#pray I get it so I can work less while also making more art of Lilia

[weeklylilia]

018

I’m literally at work all the time atm so you can get an older drawing I made (while at work lol).

[littlestpersimmon]

Hi guys. Am sick rn, but had wanted to post this before I go and sleep.

Some of you may already know that patreon sent out an update that charges anyone using ios to subscribe to artist's patreons 30% more.

I immediately feel this impact mere hours later, and now, days later. I'm hemorrhaging patrons & have less income. It would mean the while world to me if you guys could please reblog this.

If you use the desktop version or the android app? you will not have to pay 30% more. Needless to say this decision of apple has completely fucked me over months and months to come, unless I somehow make up for my loss by other means.

My patreon is only a dollar a month!

I have around 400 exclusive artwork on it :)

I am working on uploading more art there, and more comics once I am done with my current contract as a comic artist.

I am currently partially homeless- so being alive in general is hard ;y; I wanted to focus more of my work on patreon, until this update- I only have one tier.

I am working as hard as I can, every month ♡ I am also the caretaker of three disabled people- as my dad, who used to do all the housework, is now too sick with a swollen liver that could possibly be connected to his heart problems, and my mama who has limited movement- she "died" of sepsis many years ago after giving birth to my sister, and was revived with nerve damage. I don't know the medical terms, but she was brain dead for however long, and was successfully brought back in a different hospital. She was comatose for months; this event has lead to my family losing everything in hospital bills, our car, our house (literally we became homeless) ah. But long story short, I am the only person in my family who works- as my sister is a teenager, and she is autistic with a very, very low frustration threshold, as she is also a picky eater and still going to school! I'm sorry, many of my followers already know this story by now, I have already doxxed myself multiple times trying to avert crisis after crisis, ahaha. But yes. Patreon added to my cart of Sorrows, and would love to have more folks who aren't using apple, or are using android and the web to come on over and maybe enjoy some of my private art up there. I post around 3-6 art a month, if I am lucky 7. I want to keep making art, and my patreon was what was giving me a semblance of stability until that silly update. Sorry for the long post, and I appreciate everyone helping, reblogging, saying kind words to me, praying for me. G-d bless you all, and stay safe

My patreon:

Direct tipping jar:

My print shop!

[sojourner-between-worlds]

Things about being a Christian I've had to unlearn as an adult:

Spending a lot of time on/ being invested in something doesn't make it an idol. This is not how that works, bestie. Look. I get that the advice "if you spend more time on x hobby than you do reading the Bible and praying" is well-intentioned, but it's just plain Bad. There are a lot of hobbies that take significant amounts of time. Art. Writing. Trade hobbies, like woodworking. I spent two hours Saturday putting in a garden (now that I have space for one!), and not spending two hours and one minute on Bible reading doesn't mean that gardening is now an idol for me. It means I got into a groove and just kept going (and got terribly sunburned for my trouble). What makes something an idol is NOT how much time you spend on it but rather the importance you place upon it. Sometimes important things take five minutes and sometimes they take an hour; the thing that took five minutes isn't less important because it took up less of your time. If your thought process is "this is more important than spending time with God", that is what makes your hobby an idol. (If you are constantly foregoing your time with God in favor of a hobby, then I'd say you need to re-evaluate your priorities, but spending a lot of time on something does not inherently make it an idol. Not to mention that a lot of hobbies can still bring you closer to God despite not spending that time intentionally for that purpose.)

Not having your "quiet time"/ devotions every day does not make you a "bad" Christian. This goes hand-in-hand with the previous point, and there's a lot I could say on this topic, but what it boils down to is this: God understands our human limits and the brains He gave us that sometimes make it difficult -- autism and ADHD and OCD and [fill in the blank]. I'm autistic. So when (well-meaning) people say things like, "you can't get to know God if you don't spend time with Him!" about praying and reading the Bible -- well, 'spending time' looks different for me. Socializing is difficult for me. And while socializing with God is obviously different than with people, praying is still far more mentally draining for me than for most people (especially growing up in an environment where it was implied that you have to 'say the right things' when you pray instead of just allowing it to be a conversation, but that's the next point). A lot of "socializing" for me is simply being present with someone else. This is called "parallel play": you're doing your own thing in the same space as someone else while they are also doing their own thing. This...doesn't translate well to Christianity and what Christianity is "supposed" to look like, unfortunately, so I constantly felt shame that none of the common advice worked for me when it seemed to work for everyone else. Set a time? Executive dysfunction makes switching tasks hard and once that set time has passed, "well, it's too late now". Having a reading plan? I'd miss a day, fall behind, and the shame at that would keep me from continuing to try. And when I did manage to stay on track, quite often it simply became a box to check off and that was it. So, now, I do what I can, when I can. I always get more out of it, and I think God cares more about that than sticking to a plan just so you can say you read every day anyway.

"Don't script your prayers! They'll become repetitive and you won't think about or mean them!" Oh, boy. Once again, I get the well-intentioned meaning here. You don't want your prayers to become rote and stale. But as someone with high anxiety, scripting them is the only way I can survive praying aloud with other people, and, in fact, it means I put more thought into them, not less! But hearing this kind of advice coupled with an environment where it was implied you had to say 'the right things, the right way' was absolutely detrimental to my prayer life growing up. I was always worried about saying the wrong thing, especially as an undiagnosed autistic who was constantly, ya know, saying the wrong things in conversations with people. So I definitely didn't want to say the wrong things to God! But... I also wasn't allowed to plan what to say? How was I supposed to pray then? So I just. didn't pray. For a very long time. Until I learned its just as perfectly okay to talk to God about whatever crosses your mind while you're standing at the sink doing dishes as it is sitting down with a list of things to focus on. (Not to mention that this really is just...terrible advice in general. Kudos to my pastor, who, in his current Sunday night series on worship, actually gave a tutorial on how to personalize praying the Psalms. So, you know, pre-written prayers.)

Purity Culture. Need I say more? Oh, I could write a whole post about how harmful this is, but plenty of people already have, so I'll leave it at this: I wear what I am comfortable wearing now. Something I love about my church is that our philosophy on modesty is this: The greatest sin of immodesty is saying "look at me" instead of "look at God." In other words, modest isn't about what you're wearing so much as what your attitude about what you're wearing is. If you choose what to wear because you want people to notice and stare and give you compliments, then that is immodest no matter how much of your skin is covered up. It's not immodest to wear clothes you like and that you think are attractive (or that help you look professional when its called for), but ultimately your mindset is really not about "dressing to impress." (There is a very thin line between 'modest' and 'immodest' and its not where most people think it is.)

[kadextra]

so on a whim I started reading omniscient reader’s viewpoint manhwa

..and got hooked on the story so hard that I easily blasted through all available eps in less than a week. istg they put dr*gs in this thing it’s so good???? 😭

[SPOILER WARNING! big ramble ahead. if you’ve never read it, leave this post. consider checking it out you won’t be able to put it down]

lets get this out of the way first.

RAHHHHHH KIM DOKJA….. KIM DOKJA I LOVE YOU

GUYSSSSS 🥺 LISTEN. HE’S SUCH A GOOD PROTAGONIST. MY TRAUMA BOY. MY DUDE WITH THE POWER TO INFODUMP PEOPLE TO DEATH. YOU SELF-SACRIFICING IDIOT. his cunning intelligence makes him super attractive what can I say, I LOVE smart mcs with ambiguous morality and self sacrificial nature

here’s a big ✨shut your mouth✨ to every character who’s said he’s ugly- get your eyes checked, get a job get away from him (I know it’s because of the fourth wall’s filter it’s not their fault I’m just being silly)

the fourth wall is such a cool power to have. the complexity of how it acts based on his perception of fiction vs reality as the reader …. that’s very interesting and well thought out!!! how it lowkey has a consciousness too and it’s so tied into his mental state makes me want to psychoanalyze this guy even more. probably one of the most unique powers I’ve seen created and explored in a story tbh

I think the entire system of how the world works is really well done in general. constellations watching the apocalyptic bloodbath via livestream and sending donos to their favorite little guys shouldn’t work as well as it does and cracks me up so much 😭 (uriel is the best). I enjoy learning about all the irl different fables, history & mythologies too. plus doing my own research is fun! I did a deep dive through the web to learn about dokkaebi folklore lol I’m having a good time

I also related hard to how dokja read TWSA throughout his life, the story was a companion for him. got choked up bc I reflected on how much my own favorite companion stories for years mean to me. there’s been situations I’ve thought “what would (character) do?” dokja saying stuff like “what would joonghyuk do?” felt like I got called out <3 I’d probably be the same as him if my favorite characters suddenly came to life

anyways yeah I caught up with the manhwa looked online and discovered it comes from an already completed novel with over 500 chapters and the manhwa is barely a third into adapting it though it’s been releasing every week for 4 years. and that it’ll take like 10 more years to finish. I then planted my face in my hands and screamed with despair

I’ll shrivel up waiting to see what happens……………heyyy woahhhh.. whats this light of salvation ? the novel file just completed download on my phone ? that’s crazyy wow I opened it ? im scrolling it right now ? omg I’m telling myself in the mirror “pace yourself, try to space your reading out do NOT read too fast” ?

jokes aside im excited, first I’ll take some time to read back through the earlier chapters for extra context of scenes! >:D after I finish doing that…. pls pray for my self-control to try stretching this for as long as possible. I’m pumped to see what happens next with this demon king part so maybe I’ll read along with the manhwa unless I get too impatient heh

to conclude- I had no idea the fandom of orv was so passionate. while closing my eyes to spoilers, I was looking at beautiful fanart and animatics (watched this one and ascended that’s one of my fav rin songs). I can tell how much you guys love the story, there’s always going to be people like me who get interested so keep it up :D if the fandom does end up reading this, ummm *knocks on the door* hi im new

I will likely talk about it more in the future!! tagging under “#kade reads orv” ! might draw fanart on my art blog too bc brainworms <3 happy reading everyone

[dokidokitsuna]

...I just remembered I wanted to make my own statement on the AI thing. ^^;

So you've probably heard, but in case you haven't: Tumblr just sold out everyone's data to the AI trash compactors, they probably did it long before they gave us the option to opt out, and even if you do opt out they're probably still taking and using your work anyway (telling people to opt out instead of actually asking for their permission is already scummy business practice, but when it comes to AI it's functionally meaningless. :/ It's always "well, we're telling them not to use these people's data and we're hoping they'll be nice and go along with it" with no regulations or consequences if they decide to just steal everything indiscriminately...)

Despite that, I am not leaving Tumblr anytime soon. I'm looking into other sites*, but at this moment in time, I have nowhere else to go. ^^; Besides, I still like it here. When I left DeviantArt I was already getting sick of the place, having my art stolen regularly by "fans" and paradoxically getting less and less interest in my work over time. By the time the devs turned the website into eye-blinding slop with Eclipse, I was more than ready to move on.

But I still enjoy using Tumblr. I like writing long text posts that no one would bother to read anywhere else, I like answering asks, and I like the unique sense of humor and style among the users here. ^^ It would take a lot to force me out.

Also, I can take a little solace in the fact that AI-bros do not value "low-quality" art like mine. ^^; If messy cel-shaded sketches with visible pixels ever become popular, then I'll worry, but for now I think it's highly unlikely that anyone will want to wholesale regurgitate my art. If anything, I think prioritizing it in their datasets would only make them worse...and on that note, if you do have "high quality" detailed/painterly/semi-realistic art that would be targeted, I'd recommend 'poisoning' it with Nightshade/Glaze. Although I heard a rumor a while back that AI is "building immunity" to Nightshade and already learning to work around it, but I'm really hoping that was just a wishful lie from the trash compactors themselves. I haven't heard it repeated since then, so I think it's still worth a shot. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

So anyway, like the post I reblogged said, I think the best thing we can do now is to make it clear that WE DON'T WANT AI ART. We don't care how easy it'll be to instantly generate thousands of hours of mindless 'content' to look at; we don't want it. Since regulation is lagging so far behind (wanna know why Disney's copyright hounds didn't shut this down on sight? Most likely, they're hoping to profit from it down the line) the only way to fight this right now is with individual litigation and consumer demand.

Don't support projects made with AI**; don't hate-watch them or spotlight them. Focus your energy on the millions of human artists who are still here, and need your support now more than ever.

*I've heard people mention moving to Twitter and/or Artstation: fam, you're jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire. ^^;;; IIRC, Arstation was one of the FIRST art sites to start flirting with AI, and Twitter has been selling off its users' data for several months already. Go there if you must, but don't go under the impression that it's "safer".

**Please keep a cool head when discussing AI art, and keep in mind that it used to mean something other than "mass theft". Artists have and still do create AI tools that are built on limited data sets with permission/compensation, that are used to aid them in their work and encourage human artistry (Vocaloids and DAW's, for instance) rather than stamp it out. Until a specific word evolves into popular use for exploitative AI, we're kinda stuck with this confusion, so remember to get the facts before you speak out.

P.S. Praying every night that this is a dumb fad that will soon die and go to the same hell as NFTs. >_< Praying every morning that the influx of AI art into its own datasets will eventually corrupt itself and make it useless. >_< >_< Praying every afternoon for both at once! >_< >_< >_< Like to charge, reblog to cast, all that

[wander-wren]

so anyway

obviously some people are using programs that are not chatgpt, or might be referencing the ai but not actually using it to write, but let’s say for a moment that there are about 500 ai-generated fics on the archive. which i think is a lowball, but we’ll see.

my official stance is that if you’re using ai to help you write due to a disability, different native language(s), or what have you, that’s fine. it is a tool. i have also seen artists use ai to generate backgrounds or buildings and draw a comic around that—that sort of thing is neat! as long as you’re building on what the ai gives you and making it your own, cool.

what i take offense to is things like this:

(the final two are from the same fic. i took out identifying info bc i don’t actually want to attack anyone here, just explain my side.)

so the main theme i keep seeing is people complaining about the ai-written fanfiction….that THEY are choosing to upload! you don’t like that it’s inaccurate or poorly written or too short, but you aren’t going to put in any effort to fix it? at all?

i understand wanting to experiment. i understand that writing your own stories is hard and can be daunting at first. but it feels gross, frankly, to fling works that took you very little effort, that you know are subpar, at an audience. you don’t think there’s enough content for your ship/fandom? WHY would you try to feed your fellow fans with something you think is bad?

it’s content for content’s sake and i do not like it.

the way this works is, if you want more content, you make it yourself. even if you’re not a good writer, even if you don’t have the best english or whatever language you’re writing in. how, pray tell, are you supposed to improve if you don’t do that?

who is this content even helping? i sorted the fics by hits to get a sense of popularity; the fic with the most hits that is completely ai-written (not using it as a tool) has 2816 hits. about half of the fics have less than 200 hits. there are real writers who might have similar stats, due to writing unpopular ships/fandoms/tropes (some of my fics do!) but across the board it’s clear ai fic isn’t drawing a lot of interest.

sorry i found this while looking at hit counts and i just. you’re not going to subtly demand content from your fellow fans in the SAME breath as admitting you are also not a content farm, but it’s fine, we’ll just have ai do it??

no. no. fandom is not about content. fandom is about community. and if you’re using ai to post fics without editing or sometimes even reading them, that tells me you’re much more interested in the former. putting aside the ethical dubiousness, putting aside the debates about “real art,” you have no courtesy.

and chatgpt can’t write.

[chocochipjewel]

Okay yall Bad Batch finale aires in just under 12 hours and I have some finale theories to talk about! Hopefully I'll be able to post at least some rough art after the finale where I talk about the show some more but for now final theories!

I think CX-2 is Cody, it's too late for it to be Tech and it would be delightfully tragic if Rex or someone (who I think is definitely showing up for the finale) kills CX-2 and unmasks him after the fact or something

I think Hemlock did retrieve Tech's body and I think he's one of the experimental CX units who have not been released yet. But I don't think it worked. I want his sacrifice to mean something, so I want him to stay dead (even if my heart wants otherwise 😭) maybe his body is found, maybe he's never seen again, but I don't think he's coming back

I'm pretty sure Rex and his group of renegade clones will make an appearance, and I hope Phee gets a final moment to be badass as well. Apart from that, I'm hoping for no more extra characters cluttering the episode cause we already have so many loose ends up tie up here

I wouldn't put it past Disney to end the clone rebellion storyline on a cliffhanger tbh but I so badlyyy wish it won't be that way. Let their story end here. It will be sad but you know what that's better than the finale just being a tease for a future show. Let all the Tantiss prisoners break out and branch out to live new lives and die naturally as they deserve.

Now... for the actual Bad Batch itself

I'm certain someone is going to die. No one they're all making it out, not after all the teases and death flags. This isn't going to be like Mando S3 where the characters retire on some field for the rest of their lives (that's just for my fix it headcanons ❤️)

As for who, I've gone back and forth on this but I'm not sure. Every remaining member of the 4 troopers we have here have enough death flags on them and I've read compelling theories for all possibilities, including ones where they get Rogue One'd and everyone dies 😭

So I guess I don't really have a theory for this. I'm certain someone is going to die and I'm honestly scared for who it will be but I don't have a specific person yet. I'm leaning towards Hunter or Crosshair cause their conflict and relationships with Omega make the heart of the show itself, but I wouldn't be surprised if Wrecker or Echo died instead, or any other combination of the team members

Only thing I'm mildly certain about is Omega surviving. Disney Star Wars doesn't like to kill kids much. She's not 100% clear but least likely from my perspective. Plus it would end the show on too sad a note if the character driving the entire plot so far dies 😭 I can see a possibility in which she dies to delay Project Necromancer indefinitely, and it would honestly be sad as hell, but that's just it, it would be way too sad. I don't think the show likes being that dark, especially for its finale. And frankly, Omega's arc deserves to end with her finally getting to stop running and just live her life on her own terms.

Hemlock is definitely getting eaten by the Zillo beast while it destroys Tantiss and Rampart is almost surely making it out and turning a new leaf in my eyes. He's not any less of an asshole but he might just go live somewhere away from the Empire and away from the Bad Batch too.

Emerie is an interesting case cause I can't tell if she'll get the redemption = death thing or she'll make it out too. I honestly have 0 predictions for her. I can see her dying to save the force sensitive kids, but I can also see her making it out.

The force sensitive kids, clone cadets, Batcher, and Phee are probably gonna make it out and you know what good for them. They'll probably be the emotional support for the remaining members of the Batch (if there are any) to move on after this.

I am hoping and praying for no Boba Fett or Ventress or Vader or Palpatine cameo cause this is the last episode of the Bad Batch show and it should ideally focus on. The Bad Batch. The show already has too many loose threads. No more cameos please.

As for whoever survives in the Batch, my ideal wish would just be for them to retire to Pabu under a new identity or something and live out their lives. After Tantiss is destroyed, there would be no clones left in captivity. They can finally rest then. It would be bittersweet to see the end of their adventures as they knew it, but it's at least a peaceful end.

Anyways, that's all for my theories I think! Whether I end up being right or not, I hope the finale is actually good 😭 and I hope whoever dies doesn't make me TOO sad, just that sweet spot of devastated but in a good way 😭😭😭

I'll be reblogging this after I watch the finale with updates on whether my predictions were true or not, probably with a thank you post to the show, so I suppose this is it.

See you all on the other side, TBB nation!

[audrak79]

Broken, but not beyond repair...

I never imagined that at 45, having been married 24 years, and having spent 29 years in that same relationship, that I would be working through a divorce.  I have worked in the legal field helping others through their divorces for 27 years. The story of how I got here is not for all to know and certainly not something to share like this. It’s a story that affects many and, while their story is part of mine, that does not mean I have a right to air it all out.

A big part of my story began when I was 16. I had no clue who I was, where I was going, what I wanted to be, I was just a baby and knew one thing... I wanted out of where I was and I knew there had to be something better. What happened from here many would call a fairy tale. Much of it seemed that way. But as with any relationship, it had its problems, ups and downs. I’ve learned a lot in my life, most of it the hard way.  As with any relationship, we both could have and should have done better, worked harder for it. Life gets exhausting and people change. And while we can't change people or stop them from changing, we CAN control what we tolerate and how we respond to what’s in front of us.    

The last 3 years have been the toughest 3 years of my life.  It’s been trying on our family.  That’s a story and testimony for another blog... when the time is right.  Trauma affects our whole story and the stories of those closest to us and sometimes it even branches out further than that.  As Pastor Mike Todd has said, “what you don’t transform, you transfer.” Before you start a relationship, you should know your own identity or you will take on that of others and try to make them your own. Process your own trauma. You can't expect a good relationship if you don’t feel you can share your trauma because you've never faced it head on and you try to pretend it never happened. Get comfortable with yourself so that you can be vulnerable without fear of shame or embarrassment. It's hard to help someone through their trauma if you've never addressed your own. Faking it only causes bitterness, anger, anxiety, depression, stonewalling etc. and just as you can't control someone or change others, you can’t control their healing either, and you certainly won't help them when you ignore your own hurt. One thing I wish for every human, and I am still working on, is that we could all master the art of good communication. Listening more, talking less. Communicating expectations so assumptions don't leave one hurt unnecessarily. Sometimes a person just needs to know they are heard.

I've made poor choices, I'll continue to make poor choices. But I'm going to strive each day to make better choices. I'm going to try starting fresh and this time around, NOT do things out of order. I'm going to stay firm and grounded in Christ, so much that it spews out in everything I do and I will not be ashamed or embarrassed of what that looks like. I will love so hard that it makes others wonder where it comes from and plants a seed to be watered that has them seeking the Lord because they need that kind of joy in their life. I will forgive more as I also need forgiven and holding onto that seed of offense only allows a root of bitterness to grow. Life is painful. Words hurt. Life and death are in the power of the tongue (Proverbs 18:21) and it takes a lifetime of practice. Out of the heart the mouth speaks (Luke 6:45), which is why we need to check our hearts before we speak. 

Regret.... without the poor decisions I've made, I may never have come to know who I am, I wouldn't have some of the greatest things and experiences that I have had. While I have regret for any harm I may have done to others, and I am sad and even disappointed in myself for the way I have handled some things, I am not sure I would wish for things to have been different. In a perfect world, sure, but we live in a broken world and I'm going to pray that God will continue to make beauty from my ashes, even from the dumpster fires that I caused or fanned into flame. What I CAN do is, instead of focusing on what I did wrong or could have done better... repent, turn, start new, fresh, and try harder to simply be a better reflection of Christ today than I was yesterday. I know I will never regret following Him.

So, excuse me while I heal. It looks different for everyone and while this seems like a new life event as social media and public appearances paint a pretty picture, it may not be as fresh as the picture was painted. I'll likely not be on social media for a while other than to share an occasional Word from God with a picture of my coffee. I trust that those closest to me will reach out personally and directly. My profiles have my contact info in them. God is good, even when we aren't. Trust the process. Be willing to be refined in the fire. I promise, eternity with Christ is worth it. I was reading a few months ago in Isaiah and shared the following on social media:

“Studying this morning and as I hit Isaiah 38 and 39, I praised God for His reminder of the importance of humility, the dangers of pride, and that our actions have consequences. But most importantly, that EVEN when I suffer consequences, EVEN when things seem to go badly, EVEN in the midst of suffering... I will praise my God and thank Him for His love, correction, and grace. For His ways are higher than mine. Who am I to criticize His divine direction.”

I know who I am now. I am the daughter of the King Most High, a co-heir with Christ. I am chosen, forgiven, treasured, sought, beautiful, strong, flawless, never forsaken. I am His.

8/20/24

[dangopango00]

COLLEGE BAND AU HEADCANONS

Legato x gn reader

It was pretty rude of me to just randomly put an au fic without explanation so heres the explanation bye still self indulgent; always will be i fear

more utc

- OK FIRST ABOUT HIM. He works for knives still but in this au his job is to cause vash suffering by 😭😭… outselling him??? Ridonkulous ik but go with it

- Knives wants him to outsell vash so vash realizes that art and human creativity is obsolete and instead help him run his tech/AI company that also focuses on helping global warming (humans suck they should die. robots go!)

- Hes apart of a band to rival Vash’s and ofc its the Gung Ho Guns; he hired them to play for him

- Tbh i think their genre isnt set in stone bc theyre purely doing this to outsell vash so I think theyd keep the core of it rock or indie but it has a lot of shifting gears, doing wtv gets the most traction

- Legato is the bassist but he knows keyboard if their keyboardist is absent

- I think legato writes most of the songs himself (to impress knives ofc this is still HIS mission afterall) and gets a lil sad and defensive if it flops LMFAO even if its just his first album; considering how Knives talked down on music Legato thought it’d be somewhat easy

- It DEFINITELY took him a while to write things that had some semblance of humanity in it tbh he had to have either another less emotionally stunted member write it or a ghost writer but he did still practice writing in his spare time since he had nothing better to do

- NOW ABOUT YALL. Ur roommates in a college dorm; if it were up to him he’d have an apartment but knives wanted him to keep an eye on vash and vash lives on campus

- He only has like one or two official rules as roommates but if ur pissing him off with sth thats not on the list he WILL let u lnow LOL

- The only rules established off rip are:

1. MYOB

2. Do not touch him (no tolerance rule if u touch him without permission he WILL be out of there asap even if its a lot of trouble and will probably even idk push u or sth ignore u forever, hope and pray on ur downfall idk its hard to translate his violent tendencies to modern society without getting him arrested ok)

- You often eat together when he isnt busy tbh usually in silence but its ok its comfortable silence (to him at least)

- Ok im gonna try to say this in the least creepy way possible but like. He likes to observe you for inspiration HEAR ME OUT. Just seeing u go about ur day and since hes always in first person POV seeing someone else just… live gives him immense inspiration on what to write

- He also gets inspo from other artists and heres where u come in hehe. You are a solo artist who doesn’t show your face and your speaking voice is pretty much completely different from ur singing voice (Not like insanely different but if you heard the two separately you wouldnt really connect the dots unless ur one of those people who connect voices easily + depending on ur genre u could be using a completely different tone of voice than usual)

- Your genre is a little similar to Legato’s in the fact that although you keep your core component (Love theme IMO but hey i dont make the rules yes i doo) you change around the other moving parts such as the instruments or wtv so he listens to your music often though he never really thought it would be you; just never really thought about the possibility

- Im not gonna say hes like obsessed with your artist persona or anything but he does (as much as he would rather khs than admit it since according to Knives music is the bane of this world) greatly enjoy your music and often finds himself getting your songs stuck in his head

- Hes def a gatekeeper i mean this is the guy who can name every song in ur discography (Not saying much though since you dont post too often)

- ANYWAY u have no idea this is going on since hes prone to just listening to music in his headphones rather than showing you or blasting it for the world to hear so ur relationship is developing as normal roommates

- You often get him stuff from the college snack shack and in return he often gives u whatever he doesnt want from the dining hall (that sounds crappy but its usually good stuff like ur fave fruit or cheese and crackers or sth)

- After u become a bit closer going on trips together becomes common not like vacation but like a little drive to a department store or him taking you with him to practice/performances

- SPEAKING OF PRACTICE U work part time at a coffee shop and it has a practice room which is where he usually brings his band it sounds random but I’ve encountered a coffee place like this before ok

- Killing two birds with one stone, he gets to see you on his way in and out and he gets a quiet place to practice + Vash often brings his band here too so ig killing two birds and one afterthought with one stone

- Other GHGs (NOT greenhouse gasses. Gung ho guns) think that ur another one of his groupies probably 💀 he def has tons i fear

- He def writes songs about you or rather than about you, references how u make him feel but he is in denial and thinks feelings are embarrassing so hes just like no they just gave me inspiration

- Its ok though the only one he has to justify himself to is himself bc hes like. The only one who knows its about u since his songs are never rlly about romance and in the rare cases that they are its very subtle

- When, if ever, he feels ready for touch he frames it like hes doing u a favor lmao “I will allow you to (blank)” he is tbh

Random Misc:

- Hes majoring in Ecology or Conservation Biology prob minoring in sth like computer science (his entire life surrounds Knives what did u expect)

- Sleeps in his daytime clothes and ur always like ???? Esp bc he wears jeans often… U two went to the department store one time and u convinced him to let u buy him pajamas so he could wash the day clothes overnight

- Hes a big ass fan of vinyls and cds and just physical ways of owning things like music or games but wont admit to himself he likes it its just for the aesthetic ok even though he has a record and cd player

- Wants to cut ur hair and feels like its one of the most intimate things u could do without having to touch too much (forever subscribed to knives cut his hair hc)

- If u have a lot of accessories and generally just a lot of stuff he gets annoyed if it isnt properly organized and will organize it for u wnv hes having writers block

- If ur an artist he has u make his merch designs n stuff 😍😍 he pays very generously he rlly dgaf abt money tbh + Knives sponsoring him

A/N: irrelevant but idk whether to imagine him as tristamp or trigun design like both are so good but Ok im done yapping ty

[thenixkat]

also i like the implications that the people living in this universe think kaiju are evil or actively malicious. The majority of the kaiju seem to be nonsapient but hungry critters but not actively malicious. Granted I dont think most folks who live in a universe were there were living natural disasters that eat people would really care if most kaiju dont seem to have the capacity to be evil rather than just dangerous wild animals

Shinomiya is totally not ecstatic to get her talents recognized and praised by her new substitute dad friend /lying

also the bullets are made of kaiju bits. I'd like to know what part of the kaiju they come from

also Ichikawa really said that he intends to become the strongest b/c he wants to protect Kafka b/c Kafka is the first hero he's met in his life since a kaiju killed his family and Kafka is a nice good guy and he really doesnt want his buddy to get caught killed and turned into weapon parts what a responsible young man. But also, child, you dont have to protect yer adult friend. Its not something you have to deal with

ok that squad leader sounds like she's gonna get some sexual harassment complaints. Lady dont oogle the rookies while yall are being attacked by kaiju

local man just happy to help

yeah I dont like Mina's design. She does not look like a woman that uses bfgs

the artist should have made her beefy i dont care if they have super suits, make that woman jacked

also damn aint nobody got an ass in this

local 27 yr old woman is fucking emotionally constipated and refuses to just communicate her feelings directly

also i like how helmets are not a part of the gear for the Defense Force. folks said they dont need to protect their heads. No need to worry about head trauma yeah no you should not be able to walk on that leg with a chunk that big taken out of you child

also I noticed that the Mushroom actually does have ear holes with the detail in the manga art

local cryptid shooting its own flesh at enemies

oh neat. SO the bullets crom from uniorgan secretions of kaiju. That does raise the question of what do they do if they run out of the specific kaiju's parts to make a certain type of ammo?

no one in this manga has an ass but I'm supposed to belive these sticks are so athletic? yeah the anime should have kept the line about Iharu sending a flare for help b4 coming back makes him look more responsible

the same trick wont work twice on the fungal intelligence

i do very like the idea of characters just straight up praying b/c they're staring down death

I did assume that Iharu is probably in his early 20s. Like 20 in Japan is the age at which you can drink and smoke and such and apparently used to be the age of majority until it got lowered to 18 like in the 2010s (but the mangaka labels Ishikawa and Shinomiya as minors so the mangaka doesnt see them as adults) and Iharu mentioned going to college for 5 yrs. So early to mid 20s probably. I assume most of the recruits are in their early 20s if we only had 2 fuckers too young to drink also imagine 18 and one of yer new adult coworkers decides to declare you to be his rival Kafka said no one picks on and tries to murder his comrades on his watch

and do have to repeatedly state that Kafka's monster form's design is not super consistent in the manga. The shape of his horns differs, the set of his canines, how many spines he has, wether or not he has teh side spines, how craggy he is. SHit is not consistent with him

I will say i prefer his horns drawn in the more crescent shape that makes it clear their extended from his brow ridges. Looks a lot less like rabbit ears

[beatsboy]

7.2.24 / day 9 of romanticizing my life until i love myself again

i am capable of so much, i can jot down some thoughts about my day and upload the photos i’ve already taken before i go to sleep, i tell myself every day, and somehow, around midnight, i tell myself it’s time, and end up finally doing it just before 2

as i write this, the nickleback documentary (love to hate) is playing in the background, it makes me think abut my conversation with mf yesterday about death, and legacy

legacy is underrated, charli says, and while i think so much of legacy is tied to privilege and nepotism and classism, i also agree in some ways. while i don’t think the past should define what is popular or notable now, i do think that we’ve come to a point in media where we focus so exclusively on the quick dopamine shot, the viral star, the instant celebrity, that we’ve forgotten why art is so much more appealing than life: it outlives us.

when i spent my time trying to be the next great american author, i told myself (half out of fear of rejection albeit) that i didn’t want success in my lifetime. i wanted to die, for my work to be discovered years later, and develop a cult-like following posthumously. yes, part of this was because i feared the prospect of becoming successful in my own short little life. and it was also because what i craved in my art was something that would transcend this present moment, that would speak to the future world. i wanted to make art that pushed boundaries and limits, and i didn’t care if everyone understood it now. i still feel that way. i am less afraid of rejection. i was rejected for a scholarship the other day, and when i received the email, i reminded myself that i didn’t even want to go back to school unless it was free. i smoked some weed and went about my day.

today, as i sat in my friend’s car in a cemetery in burbank, talking about life, music, and art, as we always do, a deer walked toward us from the other side of the cemetery and started munching on some flowers the gardener had just planted. and, though he didn’t get close, i swear he walked straight toward us for a moment and stared me right in the eye.

maybe what that psychic said wasn’t true and she was just trying to drain me of my savings and i’m not marked with the x for success in my palm. maybe everyone’s palm has that. maybe that’s just the way palms work. but being with friends who are doing the thing with me, who see the buck in the cemetery, foraging among the dead as we smoke cigarettes in his chevy and listen to demos we pray will become singles we plead to the gods people will enjoy listening and moving and crying to, i think to myself, i don’t need a psychic, and i never have. maybe my future has never been waiting for me, perhaps i have always been creating it, and will create it, one hour at a time, until i die.

in the middle of watching the nickelback documentary, i took sweet pea for a late night walk, after midnight, and i brought some scissors with me. i figured they could serve dual use as protection if needed. i walked a few blocks away from my building, waited for sweet pea to poop, and then began foraging. there is so much to forage in this city; i’ve noticed more so now that i don’t have a yard with fruit trees and such. sweet pea started sniffing a bush that i discovered to be rosemary, so i took some of that (note to self: never buy fresh rosemary again, and don’t worry about getting a plant for your apartment that you will kill) and stuffed it into my fanny pack before cutting off some white roses outside of another apartment building and some purple hibiscus from a tree outside of a separate building. i’m never buying flowers again.

who says there is no nature in this city?

[manyblinkinglights]

Hihi!! As a quadruped creature enthusiast, I've been enraptured by your AnyTaur base since the moment I saw your horse any% video and dug into your newer techniques from there. I've finally become literate enough in Blender and Unity to effectively utilize it, to my greatest jubilation! The sheer amount of adaptability in the setup is just indescribably cool.

I was wondering if I could get your input regarding how one might go about handling a character whose forelimbs are unconventional even by quad standards: they're in a kind of N shape, kind of like a praying mantis' big front claws. See also: as pictured (finished art in image 1 from Limbus Company by indie studio Project Moon)

The hind legs are simple enough, just being analogous to most any other digitigrade quadruped creature, and are therefore handled beautifully by the basic anytaur rig! I've not attempted anything with the forelimbs yet, however, as i feel myself to be a bit unequipped to go forth with such.

If you have no immediate advice and/or you'd not prefer to dedicate time to such a pursuit, I completely understand! I'm more than willing to experiment on my own should the need arise. I merely wish to reach out to you as well, just in case you have any great tips on-hand, considering you're the one who was able to assemble this sorcery in the first place.

Best wishes, and thank you once again for your invaluable tool! 🫶🫶

Just the regular anytaur rig will still work I think??? Just start from the shoulder (you have to have a shoulder) and work your way down. Your forelimbs still have a mammalian-bauplan number of bones, they’re just held quite contracted. Unity’s constraints are way more permissive than you’d think for this purpose, they’re really great for this because of how mammalian leg chains only rotate at the hip/shoulder and then the ankle/wrist.

Because your forelimb is so contracted, you’ll just have to trial and error the best constraint weights. I recommend the shoulder be constrained 1.0 to start with, and then the forepaw and forebeans also 1.0, and the ones in between all at 0.5. See what happens with that. The usual way of calibrating, chairpose and the script, may not work as well on this leg… forepaw pickup should calibrate fine though. or, uh, not.

But seriously, it should more or less work. If that doesn’t work, try 0.3 at the shoulder, then 1.0, then 0.7, then 1.0 or maybe 0.4 for the forepaws and 1.0 for the forebeans…

Basically, just try a few different patterns, including everything set to 1.0. You might not get very accurate foot placement but you should be able to get some sort of acceptable skitter. I think if you start it dancing in Play mode you can change the constraint weights while it dances?? If not that, you can also try making the left and right sides different, to compare how different approaches work.

[twentyfivemiceinatrenchcoat]

HI ARI!!! IT’S 🐟 ANON HERE! the last fanart you rb of satoru reminds me so much of elegant stone and used chisel… i was also listening to hozier’s ‘empire now’ and now im stuck TT

the first thing i thought was a modern retell of the galatea and pygmalion myth where reader is feeling very stressed because lately they’ve had weird dreams and they know there’s a missing piece somewhere. and maybe they’re an artist? so they get commissioned to create a beautiful statue for some rich dude but their mind is a blank canvas. no idea, no thoughts, the chisel feels heavy on their hands as never before, the cuts on the wooden side too annoying to make it properly comfortable to use again.

so one night they lock themselves in the studio and they play with the marble a bit until the inspiration kicks in. and before they notice it, they have a statue. one that feels familiar, with traits that they swear they’ve seen before somewhere… but oh, it’s just so beautiful. probably their proudest work, and they fall in love with it. they pray the gods to make the statue an human but it doesn’t work. no gods hear their lovesick prayers or if they are, they are turning their heads away. and maybe when the deadline arrives reader either destroy the statue (that is satoru) to not leave it in the hands of someone else OR makes a double one (less curated, more disheveled with the marble scraped at the edges) to sell, while hiding satoru in their studio… because when you pour so much love in your creation— whose face resembles that of a past lover or someone you dearly loved in one of your past lives on top of it all, i guess it’s difficult to go back to the life you had before 😔😔

i dunno… the fanart was just so beautiful… :(((( btw, hope you have a good day! stay hydrated! and i hope you had a nice easter 🫶🏼🫶🏼

🐟 ANON MY LOVEEEEE !!!!!!

THIS CONCEPT . HOLY FUCK. YOU’RE INSANEEEEE AND I MEAN THAT IN THE MOST WONDERFUL WAY EVER….. i’m genuinely so enamored w it??????? there’s smth abt this trope that i can’t help but adore just . the idea of falling in Love w a piece of art!!!!! wowowow!!!!!! it appeals to me so much already and then you go and pair it up w SATORU GOJO…… yeahhhh you’re out for my life i fear 😔

BUT WAHHHH I’M JUST :((((( he really is perfect for it isn’t he. he’s too gorgeous. like a finely crafted sculpture. who wouldn’t fall in love w him a little???? and the possibility of him being physically similar to a lover in your past life………. that’s SO tasty. the idea of being tasked with the mission to create something beautiful, only for your hands to subconsciously mimic the appearance of a forgotten lover…… SOBS. you’re a poet 🐟 anon!!! the way you worded this whole thing makes me so emotional!!!!! :’3 i also lovelovelove the ending…. or the possible endings. reader hiding satoru away or destroying him so that no one else can have him….. there’s something both tender and kind of twisted in that i think. it’s so gooddddd i’m gonna CRY i need a fic of this so bad……………

I JUST . love this very much 🥺 thank you SO much for sharing my dearest….. this concept has me so mesmerized. i hope you’re having a lovely day/night too!!!! and drinking lots of water!!!!!!!! sending you all my love n kisses <333333

[pacebone]

oh my goodness your art is just. sublime. i can't even express how beautiful your rendering is. please pray tell your painting/colour picking process!

tysm for the kind words!! i'm glad you took the time to send this message!

i don't think i do anything too special, but there are some rules/teachings i try to keep in mind while i work. i love talking about art and color so i'm happy to get into them in what'll probably end up as an unnecessary amount of detail!!! let's go!!

first off, relativity is The Main Rule of coloring, and you'll probably see it referenced in, like, all of the following tips, because it's my main way of thinking about art. color relativity is less of a school of thought and more of a scientific truth: human vision is incapable of processing color on its own, we can only process what we see as it appears relative to its neighbors. my bro josef albers did a lot of important work on this subject.

it always comes back to bauhaus.

you don't see blue, you see bluer-than-everything-else. if your surroundings are orange (blue's opposite on the color wheel, or, in relativity-speak, the-least-possible-blue), the bluer-than-everything-else object may as well look gray in a blue setting. though i gave a simple example, this isn't a simple spectrum, because saturation and value also affect each other, making for a three-dimensional matrix of trouble.

boy, if everyone understood this concept, that white-gold/blue-black dress argument sure would've been short.

anyway, going from there:

1) i usually start with a 50% neutral gray background. relativity is a negotiation, and starting in the color equivalent of switzerland sure makes negotiations easier. starting with white will make everything look darker and more intense than it really is. (this tip works for irl painting too, i always tint my gesso!)

2) #ffffff and #000000 are treats only for special occasions. they are the fried ice creams of values. use them sparingly and in very important areas (or not at all--i tend to avoid true black altogether in lineless work, usually opting for a deep tone of the work's main color instead). i save these until i'm very close to finishing up, because if you add them too early, you'll throw off the balance of the relativity.

3) finally getting to actual color! when choosing highlights and shadows, i always adjust the color in addition to the value according to a general rule: lighter areas appear warmer, and darker areas appear cooler. this is a pretty common tip, but it's parroted for a reason: it works! for flesh tones, that means highlights are yellower and shadows are redder or bluer. doing this also adds liveliness and helps prevent the doll-like appearance that rendered flesh can get (but don't get carried away with this or you'll end up lisa franking it. not that lisa franking doesn't have its own important application).

4) relativity isn't just something you have to negotiate with. once you get the hang of it, it's a very useful tool! as renowned art theorist francis bacon famously said: color relativity is an excellent servant, but a terrible master to circle all the way back: - if you want something to look very blue, surround it with orange, - if you want something to look very light, surround it with darkness, - if you want something to look very saturated, surround it with dull colors, and vice versa. this can be a useful compositional tool, not just a rendering one--make the focus of your drawing light/dark and saturated, and keep the unimportant areas in duller mid-tones.

a straightforward application of relativity is in the whites of the eyes, because you have an area on the face that's neutral by nature, and neutral = your playing field. like our homestuck kids with their fun eye colors... to make rose's purple eyes look super purple, i tinted the whites of her eyes just a little bit yellow-y (i ended up leaning into soft orange bc otherwise you'll just get jaundice).

and this isn't a just one-way relationship: in the john piece, i DIDN'T want his eyes to be a super distinguished blue, because that was a work about him feeling too absorbed/swallowed in his surroundings (retcon power moping), so i made the whites of his eyes very blueish, lessening the impact of his eye color.

slightly off the vein of relativity: i also usually like making the whites of the eyes around the same value and saturation as the skintone for a sense of cohesiveness, but that's more of an personal preference. white-whites kinda scare me (but, to emphasize, scary eyes have their own application--see, conveniently, kanaya and her brighter-than-her-skintone eyes for that slightly uncanny alien vamp effect!).

i mentioned that i always start with a 50% gray background, but if you're particularly discerning, you may be thinking: hey, wait, your rosemary piece has a darkish blue-gray background! cheater!

and my response to that is yes. so true. i was cheating. color relativity may be a negotiation for the artist, but it's a straight-up scam for the viewer. that's why they call it a trompe l'oeil, a deception of the eye, and not something nicer. i wanted to make rose appear very warm and a little yellowish because she's Sun Light Girl and a cooler background will fool people into seeing that. i wanted to make kanaya appear glowy without painting her white, because, as mentioned, that's fried ice cream, so a darker background will fool people into seeing that.

here's what it would've looked like on a neutral background vs. the final one:

haha ignore the lazy leg i hid in the shadow

this is why i think it's so important to start pretty neutral. if you go full saturation/light/dark from the start, then you'll have no room to play! this doesn't mean painting in shades of gray, but it does mean having a bit of restraint with the extremes of color and value. this can involve a little more planning and negotiating, but the results tend to be worth it. and, luckily, those of us in the digital realm can easily tweak these relationships through adjustment layers and overlays.

fuck that's a lot of text. anyway. hope something or other in there helps.

if something's unclear please know i am a little too eager to clarify!!

[tia-amorosa]

Keon & Javier (Part 3)

In the last part, Javier said that he often prayed, even if he is not a believer. He prayed for good weather, a good fishing catch and often against loneliness. Now comes the sequel.

“against loneliness? Praying doesn't help with that... I'm a lone wolf now and can no longer wish for my family back from God. I don't even know where I'm supposed to go. This island here..."/ ", as I said, you can learn to adapt, there's plenty of fish, the vegetables are always fresh... And when the moon is full again, you'd better think carefully about what you do"/ "say not to me, but to my inner beast.”

Suddenly a gurgling sound was heard, followed by an agonized deep squeak. „oh, hehe“/ "Excuse me, please. But it's been almost two days since my last meal, I had fasted before I wanted to go hunting. But unfortunately that didn't work out yesterday"/ "I can make you something to eat, but it won't be fish today, the weather isn't playing ball"/ "that's okay, something to keep things quiet in there again," Keon looked down and held his stomach.

While Javier prepared something to eat, Keon looked around. “You paint pictures…”/“Yes, more or less. But I prefer to bang on a large block of wood or a block of stone and create a few works of art out of it. When I paint, I often lack inspiration... And motivation too... It was just an attempt, again"/"Can I finish it?"/"Uh, can you even paint?"/"I can do a lot of things"/" well, okay If you want".

Keon stood at the easel and began to finish the picture of Javier. “I'll probably try it here for a few days first. And I'll get an idea of what the wildlife population is like here"/"I'll tell you right now, you'll be disappointed, but... That shouldn't stop you from staying here."

“I’m done…”/ “What, already? I haven't even got the food off the oven yet." Javier glanced back over his shoulder and paused for a moment. “You were quick… And you even added a few clear lines”/ “I said yes… I can do a lot of things. That smells very good”/“the spices make up everything, the rest is just corn, corn flour and water, a nice, tasty mush, but it fills you up”.

“Here, I know it looks like you've eaten before, but it's really better than nothing. And about fasting... As a wolf, you shouldn't do something like that. Because once he's really hungry, there's no control anymore"/"I've often wished I didn't have him, but rather that I was a normal man"/"You're a normal man, Keon, and... Here , take".

Javier definitely believes in other beings. He has already read many books about mystical and mythical figures. There were some books that could be saved, and there were also other useful reading materials. But the fantasy stories often inspired him very much. But there was never any mention of werewolves there. Curiosity is greater than anything else at the moment - he would like to see him in his wolf form. But what will Keon's nature be like then?

Keon tries to organize his own thoughts. He still has the terrible events clearly in his head. Professional hunters who stormed his village and murdered everyone but him in cold blood. He was able to escape, but at some point he was pushed into a corner, or rather the cliff, so that there was no turning back for him.

"Is the weather always this bad here? It's been hailing non-stop since I woke up"/ "well, it's actually summer, normally the sun shines for many hours every day. But it shouldn't be a bad sign"/ "maybe I've brought bad karma with me to the island"/ "I'll show you everything here tomorrow"/ "I'm sure people will be surprised at me"/ "you're not the first castaway here".

"I didn't come with a ship…"/ "I know that, but the others don't. So you should think carefully about what you say. You're my… roommate now. You went overboard somewhere and floated on the water for days. You must be a fast swimmer, otherwise you wouldn't have come so far in such a short time. We don't know where the next island or the next mainland is."/ "I've lost my bearings too …"

“the orientation… I've lost mine too, or let's say… I want to go in a certain direction, but I don't know… if it's right to go where I want to go"/ "and where do you want to go, Javier? If I were stuck here as long as you are… I would have strong wishes at some point"/"hh, I have them, but they are difficult to implement"

“You started praying… Then pray for them to come true”/ “I do that… Every night before I go to sleep. I just never had the feeling that it would do anything, but this morning...I experienced a miracle...I saw how you found your way back to life on your own."/ "That was a miracle for you? Then just wait until the next full moon.”

In fact, there has never been so much hail here before. Maybe for a few hours, but not the whole day. “And I…should really sleep in your bed?”/ “Sure, I don’t mind sleeping out here in the living room. I often couldn’t make it to bed…”/ “Well, okay… thanks”/ “not for that…”.

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

End of part three

[everlywindex]

TODAY. MUTANT MAYHEM TEASER TRAILER. OUT TODAY. I AM SO FUCKING HYPED.

i have been so fucking hyped ever since i saw the concept art. with rottmnt's cancellation i've been praying that the creators behind this new iteration will be able to tell their full creative vision, and i plan to be with this new iteration every step of the way on that journey.

i've been watching this movie's leaks closely (due to the fact that i am a tmnt hungry autism gremlin who needs every scrap of knowledge on this movie possible) and today i want to lay out all my personal thoughts, opinions and speculation before the teaser!

soo yeah let's get this show on the road!

1. i am a bit frightened of mr. rogen but damn does the crew look promising

at first glance the producer of sausage party also producing a tmnt movie seems like something straight out of the nightmare dimension and i can't say that i've seen rogen's other work therefore i can't reassure anyone that sausage party is an outlier and the rest of his work is actually genius or anything like that.

HOWEVER it does seem that he's gonna be taking mutant mayhem pretty seriously! he, along with the director & a co-producer, have been stated to be huge fans and this is supposedly a big passion project for them that's been in the works for years

additionally, it seems to be very focused on the "teenage" aspect of tmnt, shown in part by how they've decided to get actual teenage voice actors for the turtles. it seems to be more of a coming of age character driven movie than a typical action blockbuster. so it's certainly not just a cash grab to make money off of the tmnt brand or anything, there is heart here

i'm not familiar with evan goldberg or james weaver either, but jeff rowe........ not only has he worked on gravity falls, but he also co-directed the mitchells vs the machines. another movie that blurs the lines between 2d and 3d animation phenomenally and masterfully handles complicated family dynamics as well as a neurodivergent teenage queer protagonist

so honestly his place on this project already has me very excited and while i haven't watched gravity falls yet, anyone else who's seen mitchells-machines knows damn well we're in good hands

the movie has also been described as "left of center" as well which means hopefully anyone who complained about the rise turtles looking too non-binary or whatever and is looking forward to a "more classic, less woke" iteration will be in for a very rude awakening. Lmao

the animation style is supposed to mimic doodles and sketchy art styles, a lot like mitchells, so you can see that influence! you can even see sketch lines and whatnot on the leaked turtle designs which is super fucking cool and i'm so excited to see it in action tonight!!

2. donatello takes minecraft hunger games (for the first time in history!)

the turtles themselves are also, as i mentioned earlier, gonna be played by actual teenagers. the rumored casting involves three dudes i've never heard of as leo, raph and mikey so i can't really speak on them in depth even though they look promising!

but i think we've all recognized nicolas cantu as gumball and, even though i myself haven't seen TAWOG, i think he could be a pretty good fit? honestly i'd just be glad to have donnie's voice actor be the same guy who hunted down james charles in a minecraft tournament and promised to eliminate the middle class on smplive(?) just because then people will be able to animate mm!donnie to that audio and it'll be glorious

i honestly hope that those slightly unhinged gamer vibes carry over into donnie's actual character, possibly as a combo of influence from nicolas cantu himself and maybe as a remnant of rise!donnie. given that he was the best donatello by far, fight me, i hope they take the whole "borrowing elements from previous iterations to make this like a cool mega mashup combo of them" idea that was discussed, and give mm!donnie a lot of rise!donnie influence. that would just be so rad i think but maybe i'm just biased w rise!donnie being my favorite tmnt character of all time and all

3. SO ABOUT THAT LEAKED CHARACTER STUFF

THE DESIGNS ARE AWESOME i know a lot of people were mixed on them and i was too but they've been really growing on me!

i absolutely loved donnie's design right from the start though. he just has a lot of neat little details that set him apart from the others! his glasses, his little phone, his headphones (which i pray are noise cancelling) his weapon having jujutsu kaisen and sailor moon stickers on it HELL YEAH !!

i was kinda bummed out when they took his snaggletooth because i thought it was cute but i can see why they removed it, maybe to stay away from like the kind of "buck toothed nerd" stereotype that they might have felt they were getting a bit too close to. What they had better not fucking remove? The autism. given that the entire mitchell family is highly autistic coded though i am trusting jeff rowe not to fuck this up

speaking of neurodivergency, mikey had adhd in both 2012 and rise and they had better fucking keep that as well!

i also heard some rumors that 2012 raph and donnie had adhd and ocd respectively and i haven't been able to find any evidence for those but like.. y'know it'd still be cool to see those included in mutant mayhem as well! especially since, bringing up mitchells-machines again, aaron canonically had mild ocd so it's not like it would be out of the realm of possibility for them to give that to a turtle

honestly i love donnie's design so much bc of the little details it has that tell ya more about him in comparison to the others. i kinda wish mikey kept the stickers on his shell kinda like rise!mikey had, and i also would've liked it if raph still had some bandaids here and there like in his concept art design. of course i am mourning leo's braces just like the rest of us but at least mikey gets to keep em. i'm not even 100% sure that he's lost the braces in the first place though so we'll just see in the teaser trailer if he still has em or not!

of course though i'm always down to see an iteration give the characters designs reminescent of the turtle species they're directly based on (like rottmnt giving each turtle their own respective turtle species, and then giving them features respective of that species, like leo's red and yellow streaks, donnie's soft shell, mikey's pretty orangey-gold dapples, and raph's spikes) mostly because it's just cool and spices up the designs! so while the mutant mayhem turtles don't seem to have anything indicative of their species it'd just... It'd be awesome y'know. I'd like it

also in terms of the action figure leaks i think they're cute but i especially love the splinter design we got. He just looks so Dad and i really hope this iteration can stray further from the stereotypes and the "yikes" aspects of his character a bit more. i have faith in y'all!

i don't have much to say on the leaked character personality descriptions other than people on the internet will rlly just believe anything NO raph will NOT be canonically using he/she pronouns guys. paramount and nickelodeon are not fucking brave enough for that. i will still be he/she'ing raph throughout the entirety of this essay though because it is my favorite technically founded by canon hc that we have been presented with

also i haven't watched good will hunting. but now i feel like i should. i need to understand that little purple turtle more

4. i think if they give mikey a gun the entire plot will be over in two minutes

there are a lot of theories on how this movie's story is gonna go!

one is that the boys are gonna get cloaking brooches (like in rise) in order to disguise themselves as humans and attend school. and iii kinda doubt that! mostly because of their voice actors. given that the turtles are presumably biological brothers in this iteration that means either they'd all be poc or none of them would be. the former would be odd since two of their voice actors are white and therefore you'd have white actors playing poc characters, and the latter would be just as bad since the turtles are infamously blasian coded and it would just be straight up whitewashing

i think casting white actors as blasian coded characters might in itself be fairly questionable but if anything it pretty much solidifies that we won't be seeing the turtles' human forms in this movie because that would make it.. even more visibly questionable to people who may not have looked into it as much initially, which the crew would want to avoid i think. so if they attend school it'll either be openly as mutants or under some kind of disguise

whatever the case though i think sending the turtles to school is a pretty new and fun concept!

i really hope we get that one scene people theorize could happen where donnie puts on his headphones and triggers an action scene with the action synced to the music. that'd be fucking lit

i think the movie will probably end on a note similar to luca where the turtles are able to come out of hiding and there's a "some people? they'll never accept them. but some will. and they seem to know how to find the good ones." kind of message. the good ones in question being probably april, casey, keno? God i hope keno's in this

maybe the ending is letting mutants as a whole have a chance to be more involved in society. they were previously hiding in shadows but the turtles' heroic actions opens things up for them to start being more accepted? idk that's just my thinking

5. guys i'm sorry but that storyboard is so fake

i'm not going to go into it in detail since someone already did that in this post

but yeah that storyboard is most likely not at all real. which also means we sadly may not be getting a black plus sized april for this movie. it would be awesome! but it may just.. not be happening

so like if the teaser comes out and april looks nothing like that, then uh.. y'know. don't freak out

6. speculation on the teaser and marketing going forward

so i think that since this is gonna be a more character driven teen movie than an action hero movie with high tense dramatic stakes and whatnot, the teaser is gonna reflect that. i remember when they talked about a demo video that they made to showcase the art style (that was never released to the public,) where raph had one of her brothers record her skateboarding into a store and breaking something before they both ran outta there laughing and i think that. If anything? the trailer could be kinda reminescent of that

not literally that, of course, but something similarly modern teenager-y and goofy that would establish the characters' personalities and family dynamics well

maybe something like mikey doing a vlog where he talks about his friends and family members and we get to see moments of him bothering them for interviews or content for his vlog. and like you can just imagine all of the short clips and shenanigans that would come from that and how it could lead to a fun format for a teaser or even full trailer y'know! especially considering what we know of the movie's themes

one more thing i want to say is that god i just really hope this movie takes the puss in boots 2 route with its marketing. it'd just be so funny i wanna see the turtles making tiktoks to promote the movie where they prank each other and get into trouble and shit like it'd just be so goofy!!

and uhh... Yeah! i think that's all i have to say! these are all my thoughts lined up and written out and i'm excited to look back on this after the trailer, and possibly even after the movie, just to see how like.... things were before. Y'know.

but yeah hashtag i was here for the first trailer drop on the seth rogen tmnt iteration 🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀

see you guys after the kid's choice awards!!!