#let my art be free into the tumblr ecosystem

[qiekzart]

day two of drawing kaiba for a whole month. 02/10/2023

for mental health reasons i need to see him be happy. ok but i literally just want him to be happy that is the one thing i want ever oh my god I KNOW ITS OUT OF CHARACTER BUT LET ME HAVE THIS PLZZZ😭😭😭😭😭

[plz reblog] [requests still open read pinned for info.]

[lesbianralzarek]

tumblr in reddit terms

blogs: personal subreddits where the theme/topic is 99% of the time just “me and whatever the hell i feel like at the moment”. for reference, the most common other theme rn is “wizard roleplay that never breaks character”

reblogs: crossposts. these are crucial to maintaining tumblr’s ecosystem. due to blogs generally having fewer followers than subreddits have subscribers, this is the way that posts get seen and passed around. the vast majority of posts on a person’s blog tend to be reblogs, so if the people you follow dont reblog a whole lot, your dashboard is gonna be a ghost town. post limit (combined total of reblogs and original posts per day) is 250, so feel free to go hog wild

tags: this one is complicated. theyre a combination of flairs and Comments But Low-key. you can use them for organization and to avoid seeing content you dont want to (go to your blog, settings, account settings, content you see, and then add tags you want tumblr to warn you about before seeing it). if op tags the post #reddit (in the tags, not the body of the post), itll show up in the #reddit tag when anyone searches that tag. tags are also used for comments that dont really add anything to the post. you know how a jpeg gets kinda gross when its been through a million screenshots and has ifunny watermarks and shit? thats what adding “lmao same” as a comment does to a post. comments stay on reblogs, while tags show up in 4 places: op’s notifications, the notifs of whoever you reblogged it from, when someone clicks on the “notes” button of a post and actively looks for the tags left on it, and when people view your specific reblog of the post (like a follower would on their dashboard)

likes: upvotes but weaker. almost everyone turns off all the algorithms (settings, account settings, dashboard preferences, toggle off the first 3 options. also, make sure your dashboard is on "following" and not "for you". this is highly recommended), so leaving a like doesnt boost the post in any way. they still matter to some people. you can also use them to bookmark a post and go back to your likes later

enthusiastic and/or hyperbolic tags: reddit gold. you wanna let op know you like their art? leave something like ”#printing this out and stapling it to my forehead #op you wanna get married?” in the tags

pornbots: both reddit and tumblr have an issue with them. we block and report them on sight. they usually have hot women as their icons, no posts or reblogs, and a description like “22, brazil, nurse <3″. try to not look like that if you dont wanna get blocked by everyone you follow

blocking: you have this as well, but it seems like a bigger deal on reddit. the reason we are not twitter is because we block bitches who annoy us and move on with our day. do not feed the trolls

things we dont have:

karma: clout-chasing is The Most embarrassing thing you can possibly do on this site. we are all in this circus together and the clown who gets the most laughs is still a clown. popular users will literally deactivate sometimes because clout is a burden. no one here makes money

[eartheats]

hello hello! (again!)

been a bit since I did an updated one of these, huh??? but it's been about a year since i did my original one, so!!! time for a new introduction post!

(art made by the wonderful @professor-amaryllis's player!!!)

anyway, hello!!! my name is ren (they/them or ze/zir!!), i'm 24 years old and welcome to my silly lil blog! i mostly use this to reblog orthworm and orthworm accessories!!! i'm a pokemart worker who's on leave at the moment, and i'm currently sort of a student at the blueberry academy! i'm currently taking some researcher courses there, and i'm tryin' my hardest to become an authority in steel type pokemon! though, uh, most of my experience is with my favorite pokemon, who i'm guessin' y'all can tell who it is. heehee

but uh, what else...i've actually got a fair amount of experience as a steel type trainer, and most of my research is focused on orthworm! their environmental impact and their role in the ecosystem is just fascinatin' to me, especially livin' near 'em in zapapico for most of my life! that's actually how i befriended my big ol' lug of a partner, lulu, who you'll be hearin' about a LOT on this blog heehee. he's been my buddy since i was a tyke, and we've been trainin' together for almost two decades at this point!

arc, i'm probs gonna ramble forever if i keep this up. i guess i can basically summarize everythin' else!!! i used to be a student at the old uva academy, and it sucked! was a student at the new one too, but circumstances have made keepin' up with that and blueberry stuff a lil harder than expected. i got my foot in the door originally workin' at the montenevera chansey supply, so i know a lil bit about pokemon medicine too if ya ever need advice.

i'll leave y'all with a trainer card, if ya ever need to contact me please feel free to shoot me an ask!!! promise i won't bite. maybe i'll make one'a them faqs at some point...and maybe a page for my pokemon!! that'd be real neat heehee

((ooc info below the cut!))

HELLO ONE AND ALL my name is Sable (they/them exclusively), late 20s, nothing's really changed all that much but I needed to make an updated intro for Ren at some point anyway, so now seemed to be a good time!

guess to set some basic ground rules:

follows will come from @shinydracozolt! that is my main blog full of weird shit, so uh, don't be alarmed.

Pelipper mail type things are on, but I can turn them off if I wish to. I will let everyone know if I decide to do this.

I have not Tumblr RP'd before, please be gentle with me.

Blog will occasionally dip feet into the High Stakes pool, especially with current plots going on in the background regarding Ren's mother, who's kind of a messy shitshow of a person. Ren's backstory in general is kind of a mess! Mom is evil with connections to Team Flare and dad is dead so uh. Whoops.

This blog will occasionally delve into sensitive topics, mostly with ask games and such. The ones that mostly pertain to Ren are: mental abuse by a parent, bullying at the old Uva, the massive shut in arc they had between ages 14-18, underage drinking (they still partake and aren't an alcoholic, but they and the bottom of a bottle go way back, so to speak), and occasional mentions of weed. (they themselves don't do it but a friend and coworker of theirs is a stoner. these posts will be tagged accordingly)

There will be occasional shenanigans with @ribesrubrum! Basically I had Ren befriend a canon character in their Kitakami arc and didn't want to potentially make things awkward, so they will interact occasionally. Don't be alarmed!

Lemme know if you need any trigger tags accommodated and I shall do my best! My memory is not the greatest thing in the world but I will do my best. <3

Would prefer no NSFW sent Ren's way, they are ace as hell. There may be occasional mentions of it from other blogs, but they'll be tagged accordingly.

Not exactly open to shipping with Ren because, once again, the whole ace deal, but if something starts to go that way feel free to let me know? But I am going to say no automatically if the player is a minor and the character in question is not 21+.

Can't really think of anything else I wanna say, but I mostly play fast and loose with shit and Ren's kind of off in their own little world sometimes lmao

[moonlitkilljoy]

👋🏻🤠 it’s the Pacific Rim anon back again! You are so right for getting me to watch it.

First off, the soundtrack blew my dick off. I never knew I wanted to see a big robot punch a big lizard with some heavy metal shred in the background.

I also adore the connection of the kaiju coming from the pacific. As someone who lives on the ring of fire, there’s the constant danger of fault lines buckling, tsunamis, volcanoes, etc so the fact that the destructive mega titans are coming from the pacific completely tracks lmao. And the fact that humanity’s poisoning of the planets ecosystems makes it more viable for terraforming?? It scratched the marine bio itch in my brain.

Oh yeah and the entire central plot of letting people into your brain and having them see your entire being in moments and choosing to trust and work with this person. The mortifying ordeal of being perceived but you run a huge robot with that. That you can share these bonds with people no matter how many times in the past you’ve been through suffering, you can always let people back in and it will hurt but in the end it’s what keeps you going. Maybe I cried 4 separate times watching it, what about it????

Newt and Hermann. My god. Right and left brain math and biology brain and heart. Insert picture of that Chihuahua dog crying and biting the pillow. 

Anyway, I loved it! Tumblr is always supplying banger media to consume. Now to find a copy of Goncharov!

HI!!! IT'S LOVELY TO HEAR FROM YOU AGAIN!! I'M GLAD YOU LIKED IT!!! I actually saw that I got this ask while I was in the midst of rewatching Pacific Rim flgjdkflg

YOU'RE ABSOLUTELY CORRECT, THE SOUNDTRACK IS SO GOOD!!! Plus, I completely failed to think about the ring of fire!!!! that's such a good point!! AND THE WHOLE CONNECTION TO GLOBAL WARMING?? FUCK, DUDE, IT'S SO GOOD. AND!! I totally get the marine bio thing!!! this movie is VERY good at scratching my biology brain in the perfect way (not to mention my math brain, but thats just a whole nother thing. i, a guy who likes numbers, see a guy who likes numbers and lose my fucking mind immediately).

YOU'RE SO RIGHT ABOUT THE CENTRAL PLOT. PACIFIC RIM IS A MOVIE ABOUT SAVING THE WORLD WITH ROBOTS POWERED BY LOVE AND THE POWER OF HUMAN CONNECTION AND VULNERABILITY. I honestly couldn't have phrased it better myself though, "That you can share these bonds with people no matter how many times in the past you’ve been through suffering, you can always let people back in and it will hurt but in the end it’s what keeps you going." is incredibly poetic and sums up EXACTLY what makes the movie great. I cried so so fucking much as well, you're so valid.

NEWT AND HERMANN. I love these gay scientists so fucking much. I'm an expert, you can trust me on this. The fucking fact that them not being drift compatible wasn't even a possibility to think about makes me lose my fucking mind (evidently, seeing as I made a post about that exact thing fdgjlkdfj). I love their dynamic so much and I love them with my entire heart. Here's a screenshot, just for you, of a wip screenshot redraw of them that I've been working on :-)

(mario creatures are there because my girlfriend and I were playing super paper mario when I started sketching this ^^; oops)

I am delighted to have supplied you with some great media!!!! Feel free to dm me or send some more asks if you ever wanna chat more about it >:] or even if you have any art requests, or smth or other :D i'd prolly also be able to recommend you some pacrim fics, if thats your thing— i've accumulated quite a few in the last two/three weeks or so

And, again, i'm SO glad you liked it ( •̀ ω •́ )✧

LET ME KNOW IF YOU FIND THAT COPY, PLEASE AND THANK YOU <3

[psychics4unet]

Hello, how are you? new follower here,can i get a crystal ball reading?♡

My initials: JB

Should i go towards an Entomology career path or an apothecary one?

Thank you so much!!!!

Free Psychic Reading – Crystal Ball Gazing

Hey there! 🌟 Let’s take a look into the crystal ball to see which career path might be best for you—entomology or apothecary. 🦋🔮

The crystal ball reveals that both paths have their own unique potential. If you’re drawn to the study of insects and their roles in ecosystems, entomology could offer you a fulfilling career with opportunities for discovery and contribution to environmental science. 🐞✨

On the other hand, if you’re interested in the healing arts and enjoy working with natural remedies and herbal medicine, a career as an apothecary could provide you with a deeply rewarding experience, connecting you with traditional practices and wellness. 🌿💫

Consider which path aligns more with your passions and long-term goals. Both careers can be fulfilling, so trust your intuition and choose the one that resonates most with your heart. 🌟

Got questions or need some insight into your life? I'm here to help with personal psychic readings! For just $7, you can get answers to up to 7 questions! More info at:

In case anyone else here on tumblr would like a free psychic reading (crystal ball gazing), Click the link and follow the instructions (I answer only to those who follow the instructions, thank you):

[frankhightower]

12 things I learned after depending on commissions for 2 years

I've been meaning to write about this for a while now, but PayPal charitably reminded me of the $600 reporting threshold this morning (which will no longer require you to pay taxes, but still, wasn't originally planning on assigning neurons to that today) so it's as good a time as any.

I started seriously pursuing commissions in the summer of 2021 (you may remember I'd been talking before the pandemic about automating most of my badly-paying dayjob away to free up time for other pursuits, this was the point where I finally said "I've done it!"). The failure of the 2017 opening still weighed heavily on my mind, though, so I was pretty sure simply posting "hey, I'm open" and uploading 5 "samples" a week wasn't going to work. I tried to get an art stream set up since I remembered getting followers that way in 2014, but I could never get it to work.

So instead, I took to Discord. I've always been bad at keeping up with multiple forums, but I made an effort to participate in all of them. I was very casual about my commissions (since, you know, pandemic: I kinda needed the social interaction more ...and pandemic stimuluses were keeping me afloat) and sold a grand total of 2 commissions that way in the whole year.

Here came the first hard lesson: Do not give free samples of your work. People will always say "do you have a sample?" and since I was being asked for combinations I'd never done (such as, let's say, "cell-shaded and macro"), I'd always say "no, but I can make one", and then would go off to do just that. Several things can happen in that process:

You take so long to produce the sample, the would-be commissioner loses interest

They judge your sample as not good enough

The free sample satisfies their "need" and they no longer want "the paid version"

(also, commissioners, don't ask "do you have a sample", look at the artist's gallery and talk to them about that; artists love gushing about their art!)

From here, I decided to be systematic about it: I was going to create a sample of every possible combination and put them on a price sheet (I don't recommend this, by the way). I'd long planned to get "volunteers" to appear on my price sheet, but by this point, the pandemic stimuli had stopped so I decided to sell the slots in a huge YCH. To promote it, I started using Twitter ...I mean really use it. I'd never "gotten" Twitter much, but again, I made the effort and soon went from replying to 1 or 2 tweets every few days, to replying to 20 tweets a day.

And here I learned the second lesson: The online art space is an interconnected ecosystem. I only sold 2 slots on Twitter itself (people I knew saw my retweets), but by posting the slots sold on FA, DA and Tumblr, I was able to get more attention there. Then, by making reminders for FA and DA since they don't have a retweet option (and posting those reminders on Twitter), I was able to get more attention back on Twitter ...and the feedback loop continued until I had people asking for slots when I'd run out! I kind of already knew this, to be honest. I'd always praised EA's pre-2007 strategy of "cross pollination" (releasing the "same" game on multiple platforms to motivate people from one platform to get the other) but seeing it firsthand was just next level.

I considered myself too busy during the Winter Quarter of 2022 (we work in quarters at my school) so, though I was still brimming with ideas, I wasn't posting anything. ...Then I noticed my friends on Twitter were depressed. I mean, a lot of them were. They needed me. I'd been to therapy during the pandemic (and it bankrupted me so I knew not everyone could afford it) but it had given me the tools necessary to deal with it. I could tell they didn't have them. And one of those tools (which I was underusing) was "draw something every day". So I started the "Free Hugs" series. From a commercial standpoint, this was a great way to get "out there", since gift art is far more visible than the average twitter reply, but that was not the main reason to do it.

So let's call this the third lesson: Gifts are good. A gift is not a free sample, it is a labor of love. You wouldn't buy a gift for someone you don't know at all, and giving the gift doesn't weigh on your conscience as a waste of time in the same way as "the prospective commissioner never got back to me" does. Sometimes the receiver only responds with a like, and that's more than enough. Sometimes they'll comment show their followers in turn. But because you're not doing it for the attention, it's always a bonus.

What really changed things was something unexpected: I reached 150 followers on Twitter! I'd always planned that, if I reached 150, I would draw the 150 pokémon. I'd kind of resigned on the idea years ago because I'd "stopped growing"... and then it happened. I now had to put that plan into action! (and no, "celebrate milestones" isn't a lesson learned, I'll come back to this later)

Turning my daily drawing into "the next pokémon on the list" was a huge boost to my productivity (so long as I kept the list handy) and it contributed to the "ecosystem" positive feedback loop. Let's call this the fourth lesson: Always have something to do. If you're ever "out of ideas", have something you can turn to that will allow you to keep posting. Something that doesn't stress you out (drawing Pokémon is a huge comfort for me, it's literally therapeutic). Something that doesn't require a lot of effort to decide what to do next. Something that (for all practical purposes) you could do forever.

And now, having a huge roster of pokémon under my belt, came the next turning point. I'd always considered black and white sketches to be "unfinished" art, but people were quite happy with them as they were. And with Pandemic payments stopping, I offered to "finish" them... as a commission. Approximately one out of every ten people who received a pokémon sketch were willing to pay to see it "finished", which is the exact ratio taught in marketing classes. This brings me to the fifth lesson: Direct marketing works (ha,ha, just kidding, please don't spam your followers). The fifth lesson is: Keep in touch with your follower base. They already made the decision to follow you, they are clearly interested in what you have to offer. Make sure you talk to them, listen to them, study them individually, and yes, give them fan service (and I mean this literally: give them what they came for, not what a stereotype says they want).

After about a year of toil, my price sheet was ready (remember I said I don't advise making them like I did?) and I sold 2. and here I learned another hard lesson: Commissioners are creative people (they just lack the time, tools, or skill to do the art themselves) This should be a good thing; what better person to work with as a creative, than a creative? The problem is that not many people are creative, so a broad "throw anything you want at me, the only limit is your imagination", only works with people who have unlimited imaginations. Not even lowering prices helps in this situation. If you want to reach a larger audience, you need to do what most artists do and offer donation drives, YCHs and adopts. If you need ideas for these, celebrate holidays or milestones (told you I'd come back to it) but do it with intent, not out of obligation. Try to stay away from newsbites or trending topics as these will become dated very quickly (and you want the stuff people paid for to act as an ad).

So I launched a donation drive. I'd always been planning one for Macro March. This taught me the next lesson: People want to give you money! This may come as a shock to many of you, but it's true. Your followers do like you that much. Give them opportunities to show it on their terms. And never fail to acknowledge it!

I soon after launched another huge YCH, got only 1 response, and learned the 8th hard lesson: Some months are just dead. If you've ever wondered why no artist ever does X in the month of Y, this is why. People just disconnect from the internet at certain times of the year (and with the pandemic ending, doubly so!). Trying to get anyone to even see what you're doing at these times is literally shouting into the void.

By this time, my mother had lost her job, and her severance pay had run out. My family was financially in trouble. I went back to my list of pokémon, and people who said they'd be interested in paying to get it finished "later". Only 2 of them still did, which taught me two new hard lessons: 9: Buying art is an emotional endeavor. Once emotions subside, the push to put money on that particular piece is gone. This also means that art should always have emotion (and probably why so many people hate AI art for non-"it was made by AI" reasons) 10: People wait for their paycheck. Even if your followers may recognize your situation on the 23rd of the month, even if they want to give you money, they won't have any money to give until the 30th. But by that point, they may have forgotten (after all, what is the internet but a myriad of things trying to get your attention?) so you need to time your announcements considering this. Use that week for a personal project or try to cut back.

Things went very well for a while... but then there came the Death of Twitter. What do I mean by that? I track "views per followers" on my art tweets. I normally get 1 view for every follower, thanks to my carefully scheduled retweets. However, I've noticed a steady decline in that number since July (when the "rate limited" debacle happened). Starting at about the last week of September, it's been stuck at about 0.2 views for every follower. I doubt this is a matter of algorithm suppression, though, since I'm also seeing people I follow, post less. I conclude people really are spending less time on Twitter, which brings me to the final hard lesson: Don't put all your eggs in one basket, don't even put the majority of your eggs in one basket! From the beginning, having many more followers on Twitter than on any other platform set off alarm bells in my head (and if it's been your situation, it should do so, for you, too!) The fear was not that Twitter, as a whole, would fail, it was that I could lose my account! I am happy with the fact that I currently only have about 50% more followers on Twitter than I do on FA (ideally the numbers would be equal, but since FA relies on people using "browse" and "search", that number is really hard to raise!) To bring it full circle, cross-pollinate! Link your other accounts constantly. Anyone who's finding you for the first time in one platform should quickly be able to know if you're in any of the other platforms they use. This is how I've managed to survive the Twitter-pocalypse.

So those are my 12 hard lessons:

Do not give free samples of your work

The online art space is an interconnected ecosystem

Gifts are good

Always have something to do

Keep in touch with your follower base

Commissioners are creative people

People want to give you money!

Some months are just dead

Buying art is an emotional endeavor

People wait for their paycheck

Don't put all your eggs in one basket

Cross-pollinate!

They're all "easier said than done", but don't let anyone tell you that artists hate sharing their secrets!

And Merry Christmas.

Posted using PostyBirb

[sarenssight]

Embrace Nature

🌿🦌 Introducing My Enchanting OC: The Nature Spirit of the Infinite Forest 🦌🌿

Hey fellow Tumblr fam! 🌸 I'm absolutely thrilled to share with you my latest creation—an extraordinary original character (OC) that's very close to my heart! Meet Aurelia, the ethereal Nature Spirit who wanders through the enchanting expanse of the Infinite Forest! 🌳🍃

🌟 Behold Aurelia: 🌟

✨ With magnificent horns adorning her head, she emanates an aura of pure magic and ancient wisdom. Her presence alone breathes life into the forest, and every step she takes leaves a trail of vibrant flora and blossoms in her wake.

🍃 The Infinite Forest 🍃

Aurelia's home is no ordinary forest—it's a realm untouched by time and space, stretching infinitely in all directions. Within its lush embrace, mystical creatures and breathtaking landscapes coexist in harmony, creating an otherworldly sanctuary like no other.

🦌 The Deep Bond with Deer 🦌

Among the forest's inhabitants, none are as dear to Aurelia as the graceful deer. They share a profound connection—a bond woven from love and understanding. The deer see her as their guardian and guide, and she, in turn, cherishes their gentleness and grace.

💫 Wanders of Wisdom 💫

As she roams through the eternal wilderness, Aurelia's purpose is to maintain the balance of nature and protect the delicate ecosystem from any threats that might arise. Her wand—a shimmering crystalline scepter—channels the forces of nature, allowing her to harness their power when needed.

🌸 Whispers of the Wind 🌸

Her laughter resonates like the soft rustle of leaves, and her eyes sparkle with the wisdom of the ages. Whenever you hear the distant sound of a woodland stream or feel a cool breeze on a hot day, know that Aurelia's presence graces your surroundings.

🌟 Join Her Journey 🌟

I can't wait to delve deeper into Aurelia's adventures and tales of her encounters with various forest denizens. As I continue to develop her character, I hope you'll be as captivated by her spirit as I am! 🌿✨

Feel free to share your thoughts, art, and ideas about Aurelia in the comments! Let's celebrate the beauty of nature and the magic of creativity together! 🦌🌳 #OC #NatureSpirit #InfiniteForest #DeerBond #CreativityUnleashed

[vergess]

(reposted because??? tumblr ate or deleted the first post???)

So. Lots of pain meds at the moment, so this is a little bit nonsensical, but, I have been playing the newly released video game I was a teenage exocolonist (available on steam, not linked because tag visibility) while I am laid up in bed.

Lots of opinions, basically all positive. There’s a specific thing I want to talk about in more detail, but this post got too long so I will just link a future post on the gender politics of nature, nurture, and future as presented by the twins Dys and Tang.

So instead here’s my Most Recommendable Qualities (mostly free of spoilers):

Native linux compatibility:

you know how I am about that. I cannot believe I’ve become the very linux guy I so hated when I was working retail…

Upsettingly beautiful art

2D gaming is my first love but man the medium has come a long way since needing a flashlight to play pokemon. Sometimes I forget how far, and then games like this pop up with the gorgeous art and expressive characters, and I inevitably find myself wondering why the “”“"mainstream”“”“ video game market (in as much as such exists these days) focused so obsessively on photo realistic 3D when inevitably a well directed art style is what matters most.

The backgrounds and environments in the game are all extremely lush, with a gorgeous, colorful style that if I had become an art critic instead of a writing critic I would probably have better terminology to describe. Like, uh. Water colors or some shit. Stained glass. It’s all very luminous fuck dude I don’t know, the closest I’m going to get here is to write a poem and I’m not going to write a poem where the fuckign developers might see it. I need to be sober for that.

Characters:

I’m a character driven asshole, we all know this. It’s why I read so much fanfiction and play so much melodramatic fantasy and spend several hours of my life openly sobbing about a single fucking issue of Sandman. So, you’ll understand when I say, "people keep recommending me dating sims and I keep bouncing off of them because the characters never Do A Thing,” what my major criticism of a lot of Large Cast Of Dateable Character games is.

None of those issues arise here. I’ve played a few runs now, making a conscious decision on each to focus on a specific character. One. SIngular. Except, the thing is, you can’t do that. Not in the sense that the game won’t “let” you. You could certainly just dump all of your time into skills and one character. And the timeline of the game would change to reflect your isolationism.

Characters you don’t interact with during runs have their own “autonomous” storylines written, and each divergence your player character makes has its impacts meticulous tracked to create different character experiences every time, even as each character holds very tight to a narrow set of repeating traits. This only further emphasizes the fundamental strangeness of the player character, as the only one capable of being fundamentally different across timelines.

Also all the dateables are just, oh god, SO cute. And, by the time they are capable of fucking, very fuckable. Extremely attractive designs. Honestly everyone is super cute. The whole cast is magnificently designed. And that includes…

Monsters & World Building:

First of all, let’s get the important personal opinions out of the way. I think I would fuck the antagonist….uh….commander, whatever his title is. He looks like a fucked up centaur and I’m into that. There are also Adequate Amounts Of Tentacles. If you’ve known me long, you know that is a high bar, but the game clears it admirably and with diversity!

The alien fauna are all very FUCKING COOL. There’s a bit of throwaway dialogue from An Adult (your dad?) that talks about expecting the planet’s ecosystem to be ‘more alien’ than it is, and I respect the space program’s attempt a tpreparedness but for me, the whole uhhhhhh. Situation. With regards to the alien animals is PLENTY alien, and SO satisfying.

If you’ve ever been like, “god, I wish someone who wasn’t orson scott card would do all the cool shit they did in fucking speaker for the dead” then by GOD is this the game for you.

Accessibility:

The content warnings are extremely detailed. I reviewed them all, and having seen several of the ones I was most worried about, I feel they accurately described the situations without spoiling them. I did end up upsetting myself rather badly with one thing which happened, but it is hardly the developer’s fault that I misunderstood the context in which the “teenage pregnancy” CW would apply. I personally want to specify that (IN THE ROUTES I HAVE SO FAR PLAYED) the pregnancy is a very wanted, safe, and cherished.

The game players very well on controller, which is a must for me. There are a handful of UI elements that I have not yet been able to access by controller, but I think this is more a factor of my being bad at remembering buttons than the game’s design. If you have a mouse, that will solve the issue entirely. My GF speaks highly of the keyboard and mouse gameplay.

Turning off screen distortions and weather effects generally made the game very visually understandable for me, with large, clear iconography. If you have significant visual impairments, I don’t know if this is a good game to play. Picking up items on the ground can be tricky in some cases and there’s nothing for eg a high contrast or greyscale mode if you need that kind of thing.

Stability.

It’s easy to forget that near-launch properties are supposed to be complete games that function well. This game is very complete (VERY, INTRICATELY, COMPLETE) and very stable. With as complicated as the sets of cause-effect-timelines are, I expected it to be much easier to create minor paradoxes in dialogue.

So far, the only time events have seemed to happen slightly out of sequence due to relationship progression or what ever else, was when I made a conscious effort to be as obnoxious as possible at one point just to see if I could make it misbehave.

I haven’t been able to make it crash from within the game so far. I’m hardly a Q.A. tester anymore, but I do tend to be pretty aggressive to my games, so I feel confident in saying it’ll run steady for you if you get it.

Politics etc:

The queerness is all very excellent, super queer in very believable ways, especially given the cultural aspects of the worldbuilding. Characters behave queerly outside of just all being bi-for-the-player. The trans characters were all extremely appealing to me with strong characterization that included but did not obsess over their genders. There are at least 2 trans teens in the player character’s peer group and 2 trans adults of very different ages and character types, and there’s even a cute little intergenerational trans solidarity bit you can get sometimes. In addition, of course, to the ridiculously complete gender personalization.

You would not believe how many games forget that “bro” and “cowgirl” are gendered terms, but this one remembers.

The racial politics are, from my perspective, adequate to not interfere with my gameplay experience. The human characters do consistently refer to the environment and native animals in very colonialist terms but they’re literally colonizing the planet so…. The point is, there is not a native people being eradicated, though there are… territory wars(? I guess.) with both wild animals and antagonist peoples.

If you’re particularly sensitive to colonial narratives, handle with care, but I felt the writing in the routes I’ve seen so far handled most of the issues well. Plus I mean. THe title. Is “teenage exocolonist” like. I think the whole “colonialism is a major narrative theme” ituation should be made clear by that.

In terms of the human diversity it’s pleasingly broad. There are characters of all ages, builds, complexions, races, personality types. There’s a massive range of disabilities both physical and mental, as well as plenty of fun sci fi accomodations.

I mean just among the dateables I can remember top of the head, theres:

ambiguously asian twins who really said Autism Has Two Genders,

ambiguously brown fat girl with developmental disability,

ambiguously brown Gym Bro (derogatory) who is, and this is true, literally named 'ambiguously brown

ambiguously white farmboy who has clearly been eating his space wheaties and also helps invent space cannabis with your dad

unambiguously black girl who looks the autism twins dead in the eye and said 'no autism has one gender and is me’

unambiguously white tomboy who goes full samus

A dog (human)

Hatsune Miku (gender neutral)

Venom (twink)

There’s something here for everyone, all of these characters are super fascinating concepts honestly. I know I keep harping on that but it’s true so there.

Scenario writing:

It’s a bit difficult to separate the player character writing from the scenario writing for reasons that rapidly become clear in the game. Both are very good, though, so that’s fine. The writing is just really very good.

The variations on the timeline that you are able to uncover through repeated play are fascinatingly diverse even as certain events remain immutable, and the whole thing really plays with the concept of time travel and the other-self so beautifully. Really one of my very favourite explorations of the topic already, and I’ve only seen… IDK 4 endings along 2 routes? And there’s 29 endings???

It’s very good. The point is that it’s very good you should go play it.

It’s on steam. It’s app 1148760 on steam and it’s very good, it’s definitely worth more than what they’re charging. I mean have you seen what a $60 console game looks like these days, and then this is like. $25 and SO very much.

[buckybarnesbingo]

Week 11 Roundup!

Title: The Galaxy, and Then Some Collaborator: rinnwrites Link: AO3 Square Filled: B5 - Winterwidow Ship: BuckyNat Rating: Gen Major Tags: Found Family, Space AU, Based on Art Summary: All children took history seminars about the human race and the thousands of years when they were all trapped on a single planet together in a proximity that led to conflict over resources, beliefs, power. Hundreds of years ago the closeness had brought them to war time and again, until the imminent collapse of their planet’s ecosystem spurred the many governments of the world to pool resources for interstellar exploration and colonization. Their efforts had saved Earth, expanded the reach of the human race to the six explored solar systems they knew today, and in the process, seen the colonization of planets and creation of space stations throughout the galaxy. -Or- In which 7 strangers from across the galaxy find each other and become a family. Word Count: 18,551

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Title: The Grind House - Chapter 7 Collaborator: avengerscompound Link: AO3 Square Filled: U4 - KINK: french kiss Ship: Bucky/Reader Rating: Explicit Major Tags: explicit sexual content Summary: When Bucky Barnes stops to get coffee and warm up at your coffee shop, he had just expected that caffeine might lift his mood a little. He didn’t expect to fall head-over-heels for you over a game of chess. Word Count: 1761

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Title: Love Like Knives Collaborator: wakandan_wardog Link: AO3 Square Filled: U4 - Image: Winter Soldier holding a knife. Ship: WinterIron Rating: Mature Major Tags: Consensual Kink, Knifeplay, Kink mentioned Summary: Winter wakes up Tony when he wants someone to play rough with. Word Count: 1414

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Title: Treat Me Like a 40′s Girl Collaborator: shield-agent78 Link: Tumblr Square Filled: B5 – dancing Ship: Bucky/Reader Rating: Mature Major Tags: language, sassy reader, shy reader, fluff, implied smut, 40’s slang Summary: Tony decides to host a 40’s style party to help raise money for the Stark Foundation.  What happens when hears a slip of your tongue? You get a sexy man in uniform. Word Count: 2002

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Title: Demon!Bucky Collaborator: Trashcanakin Link: Tumblr Square Filled: B4 - AU: Supernatural Ship: none Rating: Gen Major Tags: art Summary: Demon!Bucky! With some cursed dagger an’ supernatural powers, idk 😂

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Title: When the Morning Comes Collaborator: SierraNovembr Link: AO3 Square Filled: K3 - IMAGE: Goat Rearing Bucky Ship: WinterIron Rating: Teen Major Tags: Farm Date, Goats, First Kiss Summary: “What’s in Arkansas?” “About three million people. And probably some dogs and cats. Maybe a cow,” Tony says with a wink. Word Count: 4033

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Title: Serendipity Collaborator: AoifeLaufeyson Link: AO3 Square Filled: K2 - Hand-holding Ship: WinterIron Rating: Explicit Major Tags: explicit sexual content, no powers AU, dancing, fluff and smut Summary: This is my work for the Captain America Reverse Big Bang 2019 to go with gorgeous art by my partner, Trashcanakin. Much gratitude to them and the CapRBB runners for their patience! Word Count: 5685

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Title: Bucky Barnes' First Kiss (This Century) Collaborator: avintagekiss24 Link: AO3 Square Filled: C3 - Free Space Ship: Bucky/Reader Rating: Gen Major Tags: Day at the beach, First Kiss, Humor Summary: A little fun on the beach for the White Wolf. Word Count: 949

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Title: Rub a Dub Collaborator: shield-agent78 Link: Tumblr Square Filled: U1 - Warm and Fuzzy Feelings Ship: Bucky/Reader Rating: Explicit Major Tags: explicit sexual content, teasing, daddy kink Summary: After sending multiple teasing texts to Bucky while on a mission he comes home to find you taking a bath… .smut occurs. Word Count: 665

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Title: Pillow Fort Collaborator: startrekkingaroundasgard Link: AO3 Square Filled: B1 - sleep deprivation Ship: WinterIron Rating: Not Rated Major Tags: sleep deprivation, fluff, cuddles Summary: Bucky finds Tony in a state of severe sleep deprivation and enlists his help to build a pillow fort in the hope that that might finally get him to sleep. Word Count: 2051

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Title: Second Chances - Part 5: Runaways Collaborator: until-theend-oftheline Link: Tumblr Square Filled: Y5 - sharing a bed Ship: Bucky/Reader Rating: Mature Major Tags: Mention of wounds, Life on the run     Summary: Dr. Y/N Pierce has dedicated her life to helping others, so when her father Alexander offers her a job working for Shield she sees it as the perfect opportunity. What she doesn’t realize is the evil he is hiding from not only the world but his own daughter. As she finds out she turns her back on him and HYDRA, but as the Winter Soldier starts to remember who he once was, he turns to the only person he remembers being kind to him in decades. Can two fugitives help each other find peace with who they are and where they came from? Word Count: 2800ish

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Title: Just Hold Me, Asshole. Collaborator: Starla-Nell (Princess_Nell) Link: AO3 Squares Filled: Chapter 1 - U2: Sam Wilson/Falcon Chapter 2 - K2: Kink: BDSM Chapter 3 - B3: Kink: Orgasm Denial/Edging Chapter 4 - Y5: Misunderstandings Ship: SamBucky Rating: Explicit Major Tags: explicit sexual content, misunderstandings, light BDSM, enemies to lovers Summary: “See, I kind of want to find out how many times I can tell you ‘no’ before you try to hit me,” Sam says, letting his smile get wide and teasing. Word Count: 4094

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Title: Hope For More Collaborator: acreativelydifferentlove Link: Tumblr Square Filled: Y3 - sharing clothes Ship: Bucky/Reader Rating: Not Rated Major Tags: swearing, mention of blood and pain, some violence Summary: On a mission gone wrong, Bucky receives help from something or rather someone he doesn’t expect. Word Count: 2514

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Title: ain't no sound (like the sound of your voice) Collaborator: candycanedarcy Link: AO3 Square Filled: U2 - Shared Trauma Ship: WinterHawk Rating: Teen Major Tags: Deaf Clint and Bucky, trigger words, angst and fluff, awkward boners Summary: It hurts. It hurts worse than Bucky can remember anything else hurting - but that’s not saying much. If he screams, he can’t hear it. If anyone else screams - well, he can’t hear that either. And when the ringing in his ears goes on long enough that it becomes background noise, Bucky realizes that he can’t hear at all. Word Count: 4063

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Title: Undercover - Chapter 8 Collaborator: avengerscompound Link: Tumblr Square Filled: B2 - Polyamory Ship: Bucky/Clint/Reader Rating: Explicit Major Tags: explicit sexual content, threesome Summary: You go on an undercover mission with your boyfriend Bucky and Clint Barton.  When you and Clint have to pretend you’re in a relationship feelings become confused. Word Count: 1872

[violetsystems]

#personal

I promised I would keep things less heady this morning which is always a challenge.  I still wake up every morning at around four or five out of routine.  Most of what I’ve been doing since August has been reorganizing money and untangling things from my previous life.  I had both a severance and a payout on a pension from my previous job.  It was a hard cutoff and probably the most diplomatic time to get rid of me.  I spent a lot of time feeling like a failure.  Then I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what I was going to do.  When Monday rolls around the city fully expects us all to do nothing for another thirty days.  I’m not really one to complain although you hear me grumble every Saturday morning like clockwork.  I save most of my emotional output for this blog.  I can say with good faith nobody talks to me this deeply at all.  I’m not on Facebook or Instagram anymore.  I am on LinkedIn more than I’d care to be but nobody ever reaches out other than Bitcoin scammers trying to get me to divest from Nio.  The last one being Andre Bobby.  They introduced themselves as Bobby Andre.  I greeted Andre and subsequently blocked them.  I’m often invited to the same discussions from the news team.  Always about the future of Higher Education and online learning.  Sometimes to the same thread.  I’ve long since ignored everything except jobs posted I’d be interested in over there in China.  From everything I have had to read into, I’ve learned that March is probably the soonest anyone of worth would be hiring.  This is reinforced by conversations with my dad who is admittedly just as much as a workaholic as myself.  I spent twenty years working for something I thought I was part of.  And it just seems like my work was never valued at all.  And the less depressed I got about it, the more I started to explore the reasons why.  I had a thick ass book delivered to me annotating the various financial holdings of what consisted of my share of a pension.  A pension these days is like an ancient relic.  One that many companies find too heavy on their books along with other benefits like health insurance or other basic needs for human survival.  When I started at an art school, the benefits were what were lauded the most.  I had over thirty days of paid vacation.  I spent a period of seven years from 2011 travelling by myself to Korea.  Towards the end of my travel, I had been itching to network for something else.  I felt stagnant in my job.  I spent over twelve years in the same job title drowning in the responsibilities of middle management.  My boss often never showed up to work.  Towards the end, they’d never show up to meetings.  They’d be offsite with an employee of mine making music in a garage.  When the news hit me the Thursday before the fourth of July holiday, it felt targeted and mean.  There was a great alibi, a piece of paper to sign absolving all wrongdoing in exchange for a severance and a health insurance extension and a lot of hurt.  A recruiter reached out the day before my health insurance responsibilities switched over.  My payments per month are about as much as my rent.  I had accepted the highest level insurance through open enrollment about a month before I was let go.  It’s all been pretty heady ever since.  Mostly because somehow I still managed to act like it didn’t even affect me.  Although nobody ever reached out an acknowledged how bad it looks in retrospect.  Nobody reaches out at all other than to punk me into selling stocks while I walk to the grocery store.  I did own a car once.  Now I’m just a target by activist investors and their Qanon buddies.  A step up from the Proud Boys I guess.  But who am I really after all of this?  

Nobody can tell for sure.  I’ve shared everything I could ever possibly feel in my writing week after week.  I’ve had bits and pieces of it lifted and used as actionable intelligence to bully me in public.  Everybody seems to know my business and sometimes I wonder if it really fucking matters.  You can bare your soul to people and they’ll stare right through the gaping hole and laugh.  Mostly because they see how empty they are themselves.  It’s an uncanny valley effect to look in my eyes these days.  People can talk all the shit they want about what theories they have but they’re afraid to face the truth.  That I’ve never really been anything other than genuine.  And America is so desperate to prove you wrong.  To prove how much better it is at everything.  I noticed this a lot with gaming particularly when I would play magic in public with people.  I always build decks at my kitchen table alone for fun.  I love the logic.  I will try unorthodox strategies just to learn through failure.  And I would fail year after year playing against people who literally would define their decks by a monetary value other than a strategic one.  I used to read the Tarot.  I love the idea of randomness.  You buy a pack and you have to work with what you have.  If you’ve ever gone to a prerelease, you know the feeling.  You get a box and you have thirty minutes to draft a deck on the fly with what you have.  You learn the economy of the cards and the existence of rules.  When you win, it’s a special feeling of accomplishment.  You did it yourself and the playing field was level and fair.  And then you sit around with a bunch of loud mouth know it all’s who crush you and laugh about it.  All the while the game’s fun fades into a lecture of mansplaining.  Nowhere does this tendency reel it’s ugly head than in the pundits and the stock markets.  Men telling you what’s best to do with your money.  Men with agendas so blatant it bleeds through the semi annual reports I sift through looking at investment ecosystems of days gone by.  Real estate is a pretty funny one to look at in COVID-19 times.  Nobody feels safe in the office.  Deutschbank recently turned heads saying that people working from home making a paltry sum of 55,000 should pay a tax.  The same week Ken Grfifin spent millions of dollars assaulting a fair tax amendment which died a quiet death.  Real estate sits empty in large droves downtown these days.  Chicago enters another stay at home order Monday which is somewhat of a relief for me.  It’s basically thirty days of respite from people wondering what I’m doing with my time.  Meanwhile we are lectured that we are supposed to save the economy by spending our money eating out instead of enjoying cooking your own meal in the kitchen.  This is incidentally why I like going to to grocery store.  Nobody ever asked but I was anorexic in high school.  I loved coca cola when i was little.  I used to drink too much of it and got a small belly.  When I was twelve American kids used to make fun of my weight.  I was a harsh critic.  I still am.  And I tried to fix it by starving myself.  I promised I wouldn’t get heavy.  I never promised I wouldn’t stay real.  No one would ever know these intimate secrets about me if they didn’t read.  And yet there’s people out there who will lift those very words to figure out a new attack on me.  You’ve got to wonder if I’m so transparent what other people are hiding under the surface if they’re so much more successful than I.

The truth is that I stay down here and write because I’ve found friends to connect with.  It may have not always been the most obvious or personal way to maintain contact.  But nowadays what else do we really have?  A bunch of people who speak through money instead of emotion.  People who assign value and compare each other based on speculation rather than connection.  I often feel like nobody knows what I’m worth.  This is perverse to watch as my bank reports my net worth rising when I spent so many years in debt.  And yet every day I go out in society people follow me around and talk so much about me but never to my face.  Are they scared to find out who I really am?  Are they trying to figure out what makes me so special?  Do they ever succeed?  No.  Things just end up sucking even more.  When the rules change and cheating doesn’t pan out anymore, they figure out more ways to be corrupt.  New ways to target you and intimidate.  New ways to control who you think you are.  All the while advertising this country as the freest place on Earth.  I don’t feel free.  I feel trapped, isolated and caged.  Mostly now for my protection granted.  Which is important to note that the only one keeping me safe is myself.  Nobody really has done me any favors.  It’s been a fucking insult to live out since the summer.  And yet, I still have to keep my shit together.  I have to be there for myself emotionally.  I need to feed ecosystems that I feel a part of.  And we all do this in varying ways seeking connection.  When I come to Tumblr, there isn’t some huge expectation that any of this does anything other than share my feelings.  Are my feelings valued?  Here, yes they are.  Sometimes they are valued in ways that I cannot betray or explain.  And there’s a sort of sacred intimacy to that I have never experienced in my life.  I wonder sometimes how people think they’ll ever fall in love if they can’t feel it.  Love is much more complex than the sum of it’s parts we’ve melted it down to to market back and sell at a cut rate.  Love is supposed to transcend, renew and replenish the soul to keep on existing.  Love isn’t a dividend in your stock portfolio or a cadre of late night trysts that haunt you and demand attention.  Love is a lingering spirit in the dark leading you towards a light.  Sometimes you fear being hurt again.  Sometimes you fear the change.  Sometimes you are excited and afraid.  But love never rushes.  Love never is easy.  Love is never right out there in front of your face demanding affirmation every moment of the day without anything in return.  Love doesn’t forget you and leave you alone in the dark crying for some sort of purpose.  Love isn’t a waste of fucking time.  Patience isn’t either.  And you will never feel the depth of love if you force it.  Love will come to you when it’s time for it to blossom.  Love is part of an ecosystem of connections and kindness you nurture with nothing in return.  But love doesn’t come for free.  There is a cost to love beyond dollars, yen, yuan, won or bitcoin.  You can’t speculate on something you don’t control.  And love is free, chaotic, and most of all nurturing.  Love isn’t a competition.  It’s not something you can quantify and bottle up.  Love is about as heavy as it gets for Saturday morning.  So if anything just remember I love you all.  One person more than most as always.  That’s about as free as I can be.  And if you fuck with my love I will leave you cold in the shadows where you belong not I.  It’s nothing personal.  It’s all love. <3 Tim

[tyranttortoise]

@sesrins-symphony

I know you asked me what my Oceantale HC’s were, but for the life of me, I can’t find that ask.  I know I wrote some of them on mobile and then tried to Draft it, but I’m thinking tumblr just decided to eat it.  

I think it’s worth noting that I’m pretty sure the original Oceantale ( @oceantale01 right?) is just concept art without a set story.  I’m sure that by now, there’s fics and stuff for it that build on a canon world (and wasn’t someone making a game for it at some point?), but I haven’t read any of them, so all of this is just my own take.

.... Actually, let’s start with Oceanfell because I actually have a fanfic idea for that setting, so my HC’s are a little more fleshed out for that.

Oceanfell

Monsters have always lived in the depths of the ocean, but as humans explore more and more of it, they actually stumbled upon the area the monsters call home.  This didn’t go well; the ocean is already a hostile environment, so with humans poking their noses around, more than a few got killed.  The humans retaliated, but they didn’t account for the monsters’ magic.  Even something like a torpedo could be diverted back to them.  

To put an end to the underwater warfare, a barrier was erected with magic--and powered by human SOULs.  However, the power of one human SOUL may be immense, but... it’s only enough to last for seven years.

The monsters struck a deal with the humans, to avoid hunting and do a peace treaty of sorts.  After all, the monsters may be of an aquatic nature, but not all of them are bound to water--and if they wanted to take over the land, Asgore has assured the humans it would be possible.  

Sooo, the humans of a neighboring beach city pull a sacrifice from a raffle of sorts.  Your name gets pulled, you have to line up on the beach.  Several names get pulled, of course--the monsters want a hearty SOUL to power the barrier, not a damaged one.  

The monsters in charge of picking out the sacrifice, are... you guessed it--Sans and Papyrus.  Their pirate ship rises from the water, a gaudy silver skull with glowing red eyes affixed to the bow.  It’s also flying the skull-and-crossbones sail, and despite the fact that the ship looks like it’s been at the bottom of the ocean for decades (because it has), and the wood is rotten and filled with holes from canon fire, it still glides easily along the water.

They’re pirates.  And whoops, you happen to be standing on the shoreline with the others, staring incredulously as the two brothers disembark from their ship and make a beeline straight for you.  

This turned into more of a fic-pitch than headcanons.   I should probably add that in my idea of OF, Sans only has one peg-leg, though still has the eyepatch (can still manifest an eyelight beneath the patch, but the eyesocket is jagged and broken), while Papyrus pretty much keeps all of his concept--his legs are swords (look at the concept art and tell me those aren’t swords), and his left arm is dead bone mended to the joint with seaweed.

Oceantale

Lemme try to make this one more Undertale-canon.

Monsters have always lived in the ocean, but they wanted more freedom.  Just as humans were exploring the ocean--and encroaching on their habitat, ruining their ecosystems--monsters wanted to explore land.  Most of the monsters were only semi-aquatic, meaning they could exist on both, while some (like Undyne) require water full-time.  However, when the monsters started coming up the beaches and attempting to settle on land, the humans freaked out and a war began.  Ultimately, the humans drove them back into the sea (Underwater... shit, has Underwater been used yet?  If not, I’m calling dibs), and this time, erected a barrier to keep them in corralled into one portion of the ocean, deep and hidden away.

Or so they thought.

All it took was for a human to fall overboard on a ship somewhere above, and a SOUL managed to float down to fall into the Underwater.  The barrier is like a bubble; with every SOUL collected, it grows larger and larger, giving the monsters more space.  By the time the barrier breaks the surface of the water and hits air, the bubble will break and the monsters will be set free.  

This also means that humans that fall overboard have a better chance of passing through the barrier instead of just dying and having their SOUL sink to the bottom of the ocean.  

The barrier is magic, and therefore humans can breathe underwater just fine when they’re inside of it, and pressure doesn’t effect their bodies.  

The seventh human (and the last SOUL needed) is ends up getting tossed off a boat during turbulent weather.

The skelebros used to be legitimate human pirates before they were executed (i.e. shot in the back of the head) and their bodies left to rot at sea.  Thanks to a magic artifact they had "liberated” (read: stolen) that once belonged to the monsters, their bodies retained enough magic upon dying that their corpses actually reanimated and they became legitimate monsters.  

^ that HC is subject to change.  In my head, they used to be human pirates, but I’m still tossing around reanimated corpse ideas.  

Grillby looks cool as shit, but I want to go away from the concept art for a sec.  I think he’d be an ice elemental instead of water or fire.  When he gets mad, the water around him starts to freeze, and he can make ice cubes instantly for the drinks he prepares.  Also really digging the monocle look.  

Papyrus is a member of the Royal Guard, but it’s more of a Peacekeeper/soul retrieval job than anything else.  

Sans is still a sentry, but he can’t teleport, and his Gaster Blasters are now canons.  

Also, the skelebros still definitely have a pirate ship they use to get around the Underwater faster.  

Sans’s drink of choice is (unsurprisingly) rum, and he sells Bone Soup at an illegal food stand in Hot Water.  

[violetsystems]

#personal

There’s been a lot of encouraging news in the face of absolute disaster lately.  None of it really applies to anybody but me.  So I have been living that reality to the best of my ability.  It hasn’t been without missteps.  Things feel even more fucked up than they were in the world let alone life.  For me society trends downward when I shut the door.  So I’ve been focusing on improving my surroundings.  My kitchen has officially become my office.  Google announced their employees were working from home until the end of the year.  Facebook threw its hands up and said forever.  My situation is far more complex but doing my job depends on the internet.  I upgraded my router back in April at the first hint of all of this.  Slowly I’ve been building up the infrastructure around here to support me being able to do my job.  I upgraded my internet and finally got a home phone number linked to a 312 area code.  I’ve been relying on package delivery for a good month and a half.  The amount of packages I’ve had stolen has dwindled.  Yesterday the Stussy drop from Dover Street Market was misdelivered.  The day before they wouldn’t drop it off without a signature.  I had to flag down the fed ex truck on the corner.  I walked them back to the address explaining that I had to be vigilant due to gang activity.  That morning when I put out the signature release one of the gang members from the block had talked to me.  Mostly in passing about life.  I’m pretty sure theirs is rougher than mine.  But that’s the upfront and transparent life I live.  Having to be up front and center with people at all times nobody what emotions I feel inside.  I wore a mask when I approached the fed ex truck.  When I walked them back they discovered they had delivered both packages for my address to the neighbor.  So I killed two birds with one stone though my neighbor would never know.  I woke up Sunday morning to a pigeon completely ripped apart on my porch.  I can’t tell if it was the cats or something else.  I cleaned it up at eight in the morning regardless.  Finally just decided to clean and minimize the porch for the summer.  I had a refurbished shark robot vacuum delivered by UPS that same day.  They texted my phone and I ran out to grab it.  The guy thanked me for being fast.  I plugged it in and set up the app on my phone.  The splash screen showed a clean, neutral home.  Lurking in the background picture was my router.  I let the thing run for an hour.  It picked up dust I never knew existed.  My cat is bewildered and afraid.  Much like most of the neighborhood is when my name comes up in conversation.  What is he like?  What does he do?  Is he single?  No.  No.  And no.  Do I get things delivered on time?  I get them in the end.  I ran around the neighborhood in the Nike X Stussy drop after my works hours yesterday.  I almost got run over twice.  The shirt says increase the peace.  I guess I struck a nerve.  And yet people have been walking over me for years.  The embarrassing part is now everybody sees just how much and in what context.  And people are reasonably scared because as calm as I seem if they were in my shoes it would be different.  They would break down.  They would collapse.  My credit score went up a hundred points this week.  That’s some encouraging news.  Cash positive is a good look.  Too bad our president isn’t.

Money seems to be all that is important to people these days.  How much you spend.  What deals you make and steals you uncover.  I try to play that game sometimes.  I’ve saved a lot of money over the last few months.  Locked down.  I’ve improved my health, my cooking skills, my body tone, and my video game performance.  I just pieced out the first stage of a new desktop.  A mid sized microatx ryzen.  The first PC I’ve built in over a decade.  My goal is to play wow at the maximum settings on my TV.  More so like the phone, I’d just rather have my own computer for home.  My watch has organized a lot of my appointments and responsibilities in a low key way.  Much how I continue to live my life.  Low key.  This is not to say I feel trapped between two huge plates of metal.  The one grind where I’m not good or important enough to pay attention to in real life.  The other grind where people use me as a bait or decoy to trick people.  Neither of those cases treat me like a human being.  I have been hurt so much by this process that I have transcended to a point where I don’t bother much with society.  And yet society still expects so much out of me.  I ordered my Jacobin magazines for Mayday.  I might sit out on my porch, drink tea and read them by myself.  But nobody ever engages me in a way that’s respectful.  It’s all trick after trick.  Scam after scam.  Hushed back talk and shadowed praise.  I am fucking invisible.  Nobody cares about me.  If they do, they aren’t able to show it.  And there’s only a few people I love enough to understand that relationship deeply.  The rest of the world is empty to me aside from animals and gardening.  I should be so much more.  And somehow looking back to the last decade I am.  It’s just not of value to anyone but me.  And I’m not really interested in taking another step backwards to show how genuine and truthful I am.  The embarrassing thing is while people gave the most vile people the pass because they were more famous or pretty I suffered.  Over and over and over again.  To the point where whatever it was people were chasing after seemed meaningless to me.  I tried so hard to get back on track.  And then I did.  And I took a look around and it frightens me.  Nobody knows the value of anything beyond money.  And I’ve held a job consistently for twenty years.  Paid taxes for twenty years.  Grown actual competitive job skills for twenty years.  Accrued a pension.  Travelled the world.  Networked all over the map.  And I’m still here on tumblr every Saturday.  Typing away as a warning.  One that nobody really hears other than myself and my friends.  Who I think have offered me a place to control my own narrative in the face of lies, bullshit, and selfishness.  It all took work.  Courage.  Callous confrontation.  A look in the mirror of what it is I could become.  And what it is I am now.  I don’t really know.  I deserve to know.  I deserve to be loved, respected and treated like a valuable human being.  I know I am not.

For the record, I’m Tim.  I fucking hate politics.  I am an adult who has seen more of my time wasted and freedom siphoned.  And I also live in America.  A place where people tell me to stay indoors and shut the door.  A place where if you come knocking with a warrant you better be wearing a mask.  A place where I pay it forward enough and keep a high enough profile to avoid awkward conversations like that.  And yet space is still encroached on.  I am for the record enjoying the territorial markings.  I’ve carved out a very special place for myself in the third most populated city in America next to LA and New York.  I was thinking about heading to LA for a day sometime.  A lot of my friends out there are in the same ecosystem.  And yet the internet has kept us all together regardless.  Tied and knitted together by the stories, art, fashion and ideals we felt important to share with each other.  We are a community in and of itself.  The community that I pay forward to and have seen so many great things happen in my life.  Free thinking and independent minds linked like block chain when it comes to the latest drops or rare trivia related to science, anime or that little horny fucking skeleton guy you people draw.  People are always failing at engaging us.  And so we fall back to our dead platform and seeth in our collective anger sometimes.  Other times life goes on and we post another picture.  I post the same picture every once and awhile to let everybody know how much of a nerd I am.  And also how romantic I think I am when everybody tells me I don’t exist and could never connect with anyone.  I’m not good enough.  Handsome enough.  Young enough.  Happy enough.  For the record, people lie to discourage you.  They talk behind your back because they’re afraid of the competition.  They’re afraid of having to work as hard as you.  Suffer as a horribly as you in silence.  They have no plan other than being negative.  Playing dirty tricks.  Playing people against each other.  Using discontent, anger, division against their own people for the sake of consolidating power.  I’ve written about it in anguish for years.  And people just don’t listen.  I do.  I act on things creatively.  I think on my toes.  When the package doesn’t get delivered I don’t sit and wonder why.  I go out there and get it.  When the test of time is withstood.  It’s me sitting there with a faint smile on my face and a knowing look.  It’s been a long time.  And as long as I’m around you know what consistency looks like.  And maybe what forever has the potential to be.  Me and you.  Not me, you and the rest of society constantly knocking on our door asking for milk and sugar.  What will the neighbors think if I don’t answer?  That my time is more valuable spent with you.  A long time of no regrets.  Just forward thinking and self care.  And a humidifier in the bedroom.  Speaking of clearing the air. <3 Tim