#on 3ds its usually link

[waywardsalt]

fuck it, unedited snippet from an early early post-ph scene i decided to write one night

[freebooter4ever]

day two done (ish) of straight 9 hrs of sculpting \o/ its a bit jarring going from grunt work with sporadic creative moments to nonstop creative shit. my brain hasn't done this in a while LOL. (it feels really REALLY good though). i will probably continue after dinner today too because im ahead of my portfolio schedule and if i can get this one thing done today, i can have all day tomorrow to maybe add some extra pieces in :)

[demilypyro]

Something I’m a little sad about when I play newer games in the Zelda series is the de-emphasization of the Deku Scrub. When you play Ocarina and Majora, Dekus are everywhere. The leader of the Kokiri is the Great Deku Tree, you encounter a lot of Deku Scrubs here and there on your journey, and you interact with a lot of Dekus in the first part of Majora’s story.

By Wind Waker however, both the Kokiri and the Dekus are nowhere to be found, implied to have collectively evolved into the Koroks, and none of it returned for Twilight Princess, Skyward Sword, or even Breath of the Wild, which notably did go out of its way to have both the Zora and the Rito, who supplanted the Zoras in Wind Waker. Personally, I’ve always loved the Dekus. Particularly in Majora’s Mask, they offer such a wide range of fun designs, and while some of that is there with the weirder Korok designs in Breath of the Wild, like Hestu, it feels like something is missing.

The Koroks seem to have no culture, they just kind of hang out. The Dekus were more three-dimentional, almost kind of duplicitous. Many of the Dekus in Ocarina were merchants, and the ones in Majora were usually acting on self-interest. It makes the koroks feel very flat by comparison. By now, the Dekus are a footnote in the Zelda series, having only appeared in two major games. The Great Deku Tree itself has reappeared regularly, but the Dekus remain stuck on the N64 and their 3DS remakes, outside of a minor appearance in the Oracles games and Minish Cap. It’s too bad, cause the Zoras and the Gorons have reappeared many times, and had chances to evolve their culture, but the Dekus were left behind.

Deku Link is cute tho

[canonkiller]

Hi, I'm trying to do art commissions, but no one has commissioned me yet. Do you have any advice for attracting customers?

I wrote a lot of words for you in hopes that at least some of it will be helpful, so I'm putting the bulk of this answer below a read more to save people the scrolling. The quick and easy two tips that I find people forget to do the most are:

Is your art easy to find? Having a pinned post with a tag for your art, a link in your bio, or an art-focused / reblog-light blog (like this one!) make it so that people know you draw, and knowing you've been posting art for a while makes you less likely to be a scammer.

Is your commission info easy to find? People can't buy things that they don't know you're selling; clear and accessible links to your prices and terms are important.

Now for the real bulky meat of advice giving, where I say a lot of words that may or may not be relevant:

I have a lot of advice, but I do want to say before getting into it:

A lot of selling art (especially in a non-industry setting, like with social media commissions) is luck.

There is no one size fits all method for selling art, and it's best to go with what feels right to you (I'll go more into this later)

Tips for selling are not necessarily tips for creating, and there will be advice in here that I don't apply to myself. Determining what you do and do not implement is something you should decide for yourself and your work flow.

Your art not selling doesn't mean nobody cares about it.

Personally I think the idea of intentionally curating a single subject demographic of Customer and Consumer for your work is limiting and doomed to burnout in a non-industry space. I will also touch more on this later.

Now for the rest of it in varying orders:

✨ Attracting Customers

This one is going first because you mentioned it specifically. It is kind of vague though, by nature of the term, so what I advise doing is specifying.

When you are thinking of a customer, are you trying to appeal to:

People who will buy pre-made art products? (Pins, stickers, prints, etc)

People who will buy custom work? (Commissions for specific subject matter)

People who will buy art resources you've created? (Fonts, bases, texture packs, 3d models etc)

There's also frequency: a repeat customer of custom art will usually be appealed to more by a wide range of options (like illustrations), while you might get more single-purchase customers if you only offer a limited range of options (like only icons).

Demographics also, of course, play a substantial role in just custom art commissions; furries get lauded as high spenders, but they're also a huge community that is focused around OCs, so by statistics alone they will have more people with spending money and will be frequent customers of people drawing OCs. A narrower audience means fewer people, but often the spread of the people within that audience is the same - and at the end of the day, selling an art piece only requires one other person, it's just a matter of happening to find them.

The follow up question is of course the finding: the average artist in fandom spaces selling commissions does not have the platform or budget for an ad campaign. This, however, is also its own category:

✨ Posting Online

Right out the gate: anyone who has told you that just drawing x thing is the way to get easy money is wrong.

"If you draw more fan art, you'll -" wrong.

"Nobody cares about that, you should be drawing this instead -" wrong.

"if you need to sell fast, just sell porn -" wrong. And also re-evaluate your perceived lack of quality or value about the subject.

The things you will be able to create easily and consistently will be the things YOU, SPECIFICALLY, like to create. It is also entirely impossible that you are the only person on earth to have ever liked those things, which means that if you create them, there are people out there who will enjoy them.

It feels itchy to be like "and those people are Potential Customers", but it is true; your work will resonate with people. They will want you to create it. It is vitally important to your own well being that the things you create, that you want others to enjoy, are things you enjoy as well.

(This is also why the "just draw porn" joking advice that gets tossed around is particularly fucked up. You as the artist should not feel forced into drawing things you aren't comfortable with, and the vast majority of customers for explicit content also don't want the people making it to feel forced into doing so. It's basic consent. I have strong feelings about this.)

If you are creating things and putting them out into the world, they will find an audience. That audience may be one singular person! The number does not matter, because that's still a person who - again, sucks to frame ig this way - has the potential to buy things from you.

If you're constantly chasing a bigger follower count, more interactions, etc etc for the future, it can genuinely be pretty taxing on the people who want to support you in the present. When you enjoy someone's work, and want to support them, being told constantly that that support is not good enough is frustrating. Trying to follow your work should not lead to seeing more "likes are WORTHLESS and NOBODY reblogs my things" posts than it does art. You are a person making things to share with other people, and you have to remember it or you will burn yourself out into a desiccated husk.

TL:DR consistency is key and the easiest way to be consistent is to just draw whatever the fuck you live drawing in whatever ways you want to draw it, and then slap it on the internet somewhere and Keep Doing That

✨ The Actual Commission Information

this one is just factual really. A lot of artists have really shitty commission sheet layouts, because advertising graphic design and illustrative art are different skill sets. That's fine. You don't have to remake the wheel. A good commission sheet should include:

More images than text (if you can't see what the examples are when zoomed out, you have to rearrange or cut down on words)

Examples organized by price / type, and clearly labeled

Your personal favourites for examples - one really strong example piece is better than twenty tiny images of work you think is just "okay"

Contact information - having a method that works WITHOUT a social media account (email.) Is important and way easier to keep organized, imo

A SIMPLE list of strengths (the things you draw the best) and things you won't draw (common example: mechs). You do not need to list every fandom or subject matter. Limit yourself to a top five.

A clear and easy to type link for your terms of service. Carrd, and sites like it, is good for this. This will go into details about your process, what you will and won't do, permissions granted to the commissioner (like "no, you can't make an NFT with this"), your privacy policy (saying you won't sell commissioner details to third parties), and other stuff. You do not want to have all of this on your original post, because it should be thorough and you want your main post to be showcasing your work and not your legalese. Here's mine as a reference; if you have trouble writing your own, feel free to copy from it and make the necessary alterations for your work.

✨ There Was More I Was Going To Write But I Forgot

I have a different document of commission related talk here, which is also incomplete but in a different way. It's in my nature. Hopefully some combination of this and that can be useful to you. Sorry if they're not. I love you have a nice day

[pixxiecup]

U ✩ SA ✩ HA ✩ NA

intro post (ó﹏ò｡)

this is a side blog , i follow and like from @xlittlestpet ^__^ requests: open !!! this is a link 2 my guidlines

my name is ALEX !! boy ,, he/clicks (,,>﹏<,,) big age is 15 !!!! am literally a dog , werewolf , and every other form of canine !!!!!! 🐾

possible perma regressor - i petre 2 a puppy mainly, mayb a kitty. atm, i dont have a cg ! im not a caregiver so please dont ask /nm

i am VERY open 2 making friends ! all interaction is encouraged :3 dms n asks r always open ! i luuuv talking :3

vry sensitive n clingy . delusional /srs !! neurodivergent / mentally ill

hyperfixations :: 3DS and things relating to them .

interests :: supernatural (show), gloomy bear, dragons, tokidoki , kandi/perlers, gravity falls, lps, pokemon, svtfoe, carebears, adventure time, sanrio, romance, zombies, the batman universe, ANYTHING lego, fashion, animal crossing (nl + nh), stardew valley, minecraft, zoo games, slime rancher, cattails ++ way more (bold is special interest)

more info abt me on my main blogs intro ^__^

BLOG DNI :: basic dni (racist, queerphobic, etc.), aam / teleiophile, proship / whatever else, ageplay / ddlg or any of its variants, if your blog is not kid safe, anti diapered little, sh/ed blogs, radqueers, anti-theist (against religion)

i block ppl freely . pls do not reblog my posts with a tw/cw for food !

i will occasionally go inactive ! i do have a lot of stuff going on irl .

#alex howls - me rambling , text posts

#alex rebarks - reblogs ! these posts are usually queued 2 prevent spam

#alex playdates - posts about my mutuals / friends

#alex creates - moodboards + stimboards (all stimboards are tagged with "gif" , cw/tws are formatted "cw _____")

#alex chew toys - posts about toys :D

#alex pack mates - me replying 2 asks .

(taken anons : 🍥🦝 , 🪷🦊 , crow)

the dni banner on most of my posts is by @/zack-agere

[voldkat]

guess who figured out how to do botched 3d modeling . and continued doing so for the entire day . to feed the shape autism

this was inspired by the fact that i have hyperspecific headcanons for how the geometry of their heads and antennae . like every time i draw them i picture their shapes in my brain and rotate them . it's so fucked up /silly

also note that none of their face patterns are dented into their heads !!! the website just kinda fucks up and gets confused sometimes when merging shapes lmao all of these mfs have flat faces

sorry unparalleled innocence fans inno is not here again because i am Still trying to figure out its colors ( getting distracted and forgetting to ) . i might make a follow up post with its model if i ever get around to it ( and might model my ocs along with it )

closeups of each iterator ( sorted by age ) + design notes for all of them + the tinkercad project link below the cut :3c

LOOKS TO THE MOON

MEWNIE !!! a fairly normal looking iterator head . spherical shape . flat cylindrical earpieces with slots to support the antennae . doesn't get any more standard than that WEHBHJF

her antennae are very much standard too !! average height , average width , rectangular little things with singular yellow strips near the end . just an average old model during a time when the ancients were still in the middle of figuring things out

and also the circle mark on her forehead looks more like a crescent moon or a pearl in my design . which is very cool ( symbolism for both her name having "moon" in it and the fact that she's in the scholar passage )

SLIVER OF STRAW

ok . her design is also fairly standard but her antennae are a bit Strange . i figure this might be around the time the ancients are starting to experiment a little , but not as intensely as they do with the second gens

the rest of my iterator designs with antennae have sharp bends and are usually flattened prisms or extruded shapes , with the silly color patterns clear and visible on the side faces . sliver however . she's got ROUND !! almost like some sort of stretched out cylinder !!! AND her color patterns are on the top face and actually dented into the antennae , making it hard to spot them !!!! what a fucked up design . why is she like this /silly

nothing else of note to say tho so we're moving on :3c

CHASING WIND

WE'RE IN GEN 2 NOW GUYS !!! i actually Don't have a hyperspecific headcanon on what their antennae look like so i just eyeballed it based on how i usually draw them . they're certainly a weird shape . rectangular-ish prism thing that gets wider at the top with an ellipse cut out of it . and the color patterns are at the base of the antennae instead of near the top like they usually would be . they look like fucked up bug horns almost

you see the front of the antennae ? where the oval cutout doesnt reach ? yeah . that's not a modelling mistake . that's intentional . there's one little section where the top is nice and flat . what the fuck is up with these tennas /silly

i may give them a secondary pattern on their face later like suns' Lines On Face (/ref) if i feel like making that a signature design choice for gen 2 iterators . but for now all you get is Peculiar Antennae

NO SIGNIFICANT HARASSMENT

OH BOY . EASILY the one with the weirdest head shape . extruded rounded square for a head . screen face . no antennae at all . fucking Gamer Headphones . he was built WAY too different . built correctly ( fit for his purpose ) but also not ( breaks every single known iterator puppet design convention ) /silly j

on a more serious note , his earpieces are significantly thinner ( more flush with his head ) than average , and don't have the antenna notches !! that's the only reasonable comparison i can make tho because he looks SO Fucking Different

there are other little details that i feel i have to mention . like his screen is dented inwards a little . his 'mic' thing isn't touching his face but only by a slim margin . his fucked up eyeball isn't flat or dented in but actually extends out in the shape of a semicircle ish thing . yeah that's about it honestly

SEVEN RED SUNS

okay back to relative normalcy . except the shape of their antennae fucked me up SO bad that it was the sole reason i decided to model these fucks in the first place

they're almost triangular prisms but the outward facing triangle is like slanted inwards slightly . which makes the upright lateral faces weird right trapezoids instead of rectangles . but also they have extra joints at the base of their antennae which allow for more movement !! Thankfully those joints a pretty normal shape ( ordinary cuboid )

also another detail i want to mention is the Lines On Face . the lines bend at 90 degree angles . the left / right sides disappear below the earpieces but the bottom sides kinda just . Stop . after some point . idk that's all i have really

FIVE PEBBLES

AAAAND with gen 3 we've looped back to fairly standard looking !!! he looks just like his sister but with the colors swapped around , and longer thinner antennae . and the fuckass stripes on his face i guess . one of the newest models , yet with little to no thought put into customization , since his creators are getting tired of waiting

it's interesting to me how he's the only design without a symbol logo thing in the middle of his forehead . perhaps the ancients ran out of feasible forehead symbols ? or maybe just a staple of gen 3 iterators ? who knows . all i can do is speculate and make shit up

AND !! as promised , the link , except you'll have to make an account to see it for some reason :

[blueskittlesart]

I know live action Zelda is gonna suck but what would be your opinion on one like the new Mario movie that recently came out? I feel like something like that would do the game more justice than actual people having to play the different characters

i assume you mean the medium of animation vs live action? i think that 3d animation would probably have a better chance of doing the games justice than live action, yes, especially irt a mute character like link--it's much easier to rely on expression and body language to tell a story when you have complete control over the rigging of a character and aren't relying on an actor's personal choices. I also think it would have removed the recognizability paradox i was talking about earlier with link--the second he's recognizable as an actor, he ceases to be link, the silent protagonist, the universal self-insert. i think the worldbuilding, creatures, and setting of loz would also be significantly more likely to be consistent with the characters and not out-of-place if the full thing was animated instead of cgi vfx on top of live action actors, as we will likely be seeing with this live action movie.

that said, i think the fact that we're getting a live action movie instead of an animated one MAY be indicative of an attempt to capture a real meaningful storyline with this movie. As much as this sucks, it's undeniable that animation in the US is a medium that's usually reserved for children's movies or stories that are targeted at a younger audience, and thus animated features usually have less narrative depth. This was one of my personal problems with the mario movie--the story felt like a complete afterthought imo, with the priority clearly having been grand visuals and funny quips that would have made the movie attractive to a younger audience. basically, it was written like a low-substance kid's movie. This is something you can get away with with a franchise like mario, which is usually low-story or storyless and relies on visuals and gameplay. Zelda, on the other hand, is a narrative-based rpg. Its stories are (usually) very thoughtfully constructed, thematically cohesive, and quite frankly have a lot more depth and substance than you're going to get from your average animated feature in this day and age, especially if the company producing that feature is illumination. (note: this is not to say that all modern animation is for kids or lacks depth, but that's the PERCEPTION of animation among the general public these days, especially american 3d animation.) so i think that the fact that it's live action might at least indicate an ATTEMPT to capture some of the narrative depth that the games possess rather than defaulting to a mario-movie-style barrage of visuals loosely tied together by only vaguely coherent plot points.

truly, i think the ideal medium for a zelda film would have been 2d animation, a medium which addresses both the actor-recognizability and consistency problems inherent in a live action film AND the potential narrative disconnects inherent in a 3d animated one (both japanese and american 2d animation has a rich history of delivering deep, dark, impactful narratives suitable for children and adults alike.) unfortunately, since they insist on producing these movies in america, where 2d animation has been all but killed artificially by the moneymaking machines that run our creative market, it was probably never going to happen that way. like i said, i think both live action and 3d animation have some potential problems inherent to them, but i guess all we can do now is wait and see what we end up with. lol

[thebleedingwoodland]

TS3 - Indonesian Architecture - Pura Gapura Penjor 

D E C O R A T I O N

🎵 Background Music: RELAXNATION - Bali Relaxing Music

Bangunan tradisional Bali ini dibuat karena bertepatan dengan bulan ini dimana di tanggal 22 Maret 2023 adalah Hari Raya Nyepi, yaitu hari pergantian Tahun Saka yang dirayakan umat Hindu setiap satu tahun sekali.  🙏

Selain itu juga untuk melambangkan ucapan terima kasih karena saya bertemu dengan banyak teman di kalangan Sims community yang berasal dari Indonesia. 

These three traditional Balinese architecture were made because the time was coincide with Nyepi, which is a Balinese "Day of Silence" that is commemorated every Isakawarsa (Saka new year) according to the Balinese calendar (in 2023, it falls on March 22). It is a Balinese celebration mainly celebrated in Bali, Indonesia. (source: Wikipedia)  🙏

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

Pura is a Balinese Hindu temple and the place of worship for adherents of Balinese Hinduism in Indonesia.

Poly count: 12K & 8K Price: 18,225

Gapura Candi Bentar (Left Side & Right Side) is a gate consists of two temple buildings that have identical shapes and are placed parallel as the main gate to enter the courtyard area of the house or the outermost gate. Usually, its uses as the main entrance of the temple or place of Hindu worship in Bali. (source: Palm-Living)

Poly count: 3K Price: 8,225

Penjor is a Balinese Hindu religious symbol of prosperity installed on the day of the Galungan ceremony. (source: Wikipedia)

Poly count: 18K & 10K Price: 800

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Base mesh by respective 3D modelers, I decreased the high poly (100K) from original 3D model into less than 20K, added mesh, uvmap, and retexture to finish the 3D models. 

Temple Pura Ulun Danu Bratan is by Solaironk from Turbosquid Gapura Candi Bentar is by Syariful M. from 3dwarehouse.sketchup Penjor is by alterego.visual from Sketchfab

Base Game compatible. No Expansion Pack needed.

Do not reupload/make profit/link to adf.ly or donation, no sims3planet, no simsfinds.

Can be found in “Decor> Miscellaneous Decor“ category

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[ Download ] 

[atoriv-art]

asks

putting these above the readmore because otherwise i will be speaking into the void

fave. grouping these together to say: i do read fanfic on occasion but it's usually filtered through a friend of mine who reads far more than i do! ie, she reads stuff and sends me what she likes

however she did say that i could tell people to link me things so she can read through them. so feel free to link me whatever in the replies/asks/idk. no promises i will be the one reading it LMAO but we have very similar tastes in characters/pairings and also the types of fics we like 👍

i actually gravitate towards gen fics which are a dying breed lol but you can link whatever you want <3

--

anyway. under the cut: misc asks, sasuneji 💕, also a tiny hyuga ramble

this is so late LMAO sorry, its all in my old blog @atoriv-moved ! haven't deleted any of it so if anything happened it's tumblr's fault. i miss kingdom hearts i need luxu to be in things again so i can go crazy :/

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thank you so much!!! 😭😭 it always makes me happy to hear the emotional weight of my work comes through! it's what i'm always trying to improve to make the little scenes in my head real :)

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thank you!!!! i never know what to say to these but they always make me smile 8)

--

thank you so much!! honestly noses still give me trouble sometimes but as someone who is particular about trying to properly translate 3D shapes, especially of the face, in my rendering it's probably one of the most important landmarks :P and i think you can enhance a design sooo much with them, despite my struggles they're one of my favorite things to draw now!

i totally encourage you to start drawing again if you want to! but i'm biased of course hehe

--

cute i never know how to answer these... maybe a little boring but i'm of the opinion sasuke is the clingier one in the rs :)

he's a very loving person but because of both his personality and collection of issues he struggles to fully articulate his thoughts in a manner that doesn't come off as rude or detached, but imo sasuke esp once he's out of his spiral would hate to have his love go unexpressed. so i think him having trouble with words and making up for it with flopping onto the people he loves like a large dog is sooooo cute, and i always think about how clingy he was as a baby.. he is made for latching onto people and wiggling them with a 😐 face

neji on the other hand is Weird About Intimacy since he's trained himself to be self-sufficient, and is hyperaware of how other people might perceive him due to him having to calibrate himself around his family. neji is very principled and especially when he's older won't let his anxieties keep him from doing something he believes in, but it gets a little more complicated when it comes to his personal relationships because for 90% of his life he had no hope of fostering those. so he ends up in a weird middle ground where he Does allow himself to express some of those feelings, but not fully, and often in a very self-conscious manner. his default answer to vulnerability is fluffing up like a cat because that's what's he's trained himself to do lol

so with these two in particular i think it'd combo into a lot of "flopping onto you like a weighed blanket because you're upset and i don't know what to say but i want to be here for you" situations, especially with sasuke doing it to neji because neji struggles with verbally articulating when he needs comfort like that. i think it works wonders for them because sometimes words get really messy when you have their combination of issues... it doesn't mean they can't talk through their problems of course, it just means that if something can be solved by the cat loaf maneuver it will be :)

--

not reading too much into it at all, i love it! i like how much people talk about my kabuto hahaha i really want to draw him more often, i think he's a way more interesting character than he's given credit for (and this is coming from someone who really didn't like him at first :P), and his hairstyle change is one of the most obvious ways to explore that visually imo!

tysm for this, i really enjoyed reading it!

--

i do! i wish more was done with her because i'm really fascinated by the implications of how she's presented, and how she could've shown that being the favorite child of someone like hiashi isn't necessarily a good thing! i always thought she seems like she's a little dissociated from life outside of the clan, which is really fun to work with (and definitely sucks for her because the clan is Not good lol)

i haven't gotten through the arduous task of watching all naruto filler (lmao) but one of my favorites is the one about hanabi and her relationship with hinata, especially the first half, episode 389 i think? i'm really obsessed with the way that episode shows what day-to-day life was like for the kids and the way the hyuga structure themselves, and how it creates distance between them. i'm pretty sure it implies hanabi (pre-plot) didn't know who neji is, for example? which i get isn't canon but i looove that thought. and on a less deep note hanabi is one of the few characters who gets a design i actually like in boruto! i think she looks soooooo cute

since i spend a lot of time thinking about them i actually am fond of all of the hyuga to some capacity, hiashi definitely in a "wow this guy sucks so much it's impressive" way but still lol i think his relationship with his brother and how it informs how he regards neji is very fascinating, or at least the directions it could have taken (if kishi cared at all.) are!

see my problem is that i wish naruto was about weird families and their issues (i am also obsessed with the suna family <3), but it is a shonen anime made for normal audiences

[manasseh]

280724-030824 little focus challenge this week's goals: ☐ finish 3D model RIG ☐ edit 3 shorts ☐ nutrition + skincare + musclesss ☐ more?] habit tracker日月火水 木金土 ------------- ✗✗✗ 💊 ✗ 🚰 ✗~ 🧘‍♀️🤸‍ ✗✗ 🌸🧴 ✗✗✗✗ 🇰🇷🤓 ✗✗ ✗ ✍️👩‍🎨 ✗✗✗✗ 👾💻 ✗~ ✗ 🥦🧅 🐼️‍ watching: Eve (2022)

wednesday log > > overslept, but all is fair. fewer people expected than yesterday so I'll have more time. I will try to move some more and take care of myself today. > let's go hand rig, first of all.

tuesday log let's GO > Spent the whole morning finishing up mealprepping and cleaning and entertaining guests agh > Did get in a quick language sesh after lunch. not done tho > But first, ☐ FOOT RIG!! ☒ plan bone hierarchies ☒ MCH ☒ drivers ☐ cleanup ☐ testing

후기: I fed about 50 people in the past couple days, not including prep for the upcoming ones. That along forgives some of my goals falling through today too, I think. Many people, still did my rigging which is prio. I played a game and went to bed too late and did not log -- ah well.

monday log! 🎦 How "Good Design" Ruins Games Drawing: Drawabox lesson 4 (9/10) KR: Just DUO dailies and a quick-ish TOPIK writing practice bc i'm slow this morning~ 3D: ☒ LEG RIG ☒ mechanism bones ☒ FK ☒ IK ☒ Link up ☒ twists ☒ control shapes done!! she can twerk now ^^'

now i need to clean, cook and mealprep to help out the fam, and then watch dungeon meshi with snacks for the rest of the evening :) I still gotta get in some workout as well.. >> tomorrow i will do the foot rig, and with a little bit of luck and focus also the hands. i'll leave video editing for wednesday i think.

후기: Busyy. Finished all my tasks and groceries and cooked for everyone and did a shit ton of mealprep. All in all rewarding, but I'd like a break and a game soon - I didn't get to the workout and shit but I didn't have the time so it's aight. Pick your battles or whatever :)

sunday log :-) KR: 취지 나타내기/평가하기 Drawing: Drawabox lesson 4 (9/10) 3D: ☒ ARM RIG ☒ IK controls ☒ FK controls ☒ prepping + linking deform bones ☒ drivers ☒ twist ☒ contol shapes finished!! now off to a barbeque with my brothers :D >>>

몸관리: Stretching / Pull up + squat progressions. Was planning to go over kung fu forms but I don't think drunk-teaching my brother qualifies lol Nutrition wise I did perfect- if we ignore the calories and over all destructive vibes of tequila ^^' Tried making korean multigrain mixed rice (japgokbap) while ignoring all instructions and owning 0 of the usual ingredients. still banger, I'll try it properly soon. love its texture and appreciate the huge bump in nutritional value

후기 A lovely and productive day, finished my challenging task and then spent the evening with almost all my siblings and their spouses and kids gathered for the first time in so long!! <3 I think monday can be just as great, despite the inevitable hangover.

[doomed-era]

also. i was going to ask this before but i didnt know how to word it: any zelda tropes you like/dislike? stuff like fairies being guides for link or the concept of sages/Legendary Sword or how link and zelda are always depicted or reoccurring characters like impa or beedle or epona. though theres probably not. a lot of tropes considering most games are vastly different from each other. uhh yeah if youve got nothing . things that were done from a zelda game that you liked?

OOH. tbh I had to think about this a bit (my gripes are usually with the fandom and how they depict the tropes as a Strict Narrative Rule) but! I do have some

UH ONES I HATE. this is gonna be long no matter what so it's going under a cut

Number one has got to be making link into a super special boy for basically no reason!!! being from a special type of knights is. so irrelevant to everything else about alttp link that I think a lot of people legitimately forget this. it barely ever comes up and it's honestly not that important to the story except as an excuse for why link's the only one that can grab the pendants and pull the master sword, which. why not just have him be the one to do this because he's just really determined? Ocarina of Time...tried this, sort of? almost completely irrelevant AGAIN. in twilight princess and wind waker they are just some guy basically and this is the best direction they could have gone with his character. except they ruined it in botw and ss and I will neverrrr forgive them for this. botw link beats up grown men at five years old he's like superbaby instant knight and I HATE it. it's just stupid. I don't even care that it applies pressure to him as a character and seems to affect him; they could have just made it an in-universe lie and it would have had the exact same effect so genuinely screw that trope

number two is calling random soldiers knights stop fucking doing this. i dont care that its fictional fantasyland it annoys me

number three! the 3D games' great fairies! I hate almost all of them the oot/mm great fairies are freaks, botw ones are so pretty but they're creepy as hell, and twilight princess is just a naked lady and it's stupid I hate her. wind waker minish cap and alttp fairies are gongeous though

number four. everyone thinking link is cool and or hot. I hate this in universe and in the fandom. I don't care that the devs wanted to make him """"cool"""" he's 100% always a LOSER!!!!

number five I hate the hijacked by ganon trope in zelda games so much. STOP ffs please let ganon/ganondorf take the spotlight we all love him. or let another villain be the main baddie

ok now for ones I like :)

nunberone...SENTIENT MONSTERS SENTIENT MONSTERS BABEY SENTIENT MOSNTERS ILVOE SRENTIERHSDJKFHSFHAAAAA

GRRAAA ITS A SECRET TO EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!!!! MOE THE MOBLIN!!! KING BULBLIN SAYING HE FOLLOWS THE STRONGEST SIDE!!! THE ENTIRE DARK WORLD ITS SO

two. npc companions...rips off my shirt to reveal another shirt that says I LOVE MIDNA AND TATL AND EZLO AND KING OF RED LIONS AND GHOSTIE ZELDA AND MEDLI AND MAKAR AND TETRA AND SIDON AND YUNOBO AND

number three...I love random gods and spirits that are just hanging out because. keaton malanya zephos satori light spirits what have you. theyre great I need more of that.

number four incredibly weird npcs. need i say more

number five soldiers being extremely incompetent and dumb or getting possessed. soldiers as enemies or easily corruptible people

number six that one character that doesn't like link. you know what i mean (revali. groose. mido. iirc ralph? maybe? I haven't played much of the oracle games)

number seven hyrule with a dark and bloody past. and not only that but a fairly simple presentation of it that's clearly hiding a more complex underbelly. its just neat to see simple, clear-cut writing tell you so much with so little. it's a big reason I love alttp; it's simple but there's so much grief in it

number eight uh. clawshot/hookshot :] good stuff

[just-here-with-my-thoughts]

System Upgrade 0/17: Test Subject

Fandom: The Bad Batch Characters: Echo, Hunter, Tech, Wrecker, Crosshair Set when Echo has been rescued from Skako Minor and is set to join Clone Force 99 Word Count: ~2550

Synopsis: Being rescued from the Separatists wasn’t the end of Echo’s ordeal, as the Kaminoans wanted to know exactly how he had been altered...

Content Warning: injury description, medical procedures, Echo in pain

"What are they doing to him?"

Wrecker's usually strident voice wavered with concern. He was pressed against the toughened viewing pane, hands spread, as though the contact might give him some insight into what was happening in the room below.

Tech pushed his goggles up his nose, glancing up from the datapad he tapped at and quickly away again as though the scene before them could not be viewed too long. "They are testing the extent of his cybernetic enhancements. Using the results of the scans they have already completed, the Kaminoans are now stimulating his implants one by one to find out exactly how they link to his nervous system."

"Yeah, but-" said Wrecker, wincing, "does he have to be awake for it?"

No-one answered his question. They didn't need Hunter's enhanced senses to hear Echo's howls of pain reverberating through the supposedly soundproofed walls.

Medical droids hovered around the prone patient; no, more like a prone test subject. Echo's torso and head were held steady with tightened restraints, his left arm similarly bound – the rest of him, those parts that had been rebuilt from metal and wire after he fell into the hands of the Techno Union, were dismantled and spread about like some 3D representation of a blueprint – one with a suffering clone at its centre.

A Kaminoan scientist glided serenely around the room, seemingly unperturbed by the ragged screams that tore from Echo's throat with each new touch of the droids to the metal ports installed in his body. The Batch watched as blue electricity arced from the droid into Echo's body, causing him to convulse as it raced along the exposed, trailing wires that the Kaminoans had laid out to map. Occasionally one of his detached limbs would twitch. Other times the heart-rate monitor that would stutter, or Echo's chest would seize completely as his breathing failed. Then another signal would be sent, and the screaming would start again.

Wrecker peeled himself away from the glass, turning his worried expression on Hunter. "We gotta help him."

Hunter stood immobile, arms folded and shoulders tense, his expression fixed in a fierce frown as he followed the steps of the procedure being carried out in the lab. The only outward sign that he was affected was the way his pupils dilated with each arc of electricity – the way his nostrils flared as each fresh scream reached his ears.

Crosshair was the one who answered, briefly removing the toothpick from his mouth to gesture with it. "What can we do?" he asked acidly, turning a withering glare on his brother. "They won't clear him for duty until they've satisfied their curiosity."

"But... Echo helped us," protested Wrecker, turning to him with his hands outstretched in appeal. "We fought alongside each other. We took down the Separatist ship."

"Correct," said Tech, "and the Kaminoans have read our battle report, as have the senior generals. But Crosshair is right; until they have satisfied themselves that they understand the functioning of his altered body – and assured themselves that he does not pose a risk to the GAR – then these tests will continue."

"Hunter!" Wrecker invoked his brother’s name in a desperate appeal, and finally Hunter's eyes flicked away from the scene in the medical room to meet Wrecker’s.

"We've done all we can for now," he growled from behind gritted teeth. "We vouched for him in our mission report. We stated that we would welcome him as a member of Clone Force 99. Now we have to wait."

Wrecker turned to plaster himself back on the window, gaze roving over the altered clone on the med table. Echo's pallid skin was coated in a sheen of sweat, his chest rising and falling in rapid, shallow breaths as he trembled and panted, adrenaline coursing through the human parts of his body. One of the medical droids was carefully unfurling more cables from his abdomen, and the Kaminoan scientist leaned over and peered at the work with interest.

Wrecker slammed a fist in futile protest against the hardened glass, unable to tear himself away from watching. Tech moved to stand beside him, resting a hand on his shoulder.

"We'll be there for him when it's over."

"How long will that be?"

For a moment Tech tapped at the datapad. "They sedated him to dismantle the cybernetics. Then woke him up for testing. They will probably sedate him again at the end of the process.”  His voice shook just a little as he said, “It... may be some hours yet."

"Tech's right," came Hunter's low voice. "We'll be here for him. No matter what, he'll come out of this knowing there are people waiting who see him as more than a test subject."

Crosshair's shoulders twitched in an involuntary flinch. Tech glanced at Hunter and straightened his goggles unnecessarily before looking back at his datapad, anything to avoid looking at his brothers or at Echo.

If anyone was going to understand how it felt to be a Kaminoan test subject it was the four of them standing in the room right now, waiting to add a new brother in suffering to their ranks.

When Echo was sedated and the process of reassembling his cybernetic body begun the Batch finally ended their vigil, returning to their quarters. All four were subdued – few words were exchanged, even the usually energetic Wrecker sagging under the weight of the situation. Half-heartedly Hunter suggested they should take the time to rest, eat if they wanted. Nobody had to tell him they would not be taking him up on the offer. He hadn't expected them to. It was a command he gave of rote, falling back on routine when all else failed him.

It was a sombre atmosphere in their room, each one lost in his thoughts. Wrecker sat quietly in his bunk, toying with the plush tooka Lula, rocking it absent-mindedly. Crosshair dismantled his rifle, inspecting each piece – still spotless from when he had done the same thing this morning – then abandoned the task. Discarding his current toothpick and replacing it with a fresh one, he lay on his back and stared at the ceiling with a perpetual crease between his brows. Tech had found himself something to tinker with, tools laid out on the bench as he dismantled a scanner. Then, seeing the parts laid out before him, he quickly swept them into a box and rose to his feet, pacing the room with his datapad instead.

Hunter simply leaned against the glass viewing window, forearm raised and forehead resting against it, watching the fierce storm-lashed Kaminoan sea surge and flow. The tension radiating from him was palpable, and the others didn't try to approach him.

Night had fallen and the lights in the complex cycled to low before there was a beep of their room being unlocked. With a quiet hiss the metal door retracted and a medical table hovered into the room, guided by one of the Kaminoan droids that had been in Echo's operating room earlier. On the table was the unconscious clone trooper, pale and drawn and with a deep-etched frown that persisted even in his sleep.

Immediately the Batch were on their feet, and Wrecker was the first to the table. With a care belied by his size he tucked his hands under Echo's prone form, lifting him gently and cradling him to his chest. Hunter moved to stand in front of the droid, seeming to loom despite the droid's lack of response.

"How is he?"

"CT-1409's heart rate and respiratory function is normal. His neural activity is supressed by medical sedation. His recovery requires no further intervention or monitoring."

"Meaning he will wake up when the sedative wears off," translated Tech.

Hunter jerked his head towards his bunk in the corner, the tidiest of the four. "Put him in there, Wrecker." The medical droid was forgotten as the four enhanced clones clustered around the one they had adopted as one of their own.

Wrecker sank down to sit in Hunter's bunk, still holding Echo's unconscious form close. "He's so light," he said with an ache in his voice, looking up at Hunter with hurt in his eyes.

"He will improve," Tech reassured him, running a medscan over Echo as though he didn't trust the droid’s report. He didn't need to be told how delicate Echo's body was – he remembered carrying him during their escape from Skako Minor, the rescued clone's weight mostly due to his mechanical parts instead of muscle and bone.

"What he needs now is rest," Hunter said grimly. "The best thing is that he's been returned to us. That must mean the Kaminoans are satisfied that he isn't under the influence of the Separatists any longer." He reached out to Wrecker, resting a comforting hand on his upper arm near where Echo's head rested. "He'll be okay. Echo is tough – we've all seen that."

Crosshair's lip curled in a sneer. "He may be tough," he said, voice tight with bitterness, "but if I were him I'm not sure I'd want to be rescued, if that was what was waiting when I got back."

Hunter's jaw clenched tightly and he didn't reply. Whilst the clone troopers had been glad to see the return of one of their own they had thought lost, to the Kaminoans Echo was nothing more than a scientific and operational curiosity. He couldn't fault Crosshair's observation, even though he knew rescuing Echo had been the right thing to do.

"What if he wakes up and doesn't know where he is?" asked Wrecker with concern, looking down into Echo's troubled face. "He might think they're gonna start testing again."

Hunter glanced at the other two. Crosshair gave a short nod, and Tech a more emphatic one. "Don't worry, Wrecker," he said, gesturing to the bed. "We'll all pile in. The first thing he'll see when he wakes up is a friendly face."

Wrecker grinned and quickly shuffled to the middle of the bunk to make room for his brothers either side. Crosshair eased himself into the back of the bunk, resting his back against Wrecker's shoulder and tucking his long legs up, arms folded across his knees as he reclined his head and closed his eyes. Tech gestured for Hunter to take the other side, waiting for his older brother to settle himself before sitting down with his back to the side wall of the bunk and stretching his long legs across both Hunter and Wrecker's laps, forming a protective barrier across Echo's back.

Surrounded on all sides by his brothers, Wrecker squeezed Echo as tightly as he dared, arms gentle around the unconscious clone's fragile shoulders. "Don't worry, Echo," he whispered, his voice as soft and soothing as his brash vocal cords would allow. "We got you. You're safe now."

Dark… and cold. Two things Echo had known for so long, held prisoner within his own body as his mind was forced to compute battle plans for the Separatist army. But even that seemed preferable to the unrelenting agony of the Kaminoan testing procedures, every synapse in his body both natural and artificial lit up with pain over and over and for what? To see what wire went where? And no matter how he screamed and pleaded for it to stop they kept going, kept testing, and his throat was so raw that his voice gave out, and still he tried to scream only now no sound came out and the pain was so intense that his mind might tear in two-

Even the memory of it was enough to send hot lances of pain along his ragged, over-worked nerve endings and he convulsed, the involuntary shudder jerking him from the threshold of nightmare and into wakefulness and there was weight, he was restrained, he was still on the table-

The weight, a warm pressure against his body, shifted as he thrashed weakly. Long fingers gripped his upper arm and he tried to cry out, but his throat was so damaged that barely a croak escaped. He kept his eyes shut, afraid of what he might see if he opened them, but then the hand on his arm loosened and a scratchy voice spoke quietly.

"I wouldn't try and move if I were you, Reg.”

He recognised that voice. Now Echo opened his eyes, turning his face towards the voice and meeting the steely gaze of the sniper it belonged to. Crosshair offered him a slow nod, the fine line of his tattoo creasing at the edge of his eye as his mouth twisted in a humourless smile.

“If you keep thrashing about like that they’ll realise you’re awake, and it’ll be back for round two.” Crosshair’s sharp eyes darted towards the ceiling, and Echo followed his gaze to see the security camera that monitored the Batch’s room. He looked back to Crosshair for a moment and nodded his understanding, then took a deep breath and focused his attention on the rest of his body.

Everything hurt – a sharp ache of remembered pain, too fresh to bear looking at closely. But the pressure he had thought a restraint was the weight of tangled limbs folded round his traumatised body. The hand on his arm was Crosshair’s, the sniper resting with his cheek on the top of Wrecker’s shoulder. Wrecker had his chin tucked to his chest, snoring gently in his sleep, his arms still folded round Echo’s waist. On the other side Hunter dozed against the crook of Wrecker’s shoulder, one arm draped over Echo’s folded knees, the other over Tech’s shoulders where the latter had slumped against him in the night. Tech’s body was turned in towards the rest of them, his head on Hunter’s chest and an arm and leg thrown across Wrecker’s lap and Echo’s back.

Echo glanced back at Crosshair, his gaze questioning. The sniper’s narrow face had fallen back to its usual stern lines but Echo still found it a comfort.

Crosshair gave him a small nod, then closed his eyes to feign sleep again.

“Like I said… don’t try and move. You won't know peace like this again for a while. Enjoy it while it lasts."

Echo took another deep breath, feeling pain in his ribs as his chest expanded and wincing slightly. On his upper arm Crosshair’s long fingers tightened reassuringly, and at that simple gesture Echo’s eyes prickled with the tears he hadn’t shed throughout his ordeal – or at any time since they had rescued him.

“Thank you,” he whispered, the words little more than a rasp but he forced them out, heard himself say them aloud despite the pain.

“Don’t mention it, vod.”

Just barely, the corners of Echo’s mouth turned up in a smile. He settled back, laying his head once more on Wrecker’s broad chest and listening to his steady heartbeat, to the gentle breathing of the four clones resting around him. He still trembled a little at the thought of what he might yet have to face at the hands of the Kaminoans; he was sure they weren’t done with him yet. But for now the soothing presence of his new brothers was enough to lull him back to sleep – and this time, the nightmares were kept at bay.

[andy-wm]

The 3D Teaser: the first four seconds.

Some people never read the prologue of a novel. And that's okay.

It's not vital. It often plays no part in the events that will unfold in the book, and you can skip it knowing you will still enjoy the story. But what it does ... is it gives context to the narrative you are about to read. It could (and usually does) change your prespective on the events in the book. It gives you insight.

And that's what the first four secods of this teaser is.

It's the prologue.

This is where it starts...

Jungkook, in white, ascends the stairs.

The fact that the MV opens with this scene means it's important. Not just for the structure of the story, but for impact. For our experience.

Why the stairs?

Firstly, we've seen the use of stairs in BTS narratives so many times... in the intro VCRs for concerts, for photoshoots, for choreo. It’s a recognised part of BTS's visual storytelling.

So this is very significant, taking that same visual cue and using it for one individual, in a way that clearly echoes of so many BTS photoshoots and videos. It ties JK to BTS through this familiar - almost ceremonial - ascension of the stairs - even down to the measured pace of his steps.

The aesthetic is also very familiar. Styling artists in a single colour right down to their shoes is a hallmark of K-Pop - and BTS,

The blue and white palette in the opening scene is very clearly reminiscent of Yet To Come. Even the style of outfit is the same - loose fitting off-white jacket and trousers... and that's no accident. This insert feels like a reminder that he remains part of the group, and that he (and his solo work) is intrinsically linked to BTS.

It ALSO says 'this where I left off... This is my best is yet to come'. It's a link from the past to the present.

This is his story.

Beyond the BTS link, stairs physically transport you... whether ascending or descending, moving towards a destination or moving away, stairs move you in three dimensions.

Clever, right?

Here's the most import part of this four second prologue:

BTS usually descends the stairs coming towards us physically and metaphorically. In this case JK is climbing OUT of the picture. He's moving away, BEYOND the BTS framework and into a different space.

Its not insignificant that we cannot see what's at the top of those stairs. Where do they lead? How far do they go up?

Unknown.

We don't know if he can see what new plane or platform he's going to be on either.

But he's walking confidently and at a measured pace. He's not running recklessly and he's also not tentative. He is (as expected) sure of himself and his direction.

And it may look like he's walking away from us but he can go steadily forward because he knows,

He’s got ARMY right behind him when he says so.

Are you crying yet?

I am.

But it's ok, because there's one more important thing to remember.

Those stairs? They're not going to disappear.

I am absolutely confident that he will be coming back the exact same way he left. Probably with that trademark Jungkook swagger (maybe with a giggle, maybe with a tear or two, maybe with the blisteringly hot reentry of a space shuttle. Who knows.)

What we DO know is that he will be coming back down those stairs before 2025.

All WE can do, is be behind him when he asks us to.

💜

Oh, one last thing... If he smashes that hydrant and the MV turns into a wet tshirt competition again, please send flowers to my husband because I will expire.

(and MY god I NEED those shoes!!!!!)

[notapplicableinformation]

In Defence of Super Paper Mario's Gameplay and Design

Super Paper Mario is commonly referred to as the "Black sheep" of the Paper Mario games, segmenting the original "good" Paper Mario games and the "bad" Paper Mario games. 

The first thing that I thought the first time I picked up Super, without any pretext of the game in advance, is.... that it looked bland, simple and boring.... Though...Upon playing the game...I was met with the most unexpected experience. The simple design of Super Paper Mario drastically juxtaposes the, by proportion to the previous Paper Mario titles, much larger story beneath it. 

The simple gameplay, the simple design, help keep a player in line with the belief that this is a "Mario" game in an original way to how the previous titles do. The previous titles get away with a non conventional Mario type of gameplay because it still attains attributes that you can identify with "Mario". More of the NPCs (At least a lot of them, not all of them obviously) are traditionally Mario, the engagement with the game, regardless of the unique locations, still feel like Mario. 

But with Super...It doesn't really have that. It really feels like one of the developers had a fever dream and was ademant to make it into a game, but then realised last moment that Mario had to be there- The platforming element is something more traditionally Mario, it's one of the few factors of the game able to keep the player able to connect this game with "Mario" and by giving the game its own identity. 

The game being entirely 2D instead of the 3D world with 2D characters also helps to distinguish the game with its own identity, and I feel the geometric digital aesthetic compliments this vastly simplified execution of gameplay. Had Super been an RPG game like its predessecor, while, yes, it would be more in line with the prior titles, I also believe Super would be seen as even more strayed away from what Mario IS as a whole because it doesn't have anything else "Mario" to fall back onto...Also Super wouldn't be its own thing, it would be naturally linked to the originals' identity instead of having a unique one of its own. 

I also see quite a few complaints regarding the geometric design of the characters, especially the NPCs and I would like to provide my opinion on the matter. Mario characters are typically not geometric. They're rounded. Shape theory dictates that this more rounded design leads to more approachable types of character design. Super is filled with practically entirely edged characters, especially the antagonists, these edges activley enhance the characteristics of the antagonists. I've done a more detailed analysis of this topic on an earlier post.

The NPCs being bland and mostly uncharacterised, along with the partners isn't something I particularly see as a problem either, this works in Super's favour. Super is a game about the destination, NOT about the characters you meet along the way. The story is concentrated on a constant focal point that gradually increases development over the course of the game. More attention is focused on keeping the narrative of the game focused on the villains and your heroes. Thousand year door is a game about the adventure, not necessarily about the destination directly (of course the destination is important, but people usually remember the amazing partners and journey MORE than the ending itself, at least I think, if not, I apologise). The main villains are relevant to the story, but Mario going on an adventure is more prioritised by the developers, so naturally a developing party cast and detailed NPCs are more important than an expanding overarching narriative (Not to say TTYD doesn't have a narriative, but just to say it's less prioritised, just like how Super doesn't prioritise NPCs and partners, even though they are still present)

If there is one key complaint of the gameplay that I DO agree with, it would be the bosses. The stakes are demolished when using the infamous Bowser and Carrie combination- It makes some of the serious moments, specifically the finale, far less impactful. If the final boss had a timer and an actual fail screen where you see the ruins of all worlds...Or something to that extent- if you happened to die in that final battle, I feel the stakes would be far higher- 

Another complaint I agree with would be the world design in some areas. It's a bit inconsistent, albeit charming. I'm not particularly a fan of Ch1's rushed transition between the grassland and the desert, nor of Ch5's bleak dryland aesthetic or Ch3's odd transition between the bitlands and Francis' castle. Having the areas be perhaps tied to the colour of the pureheart along with the areas themselves bing quite consistent (Like how Ch8 was all in Castle Bleck, Ch4 was all in Space , Ch2 in Merlee's mansion, as an example) probably would have bettered the design.

Overall, I think the game Super Paper Mario is a very well designed title, along with the rest of the series, though this one in particularly stands out to me. The series has a lot of diversity and appeals to an array of different types of people depending on what they personally value in a video game. I love all of the titles very much, despite how different they all are. Thank you for listening to my extensive discussion. 

[arkon-z]

@red-gekkouga, i'm glad you asked!

Cel-da was the derogatory nickname people gave to Wind Waker when it was revealed back in 2001. Yes, people were upset about the look of the game, but as usual, the real answer is more nuanced than that.

Back in 2001, the N64, the PS2, the Sega Dreamcast, and the original Xbox were the current generation of consoles. 3D graphics and environments were beginning to outgrow their awkward early phase, moving from obvious polygons to properly skinned models. The addition of Microsoft to the gaming world meant that people were taking gaming seriously, and that it wasn't just for kids anymore. Graphics were getting better and stories were getting more mature and darker as gaming fans skewed older. Gaming was growing up.

Then, at Spaceworld 2001, Nintendo releases a tech demo to show off the capabilities of their next console: the Gamecube.

People went nuts. Everyone was certain that this was a preview of the next Zelda game. Keep in mind, the most recent Zelda game at the time was Majora's Mask, a game that still holds the title of 'the darkest Zelda game', due to its sombre and heavy story centered on a world about to end. And the last time Link fought Ganondorf in 3D, it looked like this:

The jump in quality was mind-blowing at the time.

So, here you have a loyal fanbase, now more connected than ever thanks to this new thing called the internet, chattering and theorizing away about how dark and gritty the new Zelda game would be, just like all the other games at the time. War! Bloodshed! Epic battles to the death! Zelda was going to be as dark as the writers imagined it to be, at last!

And then, along comes the first footage of the new Zelda game:

A cel-shaded cartoon for children, completely non-serious, with enemies straight out of Looney Toons. The game's first impression was a let-down. You can hear it in the audience's reaction - normally, they'd be cheering through the whole trailer for a Zelda game, but instead, it's just silence and then polite applause at the end. And after the tech demo showing Link and Ganondorf fighting, it felt insulting. Like, "Here's what we could do, if we wanted, but we not gonna."

The outcry was immediate. Everyone complained that no one was taking the game seriously. Having no title for the game, they called it 'Cel-da' and mocked it relentlessly in forums. They speculated Nintendo was making the game more 'family friendly', as a reaction to rising complaints from concerned parents that video games were too violent. People started online petitions, begging Nintendo to change the graphics to what they were 'supposed' to be; i.e., the tech demo. But, as usual, Nintendo ignored fan complaints and went on to publish the Wind Waker in 2003.

And the joke was on every single of the haters (including me, I admit it), because Wind Waker is awesome. The cel shaded graphics aged like wine compared to other popular games at the time (Halo, GTA 3). By the time it was re-released on WiiU, almost nothing was changed about the graphics.

So, yes, the Cel-da controversy was partially about the graphics, but it was more about the disappointment of mistakenly expecting one thing, but being given another. True to form, Nintendo did what they want, not what was popular. But I think since then, they've at least learned how to present their games better.

[gascon-en-exil]

Now that you've mentioned it, I'm curious how'd you'd rank the Zelda games minigames from best to worst

That would be entirely too many minigames to do individually, especially from memory since I haven't played most of these games in years. I can go by individual title though, ignoring the ones that don't have minigames in the usual sense (the NES games, both Four Swords games, Tri Force Heroes) and also Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom because I never actually played the latter and because my frustrations with both are on a much deeper conceptual level. I do recall BotW having some obnoxious minigames though, involving horses I believe. I'm not counting as well any minigames that offer only minor rewards that don't contribute to 100% completion, because those can be safely ignored.

Rating is out of 10 based on how obnoxious they are, with 1 being perfectly manageable and 10 being so annoying that they actively discourage me from replaying those games.

A Link to the Past - 2/10

The only really notable ones are the treasure chest game and the digging game, both of which are pure RNG and thus can be save-scummed. They're also in the Dark World so you shouldn't be strapped for money when you play them which is nice.

Link's Awakening - 1/10 for the original/DX, 4/10 for the Switch

On the Game Boy (Color) the fishing, crane, and river rapids games are all simple one-and-done affairs if you know what you're doing. The Switch remake however adds a bunch of new mechanics and rewards to all of them which makes them more annoying and time-consuming. There are rare fish to save-scum for, a realistic physics engine to make the crane more finicky, and a rapids race that requires precise maneuvering to get its best stuff. I'm not counting the Chamber Dungeons as a minigame because that's basically a separate mode unto itself...and also because they're usually pretty fun.

Ocarina of Time - 8/10

Not off to a great start for 3D Zelda. The gravedigging "tour" is pure luck, Bombchu bowling is also RNG-reliant, the treasure chest game is only not a nightmare because you can cheese it later on with the Lens of Truth, and the shooting challenges are serviceable at best. It's the fishing hole that truly lands OoT this score though, because it's the perfect storm of awful: partially luck-based, finicky mechanics, and actually physically painful at times on account of how hard and for how long you have to hold the analog stick to reel the big fish in. Oh, and you have to beat it twice, and the second time is harder!

Majora's Mask - 3/10

Surprisingly manageable and even fun in places, like the beaver races and the shooting galleries even if they require perfect scores. The horse and Goron races have issues with rubber band AI, the hitboxes in some of Honey and Darling's games can be stingy, the treasure chest game is (again) mostly RNG...but MM somehow makes all of these not so bad in their own ways, perhaps to compensate for the constant stress of the ticking clock. If I had to pick a worst one it might be the jumping minigame in Great Bay, because it takes a while to reach and the camera is liable to screw you over. The dog race is mostly luck-based, but at least it takes very little time and can be somewhat cheesed with the Mask of Truth. I am absolutely not counting the fishing hole added in the 3DS remake, because it's not required for 100% and because screw fishing in particular.

Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons - 6/10

Sort of unfair lumping them together since Ages has all the really bad ones, but these two have always been a package deal. The baseball game is hard to get down precisely and also has a fair amount of RNG, the seed shooter game also requires some exact shots, and while both have dancing minigames Ages is the only one that takes into account timing. Making all this worse are the Oracle games' randomized ring system...plus a whole lot of randomized other things (Maple, Gasha trees) that aren't exactly minigames but still make these titles really annoying to revisit. Huh...I just noticed that "Gasha" sounds like "gacha"; were gacha games even a thing in 2001, or were Nintendo and Capcom just extremely ahead of the curve?

The Wind Waker - 5/10

Has some real nuisances, like the battleship game (RNG), the Flight Control Platform (precision gliding), and sword training (endurance). Much like my feelings on BotW however, it's not really the minigames that make me dread replaying WW so much as its various other headaches - many of which were addressed in the HD remake, granted, but they're still there.

The Minish Cap - 2/10

Another one where it's not really about the minigames. The only mandatory one I can even recall was catching cuccos, and a lot of that comes down to item progression later in the game. Kinstones are the real pain in MC, but even they're not so tough to find that you have to rely on minigames to get them.

Twilight Princess - 2/10

Same rating as MC, but for very different reasons. For me it's quite similar to MM in that there are a bunch of minigames but most of them are either inoffensive or actively enjoyable, and without the in-game time limit they're less stressful too. Snow sledding, popping balloons, the Clawshot cage games...all pretty fun. The only ones that stick out in my mind as not great are either quickly handled (goat wrangling, sumo wrestling) or are just boring (bombing pots on the river). Note however that this ranking would have been higher if I'd gone solely off my initial impressions from the Wii version. Having played the Gamecube and later HD versions afterward, I can safely say that, as always, motion controls make everything worse.

Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks - 9/10

The touch screen controls are bad enough, but I can distinctly recall both of these games also having some downright awful minigames. Hourglass has fishing and a merciless shooting gallery, Tracks has the whip race and the pirate shooting game, and both have stuff like another WW-style training endurance test and randomized part prizes making everything worse. I have very few good memories of either of these games, honestly; all their good bits get drowned out by the clunky controls and the miserable optional content.

Skyward Sword - 7/10

Again, motion controls suck - but at least the HD remaster fixed most of that, and in both versions a good number of the minigames are optional even by my standards. There are still some extremely bothersome ones here though. Fun Fun Island is very much not, the minecart race isn't the most responsive and the pumpkin shooting game can be very grating until you nail the exact way to (sort of) cheese it. I actually switched this ranking with OoT's as I was writing this, because I remembered how much losing the motion controls redeems the experience of this game. Still by no means a favorite, but at least I want to come back to it sometimes now.

A Link Between Worlds - 5/10 normally, 10/10 if you count the giant cucco

Fittingly, it's LttP but more of it - including more annoyances. There's still the RNG-dependent ones, but there's also now a racing game that requires some fairly precise movements as well as a finicky baseball game. The rupee-gathering games are now more about having a stopwatch on hand, but phones can cover that. The cucco-dodging game is a real pain and bumped the rating up a full point, but note that I am never in my life attempting to survive for 1000 seconds (that's over sixteen and a half minutes!) to get the giant cucco in the end credits. Even completionists have to know where to draw the line.