#this is not going in either main tag. if you see it you see it if you don't you don't

[thecheshirerat]

On TAZ-

Wow that sounds like I’m about to summarize some sort of discourse but I promise I’m not. I guess I’ll say that I really like this show and I will keep listening even if my worst fears come to pass, so keep that in mind!

For reference, I started listening near the end of Amnesty.

I’ve noticed, with the past few arcs- really since Ethersea- the narratives have just… not been fulfilling their promises, so to speak. They’ve been placing a lot of guns that don’t go off. What I mean by that is, the characters are great. Excellent, really. Lady Godwin? HELL YES. Emerich Dreadway? Fuck yeah! And so on! And the settings and premises have been epic- the goofiness and also horrifying nature of Engrave, the mad and thrilling world of Steeplechase- these things are COOL AS FUCK.

and then the actual narratives keep flopping?

And honestly, I notice it most in the endings, because you can really tell when an ending doesn’t land. You feel the sense of disappointment. But with vs. Dracula, for example, I could kinda see leading up to it that the ending couldn’t really BE anything special, because they lowkey didn’t set themselves up for it.

They spent the campaign fucking around in Engrave, finding clues and solving problems and not really experiencing any particularly meaningful character arcs or growth or, idk, forming relationships? So there wasn’t much to pay off, I’m not gonna lie!

Of course it doesn’t feel quite as dissatisfying when you’re in the thick of it, because they’re funny and the stuff is cool and- oh hey! Lady Godwin’s been turned into a werehorse against her will?? that’s got some real potential for a LOT of allegories and exploration of some fun character development! And then it’s kinda played as a joke. And then they do that again and again.

And they actually said that that was a move they made intentionally, in the TTAZZ. I’m not quoting them perfectly here, this is from memory, but I do remember them mentioning that they wanted lighthearted comedy without the burden of real life story stuff. And I get that, honestly, but… it’s not the choice I would’ve made. I do think you can keep a lighthearted tone while also, idk, forming relationships and wholesomely engaging with some amount of emotion. And sometimes going way too deep is funny as a tone shift!

But I digress. One thing that’s also popped out to me is the almost complete lack of any kind of romantic storyline or even references. This becomes obvious if you’re in a fandom because everyone is always dying to ship SOMEONE, and you can tell when people are really getting desperate. I don’t blame them for not wanting to roleplay romance with their family, and I do think stories lacking romance are COOL and SHOULD BE ENCOURAGED!

However if you can’t find ANYBODY to ship together… that may mean you just don’t have character bonds. The growing popularity of the PC polycule is interesting to me; I wonder if it’s partially because

a) none of the pcs have significant relationships outside of their party and

b) even within the party, there doesn’t seem to be much chemistry between any given pair of characters…? I hope I’m making my point well here- the PCs all seem equally close and have more or less the same relationship to all of their compatriots with little distinction, meaning, essentially, no shipping fodder that doesn’t involve just all of ‘em.

Either way, it makes me wonder if I can blame the “Graduation has too many NPCs!” critique. They really stopped giving the parties tag-along main NPCs after graduation, with the exception of maybe.. Urchin? Kodira? Shlabethany? Poppy? and even they get relatively little “screen” time. Steeplechase has great NPCs, I love them to death, but none of the PCs seem to ever have one on one conversations with NPCs or each other that do not explicitly focus on the plot. And I think that’s part of why the characters feel so underdeveloped despite having spent a lot of time with them- because in this character-driven genre, we get very little insight into their feelings or motivations or even their rudimentary backstories.

I started watching Fantasy High recently and it made me realize a couple things about TAZ.

1) Recently, TAZ has sooo few core NPCs, and it’s weird that the characters aren’t doing more one-on-one purely character based scenes. And that makes it really tough to develop them.

2) TAZ is- and I should have realized this before- one of many good dnd podcasts. They’re probably looking for a niche they can master.

And it sounds like they’re trying to get back to that old “Here there be Gerblins!” energy. They’ve referenced it so many times in recent TTAZZes- they wanted to be job-focused, allowing story stuff to happen organically, so they tried a more open world vibe with Ethersea. They wanted to be less afraid to kill stuff, so they tried playing criminals (and were still afraid to kill stuff). They wanted to be silly and light on character, as they tackled with taz vs dracula. Now they’re trying to bring in the silly cartoon vibe with Abnimals. I think they’re trying to make that family-friendly, funny and goofy show their niche. Something other actual plays can’t be better at them at.

And honestly it kinda makes me sad, that they keep trying to go back to Balance while ignoring everything they learned during it. Because I loved Dust. Because I loved Amnesty. Because I loved Ethersea. I loved these past arcs! But they keep doing their brilliant characters dirty for some reason!!! And i don’t know why!!!!

You know that meme about people who ask questions in movies and then the person responds “Have you ever been to a movie before? You watch them and the information is revealed.” There have been so many times in TAZ recently where information has Not been revealed and if they keep doing it the audience will stop bothering to suspend their disbelief, because the trust just isn’t there.

What is Montrose’s deal? What on earth was Carmine Denton’s whole thing? Tell me more about Zoox’s feelings, about Devo’s past, about Amber’s future. Show me how Lady Godwin feels about the body horror that is her life- like, seriously! WHY DID WE HAVE TO COMPLETELY DISMISS THE OPPORTUNITY TO DISCUSS GENERATIONAL TRAUMA IN MUTT’S LIFE FOR A JOKE??

Do you remember in Steeplechase where the boys were getting medical attention or something- i don’t remember, but they were all in one room and only talking about The Plot. And Poppy literally banged on the door (speaking for both Justin and me, tbh) and was like “does anyone want to share any feeeeelings??” and they were like NOPE! and they moved on!!

like. cmon. you can’t just put a character like montrose out there and then leave them severely underdeveloped to the point that what would be interesting in proper context, with audience insight, becomes confusing and chaotic.

I just wish they would take their stories as seriously as we do.

It feels to me like they don’t believe in themselves, and it makes me sad. Maybe they didn’t get the response they wanted from Ethersea and so they’ve been trying to pivot, hoping to recapture whatever it was that earned them a loyal audience.

Again, I love them. They’re so funny and I’ll keep listening until the day they stop making this show, and when it happens I’ll cry.

But i KNOW they have more in them. Remember the “we’ll grow gills” monologue from Justin in the Prologues? Remember Travis’s SOLID acting with Devo? Or his awesome choice to give Lyndon/Beef a clearly delineated work/irl identity? His excellent narration and prose? Remember when Montrose described being lonely?! Remember all those moments where Shit Got Real and you cared??? The nanofather said some dope shit! dracula and victor and sweater dracula had such a wild dynamic! Clint’s acting in Dust 2- I can’t remember the characters name right now- was ASTOUNDING, I genuinely didn’t know he had that in him and it blew me away!

I’m not referencing Balance on purpose, both because the fandom is way to hung up on it and because I want to prove that you don’t even have to look at Balance, or even Post-Balance arcs, to see this kind of good cool stuff!

GAAAAAAAGHHHH!!! I want them to have fun. But also. We’re starving out here.

[deancasbigbang]

Title: Every Rose Has Its Sword

Author: wylf_storm

Artist: whichstiel

Rating: Explicit

Pairings: Dean/Castiel, mentioned Sam/Eileen, implied Michael/Adam

Length: 45000

Warnings: Graphic Depictions of Violence, Temporary Imprisonment, Kidnapping,

Tags: Alternate Universe - Magic, Fae & Fairies, Mentions of Myth and Folklore, Inspired by Tam Lin, Human Castiel, Fey Dean Winchester, Shapeshifting, Bottom Dean Winchester, Swords, Witch Rowena MacLeod

Posting Date: October 29, 2024

Summary: Tired of living in the shadow of an old family misfortune, when Castiel Novak inherits an ancient plot of land in Scotland from his uncle, he leaps at the chance to move as far away from his past as possible. The place is charming, even if it has quirks, but best of all, nobody knows anything about him. It’s... mostly perfect. The only snag is the patch of woods on the land and the strange way nobody will talk about them. When spite leads Castiel into the Aikenwood despite being warned away from it, the very last thing he expects to find there is a knight named Dean in a grove full of roses. He’s handsome even if he’s also irritating, and despite himself, Cas is oddly charmed by Dean and the rose he receives from him. He finds himself drawn back to the wood again and again, but there are stranger powers at work than just a knight. A little digging reveals that most who enter the Aikenwood don’t come out again, Cas isn’t the only visitor to the bower, and Dean isn’t all he appears to be. With their lives and feelings tangling like vines, Castiel soon finds his past catching up and must do everything he can to save Dean from an impossible fate at the hands of a familiar face. But the truth has both roses and thorns, and Cas isn’t sure which he’s going to find if he succeeds…

Excerpt: One rose caught his eye – full bodied where the others were single blooms, a darker shade of ruby where the others were simply red. He moved towards it, fascinated by its daring to be different from every other bloom. It was soft to the touch. Castiel fumbled for his pocket knife while following its thornless stem with one hand and, leaving ample room for him to hold on to, carefully cut it free from the main stem. It came away cleanly and he bent his head down to see if it had a scent.  “Do you always cut flowers without permission or is this a special case?”  Castiel was so startled he dropped the rose. He fumbled to catch it but there was nothing there; just a faint roaring sound like a strong wind through the trees. He turned towards the voice.  A man in a white shirt with laces at the neck stood a short distance away, looking pointedly between the rose he was holding and Castiel. How the man had appeared without him noticing Castiel had little clue, but it was no doubt thanks to his attention being focused on the rose while the moss muffled the man’s approach. He didn’t recall noticing the man catch the rose before it touched the ground, either, but he wasn’t entirely sure that could be attributed to the moss. The man must have taken advantage of Castiel’s surprise to move. His arms were folded across his chest in a disapproving gesture, but his face showed only mild amusement and no trace of anger. From the way it made the hunter green of his eyes glitter, Castiel couldn’t help but think that amusement suited him very well.  “Not only stealing my flowers, but trespassing and disrespecting my property too?” The man said, stepping closer. If he’d held his hand out Castiel could have taken the rose right from him. “That’s three strikes against you already. Gotta be some kind of record, don’t you think?” He unfolded his arms and spun the rose slowly between his fingertips. “Truth be told, thief, I’ve never met someone brave enough to stick around after committing their crime.” The man cocked his head slightly to one side and the smile that had been playing around the corners of his mouth decided to make itself known. He tutted. “No… brave isn’t the right word. I think stupid is more fitting.”

DCBB 2024 Posting Schedule

[snakebites-and-ink]

Maybe a strange ask but can you please write part 5 or 6 of cyo whumper to caretaker from whumpee's pov please I love ur style of writing and want to see what was going through whumpee's head

Aw, thank you anon! Not a strange ask at all!

CW for the series | Masterlist | The parts in question: 5 6

“Here, dig in.”

The meal suddenly looked more threatening than delicious. This was almost certainly a trick. Whumper was acting nicer today, but for all Whumpee knew that could be part of the trick. It definitely wasn't their normal behavior.

They searched Whumper’s face, trying to discern what they were planning, but couldn’t find any of the usual hints there. Whumpee didn’t touch the food.

“Whumpee, you need to eat something,” Whumper prompted.

Was Whumper teasing them? They knew Whumpee wasn’t allowed to eat before Whumper’d gotten what they wanted from them—it was Whumper’s own rule. “I can't, I have to earn it!” Whumpee blurted out.

“You don’t have to do anything to earn it anymore, Whumpee, I’m giving it to you—no strings attached.”

Whumpee didn’t trust this. They weren’t sure if it was a test or a sadistic game or something else, but they weren’t willing to get punished over it. Nervously they stammered, “Th-thank you, sir, but I should earn it first. I know.”

“No, you don’t. You can just eat. Please eat.”

Whumper sounded…almost genuine. But Whumpee couldn’t risk it. “I can’t, sir,” they said. Whumper knew they couldn’t.

“Yes, you can,” Whumper asserted, pushing the plate of food closer to Whumpee.

Whumpee cringed, as if making themself smaller would get them out of this situation. They shook their head no.

“Whumpee. This is irritating.”

Whumpee whimpered, frightened. If this annoyed Whumper, they might get punished either way. They still didn’t eat though; they would only make things worse for themself if they broke a rule.

“Please?” Whumper asked. 

Whumpee wished they could.

Whumper seemed to deliberate for a moment, then moved to Whumpee's level and made eye contact. “Whumpee,” they said seriously, “I know only eating once you’ve earned it is a rule you’re used to living with. But obeying me and cooperating is a rule you’re supposed to follow too, yeah?”

The implications of that were pretty clear. There was no winning this one. Whumper had them trapped: they’d be breaking a rule no matter what they did.

“That’s the more important rule. I expect you to be obedient. You’re not going to be punished for doing what I tell you to. Now, eat.”

Okay…they could do that. They nervously started eating under Whumper’s watchful eye. They hoped Whumper was telling the truth.

Taglist: (lmk if you'd prefer to only be tagged in main chapters and not bonus stuff)

@kabie-whump, @whumpanthems, @whumpsoda, @3-2-whump, @generic-whumperz, 

@taterswhump, @alivenova, @whumped-by-glitter, @expressionless-fr, @whumpycries, 

@whumpsday, @moons-cozy-corner, @echo-goes-aaa, @whumplr-reader, @starfields08000, 

@whump-blog, @ivymyers, @currentlyinthesprial, @lumpofsand, @coffin-hopping, 

@ragin-cajun-fangirl, @catnykit, @indigoviolet311, @dragongodryss, @kira-the-whump-enthusiast,

@risk606, @natthebatt, @decaffeinatedtimetraveler94, @whatwhump, @venusski

@hermitcrabs-1,  @croixph, @mj-or-say10, @kawaii-cakes, @gevwer,

@fourwingedwriter, @turtlesnap1, @whump-till-ya-jump

[pink-koi-lovejoy]

ooc message (CW- mentions of SH and SA)

so…

hey

I’m going to be adding onto the whole Jack train again

let me preface this by saying I’m not a victim of anything and was not involved with the Circe blog until now, where I’ve looked for more details

ever since the issue, Jack and HIS PARTNER (Can confirm: Real. Stop calling him manipulative, stop calling him fake. Yes, he is NOT using his real name. Neither is Jack.) have stopped using tumblr, and may be for a while due to extensive hate.

There are concerns about Jack never mentioning SH outside of jokes. Keep in mind this is a roleplay blog. He doesn’t have to share his personal life. Also, if the idea of the blog being an escape was true, than he HAS mentioned it. It’s how I found the blog- an rp scenario (with warnings, if I remember) involving sh in the starter.

ther are Concerns about Jack never before mentioning having a boyfriend and/or claiming to be single. Again, it’s a roleplay blog. Maybe he was talking about his character. Maybe he wasn’t comfortable sharing his personal life online. Is that so crazy?

I have contact to Jack outside of Tumblr, and my main focus is to help him any way I can, keep him updated, and prevent this from happening again. Jack has given me permission to share any messages that occur, weather or not it’s answering a question because it was asked and I carried it over for him, or if it was a message from normal communication that would explain something.

Please do not message me concerning HATE towards him, please. He’s a teen who’s made a mistake.

As to concerning his health and mental state, it’s also being worked on. Jack has reached out to a professional today, weather or not it’ll continue is unknown to me. But he’s trying to get help. He is.

I’m going to be tagging Jack’s tag list, but some boundaries first:

I am a minor. I am uneducated. Everything I know is either common sense, what I’ve been taught through life, or Google. If I get something wrong, please POLITELY correct me.

No hate. Please. I hate seeing so much discourse already, and I can’t handle any more. I will NOT be playing messenger when it comes to hate messages.

I am simply a messenger. Please remember this.

if you would like screenshots or evidence of anything, please ask politely, don’t demand.

More may be added as needed.

jacks tag list- @zariahthewitch @thegroovydaughterofhestia @if-chaos-was-a-boy @the-gods-strange-children @silena-daughterofaphrodite

@fabulousdaughterofhecate @weakest-son-of-sun @chaos-pers0nified @neoptolemus-achilles-son

@bast-the-best26 @goddess-of-bubblegum @gaygirldoodles @luck-is-crucial

@reyna4ever @vicious-daughter-of-zeus @feral-hermes-child @oopsies-i-did-a-thing @unfortunate-daughter-of-hestia

@that-girl-cupid @ariathemortal @love-lightning-forethought @emdabitchass

@kaiaalwayswins @champion-of-revenge @i-was-never-sane @clown-energy-skyrocketing @zoe-aura-of-d3ath

@itsyourboyezra @lunar-eklipso-r @pink-koi-lovejoy @that-daughter-of-athena

@sleepy-as-a-song @smileyalater @thedaughter-of-death @gellyhelio @daughter-ofthe-moontitan

@demeters-daughter-is-done @the-smart-and-the-dumb-one @trinket-snatcher @southerndaughterofeos

@creature-under-ur-bed @burnt-out-bitxhes

[allhallowsjangobi]

Masterpost 2024

Hello there!

All Hallow’s Jangobi is a Halloween-themed Jango/Obi-Wan week that will take place in the week leading up to Halloween 2024. It will start on October 25th and end on October 31st. The event is open for everyone, writer or artist. You can write, draw or create as much or as little as you want. If you want to write 1k, 20k or three different fics, it's dealer's choice! Every day will have two different prompts, that you are free to interpret however you want. You are also free to participate only one day or every single day, do only the main prompts, or only the alts, or both.

The prompts for 2024 can be found here.

There will be an open AO3 collection for everyone to post their works to, and we will do our best to reblog everything posted to tumblr as well. As a reminder, if you post anything here on tumblr, tag this blog directly (@allhallowsjangobi ) so we can see and reblog your creations.

Important links again: FAQ How to join the Jangobi discord server

Under the cut you read the rules for the event:

1) All submissions are welcome,

as long as they feature the pairing Jango/Obi-wan and correspond (as least a little) to the All Hallows theme and prompts. You can create anything you want!

2) All ratings and archive warnings accepted

Most of the content will be hosted either on AO3 or on tumblr. Please tags your content accurately and use the correct warnings when they apply. You are free to create any type of work you wish, but appropriate warnings are a must, especially since halloween topics can be open to a wide range of interpretation and can range from cracky to angsty: one might take the topic zombie and make it a cute trick and treat fic, another might turn it into an mcd zombie apocalypse.

If a mod ask you to add a tag, please do so.

3) No rude comments or harassment

Self-explanatory. We all want to have a fun event, so don’t offer unasked for criticism, let people create whatever they want (even if you don’t personally agree with it) and don’t be rude! Don’t like, don’t read and ykinmkato (your kink is not my kink and that’s okay) rules apply.

4) WIPs are free to be shared

This isn’t a secret event or an exchange, so feel free to share snippets, sketches, anything of the likes with people! Feedback can help motivate anyone.

5) Dark content allowed when correctly tagged

You can create something light-hearted or go as dark as you want, but you must tag your creation accurately. Use the AO3 warnings as a reference and complete them if necessary. If a mod ask you to add a content warning, please do so.

6) Submissions will be tagged all hallows jangobi 2024

You can submit your creations to this blog or the AO3 collection. You can post to the collection by either going to the collection page and clicking “Post to Collection” or by adding allhallowsjangobi2024 in the collection field on a new work.

You can also post them on your own blogs. You just need to tag them AND tag this blog so the mods can find them!

[ozcarma]

Does anyone else feel like the incinerator gun chair room from Zero Time Dilemma would have better fit C Team instead of D Team

[funsize-cenobites]

Mihawk-Brain-Eating-Syndrome has seized me with such a gorilla grip I am losing my fucking mind so I guess we're doing this.

The post that started this whole train of thought came from @manofbeskar who's Mihawk thoughts, Mishanks heartwrenchers, and absolutely gorgeous art are so inspiring I feel chewing-on-the-doorframe feral every time I check their blog.

So.. thoughts of the day that Im just tossing into the void to get it out of me because otherwise it will fester inside me and make me ill:

Mihawk has a complicated relationship with vivre cards. Despite his best efforts to keep the world and everyone in it at arm and Yoru length he does manage to keep collecting bits of them though.

Not many nowadays of course, its a rather intimate affair after all; to have someone give you a literal piece of their life so that you may always find them no matter where in the wide seas you may be and that you'll be the first to know should they leave that world entirely. Far too intimate. It feels too obvious, too heavy handed, too much like handing him your heart and asking him to carry it. Such a thing is heavier than any blade and all the bloody deeds he can never truly wipe from the steel.

Its gentle and vulnerable and human, all the things hes convinced he can play at but never truly be again.

But I imagine at the start of his journey he was a touch more open, perhaps accepting his first from a mentor as a parting of ways. Though he didn't yet have one of his own to offer in return. Strange how a simple piece of card in his palm could feel like an open door. Always there, inviting him home. Always there, until it wasn't.

He will never forget the first time he felt one burning away into nothing in his hands. It went up so quick.. he had no idea it could take less than a minute to burn a home.

Then perhaps he found a crew, a more tangible place to nest and he suddenly had more vivre cards than he could tuck away on his person in a timely manner. Perhaps it became a ritual of sorts each morning, a part of his routine to tuck each one away. The captain, vice captain, and the rest of the specialists lining the inner band of his hat while the rest of the crew were individually squirreled away. A meditation, grounding and quiet. He would use it to remind himself of his role as the crew's swordsman, as their protector.

How could he forget the sharp sear of each individual card burning away, stuck close to his skin by waterlogged clothing as he dragged himself ashore gasping and choking on sea and blood and smoke. Having been left by marines that assumed he would drown because- perhaps pointed out by one that had deceived him, made Mihawk believe they were his friend to be led back to his family:

"No freak like that could exist without having eaten the devil's fruit."

How could he forget the embers escaping, dancing in the evening gloam like fireflies swarming around him? There were so many.. now there are none and gods he's been so empty since. How could such a small piece of paper take so much of him? To kill a man with a blade, even butchering him inelegantly, would be a greater mercy so long as he was dead.

Nowadays Mihawk knows better. Knows better than to trust or be trusted. That blades might chip and tarnish but they dont burn, never completely.

Yoru hums and sings in his hands as he wields her and she does not feel like home.. but she feels solid and eternal and cold. She will never burn. Her weight is bearable.

Impersonal.

Professional.

Yoru makes death an art in his hands. She is the brush not the paper, spattering fireflies over a night sky.

. . .

For years after, he kept far from others. Deciding to never get so close to anyone ever again. Safe in the knowledge he would never feel the burning sting of loss nor the cold cut of betrayal so acutely. Trust was a double edged blade, perhaps the only one he truly couldn't handle.

He was no protector.. so he wouldn't try to be.

Instead Mihawk would hunt. Chasing the marines mercilessly. Cutting a bloody path through their ranks and burning their fucking fortresses to the ground. At first they spoke of him as an insane lone swordsman, then a one man army, then a monster, a demon. The relentless yellow eyed freak that stalked the seas and nightmares of future vice admirals.

He systematically killed all those that harmed him. A shadow over the shore, a rogue wave swallowing their ships, a curse of vengeance come to reap. He destroyed all the records of his crew that he could get his hands on. If he must be cursed to slowly forget them over time, then the world government didnt deserve their memory either.

And so on it went for a time. Long enough for the hunt to lose its luster. Slaughtering sheep by the herd in search of a rare wolf.

Mihawk had almost forcibly forgotten about Vivre cards as a concept. His own remained untouched, never moving from where he hid it. He had no friends, no family, no nakama. Only a dwindling list of worthy foes to test himself against.

Until the day the king of pirates died. Until their golden age truly began.

Until he met Shanks, who held out a hand and asked him to step out of the monochrome past and into a thousand possible vibrant futures. Ones of lush reds and glittering golds, of polished onyx black and the purest, deepest blue.

.

"Here," Shanks said suddenly one night, holding out a small scrap of paper. The both of them were perched atop the ruins of a high sea wall on some remote island, enjoying the cold breeze from the north after a hard fought duel.

Mihawk, for all his composure, blanched. "What is that?" He knew and he did not take it.

"What do you think it is? Its a piece of my card." He said it so simply. Like it barely occured to him how precious such a thing was. Shanks didn't drop his arm, even as the silence stretched out between them.

"No."

"Come on, Takanome- Dont be like that! We're nak--"

"Rivals." He cut the younger man off abruptly. His chest felt too hot and too tight, burning and burning and, "We are rivals, Akagami."

Shanks must've been pouting, he could hear it in his voice, "Even more reason for you to take it. We could duel every day if you could always find me~ Come on.. Please? I want you to have it."

"...."

Hawkeyes glanced at his best friend rival and immediately regretted it. Shank's face was always full of so much hope, so much faith in... something.. It made Mihawk's heart catch in his throat every time to see those big earnest eyes staring at him almost as if, for a moment, it was faith in him.

"I don't know if I can give you mine.." He murmured. Shanks smiled soft, a little sad, and infuriatingly understanding without needing to know anything.

"I dont need it. I know you'll always find me." He pressed his heart, his home the scrap into Mihawk's palm and closed the swordsman's fingers over it. "And if I need to find you.. I'll just ask the wind."

[itty-bitty-sunshine]

I know this is random but reading your blog and seeing your art made me so motivated I made my 1st animation ever (not counting pixel art ones), after not drawing digitally in months and it looks kinda basic and it isn't colored but I made it and I'm really happy with it so I guess what I'm trying to say is thank you for motivating me to make digital art again! I hope you have a wonderful day/night :)

MKJSJWJW HI!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR TELLING ME THATS GREAT!!! Animatics need time and patience so the fact you went straight for it is so cool!!!! I bet it looks lovely!

Hope you have the greatest day/night too!

[suburbanbonfire]

tagged by @18minutemajor for a hockey art share tag game! I enjoy talking about myself but am terrible at posting so this is perfect. i WILL talk too much, this is a threat.

rules: post your first ever hockey art, your latest hockey art, and your favourite hockey art, then tag three hockey artists.

FIRST ART

I made the Kraken Orb (Korb) at the end of the 22-23 season, as a commemoration, although a sort of ironic one considering i had only gotten into hockey in time for the playoffs so there are a couple players here i actually never got to see play at all before making this (Joonas, Jaycob, Burky, Fleury)

it was a whole lot of fun though! Prior to this i was in a months-long art slump after leaving a fandom, so it was a total surprise to have hockey of all things be what revitalized my art.

technically, the very first hockey art from this was Matty; you can kinda tell by the way his lines are a bit thicker than the rest since i wasn't in my groove yet. i also knew coming in that i wanted to arrange the faces in a circle, but didn't plan out beyond that, so i just made sure that i was getting a variety of head directions in my references and hoped for the best. My favorites from this are Gru, Soucy, Dunn, Schultz, Borgen, and Eeli. I think they all turned out really well.

LATEST ART

MEAT CUT MEAT CUT

this one is fun for me because it's quite different from my usual style of art, with lineart and non-realistic forms/face. I've had the concept in my head for awhile after hearing/reading so many interesting descriptions of the physical qualities that good hockey players possess.

'Sacrifice the Body' actually came in mid-art when i had an epiphany doing something like driving my car or an activity similarly unrelated. Before that, it was going to be a lil heart drawn on the chest and the going contender for the label was 'Ferda.' which would've been great, but sacrifice the body just worked too dang well with the themes.

FAVORITE ART

i mean, c'mon. it's gotta be this one.

my magnum opus, my white whale. it came out even better than i saw it in my head and i love everything about it. when i came up with the idea, i had TOTALLY forgotten that Climate Pledge has those giant windows, so when i set out to find references and saw it, it instantly made everything even better with LIGHTING!!!!

It was my first time drawing this kind of interior architecture and although there's definitely things i would do differently now, im so so proud of how it looks and turned out. I was also still drawing through my decade-old laptop at that point, so I had to split up the work on this into two files - i sketched everything, then worked ONLY on the bg until it was about 90% done, then made a flattened copy to open as a new file to draw the players on top of.

I also have a bunch of WIP shots of it in my drafts I guess I'll throw in here now!

initial sketch to get down the composition before i remembered the window | lines of the building! i actually found a 3d virtual tour of CPA from before it was built which had the PERFECT angle, so i screencapped that and straight up traced the architecture. Ultimately, the scoreboard and the paint lines ended up getting moved around.

planning out my lighting in greyscale (i really need to do this more often, i struggle with values so much, alas) | in progress bg! at this point, the ice and the boards/glass were the only things completed. I eventually said 'fuck it' to being able to see the areas behind the stands like you could in all my references, and just put the people dots all the way up.

Now the most gut-wrenching part

THE TAGS

this is where me being bad at posting comes into play, because instead i just lurk and thats not great for forming connections HERE GOES

@ruinedcasket - it has been awesome seeing your art progress! would love 2 hear your thoughts about it

@rouzys - your kraken stuff is so pretty, love how you capture likenesses

oh god oh fuck everyone else i know has already been tagged fuck oh sshit

If You Are An Artist On Hockey Twit And See This, It Is A Sign

[sparky-is-spiders]

More thinking about the Jonder (Jon Gender). I imagine Jon discovering it/its pronouns and just being Drawn to them. Jon meets somebody who goes by it/its and can’t stop thinking about it (pun intented) but can never work up the courage to admit it even to themselves so they use they/them in their head or with close friends (read: Georgie) and he/him everywhere else. By the time Jon is ready to use it/its for itself it’s already at the Magnus Institute, a place where they feel a constant need to come off as Professionally As Possible and nobody ELSE is using Neopronouns (for the same reasons as Jon, although it doesn’t know that) and is it even safe to be out as any shade of queer at all so it continues with business as usual pronoun-wise. And then it discovers that it’s turning into an eldritch inhuman monster and its gender feelings get 5000% more complicated.

[jessiesjaded]

you know once upon a time when there was far less variety of canon gay shit I could sympathise with people hoping absolutely hetero shit might actually maybe have a bit of subtext here or there and Maybe asking an actor or writer at a con what they thought- like fair enough, I get it. But now days when I see people go into THIS SHOW IS ABSOLUTELY 100% HETEROSEXUAL random shitty tv and then proceed to utterly harass every single person even vaguely involved with the cast or crew, do weird annoying fan ship campaigns, bitch and moan and cry bc My Gay Ship Wasn't Canonized :(( I'm just like ??? There's literally 87 Thai bl dramas where the thing you wanted to happen on Straight Person The Show happened but you refuse to watch any of those. Like at this point it's your fault lmao

[slightlytoastedbagel]

actually On Your Feet gave us two good things (well. three if you like Realize which I do). Kohane's "it's frustrating" line and the great crack fic idea of Vivid Bad Squad getting cancelled online for skipping school to yell at The Kotaki Taiga as he was about to go back to America.

[renamamiya]

I think it would behoove a lot of people to read this quote irt Astarion's character made by Neil Newbon himself.

https://www.pcgamer.com/baldurs-gate-3s-astarion-neil-newbon-on-acting-the-truth-of-trauma-as-a-survivor-theres-a-lot-of-stuff-that-came-very-close-to-home/?utm_campaign=socialflow&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com

"You have to play every reality, you have to play every side of him."

It's just.... baffling to act like people who get ANY of the 'bad' endings are like bad people for doing so. These endings aren't added just to be some "teehee isn't this so messed up *wink wink*" kind of thing. They were put in with reason, they were included with intention. All the endings a character can get are explorations Of that character. Both how these characters can make a better life for themselves, or how they can fall to the worst outcome. All of these endings are "realities" the character can end up at depending on how their life goes. Astarion's ascension, Gale either dying or becoming power hungry, Shadowheart becoming a Dark Justiciar. ALL of these were added with the reason to let you play the game and see how vastly different their lives can turn out.

Ultimately, Baldur's Gate 3 is an *RPG*. A Role-playing game, one that's based on DND. Having "good" and "evil" choices is literally one of the largest aspects of DND and the Baldur’s Gate series. DND literally CREATED the Good/Neutral/Evil - Lawful/Neutral/Chaotic axis, all with the intention of both characters in universe, and player's own created characters to be able to explore ANY of the four corners. All of these choices, routes, and endings exist both as a result of the exploration of how their life could be affected by support/lack of it, as well as how they could potentially shift across the alignment chart due to their development. Because ultimately development doesn't automatically mean "person becomes a better person and achieves the ending they deserve", both in real life and in the game it can just as easily come to "person ends up arriving to the worst possible outcome they could have possibly had."

Ultimately I have to say as well, if people are bad for even exploring these routes to see how the development takes place, then by this logic you must know that you're also essentially stating that the developers are also horrible for ever including these options into the game from the first place, right?

[djevelbl]

Kill the cringe cop in your head, do what makes you happy.

[the-kipsabian]

what im gonna say tho, is that some people are just really inconsiderate about others

"well if that triggers you, dont look at it!" like do you think i go out my way to search for things that trigger panic attacks in me? that i look things that upset me on purpose to find something to bitch about?

no its literally about other people not considering that maybe something like needless and choking and shit isnt what someone wants to see on a casual stroll on the internet. yeah i get it that those were huge parts of what happened on saturday, but posting these images CONSTANTLY without warnings or blockable words or tags is like. its the smallest thing you could do to, idk, protect fellow fans? to be fucking considered??

"then go watch something else you whiny pissbaby" honestly the amount of times ive already seen people say this is? insulting as shit?? i still like aew. i still think both of these matches were bangers; i opted to tab out from the video on those parts, but i still enjoyed the rest for what they were worth. just because i found something triggering *and other fans are making me feel like shit about it*, speaks more about them than the product i want to watch and enjoy watching otherwise

just because they are advertised as "for the sickos" (which, full offense, i always found dumb anyways) doesnt mean i have to enjoy parts that outright hurt me OR that i cant watch the parts of the product that i like and can enjoy. you saying otherwise is elitism at best

thank you and fuck you

[keeps-ache]

[walking around, peering into people's faces like i'm in an art exhibit] hm. nice