#phew that's enough

[doodlesaresketcheswithnoodles]

wasn't gonna post these, but since it will be a while before I can draw for myself again, here's the coloured sketches of the next SW illustrations I'd prepped up, this time random moments set during the Clone Wars

[neroushalvaus]

Okay I am going to use the Somerton situation to talk about something that is very important to me. Following the discussion I have seen former Somerton fans being disappointed in themselves and questioning how they can ever trust another video essayist again. I have also seen some people being smug because to them Somerton was obviously unreliable from the start. As a person who also saw the "red flags" in Somerton, I would like to skip the smugness and talk a bit about what the red flags were to me.

Someone else has probably posted something similar and Hbomberguy's & Todd in the Shadows's videos touched a few of these points, but they didn't focus on them or how to spot these things. I think it is a good thing: I think it would have reinforced the idea that Somerton's fans were to blame for being lied to, and these youtubers didn't want to pin any blame on the fans. Also, some of the things I'm going to talk about were not by any means proof of him being unreliable, they were common tropes I personally associate with people who are bullshitting on internet. Think of it as something like spotting terfs: If you consider following a tumblr user and find out they have at some point posted "males will always be a danger to females no matter what they say", it is very possible that they are not a terf. Maybe they were having a bad day and were just wording their post badly – But you should probably search "trans" from their blog before following them, just to be sure.

So, the tropes in James Somerton's content that I consider red flags:

Lack of sources. This one may seem obvious and Hbomb talked about this in his video, but the lack of sources in his videos was outrageous. Video essays are called essays for a reason, they are not supposed to be just a guy talking about whatever comes to his mind, they should be well researched essays. Obviously video essays should contain one's own thoughts and interpretations and those do not need citations. But James Somerton didn't come out of the womb knowing everything about LGBT history, Disney and film theory, if he actually knew something about all this stuff, he should have learnt it from somewhere. There should be sources he could point to. It is very common that even when a video essayist doesn't tell you where they got all their information, they open their video by saying stuff like "when I prepared for this video I read the book Also sprach Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche and this one thrilling blog post about lesbian cruising in 1960s Sweden". From what I've seen, James does not really do this. From watching his videos you could arrive to the conclusion that James Somerton does not read any books, he just knows everything. There are situations where people don't feel the need to add sources, like when the information is considered common knowledge or when the topic relates heavily to the essayist's actual academic field or profession. This is okay and very understandable, but can sometimes be dangerous, since if the video essayist markets himself as a marketing specialist, people are more likely to take his word for stuff that has to do with marketing, even without sources. It is understandable that in many situations an essayist may think "why should I cite a source? I know this thing!", but doing your research well is partly about checking if the information you are certain of is actually true. Also, as Hbomb pointed out, if you can cite a source, your audience can go learn more about the subject. It's not about anyone doubting you know your stuff, it's about learning. That's why well-respected video essayists usually cite their sources very clearly.

Lack of pictures and screenshots. This is about different kinds of sources again, many things on this list are kind of about sources. An example: When James Somerton made a video about JKR, he mentioned something about Rowling at one time saying that trans students in 30-50Feralhogs (or whatever the wizard school is called) could use magic to present as their gender. If this was any other video essayist, you'd expect a tweet to pop up, or something else confirming Rowling ever said this. Nothing pops up, obviously because Rowling didn't say this, but you can't see anything fishy in that because things rarely pop up in Somerton's videos. He doesn't show you court documents when speaking about a court case, he doesn't show you the comments apparently mad at him for implying the gay anime is gay when he is complaining about people being mad at him. There is a reason people show screenshots and tweets in video essays. When a good video essayist says JK Rowling has tweeted that all people who menstruate should be referred to as women, the video essayist shows the tweet so people know they are not making it up. If there were hoards of annoying bitc-- I mean, angry white women whining about gay sex in HuffPost articles or Somerton's youtube comments, he should have no trouble showing you those. Remember that you should not trust someone just because they show you pictures or screenshots. Pictures can be photoshopped, screenshots can be doctored. Many youtubers are aware that you listen to their videos while cleaning or while walking your dog and don't actually see the screen all the time, and some may take advantage of that by saying something like "and here she threatened to kill me" while showing a text message where someone said "die mad about it". A screenshot alone isn't much but you should demand to see the screenshot.

Passive voice. I am once again bitching about this. Somerton repeatedly says things like "it's been said that" or "it was common knowledge that" or "a legend says that" or "according to most interpretations". He doesn't say who says it, making it very hard to fact check and that seems to be his goal in some cases.

Relying heavily on anecdotes. Writing a dense, analytical video about film theory or history can be exhausting and you may want to pepper in little fun facts. However Somerton seemed to rely on these heavily; he can't just talk about how he has totally bought every lie told by The Pink Swastika, he also needs to tell a cute little anecdote about SS men forcing sexual favours out of men. He can't just tell a story about a court case, he needs to add in ridiculous stuff about the jury booing. This is what I mean by not all the things on this list being necessarily proof of someone being unreliable. Many people use anecdotes and little stories in their storytelling, it makes the videos flow better and it's hard to decide which anecdotes are valid and which are not. A source obviously makes an anecdote a bit more believable, but here are some things that instantly make me fact check an anecdote:

It's a bit too convenient, poetic or ironic. Sometimes real life is weirder than fiction but if an anecdote is "perfect" and has an amazing punchline and you could write twelve poems about it, there is a possibility it was invented by pop science books.

It assumes your political enemies are stupid. Dunking on conservatives, MRAs and transphobes is always fun and after you've seen a lot of this kind of content it's easy to believe anything about these people. You must resist the impulse to believe everything that may make your opponents look stupid.

The person telling the anecdote implies it is an example of a larger, systemic problem. You know what's worse than taking a random happenstance from human history or internet and basing an entire political theory on it? The said random happenstance being made up. You should in general be wary of people telling one story and explaining why it's an example of everything that's wrong in the world. We live in a huge world. You can always find a white woman who loves cute gays but hates the idea of Nick Heartstopper and Charlie Heartstopper getting nasty but that doesn't mean it's an indicator of a larger issue.

Simplifying complex issues. We all know that "only the boring gays survived the AIDS crisis, and that's why gays started to only care about marriage equality and military" is a horrible, insensitive thing to say, but you also have to think about it for like two seconds to realize that it can't be correct. It kind of reminds me of the "roe v wade caused the crime drop of 1990s" claim in Freakonomics. It sounds logical and simple, like a basic math calculation. Societal issues rarely are like that, though. You should never believe anyone who tells you about a huge societal shift and says it happened because of one thing and one thing only.

These were some of the things I noticed in Somerton's content that caused me to distrust him. I hope these were helpful to you and feel free to add your own "red flags" if you feel like it!

[decamarks]

HE'S FINALLY HERE!!! happy belated anniversary to deltarune chapter 2, and my favorite big shot spambot!!

words cannot convey just how much i loved making both the model and this animation. spamton is one of my favorite characters ever, and bringing his cartoony antics into the third dimension was WELL WORTH the effort it took.

this is my first attempt at making any kind of rig like this, and i'm pretty pleased with the results and my efforts. keep in mind that this model is absolutely not as well optimized as it could be... but you're free to use it for LITERALLY ANYTHING!

DOWNLOAD PAGE: https://decamarks.neocities.org/spamton.html

[chalkrub]

my SLOPPIEST lady muscanston, emerging from somewhere. would you give her a kiss? be honest

[miauiz]

[sharpedgedfool]

we're so fuckin back lads

[borzoing]

Couldn’t focus on working on other art til I got this out of my system.

[loullipopx]

Yay I finally drew all the sailors !! 💕🩷✨

[octopeachy]

color wheel challenge: octopus edition 🐙

[sysig]

Obviously I had to make it a thing (Patreon)

Spoilers for Handplates! Make sure you’re all caught up before continuing!

I ended up scene-picking around the timeline at pretty-much-random, whatever I thought fit the lyrics the best in the moment of blinding inspiration (lol), but now that I’ve got the basics down to paper, I think I’d more carefully choose in mostly-chronological order. That also means some would have to be cut, so I want to show them off here! :D I also drew them all from memory so if there’s inconsistencies, that’s why lol

For example this is one of the very early lyrics, but the events take place well down the timeline! I’m sure I can find a good stand in - mostly I just wanted to draw Papyrus from this scene, ugh I love him ♥ And the lyrics do fit!

Looking back to Sans for reassurance haha. I changed a few of the lyrics to be more Papyrus-specific -

- also featured here! He’s got the Gaster pose going on here hehe, and cutting around in time of him in Snowdin and also back at Asgore’s, him reassuring Asgore about Sans’ HP is so cute, I had to make reference to it haha

Happiest little sibling spinnies <3 <3 Probably the cutest panel of the whole bunch honestly haha ♥ Their little faces!! Ugh 💕

One of those instances of the lyrical contradictions, and I think I would keep this jump forward - everything has changed! And they’re really not okay, but they have each other

The one makes me laugh honestly, a bit dark lol. All their safe people, except for the two that take up the rear of each. I mean, technically it’s not inaccurate with Flowey’s, he won’t be alone! Unfortunately. The human, well

Started settling into a rhythm by this point, and rather pleased for it :) Poor Papyrus! He didn’t do anything wrong and he still has all these sad feelings about it!

All catching up to him :( You can only run from and ignore your problems for so long - this line feels so him, dealing with what their world is and all that entails, poorly

I appreciate the fact that Papyrus has this dream several times, it fits lots of places! Gaster look what you did to him even when you don’t exist anymore

Papyrus as an adult! Though he also is in the one with him and Sans dream-sharing. Things start breaking real bad for him, I’m still not over how good this song is lol

I did admittedly go a little over-the-top with these, he was not crying this much but I just jsalfdjfds this scene is so- much. So much! The lyrics goaded me, blame them haha - and also the attention to his neck! Even if it’s not in reference to choking on tears specifically, still drawn to the same place! I love Sans going to comfort him as well as rally him ahhhhh

I got his Soul glitches wrong haha, but seriously! This song, I swear!!

A bit of irony - he’s being heard! So much! Just not listened to. I am so enamoured with his pose callbacks throughout the entire comic ugh, so beautifully done

Handing off the song for a moment to someone who actually can rewind it - I don’t think I’ve ever drawn a Genocide Run human now that I think of it :0 It was so satisfying to draw Gaster kneeling on the ground like that haha, contact points were - on point ✨ for this doodle session hehehe

Originally I had his glow coloured in purple but this was one that I actually went back to look at (because I love this scene so much hhgggg <3 <3 <3) and had to change to his natural colour - he deserves it!! He’s earned it!!

I’ve honestly fallen more in love with this song through him and vice versa haha ♪ It’d be quite a bit before/if I could make a full version, even just with what I’ve got here, but it was so fun to draw at all ♥

[distant-velleity]

@oya-oya-okay i drew my chrysos and your shishio together~

since chrysos is a freshman who sings at the lounge sometimes, i had the idea that maybe shishio sees him perform one night and goes to compliment him the next day--but since i read that he doesn't know how to deal with people who aren't very expressive, and chrysos is usually very stoic in his daily life, well... lol

[shkika]

Do you have a post explaining your SoS = Saint headcanon (like the hows and the whys)? I think it’s a super cool theory but I can’t find anything you’ve written in depth about it :(

Yes sure!

I have realized it is extremely difficult to search through my asks related only to a specific topic oops..

My theory stems from a specific Moon dialogue. The one in the void where she explains that the solution was something beyond their understanding. A variable out of infinity that EVEN if they found, the wouldn't know to test. Basically this this finding one single thing out of an infinity of options. Not only that, but the only way to know the answer is to cross into the void and escape the cycles. Which would mean that upon discovering it, you would ascend.

Hey. Did you know that Sliver of Straw's name suspiciously much sounds like the saying "Needle in a haystack".

I've rambled about her name before it's extremely clever. I mean it literally translates to SOS while she's known for sending the triple affirmative signal and perishing.

In my theory I want to give the idea that Sliver didn't find the answer on purpose. She stumbled on it and forcefully ascended before she had enough time to explain, share or do anything more than send it out.

So then okay she's in the void. Why did she come back as Saint. What's going on?

Well the void is described as a dream. Which would mean it gives those who have departed the cycles a peaceful existence. Think of Hunter being embraced by NSH and Survivor finding their family in the home tree. Monk finding their sibling as well.

Well Sliver no doubt went through the same experience as well... however..

You can tell it's a dream. Or at least the iterators can, because they are much more intelligent. Sliver would know that her dreams aren't real. Her loved ones she sees are still stuck in the cycles, somewhere she can't reach. And she's stuck unwillingly, it was all an accident she can't escape from. And she had friends! She often bet on animal fights like a dumbass, you cannot tell me she was fully devoted and did nothing else, but work with that silly hobby in mind. It's a very goofy detail to add to her character.

I think she suffered a lot in the void. Being all alone and stuck. It was unfair to be the only one free of the cycles, especially when her accomplishment wasn't even purposeful. So she attempts to escape. More or less swim up just how we see Saint doing.

But there are in fact void worms guarding the sea. I imagine they dragged her back down. Again and again.

What goes in the void can't leave. That's a rule!

So what she does is basically destroy herself. Take herself appart in any way she can, mentally and physically so that she can ascend as something anew.

Which is where the last challenge in arena mode makes more sense. It's non canon. Sliver didn't die, because of Saint. But it is more so symbolic! She is ascended so that Saint can take her place.

It is difficult and painful, but she manages. It is also beyond cool how the motif of the game, but inverted is use for Saint's swim back to the world. I did a lengthy ramble about it here I highly recommend you give it a read, because even the music used adds to this theory! > (x) < Here it is.

All the creatures in rain world are helpless from the big iterators to the smallest of slug cats.

Sliver takes her fate in her own hands refusing to follow the world's rules, becoming Saint. This was he can give the answer to his family. To every creature he can save from the repeating cycles. Comic about that here > (x) Even if Saint's goal is unachievable he chases it anyway. Which is what makes him an echo!

As Moon and Pebbles understand.. he's the only one that can. And it is why his journey is so incredibly important. He's the only one who has seen beyond the void sea and can bring back that knowledge to others! And it's what Saint does. This is why Sliver can never return to a peaceful existence in the void sea.

[fangirl-lilith]

Counter Shock

[bananasbyler]

Thinking abt how they’re all looking at a different person LMAO

Will -> El

El -> Mike

Mike -> Will

————————————————————————

Will’s uncomfortable, feels left out, and notices El acting different around Mike.

El’s laughing and trying to be like a couple again to Mike, but also lying to him a lot of the day.

Mike is joking around and wants to include Will, but won’t do it directly. He’s also making sure Will is having fun, but trying to please El by acting coupley at the rink.

————————————————————————

How else would Will know that El is faking her emotions and lying to Mike constantly if he wasn’t focusing on El?

Why else would El try to convince Mike that she was happy and had friends in California if she wasn’t trying to put up a front for him?

How else would Mike know if Will was being sulky or grumpy if he wasn’t watching Will’s reaction all the time?

————————————————————————

All of these result in different outcomes:

Will sternly tells El that she shouldn’t be faking things and hiding the fact that she’s getting bullied all the time.

El can’t hide her emotions anymore and she bonks her bully in front of Mike— even before that, she demands her bully to just go and tell Mike that it was a joke amongst friends.

Mike lashes out on Will because he’s mad that Will didn’t reach out to him either and calls Will out for being visibly upset the whole day at the rink.

————————————————————————

In conclusion:

Will wants El to be honest to Mike.

El wants to seem happy for Mike.

Mike wants Will to actually be happy.

=

Will is saying it’s okay to be upset in front of Mike.

El is hiding being upset for the sake of Mike.

Mike is trying to make Will not upset anymore.

[bericas]

our coming of age has come and gone... but i'm a fire and i'll keep your brittle heart warm.

[intriga-hounds]

sivi earned his RATI this weekend. ponzu did not bc i NQ’d us by forgetting to put down my leash. 🙈 ponzu did find the rat, and i called it correctly, but she was scared of the critter and didn’t enjoy the game at all. considering there are no viable classes near me and i no longer own rats, i don’t think barn hunt will be our thing, but the event was full of the kindest, most welcoming people. i wish i lived closer to the barn hunt scene just because of the community! we then hurried to race practice, where both sivi and ponzu made it clear that they like that game WAY better.