#might end up tweaking this design a bit

[geojester]

The Forgotten Blade

(warm up sketch of Per Audacia!Cub)

[bambiraptorx]

[I.D. A digital drawing of an adolescent version of Draxum from ROTTMNT with his mother, an oc. She holds him in her arms and leans her cheek against the top of his head, and he wraps an arm around her neck. Both of them are smiling and have their eyes closed. Draxum is wearing a short sleeve tunic under a brown himation, and has roughly shoulder length hair and jagged bangs. His legs hang over his mom's arm and his hooves stick out from the hem of his himation, showing lighter patches of fur above his hooves. His mother is a tall plus sized woman with deep blueish grey fur and goat horns growing from the top of her skull. She has several vitiligo-like patches of pale blue fur on her shoulders and the sides of her arms, and a large, roughly triangular patch of light fur on her face that reaches from her jawline to the bridge of her nose. One of her goat-like ears is half of the lighter color, while the other has a small light dot on the bottom edge. She has deep purple hair that reaches her shoulders, and slight facial hair on the sides of her cheek and above her lips. She is wearing a pale brown sleeveless dress. End I.D.]

Since I've finally broken out Draxum's teen design, I thought I might as well draw something with his mom. Would you believe I've never actually drawn her before because I haven't lmao

[mercuriallily]

I decided to try a different Deme makeup today!

[skreebat]

The OUAW brain rot continues.

I love their designs! And I wanted to have a little fun figuring out how I want to draw them, with my own little tweaks and self indulgent details. :)

Originally, I only meant to draw Frost, to figure out what kind of body type I wanted to give him. Then I ended up drawing the whole part, partially as a reference to myself. Also got their canon heights on a chart and put them all together for fun and for reference. c:

Some design tweak notes under the cut, if anyone’s curious! These aren’t redesigns or whatever, I just had some ideas in mind while sketching them in a way that fits my art style.

Design notes copied directly from my server:

🔥Gid THICK BOY. He's not really a bodybuilder but he exercises and is very muscular. And he eats! A lot. So, thick boy. Scars from all the fighting. The wrists and ankles are because of his past.

I like giving his hair and beard a lot more fire. Body hair also glows fiery, it's just less bright.

🐊Kremy I figure he's the skinniest of the group after Torbek. Most of what I did is a happy medium between references of alligators, the official art, and just my art style. Mostly game him scale patterns, more alligator-like feet, and changed the tail a bit, but it's hard to tell from this angle. Not much body definition because he's a squishy magic user and a gator lol

🐯Frost Fit but not defined. Kinda thick-ish, since he's a tiger, so there's loser skin and thick layer of fur. Digitigrade because I say so.

☹️Torbek Not much changed, mostly gave him more tubes, gave him bald patches where they connect to his skin (and didn't make those are infected looking as I imagine tbh), made him fuzzier, and gave him bigger ears because I like em. Also you can't see it in this angle but I like giving him a small fuzzy tail.

🐾Gricko Fit arms, but he doesn't exercise, so he gets a bit of a tummy. Scars because of his interest in monsters, and his various accidents. Wilder hair. Freckles and moles because I say so. Decorated hair (including feathers from Hootsie!)

🍄Twig Not much really?? Went by her description, the plushie and an emote of her that exists. Made her chubbier because I wanna. Originally made her hair all curls…might go back to that. Also freckles because cute.

Do you have your own headcanons for details of what they look like? :)

-- [BTW I do commissions]

[terrifiedlimechime]

RELATIVITY FALLS!

basically: gravity falls but the stan twins are kids and mabel and dipper are the adults in the plot of gravity falls

as well as that, I wanted to switch the villians. Bill is human and takes the place of gideon, and instead of obsessing over mabel he pursues ford (he's twelve as well lol. BILLFORD FOREVER!!!)

whereas gideon takes the place of bill, a chaos god (maybe i'll make him the shape of the star on his telepathy tent instead of a triangle, or I might tweak his human design a bit, idrk) who's obsessed with mabel.

people always put dipper in the place of ford (in the portal) bc he's a nerd, but to suit the switch of villans, mabel is getting sucked into the multiverse!

I like to think she got lulled into a false sense of security with gideon like in the show in the same way ford was with bill, but with fashion instead of science. (like when their still friends w lil gid and gideon brings her to get her nails n stuff done)

so in my au mabel is very into fashion the same way ford is into science, a prodigy with a insane talent for knitting, sowing, design, the whole shabang

while dipper is similar to the usual show, nerdy sci-fi obsessed wise guy but nothing too crazy

but together mabel and dipper solved mysteries in california together and someday dream of becoming "the mystery twins" and searching (in parallel to the stans) on a hot air balloon/ plane/ something sky related

but mabel gets offered a place in a big league fashion school, and they're going to come and see her project for the school fashion fair

dipper (like stan) is disgruntled by the dress interrupting their dreams and future together (parallel to dipper and mabel vs to the show. kind of)  and puts his hands on the dress angrily without thinking, staining the dress with his sweaty palms (like how stan is in the show, and how ford described him in journal three: "an abnormally sweaty 12 year old....perhaps he takes after stanley")

when the fashion gurus or whatever show up to see mabels design, they see the prints and dimiss her, ruining her chance at getting into her dream school. seeing the sweaty hand marks, thinks immediately of her brother, confronts him, the same as the scene in a tale of two stans essentially

d: "i...mabel, maybe this isnt all bad...at least we can go...be the mystery twins?"

m: "how could you say that?! why would I want to do anything with the person who sabotaged my future!"

so where does mabel go to college? you (probably) guessed it...backupsmore!

she begins a degree...yadayada, smart people stuff, clever references to the original show, blah blah blah, goes to college with candy and grenda (they take the place of mcgucket)

annnnd now a scene I over thought way too much) all her life, mabel had been teased for her crooked teeth, her messy hair, her stickers and glitter everywhere...etc, and she grew fascinated with beauty in imperfection, the whole maximalism, out of the ordinary/norms of fashion (the ford deciding to study abnormalities bc of his six fingers scenece is so important to me for no reason)

she grew curious of a certain place where the impossible seemed possible...

gravity falls! (how surprising)

and what, my dear reader, was our main man dipper up to?

well, much like stan, he struck gold in sales. or...selling by yourself anyway, as he'd been trying to selling his scifi abnormality comics, board games, fact books/ something like that bro. he was smart-ish, giving lectures ab science-y stuff in different colleges, not happy at all and js about providing for himself. he misses mabel...alot.

over with mabel, she's experimenting with the weirdness of gravity falls, enjoying it all with her friend, gideon! (spoiler alert: he sucks)

but at the end of the day...what is she waiting for? she can't just...be good....she has to remembered! to be put down history as...one of the greatest designers of all time! heck...what is she even working for if not to be put down in history? what has she studied for? she has to round of her studies with a bang!

luckily gideon has a few ideas...

g: you see...what if...you built a portal to another dimension? has any designer ever done that before? sent their models and crew to another universe? think...how you'd go down...the most revolutionary name in fashion! you'd be leading fashion AND science!"

(tw: this is a trick on gideons part lol)

mabel enlists the help of candy and grenda, blablabla whatever...mcgucket/ford situation all over again, someone sees the nightmare realm, traumatised forever, yadayada, mabel goes insane bc gideon is "less than nice..." (can you tell I'm getting lazy lmao)

dipper is just ab scraping by, making money by doing lectures and the like, hopping state each time he loses a job with a new name so he can work for another prestigious college w out the track record and trying to publish his scifi silly novel thingy when he gets a post card through the door of his motel:

°•.GRAVITY FALLS.•°

please come, -mabel

dipper makes his way to gravity falls, where mabel is immediately suspicious of him, checking his eyes to see if he's possessed, barbed grappling hook ready to shoot and looking very much like a crazed scientist rather then a fashion designer, and perhaps that's what she's become, moulded under gideons hand

she interrogates him, similarly to how ford interrogated stan:

m: *grappling hook ready to shoot* "HEY! WHO ARE YOU? HAVE YOU COME TO STEAL MY EYES?-"

d: "weird way to say welcome in, mabel"

hurring him in, she checks his eyes, lalalalala...mabel promptly shows him the third journal, branded with a shooting star.

m: "it's.. I don't know enough about science...me and candy, grenda, we started, i've put my heart and soul into these, dipper, but he needs them, and he can't have them, never...if he does..."

d: "god, mabel, I always knew you were crazy, but this is a whole new level. I thought you came here for fashion?"

blabla, backstory explanation to eachother (im this 🤏 close to giving up) when mabel pops the big question

m: "remember our plans...the mystery twins, adventuring in the skies, on a plane?"

dipper is really excited, this is the moment, all this science stuff, it was preparation for-

m: "get on a plane, fly as FAR away from here as possible, to the ends of the earth, and hide the journal-"

d: "wait...that's IT? I finally see you for the first time in YEARS and the first thing you want me to do is get as far away from you as possible?"

m: "listen-"

d: "no, YOU LISTEN. im excited to see my sister after a decade and you want me out of your sight? im just about scraping by while you're living it up in your fancy house in the woods doing fashion-glam shit! you think you've got it bad? i've got a MULLET, mabel! im trying my best to survive while you're all cushy in the woods-"

m: "you don't know what I've been through!-"

d: "what YOU'VE been through? I've lost my job in SEVERAL different states, while you're selfishly hoarding your college money-"

m: "ME? SELFISH? how could you say that after costing me my DREAM SCHOOL?

a bit more squabbling, basically the scene in a tale of two stans. in this au dipper isn't born with his big dipper mark on his forehead, rather he gets it burned onto his forehead the way stan gets his tattoo, mabel pauses, "im so sorry dipper-" gets pushed, the portal starts turning on, dipper pushes her away.

d: "tch, "mystery twins." how could I be so stupid? here's a simple mystery; why did mabel's brother travel four hours to roadkill oregon for her? because he thought his sister CARED for him. wanted to see him, even. possibly because he missed her. but dont worry, it wont happen again. some sister you turned out to be."

he does the whole push into the portal, ahhh mabel come back, oh no what have i done thingy. he immediately tries to opperate it, fails, blablabla. when he realises shes gone and not coming back, he screams, for a minute, half an hour, an hour, he doesn't know, he just cant do anything else.

doesn't sleep. for a long time. he doesn't really move off the couch, actually. he eats so he doesn't faint. or sleep. he doesn't go anywhere so he doesn't have to fix himself up or wash, because he feels he doesn't deserve the luxury of self care or nice food or comfort or rest. but eventually the food runs out and he decides he can't die without bringing back his sister.

at the shop, it's the same scene as with stan, "oooh smart science-y fashion person, do u give tours?" he has no money so he has to, it's shit at first but improves over time and so the mystery shack is born.

as much as dipper always loved the supernatural, he decides that he doesn't want another run in with the portal/ paranormal accident so all the attractions are fake. dipper is just as stressed and unhappy as before, but the tight clockwork of his life keeps him together. make money with the shack, save mabel. that's all that's keeping him here.

until the stan twins show up!

[codgod]

y’know generally i try to limit colour palettes to as few colours as possible to make things more cohesive but despite my best efforts only jay ended up being able to stick to that </3

ANYWAYS here’s the as-of-right-now fully updated designs for these dickheads. these will no doubt undergo even more tweaking as i draw them more but this is a start i guess. also pls open the pictures to look at them properly i worked so hard LOL

some random notes under the cut yaaaay

chip —

he jingles when he walks. somehow he’s still stealthy. i do not know how

kept the platinum ring that bonded him to gillion in the block! because hey he doesn’t really have a reason to take it off (and it’s a nice reminder of how much gill cares about him, and how far their friendship has come since that ice arena)

his tattoos shift and flicker like actual flames, and sometimes (harmless, purely aesthetic) sparks fly off them when he’s excited

i just think smoke coming out of his mouth when he’s angry would be cool :]

chipped teeth from biting rocks and coins all the time :/

he has scars from the red lightning, they’re just mostly contained to his back and shoulders. they’re a similar red to his coat even once they’ve healed

gillion —

the tail sleeve thing is so he can rest it on the ground without damaging his scales, he doesn’t usually wear it when he’s just on the ship because the wood is soft enough that it’s usually fine + it can hinder swimming a bit. it’s mostly meant for places where there’s cobblestone or gravel streets and such. i think his armour would probably have a version that looks similar but covers the whole tail minus the fins, maybe with some armour plating of its own. i didn’t draw it because there wasn’t any room lol

his scars from the lightning are pink mostly because red stood out too much tbh. they softly glow in the dark the same as his coral and the pink parts of his fins

also kept his ring! his hands aren’t really made for jewellery, though, because the webbing means it won’t sit very secure on his finger. so he keeps it on the same chain as the necklace he got from aslana to keep it safe

tried to make him look a bit bulkier and more his age than in my original design? i feel like i was leaning too much into the naivety and. shortness. originally lol. he also has thicker eyebrows now and i’m still trying to decide how i feel about them but i think? i like it? i don’t tend to give many character thin eyebrows so it could’ve been a unique thing for him but alas

i think i made the sword too small but like ignore that

also forgor to include pretzel </3 that’s okay though she can get her own design sheet later. she’s special like that

jay —

i believe in tall jay supremacy

blue magic! i was considering gold but that’d look a bit more like a canary than i wanted for her wings so. blue jay :]

her hair is supposed to look kinda like fire to mimic her dad ! kinda showing that even if she runs from her family and the navy they’ll always be a part of her. and also i just like drawing messy hair

i gave her sturdier gloves just because i feel like it fits her better. also changed up the shirt to more of a button up solely because i don’t like tank tops very much LOL

i did WANT to make her outfit a bit flashier to match the boys better but i couldn’t quite figure out where to Put the flash. maybe that’ll come later, the way the story’s going i might get to design some cool prosthetics for her or something

overall —

because there’s just so many fucking colours i triiied to add at least one or two colours from each of them into the others designs. jay has her necklace with each of their main colours on it, her wings are the same blue as gillions eyes, her jacket and right eye are the same dark blue as destiny’s blade, her hair is the same orange as the lighter part of chips tattoos. chip has a dark green sash under all the belts, the same as the hilt of destiny’s blade. they all use the same shades of black, gold, and brown

the only real exception is gillion doesn’t have anything from the other two because he has Such a specific colour palette and he already had so much going on as-is orz jay was obviously the easiest to do this with because she has both warm and cool colours in her palette by default lol (and i did her design last, so that helps)

[mintsuwu]

please how did you come up with her design I've been trying to make a design for my poppy playtime oc but it always ends up looking like rubbish please give tips😭😭

Hello, thank you for asking! Truth be told is that it took me a bit to figure out how to do LoolaLamb in general, she didn't come out too well on the first try xD I had to tweak a couple of things in her like the hair, colors or snout.

Initially, I wasn't quite sure of what animal picking for her, but then I went with the lamb idea for a few reasons:

- When I was little, I used to have a lamb plush I used to love dearly. Sadly I don't have any pictures to show since I no longer have it with me so I tried to look for one that looked similar on the Internet- But that was the main inspiration for her character. And since the Smiling Critters have their own plushies as well, I thought it would be interesting to make one of them after a real toy. I also took reference from other characters in media that were based on sheeps, like in Pokémon (Flaaffy & Whimsicott).

I would always recommend using references if you ever don't know where to start with a design. And in the case of a Poppy Playtime OC, you can look for references if you desire as well, or even turn a beloved toy of yours into a character, anything works!

In many cultures, the lamb is a revered symbol of innocence, purity, and sacrifice. It is often associated with religious connotations, particularly in Christianity, where it symbolizes the embodiment of Christ's innocence and the sacrificial lamb offering redemption and atonement for humanity's sins. I simply liked the symbology of this because I'm always a sucker for that when it comes to creating characters;;

This was mainly due to lore reasons, her association with Catnap, a follower of an entity, the Prototype, whom he workships and would do anything to get its blessing. LoolaLamb "sacrified" her voice for the Prototype (well, it actually was that Catnap took away her voicebox with that excuse).

Her name "LoolaLamb" is a word play for "lullaby", given the role she was going to have in the Smiling Critters line, a replacement for Catnap who would have a similar role as his, except that instead of using a gas to make people fall asleep, she would use her voice. Sheeps and lambs are also heavily associated with sleep and dreams, given the advice: if you can't get to sleep, just “count sheep” until you drift off into a peaceful slumber.

Sheep are wanderers. It's their nature. Even in the best and safest of places, places that provide protection, water, and food, sheep are known to wander off, get lost, and sometimes eaten by predators.

Her color pick was mainly because even if the smiling critters have more or less the colors of the rainbow and there are already two blue colored critters (Bubba Bubbaphant being more of a neutral blue or azure and Craftycorn cyan or aquamarine), I noticed that there were no dark blue or indigo colored ones. My first idea for LoolaLamb was to give her more violet colors, given her correlation to Catnap, but at the same time I wanted her to stand out amongst the others, being a little more of her own character, so that´s why I ended up picking a different color pallete for her.

And those are pretty much the basic things I had in mind when creating LoolaLamb! Of course it doesn't always have to be so elaborated with all characters, but I'd always recommend to find references, information, symbolism, anything that might help you with the creation of your character in case you don't know where to start or are simply stuck!

I might not be the best when it comes to explaining things but I hope this has helped you and I wish you the best in your creative process, anon! 🙏🏻💖

[thankskenpenders]

Sonic Superstars!

Superstars is out! And guess what? It's good! It's a worthy new entry in the series, and I mostly like it. Mostly. Except for the handful of parts I don't. As usual, allow me to share my thoughts.

(For the record, I got the PS5 version of Superstars. I can't speak for how it plays on older hardware like the Switch, or how the weird Steam version that seems to make you log in with Epic runs. But I encountered zero performance issues, personally.)

General thoughts

The thing is, aside from two notable flaws I'll discuss in greater detail below, I can sum up my feelings on most of Superstars quickly. You see, it's... a Sonic game. This will either be a blessing or a curse depending on who you ask. It's not a bold new take on the series that'll blow you away, but they also didn't fuck it up. There's no catch this time! There's something refreshing about that straightforwardness, given how rare it is to get a regular-ass New Sonic Game from Sega. It's just a new classic-style game where you can play as Amy, set on a new island with all new zones, and Fang is in it! This might be damning with faint praise, but that's what it says on the tin, and they did a good job overall.

(It also has co-op. That's nice. I didn't play it in co-op.)

It plays exactly how it should. At no point did anything feel Wrong. The graphics might not have the absolute highest fidelity, but I think the character models look really nice, and the levels look appropriately good with vibrant color palettes. A couple zones like Sky Temple gave me Klonoa vibes, which I like. One zone is an absolutely incredible homage that I won't spoil. The story here is minimal (as expected), but there are a few good moments of telling the story through the gameplay, particularly one very cute sequence with Trip. I did find a couple stage gimmicks moderately annoying (Speed Jungle 2 and Press Factory 2, looking at you), but like... I could say the same thing about Mania, and also damn near every other Sonic game ever made. There's always That One Level. Superstars may not raise the series to new heights, but it generally executes well on the standard beats of the series. It's an easy recommendation for all fans of 2D Sonic.

Really, aside from the two big flaws (we'll get to them), this game's greatest crimes are simply not being quite as good as Mania, and also coming out the same week as the more creative and polished Super Mario Bros. Wonder. If we hadn't gotten Mania, I would easily be calling this my favorite 2D Sonic game since... what, the Advance trilogy 20 years ago? I like the Rush games, but if you asked me to replay one or the other, I might have a better time with Superstars. And, yes, it beats the hell out of Sonic 4. It's not even close. Anyone who says this game is exactly like Sonic 4 is just being a hater.

...I guess I would say that $60 is a bit steep for this, but you know it'll be on sale for a more appropriate $30-$40 in a few months. This isn't a Nintendo game we're talking about here.

Nice little tweaks

Superstars also features a number of welcome quality-of-life updates over Mania, bringing it more in line with the design ethos of modern platformers.

You have infinite lives! No more getting a game over on the final boss and having to redo the whole final zone - or, god forbid, the entire game

Time overs are gone! It'll warn you before you go over ten minutes, but I have no idea why because it doesn't kill you anymore

The game features a hub from which you can easily replay previous levels, rather than needing to beat the game or put in a cheat code to unlock the level select

This means you can easily go back and hunt for any special stage rings you missed. However, as a tradeoff, it seems like you can only get one Emerald per zone now, rather than being able to get Super Sonic by the end of the first or second zone

You can swap characters between levels! No more having to start a whole 'nother save file to play as Tails

And those characters even have optional little movement tutorial rooms available from the hub, which is great for new players who may not know about things like the Drop Dash

And, finally, checkpoints now feature arrows pointing in the direction you were supposed to be going, in case you forget upon respawning

Of course, while you might not be getting game overs, Superstars certainly compensated with some bosses that kicked my ass.

Bosses

Here's what I would consider notable flaw #1.

I have mixed feelings on the bosses in Superstars. I don't think many of them are poorly designed - in fact, a lot of them are good, and offer fun moments of spectacle. But for a 2D Sonic game, they're REALLY long and drawn out, and by the late game this was starting to get draining.

Bosses tend to be the type where you have to dodge their attack patterns for a while until you get the chance to hit them exactly once, MAYBE twice. A few bosses seem to have quicker options if you abuse your post-hit invulnerability or play as a character with a double jump, but many will either be completely invincible or run away to the background for long periods of time, making it impossible to damage them outside of the allotted windows. And even if it seems like you'll be able to get in a second hit, many bosses turn invincible and skip ahead to the next attack pattern as soon as they take the first hit. Again, most of these fights aren't BAD, but because of this behavior they sometimes take almost as long to beat as the entire levels preceding them. This didn't bother me much early in the game, but against the more challenging bosses towards the end that kept killing me several minutes into a long fight, it got tiring. The final boss of Story Mode probably took me like an hour.

While this certainly isn't an uncommon style of boss design, part of me suspects they did this for the sake of co-op players. For one, playing in co-op means that you don't necessarily have to start the entire fight over if one person dies, so I assume the length is less of an issue. But in particular, true classic-style Sonic bosses that you can just hit repeatedly with good timing would go down in a few seconds against a team of four players. Likewise, the swarm of clones from the "Avatar" Emerald power would probably obliterate every Genesis era boss with one button press. So I get why every boss needs all these invulnerability periods, but still. I at least wish they'd made some of those attack patterns shorter and given you more frequent opportunities to deal damage.

Emeralds and their powers

Speaking of the new Chaos Emerald powers: they're neat, I guess? They're fine. I didn't use them much. Actually, I kept forgetting I even had them - although the game will play a noise and show an icon in the corner of the screen to remind you any time you reach a spot where a specific power is useful. Avatar, the first power you get, is at least good for getting a couple free hits in on the trickier bosses. Yellow's ability to slow time is obviously good, but, again, I always forgot I even had it and made it through just fine without it. I was also pleased to realize that the swimming power is useful for the water levels and not just for climbing up waterfalls.

Oh, and the new grappling-based special stages kind of suck, but they're not the worst, and I'll at least give them credit for trying something new. (Motion Sickness Zone from Sonic 1 does return as a bonus minigame, but I only did it once lmao.)

Battle Mode

I haven't played Battle Mode. Couldn't tell you if it's good or not. It did, however, give us official designs for Metal Tails and Metal Amy after all these years, and also it let me make this:

...Okay, enough beating around the bush. Let's talk about the thing that REALLY drags down the experience.

The soundtrack...

(This lengthy section on the music will feature some light spoilers for things like zone names and themes.)

Now, don't get me wrong. There are some bangers in here that I've been listening to on loop. But this is one of the most inconsistent soundtracks I've ever heard, and I'm not sure I've ever played another game where the music has such a sharp dip in quality in the back half.

As anyone following this blog knows, prior to release I was a little obsessed with trying to gauge what the soundtrack would be like. "Jun Senoue" and "new Classic Sonic game" naturally evokes the memory of Sonic 4, but from the start we knew Tee Lopes was involved as well, and almost all of the music previewed before released leans more towards the sound of Sonic Mania than anything else. I was hopeful! I was excited! Jun deserved another chance at doing another classic Sonic OST, and Tee is one of my favorite game composers of all time between his Sonic material and other works like the TMNT: Shredder's Revenge OST. I frequently thought back to this Sonic 4 remix medley by Jun and Tee as a reminder that these two could really be the dream team, bringing out the best in each other's work.

Sure enough, the front half of the game is largely dominated by the Mania sound, whether it's a track by Tee himself or one by an in-house Sega artist that's compatible with his style. Pinball Carnival Act 1 by Rintaro Soma (an up-and-coming composer who wrote a bunch of the Cyber Space themes in Frontiers) takes obvious inspiration from Mania's Studiopolis Act 1, to the point that I was shocked when Sega posted the track and revealed it wasn't written by Tee. Act 2, however, forges more of its own sound by leaning into the act's spooky haunted carnival theme. And despite being the music lead, the only level theme that I know for sure was written by Senoue in the front half of the game (Bridge Island Act 1) was actually arranged by Tee Lopes to give it more of that Mania sound. Hell, the level clear jingle is literally just the one from Mania. A few level themes by other composers don't quite match that style, but they fit in well enough.

But there are early signs that this sound won't be consistent throughout the game. Our first warning of things to come is the boss music:

When early copies started floating around and the soundtrack leaked, many, many people hoped that this was merely a placeholder, like the literal Sonic 4 Episode II music used in the earliest previews of Speed Jungle, and that it'd get replaced with a day one patch. Oh, those poor, innocent fools...

Even if you don't mind the poor production with the returning Sonic 4 faux-Genesis sound, this is a very simplistic thirteen second snippet of music that then plays a second time in a higher key before it loops. This wouldn't be the end of the world if the bosses were as short as the ones in the Genesis games, of course, but they're not! This theme is used for a ton of lengthy fights throughout the game, including an EXTREMELY long and tedious autoscroller boss at the end of Golden Capital Act 2. Maybe I would've enjoyed the bosses in this game more if they were paired with some earworms that'd get me hyped up and sell how cool and exciting the fights are supposed to be, but grating songs like this just made the minutes spent fighting those bosses feel like an eternity.

Still, boss music (and menu music) aside, all of the level themes in the front half of the game ranged from decent to great, with the peak easily being the phenomenal Lagoon City Act 2 by Tee Lopes. And then... I got to the back half of the game. And the Mania style completely disappeared, replaced largely with the dreaded Sonic 4 sound. That isn't the style for EVERY song in the back half, but even the ones that try something different tend to be weaker than the material from the first six zones, with less engaging melodies and less intricate arrangement. Many sound straight up unfinished, leaning on extremely basic synth patches with no personality. And there isn't a single track from Tee in the back half. He just disappears from the project altogether.

What this means is that we go from this absolute banger by Tee Lopes in zone 6, which elevates what's otherwise a bog standard desert level to a thrilling adventure:

To... this, in zone 7:

It's EXTREMELY jarring!

The thing is, this is actually one of the better tracks in this style. I have to assume this is by Senoue, because you can totally hear a good Adventure or Heroes era Senoue track in there once you get past the crude synth replication of the Genesis era Sonic sound. Senoue is still a great composer, as you can hear clear as day with Bridge Island, but he's working with a restrictive sound palette that doesn't play to his strengths at all. If only he'd bust out that damn guitar, or at least pick some better synths.

(And no matter what people will tell you, no, this is not an accurate recreation of what the Genesis's YM2612 chip really sounded like, nor is it representative of what it CAN sound like at its best. Go back to the Streets of Rage 2 or Ristar soundtracks if you need a reminder.)

While I can at least see what the Press Factory tracks were aiming for, some other faux-FM synth tracks are just really bland. They don't have anything interesting going on, and they also don't seem particularly tailor made for the levels they accompany. They're just attempts to mimic what Sonic 1-3 sounded like on a very literal level. Take, for instance, the Golden Capital Act 1 theme, AKA "we've got Sky Sanctuary at home." While the better level themes in this game enhance the mood or even completely carry the vibes of a level, the weaker tracks can really suck all the air out of the room and make a level feel like more of a slog.

What kills me is that there are, in fact, a couple examples of how to do throwbacks to classic Sega FM synth music well on this very soundtrack! They're just not the Sonic 4 type tracks. I love the Frozen Base Act 2 theme, presumably composed by legendary Sega composer Hiroshi "HIRO" Kawaguchi, who's responsible for all-time classic arcade soundtracks like Fantasy Zone, Out Run, Hang-On, After Burner, and more, as well as the hacking and pinball themes from Frontiers. Maybe to an untrained ear this doesn't sound all that different, but it has a catchier tune, better instruments, and stronger production overall. I'm also a fan of the track for Sky Temple, which isn't perfect, but it blends a few Genesis-esque instruments like the Sonic 1+2 snare with other instruments for a richer sound. If the whole soundtrack sounded more like these examples, I'd definitely be complaining less.

I really just have to wonder... how did this happen? How did this end up being so inconsistent? Many fans on social media are jumping to the conclusion that Senoue is just extremely stubborn and refuses to ditch the style from Sonic 4. I can't deny this possibility, but some things just don't add up. The almost complete lack of "retro" style music in the promotional material. The fact that the style just suddenly shifts halfway through the game, then disappears for the final zone, as if that's not the note they want to end on. The complete lack of any tracks by Tee Lopes in the back half. The focus on the Mania-style tracks in the bonus "mini soundtrack." And most perplexing of all, the fact that three of the first tracks you hear in the game were Senoue compositions that were given extra attention with arrangements from Tee Lopes.

This is pure speculation on my part, but it almost seems like they straight up ran out of time.

Perhaps Jun wanted more of his tracks to get full arrangements from Tee, or for Tee to contribute more songs, but things were down to the wire and they chose to leave in some of the raw Sonic 4 style demos. The soundtrack being crunched out in a matter of months at the end of development would certainly explain why Speed Jungle had to be demoed without its music a mere four months ago. It'd also explain why a game that's only a few hours long needs NINETEEN composers listed in the credits. And also the fact that multiple zones just have completely different, unrelated music by different artists across their acts. Did they need multiple artists working on different acts simultaneously, completely independent from each other with no time to cross reference each others' work, due to extreme time constraints? I'd buy it.

Ah well. It's not the end of the world. I've heard worse Sonic music. But I'll always think of what could have been...

At least the final battle with Eggman at the end of Story Mode has a pretty kickass boss theme, which ALMOST makes up for how bad most of the preceding boss music is (and the fact that that very difficult fight doesn't have a checkpoint between phases and took me like an hour to beat lmao). It even seems like it might be written by longtime Phantasy Star Online composer and recurring Sonic contributor Hideaki Kobayashi. That's the guy who wrote NONAGRESSION!!!!!!!

The postgame

Speaking of beating Eggman! It turns out Superstars has a good deal of postgame content, as merely beating the last zone with all the Chaos Emeralds doesn't take you to the true final boss. In order to do that, you'll need to do something else.

Before we hit the big spoiler warning, I'm going to give any future players who are still reading a warning. If you value your sanity... don't force yourself to do all the postgame stuff. Don't make the mistakes I did. It's not worth it, and it may very well knock your personal score for the game down a couple points.

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

SPOILERS FOR THE STORY, UNLOCKABLES, AND THE POSTGAME BELOW THIS POINT

YOU'VE BEEN WARNED

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

The bonus scenario

Sonic Superstars has a big surprise in store for anyone who beats the main story. For the first time since... what, Silver? In 2006? We finally have a brand new playable character in a new Sonic platformer! (I wouldn't count the player avatar in Forces as a full-fledged New Character.) Yes, after the credits roll, you unlock Trip as the super-secret fifth playable character. I was really excited to see this. Trip is cute, even if her masked appearance from early in the game is perhaps a more unique design than a Sonic-ified lizard girl who can only vaguely look like a real sungazer lizard. She IS the first new Sonic character Ohshima has designed since the '90s, though, so she gets points for that - and she gets even more points for literally turning into a dragon when she goes Super. We love a girl who can turn into a dragon, don't we folks? And her playstyle is fun, too, with a double jump and the ability to roll along walls and ceilings.

But Trip isn't just playable. Like Knuckles before her, she gets an entire alternate story mode of her own, which somewhat remixes the level layouts, generally makes things more challenging, and swaps out Eggman for Egg Robo. I was so excited to see this! It really felt like the game had so much more in store for me than I'd anticipated.

...Then I spent probably around three hours attempting to beat the new final battle with Fang at the end of Trip's Story. And it made me regret doing Trip's Story at all.

Once you learn the patterns, a lot of them are actually piss easy. But the difficulty comes down to a few misguided factors:

The fight is LOOOONG. On a successful attempt the whole thing will probably take the average player about, like... seven or eight minutes? Maybe longer? This is where I really started to get pissed at the game for making me wait through these stupid attack patterns before I could attempt to hit the boss once.

The fight is divided between two phases, one with Fang in a vehicle and another with him in a giant robot, with no checkpoint between them. Dying to one of Fang's bullshit attacks on the second phase means having to redo the ~5 minute first phase all over again. And, worst of all...

Fang has multiple projectile attacks that are guaranteed instant kills, even if you have rings.

Also there's a stupid desperation headbutt attack that can really easily catch you off guard and kill you, but I only got that far in the fight once.

It's the instant kills that got me. If those fucking immobilizing net attacks just made you drop your rings, or you could at least wiggle out of them by mashing buttons (EDIT: apparently you CAN do this but you literally have to button mash so rapidly that it's a crapshoot whether or not you'll physically be able to do it), it would have been totally doable! Kinda fun, even! Slow, but pretty cool in terms of spectacle. But nope! Three hours! Three hours on this! This is, without a doubt, the hardest boss I have ever faced in any Sonic game, period, and one of the hardest bosses I've ever seen in ANY game. All because of one attack pattern where making a tiny mistake means starting over.

The glitches didn't help, either. Something about the way the circular boss arena was set up in both stories' final battles seems to make the floor intangible sometimes for non-player objects. Occasionally my dropped rings, enemies I was supposed to knock towards Fang, or one of Fang's insta-kill projectiles would just fall through the floor randomly. This definitely wasn't my main problem, but it helped drive home the idea that this fight just wasn't worth my time.

After three hours of attempts, I gave up. I just went and looked up the ending of Trip's story, as well as the contents of the Final Story, on YouTube. Turns out I made the right call, because boy, that true final boss looks like dogshit. It's just a very dull fight against a big generic cartoon dragon. Apparently this is the thing Eggman was looking for. It appears and is defeated with little fanfare. I think I liked it better when I assumed the scary dragon being foreshadowed was just Super Trip.

...Also, hey, what's up with The End being very conspicuously visible in the background of the last zone?? I know it's just a cheeky cameo, but, like... isn't it supposed to be sealed away in Cyber Space right now? Should I be taking this literally? Does this have lore implications? This is one hell of a way to remind people that the timeline's been reunified, I guess

Closing thoughts

I really hate to part ways with Superstars on a sour note like this, because like I said up top, I mostly enjoyed my time with it! It's really just a small handful of particularly frustrating bosses and the inconsistent soundtrack that drag it down. Other than that, it's solid as a rock. Maybe wait for sales if you're not dying to play it, but it's definitely worth playing for any Sonic fan. Just... skip the true ending. I would have stepped away MUCH happier with this game if I'd done that.

I wanna try to end this on a more positive note but I'm tired, so, uhhhh... look, you can unlock a Metal Nights skin for your Battle Mode bot!!

Anyway back to jamming to about half the soundtrack on loop while pretending the other half doesn't exist, and looking forward to the continued Fang Renaissance with his upcoming IDW miniseries

[fantasy-anatomy-analyst]

So I know you’ve given the old black dragon from Dungeons and Dragons a redesign in the pats but I thought I would ask for your thoughts in the redesign coming soon in the new handbooks. There is a video on YouTube where one of the designers is interviewed about the new dragon designs. He says they designed the dragons more as characters then creatures which likely influenced a lot of the design choices. They want this thing to look evil. Do you think the design has improved? I also want to know if there any major changes you would make. I know in the past you had issues with the horns.

comparison time! old and new!

(image description: a side by side look at the old DnD 5e black dragon design and the new black dragon design. the old one is more multi colored and shows a variety of design choices that are common for making dragons look "cooler" but have no real function. the new design is more cohesively colored a very matte black with a white face and is anatomically more similar to a giant crocodile with long legs. end description)

I absolutely think the new design is so much better. the horn problem has been solved!!! my issue with the horns in the previous design was mostly that they just overlap the mouth! even taking into consideration how wide they might be, they line up directly with the open mouth and extend further forward than the mouth, making them a pretty huge impediment! but now the horns curve below the jaw and don't extend beyond it, so they're a lot less cumbersome! overall, this design and posing also makes so much better use of illustrative shape language, look at how little the body parts overlap each other! much cleaner. I appreciate the bony looking spines with minimal membrane between them, as opposed to the old version that just had the big sail fin on the neck for no reason. I kinda miss the striped coloration of the old one, but this new design is far more cohesively colored and so much more focused on really making it look like a black dragon, with nice subtle greens on the underside for that good ol fashioned countershading. I also like that the face is white to give it that skull-like vibe instead of shrinkwrapping the face to make it look like the underlying skull. overall, there is way less shrinkwrapping on the new design, it no longer feels like the skin has been vacuum sealed to the skeleton and musculature.

That said though, even considering the intention of making it look evil more than making it look like a real creature, why in the year 2024 are we still skimping on dragon wing membrane near the torso, making the wing fingers extend so far beyond the membrane, and adding random wing holes instead of making use of more interesting battle scars all over the body?

here is a very quick paint over to alter that and show how the design could just be tweaked a tiny bit and not lose any of its coolness while adjusting the things i have a pet peeve for

(image description: same as above, but now on the new black dragon design I have colored in the random holes in the wings, erased the overly extended wing fingers, and added more surface area to the wing membrane where it meets the body. end description)

could absolutely be done better, this was just my quick sloppy solution. even just adding a little more wing membrane would be good enough, I don't know why there is still this insistence on leaving such a massive gap between the body and the nearest wing finger. or leaving so much finger extended past the membrane. what are those fingers there for. why do they still have big claws. these dragons have proper forelegs, they clearly aren't using those big cumbersome wing hands for anything other than flying, and the thumb is perfectly useful as a gripping tool all by itself. the fingers only get extended like that for the Look, but i think there are other ways to make the wings look cool. like giving them interesting colors and patterns on the membrane! why not extend the facial coloring here to the wings? enhance the skeletal vibe by making the underside of the wing arms all pale, maybe put some striping on the membrane? that would be neat!

[heyclickadee]

Screw it, I need to get this out of my system. A thought about the guy in the Clone X armor on Pabu:

So…okay. I’ve seen people pointing out that there are resemblances between Tech and the mysterious clone x guy we see standing in front of the Archium in the trailer. And, honestly, they’re not really wrong.

There are some very, well, Tech-like shapes to this guy’s outfit (the dotted lines are ones I wasn’t so sure about):

They’re not an exact match, because some of the line proportions of the similarities I pointed out are different, but the similarities are there. There’s even a similar effect—not shape, but effect—to the lighter green outline around the eyes calling attention to the area as Tech’s goggles had—the difference being that we can’t see this guys eyes behind the glass.

And, yes, this mystery man does have a really similar build. And shoulders. And general proportions. And there’s that freaking shin pouch. They gave him a shin pouch!

And then, of course, the basic silhouette of the Clone X helmet is very similar (not exactly the same, but similar) to Tech’s helmet, minus the visor and the ear cuffs:

Now, there are major differences as well. The Clone X armor is much more streamlined and less bulky than Tech’s; the pauldrons have similar proportions but a much more rounded shape; the breastplate fits a bit tighter and is also significantly shorter; the overall shape and muzzle of the helmet is very similar, but the Clone X helmet muzzle is about half the length because the covering for the eye-ridge area juts out that much farther, and it has more of a fluid “backswept” effect overall; he’s only got a few pouches, two, maybe three if the arm-band works as a pouch.

But the overall effect of this particular Ckone X character is that he reads as a somewhat Tech-shaped individual. And I have a few thoughts on this.

First, I do think this might be on purpose. Yes, the base armor, minus the shoulder and arm straps and the pouches, is basically identical to the Clone X armor we see in season two. I think it’s more or less standard issue to clone assassins and, apart from a couple little tweaks (again, the straps and the pouches), is not at all unique in that regard. That said, if the production team knew what the story was doing with Tech in advance—and I think they did, I don’t think this show was written from beginning to end at the start, because that doesn’t happen, but I suspect they had the major story beats outlined before moving forward—it’s possible that the design team used Tech’s armor as the template from which to derive the clone X armor for season two. I’m not saying that happened, but I am saying it’s possible.

Second, I’m not saying this is Tech. I’m not sure if it is. I’m leaning that direction right now, but I might lean otherwise in an hour or two. We’ll see. What I am one-hundred percent sure of, however, is that these shots of this guy are Grade A Tech speculation bait—and intended that way. I think we’re meant to speculate about whether this is Tech or not. The TBB team gave us absolutely no indication that Tech is dead for real, nothing final, just the same shot of Tech’s ambiguous fate with a Sad Filter, and then they offered up this very mysterious and Tech-shaped person standing in front of an emotionally poignant location. Whoever he actually is, even if he’s just some random guy, Mystery Clone X guy is here in the trailer to drive Tech discussion during the lead up to season premiere.

Third, if this is Tech, if that’s him, then I think the trailer is being incredibly misleading about what he’s doing there. It looks like this Clone X is leading a squad of stormtroopers in an invasion of Pabu. I’m not sure that’s what’s happening—the stormtroopers are probably there to wreck Pabu, but I’m not sure this Clone X is leading them or even on their side. I don’t think we’re getting an imperial or brainwashed Tech scenario, especially not with how late in the season this shot is probably happening. I think it’s a lot more likely that this outfit originally belonged to the Clone X guy we see speaking in the trailer, Tech jumped him, used the guy’s armor to disguise himself, added some pouched because of course he did, and then inserted himself into a situation to see what he could do to help out. And I don’t think they found Pabu because of Tech, either—the empire has plenty of other ways of doing that.

Fourth, if—if!—we do get a brainwashed Tech, I think it’s going to be short-lived and, hopefully, very different from Crosshair’s situation. I almost wonder if it’s going to turn out to be a bit of a schlocky b-movie mind control helmet situation (I notice that the Clone X from season two only took the face of his helmet off). Like the clone x helmets interface with the inhibitor chips somehow, and it doesn’t work with Tech, because he doesn’t have one, but he plays along so he can get something else done and have a chance to escape. Or something. I’m thinking out loud. Anyway, whatever happens, even if we get an imperial/brainwashed Tech scenario, I think he’s going to be fine and himself well before the end of the series.

Fifth, brainwashed Tech is probably my least favorite of the Tech-lives options. I don’t like it. But this show has a habit of getting me on board with plot choices I did not want, so. If they go that route, I’ll see how they do it, and evaluate from there. I still don’t want it right now, though.

Sixth, there are lots of reasons for it not to be Tech at all,

[kittygirl2210]

MYSTERY TWINS BIRTHDAY

Consider these my adult Dipper and Mabel designs but I might end up tweaking them a bit later

[zombeebunnie]

Trembling Essence:💙Progress update!💙

Hello hello and welcome new followers, here's how the game is coming along! This update is a bit late and might be kind of short. :[]

Firstly, thank you to everyone that participated in the poll before it ended. The overall results and responses gave me a better direction for the start of the game! It's good knowing that majority of you found out how to proceed and didn't have too much trouble with it. :,] If you still want to give your opinion on the start of the game feel free to comment!

Update progress:

It's time to talk about the scenes for the endings:

Last week I mentioned the two endings you could get that are from the [Extended Demo]. Now that they both have their own separate choice I went through and did some final touch ups. Even though they're almost finished I may come back and tweak them.

Timers:

I had plans to actually add timed choices in the [Extended Demo] but I didn't have the time( :P ) to add them in. I'm still working on how I want the design to look and where to place it so this is just a test example of what's to come. These won't be used often but they'll be in places where I feel the situation requires urgency. >:[]

The cave:

Before:

After:

Most of changes for this ending ranged from dialog adjustments to small immersive effects being added to fit the scene better. There's another variant ending mixed in there as well, you get the same outcome but it depends on what you do before then. I also dialed the exploration for this part back to it's original. Given the players(Y/N) state at the start, this section would've made the path too long for my liking and wouldn't fit the original symbolism I was going for.

The bridge:

Before:

After:

I had a lot of fun with this one since it's another favorite of mine! This one required a lot of tweaking since this area is only accessible to the player(Y/N) through two* different places.

The way to this area is not the same from the [Extended Demo] anymore and was expanded out from the courtesy of my play tester's suggestions. Most of the dialog changed and I'm still in the process of adding immersive effects here. I loved the way the original looked and decided to just revamp what I already drew. I even moved the bridge upwards to actually show the lead up to it versus being blocked by the dialog box. This one won't have a variant(?) ending but will play out differently compared to the [Extended Demo]. This is still a big work in progress and I didn't get a chance to fully finish this yet. :[]

I didn't adjust the progress bar only because not too much has been updated for right now and I'm still working on The bridge section. :[]

If you like what I create, please consider supporting what I do on kofi! All donations and tips help tremendously while I work on the game. A very huge thank you to those that have optionally bought the [Extended Demo] and the March 2023 demo on itch.io too, it really means a lot. :,]

Q&A / Ask box is open:

If you have any questions about Trembling Essence/Noah feel free to ask here or on itch.io please. This makes it easier for me to see and answer accordingly! I would really like to hear from you guys!

I won't be able to do too much for the next few days but thank you guys for the encouraging support and patience, I really appreciate it! :,]

[quibbs126]

And now I’m finally done with Porridge Cookie

She gave me so much trouble, I swear

This is on the same page as Blueberry Yogurt, so whenever I finish that on you’ll see the two again. Hopefully I’ll label them

Anyways, so onto Porridge, as you may recall, she is Oatmeal Cookie’s daughter

I’d say she’s around 6-8 years old, and she’s a very active young girl. She has a lot of energy and likes to go exploring in the Vanilla Kingdom, or at least around the castle and surrounding town since her mom doesn’t want her going too far. She also doesn’t have her mom’s insecurities, because I mean she’s a kid, and instead can be a bit sassy

I kind of want to have the Blueberry family move to the Vanilla Kingdom too so that she and Blueberry Yogurt can interact, but I’m not sure what justification to make to have Blueberry Ice Cream move there, since the Vanilla Kingdom isn’t really the place for a magic weapon smith. But if they were to, I imagine Porridge and Yogurt to spend a lot of time together since they’re some of the only really young kids there. And also because Porridge is a couple years older, she sees herself as the boss of the group, and Yogurt follows along with it because he’s too timid to say otherwise

Also Porridge has a dad as well, but they don’t see each other anymore. He’s probably a vegetable of some kind

Anyways, now I want to complain about designing her

So I mostly based her off of the Veggie Porridge you can make in Tears of the Kingdom, which is why she has her green color. I know it isn’t exactly how regular porridge looks, but screw it, it gives her a unique color scheme from her mom, who’s mostly yellows and browns

Her outfit was giving me a lot of trouble because I didn’t really know what I wanted to do, and it would end up either looking too much like Blueberry Yogurt or Oatmeal. I was trying to base her design off of some young Elesa designs I’d seen people make, but it didn’t look right, partly because I don’t think Elesa fit her. Then I decided to base her design off of some concept art of kids in Hateno Village as well as Malon from Ocarina of Time, and I think I got something good. It fits her more energetic and outdoorsy personality

Also I’m noticing now how Zelda based she is

Anyways, so after I finally got done with her outfit, I then found myself struggling with her hair. The problem was that it would look too much like Oatmeal’s hair when I got anything decent. Eventually I stumbled upon this hairstyle and went with it. I wanted to give her pigtails but it just wouldn’t work with her current hair

I noticed as I was coloring her that with both her and Blueberry Yogurt, I was keeping the same dough tone between the kids and their parents, which from what I can tell, doesn’t usually happen with the canon kid/parent. And with Porridge she has another parent I could draw from, but I just couldn’t think of a different dough tone to use other than Oatmeal’s

Also she was going to have white eye lines, but because it was too similar to her hair color I changed it to brown. I’m not sure if I want to keep it brown though, I might change it back

Honestly she’ll likely be prone to tweaks as I do more of the page. I’m still finding my lineart pen difficult to use back home right now, hopefully I’ll get back at using it right

Anyways yeah, this is Porridge. Probably should have given her a nicer image but whatever, I can fix it in the final product

[aqua-dan]

What are your thoughts on preboot Garth vs reboot Garth? You seem to be one of the only people who like reboot Garth. What is appealiong about him?

Well, "like" might be a strong word.

It's really no surprise that I'm saying this, but Reboot Garth has NOTHING on Preboot Garth. Let's not kid ourselves and pretend that Preboot Garth isn't superior in literally every conceivable way.

Preboot Garth is such an incredible character. He is kind, gentle, smart, and powerful. He is emotionally impactful and occupies a space that is so specifically Him that no other character could fill it. He is so compelling, so relatable, and frankly he's downright adorable too! When I have been at some of my lowest points in life, he's been a character that I've grown up alongside and used as an example of emotional strength to help me stand back up and carry on despite the anxiety and sadness and pressure. Truly, he is one of my comfort characters of all time. His story and the things he can do are also extremely interesting!

Physically strong ✔️

Control over water ✔️

Magic ✔️

Eye blasts ✔️

Diplomacy ✔️

Like 50 other things that he forgot to mention that he can do, but totally can ✔️

So you may be wondering then, why I still like Reboot Garth who is… hardly at all like what I just described. And my answer to that is: I don't know.

You would certainly be right to say that for the most part*, Rebirth Garth is nothing like his pre-n52 counterpart. (*World's Finest: Teen Titans was the closest we've gotten. It was kind of nice in regards to Garth, with the exception of a few gripes I have here and there.) And you'd be right to be upset about it. I know I am. Quite often, to be honest.

But for some reason I just can't bring myself to fully condemn Rebirth Garth. At the end of the day, I'm in fandom to have fun, you know? And if I spend all my time hating something that's out of my control… well what good does that do me? At this point, I feel like I've resigned myself to the knowledge that I simply will not be getting what I want in regards to Garth, and so I've turned to becoming a bemused spectator at the things happening in current comics. I can still become excited about it when I DO manage to find a bit that I like. There was a post a while back that went something like,

"N52 and Rebirth suck except the parts that I like. And those bits I'll toss into a blender, puree, and mix in with preboot canon."

Yeah, that. Basically, when it comes to Reboot Garth, (in my own head) I ignore the reboot and then blend up the little bits I enjoy to create the utopian world of Canon+. And from my little imaginary perch, I can choose to still enjoy this character who has taken my blorbo's name, but sadly isn't really him.

With how changeable comics are as a medium though, I do also believe that there will be a writer someday who is willing to do the legwork necessary to bring Garth back around to being the blorbo I once knew. Some currently canon things will definitely have to be tossed out, but hey, that's the nature of comics!

That said tho, I think another one of the things that prevents me from disliking him is (surprisingly) the design. It's a controversial take amongst Garth fans for sure, but I honestly like it for the most part. There are a few things I'd tweak to make him look like more of an extension of Preboot Garth (CURLY HAIR, PLEASE), but there are a lot of elements that I just so happen to find aesthetically appealing and thus don't really mind. That isn't to say that Garth didn't already look fucking incredible, because he ABSOLUTELY did. I'm just not that bothered, I guess haha!

[bookish-blood]

Modern AU

Keyleth looks up from her sketches as the little bell over her door chimes. „Vex! Hi, nice to see you. Sorry, I’ll just-“

„I’m a bit early, not to worry.“ Vex leans against the counter, picking up one of the business cards and twirling it between her fingers. „By the way, I was thinking… You know, Percy and I are together for a while now. So how instead these arrows we talked about we-“

„Vex, I am not tattooing your boyfriends name on you! It’s so stupid to do that! And I-“

Vex grins. „I was joking.“ She pockets the business card and winks at Keyleth. „Show me my arrows?“

Keyleth glares at her, more playful than anything else. „I hate you,“ she say without any real heat behind it. Throwing her pencil to the side, she shrugs out of her light cardigan, revealing a beautiful sleeve of floral designs on her left arm. „But I had a fun time doing some sketches for you. Look.“ Out of a drawer she pulls various sketches, all of arrows in different designs. „I’m favouring this one. Do you still want it on your forearm?“

„On the inside, yes.“ Vex takes the sketch Keyleth has pushed towards her. It shows three arrows crossing each other in the middle, their arrowheads and feathers beautifully rendered. „This look gorgeous, Keyleth. Would you mind some colour on those?“

Keyleth grins. „I should be the one asking you. What are you thinking?“

Vex points to the feathering. „Can you make them raven and magpie?“

„Sure. Let me look something up real quick and I’ll add some colour to the sketch. If you like it, we can get started.“ Keyleth starts to type away on her computer and modifying the sketch. „Can I get you something to drink?“

„I’ve got some water, but thanks.“

„You’ve eaten?“ Keyleth raises an eyebrow at her, looking briefly up from her sketching.

Vex returns the look. „It’s not my first tattoo.“

„So?“

„Yes, I’ve eaten. No alcohol yesterday and not even a coffee today so far. Which, I might add, is a great sacrifice on my end.“

Keyleth chuckles. „Your sacrifice is appreciated.“ She tweaks the design a bit more, then nods her head. „Alright, let’s go back.“ She starts prepping her workspace and, after putting on gloves, Vex’s skin.

Hours pass with chatting, laughter and the occasional scolding, all while the machine whirrs and the design comes to life on Vex’s skin. They are nearly finished, when the bell over the door chimes again. „Just a moment!“ Keyleth yells. She carefully turns Vex’s arm and traces a few lines a second time before setting aside the machine and gently wiping it down. „We’ll let it sit for a few minutes, then I’ll pack you in. Remember, no bathing for the next four weeks, no direct sun for the next six. After that, do use sunscreen. And remember to-“

„To care for it especially in the next two weeks and not let Trinket slobber it up, I know. It’s not my first tattoo, you know?“

„I do know. A few of yours a from me, after all.“ Keyleth wipes Vex’s arm down again before covering the fresh tattoo in adhesive tape. „I’ll see who it is. Take as much time as you need.“ She throws her gloves into the trash and pushes her stool away to stand up.

A man stands with his back to her, his gaze on the wall that holds her various sketches, interspersed with some photos of those she has tattooed over time. His long, dark hair falls open over his shoulders save for a few braids with beads in them. Hearing her steps, he looks over his shoulder; his resemblance to Vex is uncanny. „You are Keyleth?“

„I-i-i am.“ Keyleth clears her throat. „I mean, I am, yes. You are…?“

„Vax’ildan. I’m here to make a deposit on my appointment?“ He smiles, almost unsure of himself.

„Of course! Just let me get my notes.“ Keyleth rummages through her desk. „Here! Two daggers, one on each forearm, right? One with flames.“

„That’s me.“

„Vax? What are you doing here?“ Vex comes out, holding her arm at a bit of an awkward angle. „Where’s Trinket?“

„What, you think I bring him into a tattoo studio?“ Vax raises an eyebrow at her. „I took you for being smarter, sister. Though maybe I shouldn’t, with you dating Freddie and all that.“

„You, Vax’ildan, are an arse.“

„Sister?“ Keyleth looks up, eyes wide. Both twins turn their attention to her pointing at their own faces. „Right. I just… I didn’t know you were the brother Vex keeps talking about.“

Vax turns back to his sister, grinning. „Aaw, you do love me. And to answer your question, Trinket is with Pike. She holds the fort at the shop, there’s a delivery of fresh flowers supposed to arrive today. So, here’s the agreed deposit,“ he puts a few bills on the counter, „and I’ll be back on the fifth. Do you need anything else of me?“

„Uhm, no, no. Just tell me if you change your mind about what you want to have tattooed or if you can think of any details you’d like to have incorporated. And if you can’t make it to the appointment, it would be nice to let me know in time.“

Vax nods. „Of course.“

„I’m looking forward to it.“ Keyleth smiles softly, then turns her attention at Vex. „If you’re unsure about anything or have questions during healing, just let me know. And no scratching!“

„As always, will do. You outdid yourself, darling.“

„A pleasure. And give Trinket some scritches from me.“

~*~*~*~*~*~

„Hi, how can I-? Oh, Keyleth. Hello.“ Vax smiles warmly, brushing off his hands. „How can I help you?“

Keyleth closes the door behind her, returning his smile. „Vex recommended you. I’m looking for a few plants for the studio. Something… I don’t know.“

„Not a problem. Do you have experience with plants? Do you want something with blooms or without?“

„I have some experience, yes. Not too much, though. And I love flowers I just find them…“

„Intimidating?“ Vax nods, still smiling. „Well, some people tend to kill orchids, but really it’s rather easy to care for them. I think the amount of sunshine in your studio, at least in the front, would be suitable for them. And maybe something without blooms for the back, so that you don’t have to worry about pollen?“ He points to different, luscious plants all around his shop.

Keyleth looks around helplessly. „I, uh, I’d defer to your expertise? This is… This is a lot.“

Vax opens his arms, shrugging. „How long do you have? I could… Well, I could get us a coffee from down the street and then I could show you the plants I’d have in mind for you and answer all your questions. If that is alright with you?“

„Yeah. Yeah, sure.“ Keyleth can feel the blush spreading to the tips of her ears. „Uhm, I can take care of the coffee? I’m sure you cannot leave the shop unsupervised.“

„I could always close up,“ Vax retorts with a grin. „But sure, if you insist. Just,“ he rummages around in his pocket and pulls out a few knittered bills, „take this. No protests! I’ll just have a black coffee, no sugar.“ His fingers linger for a moment as he pushes the money in her hands.

Keyleth blushes even harder but doesn’t pull back her hand. „I’ll be back in no time.“

~*~*~*~*~*~

„Alright, that was dagger numer one.“ Keyleth pushes her stool back and snaps off her gloves. „I’d say we go for a little break here and then we’ll take care of your other arm. How are you doing?“

Vax chuckles and moves to rob his left forearm before catching himself. „I’d forgotten how much a tattoo can hurt. But your designs really are beautiful. I mean, the deatils, the depth… No wonder my sister comes back to you.“

She grins at him. „Maybe you’ll come back, too. Oh Gods, I’m sorry, I don’t know… I’m sorry.“

Vax’s smile turns softer, warmer. „No need. Really, don’t worry. I’ll even bring more plants, if you want to.“

„I, uh, I really love that monstera you brought today. I hope I don’t kill it.“ Her blush is still prominent, feeling as though her face is burning up. „I’ll do my best not to, anyway.“ She clears her throat, finding Vax’s gaze again. „So, this is not your first tattoo?“

„Disappointed? Your daggers are more beautiful, though.“ Vax sighs, rubbing his neck with one hand and reaching for a pen to twirl between his fingers. „Yeah, I was a teenager. It was stupid. Vex… Vex and I were in a difficult situation back then. It’s, uh, it’s not something I like to talk about, to be honest.“

„You don’t need to.“ Keyleth smiles encouragingly. „And should you ever want it covered, just tell me. We’ll work something out. No need to carry a difficult memory on your skin.“

Vax lets out a breath he hasn’t known he has been holding. „That… Yeah, let’s talk about that some time. Maybe after these are healed.“

„Anytime.“ Keyleth gets up and opens a cabinet door at the end of the room. „You want a granola bar?“

„Sure.“

~*~*~*~*~*~

The bell over her door chimes again, causing Keyleth to turn around from where she has watered her plants, which have grown in number ober the past weeks and months since she has met Vax’ildan.

„Vax! Hi.“ She smiles brightly as she recognizes the man entering. „You’re early.“

„I brought you something, a seedling of a plant named Alocasia Antoro Velvet. I thought you might like it.“

Keyleth carefully touches the dark, almost purple leaves. „It’s beautiful. I’ve never seen anything like it.“

„It’s a rather rare plant. But I managed to get one some years ago and I thought you might like one, too.“

„That is… very thoughtful of you. Thank you very much.“ Keyleth accepts the plant with a smile and places it on the shelf. „Are you ready for our session today?“

Vax nods mutely, briefly averting her gaze.

Keyleth smiles softly and takes his hand. „Come.“ She leads him in the back where her sketches of antlers are already prepared. While she prepares her tattooing machine, he slips out of his shirt, baring the rather simple symbol of the Clasp between his shoulder blades. Keyleth sprays his skin with disinfectant and carefully wipes it down. „I’ll place one of the stencils on it and you can see whether you like it or not. If not, we can try another design or placement. Alright?“

Vax clears his throat, „Alright.“

He lets Keyleth work in silence, until she gently swats his upper arm. „Go to the mirror and tell me what you think.“

„When have I ever not done that?“ He manages a smile, but it feels rather crooked. With a deep breath he braces himself, then he looks up in the mirror. He only sees a pair of elaborate antlers. While the lines are not thick, Keyleth has managed to blend the symbol of the Clasp with the design so much that it almost vanishes behind it. „It’s perfect, Keyleth. Thank you,“ he says, his voice choked. He lets his gaze linger a moment longer before sitting back on the stool.

Keyleth smiles softly and leans forward to kiss his hair before she starts tattooing.

Find the master doc here

This oneshot was inspired by this post by @daniellecroy. I'm almost inclined to make a whole fic out of it, if I should find the time.

[inanewmoon]

You've teased Ranma and Ryoga for the world fusion... I know Akane will be teased at some point.. but can I ask about Konatsu? Ninja girl in a Ninja world sounds fun.

Oh, wow, that's a difficult one! 💙 I don't have a good answer yet, but I can waffle a bit about it. Maybe it will end in an idea where to best include her. 💙💙💙 (I guess that by itself reveals some of the answer already - I didn't really plan, or ran into a scene that needed her specifically, yet? But there still might be a cameo if convenient, or a short storyline that includes her in some capacity)

In general, I am approaching this merger by transplanting a handful of Ranma characters into Narutoverse (where Shikako from DoS also lives). These characters "have always lived there" in this interpretation, and I had to tweak their ages a little too, since Narutoverse begins at ±12 years old and not ±16 average for Ranma. I don't wanna *overload* the Narutoverse with Ranma characters, which is why not everyone is getting moved. By design, it's gonna focus mainly on Ranma, Akane and Ryoga, and any other characters are slightly relegated to the background and or cameos. Konatsu, sadly, isn't either Ranma, Akane or Ryoga not anyone close to them, so she starts at a big disadvantage in this cruel Ranma character lottery. I guess her fate also depends on my plans for Ukyo... who I also haven't fully decided on (don't tell anyone).

So first, Konatsu is somewhat easy to transplant (pun intended) into Narutoverse, because her skillset... is actually kinda canon to the Naruto verse. The multi body technique and other tricks are part of the common legendarium of what "ancient mythical ninjas" could do. It's more accurate to say that Konatsu and Naruto share the same roots and inspirations for their powers. 💙💙💙 Very superficially, Konatsu shares some commonalities with Haku. Fearful/abusive childhood, devotion to a saviour (Ukyo and Zabuza, respectivelly), and gender-themes, but it's a stretch otherwise.

Dreaming of Sunshine story has chosen to not lean onto trans interpretation of Haku, focusing on Haku's "oh... and... I'm a boy" instead, but in my heart both Konatsu and Haku deserve to be trans girls. 💙 They just live in the worlds that might not have had that exact word or description to fully-understand at the time? Mostly due to the meta reasons, too (Kishimoto just can't write girls, and Rumiko probably didn't have an lgbt+ vocabulary at the time, even though Konatsu is much more obviously trans-coded than Haku). It's a whole long conversation I don't wanna get into too much.

I will be doing "more gender" in Leaf's Ranma, so Konatsu can feel safe about her identity if she makes the cut 💙💙 So... to sum up in some ways Konatsu's similar to Haku, and one option (devasting for Konatsu-fans in Leaf's Ranma AU) would be to give some of Konatsu's roles and impacts (which were minimal in the Ranma managa, she came entirely too late to change things, even when we love her 💙) over to Haku, not *needing* and extra character in the mix.

But... I don't think that is satisfying enough. The scope of the Leaf's Ranma story isn't huge and all-encompassing, so I might just not find time for her at all (sorry). But if I do... I suspect I will place her by Ukyo's side, whichever form Ukyo is gonna take up in the AU.

So... that's was a whole lot of words to say "I don't know." But if she does show up... It's gonna be with Ukyo. 💙

Thanks for the question, sorry for a mess of an answer 💙