similarly to her pilot self— she can be volatile and fierce but also grounded and impassive. I added the slits to her skirt so she can be a sexy formal lady who can still comfortably throw a few kicks, and the heels— well. Idk I feel like she could slay in heels! She definitely doesn't wear em all the time but yeah. Chunky heels. I like them they're cute. Also she's got her little name tag on bc she takes Charlie's job for her SERIOUSLY! she's uh. Idk what is she. A bellhop? General security/protection? Either way she's locked in.

I imagine she had white irises like Adam and Lute along with brighter more saturated and heavenly colors in her hair (color picked from the Polyphemus moth) that turned darker and more harsh after the fall (color picked from the Promethea moth). Really visualizing her emo phase /j

Also I think the little eyes in her hair can emote with her. In the final design the line kinda makes an eyelid and it'd match her eyelid's movements. Sillay

Alright that's a wrap on my Vaggie redesign! No bonus sketches this time bc they're within the texts! Who knows what I'll do next. Who I will deface. I sure don't. I think I might rename Charlie so there's that. Anywhozies hope you like her <3

[indieyuugure]

Your comic series is the first Rottmnt comic Iv ever read! It was an amazing first impression to the Rottmnt fandom! Could you teach me how to draw the turtle boys ( rise turtles)?

Also love the new update!

Aw! I’m so glad my comic made on good impression on you! ^v^

Of course! I’d love to help you!

So first thing’s first, here’s the boys the best I can draw them. The most important thing when learning to draw new characters is identifying what makes them look like them. We’ll start with the faces since that’s, in most cases, the point of focus.

Leo’s face is a pretty tall and vaguely pentagonal. His face is also very angular, the corners of his cheeks and top of his head are very sharp. Leo has the traditional style mask with tails that drop down to about his waist.

Donnie has that smart boi forehead and majestic eyebrows. His forehead often has a soft curve to it while, similarly to Leo, his cheeks and jaw use sharp angles. Remember too that the top of his head is flat, there’s no curve. His mask is that newer pirate style that wraps over the top of his head, with the tails looking like curvy squares.

Mikey’s face is a combination of a rounded square and a circle. The top of his head, while much rounder than Donnie’s, is somewhat square. The bottom of his face is a curve. Sometimes I draw the curve in line segments, but it’s not a requirement and won’t impact the way he looks. In general though, Mikey has a very circular face. His mask is the traditional TMNT style with the rounded bouncing tails on the back.

Raph is arguably the hardest to get right for some odd reason. Really though Raph’s face is just a shorter version of Leo’s face with slightly more exaggerated angles. His face is like a fat pentagon. Also tip: Raph’s eyes are always just a little smaller then you think they’re going to be. Trace some scenes from the ROTTMNT movie, you’ll see what I mean. Raph’s mask is the same style as Donnie’s where it covers the whole top of his head. There’s a small nick on the edge above his right cheek and the tails are tattered.

Okay, next are their markings! They play a lot in how easily identifiable they are.

I figured these diagrams should help as a little map as to what spots go where.

Alright, now we’ll look at their shells. There are many amazing diagrams and explanations for drawing their shells on Pinterest I’ve found, but I’ll sum it up here as best I can.

Leo’s shell is very sleek in design making his is profile look the thinnest of his brothers. Many people describe his general body shape as being an inverted triangle.

Donnie’s shell is very straight with hardly any curves. I didn’t include his battle shell in this since that qualifies as “gear” in my opinion, so you get to see what Donnie’s shell looks like! You’ll notice that the sides of his shell are very wide, which I’m guessing is because the curve of his carapace is so shallow.

Mikey’s shell is very similar to Leo’s but is a lot thicker and boxier(haha get it? Cause he’s like, a Box Turtle? :D I’m so lame…). He’s also much rounder and the distance between his plastron and carapace is pretty big.

Raph’s shell is probably the most complex of the boys because of all the spikes. Good things to keep in mind are that the spikes on the top of his plastron angle out, and spikes on his carapace flow up. In general think of Raph as a pentagon, he’s got big broad shoulders and arms and almost comically short legs. (And yes, I’m aware that I didn’t include the side of his shell here, it was too big to fit on the diagram. But just to give you an idea of where it should be, around the “w” in “flow” is where it should connect to his carapace.

Okay! So now that we’ve covered what the boys look like, let’s apply it to their bodies!

Here’s a quick sketch of Leo. “Oh, but Indie” I hear people say, “I can only draw basic shapes and stick figures!” Well to that I say good because that’s what I’m doing too!

For drawing action, it’s crucial to capture the energy of the character. And in a style like Rise’s energy is an iconic trait. So I’ve re-invented this “shape method” to actually be useful. The number one thing is that these shapes are loose guides as to the positioning of the body. Don’t think of these shapes as “well chests are like cubes and arms are like rectangles.” These shapes are place holders. I could replace those circles with stars and it wouldn’t change anything. I just use circles because they’re faster to scribble and stand out against the hard angles of everything else.

Here’s a picture of the shapes overlayed on the image, as you see, these shapes are guides to help comprehend a complex angle in 3D space. Sadly I don’t have much I can assist with on proportions, since I learned purely by studying total uncreepily real life people and myself (I swear I’m posing in the mirror for purely educational reasons! Okay!?).

But anyway, for this kind of thing, practice is the only remedy. Just draw action pose after action pose. Trace scenes from ROTTMNT and the movie to teach your eye to see what things should look like and to train your brain to recognize patterns of shapes and angles.

I hope you found this at all helpful. I’m not really sure how great of a teacher I am but people keep asking questions like these so I guess I’m okay. Glad you liked ROTP so much and I’m glad it made such a good impression on you! ^v^

Good question! :]

And of course if you have more questions, feel free to ask. Here are some previous asks about drawing I’ve gotten that you might also find interesting:

Tricks for Drawing Extra Expressive Faces

More Tricks for Drawing Expressions

Tips and Tricks to Drawing Non-Graphic Wounds

Basic Guide and Tips for Drawing the 2012 and Rise Turtles

How to Draw 2012 Raph’s Fire Ninpo

Nailing The 2012 TMNT Style in 2D

Important Concepts in Drawing Female Characters

[the-cat-and-the-birdie]

I don't know who needs to hear this, but you should make an OC.

You should make an OC. Specifically a Spider-Sona. Like now. Preferably yesterday. [A MEDIUM-LONG essay about OC's, fanfiction, and how to enrich and better your writing skills in literally every sector. Throughout this essay I reference my two characters Disco-Spider and Inca-Spider as examples of the way OCs can be used.]

_________________________________________

"But no one cares about OCs -"

OKKAYYYY??

IDK about ya'll but fandom is NOT my final destination no siree

I feel like a lot of the time we get so caught up in posting and notes we forget that for many artists and writers on this platform - fanfiction is not the true end goal.

Many of us write and draw fanart for years -

But the fact of the matter is if you want to be an author someday, if you want to be a graphic novelist, an animator, etc, etc - You're going to HAVE to make OCs.

If you want to study English in college or publish books - you're gonna have to write an OC at least once. If not hundreds of times.

If you want to study art - chances are at some point you're gonna have to fill a portfolio with original pieces, including some of OCs.

If you want to do something with your writing, if you want to get better - or make a career out of your art, you HAVE to make OCs at some point.

And this is especially true for fanfiction writers.

You can get very very very good at writing in your specific fandoms, you may have the emotions of the characters on point, and the ability to describe the scenery.

But if you don't know how to create and design a character - if you don't know how to worldbuild, or come up with scenarios without the help of characterai and ChatGPT - you won't be able to write a book.

If you're an artist and you don't know how to draw an original character from scratch, how to match colors, how to draw certain skin tones, certain hair, wheelchairs and mobility aids, how to design a character from looks, to clothing - it's going to be so hard to expand your art outside of fanart. You'll always be beholden to the notes and popularity of your particular fandom.

Do it - even if you've never written or never draw before. Even better.

That's why I CHAMPION Spider-sonas so much. They're basically OCs on easy mode.

Can't write backgrounds yet? Here's a bucket on canon events to pick from? Can't draw faces? Blank mask with eyes.

Hell, if you're really really new about it - just pick a character and make a slightly different variant. Make a Hobie of your own, make a Peter variant. Make a Mary Jane variant. Pick a something you like and turn that into a character.

Can't write? Just fill-in the 'My name is [blank], I was bitten by a [blank]' script that Miles does. Can't draw, just draw out a basic shape of a body and color-out the suit, no fancy pose needed. That still counts!!

Make a self-insert. Make yourself fit into the story, design your suit, write out how you fight crime, how you'd act at the Society, meeting Miguel or Miles.

That's still character design, that's still worldbuilding.

We always hear people say 'Make art for yourself' and yeah that sounds nice - but people also misinterpret it.

Make art for yourself doesn't just mean making art that you personally like.

Making art for yourself also means making art that develops your skills even if no one gives a fuck. It's about making art as practice without the intention of it being 'completed', making OCs that never get used, drawing locations you see or writing a random ass short story then shoving it into your Google Drive forever.

Making art for yourself means making art that invests in yourself.

It means making art that interests you, challenges you, or helps you develop.

And making OC's helps develop your fanfic writing skills.

In may fandoms we begin to fall into these routine 'tropes' between characters and their personalities. This is usually known as the 'fanon' characterization.

Because when you have a set amount of characters and people, there's also a set amount of interactions and relationships between those people.

Writing OCs and having those OCs interact with canon characters allows you to dig deeper into sides of the canon characters we'd never otherwise see.

That's why I wrote Disco-Spider Diane like I do. Often, we see Hobie characterized as the chaotic, rowdy, confident type - which is perfect characterization for him. But in almost all of his interactions - he's the wilder, bolder, extroverted one. I wanted to put him in a situation where for once, he was the calmer one. I wanted to explore more grounded and chill sides of Hobie, one where he's the one grounding the other, and thinking logically - because in canon, we're hinted at a side of Hobie who's way more methodical and slow-paced and willing to stop and wait it out and play it off. And I wanted to see that. I wanted to explore what he'd do if he was faced with someone just as chaotic, who put on a cheeky ironic act - just the same as him.

Because no other characters serve that purpose in canon.

If there are elements of a character or concept you think are interesting but outright ignored by canon and fanon, you can create an OC to explore those parts.

For Disco-Spider: I wanted to explore how someone like a militant Black Panther would handle being Spider-woman, when Spider-people are usually shown as pacifists - what that would look like or how it'd shape her morals based on era, etc. For Inca-Spider: I realized there were so many culture based Spider people like Pavitr and Spider-UK. But none for indigenous communities, and NONE from countries that only existed in other universes. So, I created an indigenous character from Tawanti - a country that's located where Peru would be for us.

You can give a canon character a sibling, to explore how they'd interact with family. Give them a partner that acts totally different than their canon partner, write how that'd change the way they show love.

OC's make your original writing better, AND your fanfiction writing too. They can help you understand canon characters on a deeper level.

And sure, nobody likes your OC. NOW.

But every single character you write about, is someones OC. Every character you write about was once treated that way. Once upon a time, Dean Winchester was just some rando character in the pilot script of a show that hadn't picked up yet. Probably no one gave a fuck until CW picked it up.

The writers had to not only make him and develop him - they had to BELIEVE in him enough to pitch him to a TV show channel to make people care.

That's always the first step. Believing your character's story is worthy enough of being told and presenting it as such.

ESPECIALLY if your OC represents a demographic you don't see represented. Cause yes if there isn't any black women in canon then I'll Thanos this shit and do it myself.

Make OCs.

Write them. Draw them. Even if it's bad. Who the hell cares. Big Mouth is on Netflix with multiple seasons, have you seen that show?? 'Ugly' art is not a crime.

Make piccrews, fill out OCforms or take quiz's as them. Write little blurbs of them hanging with canon characters then post it in the tag.

You don't need a huge Spidersona sheet or a long long fic explaining their backstory. They can just be there.

MAKE OCs.

Make them to explore more in your fanfiction, make them so future you can write that novel or draw or that comic or sell those prints or whatever it is you plan to do.

Make it so your fanfiction AND original writing can grow stronger. It isn't just about notes and content and follows.

Make an OC. Make a Spidersona. Literally you have nothing to lose but your chains.

"Nobody cares-"

Oh they'll care when you pop out with that 6-book publishing deal. They'll care when you're designing big characters for movies. Cause that's how it happens. Watch.

ANYWAYSSSS if you made it this far I hope this inspired you to at least play around with the idea of OCs and Spidersonas in general.

Here's Hobie.

BYE.

If you want to make a sona and are kinda lost on where to start, lemme know!! Because I think they're amazing starting places for those who have never written or drawn before. Or if you have a sona but want to develop them further.

I haven't seen a guide to spidersonas and i wonder if that's something some people might want/need.

Seriously if I can even get one person into writing or drawing I'll be over the goddamn moon.

MAKE OCS PLEASE.

[1-800-deactivatednearu]

woag character design notes

[i.d.: a drawn line up of the half life vr ai characters, from left to right, gordon, dr. coomer, tommy, bubby, gman, and benrey. /end i.d.]

yeah i skipped some guys , i dont draw some of them enough to have much unique designs and some of them are a png of a dog

trust me i am just surprised as the rest of yall that i am doing hlvrai art . design notes below (very long, mind your step)

gordon:

wow this guy dont got no head

i didnt want to give gordon a face because of how unexact the person is as the fandom engages with it. is it wayne rtvs? (well as presented to an audience, yes) is it gordon freeman? (well as seen from an in game perspective, yes) is it a whole new guy entirely? (well as

i cut the confusion and took it a whole new direction: guillotine

hlvrai being treated as a very broken game is fun to me as a design perspective, so if you (the audience) are not supposed to see his face, what happens when you see it anyways? missing texture time

there are eyes drawn over because i did not have confidence in my expressions at first and then it grew on me

i think if i were to draw (and i have drawn) an actual person under the mask i would still censor the eyes because that is where the vr headset sits!!

(i do not like putting an actual flesh to gordon though)

though i really like seeing how other people interpret gordon hlvrai it is not . my gordon ? we are talking about the same guy . but this is my gordo . i made this one . this guy my guy . maybe i should draw other gordon designs

i can draw the hev suit from memory and it is also the entire reason why i can render metal confidently

i liked how people changed the lambda to read ai :] i also have no clue if i wrote the lambda correctly

(i did, i just checked)

dr coomer:

as much as i draw/drew him i find it more fun to not stick to one set design :)

so a lot of my takes on dr coomer tend to jump from idea to idea, especially from what other people are doing, though they could be fitted to the left and right designs!

the left design is mainly based off what i saw in fandom spaces

we see rounder shapes, making for a more friendly and welcoming appearance

i think of this as straying from the more professional uniform of the actual scientist models

enter swimming shorts and bright yellow socks, for some reason

so now he kind of looks like a cool science teacher :)

it might be the lab coat

the right design is mainly based off thumbnails for hlvrai itself

these use a more angular appearance

i want to push how comically buff he is because of strength he shows at times, especially since his left design seems to completely down play it as a comically not buff man who is still very strong

the shadows on right design coomer get so much more harsh and exaggerated because i have comic books on the mind :)

he really does look like a dehydrated comic book character huh

tommy:

stick bug (he gets it from his dad) (this thought process is explained at gman section)

i pushed a lot of the saturation of colours in her design because i think tommy gets to be a little silly with it

fun art story of the day! when you color, try messing with hue! you might notice you can get away with a lot as long as your values are about right

i like pushing this with white because you can get away with a lot of things reading as “off white”

old faithful for me is cool shadows with a warm transition colour to keep things visually interesting

i keep making white objects the trans flag

happy pride

tommys design looks a little like a school boy, with the tucked in button up shirt+suspenders+shorts+jacket tied around the waist . and the primary colours . but like it is really fun to dress up so brightly

i actually was strongly inspired by medieval babies if that is a weird descriptor? i wanted him to both be a middle aged man but also a young adult

do not be like tommy, who has their finger on the trigger of the gun while not even looking at where it is pointing and good god he is squeezing the trigger . top ten firearm safety of all time

bubby:

the absurd part is that i think bubby is tall . he is just between tommy and gman who are exaggeratedly lanky .

i wanted to make bubby a pointy kinda guy, so he is the only one actually wearing the lab coat proper . and the only one actually wearing dress socks but not even wearing dress shoes

i wanted to give him a novelty tie but i was running low on ideas and running high on boreds so we dont get a tie

he does have crocs though!! in attack mode!!

i do think we all kind of saw his model and collectively decided it works for him because i have honestly not seen major divergences from his model?

gman:

stick bug

i wanted to stress the more spooky and unknowable nature of him and took it in the dark souls direction of “make bigger than player character”

maked too bigger

he cannot walk through any doorways but you will have to crane your neck to look up at him

in the opposite direction of tommy, i pulled a lot of the saturation in gmans design

it feels important to make them both not fully match the rest of the slightly less broken npcs because there was so much work to make them look cool so i have to respect that

actually a lot of gmans and tommys designs are made in opposite to one another

gman has a largely stationary face and very stiff line work

while tommy is pushed to expressive as possible

thats pretty fun, way to go me

benrey:

benrey also has two designs

and in both of these i keep getting too lazy to use a reference so  the vests are super plain (forgetting the badge and black mesa logo) . i think the helmet is supposed to be darker actually .

the design ethos of benrey was “built like a brick shithouse”

a friend of mine took this cooler and interpreted it as a shield/wall/barrier as a physical (and narrative) obstacle

again the first uses fandom designs

most notably the overcast shadow (seen in video thumbnails but i never noticed it or understood why so many people did it until someone pointed it out to me)

i think hlvrai is such a great medium because it acknowledges it is a game and is able to play into that to great effect! i think the shadow is fun to imagine as solid black as a small reminder of the impossibility of the space :]

benrey is a smug cat in the body of a human . to be honest . and this is the full range of emotion i have ever drawn him with

the second was mostly because as fun as taking creative liberties are, i just really wanted to see benrey as is: the half life security guard model in all its slight wonk :]

i actually do prefer this design . it is a little more uncanny because i choose the worst translations of the model . i like it because it is a little more uncanny !

that can be said for like . every single design in this line up huh .

[dailycass-cain]

It's been A LONG TIME, but I feel I am so gonna have to catch up on my thoughts with Birds of Prey. So tonight I'm gonna do a three-parter.

Tonight, part 1 will cover #9-10. So let's start with my thoughts on the two issues.

Starting off, this issue means a bit to me three-fold as #1 it occurred during the character's anniversary month.

#2 Artist Jonathan Case once again draws the character (having gone to town with the character in Batgirls #14).

#3 said GORGEOUS AAPI variant cover by Phillip Tan and Elmer Santos. I remember seeing Tan's Cass at a C2E2 a few years ago and nabbing the print (for myself and a friend). He always drew a nice Cass, and I'm glad AT LAST he drew an official one.

As for the issue itself, it's a nice beginning piece to the new arc as the Birds are basically lost trying to find Babs, along with figuring out their new surroundings.

For the special costume given to Cass this issue. I saw an article via Screenrant going into detail on how edgy this suit gives off.

I agree it does, but also to a degree of how maybe she views herself internally. Though of all the unique designs, I'm quite curious on how the artists throughout this arc corresponded with writer Kelly Thompson on the unique looks to each Bird.

Regardless the "Victorian Era" Birds as I view this issue give a very Gothic style and lend to the twists and turns this issue has.

Which, leads into one of the major moments Cass gets in the issue.

The first is a move hyped on the covers during the first arc: Barda launching Cass via a fastball special.

The moment had me squeeing as we get our first tag team move of the two and I hope there is MOAR from them besides the old classic (which you can't go wrong with).

The Birds rescue Babs, and for the briefest of moments everything "seems" right, but well Thompson remembers something OTHER writers kind of neglect with Cass.

In that, she can tell when someone is not truly themselves and is a walking lie detector.

It's a brief, but if "you're in the know" of the character, yeah Cass would easily see via a few steps of body language and behavior that Babs wasn't really Babs.

It's a character quirk that a lot of writers usually overlook coughs some Batman writers coughs.

Again, Dinah trusts Cass 100% with her insight (as the series has already established) and attacks "Babs" and we get out fight in the issue: the Birds vs. this mangled Bat Babs creature.

This issue also feels like the closest meta Thompson has regarding the whole Babs as Batgirl in the issue too. If you take in the fact that her costume has a rather "classic" look to it. And well...

And that leads me to the only downer of the issue because like the Birds themselves, as the reader we are left clueless as they are as to whom or what is behind all of this.

However, for this "one and done" different look. I'll give it being something totally different and again this series trying something new (akin to what we've gotten in the first arc).

Case's art is still stunning, and though more minimalist (compared to his Batgirls issues) still packs a punch. The costumes and crazy demon she-bat Babs still pops in my head.

I just wish we got more information other than the teases for the issue, but this is an unfolding story and like the Birds I'm here for the ride.

Birds of Prey #10 continues this wacky out-of-this-world adventure this time with a 50s twist that has the same dark edge of the prior issue. So what about the Cass within? Well...

Again, another artist of Batgirls helps with the issue as we get Robbi Rodriguez (who's been drawing A LOT of Cass granting 2016 me a wish) and Gavin Guidry on art duties.

Their art compliments the setting within the issue with this 50s to 60s style with a dark undertone (like the prior issue).

So the issue begins with the newest suits we get a '66 version of Cass. The suit itself uses a bit of what we got with the '66 bat costumes but we get Cass bits to it. The bat symbol. The belt. Oh hey! A domino mask! How Black Bat of this suit!

I do love the look, and for a "66' Batgirl" look for Cass checks all the boxes making it different from Babs' look.

Though I have to admit it's weird that Babs herself looks a lot more like her short-lived Sean Murphy bat ears look than something more to her '66.

We also get A LOT of exposition in the issue of what's going on, why someone is targeting Babs, and HOW this is happening.

And it works for me given well we need that info dump and this does feel like the part where we NEEDED this. Even if it does feel like a slight retread of Megaera from the first arc.

However, with one tiny bat twist…

The big fight for this issue is the Birds vs. a corrupted Barda. And oh dear me she is utterly terrifying. But like I said we get a twist, and it is SOOOOO Cass-characterization perfection.

Instead of a brutal fight between the two new friends we get Cass trying to reason to Barda, knowing the New God can beat this on her own.

The moment between the two is just SOOO Cass. Akin to so many stuff with the character in the past. Thompson just GETS Cassandra Cain as a character.🥺

If there's any really nitpick of this issue I have is this issue felt so quick. Like we get so much info, Possessed-Barda, Cass does Cass thing, and that's it. I kind of wish we got more but I get we're sprinkling the Sin and Vixen stuff for later.

But man, Barda/Cass are just the anchor of this series period. Their friendship is something I always wanted and this series hasn't disappointed. I can't wait when Thompson repays this with Barda coming to Cass's aide or does this.

I KNOW THIS IS COMING.

I just wonder WHEN and if I'll have tissues for this moment when Barda unleashes hell or shows this compassion to free Cass from whatever bind.

But yeah Birds of Prey has been my favorite book of the early half of the month, with Tec always complimenting it for the back half.

[tesseractrave]

Got myself involved in making some art for a Dungeons and Dragons campaign set in Breath of The Wild!

I initially was just reached out to by the GM for advice and assistance on designing and characterizing a Happy Mask Salesman NPC (which was a huge honor 🥹), but it's starting to look like I might be able to go furthermore insane about this and start helping out with other NPCs, too! Particularly original characters, now, because HMS only needed a new look due to the fact that his original outfit is from a different, older era of TLOZ.

We sat down in a Discord call for a while to talk, and I streamed my art program and helped to sketch out the GM's vision for what HMS would look like in his campaign. It was mostly inspired by the clothing of both the BOTW merchants and the royal family/people affiliated with the royal family, along with the DM's own personal flair and of course keeping as much of the original vibe of HMS's character as possible (though the style of this era has a lot more detail than we're used to seeing on him)!

(Excuse the quality of the proportions/lineart etc. looking more rushed than usual, the first drawing up there on this post is the finished character graphic and took 14 hours to make while this one is only an outfit concept and took around 6 hours.)

His gorget was honestly the hardest part to try to incorporate with the time period and other desired details, so we settled for a general homage of shapes. BOTW fashion has a lot more triangles and zig-zags, so we switched that up, too.

Thanks to everyone in the Whispers of The Wild server who was so kind and welcoming and excited to see my art while I spectated during this week's session! You're all doing so amazing, and this was incredibly fun. I've been very sick and struggling for a while, so this was a breath of fresh air and gives me things to look forward to. I'm glad to be a part of this. 😊

[cripplecharacters]

so, the posts on this blog about facial difference inspired me to make an oc with facial difference- specifically strabismus and a port wine stain. she's pretty much become one of my favourite characters to draw and develop, ive taken care to make sure she doesn't fall into shitty tropes. however, i have had one problem- in the world she lives in, rebels like her cover their face most of the time. ive been really struggling on how to design her mask/covering in a way that doesn't feel shitty, and doesn't feel like it's trying to cover her facial difference. and i know that technically it's not as bad if she's not the only character who wears a mask, but i still don't wanna push it, if you know what i mean? so it would be awesome if you could give suggestions on how i could handle her mask. here's a reference of her for. reference, and some ideas ive had for masks. thank you for taking the time, and for this blog in general!

[Image description: Traditional drawing of a light-skinned girl with pink straight hair, smiling. She has a large port-wine stain on the left side of her face, and her right eye goes inward. Around her are three headshot sketches;

first shows her in a bandana that goes over her nose with "bandana doesn't obscure FD but hides smile + necklace" written above, second shows a half-mask that covers only the right side of her face, with "early concept, feels tacky, shows port-wine stain but not strabismus :(", third shows a domino mask, with "domino mask, do I even have to explain? No-go" next to it. End image description.]

Hi!

I think that something close to the second one would actually be kinda fun (no irony or sarcasm). If we're talking about a story where everyone wears a mask, having the character with FD wear one that covers everything except for the FD is actually subversive! I never thought I would say that, but it does feel like it is.

Not sure how strict of a design should it be, but a diagonal - her bottom right to her top left - mask would be nice!

I tried to write down a detailed description of what I mean but it was coming out rather overcomplicated, so I hope you're okay with me doing a few demonstrative sketches; a diagonal and rather-silly option, an idea for the bandana with a drawn smile and the kind of tie that would show her necklace, and an idea for the half-mask but with an eye with strabismus painted on the mask.

So here are the suggestions! I haven't drawn in a while so my skills are kinda rusty, but I hope it conveys the concept! My personal favorite would be the first one - I know it barely counts as a mask but then again, in comics it's common that someone is unrecognizable when they wear a pair of glasses, so maybe it's not as farfetched haha.

The second one would be totally fine by my standards, but I'm assuming that her necklace has some kind of significance in the story, so maybe she could cross it at the back and tie it in the front instead for it to be more visible (or wear the necklace over it even?).

I think that doing something like on the third drawing above would be okay if there are also a lot of moments where her actual strabismus is shown. In general, I think that the idea of a character with a facial difference wearing a mask just to paint it on the mask is kinda silly, and I feel like it would fit her character. But for something like that to work, she would need to have the mask off often. If you choose to do that, I suggest your first time showing her to the viewer is with her mask off, both for the usual reasons I mentioned before but also because strabismus is often used as a gag in art. For me, seeing a character wear that kind of mask with no context would be kind of eye-rolling - but seeing a character with a crossed eye put on a mask with the same exact kind of eye, go and join their friends at doing rebel things? That's actually something new!

I enjoy that your character seems to be on the rather joyful and happy side, I like that :-) (smile emoji)

I hope this helps!

mod Sasza

[the-nysh]

Webigaza isn't a character that stands out for me at least, but I'm very curious about her manga debut. We know she's supossed to be pretty (and that she won't escape "Murata's female treatment" lol) but I hope her face screams "uncanny valley", more like a doll than a human being

I’ve been holding onto this ask til she finally showed up and….

…let’s just say from the raws she almost passed me by - if it weren’t for Suiryu’s reaction and the telltale panels of her guzzling down a gallon of water for her overheating symptoms, I might’ve otherwise missed her without doubling back to check. Like oh wait a sec, is that her??? Almost mistaking her for just another quirky news reporter or a newbie streaming attention-grabby v-tuber. Where at this (early?) stage, it’s not obvious at all (from her looks) that she’s someone who went through extensive bodily modifications to obtain cyborg + superhuman psychic powers (we do see her fly away like Tatsumaki though), but otherwise these few pages feel like just a tease without actually seeing her in action yet.

I think, if there’s anything I might have expected, it would be her overall *~radiant~* pixie magical girl vibe. Cause what was most striking and standout to me about ONE’s design for her, was her 1000yrd stare eyes, full of resolute determination without regrets, framed in all the gratuitous frills and fanciest fluffiest lashes imaginable. Uncannily doll-like (with an underlying crazed desperation) would be apt. Yet she had a mysterious—and quite literal spark, or aura to her that I just don’t feel from Murata’s. (Speculation: perhaps her manga demeanor might change once Sweet Mask’s identity gets outed and she resigns herself to her life’s choices.)

For reference, here’s how she looked in the webcomic (of which her line about ‘being on hiatus’ is ironically the same, but she rushes off to fight giving us a demonstration of her powers all at once, whereas in the manga it’s offscreened till we see her again):

Comparatively in Murata’s style, perhaps she comes off rather same-facey much like how he draws most of his other typical youthful women. If I look reeeally close I can see some of the same iris sparkle-dots in her eyes like ONE’s, but…the lashes. I wish were much more flamboyant. (Like think about invisible girl’s face reveal in bn/ha - biggest flashy fluffy lashes in all their sparkly rainbow light-refraction magic glory~ So mayhaps I expected some of that pretty eye-stopping glamor for her from Murata.)

And yet thinking about it more….I realized that since Webigaza’s character is one who follows trends to compete, her manga debut reminds me of Tatsumaki’s ai-doctored hero commercial, where she looks like an (ooc) uwu-waifu’d up poster girl (much to Tatsu’s rage) for the HA, and here we see Webigaza promo shooting for the Neo Heroes in much the same way. Essentially, she’s dolled up and cutesy gesturing like how others expect her to look like (aka like an ai-mishmash of generic idol trends), rather than going ham individualizing herself as a manic pixie dream girl psychic cyborg….YET. Meaning perhaps we’ll see more of her human appearance chafe away as her cyborgification desperation (as another extreme foil to Genos) intensifies.

[flockofcrowsinaturtleshell]

Why I like Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

(my part of the letter from my last reblog)

Up until about three months ago, I disliked the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I saw the trailer for the Bayverse live-action TMNT and quickly decided I hated it. The live-action designs and the turtles’ attitude towards April felt gross, and I suppose that I, a young teenage girl at the time, felt like I didn’t fit in the target audience.

Flash forward to four months ago. I’m scrolling through my Tumblr feed – looking for Ninjago fanart and completely disregarding the target audience for lego ninja – when I see something under the “For you” tab.

It’s a Rise comic, but I don’ recognize it as TMNT yet. It’s a drawing of a scruffy-looking teenage boy, with long black hair and a hockey stick. He appears to be underground, looking a little lost. He turns, and before him sits a giant robot, deactivated and covered in moss. It’s a turtle, I realize, but I still haven’t realized that it’s a TMNT comic.

Then the boy calls his Uncle Donnie, who’s a turtle in purple. It’s then that I realize; I’ve been tricked. I’m reading a TMNT comic and genuinely enjoying it. I begrudgingly give the comic a like and go on with my day.

Over the next few weeks, I keep seeing more of the comic. To my horror, I’m actually enjoying reading it. One month after discovering the comic, I give in. I go to the first page of the comic and read from the beginning. 

It’s the story of a family trying to survive in a world overrun by invaders. Their family is made up of four color-coded turtles who make up the nebulous concept of uncle-dad, their entirely human older sister, and the scruffy-looking teenager they-re all trying to keep alive. This family dynamic is one I quickly grow to love, and the comix earns itself a place in my heart.

And then I watch the Rise movie.

Skip ahead to the present. I just watched the Rise movie two days ago (it had me in tears). As I write this, I’m also trying to figure out a plothole in the seventh chapter of the fanfiction I’m writing. Just yesterday, I finished designing the skeleton of my yokai character (because why not. I love speculative anatomy). I’m still reading the comic, which just updated yesterday. I’m happy with my new interest.

I love Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for the family dynamic. I’ve always been a fan of unconventional families, and I’ve grown a liking for color-coded squads. I enjoy how April is more like a sister than a crush for the boys to fight over. I feel a certain kinship with Donnie, as an autistic-coded middle child who loves to learn. I absolutely adore Raph, the person who’s had to step up to care for their siblings and yet hasn’t quite grown out of the stage of life where he’s just a kid. Mikey is so silly and adorable, and he reminds me of my younger sister; the youngest and somehow the wisest at times. Leo feels just like a character from the first show I ever had such an interest in (Lance from Voltron: Legendary Defender) and I think he’s pretty awesome. 

I also enjoy the show’s unique takes on some things. I find it cool how the turtles are all different species. I love how this iteration’s version of Casey Jones is an energetic young woman from a rival clan. I find it interesting how Karai is a loving ancestor instead of an enemy. I love the artstyle of the show, where each turtle’s design is unique (compared to other shows where the only way I can tell them apart is by the color of their mask). I think it’s cool how the backstory is different from some of the other iterations, how the turtles were mutated on purpose and how Splinter used to be a famous actor. I think the yokai are awesome, how they’re like mutants but were there long before. I enjoy finding the little references, like the pictures of other TMNT shows on Donnie’s conspiracy board, or the fact that the source of yokai power is a Kraang. 

I have so many questions left unanswered about the show, and I’m sure others do as well. I would love to see the return of Rise. I have no doubt that it would be awesome.

#unpause rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles

– Crow

P.S. The comic I am referring to is by @somerandomdudelmao on Tumblr. I have no words to describe how much the comic means to me. Cass, if you’re reading this, thank you. 

[tweedlebugged]

Squinting at the latest dndads episode suspiciously and poking it with a stick. Because on the one hand, it definitely feels like something sus is going on under the surface here and Anthony’s going to pull the rug out any minute now.

On the other, this is a show called Dungeons and Daddies and you kind of have to accept on admission that the characters can and will twist the logical rules of the universe into a pretzel in service of a really good goof. So there’s no way to tell right now what seems a little weird For the Drama and what seems a little weird For the Bit.

Take Jodie. Last season he was this badass demon and objectively the most put together dad, and now he’s this kind of pathetic loser trying to get back with his ex. His ex who he’s definitely been broken up with for over two decades at this point, given that he was already dating Scam during the Church of the Doodler stuff only a few years post season 1. And he was a really involved dad who is obviously disappointed in Nicky for not being part of Taylor’s life, but also he seems totally indifferent toward Hermie and pinches his nose when he has to be near him? It’s weird! And he acts so eager to use these kids and is VERY obviously trying to manipulate them—the whole chosen one thing tbh, and giving scary “secret” information and telling her she smells so super evil when she’s just…not lol—but then gets worried and tries to stop Scary when she does something that will actually hurt her. Officer Foster sir what the fuck is your deal?

But also—Jodie the cringe fail King of Hell is hilarious and Jimmy could just have been leaning into that new persona because it’s good radio. And it was! So who knows!

And Glenn. We know he canonically helped found DADDIES and was working to take down the Doodler (fighting at the Church, putting in the super fast elevator) and Nicky continued to be involved for years after, so clearly the Close/Foster family cared about the Doodler stuff at one point. So how did Glenn end up with the Doodler’s anchor and why is he maiming children to keep them from getting it? Children he should probably recognize and care about at least a little! (Although to be fair Taylor and Link are both still wearing skull masks)

But ALSO—and I say this lovingly—Glenn does have a slight history of being a selfish garbage man, and even though his character grew a lot by the end of season 1 it still wouldn’t be outside the realm of possibility for him to have looked around after his friends were gone, realized all of his loved ones were actually safe, and decided to fuck off to do cool things in hell instead. Especially after the other kiddads betrayed Nicky. Anthony did say that he’d let the players decide what happened to their characters, and while I don’t know Mr. Frederick Wong personally “fighting 666 demons in mega hell with the love of his life” does have the exact vibe of an ending he’d choose for Glenn.

So is Glenn under the influence of the anchor somehow? Is he actually one of the Likely family in disguise? Or is Freddy taking full advantage of being Glenn again to play out this character to its logical and EXTREMELY funny conclusion? Impossible to say!

And finally Agent Schmegan and the FBI. All that work hunting Nicky to the point that he had to abandon his family and stalking Taylor until they had an opportunity to draw out his dad, all so they could capture Nicky and torture him into letting them into hell. And now suddenly all they needed was text message permission from some random unrelated teenager and they could open a portal themselves? That’s fishy! And they had special weapons designed to take down Nicky, who said if they ever captured him his dads would be dead, but now Jodie can fight them all by himself without much issue? Feels a little like a scam, actually!

BUT ALSO—the 12 soccer players have been tied to the FBI since the FBI was introduced, and it makes sense to play out those stories at the same time. And since you can only go to hell once, bringing the FBI there now could take them out as a threat to Nicky. Which is more a narrative move than a comedy beat but would still be very funny when he loses his excuse to be an absentee dad and has to actually interact with Taylor. And his ex wife. And her new boyfriend.

This post isn’t going anywhere, the episode just reminded me why trying to theorize about Dungeons and Daddies is like trying to connect a conspiracy board with silly string (affectionate)

[obsidiancreates]

Out Of The Shadows and Into The Neon (Part 12)

“For the last time, Mikey, I’m not putting a cottage cheese monster in our comic!” Raph pulls the paper away from his little brother. 

“But Raaaaaph!”

“No! It’s totally lame!”

“Not as lame as a big bug!”

“Hey, bugs are dangerous! Remember what your dad said about how the totally-unknown-evil-scientist-guy used mosquitos to make mutants!”

“That’s different!”

“IS NOT!”

“IS TOO!”

“YOU-!” Raph growls, and then closes his eyes. Mikey blinks, and scoots away as Raph times his breathing to calm down. He opens his eyes again and calmly says, “You’re just saying it’s different because you’re mad I’m not putting in the monster.”

Mikey crosses his arms and looks away. “I think it’s cool.”

“... Fine. But you gotta draw him!”

Mikey lights up. “Alright!”

Leo passes a page with a messy drawing of a New York street to Donnie, who starts sketching a vehicle (a sort of modified van) racing down the road. Their styles clash- Leo’s, while still being the uncoordinated style of a child, bears a striking resemblance to traditional Japanese painting styles. Donnie’s, however, shows that he clearly draws for Blueprints more often than he does for Fun. When he finishes up the sketch he passes the page to Raph who, with a skill that’s extremely impressive for a 10-year-old, adds in two figures in the little windshield and two crouched on top of the van. Finally Raph passes the page to Mikey, who gleefully and not-quite-as-skillfully adds in his monster.

“This can be a dream,” Leo says, watching Mikey work a white crayon down to naught but a nub. “And then we– I mean, they, can… um…”

“Fight alien robots?” Mikey looks at Leo with wide, watery eyes, clasping his hands together. “I had a dream we fought alien robots! Just like our dads!”

“Hey, I dreamt that too.” Donnie looks down and starts sketching. “And they all talked funny.”

“Talked stupid.” Raph leans over Donnie’s shoulder. “Lemme add the brain thing in the middle.”

“What about ninjas?” Leo looks through the papers, and holds up a drawing he did before they all agreed to make One Big Comic together. “Robot ninjas!” 

Mikey gasps, eyes sparkling. “How about both?!”

“No way they can fight both!” Donnie looks at the one finished page, the four small totally-not-self-insert figures facing off against the cottage cheese monster. “That’s way too many bad guys!”

“Nuh-uh!” Mikey springs up and does a backflip, landing in a defensive stance. “They can totally do it!”

“The numbers are totally against them!” Donnie chews on the end of his pencil. “... Unless… we give them friends?”

Raph smirks. “You just wanna add your imaginary friend in.”

“Well she was in my dream about the alien robots anyway!”

“How about we can all add one friend for them in?” Leo flips the page with the robot ninja over and starts drawing. “I’m going to give them a wise sensei.”

“Fine. Then, I’m giving the coolest possible human friend ever.” Raph starts his own design. “If Auntie Cass and Uncle Casey were one person!”

“Then I’m adding in Leatherhead!” Mikey gets to work, the drawing coming easily, as he’s drawn the character dozens of times before.

Donnie just sticks his tongue out as he draws a red-haired human girl. 

Mikey laughs and kicks his feet in the air. “This comic is gonna be awesome!”

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Draxum sits, stewing, as Angelo delicately places the last band-aid on his forehead. Angelo chuckles and taps the cartoon unicorn on it for good luck, then slides away.

“Maybe next time you will call instead of dropping into our sewers unannounced,” Splints says with barely-hidden amusement.

“Maybe next time you will not leave four rocket-powered skateboards blasting around your sewers!” Draxum snips back.

“Hey! Enough fighting for the day. Raphie’s taking a nap.” Raphie is, indeed, taking a nap on his giant beanbag, his mask turned backwards to cover his eyes. He has truly become A Dad.

“It would also have been nice to know my grandson is grounded from our chemistry lessons before I made my way here.” Draxum glares at Donald, ignoring Raphie’s demand for peace.

“Of course, let me just install a ‘Grounded Alert’ on your phone so you know every time he is unable to make it!” Donald says, tossing his arms up and rolling his eyes. He pauses, and holds his hand out. “I did mean that, actually, let me install that while you’re here.”

Draxum hands over his phone, and Donald gets to work. “I think it’s ridiculous you grounded your boys for being warriors.”

“For doing everything we told them not to,” Leon says, rubbing his eyes. “You know, no offense Barry, but I hate when you weigh in on our parenting decisions. … On second thought, full offense.”

Draxum shrugs, pursing his lips. Unbothered. “Perhaps I’d have less to say if you agreed on sending them to my school.”

“For the last time, it’s not happening! We dealt with enough weird mystic lunchroom situations when April went to school there!”

“I have it under control! Joseph is a fine young meat-man now!”

“Not! Happening!”

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Okay, now draw my character going like, h-wahhhhhh!” Mikey demonstrates with several flips, landing with a chop. “And then, HYAH!” He pretends to whip his ‘chuck chains around Raph’s legs and pull. 

“I’m adding one or the other, not both!”

“Then add the flips! Nothing beats backflips.”

Donnie pauses coloring in the graffiti on the buildings. “Why do I feel like we’ve had this conversation before?”

Mikey shrugs. “Because… backflips are awesome?”

Leo passes Donnie another finished background page. “I get that a lot too. Feeling like we talked about or did something before.”

“Done something,” Donnie absently corrects. “It’s called Deja Vu. … Maybe it comes from whatever our Ninpos will be?”

“Wait, you think we’ll get those?” Raph passes his page to Mikey so Mikey can add the bad guys. “But we aren’t, you know. Blood.”

“But we are Hamato, aren’t we?” Donnie takes the time to draw in his added character, the human girl. He’s calling her Red. He adds yellow waves of power around her. “And it’s a spiritual thing. Not really a DNA thing.”

“How do you know?” Mikey licks a lollipop and uses it as ‘glue’ to stick the new page to the rest of them.

“... I guess I don’t.” Donnie sits up, putting his hands on his head. “I don’t! Guys… I’ve never looked at our DNA!”

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“They are warriors!”

“They’re kids!” Angelo puts his hands on his hips and uses his powers to rise above Draxum and glare down at him. 

“They’re their father’s sons,” Draxum argues back. “Carrying on a great legacy of battle and triumph, from all sides of their creations! … Except the turtle part, I guess.”

Raphie sits up, twists his mask back around normally. “They’re not ‘their father’s sons’ in terms of power, Barry! We did what we did because you designed us to be weapons! They weren’t made for that!”

“We don’t know what they were made for!” Draxum pulls a stone out of his apron, and it levitates up and breaks apart. It shows a strand of DNA, unlike any DNA elsewhere in the world. “A decade has gone by and we still have yet to even begin to discover what substance created them! Perhaps this drive for battle is something natural, ingrained, and repressing it will only harm them!”

Donald smacks the stone onto the ground, much to Draxum’s shock and appall. “Or perhaps you are just as stuck in your, warring warrior scientist past, as we all worried you’d be!”

“It’s hard not to harken back to it when it seems to continue being relevant!”

“ENOUGH!” Splinter jumps up, breaking the eyelines of his family’s intense stares. All eyes follow him back down to the floor as he lands on his butt and hops onto his feet. “Draxum! If you want more time with your grandsons, just say so.”

Leon laughs. “Okay Pops, cute theory but– huh?”

Draxum stands, sagging with his eyes watering and lip quivering. He quickly wipes his eyes with a mystic vine. “They are trying to become warriors and I haven’t been a part of it yet. Even if I was… on the wrong side of things, as your four grew into your potentials, I was still there to see it happen.”

“But… Donnie has weekly lessons with you.” Donald checks the calendar in his wristpad. 

“That is one grandson of four, and it is not battle.”

Angelo blinks, and lowers back to the ground. “Guys… he’s right. And maybe not just about him.” Angelo looks around. “When was the last time we shook things up? Had any one-on-one time with the boys who weren’t our own sons?”

Everyone considers– and slowly grows horrified to realize it’s all been Group Activities or Sons Only time for years now.

“No wonder they’re acting out!” Raphie hits his fist into his palm. “Remember what all those parenting books said? Enrichment, and wide social circles! We need to spend more time with our nephews doin’ stuff we don’t do as dads!” He side-eyes Draxum. “And, grandpas too, I guess.”

Draxum grins. Not without an edge to it. “Perhaps I could borrow the boys for a lesson on the basics of mystic weaponry?”

“Aw, Barry. It’s sweet that you care.” Angelo wraps an arm around Draxum’s shoulders– and then tightens it, smiling with dead eyes. “But if you take our boys near any armories, a visit from Dr. Delicate Touch will seem like a reprieve from pain.”

Draxum swallows as Angelo slips away. “Maybe just a visit to the Hidden City’s best sights, then. … The ones that are willing to welcome me.”

“And we can all plan something with our nephews.” Raphie looks around. “Like uh… Angelo can take Raph wall-painting!”

“And… Leon can take Mikey out for some basketball!” Angelo tosses a ball to his brother.

Leon watches it and smoothly transitions into a dribble. “And maybe Donald can take Leo out to an Observatory!”

“And Raph can take Donnie out to… hmm.” Donald pauses, a robotic arm scratching his head while he thinks. 

“I can take Donnie out for some wrestling or something!” Raphie scoops Donald up and gives him a gentle noogie. 

Draxum raises an eyebrow. “Are these not activities you can do as fathers as well as uncles?”

“I mean… we sort of stay in our lanes.” Leon tosses the basketball from hand to hand. “We’ve all got our thing.”

“Doesn’t sound so well-rounded to me,” Draxum mumbles.

“Barry? Again, no hay comentarios sobre cómo los criamos. Got it?”

“Not even slightly.”

“He means shut your mouth on our parenting skills. They’re for us to agonize over and question if we’re doing right, not you.” Raphie pulls out his phone and starts scrolling. “Maybe there’s some kinda scientist wrestler I can take Donnie to see!”

“And I know the perfect building for Raph to decorate with me!”

“I am so busting out my signed basketball to play with Mikey!”

“I bet I could take control of the observatory telescope to show Leo WHATEVER HE WANTS TO SEE IN SPACE!”

Splinter reaches up and pats Draxum on the calf. “Perhaps your visits are not all bad after all.”

Draxum frowns.

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The four boys all stare down at the drawing.

“I dunno why I drew it.” Mikey sniffles. “Or why it’s so…”

Raph pulls Leo close as Leo’s breathing picks up. “Erase it, Mikey!”

“It doesn’t look like the stories they told us,” Donnie whispers. “But… it does?”

Raph covers Leo’s wide, unfocused eyes. “I said get rid of it!”

Mikey rolls up the drawing and fumbles around for something to destroy it with– finding a mystic nightlight candle. He taps it to light it up, and puts the paper over it.

The smoke only makes the twisting in their guts worse as Leo lets out a sob.

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The whole living room goes quiet. 

Silent.

No-one even breathes.

And then, again.

A soft, muffled sob.

All four fathers and both grandfathers burst into Mikey’s room.

The thin layer of smoke clears away almost instantly with the door open, but the mood does not. Raph is holding Leo protectively, pressing his older brother into his plastron. Mikey is wiping his eyes, shoving all his gray crayons and markers and colored pencils into a box to never be used again. Donnie is leaning over Raph and Leo, rubbing Leo’s back– and for some reason, his leg.

“What happened?” Leon goes to pick Leo up, but Raph won’t let go. So he picks both of them up at once.

“I didn’t mean it!” Mikey cries, hiccuping. “I-I was just drawing villains and-and I drew– I drew–”

“It didn’t look like the stories we heard but it-it was.” Donnie is still reaching up, putting pressure on Leo’s leg. He blinks, looking at his hand, and then takes it away with a confused expression. 

“What stories? Has Auntie Cass been telling you scary stories again?” Raphie rubs both Leo’s and Raph’s shells, and they both start to relax. Leo raches up and pulls his dad into an almost choking hug.

Draxum takes in the abandoned gray crayons, the sniffling faces, and the reluctance to say the name. He bends down and picks up the comic, flipping through. His face falls with each page. “... Perhaps… you four were right about them being too young, to be warriors yet.”

“What?” Donald grabs the comic and flips through himself. He stops on one page, the green leaching out of his skin and leaving him almost gray. “Oh.”

“What?! What is–! … Oh, no.” Angelo looks at Mikey, and gets down to the ground to scoop his son and cradle him. “Hey. You guys know you have nothing to fear, right? We beat the big bads.”

Leo’s grip on Leon tightens. “I don’t want him to get you,” Leo whispers.

Leon’s eyes go wide, pupils shrinking. “Leo… he’s gone. We’ve talked about this, he’s gone. For good.”

Leo’s grip doesn’t relax. Leon feels tears on his neck as Leo pulls himself closer and starts to shake.

“Leon.” Raphie looks pale as Donald hops up the comic and points. “I don’t think it’s just about–”

“He got Pop-Pop,” Leo whispers. “He got Pop-Pop and he got me and I-I couldn’t protect anyone and–”

“It’s just a nightmare, Lee.” Leon pushes the comic away without looking at it– he can’t afford to right now. “It’s just a nightmare.”

“I can’t do it, I can’t save everyone–”

“I’ll save everyone.” Raph hugs his brother with a fierce growl. “I’ll save you and Donnie and Mikey and everyone else! Because we’re a team!”

“Dad.” Donnie pulls on Donald’s battleshell. “I-I think Leo is having a panic attack.”

“He– right, he– um, everyone clear out.” Donald picks Donnie up. “Let’s leave Leo to calm down. Uncle Raphie and Uncle Leon have this handled.”

“I’m sorry Leo,” Mikey whimpers as Angelo carries him out. “I promise I’ll never draw The Shredder again.”

[shadows-from-helvete]

Here I am again with a bit motivation for my dwk apocalypse/parasite au(aged up characters). So I made a new design for Markus that makes more sense and a design for Leon because I don't draw him a lot.

First we have Markus new design. So lemme explain. I see Markus as someone that searches for food and other helpful things. So of course a lot of pockets for smaller things and stuff that could come handy. He wears a simple t-shirt and under that a leather jacket so the infected can't bite through it that easily and over that a vest with a hood all more darker colored. Markus has a belt with pockets too. He attached those to the belt with the help or Raban. A pair of camouflage pants and black high boots. Hatschi made caps for the shoe fronts for the bunch too so they are more stable. Markus also has bandages around his one leg because he got insured when he was looking for food or survivors with Leon Deniz and Vanessa. Like most of the bunch he doesn't sleep a lot so eye bags. I still stuck to long hair but he tried to keep it up and out of the way too.

I decided to give Leon the same hairstyle or mostly same as in the show even if he is older here. any chance he gets he goes out and tried to take anything he can and thing it could be useful. He is in the scavenger group so lots of pockets(pockets pockets pockets-sorry). As soon as Leon gets out he wears this gas mask because he is paranoid he may get infected when he doesn't wear the mask even tho the risk to get infected though air is only positive or high in areas with lots of infections or dead infected. His outfit is pretty simple. Plain t-shirt and big and warm jacket also not so easy to bite through. Pocket belt and just a pair of jeans and normal boots with those metal caps Hatschi made

I hopefully soon will talk more about how this all started,what they did when he'll broke lose ect and more about the role and how they ended up at hatschis

[scooby-review]

Scooby Doo Where are You? S1 E9-E12

9. The Backstage Rage

The Backstage Rage is an episode I don’t see talked about all too much! There’s not really any representation through merchandise, he doesn’t have any reappearances like many of the villains in Where are You? merely receiving a comic adaptation, which as far as I can tell, every episode did. Yet, this is one of my favourites for sure. 

This episode follows the gang heading to an abandoned theatre after a case of counterfeit money is stolen from them by a puppet. It’s a simple concept, yet they push the villain and theming perfectly, the episode focusing more on its atmosphere and scares rather than jokes, it’s something we rarely see, yet when we do it works so much better. Similarly to how Zombie Island managed to terrify so many people, because when you know one thing for so long and suddenly it’s all wrong, the tone darker and more serious, you suddenly feel a whole lot less safe. Of course, this episode doesn’t fully commit to a darker tone, but it does feel creepier in many places! 

I think this episode's strongest quality is the Puppet Master, through the strong themes he draws in, his great design and general creepiness spread throughout the episode. To start with his design, he feels somewhat evocative of the titular Phantom of the Opera, specifically through the masks of the 1943 movie and the cloak, it’s not all too overt, yet the characters definitely feel connected. Curiously, this is one of three links to the Universal Monster movies within the four batches of episodes here, a strange coincidence! It’s also the least obvious of them. Beyond this however, I just find the colours to be so strong, he feels so ominous with his darkened cloak, the only streak of colour within his cape, a flowing river of crimson. 

The villain’s plot here is counterfeiting money, which ties perfectly into the theme of the puppets, these wooden inventions created for the sole purpose of tricking those who see them into believing them to be human, but they’re not. They’re fakes, cheap imitations that keep people long enough to realise they’ve been tricked, by which time it’s too late. We see this in the opening as Scooby is tricked by a girl dog (you can tell because she’s a white poodle with a pink bow), focusing on her while his money is stolen. This all links perfectly with the counterfeit money, it looks real and by the time you realise it’s not, it’s too late. Thematically, this episode is likely the strongest. 

Also the puppets just rule. Specifically a scene where the gang talk to a doorman, Pietro, returning later after a chase where they talk to him, his head slipping down his body. He was a puppet. It’s such an eerie scene, and sure, he’s the villain in reality, the first time we meet him it’s actually him, I think, but it’s such a great way of switching the way the audience is thinking, it’s unsettling and perfect. 

There’s so many new puppets, we see a show later on, watching as they’re animated seemingly without any control. The trope of haunted dolls can be seen throughout time, in media ranging from Goosebumps to The Conjuring. They aren’t haunted come the end, but the presence of the Puppet Master gives this idea of him controlling them without being there, the ruler of the puppets. It’s great and I love it so much. 

All this ties in perfectly with the setting of the abandoned theatre, the backgrounds filled with costumes and generating a generally creepy tone. Within the theatre there’s a door hidden within a harp case! It’s such a cool and weird little idea I love it! The theatre comes to life with its patented Scooby-Doo secret passageways! One of which comes to life through the use of musical notes, which is reminiscent of the film The Ghost Breakers, which Ruby-Spears cited as a huge inspiration during the creation of the show.

I also made a few notes on the animation in this episode! One moment depicts Scooby shaking his head, but his face is animated so fluidly, it’s slow and janky sure, but parts of his face move that previously have always been static, giving a really long and jarring sequence that I really don’t love! However, Pietro and his puppet Johnny are animated so well here, for sure it looked the best the show ever has to me, so that’s worth pointing out! All the puppetry here is animated so well! Just a really great one! Not sure why it isn’t more popular! Looking on IMDB it’s like the middle of the rankings, but I’m not sure how representative it is of peoples thoughts overall, most websites ranking things tend to be kind of a bubble, it depends on the users there. But regardless, I love this, one of my favourites ever! 

10. Bedlam in the Big Top

This episode sees the gang stumbling across a circus, learning that it’s haunted by a ghost clown. It’s such an iconic episode based on this alone, the character and the setting are instantly recognisable! I think with this being the show's first iteration, other than the repeated haunted houses or castles, we don’t see much repetition in where the gang go, or what kind of villain they face, other than most of them being ghosts. Because of that it makes Where are You?’s villains the most memorable, but of course, time is also a factor. Plus, I think the villains stand out so much because they do a lot of the heavy lifting in these more formulaic episodes. Whereas looking at something like Mystery Incorporated, most probably think of Mr. E rather than a specific monster. This version of the show is defined by aesthetics, which the monster’s seep into heavily. 

As a child, I was terrified of clowns, I think for most this is a result of their looks and the inability to communicate, although I personally was afraid after going to the circus and having a fear of participating. However in pop-culture, a fear of clowns can be derived usually from the evil clown trope. Now people likely think of Pennywise as the definitive scary clown, he’s the mascot for it now. Simply however, the trope comes from a subversion, clowns throughout history are intended to be funny, their origins dating back to classical Greek plays. Although the creepy clown trope can be dated back at least to Edgar Allan Poe’s “Hop-Frog”, the creepy clown trope of the late 60s likely comes from The Joker, who, outside of the horror genre, is the most popular creepy clown. Yet, the trope was young at the time of this episode’s release, often cited as a pretty early example of the trope; every few decades there’s a resurgence in what ignites the trope, such as serial killers, books and movies and the 2016 internet fuelled craze. The entire concept is loaded and there’s a plethora of reasons why we find clowns scary, but a lot of the modern scary clown comes from depictions we see, such as the ghost clown within this episode. 

I think the ghost clown carries a lot of this pretty solid episode, it’s a long spiel of his antics, they’re pretty fun playing on the circus setting, and while scary for sure, the episode is very gag driven rather than clue driven. Usually these are the two directions a Where are You? episode will go in, following clues that lead to the capturing of the villain, or the villain taunts them in a series of gags. Both work, and this one definitely takes the right option for its subject. 

Most of the horror of this one comes from the clown’s hypnotism abilities, where he will hypnotise a member of the gang to do something like Daphne on the unicycle or Scooby on the tightrope. Ultimately, these play out the same, it gives a sort of repetition to the episode that harms it, but it’s still an enjoyable time using its setting to great effect. 

Plus the clown has such a striking design, the bright flashy red costume and bulbous nose contrasting with the white makeup, it’s perfect! His design is just off putting, but again, I think that maybe comes from growing up in a society afraid of clowns, likely more so than the 1969 audience! 

Despite mentioning a redundancy, I will say I love the rubber ladder and balloon popping sequences. The first is merely a silly gag, it works well in the context of the episode placing a new roadblock in the gang's way, but the balloon popping is tense, it shows how the clown is ready to place the gang in actual harm's way. This all links into the villain being the most evil we have seen so far, his motive being that he was fired from the circus and sent to prison, therefore he wanted revenge, this revenge either being closing the circus down for good, murder, or both! Who knows, but the episode is unique in how willing they are to place the gang in danger, although the only one that really works for me is the Scooby one. The previous episode did this better I feel, putting the gang in more physical danger, yet not over doing it. 

I also love Shaggy’s characterisation here! Again, we see a sporty side to him, I think he’s maybe the best written character of the gang, with Daphne and Fred being the weakest despite having some merit. But having him do track at school not only makes the world feel more alive, but the character feels deeper!

Pretty fun one! Love the gorgeous backgrounds here and the villain a whole bunch, plus the gags are mostly good too! I completely get why the clown is so merchandised and popular. 

11. A Gaggle of Galloping Ghosts

What a fun little title! 

A Gaggle of Galloping Ghosts follows the gang entering Franken Castle, despite warnings from a nearby fortune teller of an unfavourable fate if they do. 

I’m not going to discuss the fortune teller in a similar depth to most the other characters here, mostly because the character is pretty infamously a racist caricature of a Romani fortune teller, who ultimately is a white man in a costume, which around this time was likely how many people saw these types of people, their culture reduced to a single image slathered across pop-culture and halloween costumes. Consistently the character is described with a slur. The entire character here sucks, and it’s a trope within this season, at least, that if a non-white character appears, they’re the villain, which we can see in the following episode, and I believe is only broken in the finale. Still, this character is marketed and popular, despite more awareness about this depiction being harmful, this character lives on. 

Other than this aspect, I enjoy how the episode is a fun tribute to classic monster movies, it feels like House of Dracula or House of Frankenstein, in the way it includes three classical characters, all running around a castle. It’s so much fun seeing the three of them running around here! I’ll move through them all before getting any deeper into the episode. 

Firstly, we have Dracula, who is by far my favourite of the three. Created by Bram Stoker, the character’s design echoes the Universal Monster’s design for him, with a black cloak and red lining and a more human appearance rather than being ghoulish. Being the only one of the three who talks, Dracula stands out amongst the rest, and sure, all of them are distinctive, I think he carries the episode where the others are unable to, he offers something completely different, being mostly human. Cognitively, he can think better than the other two creatures, therefore, delivering some humanity. Also I love his ability to turn into a bat, so fun, and I’m also a big fan of the white, chalky skin he has. 

Next we meet Frankenstein’s Monster, this look again is directly inspired by the Universal Monster’s character. Of the three here, I’ve only seen these first two, but I prefer Frankenstein! As for the books, I don’t think I have a preference, I think I preferred reading Dracula, but overall enjoy Frankenstein more. Regardless, this design is a hulking character, stalking the characters endlessly through the castle. It gives this impossible feeling to him, as if you’ll never be able to shake him off. 

Finally, there’s, who I deem to be, the weakest of the three, the Wolfman. Only meeting the gang once, the character is also inspired by the Universal Monster, a completely original character there, which is why he’s so different in contrast to the other two. I don’t love this design, he looks so ghoulish, his werewolf side feels lost. I enjoy the stockier design, but the lack of fur makes it difficult to know what he is just by looking, although I guess this closer links him as a human and wolf, a literal wolfman, sure, but the movie it’s taking inspiration from also does this, I just find the purpley skin to be a mit much in this design. Also, he does the least, I find his antics the least interesting. 

Although we never see the three together in the same scene, all of them played by the same villain, I do enjoy this set up, the castle feels truly haunted and inescapable! 

Speaking of the castle, the Frankenstein name added to it is certainly earnt, containing a lab among other gothic elements that places it closest to that character rather than the other two. It’s a great place to be in, and I don’t find myself tired of the castles because of how they vary them when we’re here! Plus, these characters were made for gothic castles! 

I enjoy some of the character stuff here too, even if most of it is very silly. The Velma and Fred pairing is a nice change of pace, I enjoy their dynamic! Although, this does only come as a result of Daphne’s capture. Ultimately, this series is thin on its depiction of Fred and Daphne, they’re mostly one note and will get to shine way more in later versions of the series! I still like them enough, but I can’t help but feel like this comes from their designs and how they act in the future. I think Daphne is the weakest, she’s simply prone to danger, presented as a klutz and usually not all that intelligent, it can be done well, there are places in the franchise where it is, but not here! Fred similarly lacks much character, but small details and focus on him give him the upper hand, such as in Foul Play in Funland where I felt he stood out, and his place as the leader of the group which gives him more to do. Velma, Shaggy and Scooby are far stronger characters, even if they are pretty surface level in how they’re written. 

Another moment I really enjoy is when, for some reason, Shaggy and Scooby decide they want to prank the ghost. For some reason? It’s not too clear why they would jump from being terrified of the monster to pouring water on him, but hey, it’s really funny, mostly because of how abruptly they decide this, finding a body under a sheet, assuming it’s the monster, and then finding a hose. Of course, this backfires, the two of them getting wet, and the body not being the monster’s, it’s great stuff!

And after all this, we learn that the monster is none other than Big Bob Oakley. No way. 

I always find it funny when they kind of ditch the mystery angle - like there’s no suspects here except the fortune teller I guess, but then we see she’s not real. I don’t mind it at all though, the reveal is a lot less impactful in this series purposefully. 

Overall, this one’s fun! Filled with classic horror settings and characters that made me smile. 

12. Scooby-Doo and a Mummy Too

When I saw the list of four episodes I had lined up to watch, I was dreading this one. Truthfully, I hate sandy locations, and Mummy’s are also pretty boring to me! So after the three before that looked so fun, I wasn’t too thrilled to end on this! 

But, I liked it way more than I expected to. 

First of all, the episode isn’t set in a desert, instead in the department of archeology, where after seeing an ancient mummy, Shaggy accidentally pockets a coin, the mummy following them afterwards. 

Honestly, I was on the side of the mummy for most of this. As soon as they see the mummy come to life, they just refuse to give him his coin back, but like, he just wants his coin. To begin with, there’s no crime here, he’s just a mummy returning to life who would like his coin back. If I was robbed, I’d also want my stuff returned. 

The Mummy here is based on the mummy from the Universal Monster movie, The Mummy. I haven’t seen it yet, but I do like how they reference the character, his name being the Mummy of Ankha, a play on the princess name in the movie who the mummy was supposed to protect. Although, as stated in the episode, Ankha was a real person, believed to be the richest ruler in Egypt around 1030 BCE. Also, this name in hieroglyphics roughly translates to life, which makes sense for the character, given he has “returned from the dead”. 

Also I just really liked the mummy here, I don’t know why! He’s just a silly man who would like his money back, which I think is fair enough! In fact, reading back through my notes I made while watching the episode, I was taking the mummy’s side a lot, like sure, he turns people to stone, but so what! I like him. My favourite mummy for sure. 

On the topic of turning people to stone, I think it’s done better here than in What the Hex Going on?, maybe? I’m not too sure, both feel like they use it as a way to escalate things without ever using the concept to its full potential - here Scooby is stolen, then they find a stone statue of him, cry, until they see Scooby is alive a moment after. Although I do love the gag of Scooby crying over being turned to stone, it’s the perfect amount of silly. 

The rest of the episode plays out like your typical Where are You? story, but that isn’t to discredit it. It’s lots of fun, I enjoyed myself far more than I expected to! But sometimes it can make an episode less interesting to talk about. Most of the series is of a consistently good quality, but some episodes are great, such as The Backstage Rage, while some are just very whatever, such as Decoy for a Dognapper. This one sits around the middle, but still manages to be fun to watch!

Episode Ranking:

The Backstage Rage

A Gaggle of Galloping Ghosts

Scooby-Doo and a Mummy Too

Bedlam in the Big Top

Villain Ranking: 

Puppet Master

Mummy of Ankha

Clown Ghost

Dracula

Frankenstein’s Monster

Wolfman 

Previous Review: SDWaY S1 E5-8

Next Review: SDWaY S1 E13-17

[neon-ufo]

Luv's Monthly Makeover 2022

I wanted to show all 12 pieces of this project, and add a little paragraph about each of them, their themes (if applicable), and their inspirations. 

The point of this project was to redesign my mascot Luv every month, trying out new art styles and techniques in the process. Luv changed every month, but still remained the same recognizable character throughout. The idea was to embrace the beauty and challenge of change, and grow with it.

💕January Luv is generally a very androgynous-looking character largely due to cuteness and fashion, but for this piece I wanted to give him a somewhat more masculine look, which created the little fire goatee. Technically this piece was drawn in December 2021 before I thought of this project (in February), but it hasn't been posted until January and it fit the bill so I counted it as the January piece.

I wanted this to be a more ‘serious’ piece, so there’s no exaggerated fashion or detail to it, aside from the realistic heart in place of the usual love heart on his chest. This is the oldest of the pieces, but I’m still very happy with how it looks!

The Japanese text is from the song Hello by Fire Bomber, saying; "We fear nothing, We go on along this path”. The vibe of the drawing was inspired by this song’s classic rock tune.

💕February This piece was largely just playing around with clothing textures and such, and the main idea was to present Luv's heart mask in a different way. Some looks had a much stronger thematic vision than others, and this is definitely one of the weaker ones. I don't have much to say about it tbh

The jacket is inspired by a Coach x Keith Haring collaboration jacket, and the mask is a "Lover" mask design by LikeADrugg.

💕March This was done when Ousama Ranking was airing and I fell in love with the demon's heart-shaped mouth, which I referenced here. Contrary to popular belief, Aku from Samurai Jack was not the inspiration for this.

There isn't much more to say about this one, I wanted him to look creepy and spindly. I had a blast with the rendering, very proud of how it turned out!

💕April I was really excited for the concept of this one, but it did not turn out how I wanted it to.

He was supposed to be essentially mask-less on this piece, with the visor of his hat casting a heart-shaped shadow on his face. I also wanted to push more in the fashion aspect in this one, the main inspiration being a pair of RoseCut pants & Vivienne Westwood's Love logo, which I used a few more times in my work after this.

💕May Ok I suddenly got struck by an extreme passion for punk fashion at this point, and I poured it heavily into this iteration. Another different play on the heart mask, this time it changed to heart-shaped glasses. Various spikes become a pretty recurring element from here on lmao. There's also the Westwood Love logo again.

A fun fact; this is actually largely a re-used design of a GothPunk Luv I tried drawing once, but scrapped because I didn't like how it was going! I loved the ideas behind that design and am really glad I got to bring it back here. <:

💕June This is a very simple one, as I was dealing with the loss of a beloved pet, and I simply didn't have the energy to draw anything bigger.

This actually turned out to be one of my favourite designs for Luv, as it's very simple but very fun, and easy to draw. It became my go-to design for doodles. Lyrics is from "It Gets Harder" by Good Luck

💕July Tried something very different with style here. I wanted the style and colours to be a little bit more ethereal in vibe, hence the very bright soft shapes and floating gold bits. The doll-like face also adds o the dreamyness, with the matte black eyes and no shine. I think that adding some thick lineart in the centre of the drawing makes the image a bit disorienting, which I quite like.

Main focal point is the golden Jeremy Scott + Adidas Wings sneaker, which was basically what this entire piece was built around.

💕 August This is another one of my favourite looks. I really love the outfit elements of it, as well as the colours, and I can definitely see myself drawing it again sometime, which is not something I can say for most other looks in this project!

Despite it being one of my favourite designs in this series, I don’t have much to say about the piece  itself though. The shirt was inspired by a shirt worn by Donquixote Doflamingo on one of the One Piece manga covers.

💕September This piece has recently been chosen to partake in a group exhibition in the capital city of my country, which is quite a big deal for me!

Luv is sporting a very casual streetwear look with a graffiti can in hand. This was the first time I familiarized myself with gradient maps, experimenting with which helped me choose the final palette. The "Love & Peace" sign in the background is taken from a Trigun episode title. The decorations on the pants were inspired by Lirika Matoshi's S/S22 collection, and the shirt evokes several Junya Watanabe/Comme des Garçons shirts from the early 2000s.

💕October Spooky Luv for spooky month, I really love this piece. It's one of my favourite recent pieces!

Again a lineless piece like the month before, but I took a very different approach to shading, and honestly I expected it to be so much harder than it was. It was a blast to work on this one and I love the effect that pitch black shading has on a monochrome body. I did a lot of experimenting with the background and used gradient maps again to get a cool background effect. I was aiming to get some kinda old video game cover look with this. The text on top is my favourite quote from Dracula. The background is a photo from the Croatian coast that I took last summer.

💕November The aim of this one was to capture the nostalgic early 2010s anime & deviantART style. I looked to a few anime for reference, but I think in the end Lucky Star was the most helpful.

I tried to channel deviantART character designs I remember from that era, using typical design features I remember from it, such as demon wings, stripes, collars, off-the-shoulder oversized shirts, and checkered belts. The fashion inspiration here is largely the signature Chrome Hearts crosses, while the shoes were inspired by the fantastic toothed heels from the GCDS spring/summer '23 collection which I only now realized does not fit the Y2K theme I was going for with this one lmao

Either way, I'm very happy with this one, I think I achieved what I went out to do!

Oh yeah, and the text in the background is the entire lyrics of the album Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge by My Chemical Romance.

💕December Last piece of the challenge was almost entirely re-drawn, as I didn't like the first look of it. There isn't much specific inspiration for this one, but I wanted to make it vaguely connected to the December season.

As a reference to Christmas, there are elements of angels in the design, with a bright halo and tiny wings. The symbol I personally associate with new year is the peace sign☮️, because I remember that my dad used to give family friends a New Year's card with nothing but a peace sign in it. He stopped doing it recently, so I'm taking up that mantle instead.

The little sleepy Luv on the right side is taken from a different Monthly Makeover piece that I scrapped.

I'm not sure if it's clear, but the shape at the bottom says 2023.

Thank you