#redesign for fun and profit

[petermorwood]

We had roast beef for Christmas dinner, along with - among other things - roasted potatoes, roasted carrots and roasted parsnips (if the oven is running, make use of it!) Very good they were, too.

Boxing Day was the usual grazing-on-leftovers, but next day, to break away from Variations On A Theme Of Roasting in E Minor, @dduane decided to do some frying instead, and made latkes.

I'm more familiar with hash browns and rösti, but I've had latkes before and enjoyed them a lot. This batch was excellent, so much so that I excused myself from the kitchen until she'd taken some photos, otherwise there'd have been nothing left to photograph... :->

"More-ish" doesn't even come close.

Her IBS meant she avoided the traditional apple compote accompaniment and went instead for sour cream - super-rich Lithuanian 40% in this instance - so the apples weren't missed.

The IBS also meant leaving out any onion, so these weren't as traditionally flavoured as the last time when IBS wasn't yet a problem, but when I suggested adding bacon lardons to the next batch instead, she rolled her eyes and muttered something about not getting that idea past even the most reformed of Reform rabbis *.

So, no.

Or at least not yet, because there are lots more potatoes and I'm not helpless in a kitchen...

*****

* I know the "Three Rabbis and the Hanukkah Bush" joke, and she knows I know, because she was there when I first heard it at a Discworld convention. This, much shortened, is how Professor Jack Cohen told it:

Q: "Rabbi, my kids' gentile friends all have Christmas trees. Would a Hanukkah Bush be okay?"

Orthodox rabbi: "No, certainly not!"

Conservative rabbi: "Just inside the house, and keep it small."

Reform rabbi: "Hanukkah? What's that...?"

*****

Something else which prompted comment, this time from me, was when using our Magimix (Cuisinart) to grate the potatoes. We've only got one grating disc (it came with the kit) and I wondered if its 2mm cut was too fine - no, it wasn't - so went looking for New Discs for Next Time.

That's when I discovered there'd been a design change. When we bought our processor back in the mists of time 30+ years ago, the cutting-grating disc that came with it, and all extra ones, were reversible doubles, like this:

It fits on the spindle one way up for slicing, the other way up for grating. Simple.

However, the modern discs AREN'T reversible, an idea no doubt put forward by some bright spark in Accounting...

...since now Magimix users need twice as many discs as they used to, and buying them costs twice as much as well.

(Sensible users also need twice as many boxes for safe storage, because these things are didn't-feel-it-happen sharp, and can easily exact Steel Fee from an unwary finger reaching for something else in the same drawer.)

On the bright side, we seldom need to grate / slice stuff in such large quantities that doing it by hand on mandoline or box grater is a serious chore, and doubtless the redesign has some sound mechanical reason behind it.

Despite that I can also hear the distant ka-ching of the corporate cash register, making this whole thing rather (cough) grating...

:-P

[paper-starz]

PLAYTIME REDESIGNS!

It’s the three versions of beloved dough man! From his original 50s version, to his rebooted 80s and 90s versions!

I had a bit too much fun with these guys. Especially 90s doey, it’s so much fun to draw his expressions!

Rewritten lore under 👇

Doey D. Doughman was Playtime Co.’s second major commercial success! Hitting the toy aisles in the 1950s, “Doey Dough” became the toy marketed towards schools across the nation, teaching kids how to be creative and imaginative. With Playtime Co.’s original recipe, kids won’t have to worry about forgetting to close the lid on the can, because the dough can’t ever dry out!! Here, we see Doey’s original design, a fine and charming fellow marketing the four original colors of “Doey Dough”: blue, red, orange, and yellow!

Luckily, Doey’s Dough expanded its color selection by the 1980s, and with it, Playtime Co. redesigned their beloved mascot! Now he’s sporting a bea-U-tiful rainbow vest, showing off the wonderful new colors! Once again, profits soared! Playtime sold nearly 8 million cans of Doey Dough in 1982 alone, and with that amount of profit meant that there were a LOT of fans.

Playtime Co. was receiving hundreds of letters per day of kids asking when they’re going to see more of their beloved dough man? With so much demand, it would’ve been stupid of the company not to capitalize on that! So on 1984, “Doey the Doughman” series was released out onto the public, and boy did the public adore the lovable living doughman. More than 40 million viewers tuned in to watch Doey teach them the wonders of one’s own creativity, of joy, kindness, and friendship. From there, more merchandise got released, from plush toys to books!

Now that all changed once the 90s began. You see, Playtime Co. wanted to be in the public spotlight again, and while they HAVE been releasing toys, with varying degrees of success, they weren’t as popular as Playtime Co. needed them to be. So, instead of creating a new, innovative toy that kids would love, the company repurposed its beloved mascot Doey, the one that taught kids about love and kindness since the 80s, into a brash, mean-spirited Doughman.

Playtime Co. was finally receiving the attention it so desperately wanted, but not the right kind of attention. Angry fans (both kids and adults alike) sent in hundreds of letters complaining about the awful new changes, some even refused to buy anything Playtime Co. related UNTIL they could fix this issue. This got so bad that it even started to affect PlayTime Co.’s sales, so with no other choice, Playtime Co pulled 90s Doey Dough away from store shelves and replaced it with the memorable 80s version. This era is often referred to as the “Playtime Company’s Doh-sastor”.

To this day fans often wonder why Playtime Co. decided on redesigning their once colorful and fun mascot to something “unoriginal”, “bland”, and “boring” compared to its predecessors. Perhaps this is due to the time period, where many shows at this time were a lot more “edgy” than the cute and pastel cartoons that came before. Perhaps we’ll never know!

Huggy, Kissy, and Doey redesigns

Yarnaby!

[ar-cadez]

Count Duckula Fan Rewrite!!

Recently I’ve been working on a Count Duckula rewrite that aims to give it a slightly more serious tone and semi-serialized story like many modern cartoons! It took some time, but I made redesigns of the main cast. I had fun making this project and I REALLY hope you do too! Because I’m extremely nervous that the small fan base Count Duckula does have will hate this

I haven’t actually finished the show btw so if there’s an antagonist or smth that shows up later I should’ve redesigned.. lmk! I’m open to suggestions I really like this show..

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Basic Concept

Practically the same as the original show! There is a long line of reincarnations of a wicked vampire duck named Count Duckula, the most recent reincarnation went wrong and now the current Count is a vegetarian and much more interested in becoming famous than being evil.

Some major differences include the tone and story structure, being semi-serialized and having more serious arcs mixed in with the antics, along with a lot of changes in characterization. A big story change is also that Nanny was not hired until AFTER Duckula was reincarnated so Igor was the one who screwed up the ritual.

Tone wise I’d also like to slightly age up the target audience so it could get away with a bit more dark humour. My favourite part of the original show was moments that were just so morbid and completely brushed past. 13+ would be fine methinks.

Basic plot of the average episode would be about the count’s hyperfixation of the week and trying to get famous or profit from it. Not every episode would follow this structure though.

The grander themes of the series would be all about expectations from family and strangers and how those expectations can be completely false.

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Characters

^^ Final lineup! ^^

Sketches (less interesting poses but shows off some things better)

Count Duckula!

What I wanted to change

I feel like Duckula from the original spin-off was already a really strong character! There is a lot to him and really all I would want from a more emotional reboot is to dive into what’s already there. I did kinda project on him a bit in this rewrite though… gotta write what’cha know!

I also changed his design quite a bit. I never thought the suit fit his personality and I wanted to go with something a little more bright. If I go back again I might saturate his shirt a bit more. I also wanted all the residents of castle Duckula to have purple in their designs and for duckula and Towser to share similar colour’s inversed

Character Traits

Hatred of his legacy

Duckula is the first member of his lineage to not be an evil vampire and he hates that role that is expected of him. This is partially what drives him to be the nicest duck he can be, in hopes of shaking off his legacy. This also causes him to reject anything that's “spooky” or has to do with vampires. He physically can't eat meat or blood due to his botched resurrection, but even the sight of either distresses him.

Attention Drive

Due to his infamy, all Duckula wants is to be liked by the general public. Everyone in his town is automatically scared of him and he tries really hard to change their opinions on him whether that be through attempting to bea good samaritan or by performing in town. (Both tend to end poorly for him)

ADHD and Theatre Kid Behaviour

Duckula is constantly picking up and putting down new forms of art and performance. This can be anything from oil painting to American football. He does tend to get frustrated or distracted and abandon projects or crafts entirely. His favourite artform is acting and music so as you can imagine he's very into musicals. His musical talents are decent but his acting is awful. He’s also known to loud and overly excited over his interests

Ego and Cowardice

Being given a position of power the day you came into existence does have the tendency to make you… immature to say the least. When in danger, if he even realises there is any, Duckula’s first move is to use his title as leverage. If that doesn't work, his second is to beg, grovel, and lie his way out of the situation. That, or hide behind his much more intimidating companions.

Rich Kid Syndrome

Having the majority of people you know be your house staff really messes with your sense of responsibility. Duckula can hardly do many basic life skills on his own because of this. It's not like he is completely lazy but he does have executive dysfunction and has yet to realise that fact, causing him to procrastinate on many things and completely forget or just get someone else to do it.

Not Naturally kind

Being his father’s reincarnation, it only makes sense that Duckula would inherit many traits from his past lives. Many of the other Counts were ego-driven cowards with desires for fame. They just went about it differently. Duckula actively tries to be kind and polite but a lot of passive aggression and snark slips through the cracks of that veneer. He would never want to admit that he has ANYTHING in common with his ancestors and he hates that being nice doesn't just come naturally to him. Being an immortal, Duckula also has a skewed sense of mortality and often doesn't understand the severity of certain injuries and situations.

This Duckula has ADHD and Autism in this rewrite and he struggles most with executive dysfunction, restricted interests, memory issues, atypical empathy (not specifically low or high), sensory issues (mostly with eating and some sound), and social cues. He also stims.

Towser!

What I Wanted to Change

Towser isn’t even really a character in the original. Just a running gag without a face. I wanted to balance out the main cast by adding another female character since I have feelings on Nanny as a character and i didn’t know if i would even be able to salvage that.

I really like what I came up with! She’s fun to me and I’ll probably flesh her out more later.

Character Traits

Family drive

Towser has little interest in birds that aren't close to her and it usually takes awhile for her to get used to new people. However, she’ll protect those that she does care about with her life. She is the castle’s guard dog and will do whatever’s necessary to protect it. This often comes at the cost of her sleep, because she feels like she always needs to be awake to protect them.

Tag Along

Following Duckula around like a puppy is what Towser does best! She might not fully understand his enthusiasm on certain subjects, but she's always up to backing him up on his newest fame seeking endeavours (though she herself prefers physical activity over creative works). She never expects anything to come of it, but hey, at least it's something to do. She also likes to hear Duckula rant to her about his interests.

Big Sister

Towser is of a much more stable mental state than Duckula, and as his only friend around his age, he trusts her more to be someone to talk to about his identity issues and issues in general. The two are a lot warmer towards each other than they are anyone else, and can also get away with messing with the other a lot more.

Big ol Lap dog

When in werewolf form, Towser tends to forget her size and often crushes them with her size. This usually wouldn't be a problem if it weren't for the fact that she's always a lot more cuddly and energetic in wolf form than bird form. This is because, as a werewolf, she's only in wolf form at night and being a fully nocturnal bird that should only be awake at night, this messes with her sleep rhythm a lot.

Igor!

What I wanted to Change

Personality wise Igor is already really strong and I didn’t change much of that. You’ll probably notice from the sketches that Igor has a skeleton hand, that’s because I made him undead in this version just to give a reason to how he’s been able to live this long since the original doesn’t really have one (which is fine)

Character Traits

Devotion to the role

Igor has been the Count’s butler since the first incarnation. He was assigned to keep the Duckula legacy alive by reincarnating his master every time he meets his fate and helping him readjust every time. Helping each new reincarnation bring misery and fear to the town they reside by with a smile… Until the most recent incarnation of course. He’ll stick it out though, because he still has hope for him.

Taste for the macabre

Whether it be killing innocents behind the back of his new master, decorating the castle with cobwebs and bones, or using his undead nature to scare and torture those around him, Igor certainly has an interesting idea of fun. Igor gets a sick enjoyment out of causing others distress and despises all things kind and cute, something which definitely frustrates Duckula, who's desperately trying to fix his own image.

Bitter Traditionalist

Having lived through the centuries in castle Duckula, Igor has gained an appreciation for the history of the place and the vampire ducks that have resided there over the years. He’s rather invested in the lives of his previous masters and is extremely cross with the newest incarnation for not only not caring about that past, but also completely disowning it. Igor tries desperately to get Duckula to be a normal vampire, truly believing it could work with enough effort. Less he spend the next few centuries with a vegetarian for a master… Igor would not have a problem with Duckula pursuing fame if it weren't for the fact that he thinks it's distracting him from true vampirism.

Tired old man

Igor has lived for many centuries and he does not feel as if he should have to babysit for an immature man child like Duckula. He would rather ignore or snark the young count rather than actually talk to him. When the two argue its a constant back and forth of passive aggression and personal jobs that they almost always forget what they're actually arguing over. Duckula is physically and mentally very young (17-early 20s) compared to Igor’s other masters due to the botched revival and he doesn't know how to, or want to, deal with it.

Nanny!

What I Wanted to Change

I’m sorry to any hardcore Nanny fans out there but this is practically a whole new character. I find Nanny to be frustrating and annoying in the original and who I personally feel is a very sexist and mean spirited character. There’s absolutely nothing I would want to write with a character who’s just “big stupid fat woman inconveniences everyone around her” it’s just uncomfortable after a certain point.

My idea for a new take was just an extremely kind older woman who’s a little airheaded but is a lot smarter than people give her credit for. This sets her up as a foil to Igor. She’s also the only non-monster resident of the castle in this version which I personally think is really interesting.

Character Traits

Only good influence

While Igor actively sets out to make Duckula a bad person and Towser couldn't care less about how Duckula acts, Nanny is the only direct influence in Duckula’s life who pushes him to do better. Nanny believes Duckula is a good person at heart and pushes him to take more responsibility in his life. She wants him to learn a good work ethic and is fully supportive of him trying to better himself.

Good Christian Woman

Nanny is, in fact, a christian. She is fully aware of the demonic nature of her companions but believes that everyone can better themselves no matter their circumstances and attempts to better those around her. Igor hates her for it but she’s totally ignorant to that fact.

Assertive Mother Figure

Though Nanny is a very kind woman, she is also not a pushover. She will assert authority over Duckula and anyone else if necessary, and most are compliant once she puts her foot down, if they aren't, however, Nanny does pack a punch and won't hesitate to use her strength to protect her family.

Smarter than she seems

Nanny is an airheaded optimist with a big heart and those traits make her come off a lot more clueless than she actually is. She may seem like she has no idea what’s going on but she’s actually very observant and is fantastic at assessing a situation and finding the best course of action.

Dr. Von Goosewing

What I Wanted to Change

I really liked the idea of the antagonist to Duckula was in a liniage of vampire slayers and that their ancestors have been fighting for generations. It gave me the perfect set up for a ✨SHADOW ANTAGONIST✨ I wanted to make this rewrite have the two reflect each other a lot more. To do that I wanted Goosewing to still be a really cooky guy but I didn’t want the public to know that.

Also I have no idea why he’s dressed like Sherlock Holmes in the original if he’s a Van Helsing parody and also an inventor. You could’ve leaned into either of those ideas but for some reason he’s dressed like a detective? so I tried giving him a more fitting outfit but keeping his colours for recognisablity.

Character Traits

Playing Village hero

Goosewing is considered a big deal in town because of his family of vampire hunters. He’s prepared his whole life to kill Count Duckula the moment he comes back and to protect the common folk from the paranormal. Despite this, Goosewing isn't actually particularly skilled at his job and usually ends up failing his assassinations due to his own incompetence. He feels like he has to play the role as a hero to continue his family’s legacy despite not particularly enjoying it or being good at it.

Overestimating the enemy

With how cunning and malevolent the past Duckula incarnations were, Goosewing expects the same from this one. Goosewing believes that Duckula is a dangerous and clever foe completely focused on causing others pain. In reality, Duckula is the most incompetent bird in all of Transylvania, aside fromGoosewing himself, of course. Goosewing also comes to believe that Duckula is only acting nice to later betray the public, a belief he is not quiet about and that keeps the public from trusting Duckula.

Mad Scientist

Goosewing definitely falls into the eccentric scientist trope with his innovative but scatterbrained nature. He would much rather be working on an invention than actually doing his job. The public sees him as a hero but while hunting vampires or when hes alone he comes off as more of a mad scientist than the hero character he plays. His intentions are ultimately good but are completely based on the assumption that he’s the wholly good protector of the people and that Duckula is a cunning villain who's out to get him and everyone else.

Shadow

Goosewing and Duckula reflect each other in a lot of ways. They both have a legacy they are expected to uphold despite not wanting to or even being able to, they both care deeply about the public’s opinion on them while the public has an incredibly incorrect view of the both of them, and they both have creative interests outside of the roles expected of them that they'd rather be persuing. Duckula fully rejects anything to do with his ancestry, while Goosewing is actively trying to fulfil despite not enjoying it.

The Murder Brothers!

What I Wanted to Change

Haha I called them the murder brothers bc they’re crows and criminals Im actually so funny… anyway. I don’t know if I should’ve even done these guys but I really like them as antagonists so!!

I gave the younger two names and a personality. The wiki said they didn’t have names but if they do lmk and I’ll just fix that. Other than that I didn’t change much except try to give ‘em a bit more depth and changing their physical designs a ton for fun.

Character Traits

The Murder Brothers, as a whole, are a tight knit family of con men crows who pull any grift they can to get their hands on some cash. Though they may act like their only loyalty in life is to money, they do genuinely care about each other's well being

Ruffles

Ruffles is the short tempered and eldest leader of the group. He’s constantly frustrated with his brothers’ incompetence and isn't quiet about it. He believes that if it weren't for them he'd probably be a lot further in life by now (which isn't true) and he’ll say he doesn't care about them, but he actually does.

Burt

If he didn't insist on helping his brothers, Burt would be the most likely to be living an honest life. As the second oldest sibling, Burt holds a position as right hand man. He’s a naturally kind and enthusiastic bird who, while a bit dumb, does openly express his love for his brothers. He takes on a lot of the abuse from his older brother and is often used by the group to talk to others, because he's so naturally trustworthy.

Reggie

Reggie is the second youngest of the brothers and the most relaxed out of all of them. He has an impeccable sleight of hand and is the go to for lockpicking and such. He’s a decent smooth talker and is often the one to break up fights, though he's not above getting angry at the others himself.

Leroy

Leroy is the youngest of the brothers and by far the least skilled. His speech is incomprehensible from under his mask (although he can see through it for the most part) and he’s often left with the worst jobs during their cons because of that. He’s the most timid out of all of them but I’m sure if you took that mask off of him he’d be really talkative.

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Ending Words

Well that’s all I got! I spent way too long on this project that maybe two people will care about and one of them is me 💔 Anyway if I make anything else for this rewrite/au I’ll tag it with #wbcd . I wouldn’t count on it because I mighttt get burn out from this but im just so glad I finished it! I’ve thought about writing a pilot script just for fun but idk. I’d like to do more long format au stuff, I was going to make a YouTube video about this but I almost cried trying to record myself so I gave up 💔

[nevermorewebtoonnews]

Webtoon Struggles To Get Nevermore Fans To Not Read Nevermore

Soon after a complete redesign of their app, popular comic hosting group Webtoon is still struggling to sink one of their most popular series.

"We've tried everything!" complained John Smith, one member of Webtoon's team of marketing specialists. "First, we tried acknowledging it. We figured maybe if we let people get it out of their systems, they'd move on. When that didn't work, we tried ignoring it, but that didn't do much better. Turns out, fans have opinions and tell people about things they like? Instead of just using an algorithm?"

Smith continued explaining the struggles of the team in detail, noting all the attempts to divert Nevermore fans attention away from the thriving and profitable webcomic. "We really thought that the ad with the girl screaming I'M GAY would get them," he said mournfully. "After all, if they're reading Nevermore, the only thing worth paying attention to is the romance, right? But no, the fans mostly made fun of us for that in the end."

The marketing team is piloting full screen ads that appear over the comic itself now. "If they can't see Nevermore, they'll probably have to go read something else, right?"

When asked why he was so against Nevermore fans reading the comic, Smith shuddered. "It's too complex," he admitted. "The people who read it tend to think critically. If they continue on that trend, they'll never be satisfied with the more vapid but less expensive things we want the algorithm to promote."

"So unless Kit Trace and Kate Flynn decide to start dumbing things down," Smith concluded, "we have to make sure that their fans have no choice but to go read Fluffy Girls Love Funtime Sparkle instead."

[skysiren41]

I just saw teaser for Shrek 5, and I'm gonna be honest and say that I don't like the artstyle they went with

Shrek was always been conceived as the anti-Disney franchise, it constantly made fun of its films along with the tropes they tend to rely on at the time, and one of the ways it did so was with it's animation style. Not only was it released during a time when a lot of other animated films were trying to copy Disney's style, it wasn't afraid to look rough, the colors weren't always saturated and at times even looked a bit uncanny, but that was always the point, even when yes the animation does show it's age (especially the first 2 films) it actually works in the films favour and helps the series have it's own identity

Shrek 5 other hand looks TOO clean to the point where what made the films stand out is almost completely gone and it looks almost uncanny, and not in an endearing way like the previous films. Now it feels like they're trying to copy Disney's recent films like Frozen or Moana, which is the complete opposite of what the original films were going for animation-wise. It's the same problem I had with HTTYD 3's art style, while not as drastic as Shrek 5's, a lot of what made the first 2 HTTYD films stand out visually like the realistic color palate and imperfections in the character designs (such as scars, wrinkles, etc) were just gone, and like Shrek 5 it looked too clean and colorful to the point where it was missing some of it's identity

I've seen a few people bring up how Puss In Boots The Last Wish also had a completely diffrent artstyle from the other Shrek films and how it was taking clear inspiration from stuff like Spiderverse and Arcane. While yes this is true to an extent, not only did it create it's own style to set it apart from it's inspirations (with the film going for more of a storybook style that works for the series) but even with it's change in style, it still looked like it could belong in the Shrek franchise mainly due to it's character designs. Even Puss and Kitty, who had been redesigned for Last Wish, still look similar enough that it doesn't look uncanny, and in fact their redesigns are actually improvements

The point I'm trying to make is while Last Wish's artstyle change felt like it was done out of admiration for stuff like Spiderverse and Arcane, Shrek 5's art style change felt like it was done because it was the safest and most profitable. And I find that incredibly sad

[jisuto]

On the topic of game reception, what are your thoughts on the current state of pokemon?

OK THIS ASK WAS SENT BEFORE THE HUGE LEAK LOL but I have a lot to say:

I watched VHS tapes, played the games, and owned merch since a young age so the series is very special to me. But I don't like the current direction at all and it's not because of the designs or nostalgia. The quality and game performance plummeted so how can I enjoy playing when there's mad lag or low frame rate that hinders my progress and worsen the experience??

It took too many years for them to realize they need to put quality over quantity after the SWSH mess, seeing that they can get away with pretty much ANYTHING and still make huge profit. You see people say that Pokemon should've never went 3D and stay 2D but tbh, it's a series that improves it's graphics as technology advances so it's not a surprise for them to finally go 3D and personally I think that's fine but just keep it looking good and fun (though I would love a 2D/3D hybrid). XY introduced a lot of new features but still lacked in some aspects that still haven't really been solved or added.

Reusing assets is common in the industry but only to a certain extent. They claimed that SWSH was taking a while to make because they were making brand new models which turned out to be a lie and they look like bootleg figures with the new lighting. The 3DS models were ripped from Pokepark, including some animations, but a lot of them still barely have any character. They have their own in-house team (Creatures Inc) so they made the decision NOT to have pokemon properly animated or look alive.... Also they made spin-offs like Ranger, Colosseum, Pokepark, and Pokken which look AMAZING

FRLG took only one year while HGSS was being developed at the same time as Platinum and took 3 years to finish that turned into one of the best games and remakes ever made. As the franchise expands, the team also needs to add more manpower but Game Freak can definitely afford to get more resources to help them?? They can't continue having a ragtag team of like 20 people to make a game back then and do the same now then expect good results... Hire more people who know how create with current gen consoles IT'S COMMON SENSE PLS also I can't believe they had a different company create BDSP knowing how beloved and groundbreaking DPPT was?? No redesigns like the previous remakes and thought it was a good idea to keep it looking a carbon copy to the DS style...

Also it's shocking to see how fan reception can change how the devs direct the next gen ESPECIALLY when it's not even real constructive criticism?? When Unova came out, I remember seeing all the online outcry about "OH THEY HAVE AN ICE CREAM CONE POKEMON AND A TRASH BAG, THEY'RE RUNNING OUT OF IDEAS EW" then actually hear it being repeated at school.... I WAS TRYING TO SURVIVE SINCE DAY 1 IN THE TRENCHES DEFENDING THIS GAME IT WAS ALWAYS GOOD AND DIDN'T NEED 10 YEARS TO AGE WELL. It's crazy how these are the same people who want another Kanto when Trubbish is Grimer (garbage waste) and Vanillite is Voltorb (based on literal items) then you could not catch any other pokemon from different regions in the main game. And the leak confirmed that the disgruntled hate from the west made the devs not release new pokemon in B2W2 and move them over to XY instead AND NOT GIVE A SINGLE GEN 5 MEGA EVOLUTION. So we were robbed because of genwunners who were fixated on the wrong things and ignored all the great content Unova brought us. It's strange how players keep complaining they want a different and fresh game, but want it to continue being super formulaic and binary like wtf do you want make up your mind

None of the switch titles really got me invested and I always end up replaying the older games but hopefully PLZA will break the curse and finally give us a nice game. Also why don't we have more spin-offs on the switch if there's so many of them floating around like the DS had a bunch??? STOP BEING COWARDS I WANT A POKEMON NINTENDOGS GAME OR THAT FIRE EMBLEM CROSSOVER WE WERE SUPPOSED TO GET. I JUST WANT TO HAVE FUN AGAIN ;w;

[peterbwatsonparker]

Polycule redesigns plus some concepts for my au-verse (including: it should be more common for mutagenics to look a little. other; MJ should get to have an outfit/identity to hang around costumes so she doesn't feel as isolated from the superhero aspects of Peter's life; and supers taking advantage of all the geniuses with little regard for the law in the community to make hallway-legitimate false civilian identities for fun and profit (a.k.a. so half of them don't end up stuck being called Mr. Man or Ms. Woman in interviews))

[bunneclair]

I have something for you guys ….

here are my redesigns of the four known 7 deadly sins from the hellaverse! I’ll go in order explaining.

Here’s Lucifer — the adjustments I made were primarily to his hair and smaller features, such as giving him goat eyes, a snake themed cane, and pulling more classical and biblical inspiration forward. I love a lot of the artistic liberties in the Hellaverse designs but I do think that him being a curly-redhead is a pretty important thing that I hated to see left out of his design. I also gave him hooves and claws because I felt like he was a bit too human compared to the other sins, and wanted to make him stand out a bit more!

Next is Asmodeus! My main focus was to make it more evident which sin he represented — while I love Ozzie’s design, I felt like his color palette could be slightly more representing of the sin of lust, so I shifted toward warmer toned colors such as red and purple, while sacrificing the green and blue. I wanted to bring across more gender-fluidity since lust is something I think it is important to represent through various gendered lenses and so I went for the whole upper-half masculine lower-half feminine thing that you see here with a vest+button up and a long slit skirt! I also wanted to show more heart motifs that appear to be evident in ironically all of lust and its inhabitants besides Ozzie most of the time, and so I curved his tail and head feathers in a way that made heart shapes, and I placed Bull and Ram in a way where they’re more visible and stand out more so as their own little entities since it’s implied they’re separately sentient.

My girl Beelzebub! I LOVE her design, but I do feel like it leans heavier toward hellhound (and fox somewhat) and not enough toward her insect features, so I gave her Bee stripes as well as putting more emphasis and effort into her wings. I kept the multicolored lava lamp hair and belly but made an extra effort to highlight the gold in it to emphasize the honey/bee theme, while also placing this texture in other places such as her paws and inner-ears. I also gave her a honeycomb crown, and more loose-fitting flowy clothing to display her fun and laid-back nature, while referencing her bee themes again by adding a yellow gradient meant to mimic pollen that gets stuck on bees during their pollination process. I also gave her the funky bug eyes :) anddd sorry but I took away the mohawk, it just felt too cluttered for me to draw among other things.

Here’s Mammon! I may be biased but I love his design so much already that it was difficult to change a whole lot. However, I did find things that I wanted to change. For one, you may notice there are hat and no-hat versions of Mammon here, and that’s because I wanted to display the broken imp-like horns I gave him. In biblical mythology, Mammon often disguised himself as someone who was poor or in need so that he would be able to garner profit from pity, and I think that there is no better way to represent that than ripping off his favorite little brand-baby. I edited a lot of the black in his color palette to be gold instead, as well as adding gold to the fingertips of his gloves as a reference to Midas’ touch. I gave him more of a spider-like appearance since according to a lot of the fandom his species is fairly ambiguous, and I made his shirt (or whatever you call that lol) a bit shorter and less cluttered because I often struggled with drawing it. I also attempted to adjust his proportions a bit as I feel like the designs for the fat characters in Helluva and Hazbin often struggle a bit with proportions and it feels important to me to better represent them.

That’s all I got, but I also created my own takes on the sins that haven’t been revealed yet, which may end up being one of my next posts! I’m doing my best to stay active in the art community and this media has given me some motivation and fuel. Any input is welcome as long as we stay positive ❤️

Reminder as well that my commissions are very open!

[chaifootsteps]

i've been thinking of hosting a digital no-profit fanzine on hazbin redesigns, like for the whole critical community to have fun. would you help advertise it when i open applications? 😮 this would be a huge help

Ooh, sounds fun! Hell yeah I'll signal boost that!

[vintagelasvegas]

Circus Circus, Las Vegas (1968-) Historic Timeline

Photo by Ralph Crane, October 18, 1968

'63: Land which had been owned by the Leigh Hunt estate since the 1920s sells to Irwin Molasky, Merv Adelson, and Harry Lahr of Paradise Homes Inc. The $2M sale, called "the largest land transaction in recent years," is the final Hunt holding in the area. The Molasky group sells to Sarno at a later date.

'68: Jay Sarno, Stanley Mallin, Judd McIntosh apply for license in Jan; construction begins in summer.

'68: Oct. 18, Circus Circus opens. Ringmaster Co. Ltd. (Sarno, etc) are the owners of the business owners and land owner. Rissman & Rissman, architect. There are five fountains in front of the casino, and an antique circus carousel fitted with new neon signs on the left. The casino has no hotel.

'71: Carousel moved to the far right over fountain 5. Slots-a-Fun casino opened in its place, 8/20/71.

'72: Casino tower east addition (400 rooms).

'74: May, Circo Resorts (Wm. Bennett & Wm. Pennington) lease and operate Circus Circus after searching for a casino that was "doing very badly, one on the verge of bankruptcy that we could turn around" (RJ 11/21/83).

'74: Slots-a-Fun sold to Ross Miller and later Carl Thomas.

'74: Hippodrome theater seems to have been closed in '74 during various changes made by Circo Resorts. The theater space is apparently forgotten in the MGM Resorts years, and rediscovered in the Phil Ruffin years.

'74: Circo Resorts has YESCO restore and reopening the carousel, which has been idle for several years. “The previous owner of the antique carousel never put aside funds for the repairs … Hand carved horses on the merry-go-round have been vandalized … missing horse legs, stolen lights and removed seat carvings.” The carousel operates again in ’75. (See notes)

‘75: Casino tower west addition opened in May, doubling the room count to 840. Valet parking area expands in front of the hotel. A driveway coverers fountain 3.

‘76: Sep., Lucky the clown sign by YESCO completed, replacing the carousel.

‘78: Circo Resorts name changed to Circus Circus Entertainment (CCE); midway separated from casino at unknown date circa ‘78.

‘79: Circusland RV park addition.

‘79: FBI wiretaps reveal Carl Thomas had been teaching mob figures how to skim from casino profits; his gaming license is revoked. Thomas was convicted in '83 and sentenced to 15 years in prison.

‘79: CCE buys back Slots-a-Fun casino.

‘80: Circus Circus Manor addition, developed by Ringmaster.

‘81: May, Shuttle opened.

‘82: May, Redesigned porte-cochère; remaining fountains covered with parking area.

'82: Circus Circus casino floor expanded southwest of the two towers; THE Steak House opens.

'82: Slots-a-Fun's original circular sign is removed. A canopy structure is built completely over Slots-a-Fun in Apr., deemed unsuitable, and dismantled weeks later.

'83: CCE buys Circus Circus hotel and property from Ringmaster; CCE taken public 10/25/83. News coverage around the time of the IPO includes an Associated Press article stating, "In five years the co. has seen revenues jump from $70M to 190M; income before taxes shoot from $13M to 33M; balance sheet shows assets of $265M; Circus properties consistently run at 99.5% occupancy." (RJ 11/21/83)

'86: Skyrise Tower addition.

'93: Grand Slam Canyon opens, aka Adventuredome since ’97.

'96: West tower addition.

'99: CCE name changed to Mandalay Resort Group.

2005: Mandalay sold to MGM Mirage.

2006: Most of the original statues by Montyne removed from the front of the resort.

2019: Circus Circus and Slots-a-Fun are part of a 102-acre sale by MGM Resorts to Phil Ruffin.

Photos of Circus Circus | Photos of Slots-a-Fun

Circa '68 – Carousel in its original position on the left.

Circa '72 – The carousel has been moved to the right side of the property, covering fountain 5. The first tower has opened.

Circa '76 – A driveway has covered fountain 3. Lucky the Clown sign replaced the carousel.

Circa '86 – with the Skyrise Tower.

Circa '96 – with the West tower.

Timeline sources. $2 Million Strip Land Deal Made. Review-Journal, 1/24/63 p1; Vegas ‘Disneyland’ OK’d by State. Review-Journal, 1/25/68; Circus Circus planning 810-room hotel addition. Review-Journal, 3/30/80; Circus Circus remodeling. RJ, 4/25/82; C. Weiss. Bennett confirms Circus Circus plan. Review-Journal, 7/24/83; C. Weiss. Circus Circus stock sold. RJ, 10/26/83; Robert Macy, Associated Press. Family-oriented Circus Circus a money machine. Review-Journal, 11/21/83; A.D. Hopkins. Well-known works of Las Vegas artist haunted off to garbage dump. RJ, 10/15/2006; D Scwartz. Grandissimo: the first emperor of Las Vegas: how Jay Sarno won a casino empire, lost it, and inspired modern Las Vegas. Winchester Books, 2013.

Carousel history & sources. Philadelphia Toboggan Company (PTC) #11 was built in '06 and first operated at Willow Grove Park, PA, until '23. It later operated in Cape May, NJ, and Coney Island, NY, and according to most sources, was in Bowling Green, KY, before it was relocated to Las Vegas in '67. The carousel was parted out after it was removed from Circus Circus. Grab a ring! Review-Journal, 8/21/74 p19; Circus Circus carousel wins planners approval. Review-Journal, 8/15/74 p15; Stir Up Action. Review-Journal, 9/19/74 p25; 68 Opening for Circus Circus here. Review-Journal, 10/26/75, p31c of “A Historical Look at Nevada’s Gaming and Resort Industry”; John Daniel. White Tiger in Daniel's Den. The Carousel News & Trader. 10/92 p14; PTC #11. Carousel News & Trader. Vol. 26, No. 6, Jun. 2010, p. 21; Marianne Stevens. The Strange Case of PTC #11. Carousel News & Trader, Jan. 2011 p10

[paper-starz]

Yarnaby and the yittens!!!

OHHHHH THESE GUYS WERE SO FUN TO MAKE!!!

Also meet the yittens, they kinda replace the nightmare critters?? Kinda?? Theyre lil ankle biters <3,,,,

Also, turning this redesign thingy into an AU! its called Playtime Park now hehehe

Anyways rewritten lore below!

Yarnaby was originally released as part of a wildlife conservation campaign in the 1970s, but due to his sheer popularity (especially with the kiddos), Playtime Co. decided to release an entirely new toy brand called the "Yarnimals", where profits made from this toy line would be donated to wildlife conservations.

Yarnaby was then added to the "Playtime Park" mascot roster soon after, where he would reside in "Yarnaby's Knitting Club" station. There, he and his handler would teach kids how to knit teeny tiny versions of him, often called a "knitten".

Unfortunatly, knittens were often forgotten, discarded, or even thrown away by their owners, but don't worry! Most of the knittens were taken in by Yarnaby, forming his own lil pride. (Perhaps the knittens being an extra $20 dollars has something to do with it...)

But despite the knittens being an extra $20, Yarnaby's station was pretty popular with the kids and adults alike, with the kids happily exclaiming that they were so glad that "yarnaby was super duper soft!" Yarnaby is also trained not to say a word while he's playing with the littler guests, so parents don't have to worry about Yarnaby roaring and scaring them! (He couldn't roar even if he wanted too... Poor fella was never given a voicebox when he was created...)

So please, if you're able, head on down to Playtime Park to meet your favorite toys from Playtime Co.!

Huggy, Kissy, and Doey redesigns More Doey redesigns

Little Miss Long Legs

[vibrantstarfire]

tell me more about your ocs 👁👄👁

BOY WILL I!!! :D i’ll stick with mercury for now bc i love her

mercury is actually mona le vaye. her secret identity and family structure is this:

to the public she’s mona le vaye, 16, famous for being famous, part of a wealthy tragic legacy.

her mom is insanely wealthy monroe le vaye, who was married to kennedy royce, who died 10 years ago and left her a young widow with two young children, mona and madonna — side note, monroe names all her daughters m names after famous paintings, obviously mona lisa and madonna and child. this works less well with her third daughter…

later monroe married a wealthy and kind dutch businessman who was a great dad to mona and madonna when they were young. monroe had a third daughter, who she named meisje (…which literally just means girl in dutch, bc she was named after ‘girl with the pearl earring’ … monroe is wealthy and thinks she’s cultures but really genuinely is not) — meisje usually goes by Bug or May (or Mayfly :P) instead

monroe le vaye is well known for being a new hollywood trainwreck which is fun for paparazzi but way less fun for her daughters who’ve grown up in this circus. it’s also why for the past 5 years, meisje was only raised by her dad in the netherlands. but he died young and so now it’s monroe and her 3 daughters. they’ve had 2 seasons of a keeping up with the kardashians style reality tv show.

for the superhero aspect of it:

kennedy royce was on a team and partnered with a man named carson. carson and kennedy both had sidekicks, carson a boy named jack, and kennedy’s sidekick was monroe. yes this was a weird grooming relationship situation. it’s part of why monroe is such a mess.

as the other sidekick, jack also got a pretty raw deal. in the super community he’s known for going off the rails and basically having to be asked to step down as a hero due to stupid mistakes (like showing up for missions hungover or still drunk) — partly bc of the ptsd of being told to leave kennedy behind to die in a mission gone wrong, and to save monroe and carson instead.

but jack gets his life together eventually. both of the girls call jack and carson their uncles — though they prefer uncle jax to uncle carson (i’ll get into that more another time). jack has a baby son who he adores. jack will also later go on to train mona when it turns out reality tv isn’t teaching her enough to stay alive.

for powers, mona and madonna both inherited variations of kennedy royce’s powers (phase/shapeshifting) as it’s the dominant gene. monroe’s power was creating and controlling magical materials, usually fabric. (conveniently she has a very profitable line of shapewear in her civilian identity…) … meisje doesn’t have powers but will later pretend to when she wants to follow her big sister into superheroing

mercury was kennedy royce’s old code name (for the liquid at room temperature properties of mercury, since he could stretch and change phase on a whim) — technically mona is mercury ii. her teammates often call her M or Em.

mona is very much a parentified oldest sibling. but when she leaves and starts investing all her time in superhero training, madonna becomes the parentified oldest sibling and takes care of bug.

for a physical description, mona is tan and has dark brown hair and brown eyes. her super suit is white with a silver mercury sign on her chest. (superhero symbols are seen as outdated but she’s trying to honor her dad’s legacy and bring it back — eventually she’ll go by the codename ghost and have a total redesign though)

if you’re feeling compelled…. who else are u interested in? (batting eyes at you so so so much thank you so so much for asking about them i love you anon do you want my firstborn?)

[dairyfreenugget]

Some TLK hyena adopts I made! Had to resize them to fit them into this canvas, so once bought, I'll send the full resolution individual picture

Price: 5€ (EXCEPT for 3, which is 10€ (I got attached))

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Base by junelioness on deviantART

T.O.S

Don't resell for more than you've bought it for, unless it comes with additional content

Don't claim the original design as your creation

Don't "flip" my adopts (buy it only to get/draw a bunch of art for it/redesign it to sell at a higher price)

Don't use for NFTs and similar for-profit endeavours

No limit to trading, gifting or redesigning, have fun! <3

[ginzburgjake]

redesigning my old space au for fun (no profit) to cope wit uh… *gestures at s2 finale and everything that came after* …that

[blazehedgehog]

I mean ignoring that Vertekins confirmed that Eggman didn't inherit the tablets from Gerald, assuming that the murals for SS and Chaos were made at the same time is incredibly naive

Angel Island's mythos would've changed given the amount of time that passed between it's creation after Chaos rampaged, it's literally going to diverge from being separate from the initial ancestral site (which is now Mystic Ruins)

Similarly all murals we see in both the past and Lost World don't show the 3K prophecy. Likely cuz that was made much later, well after Angel Island was formed

The other issue is even trying to circumnavigate that and saying "well he discovered them separately later" would require Gerald interact with Angel Island. Which A, would've absolutely contradicted Knuckles remaining tribe of never seeing other sentient beings, and B, would've definitely been noted by Shadow's game and Battle GBA, neither of which do, C, the discovery of a flying island is way too important/miraculous to keep from the public for profit, or reap for resources

Mystic Ruins being researched and noted for Chaos' connection to the Artifical Chaos? Valid and stated

Super Sonic being Shadow's base? No, it's just Hoshino/Uekawa wanting to make him cool, especially given the redesign was done AFTER script

Perfect Chaos being Biolizard's case? While Gerald actually could've seen the mural, surprisingly not! Biolizard is entirely due to being based on lizards and amphibians reproducing limbs, which given his research on immortality for Maria... https://info.sonicretro.org/Sonic_Adventure_2_-_The_Truth_of_50_Years_Ago…

This is like when people thought the Ancient Civilization that created the Gizoid were echidnas entirely cuz of Chronicles, despite Battle GBA never saying that, just leaving it blank since Emerl wiped them out completely. It got too accepted of a theory

Like it's a fun theory, but not it

Okay I actually wasn't going to respond to this because you come out the gate being sort of rude but I at least wanted to validate your ask by reading through it. But it's long, and there were faster, easier asks to read/reply to, so I put it off until now.

Since this was long enough ago, this was in response to this and this. And another post I can't seem to find. (Originally, I linked the same post twice, whoops)

The main issue I take with your wall of text is you put words in my mouth.

assuming that the murals for SS and Chaos were made at the same time is incredibly naive

And if you go back and read the two posts, I never actually say when they were made, just that they existed. The murals were made hundreds, possibly even thousands of years ago. And it almost doesn't matter when they were made. You kind of can't make a timeline given Sonic games never really give a specific year on when any of this takes place, but for the sake of argument we could say it's something like

800 AD: Echidna society discovers the emeralds.

825 AD: Echidna society grows to learn that the emeralds have some kind of beneficial power (clairvoyance? strength? who knows). Perhaps scholars see visions of future events and keep records of these visions in secret chambers. Or, perhaps, they learn of them from communicating with "The God of Destruction" that watches over the emeralds.

850 AD: War for control of the emeralds power between different Echidna tribes leads to the God of Destruction disaster. Most of Echidna society is wiped out and Tikal's dying (?) prayer separates the emeralds and quarantines the Echidna homeland where nobody can cause another disaster like that again, forming what becomes known as "Angel Island."

851 AD: Maybe some of the last few remaining terrestrial Echidna, perhaps from a rival tribe, make records of the God of Destruction disaster. Multiple copies of these records probably exist, and they reach as far as the edge of the tribe's domain at the end of the jungle, perhaps simply to serve as a warning for future generations not to mess with that thing.

1948 AD: Professor Gerald is conscripted by The President of the United Federation (or whatever) to conduct dark scientific research into immortality. Gerald only agrees on the grounds he hopes it will cure his granddaughter of her rare degenerative disease.

1949 AD: Professor Gerald somehow learns enough of Ancient Echidna culture that he begins trying to recreate their legends in search of something he refers to as "The Ultimate Lifeform." How this pertains to immortality is unknown. This leads to the creation of Chaos Drives, The Biolizard, Artificial Chaos, and Shadow the Hedgehog. These are all byproducts or direct replications of things described in Ancient Echidna lore.

1950 AD: The government/military grows to fear Gerald's discoveries and attempt to seize control of his projects. While specifically trying to capture Shadow, his granddaughter is shot and killed in the commotion. The grief from her death drives Gerald insane, considering all the sins against nature he committed for her sake.

1951 AD: Somehow Gerald regains access to Shadow and reprograms/brainwashes him with false memories to enact a suicide plot that will cause an extinction level event on planet earth. Gerald is discovered, captured, and sentenced to execution by firing squad for his conspiracy. This may have actually been part of Gerald's plan, given what we see later. Shadow is placed into cold storage to be forgotten.

1994 AD: In the process of chasing down Dr. Eggman (Professor Gerald's grandson), Sonic the Hedgehog ends up on Angel Island, in one of its deepest sanctuaries (Hidden Palace), where he witnesses an ancient mural depicting two figures clashing over a giant emerald, and those figures bare a vague resemblance to Eggman and himself. Less than an hour later, Sonic is living this prophecy.

1999 AD: Dr. Eggman apparently separately researches Ancient Echidna lore and this leads him to straight up release the God of Destruction from its prison within the Master Emerald. Station Square is basically wiped off the face of the map, but Sonic neutralizes the being's anger in the end.

2001 AD: Somehow in no way related to the previous incident, Dr. Eggman's next project just so happens to involve the result of his Grandfather's research into Ancient Echidna lore. Eggman releases Shadow from maximum security military cold storage and he immediately sets about carrying out Gerald's extinction plot, stringing Eggman along until he gets what he needs out of him. At the last second, Shadow realizes what he's doing is wrong, and nearly kills himself in the process of setting things right.

These are not real years. This is just to illustrate how far apart these events are in time.

It genuinely does not matter when the records were originally made, what matters is that it was "a really long time ago."

...would require Gerald interact with Angel Island. Which A, would've absolutely contradicted Knuckles remaining tribe of never seeing other sentient beings

I mean, it's a big island. There are a lot of ways strangers could enter the island, collect resources, and then leave undetected, never to return. But you're right insofar as we don't know where Gerald got his information. That's a bit presumptuous on my part, but again: have some fun, you nerd. It's not like these games are always air-tight with their narratives.

Biolizard is entirely due to being based on lizards and amphibians reproducing limbs, which given his research on immortality for Maria

I mean, yes, if you want to split hairs about this, that's the plain text of what Rouge's report says. But given a confluence of other factors around the Biolizard's existence, and the fact it was codenamed "the prototype of the ultimate lifeform" it's pretty easy to connect the dots that Gerald incorporated other research and the whole "salamanders regenerate limbs" was simply one piece of a larger body of work being referenced into developing the creature.

It literally roars like Perfect Chaos, it literally hangs around the ARK's replica shrine... you think genetic research into salamanders is going to create a being that can shoot energy from its mouth and harness the Chaos Emeralds? C'mon, dude.

Do not try to out-Sonic-lore me.

[nokingsonlyfooles]

Soldier On is still a thing! I can't do the art for it but it's still a thing!

The Chatterbox Massacre is SO #16! And the Engagement Lounge is here on my side blog! Here we have yet another serialized instalment of an urban steam/dieselpunk fantasy with magic and a general disdain for the status quo. Like watching characters evolve over time and get into fun new situations every week? Well, I'm writing this for YOU! And it's FREE! Ha-ha, please like me.

I would recommend you start from the beginning of Part 2, or all the way back at the beginning of Part 1, but you do you. If you just wanna see a dude gun down several policemen with magic right now, with very little context, that's cool too!

In Update Land, Patreon still hasn't deleted my data, and I'm not starting a new account with them or with Ko-Fi until they deal with that shit. End-of-year goals will include partitioning off a Canadian bank account just for "business" purposes so maybe I can get my capitalist camouflage on and look profitable enough to get a boost on other platforms. I dunno what else to do at this point, but I'm pretty sure the "I don't want money, I just want to cover my expenses and be seen" approach has baffled the internet and caused it to reject me, at least a little.

Alright, so I'm gonna pretend this thing I'd do anyway is my job now, with a profit motive. If I make enough money to cover my expenses, I'll look into hiring help with whatever's left, then I'll see about paying myself a salary, if I need one. (I might, honestly. I don't want to kill my joy with money, but food and housing right now is... yikes.)

The site needs a redesign, too, in light of the theme and its "global colours" getting a lot of updates that render things illegible. I hope I don't have to get rid of the extra blocks I added to the editor, but that's been coughing up errors lately too. I will try to kill my ego, do a little less hand-holding for new readers, and simplify everything. I will not start asking for money again until I've cleaned up whatever mess I make and started posting the next six-pack. My few, loyal readers, you've already overpaid for what I've been able to give you this year!

Thank you!