#the pose looks a bit wacky

[yurihollyleaf]

bloom 💥

[spinspoon]

NEW HYPER FIXATION NEW HYPER FIXATION NEW HYPER FIXATION-

other versions under cut :]

(without whale)

(close up of dave)

[floorpancakes]

posting this cursed thought while im tired so i cant take it back later

[pomrania]

Starting to work on the bestiaryposting thing for this week, and I had to get this out of the way first.

Like, it's not even that funny; but part of my brain is convinced an this is hilarious.

So as you might gather, I'm interpreting this creature as a cat. There's a larger variety that lives in forests, and a smaller variety that "roams around in houses"; presumably both of them eat snakes and mice. Plus there's a mention of carrying their young around.

I don't know WHY there'd be any confusion about their reproductive behaviour if it includes "the domestic housecat", like people THESE days end up witnessing cats mate or give birth, and we live a lot more distanced from animals now than in medieval times; but I don't have any better ideas plus I want to draw some fluffy cats. Or maybe that bit of the bestiary was meant to be "can you BELIEVE some of these wacky misconceptions"; "some say that" gives you SO MUCH wiggle room.

I'll be using "pictures of Norwegian Forest Cats that I looked at for a few seconds because they're cute, then I closed the tab" as reference, mostly from the mention of "forest"; like I know they don't get THAT large, but shhh let me imagine Lorge Floofy Kitter.

If I'm drawing something that's mostly a cat, I don't need to work out what the anatomy might be, so that means I'm going to be thinking about what kind of pose and composition. I have some ideas, but you never know if something's feasible or not until you actually sketch it out.

[mismefancy]

Look, Lucifer's dramatic and wacky being reminded me of Furina for a bit. I could not pass up the opportunity to draw her with a few of his iconic poses. Lol

There will be more redraws soon.

...What if I draw Furina and Neuvillette with 'More than anything'-

[takec0y]

RANGKING ALL MASHLE MERCH DESIGNS FROM WORST TO BEST

All pictures obtained from the @/mashle_goods twt page

1. Lowest teir

Boring outfits, it feels like they didn’t even try to style and personalize these outfits to the characters, it’s already bad enough they used a lot of muted colors 😭 are they even having fun?? They just put on whatever like they’re on the beach cuz its mandatory school trip

Non dynamic poses, what are they even doing yall? They’re just standing there doing whatever, they look like they’re posing for a photo and then told to pose but lance didn’t get the memo

Inconsistent ,if you’re in a lab wear lab coats why does Lemon have an apron?? Girl what this is the science lab not a kitchen and it aint cute to be ill prepared 😭

Meh poses, honestly not much to say about it, i like that they’re doing their own thing but Dot seems to be doing nothing

Lack of theme, why is Dot wearing a full suit? Why is Lemon wearing disgusting denim overalls over a pink sweater?? WHY IS RAYNE WEARING SANDALS WITH A SUIT??? WHERE ARE THEY GOING WHATS GOING ON WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH EATING DESERTS????

Not cohesive, they’re fine on their own but when u put them all together and they look so wacky

If you’re going to promote your T-shirt design actually let me see them holy shit, everyone except for Mash has something covering its design and their wizard robes still covers some of it

2. Mid teir

Okay outfits, the boys have the same T-shirt and shorts but different colors, Lemon has a cute tennis skirt and T-shirt, what i like the most if the emphasis on their shoes, it’s personalized to characters and its nice to see it

Good poses, three of them are actually playing tennis while Mash is just standing there and Lemon is cheering them in w her plushie

There’s nothing to say much about this one, its not bad nor that good, they’re just wearing well styled tho a bit boring going out outfits and being themselves

It’s nice to see Dot finally be wearing a apron with everyone

Very nice suits but not much different from their original school uniforms, I thought they were wearing their old wizard robes on first glance, Lemons hair is super cute

They happily sitting how they like which is fun

This is just super adorable but honestly nothing else

I wish i could find a better picture because i really like the chefs uniform design, the Mash gang and Rayne (why is Rayne here) making cream puffs, especially Mash using a wok to fry them 😭

[gay-dorito-dust]

Literally took the comment made by @wacky-nerdchick and made it into a lil fic.

A/n: I also took some inspiration from this prompt list which you can use for requests/asks you may have for me for whatever you want me to write for next. 🦦

Tw: lil gore things, decapitation and some blood.

‘The first transformation was always the worst.’ Jack would always says the day after, voice all groggy and desperate to have five more minutes of ‘comfort cuddles’ as you’d call them. Yet every transformation afterwards never ceased to look and sound like personal torture to you. For nothing hurt you more deeply then being unable to help Jack whenever he cried out in blood curdling pain.

His body and bones forced to contort uncomfortably into angles no human bone should ever take without breaking. You wished to look away each and every time but your promise to Jack in never taking your eyes off of him no matter what always won out every time. You were prohibited from physically reaching out to him without him demanding that you’d stay put and that he was fine. Your heart only broke into even smaller fractures when a couple of minutes after the transformation Jack would stare at you with the eyes of a stranger; He’d soon remembered your scent but it never ceased the sting you felt each time.

The first time Jack transformed within your presence, his claws accidentally nicked the skin of your arm. Upon smelling your blood the werewolf proceeded to licking your wound in hopes you’d feel the sincerity of his apology through his attempts in nursing your injury. The second time Jack transformed within your presence was when someone posed a genuine threat to your life.

Ted had gone and gotten himself captured so it was once again up to you and Jack to go in and save him. One thing lead to another and a hunter by the name of Michael had you held by knifepoint while Jack was attempting to talk him down. “Let them go.” He pleaded. “Let them go,” Michael mocked, looking him up and down before scoffing, “or what? Your going to kick my ass? Please, you don’t seem to be the fighting type.” The broadside of the knife seemed to press closer against the skin of your neck, you feared that when you swallowed it’ll only press the same weapon even closer.

“I will break every bone in your body,” Jack’s tone of voice changed drastically, “I won’t repeat myself again. Let. Them. Go.” His threat, however, went unheard as Michael only laughed it off like he was just told an extremely bad joke. “I’d listen to him if I were you.” You told Michael who’s response was to sneer and tightened his hold on you as he turned his focus on to you this time. “Didn’t I tell you that the next you open your mouth I’d slit your throat, monster sympathiser?” You flinched when the knife bit into your skin, breaking it and causing it to bleed lightly. Due to his heightened sense of smell, Jack could smell your blood from where he stood and something within him snapped. All that mattered to him in that moment was that you had gotten hurt and that it was Michael’s fault.

In what felt like a fraction of actual time, you had been knocked to the floor as Michael’s cries and pleads for mercy fell unheard by Jack as he tore Michael’s arms from their sockets; To then slashing his face with his long claws with such ferocity that all remains was the lower half of his mouth where his bottom row of teeth and tongue were visible. Not once throughout the one sided fight did you look away from Jack so that when he looked back to find you clutching your neck, he was quick to rush to your aid. He whimpered solemnly when he got a good look at your wound before looking you in the eyes once more with regret.

“Jack I’m fine,” you said, “it’s only a small cut I promise.” Jack seemed to whine in response as though to tell you that even so, you still gotten hurt because of your affiliation to him. You sighed, silently blessing this man and his big heart as you reached out to cup his cheek, cooing over how easily he was to start burying his face against it. “You protected me, that’s all that matters right? I’m still alive and we freed Ted, that’s a double win in our case.” You said trying to get him to see the positives that came out of tonight but still he wouldn’t let up on letting know how upset he was with himself through whines. Somewhere nearby Jack heard encroaching footsteps moving in on you two and assumed it was more hunters bound to cause either of you harm; So without any warning he lifted you into his arms before taking off into a sprint deep within the nearby forest where Ted was most likely setting up camp and making you both some tea.

Tea sounded nice right about now.

[archie-sunshine]

So, What Now?(Rehabili/Cohabi-Tation)

Chapter 3: In Which the Robots are Fucking Ballin’

FIC TAGS: Eventual Whirl/Cyclonus/Tailgate, Cyclonus/Tailgate, polyamory, slowburn romance, mutual pining, slice of life, fluff, comedy, eventual smut(planned for later chapters), sappy mushy lovey stuff, polycue, May eventually have illustrations

The Lost Light has a brand new universe to explore! But everyone's still tired from the old one! In the interim between wacky hijinks, a solution is offered to those bored to death by peacetime- Why form a club about it or renovate your hab suite of course!

Whirl doesn't know how he feels about all the pep. And even worse, he doesn't know how to feel about Cyclonus and Tailgate wanting him to join in on their clean slate. 

Chapter 1 Here! Chapter 2 Here!

_________________________

Author's Notes: I think that all robots should get to play basketball as a treat. I also think they should be objectively bad at basketball to keep them humble.

CHAPTER TAGS: Humour, fluff, robots playing sports, robots being bad at sports, background Rewind/Chromedome(as god intended), banter, rivalries flaring up but in a fun way.

“And that, in its simplest form, is how you play ‘Baskets Ball’!” 

Whirl squinted at Rodimus, peeking over Nautica’s shoulder where the would-be sports team stood to get a better look at him. He was holding a kind of flimsy looking rubber ball, occasionally bouncing it against the newly fitted gymnasium floor with a satisfying ‘Phoonk!’. 

“Any questions?” Rodimus posed to the group, glancing around the crowd. 

Whirl raised a claw. “Considering that some bots here can turn into aircrafts, what’s the rules about alt modes?” 

Rodimus set his intake in an unamused line for a second, before venting and smiling big. “No transforming, no alt modes, just some friendly sport between bots!” He said, bouncing- or he thought he called it dribbling- the ball again. “Let’s pick teams shall we? Five to a team!” 

Rodimus stepped back to let the group disperse and talk amongst themselves. Immediately, Whirl shuffled up beside Cyclonus, who in turn was shuffled beside Tailgate. Whirl waved a bit at Chromedome, who nodded in acknowledgement. Whirl looked around for a second, trying to spot Rewind.

Chromedome chuckled and pointed at a set of bleachers behind him. “Not his bag. He’s just here to record, he’s doing it for all the clubs.” 

Rewind waved at him from his spot in the wings, sitting comfortably next to Swerve- the team’s referee, a wise choice considering he was the only one who had ever actually watched a game of ‘baskets ball’. 

Whirl waved back. “He’s gonna have a lot to record then, there’s gonna be loads of these.” 

Whirl turned back around as Chromedome chuckled in agreement, facing the other couple as they welcomed one of those lousy ex-cons onto the team. Lousy as in bad at being a ‘con, of course. Fuelpump? Was his name fuelpump?

“Welcome to the team Fulcrum.” Cyclonus said in that weirdly formal kind of way, pinning Fulcrum (OH! Yeah Fulcrum) with that intense stare. 

Fulcrum cycled his optics, glancing around and offering a kind of weak smile. “Yeah man- thanks-” 

Cyclonus then turned to Whirl, who fell in beside him quietly. He nodded curtly at him, turning his red optics on the competing team with a firm edge to his brow. 

“Sizing up the competition, Teeeeeammmate~?” Whirl sing-songed, leaning his helm down until he was nearly touching cheeks with him. 

“Mm.” Cyclonus grunted. 

Whirl flicked his gaze over to the other five bots. Nautica, Skids, Velocity, First Aid, and Blaster. He glanced back at Cyclonus, who was now rubbing a contemplative digit against his chin. Whirl copied him with a claw and a high pitched scratching noise against his own helm. 

“The odds are even here… We should consider their collective and individual strengths before we proceed.” He mused. Whirl nodded slowly, considering the easiest route to swinging First Aid by the pede joint directly into Blaster’s knees. 

“Aren’t you taking it a bit seriously?” Chromedome pointed out. 

Tailgate hopped from pede to pede, optics big. “We’re going to mop the floor with them, they’ll never play baskets ball again.” He muttered to himself. 

“Alright big guy, take a vent-” Chromedome started, cut off by the sudden sound of a whistle being blown. The groups turned to face the source of the sound, a very amused Rodimus with a silver whistle between his dentas. 

“Arright teamsh!” He called, before spitting out the whistle. “To your positions, who wants to do the tip off?” Wordlessly, Cyclonus walked to the middle of the court, facing down against Nautica as they both took an athletic stance. Whirl glanced at Tailgate, expecting some swooning, only to find the little bot vibrating in anticipation completely devoid of any affection. Had there been an ounce of love on the court, it had been traded out in favour of pure, athletic focus. Snickering, he glanced back at cyclonus, appreciating the couple’s mirrored intensity and taking up a stance along with them. Rodimus held the ball up high with one servo, replacing the whistle between his teeth. Whirl watched him countdown his digits on his free hand with straining anticipation.

Fweeeeeeet~!!

In a flash of indigo and magenta, Nautica snapped up the ball out of the air, ducking under Cyclonus’s arm and rushing for the opposing team’s net. She grinned broadly, ducking another swipe from Cyclonus’s servo attempting another grasp for the ball. 

From the bleachers, Swerve shouted, “DRIBBLE! Ya can’t just carry the ball!!!” Nautica’s helm twisted briefly to look at him.

“Oh-! Sorry-” she started, clumsily spiking the ball against the ground, and directly into Tailgate’s chassis.

“I GOT IT!” He shrieked, awkwardly beginning to dribble the ball forwards across the court. Whirl took up his flank, looming a bit over him and glancing over his own shoulders. 

It was in the instant that he had taken to peek at what Cyclonus was doing that he crashed directly into Skids’ chest, the two of them stumbling backwards as Tailgate made a break for it between the taller mech’s legs. 

“Oi- sneaky fragger-!!” Skids shouted stiltedly, just as Whirl jogged after the minibot. 

He was making considerable progress considering his size and inefficient dribbling. The ball would bounce a couple times away from Tailgate as he stumbled forwards to nab it back in his servos. He caught it back, letting out an almost involuntary cackle as he mirrored the stance Rodimus had taken and popped up on his pedes for a shot at the net.

The ball thunked against Velocity’s chassis, quickly cradled in her servos as she fumbled to begin dribbling. 

Whirl spun around to follow after her, catching up and passing her but giving a wide berth as Chromedome flanked her other side. 

“Er- Over to you!” She chirped out, bouncing the ball down to First Aid, who had slinked his way over to their half of the court. Just as the ball hit the ground, Whirl jerked a servo out, widening his pincers to welcome the ball home-

*BANG!*

The sound of squeaking rubber and grinding metal pedes on the concrete floor of the gymnasium game to a sudden halt. Whirl stared long and hard at the burst rubber now hanging from his claws. He picked it slowly off one of his digits. 

Tailgate jogged up to him, peering up at the spent ball in his hands. “Uhm, Rodimus?” He called, turning to glance around for their ‘coach’. 

Rodimus glanced up from his conversation with Rewind, finally noting the presence of the popped ball. “Oh- Sorry Whirl-” 

“Ball’s kinda flimsy.” Whirl said, jokingly attempting to dribble it, letting it hit the floor with a pathetic smack. “Want me to sit this one out, coach?” 

“Maybe it would be for the-” Rodimus started.

Cyclonus cleared his vocalizer. “Perhaps Whirl would be best suited to a defensive position.” he boomed, raising his voice just under a shout with a formality that was kind of weird. 

Whirl squinted a little bit at Cyclonus. “Aw- and miss all the fun on the front lines, you wound me, ‘clonus, you wound me bad.” He gave cyclonus one big puppydog optic. 

“We could fit some rubber tips over your claws, if you want.” Chromedome offered, reaching a servo towards his talons. Whirl snatched his servos back to his chassis, squinting at the broader bot for a second before rolling his optic. 

“Yeesh- fine I’ll play defense or whatever.” He grumbled. 

“Alright! Let’s start over, then.” Rodimus barked, wandering over to a metal cage full of auxiliary baskets balls. Whirl fell back towards the underside of the hanging net. After a few kliks of reset, Cyclonus returned by his side as Fulcrum reached the center of the court for the tip off. 

“Thanks for gettin me stuck with you.” Whirl whispered at Cyclonus, raising his servos and dropping into a slightly lower stance. “I thought you’d be chasing TG around the court, not me.” 

“I know when to pick my battles.” Cyclonus said dryly, mirroring his stance. Whirl could almost see his servo instinctively twitch towards a sword at his back, before coming to rest held around his abdomen. 

Whirl rolled his optic. “I know when to pick my battles!” He mocked under his vent, wagging his helm back and forth a little before focusing up.

Fweeeeee-!

The whistle blew, cut off this time as Fulcrum lunged for the ball, half knocking over First Aid with a hipcheck. 

“Hey-!” The medic started, cut off by Fulcrum’s even louder exclamation of “ACCIDENT!” The scavenger zig zagged down the court, skidding to a stop in his tracks facing down against Blaster, arms outstretched to guard either side of him. 

Whirl’s optic twitched a bit, glancing at Cyclonus for a prompt. Cyclonus didn’t budge. Whirl swallowed a frustrated groan and hopped from foot to foot in anticipation. 

“I’m open!” Chromedome shouted over the clanking metal din. Fulcrum tossed the ball over Blaster’s shoulder, landing it in the mnemosurgeon’s waiting servos. 

Whirl fidgetted, clicking his talons together as Skids shuffled backwards towards their side of the court in anticipation of a lob his way. Defense was BORING. Whirl’s pedes clacked against the floor impatiently, his frame practically vibrating with pent up energy. 

There was a loud, rattling ‘DONK’ as the ball bounced off the corner of the backboard, falling into Nautica’s servos. She wasted no time in dribbling her way over towards their half of the court, bounce-passing the ball over to Skids, who quickly flipped around with the ball in hand, prepared to make his shot. 

Whirl’s optic shrunk to a point, all harnessed energy releasing in one sharp movement. “GYAHH!” Whirl cried, slamming his elbow joint up between skids servos and sending the ball flying straight up. It pinged off the ceiling, slamming down directly into the floor in front of Tailgate. The minibot swung his arms out immediately, almost by instinct grasping hold of the ball as it drove up into his chassis. 

“IGOTIT!!” He shouted, hugging the ball to his chassis as he absorbed the excess kinetic energy skidding him backwards towards the opposing teams net. 

The little bot clumsily dribbled closer to the net, crouching down tight. There was a flash of glowing energy from his visor, before Tailgate leapt upwards with a force so great it left cracks in the gymnasium floor. Two hearty white servos dunked the baskets ball directly through the hoop. 

Tailgate whooped and hollered, swinging on the rim of the net as the sparsely gathered crowd joined tailgate and his team in cheering. 

Fweee- 

Again, the whistle was cut off, this time by Rewind smacking at Rodimus’s arms with a free servo- the other occupied in trying to cover his audials. 

“NIIIICE PLAY!” Rodimus called, giving a big stupid thumbs up and a polite round of applause. “Take a second and we’ll contin-”

“I’d like to come down now!” Tailgate interrupted. The bot still hung from the hoop, kicking his pedes lightly as he swung gently back and forth. 

Cyclonus jogged across the court, hopping up and gathering his conjunx in his arms to carry him back. 

Whirl side opticed them, catching their hushed little exchange.

“You would have been fine just letting go.” 

“And miss out on being carried?” 

That remark made cyclonus crack a quiet smile, his chassis rumbling with a chuckle as the two of them bumped their fore-helms together. 

Whirl rolled his optic, turning away from the two of them. Sickening, truly, they just let them get away with that in public? He felt a pang of something in his tanks, watching them canoodle like that. It was probably annoyance, definitely not anything deeper… or uglier than that. 

Cyclonus set Tailgate down with a little squeeze on his shoulder pad. He then shifted back to his position defending the net beside Whirl, nodding at him quietly. 

“... Good play.” Cyclonus murmured, clipped like he had tried to hold it in as he sank back into a defensive stance.

“Don’t hurt yourself biting back that compliment.” Whirl scoffed back. 

“Bet there could have been a better one.” Cyclonus added, turning a blazing optic to Whirl. 

Whirl felt a little flare in his spark, that familiar urge to compete blooming in his tanks in that way only Cyclonus’s stupid challenging could draw out of him. 

“I’d like to see you try and top it.” Whirl hissed, craning his neck to get his optic right in Cyclonus’s personal space again. 

FWWEEEEE-*smack* “Ow-! fine! God-!”

***

It had been a while since something had gotten Whirl to break a coolant. Baskets ball certainly did it though. 

“Wheeeeeew, that was a workout, huh?” Tailgate huffed, vents going wild as he exited the gymnasium. He bounded cheerily down the hall, flanked by Cyclonus and whirl, both of whom were producing coolant considerably more than their Outlier companion. 

“It was fun, but I dunno if I’m gonna be so cool playing babysitter for the net…” Whirl grumbled a bit, enviously eyeing Tailgate. He’d gotten to bound around the court the whole game while Whirl had been practically exploding with potential energy. Not fair at all.

“You made a fine defense.” Cyclonus observed. Whirl met his optics. Cyclonus’s dermas imperceptibly quirked up at the corner. “Just a fine one though.” 

Whirl’s engine flared, his propellers taking a few indignant cycles as he pinned the mech with his optic. “I made the best defense, nobody’s ever defended like me even a little bit, nobody’s ever DREAMED-”

“Ahhh, hab at last!” Tailgate sighed, trotting up to the familiar purple door and tapping at the access pad. The door slid open and Cyclonus sauntered inside past Tailgate. 

Whirl went to follow him but paused for a moment. 

Tailgate walked into the suite, no goodbye, no ‘see you later’. Whirl cautiously plodded forwards. 

“You coming?” Tailgate asked, as if it was obvious. 

Whirl cycled his vocalizer a bit, searching for something to say. 

“This doesn’t look like my hab suite.” He retorted sarcastically. 

“Yeah, but it’s late anyway, come on, we can talk shop about our baskets ball game over some engex.” Tailgate said, all matter of fact like it was something they’d all agreed on. 

Whirl glanced around, catching a peek of the window on the back wall of their new communal space. It was hard to tell, but he supposed it was a little late. 

“... alright, but just for a little while, huh?” Whirl begrudgingly agreed, stepping in through the open door. It closed with a soft hiss behind him.

[frostbite-the-bat]

Your roblox pngs are so gosh darn cool!! Never seen em done like that before, the poses are so fluid and the lightings just right. What's your process like?

gaah!! thank you so much! it's actually a little less conventional than you'd think - but it works for me! idk how others do it anyway, i figured this out on my own. THIS guide will be a bit messier because it's late and i was talking to others during this but... hopefully it'll help!

i actually use the pose editor in a roblox game (or EXPERIENCE i ur roblox itself) named 'catalog avatar creator'. it exists to create and preview outfits - but you can also take cool pics in there an customize your poses (and even your items!)

you can even change background to various greenscreens, so that helps! i use this regularly to plan oufits before i may want to buy them! for example i haven't even bought the things for the tv head avatar i showed.

bu anyways, lemme show you how i do my pngs or 'renders'!!

first you either make an outfit in there... or just use your regular avatar! my current avatar is my silly space kitty i concepted in this game, so i'll use that to demonstrate.

FIRST you wanna click here on the sparkle button i masterfully highlighted in mspaint

2) and right away you see the pose editor!! click it!!

okay, at first glance THIS MAY BE SCARY!! but if you're even LIGHTLY familiar with even the most basic of like... 3d stuff WHICH I KNOW NOT EVERYONE IS - you will do swell. a lot of roblox editing things use this sorta system so you might've practiced there before? (i sure have in tprr's animatronic oc editor!)

3) what you wanna do is just select a body part you want to move. it will then highlight on your avatar and you can use the balls to turn em in it's respective axis. some angles will not work as well so move your camera while you do this

(but have a good camera point set in mind! you may wanna do camera trick stuff in your pose depending on what angle you're at. for example i disattach the tail from the body and make it slightly visible on the side. you aren't able to tell! makes it look nicer.)

to MOVE stuff and not just ROTATE it click the little arrows thing! you will move and not rotate that way. just play around with it :] don't be worried to de-attach things - roblox isn't exactly realistic so don't worry to mess around w that!

4) just pose it! go wacky! here's a few things to keep in mind

certain body parts are connected! and ofc, their respective items - i will cover this later.

for example, the pelvis, if moved, moves the torso as well. if you wanna make a floaty pose, move up the pelvis and rotate it first and then the chest (and other parts of the body)

references for poses may not hurt, but being an artist who likes drawing silly poses i'd say i have a DECENT enough grasp of good poses - so that definitely helps with the Flow of my poses you (anon) mentioned! practice makes perfect!

ALSO, you can save poses!

anyways, here's a pose i came up with!

but that's not all! i wanna move the items!

5) well, just click "apply" and re-enter the effects menu!!

then you click whatever you wanna edit and... boom! fancy new window! now you can play around with your item here - i won't explain that, just have fun!

but to move your item around just click "transform item" - it'll bring up the same options you had before while moving body parts!

aand... here's the result!

so, the pose is done... but we wanna prepare it for editing and actually take a picture! well, first, we can't use this background. so...

6) click the gear and then select 'environment' and select a good green, blue or pink screen! i have to settle with what's best since my fella is rainbow. (whatever doesn't clash with the edges of the character is best!!)

here you can also set the lightning! if you go back and pick 'camera & lightning'

I HIGHLY SUGGEST YOU SET A LOW EXPOSURE AS IT MAKES LIGHTER COLORS LESS "FUZZY" AND **WILL** MAKE EDITING IN A SECOND EASIER! it makes it darker but you can edit that, too!

anyways... here's my final product after fiddling with the lightning!

7) take a pic! you can either angle your camera as is which is a bit limited... or... free-cam! which is a bit better but dear GOD is it annoying to control. (tho holding shift makes it less sensitive)

so... here's the final stage we'll do in-game! one last thing i did to make it look better is for a second turn my graphics to max and THEN take a roblox screenshot. (then turn it back down to not deepfry my computer)

honestly, i could've turned the avatar to face the camera with their body a little more when tuning my camera, but i'm not gonna fix that now i don't have much time now LOL let's speed thru this.

8) the TEDIOUS PART. yeeting this into an editing program.

your editing program WILL require anti-aliasing OFF options, a bucket tool and if you really wanna fix issues - a selection tool and just.. layers. and brushes. i use SAI 2 so it's specific to SAI 2.

if you did your camera settings right, you will have a pretty crisp outline everywhere, unless you're me and fucked up here. but this can be fixed. we don't want this fuzz that much

well, i use sai which has a nice bucket tool! i set it to paint with invisible/eraser bucket and adjust the rance of similar color. may take a few tries to get right pick 'similar colored area' or ' all similar colored pixels'.

personally, i pick all similar pixels.

AND TURN ANTI ALIASING **OFF**!! CRISP PIXELLY LOOK

before i do anything tho, i use the selection tool and pick up everything that's the same color as the background in it - being pink.

you can also use the selection pen!

some get tricky and pixel precise... remember if you use sai that the pen is fuzzy - but selection tool is more precise (not the lasso - that's fuzzier too)

here's the goober with all the Protected parts selected. then just invert the selection... (pointing at how u do that quickly)

9) ok NOW you get that bucket tool and just tap at the pink and watch it BE GONE... ofc, make sure you set it to transparent/eraser bucket tool

BOOM. gone. b-but... ENHANCE...!

NOT PERFECT!! CLICK THOSE OFF TOO! remove manually with pixel tool or whatevz if you must

10) look around the edges of the image and look for any fuzz like this... remove it! and if there's any jaggedies...? you can edit those in yourself, usually it's small enough to clear up yourself. (you can also just - save with a diff name, reopen original, copy the section you erased/has jaggedies and paste it into this edited version)

depending on what bg / greenscreen color options you chose (and yoour avatar's colors) and how careful you were... this may take a time to edit! it depends!

also, see texture mess up? depending on the texture and ur skill/patience... goot bye! i usually keep cover ups to simple things like this myself and i can edit things pretty well, too. u can embrace some roblox silliness and imperfections!

10) color adjustments i do to brighten it up...! once i crop the screenshot around the avatar to be a good size i copy it and paste it into the image again

and i set the layer effect of the top pasted image to SCREEN and fiddle with the settings...! (ofc, you can also use other settings - or even the regular color layer settings - but this one's more straight forward to me!)

then i may double check for stuff but... we're done! here's your finished "render" !!!

i don't have time to proof-read this currently, so i hope everything makes sense and there aren't any weird typos or left-overs from previous editing.

hope this was helpful! and not TOO long.

[splatooshy]

okay, so i’ve got my ‘Eternal Teenager’ verse, right — yk, the one where enzo and damon escape in the 50s and then pose as stefan’s legal guardians in 2009, that one?

well, i forgot about it until a moment ago, when i came across the file for it and saw some of the gems in there.

and boy, oh boy, are there some gems.

- damon gets enzo to steal thierry’s hat each time hes in nola (‘cause damon’s banned n all). has a collection of them (maybe a whole cupboard of them? idk something wacky like that. a display cabinet? each hat on a little stand with an engraved label below).

- kol turned enzo. idgaf about canon, this is a true story.

in 1888, kol’s moseying ‘round london, a-whistling and a-ripper-ing when a dying enzo turns up, sees kol dismantling a woman like a grotesque puzzle, and goes “huh. could you spare any change?” and kol thinks it would be a catastrophe to deprive the world of a man that unphased by the sight of innards becoming outtards, so, deciding he’s found a new best friend with benefits, kol turns enzo, declaring him the world’s most level headed vampire. enzo goes along with it because, well, he doesn’t really have anything better to do.

1914 - damon’s living it up in nola and so is kol. enzo signs up for the great war as an american, because kol says he has a top secret mission he needs enzo for. (“hey mate, while you’re over there, think you could shoot at marcellus with wooden bullets for me?” “we’re on the same side…” “please 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺” “if i see him, sure. not gonna hunt him down though.) enzo leaves kol at the bar less than a minute before damon walks in (they pass eachother at the threshold.) damon is meeting freya because they’re bffs, kol sees them sitting at their table and thinks to himself ‘wow look at that lovely lass on a date over there. i should go over and ask her out.’ and struts on over to hit on freya. freya just looks at damon, then at her brother, going ‘yeah, um, i’m not really interested, sorry.’ and kol instantly grins and waggles his eyebrows knowingly like ‘ah, i see. you’re one for the ladies then, aren’t you? no matter.’ and then turns to damon and starts flirting with him. (on the extremely rare occasion that someone may not want to have sex with him, kol instantly decides they’re most definitely a lesbian. because even the straightest male would jump him in an instant.)

oh and once kol decides that freyas a lesbian, he won’t hear otherwise, not even 96 years later when he’s undaggered (“damon, what happened to the clever witch you befriended?” “i’ve known lots of clever witches, kol, you’re gonna have to be more specific” “the lesbian, from new orleans” damon blinks “freya? she wasn’t a lesbian…” “uh, yeah she was, she told me so herself” “no, she just didn’t want to sleep with you,” “exactly, because she was a lesbian!”) OH OH OH and finn’s in the background being all… well, finn, and he perks up like a little dog when he overhears freya’s name. fun bit irrelevant to the plot.

ANYWAYS back to 1914. so enzos at war, kols up to nefarious acts with mary alice and astrid, damon and freya are best friends and have comfort sex bc theyre both tragically touch starved. damon and kol have a sneaky little thing on the side, but then one day kol disappears #daggered and then freya tells damon to meet her outside dowager fauline cottage in 99 years before disappearing. damon’s sad and thinks ‘well at least i’ve learned to be patient’ (thinking of katherine).

[fractualized]

thinkin about... our modern gritty dark Batman getting pulled back into the Silver Age somehow... and seeing all these villains that (from his perspective ((he has only experienced the modern age))) have killed so many innocent people and caused massive devastation... but all they're doing now is robbing banks and putting dish soap on the roads so the police can't catch them... what would this tortured Batman think and feel about these "monsters" convincing Robin to stay inside and watch cartoons all day (this is their entire evil scheme)... would he be happy? could he enjoy being Batman again if his villains reverted to their goofy goober state? i am... thinking.... about it... would like your opinions (⁠ ⁠╹⁠▽⁠╹⁠ ⁠)

Anon, I promise I'm going to answer your question, but first I'm compelled to clear up a misconception about the Silver Age. (If you don't give a crap about this, you can skip ahead to the bats.)

The Silver Age of comics, between 1956 and 1970, is known for being chock full of goofy shit due to the introduction of the Comics Code Authority. Superheroes are already silly in many ways, but in the Silver Age it often got silly in this way:

[from World's Finest Comics #128, September 1962]

However, while the Silver Age ramped up fantastical plots and used a light-hearted tone, that doesn't mean characters' lives stopped being at stake. Sure, the villains' schemes during that period may have involved more robberies than murders, but the villains remained dangerous and not too concerned about getting people killed.

For example, Alfred died!

[from Detective Comics #328, June 1964]

Or here's an instance with a couple of fave villains: Lex Luthor and Joker using a wacky weapon on Superman.

[from World's Finest Comics #129, November 1962]

This silly-looking concept is actually kinda horrifying. It did wear off, but Superman noted that too many doses could kill him since, you know, his particles were repeatedly separated. The storytelling breezed past this, but the consequences were still there.

Even something as dumb as being attacked with a cactus wasn't banal.

[from Batman #110, September 1957]

Later in this same story, other guys are firing guns indiscriminately at a wedding.

The restraints of the Comics Code were not about making the bad guys harmless and did not bar the portrayal of death. Per the text, the Code was more about reminding readers (mainly children) that Crime Is Bad and pushing writers to reflect Good Morality— with no sexy bits. Crime needs consequences and should never be portrayed as glamorous! Legal authorities are good and should be portrayed with respect! And everybody better be fully clothed with no suggestive poses!!

So all that's to say, if Bruce found himself in a Silver-Age throwback, there'd be fewer deaths, I think, but that doesn't mean his job would be easier— especially if he's randomly transforming into a human buzzsaw.

🦇🦇🦇

Alright, with all that out of the way, I would like to answer your question in the spirit of your question. How would modern Batman react to persistent but ultimately harmless villains?

When reading your ask, I first thought you meant modern Bruce getting pulled into a different universe, not the villains being suddenly mentally altered as you say at the end. I'm going to answer for both scenarios just 'cause, and I think the answer is different for each.

In both cases, Bruce would start out thinking it's a trick. The rogues have concocted an elaborate ruse where they all pretend to be benign entities, and he needs to figure out why! After all, they've seemingly reformed before, only to fall back into their criminal ways. Heck, Joker successfully pretended to be a whole other person for months on end, and Bruce completely fell for it. He's not falling for it again!

Bruce also has a history of reacting poorly when just one of the rogues has purportedly changed, much less all of them at once. He's immediately doubtful before he has definitive reason to be. (For examples [yoinked from distortopia], see "the Joker is evil" from Batman: Joker Time #2, "the more content the rat, the less likely he'll leave his hole" about Riddler in Detective Comics #837, and "the moment you return, I'm under suspicion" from Two-Face in Batman/Two-Face: Face the Face.) It's true that he's often right and the rogue has turned back to crime, but still. What's the point of continually sparing their lives and handing them over to Arkham or prison if he doesn't see rehabilitation as a possibility? Shouldn't he at least be hopeful in the face of positive developments?

Instead, in this scenario, Bruce probably gets so focused on figuring out the truth that he ends up "interrogating" a number of the rogues, and it goes too far.

That's probably when the suspicion stage ends. Bruce recognizes that the rogues are not putting him on. This is just how they are now: their schemes amount to mere shenanigans.

At this point in an alternate universe, I think Bruce then accepts the change precisely because the villains are not "his." They're the combatants of some other Batman who has much lower stakes to worry about. He probably feels jealous that this Batman's war on crime is closer to having an end. Perhaps for a moment he entertains the idea of staying— but the thought passes quickly, because Bruce took on responsibility for his Gotham and would never abandon it.

In his own world, I think Bruce perceives the change very differently. Sure, he feels relief that the death count from these absolute maniacs has cratered. But as time goes on, I think the change nags at him. It's so drastic to go from near-constant DEFCON1 to like… a neverending children's birthday party. How could the rogues change so easily without a care? It's not like Batman couldn't have achieved this state of affairs on his own. Hatter tech is available! Yet as far as I know, he's never used it to tame his adversaries. Mind control isn't lethal, but it's a line Bruce has never crossed. If the rogues change, he wants it to be on their own.

Whatever happened to the rogues cannot have been their own doing. Their violent crimes were caused by their own fixations and greed, and they simply can't have just let that all go after years and years. And Bruce knows this because he fought them for those years, because he never relented no matter how impossible the situation, because he's been obsessed with saving Gotham City since he was a child. If he can't let go, how could they? If they can, what does that say about him?

I think Bruce then pivots from thinking the rogues are up to something to blaming an outside party or force for the change, and he spends a lot of time trying to figure out who or what it was. 

And all the while, 1) he's vigilant for signs that the villains have reverted. After all, if they do, and he's not ready and people die, it's his fault. And 2) the rogues are still committing goofy crimes. They're not dangerous, but I'm sure they're obnoxious as hell— and they're still guilty of their previous awful crimes, even if now they can't imagine doing such un-fun things! Inevitably it would grate on Bruce too much and he'd take the stress of the unsolvable mystery out on them. Again.

Apologies if you were looking for a fluffier answer! Unfortunately, Bruce has always been so stuck on being Batman that I think it would be years before he could truly accept harmless rogues and see any kind of solace in them. He could get there, but it'd be a long road (hopefully not so long that it ends at his death bed).

[miloscat]

[Review] Wario Land 4 (GBA)

A disappointing misstep... am I the only one who thinks this??

Despite coming so soon after Wario Land 3 (the fourth Wario Land game), Wario Land 4 (the fifth Wario Land game) makes a lot of changes. It tries to synthesise new ideas with the old and ends up feeling like a bit of a mess. It has a good reputation but honestly I don’t get it!

The first thing you notice is the visual refresh. We’re on the cusp of Warioware completely revolutionising Wario’s characterisation and setting, and WL4 gets a bit of a ripple from that. Wario is flexing and posing, driving a muscle car… read the manual though and it leans harder than ever into his hilariously gross habits and self-aggrandising mannerisms. Unlike a lot of other things in the game, this combination works well.

In a premise most reminiscent of Virtual Boy Wario Land, Wario is on the hunt for treasure and goes to explore an ancient ruin only to stumble on a series of wacky out-of-place environments contained within and a big weirdo out of nowhere as would-be antagonist. The use of magic portals does a little something for plausibility, I guess. Did Wario really need a princess to rescue though? Was that necessary? Shokora at least has a presence in the story thanks to her transformation into a mysterious cat who pops up in cutscenes / Mr. Game & Watch-style silhouette person who acts as shopkeeper.

The levels feel initially like throwbacks to pre-3 style, with a critical path and side rooms, where it isn’t always clear which is which. But you do need to thoroughly explore because getting all four chests in each level is mandatory to unlock the zone bosses, plus there’s a key to find to advance to the next level. Having to redo entire levels if you miss any of these is a real drag. There's also optional mini-puzzle challenges sectioned off in their own rooms, removed from the flow and aesthetic of the rest of the level. But things change when you find the frog switch: a giant timer appears, and you have to backtrack to where you came in. Sometimes things change in the level, or you find a new path to return via, but often those progress items are hidden in this time-pressured sequence as well.

Far from being an exciting combination of ideas, I think these concepts of structure and design are at odds, pulling in different directions. Similarly, the non-damaging conditions from WL2 and 3 return here, but in a position of reduced prominence, and they've reinstated a health meter mechanic on top. (The GBA's shoulder buttons also prompted a return of the run button from VBWL, but it feels underused.) Removing the timer and health system was a breath of fresh air in WL2... now they're back, and for what!?

The boss battles are another miss for me. They're also timed, and you have to do them quick to get maximum treasure, which is otherwise kind of a non-factor. Collecting coins in levels lets you play one of three minigames (none of which are very fun) to earn tokens. You can spend these in a shop before the boss door, for a variety of effects that simply remove health from the boss. This Breath of the Wild-style "reward" of making the fights shorter by just subtracting from their health bar is such an odd choice to me. The fights themselves are fine at best, but the bosses are visually overdesigned in a purposeful, grotesque way; I suppose it's meant to be amusingly absurd but I just found them ugly eyesores.

Playing the Wario Land games one by one, I've enjoyed seeing them refine the concept and bring in fresh ideas. WL4 on the other hand feels like it's trying to force ideas in and fumbling in the process, with a result that doesn't quite come together. Even though the play control is tighter and snappier, the game is less than the sum of its parts, less pure than previous Wario Lands. The music is really strange too, trying for some kind of esoteric wackiness but maybe trying too hard... The series has never looked better, but this might be a sign that it's losing its direction. Meanwhile Nintendo R&D1 themselves are soon to be restructured, splintering into oversight roles and smaller teams, and I think the "Wario platformer" series suffers as a consequence, while Warioware's star rises. We'll see in the next few reviews I suppose...

[bicycleboyblog]

Webcomic Recc Week 1

☆.:*[ Click here to read TEN EARTH SHATTERING BLOWS! ]*:.☆

Hello, dear readers.

For this 1-month hiatus, every week I would like to tell you about one of my favourite webcomics, so that you have something delicious to tide you over while you wait for BB’s return. That, and because I need an excuse to tell everyone about these stories. Webcomics thrive on word of mouth more than anything, especially with how corporatized and algorithmfucked the modern internet is.

Now! On to Ten Earth Shattering Blows by Nuclearpasta. If you haven’t heard of this one yet, how are you reading Bicycle Boy!? Do you love scantily clad bandits? Do you appreciate a good crotch shot? Are you hungry for a bushel of batshit desert insanity, chock full of BIG MUSCLES, wacky enemies, and bombastic fight scenes? Look no further. This one’s got giant lizards.

TESB is a violent fantasy roadtrip (lizard…trip?) about a brutal warrior woman named Joy, and a displaced princess named Lady Landabella Trastan who sometimes has demons crawl out of her face. No big deal. Joy kidnaps her for her own means, but is pursued across the desert by a whole cavalry brigade of bandits on big lizards, small lizards, blue lizards, green lizards, and wooden-wheeled-thingamajigs and catapults and good god, it’s just a hot mess. Chapter three was – no joke – a massive, nonstop, bewildering, stupidly cool fight scene. It was 100 pages long. You really gotta see it for yourself.

But there are other things, strange things, lurking in the desert, too – like a teleporting magician who appears to be shaved down into a something right out of a Gunther Von Hagens' Body Worlds exhibit (from this very famous page). There was also a very tall, very bendy man? And one time Landa got covered with entire bucket of beetles that are also drugs.

Just what the hell is going on here? Who, or what, put the face-curse on Landa? How many dudes is Joy going to clobber to death? Only one way to find out.

Nuclearpasta is a very technical artist with a knack for drawing just about anything, but he is a master at drawing the human body. The characters climb up ladders and hack each other to bits and get flung off high places (lizards) at such extreme, foreshortened angles, and not a limb looks to be out of place. As someone who struggles with this, I am in awe at every pose. The comic's environments are enormous and sprawling, leaving you feeling like a dust mote in a vast universe. It is truly a feast for the eyes.

If you like Mad Max: Fury Road, DUNE, or Conan the Barbarian, you’re gonna love this one.

What’s more, Nuclearpasta is now in the midst of an explosively successful kickstarter to print Ten Earth Shattering Blows’ first book! I got my copy, you should get one too. :D

See you next week for another recc!

Relevant Links:

Ten Earth Shattering Blows Webcomic Site

Ten Earth Shattering Blows: Tome 1 Kickstarter

Nuclearpasta @ Patreon

Nuclearpasta @ Twitter

Nuclearpasta @ Instagram

[governmentissuedclone]

Things that make me irrationally angry but not enough to do more than scroll past and make my own little vent post: that one post that's like "wtf is even the theme of A Midsummer Night's Dream is there even a lesson" and has a bunch of replies saying it's like The Twilight Zone and doesn't have one it's just wacky nonsense and having fun. Fucking what.

Okay first of all: Literally every work of fiction has a theme. Every single one. Even if the author didn't intend one, it is an unavoidable byproduct of storytelling. Just because you didn't understand it doesn't mean there isn't one. Not all themes are necessarily black-and-white "lessons" either. It's more of an idea implicit in the work. Media literacy is a skill and one that is developed and improved over time and experience. If you find yourself looking at a work and saying "well there's not theme here" that might be a sign that you need to work on honing that skill set a little bit.

Second of all: You want a theme for A Midsummer Night's Dream? "Lord what fools these mortals be". Jealousy and Love makes fools of us all. There's a theme. Took me 30 seconds to think of one off the top of my head. Like many works, AMND has a lot more than that to it and plays around with several different themes. People have been discussing it for literally hundreds of years. A quick internet search pulls up a plethora of resources and academic writings discussing the themes of that particular work in far more detail than I could ever do justice on this post. I do not know Shakespeare well enough to make my own case here beyond this, but would encourage others who are interested to do some reading on the subject.

What I DO know very well and care about a lot is The Twilight Zone. Saying The Twilight Zone is nothing more than silly spooky stories with no message reflects a total misunderstanding of the work and does a complete disservice to Rod Serling and what he was trying to do with TTZ. Rod Serling was someone who deeply believed in using fiction as a vehicle for social and political commentary and this is reflected throughout his entire body of work, but is reflected particularly prominently in TTZ. TTZ is CONSTANTLY exploring themes and conveying messages about things like the suffocating nature of forced conformity and beauty standards (Number 12 Looks Just Like You), how people adopt predjudice (The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street), the fear and acceptance of death (Nothing In The Dark), the complexities of racial tension and the dangers it poses (The Encounter), the long lasting effects of war and genocide on people's minds (Deaths-Head Revisited) just to list a few examples. I could sit here and endlessly list off TTZ episodes and their themes but I think my point is made.

(Although, I would wager that most of the people making that claim about TTZ haven't really watched the show or maybe only seen a couple of episodes and mostly know it through pop culture osmosis, and might not have much knowledge of it beyond "that silly old scifi show where weird stuff happens".)

[kkomsed]

Heyo! Been loving a ton of your art. How’d you get so good at drawing Shadow? I want to start drawing again, him specifically, but I have no idea where to start. I’m usually a writer, so drawing is a bit daunting

hey thank you so much for your support !!

good place to start is by studying what official Sonic art does (or fanartists). you can find plenty of examples for diff head angles and body proportions.

For ex, the great Tyson Hesse has made character sheets you can find online!

studying others’ work first is a good way to get down the fundamentals of all their wacky proportions (personally i find face-eyes area is the hardest part).

however, be careful not to overwhelm yourself with crazy dynamic poses/styles that you find in fanart if you want to ease into it- look for simpler poses and ones that primarily focus on faces!

Once you are comfortable with the basics, you can start experimenting if you want to take things further and draw with your own style.

shadow himself has a few general rules i like to follow: sharper “angrier” eye shape, sharper lines in general when drawing his body, longer quills to demonstrate maturity— but its all a matter of preference.

practice is always the best answer!

hope this helps!

[bnomiko]

Figure collecting: Risotto Nero from Jojo’s Vento Aureo

Look at this smug, Cheshire Cat bastard : p  

I’m pretty neutral on Risotto as a character because his role in the story ended up being minimal (I think he only has merchandise because people loved his design) but this second color version of the Statue Legend figure in Risotto’s classic pose is just all sorts of tacky, visual awesome.  The purple!  The pink lining!  The fact that his name is spelled on his wacky hat!

Risotto’s probably not my *last* figure of the year, but pretty close to it.  If he is, and assuming my calculations are correct, I’m ending the year at roughly 86 figures acquired ^^;

(The baffled lavender unicorn is a Bakkun resin.  I collect a little bit of designer vinyls as well : D)