#sorry for the incomprehensible ramble but like

[spotlightstudios]

Ayo!!! It's been a while since I've drawn utau (utmv?) stuff in a fully rendered style, so.... when I saw @itsxroxannex had a dtiys I had to shoot my shot!

Actually, I don't think I've ever done a dtyis before 👀 so this was really fun.

(Speedpaint and More Process Rambles beneath the cut ♡)

I... actually don't think I've ever drawn Passive!NM either tbh. This entire drawing was kinda like a personal challenge to myself, since I often lack w/ backgrounds too.

I did kinda a study on the originals background, because I tend to just draw characters w/o a solid background, and when I do add a background characters usually blend into it a lil too well to discern figures, so the color choices and soft loose lines compared to the hard lines + cell shading felt really nice.

I also decided to go back to Procreate for this one too! Normally I draw w/ Medibang these days, but I learned to draw utau stuff on Procreate and so drawing them elsewhere feels wrong.

And, of course, the last note I'll add in the actual post: my sketch process is trash lmao. Literally I just wing the shapes of clothes and junk based on the vibes and resize as needed. I love looking at the og sketch tho cuz it's so... bald. No under-form, no indicator of limbs, nothing.

[oldworldghost]

Had an angsty thought about P falling in love with reader whose staying in the hotel and using that as a sort of motivation to continue to try and become human because lord above he wants nothing more than to actually feel for them, like really feel for them, and he's fairly sure that [for reasons he doesn't quite understand] that the "love" is mutual. But also reader has such unstable attachment issues that don't really manifest in a noticeable/harmful way until P actually confesses his feeling for them and reader just fucking. breaks his newly formed heart because holy shit they cannot do that. Readers so convinced they can't love him in a way that's good, or at all really, and P is so so confused and upset because reader has been acting like what he thought someone in love would act like. And P still feels such a strong disconnect between himself and humans still because even if he is human now he obviously still doesn't understand anything about them and-

[oobi-oobi-rambles]

Sigma: Would you still love me if I was a frat bro?

Diana: Is this some sort of hypothetical?

Sigma: No, I will be turning into a frat bro in the near future whether we pursue a relationship or not... because of the curse. I just thought I should warn you.

[melit0n]

What does Sleep, as in the deity, look like to you guys? Because as someone who's been around in the Sleep Token fandom for a while, I've seen a lot of different interpretations.

To me, Sleep doesn't really have a set, physical body outside of a person's (perhaps Vessel's) dreamscape. Afterall, why should something that dictates all the odd, horrifying, joyful and (sometimes) meaningful things that happen in your dreams be one thing? Sleep could be the shadow in the corner of your dark room you swear is moving, the tapping of rain as you're about to fall asleep, the creaking of the pipes inside your house/apartment as you slowly dose off at your desk, etc. Outside of a dreamscape; Sleep is only what you need it to be. Hence Its need for Vessel as Its mouthpiece.

However, in the dreamscape, I can see Sleep as a fish. Not a particularly alive looking one, per say, but the scattered remains of one. All bones, empty eye sockets (but are they truly empty?), rotting flesh and scales peeling off bit by bit etc. Specifically, a kind of deep-sea fish; like an angler fish, a sixgill shark or a Greenland shark. But! Along with its bones, Sleep has bioluminescent innards. Viceral that ebbs and flows in multi-colour fashion with each flick of Its tail.

The deep sea fish imagery mainly comes from the fact that the deep sea is almost completely unknown; many of the creatures down there are completely alien to us, like Sleep has supposedly become over the hundreds of thousands of years that It's existed. The deep sea, for the most part, is completely silent. Calm; the perfect place for a nap (if you can breath underwater of course).

It's the perfect habitat for the Unknown, odd and horrifying.

[darklight-owl]

Owl Reviews Stuff She Just Finished: Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright

So yk I didn't know what to expect going into this game, I'd seen really funny dialogue of it and mostly got it because I was extremely hyperfixated on Layton. But I did NOT expect such an emotional rollercoaster of a game with themes that tie into both Professor Layton and Ace Attorney and utilizes the strengths of each series so efficiently. I did not expect this game to make me cry. I did not expect this game to become one of my favorite Professor Layton AND Ace Attorney titles. But it did so I have to talk about it.

With two successful IPs on the cover this game could have easily been halfassed but every corner of it is full of passion for both titles. I mentioned before how they build off and complement each other and I think that's a result of the people working on this game having an in-depth knowledge of what makes PL and AA work and what their shortcomings are.

For example (I mentioned this in the liveblogs but may as well repeat myself here) Ace Attorney games are often limited to just the courtroom and investigation, not to mention you're not going to see 90% of the characters ever again after the case is done. This is serviceable for the kind of game AA is but it makes the world itself feel a bit uninteresting. However Professor Layton games have you confined to one town and make you explore it in depth, with recurring background characters who all have different (yet basic) personalities. Because of this, the Layton segments where you walk around town become crucial parts of the game where you can interact with future or past witnesses as they go about their lives, making these witch trials feel like they're taking part within an actual community, which make the emotional beats in the trials hit REALLY hard.

In turn, AA strengthens PL by adding variety. Layton games can be a bit monotonous if you're not engaged since the gameplay mostly consists of talking to people and solving an occassional puzzle, and there's a lack of interesting smaller mysteries to keep the audience engaged while they work on solving the bigger ones. But Ace Attorney games thrive on side stories, they're what make the trials so interesting! So by adding the smaller mysteries in the form of witch trials and mixing in clues about what the Hell is going on in Laberynthia you make a much more dynamic story that never feels like you're getting nowhere.

Enough about story structure and nerd stuff like that though, let's talk characters!

I love the main four and have always loved the main four so I'm not gonna talk abt them. The original characters for this game were freaking amazing. I see a lot of people really dislike Espella (which is understandable since she's probably the weakest of the cast) but she's pretty alright imo. She's going through a lot of things with the entire town despising her and [SPOILERS] so it makes sense why she would act the way she does, even then I feel like most heartfelt moments with her were a bit forced, which kind of lessens the impact of the last scene. I LOVE the relationship between her and [ANOTHER SPOILER] as well as the dynamic she has with Maya though.

I LOVE BARNHAM. He's one of my favorite prosecutors, he may not have any deep angst or trauma like so many of my favs do, but he's just a well meaning dude who thinks he's doing what he needs to to protect his town, even if it means casting wiitches into the flames. He also goes through a little character arc of his own where he also starts to bend the rules, the only laberynthian to do so. It's fun. Barnham is my best friend.

Unfortunately I can't talk about Darklaw or The Storyteller without getting into spoilers but basically: I love Darklaw and think she deserves the world, I'm on the fence about The Storyteller and feel like parts of his character were extremely rushed.

The secondary characters are also great, you have your classic goofy witnesses but also some really heartfelt characters and relationships in the trials, this is nothing new for Ace Attorney but when you include the conscious knowledge that these characters are going to be cast into the fire then these mini stories are enough to move me to tears (Looking at you, Golden Court).

Anyway, overall a fantastic experience that caught me completely off guard. No notes. I give it 10 burning witches out of 10.

Oh. And also:

[lockandkeyhyena]

so weird to me the way we perceive the concept of forgiveness. personally i hardly ever forgive anyone or forget any previous wrongdoing but i don’t let someone’s past choices or mistakes stop them from being friends with me. the idea that you have to forgive someone or even that forgiving someone ever at all for anything is stupid. we should focus less on forgiveness and more on learning from past mistakes without having to have them absolved or absolve them to move on.

[l48yr1nth]

Hi. Just wanted to say I really like your art. The way you use shapes is truly amazing and I love every art piece that comes up on my dash. :).

I AM. GOING. TO CRY.!

thank you and i love you and ur awesome and . i love you. :) :) :3

[mossycrumpet]

A Concept™:

Through some classic comic book nonsense, Slobo manages to escape the statue and return to the present day. He's pretty lost, and Hella confused about what happened to him, and maybe his memories are a little fuzzy, but he remembers that he had friends on earth, so he tries to make his way back there.

He of course, causes trouble along the way, and catches the attention of some superheroes, maybe a green lantern, because he's a Czarnian it might get around to Crush and her circle, but basically everyone is running around dealing with whatever plot is going on in their books, while trying to find this feral, tiny, Czarnian causing havoc and seemingly headed straight for earth.

Maybe he does reach earth, bumps into Damian and starts a fight because "You ain't Robin, who the frag are you?"

Shenanigans ensue, and eventually, a member of YJ (probably one of the core four) see a picture of Slobo, freak out and ask where they got this, and immediately organize a rescue mission to bring him back to earth

Cue reunions, Slobo trying to deny that he missed them, Slobo not fooling anyone, and idk maybe he joins the team and gets to be a menace with Crush.

[bloodcrownedking]

also your blog is cool btw. do you also have the issue of seeing cellbit art and thinking its JDV. there arent enough qsmp & mechs fans for me to ask this too bc it keeps happening to me

Thank you!!!! But yeah thats happened to me at least twice. I always go woah i love how people are mixing up their jdv designs only to look into his eyes to see that he looks fucking exhausted and traumatized in that Unique way that only a guy whos experienced horrors of the cucurucho variety can do. at which point i go 'oh! Cellbit!'

(sidenote i have now begun considering what would happen if you put cellbit and jonny in a room together. I think their personalities would cancel eachother out. Can also see cellbit devoting his life to Tracking the mechanisms through time and space to try and figure out wtf is the deal w these guys.)

[volfoss]

Also huge fan of how in the summit when talking Abt sims 5, they were making a big deal Abt the premades having their own schedule. Like yeah. Sims 2 had that come on

[butchhansolo]

i need to get a friend who likes crosshair the same way i like crosshair which is to say they want to put him through a meat grinder

[starmagnets]

Oh look, heroes of yore stuff.

This is almost entirely headcanon stuff so yknow have fun with this above all else.

VERY long post. Just so you know before hitting that lil "keep reading."

The heroes of yore knew of one another before banding together to handle Void.

While being from other planets — namely Halcandra, Ripple Star, and Shiver Star — they had all at least heard of one another in some way, shape, or form. Some, such as Ripple and Galacta Knight, had been training together should a universe-level threat occur — as well as all Ripple Star royals just knowing how to fight on principle. Others, like Drawcia, were only known by the others for her magical abilities and her… unfortunate creation, while being essentially a hermit otherwise.

All this to say they knew one another at least in some way before Void made themself known to the universe in the worst way possible.

Queen Princess Ripple, when she was younger, was intense. She still is, honestly, but she's mellowed out quite a bit with time. She was known to prefer using her magic to enchant her weapon, even with her ability to do far more with her magic, which was evidenced in her ability to not only heal far more than most would be able to, but in her ability to literally aid in sealing away a being of pure chaotic energy.

Ripple was always the most intense in training and proper battle, going all in and even trying out new types of attacks and spells on the fly without even writing them down, much to Galacta Knight’s chagrin. After all, if you’re gonna make up new spells, at least find SOME way to keep track of them. She’s best at fighting from a distance, but can adapt if need be.

She has a deep respect for Galacta Knight as her mentor and friend. She greatly admires Fecto Elfilis. She was easily closest with Drawcia, and they were most commonly seen spending time together reading or practicing new techniques with one another.

Galacta Knight was already well known as one of the greatest warriors known across multiple galaxies and dimensions. Hailing from Halcandra, they came to Ripple Star to help with a crisis involving Dark Matter in their youth, and wound up taking the young Princess Ripple under their wing after the fact.

They were known for their great skill with their weapons, but their true power lied in their magical abilities. Having both a strong body and soul, they were able to rip apart the very fabric of reality itself for battle should they need to. They’re one to stick to patterns, rather than Ripple’s more chaotic fighting style. This can make them open to attacks, though.

They’re closest with Fecto Elfilis, as the two of them spar more than any of the others. They care for Ripple like family. They find Drawcia to be a good person, but a little rough around the edges.

Drawcia was a special case among most beings. As a painting come to life, she’s made entirely of paint held together by magic, the magic in question created by what was once known as a “Soul Brush”, now more commonly known as a “Magic Paintbrush.” Her initial painting was a very inaccurate depiction of a goddess previously worshipped on Halcandra. As a hermit for most of her life, she’s much quieter and far less sociable than her teammates, even Elfilis.

Drawcia was known to fight well from a distance, flinging blobs of paint and her own creations brought about by her Soul Brush towards her foes. She’s not one to move fast, but is surprisingly nimble when she needs to be. In a melee situation, her Soul Brush can pack a real punch when she wields it like a melee weapon rather than her usual painting tricks.

She’s closest with Ripple, as she likes that the fairy princess doesn’t ask too many questions or judge, not to mention the old books they’d read together. She has a sort of mutual respect between her and Fecto Elfilis, kinda created by mortals solidarity I suppose. She appreciates that the two of them don’t find the need to make small talk. She doesn’t think much of Galacta Knight, but she does think they’re a pretty cool guy.

Fecto Elfilis was in a similar situation as Drawcia, as a creation of the people of Shiver Star. They were created to be the “ultimate life form” for reasons not even they know. They’d escaped not long after the lab they’d been created in was shut down, and wound up living alone on Shiver Star for a long time, until Void resurfaced, and they were sought out for their powerful abilities.

Elfilis, as we see in game, their fighting style is very graceful, almost dancelike in nature, relying on their speed for their power in combination with their rift-making abilities and generally powerful magic amplified by their staff/spear. Their movements are les predictable than Galacta’s to some extent, but there is a rhythm that can be taken advantage of.

They’re closest with both Drawcia and Galacta Knight. With Drawcia, they see their similar situations as common ground and often go to her for advice if they may need it. With Galacta Knight, they respect the knight greatly, as they’re able to provide them with a challenge. They don’t mind Ripple, and find her to be a nice girl, but they don’t have a strong opinion of her one way or another.

[greyhavensking]

Alice’s “I did it on purpose” is so fucking good like hell yeah burn yourself to a magical crisp and get his beastly ass

[dinosizedmintz]

kk one last post on this topic bc I've been thinking about it too long and I just need to get this out there, but this was especially the case when Pond Dino and Snapdragon got released in their respective games.

Like,, was the update for Pond Dino poorly written?? Yes, Ovenbreak's main story is very much all over the place and it feels like chunks of the story are missing lol

But at least Pond Dino was just an epic whereas Snapdragon was special that has it's own gacha system (literally JUST for them- no other character wtf). It was weird to me that Snapdragon got a free pass for (what I assume) was their affect on the story/world building in Kingdom

[malewifehenrycooldown]

a small post (read: long) of me rambling about the meta implications (kind of???) of Henry + THAT ret-con/reveal in NMH3 in episode: Flesh and Blood. (NMH3 spoilers!!! read at your own risk!!)

okay one thing about Henry that genuinely give me emotional pain is that fact that as a child (like. VERY YOUNG) he tried to save his siblings (Jeane and Travis) from their father who was a serial killer and decided to go on the run. It's not clear if their father was a serial killer in the literal sense, or that he was also an assassin too (it's not really made clear or elaborated on).

The worst part is that they got caught, and Henry, being the older brother who tried to protect his siblings took the fall for them. He had his memory completely wiped, and was taken in by the Cooldown family in Ireland and was basically raised as their own son. sure that sounds nice, until you realise that there's a high possibility that his serial killer father paid off the Cooldown family to raise Henry as their own and to keep his real heritage a secret. I'm not sure how Henry went down the path of becoming an assassin, but I have a funny feeling the entire Cooldown family are reputable assassins themselves (and have been for generations). Which if that's the case, has a lot of meta implications, that absolutely need to be addressed.

This also goes along with some previous posts I've made about NMH1. That some of the enemy characters have the same purple beam katanas and/or have the same ability as Henry (which is to create spheres of energy and use them to attack your opponent). This could be the result of people modelling their attack/style after Henry who has made a name for himself in the world of assassins OR, that Henry is being put into a position where he has to train other assassins, and thus have used Henry's training as a spring board for them to become legitimate assassins. Whether Henry is doing this willingly or unwillingly, is unknown, although I place my money on the 'Henry is being told to train a league of assassins with (several) guns pointed at his head'

Honestly, knowing that Henry tried to save Jeane and Travis makes the fight with him in NMH3 more heartbreaking, because Travis at this point has Killed Jeane (their sister) - because she was the No. 1 assassin in NMH1. Now, Travis is forced to kill the person that has saved his life before and was punished for trying to protect his siblings. Do you know how deeply fucked up that is??? completely forget Henry's incoherent ramblings, and focus on the fact that the narrative of No More Heroes is about how the cycle of violence, revenge destroys people - and in most cases that cycle is perpetuated not just by the system but also is unfortunately re-enforced by family history and inter-generational trauma.

I'm not saying I want another story of NMH, but I do want a version of NMH where Travis has an epiphany and realises that his entire family is stuck in a cycle of violence and destruction. And decides to tear down the system and end it - He even says in NMH2 that he wants to tear down the United Association of Assassins, tear down the SYSTEM that makes up the organisation that's in the pocket of Jasper Batt Jr.

And as clumsy as NMH2 is with it's ludo-narrative dissonance - that line has stuck with me, especially with the fight with Alice Twilight and Holly Summers in mind (which have HEAVILY impacted Travis as a person). I want a story of Travis Touchdown, that looks back on his fight with his sister Jeane, and laments that he could have spared her (doing so is against UAA rules) - but realises that he can rectify that mistake by saving Henry from a system that is an ouroboros.

Travis made the decision to become an assassin - and he just so happened to become THE crownless king in the process. But Henry did not have that luxury, let alone a choice (assuming the Cooldown family is made of assassin), and so maybe perhaps Travis can repay the favor of saving his only other blood relative from a system that destructive and throws out tools that they think aren't of use anymore.

TL;DR: the Touchdown-Cooldown Siblings deserved better and definitely need LOTS of therapy to heal from the inter-generational trauma they have.

[whump-in-the-closet]

would you ever write a cheesy romance, be it within a whump story (such as a flashback or life before) or not?

hmm….i might imply it or maybe, possibly write it as a subplot within a whump story. Never by itself though i don’t think. My skills at writing ‘cheesy romance’ are subpar and i would cringe writing it and i think i would make everyone who read it also cringe