#or did i get the placement of their tail wrong

[lumdays]

do yall ever think about the fact that beastmen are always sagging their pants to let their tail out

[saruslumber-01]

Quick take on Jiaoqiu’s trailer

As always, I love to take screenshots whenever there’s some images flashing and this time, I did the same thing.

Before I actually talk about the trailer, I want to point out how (to me at least), the theme/ost doesn’t really match him. Or rather, how he appears to be.

(Imo it’s a similar case to jade’s trailer, you’d think she’d have something more… idk tempting in a unsuspecting way, like when you believe you made an amazing deal, only to later meet the terrible consequences.

Well anyway, the thing that I noticed is that both in jade’s trailer [or at least splash art and references/motifs] and in jiaoqiu’s, they hold an apple in their hand. I get why in jade, but in jiaoqiu’s? That very weird to me)

(Here you go, the moment, I’m talking about ^)

What I ACTUALLY wanna talk about that caught my attention, is the eyes we see all over the trailer.

I get it, he always keeps them closed, but from the trailer it seems it was not just a stylistic choice to make him this way, but actual lore behind it. (Ofc I might be wrong since we still know NOTHING about his backstory, and I’ll probably talk more when I’ll read his char stories after his release)

Idk, to me this feels kinda weird to get his eye to pop out like that (and it reminds me of firefly’s trailer). Not only that, but we get a moment where we see a fox spirit (?) made out of fire which is oddly similar to Tail’s ‘true’ form (huohuo ult). AND then from the fox’s eye it smoothly transitions into jiaoqiu’s eye. Coincidence? I don’t think so.

To me, it might foreshadow that the “eye thing” that is going on with jiaoqiu is becase those are not his natural eyes. Rather, they’d ‘changed’ (idk how to explain that) into the golden ones, as if he got possessed by that fox spirit (or maybe I’m just reading into things too much, who knows).

More eyes screenshots (which kinda remind me of sunday AND bring us to my next point)

What I want to talk about is the placement of those eyes.

Please don’t tell me I’m the only one who didn’t think it looked somehow familiar…

Rings a bell now?

I also ‘circled’ the flower she has on her ‘crown’ as it resembled the anise jiaoqiu uses in his skill, and ALSO popped up a few times in the trailer.

I know I might be digging too deep, but I feel there something very eerie and off about jiaoqiu as a character in story, and as a playable character.

I’m sure everyone remember how jiaoqiu’s a cook, a healer, right? Then why on earth is he a nihility unit? I’ve seen sooo many people being confused about it, and I’m sure HoYo wouldn’t mention it that much, unless it was important to the story.

And before anyone goes and says “wdym phantylia got a new victim?” NO. That’s not what I’m talking about. I’m trying to prove that jiaoqiu isn’t probably just some random foxian who knows how to cook (and take care of feixiao). That there’s connections that all come back to the word “possessed”.

Tingyun? Possessed by phantylia (and spexulated to return in later versions)

Huohuo? Got her tail ‘possessed’ (I don’t remember too well, sorry) by Tail, AND in her trailer (which has a lot of flashing images and yin yang in there [I’ve got screenshots for both trailers to prove]) she is possessed by Tail, a heliobus. And what is a heliobus? Some kind of fox spirit! (Or at least I think so…)

What I’m trying to say is that there’s some kind of ‘possession’ when it comes to jiaoqiu.

(And another character that got flashing images and got possessed [outside of jade and huohuo] is sparkle! And don’t you agree that in terms of the overall vibes, their trailers does seem quite similar?)

So uh, yeah! That’s all I wanted to share.

I’ll probably do one more post for just the similarities in the trailers of jiaoqiu, jade, huohuo and maybe sparkle

Thanks for reading my ramblings and getting through to whole thing, I appreciate it a lot!

[shakertwelve]

What did Wretch Victor (The Nemean?) look like?

unfortunately we can't call it the nemean because wildbow used that for the evil victor's titan form in ward and it would get too confusing. on here i've mostly been calling it the beast to match with the wretch, but that's not something victor would be likely to come up with; he doesn't mentally label his identity as different aspects the way vicky does, so i doubt he thinks of himself in his altered state with a different name at all. but i digress.

unlike amy, amelia maintains stores of material to use with her power, so she didn't have to collect random animals and things, she just dunked him in the meat soup they already had around. that provided enough extra material that he ended up the size of like. a large bear probably. he was badly injured enough that they couldn't get him out of his armor before amelia started trying to heal him, so when it started to go wrong his bone armor melted into his body, giving him bone plates and spikes and horns and claws and so on.

the placement of all that stuff wasn't consciously designed any more than the wretch was, just exaggerating and repeating elements associated with strength-force-violence, so it's all uneven and makes him clumsy in some ways; like the way the armor plates came out on his back forces him to hunch over, and the claws are too big for him to use his hands, and so on. mostly compensates for that with all the additional muscle making him really strong and fast, anyway. it doesn't exactly look like a thing that would exist in nature; actual large carnivores don't have giant movie monster teeth that are too big for their mouths, because that's not evolutionarily practical, but he does, and the whole rest of the shape of his face and jaw got restructured to the point where he can't talk, can't close his mouth at all. a few places where extra teeth and claw-hands tried to form in the wrong spot.

the only really lion-like elements are that his hair ended up looking like a mane, and he did end up with a tail, but really you could compare it as much to a bear or a minotaur or various kinds of armored dinosaur. bit of a smiledog thing going on around the face. not actually furry all over, which could soften the effect a bit, just like, enough hair to give the impression of a really mangy dog.

tl;dr looked bad

[riddles-n-games]

Can you write a headcanon about what types of tattoos each character would get? If they would get one…

Ok, but why did that remind me of the Tattoo Roulette game with One Direction on James Corden's late night show? Xander would be Niall, Nash would be Liam, Grayson would be Louis (the sassy mothertrucker) and Jameson would be Harry but much more willing and enthusiastic. Actually, I could see this happening on a very badly drunk edition of Drink or Dare.

Sure, I'll just do our main crew though. Here goes:

Nash-Personally, he really doesn't want one but if Libby asked he would. One of her fun suggestions would be a little cowboy hat on the base of his thumb. He thinks it's cute but for himself, he may just choose a motorcycle or a horse on his forearm. Something in black. Tattooing Libby's name would also be a must for him.

Grayson-This boy would be really against them but the only time he'd get them, very begrudgingly might I add, is if all his brothers wanted to get tattoos or because of a lost bet and he doesn't lose them often. He may get a dagger on his wrist. But, if he wanted something very personal, he would get a meaningful one that reflects a bit of the past and he would get it on his ribs, just to make it hurt, to punish himself for past wrongs like his haiku, the words Never Forget or Nothing Less Than Perfection. Although, for a bet, on a dare, his brothers (read: Jameson) would make him get a smiley face with I AM PERFECTION surrounding it on his abdomen.

Jameson-Wholeheartedly, this one would go all out and for fun probably pick something to go on his ribs even though it's the placement with the worst pain to get one since he has no self-preservation. Probably flames, maybe Ghost Rider. If he was one to already have tattoos, he'd probably have a bunch of stupid ones from like a dare or something. For some reason, one he'd get is a snake coiled around his wrist with the words from the Bible verse: Be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. In honor of Avery, he would get Heiress tattooed over his heart or something funny like Property of A Very Risky Gamble along his collar bone. But his girlfriend's actual suggestion is getting the word EXTRAORDINARY on his finger.

Xander-He'd say he want one without any thought whatsoever about the process he has to go through to get it but then when he gets in the chair, he'd chicken out and pass out. Insert Stiles Stilinski fainting gif here. Although, he actually wants a really cool cartoony classic robot design in color on his arm if he did.

Avery-She's not necessarily fond of the idea but would totally do it for a dare or get one with Jameson. Avery entertains the idea that if she ever did, she might get a key tattooed on the inside of her wrist or a chess piece (we all know which one; the queen). Other ones that feel like a good possibility include getting her mother's name in cursive with little postcards on either side or Hannah, The Same Backward As Forward. One that she would get to commemorate to her relationship with Jamie is Heads or Tails on her ring finger with a small penny on the underside of the finger.

Libby-She'd get one on the back of her neck saying Love Yourself, some fun finger tats that Xander, Max, and Avery helped her pick out and get Nash on her ring finger where the wedding band would go. Also, a cute cupcake with Stress Baker underneath it would be mandatory on her arm or leg. Maybe the top of her shoulder blade. She and Avery would design some sort of special tattoo that they'd get together at some point in the future.

Max-Straight up would get AUSTRALIA with a kangaroo on her foot because she's real like that and also a fanatic for that crazy place (honestly don't understand how she survived). She'd also get a blueberry scone in honor of Xander who couldn't get one for himself because of the fainting incident. Maybe a quote from the Bible from John or a Star Wars quote on her arm.

Hope this is what you were looking for along the lines. I could make a part two in the future. Thanks for the suggestion.

[magicalmysteryperson]

I ask Dalle 3 to draw every single Pokémon in the pokedex and I grade it on accuracy to show that us artists still have hope in not getting replaced, but we still need to keep fighting. (pt 1)

1. Bulbasaur

Understood the assignment. Overall basic idea of bulbasaur has been expressed. Spot placement is loose and generalized. 3/4 of them do not have fangs. Some of their eyes are not the right color. All of them have pupils, which is not a trait found in Bulbasaurs but I'll allow it for the style that they are using. As a cute bulbasaur render, it passes.

Grade: B+ (probably nightshade your bulbasaurs)

2. Ivysaur

Is slowly starting to lose the plot. Most of the time, the ivysaurs generated by the algorithm are either bulbasaurs with buds, ivysaurs with bloomed flowers, or an in-between of ivysaur and venusaur. Flower isn't even the right kind. And some of them become bipedal with tails?? the fudge? And there are too many flowers in the background. The composition is starting to become cluttered.

Upon giving it the bulbapedia description of its physical appearance, it was a little more accurate. However, the leaves are all wrong and it still suffers from too many spots syndrome. One even had really thin pupils.

Grade (without full description): D Grade (with full description): C (you probably don't need to nightshade your ivysaurs, but seeing the next pokemon... yeah you should probably do that.)

3. Venusaur

Horrible. Absolute failure. This is just a bigger bulbasaur with ivysaur's colors and venusaur's plant.

With description is even worse. Nice rendering, but as a representation of Venusaur, it fails spectacularly. Still a bunch of Ivysaurs. With too many spots. And none of those flowers are remotely accurate.

Grade: F (for both of them. Venusaur fans, you are safe. Bulbasaur and Ivysaur fans, though? Nightshade them to hell and back.)

4. Charmander

Proportionally it needs to a be a little thinner, but other than that? Very scarily accurate, random Pokémon gobbledygook not withstanding.

Grade: A (nightshade your charmanders)

5. Charmeleon

Asked for Charmeleon, ended up with some bulbasaur/charmander/charizard fusions. Which is nice, but its not what I asked for. Failed automatically.

Is better with the physical description, but it still has some issues. It's not the right color of red, some of them are quadrupeds, and there are dark greyish brown spots which the description did not have. The cream scales also extend to its mouth, which is also not what the original charmeleon had. Points for originality (well, as original as an algorithm that scrapes images can get), but this is still not going to get a high grade.

Also nice crab claw flame.

Grade (without description): F

Grade (with description): C-

6. Charizard

Also understood the assignment. Aside from the flaming tail and some wing bone coloring issues, this is a really accurate representation of a Charizard. It sometimes fails in the proportion department, but 9 times out of 10 it poops out a charizard that doesn't look janky. Though considering that Charizard is one of those really big Pokémons, of course its going to get that right.

Grade: A+ (Nightshade your charizards)

7. Squirtle

If it wasn't for the machine's struggle with the tail, we would have another A+ on our hands. Which is a scary thing to think about.

Grade: A (Nightshade your squirtles)

8. Wartortle

The one time it actually got Squirtle's tail right, and it was in the section where the AI struggles to generate a Wartortle with only its name to go by. Just a bunch of bigger squirtles that sometimes go quadrupedal and have blastoise ears.

With description is slightly better, but it still fails. All of them are quads, some of them have blastoise mouth, and one even has a mane. The tail isn't accurate either, but then again the cohost designer has a character limit. Even without a character limit, I'm still gonna grade it negatively. Especially since it has ignored the bipedal part of the description.

Grade (without description): F (seriously. nightshade your squirtles.)

Grade (with description): D

9. Blastoise

Appears to understand the assignment, but it only understands the overall body plan. We got tangents and multiple guns galore. And Blastoise.... holding guns?? The fu-?

Also, Dalle 3 does not know how to pixel art. Pixel artists, you have been spared.

With description, it fairs a little bit better... from a distance. 3/4 of the blastoises have malformed hands, the white shell outlines do not wrap around the arms like a backpack, (which some of the gun toting blastoises actually got right!) and one of the images' ears are too big.

Grade (without description): C-

Grade (with description): B- (Best to nightshade your Squirtles and Blastoises)

[drunkkenobi]

Ghost Files Opening Weekend

Not a traditional spreadsheet update here, but just wanted to report on Ghost Files opening weekend. it was a doozy, y’all.

As of 10:15am (eastern time) on Monday September 26, the first episode of Ghost Files has 1.693 million views and counting. This is heads and tails faster than any other Watcher video has hit a million views by a mile. (around 10-12 days is what I think the record before is, from the first season of TMS) Ghost Files did it in 29 hours, almost exactly to the dot.

GF was getting so many views so quickly on Friday that it was stuck at 1.7k views for awhile, which is something that apparently only happens when a video is so popular so quickly that YouTube takes awhile to update the numbers. I did not know this was a thing and I have been tracking BFU and Watcher videos for 3+ years.

To put the GF opening numbers into perspective, the average opening weekend numbers for the last two seasons of BFU (final true crime and SPN) average out to ~1.76 million and I recorded all of those on the Tuesday after they aired, not the Monday. (I’ll definitely be checking the counts tomorrow as well to compare more accurately)

Ghost Files also trended at #2 for most of Saturday. Watcher videos have trended before, but I’m not sure anything has ever trended that high (I try to keep track of what trends opening weekend but I don’t always record the placement, so please correct me if I’m wrong!) BFU trended a good deal of the time on opening weekends, so GF is following in its footsteps.

I’m so excited for Ryan and the whole Watcher team, you can tell so much time and care was put into this series and it’s so wonderful to see the well-earned success. I’m also very excited to see how the rest of the season goes and the Debriefs! I never tracked the Post-Mortems so I won’t be able to compare them as easily, but still very interested to see how they stack up!

[polarpace]

#10 - antpelt

WOOOO IT'S DESIGN TEN!!! this is a big milestone for me, as my goal was to get to this number before the end of the year :D

i haven't been able to draw at all for about a week, so i decided to start small and warm back up with a simpler design.

before i start talking about my thought process with antpelt here though, i need to go on a little tangent for a second!

i decided to take a look at all of my warriors designs side-by-side recently, because i was afraid that their silhouettes weren't distinct enough from each other - something probably not helped by the fact that four of the nine cats i had completed at the time are related. seeing them together quickly proved this wrong, but it made me realize other problems with my previous designs (which were confirmed by friends who i brought this up to for extra critique):

not enough variety in facial structure (including muzzle, nose, eyes, and ear placement)

not enough variety in body structure, particularly along the back and rear

so, going back into designing warrior cats, i wanted to try to immediately address those two issues. which, again, starting off with a simpler design gave me the best angle to approach that from.

i based antpelt here off of a cornish rex, a breed that has wackier proportions than the Generic Cats that i usually use as reference. they seem to usually hold themselves in a very different way, with the arch of their backs being super emphasized. plus their butts are just. very flat LOL which is a big change from how i normally seem to draw them.

their faces are also extremely triangular, which i did my best to emphasize in this design. i sort of tried to make bristlefrost and flipclaw's facial structure similar to this back when i did those designs, but i feel that it doesn't come across as well in retrospect.

i wanted to include a bit of ant influence into his design too, which i put into his ears, curved fangs, and tail. his natural stance is to curl his tail inwards, which is my attempt to have it resemble the abdomen of an ant.

ALSO ALSO this is my first time drawing a cat with a spirit alt, specifically for the place of no stars! i'm not sure if i want to commit to doing this with EVERY cat - especially since i'd need to go back and add it to a few - but with this simpler design it felt less intimidating. his hackles are raised when dead because he's ready to FIGHT.

i'm definitely not the first person to portray it in this way, but my headcanon is that the dying wound of a cat that goes to the place of no stars appears as an empty, gaping hole that sometimes seems to shift... deaths that are more vague, should i draw cats who fit that descriptor, will manifest a bit differently.

thank you for reading this block of text if you did. as a reward, here's a WIP where i turned off his eyebrows layer.

[samobservessonic]

“This story takes place before the current events in the Sonic story!” …Yeah, because we all know that Shortfuse would want to fight the Floating Island itself if he saw how powerful it was

It’s kind of funny that it looks like this fight will start because Shortfuse was whimsically chasing a badnik through the sky to destroy it and Knuckles doesn’t like people on his lawn

This is both the least-calm Knuckles has been in StC so far, but also entirely in-character for game Knuckles, as he jumps to the conclusion that Shortfuse is an enemy without accepting his explanation. As we’ve seen with Tails, StC was just quite good at accidentally(?) predicting things that would become common expectations of these characters in the later games, but weren’t as strongly established at the time. I’m jumping the gun here, but they also correctly predict Charmy’s personality in Sonic Heroes a lot better than the Archie comics of the time did

However, Knuckles is up against the one person in this comic who has an even shorter temper than he does

I couldn’t really crop this page because of how the panels are split up (sometimes, cool-looking panel placement means that some person trying to blog about your comic in bite-sized chunks decades later won’t be able to break it down easily lol), but you get the picture. For all his short temper, this is only a 5 page backup story, so Shortfuse quickly decides that duking it out with Knuckles isn’t worth it, since he can just fly away

However, he’s also a good person, so seeing Knuckles about to get attacked by some real badniks has him coming back

Time to admit you were wrong and say sorry

To be fair on Knuckles, he does apologise more readily than most people in online discourse would do

The two part ways on good terms, but Knuckles muses that if Robotnik finds a way to control Shortfuse, then he could become “The deadliest force on Mobius”. It’s okay Knuckles, just drive the Floating Island after him and fire those energy beams if you need to

This was a great oneshot to scratch the itch of having two powerhouses fight each other. I do begrudgingly admit that it has a bit of that “Here’s my new character and he’s super cool and powerful and respected by the established characters” vibe to it, but I think that Shortfuse is a genuinely good character, so he pulls it off better than I’ve seen others do in the past

Also, this is the only credit of artist John Moore in StC. The art style has that very classic British comic kinda feel to it, like something out of the Beano or Dandy, so I wonder if he’s worked on those in the past and was brought onto StC for this oneshot, but I’m not knowledgeable enough in classic British comics to say

[ms-m-astrologer]

2023 Pisces New Moon

Monday, February 20, 07:06 UT, 1°22’ Pisces Chart erected for Washington, DC

This chart has been puzzling me for a while: except for the separating, out-of-sign conjunction to Saturn/Aquarius, the lunation makes no major aspects. Maybe I just needed to get closer to it, time-wise….

One thing that no major aspects means, is that the New Moon is relatively unaffected by anything else - it’s free to “do its thing” so to speak, to operate in a pure and unaffected way. We can indulge in some Piscean visualization, or practice “going with the flow,” all we want to. Maybe the lunation makes a close aspect to something in your chart, and you can try to express that natal placement in a more ethereal way?

The conjunction - part of me wants to say it isn’t important because (1) it’s out of sign (which weakens it) and (2) it’s separating. But another part of me would like to remind myself that Saturn is not only on the verge of entering Pisces (March 7), but will be at the New Moon’s degree on March 19. (Not to mention October 2 and December 5, due to retrogradation.) There are going to be further possible tests, limits, and repercussions for the whole rest of the year.

One thing I anticipate with Saturn’s sojourn in Pisces is an increase of guilty feelings - justified or not. So perhaps a wise approach to this Pisces New Moon would attempt to address this. Where does 1°22’ Pisces fall in your birth chart? If it’s in your natal 4th House, you could have some guilt centered around family or home. (Perhaps, like Ms M, you are a piss-poor housekeeper.) In the natal 9th House, there may be legal or moral or cultural guilt.

My current “leisure” reading is the D. L. Sayers translation of Dante’s Comedia (it’s my favorite book). I’m slogging through “Purgatorio” at the moment (aren’t we all). Sayers pointed out that there is a three-step process to purging the sin:

Confession: you have to admit that you did something wrong;

Contrition: you have both to be sorry, and to say you’re sorry;

Penance: we have to make up for it. (And if we’re genuinely sorry, we will want to do this.)

All of that is absolutely catnip to Saturn/Pisces. We need to think about why we may have messed up, too - perhaps Ms M, who was a smart girl in the 1960s, was anxious not to end up as “just a housewife” - and, well, make that attitude grow up a little. (Also a Saturn thing). Since the lunation is exactly trine Ms M’s natal Neptune, actual prayer can help her through this.

Another interesting thing about the chart is that no fewer than three planets are in the final degrees of their signs: Venus is at the tail end of Pisces (and in fact will ingress into Aries 50 minutes after the lunation), Saturn of course is at the end of Aquarius, and Pluto is at 29+ Capricorn. It’s going to be a very different vibe, very soon. We can at minimum use Pisces skills to begin to make our way into it.

[docholligay]

House in Fata Morgana: Door Three --1869

I have never reviewed a visual novel before, but iscahwynn made me a very generous offer and a long line of patience, knowing that we are trying something very new. To that end: Please don’t spoil me for the game at all! If you are reading this, I have only gotten through the part written above, and I don’t want to be corrected, even if I’m wrong, even if I’ve missed something, i don’t want to have anything confirmed or denied, and I don’t need any trigger warnings or extraneous explanation. Iscah would like my pure, naive experience of the game. Thank you!

Non-spoilery: This is not so much a horror story as it is a revenge story, and one I think I really would have enjoyed if not for the fact that it purports to take place in 1869 in the Eastern United States, which unfortunately is a time period and place about which I am pretty knowledgable. It actually doesn’t want to take place in 1869--the political-social aspects of mob culture and building America are better suited for a placement in the 1890s at earliest, and really better placed in the 1910s-1920s. It gets married to both its 1600-1700-1800 progression and its desire to involve the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad, and this ends up hurting the frame for what is actually an enjoyable story about the long tail of revenge and what we are born to do. 

Spoilers below: 

BOY, do I wish this hadn’t taken place in the time period it says it takes place in. Other than the Transcontinental Railroad, this story really does not want to take place in 1869. The music used, the cultural upheaval of wealthy immigrants becoming a part of high society, the establishment of the Sicilian mob in the US, the hairstyles used, the slang used, the social class as a function of marriage, all of this actually wants the story to take place at least thirty years later. For most people, this is going to be fine, but I found it so distracting that it made this door not particularly fun for me to play. It wasn’t even “this isn’t accurate” it was “If you just moved your year, this would be so in the wheelhouse that the inaccuracies would be small” instead of the constant buzzing glare of it. I am trying not to bore everyone with this but the first pizzeria in the entire US did not open until the 1900s. The first recorded use of “the willies” was in 1896. I assume the perfume being referenced is Guerlain Jicky, known for being one of the first prominent vanilla base perfumes, and that was released in 1889. I am dying here. 

Okay, Doc, we get it, you didn’t care for the time period it was set in but let’s talk about the story. 

I actually loved the idea that Maria had been sitting around waiting for her moment for years, and the fact that Jacopo believed that their bond overrode any anger she would have over being essentially dethroned and her family murdered. I wanted to yell so much at Jacopo and his father because I feel as if this could have been very easily avoided by making Maria “our beloved sister” or something, and having her legitimately help Jacopo in his quest to establish the family in the US. I’m pretty sure there’s actually precedent for this in history, as it gives Maria a lot less reason to upset the apple cart, because she’s still benefitting by it. If I were Maria, I also would be endlessly enraged that I was serving as a maid to the boy I grew up with because his family murdered mine. I would be a little sore about that. What she does doesn’t surprise me, and as soon as I found out she had grown up with him and their families had been at war, I figured out that was going to be the story of it. 

Jacopo is an interesting character because he’s trying so hard to be a strong hand at things that he ends up absolutely screwing himself over. He doesn’t know how to be genuine to himself because he has no idea who that man is, so he’s playacting at being this big tough capofamiglia guy, and eventually he has to buy into that himself, leaving him unable to make meaningful connections with anyone. It’s so interesting taken next to the last door, because door 2 was so literally violent and its consequences so obvious, but door three is such a sense of personal violence, and so drawn in. Of course he doesn’t kill the White Haired Girl, because that would be action and decision on anything personal. Of course he doesn’t speak to her. His violence is one of inaction, and it costs terribly at the end of the day. I found this so human, to be so weak in such personal ways. 

I really did love the very end where it shows Maria and Jacopo in their little hideaway and they briefly talk about running away and getting a job elsewhere together, and getting away from all this, and you see how if they had just been brave enough to do that, if they had been brave enough to go against the thing that they had been told they were born for, they might have made it out. They might have found something different and better. I don’t agree with the way the game says its in their blood, because I don’t believe in that sort of thing, but I do believe we can get lockedinto things we think must be true about ourselves, and so we are the ones who pen our tragedies with our own hand. 

By the way, Costa Nosta isn’t “Our house” game, it’s “Our thing” if you are going to directly reference the Italian-American mob please hit up google. 

It must be said that I am getting a little tired of the White Haired Girl’s shit. I don’t do “Pathetic sad downtrodden character :(“ very well, it’s something i don’t connect with, and in the same way that I think jacopo needs to open up, she needs to step the fuck up in at least one of these goddamn timelines and stop being a doormat if she doesn’t want to be one. 

Calling it Pig Iron Manor was interesting to me because pig iron is a crude iron that’s very brittle and not really useable for much. I don’t know if that’s meant to be a commentary on Jacopo himself or if they just thought it sounded cool, but I could see it working for Jacopo even if I don’t strictly speaking agree. 

Don’t answer this--so why WAS all the latin about the witch in maria’s handwriting? I never did figure that out for myself, and it felt like a really strange inclusion into a story that 100% worked without any mention of the witch or the portrait.

[bengiyo]

Never Let Me Go Ep 10 Stray Thoughts

Last week, our time on the beach came to an abrupt and painful end as Mam lost her life trying to protect her son. Neungdiao spent one final evening with Palm before drugging him and leaving him alone. Meanwhile, Ben learned about Chopper's dad's violence, and gave Chopper an ultimatum.

Ah, we're seeing more of that night. I do love when shows do this. It feels far more bittersweet.

Oh, Neungdiao. It's so sad that the only way he thinks he can cherish someone is to keep them as far away from him as possible.

How big is this tub?? These are not small boys. I just know hair and makeup is so nervous that water will touch their heads.

I like the harsh cut to Neungdiao alone within the same audio track. Connects the two scenes and turns up the melancholy by letting us know Neungdiao was reminiscing.

Of course we can't skimp on the product placement. Can't go to war if you ain't cute. Make sure you moisturize that face.

Episode Title: Me

Oh good. Neungdiao can do a proper Windsor knot.

Oh but Neungdiao's guards look sloppy. WTF, guys?

Back in this office, and Kit has planted his ass firmly on the throne he thinks should be his.

I love how the conversations in this office get uglier and less veiled as the show goes on. Nuengdiao has a temper, and it is being tightly controlled here.

I was hoping we'd get a scene where Nuengdiao went to check on his mother's condition. He can't leave her unprotected now that he's declared war on his uncle and Phuwin is pretty good at these kinds of somber scenes.

112/67 is pretty good for blood pressure.

Of course he goes to Palm's room at night. He's made the lonely choice, but he's a man that yearns.

Oh, I'm loving these memories of their time on the island. I also like that Nuengdiao is a nerd in his own memories as he regales Palm in details about a study he read. Info dumping as flirtation is underutilized.

I like how Palm flirts back with Nuengdiao by using the knowledge he just gave him.

Oh, Nuengdiao. What will you do with the bed and clothes no longer smell like him?

Poor, Chopper. You may have an incredible actor playing you, but Nuengdiao isn't wrong to mistrust you.

They use Pawin's height and Phuwin's stature really well in this pool scene. Nuengdiao is feeling himself how, so he towers over Phum.

Nuengdiao being honest with his subordinates about his limitations, and encouraging them to share their ideas, is a nice scene. Helps us understand the extent of his ego.

Okay, so Woo paid them and that's how we got the phone. I'm glad that got cleared up.

For once, I like that the suit seems slightly off.

"I want to give my boyfriend a ride, too." 🥴

The driver has been waiting five minutes for this face journey to end.

Uh oh, Ben is death flagging on this redemption signalling. He is right though, Nuengdiao is harsh.

Chopper is going to end up killing his dad to protect Ben and Nuengdiao.

Finally, we're trying to help Chanon.

You just knew Palm wouldn't stay away. But also, where are Nuengdiao's current guards and how did Palm get past them?

I love Phuwin; you can feel the ache coming off of him in Palm's presence.

So these other bodyguards didn't notice Palm tailing Nuengdiao for two weeks? Fired.

Oh, gay boys and their moms.

Palm pulled out that bracelet and was like, "Don't make me tell you twice."

Ugh, I just knew someone was spying. Seriously, these new guards are so bad.

I just don't see Palm turning on Nuengdiao, so I'm excited to see how that threat unfolds in the next episode.

[mlobsters]

supernatural s10e19 the werther project (w. robert berens)

tw suicide (much later in the ep)

so as i watch the tail end of e18 again, i didn't have the energy to mention yesterday but we're just taking it as fact that the Mark is a curse? because rowena told crowley that, who in turn told dean? when we know that rowena is tricksy and aware of crowley's apparent weakness for dean, and that she's a witch that surely would also like to get ownership of the biggest baddest grimoire in town

maybe we should stop and think for a minute, i know deteriorating-brother makes all higher brain functions come to a screeching halt but hang on a tick

is this another hunter origin story situation? was that the men of letters logo thing, must be. i had to go and mention my wondering about stuff smoking in and out, now we've got some yellow smoke business

laughing at this goofy phone text interface screen. dean going alone to kill a vampire nest seems unwise on many levels. feeding the marky mark bloodlust, being dangerous for one person, etc

had to use that as the title image, sam's "you couldn't have waited??"

LOL amazing. no notes

DEAN But I did. It’s done. Come on, man. It’s the only way I can take the edge off. I’m sorry. I don’t always like to wait around for you, especially with you looking at me like that all the time. SAM Look at you like what? DEAN Like that. Like I’m some sort of a-a-a diseased killer puppy

if it walks like a duck.....

DEAN You know what, man? I’m sweaty and I’m covered in vamp juice. Can we just talk about this later? I’d like to get back to the bunker, get my buzz on, and, uh, you know, pass out watching “Speed 2 – Cruise Control.” We cool?

i like how dean smacks him in the chest so hard (for no reason) that sam grunts and winces. WE'RE COOL, DEAN, YOU'RE CLEARLY HAVIN A NORMAL ONE

(nevermind me not telling you about cas and metatron, or not destroying the book, or working with rowena to decrypt the book, or......)

maybe smack him again, dean. harder

DEAN WE HAVE TALKED ABOUT THIS. at least get out of your jeans and get under the covers. like, you showered and changed into more jeans with the plan to fall asleep watching a movie? not okay, my dude. you wore sweats in the last episode, i know you have them!

feelin guilty enough to say something yet, sam???? (course not, go sneak off to do sneaky research with your cute sidebangs)

eyes glazing over at olden times men of letters story, as ever

this bad boy visionary with his killer box reminds me of the dude that was collecting shit that had the.... first blade? whoever the fuck that was. was it a different dude? ugh. lol. same dude.

HEY that's the episode with the other microsoft surface product placement that i was fucking looking for the other night

genuinely got a little scared for sam there for a second. that very relatable feeling of getting caught doing something (even if it wasn't wrong what you were doing) with someone who is unpredictable and maybe violent; which i unfortunately also have firsthand experience with. they played that kind of sinister music, dean's acting more demonic, etc.

DEAN Well it looks like I, uh, I’m here to save your sack. Look, you were right, okay? I shouldn’t have gone off solo like I did. It was stupid. SAM And? DEAN And selfish. It was a douche move. If you’re doing this case by yourself to teach me a lesson, you don’t have to, okay?

don't like that kind of music fakeout but am appreciating they're having him be very not-demonic straight away to reassure my frazzled nerves

SAM We’re Men of Letters. It’s our legacy.

snorted. so cheesy and i don't think dean or i give two shits for that excuse. but also! very bad sam for continuing to lie. *fetching the squirt bottle*

this lady's voice sounds familiar

OH MY GOD. haha she was in the episode of star trek the next generation where they're on this planet where everyone is all half naked and dtf and happy and then wesley crashes into a garden or whatever playing future-space-football or something and it's a transgression punishable by death!!!

LOLOL the "aliens" outfits are I C O N I C and she's one of them! also iconic wig

star trek: the next generation s1e7 justice - brenda bakke as rivan

SUZIE Uh, tall, white fella. DEAN Uh, huh. SUZIE Pretty hair.

i think the hair teasing is usually overblown because it's like oo hair that's longer than 4in, it's girly! but this haircut and styling in the back is very feminine bob and it does not mesh with how it looks in the front or his general vibe

no idea what's going on. but if they're hallucinating their extra bad feelings, dean's are purgatory? not say, 40 years in hell? -_- wanted to bring back a purgatory actor and not a hell one? :p have to create something for hell and we can just dick with the coloring in the woods and be in purgatory? it is very pretty though and i like this shot, it's pretty creative

SUZIE Lot of good “sorry” does me. Look at me. Look….at….me. [She points to her corpse.] There she is. The first casualty of your misguided mission. But what’s another human life to you? Anything’s worth it, as long as you two make it out alive. And how’s that search going? Any closer to a cure? SAM This isn’t real. You’re not real. SUZIE You think Dean’s the wild card, the loose cannon. But don’t you see? Making deals with witches, opening Pandora’s box down there? You’re the reckless one. You’ll do anything to keep clinging to that doomed brother of yours. How many more will die, Sammy?

this should hurt. it's very cutting, his brain yelling at him through this hallucination. but there's just too much shit happening and you need more of a setup than this, in my opinion, to get those feelings to really land

dang benny, lookin good! i like the hair and swagger

so tiny and her wiggly dance, could just stick her in your pocket

twist her arm

okay see. these have the chance of landing and cutting deep. we have a connection to benny, we know dean and benny's connection is strong (within the bounds of a not-sam relationship). we can hear his deep down fears through benny's voice and get caught in them just like dean might

BENNY “Need” and “Want” are just two different things, ain’t they? It’s all a figment, right? You, me, left right. But no matter which way you turn, you keep ending up here. You gotta wonder—why this figment? Why this place?

(why me?)

DEAN What are you saying? BENNY Nothing you don’t already know. This is where you wanna be – you’re happy place. And you don’t really wanna leave.

with your sam-replacement

SAM The blood of our own. Men of Letters blood. Legacy blood. My blood.

snort #2

damnit. this episode should have come with a big fucking suicide warning placard at the beginning. i have a close personal loss to suicide and dean's self destructive bordering suicidal history is always hard but this straight up not only discussing his desire to have sam and cas kill him but leading him to the conclusion that it would truly be better to kill himself, and knowing this is exactly the kind of thing he would believe is way too much for me and i'm gonna skim the rest and end this here.

editing, for my own reference, lines at the end.

DEAN That says something, doesn’t it? Werther splits us up in there. Within an hour, we’re both on the brink of death. Sorry about yesterday, going rogue on you like that. SAM You know what, Dean? Don’t apologize. I… I think that makes us even. DEAN The universe is trying to tell us something we both should already know. We’re stronger together than apart.

[marinaiguess]

just finished watching sonic prime so why not share my thoughts on it? before i start rambling, i suggest you go watch it on netflix, it definitely deserves a watch.

now

Technicalities first (if i can call them that). So, judging as a viewer and not as a sophisticated critic who has read cinemtaography books, I’d say the show’s direction overall is pretty good. It’s nothing special but it’s pleasing and keeps you interested. The direction, the angles, the camera changes regarding placement and focus are well coordinated with the writing and each emotion each scene tries to convey. So, really, nothing new (i wasnt expecting a sonic show to make groundbreaking ways of storytelling through cinematography), but I believe it is worth mentioning because it plays a huge role on how one views the show. And there were many moments where I realized that a certain angle made the scene look more tense for example.

Animation! I think we all liked the bouncy styled animation, contrasting the hugely popular disney/pixar styled animation (which is good, dont get me wrong, but the animation tecnhique used in prime fits sonic a lot more imo). Also, the facial expressions are part of what made the show so great and enjoyable and I love how much emphasis they put on them, literally perfect. The details in animation, like the animalistic behaviours of sonic and co. and how they were depicted (ears twitching for example) are all very important and im glad they were implemented. And, I know a lot of us are focused on the facial expressions but we shouldnt forget abt the background as well. There definitely was attention to detail, details that were everywhere and completed the overall image of the show.

Music! the music is good what do you expect me to say like, oh that major g in the pirate scene made the scene look more tense but if it was a minor f it would make it a bit more sad and thus more fitting- no. the music was good. not surprised and props to everyone who worked on the music but i just dont think theres anything to add LOL.

Voice acting! Voice directing-wise? Really REALLY good, i wasnt expecting great performances but i was proved wrong and im happy about that. Now, for the main cast seperately? Devon has done an EXCELLENT job with his lines. His sonic voice is a combination of Roger Craig Smith and Ben Schwartz i believe but it’s also unique and very fitting for sonic, despite me not liking it at first. Brian as Eggman is meh for me, very good voice acting skills but i didnt like it that much. Ashleigh as Tails fit surprisingly well and idk why. Kazumi for rouge was a really good one, bringing rouge back to her sa2/heroes era and not the overly sexy and seducing voice she has in the games (i know its abt voice direction as well but yeah). big is meh, i dont like it. knuckles is pretty good tbh. and now, shadow the hedgehog. yes. ian did an excellent job voicing shadow and i LOVE LOVE LOVE his voice in prime, makes he’d sound like that in the games as well. i’ll stop now or i’ll start fangirling. 

Characters! I like the characters and sonic’s crew. the way the show’s written so far though has made me care about the post-apocalypse characters more than the other shatterverses. like, i like them all, yeah, but i care more about nine and knucks and rebel. maybe that was the point. also,HHHH WHY NOT BLAZE? why not silver? hoping to see them soon but PIRATE WORLD? there was a purple cat and a brown raccoon there but it wasnt blaze and marine. lost opportunity. (and rouge should have been the captain in the pirate one fr fr)

And finally, writing. I’ve seen a lot of opinions these days. Here’s mine. Good characterisation. Yes, it might surprise you but the characterisation is actually good. for every character. including sonic. maybe in a different post i could talk about every character but for now, i wanna talk abt sonic. bouncy, energetic, talkative, honest, lively, adhd coded, cheesy sometimes, reckless, extroverted who wants to work on his own from time to time. this is actually sonic. someone who loves his friends but doesnt listen to them cuz he has no patience. someone who conveys his emotions with actions and puts words aside. someone who likes to lay back once in a while, but not when the whole world is broken to pieces. someone who wants to save everyone, puts everyone above him and his needs. someone who cant stop talking, making witty remarks and jokes despite the given situation cuz he never gives up and is always hopeful and optimistic. frontiers gave us a different view of sonic’s character but it’s a very different situation as well. yet, if you carefully compare the two, you’d see how much things they have in common and how prime! sonic is very well written. 

overall writing is okay. characterisation is very good, interactions between characters are very good but some could have been better(some moments were too short for my liking), easter eggs, there are many and are greatly appreciated, many details, the recap of the prev episodes was really funny and clever but I feel like we were deprived of some great opportunities. like, eggman nega with eggman instead of the chaos council. thats just an example. and im not too salty abt it cuz it’s mainly a kids show and it shows. im glad that its enjoyable for adults like me as well though.

thats all folks. no one asked for this but youre getting it anyway.

[cutebiscuitcosplay]

Allura, Part 5

I got a lot done today!

After changing plans for the skirt, I decided I would go ahead and get the bodice finished. This started with basting the lining and outer together along the zip seam to hold everything in place, and give me a marker for where to fold later:

Next up was the strip of dark blue that runs down this seam. For this I cut two strips from my jersey that were 1.75” wide, and longer than the seam. I have almost certainly gone about attaching them wrong, but it worked for me and this fabric.

Knowing that I wanted to turn them under 1/4”, and have 1/2” visible, I pinned the strip to my bodice so the edge was 1/4” from my basting line:

I then stitched this together, keeping 1/2” from my baste, and folded it into place

To minimise the stitch lines visible on the front, I then installed the zip. I have once again gone for a hidden zip (and once again failed to document most of this process).

First was ironing the zip open, then figuring out the placement on the bodice. Once I had that figured out, I went ahead and sewed it on, trying (and not doing well) to keep slightly to the underside of my fold line:

As my zip was longer than I needed, I cut off the excess and sewed a stopper over the zip teeth, so I wouldn’t lose the zip accidentally:

I did things in a slightly incorrect order though (as I realised later). To finish the zip, you want to fold those tails into a triangle over the end of the zip, and then sew the stopper over that as I have here:

Then it’s on to finishing this seam, and moving on to the waist!

[cloudellesims]

Is your Serena sim based off Lucy from Fairy Tail? Is the pink guild mark part of you WIP tattoo set?

hii!! she's not but i was thinking about her when making her tattoos! she has a few other references thrown in there too; on her right shoulder she has the crown birthmark from princess and the pauper and on her left wrist she has a one piece reference of nico robin's devil fruit power :> she did have 2 tats of sunny and merry but i removed them because i didn't love the placement

she is though kinda based off of sailor moon since the hair i used for her originally gave me usagi vibes with the twin bun style and bangs, hence the same "Serena" after the american dub where they changed her name !

if i do ever get around to finishing her tattoos and posting them i wouldn't include the guild mark purely because i didn't make it! i used this one as a base! it's facing the wrong way though, so if you download it you'll need to edit it in photoshop if it bothers you like it did me😭 i can make a new tattoo for her guild mark though if you're interested? it shouldn't be too hard tbh i was just lazy and used another one

[girlmetalsonic]

this is probably the bitchiest and most nitpickey thing i will ever post but

(art is from the idw issue 27 B cover, very good art please check it out and other stuff by jonathan gray, all of his work is VERY cool looking. my extreme focus on a minor detail should not reflect badly on the art lol)

i disagree on a fundamental level with almost every single leaderboard placement in this image.

the rest of this is under the cut bc im going to ramble for so long here. also, i need to put a disclaimer im not actually that mad i just dont think the placements make sense.

im aware that this is the "i dont like that sonics arms are blue, i hate sonics new shoes" kind of crazed sonic fan ramblings. but i do not care. this is like a he would not fucking say that situation to me. except its a they would not fucking place that if they all played video games situation.

SHADOW. DOES NOT KNOW WHAT A VIDEO GAME IS. YOU CANNOT LOOK ME IN THE EYE AND TELL ME SOMEBODY FROM THE 50S WOULD GET THIRD PLACE.

ROUGE, (not pictured,) IS LITERALLY CHEATING. SHE IS CHEATING! SHES USING CHEAT CODES!! SHE GETS SEVENTH?? WHILE CHEATING???

KNUCKLES. IS 1. WEARING BOXING GLOVES. AND 2. ALSO HAS LIKELY NEVER PLAYED A VIDEO GAME! HE GREW UP ON A REMOTE ISLAND! THEY DID NOT BRING HIM FORTNITE! you can make the argument that he has since played video games after becoming friends with sonic. but fifth place? he played his first video game at age 16 and youre telling me he beat amy? and tangle? and rouge who, im still not over this, IS CHEATING??

but i digress. im going to give my own ideal placements and reasoning for all of them.

Big

Tails

Rouge

Tangle

Sonic

Amy

Cream

Shadow

Knuckles

Jet

OK; my reasoning for each of these is as follows.

Big is funny and it would be funny if he beat everybody else, its unexpected. its a good joke.

Tails is tech-savvy, i wouldnt be surprised if he knew a few glitches and some speedrun tech. he also likely has good control and experience with playing.

Rouge is literally cheating. the only reason she isnt first is because i think she doesnt play video games that often so she is at a disadvantage on pure technical skill, and also she is sitting upside down (not pictured)

Tangle just seems like a gamer to me. She is a normal person who plays video games in her free time and so she knows how to play fairly well.

Sonic, by all means, SHOULD be in sixth, however i cannot in my mind separate sonic from being a gamer. i know he likely barely plays because he spends his time outdoors and travelling, but sonic being in sixth is so viscerally wrong to me that i had to put him in fifth. its the highest i could justify.

Amy, by all means, SHOULD be in fifth, however, in the image she is raging (not pictured) so i feel that she would be playing worse than usual. shes a normal person who i can see playing video games sometimes.

Cream is a normal kid who i think plays video games fairly often. her mom probably has screen time limits or something but cream is playing minecraft when she can. she is only this low because she is six years old. gemerl is giving her strategy tips. she would be much higher if she had fully developed fine motor skills.

Shadow and Knuckles i can really see being flipped, however, i just see Shadow being a teensy bit higher. While i think shadow knows less about video games, i think he would do better while playing since he has perfect reflexes and also isnt wearing boxing gloves. but i must stress both he and Knuckles are dogshit at video games.

Knuckles could be swapped with Shadow, but, despite knowing more and having possibly played a game or two before, Knuckles is wearing boxing gloves which are bad for gaming, and despite having warrior reflexes due to his training, he really cant beat the ultimate lifeform reflex kind of junk. but again, it could go either way, they both suck at video games.

Jet loses because its funny if he loses. same thing as Bigs. good joke, 10/10 i have no notes.

and thats it. that is my ideal ranking. it will forever slightly piss me off that the official sonic the hedgehog "which characters are gamers" lore does not fit with my interpretations of them. but what can you do.

(make an overly long text post about it, thats what!)