#this drawing is just...very different overall compared to my other stuff >.>

[sysig]

What your fave says about you: Sona/Undertale edition (Patreon)

[redr0sewrites]

ATSV Characters with a Goth S/o

heeeeeyyyyyy guys 😇 *slowly sliding the 100+ REQUESTS in my inbox to the side to make room for a new special interest*

🥀Cw: none, mostly fluff!!!

🥀Pairing(s): Hobie x reader, Miles x reader, Miguel x reader, Spot x reader

Hobie

he would LOVE any type of alternative partner tbh- he just LOOOVESSS that ur goth and will support you 100%

people who go against societies expectations/standards and don't fit in with the norm intrigue him, and your style is probably what piqued his interest in the first place

y'all definitely wear matching fits sorry i don't make the rules- hobie just can't pass up the opportunity to match w you!!! whenever you go to meetings within the spider society he always brings you along, regardless of whether or not you're a spiderperson and hobie loves showing off you and your style

MAJOR "THATS MY PARTNER‼️" VIBES

look me in the eyes and tell me hobia would not absolutely rock some funky eyeliner LIKEEEEE- he def lets you practice on him and will do your makeup for you too!!!

hobie loves thrifting with you, there is no way he isn't a major thrifter and you both definitely DIY a lot of your clothes

HE MAKES YOU GUYS MATCHING PUNK BATTLE VESTS FOR YOUR ANNIVERSARY, AND MAKES SURE THAT IT MATCHES UR AESTHETIC AS WELL!!

hobie absolutely has BLESSED music taste, but while he usually listens to rock, punk, dad rock, or post-punk type of music, i def see him enjoying more gothic/new wave music- especially if u introduce it to him!!!

i see him enjoying bauhaus, sisters or mercy, scary bitches, etc- he'll also give YOU a lot of music recommendations and help to expand ur taste!

hobie would also accompany you to any protests or conventions that you wanted to attend, and would act as your scary dog privileges

YOU TWO DEFINITELY GO TO CONCERTS TOGETHER OMG. I TOTALLY SEE THAT AS A SPONTANEOUS DATE THAT YOU TWO ENJOY A LOT

honestly hobie is a lovely partner to have if you are goth, and he's not only supportive but VERY enthusiastic about your fashion and lifestyle!

Miles

hes such a sweetheart!!! he definitely supports you if you're goth and asks a LOOOT of questions lmao

miles draws you and your fashion a lot, and will def design makeup or eyeliner ideas for you too!!! while ik this is more associated with punk, i also see miles drawing you a few custom patches and stuff like that

your kind of like his muse in a way, and miles just really enjoys sketching you, especially since you have such a unique aesthetic and such cool outfits

HE HAS DEFINITELY GRAFFITIED U SOMEWHERE‼️

he loves watching you get ready and do your makeup. seeing you do perfect eyeliner wings and heavy makeup in general lowkey relaxes him, and he just loves admiring you

im sorry but miles knows absolutely nothing about goth music or culture, ur gonna have to introduce him to a lot of the songs/bands!!!

while i don't think he's huge on the music at first, i think it would grow on him over time. its definitely the type of thing that he loves because YOU love it, and he sees how mu much you enjoy it so he starts listening to it as well so he can talk to you about it

i think his favorite band would be the cure, and his fav songs would either be boys dont cry or the walk (both by the cure- idk why thats so specific but they just kinda fit his vibe yk?)

miles likes holding hands a lot, and he loves when you wear rings or gloves or something along those lines because it just reminds him so much of you! your hands just feel different compared to other peoples and he just loves how unique you are

if you have a lot of piercings, miles would definitely ask about them or buy you specific jewelry for piercings!!!!

overall, very very cute and supportive about your style!!! (he lowkey gives bi wife energy, and iyk what in talking ab then ily mwah)

Miguel

he's pretty indifferent to your style at first, i don't see him as the type to judge much based on appearances. its your personality that really throws him for a loop, and a part of him admires your dedication to making yourself look how you want to look and truly living to be your best self, regardless of what others think

if you think miles knows nothing about being goth then be prepared for miguel bc he knows NOTHINGGGG- no music, no history, no political views, zero, zilch, nada, goose egg

if he cares about you i do see him being intrigued about your style, and once you two are officially dating is when he'll show more interest in your personal fashion sense

he strikes me as the type to like, NEVER listen to music, so he literally only listens to the music you like!!! he does find himself occasionally humming the tune of some strawberry switchblade song or casually listening to a siouxsie and the banshees song while he works, and over time you influence him a LOT with your music taste. he definitely associates any and all goth music with YOU, and that's probably why he starts enjoying it.

he's a "hand on you at all times" type of guy, and while he is rarely touchy with others, miguel is definitely keeping you close. your fashion makes that convenient for him, and he loves pulling you into a kiss by grabbing onto your belt loop or something of the sort

miguel loves how you look with and without makeup on and isn't afraid to tell you that, however, he really likes it if you incorporate his colors or color scheme into your makeup one day. he'll never admit it, but you keep catching him admiring you with the smallest smirk on his face every few seconds

if anyone ever gave u shit for what you wear and how you dress, especially someone in the spider society, you'd practically have to restrain miguel from drop kicking them across nueva york- he doesn't want anyone to be rude to you , and while he knows you can stand up for yourself, he just gets protective at times

Spot

goth? whats that???

he's lowkey such a nerd, and spends too much time being science-y and planning on how to beat spiderman to actually get caught up on fashion

spot doesn't know how he pulled you tbh, but he appreciates you nonetheless!!! he thinks you and your aesthetic are something to be admired, and will unabashedly tell EVERYONE he knows about you

he will shoplift any clothing or jewelry that you want, and he'll even take you to other dimensions where there are better alternative clothes as well

spot doesn't really have a face to do makeup on, but he'll offer to do yours for you! surprisingly enough he's pretty good at it, though he does work pretty slowly

spot loves fiddling with your accessories, whenever he's standing near you he's always reaching out to touch you in some way shape or form. he loves playing with any chains or necklaces you wear, and will help adjust them so that they lay correctly

he helps you get ready in the morning!!!!! if ur the type of goth to wear corsets, he makes lacing them up SO easy and will gladly do it for you

i personally hc that spot HATES seeing himself in mirrors/pictures, it reminds him sm of what he used to look like, but he LOVES taking photos of you and your style!! whenever you are wearing a cute outfit or have funky makeup on, spot adores just taking photos of you

if you ever did a makeup look inspired by him and his spots he would probably CRY :(

URGRHHRHHRRR I LOVE ATSV SMMMMMMM!!!! this post will DEFINITELY have a pt2 w more characters!!!!! i swear tho atsv literally pulled me out of the most horrendous burnout ever i FELT the artblock and writing block lift off of my body as i watched it. IM SO INVESTED I MADE A SPIDERSONA...

[skrittkicking]

charr body types for practice, rambling nonsense under the cut

ive been trying to get better at drawing more varied body types for a while now and i think ive still got a long way to go but im getting there. fat and muscle definition werent something i bothered to learn for a long time because all i wanted to draw was twinks and dragons ... but in the last year or so ive really been pushing myself to do better. i think learning to draw different body shapes is really important and improves your overall anatomy skill by a mile, its also just really fun for me to think about how fat is distributed across the body and affected by gravity and all that stuff. bodies in general are my favorite thing to draw and what i spend the most time sketching

ok enough word vomit lets talk about my ocs

iovitus is supposed to be built more like an athlete, but im not sure i got that across very well. they're still skinny and comparatively twinky next to their fellow cats, but still strong and in good shape. after they left the legions they didnt really bother that much with the upkeep of their figure, but since theyre focusing more on mercenary work again they've been better about it

most of iovitus' muscle is in their shoulder & back, as their weapons of choice -- longbow and throwing axes -- require a lot of strength in that area. theyre very triangular shaped & top-heavy, with a broad chest & shoulders, thin waist and narrow hips. skipped leg day :/

nero is supposed to have sort of a dad-bod type of build. i changed a bit about his design as ive been tinkering around with his lore recently. she was always supposed to have some tummy to her, but i dont think i drew it very well in the past. i think a dad bod is very fitting because she is one after all

i also wanted to make her blind eye more obvious because i kept forgetting about it whenever i drew her so umm sorry babe. still need to come up with an explanation as to why it happened! was considering having him just born with it for a while, but i love scars and scary traumatic events so... sorry nero

in spite of the good layer of fat he's got on his body though, nero is very strong and muscular underneath it all. his warband doesnt do a lot of combat stuff anymore but he's still working most of the time and takes good care of himself. juicy thighs btw

ruckus... i dont have much to say about. i love you babygirl

she's so much taller than everyone else.... its difficult to notice in the line-up as they are, but i wanted to see so i lined them up in front of one another and. well. ->

look at her. and iovitus. why are you so small??

finally, lia! she's still small in comparison to most other blood legion charr, but she makes up for it in her strength. or, well, she might've in her younger years; at her current age she's definitely lost a lot of that muscle definition just by the nature of aging

thats not to say she's weak, though. she can and will definitely fuck you up if you try her

her burned arm is her main weak point. it was burned severely enough where the muscle and nerves were permanently damaged, resulting in a lot of stiffness, uncomfortability, and chronic pain. the movement in that arm is limited and she has to guard it closely if she's ever in a scuffle

i think in general a lot of muscle definition for charr is lost just cause they have fur to cover it up, evident by the fact you cant really see a lot of it on the in-game models. or at least thats my excuse for not knowing how to define muscle with lineart

[genericpuff]

When it comes to a drawing tablet do you recommend a beginner get one with a screen or one without specifically for webcomics?

So what you use the tablet for ultimately doesn't matter. Webcomics, illustration, animation, they're just different expressions of the same overall skillset. I've gone from using desk tablets to screen tablets and then back to desk tablets again. My current setup is a Huion Inspiroy Giano which is a very large desk tablet (no screen) with a Huion Kamvas 22 Plus as my display (screen).

(hi jim lol)

Now this obviously seems INCREDIBLY redundant but the reason why it's like that is because I used to use the Huion Kamvas 22 Plus as my screen tablet... until the pen input stopped working :)""" But it still works perfectly fine as a display! When I was shopping around for new drawing tablets though, I wasn't sure if I wanted to take the financial risk on another screen tablet. The Huions are a lot cheaper than the Wacom models which is great for people looking for inexpensive options, but if it meant I'd have to replace my screen tablets more often than my old Wacom Cintiq, then it wasn't gonna be worth it (but I didn't want to dump $2k on a tablet again LOL)

So I wound up getting a desk tablet instead! I had used Wacom desk tablets a lot prior to screens, and while it had been a few years, I re-adjusted in no time. The Huion Inspiroy Giano is, so far, a very reliable tablet. It just connects with a USB, no crazy 3-in-1 cables like the screen displays. It satisfies my need for a large tablet (seriously, if I can offer any piece of advice in regards to tablets, size does often matter because if a tablet is too small you'll be over-relying on your wrist for motions which isn't good for line integrity or your hand health!!!!) but it didn't break my budget like the Wacom tablets (and didn't feel as risky as buying another Kamvas 22 Plus after what happened the last time).

The only downside to it is that it has a bit of a rough surface to it which I find does a lot of initial wearing down on the nibs. I mean fr look at this thing-

And that will happen after only like, a few hours of use LOL that said, I've been using this nib for like 2 months now and it hasn't worn down more than that, so if you don't mind your nibs having a visible slant to them, it really doesn't cause any other issues.

That said, I've only had this tablet for about half a year now. I also used to sing praises for the Kamvas 22 Plus until it suddenly decided it wasn't going to work anymore without explanation, so... take my review of the Inspiroy Giano with grains of salt. At least though if this thing mysteriously stops working like the Kamvas did, I'll only have to pay $200-$300 to replace it vs. the Kamvas' $700+. It's still not a small amount of money, but it pays itself off quickly (and it's a lot cheaper compared to the equivalent Intuos Pro line from Wacom, which costs upwards of $500+ for a decently sized one).

Screen tablets are definitely helpful to have though, and I wouldn't object to returning to the screen displays once I can justify dropping money on one again. I still use a screen display on the go via my iPad Pro. But I don't think desk tablets should be taken for granted as a perfectly viable tool either, I think the initial learning curve tends to intimidate people a lot, but they're really quite comfortable to use once you adjust to the translation of desk tablet to monitor. You can also adjust the screen settings through the tablet driver anyways, which is what I did for my tablet because it was a little too big in spots where I had to reach really far to get to the color wheel tab on the right... so I just reduced the screen ratio to make up for it :)

I find once you learn how to use both - and learn your foundations in digital art - the desk tablet vs. screen tablet debate just boils down to personal preference rather than any real difference in what they can do for your art. I've drawn stuff like Rekindled on screen displays, desk tablets, iPads, etc. You might try a desk tablet and not like it after a while (though again, with the initial skill ceiling of adjusting to it, give it a few weeks of trying if you can, you will not immediately get used to it overnight!!!) and decide that screen tablets are more up your alley.

It really depends on what you're wanting to pay for a tablet. Though like with any new skillset that you're just getting into, I wouldn't recommend dropping money on the most expensive tool because ultimately the differences between expensive and cheap aren't going to be noticeable to you until you actually learn the skill itself, and it's not uncommon at all for people to pick up a new skill, shell out shitloads to learn it, and then get discouraged when it takes a while and makes the expense feel like a waste. Those higher end tablets are often more suited for professionals, not because they're "only meant for pros", but because pros will be able to fully utilize all their upper-skill features in a way a newbie who's still learning how to use a desk tablet won't.

Thankfully, it's easier than ever to get an affordable tablet that's easy to learn and Wacom is no longer the "only option", so I highly recommend looking into brands like Huion, XP-Pen, and Gaomon, as they offer very inexpensive tablets with a wide array of options from desk tablets to screen displays. Make sure you do your research on them, check out places like reddit for actual human reviews, note that every brand and tablet will come with their pros and cons, so it's really just about weighing out what you feel will work best for you and what you're trying to achieve!

And of course, if you're looking to draw comics specifically, look into Clip Studio Paint! It goes on sale at least twice a year, the PRO version is literally all you need to get started (EX comes with some helpful features like Teamwork, but like those fancy high end tablets, they won't necessarily be useful to someone who's just starting out). The PRO version comes with all the rulers, panel cutters, text tools, etc. that you need to get into making comics, it's a great piece of software !!!

I hope that helps!!! Best of luck!! ( ´ ∀ `)ノ～ ♡

[juustozzi]

@thepinksky18 hello, and thank you sm!! <3 I hope it's okay to reply like this, I got kinda carried away with reference images..! I can try to share some things that help me with my art, hopefully they'll be of some help for you too!

when I do group pics like this, the thing I focus on the most is how everything looks and feels together! details and stuff can wait for later, first is to figure out that the overall picture works, and the characters are in balance with each other!

I'll use the Tenma horse pic you replied to as an example, will be continued under read more!

here's the sketches for the art! the very first sketch is very simple and blocky (I usually use a thick brush) to just settle everything in place and see how it all works out. the second sketch is more detailed and sometimes deviates from the first sketch a lot, if something seems to work better some other way.

depending on the complexity of the finished art, I do just these two sketches or add one more even detailed one, but the last sketch before lineart is the one I tweak the most! usually I draw characters on different layers so it's easy to select them separately and resize, fix proportions or positions, etc. to make the big picture look good to you!

here's the lineart (which could also be the 3rd sketch) compared to the previous layer. now I'm adding more details, but I still keep fixing the overall image - you can see how the lineart doesn't quite match the sketch in places: hikaru is shorter, the position of aoi's feet and tenma's hind legs are different, etc. some people like to do a very detailed sketch and practically trace their lineart over it, and if that's what feels good for you, go for it! I'm the kind to just throw lines over vague sketch and call it a day, especially with more simple drawings like this :,)

there's good tutorials and studies on bodies and proportions online already so I'm not going to even try to speak about those, but I got a few tips! I tend to do them in my mind nowadays, but I tried to draw them out for easier visualization!

I mentioned earlier how for me the main thing is that everything's balanced, right? that also inclues characters and their proportions. I think that in group pics it's more important the characters work out together, not so much if their insividual proportions are perfect. especially if there's notable differences between them - height, bulk, lenght of limbs, and so on! a few pixels here and there don't matter in the overall image, but for example with Shinsuke who is Tiny, it's important for me to really make him smaller than others.

my most used tool is a scale chart! it helps to visualize the proportions for the characters, even when they're piled up like in the example doodle, or otherwise not in a neat row on the horizon line. (again, separate layers help you tweak them individually if needed! there's no need to get them right on the first try, especially when drawing digitally when there's layers.)

if your drawing eye hasn't gotten used to proportions, the chart can also be used to make a neat little ruler to check your sketch! the rulers over the sketch are all same size, just moved around; tsurugi and shinsuke fit in pretty well, and while Tenma's torso is a little long (even when taking into accound he's a little bent from waist, which makes him even taller when straightened out), it's not by much and it wouldn't bother my eye.

and while I myself sometimes tend to be a slave for the references and get gray hair over minor details, or of some part of the anatomy is off and I can't fix it the way I want, the overall feeling and style mean a lot more! I think it's important to put some thought into the proportions especially if you feel like wanting to make progress with your art, but if it's getting too stressful or draining the joy of drawing out of you, then screw it and just have fun! (I say this as someone who has learned not from studying anatomy and stuff, but instead just. has drawn a shitton and had fun while at it. I think getting comfortable with just creating is the bigges step you can take!)

...oops, sorry if this got too long or off the rails! and yeah hopefully you (and anyone else reading all this) got something out of it!

[olderthannetfic]

https://olderthannetfic.tumblr.com/post/739335177994747904/httpswwwtumblrcomolderthannetfic739061849135#notes

I'm the anon on this post. I fully get the point here in this person's reblog and your addition, and I can see how my ask came across as gatekeeping, but I think what I meant more was in response to the previous anon (that Il inked) seeming to think that a LOT of hetero men needed to enter fandom for F/F to become more popular. As I said, there is some good F/F content written by men; I encountered that even in the brony fandom. (That said, that was a fandom where I very strongly was NOT interested in smut, which is not the case with most of my other F/F fandoms, so that's probably part of what influenced my preferences there.) Like, there was a lot of garbage, but there was so much content that there happened to be a decent amount of good stuff as well even following Sturgeon's Law.

I think what I meant more was disagreeing with the idea that the "solution" to lack of F/F is to have fanfiction become a *much* dudier space. I was trying to give my experience of having been in a fandom like that to suggest that it's a very fundamentally different experience than the generally less-dudey places that fanfiction fandom is in most fandoms, and I don't know that that's necessarily better just because we get more F/F, because in effect it still ends up marginalizing lesbian and bi women F/F fans because so much of the content is not only not for us, but often even hostile to us. (In a very different way from the arguments that are made about women writing M/M, where a lot of it is just stuff that isn't what gay/bi men are looking for. I'm sure any lesbian or bi woman who has had to deal with the kind of men who have lesbian fetishes irl, on dating sites, etc. can relate, but I really hate when people compare those things because it is truly apples and oranges.)

I hope I'm being clear, but I just think there's a distinction to be made between "I do not want F/F fanfiction fandom to become a *primarily* male space, and I think there are some big downsides that people who've never been in a fandom like that haven't seen" vs. "We need to gatekeep F/F so it's exclusively queer women writing it." I'm fine with some guys doing it, of course, but I don't think the fact that fanfiction is a primarily female and queer and nonbinary space is a "problem" to be "fixed" even if it means less F/F. I think that's a big part of the draw, in fact. That's what I was trying to say, but maybe not very well.

--

I think the point of the other comment isn't so much that anyone wants fic fandom to become dude-y... It's that for f/f numbers to look like m/m numbers, you'd have to have the reverse situation.

Whether that's desirable is another question, but it puts the endless focus on stats and numbers into perspective.

I don't think we really disagree all that much. They were just putting it provocatively to get people to think about why they waste their time yelling about AO3's overall stats "looking bad" and what the so-called solution to that would be.

It's pretty much bait is what I'm saying.

--

Obviously, as a woman, I only rarely encounter women who are mega annoying about gay men and reasonably often encounter those pestilential men in bars who think "bisexual" means "porn star who wants a threesome". I certainly think they're more of an actual problem IRL... but I'm still not convinced it is entirely apples to oranges when we're discussing online fanfic spaces or... like... stories with plots more complex than "I'm here to fix your plumbing".

Ranma fandom was full of dudes writing f/f that was a little anatomically suspect but reasonably in-character and that sounded like other fanfic with the usual "I like this blorbo and want more content about them" motivations. I haven't seen many fandoms like this, but I run across one now and then. (I agree MLP is fairly distinctive even out of these.)

--

I think the basic thing here is that a lot of (hostile, loud) people do see the absolute f/f numbers as the problem to be fixed.

And you are right and they are wrong.

There is no real fix if people keep looking at it from this "Winning at AO3 numbers" perspective. The cure would be worse than the disease for many of the people complaining.

Better to focus on the usual "How do I get my specific blorbo to have more content by encouraging authors and writing it myself?" strategies and let someone else worry about the global AO3 numbers.

[eltanin0]

doubt I'm ever gonna get around to properly conveying my characters and their story so I think I'll just dump some text about them. keep in mind some of this may change, isn't thought out fully, or doesn't have a proper ingame explanation yet.

Unfathomable amounts of rambling below. nobody is forced to read it.

About Requiem of Silence (ROS) and general stuff on the campaign

They're a kind of iterator prototype, a simple proof of concept for the ancients before they began production of fully functional iterators. Far more limited than a normal iterator, they were designed with the purpose of testing artificial intelligence and their ability to be self sustaining. They are housed in a can far smaller than typical iterators, however it is still incredibly large compared to it's surroundings. it's location is in a large crater we'll say, and the low elevation makes it relatively closer to the surface of the void sea. this helps with the fact that they are largely powered by the void fluid, and the closer proximity aids with the collection and utilization. They have very basic functions that pale in comparison to the complexity of future iterators. They do not have the ability to manipulate gravity, not even in their chamber. They do not possess a large amount of neuron flies either, and thus have more limited mental abilities and intelligence than normal iterators. they were not designed with the ability to speak, instead they emit a high powered lazer from their fingers to write and communicate through text that they draw on the surfaces of their chamber. The puppet design is fairly simple. where modern iterators seem almost biological with their body, the seamless transitions between appendages and other stuff that I cant be bothered looking into, ROS' puppet is far more mechanical. arms and legs are separated at the joints, clearly distinct parts that are connected together. the metallic material making up it's body is largely unchanged, save for the markings on the head the body is a very metallic grey. the first marking, directly on the forehead, looks like a volume symbol directed downwards, it is colored golden similar to void fluid. the second marking is two lines, 1 coming from either eye, which travel downwards and across the face, intersecting, ending between the chin and somewhere along the jaw (it's also colored gold like void). the intersection point is right where the mouth would normally be placed and when coupled with the volume symbol at the top would combine into a mute symbol. this along with the inability to speak leads into it's name, Requiem of Silence. an important thing about ROS is their relationship with the ancients, or more so, lack thereof. story wise, after being built by the ancients and confirming their theories, they were neglected, tossed aside, and forgotten. left to live forever in their can with no purpose, ROS slowly became resentful of the ancients and bitter towards lifeforms in general. envious of their ability to travel, and later their ability to escape the cycle.

Over time, the general neglect of their own can caused their structure (which was not as solidly built as normal iterators) to eventually collapse. the legs collapsed and walls deteriorated over time. it's overall appearance is quite similar to LTTMs' collapsed structure, minus it being submerged in water and the size difference. now seeing as ROS is meant to be a prototype, they were made long before the iterators we know today. so far back that the landscape around them has changed drastically from what it once was. after the collapse of their can, they slowly sunk under their own weight, and as nature took it's course, dirt and rubble piled over. the machinery inside would slowly clog with dirt and debris, restricting functionality and causing pain to ROS. eventually after a very long time, they were completely covered and submerged, and the life that grew atop it flourished, looking very much like the Outer Expanse. as the can continued to sink, the distance between itself and the surface grew, and the distance between itself and the void sea shrunk. during the time when the campaign would take place, the superstructure is so far below the surface that there's no sign of it's previous existence above. it's fallen so deep that it's even began to dip into the void sea itself, speeding up it's deterioration and in turn, causing immense pain for ROS.

now with the collapse and sinking into the void sea and disregard from ROS, the can and the puppet itself is in terrible shape. the puppet would be fairly broken, unable to walk, and upon first meeting, would be partially buried in dirt. gameplay wise they would function similarly to LTTM in their ability to maneuver, but of course they wouldn't be able to communicate with the player through words. they would have only one neuron fly remaining and they keep it physically inside the puppet. they would attempt to communicate with the player through writing words on the walls to no avail. eventually they would offer their last neuron to the player in an attempt to end their suffering. it's up to the player whether they accept the neuron or not, but eating the neuron would end the campaign. should the player not eat the neuron fly, during their next hibernation they would experience a dream sequence/custcene which would end with them deciding to help ROS. they would then travel deeper into the collapsed structure in search of the biggest problem within it. as they travel deeper, eventually the environment around them would begin taking on aspects of the void (the gold colors n such) and they would eventually reach the void sea. this void sea would function similarly to the saint void sea, the one that kills you when you touch it. it would be more focused around the platforming aspect and avoiding the fluid. eventually they'd reach some kind of goal or something to help ROS regain some functionality. i'm not fully certain of what the solution would be so i'll just ignore it. after fixing the issue, the player would travel all the way back up and reach ROS' chamber again. this would be the trigger for the ending and campaign over.

that's a fair amount that's in my brain, mind you I've barely talked about the slugcat and their story. some of the concepts and ideas were picked up and changed from other people, tho I don't remember which parts or how much. the only one I'm fairly certain was kinda yoinked was the can in the void sea. I think it was an ask response or something but someone asked about ascending iterators with the void sea, and I think the answer was to dunk the whole can. I thought that was a fun idea and mixed with the Rubicon void stuff, it could make some interesting platforming.

I think that's all I'll talk about for now, sorry for rambling so much. let me know if I fucked up anywhere

[wsdalt]

TRIPLE AAA FELPS IS SO REAL I've had that headcanon sitting in the back of my mind for so long... I figured it was the "being aspec will make every character you write be at least a little bit aspec too" talking because I never really had anything to base it on other than Vibes but I'm glad you agree. (also "gender: felps" is great I love it. yes. very true)

listen I’m not going to lie it’s definitely probably a bit of that for all of us pfft (well… for you and me at least)

I just like it! felps is a character who’s dear to my heart, so headcanoning him with being arospec is the next logical step—especially since there isn’t really anything to suggest he’s not (again: emphasis on the spectrum in the headcanon. his crush on pac is romantic in my eyes, but tinged with the aromantic experience i am headcanoning him with)

you're the second person who's cited him having aspec vibes, and i so i wanted to get into it a little \o/ and really like…point towards what is probably causing those pfft (disclaimer throughout this entire thing that i am aroace and i am drawing on my own experiences when i say this stuff. and that this is less pointing out coding, and more looking into an arospec reading of the character)

under the cut we go, because this is long oops:

firstly: we really have to acknowledge fanon. as in… i would say i'm a fairly big player in terms of felps interpretations when it comes to things in english + things on ao3…? at least now, and especially for felps ship content. i feel like this is a fair thing to say about myself, right? i'm currently 40% of the felpac ao3 tag and all that

and i write felps as arospec because… well it's a headcanon i like. especially if you're a mutual/follower of mine who reads my fics, you're maybe picking up on that

and i don't want to speak for factorial (the other person i think maybe writes the most for him, especially romantic content), but i would say he writes--especially in xcom2 au--a lot of nonromantic stuff? not aromantic necessarily, but romance isn't really a focus (except for the few moments where it is of course). the main point is these people care about each other, it doesn't really matter how

basically--yes. a lot of felps ship content on ao3 can be passed off as ambiguous relationships (especially considering i write a lot of them kissing, but not actually together romantically/not as a "getting together" mechanism), which adds to an aromantic vibe--kissing doesn't inherently equal romance and all that. if this is the main way you interact with felps ship content, this is probably colouring your interpretation of him a little, i think is fair to say

to canon:

i have to say his overall passivity as a character probably plays a big part. especially in regards to romance and attraction, he's a lot more reserved than the other characters on the island. a lot of characters who are into romance/are attracted to others are very verbal about that, while the characters who aren't are also verbal about that. (or they do both like bad)

philza and missa are maybe the others who are a lot quieter? and their relationship comes across as very aromantic to me (not that people can't interpret them as romantically involved, just… you know. and even then--they're loud about being married/partners from what i've seen). the final category i would say is people who romance or attraction just doesn't come up for them at all, but they're not loud about not being into it. it just… yes, doesn't come up

the difference between that last category and felps, is that while felps is kind of quiet about his crush on pac, it does very obviously comes up. but it’s so much subtler compared to a lot of the other relationships (except for that one scene where he let his jealousy run wild for a bit when he finds out pac is flirting with other people after their kiss). in a story where people are so loud about being romantically involved/attracted to others, a quiet unrequited crush kind of slips through the cracks. it's not that the feelings are any less intense or important, but they feel different. and aspec attraction is different to allo attraction i would say (in my experiences, at least)

to me, being aroace has always felt kind of passive compared to my allo friends' sexualities. even if they've had long crushes on friends like this, they've also like… gone out dating. i think the fact we only see felps with this crush on pac and not really going after anyone else + the implication he's had it for a long time both kind of speak towards a specific flavour of aspec pining

+ the most active thing he does regarding the crush is seek pac out so they can go to the kissing booth together, and even then he's constantly minimising it as just something they're doing for fun. he starts off the conversation by saying he wants to see how it works, and then they constantly refer to it as "just testing"--which is something felps started

while this is like… a way to hide his crush if pac doesn't feel the same, it also gives off the vibe of engaging in your attraction to someone else, but without that necessarily leading to a romantic relationship. kissing doesn't have to be romantic. you don't have to start dating just because you kissed someone. and this is an aromantic point of view i suppose (casual hook ups obviously exist, but doing this with your friends instead of strangers is sort of looked at differently by society--you get it)

(this sort of falls apart a little when you realise he was hoping pac would interpret it as a romantic gesture and talk about the kiss with him, but i would also argue this specific flavour of 3D chess is aromantic--no i will not elaborate)

(also there's the fact he doesn't want to be the one to define their relationship/ask pac out even though he's perfectly comfortable asking pac to kiss him--i think you could argue he's trying to look towards pac to set the terms of their relationship. push the boundaries a little, and see how pac reacts. "pac's allo, right? he knows what to do about this, surely…")

(i'm reaching a little, but that's why i've said this is a reading, not an analysis/not pointing out coding)

as a secondary thing to combine with the passivity: I would also say the way the the saint thing fucks with his emotions a bit + his tendency to distance himself a little from things in general is a safe bet as to where the vibes come from. again, it's not that he feels things less intensely it's just that there's a disconnect between him and the rest of the world in some way--either intentionally, or through the saint stuff

and i don't know about you guys, but as someone who did not have any kind of aspec friends for a good few years while identifying as aroace (+ even before i knew i was too), i did feel a disconnect between me and everyone else--both with cishet people, and with queer people. so i, at least, am picking up on that, filtering it through my own experiences, and spitting out an arospec reading pfft

my final note: obviously this is incredibly subjective and biased, and is really just me trying to dig into whatever vibes people may be picking up on. as i've already said--i'm projecting with my arospec headcanon, and this whole post is less me pointing out coding and more me doing an arospec reading on the character

I'd really love to hear if anyone else has a way to put the vibes into words. i feel like there's things i've missed out on, but i feel like the big thing is just… the way he doesn't necessarily act on his attraction the way most other characters do, + with everyone also being queer so you can't say him being queer is the cause of the difference, the difference can instead come across as aromantic

and to talk about the asexual side of things briefly, i will point towards the way he reacts to most innuendos. which i will not list out here. if you know you know, i suppose

(people in the house are watching a movie really loudly right now, so it was a little hard to focus oops. I hope this all makes sense…)

[lovingdabeessss]

So, in response to this:

@tumblingxelian that’s really interesting!! I’d love to hear your thoughts on the different times grim have shown up through the historical perspective and lens!! Specifically on the appearance within the collapsed mine in atlas, an appearance I’ve always found really interesting because it’s sooo remote of a location. My personal theory based on this and others and just general love of the thought is that when it comes to extreme long drawn out emotions or huge mass tragedies, grim will be compelled to stay there for an extended amount of time depending on the extent of the tragedy even if there’s no more negative emotions being produced afterwards or just no people entirely Unless possibly a big enough tragedy occurs somewhere close by drawing it more then where they are

Thank you, I am glad you found my take there interesting!

So, broadly speaking we know that Grimm are drawn to negative emotions. When Mercury's leg got shot, we see Grimm becoming alert all over. We also can argue that Blake on the ship to Kuo Kuana was something of a Grimm lure as the Sea Feilong was drifting beneath it and seemed to become more agitated as she did. Plus as V2 established, it was expected that the White Fang would radiate negative emotions and steadily lure more Grimm towards their general area at the very least.

There's other examples but what I take from this is that while Grimm are drawn to all 'negative' emotions to one degree or another, they seem more... Just drawn to or otherwise aware of stuff like sadness, or subtle dread.

While it seems to be stuff like anger and rage that really gets them active. Not that a Grimm won't attack a sad person, just that they are less likely to be drawn in large numbers to sadness or act as aggressively on it.

Overall, I think the more 'hysterical' or extreme and intense the emotion is, which usually coincides with panic or rage than anything else.

Heck, we also saw Tyrian fall to despair near a Grimm and while it did eventually go for him, it seemed to take a bit to work up to it, compared to how quick on the draw they can be when someone is angry.

As a result, stuff like slavery and prisons, despite causing long term suffering can be sustainable, if still not often advisable.

IE, they are much easier to pull off in an area where the prisoners and slaves would be a minority compared to the comparatively happy citizens.

Meaning such things in small towns would be harder likely making banishment, denial of entry or swift executions more common. & it would discourage stuff like group punishments, torture, or like, executions designed to cause fear, as all those will create major emotional spikes. While in contrast, sadness or long simmering frustration while something of a draw, aren't enough of one to completely undercut the systems.

As to your idea, that is fascinating and given the magical nature of Grimm, Remnants souls and the overall setting. I could very easily see emotions... Clinging to a place so to speak. Or otherwise leaving such a big impact on the nearby Grimms psyche that they remain drawn to the location regardless.

Sorry for not having as much to add there ><

YEYAHHAHSHSHHSH AWESOME THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!

Ok ok ok on this these are all awesome points I love this so so much yeah it’s so interesting to think about how they would deal with things like prisons especially

Maybe in places like atlas they’d keep the prisons in atlas due to it being so up in the air which less grim are naturally to keep in away from people? Maybe that’s why the mine is so far from people?

Maybe other places keep them farther from general society? Maybe underground? I wonder what affects the grims ability to be drawn to negative emotions?

Your so so right about the banishment thing that’s so true I wonder if any out of kingdom societies were formed based on that? (And promptly destroyed they don’t often last long)

I think that when it comes to emotion panic and desperation are the biggest draws of grim because of how consuming and consistent of an emotion it is but your SO right about anger that and hate are a big bright flag to grim for sure when it comes to sadness I think the biggest threat is meltdowns just total collapse crying sobbing meltdowns bring grim FAST which are a big common thing in huge tragedies or traumatic events/loses

And YEAH I think that there’s definitely something kinda magical to emotions in the Rwby world sense the grim are drawn to it it must have something to it that’s kinda tangible so maybe the thought it could linger places isn’t to far off!!! Right!?? Maybe? Idk I’m just having my fun little theories

Thank you so so so much for this response I love it I love a analysis on top of my analysis thank youuu

[swords-of-a-soilder]

Remove Problematic CCs

Section 2

"The Qsmp is problematic"

So fun fact twitter hates this fandom and everything it stands for, I'm not kidding when I say the amount of people I saw calling the fandom, toxic, racist, misgontic and ableist is interesting to say the least.

So of course when the SulhasSpace issue happened some people ran with it as proof that the fandom is the problem. Now I've show you guys an racist account before in the last account of interest (burnbook Qsmp) So I'm not here to pretend it's not a problem, it absolutely is.

So yes I get where these are coming from to some degree but Twitter doesn't forgive or forget, and there's of course the fact that not ever "fan" is actually a fan.

That being said they are two sides to Qsmp twitter right now,

1)Chill fun time, drawing your faves.

2)your faves are problematic and if you don't push for them to be kick out your a terrible person.

A common discussion I see on the twitter is often, "oh you're defending your faves, you call out any creator but your faves" completely ingoring the fact that most the stuff their holding said faves accountable for are ages old.

They call us parasocial but then make post after post advocating for members to be removed from the SMP, it's making rounds, so I want to clear any misinformation on Twitter and make it clear when creators apologize.

I bring you back to this tweet (please don't even interact with this person Thank you.)

You might remember them from the bonus section, this was posted jan 5 2024 with 1.3K likes (Jesus) so allow me to clear the air on some accusations.

In the reply of this they link a thread stating all problematic behaviors of creators, however MAJORITY of the this thread is just attacking the fan base I'm not even kidding.

Here's the thing, the bad apples aren't the fandom, it was this same behavior that had people attack dsmp fans.

Say what you want about Dream but you can acknowledge the dsmp fandom got so much hate for simply existing because a few of them were bad.

Because as someone who's been in both, and left both oddly who was previously a full on dream Stan and just sorta grew out of him. People hated us just for liking the dsmp.

They attacked minors in cosplay called us fatherless and cringe (and like yeah but still) overall make fun of Nurodiverst kids for having hyperfixations, and their justification was we're all terrible people.

Here's my thing, you don't actually care, you don't care about the alleged victims or the people who's lives are at risk; You want to make the fandom look bad.

You could have easily said "A person on twitter told another they hope the us gets bomb" and yeah I understand it was in the context of the Qsmp but people are not their interset, don't water people down to the things they like, then you're just making stereotypes.

How is it any different than saying, "a kpop stan did this, a furry did that,"

Also while I'm on this compersion of both I've noticed a constant conflict in regards to the Forever situation vs Dream situation with the parties on either side the other cc is guilty but theirs isn't.

I noticed this as soon as the accusations dropped actually a lot of people even here on Tumblr, where saying "this is what we deserved" and at "least dream didn't actually do it"

Tô be honest I noticed the fandom was at odds before that even, they were sudden talk here on Tumblr which means the topic likely came from Twitter of the dsmp compered to the Qsmp.

And I'll be honest dsmp was getting dragged, I read these thinking, 'why are we comparing them, they're clearly different with their own stories.' I still wonder that.

I don't want to fight with dream SMP fans, I use to be one of you , I had a freaking fan fic plan that was just c:! ranboo getting teleported into the Qsmp.

Why don't have to fight, but I guess with dream being unlikable, that makes things very hard.

Anyways I'm getting of track, when this person does have a important Calm it's often.. wrong

Ok no, to both of these.

1) she was not the only woman on the server, Jaiden joined the server at the very beginning, so unless I miss an noticed that Jaiden actually used macs pronounces that's a fuckin lie.

You can see Jaiden right there behind Foolish, on the very first day. This isn't hard to confirm, it doesn't even take a second.

I read the tweet and immediately went, nah that's not true I remember Jaiden, And what do you know Jaiden was in fact a member at that time.

(looking at this image gives me so much Nostalgia omg..)

2) she was not the only one being harassed, in fact they literally contradict their own statement with proof bad was receiving hate at the same time

Political lore, as in election season? I mean it must be I can't think of another political Qsmp event that bad was involved it huh crazy but If thats the case then Baghera wasn't the only one receiving hate thats... that's crazy, you're crazy.

Non of the tweets that screenshot are misogynistic, it's just people who believe the dream accusations criticing her attendance to his concert.

Also let me be clear real quick, I am AFAB in fact tmi I haven't even gotten on T, it's difficult to here and I'm afraid of getting hate crimed.

So I understand misgony, I live it, this is not what this is; Criticizing a woman isn't inherently misgony.

When you guys said "Qsmp had a misgony problem," is that what you guys meant, a woman gets hate and it's automatically misgony and not a section of the fandom being toxic..? Ok

[ribbonetteart]

A request for something a little different than usual 🍑👑

Progress stuff below:

I haven't done progress shots in a bit and I think it's something I want to do more often because I like talking and blogging I guess haha.

Now that I have more experience illustrating digitally, this kind of direct reference drawing is MUCH easier to do digitally 😫honestly this felt like a self imposed challenge lol. BUT I did want to do some more traditional stuff because I feel that I had been doing a little too much digital, if that makes sense. It's nice to play with my markers and color pencils once in a while too!!

Doing the line art on this piece ESPECIALLY felt easier to do traditionally than digitally. For some reason, trying to do line art on a tablet screen feels too smooth or slippery or something. Lining traditionally feels easier, probably because I put so much pressure on the paper in the sketch phase that when the lining phase comes next, it feels like I'm just following the lines on the page like a train on a track ^_^

despite uploading a couple of illustrations colored with marker now, I still feel a bit like a novice when it comes to marker. I got a new pack of markers that I wanted to play with, which was even more motivation to return to paper for a bit. But honestly, I feel like I fudged the window color blending. I watched tutorials and stuff on blending with markers but I guess I still need more practice ^^;;; at least it looks a bit messy to me. This is how this piece came to be a mixed media illustration, since I tried using color pencils to make that transition from blue to green on the windows a little smoother.

I think the pot holding the piranha plant came out a tad too saturated and it's calling too much attention compared to the very light floor and dresser. I was trying to follow the colors on the reference closely as an easy re-intro to traditional art, but next time I do something like this, I think I'll take more liberties with color and see what happens.

Overall, I'm quite happy with how Peach turned out. I don't draw humans too often since I typically draw Sonic characters lol. Sometimes it feels like I have to re-teach myself to draw people as a result. I really liked using the gelly roll for the highlights on her face and the polka dots on her shirt :3 I highly recommend using that pen as my previous experiences with other white gel pens don't compare to this one (not to sound like a commercial I'm just really happy it worked as well as it did!).

And finally, although redrawing a creation from a dress up game screenshot is probably not the most imaginative exercise I could be doing with illustration, I think it's fun and it's pushing me to do things outside of my comfort zone. I'm using new art tools (I'll get better with marker I prommy) and I drew a background! I'd like to do more backgrounds like this as a practice to encourage more original stuff. Maybe. One day. Probably.

If you read all of this until the end, thank you! Have a wonderful day, and thank you for following me and supporting my art :3c 💝

[wszczebrzyszynie]

Do you have any tips for researching historical fashion? I am very interested in finding out about many different eras of fashion for many cultures it’s just that whenever I try I get stuck and am not sure where to find any interesting resources. Have a wonderful day!

Sorry this took so long. I almost wrote a book last time and decided its unreadable for anyone other than me. So here u go with the more general and better formatted tips:

• start simple! Get to know the place youre interested in. Get to know the time period as a whole. Fashion is a broad topic that varies from place to place, so its better to start with the general ideas, and get more into smaller details from that; most of the time that basic information is easily accesible online and in various historical fashion books im sure you can find in your local library (i know its hard to recognize which sites and books are actually knowledgable and which are not; usually i just do a background check on the author and see what sources they use in their work. But even with that, dont get too attached to the information you gain; sometimes it will be correct, and sometimes it will prove false, and thats okay. Thats why youre learning and thats why you have to compare different sources to each other)

• The further down the timeline you go, the more "local" fashion gets, and looking for clothing examples gets harder, so keep that in mind; more often than not, if you want to find something from a different culture than yours, you have to get friendly with google translator, especially if youre looking for way, way older clothes.

• the reason for that is, you will not only have to check foreign sites and blogs, but also foreign archives; and these are a hell to navigate. Theyre also one of the best things to ever exist on the internet. Theres plenty of free, publicly avilable ones, hosted by museums, libraries, universities or just existing by themselves, and they have everything; scans of books and fashion magazines, fashion plates, old photos, drawings and sketches, everything. Research papers are great too

• speaking of art; its always good to look for paintings and artists of that era and culture! I dont think i need to say more on that. Books are great too, though i mostly use them for other history related stuff, since they usually dont describe fashion much

• overall, learning fashion history is a long and often slow process... id love to give you examples of sites, blogs and everything else i use, but its all in polish and very focused on 19th century; which will be useless, unless its something youre interested in. So its very much a thing you need to look for yourself... i know there are lots of historical fashion youtubers, but i dont personally watch any of them; from what ive seen though i trust that they know what theyre talking about, esp the ones that actually wear and sew historical clothes and reconstructions... theyre often focused on the west, though. At least the ones i know of; feel free to recommend some in the notes. In general feel free to post more tips and sources in the notes

Hope this can help you somehow. I dont feel like its very helpful, but its the best i can offer, im afraid. My "area of expertise" is not only european, and therefore easier to research, but also written in my mother tongue; i do however often look for foreign folk clothes, so most of those tips were written from that experience. Sorry if this isnt what you looked for

[vampire-superstar]

WELCOME BACK TO "I rate things because it's fun!"

Today we are rating full forms (?) Of characters but I have to be practical-ish

First off we have

Honestly, I can only say good things about him, this is by far my favorite design, however. I feel like they could've given him either a loincloth or harem pants, not both (I might be wrong and that's one piece) I still feel like it doesn't fit. It looks Arabian prince inspired (once more correct me if Im wrong), but the fur collar isn't add anything to the outfit. I feel like if they just accentuated his gold collar more it would have the same effect of fullness :]

Overall: 8.5/10

For some reason his png is huge so points off but even then, I want to draw attention to those sticks on his head. The bat bones? Kinda lacking. I feel like instead they should've just been tattered but other than that he's pretty cool. Tail might have to be fixed though

Overall: 9.5/10

First off when doing a quick glance compared to every other character, his demon form is the most traditional and simple. Because of this, I'm a little disappointed that the outfit didn't have much pop, you know? As the avatar of pride, you'd think you'd want his outfit to draw your eye but no ;( Instead of the flowy waistcoat maybe an actual peacock fan and more feather in his design. A problem you can't really fix but I feel like instead of to impress, he'd display the fan and open his wings to full size to look bigger and intimate

Overall: A disappointing 6/10

Much like Luci, his design looks more traditional and unlike him, his outfit makes up for it. However, my ONLY complaint is the orientation. It's good but not spread properly. All the detail seems to be drawn to the chest so maybe remove the jacket and do a full harness? Or do a full jacket with a harness peeking underneath. Also solid pants and combat boots to match

Overall: 9/10

For some reason all the pngs are different sizes idk how to fix it BUT not too many critiques on this. Just remove the jacket and go full turtleneck and suspenders. Or go full oversized hoodie. As usual, the pants are atrocious but they all are so no points off

Overall: Our first 10/10

A ten followed by an immediate -20. It's tacky and overpopulated like they added stuff and forgot they already had something there. It's atrocious and Asmo would never stand for this. The top should be without that collar (what's solomares obsession with non-practical ugly collars) and move the scorpion to his upper arm or turn it into a corset design. Scrap the quilt design and more evenly space the roses. Make the pant legs both black but add small chains and harnesses to get the same effect. Heels.

Overall: 🤢/10

This is atrocious for someone born from Luci. Putting aside my previous bias, it's an ok outfit. The top could slay but the pants drown it out. Bigass Gucci belt buckle also gots to go. Keep the boa because it's kinda cute. The tail looks like it pinches, no thanks. Keep that

Overall: 7/10

Not many complaints though it looks very similar to Mammon and Satan. Maybe not all three belts, just the one white one and the black one

Overall: 9.5/10

...

I'm speechless. All of it looks like another opportunity that was wasted. Buckles, no, he's highwatering those pants, I know his ankles ashy. Why are your pants spotted? Why is there a random horseshoe?? Also please just erase the other eye, it looks like a ghost eye. WHY ARE HIS SLEEVES CUT OUT.

OVERALL: -100/10

I don't have the room for the angels but I'm giving Simeon a 9/10 and Luke an 8/10 just because I feel like there's more they could've done for an angel form than just white clothes. Wings at least.

Overall the Design Score for demon forms is: 67% kinda average, not much past good. Still decent though. Levi, Dia and Tan carried. Next up, everyday outfits! But like next week

[unhappytimeleaper]

I love love your Eichi works, but one thing I wondered while reading through them. Why would Eichi take an interest in his darling? What kind of person would capture him? What was the start of it all? 

requested by @diarykeeper

Word Count: 1,000+

In general, I’m going to be editing my writing list here soon/making new separate posts regarding character lists, and along with that, I started working on my own yandere profiles/summary sheets that I’ve seen some other creators make for their own works. My goal is to try to eventually get what I have in my out, which is nearly all Enstars and one twisted— which isn’t bad— it’s just my list will likely be changing soon. Enstars will stay; don’t worry, though. 

P.s. if you have a character you like as a yandere and you see something like this and think, ‘Oh, they aren’t describing me at all,’ who cares? I say this with positivity. Stuff like this is meant for fun, for indulgence, and enjoyment, and while I like writing the analysis side of things, don’t take it overly serious. Enjoy the characters you like and how you want. I’m only saying this cause I had someone who said they get upset when people mischaracterize characters different from how they perceive them??

Tenshouin Eichi; Unedited. Gender Neutral Reader.

Warnings; what? Fairly normal Eichi? No. It just doesn’t go into many detailed warnings. Overall just keep in mind this is still yandere content; mentions of jealousy and very subtle mentions of manipulation. 

This blog is 17+ please have your age in your bio or tagged; any ageless blog and below the age asked for will be blocked at the end of the week.

I’d say there are three main things, and really two are more general factors in someone’s life, while one can manifest in a variety of personalities in different ways. While there are some whose specific traits in someone might drive them, Eichi comes off as more of a slow burn who becomes interested in others, not in personality but in different ways that can draw him to you, which leads to establishing a connection based on your own sense of self. 

I’ll start with the general factor since this is probably the most out of your control/lack of personality traits. For one, Eichi has always been a very jealous person. He’s envious of so many things; fundamentally, look at the start of his relationship with Wataru for proof. Eichi was jealous, envious of what Wataru could have that he didn’t, even if there was admiration underneath. Eichi ironically mentions how he wants to step down from power, from the over looming presence he has in the industry but coming from such an affluent background and being a pillar in the industry— not only as a performer but as a business executive. Everything you have, everything you do essentially can be put up in the eyes of Eichi, which gives him a lot to feel envious of. Your closeness with other idols and staff, even more, if you aren’t as involved with Fine. Eichi might not regret his actions, but if it’s so easy for you to seamlessly get along with others without the need for manipulation and control, he’d likely become more invested in you. Getting closer and, in turn, building up those key blocks that he eventually uses against you once unlocking his feelings. 

Similarly, this could be applied to other things like having closeness to your family or, in some cases, a found family; Eichi states his family is not loving. He’s even to an extent disgusted by them so openly being able to see factors of how you might have a positive relationship with people in your family; parents or siblings creates a jealousy that, for some reason, draws him in. Alternatively, a found family is no exclusion if you aren’t on or don’t have the ability to connect with your family; it’s just the compassion and love without expectation he has rooted envy of that brings him closer. 

Just consider the ideal Eichi notes of how he’s been someone who’s lived ‘standing alone’ his whole life, comparatively to someone who maybe it’s only recently, but does have strong support or foundations in others as one thing that would draw him in. You can take this for many different things as long as it’s somewhat public within the company, which would cause Eichi to get involved, which would be an easier way to get to know your personality and cause the events of his behaviors to increase. 

So that’s one way to get him close; in terms of more defining traits, Eichi isn’t someone with a bleeding heart [at least not in the sense of overtly sympathetic]. However, he does tend to have a soft spot for those who also tend to struggle with sickness or other issues. We see this in his relationship with Chiaki and Leo, people who have struggled with various forms of sickness have brought them closer. If it’s a chronic illness or some form of mental health issues— someone who gets common colds or even says something that might only affect once and awhile like allergies, Eichi instinctually finds it easier to bond with those who can have similar life experiences. 

None of this is to say he sees it as babying or that it necessarily makes you weaker. Look at him, how he’s well aware of his limitations but has turned those into his strengths. Something like this isn’t a major make or break factor, but this does lead to a much more common segway to see him and converse that would establish a bond over time to use your specific personality to interest him. 

So the last reason, as I mentioned, can manifest in different ways. What I mean is someone can be loud and brash in how they choose to handle situations they feel passionate about, just as much as someone might be quiet, logical, and reserved in their actions for the same outcome. In this case we might consider these polar opposites, so what could make both or anything in between draw in Eichi? The answer is that it’s someone with passion and a fighting spirit for what they want to see a difference in especially if this comes to the industry. 

Eichi, more than anything, mentions how he wants a playmate. He wants a challenge, someone who can counter and entertain him. I’m not sure how many people know this, but Eichi mentions how he specially worked to groom Anzu into being someone he considered a worthy enemy, someone who could challenge his structure and power ideals. It’s something that likely would continue to draw his eye, someone who he knows can fight his yandere tendencies and, despite being a partner, be a foil to his ideals. Of course, he works to always be one step ahead and have the upper hand, which is reasonably easy for him, but that doesn’t change the fact that he likes an intelligent ‘rival’. 

Being able to counter him doesn’t need to be in a specific way; someone might be much more quick to handle a challenge he throws at them or verbally be loud when calling out specific actions of his. But this doesn’t mean someone who is willing to lose or forfeit some of these challenges for a more significant victory doesn’t entice him more in either as an idea of being the counterbalance to him. As long as you have somewhat of a fighting spirit for what you think is right in the industry and within the relationship that he can shape into what he wants, then it doesn’t matter in what ways it truly shows. 

[juhbebbie]

Okayyyyy so City of the Dead thoughts for anyone who cares

Was I disappointed? My expectations weren't super high so I guess not, but the super overdramatic self pitying narration threw me off quite a bit. Like okay man chill out a bit. Kind of expected to not see Layla until the end so I guess there I was disappointed but not surprised. Fingers crossed she will be a central character from here on out and not a one and done thing in the series.

Okay elephant in the room time. I know a lot of people have been saying they REALLY did not like it and I really cannot blame them, but also I'm trying to stay hopeful because it just the first issue. I'm hesitant to get pissed off over the total lack of Jake and Steven just yet, when in Mackay's series neither made an appearance until like a year into the run. Yes this series isn't going to be nearly as long, but still. That being said, no I definitely don't expect Moon Knight to really be shown as a system, but I'm gonna give Prepose a couple more issues to prove me wrong (the bar is on the floor). Mainly just because I feel like it would be hypocritical of me to denounce Prepose for not including them and then praise Mackay when it took him 12 issues to really acknowledge that they are a system. I'm going to give Prepose a chance since he wrote a pretty good Black, White, and Blood story that did have them shown as a system in a pretty cool way imo.

All this to say that I'm not trying to undermine anyone else's concerns, this is just my own opinion and trust me, based on what little interviews I've read I fully expect Jake and Steven to be completely ignored and if (and when) that happens I will be right there with the rest of yall lol. I will say that it's already very clear that the set up so far was not written with the intention of having a place for Steven or Jake, which is very disappointing.

Okay positive things! I enjoyed seeing Dr Badr a lot and i didn't have much of an issue with how he and Marc's relationship was portrayed. Yes in the main run they're closer now, but they are still very much at odds but willing to work together towards a common goal, which is exactly what we see here in this issue.

I also liked where the thing with the kid is going. The detail of him being kicked out after his brother's death definitely makes me think he's going to be a reflection of Marc, which would be a cool parallel to have.

And the art for the most part was really gorgeous! I don't know what the hell was going on with Layla there at the end (otherwise great male artists not knowing how to draw women), but other than that I REALLY loved how the actual city looked.

And the Egyptian mythology was actually a lot more accurate than it usually is, which, as someone who has always been a total nerd about that stuff, actually made me really happy. There are several specific things I wanted to point out but this post is long enough as is.

Also. "I don't care if I burn" that was badass as shit come on. One of the (admittedly several!) moments of overdramatic writing that came off very well kind of like how it does in the Mackay run (don't wanna compare this too much to the Mackay run though because I understand it's obviously going to be different and that's fine)

But yeah. The overall feel and tone was very... off. I was on board with the general plot and Marc's motivations but everything around the basic plot structure just seemed like Prepose was trying to do a weird Huston run thing and it wasn't working (I don't think it worked in the Huston run either but I digress).

I've seen people saying that they didn't like how Marc was an enthusiastic follower of Khonshu, but that wasn't really the vibe I got at all? If anything it was pretty clear how much he hated everything he was doing. Which also kinda felt off. Having him say that everything was "punishment" over and over just kind of felt like I was getting hit on the head with a theme that didn't even make sense for the character, at least not at this point. Don't get me wrong, self punishment is absolutely a big part of Marc Spector's character, but there is an important distinction between doing things to right your past wrongs and doing them because you feel like you deserve it. And it seemed like Prepose understood that at first, but then later into the issue I was like Marc PLEASE shut the fuck up about punishment lol.

People more knowledgeable than myself have said things about how this looks from the standpoint that this is also a Jewish character, but all I'm going to say as a general statement for all of Moon Knight's runs is that I wish they would let him be explicitly Jewish more often. It's mentioned in Mackay's run the clash between Marc's service to Khonshu and his Judaism, but I think that that is such an interesting part of his character that needs to be discussed WAY more!

Anyway, to make a long story short, definitely not the strongest first issue, but it absolutely had some great moments and I'm going to go forward with my expectations still pretty low, but willing to give it a shot for Layla's sake. But the fact that a run featuring Layla is already not turning out to be very good is a little bit heartbreaking for me I'm not gonna lie lol. I was going to go and buy myself a copy of this issue, but after actually reading it I didn't really want it anymore. So 😬 fingers crossed for the next issue I guess?

[rivenroad]

Thoughts on Dawntrail MSQ - Part 2 (95-100, with spoilers)

One of the main themes of this expansion was dealing with mortality and loss... Death is present in every part of XIV, so not unexpected at all. And combined with the whole Dawnservant business, I knew going into it that family would also be a big part of things. As someone who very recently experienced the death of a close family member, I couldn't help but wonder how close to home the story would end up from this angle and how much it might affect me

And the answer is... I'm still not really sure. I found Gulool Ja Ja's death moving because I liked him so much as a character, and I think that viewing him upon reflection as someone who was in the active process of dying throughout the whole time he is present in the story was very poignant.

There were other moments, such as when we first learn about the Yok Huy's cultural attitudes towards death, that did make me feel quite emotional.

When it comes to this second arc of the story, where these themes become most prominent, though... I don't know if I have a conclusion yet regarding what I think about it, or how it makes me feel. Actually, to a degree, I found some of it a bit too... simplistic? Especially the stuff about souls and holding on to life beyond its natural span. Maybe it's because I've already been thinking about this sort of thing a lot, but much of it felt like stuff that could have been impactful or thought-provoking, yet ultimately missed the mark for me. 

Instead, rather than feeling seen or heard I instead just felt a bit like everything unfolded exactly as expected and didn’t really provide me with much substantial to think about, when it comes to this theme of loss specifically. It bears an obvious similarity to Shadowbringers, which I think was a more impactful presentation of similar ideas, but I don't know if I want to go into comparing the two right now - they serve different roles in the overall narrative, for one thing.

I could see that for others, this part of Dawntrail might be very meaningful. And I might feel differently experiencing it another time. I'm not sure. I still have a lot of processing to do myself, of my real life experiences as well as of this story.

However, that's not to say I didn't enjoy it, or that I thought it was bad. I found the the revelations about dimensional fusion surprising and I wasn’t sure what to make of it at first, but ultimately, the discovery of what happened to Yyasulani and Alexandria fascinates me and the more I think about it afterwards, the more interested I become - the history of the unlost world, the way it combined with the Source, how all of these things affected the people living in both places, what it might mean for the future, what it might mean for other shards... I'm usually not a huge fan of the cyberpunk aesthetic but I do really enjoy how they contrasted it with both the old town of Alexandria and with the traditional buildings of Yyasulani, it makes for a very unusual look. The marriage of technology with tradition is always something that interests me.

I feel like there's more that could be said here, but right now, I don't know if I can do it. As I've said already, I do think I need time and to see things a second time before I can draw better conclusions... but on this first round, despite my small complaints, I enjoyed myself, found plenty to engage with, and I’m looking forward to seeing how the future unfolds.