#pencils require precision. which i do not have

[britneyshakespeare]

I like drawing ppl's faces in charcoal bc it's like you caress them very gently until all their dimensions are there. Teehee so intimate so tender

[prosciuttulipa]

What profession would La Squadra be in, if they weren't in the mafia?

aka what normal jobs La Squadra would use their Stand abilities for because I love being a bit silly

Risotto: Blacksmith/Artisan

I feel this is rather intuitive, with Metallica. He's one of the most sought after blacksmiths in Italy, and is famous for producing kitchen knives. Any self-respecting chef knows of Risotto's knives— the word around is that his knives are so sharp, they cut through bone like butter. They require little to no maintenance, not to mention the fact that it takes years for them to start getting dull. Because of their outstanding quality, Risotto's knives are constantly in high demand, so much so that he's able to jack up the prices to eyewatering amounts. They're also limited in stock, since he only makes 52 a year, one for each week.

(He can definitely make more, but why bother? Work smart, not hard.)

He also has other side brands to his blacksmith business. He has a branch for barber supplies—razors and hairdressing scissors, whose blades also share that signature sharpness. He tried to start a side brand for stationery, but quickly stopped production when it was reported that kids had hurt themselves on the scissors and mechanical pencils. Luckily, the scandal was quickly forgiven, seeing that Risotto had covered these kids' medical fees as soon as he was notified.

His favourite side brand, however, is his jewellery. It's a hit amongst the goth and emo communities, who enjoy his horror-inspired designs. There's one design that has been affectionately dubbed 'Ghosties': little monsters with ghoulish faces, wiggling around in bunches. His most popular product is his blood jewellery—buyers send him a vial of their blood, and he transforms it into a jewellery piece of their choosing. The patterns on the metal arise from the makeup of the client's blood, making each piece one-of-a-kind.

Prosciutto: Winery Owner

Rotting is just a hop, skip and a jump away from fermenting, and The Grateful Dead always delivers results.

Prosciutto's wines are an enigma to connoisseurs. A general rule of thumb is that wine is better the longer it's been fermented, but Prosciutto's year-old wines taste like they've been aged for decades. This makes his actual, decade-old wines the pinnacle of decadence: rich, smooth, and unforgiving on the wallet.

His winery produces all sorts, but he's most famous for his red wines. They're full-bodied and complex the way a symphony is, each layer arising with an almost engineered exactness. Many say that he's managed to manipulate the precise amount of fermentation for each component—a compliment that Prosciutto receives with a wry smile.

Most people are happy to accept that wineries have their trade secrets, but Prosciutto's one generates more discourse than most. His winery has been the subject of many a rumour—that he steals and resells other wineries' products; that he adds illegal substances into his wines to make them taste that good; that he's a nepo baby who inherited his father's wine collection and is just slapping his own brand onto old bottles.

It's when an investigative journalist tries to break into Prosciutto's winery, only for his body to turn up in a river a week later, that the rumours stop circulating. There have been a few more attempts to unveil the winery's secrets since then, but each one has resulted in more dead bodies. If it's a competing winery who's trying to do some digging, they find that an entire decade of their wine goes bad the very next day.

Because of this, Prosciutto's winery has also earned the nickname, 'Azrael's Wine'. It hasn't affected sales in the slightest.

Formaggio: Heister

I'm certain that there are other jobs which Little Feet would be useful for, but Formaggio likes to live life on the edge. He's the only person (aside from Illuso) that I can see willingly choosing a life of crime, if he had a chance for a do-over.

So yes, he absolutely would abuse his abilities to steal things. He starts small at first, nicking wallets and watches, taking them off their owners without piquing their notice. But as he grows more confident, he pulls off more elaborate robberies—stealing diamond necklaces off their stands in broad daylight, sneaking into safes by shrinking to the size of their locks, breaking them from the inside out. He's more than able to get in and out without a trace, but Formaggio is a cocky bastard, and leaves a shrunken shoe at each scene, a sign that he was there and got away with it. As his crimes start to gain traction, the shoes earn him the nickname, 'Ken Doll'.

His biggest heist is when he steals the chandelier from Tiffany's. It takes a week to pull off, unscrewing the chandelier slowly and imperceptibly, shrinking parts of it in the night. He has to live inside the chandelier the entire time, but he doesn't mind; it's beautiful, and he feels like he's in a mansion. But as soon as the last screw is undone, he shrinks the chandelier and stuffs it into his pocket, taking off with a triumphant cackle. The only evidence that he was there is a cheeky, normal-sized shoe hanging from the ceiling.

Illuso: Storage Facility Owner (?)

I feel like Illuso is the sort of person you imagine when someone says, "I know a guy," and Man in the Mirror doesn't help his case in the slightest. Or maybe that's how he likes it. Hard to tell, with Illuso.

On his business cards, he's a storage facility owner. He owns several warehouses, and they're well maintained. Companies who store with him are impressed by how neat everything is, not a single dust particle to be found when they retrieve their items. Contrary to popular belief (re: his resting bitch face), he provides excellent customer service, things showing up where and when they're needed without a hitch.

But there are a few things about the operation that feel a bit...off. There are no employees in these warehouses, save for the occasional elderly cleaner. Illuso doesn't hire any delivery trucks for his company, which doesn't line up with the amount of things he has to store and transport. Then there's the matter that all the storage rooms are lined with mirrors. It strikes his clients as strange—what if something falls and shatters the glass?—but they never comment.

One time, a salesman had forgotten his things in one of the storage rooms, having just delivered 20 boxes of supplies. He returned to the room, and to his surprise, found that nothing was in there, save for what he had left behind. Distressed, he went to find Illuso, saying that someone had stolen his company's supplies.

"Relax, sir," Illuso had assured him, with a smile that the salesman didn't dare question, "everything is safe with me, I assure you."

After all, what safer storage is there than a mirror world?

Melone: Fortune Teller for Couples

Melone will be making no strange creatures with Baby Face, but he will be using it to predict couple compatibility, and the character of their children, should they want any.

At first, he started off by giving predictions to his girl friends when they met on Sundays for tea, accurately guessing whether the new person they were dating would be a hit or a miss. It had been all fun and games at first, but when it became clear that Melone's accuracy was damn near perfect, Sunday tea times were taken with all the seriousness of a prophecy. His friends invited more friends, who invited more friends, until he ended up just opening a stall on Sundays to predict couple compatibility.

Apart from his skill, Melone's personality made him a major hit from the get-go. He gave surprisingly good advice that wasn't just "incompatible horoscopes", offering insightful ideas about communication, boundaries and care. However, he would occasionally forget to follow what he preached, becoming enamoured with how pretty a woman's skin was, or explaining in entirely too much detail how fertile someone's husband would be if they wanted children.

He became significantly more careful with his tongue (both literally and figuratively) when he was scouted by radio for his predictions, widening his audience to the entirety of Italy. His show, 'Matching with Melone', aired during Sunday tea times, during which couples would send in their details and horoscopes. There was doubt as to whether or not Melone's accuracy would hold up, but without fail, he managed to predict the fortune or downfall of each couple he interviewed.

Once, a listener rang in, saying that Melone had predicted the outcome of their relationship incorrectly. The man had laughed, and answered, "Darling, Melone is never wrong. Only your horoscope is."

It turns out that, as always, Melone was right. The listener thought that their partner was a Pisces, but it turns out they were an Aries instead. Oops.

Ghiaccio: Freezer Warehouse Owner

Unlike Illuso, Ghiaccio's business is fairly cut and dry. What you see is what you get, with White Album keeping his freezers cold all year round. He's only got one warehouse, located near the coast for fishermen to dump their produce in.

There's honestly not much to say about Ghiaccio's life. He keeps out of people's way, finding them irritating most of the time; his job is a means of money, not purpose. Aside from the daily check that his freezers are still freezing, he spends most of his time relaxing on the dock, hanging out with Pesci (elaborated on in Pesci's part). He hates that the coast is such a popular tourist spot, though. He can't stand it when he hears foreigners mispronouncing Italian words.

Otherwise, it's a quiet existence. Sometimes, when he's feeling it, he'll freeze a path into the sea, standing on the ice to watch the stars.

Pesci: Fisherman

True to Beach Boy, Pesci finds a quiet and fulfilling life as a fisherman. Although his ability ensures that he has a catch every time, he makes sure not to overfish, so that the ecosystem stays balanced. He doesn't have his own stall at the local fisherman's market, preferring to sell his catch from his boat instead. He finds that he's able to converse with the locals in a much more intimate manner this way, taking his time to chat with them instead of hurrying them off for the next customer.

Once he's sold everything for the day, Pesci spends his afternoons trying to teach Ghiaccio how to fish; Ghiaccio had approached him about it, the man saying that he had heard it was a good way to learn patience. It's been slow going. Sitting on the dock and waiting for a fish to bite has not seemed to produce any further patience for Ghiaccio, but he returns day after day out of spite. Though, Pesci likes to think it's a little bit for his company as well.

They talk idly about town affairs and daily life, otherwise happy to sit in silence. Every so often, Pesci will use his ability to guide a fish onto Ghiaccio's line, smiling as his friend lets out a triumphant shout. It feels good, to give back.

[tainted-liquor]

'Swing By Anytime˚ ༘ ೀ⋆｡˚

Earth1610!Miles Morales x BlackFem!Personal Seamstress!Reader Ingredients: sugar, kisses, and a lil bit of smiles! TWs: cursing, you being Miles's M.J., Reader being mean as encouragement (you'll see babes trust) W/C: 1.1k? A/N: Purely for the sake of the plot, miles is like 18-20. NOT SMUT!

"Gorgeous! You're so pretty, girl! Alright, the changing room is to the left, you can put it on the hook. It'll be ready for you tomorrow when I finish making all the proper altercations." You squealed in pure joy. Since you had been a fashion major, outfits had just poured out of you like run-off. Of course every now and again there were people who wanted things custom ordered, which made you extremely happy. But you knew who your favorite customer was. And, speaking of your favorite customer, he should be here right now. There was a muffled tiny 'thwip' noise that you would have missed if you weren't straining to hear every individual sound over the beat of 'Shirt' By SZA in your studio.

You sighed with a small smile, walking to your studio's window. "Darling, I keep telling you this, I have a door, just strut through it whenever you want" you giggled as you lifted the window pane, coming face-to-face with the one and only Spider-Man. "Whatcha got for me today, my dear?" you asked as you beckoned him inside the studio, taking a set in front of the many vision boards you had pinned down to your desk. "Hey! sorry, snips, I'll use the door next time. And I brought this design plan, actually." He hummed with a smile that was hidden behind his mask. He had a habit of calling you snips due to always seeing you with some sort of scissors, not that you minded anyway. He walked up to you and handed you a folded-up piece of paper, which had a plethora of sketches for a new Spider-Man suit.

Your eyes widened with joy as you took a scan of the paper. Next to the various drawings, there was one circled design with many notes jotted down next to it with measurements, material, color shades, and substitute color shades. It was the most solid suit plan you had ever seen. You turned the paper around to see more notes, and the smaller parts of the suit enlarged. It was perfect from top to bottom. Everything you needed to know was on paper, which made your job unfathomably easier.

"You know I love you for this, right?" You squealed with a wide grin. "Fuck you! How dare you bring such perfection into my studio!" You joked, giving the Spider a tight hug. He chuckled quietly, muttering, "Had to make it easy for my personal seamstress! C'mon, snips, I'd never do that to you." he added as he gave you a pat on the back. Miles usually came into the studio to fix tears or rips in his suit, get patched up, and then swing back out. But recently, he's been talking about reworking his Spider-Suit. So, like a good 'friend' you offered to help him with his project. Of all your clients, only he had given you such a thorough and precise outfit plan.

He began to recall some of his adventures as his alter-ego, letting his mask hook over his nose as he ate some of your cookies on the ceiling. You listened to his experiences as you plucked each corresponding fabric from the fabric closet, placing them next to each other on the ground. You traced each required pattern with a white chalk pencil, referencing the measurements documented on Miles's paper and keeping seam allowance in mind. "Damn, that's crazy...so what'd you do next, B? You had to web her?" you replied as he raved about some Doc-Oc he caught on his way here. "Yeah, I got her in webs and turned her over to the police. She was dead ass putting up a fight too." He spat as he took the final bite of his cookie.

"That's insane...C'mere I gotta make sure I got this little web design right on your mask," You said as you beckoned him to come down from your ceiling. He zipped down, landing on both of his feet within seconds. You held up the small fabric sheet, allowing him to examine the thin markings where his web design would go. "Nice! Looks amazing. Wouldn't expect anything less from mi Costurera personal!" He exclaimed. You smiled delicately as you continued cutting out the patterns, leaving the spaces he wanted to spray paint on blank.

You spent the next 9 hours talking as you finished his suit and mask. He leaned back on your desk, arms crossed against his chest as you explained color theory, why you were sewing his suit inside out, and why you outlined the pattern with white chalk. It was getting dark outside, and you felt slightly drowsy as you finished the last stitches on his mask. "Alright, love, here you go. I'm pretty sure it's the right size, but put it on when you get time and come back if it's too small." you smiled as you hand him the mask. "Oh, dope! Bet." He says as he suddenly pulls off his mask, releasing his fluffy hair from the tight confines of the spandex. Your eyes widened as you slowly realized Spider-Man had casually taken his mask off in front of me.

You didn't hide that you were staring at his entire face, analyzing his features as soon as the mask came off. He chuckled as he put the other mask on, looking in the mirror on the wall to check out his new mask. "It's perfect! It's exactly like how I wanted, you're a literal angel!" he fanboys as he poses like a dork in my mirror. "How much do I owe you?" He asks as he turns around, fidgeting with the gloves of his suit as he pulled out a wad of money from seemingly nowhere. "Pshh, bitch you look amazing. Just take the suit. It's free." I insisted, leaning back in my chair and placing both feet on my desk.

His eyes narrowed as he advanced to me, grabbed my wrist, and firmly placed the money in my hand. "That was 10 hours of work. I'm NOT taking advantage of your labor." He stated, pulling off his mask purely so he could give me the most serious, slightly-offended look of his life. I nodded slowly as I put the money in my bag cautiously. "Good. Thank you, mi angelita!" He added, pressing a small kiss to my forehead. "C'mon, I'll swing you home. I know your studio closed hours ago" he reasoned as he scooped me up from my chair, throwing me over his shoulder and slipping his new mask back on. "Spidey, c'mon its really no trou-" I began

"Miles." He corrected.

I sighed as I packed up his suit, gently wrapping it in a cute little box and signing it with my infamous signature, "M.J." before wrapping both arms around his neck gently and giving him a small kiss on his temple, mentally preparing myself to swing through half the damn city at inhumane speeds.

Miles's eyes widened at the small detail, turning to look behind him slightly with a small smirk.

"M.J, huh?"

[pfhwrittes]

Welding anon here, I technically didn’t complete the program bc I am missing a single credit, which is fine by me because I ended up switching up and going into agriculture instead, which I am much happier to be in and I just got my degree for it. I don’t regret taking that program because I enjoyed the work (best I can describe it? It was almost like piping a cake) but I was the only girl in the room, not usually a problem for me but the guys didn’t talk to me at all and it was soul crushingly isolating

I always pictured him as a welder bc ye he has massive beefy arms and him being an explosives expert, I could see him enjoying the sparks and the process of creating something durable and strong. Both require a good bit of math, (not to mention shooting math which I still struggle with too) Just seems like a dude who finds fulfillment in difficult, heavy precision work. All those scars on his arms too… yea he’d be a hot welder, all sweaty and bit dirty and smelling like steel. Would make you a welded flower bouquet and it would look immaculate

I did also dabble in wood working (not carpentry. If ur curious I was making bee hives bc I was a bee keeper for a time and my company was so small I had to learn how to do everything) price is so carpenter core. He would smell like freshly cut wood, just a bit smokey and strong. I can just picture saw dust absolutely filling his pockets and trailing it around everywhere by accident. Carpenters always have really calloused, rough, strong hands and that’s just so him. Obsessed with carpenter price ngl.

I’m kinda redneck as fuck and I have the obsessed with being outside flavour of autism. I do have buff arms too 💪 (sorry this is a long ask sorry)

welding anon (or maybe i should just call you buff 💪 anon because hell yeah hell yeah hell yeah) please do not ever apologise for long asks. i love long asks. i cherish long asks. i cherish you for sending me a long ask.

firstly, the guys on your course SUCK for making you feel isolated. i get it on some level as i've been the only non-cis person on-site before. i know i've been lucky as i am technically a plumbing nepo-baby so any other shit has been shut down hard by my mum but more often than not she's the only woman on-site. thankfully she's got something like 40 years experience working with the guys she works with so she knows everyone and their children (and all the gossip, tradies are incorrigible gossips and i love it so much).

secondly, fuck yeah to finding something you love doing! i'm incredibly proud of you for getting your degree! go you! and also you're an incredibly talented multi-skilled individual, be proud of yourself for all the skills you have (welding, woodworking, beekeeping!!!).

thirdly, it's official you've converted me into a welder!soap person. you're absolutely correct. he would love welding. sparks + maths + methodical + challenging = welder!soap. he'd be so cheesy about giving you a metal flower bouquet too. excuse me for a minute while i think about sweaty soap with big beefy arms. oooooh boy 😵‍💫

finally, you are entirely correct that carpenter!price would smell so good. ugh, the smell of cut wood is addictive and definitely one of my most favourite smells in the world (i am that person that lingers in the timber yard in a B&Q just to get a whiff of the cut pine). carpenter!price would love his sweetheart fussing over his callouses and rubbing hand cream into his hands before bed every night, you can't tell me he wouldn't. i think the fact that he smells so good definitely makes up for the fact that you'd be fishing pencils and sawdust out of his pockets every time you did laundry. plus you'd have the most beautiful kitchen cabinets that are the envy of all your friends just because he wanted to give the kitchen a "spruce up" (side note: never trust a tradie to do their own DIY, you WILL end up living in a half-finished construction site for over 2 years).

[warsamongthestars]

VERSUS... PART 2

Our second round of combatants, xirs, sirs and ladies!

WRECKER VS WRECKER VS WRECKER

TBB Set up Wrecker is the Strong man, the Big Guy, with the soft gooey center, and a background in Demolitions. He's meant to see the world without weighing the context of actions, what is often mistaken for being "simple", but has deep emotional sense.

Overall TBB Wrecker follows his set up pretty well, but too often ends up being a butt of jokes and making his enormous strength mean little to nothing. His so-called emotional intelligence is only really used when around the super special awesome OC, and doesn't once seem to come up with those who might need it, who aren't hte Guest of the Week (Such as an Echo suffering PTSD--which is never protrays--or a Tech who might need romantic relationship advice--which isn't portrayed either--or possibly Hunter falling under the stresses of leadership when there is no leadership anymore--but that never happens to the so called "HERO MAN"--Or the trauamtized brother who was brainwashed against his will to do terrible things... but Guess What Happens instead! Nothing. ) TBB Wrecker is regulated to the background of most things, because like any clusmily written show who breaks its wooden pencil trying to right the word "The", he is often just dumb muscle when the story requires it but will immediately switch to Big Brother Best Friend Forever when the story-don't-start-til-I-walk-in OC pops up. He has only had one attempt to show off his demolition skills and even then, it was about training the superstar and not about actually dealing with any kind of bombs, toxic waste, or burnable materials in any sort of story. He's effectively the Worf of Star Wars, in that he is merely used to demonstrate how terrible the enemy is--at the cost of being competent as a character, making him very bad at his concept and his job.

If there was a saving grace here, its the fact that giving Wrecker a stuffed toy was a brilliant idea. Everyone should have more stuffed toys; it is not only encouragement to the grown audience that they should allow themselves the joys of child-like wonder and comfort, but on a narrative level, even Wrecker acknowledges that he's not always the strong one. Lula additionally implies a stronger background to the Bad Batch's history as a physical example of backstory... though the show fails to act on the very opportunity it made.

TCWs Wrecker is an interesting contrasting character. On the first impression, we think he's just the overly excitable muscle man who clearly had a run in face-to-face with something explosive. (You could say he was... blind-sided). A thrill seeking warrior who seeks action on the battlefield and has no time for technicalities... ... Only to bring up those technicalities if anyone outside the squad asks, showing that, while he may tease his brother's technical intelligence, or cold-hearted demeanor, or not take authority seriously--he does in fact care and back up his squad-brothers, and additionally shows a shockingly precise attention to detail. Even though demolitions never truely comes up with the BB Arc, he shows his skills of demolitions by having that precise attention. He will laugh in roarous joy in a crashing ship, but will visibly become devastatingly afraid of heights if he sees the drop. He is the backup pilot of the Marauder [as seen in the second episode], he is a messy eater with even messier living quarters [the dude just threw a partially eaten chicken leg Somewhere in the ship Where they Live], and he Cannot stand stressful stealthing and will run off to cause or have excitement to cool off. ( I would say that he has an inability to stand suspension, which isn't a skill useful to demolitions--but that's not true. When he pulled off his combat rush in the middle of a "stealth mission", it wasn't long after a long emotional driven fight that left Hunter yelled at and emotionally shut down, and Crosshair who got decked twice. I'd say that, instead, Wrecker can't stand emotionally high tensions. ) As someone who is in things for the fun of things, he does have a competitive streak adn teasing streak with his favorite brother, Crosshair, who couldn't be more opposite to him in attitude. Wrecker is a character of excitement, but he's ultimately a character of terribly powerful control, and potentially more. He can lift a ship without breaking bone or damaging muscle, but he can also lift you up by your neck without crushing it, and he will simply hold you there without doing anything. He is a man that is fully aware that wrong moves hurt people, which works with both his body and his job. ... So I guess that means that Wrecker is the Superman of Star Wars.

Conceptually, TCWs Wrecker and TBB Wrecker come from the same deal and roughly, TCWs Wrecker can easily fit into the Set-Up TBB Wrecker.

The problem comes in, is that TBB Wrecker is an over exaggeration. Instead of the precise attention and man of control, he's more akin to an over excitable child who gets overwhelmed by everything and is just as ignorant to people as he is of his own character. Instead of the teasing and general comrade of TCWs Wrecker, TBB Wrecker too often comes off as a bit of a bully to his brothers, but immediately reverts to "Big Brother Best Friend" when Omega walks in.

Worse, in comparison to the rest of the batch, TBB Wrecker is the forgotten character. He doesn't receive an arc, he doesn't receive character development (not even when he was taken over by the chip), he doesn't receive any meaningful relationships and he certainly doesn't receive an ending that would benefit a character of his status.

TECH VS TECH VS TECH

TBB set up Tech is the smart guy, the logical one, the know-it-all, and the technical support. He has a surprising emotional center underneath the smarts, as well as a reach out to the neurodivergent community.

Actual TBB Tech generally follows the lines of his set up, but seems to falter back and forth if you go any deeper, and the show isn't quite sure what to do with him when it comes to his job or establishing relationships. For someone who is meant to be the Technician, he does a lot of engineering. For someone who is meant to be the telecommunications expert, he seems to be incapable of giving relevant information. I mean "I thought it was rather obvious" but it shows off the show itself's inability to communicate information to the audience, and using the information guy to do it--frankly its a hint at a malicious narrator who will explain episodic problems away, but cannot establish any character nor dedicate itself to any story beyond "Oh look AT THE CHILD, ISNT THE CHILD SO INTERESTING!?" The show wants to hint and poke at Tech having greater relationships with people, but doesn't bother to show Any beyond the super special awesome donut steel. It can't bother to set up brotherly relationships, and it won't even touch on romantic relationships, but will use Tech as the coin-on-string trick character all day. And if Tech was going to be used as the relationship guy, you'd think he would have a greater problem with Crosshair being missing. For the guy who was talking about programming and figured it was a neurochip, he was rather unconcerned about Crosshair losing his mind. After a certain point, we almost have to conclude that Tech's intelligence is in-name only and that TBB Tech is actually totally oblivious to everything until a spark of the story tells him that he needs to know a thing and suddenly he's the dictionary on that one thing. A pick-n-choose know-it-all who does nothing to use his intelligence to either save or improve lives of his loved ones, or even formulate a plan to leave shit circumstances, and will sit in the background, probably with popcorn.

To add insult to injury, the moment he starts being the character he is conceptually meant to be, both in TBB set up and in TCWs, such as being the technician, the telecomms expert, with tight relationships with squadmates to the point of rushing to the rescue of the missing one, and someone who is written to be neurodivergent (though I will argue that the entire Batch is neurodivergent)--the show decides "Y'know what, that's enough, you're getting too much development" and kills him for Shock value. And it is shock value, because the show then treats him like it did Crosshair--his missing status does nothing that wasn't already occurring to the Batch anyway, which is that they utterly ignore everything and everyone that isn't the episodic problem of the week--and his death is treated akin to Fives'--to be only as important as whether or not there's going to be some light rain and maybe a spot of sunshine in the afternoon, what a perfect time for fishing.

TBB Tech was the show's greatest tragedy, and like any tragedy on this show--it meant Nothing. His sacrifice Meant Nothing, it caused nothing, and to add insult to injury, it not only ensured that the TBB's group dynamic would never be healed, and the only one that was seemingly affected was the Indiana Jones of Star Wars... And THat's an insult too, because the show even failed to develop any kind of romance and preferred to poke and prod and tease and otherwise never dedicate itself to anything but placing characters in room and going "Oh MAN A ROMANCE HOW ROMANTIC, THEY EVEN HAVE NICKNAMES".

TBB Tech's set up and development was a catastrophic failure.

TCWs Tech is the Technician, the Technically-Speaking, and the Technology Guy. He is the know-it-all, and he shows this off with various fun facts about disturbing information that nobody asked about. He has a slew of hobbies that are, in fact, nothing but learning, gaining and understanding as much information, no matter how relevant or irrelevant, as possible... and He records Everything. He's always on his data pad, looking up gods know what (either from local defenses, to probably the smallest insect possible on the local planet, to maybe trying to recreate all the colors a shrimp can see but in the human vision spectrum). He's the insane pilot of the Havoc Marauder, landing whether its safe or not, if other people are in the way or not, here we come, Tag You're It! TCWs Tech is absolutely not armored for war, he is armored for deep planetary exploration or maybe he's here to repair whatever monstrous disaster is the local Star Wars power line--either way, its going to be an adventure. He is, additionally, a non-confrontational sort, backing away from fights started by his brothers. He is as far from a soldier as possible, and is more akin to a militant scientist. TCWs Tech is capable of shock and surprise, as well as having the capacity to know when something is important enough to voice (even if its one's own worries), such as running into the fact that the Separatists made a living hard-drive engine out of a living being--and worse, one of his clone brothers. He is still practical enough to distrust the rescuee after the fact, as the hijacking one's mind would lead to devastating results reasonably and logically. (and thanks the force that Echo turns out to have had a will of absolutely durasteel)--though Tech does unfortunately have Hunter's habit of bringing up those doubts and distrusts in the middle of a heart-stopping life-threatening mission. (Nobody on the Batch is good with priorities, let's face it ).

The set up of the Smart Guy character isn't a hard one--and it boarders on Cliche, both TBB Tech and TCWs Tech share the same set up but the difference is the narrative environment.

What's stranger, is that TBB Tech started out as a stilted character, regulated akin to TBB Hunter as being bad at even the thing he's meant to be--but then later is actually developed closer to TCWs Tech... only to be killed unceremoniously for shock value, and by his death, removed the very purpose of the Bad Batch even having their own show.

If you are not going to have the Bad Batch be the Bad Batch, why are they even There? Removing one and teasing his return to just say "Sorry, you honestly thought we were gonna give him back?', is bad enough, but to kill one utterly destroys the point and kills any good will narrative.

There is no justification for Tech's death. There is no argument in existence that would justify this beyond "If we keep the emotional tension up, you will give us money"--and that is an Evil Justification. It was cruel teasing, boarding on school bully tactics, and it turned this apathetic and clumsy piece of work into a Malicious Narrative.

Malice by Apathy and the Addiction of Content Rush.

BONUS ROUND!

OMEGA

Omega is set up to be the same set up that's been used repeatedly in nearly all recent Star Wars Media, even before the Sequels... and that's the "Star Child Character".

She is Half Wesley Crusher of Star Wars. I say Half, because Wesley Crusher was portrayed as one of two things--the super child genius that takes control of the situation and everyone loves him for it, or the super annoying genius that causes the problems. Omega is the first half.

Now, as a stand alone character, she isn't a bad one. Far from it.

She's a sheltered nine-year old who grew up in a military family (well a military, but military family is the closest we can reasonably compare her situation), and while that means she can recognize a hierarchy, she's also additionally a kid who is curious, overly trusting, and is really really good at playing games by herself.

The problem is, is that the narrative makes her the star child, on par with Ahsoka Tano fro the Clone Wars, and Grogu from the Mandolorian. Effectively, someone decided to repeat a "successful" formula but "let's do it for the clones, its not like they have any important people to make shows about!"

She is a poorman's attempt at recreating both, but the narration fails her character by making it too important.

A nine year old was never going to survive the Empire, with its clear film base preference of murdering lots of defenseless people, children too. A nine year old was never going to be on par with commandos, let alone ones that have special powers / mutations / enhancements. A nine year old was never going to have the emotional maturity to help traumatized soldiers, or worse, POWs.

This narrative seems to keep wanting to have all the darkness of a grim story, but tries to make Omega into this odd messiac character that if she just enters the scene, she can fix everything, or will fix it eventually. And not even just the immediate story, it wants her to be significant in the Lore, but refuses to extrapolate.

We all saw that she was set up to have a connection to the Force from Episode 1, and yeah, we all fucking groaned. Half of us oldies thought it was a cliche boring thing to do, a cheap way to make a character important.

The world build had room for her, but the execution, now looking back... it was worthless. Her so called significance to the Bad Batch comes off as utterly meaningless. Her force capabilities never came up with any importance.

(no, Ventress doesn't count. Ventress isn't even supposed to BE THERE. They RESURRECTED HER AND KILLED TECH. They rob characters of having Significant and meaningful exits to the Story. And they thinking that brinig in Guest Characters automatically means that they "Write Good Oohhahah" )

The only reason Omega would logically be there, is to be the child-character that young audiences can experience the story with... but I wouldn't say that this is a story for children.

The Clone Wars had a far better set up with lot more time with Ahsoka Tano, who became a beloved character by Season 3, even though she started out as being Hated for being the OC... because they made her Anakin Skywalker's Padawan, and that's fanfic logic.

But for Omega, it isn't Time she's missing... its Character that is being taken away from other characters, in order to make Omega into a Messiah of Clones.

TBB Crosshair was misvalued, and his story was eventually used in order to make Omega seem more mature and akin to an emotional crutch. Because apparently a child can heal all wounds of war, trauma, torture and worse.

TBB Echo was mischaractered, and then the moment things started becoming more important to him than Omega, they make him leave unceremoniously in order to get Omega's reaction Because apparently abandonment issues isn't a thing that develops when a child loses an important guardian figure.

TBB Wrecker was the forgotten character, unless he was playing Big Brother Best Friend to Omega, but never to a point where he would ever have an actual ending with his best friend. Because apparently a child's emotional guardian figure isn't ultimately important in the long run.

TBB Tech was killed, in order to make Omega "stronger" Because apparently grief doesn't apparently take months and trauma doesn't happen when a child loses an important guardian figure, and it doesn't result in severe disassociation when faced with future traumas.

TBB Hunter was already mischaracterized, but the moment he became the parent figure, his only obsessive goal as a character was Omega, and they made him bad at being his own character in order to make Omega more important in the story. And because, y'know, a child being made into a child soldier and robbed of any attempt at a normal life with no emotional healing from the sheer amount of danger and trauma, and constant communication stutning, will totally grow up just fine, especially if you add a dash of losing them to strangers that will use and abuse them.

This entire Narrative bent around itself to ensure that Omega, the sheltered nine year old, was the super special awesome donut steel totally original character mary sue--who is only mature when the story glorifies it, is only weak if the story wants drama, is always special all the time and anyone who gets more special than her is removed; and will always come on top, because somehow a nine year old has outclassed commandos, assassins, PTSD, fantasy monsters, and an entire fascist government.

And while this is none of the character of Omega's fault... they created the concept of her character, to be placed at the center of where all the problems start, and then tried to argue that she would become a super hero figure, with no problems or trauams, by the end.

Conceptually she's a good character, presently, she's decent... but set up wise? No. Her concept was rigged from the start, and now all your base now belong to us make your time.

ROUND OVER!

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

New results from the CMS experiment put W boson mass mystery to rest

After an unexpected measurement by the Collider Detector at Fermilab (CDF) experiment in 2022, physicists on the Compact Muon Solenoid experiment (CMS) at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) announced today a new mass measurement of the W boson, one of nature’s force-carrying particles. This new measurement, which is a first for the CMS experiment, uses a new technique that makes it the most elaborate investigation of the W boson’s mass to date. Following nearly a decade of analysis, CMS has found that the W boson’s mass is consistent with predictions, finally putting a multi-year long mystery to rest. View the paper posted.

The final analysis used 300 million events collected from the 2016 run of the LHC, and 4 billion simulated events. From this dataset, the team reconstructed and then measured the mass from more than 100 million W bosons. They found that the W boson’s mass is 80 360.2 ± 9.9 megaelectron volts (MeV), which is consistent with the Standard Model’s predictions of 80 357 ± 6 MeV. They also ran a separate analysis that cross-checks the theoretical assumptions.

“The new CMS result is unique because of its precision and the way we determined the uncertainties,” said Patty McBride, a distinguished scientist at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Fermi National Research Laboratory and the former CMS spokesperson. “We’ve learned a lot from CDF and the other experiments who have worked on the W boson mass question. We are standing on their shoulders, and this is one of the reasons why we are able to take this study a big step forward.”

Since the W boson was discovered in 1983, physicists on 10 different experiments have measured its mass.

The W boson is one of the cornerstones of the Standard Model, the theoretical framework that describes nature at its most fundamental level. A precise understanding of the W boson’s mass allows scientists to map the interplay of particles and forces, including the strength of the Higgs field and merger of electromagnetism with the weak force, which is responsible for radioactive decay.

“The entire universe is a delicate balancing act,” said Anadi Canepa, deputy spokesperson of the CMS experiment and a senior scientist at Fermilab. “If the W mass is different from what we expect, there could be new particles or forces at play.”

The new CMS measurement has a precision of 0.01%. This level of precision corresponds to measuring a 4-inch-long pencil to between 3.9996 and 4.0004 inches. But unlike pencils, the W boson is a fundamental particle with no physical volume and a mass that is less than a single atom of silver.

“This measurement is extremely difficult to make,” Canepa added. “We need multiple measurements from multiple experiments to cross-check the value.”

The CMS experiment is unique from the other experiments that have made this measurement because of its compact design, specialized sensors for fundamental particles called muons and an extremely strong solenoid magnet that bends the trajectories of charged particles as they move through the detector.

“We were able to do this effectively thanks to a combination of a larger data set, the experience we gained from an earlier W boson study, and the latest theoretical developments,” Bendavid said. “This has allowed us to free ourselves from the Z boson as our reference point.”

As part of this analysis, they also examined 100 million tracks from the decays of well-known particles to recalibrate a massive section of the CMS detector until it was an order of magnitude more precise.

“This new level of precision will allow us to tackle critical measurements, such as those involving the W, Z and Higgs bosons, with enhanced accuracy,” Manca said.

 The most challenging part of the analysis was its time intensiveness, since it required creating a novel analysis technique and developing an incredibly deep understanding of the CMS detector.

“I started this research as a summer student, and now I’m in my third year as a postdoc,” Manca said. “It’s a marathon, not a sprint.”

TOP IMAGE: Comparison measurements of the W boson’s mass with other experiments and the Standard Model prediction. The dot is the measured value and length of the line corresponds to the precision; the shorter the line, the more precise the measurement.  Credit mage based on a figure produced by the CMS collaboration. Created by Samantha Koch, Fermilab

LOWER IMAGE: Comparison measurements of the W boson’s mass with other experiments and the Standard Model prediction. The dot is the measured value and length of the line corresponds to the precision; the shorter the line, the more precise the measurement.  Credit mage based on a figure produced by the CMS collaboration. Created by Samantha Koch, Fermilab

[dymdrimluga]

Art of Mage: The Ascension

Recently, a big event happened: I started playing MtA again, and I was forced to read. To be honest, I still find it difficult to read long and complex texts in English, but it's great practice. It's not the first time I've opened the rule book, but now I somehow paid special attention to the arts. And they are very cool there! This is the book I want to talk about. And this is an old book, after which, I think, a lot has changed in the world of illustration. But I'm just curious how it was. Was this book successful? What do you think about it?

Many people worked on this edition

At first, I wanted to find the specific author of each picture, but despite the existence of such a list, it turned out to be a difficult task. So today I will only comment on the art, not the artists. I am not a professional because my art has never been used for such books, but I want to share my impressions and thoughts.

There were a lot of such cards there and they are also quite cool, and the main thing is that they look in their place and really look like real tarot cards in design and vibe. Although this is not the art that interests me the most, I couldn't help but mention them here.

Really cool. It seems to be something from traditional materials, similar to watercolor, maybe with the addition of something else. If you look closely, you can see the remains of a pencil. Look at the head. Is everything drawn anatomically correct? No. But does it create the right mood? Yes!

Art by Mark Jackson if I'm not mistaken. Kinda reminds me of Sandman from the comics, don't you think? I wonder if this kind of black and white line art is still used in modern books? Must check.

This art... I was a little surprised to see it in the book. I worked in the game industry and was used to the fact that everything should be casually polished (thanks to gamejams for allowing me to deviate from this rule). Right here... a dynamic plot, but work with the clarity of the picture, color, volume, lighting... on some details it is simply not there. It seems that at some point it was not the main thing to be an illustrator. I wonder what was important? And what remains? Because I would really like to be involved in something like this book.

I would be happy to see how it is done. I have thoughts that maybe photos were used, but most were definitely drawn and I just want to know how

It has its own style. A lot of work on small details requires patience, not everyone can draw so many small details and not get lost in them. I love when people do not lose the courage to draw in a unique style

as in the previous picture, traditional materials seem to have been used here: pencils, felt-tip pens, maybe watercolors? What do you think of when you see this? I think "small artists". So many talented artists with small audiences on Twitter or Tumblr can do the same. Although not. Not "the same", because no one will do "the same" in creativity. At the same level - yes. The same - no. It's obvious that a lot of the artist's personality and experience has been put into this, and that makes this picture unique

oh i love it, it's not even a color drawing, but it looks so good on the page! But I don't really understand what bothers me about this girl's breasts, I wish I could see what it looks like from the front

We have already seen this author. Look at the hair. I.. really don't know what to say. Not exactly what I expected.

interesting art, interesting creature. Many would call it a sketch, but I think it is precisely here that more work on the details is not needed

I don't know the author, but I definitely recognize the style - I saw something like that in the changelings rulebook

Oh, I like it. It takes a special skill to draw like that, and I don't have it. Very dynamic. And the form shown is interesting

Soap. Nothing extra, nice details on the background, clear silhouette. Good.

I love this kind of comic book style. It is exactly as it should be in this style, I don't know what else to say, except that there is a good work with textures

how interestingly and harmoniously different styles are combined in this book

I like it, I would read something like comic book in that style, very nice to look at

I can't say about the plot, but the details, volume, and shadows are very well drawn. I wonder if it was done in pencil? I am fascinated by people who can draw with pencils and have a similar result

very calm great vibe

this is already something closer to the game art I know, not casual, but a step towards polishing, + looks like digital

one more step :) If you don't pay attention to the face, something like this can now be drawn in hidden objects games. Very nice drawing, by the way, I like the dynamics.

I think that will be enough, at least for today. I don't know who would be interested in such a review with personal opinions. But here's what fascinated me and made me think: so many artists with such different styles in one book. Unbelievable. It would be very interesting to be a part of something like that. Now I want to review new books from this point of view. I used to look at them as a reader, but now...

I wonder if there will be new books of this kind? What are the requirements? What is needed?

Only one trend worries me. Some time ago I had a conversation with the author of this book It was an interesting but a little sad conversation. The author says that, at best, he will receive not so much for this book. He says that he cannot pay the artists as well, because then he will have nothing left. It's a shame, but the only solution he found was to use the AI. I wanted to read the text of the book, because Umbra is a very interesting topic. I even had the opportunity to read it for free as a free copy provided by the author. I did not read it. One of the comments says that the art there is well-suited, although it was created by AI. I do not know. I don't want to see it even for free. I think it brings Banality into the world, destroys the dreams of small artists to be part of something great. I can understand a small author of a small book that won't make much money. It's just sad. I can only hope that the trend does not spread to the whole world. It will really be the time of Winter. And no more magic in this technocratic world.

[reborrowing]

added some color to the sketches bc this is what I'm doing now I guess (some of the oranges are off as always bc my iPad is weird)

Other ~Worldbuilding and Plot Notes~

Fairies aren't inherently secret, but they're uncommon enough that few people are aware they're around. When fairies do show up, people assume it's some kind of drone or modified footage or stunt surgery or some weird new hallucinogenic tech they don't want to know the details of.

Magic is real and similarly uncommon, though most people are aware that magic was proven to be real

Have not decided what other magical people or creatures exist

expected megacorp dystopia with obligatory criminal social outcast protags kinda background.

Probably no one anywhere is secretly using and abusing magic though. All allegations suggesting otherwise were investigated internally and false, we promise.

for now setting these guys in sprawl around Seattle but might move into the smaller, attention seeking pnw city because pdx is my backyard

fairy magic is nature-based with very broad elemental categories. The twins have storm magic, which lets them play with air, ice, and electricity.

tentatively dividing their elements into storm, sea, earth, and life. not doing the thing where power type correlates to personality. It's genetic, no mixing.

(Not all magic has elemental restrictions, that's just how fairies Work)

Rei has less raw magical power than her sister, but likes to experiment with enchanting tech, which requires more precision than Coop can track

I'm keeping their goofy borrower names but will probably come up with sillier handle/callsign names as well. maybe Debug and Glitterbomb?

The plot hinges more on Kayla, who’s looking for an family member who went missing while doing research for Joyworks.

Maggie gets to be a part time antagonist, shes works maintenance for Joyworks and definitely does not believe fairies are a thing, so does not give this cool thing she found causing problems over to security

I forgot to charge my pencil so I can't sketch out the humans yet :(

[themetalvirus]

ive heard from a comic artist to try using your shoudler/entire arm to draw instead of your wrist to avoid injury, since youre always mentioning wrist pain i wondered if you knew abt it

thank you for your concern, anon! i have dealt with this pain for years, have seen multiple doctors about it, and am doing several things to treat it.

the tendon isn't just irritated from actual wrist motion - it's also from gripping pens and pencils and repetitive motions with the fingers (stuff like scrolling, typing, clicking on a mouse).

relearning the way i draw (which i have been using for a decade) would put a complete halt on all of my extra revenue streams. it would take at least a month, probably more, trying to get used to it and regain my precision with it. and with the amount i draw, i would just end up getting tendonitis in my shoulder, too. which would require physical therapy. which i have already done for my wrist with good (but not perfect) results. it also wouldn't prevent the strain from the way i hold pens and pencils or repetitive motion from the fingers.

also, for anyone wondering: yes, i use a brace. i use it the way my doctors recommended i use it.

again, i appreciate the concern, but despite me complaining often about my chronic pain on the internet, i have taken several measures to try and help it. in the future, i would appreciate if those of you who saw this did not give me unsolicited advice about my pain

[somediyprojects]

DIY Valentine Book Collection

Project by Juniper Books:

One of the main reasons I started making custom book jackets a few years ago was to bring some order to the inherent disorder of bookshelves and all their different colors, shapes and sizes. This project is an elegant way to transform a few select books into a pretty book set to give on Valentine’s Day. For the set of books I made, I chose four classic love stories; however, it can be made with any books. — Thatcher

Materials

4 books of approximately equal size

2 large sheets of white drawing paper (approx. 19″ x 25″ or larger)

2 large sheets of pink drawing paper (approx. 19″ x 25″ or larger) I recommend a relatively lightweight paper for the white “inside” jacket and a thicker drawing paper for the “outside” jacket.

1 Fiskars Shape Cutter tool

1 Fiskars Hearts Template 4855

pencil

red marker

24″ paper cutter (or a rotary cutter and X-Acto knife will work fine)

24″ ruler

double-sided tape or paper glue 

Instructions 1. Pick out your books. You can use books from your existing collection and give them a fresh new look, or find new or used books to buy. The great thing about making these jackets is that it will turn your books into a uniform set, so they can be any color to start with. Using the tools specified, the only requirement is that the books are at least 1″ thick — if they are smaller, you will have to hand draw and cut the heart shapes.

2. 

Cut the book jackets to size. 

Lay each book flat on its back with the spine facing you with both the paper and the book against a straight edge. Mark the paper at the edge of the book. You want the jacket to fit the height of the book precisely or slightly larger so that the original book color is covered up. If you are using the 19″ x 25″ paper, cut the paper on the long side so that you end up with a sheet that is the size of the book plus about 3″ to 4″ for the flaps at the front and back of the book — for example, 9″ tall by 19″ long. Cut one jacket of white paper and one of pink paper for each book. Do not discard the extra paper; we will use at least some of the white paper for a book band, and you can use the other scraps to practice shape cutting.

3. 

Fold the jackets around the books. 

Before you start folding, it’s helpful to pencil a number discreetly on each book and jacket so you know which jackets go with which book. Place each book in the center of the jacket you have cut in order to fold the jacket around it. Start with the white jacket. Before folding the jacket around the front and back cover, “score” the jacket along the book edges; this will help with achieving a nice clean fold. When you make the second fold, you will want to leave a little extra room. If the jacket is folded too tightly, it won’t allow the book to close completely. You may need to give the top jacket — the pink one — even more breathing room to allow the book to open and close smoothly.

4. 

Cut the heart shapes on the pink jackets. 

Take the pink jackets off the books. There should be a nice visible fold showing the width of the spine. Now, using your ruler and pencil, mark a spot that is in the middle of the spine width, at the same height across for all four of the book jackets. I used 6″ from the bottom of the jacket to measure to the middle top of the heart. Every book may be a different height, so it is important to measure from the bottom for the hearts to align. Working on one pink jacket at a time, align the smallest Fiskars Heart from the template (1″ wide) with your pencil mark. Holding the template firmly in place, use the Fiskars Shape Cutter to cut out the heart. If you do not have the Fiskars tools, you can easily draw the heart shape, then cut it out with an X-Acto knife. Try practicing on the paper scraps you generated earlier if desired.

5. 

Write L-O-V-E letters. 

Once all four of the heart shapes are cut out of the jackets, put the pink jackets back on the books so that the underlying white jackets show through. Then, using your red marker, write one letter in each opening on the white paper that shows through the heart shapes. If your books are different sizes, just make sure you have the order you will want to display them in before you write the letters.

6. 

Make the book band. 

Using some of the white paper scraps generated in the second step, you can make a book band to wrap around all four books and present them as a set along with your gift message. To wrap around four books, you will likely need a 25″ piece of paper that is about 1.5″ wide. Depending on the paper size you started with, you may need to tape or glue two scraps together. Once you have the 1.5″ x 25″ paper, line it up so that you can see where the visible portion will be on the spine — usually it’s nice to have the paper taped or glued to itself on the back cover of the books. Write your gift message on the book band. Then attach the book band to itself with double-sided tape or a few drops of glue. The book band should be nice and tight so that it holds the books together securely.

[starry-skies-116]

Neurodivergent Michael Headcanons (Part 1/3)!

Michael was diagnosed with dyslexia at age four- he often loved to listen to stories, but had little interest in letters or words and had extreme trouble with reading to the point where he would throw tantrums and have meltdowns if he had to read books. However, his synesthesia and misophonia due to hyperacusis was never diagnosed, and he was often bullied by his neurotypical peers (which resulted in him developing and internalizing hatred of people his age- that is, until he met his friends).

Michael’s favorite auditory stims include the sound of distant thunder booming, a spring breeze rustling, and the sound of a crackling campfire that has JUST RIGHT crackling noises.

Because Michael has misophonia, whenever Evan’s crying, his ears also start screaming bloody murder. It’s more of a situation secretly that has Michael saying that Evan crying is annoying, but it’s more of a case of “AYO DON’T CRY, IF YOU CRY I’LL START CRYING TOO BECAUSE MY EARS ARE TWO WHINY LITTLE BITCHES THAT BEHAVE LIKE AGGRESSIVE FERAL HISSING CATS AT THE TINIEST HINT OF NOISE”. He indiscriminately behaves like that around everyone, unbeknownst to everyone else.

Michael is not exactly a fan of uncomfortable textures, bright lights, foul odors or disgusting tastes, but among all five senses, sound is his biggest upsetter and the one he is most sensitive to (just as Evan’s biggest upsetters are smell, touch and sight, and Elizabeth’s biggest upsetters involve touch and taste).

Misophonia is one of the bitchiest of bitches to deal with. Basically Michael was sent to the principal’s office when he was eight because he snapped at a kid in his music class for playing the trombone too loudly, and nearly stabbed a kid in the thigh with a pencil because said kid was repeatedly sniffling too loud during a test. He also screamed at a kid to ‘shut up’ when they were eating a sandwich and making sloppy chewing and eating noises with their mouth open. There were many more incidents involving sensory overloads due to this, of which I can’t go into detail about because then we’d be here all day, hehe.

And crowds. Oh, god, where do I BEGIN with crowds? Michael hates them to the point of being borderline agoraphobic, and he didn’t even know until he attended one of Hurricane Middle School’s pep rallies with his friends- not precisely because of the close proximity of sweaty young teenagers packed up against him in the masses, but the sheer amount of sensory input was driving both his synesthesia and misophonia up the wall- countless onslaughts of colors were flashing before his eyes in the masses, assaulting his sight even when he had his eyes squeezed shut so hard that it hurt. Tastes were on his buds, clashing furiously with one another and it brought tears to his eyes- was this what an epileptic attack felt like, but with sound?

Michael ended up being hospitalized because of the serious condition he was in due to his nervous breakdown requiring stabilization and treatment. William saw it as a bit of an inconvenience, whereas Eleanor, Elizabeth and especially Evan were worried sick about him. The cup of warm milk he had when he came home was so soothing it might as well have been the best damn cup of milk he’s ever had in his entire life.

STIMS! Stiiiiims! Everybody loves stims, especially neurodivergent people! Michael tends to stim via fidgeting with the rim of the fabric of his fingerless gloves, picking at any bandage gauzes that might be covering his skin, twisting any rings he might wear around his finger, chewing/nibbling at the clay beads on his necklace, etc. When he’s sitting down, he may bounce his leg, fiddle with the pages of a book in front of him if there is one, or chew on something.

Speaking of chewing, this man HAS to have something to chew on, or he will, as another one of his restless stims, pop, click and twist his tongue sore and grind his teeth to smithereens. He always carries either a pack of chewing gum, or spare pocket change to spend at bubblegum machines- he’s nigh-unparalleled at blowing ridiculously big bubbles with gum because of the fact that his brain ALWAYS NEEDS HIM TO BE DOING SOMETHING WITH HIS MOUTH.

Michael LOVES stimming with gum and chewy foods such as marshmallows- when Easter comes around, his friends find it incredibly endearing how he basically gorges on Tootsie Pops, Peeps Marshmallows, gummies and basically anything with a chewy texture or chewy, stretchy gelatin candy (that doesn’t make a too-loud popit sound). Why? Because “texture good”.

Speaking of which, if you buy him a walkman with a set of headphones and complimentary earplugs (for when he doesn’t feel like listening to music), he will thank you and you’ve basically got a friend for life. His misophonic self HATES sound, and gets easily startled by loud noises, such as speakers, buses, chatter and screaming. Headphones greatly calms him, and he basically fiddles with the cord of his walkman. He also tends to semi-tap dance as a stim when he’s walking on occasion.

Additional stims Michael has is singing his favorite verses of certain songs to himself, drumming his fingernails against the desk, and twirling a pen masterfully between his fingers (a stim he shares with Evan despite the former having substantially superior motor skills).

Lexical-gustatory synesthesia and chromesthesia makes Michael associate certain colors and tastes with certain words and songs, as well as certain voices of other people- they can be sounds he craves and enjoys (Evan’s voice when he’s calm sounds, tastes and looks incredibly pleasant to him), sounds he hates (really loud or sudden noises that make him flinch or jerk), or even sounds he fears (William’s voice taking on any tone).

Whenever sensory overloads brought on by Synesthesia or just neurodivergence occurs, his brain basically completely, wholly and utterly BREAKS AND SHUTS DOWN ENTIRELY due to his brain failing to process all the stimuli around him. He can only make noises (at best stuttering out an incoherent string of slurred words) since his brain doesn’t have the capacity or energy in that moment to translate everything into sentences to convey what’s wrong. In this moment, he just covers his ears and goes nonverbal to prevent basically making noises, stuttering, and slurring, since that’s all he can do when he tries to speak during a sensory overload-caused meltdown. He just cries, silently sobbing, and rocks back and forth trying to soothe himself.

Whenever Michael is VERY happy, he basically claps his hands in a flappy-type motion and jumps up and down a few times, making a verbal exclamation of sorts and giggling to himself- just like his siblings. That, or he does really rapid and fast high knees while squealing and hitting the edge of his wrists together multiple times rapidly (his hands flap and flail while he’s doing this, EVERYONE thinks it’s freaking adorable and Evan joins him 500000% of the time- in other words, every damn time, without question, without exception).

Bro. His special interests being music, movies, Disney, theatre, filmmaking, songwriting, singing and just a passion for stageplay and the fine arts in general? And his favorite music secretly being from the soundtrack of Swan Lake instead of some edgy-ass rock band? AND IF ANYONE WITHIN A 15 MILE RADIUS EVEN VAGUELY MENTIONS OR EVEN SUBTLY DRAWS REFERENCES FROM COMEDIA DELL’ARTE? PLEASE.

He will INFODUMP SO DAMN HARD whenever someone even remotely, vaguely or slightly MENTIONS ANY of these things. He is a GAY THESPIAN THEATRE KID, through and through, loud and proud.

As Glamrock Freddy, Michael has accommodations in the form of special features implemented into his programming that let him muffle/cancel out noises (espeically trigger noises) and let him selectively listen to the ones he wants to hear as he pleases. To his annoyance, these accommodations are disabled when he’s on emergency power mode- however, Gregory’s presence and wellbeing seems to calm and please him alone. One look into those glimmering dark eyes, so large and gentle in their gaze that observed all under it’s watchful eye, and he felt as though he were looking at a calming night sky alight with stars. He instantly calms himself after looking at or just interacting with the boy that reminds him so much of his brother (hmm I wonder why… probably because the brunette boy IS your brother ahaha~).

When the animatronics were first made and were about to do a rehearsal performance/test run of their programming, Glamrock Freddy was visibly having a breakdown in the form of his wires fizzling and him spritzing out because Michael was basically screaming inside due to the sheer amount of NOISE around him. He could feel the low frequencies, the electronic pulsating of the stage and the music, the colors flashing before him and the phantasmal sensations of taste on his tongue EVEN WHEN he had long since forfeited his mortal flesh. Freddy/Michael basically collapsed onstage due to the sheer sensory onslaught of stimuli, and emergency maintenance had to be performed because an animatronic had a mental breakdown.

Ever since then, Glamrock Bonnie was the one that recommended and fought tooth-and-nail for Freddy to receive the feature of muffling out noise due to him basically constantly exhibiting misophonic behaviors and symptoms of both dyslexia and synesthesia (even when Michael was existing in a state of metaphysicality as a spirit possessing a robotic host). The other animatronics soon quickly followed.

[pakeithpsy]

I give up, I give up.

I've simply decided that you are either born with this ancient, arcane unlearnable knowledge of how do draw with absolute speed and precision or you're born a talentless, mediocre loser who sucks at everything and cannot make anything above the level of "B+ middle school art student" no matter how many classes you take or what tools you use or how hard you try.

I don't understand it. I'm using the same tips, same tricks, same tools, same software, same default brush as all the pros yet they're somehow able to create beautiful, amazing masterpieces beyond comparison yet all I can make is ugly, shitty MS Paint garbage with soft lines and broken anatomy that wouldn't have even been impressive during the first year of Newgrounds. I was cursed to be born without a natural talent for drawing and now that the industry is dead and indie is the only way to go now I will never be able to live out any of my dreams, because my art sucks and nobody notices or cares about any of my original works and nobody ever will unless I dramatically improve enough to stand toe to toe with the aforementioned experts or somehow acquire huge amounts of money to hire people who actually can draw to do everything for me because I am a talentless, learning-disabled, anxiety-ridden wreck who can't even do the simplest task with any level of adequacy. That's literally the only way, except I live in the middle of nowhere, I was born into a family of nobodies with no artistic background, my job doesn't pay enough to afford a crew and would require me to save up for DECADES if not CENTURIES, and nobody knows who I am and nobody ever will because all my art is terrible and unremarkable and just gets lost in the ocean of the internet run by algorithms that favor corporations or unrealistic expectations for engagement.

I never even wanted to make the next Picasso, I just wanted to make silly little comics and cartoons that make people laugh, but apparently that's not good enough anymore. Now it's go big or go home, and I am the smallest, most insignificant, most incompetent and worthless speck of dust on the entire planet.

It doesn't even make sense. The key to the sharp UPA lines I've so desperately desired for the past 10 years of my art career are an elusive lost art and the closest I've been able to find is just make really fast strokes, but that's impossible. IF MY STROKES ARE TOO FAST THEY'LL JUST BE SLOPPY, ART IS A SLOW PROCESS, HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO MASTER THE ART OF DIGITAL DRAWING WHEN IT GOES AGAINST THE VERY RULES OF ART? Even my traditional art is barely impressive, and I feel like the only reason I've ever made anything even close to presentable with plain old pencils and paper is due to my art instructors holding my hand because I'm incapable of creating anything of remotely high quality on my own. That's why I wanted to join the industry - so that way I could focus on my strengths like writing and designing characters while the rest is handled by a team with expertiese in those fields while the studio provides the finances. BUT NOW I CAN'T. The industry is a shithole that hates creatives with a burning passion and only wants to churn out AI-generated reboot slop meaning indie is now the only way to go, and you can't go indie unless you're a big, famous superstar who can outperform Don Bluth and Richard Williams combined with a massive fanbase who will gladly shower you with money, which I don't have. Even when I did have a fanbase from making fetish garbage in Blender they wouldn't even cough up one measly dollar, and it didn't even matter anyway because they were equally entertained by stolen art. Besides, I can't even draw my own damn characters from different angles or in anything other than the basic A-pose, how am I supposed to instruct other artists how to do it, too?

So that's it, my dream is dead because God or whatever outside force that controls this horrid universe decided I do not deserve the gift of being able to draw amazingly or multitask or living a life of wealth and privilege and I'll never be able to change that because I cannot learn this information no matter what and nobody knows or cares who I am. I know SOME PEOPLE on that other godforsaken hellsite will try and go "WELL IT'S YOU'RE OWN FAULT BECAUSE YOU'RE AN ASSHOLE, HURR DURR". Bitch, you think I wanted this life?! Even when I was nice to you people and earnestly showing off my art and trying my damnedest to get myself out there and asking "Hey, does anybody need a writer????" none of you gave a shit! You know why? Because I suck, and because nobody knows who I am, and because the animation world hates writers unless their name is Dave Capdevielle! An audience for my work simply does not exist and social media's broken algorithms mean I can never, ever find one or realistically maintain that audience due to this obsession on making everything into "content" that exists only to be immediately consumed and generate profits for corrupt CEOs.

My whole goal in life was to go to animation school, get a degree, find some connections, and then join the industry so I could finally live my dream of being an animator. I couldn't even handle four months in online college, and now there's no point in even pursuing it because late-stage capitalism has completely destroyed both college and the industry for all but the most rich and famous. Life is a sick fucking joke.

I should've just killed myself in 2018 when I actually had the chance. Even if it meant never seeing any of my dreams come true it would have at least spared me from watching all my hopes and aspirations for the future crumble in real time and my family could've moved on and found new happiness and meaning in their life. I guess I'll just have to accept the fact that I'm a complete and utter failure as an artist and dedicate the rest of my miserable, obscure existence to working part time for slightly above minimum wage, and even that's not guaranteed. I should've never signed up for that stupid online class. I'd rather still be drawing complete and utter garbage with joy and confidence than mediocre, barely-passable concepts that will never see the light of day while being completely and utterly miserable.

[clikere]

Pen is a Universal Tool

They may be very helpful and are required for creating papers, taking notes, writing essays, and delivering tests whether you are at school, home, the office, or college. Even though technology is constantly changing how we work, pens are still necessary.

What do you think makes a great pen?

It should have the ideal amount of suppleness, be soft and smooth, and sound neither dragging nor tinny. The mechanism for extending and retracting the writing point on roller ball pens and gel pens should be smooth, and once extended, the point should stay securely in place.

Several types of pens

Fountain Pen

The compartment of the fountain pen that was specifically constructed for it may accommodate a small inkwell. It was stated that one may tap an ink source, a wellspring, or a fountain to get the ink onto the paper. The pen became a fountain pen because it became aware. For journaling, writing essays, writing letters, and other purposes, they are an excellent choice. The low pressure required makes them ideal for anyone who experiences wrist aches or fatigue when writing by hand. Pens, nibs, and inks are easily available in a number of styles, allowing fountain pens to be highly customized.

BallPoint Pen

A ballpoint pen's ink-filled tip needs to be constantly replaced. A metal ball that rests in a socket beneath an ink reservoir makes up the pen. An ink cartridge is another name for the ink reservoir. There is a tiny metallic ball in the writing area of the refill that is partially outside the body of the refill and partially in touch with the thick ink. The ball-point pen's name was inspired by this ball. The ball spins as the pen glides across the paper's surface.

Gel Pen

A gel pen uses coloured ink that is suspended in a water-based gel as its medium. Its ink is thick and opaque, which makes it easier to see on smooth surfaces, in contrast to the traditional inks used in ballpoint or felt tip pens, which are thin and clear. Gel pens can be used in a variety of writing and drawing methods. Gel ink uses pigments rather than conventional dyes and is based on water. As a result, gel pens are available in a variety of colours, including more vibrant and intense shades. Gel pens are also well known for their precise, clean lines, simpler lay down, and straightforward writing experience.

The Value of the Pen

Studies show that using a pen to write down anything improves memory. For your own research, study, or workshop, this is perfect. Instead of using a computer to take notes, I use a digital pen to perform computations, make graphs, and scribble down my ideas. It is a reflection of the mind and creativity of the user. A student needs a pen since they use it to take notes, write exams, and make future plans.

Conclusion

People from all professions and areas of life prefer using a pen as a writing instrument due to a number of benefits. Because they are more permanent than pencils and their ink is less likely to be smudged or faded, pens make the greatest writing instruments for long-lasting papers, letters, and notes. We provide premium pens including the Parker VECTOR Stainless Steel Fountain Pen, Figo Liquid Fountain Pen, and Flymax Gel Waterproof Ink Blue Pen. We provide a selection of pens. Visit www.clickere.in for High-Quality Pens.

Tags: Collections, Stationery and Pen.

[fishfauna]

UNIT 5: Where are We? Building the Future (Greenscreen, Lighting)

Overall, I think that this unit was a much calmer unit, and that there is still much left to be desired with my own work, but I think it went smoothly despite the burnout from the last unit.

CONCEPTS, Researching Films Since this had the option to also include animated films for the green screen, I had both animated and non-animated films, as well as television while I was brainstorming my ideas. Below is the PDF to my moodboard, including the series I looked into.

https://artslondon-my.sharepoint.com/:b:/r/personal/c_radaza0320231_arts_ac_uk/Documents/UNIT%205/concept/moodboards-research.pdf?csf=1&web=1&e=9erXmV

Initially, I was going to delve into doing concept work for 'Interview with the Vampire' (1998), looking into the second image, yet I chose to go into Henry Sugar due to Wes Anderson's simple and easy to replicate framing style. Below I had drawn out some concepts, gaging out the layout of both scenes:

This was scanned from my sketchbook and was there to set up the scale and floorplan, which is drawn in blue pencil.

LAYOUT AND MODELLING ASSETS Because beforehand I had created a floor plan for the model itself, which made it easier to block out my assets. This blockout made it easier for me to make the models as I was able to clone the cubes blocked out and build from that. This is also where I blocked out my base lighting. I had also imported an HDRI from Poly Heaven yet I had later changed to a different HDRI because the first one was too bright.

Because the image I was mainly referencing from was blurry, I had ended up sketching out some of the assets out so I could visualise the objects better (as seen on the concept illustration and my sketches below). It also helped me focus and keep with the flow of my own work.

I also used reference images from the internet to model my assets. For example, here with the window to make it more realistic. I had also done this for the chandelier light.

In addition to this, I had stripped down the vertices of objects, which was probably an unnecessary detail that prolonged my modelling process, but it did make it personally easier for me to read what vertices I'm using on a subdivided object. It also meant I had to fill in dissolved gaps. I had also used math to get more precise scales, but I could've made my life easier by making each vertex/face scale individually.

I had to also work with the cloth modifier to make my curtains, which was a learning curve. I had to play around with modifiers, create points and play around constantly to get a result I want. The result I got was not truly precise but I was at least able to create draperies that feel effective in my own work. Personally, this was the most difficult part as it involved a lot of trial and error.

I shaded each file in chunks, the fabric assets using procedural textures (magic textures, voronoi) alongside picture textures. While most of the basic shaders are from AmbientCG, I had to create the patterns from the film itself. They aren't fully accurate yet I tried to recreate the patterns similarly enough.

Below were all the shaders I made myself, as I used Procreate to create them. I could have learnt to use Illustrator to make cleaner, more vectorised designs but learning a whole new application would have been a bigger learning curve.

All of this combined led to my final model (shown below)

GREEN SCREENING The green screening required adjusting lights and multiple takes (I had around 4 takes). I think while the lights aren't too complex because my scene lighting wasn't too complicated. Personally the acting was the most fiddly part, but it ended up being workable.

The green screen was imported using blender and rendered frame-by-frame as a transparent PNG so it could be set as a plane video on the final Blender render. Much of the color was recorrected in Blender as well.

Below is a link to the BTS of the green screen.

Reflection Overall, I feel like my final result was workable and quite simple despite the complex patterns, so it helped my burnout from the previous unit. I don't find it too admirable apart from the fact that I had to create some of my own shaders. If I had more time and patience, I think that I would have likely added more detail to my assets. I also feel like I would have likely just committed to what I first looked at (Interview with the Vampire) or another film/show. I would have also probably made the scene more accurate. I would have also likely created my assets more efficiently without trying to reduce polys or clean up (despite it helping my workflow) as I wasn't trying to reduce file size. I would have also double checked my assets before rendering, as I had to redo my render once due to missing assets.

EXTRA LINK TO ONEDRIVE (GO TO OUTPUT FOR FINAL RENDER): HERE

[warriorend]

I've had this idea kicking around in my head for a While, so the way I personally interpret the TK abilities is like. Physical motion helps, but it's mostly on the mental end. If you're trying to move a pencil, you have to be able to think about the pencil moving to make it happen, that sort of thing

(readmore bc idk how long this is gonna be)

Hovering stuff is just a matter of. Not thinking about it falling. Easier said than done, especially at the start, but once you get used to it, at least you aren't having to get it to Move, it just. Stays still.

using hands makes it easier because they act as an anchor for the person using it, and hey. bonus property from having to think about something that hard is. well. some people say they can kind of feel it in their hands, which makes it easier, it's a nice little feedback loop. so using things becomes feasible, if you can "feel" what you're holding.

most of the later sets have hard upper limits, but. for implants without the limit, it basically boils down to "how hard can you work mentally before your focus starts to crack and overwhelm the implant. which is another reason the hand thing is taught, it lessens the mental strain required and it might be a little stronger, but it's hard to tell if that's just because it makes it easier.

some things just aren't feasibly movable for some people. In the games you can't move things that are too heavy or large, and that could be because it's just. Hard to imagine stuff like that moving. But, perhaps, if there was a very large chunk of unstable kinesium, it could be usable as an amplifier. Given a hint of desperation, anyway

but yea all in all to me it feels like the way the limitations work in-game, the easiest way for me to interpret the telekinesis is "you have to be able to imagine doing it". Since you can hover any number of items, but actually moving anything is limited to two at a time. It'd be difficult to move much more without Badly sacrificing precision (I know the Mechanical reason is bc there's two controllers, but. work with me here), and the training for it doesn't seem very. thorough, in the games, but who knows

& that's why Phoenix goes into a weird shock at the end of the third game. Even with amplification from the kinesium chunk, it's still a lot of effort and a lot of weight to move, and it's exhausting coupled with the explosion (plus it probably hasn't been Long since the end of the second, and I still maintain they weren't getting away from a 30-floor elevator fall and an explosion that turned the building into practically nothing unscathed*. They're probably fucking exhausted by the end of 3)

(*they were taking notes from. well. someone. and i thought about it for two seconds and it feels like someone pinged my brain off a wall bc it is now going Very fast. too bad phoenix Probably isn't going to betray anyone)

[perpetual-fool]

-

I've been thinking about the tuning pegs on my viola. I don't like them, in principle. I also don't like all the alternatives, and I'm wondering why I should feel any way about anything.

Practically speaking, I just need to set it up properly. It was cheap. The pegs and peg holes have to have a matching taper for there to be enough friction to hold the strings, but not so much that you can't turn the pegs. That's manual work and it just wasn't done. I sort of half did it, since it's completely non-functional out of the box. Partly I didn't know what I was doing, got scared and stopped when things started looking weird. And in part I had the wrong (poor quality) tools. My peg shaver (looks like a manual pencil sharpener) is for violin pegs, not viola. I ruined a peg last night, being too small, and had to carve a new one out of some scrap wood I had lying around. It's not pretty but I do have one well-fit peg now. It's still not great. Friction pegs just kinda suck. I mean, if they did the job well then surely mechanical tuners wouldn't be anything more than a novelty. I'm inclined to fall for 'just as good' arguments, thinking everything would be magically perfect if I could just figure out the right way to do it. But yeah, no. I did a good job on this, this is just how they are. That one fine turner instruments always have is proof enough.

But I saw this new tuning system that enthralled me for a bit. (Actually that's what got me thinking about this.) There's these tuners by NS Design where you just kind of shove the string in the hole, turn the screw, and that's it. You can even take the string out and just put it back in quickly and easily, it's great. It's a bit big though. I was trying to puzzle out how it worked, but remembered that patents are public. You can just look up the whole thing on a government website. (Aside, their search function is really nice. It's sort of the antitheses of what I've been lamenting about elsewhere at places that just want to sell you shit. Like, the other day I was trying to look up cases for viola bows, specified my results to the "musical instruments" category. And Amazon un-specified it to "all" and gave me a shit ton of results for hunting bow cases, despite actually fucking having actual fucking music bow cases on their stupid fucking website. Anyway;) So, I'm looking at the patent drawings and I'm just not feeling it anymore? It takes up a lot of space. It requires a couple precision parts. It's not 'elegant'. Does it have to be elegant? What would that even entail?

So then, aesthetically, I'm lost. I guess it's like, this object is for making pretty noises. There's this necessary but ugly thing hanging off it that doesn't make pretty noises. And I want some kind of platonic ideal instrument where the strings just float in the air and are tuned by force of will. And having a magic hole for the strings to disappear into is a big step towards that. But it's not just a magic hole, there's levers and screws and mechanical bullshit down that hole. So do I want mechanical elegance? Do I want an efficient mechanism that makes the magic happen with barely a handful of parts? I was mulling over the idea of a 'headless' acoustic (which would be a challenge), and the simplest solution to holding the strings would be a screw. Like, on the non-tuning end, the strings are held by being pinched under a screw. But screws are UGLY and they'd add WEIGHT and then it would require TOOLS to change the strings. And there's just an endless string of impossibly incompatible 'requirements'.

Why am I like this? Is this even 'me', or just bullshit I've been conditioned with? Maybe I should do things 'wrong' on purpose, build shit crudely with the cheapest hardware store parts I can find.

Yeah there's something here. 'Have-to's are imposed by others. Do I really even know myself if I don't know how I feel about things? Why do I even do things? I don't have fun you know. Enjoyment is sparse, petty, and fleeting. Everything sucks and it's an endless struggle to un-suck it. Would I be happy once things are sufficiently un-sucked? Maybe. I do tend to feel pretty okay right after figuring something out. Sure, let's go with that. For now, I will make it my personal quest to un-suck anything within my domain. I'll wake up and think "what can I un-suck today?". I will look at the situation at hand and consider, "how can this be un-sucked?"

And a little more seriously, there's one thing I have that makes me feel a little bit happy. A sharpening stone. A Shapton Glass 500 grit, top of the line, virtually perfect for what it is. I've studied sharpening more than anything else. It took me years to arrive at that conclusion, as expensive as the stone is I've spent that much many times over experimenting, getting stones I thought were the penultimate choice.

So I should obsess, stay focused on one thing until it's done. accept the cost when it gets expensive. (Ya' know, if feasible.)

(I lost track of what my point was.) Is there a meaningful answer to "why should I feel..?" Like, either I just do feel that way, or someone has tricked me. right? Say, if I'm supposed to feel that putting mechanical tuners on the instrument is bad because it makes it too heavy, either I concur based on my own experience and judgment, or I'm being manipulated. So, I'm confused, I've never been able to feel my feelings unadulterated, and I need to find myself?