#kind of a parody of the last drawing i drew

[donuts4evry1]

Orange eyes are rather haunting, don’t you think?

[abuddyforeveryseason]

Alright, this is it, the last of the Buddies.

This, the Buddy for May 11th, marks the end of this little project. It's my 366th upload. As a compilation of all of my previous drawings (you might need to open it in a new tab to see it better), it technically breaks the rule of using only white, black and red, thanks to compression issues on the drawings for March 18th and September 9th. But, well, I figured I did post stuff that didn't break that rule those days, so it doesn't matter. Besides, the project's finished now.

There are some good ones there too, although a lot of them are traces, so I won't be counting those. I liked the pin for May 18th, that's something I had been working on before I started, and I still think it looks better and more polished than my actual art. The sketchy drawing for May 17th is good too, even if it's kind of phoned in.

May 27th looks cute, and June 17th was a good idea, even if the implementation was a bit lazy; but at least it wasn't a trace for once. June 23rd was cool, though I wish I had made it a gif. Lack of time, I guess.

The woman in July 15th looks pretty good, and the gif for July 15th is pretty badass, even if it was a simple one. July 29th was one of my funniest ideas. I like the shading for September 7th. September 19th and October 1st were also female figures, I'm proud enough of those. Some of the drawings on the template for October 3rd were good. October 16th looks pretty good, something I'd use on a comic.

The first "strip" on October 23rd was a pain to make, but I like the joke in it. The nerdy relationship map on November 15th was fun, but it was more for my benefit, not really special, art-wise.

December 1st was different from my usual style, I like it, even if the anatomy is pretty wrong. The tarot cards on December 17th were an earlier project, but also really nice.

The lighting on the drawing for December 20th was fun to make too. January 16th looks really simple, but I like the vibe of it. The strip for February 3rd was an idea I'm also proud of. More women, on February 11th, 19th and 28th. The negative colors effect on Mach 4th worked better than I expected, too.

I think the gif on March 22nd worked well enough, although I rushed it. The joke on March 26th was something that was on my mind for some time.

There was the strip on April 10th with different versions under the main post, those were nice enough. The gif on April 12th was hard to make, and I'm not too happy with it, but it was an ambitious idea..

The Buddy for May 8th looks the closest to what I had wanted to do as a proper webcomic, so I'm happy with it, although there was some trouble making it, and I was pretty bored with the project already.

But, the best Buddy of the year, in my opinion, was, funny enough, the one for January 23rd. The Rob Liefeld parody. It's funny cause I drew it so it'd look crappy, and, well, it does, but still better than my usual art, just with more lines and cliché Liefeld stuff. Pretty XXXtreme.

It's weird that one of my earlier comic ideas was a Liefeld parody, where a seemingly-normal person would get involved in the world of Liefeld badasses and contrast those comics' anti-logic with the real world. I wrote a lot of it, but gave up about 2/3rds in. Not that there's much point in mocking Rob Liefeld nowadays, anyway.

I'm not sure what'll become of this tumblr now. I'm trying to keep focused on art and distance myself from online dumpster fire discourse, so I'm trying to fill out my new sketchbooks for now.

Anyway, thanks for all the likes throughout the year, I appreciate the interest from everyone who found my silly little OC entertaining enough.

[strudeldoodlearts]

FISH YEAH is finally done!

It's always great to have those moments where you don't just have an art idea but a vary specific *vision* of what you're gonna be drawing. It kinda sucks when you experience that kind of thing a lot before you're capable of drawing it, however. This wasn't the case this time!

Even though I knew what it looked like in my head, I still glanced at a few picture references of front-facing fish with their mouths open so that I had a general idea of placement and color choices. I took some creative liberties with the mouth and teeth though, haha!

And why is it called [FISH YEAH]? Because I was staring at a notepad document with my housemates as we were gathered around to brainstorm dinner for the week. One of them hesitantly bring up fish, which was also an idea I entertained. My inner reaction to that was to "see" a funny fish going FISH YEAH!! on the blank area of the notepad.

The second image is a continuation of the palette mix idea I played with last time. Nothing fancy going on here, though I drew the circles in a 3x3 grid guide that I made. Or rather, I drew the line-art of the circular shape before copy-pasting 3 in a row and then copy-pasting the rows to get 9 circles.

[palette mix 2] still features similar colors to the first idea, but I made an effort to choose warmer, more saturated options.

In other news, it's quite hard to stay focused on merch releases when the workload outside of art revs up. At one point during my writing procrastination, I ended up designing a whole parody design for a black water bottle to make it look like a soy sauce bottle. Surely it'll be a head turner once I get around to it. But that'll have to be sometime after releasing pandesal misadventures!

That's it for now~

[clairdelilac]

Hello!!

So sorry I've not been great with the questions ;- life suddenly got v busy for me :( I wanted to ask why Lee know is your bias !! Was wondering what drew you to him and if there are any stand out moments for you?

-❄️

Haha no worries you can ask as many or as little questions as you want, tis a busy time of year for most~

I guess firstly Lee Know fits my two most common bias features: cat personality and the 'mum' of the group.

I always like an older more responsible member and usually who has a kind of feminine edge to them as well.

He was actually one of the last member's I learnt the name of, for some reason originally I got him and seungmin confused. I think cos they both had kinda plainer styling back in the day?? Not sure.

But yeah the moment I fell in love with him was watching a compilation of him sassing fans on vlive (rip). That's the main thing I like about him is his sassy out of pocket remarks, his quiet confidence and his professionalism as an idol. He's also my favourite to draw in skz but honestly that's more to do with his angular facial features than him being my bias there's many groups where the one a draw the most isn't my bias.

I'm struggling to think of specific moments I just love when he delivers the funniest lines with the straightest of faces and also I was obsessed with when he had purple hair (orange lino was also pretty iconic, ooh also when he had that purple shirt when they did the hotel del luna parody for some reason I'm obsessed with him in purple). Him being offended when the members don't remember details about his cats crack me up and I love how he's constantly evoking soap opera-esque scenes with the members.

I will also add that changbin is my bias wrecker and if I went off performance alone he would be my fave (always love the growly/deep voiced rapper, the presence of his voice when you see them live is insane) but I vibe with lino's personality the most. I am also obsessed with cats and love cooking so I vibe a lot with his vlogs too (Soonie is my real skz bias 😌).

[sam-winchester-admiration-league]

When Supernatural airs the eagerly anticipated conclusion to the saga of the Brothers Winchester on Thursday, Nov. 19, the WB-turned-CW series will bid adieu after a truly impressive 15 seasons. The massive and occasionally unwieldy body of work that Supernatural leaves behind has something for every flavor of fan. Creepy ghosts? Check. Sexy vampires? Check. Not-so-sexy vampires? Check. Monsters of the week? Meta rabbit holes? Goofy parodies? Check, check, and check.

The most enduring element, however, and the one that certainly draws this crazy, beautiful, dysfunctional fandom together, has to be the epic love story of Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles). Theirs is the bromance that has been at the core of Supernatural’s soul from the very beginning, back before we even knew their story was being manipulated by Chuck (Rob Benedict), aka God, who claimed they were his “favorite show.” While a few friends — Bobby (Jim Beaver), Castiel (Misha Collins), and Jack (Alexander Calvert) — endured season upon season, eventually claiming their own place in the family that don’t end with blood, it will be Sam and Dean in the end, just like it was in the beginning. Friends come and go, but Winchesters are forever.

Now, Sam and Dean’s relationship is not always pretty, and it can be argued that it’s not always healthy — heck, I have argued that it’s not healthy — but it certainly makes for compelling, if somewhat repetitive, storytelling. How many times are Dean and Sam going to fling themselves into certain death all for their brotherly love of one another? How many times will the one left behind drag the other out of literal Hell, whether he likes it or not? And how many times will one brother turn evil? The storylines are cyclical. We’ve seen these things happen again and again, and yet we keep coming back, because even though Supernatural has told the same story quite a few times over the last 15 seasons, Sam and Dean do grow — or at least change — as a result of their experiences.

When Meg (Nicki Aycox) possessed Sam in Season 2’s “Born Under a Bad Sign,” both brothers were on the same page — Meg possessing Sam was a Bad Thing. It had to be fixed. It was horrific, an unquestionable violation, and a few episodes later, both brothers were found to be sporting their iconic chest tattoos to ensure something like that never ever happened again. Being possessed by Lucifer (Mark Pellegrino) in Season 5 was different though. It was still a violation, still a horror, but one that Sam invited upon himself as a necessity to save the world, and one that Dean supported — albeit with extreme reluctance — as the right play. The Winchesters are big damn heroes and this is what big damn heroes do.

And then came Gadreel (Tahmoh Penikett). It was another violation, another horror. But unlike a sacrifice for the greater good, taken willingly and accepted by both brothers as a vital sacrifice that they had no choice but to make, Gadreel entered the picture in a moment of sheer panic. Dean manipulated Sam because of his own personal desire for Sam to live. And Sam did live, but he was horrified and hurt, while Dean said he’d do it all again in a heartbeat.

It’s OK to tell the same story, as long as you’re not actually telling the same story — and isn’t that what all of Chuck’s endless variations of the Winchester are in the show’s final season? The Sams and Deans from the alternate universe who end up murdering each other are not telling the same story as our Sam and Dean. Nor are the displaced hipster Sam and Dean. Or Squirrel Sam and Dean. And yet they are, because there is something so fundamentally Sam and Dean about Sam and Dean that no variation is any less compelling than another.

For 15 seasons, we have not been able to look away from Sam and Dean’s hard-to-define relationship. Is it love? Is it lust? Is it codependency wrapped up in floofy hair and flannel? Maybe. At the end of the day, it’s fiction, and fiction is beautiful because it lets us climb to all kinds of heights and crawl through any number of depths far outside of our own experiences.

The epic love story of Sam and Dean is a prism at times, and a mirror at others. We can see what we want to see, or we can see something more. We can see ourselves reflected in their story, in small ways here and there, or we can see nothing of ourselves and just appreciate a thrilling adventure, a gripping gothic horror, or a spooky mystery. But after all these years, the supernatural aspects are not what is so magical about Supernatural. Yes, it may be the thing that drew eyes initially — I like a good ghost story, and some of those early WB promos were rife with the promise that Supernatural was going to be sexy and scary — but that’s not all the show was when it began, nor is today. Sometimes Supernatural is rather silly. Sometimes it’s repetitive. Sometimes it becomes mired in its attempts to tell new stories after all this time. But in the end, there i s always Sam and Dean in the center of it all, the point of the compass, guiding this series home. (x)

Source: https://www.tvguide.com/news/features/supernatural-sam-dean-winchester-relationship/

[shimmersing]

Constellation

Part One | Part Two | Interlude | Part Three

Rating: General Audiences Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply Categories: F/M, Gen Relationships: Female Jedi Consular | Barsen'thor/Male Republic Trooper, Jedi Consular | Barsen'thor/Republic Trooper Characters: Female Jedi Consular | Barsen'thor, Jedi Consular | Barsen'thor, Qyzen Fess, Yuon Par, Parkanas Tark-Lord Vivicar Additional Tags: Angst, Tython, Emotional, Mentioned Mutual Pining, Fluffy, Sad, Melancholy Returning to Tython after shielding the last master suffering from Vivicar’s Force plague, Aitahea is faced with more struggle in her efforts to heal the Order and keep the Force in balance. Tired, injured, and longing for someone she can’t have, perhaps ever, the lines of her responsibility as a Jedi and her own convictions begin to blur. As Aitahea nears the end of her quest to save Yuon Par and the other Jedi Masters, she’s confronted with painful revelations and answers that only give rise to more questions. Shouldering the lives and minds of Jedi across the galaxy – alone – may prove to be more than Aitahea can bear.

Part Two

“Thank you for coming. I have made all the preparations for the ritual to find Lord Vivicar.”

Yuon turned to greet Aitahea with a rueful smile. “I plan to create a connection between us, using your shielding ability. If it is - was - Parkanas, this should work. Drawing on your strength, I will invert the link between myself and Vivicar and use it to sense his location.”

Aitahea didn’t know the details of what Parkanas might have experienced, nor did she wish to know. She did understand that as a result of what had occurred on Malachor Three, Yuon Par and Duras Fain were the parents of Laranna Fain. All of the Masters involved had abandoned Parkanas, whom they should have protected, she realized in dismay. That’s what the Jedi were, protectors, defending the innocent and championing justice, weren’t they? What did it mean, truly, that Yuon had called Parkanas weak?

“Don’t expose yourself to Lord Vivicar’s influence any longer than you must, Yuon.” Aitahea found herself whispering a plea. “Please.”

If this failed, it would cost lives, Yuon’s and Aitahea’s surely among them. In the quiet moments after her crying had passed, she’d discovered a calm remnant of strength, her private conviction that being a Jedi meant protecting everyone she possibly could.

Focusing on these newborn doubts would not benefit anyone. Her trust felt shaken, but Yuon had never brought her to harm before.

“I won’t. For your sake, as well as mine.” Yuon sighed, resignation in the drop of her shoulders. “There are risks. For one, the shielding you gave me on Coruscant will be severed.”

Aitahea flinched. The shielding had become a comfort, perhaps not so unlike the Force bond that some Masters and apprentices formed through training. But as a shield and not a true bond, it was more akin to a signal she could check at will, adjust, improve, and repair as necessary. Aitahea thought of both Yuon and herself as fiercely individual in certain ways, and she’d never truly considered the implications. It had simply been so crucial, so necessary.

“I don’t know what will happen then,” Yuon continued, looking focused and prepared again. “It’s possible I could die once your shield is gone.”

“I’ll protect you, Master.”

“With your strength to sustain me, we will do what we can.” Yuon forced another smile, little more than a grimace. “No matter what happens, you must give me as much time as possible. Reversing the link may be a long process.” She knelt on the carpeted floor. Aitahea followed suit, while Qyzen stepped back to lean watchfully against a pillar.

“Let us begin.”

The Force wrapped her, whole and complete, and Aitahea suddenly recalled a childhood visit to an artificial sea on Coruscant. She’d been young; the memory was little more than a hazy sensation of warm, buoyant safety. Yuon’s presence across from her smoldered like the banked embers of a fire, steady and glowing.

Sinking further into the lull of meditation, Aitahea found herself adrift in the numinous experience of the Force. On Tython, with her own Master, under the watchful eyes of the Council, Qyzen’s comforting presence near them, in the safest place in the universe. All was as it should be. For a moment, she rested calmly in the knowledge that she had everything she needed.

Then Yuon’s gentle warmth grew abruptly fierce. An unnamable distress gripped Aitahea; the profound embrace of the Force around her shuddered. An unnamable something snapped, and Aitahea gasped aloud at the acute absence of her carefully constructed shielding. Her eyes flew open to see Yuon swaying.

“Yes, yes – it’s working. I can feel his mind and… uhhh… I can feel—I…” Yuon’s words trailed off, reeling listlessly for a horrible moment. Just as Aitahea was about to call her name, Yuon’s eyes opened.

Only they were not Yuon Par’s eyes. With horrible, sickening recognition, Aitahea felt the tendrils of darkness that she’d battled for almost a year once again entangling her beloved Master. When Yuon opened her mouth, it was not her voice that spoke.

"She can feel the power that she’s challenging." Yuon slowly stood, motions mechanical. “There is no hope.” Aitahea reeled back in alarm, and Qyzen hissed a sibilant curse. Vivicar laughed, examining Yuon’s body as though it were a costume he wore.

“Yuon has drained your strength and made herself vulnerable to me. Still arrogant and reckless.” Turning back to Aitahea, Yuon’s head tilted in a horrible parody of affection, her Master’s face a rictus of agonized delight. But it was Vivicar’s voice that uttered her name.

“Aitahea.” She shuddered but held her ground. “You don’t look as strong as you did last time we spoke.”

Inhaling slowly, Aitahea raised her eyes to meet the horrible, mindless stare in her Master’s face, thoughts racing to find a response. “I know your name,” she exhaled in a shaky whisper. Vivicar twitched Yuon’ lips into a smirk but offered no reply. Aitahea continued, voice trembling. “You were once Parkanas Tark, a brave Jedi. You could be that man again.”

“The past means nothing,” Vivicar growled, waving a hand. “All that matters is the future, which doesn’t involve you, Aitahea.”

She clenched her jaw at his mockingly familiar use of her name, restraining a distraught scream of please stop. It would only fuel him further.

“See how Yuon’s will crumbles before mine.” Vivicar threw Yuon’s head back with a laugh, casually plucking her lightsaber from her side. Aitahea felt frozen; she could not bear fighting Yuon again, not after Coruscant. But when Vivicar ignited the blade, the usual lively green replaced by unthinkable red, she stumbled back in incomprehensible terror. Every cell of her being shrieked at her to flee. Yuon’s careworn face sneered down at her with unrecognizable hate. “Fitting, that two of my enemies will destroy each other.”

Stunned into a blank, silent moment by the abject horror of her present, Aitahea observed her own motions as if they were saber stances, performed by an initiate in practice. Lightsaber hilt to hand. Ignite. Ready position. Block, but if the blade isn’t fully —

Aitahea was shocked to find herself pinned brutally against the back wall, the ruby blade just inches from her skin. Qyzen was already aiming, but Vivicar flung out Yuon’s hand and threw him to the opposite corner. Aitahea took that moment of barest distraction to send Vivicar himself flying, then climbed unsteadily to her feet and placed herself between Vivicar and Qyzen.

Vivicar drew Yuon’s body up, limbs dangling as though they were on strings, a youngling’s broken toy. Qyzen pushed to his feet again, growling a string of curses behind Aitahea, who hesitated at the sight of Yuon’s lolling head and drooping eyelids.

At serious risk of toppling over, Yuon bent unnaturally and picked up the saber that had tumbled from her hand. Aitahea could sense that Yuon had been knocked unconscious by her reckless, panicked Force push, but Vivicar still drove her lifeless body forward.

“Parkanas Tark, Yuon Par was your friend!” Aitahea dodged a clumsy thrust. “Did she never once show you kindness, that you can do this to her? Release her! Parkanas, please!”

Aitahea blocked a second inept strike, and for a moment, Yuon’s eyes cleared, her voice was her own. “Aitahea!”

Vivicar stumbled back, clutching at Yuon’s head and keening pitifully. Yuon’s saber hilt clattered to the floor again. Aitahea reached for it, only for anguish to pierce through all her shields, white-hot agony suffusing her. Distantly, well beyond her own tormented scream, Aitahea somehow heard Vivicar’s wail become Yuon’s voice again.

“It… It worked!” Yuon cried, her own eyes peering out from her spent, elated face again. “Listen, Lord Vivicar… he’s out in deep space, on some sort of vessel… the coordinates!” Her hands reached out, beckoning.

Aitahea, panting in the wake of the assault, looked around for the datapad they’d had nearby, hoping that it hadn’t been damaged in the struggle. A cluster of Jedi had crowded into the doorway, alerted by the unusual commotion. Aitahea found and handed the datapad to Yuon, who began softly muttering as she searched the galactic map.

“He’s surrounded himself with defenses. Send this. It’s his code. It will give you… time to get aboard.”

Yuon pressed the datapad back into Aitahea’s hands, then sank to her knees again, clutching at her head. “No—the darkness… Vivicar’s will is too strong!”

Over one shoulder, Aitahea addressed anyone who was listening, fighting an overwhelming fatigue. “Fetch the Council and a medic immediately!”

“Yes, Master!” came a chorused reply as several youthful volunteers scattered. A few others began to clear the hallway in a spurt of practicality.

“I can’t hold on! Please, kill me!” Yuon threw her head back, arching her spine, a strangled moan tearing itself from her throat. “End it now!”

“No, Yuon. You’re safe now,” Aitahea soothed, Qyzen thankfully at her side again. He lifted the datapad from Aitahea’s hands so she could pull Yuon into her arms, willing the shattered shielding back in place.

Excruciating moments passed, punctuated with agony that Aitahea couldn’t identify as hers or Yuon’s or a lingering effect of the ritual. It was tedious and exhausting, like the time she’d attempted to paste back together a statuette of Master Gnost-Dural that a youngling under her care had broken. Pieces had been missing, and she’d been unable to fully complete the repair. Now, she filled in cracks and breaks with what felt like pieces of her soul.

Finally, the shielding began functioning. She could feel every straining fissure.

Yuon groaned, shook her head, and pulled herself from Aitahea’s tenuous grasp. “The darkness… it’s gone.” Yuon passed a hand over her face, blinking as though she’d woken from a long slumber.

“I’m glad, Yuon,” Aitahea murmured, swaying. Yuon started, suddenly recognizing her former student’s distress. She grasped Aitahea’s shoulders, steadying the other woman.

“You—you look exhausted.” Guilt flickered over Yuon’s face like a shadow. “Aitahea… You have sacrificed so much for me.”

Aitahea offered a doleful half-smile, struggling to keep her eyes open. “The Jedi way is to serve. Vivicar should no longer be able to influence you, Master,” she assured Yuon.

Several Padawans rushed into the room and began fussing over Yuon, her keepers that Master Satele had mentioned during their first meeting, she assumed. Qyzen leaned down and offered a scaly arm to support Aitahea as she struggled to her feet.

“Your shielding has driven him from my mind,” Yuon said. Brushing off the exasperated Padawans, she caught Aitahea’s other hand between her own. “Thank you.”

Palm to palm, Aitahea sensed the delicate strength of her shield, already showing signs of deterioration. “Of course, Master.”

The Padawans rushed in as soon as Yuon released Aitahea’s hand. “I—I must rest.” She blinked, and two of the Padawans took her arms, making soothing sounds. “Master Syo and the Council. They must hear of what we’ve learned.”

“Herald needs treatment for injuries,” Qyzen added as Yuon was pulled away.

Aitahea felt utterly wretched yet single-mindedly determined to end the plague as swiftly as possible. They knew where Vivicar was hiding. They could end it all in just hours.

“The Council first, Qyzen.” Aitahea lifted her hand experimentally off Qyzen’s steadying arm, feeling the lump in her throat tighten when her legs quivered. She took a breath, then a step, and finally waved for Qyzen to follow. With a shake of his head, Qyzen acquiesced, staying a step behind her.

By the time they’d reached the Council chamber, Aitahea had reached deeply into the Force to dampen the pain of her injuries and the fatigue of conflict. It didn’t eliminate her agony, but it allowed her to focus long enough to deliver her debrief to the Council.

“The ritual was a success,” she began. “Lord Vivicar is out in uncharted space in a hijacked vessel, the Progress. He knows I’m coming.”

“Now only your shielding ability can stop him,” Master Satele said, the other Masters nodding their consensus.

“You’ve shown great fortitude and once again saved Master Yuon, despite the odds.” Master Syo leaned forward in his chair. “But Lord Vivicar will have made preparations, and he still has his greatest weapon—the plague itself.”

Aitahea took a tremulous breath. “I believe I can save him, Master Syo. Now that I know who he really is, I could return Vivicar—Parkanas, that is—I could return him to the light.”

Syo shook his head. “A noble thought, Aitahea, but don’t take unnecessary risks. Your shielding ability is our only hope.”

Master Jaric finally spoke. “Jedi, you’re exhausted. You need medical treatment and rest.” Qyzen grunted beside her in rare agreement with Master Jaric.

“There’s no time to waste, Master. We must move now, before Vivicar strikes back,” Aitahea argued. “I can recover en-route; I have a very capable crew waiting.”

Syo glanced at Satele, then gave Aitahea an reluctant nod. “Go to the coordinates quickly. And, Aitahea—may the Force be with you.”

Aitahea accepted the dismissal with a shaky bow, unable to trust her voice, and left the Council chamber. Qyzen followed, arm steady as he offered it to her again.

“Herald cannot—”

“Qyzen, we must,” Aitahea interrupted. “I’ll rest on the Luminous, Sia will manage the flight, and Tharan and Holiday can offer some assistance, I’m sure.” Qyzen hummed a skeptical agreement but said nothing.

They limped to the shuttle pad. Aitahea idly hoped there wasn’t a trail marking their path after she noticed the oozing wound at her hairline. No wonder the Council had looked so concerned; she probably looked a fright. With the coordinates already sent to Prelsiava onboard the Luminous, they could leave as soon as they were onboard. Then she would rest.

Qyzen mindfully guided Aitahea to a seat on the shuttle. She spent a few moments in unsteady healing efforts, but her grasp of the Force felt tenuous now, soaring thousands of meters above the sacred ground of Tython. Finally, Aitahea shambled on leaden feet through the orbital station to the Luminous, ready and waiting.

See-Too made a little stuttering gasp of alarm when he saw Aitahea climbing the stairs to the main deck and tottered over to fret as they ascended the stairs; Qyzen had kept her upright through the orbital station, but Aitahea’s fragile strength was nearly spent. “Master Jedi, we must get you to the med bay at once!”

“Kriffing hell, Ai.” Sia pushed past the droid, slinging Aitahea’s arm over her shoulders. “What happened to you?” she asked, dragging the barely-conscious Jedi to the med bay. Between them, Qyzen and Sia got her onto the observation bunk while See-Too went in search of Tharan.

Aitahea roused, seizing Sia’s sleeve. “Are we leaving?” she whispered, eyes briefly opening to squint blearily at the pilot.

“Got underway as soon as you closed the hatch.”

Aitahea sighed deeply, the faintest smile on her lips as she closed her eyes again. “How long?”

“Six hours or so, if I got the calculations right, and I always do. You’ve got to rest. I’ll get Tharan and Holiday in here to patch you up at least, bandage that head wound. Don’t give me that line you always do about self-healing.” She folded her arms, disapproval in her narrowed eyes. “You’re starting to scare me, Aitahea. Very little in the galaxy scares me; you know that. When does this end?”

“Soon,” Aitahea murmured. Sia sighed but didn’t press her further.

“You’d have been better off staying on Tython where they have a full medical suite, you know,” Tharan mentioned casually when he walked in, Holiday on his heels. He scanned a few labels before selecting a medical stim and a sedative from their supply. “Fortunately, See-Too has done exceptionally well keeping our stock current. You’ll recover quickly.” He unceremoniously injected Aitahea with the drugs, efficiently bandaged her obvious wounds, and then ushered everyone briskly from the med bay. Aitahea was asleep before they left.

Her wrist comm beeped; a call was coming through. Aitahea stirred but drifted back into stillness once the alert ceased to sound. A few moments later, the missed contact’s ID popped unseen onto the display:

Lieutenant Erithon Zale.

Constellation: Part One | Part Two | Interlude | Part Three

[askroahmmythril]

Reference List for amiibo Fighter Names (Set 2)

13) Ganondorf : Going Alone - A reference to the start of the original Legend of Zelda, the good ol’ “IT’S DANGEROUS TO GO ALONE TAKE THIS!”  And the fact that, up to Smash 4, Ganondorf did not use his sword, despite clearly having one in his victory poses from Melee.  Many jokes were of course made about this, this is one of them.  Granted, now that he HAS his sword in Ultimate, this one’s a bit outdated, so might have to see if this one needs a revamp.  I’d still be using the Smash 4 visual style though since alas, we didn’t get an updated amiibo figure for him of his OoT style.

14) Greninja : Kerobusa - A play on kero, Japanese for the sound a frog makes, and Hayabusa, the last name of Ryu Hayabusa, star of the Ninja Gaiden series.  I wanted to parody the cutscene from the original Ninja Gaiden where Ryu is standing on a cliffside, overlooking the tower of the big bad, Jacquio.  Given Greninja was introduced in the Kalos games, I subbed in Lumiose City and its prominent central tower for the scenery.  The writing on the nameplate is from the title screen of the original Ninja Gaiden.

15) Ice Climbers : ParkaPower - Not really any sort of major reference here, I mostly stuck to the source game for this one, and just referenced that they wear parkas.  Because dangit, their parkas are adorable.  A notable difference between my version and Neo’s, he used the seal version of the normal enemy from Ice Climber, whereas I used the Topi as it’s what I was more used to.

16) Ike : SluggaBeef - This name actually came from WanStan, who donated this particular amiibo to me.  Back with the earlier amiibos, I offered an incentive for anyone who donated a Smash amiibo to allow them to name the character, and they were the only one who donated a figure and actually took me up on that offer.  Their idea was essentially just how he swings his sword with the power of a baseball bat for some hefty hits, so we played around with the idea and went with making a full-on baseball card out of it.  The 24 refers to the release number of his amiibo.

17) Jigglypuff : J-Pop - A reference to j-pop style music, and well, the fact that her name starts with a J.  And she’s a balloon, so those can pop.  Multi leveled references!  This was actually the first card I drew for the project.  I originally asked Neo if he could just like, polish up my drawings with better colors and shading, and he surprised me by going full tilt and making his own version of my rough sketch.  And thus the project was born.  This went through some various bits of retooling, such as the Love Ball being replaced with a Fairy Energy symbol on the nameplate, and also revising her hairstyle a bit.

18) Kirby : dyson - Dyson, much like Kirby, is actually a brand of vacuum cleaner.  Dyson’s commercials were famous for the designer being shown working on blueprints, saying things like “I just think vacuums should work properly,” things like that.  Since it’s his most powerful vacuum power to date, I put in a Hypernova plant on his desk.

19) Link : HeroOfAges - While a little outdated visually since we now have BotW Link as the Smash rep, again, we’re in that impasse where we didn’t get a BotW style Link amiibo specifically for Smash.  So he’s still got his Smash 4 look here.  With this one, I just wanted to reference the various Links and LoZ games throughout time.  So here we have referenced Ocarina of Time (Ocarina itself), Link to the Past (Magic Mirror), Link Between Worlds (Ravio’s bracelet), Twilight Princess (Fused Shadow), Hyrule Warriors (Link’s scarf), Skyward Sword (Beetle), the original Legend of Zelda (8-bit Wooden Sword), and the Oracles games (Harp of Ages).  Neo added some extra details on each reference as well.

20) Little Mac : Jr.Whopper - Basically just a play on, if Little Mac is to Big Mac, what would you call the Whopper equivalent?  Burger King for a long while was my go-to for fast food, though these days I probably prefer Sonic.  Still, the joke was too good to pass up.  Still amused Neo snuck the actual Burger King “King” mascot on there on his version, haha.  I have no idea why I had so much trouble drawing Little Mac’s hair, I was probably way overthinking it...

21) Lucario : AttackTurn - Yu-Gi-Oh! is one TCG I have a tendency to return to every now and again.  Given the Egyptian theming it has, it seemed a good fit for Lucario, who has an Anubis kind of feel to him visually.  Thus I set about trying to find a card that made sense as a reference to how Lucario works.  “Psychic Blade” was the best I could find.  You equip it to a monster, then pay life points in multiples of 100, up to a max of 2000.  The equipped monster then gains that much Attack and Defense.  Thus, somewhat similar to the concept of Lucario’s aura, as he gains more attack power the more damage he’s taken.  For the final card, we changed the name to “Aura of Psychic Blade” to more reference his aura.  Neo added a lot of clever references in the “card info” parts of this one, such as having the Pokémon artist shown as the illustrator, a card number referencing the Hoenn games where Lucario originated, all nice little easter eggs.

22) Lucas : Tomato Kid - Given the long time wait for an official localization of Mother 3 (I forget, DID one ever get announced?), fans took it upon themselves to make their own translation.  One of the more prominent ones I’d heard about was done by someone going by Tomato.  And thus, since in Earthbound we had Orange Kid and Apple Kid, we now have Tomato Kid.  There’s not too much else to detail here.  I literally copied a screenshot of Mother 3 pixel by pixel in Visio Home for this.  I couldn’t resist having the frog in the car, it’s just too weirdly cute.

23) Lucina : #FixFate - I admittedly don’t have a whole lot of Fire Emblem knowledge, so I had to just go with what references I could pull from.  Lucina’s game came out fairly close to around the same time as that Fire Emblem / SMT crossover type game.  Tokyo Mirage Sessions I think it was?  All I really knew about it was some of the visual style of the colored shadows walking around.  Given Lucina does have some time travel elements to her, going through time to fix her family’s past, her being in modern day Shibuya and texting on a smartphone doesn’t seem too out of the question... (okay it probably totally is but work with me here).  I snuck in a Persona 4 reference with the Calorie Magic ad, as well as a more general SMT reference with the Jack Frost phone charm.  Neo suggested adding a Splatoon ad in the background on the Shibuya tower.

24) Luigi : ReaL2401 - This is a reference to a big ol’ rumor inducing message people claimed to see on the star statue in the back garden of Peach’s castle in Super Mario 64.  Supposedly, the plaque on it said “L is Real 2401.”  People thought it was a hint to Luigi existing somewhere in the game.  Later, more well defined images showed the plaque to just likely say “Eternal Star.”  So I had the idea of Luigi leaving the message as a graffiti tag.

[saemi-the-writer]

Caretaker AU - AU writings and montages dump

Congratulations to @caretaker-au creators for finishing their story! (and they are more bonuses on the way, yeeeees~ )

I took the time to re-read it entirely and found some drafts about it (AU of an AU, same verse as this parody I did a while back) and more montages about with their comic in my folders. Oh dear! xD

 I am posting them all -in chronologically order of the events- undercut. It’s unfinished, but I MIGHT wrap it up if inspiration strikes again xD

Note: I WROTE THIS 4 YEARS AGO. I included some of my own headcanons in there, like Frisk’s full name, which is different from Caretaker AU’s canon.

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

Chara re-winded the video for the umpteenth time, zooming on another zone to study their adoptive child’s attitude closely. After slowing significantly the speed of the video playback, they launched it again.

 Frisk was drawing quietly, sitting on a chair at some distance from them -Asriel, Chara and the new scientist- when the incident happened, when that clumsy assistant unwillingly created a potential destructive weapon with that huge (and heavy!) cylinder. The thing had taken off like a rocket and bounced back on the lab floor, then went to a wall only to rebound against it and then on another area and so on, creating panic inside; the image jumped as it happened, it was a miracle the security camera had not been destroyed during the incident. Their child startled at the commotion, then looked at the rocket with wide and frightened eyes before taking cover under a table -as Asriel and themselves had shouted them to while dodging the dangerous thing and trying to find shelter too- and stayed there a moment, their gaze following the cylinder in fear. Their gaze scanned around a moment and suddenly, Frisk’s expression passed from scared to resolute. The child got on their feet and got out of their hiding spot.

 Chara paused, went back a bit and de-zoomed to determine the cause of this abrupt change.

 The “rocket” was heading towards them. Chara had not noticed it at the time, too busy shouting at the staff to either stop that damn thing or evacuate everyone, whereas Asriel seemed to have seen it, given his expression.

 Play.

 Frisk had rushed to grasp a tool on the table; luckily a big one, like a baseball bat and placed themselves on the path, steadying their position. They had called out for Asriel then, as the rocket drew near, the child’s grasp on their makeshift weapon tightened and they swung with all their might. The hit sent the cylinder flying away however the impact casted Frisk backwards too. Fortunately, Chara had been there to catch them. The two had rolled on the ground while Asriel used his magic: plants grew in an accelerated manner under the tiling and grabbed the damn thing, slowing its mad race and their husband stood as if he were about to catch a baseball ball thrown at him. The impact had him slipping quite a distance backwards, but he did not lose his balance.

 Pause. Zoom.

 The damage on the cylinder… Frisk really did that.

Granted, the tool had been solid (fortunately for them all) but still. It was impressive. And they were only eleven.

Frisk had always been a child who had a tremendous energy and a strong will, also full of stamina, way sportier than them and Asriel together… which had forced the two of them to train harder to keep up with their little one but now was not the time to dwell on that.

 Chara went back again, paused at a precise moment and zoomed.

That look of determination.

Could it be?

 Chara had lost their ability to control time and shape the world about three years ago, which had been a great loss for them, they had to be even more careful with any decision. Maybe Frisk was now the one to hold on this power…

 But Frisk was their child.

 This happened because they had been in danger.

 Frisk had accomplished this in order to protect them, surely, they would have done the same for Asriel.

 And they were strong, oh so much stronger than Chara had thought.

 So much potential.

 Chara leaned back on their chair; a smile made its way to their face.

 “Time to start your training, dearest.”

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

Convincing Asriel had been easier than they had anticipated, the human Prince did not even have to use their prepared speech.

“I understand. The sooner they will know how to defend themselves, the better.” Asriel had sighed when Chara announced him they intended to train Frisk to fight, taking them by surprise. “We don’t know what kind of human could fall next, and it could be sooner than we think… I don’t want Frisk to be unprepared in any case, I wish they will never have to use their skills into a fight but-“ he had then stared at his husband intensely. “Just like I said the day I gave you your knife: if it saves their life, it’s worth having it.”

Chara had felt their heart raced slightly at this declaration and planted a gentle kiss on their Prince’s cheek, both pleased and proud of how wise he had become.

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

 “Frisk, you do not have any class in the afternoon today, do you?”

 Frisk looked at their mother and shook their head as they were chewing on their toast.

 “Today is Wednesday, we never have any class in the afternoon on Wednesdays.” they precised after swallowing. “But I have a training with my team from two to three, why?” the child seized their bowl of hot cocoa and started drinking from it, their eyes on their parent.

 “Three? Then you should be home around half past three.” Chara mused with a short hum. “Good.” They put their cup down to stare at Frisk with a smile. “Following the recent events in the laboratory, your father and I have taken an important decision.”

 The youngest Dreemur blinked, glancing from one of their parents to the other. This seemed serious. Worry raised in the child when they noticed how tensed their father seemed to be, almost grave. Was it because they had acted recklessly in the lab?

 “Am I in trouble?” they asked in a small voice.

 It was their mother’s turn to blink, Asriel and them exchanged confused looks.

 “No, not at all.” the two replied together.

 “Unless you have something to hide.” Chara added with a raised an eyebrow.

 “No, no!” Frisk quickly shook their head. “I thought you were mad because I put myself in danger when I tried to stop that rocket.”

 “Well, you certainly did.” The adult human remarked, joining their hands under their chin. “But you also successfully helped saving us all from it. Which leads to our point.”

 There was a short silence.

 “Frisk, you know Mom is the Caretaker of the Ruins, our protector against any potential evil humans.” Asriel gently patted his child’s head. “Well, someday, you will have to help them in their duty. And for that, you need to be trained.”

 Asriel gazed at their spouse, Frisk did the same.

 “We are going to teach you how to fight.” Chara straightened their back. “And I wish to give you your first lesson today.”

 “Fight?” Frisk repeated in a whisper, tensing slightly.

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

“This is not a game, Fragana.”

Frisk tensed. When their parents called their real name instead of the usual nickname, it was always in serious talks.

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

(* insert timeskip*)

Frisk gasped at the clothes their parents were handing them.

“B-but, is that?...” they sputtered, their eyes going from Dad to Mom.

 “Take them and see for yourself.” Mom encouraged them with a nod of their head while Dad snorted.

Their hands shaking with expectation, the child took one of the garments and let it unfold.

It was a beautiful purplish-blue tunic on which the delta rune adorned the chest, with thin white stripes at the end of its short sleeves; it reached somewhere between their thigh and their knee. Frisk looked up from it and stared at the belt and legging Dad held proudly out to them.

“Surprise sweetie!” he beamed at them.

The child’s smile was still a bit shy as they took them, but they did not forget to kiss their father’s cheek with a thanks. Not sure what to say anymore, they turned to their mom.

 “You’ve proved you were ready during your training.” Chara smiled as they leaned in. “So from now on, you will come with me in the Ruins once per week and learn everything you need to know as their future caretaker.”

Frisk was now smiling widely and started bouncing excitedly. They had certainly not been expecting this! Not so soon! Mom and Dad had only started giving them fight lessons and the plans of the Ruins last year!

 “Really?” they cried out at last.

 “Yes, as long as you do not neglect your homework!” the two Regent Princes precised in a same voice, one holding out a finger in warning, the other with a laugh.

 “I promise I won’t! Thank you!!”

 Frisk rushed to their room to try their new outfit, so excited they did not notice that their grandparents had been recording the whole thing. They quickly put them on and admired their reflection in the mirror, both proud and moved.

 “Just like the two of them!” they chirped and twirled.

 A pair of boots Grandpa and Grandma had given them were matching just fine with this new ensemble; after putting them on Frisk smoothed their short hair and put small white elastic clasp on their longer hair strands -similar to their Mom’s- then the final touch: the pendant.

 Whereas Asriel and Chara’s pendants were silver, Frisk’s was gold and had a special shape: like a human soul outside with a smaller -and in a lighter gold- heart inside, like a monster’s. Two souls for one, human in appearance but a heart like a monster’s: full of love and hope. A “heart of gold”.

 After a last glance to their reflection, satisfied with it, Frisk pranced back to the living room where their family was waiting. Grandma immediately turned her camera on again at their arrival.

“Look at our little princess!” Grandpa exclaimed and held out his arms for them.

Frisk ran to him and laughed as the old King swung them up in his arms before going to their Dad who did the same but kept them against his chest, holding back tears.

“My baby angel is all grown up!” He whispered tearfully as he nuzzled their foreheads together. “You are so beautiful!”

Frisk kissed his cheek again before turning to their mother, who had their hands joined together in front of their mouth. They embraced them both before kissing the Princess’ forehead.

 “Oh Frisk, let me look at you.” They breathed.

 Asriel put the child down and watched with emotion Frisk standing at their full height and outstretching their arms so Chara could fully see how much the clothes fitted them. He could swear his spouse’s eyes were gleaming with repressed tears, which made him smile wider while Frisk spun happily, the hem of their tunic flowing as they did.

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

“Wait Frisk, there is one last thing I must give you.”

Frisk turned back to their dad, who held out a small metal stick to them.

“What is it?” they asked in curiosity, inspecting the object.

“Please be careful!” Asriel held his two hands out, looking concerned. “First, push this button.”

The young princess blinked and did as told, then jumped as the small stick suddenly expanded -becoming as big as their baseball bat- with a discreet clink.

“Asriel?” Chara called out in disbelief. “Did you make this?”

“No, I had it made by one of the new engineers.” The monster Prince scratched the back of his head awkwardly. “Since Frisk is pretty good with a bat and at fighting with stick, I thought it would be best for them to have one when going to the Ruins. But a stick is not very discreet, so I had this idea and asked if it could be made…”

Frisk rotated their new weapon carefully and swung it like they had learnt to do it. It was well balanced and did not slip through their hands.

“It’s great! Thanks Dad!”

“Wait, it’s not all. Now, there is a smaller button underneath…” he gently seized his child’s hand, preventing them to push it at once. “But it’s only for emergencies, and by that, I mean for you to use it at very last resort! You shouldn’t have to use it since Mom will be going with you, but I asked for this addition, really just in case…”

The two humans exchanged a bewildered gaze, Asriel stepped asides and then Frisk cautiously pushed the odd button. The sound was not loud, but the shlink resonating teared the silence. Frisk’s eyes grew wide at the blade coming out from the opposite side of their weapon. They were now holding on a spear.

The child’s attention turned to their mother who had tried to muffle their gasp behind their hands, but while they did seem shock, it was nor fear or worry that glittered in their eyes. But Frisk could not tell what it was, too stunned.

“Oh Asriel!”

Frisk startled when their Mom pounced on their Dad to kiss him in a way they had never did in front of them. The child was now smiling sheepishly, quite astonished by their parents’ sudden public display of affection and binked in surprise when it was their turn to be embraced; and as Chara loudly kissed their cheek, they realized their mom was crying.

“You will do wonderfully, my dear. I am sure of it.” they beamed as their arms tightened around Frisk. “Freedom is near.”

[sibyl-of-space]

Final Fantasy IX ~ Melodies and Memories

"Jesters of the Moon"

There are a lot of very good video games in the world, but it takes some luck and circumstance outside of a game's control for one to reach me at just the right time(s) and place(s) in my life that it has a tangible impact on who I am -- who I want to be. One that carves out a space for itself in my soul that will never be removed or replaced.

I've just finished playing Final Fantasy IX for the first time, and there's no doubt in my mind that such is the case here.

(Continued below readmore.)

I drew this art last year, when I was mourning my attachment to an old favorite game that I just don't feel the same way about anymore: Majora's Mask. I wanted to draw something that captured my feelings about it, because sometimes art is the best way to talk about something when the words don't want to come.

Why is "Jesters of the Moon," the name of a random song in the Final Fantasy IX soundtrack, plastered in the middle of this Majora's Mask fanart? Especially considering I hadn't even played Final Fantasy IX yet when I drew this?

The reason is exactly that "luck and circumstance" that allowed me to fall so uniquely in love with the game.

"Mt. Gulug"

In 2008, someone on YouTube uploaded a Majora's Mask parody-slash-let's-play series called "Majora's Mask: The Things Which Were Taken Out." The series has since become unlisted and won't be linked here out of respect for the creator who probably doesn't want things they said and made in 2008 being spread all over the internet, but because of Unregistered Hypercam 2 reasons, the series inserted other background music over the video and didn't record the actual game audio.

I didn't recognize any of the music, but I watched these parody videos on repeat because in addition to being funny (...at the time, in my mind, at least), I really really loved the music. It got to the point where I would sometimes be playing Majora's Mask and get disappointed when I approached Goht and the Mt. Gulug theme wasn't playing in the background.

I had forgotten about these videos for a really long time in the interim, but I remembered them at some point when I was thinking about Majora's Mask and I found them again. The creator had cited the Final Fantasy IX soundtrack for virtually all of the background music used in the videos, and I realized that despite knowing literally nothing about the game, I had become really fond of - and weirdly nostalgic for - the songs from it that I now recognized.

So I looked up "Jesters of the Moon" and played it on repeat while I drew out my feelings in colored marker. A few months later, I realized that my backwards compatible PS3 can also play PS1 games, and eBay had FFIX for PS1 at a good price. I had nothing to lose by ordering it and seeing what the source of all that fantastic music was like.

"Vamo Alla Flamenco"

I started my playthrough knowing nothing about what to expect from the game. I'd never played a Final Fantasy game before and my overall JRPG experience has been mostly limited to Tales of, Persona, and more recently, mainline Shin Megami Tensei. The only things I knew about Final Fantasy were a) the Tidus laughing scene, and b) Sephiroth. IX seemed like it had vibes I would enjoy, but beyond that I knew nothing about what the experience would be. So I approached it with a "let's have fun and see how it goes" attitude, naming my party members the first silly thing that came to mind, ending up with "Swaggy," "OwO," "Bitchin," "Gunz," and "SWOOORD" to start with.

(For the record I do not regret those names whatsoever.)

I was immediately struck by how differently the game uses music in comparison to all of my previous JRPG experiences. This was not a game where the composer was given a list of theme songs that were slapped on top of a mostly completed game-- this was a game constructed with the soundtrack in mind as a part of the writing process.

The opening act plays almost like an opera (side note, yes I know one of the other FF's has a literal opera, I haven't played that one): you traverse the same locations from different perspectives as different characters, introducing the cast with lighthearted humor and dramatic irony out the wazoo. While you traverse the city as OwO, OwO's theme is playing in the background, coloring your perspective of the city and the narrative. When you switch to Gunz patrolling around the castle, Gunz's theme accompanies your movement and informs his character and mission. I am so accustomed to "location themes" being the norm in virtually all video games that experiencing character and/or narrative themes as BGM instead while I bumble around town changed my entire perspective on what music in games can do and be.

The operatic feeling is definitely intentional, because the game uses a play-within-a-game narrative device to hit you over the head with its themes in a way that is somehow poignant and artful while also being extremely blatant. That is a hard balance to strike, but it manages. The whole game is like that: it is completely straightforward and tells you exactly what it's about at heart, but it does it beautifully.

At any rate, I was enamored with this intro and had a very fun time, but I wasn't obsessed or anything and ended up putting it down. I spent several months on the first half of disk 1 with weeks passing between play sessions. I liked the game plenty, but life stuff happened and I decided to get obsessed with Dai Gyakuten Saiban and Ghost Trick for a while. No regrettis.

It was already clear, though, that FFIX was going to be special to me. My compositions for my team's game in the Global Game Jam in 2021 were directly inspired by FFIX's opera-like intro. I wrote two character themes for our game that would serve as background music when you play as the two protagonists, coloring your journey differently even when moving in the same spaces. I was intentionally trying to mimic the way music is used in FFIX as an exercise. The themes I wrote are definitely some of my strongest work so far.

(You can check out the game here if you want, I promise it is significantly shorter than Final Fantasy IX.)

"Melodies of Life"

Music caused me to pick up FFIX the first time, and music caused me to return to it. After months of not touching or really thinking about it, just earlier this week I was inspired to play it again, because - again - I listened to the right song at the right time.

I was again mourning the loss of something, in this case a friendship, for reasons I'm not going to share here. I had already heard the song "Melodies of Life" because it came up when I was looking up FFIX songs to reblog on Tumblr a few months ago, and I decided to listen to it again. Even without knowing the game context, the song itself really spoke to me in that moment: "a voice from the past, joining yours and mine, adding up the layers of harmony" - it kind of made me feel at peace with the fact that I had a lot of positive memories of that friendship and I could keep those at heart while also moving on in the present. ...I'm also a sucker for music metaphors, so there is that.

I was really moved by this song, cheesy as it is, and I was also definitely in the mood for a distraction. Picking up FFIX again felt like the best move.

It was, and my life is forever changed.

The game never stopped being beautiful and funny and touching, and the soundtrack never ceased to amaze. I recognized concepts I've seen in other games but never had I seen them used so artfully. I adored the fantasy world and non-human cast, I found myself enticed by random encounter for the first time because it made me feel like I had to struggle to survive a difficult journey. Music, gameplay, visuals, and story felt like one cohesive work of art for the entire duration.

Life circumstances got me to play the game again, but the game itself was so captivating and wonderful that I binged the entire rest of it - disks 2-4 - in less than a week. Everything else that the game had to say, it told me itself, in its own context, and I was ready to listen.

"You're Not Alone!"

This is going to make me sound like an emotionally-stunted twenty-something, but it has been years since a work of media has got me to have a really good cry. I used to cry playing games all the time as a kid but recently I'll find myself getting emotional, sure, often tearing up, but getting completely red-faced and snot-nosed because I physically cannot contain the emotions being evoked by a work? Years. I can't honestly tell you the last time it happened with certainty.

I feel like an emotional band-aid has been ripped off. I was f*cking sobbing during the entire duration of the "You're Not Alone!" sequence. It didn't matter that what was happening was obviously coming from a mile away, because the delivery was so raw and emotional and human!!! A whole game's worth of Swaggy punching first and asking questions later to save his friends, being Protag McProtag endangering himself for others in any and all circumstances, for the payoff of all of his friends forcing him to stop being such a primadonna and let them help him for once. It's true, too! He relies on them just as much as they rely on him! And the game doesn't just tell you this, no, it lets you try to solo all these fights and waits until you realize how boned you are until they come bail you out.

When Bitchin showed up with her "looks like you need a hand" I wanted to straight up yell at my tv. YES I DO!!! YES I DO NEED YOU BITCHIN!!!!! THANK YOU!!!!!!! I half knew that SWOOORD was going to heal me before I got truly KO-ed but I had been unmercifully wiped in "unwinnable" battles before in this game, so I legit thought I might have to re-do that whole part of the game again, and I was so relieved and thankful when she showed up and healed me.

This moment exemplifies everything that I adore about this game. It doesn't just tell you its story. It shows it to you, it sings it to you, and it and lets you play it out and feel it for yourself.

"Game Over"

This song is all too familiar to me. Gizamaluke's Grotto was very unforgiving for a first-time Final Fantasy player, especially one who didn't happen to pick up Big on the way for a fourth party member early on.

I hadn't heard the piano part in a few months, though, because when I picked the game back up I started just mashing to reload before it got to that point any time we wiped. I didn't hear it again until the game was truly over, this time for good.

I let it play for a while. Not too long, because I have a CRT TV and didn't want "The End" to get burned in. But a while. Enough to meditate on what I'd just experienced, and how I was feeling about it.

There's so much more to say about the game, far more than I could put in a blog post. But I don't think I need to describe these thoughts in words. I can do what the game did, and use music, use art, use stories, use metaphors, and use symbols to communicate what I mean; and hope that someone else is able and willing to listen.

And although a written record of my thoughts likely won't be preserved for all that long, maybe the feelings and the memories will be, so long as they have been shared.

[duongnguyenposts-blog]

Interview on Animedia part 1

Thank to Mirai send the translation of this interview for me.

=======================

TERAMOTO YUKIYO INTERVIEW

• < Tell us about the experience you most enjoyed in the production of the Kaitou Joker anime series. >

• Teramoto: The production was a fun experience and with a pleasant atmosphere, but the realization of episode 20 of the series, "Traveling Jokers" is impressive special. Because in the original manga, Takahashi Hideyasu-sensei made it to tribute the anime series "Giant Robo". But Akihiko Yamashita, who is in charge of episode 20 (storyboard), was once the character designer and animation director of "Giant Robo". It's like a parody of his own work and it was very funny.

• < Hãy kể cho chúng tôi về trải nghiệm mà bạn thích nhất khi sản xuất bộ anime Kaitou Joker. >

• Teramoto: Việc sản xuất là một trải nghiệm thú vị và với một bầu không khí vui vẻ, nhưng việc thực hiện tập 20 của loạt phim, "Traveling Jokers" là đặc biệt nhất. Bởi vì trong manga gốc, Takahashi Hideyasu-sensei đã dùng nó để vinh danh bộ anime "Giant Robo". Thế nhưng Akihiko Yamashita, người phụ trách tập 20 lại từng là nhà thiết kế nhân vật và đạo diễn hình ảnh của "Giant Robo". Nó giống như parody lại công việc của chính ông và điều đó rất buồn cười.

Corocoro Online Interview Part 1/2 Translation. ( correct me if you see there is any wrong translated )

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

---First of all, please introduce yourself.

Director Teramoto Yukiyo (Teramoto): My name is Teramoto, who was the director of the anime "Kaitou Joker". Nice to meet you today, Is it already two years since the broadcast ended?

Shimogasa Miho (Shimogasa): I am Character Design & Chief Animation Director, Shimogasa. Because I have been working on many jobs related to Joker, so I do not feel like time has passed.

Aihara Miki (Aihara): Fan of Kaitou Joker, Aihara. It embarrassed to say that the first time I saw Joker's anime was in its last broadcast year. I started watching him from the chapter with a boy in a wheelchair (Hayami Kyotaro) called "Countdown of Television" (Episode 33) in Kids Station, and I was shocked saying: "Who is that great anime guy?" A From that moment on, I became addicted and saw the entire season on Amazon. All the guys that appear are great!

Teramoto: Thank you very much. I'm so happy.

-----Shimogasa-san. How was it when you first heard about this series?

Shimogasa: I did not know "Kaitou Joker" at that time, so I immediately read the original manga. Because the original manga was so funny, I guess i can make it with confidence. Since the original design is very unique and very good, I made use the original design of Takahashi Hideyasu-sensei and added a taste for Anime to construction. When you remove the back cover of the Comic cover, it is full of material, and it is fun to find out important information written on the panel of Manga.

Teramoto: Again, since Anime is not a stop picture but it has to be moved, at the beginning there was a voice: "There are too many dialogue" from the scene where the picture is drawn, it seemed to be very difficult. However, as we continue, the scene side is also attracted to the work and the number of fans increases, and conversely comes from over there as "Please let me draw!" Everyone drew with love.

Aihara: I feel that. While watching anime

Teramoto: Even now, I'm really excited to think about that. By the way, there were also Animators who liked to participate in Takahashi-sensei's autograph session.

―― What kind of relationship did Takahashi sensei involved in?

Teramoto: Takahashi sensei was a generous one, he let me do it freely. Of course, the original is very interesting, but if you consult something like "Is it okay for me to do something here?", he say "It's OK". I really appreciate it as a creator, and if he want us do what he think "I want to do this", the tension on that time will rise. That is why there is a part that everybody making so much.

―― Surely, there seems to be a part that OK was done by love was also communicated to Takahashi sensei.

Teramoto: That's right. Because I already put plenty of respect and love in my works!

―― As a viewer of anime, how did you feel when seeing this?

Aihara: Because the quality characters is the root, anime has a very good tempo, I thought that the scenes shifts from one to the next is amazing.

Teramoto: Thank you!

Aihara: It is good enough with a lot of fun in 30 minutes .

Teramoto: Actually it not fit to say this. I'm very sorry because sometimes i cut ED

Aihara：It was . When making anime without ED, it will be tough as it will be about 90 seconds to make more animation. But it does not sacrifice the story and still having prioritized the quality of the work……it amazing. And the last story of Season 4 is memorable. Actually the characters and directing were cool and the contents were filled with fully crammed. Teramoto-san was in charge of parts other than the director, didn't you?

Teramoto: That's true. While doing the storyboard and directing, I remember I made a lot of effort to say "Oh, I will not make it in time, but I do not want to drop the quality"

Aihara: It was a very good time！

――There are so many female fans, what are your thoughts about that?

Teramoto: After reading the original manga, I thought about the fans and asked them around. Then, you know that there are female fans, I see. So while conscious of the part of female fans like: "I love Joker like this", I also made it so that everyone will be pleased by not to kill the quality of shounen manga (manga for boys). In addition, Shimogasa-san's illustration are so cute, i think that female fans received it

―― Tell me your favorite character, Shimogasa-san?

Shimogasa: I love all characters !! I love everyone !!!! I can't choose...

Aihara: Everyone is cool and nice, isn't it?

Shimogasa: What is pleasing to draw is bad expression of each character. Ah There was also a "Professor Clover's blonde wave" idea i wanted to draw.

Aihara: By the way, did President D (the leader of the mysterious organization "Devil Fang") of the anime original character were all launched from the design? Originally I was surprised that a fat boy / Dump appeared as a messy beauty

Teramoto: Although I ordered to make it beautiful, when I actually got the first rough (President D) from Shimogasa-san , I was surprised like: "Wow !?, I do not think that he will be beautiful like this

Shimogasa: Four patterns were drawn while just leaving aftertastes of Dump on the eyes and clothes. It is the shape that I chose one of them. In fact, I wanted to include the characteristic that the teeth of Dump were missing, but indeed it went too far. But I thought I wanted to add freckles that were attached at the time Dump appear, I can't see it in an important scene of President D.

Teramoto: You can see it when he cry.

Shimogasa: Yeah, when he crying

Aihara: Great rare information, i see.

Shimogasa: Ah, I think that the best scene of Dump is a scene that he says "You are the only one i talking to..." If I thought that director would realize that director would dare to say: "I want to let that crying face do with President D, by all means" and did it as it was.

Teramoto: Of course

Aihara: The scene he cry was really cute!！

――Who is Aihara sensei 's favorite character?

Aihara: It is Joker-san. I also like Phoenix (* Kaitou use flames, aiming at God Beast Hosshi and Joker), but after all Joker is coolest. He jumped down from the top at the OP and he is really cool looking at the bags and mantle. About the OP, I tend to skip it just when I see it at once, but I couldn't do this

Shimogasa: I also wanted to be like that.

Aihara: Each time, the notice letter changes, Isn't it? (※ At the opening, the contents of the announcement appearing on the way changed every time).

Teramoto: That was fun with who are working, didn't it?

Aihara: It was truly a wonderful production when the speech are included at that time. It is also cool to go to the climax part of song once more.

Teramoto: There used to be "Blue Comet SPT Layzner" anime, Digest-style dialogue of each story appear in the middle of opening. It is interesting and I like that directing. There is a part that got a hint from "Layzner"

Aihara: Oh! Layzner, I see.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Trước hết, xin giới thiệu về bản thân.

Đạo diễn Teramoto Yukiyo (Teramoto): Tên tôi là Teramoto, người từng là đạo diễn của anime "Kaitou Joker", chương trình phát sóng đã kết thúc từ 2 năm trước. Rất vui được gặp bạn hôm nay.

Shimogasa Miho (Shimogasa): Tôi là Thiết kế nhân vật & Chỉ đạo trưởng hoạt họa, Shimogasa. Bởi vì tôi đã làm việc trên nhiều công việc liên quan đến Joker, vì vậy tôi không cảm thấy như thời gian đã trôi qua.

Aihara Miki (Aihara): Tôi. Aihara, là một fan hâm mộ của Kaitou Joker. Thật xấu hổ khi nói rằng lần đầu tiên tôi xem anime Kaitou Joker là vào năm phát sóng cuối cùng của nó. Tôi bắt đầu xem nó từ tập có một cậu bé ngồi xe lăn (Hayami Kyotaro) tên là "Countdown Television" (Tập 33) trên kênh Kids Station, và tôi đã bị sốc và thốt lên: "Anh chàng anime tuyệt vời đó là ai?". Từ lúc đó, tôi trở nên nghiện và xem toàn bộ các tập trên Amazon. Tất cả những chàng trai đã xuất hiện đều rất tuyệt!

Teramoto: Cảm ơn bạn. Tôi rất vui khi nghe điều đó.

---- Shimogasa-san. Cảm nhận đầu tiên của cô khi nghe về series này

Shimogasa: Lúc đó tôi chưa biết gì về Kaitou Joker, vậy nên tôi lập tức tìm đọc manga gốc. Bởi vì manga gốc rất thú vị nên tôi rất tự tin để làm nó. Từ khi nhân vật trong manga gốc của Takahashi Hideyasu-sensei có design rất tốt và độc đáo, tôi đã dùng design gốc rồi thêm hương vị Anime để chỉnh sửa. Khi bạn gỡ bìa sau của quyển truyện, nó có đầy đủ nguyên liệu ở đó. Thật vui khi tìm thấy những thông tin quan trọng được viết trên các trang truyện.

Teramoto: Một lần nữa, Anime vốn không phải là một hình ảnh đứng yên mà là những hình ảnh động, lúc đầu có tiếng phàn nàn về một phân đoạn khá nhiều thoại được vẽ ra, nó trông có vẻ rất khó thực hiện. Tuy nhiên khi tiếp tục, bên phía thực hiện các phân đoạn đó cũng bị thu hút bởi tác phẩm và lượng người hâm mộ cũng đã tăng lên. Không chỉ không còn những lời phàn nàn mà ngược lại phía chúng tôi vang lên những tiếng nói như: "Xin để tôi thực hiện nó". Mọi người đã làm bằng tình yêu của mình như thế đấy.

Aihara: tôi cũng cảm nhận được điều đó khi xem Anime này.

Teramoto: Ngay cả lúc này, tôi thực sự rất phấn khích khi nghĩ về điều đó. Nhân tiện, cũng có những Animator thích tham gia vào buổi ký tặng của tác giả Takahashi.

----- Mối quan hệ với tác giả Takahashi như thế nào

Teramoto: Takahashi sensei là một người rộng lượng, ông ấy để tôi làm mọi thứ một cách tự do. Tất nhiên, Manga gốc rất thú vị, nhưng nếu bạn tham khảo ý kiến gì đó như "Tôi có thể sữa đổi một chút ở đây không?", Ông sẽ nói "Ok Không sao cả". Tôi thực sự đánh giá cao điều đó như một người sáng tạo, và nếu ông ấy muốn chúng tôi làm những gì ông ấy nghĩ "Tôi muốn làm cái này", sự căng thẳng tại thời điểm đó sẽ tăng lên. Đó là lý do tại sao có một số đoạn mà mọi người đã làm nhiều lần.

----- Chắc chắn, có một đoạn OK đó đã được thực hiện bằng tình yêu đã truyền đạt đến Takahashi sensei.

Teramoto: Đúng thế. Bởi vì tôi đã dành rất nhiều sự tôn trọng và tình yêu trong các tác phẩm của mình!

---- Như một người xem anime, bạn cảm thấy thế nào khi xem nó?

Aihara: Anime có nhịp điệu rất tốt bởi vì nó có cốt lõi là những nhân vật chất lượng, tôi cảm thấy những cảnh chuyển từ người này sang người khác là rất tuyệt vời.

Teramoto: Rất cám ơn bạn.

Aihara: Nó hội tụ đủ những cái hay và thú vị trong 30 phút

Teramoto: Thật sự thì không phù hợp khi nói chuyện này ở đây. Rất xin lỗi vì một vài lần phải cắt bỏ ED.

Aihara: Đúng là thế. Khi làm anime mà không có ED, sẽ rất khó khăn vì phải tốn khoảng 90 giây để làm thêm nhiều đoạn hoạt hình. Nhưng nó không lãng phí nội dung và vẫn đảm bảo cho chất lượng tác phẩm... Điều đó thật tuyệt vời. Và câu chuyện cuối cùng của Phần 4 thật đáng nhớ. Trên thực tế các nhân vật và đạo diễn rất tuyệt dù đã nhồi nhét khá nhiều câu chuyện. Teramoto-san cũng phụ trách các bộ phận khác ngoài đạo diễn phải không?

Teramoto: Đúng vậy. Trong khi thực hiện bảng phân cảnh và đạo diễn, tôi nhớ rằng tôi đã nỗ lực rất nhiều và nói "Ôi, mình sẽ không kịp mất, nhưng mình không muốn làm giảm chất lượng".

Aihara: Đó là khoảng thời gian rất vui nhỉ.

---- Kaitou Joker có rất nhiều fan nữ, bạn nghĩ gì về điều đó?

Teramoto: Sau khi đọc truyện tranh gốc, tôi nghĩ về người hâm mộ và hỏi họ xung quanh. Sau đó, tôi biết rằng có những fan nữ ở đây. Vì vậy, trong khi ý thức về một phần của các fan nữ như: "Tôi thích Joker như thế này", tôi cũng đã làm cho mọi người sẽ hài lòng khi không giết chết bản chất của shounen manga (manga dành nam giới). Ngoài ra, hình minh họa của Shimogasa-san rất dễ thương, tôi nghĩ rằng các fan nữ đã nhận được nó.

---- Nói cho tôi biết nhân vật yêu thích của bạn đi Shimogasa-san?

Shimogasa: Tôi yêu tất cả các nhân vật !! Tôi yêu mọi người !!!! Tôi không thể chọn ...

Aihara: Mọi người đều tuyệt, phải không?

Shimogasa: Điều làm tôi vui khi vẽ là biểu hiện xấu của mỗi nhân vật. À Ngoài ra còn có một ý tưởng mà tôi muốn vẽ nữa, đó là Giáo sư Clover với mái tóc vàng gợn sóng.

Aihara: Nhân tiện, phải chăng Chủ tịch D (thủ lĩnh của tổ chức bí ẩn "Devil Fang") nhân vật gốc của anime đã được đưa ra từ bản thiết kế? Ban đầu tôi rất ngạc nhiên khi một cậu bé mập / Dump xuất hiện nh�� một người đẹp trai nhưng bừa bộn.

Teramoto: Mặc dù tôi đã bảo là làm cho đẹp, nhưng khi tôi thực sự có được bản phác họa đầu tiên (Chủ tịch D) từ Shimogasa-san, tôi đã rất sốc : "Ôi!?, Mình không nghĩ cậu ấy sẽ đẹp như vậy"

Shimogasa: Đó là hình dạng mà tôi đã chọn một trong số 4 mẫu đã được vẽ khi chỉ để lại đặc điểm của Dump trên mắt và quần áo. Trên thực tế, tôi muốn bao gồm đặc điểm là răng của Dump bị mất, nhưng thực sự nó đã đi quá xa. Nhưng tôi nghĩ tôi muốn thêm tàn nhang vào thời điểm Dump xuất hiện, tôi đã không thấy nó trong một cảnh quan trọng của Chủ tịch D.

Teramoto: Bạn có thể nhìn thấy nó khi cậu ấy khóc.

Shimogasa: Vâng, khi cậu ấy khóc

Aihara: Một thông tin tuyệt vời.

Shimogasa: À, tôi nghĩ rằng cảnh hay nhất của Dump là cảnh cậu khóc và nói "Cậu là người duy nhất mà tôi nói chuyện cùng..." tôi nghĩ nếu đạo diễn nhận ra và đạo diễn sẽ nói: "Tôi muốn để khuôn mặt khóc đó làm với Tổng thống D bằng mọi giá ".

Teramoto: Tất nhiên rồi

Aihara: Cảnh cậu ấy khóc thật dễ thương !！

----- Nhân vật yêu thích của Aihara là ai?

Aihara: Đó là Joker-san. Tôi cũng thích Phoenix (* Kaitou dùng lửa, nhắm vào thần thú Hosshi và Joker), nhưng sau tất cả, Joker vẫn là cool nhất. Cậu ấy nhảy xuống từ đỉnh tháp trong OP và cậu ấy thực sự rất cool với cái áo choàng. Về OP, tôi có xu hướng bỏ qua OP ngay sau khi đã xem một lần, nhưng tôi không thể làm thế với OP này.

Shimogasa: Tôi cũng thế.

Aihara: Thư thông báo thay đổi theo từng tập phải không? (※ Thư thông báo xuất hiện lúc mở đầu OP và thường thay đổi theo mỗi tập).

Teramoto: Đó là niềm vui với những người thực hiện phải không?

Aihara: Đoạn đọc thư thông báo được đưa ra tại thời điểm đó rồi đến phần cao trào của bài hát một lần nữa đều thật tuyệt.

Teramoto: Nó đã từng có trong anime "Blue Comet SPT Layzner", đoạn hội thoại theo Digest-style của mỗi tập xuất hiện ở giữa OP. Nó là thú vị và tôi thích cách chỉ đạo thực hiện nó. Có một phần có gợi ý từ "Layzner"

Aihara: Ồ! Layzner, ra là vậy!

Interview Online part 2

Will continue translate vol 15 chapter 1 part 2

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

――So, what is Teramoto 's favorite character?

Teramoto: I like Silver Heart because I like a father. Every time, it seemed hard to think of the explanation corner, but everyone in the scenario writer enjoyed it and joined the plan, the scenario meeting was very exciting

Aihara: If I thought Silver Heart's explanation would come, I was surprised to feel like "Eh? This time Spade came!"

Teramoto: It was fun to get a different person occasionally

Aihara: Really very fine

Teramoto: Also, as a character may not be popular, but I like Mr. Kaneari

Aihara: That sounds good! It is surprising that beautiful secretary Kaneko was turned into as a super strong Commando Satsuko.

Teromoto: Actually, when I started making anime, Commando Satsuko was not in the original manga. In such circumstances, I gave Mr. Kaneari a original anime character called Kaneko. Then, that intense character (Commando Satsuko) comes out suddenly in the Manga, and will marry Kaneari. I am already surprised. What should I do about Kaneko's position? So, Commando Satsuko appeared from Kaneko with a hardship measure.

Aihara: No, but it's wonderful

Teramoto: Rather, Takahashi sensei who forgave that is wonderful.

――After all, did Takahashi sensei put out OK soon?

Teramoto: He told me "it was interesting, is not it?"

Aihara: That's great

Teromoto: His heart is too wide, right?

Shimogasa: On the other hand, Takahashi-sensei sometimes reimports elements of Anime back in Manga.

Teromoto: Oh yeah. Sky Joker's design

Shimogasa: I was surprised at the manga that time.

Aihara: Was the original Sky Joker originally a different design?

Teromoto: That's right. However, Takahashi-sensei liked the design of the Anime very much. During the serialization, the former airship was destroyed grandly and the same design as anime started from the next month. ( *Original Sky Joker was destroyed in Dracula arc vol. 19 )

Aihara: Sensei has good looking

Teramoto: I was surprised when see myself in the original manga. "I am with anime!"

Teramoto: Joker really is cute when he said can not live if there are no Hachi around. With other stories, in Traveling Joker he was really cool.

Aihara: I understand. A story about Joker and Shadow time-travel back to Edo period. It was similar to the movie version

Teramoto: I kept a close eye when making it

Shimogasa: I also like "Traveling · Jokers". Boiled Carey is delicious...

Teramoto: Also, "Idol · Stage" was also interesting. Stupid stories are still fun.

Shimogasa: After all the last episode.

Teramoto: It was pleasant that everyone was happy at the end.

Aihara: It really wonderful

―― So, what scenes are you into?

Aihara: There are lots ... ... The scene that Phoenix is becoming a black pita pita suit after he is caught is cool

Shimogasa: That scene, do you feel excited?

Aihara: Well, I do not know if I can tell you, but ... it's so erotic

Shimogasa: When I saw the scenario or the story, there was a scene where Phoenix (masks and some costumes) is off and I was really happy when I decided to draw the settings there.

Teramoto: Yeah, that scene is really good

Shimogasa: I really like to apply it based on the basic settings. I have clothed a new costume, but I like removing things and peeling already already. I also like such things like putting a jacket on my shoulder, on the way I am wearing it, only a shirt, and removing a tie. I always have a chance to draw it.

Teramoto: The character of Joker has a low degree of exposure, so it is sexy even if you take off a little.

Aihara: That's right! I will be excited

Shimogasa: Incidentally, I wanted to draw the appearance of Spade who took off his coat ... ... There was not much chance.

――The voice acting team was also luxurious

Teramoto: I thought that the voice of a boy was in charge of a female voice actor, but when I was auditioning for Joker role, I heard the voice of Ayumu Murase and felt "This is this person!" . The staffs around me also decided "Murase-san is not good" and decided. By the way, Hiroki Shimono who is the role of Spade is decided by not being covered with voice of Murase and not being covered with voice tone, so that it is better to know that it is Spade just by listening to the voice.

Aihara: Wow, that was right.

Teramoto: If it's another role ..... There is a very good image about Hachi and I decided to say "I would like to ask Yumiko Kobayashi-san".

Aihara: You were nominated.

Teramoto: I appreciate it.

Aihara: It is perfect

Teramoto: Miyuki Sawashiro who is a role of Queen started at the beginning but the schedule did not suit at first, but since it was empty by accident It seems that she did.

Shimogasa: It is really gorgeous.

Teromoto: Misaki Kuno, the role of Roko has come to receive an audition with other characters, but when I heard her voice "This is Roko-chan, isn't it?" So I hurriedly asked her to play Roko in the original line. Then the people around the staff became "Oh, it's Roko," and the role was decided as it was.

Aihara: Great. That's how it is decided.

――Do you have any stories you would like to work on if you can afford to animate it?

Teromoto: Of course there are still a lot of interesting stories I would like to animate it If I have the opportunity. Because I told that Blue-ray version appears in the first place but it did not come out at all, I thought that I had no chance at all and I was giving up already. Then I am really pleased that it will finally be released

Aihara: Moreover, the benefits will increase by the number of reservations!

Teramoto: The cover illustration of the box is also cool. Please let me put such a lot of characters.

―― Finally, in releasing the Blue-ray · DVD that was decided to be released this time, I would like a word from everyone to the fans.

Teramoto: It's a bit of a thing to say by myself, but I think that it's an Anime that makes me happy when I watch it. It was a happy feeling when we were making it, and it was a work that all the creators truly loved. I think that enjoyment will be conveyed to everyone who will surely see. It is a work that makes me absolutely fun and happy, so I'm happy if you can watch and enjoy it again and again.

Shimogasa: I think that it is a work that you can really enjoy as animation. Nowadays there are quarrel that many works do not allow ruin characters, but Kaitou Joker has freely drawn wide and wide. Works that can be done like that are very pleasant, from the animation. I want you to enjoy the movement and directing of characters unique to anime.

Aihara: Oh, Er, I'm a bird? Well, a bit comfortable comment ... .... Anyway the animation did not ruin, it is really cool. As Shimogasa-san say it animation very good, so i want to tell at people who are looking by a glance like "This just like Anime for kids". No, It is different. Kaitou Joker is so amazing. A good adult is really hooked and goes hooked. So your kids, of course, People of parent generation also want it. I will also watch it from now on.

――Thank you very much！

[doomsdaydicecascader]

:fire: pixel art in indie video games

there are so many angles to approach this one from. like okay this is a homestuck blog and i’m making a webcomic where i do art on a canvas meant to be viewed without any magnific8ion or up-scaling but for like. 3 years before this i was a full-time indie dev, and one of the things i took the most pride in was my pixel art - i still love doing pixel art but it’s hard to find places to put good pixel art into a homestuck comic. 

last year i put together a game for a game jam where i spent most of the time in the week i was working on environment art (@janederscore killed it on character animations) and the final score was, in terms of graphics, #5 out of 114 entries.

check out witch machine if you have the time, sound of the summer.

i’m personally really proud of this shot of the curtains in the dining room. 

all this to say, i feel like i’ve got a non-zero amount of skin in the game, with this ask. and the skin in the game is, i feel like pixel art is an EXTREMELY devalued medium, especially in the context of indie games, like. i can think of exactly one holistic pixel artist, where like, their work exists as its own thing and not as an extension of a game’s aesthetic, and that’s fucking paul robertson. 

you may know him as the guy who did all the pixel-pushing work in gravity falls - both giffany and the street fighter parody were his art. and that dude bites. that dude made graphic fan art of custer’s revenge, you know - the game that exists to be pointed at in gdc talks where the late-20s, early-30s dsa member says “we have to do better than this”. and they’re right, that game sucks. 

and even then, his work is only really holistic because the scott pilgrim game got fucking. unpersoned, and if it was still around he’d be the scott pilgrim game guy. even homestuck has homages to that dude’s work in it - eridan and sollux’s fight is in that exact style. 

thats a tangent but heres my feeling: the prevalence of pixel art in games is like a thing that has to be done in every other artistic medium, that is - you have to make a fucking choice, about what your game is, about what your narrative is. 

i wrote a whole blog post last year about what i was doing with the game i was working on at the time, box game, since i spent ages doing a pass on all the art in-game, redrawing things and reshaping them to be more visually coherent, less bad, and why i made those choices, and i stick by those to this day but here’s a less masturbatory example:

one of my favorite pixel art games, visually speaking, is space funeral. space funeral is a game about MOON, an artist who saw the CITY OF FORMS, a perfect city based on the platonic theory of forms and after being driven mad, destroyed it. over the course of the game, your goal is to defeat moon and restore the city of forms. 

at the beginning, phillip walks in weird ways, like the animator just drew some frames without really knowing how they fit together, the tiles are all given this black outline that’d be horrifying to ship, since there’s this pixel art concept known as “jaggies” - when drawing lines, there’s certain kinds of curves that you follow to create the illusion of curves and almost always, it’s on diagonals. 

the difference between these two lines is palpable, no? it effortlessly creates the illusion of amateur pixel art. also it is amateur pixel art, for as heady and interesting as thecatamites games can be i wouldnt put “pixel art quality” at the top of their merits. its still gr8 but you know. 

anyway, it starts out with this really comparatively desaturated look, using lots of neutral versions of colors. but........

as you approach the city of forms, it grows garish. the only colors that arent blown out are the yellow of leg horse and philip’s skin. as you approach moon, and restore the city of forms, restoring this “perfect model city” and restoring the world as it was known, the whole game’s aesthetic shifts again. 

to the RPG maker default tileset, something so thoroughly soulless that the only place you would ever see it in 2020 is in this context, a melancholy ending as the unique world you just spent the whole game exploring, is stamped out for a world that conforms to the very assets its packaged with by default. 

(youll also find them in hentai games on steam, where they bring out big bucks for busts of their buxom babes but barely break a babys bank over things like tilesets, though trying to talk truthfully about that seems thoroughly tedious) 

all this to say, i feel like you cant just have a take like “:fire: pixel art in indie games” because its like. “whats your opinion on art in comics”. “whats your opinion on acting in films”. its just a medium and there are good and bad examples of that medium and i think its kind of unfair to judge a medium by its terrarias when its also got games like deltarune, gato roboto, and hyper light drifter 

and again this is just in games, pixel art is a medium unto itself which is a whole other topic but i dunno how much i can get into that, just bc i dont have the experience

[chyrstis]

I won’t ask for much (but just this once, I’d like you) 10/10

Time is absolutely a construct, because I can’t believe it’s been over two weeks since I posted the previous chapter here. This is the final chapter of this (and for the third time I get to give this little fic a bit of a send-off), and definitely not safe for work below the cut. For anyone looking to dodge that, however, just skip to the section right after this one, and you’ll be good to go!

To say that there’s a bunch of stories I have left to tell in this universe is a bit of an understatement. I’ve got at least 5-7 scattered ideas for this AU in various stages of completion, some of them taking place during the fic, some after, and I can’t wait to be able to share them.

And last but certainly not least, thank you all for reading and checking this out, both at AO3 and here! I hope you enjoy it. <3

Pairing: Sharky Boshaw x John Seed Rating: E Word Count: 3.5K  

Link to AO3!

Ch. 1 / Ch. 2 / Ch. 3 / Ch. 4 / Ch. 5 / Ch. 6 / Ch. 7 / Ch. 8 / Ch. 9 / Ch. 10

—

Sharky steals a boat. It just happens to be John’s boat, and when it’s damaged along with his boathouse, John proceeds to lay out a means of having Sharky pay him back. [No Cult AU]

———–

Turns out the bedroom was too far to go.

It also didn’t have a sweet couch and a roaring fireplace, something John mentioned as a selling point. Not that he needed any convincing, but John kept up with it, describing it in perfect detail by his ear all while helping him to shimmy out of his clothes.

Sharky was usually pretty quick on his own. He’d timed himself once to see how fast he could whip his pants off, and was proud of the record even though he’d almost busted his ass on the floor. Here and now, with another set of hands on him, it should’ve taken zero effort to shed what he was wearing, and he’d left his coat, shirt, and hat on the trail to the living room.

Now, doing so while trying not to break the kiss he was engaged in was harder.

Struggling to keep any sense with John’s tongue in his mouth, Sharky bumped into the doorway, nearly tripped over one of those little foot-cushions, and almost took a table corner to the kidney, all while helping John wrestle his sweater over his head.

He couldn’t help but jump at the first brush of John’s hands, however, both cold against his sides and lower back. They warmed fast as they traveled over him, one skimming down the front of his pants before going for his belt. Getting past that, then the zipper, John’s palm ground down, pressing against him over his underwear, and Sharky couldn’t keep from moaning at the contact.

A cold hand on his dick wasn’t the most pleasant thing to consider, but he’d forgive him. Shit, he’d forgive him for damn near anything as long as he kept up with that slow, steady pace as he hardened quick under it.

However, it was John that also nearly made him pitch over the back of the couch when pressed against it. His mouth hot against his, then along and down his throat, Sharky held onto him tight only to nearly lose it by leaning back and slipping on the leather.

“Whoa, wait, wait-fuck!” Sharky yelped, breathing hard as John steadied him, one hand on the couch, and the other digging into his hip.

Trading a look, the two held it for a few seconds before John’s concern gave way to exasperation. “Is there anything in here that you haven’t tried to maim yourself with?”

“Yeah. You, for one,” Sharky said, then broke away and worked his pants down, tugging at them as he hopped on one leg. “Jury’s still out on if that’ll change, though.”

John almost looked offended. “That’s hardly fair to say.”

The pant leg snagged on Sharky’s foot, and he glanced down to see what the deal was. “Dude, you know my blood’s been running south to my dick for the last ten to fifteen, right? You wanna add to that?” He yanked at it to free it, struggling. “Shit, all you’d have to do is fucking offer to-“

“Offer to do what?” John drew his belt out, and tossed it onto the coffee table. “Because I’d like you to be a little more specific.”

“Just…” With no other helpful suggestions on his end, he felt himself grasping for straws.

He glanced over his shoulder, trying not to keep on hopping, but once John removed the last of his clothes, he suddenly knew just how far those tattoos of his went. The answer? Pretty damn far, and he didn’t want to stop looking at him.

“Just, you know. If you wanna finish the job, and find some way to blow my mind, I guess.”

“Or I could just blow you,” John all but purred at him.

Did he just purr at me? Wait a sec, did he also just…?

Hopping in a slight turn, he skidded, the world pitching sideways. Stumbling, his shoulder took the brunt of the impact as he hit the floor.

His foot was freed, but his pride? Just as bruised as he’d be come tomorrow.

“Charlemagne?”

“It’s fine! I’m cool,” he wheezed, feeling his face burn as John started over towards him. One very naked, and worried John judging from the way his eyebrows kept on drawing together, “just give me a sec.”

Shucking off his pants and underwear at last, he stood up, and huffed out a breath. So much for that record. And so much for John not finding a way to, as he put it, ‘maim him’.

“Right. I’m sitting down now.”

John guided him over to the couch, resting a hand on his lower back. “A wise choice. The wisest I’ve heard yet.”

And when he’d settled down onto the leather seat, the material cool against his skin, he took in the scene in front of him. Like some weird parody of what he’d catch in a holiday movie. The room was warmly lit, the fireplace just the kind of cozy he’d like to stretch in front of and watch for hours.

It was the kind of thing that belonged on a postcard. Not what he’d be met with back at his house, even with the small tree he’d cobbled together year after year to bring some cheer into his place.

“Shit, that’s pretty.”

John gave him an amused look as he followed his gaze to the fire, “I thought you might like that.”

“So’s you,” Sharky murmured, looking up at him, “just in case you were wondering.”

John had opened his mouth to say something else, but let it fall shut. Backlit by the fireplace, he faced him, and in that moment it really hit him. Just how bright, and seriously, fucking beautiful his eyes were as they focused on him.

“Am I now?”

Resting a hand on the back of the couch, he leaned forward and Sharky met him halfway.

Sinking back against the cushions, he pulled John with him, and felt him slide a hand along his jaw before it sank into the hair behind his head, helping him to angle it up towards him. There he could keep on kissing him, feeling his lips tease at his, followed by his tongue.

Resting a knee next to him on the couch, John kept himself propped up and over him. Balancing himself as his fingertips pressed into his skin, grabbing tight whenever Sharky would do something with his tongue that John liked.

He added that to the other things he’d noticed so far. What made John’s breath catch, or his ears turn pink. All the little things he wanted to hold onto, now and for later, and hoped to build up an entire goddamn catalog by the time they were too beat to even think about giving another round a shot.

But he didn’t let himself think too much about that yet. Not when he was in the middle of kissing John like this, hoping the hand tucked along his side was heading straight for where he wanted him most.

John’s mouth traveled over to his ear. “Still with me?”

His teeth tugged at Sharky’s earlobe, the sensation sharp. But that had nothing on the way he sucked hard on his skin after that. And when John wrapped his fingers around his cock and squeezed, Sharky couldn’t stop his hips from bucking into his grip.

“Is that a yes?”

“Yeah. Fuck yeah,” Sharky gasped, grabbing for him. Doing all of the moving for him, he wanted that slide, and didn’t let up.

“Good. Seeing you this eager’s not making me want to be patient at all.”

John tried to steady Sharky’s hips, to ease him back into a slower rhythm as he followed every movement, and that’s when he felt him start exploring. Trailing and tracing his fingers all over him, and Sharky nearly jumped when the touch tickled. His mouth stayed at his neck, however. Sucked a line of spots that were going to show if he upped the pressure any, and sure enough, he did.

But the slower pace he used, the longer strokes still had him moving with John’s hand before long. Not slick enough by far, but one lick to his palm would’ve fixed that quick. Not that he was going to, but he thought about it. Thought pretty damn hard about it as he started bucking into John’s hand harder again, and swore under his breath.

“Is that good for you?”

“Yeah. That’s-that’s getting good,” he managed, his breath short. “That’s getting real good.”

He glanced down, wanting to see if reality was anywhere close to the mental image he’d supplied himself with, only to groan at the sight. It wasn’t easy peeking between them, but he liked that. Liked seeing John’s hand on him, his fingers wrapped around him, and hoped he wasn’t going to stop anytime soon.

But on the other hand, he needed to last. They’d been at this nowhere near long enough for it to be satisfying for all parties involved, and he wasn’t about to be that asshole. The one that’d come early, making every weird face in the book only to fall dead asleep right after, so he needed to put some of this on ice, and fast.

Forcing his eyes up, Sharky sucked down a breath. Tried to tap into some of the shit he remembered Xander telling him once. That whole finding your mind palace, or a way to use that zen to chill the fuck out, and looked for another focus. Another thing he’d have no trouble zeroing in on-

“I’m losing you again, aren’t I?”

That snapped him out of it. He’d let his attention drift towards the fireplace, concentrating on the cracking of the wood, but shifted it quickly back to John.

“Look, it’s not-it’s…you caught me at a bad time.”

“I see. A shame, then,” John tutted as he pulled back to look at him. “But don’t spend too much time watching the fire, like I know you want to.”

“Why?”

“I’d prefer if you watched me instead.”

Having John kiss him hard, only for him to slide down his body and press another directly to his cock, Sharky forced his eyes to stay open. He wasn’t fucking missing this. Not for a second, though he knew it wasn’t going to be easy.

“Jesus Christ, man.” Every long lick of John’s tongue made him want to tilt his head back and enjoy the ride. “This ain’t gonna last long. Not that I don’t-“ John’s hand joined in, stroking him slowly as his lips closed around the tip of his cock, and Sharky’s groan was ragged. “N-not that I ain’t loving this, it’d just suck to bust one this fast, just when…”

“We’ve only begun to get started?”

John took him completely into his mouth after that, and Sharky swore loudly. The chuckle didn’t help, not when he could feel every last vibration, and he clenched both of his hands into tightly balled fists.

He wanted to touch him. Wasn’t sure where he could, as John’s fingers gripped his thighs, nudging his legs further apart to accommodate him.

His hair? Not that he needed to encourage him much, feeling him take him in deeper and deeper with every slide of his tongue. But it looked like the kind he’d enjoy running his fingers through, and maybe John would be into that? Wouldn’t hurt to try either way.

But his shoulders were an option too, Sharky noticed, watching his muscles flex as he moved. So were his arms. Not bad runner ups at all, if he was being honest.

Shit, there was a hell of a lot he needed to be honest with concerning himself, John, and what this was shaping up to be, but this was a start.

It wasn’t the mistake he worried it’d been either, because he’d thrown himself into this. Done what his gut and heart had agreed on this time around, knowing full well this was his last shot and he wasn’t about to pass it up. And somehow it worked out. For once in his life, he hadn’t fucked a good thing up by going with his instincts. Thinking he’d read all of the right signs when he’d missed every one, and still wondered on some level if he was sleeping off one hell of a bender somewhere.

Not that having a wet dream about John would’ve been a bad thing, but considering he was living out the alternative? Sitting here with the real deal, with John, on his knees in front of him, determined to see how far he could deepthroat him before he’d pop?

Sweet, tap-dancing Jesus, he could get used to this. Yes, he damn well could, he muttered between heavy breaths as he finally broke, gripping John’s shoulders tight.

“You…oh, fuck. You, you just…”

He was struggling. Genuinely struggling now with the new pace. Lips tight, all of it so tight and hot as he slid down his throat. Encouraged by John’s hand stroking him, then his tongue as he pressed it flat. Kept that slide going, urging him along as John moved his other hand from Sharky’s thigh down south and out of sight, and he felt that. Felt the hiss of breath as John withdrew, his eyes slipping closed before leaning forward to take him into his mouth again.

Fuck, he wanted to touch him. Wanted to wrap his own hand around him tight, as he was sure he was gripping himself. It made every hum damn near agony. Every muffled sound the roughest kind of test as Sharky tried not to buck his hips forward. Trying to back off from the harsh and deep his body said it wanted, only to dance right on the edge of it.

Both hands slid up the back of John’s neck to tangle in his hair, and he was begging now. With every tug, pull, and word that managed to slip out.

“John. Fucking, fuck, John.”

Sharky felt it - felt him moan around him, and that nearly did it right there. So, having him back off in that moment was a jolt, but having John climb up to kiss him right after, hurried and sloppy, and with his taste on his tongue, was hot as hell.

“This…this shit ain’t lasting,” he tried to get out between kisses, “so, y-you want this?”

That hadn’t been meant to get a response. But at the “Yes,” John gave him, breathless and strained, Sharky might’ve been rougher when he kissed him. Liked it when John’s teeth caught on his lips, no longer careful, but desperate.

He’d half-dragged him onto his lap, only for John to press up against him. Then climbed on as Sharky kept on touching him. Got him gasping just as hard, and didn’t stop. Neither of them seemed to want to, and he only did when the last few hurried strokes of John’s hand pushed him there.

The sound that came out of him after that he’d rather not describe, or admit to anyone. But he let it out, and somehow his eyes didn’t roll back into his head.

Curled against him, John eased him down. Used softer strokes to coax him through the last few tremors, and let go only when he heard his breathing even out. Resting his forehead on John’s shoulder, he felt his heart rate slow, everything in him relaxing as he breathed, and felt John press a kiss to his neck.

“It’s…it’s gonna suck to clean this, isn’t it?” Most of the mess was between him and John at the moment, but it wasn’t going to stay there. Not at this rate. “Like this shit’s conditioned, and oiled like a fancy set of boots, and we probably fucked that up, huh?”

John sighed. “Possibly. But that’s a worry for tomorrow. Right now, I think there’s more important things for us to think about.”

Still aware of just how hard John was against him, Sharky was inclined to agree.

“Yeah. Think you’re right, there. I also, I…I haven’t really done much of this shit before,” Sharky blurted out as he leaned back, knowing it was late by this point, but couldn’t hold onto it any longer. “Now this I know, but anything else? It’s…um.”

“We’ll go slow.” John lightly touched his chin, making sure he was looking right at him. “Sticking to anything you’re comfortable with.”

“Not that I’m not…not that I wouldn’t mind anything else, just-“

“Be gentle?”

“Yeah,” Sharky breathed, and leaned into the kiss waiting for him, “let’s go with that.”

---

There was a voice speaking. Low, and almost too hard to hear, but it was the first thing Sharky noticed when he shifted. Moved to stretch. That, and the sheets that were almost too damn soft to touch under him.

Rubbing first his hands, then his cheek against it, he hummed in contentment only to recall his own bed. The sheets which he’d worn a hole into before tearing, that he swore up and down he’d replace three months back and counting. Those sheets didn’t even hold a half-burned match to these.

He opened his eyes, confused for a few seconds until he caught the figure sitting only a few feet away from him.

John sat at the bed’s edge, his back to him as he held his phone up to his ear. His responses were on the quiet side, not meant to disturb anyone, but Sharky could make out some of it as John’s voice drifted over to him.

“No. Well, there is a possibility. …Brother dear, you’re prying. I hardly think you-” John paused, scoffing right after, and a wave a self-consciousness hit him.

This was some private shit. Something Sharky wasn’t sure he should’ve heard at all, not while John thought he was sleeping it off next to him.

But John was there. Still with him, not leaving an empty space for Sharky to find after waking up alone on his all too large bed. That was a shock. One that pushed up a whole lot of other shit that he didn’t want to feel. Not right now, not here, but his mind always had a habit of dragging it all up when he least wanted it.

Watching John helped, though. Seeing someone there, even if he was focused on the conversation at the moment. Added more to the whole ‘the last eight to twelve hours weren’t a lie’ thing, and he held onto that fact tight.

When John ended the call, Sharky quickly closed his eyes. Waited, not sure at all what to do or say, but figured this would give him time to decide.

He felt the bed shift. Nerves running on overdrive, he took in a deep breath, and cracked his eyes open. “Hey, just so you know-”

Partway to him, John paused, startled.

Sharky blinked up at him, and lost his train of thought completely. Because it looked a hell of a lot like he was going in for a kiss. Like he’d planned on waking him up that way all along.

Because John still hadn’t done it yet. Hadn’t kicked him out, or wanted him out, like a whole lot of his morning afters usually went.

Funny how that was the hardest thing to believe yet.

So, he tugged him down. Felt John respond immediately, as Sharky rolled onto his back, and focused on kissing him. Hard at first, then softer. Each lazy kiss holding on just long enough for him to need air right after.

John trailed his fingers along his jaw, everything about it gentle, and Sharky let out a nervous laugh. “Sorry, I, uh, I didn’t think I’d get this far.”

“…Neither did I.” John took in a slow breath, and wet his lips. “But it’s morning, and whoever this person is that I’ve found in my bed, I’d like to see more of them.”

“Is that right?”

“Yes. One and the same,” he murmured, grazing Sharky’s lips with his. “Maybe even keep him there, if possible.”

It took effort, but Sharky drew back. Just enough to take John in like he wanted to. Hoping to try and catch even a hint of this in his mind to hold onto, only to want to dive right back in. Hell, if his mornings all started off like this, he’d gladly give in every time.

“I think he’d like that. Shit, I know I would. But you know what sounds good right now?”

“What?” John asked, gentle still.

“Breakfast. Never really got to that step before.” Sharky gave him a small grin, and chuckled. “Always wanted to, though. Got eggs and toast? Or…shit, I can try pancakes.”

Watching him still, John gave him a slow smile, and it was the prettiest one he’d earned yet. “Promising to keep any and all fires to a minimum?”

“Hey, I’m certified remember? For fire-starting and stopping. Guaranteed.”

“Very well then,” John replied, leaning in for another kiss. “Breakfast it is.”

[tessatechaitea]

Cerebus #7 (1978)

Elrod's boots have toes.

This cover proves that with Issue #7, Cerebus had outgrown its "sword & sorcery parody" roots. I would now define it as "madcap sword & sorcery parody." Elrod deciding he needed a little guy in a bunny outfit after hanging out with Cerebus for a short afternoon only makes me love Elrod even more. This issue is also proof that Dave Sim didn't earn his "first man to write and draw 300 issues of a monthly comic book all by himself" award because he didn't do this cover; Frank Thorne did. I don't mind that Gerhard did all the backgrounds for most of the series because without Gerhard, the comic could have been the same just with crappy backgrounds. But Dave Sim not doing the cover art for an issue?! That seems, well, actually, it seems on par with Gerhard doing all the backgrounds. Never mind. Elrod was last seen in Cerebus #4 which might make this the fastest return of any guest character in any comic book ever. I'm not a comic book historian but I'd stake my mother's life on that previous assumption. Hopefully the previous sentence will not start a rumor that my mother is a vampire which I don't think she actually is. I'm not a vampire historian so I wouldn't stake my mother's life on my mother being a vampire. That's a clever line, isn't it? This month's "Note from the Publisher" (which I guess I've incorrectly been calling "A Note from the Publisher") has been renamed "A Brief Note." Unless this "Note from the Publisher" is named "A Brief Note." And it's always possible that it's just called "Brief Note" since I've made that error with the article previously. Getting to the bottom of what this column is called is more interesting than the content of the note which is why I'm done writing about it this month. Dave Sim explains how this issue was the issue that freed him from writing a Barry Smith barbarian parody comic book as he began to take chances with the art and develop more of his own unique style. See? Just like I said about the madcap sword & sorcery designation earlier! He also points out that this is the second issue in seven issues that hints at aardvarks being important and Cerebus being some sort of Messianic figure. He wouldn't revisit that for some time because it wasn't important yet and also he probably didn't really know what to do with it. But it was a good idea because how can you not get a ton of great stories out of a character who is some kind of paradigm changing religious MacGuffin! Plus Elrod! Elrod was sure to make the readers laugh uproariously so that their parents would look over annoyed and ask, "What's so funny?" To which the comic book reader could respond, "Sheesh! Mind your own business! You wouldn't get it anyway!"

Is it more or less manly to admit that I would fuck Cerebus' horse?

Last issue, we learned that Cerebus gets super horny when he's had apricot brandy mixed with Rohypnol. We also learned that once he has sobered up, he forgets about the woman he thinks he loves but really only sort of likes the idea of her loving him. But he doesn't forget about the location of the treasure he learned about! You might be thinking, "That's because he learned about the treasure before E'lass slipped him the date rape drugs." But then I'd say haughtily and super condescendingly, "Yes, but he also learned more information from Jaka while totally stoned out of his mind which was essential to realizing just where the treasure was!" Then you'd secretly begin to hate me and start ignoring my texts and start the slow and silent process of breaking up with a friend. What I was trying to express was that Cerebus is hunting for the Black Sun Temple's treasure! By the end of this issue, he maybe he'll be super rich but still totally alone. I can't stop thinking about that horse. I just remembered, upon the appearance of Elrod at the beginning of this comic book, that the guy in the bunny suit isn't with Elrod. At least, not at first. He's just some flim-flam man trying to become the next aardvark Messiah, I think. But that's okay because I'd use anything as an excuse to say that I love Elrod even more. I'm guessing a lot of Cerebus readers told Dave the same thing which is why Elrod is back so soon.

How have I been a fan of Cerebus for thirty years and never made a Black Sun cocktail?

Elrod has come to the Temple of the Black Dog's Hole Sun for all of the wrong reasons unless getting shitfaced is a right reason and then I stand corrected. I'm pretty sure I'm standing corrected right now. Cerebus doesn't really want him tagging along but he also doesn't want Elrod wandering around to be discovered by the priests which might put their security on high alert. So he drags Elrod into the temple with him to find the treasure. Once inside, Elrod eventually wanders off to find some treasure of his own after Cerebus points out that a quiet living albino and a quiet dead albino are practically the same thing.

I'm sure all the riches are consolidated in the head priest's chambers for safe keeping.

Meanwhile some short priest named Mit is busy sewing a bunny suit. It looks just like Cerebus but is meant to represent one of the Black Sun's oldest and most revered nameless gods! Mit had studied all of the past prophecy and scripture of the Black Sun's theology so that he could represent himself as the coming Messiah and be worshiped as a god. So basically he's doing what Jesus did. Or Ardra! That's a Star Trek: The Next Generation reference which is better than making a reference to the comic book I wrote and drew in my late teens called Arrogance because nobody would get that reference. But, like Ardra and Jesus and Mit, I had a character who represented himself as the prophesied Messiah. Seriously though, who can trust a Messiah that was spoken about in prophecy?! Prophecy isn't a predictor of future events; it's a blueprint for some con man to come through town pretending to be a God and/or selling pool tables. I should scan in my comic books some time! I think it went five issues (at, like, five pages per issue!) and the later issues are really inspired by Jaka's Story: lots of text next to one or two large static images per page.

Ha ha! He's an ablino so he's easily mistaken for a statue!

Realizing the guards are onto them, Elrod rushes off to find Cerebus and drag him away. But instead he finds Mit in his costume and hauls him off. Cerebus finds his treasure and realizes Elrod has wandered off which can only mean that everything is going to become chaos at any second. Cerebus, Elrod, and Mit engage in a slapstick pursuit reminiscent of any old television program that would make you think of a slapstick pursuit. Maybe Scooby Doo or one of the Abbott and Costello movies. It eventually ends with everybody running for their lives and Cerebus discovering the pit of the Black Sun Temple's god. Spoiler: the god is a giant spider. That wasn't really a spoiler because this issue begins with this image:

The old comic standby of starting the story in the middle for one page and then preceding immediately to the beginning and telling the story linearly. I don't think Dave ever did this again because remember how this issue freed him from copying styles and tropes?!

Hey, remember that horse? Let's look at it some more. Oh yeah. Hey girl. I've got a carrot for you. Cerebus is finally defeated by a combatant this issue. Sure, it's a giant spider whose web Cerebus fell into while also losing his sword. As a reader, I'll allow Cerebus to lose a fight when the conditions are stacked so high against him. The only reason Cerebus survives is because Cerebus has no soul which causes the sacrificial Black Sun ceremony to disintegrate into chaos. The spider, finding no nourishment in the sacrifice, falls deeper into the pit as the temple crumbles and explodes around Cerebus. He's flung far out into the desert, mostly unharmed from the violence. But his treasure and his sword are lost. I hope that sword wasn't important to his becoming the Messiah! I suppose it's okay because he still has his three medallion necklace! With Mit's people and religion destroyed, he decides to become Elrod's sidekick for awhile. I don't remember if he ever turns up again; I'm guessing this was his only appearance. In this month's Aardvark Comment, a writer grades the art of Cerebus as an "A" and the writing as an "A+" so I'm just using that as my rating. Why should I waste my time doing redundant work?! At the end of the original issue, there was an ad for a hand-sewn Cerebus plush toy. That means that a non-zero number of Cerebus plush toys have been fucked in this reality. Eddie Campbell wrote a one page comic for this issue called "Great Wasters from History Not Counting Dave Sim." This was about a guy named Jack Mytton who lived from 1796 to 1834. I could look up who he was but that would defeat the purpose of Eddie Campbell telling me who he was in Eddie's comic! If you're interested in learning about Mr. Mytton yourself, I highly recommend researching him. He was a rich drunkard who did a bunch of crazy shit and then eventually died in pauper's prison. He sounded like a fun guy to be the friend of a friend of! Cerebus #7 Rating: A and A+, remember?!

[superchartisland]

Discworld (Perfect 10/Psygnosis, PC, 1995)

The worlds of computer games and fantasy/sci-fi books have long been close together. Early British gaming milestone Elite was one of many, many games to have taken some inspiration from Douglas Adams’s sharp and funny science fiction parody The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. In the other direction, let’s look at Terry Pratchett, Douglas Adams fan and the UK’s best-selling author of the 1990s thanks to his Discworld series roughly doing for fantasy what Hitchhiker’s did for sci-fi, but many times more prolifically. Pratchett drew on his lasting interest in computer games in his writing. Small Gods (1992) is a spin on the central mechanic of Populous that gods get more powers the more believers they have, with the twist of considering what really counts as belief. Racist mis-step Interesting Times (1994) ends with its main character controlling a Terracotta Army stand-in via what is obviously the interface from Lemmings. Outside of his Discworld series, Pratchett wrote a whole book about a computer game, Only You Can Save Mankind (1992) in which the main characters are drawn into a game that’s somewhere between Space Invaders and Elite. He takes the side of the aliens.

Meanwhile, alongside Adams and Pratchett’s witty, knowing parodies of genre fiction, in the world of gaming LucasArts were making a big success of point’n’click graphic adventures which served as witty, knowing parodies of genre fiction. There’s no coincidence there: Douglas Adams worked together with LucasFilm Games (as was) on their first adventure game, Labyrinth, a logical extension to Adams’s own interest in computers and his role writing the text adventure version of Hitchhiker’s. Across the Atlantic from LucasArts, the biggest British success in the world of graphic adventures in the early ’90s was Simon the Sorcerer by AdventureSoft, who had originally wanted to make a Discworld game but couldn’t get the rights. Instead they made something in much the same spirit. Title character Simon is essentially an amalgam of Pratchett’s early Discworld protagonist (and useless wannabe wizard) Rincewind and LucasArts’ Monkey Island protagonist (and useless wannabe pirate) Guybrush Threepwood.

By 1995, a Discworld graphic adventure wasn’t just a good idea, but practically an inevitability. Beyond the intertwined background, the format is perfectly suited. The slow, detail-focused gameplay is a perfect delivery vehicle for comedy. There’s a reason why Rincewind and Guybrush Threepwood, self-aware and sarcastic commentators on the world around them, were so compatible, and indeed you play as Rincewind in the Discworld game. The meta tendencies of the genre line up with one of the key repeated themes of Discworld, the idea defined on occasion as ‘narrativium’: narrative is one of the key building blocks of the world and able to exact a powerful force upon events. Things happen because they are expected to happen, and because they make for the best story. At one point Discworld the game plays on one of Pratchett’s best straightforward manifestations of this — “one-in-a-million chances happen nine times out of ten” — getting the player to work out the exact series of accessories that will add up to the hero’s chances being 1,000,000–1.

Lots of games make you work out what their developers want you do as a solution, but few tie that puzzle-solving as directly in to the narrative as graphic (and text) adventures. The actions in question tend more to the detailed mechanics than the grand sweep, but at best progress is a kind of collaborative narrative process between creator and player, tuned to the same wavelength. You progress the story by working out what the story is going to be. Or what the story should be. The player enacts the force of narrativium.

And so in Discworld the game, Rincewind is not just aware, as in the books, that he is the unwilling hero in a fantasy story, and what the rules of that story are. He is aware that he is the hero of a fantasy point’n’click adventure. His ambulant suitcase companion of infinite and terrifying capacity, the Luggage, may not have been written as a parody of game inventories, but it certainly reads like one.

After watching the game’s intro the player knows that it’s a story about a dragon on the rampage in the city of Ankh-Morpork, but Rincewind doesn’t yet. Look out the window at the distant figure of the dragon, labelled as ‘shape’ and he comments that it’s obviously a plot element, or it would have a better label. In that kind of moment the game extends in a worthwhile way from both Discworld and point’n’click games. In others, its puzzles are far too obtuse to give the feeling of figuring out the story, going a long way beyond the standard of the genre in difficulty. That makes for a lot of time going around trying out everything possible, which means that the world and its characters being enjoyable to spend time with is even more important.

Rincewind’s turn as sarky, put-upon man, dealing with a world around him which is obviously mad, is enhanced by being voiced by Eric Idle. I won’t go into the further links between Monty Python and Douglas Adams, because my history bit at the start was already long enough and because Elizabeth Sandifer already did it excellently, but there is a positive kind of obviousness to that casting too. Likewise, given the comedy fantasy-historic setting of Ankh-Morpork, the presence in the cast of Tony Robinson (throw Blackadder into that web of British humour fiction somewhere too). As a fan of the Discworld books, one of the best parts of the game is hearing familiar characters given voice. Tony Robinson’s take on amoral street peddler Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler, unflappable in the face of having his cons pointed out, played like Baldrick if his obliviousness was a cunning front, is particularly delightful. As a representation of the daft, inventive, funny world of Discworld, the game is a happy success. It fills its inevitable role very well.

However, as a series, Discworld isn’t just daft and inventive and funny. Well it pretty much was to begin with, and remained that way in much popular perception for a long while afterwards. There was a reason Pratchett kept bringing Rincewind back for lazy romps in new places. Discworld would not be as well-loved as it remains if that was all it was, though.

The plot of Discworld the game draws heavily on the eighth novel in the series, Guards! Guards! (1989), which was a distinct turning point in the tone and range of the series and its satire. In it, a dragon is set loose in the city and is eventually stopped with help from the efforts of the under-funded, under-respected, under-the-influence guards of the City Watch, who gain some self-respect in the process. The book turns away from the typical special one born-into-the-role hero of the previous books, giving starring roles to characters in positions that would previously have made them cannon fodder or comic relief alone. The importance of the life and story of every single person is a strong theme throughout the series. Keeping the Watch as leads would have made for a different and less obvious game, but replacing them with Rincewind — a wizard from the parody of privileged academia that is Unseen University — loses that strand of the message.

The other thing that Guards! Guards! brings through strongly is anger at how society is run, and to whose benefit. In its story a manipulative palace insider uses the petty grievances of a bunch of working men to incite them to summon a dragon. He plans to stage a vanquishing and install a puppet ruler, but loses control and instead himself ends up as puppet to the monster he conjured. Pratchett returns repeatedly to the fickle will of the crowd, influenced via the forces of narrative. When the dragon winds up in charge of the city, the most cutting satire is how easily treasure-hoarding and virgin-sacrificing are accepted as the new normal. The people in power in a position to do something quickly fall to collective self-interest, content as long as they believe they’re not supporting the burning of their faces. That kind of seething argument for greater justice became more prominent as the Discworld books went on.

This whole theme, though, gets minimised by the game’s changes to the plot and its wider insistence on prioritising knockabout comedy. No chance is missed for cartoon logic, and even where aspects of the plot like the dragon’s desire for revenge on its summoners are kept, they’re played for laughs There is parody but nothing like the sharp satire of the source material, and it puts humour above anything, including sometimes fidelity to its characters. Across the series Pratchett has a running joke of the university’s orangutan librarian reacting violently to being called a monkey, but the many times the game has slapstick scenes of Rincewind doing that (or similar to other characters) and being bashed on the head doesn’t ring true. He’s the Librarian’s assistant from pretty early on in the series and regardless, if nothing else, his defining cowardice would make him more cautious than that. The game’s humour goes broad again and again. It may well include more jokes about men wearing dresses than it does women, in dresses or otherwise. That doesn’t come out of nowhere — Pratchett never quite got past the temptation to bite on easy jokes even if they sat uneasily with his moral messages — but the game feels closer to his worst early instincts.

To get completely anachronistic, I like to imagine a Discworld point’n’click based instead on much later books in the series. Tiffany Aching, analytical teenager training to be a witch (a position portrayed as being social worker and midwife more than it is magician) would fulfil a need for a level of unawareness and observation as player stand-in really well, and would allow for a game with a very different tone. That could be more than a cartoon romp in a familiar funny world. As it is, Discworld the game is a well-realised vision of Discworld, but it’s a vision of Discworld which was already old hat by the time of its inevitable creation.

Gallup Compact Disc chart, Computer Trade Weekly 3 April 1995 (chart for week to 25 March 1995)

[mahou-furbies]

I recently reblogged that one post where someone redrew their old oc. I thought about the same, but I don’t really have many (I mostly drew animals, pokemon and other creatures as a kid). But I did venture to the depths of my 13-year-old deviantArt gallery to see what I could find. So now it’s time for a cringe compilation on some teen’s artwork! Or so I thought, but the depressing fact is that I found a lot of stuff in my old work that I could learn a thing or two from...

Overall this post is just a place for me to get a chance to talk about older drawings nobody looks at any more so good luck to those who intend to proceed to readmore.

(2006)

There were some unkind discoveries in my tour to the past when I noticed how I had stagnated on some areas (and sometimes it even feels like regression), but it is comforting to see that there has been some development too. But seriously that is some ow the edge design right there. If you ever think about edgy deviantArt ocs you should know that I was there too. 

(The angel chick looks kinda dull in comparison...)

(2007)

I did some couple dozen chibis on characters I knew (though not necessarily too well apparently, I’ve never played Disgaea). I find the poses and expressions on some of these fascinating, like nowadays I feel it’s much more common for me to draw just a generic standing pose. With this and many of the other older drawings there are some fun and expressive ideas that were beyond my ability to execute properly, but apparently I didn’t let it stop me. Now it’s more like that if something seems too difficult for me to draw I won’t even try, but back then I drew it anyway. I probably should put some effort into trying to get back to that mindset.

Part 1 & Part 2 on dA

(2009)

I have no idea how I’ve been able to create this one because the light effect. And this is drawn with Copic markers! In traditional media! So I had to get it right on the first try! And since Copics are expensive I had very limited resources!

The girls are unnamed ocs, the one on the right is the everygirl and the other one is her friend from some alternate fantasy world that changed according to the everygirl’s wishes (so it was like her imaginary world).

(2011) 

This is Beta, the only oc of any substance I’ve ever had (aside from the FuwaFuwa gang I guess). She had such a grand story that it never got anywhere, but I sometimes posted drawings of her that didn’t mean anything to anyone else since her story was only in my head. I really like that winter outfit, the web is a fun design idea even if it looks like it’d get stuck on every bush branch on your way. The pic of her trying to put on a hood pisses me off because I have a feeling that if I tried to draw that today it would look worse. Maybe I should take my own advice from three paragraphs ago and try a redraw anyway

(More pics of her outfits and hair: Clothes 1, clothes 2 & hair on dA)

I also found a winter themed drawing of her which looks like an early FuwaFuwa precure.

(2012) 

I’ve always liked style parodies and apparently I did 44 of Beta. I remember that white hair was kind of an unfortunate choice since it made colouring highlights impossible. The Precure ones looked decent enough that I think I’ll give them their own post.

(These are Sugar Sugar Rune, Utena & Trinity Blood)

all 44 on dA

(2013) 

At some point I drew a lot of stuff for a Disney Princess Pokemon au, and while it has now been overthrown by Attack on Titan and magical girls I’d love to get back to it one day. Art-wise some of the best and most ambitious stuff I’ve ever done is from this au, and the first drawing on this list (that’s Merida) is one of my favourites. Granted it was done with a how-to-draw-rain tutorial so the colour palette is copied, so it’s always felt like I can’t really take proper credit of the result, but the concept and execution are still mine.

I’ve always liked ‘cluttered room’ type drawings, and I even submitted an idea for a Precure themed one for a zine. It didn’t get chosen, but I still want to draw it one day. Like, right now this instant, as if I didn’t already have enough on my to-do list.

The last one was abandoned because I didn’t know how to get the colours right for a warm sunset vibe. Shame really because there’s a lot of fun stuff going on there.

full size on dA: #2 & #3

[rowanartist]

Fan fiction quotes 2019:

"with great foods, came great emotional baggage"[X]extra funny since I just saw Into the Spiderverse

"Just get together every couple of weeks, without Stark, and you guys can pass Steve around like a bong."[ch2]whaat? And chapter three is a dirty parody - worth a read for the humor of it

"he just hopes Tony has the sense God gave concussed baby sheep "[X]interesting phrase

"“Science,” Jane says, drawing his face to hers, “Does not require pants "[X]fun series of short fics

"Never something so hot; not like a flame is hot, but the strength of something bathed in summer sun. "[X]interesting view on attraction

"(He'd been sketching when he thought that through; now there's a page that has a little cartoon of himself, ducking, with the caption "the spoons are attacking!" although he'd ended up finishing his latte before he actually drew any flying spoons.) "[X]Steve upon learning about spoon theory

"Can you think of anything that symbolizes the eighties better than David Bowie’s crotch in tights? "[X]giggle out loud! "You drink once if someone whines, if Sarah says something isn’t fair, or if we get a shot of Bowie’s crotch. "[Same]comment

"“Like you’re going to vibrate out of your skin?” Natasha finished for him, understanding. Sometimes, after what they’d been through, it was hard just to be in your body. Easier to dissociate, to let whatever was going to happen happen while the part of you that was you floated far away. Natasha had been there before, and she knew James went there sometimes. "[X]ponder?

"They’re each wrapped up in their own blanket burrito, lying side by side in the dark, sharing one pillow. "[X]dual blanket burritos

"For most of his life he learned the safest option was to repress his emotional responses as much as possible, and over time he forgot how to access them when he actually needed to. "[X]relatable to a small degree

"Nothing too special but I’m pretty much Michael Bay’s wet dream "[X]to describe bakugo lol

"Most people," Midoriya continued gently, "don't need to be told they have a crush by the person that they have the crush on."[X]my boyfriend can relate to Midoriya here...

"about how if Midoriya could go this long talking without breathing in any new air, he'd probably be really good at kissing. "[same]lol

"God, fuck off. You look so freshly screwed that it hurts me. "[X]Bakugo ;p

"After all, shodō is one of Shouto’s hobbies. For Midoriya’s birthday last year, he made a beautiful poster of UA’s motto that is now displayed prominently above Midoriya’s bed. "[X]draw? If i can? "Please don’t use your All Might voice when we’re making plans to have sex. "[Same]lol

"He’d known for a while that his boyfriend internalizes, that he still struggles with a lot of insecurities and periodic depression from his years around his dad "[X]comment

"Shouto you’re worth more than anything. And you deserve happiness. I don’t care what micro-dick has said to you in the past or any shit he spews out of the mouth that’s somehow more obnoxious than Present Mic "[same]dam it Endeavor :/ "You’re a dork,” Izuku mutters in a break for breath. “Your dork,” Shouto says quietly "[Same]awww

"But if you ever forget your phone again I will use you as an advertisement balloon for a day, and that’s a promise."[X]lol

"First of all, I challenge you to find a dress that can fit that shoulders to waist ratio.” Shouto replied, matter-of-factly, pointing at Izuku’s entire body. “Secondly, you absolutely lack the manners to be a princess, you brute.” "[X]part of a series

"Another young woman that couldn’t be older than Shouto and Izuku looked up at the call. She had a round face and long, brown hair with little orange streaks every now and then collected in a braid. The red rimmed glasses she wore made her yellow eyes look bigger, behind the lenses. She lit up, when she saw them. "[X]need to try to draw

"You’d die of embarrassment— Either that, or Aizawa-sensei would kill you. And I kind of like you alive, thank you very much.” "[same]LOL

" is standing there in grey sweats and a loose Totoro hoodie he got him on one of their first dates "[X]draw

"It definitely didn’t help that Izuku stretched lazily, something akin to a cat just waking up from a nap, one of his legs stretching against the wall as the opposite arm reached towards Shouto with fingers spread wide-open. "[X]DRAW!

"What? They’re really short, all my boxers showed and it was weird. "[X]...

"Just because he isn’t as obvious about it, doesn’t mean Shouto isn’t beyond anxious too. "[X]comment

"He doesn’t treat Shouto like he is fragile, but he treats him like he is precious, and that is an important distinction"...."Something precious, however, doesn’t necessarily break easy, but it warrants the utmost care. It’s meant to be cherished. "[X]relationship advice

"One of the national dishes has no meat in it, but it’s the hottest thing I’ve ever tasted. I thought we were all going to die and T’Challa was going to succeed in eliminating us. Then I heard him yelling at the chef, saying none of us were used to Wakandan peppers.” "[X]https://archiveofourown.org/works/8688724/chapters/19918951#workskin

"All Tony was supposed to do was fix the alternator. Instead he built me a Jeep that tells me I have to initiate a proper launch sequence before I’m able to turn it on and drive.” "[Same]comment

"I’m sorry,” Midoriya retracts his hand, and Todoroki misses it instantly. “It’s not something I can fix, and that makes me sad. You don’t deserve to hear the things he tells you.” "[X]reread comment. Relatable to a degree personally

"But he has to admit the Docs greener side is awfully useful in a brawl; and his less menacing side has a wicked sense of humor, not to mention awfully good with a med kit. "[X]i like Bruce having a sense of humor

"That's what friends are for anyway, having your back when times are tough, and amusement for when times are peaceful. "[X]amusing

"Bucky didn't think he was being rude, but if Captain America said so, it must be true. "[Same]comment

"Steve’s always been a fan of cuddles, even if he doesn’t like to admit it, admit how much he needs that physical contact. "[X]I'm a fan of this concept

"Which in Steve-speak means that you’re feeling guilty as all hell over things you can’t control – again, mind you – and you can’t rest because you can’t shut your brain up.” "[Same]relate "There’s power in this act, Darcy thinks as she sucks and licks up and down his length. To be able to take someone apart with just her mouth and a few touches of her hands. Reduce them to tears or send them flying upwards into the heavens. And the knowledge that she wants to do this for him – for them – makes the feeling all the more potent. She doesn’t have to do this, but it’s her choice, and she wants to give this to them. "[Same]ponder more

"She may not come from it, but the closeness and the intimacy is far more important than any orgasm. "[X]remember

"He knows better, knows that Bakugou’s punches of greeting and movie nights at Yaoyorozu’s house with Mina, Hagakure, and Tsu, and that baking with Izuku are all love. That’s love, not the villain sat behind the desk. "[X]dark fic, author warns in notes. But this line is sweet

"Natasha Romanoff is a world-class spy, yes. But she’s also a potato chip thief who makes dumb jokes and uses emoticons (she had been very adamant that Steve learn the difference between emoticons and emojis), and Steve adores her for it. "[ch5]she's human

"Bucky flopped onto it rolling around like a dog on the soft surface, Natasha quietly responding by taking out her phone and videoing his nonsense. "[ch2]Mr. Kate style rug cuddle but solo

"“First of all, just because someone is good looking does not mean I should have sex with them. There are attractive serial killers Nat, do you want me to get murdered? Second of all, I don’t know him. Third of all, he’s not looking at me like I’m chicken wings, also Clint, seriously? Chicken wings?” "[same]lol, but I'm with you Bucky

"Even in just plain sweatpants, the American icon without a shirt was an image that would have anyone seeing stars and stripes, regardless of sexual orientation. "[X]:)

"Agent Bishop was hit with a biological weapon today that has a ninety-two per cent chance of ending in fatality within three days unless proper care is administered to disperse the chemical compound through natural methods. Meaning, in the case of humans, sexual release. As in, orgasming."[X]a legalese description of "sex pollen" ...

"Do the horizontal contra dance, yes," Darcy answered. "Well kind of, I mean there's only three of us and a contra dance is four to a group, but tango is just for two and I had to think of something fast. Come on, Stevie, this isn't the first time we've hooked up. "[X]lol

"He wanted something just for him again, even though he felt like a selfish asshole for even thinking it. So he would do whatever he could to chase after that feeling. Even if it was stupid. Even if it was silly. "[ch2]advice, remember "Tony must never read these, Steve thought. Bucky’s arm would never be safe. "[ch3]Steve Discovers FanFiction "Steve stayed focused on the screen, sticking out his tongue a little while he concentrated. It was unfairly adorable. "[ch4]Jarvis knows how to motivate Steve: a Bucky themed typing game "Good things would happen. Funny, clever jokes would be told. Sexy adventures were always available, no matter what was happening in the real world. "[X]relatable "There was even a page of ‘Bucky Approved Sex Words and Phrases’. The name alone never failed to make Steve smile "[ch7]lol "He wasn’t really writing this stuff for the money anyways; mostly he just wanted to see that other people liked and enjoyed what he was doing. "[Same]relatable: my redbubble rowan-artist

"Darcy’s eyes widened. “Oh god, I just imagined you naked, dusted in gold, on a satin-sheeted bed. My mind is a dangerous place.” “Hey, there’s always Halloween.” "[ch6]you being Steve

"Jane was rapidly nearing the angry-bear stage of sleep deprivation (there were seven levels on the Dr. Jane Foster Sleep Deprivation chart; angry bear was number five, between 'genius-level insane productivity' and 'sugar high five-year old'), "[X]also Dean Fury ... "Then you come to me, we'll kill a bottle of Jameson and make Thor carry our drunk asses home while we sing Les Mis horribly off-key," "[same]amusing

"This is why you should always read end-user agreements on friendships. "[X]not the fic but the start notes, lol. Also, Maria's entry is adorable, and Pepper potts!! "(“So what you’re telling me is you spent a week building a glorified roomba,” Rhodey says the first time he sees it, and Tony lets out an undignified huff and makes JUNK-E destroy and clean a grand piano.) "[Same]hahha

"And it’s better to be an asset, which at least sounds like something you value, than a glorified action figure. "[ch3]comment "Steve’s friendship is stronger than even Steve’s shield, and protects them both just as much "[Same ch9]awww

"Bucky actually is, but she knows well enough not to ask. Instead, she has started braiding flowers into Natasha's hair while the other girl of the group is busy making a flower crown for Thor. This is what it must be like to have real friends, Bucky thinks, lounging in his camping chair, trying to eat with one hand while Steve is holding his arm, drawing on the inside of his forearm with a black pen. "[ch2]flower crowns "I heard a lot of things I kind of projected on myself. It's probably stupid, but… it's always crazy to hear things that apply to oneself somehow." "It's the magic of music. Sam once told me about the Mr. Brightside effect–" "[ch4]yes "Bruce is on his own so much that he probably doesn't even notice that he has friends "[ch5]relatable, high school me

"The most beautiful thing however was the wall right next to the bed-- while all the other walls were the same off-white color, this one sported stripes of different colors down. Blue, red, green, purple, black, another shade of lighter blue. In the middle of these stripes, the Avenger signs were painted by a meticulous hand; Cap’s shield, Tony’s arc reactor, Mew Mew, and so on-- Darcy didn’t notice she was crying into Mara started wailing in solidarity "[ch1]draw?

"He knows it, like Steve and Bucky know that Tony needs praises and affection, not commands. "[ch8]...

"She thanked Sif (a habit she had started lately, thanking the Asgardian warrior instead of some non-present God, because really, if there was a god she wanted to follow, it would totally be Sif) "[X]nice Darcy "Even if she wasn’t an Avenger per say, she got to be on the team, both super and nonsuper alike. "[ch2]awww

"Elizabeth is going to make coffee happen, and in Darcy’s eyes that makes her a goddess. "[X]comment "By the end, Steve had been right in the thick of it, using a frypan as a shield and hurling pasta like nobody’s business. "[same]comment "Agent Hill’s bad ass levels are through the roof, but put her in front of a powerpoint and the result is coma-inducing. "[Ch3]lol "JARVIS, my man, I need some fat beats up in here. Help a sister out?” "[ch3]comment

"She knew now that it was almost certainly to do with her personal level of comfort and how hard both Steve and Barnes had worked to make her feel good. "[middle chapter]comment

"A video clip of the Asgardian scientist Tadeas and Neil Degrasse Tyson singing a scientific ballad of their own composition was one of the most viewed Youtube videos of all time "[X]lol "He grabbed [a muffin] and shoved it into his mouth, belatedly peeling the paper off. "[Same]haha! :D "Darcy put a box of Sour Patch Kids on top, “Those are for Heimdall.” "[X]comment "“No. Damnit, Darcy. You’re stubborn. Of course you’re stubborn! Jesus Christ, I can’t even imagine what it must like to be in the same room as the two of you.” "[X]best friend sass "But Clint is a human with a bow on a team of superheroes. "[X]Darcy's favorite avenger and why Ch4 music note "Apparently Thor is back on Earth. He showed up in New York right after we left and basically deafened all of Brooklyn with his displeased shouting about his missing Shield Sister. So now everyone knows I’m gone and my disappearance is trending on Twitter as #MissingAsgardianPrincess. How is this my life?! I can’t even with this shit.” "[X]mild spoiler? HAHAHA "Try having a conversation with one of them [asgardians]-- 4 to 1 odds it turns into some sort of ballad recitation. "[X]...

"The next day, Izuku Midoriya delivered his eleven page elaborate essay on how ordering sex toys inspired him to be more honest with himself and his boyfriend about what he wanted in life and in bed. "[X]lol

"“Fire for stop, ice for slow, and smash for go.” "[X]comment