#muses of a madman

[musesofamadmanvn]

Demo Release!

Happy Valentine's Day Ya'll! Demo is up on itch.io! It's available on pc and web browser.

[starsifter]

Soz for the unsolicited advice(?) but can/will you give the player some weirdo freak dialogue options in your Stanford dating sim? 🥺 So many of them just assume the player would know literally nothing at all about urban legends and folklore, but one of the sole reasons I'm into him is because I've always loved those things! It's not a real problem if you don't, I'll still play it either way lol

I think we do have some options that fall along these lines. I'll definitely take this into consideration moving forward though. Thanks for the ask! And don't worry about unsolicited advice or whatever, feedback is always a good thing in my book.

[starsifter]

WEREPECKER MY BELOVED :D

An illustration of The Muses Of A Madman by @starsifter for the upcoming Visual Novel. >:)

[marstonsboy]

every time i make any kind of au for rdr it just gets sadder than canon for no justifiable reason. the other day i had the evil thought of “wouldn’t it have been fucked up if dutch actually shot john on that cliff and jack went after his uncle dutch for revenge years later” and now i can’t get it out of my head. what the hell.

[phoenixkaptain]

Nobody should have ever let me have Star Wars because now, whenever I’m driving and the person behind me floors their gas and flips me off and passes me or someone rides really close behind me and honks when I don’t go faster or gets annoyed because I stopped before an intersection, I say “I can’t help the way I was made. I can’t help that I was born this way. It is the will of the Force, you know.”

[yiga-hellhole]

twili headcanons 🫵

you sly dog. i'll have you know i am actually working on a lore doc RIGHT NOW . but let me whip some up anyhow!!

twili are the mixed and shuffled descendants of basically all of hyrule's peoples. though most of the population has gotten kind of a "standardized" appearance, noble families with pickier marriages will resemble their ancestral equivalents more

zant's family is primarily zora descendant, while midna's is gerudo/sheikah

the glowing markings on their body can be from birth to signify clan lineages, attained through life stages (appear on the skin when entering puberty, coming of age, pregnancy, etc), or with a careful hand can be tattooed. the royal house's tattoo is on twili midna's upper right thigh. on zant, this same mark (though missing the squiggle that signifies a ruling monarch) is on his back

that being said, i've talked about this before, but the black markings on twili bodies are like membranes that cover their sanitary areas. that's how they can walk around nude and you see nut'n at all.

on that same note, clothing is purely a way to signify status or personal taste. clergy, royalty, and palatial staff all wear some sort of head covering in humility though. high clergy is the most thoroughly covered, being the only ones clad head to toe

many twili are obligate carnivores. a lot of light world foods make them sick, too

having been cast aside by the light world, there's a cultural shunning of hyrule's deities, as well. instead, they've developed somewhat of their own pantheon, of which the sols are the conduits.

as i said, there's no day/night cycle, nor a seasonal one, so people tend to go to sleep and rise at their own schedules. there's always *somebody* bound to be awake to attend to some duty or other. that is to say, nobody's really in quite a rush most of the time.

all twili have an inherent knack for magic, but mostly in the sense of little charms and telekinesis. noble houses, the clergy, and scholarship are most actively involved with magic, leading to the creation of complex spells and structuring of magitech contraptions that rival, if not scarily succeed, sheikah traditions.

the throne isn't inherited per se, as the reigning monarch's children are electable candidates for the throne. from each noble house, the most talented caster is chosen as a candidate, and upon the perishing of the monarch, the most suitable candidate is elected.

the twili palace is just one of the locations in the realm - normally it's on a cliff, but zant lifted the whole shit into the sky to avoid beef with every other noble house in the realm. it kind of resembles the dark world/lorule in that it is similar to hyrule, but a lot more barren. oceans are uninhabitable, a lot of it is desert, and with the lack of a sun, dense vegetation only clusters around where Sols are being maintained. with the lack of inhabitable water the zora descendant twili are pissed off to all hell 24/7

hair length is correlated to marriage candidacy for adults. twili of marrying age will either have a full head of hair that they refuse to cut, or at least a strand or two of considerable length. bangles are the most common engagement gift, which are meant to be tied at the end of a braid at the proposal. after a couple years, if the husband(s) (usually, but wives can too) of the pair so choose, it become socially acceptable to cut the hair and wear the bangle elsewhere on the body, like on jewelry

other than that, twili are excessively laid-back, no-strings-attached, and a touch frivolous. having many flings before marriage is commonplace, as it takes a good bit for emotional attachment to kick in. (this isn't the case for zant, specifically, whatsoever)

[booksofadventures-archived]

@sons-of-time ;; continued from here

Did he hear that voice say rightly, that this was their dad's ship. But this was his TARDIS and his kids. Well that was a long time ago. The Doctor steps fully into view.

Seeing the boy now, he's just staring at him for a few seconds, taking in the notes and everything before he speaks but stays stood where he was, even if he was fully knowing the sonic wouldn't hurt but he didn't need him to do something to the TARDIS and she get huffy with him.

"See I think you might be mistaken, this is my ship. I'm The Doctor."

[frostkingoftheapocalypse]

//.

[musesofamadmanvn]

The official demo of Muses of a Madman will be released on February 14th 2025. You know what that means... ;)

[starsifter]

shhhh, sprites from my muses of a madman vn adaptation AHHH art by: @oliverthedectective

[honkowo]

ok i dont usually post wips but im losing my mind over my sketch of firefly absolutely EATING SHIT & i want u guys 2 see it too in case i dont finish lining & colouring this

[paulagnewart]

Trans40mers Pt. 1/12: Of Movies, Muppets and Madman Mayhem!

The grand space year of 2024 may have closed, but the 40th anniversary celebrations for The Transformers are far from being all over.

Not every country got the series at once. These rollouts took time, particularly during decades past. Regions including Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and parts of Europe had to wait until 1985 before the Autobots and Decepticons brought their conflict to local shores. A delay definitely worth the wait for budding fans and shareholders alike.

Keeping in line with the above nations, Australia has consistently kept Transformers on toy shelves since the beginning. No US-style gap years, for there was always something to see, read or buy out there. It's a testament to the brand's longevity and fandom's enduring passion. As the Transformers Universe trailer attested, "They were always real to me".

As seen elsewhere, rather than belt out another year's worth of rodent-based ramblings, this account instead will highlight a slathering of fascinating yet ultimately useless knowledge from Transformers history in Australia. But unlike elsewhere sharing them bang on their respective dates, this account's waiting until month's end for a single, easy to read post.

There's one from each and every year; some glad, some sad, some outright bonkers including (and far from limited to) Mark Wahlberg's Sydney press tour, Otter Press' Dreamwave reprints, that time comedian Tony Martin crushed an Optimus toy on prime time TV, various VHS and DVD releases, newspaper clippings condemning the series, Happy Meal promotions, that time Beast Wars Airazor and Razorclaw toys topped Christmas sales, exclusive toys, and many more.

Best of all? They're free. Yes, free. No social media influenza mentality begging for dollarydoos at each opportunity to read fan wikis aloud here. The title is hardly the most imaginative or inspiring wordplay, but certainly beats the sad, self-aggrandising trend where anyone with half an ego and aspiration for digital fame make a hashtag using their own name.

11th January 2008: Promoting their new release of The Transformers: The Headmasters on DVD, Madman Entertainment choose three winners in its 'Design a Transformer' contest. Among the entrants was late comic book artist Lindsay Walker, with her fan character Ultra Fairmont.

-=-=-=-=-=-

Kicking off this robotic retrospective is a trip back to early 2008. Michael Bay's first live-action film had been an unprecedented success, and companies looked for a slice of that sweet energon pie.

Retro toys were back in, and it's hard to believe there was a time when Madman were the only game in town for 'classic' Transformers merchandise. Having a keen eye for fans since the early 2000's, they produced a swath of licensed G1 and Beast Wars DVD's and apparel. When time came for catering to Japanese audiences, they went all-in, announcing this contest.

Dozens of fans hoping to be the next Alex Kubalsky picked up their artistic tools, logged into their Madman accounts and submitted venerable masterpieces. Of the 46 entries, all-new characters were order of the day, though a few redesigns of old favourites managed to slip through.

So which lucky fans walked away with the top prizes? In first place stood Channandeller and their time-freezing Decepticon saboteur, Time-Ex. Second place went to davetec, who uncovered a long-lost photograph from 1903 featuring the autonomous horseless carriage, Albion. Rounding out third was Norcinu with their evil, mind-controlling Adminbot representative, Comcall. An outstanding trio of well-deserved winners.

The contest was open to casual and professional fans alike, among the latter was rising star Bendigo artist Lindsay Walker. A fan since the Transformers began, Ms. Walker was by that point making a name for herself in the comic book industry. Illustrating both fan and licensed products, her artistic prowess covered the likes of King Kong, Voltron, Sheena, Street Fighter and Hack/Slash. She developed video games, worked art galleries, and proud advocate for the trans community.

After submitting Ultra Fairmont, Ms. Walker went on to fulfil her dream illustrating her beloved Ghost Who Walks for Moonstone Books, and later for the character's local publishers. A career which abruptly ended in tragedy come late September 2016.

17th January 2021: As Covid weaved its deadly web, Sydney's Hayden Orpheum Picture Palace lights the fandom's darkest hour with a screening of 1986's The Transformers: The Movie. Billed as a one night only experience, the event proved popular enough to run multiple times.

-=-=-=-=-=-

"A rare screening of the 1986 animated classic!" proclaimed those fine folks over at Hayden Orpheum; and true to their word, this fateful night had been a long time coming for local fans.

At a time when licensing issues cancelled an earlier Melbourne screening, to say nothing to rising daily Covid cases placing lives and livelihoods at risk, it looked like Aussies may never see the film score an official rerelease. But now they had, and with jubilation came trepidation. Plus jealousy from hardcore fans in other states who'd face mandatory 14 day quarantines.

Despite the brisk drive, the writer of these posts opted not to attend that first night for obvious reasons. But several hundred other fans did, and they had a grand time. Cheering, booing, even recreating the Junkion dance number. A much-needed escape into summer fantasy for many during a perilous period.

For those technical inclined, this edition of the movie was the US 'star cast credits' version, as opposed to the international 'Star Wars Scroll' variant which played at cinemas here back in 1986, & sourced from Madman Entertainment's Blu Ray released June 2009. Spite of being slightly zoomed in to fit the wider cinema screen, nor the option of a crisp physical 35mm print to load up and play, the video was nonetheless an impressive improvement over previous copies.

Unfortunately cracks began to appear when, rather than go with the old Mono track, they used its "enhanced" Dolby 5.1 edition. It made the dialogue pop, but many sound effects (notably when Optimus Prime transforms & takes down the Decepticons) were suppressed, while others replaced by new "improved" sounds. It only got worse from "Megatron must be stopped" right until the film's end, as the entire audio track was delayed by about half a second. Hardly noticeable with the dialogue, but the action suffered. Moments like the satisfying crunch of Prime's uppercut, or the duel between Hot Rod, Kup and the Sharkticons, were painfully out of sync.

27th January 1995: Agro's Cartoon Connection came to the rescue of parents hoping to peacefully sleep off yesterday's public holiday bender. Alongside new host Terasa Livingstone, Agro dedicated our morning to the last ever public TV repeat of The Transformers: The Movie.

-=-=-=-=-=-

What's the deal with The Transformers: The Movie and public holidays?

For years both were invaluably intertwined. A fascinating partnership enough for some imaginative fan to make quite the venn diagram; much like an unspoken yet underlying overlap between followers of both long-running Archie Sonic the Hedgehog comics, and 2003 Teen Titans cartoon.

One month after the Commonwealth Film Censorship Board ordered Spike's expletive outburst be deleted, The Transformers: The Movie arrived in Australian cinemas on Boxing Day 1986. The Sydney Morning Herald ran a colouring contest through Easter 1987, where six lucky readers won a poster plus copy of said movie on VHS or Betamax. Any fans yearning for a nostalgic new year experience got exactly that on 1st January 1989; Channel Seven heeded their wishes and premiered it at 9am.

Despite one critical slamming of "a long advertisement for the fad toys of the 80's", that didn't stop Seven rolling out their cinematic outing again and again. It aired midday Tuesday 25th September 1990, kicking off the spring school holidays. Another repeat followed on Boxing Day 1991. Fans still collecting were treated to double runs in 1993; first at 11:30am on Mother's Day, followed by (surprise surprise) a 9am repeat on Boxing Day, this time one half of a shared feature with Machine Men: Battle of the Rock Lords.

Fast-forward to 1995. A year had passed since all states and territories agreed to mark 26th January a national public holiday. Fireworks were lit and alcohol guzzled, leading to many-a sore heads the following morning. For kids not tuning in to watch the last TV screening of DiC's The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog among the rotting husk of Tim Bailey's The Big Breakfast, once more Australia's favourite bathmat offered salvation. Kicking off at 6:30am where, following a mandatory repeat of Hanna-Barbera's The Ruff and Reddy Show, Agro and Terasa's Friday morning movie successfully ruined a nation's childhoods one final time.

[sincerelystarry]

random pangs of loneliness throughout the day i might be pmsing but also i need a hug

[phoenixkaptain]

Just finished re-reading your fic Switcheroo, and I love it so much. Thus, I offer you the suggestion of young!Tim getting his version of young justice and the extended batfam to help him kidnap his alternate self, if only for a little while to give him a vacation, mayhaps involving yj meeting their alternates, littlest brother acquisition, and fucking with Gotham's rogues

Bruce would definitely be like: “Tim! I told you not without an adult!”

Tim: “Red Tornado was there!!”

Red Tornado, who thought he was just taking the kids for ice cream and did not expect to suddenly find himself part of a kidnapping plot: 😔

I’ve always kind of wanted, if I do write a follow up, to include Klarion in some way, because I really liked Klarion’s interactions with Young Justice (pretty sure they just straight up threatened to kill his cat if he didn’t turn everything back to normal, which was the only successful way to actually get Klarion to turn everythinf back to normal) but I can imagine that the Young Justice kids would be super down to help Tim kidnap and alternate dimension version of himself.

There would definitely be littlest brother acquisition! Both Tims have no idea how to hold a baby, but neither do most of the other Young Justice kids, so they just give Damian to Red Tornado or Cissie. (I’m petty sure, but not positive, that Cissie was used to babysitting in the series, but I may be wrong) The mental image I have of Tim, Cassie, Bart, and Kon all pondering over how to pick up a baby is really funny XD They get into an argument about it… Tim and Kon nearly start punching each other… Bart and Cassie panic and try to convince older Tim to help but he just watches and sighs wistfully and says “Those were the days… I should punch Connor when I get back, just for old time’s sake.”

And fucking with Gotham rogues would be really fun to write. I’ve always imagined a scene where older Jason Robin is out and finds a Rogue, only for a slightly smaller shadow to slip out from behind him. The Rogue doesn’t panic, they’ve become a bit more used to this trick, it won’t fool them again- holy shit a third one??? (A third shadow slips out from beneath the second shadow’s cover, and one can just barely glimpse, in the alleyway only just lit by a streetlamp at the opposite end of it, the glint of teeth in the sharp smile on the third shadow’s face) It would be really fun to write :D

I should probably write the sequel… but first I have to reread nineties Young Justice and the Red Robin run and I’ll read through some Batman comics and I love reading Teen Titans comics and- <— This is why it’s been so long, I’m so sorry to everyone who thought I was quick 🫡

Well, all that aside, I’m very happy that you like the story ヽ(´▽｀)ノ

[grahatialiker]

maybe the best gift that someone who hurt you on a deep, irreparable level can give is to never fucking talk to you again

[horriblelittleravenfiend]

Woke up this morning wishing for a tail so the Onceler from Lorax the Musical could pull it