#these were so popular on deviantart like...15 years ago and i wanted to draw some so badly. so...fulfilling that wish now

[parisoonic]

He saw a bird and got distracted your Honour.

[novastarlyght]

That Time I Named an Invader Zim Background Character and Everyone Thought it was Canon: The Story of Ixane

Like a lot of others it seems, the premiere of Enter the Florpus has recently made me think back to my first stay in the Invader Zim fandom many years ago. For me it was between 2006 and 2007, and I was 14-15 at the time. IZ was and still is a very special cartoon to me, not only for how it influenced me creatively but also the fact being a part of its fandom was my first really positive experience in a fan community. And I wanna talk about that experience because it... lead to something very interesting. Something that only could’ve happened in the now bygone days of the early internet where reliable sources were harder to find and misinformation was much more common, but somehow, has lasted until today. 

This is how Ixane, a silent extra that appears only in the episode “Backseat Drivers from Beyond the Stars,” got her name.

So first off, you might be wondering “Who the heck is Ixane?” As I mentioned, she only appears as a background character in the 21st episode of the original series, titled “Backseat Drivers from Beyond the Stars” which I’ll abbreviate for the rest of this post as just Backseat Drivers. She’s a member of The Resisty, a resistance group against the Irken Empire who also only appear in that episode, although they were planned to become more significant recurring characters later down the line before the show was cancelled.

In 2006 I LOVED the Resisty. They were my favorite group of characters in the entire show, probably because I was fascinated by all their potential which sadly didn’t get the chance to be explored before IZ was canceled. What planets did each of them come from? What are each of their individual species like? How did they form into a single resistance group? What were their names, their personalities? Their hopes, dreams and fears?! THEIR FAVORITE DRINKS?!?! I attempted to provide my own answers to some of these not-so-burning-to-anyone-but-myself (or so I thought at the time...) questions by writing a fanfic called “Resisting Authority,” which I published on Fanfiction.net and later DeviantArt. It’s since been taken down on FFN while the DA version is currently in private storage on my old account, so here’s a screenshot just to prove it existed:

(click here for larger image)

Despite being more adult in tone than the show it was based on and rather melodramatic (then again, I was 14, and probably so was everyone else reading it), “Resisting Authority” became really, REALLY popular... at least for a fic that didn’t feature any of the show’s main characters, given it was entirely about the Resisty and told mostly from the perspective of its leader, Captain Lard Nar. Regardless it got a large amount of positive feedback and significant fan art on DeviantArt, most of which is no longer online although there’s still a little bit hanging around - mainly featuring Lyn, an Irken OC from the story who chooses to rebel against the empire and falls in love with Lard Nar, leading to a star crossed lovers conflict.

Because the purpose of the fic was to further explore the Resisty along with the idea of “What if an Irken betrayed their own?” several characters that appeared onscreen for only a couple of seconds in Backseat Drivers were fleshed out considerably in “Resisting Authority,” where they were given names, species names, home planet names, backstories, motivations and personalities. And of these the one who received by far the most development was a feminine, blue-eyed alien in a hooded purple cloak who I decided to name “Ixane.”

Ixane would become one of the most important characters in “Resisting Authority” right behind Lard Nar and Lyn. She is a Xanan from the planet Xana, a race of spiritual mystics. She is initially distrustful of Lyn, despite her actions and claims to be as much of a rebel as the rest of them, due to her hatred for the Irken Empire and how they destroyed her home. She believes Irkens are more like machines than living creatures, their bodies merely being empty shells to carry their PAKs around, making them incapable of genuine emotion. When she discovers Lyn and Lard Nar have been in a secret romantic relationship, she becomes even more hateful towards Lyn both due to jealousy, since she’d been harboring feelings for Lard Nar herself, and her genuine belief that Lyn’s feelings aren’t real, something that will only hurt Lard Nar in the end.

However throughout the course of the story her views are challenged and eventually Lyn manages to prove her wrong by displaying what she can’t deny is anything but legitimate love for Lard Nar and compassion for her allies in the Resisty. Unfortunately Lyn is fatally injured during a battle with a number of Irken soldiers sent to hunt down the rebellion. Now wanting nothing more than happiness for the person she loves, Ixane uses her mystical powers to save Lyn’s life while sacrificing her own in the process.

This character development (both in the meta sense and in the context of the fic itself) plus her selfless heroic sacrifice is what I think made Ixane one of the fic’s breakout characters and caused her to stick in the minds of those who read “Resisting Authority.” They were no longer thinking of her as just some extra, but as this fully developed character complete with an arc that I’d made her into - as the character of Ixane. But it didn’t occur to me just how big of an impact this may have truly had until about 9 years later.

In 2015, the official Invader Zim comic series by Oni Press began publication and I found myself extremely hyped about IZ again for the first time in almost a decade. It was during this time I came across a particular IZ wiki article and section of its TV Tropes page...

(Sources are here and here)

And I thought to myself “Wait... I thought I named her Ixane...?”

Because at this point I seriously couldn’t remember. I hadn’t thought about “Resisting Authority” in years, and with TV Tropes in particular noting that Ixane’s name was given “in the [episode] script” I wondered if I didn’t actually come up with the name. Maybe it was in the script for Backseat Drivers after all so I used it in the fic. Being unable to find said script (the original script as made by the episode’s writers, not a transcript) I couldn’t confirm it, so I mainly shrugged it off and thought more than likely I just had a bad memory. It wouldn’t be on a (still regularly maintained) wiki if it didn’t at least have a high possibility of being canon, right?

Cut to last night, August 2019. Me and all my other friends and fellow nerds who also grew up loving IZ are still buzzing over Enter the Florpus and our childhood/teenage fan content comes up in conversation. I dig up “Resisting Authority” from my old DA storage for perhaps a good laugh and a bit of nostalgia when more of when I first wrote it starts to come back to me. “I know the wikis all say her name was in the script, but I swear I came up with the name Ixane myself,” I thought, wondering if there was any way I could prove it.

Turns out I could. All the proof I needed was in a drawing of the character I posted to DA in January of 2007, which like the fic was still in storage:

(click here for larger image)

“Um...I bet a lot of people who read Resisting Authority got the impression she was an OC. She technically isn't. She is a Resisty character we saw VERY BRIEFLY once or twice in Backseat Drivers and I just elaborated on her for the story. The cloaked girl, yasee. Just look here: [link] “

That link no longer works normally, however putting it into Wayback Machine provides a snapshot taken in September of 2006, which would be around the time “Resisting Authority” was first published on FFN. Scrolling down on that page gives us...

(click here for larger image)

Additionally, opening the image itself reveals the filename “resistycloak.jpg” rather than something like “ixane.jpg” or “resistyixane.jpg”

For those who weren’t in the fandom back then, The Scary Monkey Show was a very well known IZ fansite and its Encyclopedias section was basically a resource for the show’s lore, one considered highly reliable, before things like fan wikis became commonplace. I actually used this site as a reference for the different types of Irken ships and other planets in the IZ universe brought up in the fanfic and so did many other fic writers at the time. If any site on the internet would know a minor or even background IZ character’s name, if it really was in the official episode script, it’d be The Scary Monkey Show. Yet her name is listed as unknown.

So why am I telling you this?

Because as wild as this whole situation is, I’m not a person who likes misinformation. I feel like IZ fans, both young and old, should know Ixane is not actually this character’s canon name as given to her by the writers of the show. That being said...

I see no reason to stop calling her Ixane. That’s just her name now.

Heck, it’d probably be difficult to go back to thinking of her as having no name given how long the name has been used on all these wiki pages and whatnot. And I’m completely fine with receiving absolutely zero credit for actually being the one who came up with the name in the first place, because here’s the thing...

I may have made the name, but it was the fandom that spread it. The IZ community, primarily in my absence too, were the ones who codified, legitimized it. Who added it to those wikis and accepted it as canon all these years. Who believed in it enough to assume it came from the official episode script, from the IZ crew themselves!

Ixane isn’t my name for her. It’s our name for her, as the fans who made Invader Zim the cult classic it is today.

And I want that to be something we all can have and be proud of ❤︎

[soyouareandrewdobson]

Oh not again the Paywall!

… Oh boy. This comic will be deader than expected.

When Dobson announced a few years ago he was working on a new comic involving a mountain cabin and supernatural elements, I was at the very least intrigued enough to see where this was going. I never expected it to be a groundbreaking comic or the worst thing anyone has ever done, but considering his track record so far when it came to creating original, long planned out comics, made me at least curious. Would it be better, worse or more woke than Alex ze Pirate. One thing I did however hope for was that Dobson would be for once smart enough to not hide his stuff behind a paywall, which has so far always killed his comics that are neither Ladybug or SYAC related. But hey, unlike Dobson, I can admit when I am wrong with an assumption.

 To be clear here, I am aware that Dobson “hides” the comic behind a 5000 dollar paywall only so that some person who donates to him the necessary dollar a month to see the panels uploaded by Dobson thrice a week can no longer do so and leak them to kiwifarms.

 However, even the dollar per month thing to me is a very, very dumb idea.

 I get it. People want to make money of something they create. I don’t hold it against webcomic artists to sell merchandise/tradepaperbacks of their stuff or create additional content to their regular updated comic pages, that people can pay for to see. But here is a major difference between Andrew Dobson and almost every other webcomic artist out there and which has been a key factor in why Dobson’s career as a comic creator has never taken off to.

 Webcomic artists stay relevant, by making their major comics public.

 I know Dobson’s work for a couple of years and the overall quality (or rather lack thereof) in his work aside, one thing I was dumbfounded the most off was how he basically sabotaged his own “career” in the medium. I have read a couple of sprite and webcomics over the years and even if the webcomic in question was utter bullshit for some reason cough sinfest cough one thing I saw was that in one way or another the comic and its artist would find an audience, BECAUSE the comic was easily to access on the net. You did not need to pay for the privilege of seeing  something someone created out of a whim. You could see the thing develop and go on because the person creating it became aware of people liking it and in doing so getting an extra boost to continue on.

 And by doing so, as time went on those people would eventually manage to make money of their work and even improve at least some aspect of it, may it be the storywriting or just the artwork.

 But Dobson made sure that when he wanted to start off his career, his stuff would not be seen.

 See, before SYAC became the thing he focuses on the most, there were at least two major comic series Dobson created and wanted to make money off. Percy Phillips, a detective comic about a Holmes knock off and Formera, a story about a boy stuck in a prehistoric fantasy world, no one is really sure about where it was heading for (not even the author).

Dobson made sure there was fanart of his characters and at least reading samples of around 10 pages on average everywhere he went to online the most (deviantart and smackjeevee). But aside of that, he did nothing with his creations online. Some random, unregularly uploaded fanart on aside, he would never upload more pages of Formera e.g. on deviantart, nor information about the comics direction, assuring that average interest of people in his stuff and the story was dimished fast. And when people are not interested in your story, they are not interested in you as an artist much. And when people are not interested in you as an artist (and your behavior online starts to additionally alienate them from you even more) it is no wonder your career never gets off. Now some may wonder, if Dobson drew reading samples, did that mean he wanted to draw more? Yes of course he wanted. And he actually did. But you needed to buy the tradepaperback to see those pages.

Basically what he did back then was, that he falsely approached the “webcomic” audience in a manner more suffice for people who want to buy physical copies of comics in bookstores or comic shops. Release a few reading samples, hope they get people interested in you and then make money by them buying this stuff. However, this entire approach was faulty. First off, the general quality of Dobson’s writing and artwork even back then made it not really look in any way worth to buy the comic, when there were way better products to be found either professionally published or online. To give you an example, these are some of the opening pages of Formera, published around 2005-08.

By comparison, that is a page of infamous internet webartist Bleedmann and his Powerpuff Girl comic , released around 2006.

I am sorry to say that, but why should I pay good money for Formera, something that looks like it was drawn by an average 16 year old anime fangirl at the time, when I could have something “better” drawn and designed by others? Even if those others are freaking lolicons.

I mean sure, the backgrounds look okay here and there, but composition wise the thing looks just not good. And that is from someone who went to art school and had the gaul to talk shit about mangas?

Secondly, the reading samples where just the first pages of his comics in general. Meaning nothing really happened in them and with the lack of information about the comics provided, nothing was really there to get others’ attention. Add to all of that the fact Dobson wanted between 10 and 20 dollar for 170 pages on average or less (Look up Legends, the precursor to Alex ze Pirate. Only 78 pages! Formera at least had around 152 per volume at prices between 9,99 and 15$) when you could buy a manga with more than 250 pages for less at the time…

And people said nope and rather looked up what the heck this Sonichu was people talked about.

As a result, Dobson never really sold stuff as proven with deviantart entries like this…

and he cancelled his comics after 1 or 2 volumes, not even wrapping up his stories he was supposedly so proud of and wanted to tell. All because Dobson essentially cared more about “making quick money” instead of telling a decent story he wanted people to read.

By abandoning these projects (and the characters in it) unceremoniously, Dobson had in my opinion also contributed a lot towards his online infamy. After all, what are you supposed to believe about a creator, who abandons his own creation completely instead of at least trying to salvage it (he could have still made Formera publicly readable by making it a webcomic) and has the audacity to call the overall popularity of others (particularly anime and mangas) the reason for its failing success. Plus it seems that their failure was the main reason why he would rather create 4-panel or one page comics instead of stories with more complexity afterwards, which resulted in the way Alex ze Pirate was presented (and is a topic for a later entry) and eventually SYAC.

 Bottomline, creating a “paywall” for his original work resulted in people on average not becoming aware of Dobson as the creator of some okayish comics, because they never saw them and instead would be exposed to other, “inferior” if not outright meanspirited and toxic artwork and opinions. And creating a paywall for Cabin’s Rest, even if as minimalistic as 1$ will just result in history repeating itself. He can claim that he creates a great comic as much as he wants, if we can’t see it for ourselves and judge, we can only say “what comic”? He won’t gain widespread popularity this way, because so far only 13-16 people (the total amount of Patreons he has to my knowledge) even were able to see the comic.

And now not even they can, because Dobson wants to spite his critics/trolls and take away the chance for them to see it, by making it unwatchable for anyone. I know he claims it is only for as long till he finds a way to get rid of the leaker, but that also begs the question: How do you want to do that? How do you want to assure only those who will not leak it, see this comic? You have already so little traffic on the site, you should actually be happy even for trolls paying you, cause at least it pays for a Happy Meal once a month. Dobson, if you really want Cabin’s Rest aka muslim vampire comic to succeed, you should just make it public. I know doing so will mean you are also exposed to all your critics and yes they will find something to mock and criticize, but at least you are out and have a higher chance to find also people willingly ready to support you, cause they want to see it.

[tomyo]

So I have life things right now but what if instead I just list off some shit I’ve done falling in love with Soul Eater 10 years ago.

Soul Eater was probable the first series I watched as the series was still airing. Not a huge deal nowadays but in 2008, all we had were some sketchy sites that would play four anime series in 360p. I think turnaround would still only be a week or two but it was so much more harder. I found the series when my site uploaded it as a Naruto episode by mistake.

Later on as I was reading the manga as it came out, I would go on just as horrible malware sites to look at the raws. 

Honestly, I stopped watching the anime around episode 30 initially because I preferred the manga.

I have some drawings somewhere planning to cosplay Maka in 2009 but I wasn’t that into it yet. 

Changed at the end of my sophmore year of school when I fucking crashlanded in crazy fan land.

Summer of 2010, I went on fanfiction.net from my dsi and read as many stories as I could until I fell asleep. My set up would either be propped up on my bed or floor with my bedding (it was hot and no fan and floor cool). I would sneak down stairs to grab an icecream cone. And then in the morning I would wake up to a dead DSi because I fell asleep when my body gave out.

Also since it was 2010 and smartphones were hardly a thing yet. I would print out novelas worth of fan fiction to read when my dad would drag me to see family who lived without internet and maybe one socket that had one three pronged socket. Rip environment.

Remember this really long drabbles collection. Sometimes it was 100 words, sometimes its a 10k Vampire AU that was so, so very tasty.

Maka Shop was a mispelling often made and I made my own AU based on that. I’m too much of a coward to share any fanfics I’ve ever made tho.

Was there for the blip that was ‘I’m writing this based on my criminology class’ hell fanfic. If you know it, you know it. If not. Good.

I was hype to buy a Soul plush from my local con that year and took embarrassing af photos with it because he was my first anime crush.

I also snuck into the one 18+ section of the one doujinshi booth at said con because there was only one book in the non

Niwatori and Kiss were legends, I own all of Niwatori’s SE doujinshi but now I’m onto finishing the Kiss ones I’m comfortable with own. Had managed to find Niwa’s old sites before she became pro.

Nowadays I keep up on Pixiv to see what still active SE doujin artists are up to and am desperately trying to collect their work.

Also holy shit, I nearly spent $90 on ebay at one point to get the official artbook but thankfully held out and got it for $15 a few years later.

Back into the timeline

Made OCs for an OCT and it was basically Soul and Maka

Followed a bunch of notable fans on DeviantART. Zraid was a big one. Was in love with Keiko-chan’s art. Also followed Dragula as they were releasing chrona centric doujinshi. 

I drew the characters a lot but didn’t post as much since I didn’t like how I drew them. There are tons of Maka and Soul scribbles from my notebooks though. I really expiremented because of how fluid Ohkubo was with his art.

Fighting dreamers pro did their soul eater group and made me determined to have my own. Lists exist somewhere of planning to go to NYCC when it was NYAF.

Started to get into Soul Eater cosplay. Determined to do Spartoi Maka. Bought a costume from Fanplusfriend for $180 on the outfit alone because no other listing existed. Still have my $1000+ limebarb quote when I nearly bought it through her (yikes)

I have still failed to this day to remake the outfit and scythe even though I try every katsucon. But I’ve done others tho.

Soul was the first case of me ever wanting to ‘crossplay’ (no longer accurate term)

Asked my mum for a white shirt from target that became the shirt I wanted to cosplay a splash page image of soul with. The white one with the red scarf

There was also the Soul Resonance Bad Romance parody skit when skits were big that was heavy inspiration.

Made a whole one up in my head to Don’t Stop by innerpartysystem. It had backdrop cutouts and lighting that I would never be able to do. Also like 20 person team beyond the cosplayers honestly.

Also wanted to do a high school centric amv to Arashi’s Troublemaker. 

Watched so many AMVS. Started to learn more about AMV culture because of it. Also Mentalprodigy is Soul Eater AMV god and I’m sad that she’s deleted some of them for good. ‘Insanity’ helped me get over a crush the next summer.

Tried making some of my own first CMVs. I put a lot of work into one of ‘If it really means a lot to you’ in which I tried making maka’s outburst from episode one match to the lyrics. Bad video quality but I’m still proud of it. Also did one to Be my escape and Lydia songs but most of them would never render properly because my computer was 2gbs on windows vista. Anyways here they are in case you were curious.

Lots of headcanons

Ponponpon came out and I immediately connected it to one off comment Maka makes about liking the PonPon dance even though she said it before Kyary’s debut.

Started estimating the main pairs ages based on info (Maka was 17 at the end of it fite me)

Designed a Kama Design and it turned out post end Maka was drawn with the same hairstyle so :OOOO

I hated wearing badge pins back then but I kept one of soul on my beret when they were popular.

Took up Piano for a semester at school. Sadly it was only a half year course but I spend a good amount of time trying to play Selenic Soul. Still remember a bit of how to play it. Also because of a Kiss image, I wanted and got a Melodica.

Started reading Bichi because I was DEADIATCATED

Fun fact: it has a proto version of like, every character. Maka is a maid.

Signed up on Nico Nico and Pixiv to start finding artists and video makers.

Recently found a whole bunch of old videos on Nico of Gangan CMs with a person dressed as Maka and its gooood.

When I joined in highschool , I had intent to start posting seasonal art and try to connect with japanese artists. Drew an unfinished NY art for the year of the rabbit with broken japanese.

I think I finished the Anime around this time??? We had just gotten Netflix. Hated the ending so much. ‘The manga is going to be so much better’

It was Book of Eibon Era so like, the best part before it all went down hill veeeery sloooowly

Genderbent chapters were fuuuuuuuun. Still about it

Soul Eater Not was announced and my body couldn’t take it. Loved it even though it was basically Kon in Soul Eater. It became harder to get even the raws because Yen Press was getting big and cracking down so I bought one of the books. 

Joined twitter to see if Ohkubo was okay during the Earthquake and Tsunami that hit Japan in 2011. This is a poor reason to worry about someone’s life but I was a dumb teen. 

After about a year and a half of non stop fixation, my interest went into a new direction because of Homestuck.

Fun Fact, I’ve seen huge crossover with the two. Every modern Soul Eater fan 200% was a Homestuck. ESPECIALLY IF YOU WERE INTO KAREZI.

Various Soul Maka supplement characters over the years: Ladybug and Chat Noir, Judy and Nick from Zootopia, Karkat and Terezi. Any strong female with a devoted male partner. 

Also some fave, I want Maka ships but I’ve watched soul eater enough already; Tonari no Kaibutsu and Kaiba. There is more but I forget :c

Fell down general obscure Soul Eater shit

Cosplay Meme because why the fuck not

Years of insisting groups never got me anywhere in college so I mostly solo and look it up on tumblr now and then

Manga ended so..yeah

Soul eater not comes and goes and everyone laughs. I still try to get peple invested in it because its the only time we get to see any Liz and Patty character development. Also lesbians >>

Get back in deep in 2017. Finally achieved buying doujinshi after a 7 year gap in availability. Have thus spent probably close to $500 on my collection and its sad. I spent so much money at Otaku Republic that they’ve sent me 3 freebie items since, a plush keychain, a pencil board, and a pass case that was actually useful and causes a bunch of intense moments of love for soul eater with my college peers.

Moved onto finding rare promo items in the mean time. Mouse? check. Speaker that looks like headphone illustration? check. Looking into an mp3 and rare instax as we speak. 

Did you know there was a calculator? Did you know there was a Lamp. And a fucking cd player.  

Debating learning how to drive a motorcycle and buying the same model as Soul’s. I hate harleys but man the aesthetic. God, one of my various information searching used to be on why soul could drive a motorcycle when most us law says you have to be 18. Why? who knows why. I was 17 and wanted the characters to be my age.

Started compiling Maka costumes. Episode 12 Maka? Check. Exams arc Maka? In progress. That one illustration for the chapter art? Check. Monster Hunter Promo art? Sure Why not. Black blood Maka, Halloween Maka, Halloween Fanart Maka, Christmas Maka, Shit why not deathbucks maka. 

Over the years many friends said they could be Soul for me and I’m sure none of them are prepared for if they actually do. The one case where it did happen...I was intense. It was bad.

After alot of internet digging, I finally found the site of Channel C who’s many people’s fav soul eater cosplayer. So many images that had been hidden away.

Realized when watching Mob Psycho 100 that I now recognize the Japanese VA. Sadly can’t say the same for Laura Bailey since I don’t watch a lot of anime anymore. 

Most importantly I had a feverish desire to make more soul eater art just before Ohkubo announce perfect edition.

[anactualhyena]

Answer literally all the OC questions pls

HOO BOY THANK YOU ANON

1. Your first OC ever?

That would be Seren! She started out as my Warriors OC in sixth grade - Dragonclaw, a neon green, red, and orange cat with spike collars and bat wings. I called her the leader of Blood Clan and made her Scourge’s mate and oh lord it was a nightmare. She’s gone through a lot of redesigning through the years and now she has a feral cat form and a human form? As a cat she’s like a partially albino Norwegian forest cat with moss growing on her back and bits of fur matted with blood and an old torn dog collar she probably found on the streets and thought looked cool. As a human, she’s a muscular tribal woman bearing a large spear of sorts and clothing made from torn fabric and a tiger pelt. I like her human rendition a lot better tbh.


2. Do you have a personal favourite among your OCs?

Answered!


3. Have you ever adopted a character or gotten a character from someone else?

I have! One of my old cat characters, Mandy, was a black cat with rainbow accents that I adopted years ago on DeviantART for like 5 points. Then my friend gave me her old Hetalia OC…I believe it was D.C.? As in Washington D.C.? But I don’t use my Hetalia characters anymore now that I left the fandom.


4. A character you rarely talk about?

That would definitely be Flint. Flint is a steampunk pirate character made for a Dungeons and Dragons campaign I had with a couple buddies last year. I’ve hardly talked about him at all but I love him too.


5. If you could make only one of your OCs popular/known, who would it be?

Iagan!!! Iagan is my little ball of fluff and happiness that would love to brighten anyone’s day. Plus I’m pretty sure he’s the most likely of all my OCs to become popular if any of them did.


6. Two OCs of yours that look alike despite not being related?

YES. Flint and Feuhorbe (as a human) look a lot alike because Flint’s design was based off of Feuhorbe’s. The difference between them is that Flint is thicker than Feuhorbe and their hair, eye, and skin colors are different. That and Flint has scars and is more Spanish-based whereas Feuhorbe has vitiligo and is Brazilian.


7. Are your OCs part of any story or stories?

Well…Iagan is (and I cringe when I say this) an Undertale OC, and Rev is a part of a story/universe that Griffin created. Carlisle and Vincent used to follow this sort of post-apocalyptic storyline I had going for an RPG my buddy Roman was making, but the idea got scrapped and I kept the characters, so now they aren’t exactly a part of anything. And then…there’s my old Hetalia OCs…Riccione (originally Sparta), Toronto, and D.C.


8. Do you RP as any of your OCs? If you do, introduce one of your RP OCs here!

I don’t actually RP as my characters anymore, but I used to RP with Riccione all the time in middle school. She’s a chubby professional dancer who runs a night club in Italy and maybe plays the violin? I can hardly remember.


9. Would you ever be willing to give any of your OCs to someone else?

I mean, their old designs? Absolutely. I’m slowly selling those on my DeviantART - mostly ones I don’t use anymore, like Warriors cats and my old fursona and a few others.


10. Introduce an OC with a complicated design?

FEUHORBE MY LORD. He’s actually not that complicated, but his vitiligo can be difficult to draw and as a furry, he’s a horse piñata whose colors follow a specific pattern based on an actual piñata I stole from one of my friends in the dorm room across from mine after their birthday. But there’s also Zane, a genderless dog dragon demon thing that someone gifted me as an avatar on the website Whirled, who I turned into my own character. I’m not sure if they were originally someone else’s OC that was given away or what, but I can’t find any other pictures of them or their species anywhere, so I’m keeping them as my own until further notice. Their design features horns and blue to black gradients and wings with holes in them and various scars.


11. Is there any OC of yours you could describe as a “sunshine”?

IAGAN!!! I can’t explain it enough, he’s literally a ray of sunshine.


12. Name an OC that isn’t yours but who you like a lot.

Oh man…there are these animators on youtube who I watch all the time and I’m in love with their characters/fursonas. There’s Mystery, who belongs to Sleepykinq, Puppers(?), who belongs to kittydog, and Yagi, who belongs to Scotch.


13. Do you have any troublemaker OCs?

Sonni is my little troublemaker. He’s a jokester and also a Dungeons and Dragons character, and his only purpose is to mess with my buddy’s characters and mess up their quests.


14. Introduce an OC with a tragic backstory

Carlisle had his arm blown off in an explosion, which also claimed his vision, but Vincent was able to build him a robotic prosthetic arm and these special goggles with LEDs that allow him to see again. That’s as tragic as it gets, really.


15. Do you like to talk about your OCs with other people?

I do! But I rather people ask me about my characters because if people don’t show initial interest, I just think I’m annoying them. A lot of times, that’s how I further develop or redesign my characters.


16. Which one of your OCs would be the best at biology (school subject)?

That would have to be…Seren and Roc, honestly. Because they are “”“warriors,”“” they know things like how the body reacts to certain toxins and which vital organ, if impaled, causes the most suffering before death. But that’s more like anatomy.


17. Any OC OTPs?

Answered!


18. Any OC crackships?

I high key ship Iagan with Scotch’s character Yagi? I have no real reasoning behind it. But that’s about it.


19. Introduce an OC that means a lot to you (and explain why)

Geez…that’s kinda hard to pick. I’d probably have to say Donovan, because I’ve projected a lot of my own traits and issues onto him (being a trans guy, having depression, letting him to do all kinds of things I wanted to do but couldn’t, etc.) and he helped me cope with a lot of shit until I just relied on my persona and let Donny have his own life.


20. Do any of your OCs sing? If they sing, care to share more details (headcanon voice, what kind of songs they like etc)?

Axwell actually was a choir kid growing up and can sing pretty dang well. My headcanon for his voice would be some sort of mix between Brendon Urie and David Bowie’s voices? His taste in music actually heavily varies and he doesn’t have a set favorite genre or anything - just anything with vocals. Feuhorbe love to hear him sing.

Iagan can kinda sing as well? He’s partially based off of a Samoyed, which are known as singing dogs, but it’s not one of his prominent talents. Although he can freely manipulate the sound of his voice as he pleases, his standard voice is that of JonTron’s. He’ll sing and listen to everything upbeat and cheerful.


21. Your most artistic OC

That would be Piper. Piper is a male Lolita, a ferret, sounds like cr1tikal, and is about four feet and ten inches tall. He does a lot of art, mostly of Lolita fashion and mainly uses watercolor paint.


22. Is there any OC of yours people tend to mischaracterize? If yes, how?

No one mischaracterizes my OCs because they aren’t popular enough for other people to even notice.


23. Introduce OC that has changed from your first idea concerning what the character would be like?

Since I already talked about Seren, I’ll talk about Carlisle. He started out as my original fursona, which was a generic twinky fox with long ears and black circles around his eyes and a MLP jacket. Then he was a feral fox that became my mascot? Now he’s my bara babe (other than Vincent) and had his metal arm and LED goggles And a way better color scheme.


24. If you could meet one OC of yours, who would it be and why?

I would absolutely love to meet either Iagan or Feuhorbe because I know I would have a really great time with either of them???? Hanging out with either of them would literally make me 10 times happier.


25. The OC that resembles you the most (same hobby, height, shared like/dislike for something etc?)

That would have to be Donovan. He’s only two inches shorter than me (not counting his ears), about 10 pounds heavier than me, huge into music, and a trans guy.


26. Have you ever had to change your OC’s design or something else about them against your will?

Nope. I made all changes to my characters freely.


27. Any OCs that were inspired by a certain song?

No, but I do like to think of what my characters’ theme songs would be. I’m still making that list.


28. Your most dangerous OC?

Answered!


29. Which one of your OCs would go investigate an abandoned house at night without telling anyone they’re going?

That would probably be Feuhorbe and Sonni. In it for the adventure but will not tell anyone specifically to potentially cause trouble.


30. Which one of your OCs would most likely have a secret stuffed animal collection?

I would say Iagan, but it wouldn’t be a secret. So I’d have to say either Skyler (a dragon character of mine) or Carlisle.


31. Pick one OC of yours and explain what their tumblr blog would be like (what they reblog, layout, anything really)

Piper would try to run a pastel aesthetic blog but it’d be riddled with too many memes and shitposts and videos of him just saying and doing stupid shit.


32. Which one of your OCs would be the most suitable horror game protagonist and why?

Alcatraz. He’s a lawyer but has a huge secret passion for ghosts and ghost hunting and all things paranormal, so he’d fit right into a game revolving around those things.


33. Your shyest OC?

Lukas! Lukas is a small quetzal that’s big into Harajuku fashion and he is the shyest little guy alive. But he’d probably get along well with Piper.


34. Do you have any twin characters?

Nope.


35. Any sibling characters?

Yes!!! Donovan, Carlisle, and Alcatraz are my three fox brothers. Donny is the youngest and Alcatraz is the oldest.


36. Do you have OC pairs where the other part belongs to someone else (siblings, lovers, friends etc)?

Yes! But they’re only with my boyfriend because I haven’t found anyone else who wants to ship their characters with mine.


37. Introduce an OC who is not quite human

I mean,,,the only set human characters I have are Flint and Axwell and my Hetalia characters, unless you count the human designs for my furry and feral characters. None of them are really a mix and could be considered not quite human except for Sonni, who is the most humanlike out of my non human OCs. He’s very lanky and appears malnourished and has three eyes and is covered in short, dark hair/fur. He has a short stubby tail and tall “ears” and has six arachnid-like appendages protruding from his back that he can crawl on.


38. Which one of your OCs would be the best dancer?

That would be Riccione and Donovan, who are actually dancers! Riccione is a professional dancer, whereas Donovan shuffles and such as a hobby.


39. Introduce any character you want

Bow Echo is a griffin that’s a mix between a bobcat and a peregrine falcon. She can fly super fast and I need to develop her more.


40. Any fond memories linked to your characters? Feel free to share!
41. Has anyone drawn fanart of your OCs? If yes, maybe show a picture or two here (remember sources & permissions!)

A few people have! They’re on my ArtFight profile under Defenses!

http://artfight.net/~CyberFoxFire


42. Which one of your OCs would be the most interested in Greek gods?

That would be Rev. The universe he’s from revolves around many entities similar to those found in Greek and Roman mythology, with him being basically the embodiment of the Ragnarök.


43. Do you have any certain type when you create your OCs? Do you tend to favour some certain traits or looks? It’s time to confess

Ok…I love making them around six feet tall or taller and giving them facial hair and choppy short hair that can be pulled back in low ponytails. But I’m trying to stop that and make them more diverse.


44. Something you like about your OCs in general

They all represent different aspects of my personality and I make really deep connections with them because of that.


45. A character you no longer use?

Jacobi. He’s just some Scottish guy that wears flannels. I’m selling him on DeviantART eventually.


46. Has anyone ever told you that you treat your OCs badly?

Nah. It’s mostly anons that tell me things about my OCs, like how they look like internet cancer. Not that I mind, I mean, come on. They all look like hell lmao


47. Has anyone ever (friendly) claimed any of your OCs as their child?

I think? When I first joined the Osomatsu-San Network, one of the first things I did was talk about my OCs with some other the other members. One might’ve claimed Iagan or someone else, I can’t really remember.


48. OC who is a perfect cinnamon roll, too good for this world, too pure

IAGAN!!!! And also Lukas!!


49. Which one of your OCs would most likely enjoy memes

That would be Piper, Sonni, Donovan, Feuhorbe, and Iagan.


50. Give me the good ol’ OC talk here. Talk about anything you want

Uh…I think I’ve talked about literally everything I can think of off the top of my head. Feel free to message me though if you want to talk about OCs!

[alereyusa]

Storytime: Power Ranger Project

Storytime, inspired by the memes of YouTubers, is a new bit I'm adding to Chico's Coop. I'll write whatever is on my mind, but mostly keep centered around a particular subject.

Entertainment | Ah, the tights, blasters, putties, and those perfectly timed explosions. Based on the Super Sentai series produced by Toei Company, Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers debuted in the 90's which sparked a phenomenon that is close to hitting two decades of explosive kid entertainment. I was born just a year after it premiered but watched almost every episode thanks to those re-runs on Fox Kids. There were many great shows that defined my childhood, and Power Rangers was a star, campy production at front and center next to Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, and a whole lot more.

As I transitioned into the life of a teenager in 2007, time spent watching Saturday morning cartoons were replaced with playing next-gen video game epics and watching movies that Hollywood significantly began stepping up in those times (Transformers (2007) comes to mind - a movie like that just wasn't possible in 2002!). It was like I entered a new generation of time in history. Social media was getting ready to change forever, and technology was advancing rapidly! In 2007, I carried a portable PlayStation with downloaded music in my pocket. In 2017, I have a pocket device that can access a world of information rapidly, stream over a million songs, and share a plethora of only the most dank memes.

I used to not reminisce much on childhood and growing up, because it didn't seem that far long ago. Part of that growing up was writing (for fun, lol) and drawing which faded by the time I reached college. When I was finishing my undergrad, I began to reflect on everything leading up until that point. It was then I realized I let go of passions that I never truly began to advance in. My writing was nothing you'd find in a book distributed by a major publisher today, nor was my drawing the type that people could ooh and ahh at on DeviantArt. This was the time I realized that I could still learn, and what was stopping me?

The lack of inspiration. I didn't look for it when it came to my drawing. I didn't read books like I used to which helped inspire my writing. What helped me get back into writing? Realizing I had a great story I believed people would have a rollercoaster of joy with. That started over a year ago with the revamp of The Chicken Man and the launch of Alerey, a symbol of my pursuit back into these passions. I even started a new story last year (Statue in the Woods), which I've been holding onto the 3rd part now for a while (note on that: It's WRITTEN but wasn't good enough for me to share with you all yet. It will release when the time comes!).

And my drawing? WELL, rewind time back just a bit to New York Comic Con in October 2016. Jason David Frank, famously known in the Power Ranger fan community as the original green ranger, was gearing up for his role as Valiant Comic's Bloodshot in the upcoming live action web series, Ninjak vs. the Valiant Universe. #JDFBloodshot was a hashtag he started to use to tag his role as the character, and fans were already drawing fan art of him as the character. He began sharing the fan art on his Facebook and Instagram accounts, social media homes of his rapidly growing fan-base.

A little history of my admiration for the dude: After discovering him on Facebook with just under 300,000 followers in late 2013, I became an avid follower of the social media master. After learning about what else he's accomplished since those PR days, which included breaking a world record for one, I became quite vested in the insight he provided into his life, which proved to be very down to Earth and entertaining. Of course, he's human! To this day, he still writes fans back, offers regular contests for signed merch and shout-outs, and is a great role model no matter what the age of the PR fan. To put it simply, he's a cool guy!

So naturally, I wanted to show him my own #JDFBloodshot art. My dilemma:  I have not done a full-effort drawing in years. The first night of NYCC, I followed a YouTube tutorial of a portrait to help refresh my touch with a pencil and learn something new about using the different ones I purchased in a set. After that refresher, I gave my shot at Bloodshot.

JDF Bloodshot by AlereyUSA on DeviantArt

My first thought was, "Whoa, I need to do much better than this!" Second thought was, "I'll share it anyway." So there it was, no beautiful bird came singing to me songs of inspiration while I sat by a tree under falling leaves. No, I wanted to get noticed by a celebrity!! Haha, and I did, it was great! To sum it up, an actor famously part of the Power Rangers series gave me the boost to finally get back into it.

This led to my Power Ranger Project. The 2017 film was to release in March, and I was pumped for the good month. Birthday was approaching as well, along with Logan, Bring Me the Horizon, and the Houston Rodeo. Then, I was recently inspired by speed art videos, time-lapses of beautiful creations by folks showcasing their talents on YouTube. I tried my hand at it with my Harry Potter drawing, which I drew for my graduation cap.

Then I had an idea, a vision of a drawing video of all five new Power Ranger actors, where sped-up portions of their drawings interlaced with each other to the tune of the classic MMPR theme song. In this process, I would draw five portraits. After each portrait, I would take something I didn't like from the previous drawing and try to focus on that in the next. The goal was that by the time I was done with the fifth, I would've gotten some great practice in. Then, I was able to practice video-editing skills for the speed art videos. My final reward at the end was a .wmv file viewable for everyone to enjoy what I envisioned. And I did it!

After spending most of March working on that project, I took a step back for April and used that time I made for drawing to get some reading done. That's why Alerey has been particularly quiet ;D Now Houston's Comicpalooza is happening and that's plenty to celebrate in May. Perhaps I'll get to meet the man who singlehandedly jumped into a megazord, kicked the crap out of all the rangers inside, and then tossed them out only to kick their asses again.

My #graduation #cap! Had trouble deciding what I wanted while still attempting to achieve being somewhat unique, and came up with this fusion! A crossover between #HarryPotter and The #LegendofZelda, this references the popular moment from the first LoZ game. The two fires beside Link were each replaced with a Goblet of Fire, and the sword, of course, with a diploma. I remember Harry being in a position that would be perfect underneath the diploma and finally thought of Book 7's cover art by Mary Grandpré. Also stuck the logo of my pride and joy, Alerey, on there as a commemoration of one more thing I achieved while in college. #MischiefManaged

A post shared by Alerey (@alereyusa) on Dec 15, 2016 at 9:59am PST

[outtsiders-mark]

100 Questions? :) I have good numbers! 1-100! I send you smiles!

Oh goodness, haha. Alright! Thank you very much. ^^

1. What’s your middle name, and do you like it?: Sebastian! I’m okay with it!2. are you artistic?: I am! Not incredibly so but I am.3. Have you had your first kiss?: Nope! /w\4. What is your life goal?: I don’t think I have one! Just survive, I guess!5. Do you have any experiences with a famous person?: Nope, not yet!6. Do you play any sports?: Nope, I’m not a sportsy person, haha.7. What’s your worst fear?: Someone close to me dying8. Who’s your biggest inspiration?: I don’t really have one! I just live my life the way I think I should9. Do you have any cool talents?: I’m not great at a lot of things but I’m pretty good at video games? :D10. are you a morning person?: Not at all11. How do you feel about pet names?: Some are okay!12. Do you like to read?: Yes!13. Name a list of shows that have changed your life.: Steven Universe is really the only one that comes to mind! When I was young, maybe Crocodile Hunter though.14. Do you care about your follower count?: Not really, the best thing about it is possibly having more people to talk to!15. What’s the best dream you’ve had?: Dunno! I’ve had a lot of cool dreams.16. Have you ever kissed someone of your same gender?: Nope! Not yet anyways. >//>17. Do you have any pets? I do! 2 dogs (Ace and Copper), 2 cats (Todd and Roxas), and 3 ferrets (Finn, Bella, and Mayhem/Hamilton)18. Are you religious?: I’m not! I don’t mind religion at all I just believe that everything and everyone deserves respect and kindness.19. Are you a people person?: Inwardly yes, outwardly no. I love making friends but I can be easily overwhelmed.20. Are you considered popular?: On some platforms I guess? IRL no, but on dA I know a lot of people.21. What is one of your bad habits?: I bite my lips a lot22. What’s something that makes you feel vulnerable: Being unable to help someone who needs it23. What would you name your children?: I WOULDN’T I HATE KIDS... But I love the names Faolan and Elliot. 24. Who’s your celebrity crush?: I dooon’t really have one! I don’t much care about celebrities. 25. What’s your best subject?: History! 26. Dogs or cats?: Dogs!27. most used social media besides tumblr?: DeviantART if it counts, if not probably facebook simply because I use it at work.28. best friends name: Mary, Rachel (I know two of them, they’re both the best), Aj, Eli!29. who does your main family consist of: My grandfather, my mother, her boyfriend, my uncle, 3 brothers and 3 sisters!30. Chocolate or sugar: Nnnn depends on the type of chocolate31. have you ever been on a date?: Nope WHEE32. Do you like rollercosters?: Nope, I can’t ride them due to head injuries when I was young33. Can you swim?: I can doggy paddle? :D34. What would you do in the event of an apocalypse?: Die, probably, but I have a plan I could try to follow35. Have you struggled with any kind of mental disorder: Absolutely36. Are your parents together?: Nope37. What’s your favourite colour?: Green or purple!38. What country are you from/do you live in?: I’m from the USA! Save me!39. Favourite singer?: Set It Off40. Do you see yourself being famous some day?: Not at all haha41. Do you like dresses?: Nope! Some boys look nice in dresses but I don’t42. Favourite song right now?: Fallout by Marianas Trench43. Does talking about sex make you uncomfortable?: Sometimes. In general no, because I’m a pretty carefree dude, I just don’t like it when it involves me. Being an ace and all.44. How old were you when you first got your period?: I’m a boy so... :D45. Have you ever shot a gun?: I have! Many actually!46. Have you ever done yoga?: I have! It hurts47. Are you a horror girl?: *Boy but yeah if I have someone to watch it with me!48. Are you good at giving advice?: Sometimes! But I usually don’t give advice unless I’m confident in myself, so yes.49. Tell us a story about your childhood.: One time I dropped a TV on my head and fractured my skull in four places and yet I was still telling jokes in the ambulance. I was 4! 50. How are you doing today?: I’m good! A little sore, a little sleepy, but good!51. Were you a cute kid?: NOPE52. Can you dance?: Nope! I know how to waltz though!53. Is there anything you do that you can’t remember ever not doing?: Not really!54. Have you ever dyed your hair?: I have quite a few times!55. What colour are your eyes?: Hazel! They look more blue or green depending on what I’m wearing56. What’s your favourite animal: A fox!57. Have you ever made a huge fool of yourself?: I mean who hasn’t?58. Do you have a good relationship with your parents?: Not really, especially not my father59. Do you have good friends?: I do! I have amazing friends60. Are you close with anyone of the lgbtq+ group?: I think most of my friends fall into that category, so yes!61. What’s your favourite class?: Historyyyyy62. List all the tv shows you are watching.: Steven Universe, Supernatural (kinda), Ghost Adventures when I can catch it63. Are you organized?: Not at all64. What was the last movie you saw? Opinion?: Uhhh... I don’t remember!67. Which tv character do you relate to most?: Peridot from SU. I am also small confused and in love with space68. What are some things that stand between you and complete happiness?: Money, time, energy, not having a car, social anxiety... I could go on69. If you received enough money to never need to work again, what would you spend your time doing?: Gaming and drawing without a doubt- though maybe travel too!70. What would you change about your life if you knew you would never die?: I’d probably worry less71. What would you do differently if you knew that no one was judging you?: Be more of an asshole to people I don’t like probably. I’m really gentle most of the time but sometimes I wish I wasn’t, people are horrible sometimes72. If you could start over, what would you do differently?: I don’t think I would!73. Would you break the law to save a loved one?: Absolutely74. When was the last time you travelled somewhere new?: 3ish years ago I went to New York!75. When you think of your home, what immediately comes to mind?: Kids everywhere76. What have you done to pursue your dreams lately? How about today?: Absolutely nothing! :D77. What did you want to be when you were a kid?: A detective, haha78. If you dropped everything to pursue your dreams, what would you be risking?: Probably everything, I don’t know what I’d be pursuing 79.When did you not speak up, when you know you really should have?: Probably a couple of times80. Describe the next five years of your life, and your plans, in a single sentence: DO SOMETHING!!!81. What would happen if you never wasted another minute of your life, what would that look like?: Chaos82. If you could live forever, how would you spend eternity?: Exploring, seeing things, visiting friends83. How would you spend a billion dollars?: Video Games, an apartment, going to see friends84. If you could time travel, would you go to the past or the future?: Neither! Timelines, man!85. What motivates you to succeed?: Myself? Nothing really pff86. What dream that you’ve had has resonated with you the most?: -shrug!-87. Would you rather live in the city or the woods? Why?: WOODS. Away from people, you have your space, you have your freedom, clean air, quiet, so many reasons.88. Do you believe in life after death: I do!89. What teacher inspired you the most? How did they?: None!90. What’s your fondest childhood memory?: I admittedly don’t remember much of my childhood91. If you could have dinner with any one person, living or dead, who would they be and why?: IIII have no idea? Pff92. What would you have to see to cry tears of joy?: Anything cute, pff93. What is the hardest lesson you had to learn in life?: People suck and no matter how much they say they care they all leave in the end -dabs-94. What do you think happens after we die?: Ghosties!95. What would you do if you would be invisible?: Probably just scare people96. What’s something you can’t do no matter how hard you try?: Life in general97. Would you want to choose the sex and appearance of your offspring?: Nope, I don’t want kids98. How did your first crush develop?: Idk man I don’t even know who my first crush was99. Is there a feeling you are trying to ignore? What is it?: Sure, anxiety all the time forever100. Do you live or do you just exist?: A little of both, mostly just existing though