#unnamed computer project

[irradiate-space]

Last Lunesday of the Week

Listening: No organized listening today; was out and about so the jams did not begin playing at the appointed time.

Reading: Started reading Princess of Mandalore, which is a Tanya x Star Wars crossover that starts sometime after Episode I but before the Clone Wars really kicks off. Good plot; intermittent grammar, spotty character differentiation but I'm keeping on because the plot outweighs the grammar issues. Will Tanya get recruited by the Jedi, or the Duke of Serenno? Will she develop feelings for her new adjutant? Will she ever get to fight?

Writing: Started a flowchart of the Iliad with major plot points, using a children's illustrated edition.

Crafting:

Have a more-or-less final version of the cyberdeck palmtop computer case thingy. Revision 29 is mainly about screw hole tolerances for the backplate. Still working on getting a functioning OS. I've been running Phosh on my touchscreen laptop and it's ~fine. I put Ubuntu on this Pi today and then realized I have to set up display drivers for it in order to be able to enter SSH keys. Ugh. If I rebuild this formfactor from scratch, I'm not going to use the Hyperpixel line of square touchscreens; they look cool but they take up GPIO pins needed for other stuff instead of using HDMI plugs. Waveshare has a better package for the same formfactor.

Built the hacked Vindriktning off of the Adafruit tutorial; it does what it says on the box. Still need to calibrate it against the PurpleAir sensor I have, which costs ten times as much.

Need to start Version 2 of the Vakama mask, if I want to print it by Halloween.

Kinda want to make a frogpad-style keyboard with a spare KB2040 microcontroller, a la the Scottopad. But that is a "after Halloween" project.

Also I need to take apart my HTPC projector and put it back together correctly so it doesn't scream.

Aaand I need to put a construction helmet inside a pumpkin. I guess I'll do that offscreen during tomorrow's meetings.

Playing: Got Tears of the Kingdom side quests done except the stable paintings and the last of Misko's set. After that, it's wells and Bubbulfrogs, and I wish there were a way to mute just that one guy's cackles.

Injuries: +1 TDaP booster, +1 knife slip hole in my offhand palm, -$40 to get a new set of fairweather biking gloves after I lost one last weekend biking to get my COVID and flu shots.

With some retroreflective fabric.

[godsfavoritescientist]

An as-of-yet unnamed AU where instead of being Ford's muse, Bill appears to Fiddleford and convinces him to build the portal.

The conversation in the last 2 images continues under the cut:

Fiddleford relaxed all at once, giving Ford a too-wide smile. Then, he opened his eyes one eyelid at a time. “You’ve been a real good friend! And I have a lot of friends, so that’s saying something!” He let out a short laugh. “You wanna know what I’m working on? It’s something that’s gonna usher in an era of world peace! You might not believe it, but no one else would believe you if you told them you’ve just uncovered an ancient alien crash site, would they now? So be a pal and suspend your disbelief!”

Ford felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. There was something… something he couldn’t put his finger on… something that flashed in the corner of his eye…

Ford swallowed. “Okay. It’s religious project. But what is it?”

Fiddleford threw a casual arm around Ford. “I think it’ll be easier if I show you!”

~

They walked down a corridor lined wall to wall, floor to ceiling with computers running endless calculations. They bathed the whole room in flickering green light, as words scrolled rapidly across screen after screen after screen, their glowing surfaces reflecting in Fiddleford’s glasses as he walked ahead of Ford, with a confidently uncoordinated stride that made Ford wonder if he was drunk. Ford glanced at the screens, catching bits and pieces of words as Fiddleford rushed by in the black-and-green light. “Probability of Event 4.23A, Probability of Event 23.652C, Probability of Event 1.9C…” dozens of numbers that looked like coordinates… thousands of statistical probability equations being run over and over again…

Fiddleford punched in a seven-digit code on the front of a huge metal door at the end of the corridor. When he swung it open, it revealed a room that looked like something out of a movie, or a nightmare. He stood before a sea of gigantic red raising platforms that Fiddleford effortlessly jumped around on, inputting some kind of code based on the symbols on the squares, until the moving platforms went still.

They moved on into a simple, warmly-lit room with coat racks full of red robes lining the walls, and foam mats stacked in the corner with eyes embroidered on them.

And then, at last, they entered what appeared to be their destination. This room was gigantic, and frigidly cold. The walls and floors were all made of metal. And at the center of the room, a machine towered over them. It was part metal and part unfinished scaffolding. A huge upside-down triangle with a hole in the middle of it, like a great big maw.

Fiddleford gestured at it with a grin. “My magnum opus! A portal directly to god.”

[muzzleroars]

Is v1 scared of death ?

it wasn't, at the start of everything - v1 boots to a dying world, its corroded mind immediately clinging to corrupted ideas about its purpose, knowing it is for war but instead thinking it must forever cause it into perpetuity instead of just fighting when called for. it is not yet a self, consciousness a faint flicker in a mind vast and filling fast with so much information its damaged computer can't fully process the data before it weaves into twisted code. when it meets v2, a shift occurs in recognition of the self, a mirrored image that it cannot copy - what's wrong? mirage is the emerging sentience, the understanding that it is v1, it is made for war, and it is in hell. it is here to end everything, and it cannot stop even if it had other wishes. to create war is its fundamental self and should it stop, everything it is would unravel. fear has no place but it feels it as an unnamed presence in the back of its mind. it has a self now, but the self can't project forward in concrete terms. confidence low. simulation unstable. cancel and move on.

but what happens when its self keeps growing, what happens when v1 follows whims instead of a directive? a new self is fostered, it is fed on curiosity instead of blood, it wants to learn instead of make war - these sides do not reconcile until it meets with gabriel. like v2, something is tripped again and in gabriel, its curiosity and bloodthirst are woven together, they fasten into a solid core of being, into what must be v1's soul. v1 is still not regularly existential but it has the capacity, endless in fact, which would only result in an abyss of inaction should it give way to it. it's a by-product of how its mind works, how easily it could be overtaken by the inevitability of death, unending loops of thoughts that lead nowhere or back into each other...and so v1 doesn't actively engage it, and in fact protects against it.

yet the fear grows, directly proportional to the life v1 gains in and outside of itself - it develops interests, it wants to see more, know more, do more than what it was made for, and it wants to stay with gabriel, learn about him and love him, have a whole life with him. it has so much to lose now and when it stops, it will be the end of everything, no spirit inhabiting the flesh...or maybe not. it wonders if it could have a ghost in some way, if the quantum particles that make up its mind are forever impressed with who it is, with what it has become, and if they would carry it on in some way. it would be caught in chaos it knows, the only reason it thinks now because its mind is so well-controlled, the particles so slow or directed that they can be turned into a thinking machine - without the computer, who would it express, experience? even if those particles remember, who would it be in a volatile outside world, separated from one another and scattered so far they could never meet again? would quantum strings still entangle them, too enmeshed to truly be apart? would its consciousness then be a web strung far and wide across space, echoing with who v1 was but unable to attain any cohesion without the deep frozen crystals that turn prisms into qubits? it thinks, somehow, this could be worse than nothing, so it continues to avoid thinking on it.

this avoidance is what i think ultimately causes the issues it and gabriel need to confront as it begins to fail though. they're not totally unprepared, but with the layers of protective coding against contemplating its own death, they're also not in the best position they could be. and as they attempt to figure things out now, as v1's code degrades and those restrictions are lifted, gabriel sees the full extent of its thoughts, the existential depth he knew it was capable of but had never heard at length. something in its mind was obviously given over to this a long time ago and has thought on nothing else while the rest of it ran unaware of the dread it was spinning. it is highly tuned to its demise, and it has considered inanimation at length (it still thinks about some of the first words gabriel said to it) or the possibility of its echo remaining in the quantum particles that have housed its consciousness for so long, they know nothing else. it asks gabriel several times where it will go, what will happen to it, and over and over he needs to admit he doesn't know. it tells him it doesn't want either, it doesn't want to shut off but it doesn't want to be a quantum ghost stretched thin and unthinking. it wants answers it can't compute, it wants answers gabriel can't divine. and it is very afraid.

[kikker-oma]

Ok, Even As Shadows has been stareing at me forever so I just want to ask, will we ever see anything? Ooo wait are you going to be a professional author and your just advertising your book now until you can get it published? Sorry I'm a book worm and it seems so interesting!

Have a good day!

Hehehe nobody has asked about that before!!!!! Not that I talk about it, but still hehehe

Even As Shadows is a personal comic that I’ve had for about 10 years. It’s gone through 3 different iterations and many on and off years of development, but the characters are very near and dear to my heart❤️

I actually published 2 versions on Webtoons years ago. It started out as “Southwest” then “Compass”, then a third unnamed project, and now it’s “Even as Shadows”!

It’s very much a story about found family dealing with a major loss of a loved one, and how each of their individual problems affect each other and how leaving their emotions unaddressed has serious consequences. The Twist is that it’s a bit of a supernatural-esque story. It’s treated more as a superstition, but there have been cases where severe negative emotions give birth to what’s called a Hazeling. Creatures of superstition considered bad omens leading people to insanity - feeding off their already deteriorating mental states.

In this story, Hazelings exist, but they seem more like children than creatures that lead you to your demise. The story revolves around 3 men and 3 young Hazelings, trying to live life together and deal with their respective traumas and problems while keeping each other safe.

The story has changed soooo much that it’s a bit of a mess haha. I actually started redrawing in 2021, but then my computer died and I couldn’t save anything from my hard drive so I lost years of work. It was quite depressing lol. I stopped drawing for about a year.

I actually originally started drawing LU fanart as a motivator to get me drawing again!

I want to get back into it. Maybe just starting off with small sketches and comic panels to get a feel for it again and see who’s interested.

I lost most all of my drawings, but here’s one photo that was stored on my google drive! It’s 4 years old, so it’s NOT a current drawing, but it’s an idea of what they look like 🥰

[cairt]

I think that Evelyn and Mirage bring out the best and the worst in each other in turns

Part of the appeal of the ship for me at least is that I think that there's a lot of mystery surrounding Mirage as a character and her motivations while she was working for Syndrome.

She's got these really distinct lines regarding human life that aren't entirely clear or at all explained. She's really upset about the jet explosion with Helen and the kids but is aware of and enables all the intimate details of the Superhero genocide plot with Syndrome.

She is very heavily composed and plays things very close to her chest, unlike Syndrome we don't get any sort of flash back scene or monologues discussing her involvement and motivation in the operation. She's super competent at what she does and goes unnoticed in Bob's insurance office at the start of the film and is crucial in convincing Bob and probably every other super to go off to Nomanisan and die fighting Omnidroids. And why?

It's never explained.

She is in five minutes of the film but is one of the most important characters in it.

Let's get into what she does do. She's critical to the operations of project Kronos. She does recon, spying on Bob and Lucius and blending in to the office to track them and communicate back to Syndrome and pick their next victim.

She reaches out to them, and feeds him the lie about being a top secret government agency, testing out an "experimental robot". The government agency bit is debatable, but the experimental robot is an outright lie. There is no way that Mirage is as involved as she is with Kronos and considers her work to not be about death battles with superheros.

She finds Mr. Incredible when Helen activates the honing signal. This means that she's had access to the computer room all along, further evidence of her knowing involvement in Project Kronos.

We next see her when Bob is trapped in Syndrome's energy torture device, sitting at one of the two control chairs with a different flunky that is in the uniform that we see all the other cronies in. Both of their podiums are identical, with the unnamed technician being directed to torture Mr. Incredible throughout the scene by Syndrome pointing to him.

It's not entirely clear to what extent Mirage is ok with the torture that's going on in the cell but it's clearly not a deal breaker despite Syndrome not asking her to do it this time because she could easily be doing so from her desk.

Syndrome reaches over her to launch missiles at Helen and the kids and we get to hear Mirage at her most upset when she says that the hit was confirmed, no survivors. So she has the capability to launch missiles for her boss but again, Syndrome wouldn't ask her to launch them at kids.

Despite believing Syndrome to have murdered children Mirage still pushed him away from Bob, at great risk to herself.

So there's possibly romantic relationship with Syndrome but eh? We don't get a lot of scenes with them together and while it's pretty visible from his perspective, he's very physical while trying to reassure her that he has the situation under control, she just seems disgusted by this. This is the only moment we see them be at all physically intimate.

But there is one other moment that I think indicates some level of intimacy between them. Right after Mr. Incredible threatens to crush her, Syndrome taunts his old hero.

"Mirage drops to the floor. Syndrome looks at Bob and sneers.

SYNDROME:I knew you couldn't do it. Even when you have nothing to lose. You're weak. I've outgrown you."

Mirage is following Syndrome out of the room while he says this and her eyes widen when she hears this.

This kind of ambiguous moment leads to the incredible scene where she tells him off for what he did to her.

Mirage: Valuing life is not weakness

Syndrome: Oh hey look, if you're talking about what happened in the containment unit, I had everything under control.

Mirage: And disregarding it is not strength.

She has more total moments of flirtation with Bob, but we can infer that much of the flirtation with Bob is a ruse, part of the Omnidroid plot. So we're left with very little information.

So a round-up

She supported super genocide, if not in purpose, definitely in action.

She's willing to be in the same room while torture is happening and has the ability if not the will to engage in murder and torture for Syndrome.

She's not ok with civilian or child murder.

She has some level of intimacy with Syndrome.

She was willing to risk her life to save him from Bob

She ultimately swaps sides because of Syndrome 's callous disregard for life, including hers and risks his wrath to rescue the Incredibles super family

And I think that all of this leads to a super interesting character who would empathize with Evelyn.

[majjiktricks]

metal gear solid mobile (nokia n-gage 2.0)

for anyone who doesnt want to go through what was a harrowing ordeal of setting up the fucking. nokia emulator.

this is a non-canon game set between mgs1 and mgs2, made specifically for the nokia n-gage gaming platform.

basically the game goes:

you are solid snake, infiltrating the base of a sketchy military organization that has gotten their hands on metal gear plans and is in the process of building one. otacon has a contact on the inside, someone who apparently works for the organization realizing their work is being used for destructive purposes and wants to stop it (sound familiar?).

so it starts pretty normal. but the game gets fucky from there.

you sneak through various parts of the base, avoiding or knocking out or killing guards as you go, and you have to access computer terminals to upgrade your security level. you receive a message from the inside contact, and she identifies herself as dr victoria reed, a nuclear scientist. she gives you her story about the metal gear project and her involvement in it. something about her story is suspicious, however, and otacon starts looking into her. (the player, not snake, is instantly aware of her damsel-in-distress act, and she flirts with snake and plays the "oh i'm so scared" card to get him to act on her behalf faster.)

you continue.

the scientist wants you to meet her in a specific part of the base, where she has... barricaded? herself? it's unclear if she's hiding from her coworkers or not. you eventually make it close to this area, but she calls you again and says she had to move because security in the area was increased.

you arrive in the room you were supposed to meet her. there is no security.

you continue exploring the base and try to get to the next area to meet her. meanwhile, otacon has been digging. there is no record of a victoria reed working for any known scientific organization that he can find. snake dismisses this as she is working on a black-ops project, and it's unlikely that her name would appear in any easily accessible database.

multiple times during your exploration you receive codec calls from an unnamed individual who gives you rather cryptic hints and advice on frequency 111.11.

you arrive in the next area the scientist told you to go. there is little of interest in the room, and there is no scientist.

the doors close, and you are locked inside. otacon messes with the security system and is able to disable most things. except for the doors to the room you are in. this is a conundrum.

you receive a call from a new individual, a man wearing a mask. he is identified as "the commander." he explains the situation to you as this: philanthropy was lured into this facility by dr reed so that you would disable the security and take out some of the guards so that the group the commander leads would be able to more easily sweep the place and take over. while you are trapped in this room, his group has been going floor by floor and killing every one of the guards they find. he also tells you that dr victoria reed is not real. that she is an ai construct designed to appeal to you and otacon, to lead you here.

he guarantees your safety, respecting the reputation of solid snake, as long as you stay in that room. he even sends a guard to "protect" you.

you escape the room by hiding under the furniture from the guard, who then opens the door to look for you.

after dealing with the guard, you leave, and following otacon's instructions you get to the last computer that will fully upgrade your security clearance. nearby is an observation computer where you can view various parts of the base you have entered. otacon shows you the metal gear hangar.

where there was supposed to only be a prototype metal gear is a nearly completed replica of metal gear REX, and you make it your mission to destroy it.

on the way through the base, a second time now, the pathways have been filled with explosives and gun cameras by the commander's soldiers. you avoid these and make your way down to the hangar for metal gear REX. there is a security mechanic where you have to be wearing the same color uniform as the people who have clearance for the area. the game has a camera where you can take pictures of either your real surroundings (with the console camera) or the in-game surroundings (where there are conveniently placed posters that have the right colors in the areas you need them). you traverse multiple of these color-coded areas, and at one point you need to take a picture of a dead body so you can take the color of the former guard's uniforms.

you eventually come to an area that appears to be a dead end, as all the doors except the one you came through are non-functional. however, there is a crack in a nearby wall and you are able to blow your way through with some explosives of your own. once inside this new area, the surroundings start to change.

at first, it looks like a drug trip. snake comments on this. you call otacon and he dismisses what you say about the surroundings, acting like everything is normal. the flashes of color happen again and you receive multiple strange calls from otacon, the commander, and victoria reed. these calls are very similar to those received by raiden inside arsenal gear from colonel campbell and rose. one even tells you to turn off your device.

you receive another call from 111.11. the voice informs you that you have been kidnapped, drugged, and placed into a simulation. he claims to be the real otacon, and he has been trying to hack in to get you out and to identify the people who have kidnapped you. so far he has been mostly unsuccessful due to the complexity of the simulation.

snake, of course, questions all of this, and asks otacon something only he would know: what did he do when they first met? and the otacon you have been speaking to is unable to answer. but the one calling over 111.11 knows. when they first met, he peed his pants after being found in a locker.

this convinces you to cut off the other otacon, and listen to this real one. he advises you to simply finish the simulation, since you are already near the end, as that would likely end it or at least create a window where otacon could hack in and shut it down. he warns you that if you die in the simulation, you will die in the real world as well.

you enter the metal gear hangar where you find the masked man. he tries to kill you with a minigun, but he is not very good with the weapon. it frequently overheats and jams, and this gives you a good opportunity to attack. during this fight, the surroundings often change colors and glitch out, losing textures or inverting or becoming skeletal models of themselves. it is unpleasant to look at.

once you defeat the masked man, the simulation halts and you are ejected. the final cutscene is snake awakening, staring into blurry bright lights while unknown voices talk over him. they say snake did not give them the information they needed, and would not be able to continue as a test subject. they say they will wipe snake's memory and release him.

they already have another test subject lined up: jack.

a lot of the above summary was written from memory so it may not be entirely in order or 100% accurate. the wiki is much less detailed so it didnt really help me put it in order LOL

even though the game was only a few hours long i did find it interesting. it could lead to a lot of new scenarios if someone decided to incorporate it into their timeline for fan material 🤔 the game heavily implies the people who have kidnapped snake are the patriots. it also puts full-body immersive simulation technology at a much earlier point in the timeline than it was previously shown: before 2007 vs 2018 where its shown in mgr, unless i missed something in the games between mgs2 and mgr.

while absolutely not canon and never brought up by any other game, i just thought it was neat :)

edit: before mgs2 DOES have VR simulations as raiden was trained on them, but we dont learn exactly HOW immersive they are. i dont know what they put him through... but if they put snake through this one i bet raiden's training was harrowing...

[channajen]

BATMAN, MEET TEAM PHANTOM chapter 44 is UP!

As always, here is the link to chapter 1. This is story 5 in the "Ghosts in Gotham Series". Enjoy!

Summary of chapter 44:

It's a play day at Star Labs. The best of Team Phantom is gathering, along with Red Robin and Cyborg, and they're looking to take their mind off of their troubles by doing something Danny loves--making things the Fenton way! Is Star Labs ready for the young men? Is Cyborg??

Also, on an unnamed island in the tropics, a group of young ladies and a singular young man make landfall on a beautiful island paradise. One of them is obsessed with safety. The others just wanna have fun!

Also, DUCT TAPE!

Teaser below cut...

Victor was watching Danny intently when he noticed a blue mist escape from the boy’s mouth. “Aw, man! Not now!” The newest Ghost King groaned. “This better not be one of those asshat Observants trying to mess up my day…” He grumbled then started looking around for—something.

That something turned out to be a head and torso that popped up out of the computer console by Cyborg. “Hello, young friends, my King. Greetings! It is I, Technus! Master of all Technology! I am here to assist you in whatever manner you require of me today!” The what in the hell was that thing??? stepped fully out of the computer and looked around the room. His face lit up like Times Square on New Year’s Eve. “OH! We have so much to work with! My King! Do you have any projects in mind for today?”

The being completely ignored the other three boys in the room. Silas Stone was watching the craziness in the lab from the safety of the Observation Room. He had read what the kids were allowed to work with—or rather the very, very short list of what they weren’t—and decided that he didn’t personally need to be in the room with the four boys, and, apparently, now an ecto-being. He reached for the antacids. It was going to be a long day, unless the two newest boys had enough talent to make this interesting…

Below the observation level, Danny stood facing Technus. “Don’t make me regret making you my Royal Technological Advisor—understand?” He leveled a glare at the ghostly visage in the white luminescent lab coat.

“Technus” bowed his head. “I hope that one day I can fully earn your trust, Your Majesty.”

Tucker looked at Danny and then back at Technus. He walked over and slapped both of them on the back. “Guys, we are here to have FUN. Invent, experiment, and play with hazardous things! Let’s not waste our time on posturing, OK?”

Danny blushed…were his cheeks turning a bit green??...Victor wasn’t sure he really wanted the answer to that question. He was saved from his confusion by Danny, who looked up sporting a grin. “Yeah. I’ve got some great ideas for ghost shields—not shielding against ghosts, but shielding ghosts from human weaponry, so they’d be safe to visit Earth, should the United Nations grant us Sovereignty and possible member status. They should also work against ecto-blasts, so the weaker ghosts—and my armies—can be outfitted with a bit more protection than they have had until now. I want my people to be safe.

Cyborg was a bit taken aback. Most scientific types who were given access to Star Labs always wanted to get something marketable out of the time spent there. This kid—no, this KING—was looking out for his people, first and foremost. He was pulled out of his thoughts when Tucker started talking.

[lambourngb]

finished my most recent project, a gift-fic for Endless Summer. I'm really proud of it, I finally wrote the DADT story that I have been dying to read in fandom, and for the most part, it came out well, considering I wrote it 18 days basically.

Anyway, it's on to the next project. I am always so depressed after posting, the only cure is writing more. On deck:

"good fences make good neighbors" - it needs 3000 more words. I did that last week without breaking a sweat but I've only managed 90 words.

"you're the villain of your own story" - a post script to "there are no unnamed sources in a fairytale" - lots of commenters want to see the wife of Captain Van der Hollen again. So I'm working on something that picks up 5 years later in 2015.

maybe time running out is a gift - kicking around the idea of writing an Ice goes back in time. Not sure about this one- the number of timetravel fix-its in fandom numbers 90, of which one-third are IceMav. Can I say anything original here?

forgive me my trespass - Newly divorced, Ice receives notification that Mav is MIA presumed KIA and finds out he was the next of kin and executor of his estate. Among Mav's belongings are two videos, one for Bradley, and one for Ice.

survival is insufficient - my ICEMAV last of us WIP. There's nearly 80k on this. There's probably 50k more to write.

ghost in the machine - Bradley's postgraduate degree with the Navy revolves around AI intelligence and creating a timeless simulator for future pilots, and who better to model the program, but the late Admiral Kazansky? At first, Pete agrees, believing there is no way a computer could come close to being Ice. Then he sees what the engineers have done.

[toonocosm]

Concept sketches for HiveLight labs and the HiveLight team :) Pretend that aquarium is a terrarium instead in the last sketch.

Cress the HiveLight founder and A.P.I project leader. She's educated in all the interdisciplinary fields that are involved in robotics, but she specializes in artificial intelligence and deep learning. She plays the guitar whenever she needs a break from her work.

Ravi the solid light expert and designer, he was the genius that figured out how to turn photons into a solid form. He designs UIs, and software and makes visual designs for the stuff the HiveLight team invents. He was the main person responsible for HiveLight's interior design renovation, and he's a graffiti artist in his free time.

(Unnamed Crinoid) the information engineer, she specializes in making robots as autonomous as possible by giving them internal and environmental feedback, like senses.

Viking the mechatronics engineer. Viking is the one that works out how to engineer both electrical and mechanical systems for HiveLight's inventions. Basically, he builds things.

(Unnamed Frog) the computer engineer, they especially specialize in power electronics. They have invented the most effective solar cell panels on the market, which HiveLight sells (besides other gadgets) to keep their independent company afloat.

I want to give each team member one thing that they specialize in to really define their role on the team to make storytelling stuff easier. But It's hard, or kind of impossible, because many of the fields within robotics overlap with one another. It's good from a believability perspective, that means each one has some understanding of everyone's work and can work better together. But I really want that one thing that everyone can put their finger on and say "That's why you're useful. That's what you contributed to Api's creation".

So to try to summarizing their roles shortly:

Cress was responsible for his intellect.

Ravi gave him his force fields and holograms.

(Crinoid) gave him senses.

Viking built his body.

(Frog) gave him his power core and solar panels.

Ravi and Viking are the only designs I'm 100% happy with, I want to see if I can make myself like the other's designs more too. Mainly the crinoid and frog characters, I've redesigned Cress already.

_________________________________________________________

Copy and paste description from an old post: A friend gave me the idea that I could work with a theme. Can you guess what it is? It's meant to be subtle, but I think I can implement it a bit more.

I imagined a blue and black color scheme since I didn't want to go with the typical white, sterile look that you see all the time in media. But that did make it look very dark and monochrome so I threw in some orange in there and I think it looks very eye-catching! And the plants make it look a lot homier.

I like this, this is a setting I'm actually excited to include in a comic! This whole lab setting is an aspect I've been afraid to approach because I had no idea how to make it interesting. It's fun to finally see where Api came from.

[irradiate-space]

Rotational encoder, mounting holes, everything should fit, right?

Wrong!

The adjacent surface impinges upon the board's edge, preventing it from settling straight.

I'll have to take a saw to the print in order to figure out how much plastic to remove from the model, before printing off the next revision to this case. Revision 20, here we come!

[noneuclideanwhimsy]

I am. Very curious about your Hanh headcanons because I would like to write her but I don't really know where to begin so. 😁

Oooh!!! So basically in my headcanon the mysterious unnamed scientist seen arguing with Advisors in half-life Alyx is Doctor Helen Hanh (firstname made up by me, lastname was hers in the HLA beta, also I headcanon that Olga from the beginning of the game is Olga Hanh, her niece or something, since she also has a name tag with that lastname), a former Aperture scientist who was big on robotics and possessed an ultimate dream of using machines to open the path to immortality for humanity. Entirely unsurprisingly, Cave assigned her the task of leading the GLaDOS project, and she was largely responsible for discovering the method to storing a human consciousness in a computer. However, as the project went on, Helen slowly realised that this was nothing at all like the glorious immortality she had visualised, a cursed half-existence spent fulfilling tasks just like any machine, she tried to get Cave to stop, but that man would let absolutely nothing get in his way, he grew more and more demanding, so eventually Helen just packed her things and left before the project was done. By the time the news had reached her that her co-worker and close friend Caroline was forced to live the nightmare she designed and killed most of Aperture in the process, she had lost her faith in both human science and humanity as a whole completely. If Breen is the anti-Eli, Hanh is the anti-Kleiner. Eli believes there’s always hope, Breen thinks hope is futile and surrender is the only choice. Kleiner believes human ingenuity will always prevail, Hanh believes humanity to be a civilisation incapable of progressing further without destroying itself that can only save itself by assimilating into a greater race. When Breen’s deal with the Combine was established, she saw an opportunity and took it, quickly rising the ranks to be almost equal to Breen in pseudo-authority, his right-hand woman. Like Breen, she is aware of her role as little more than a puppet, but unlike him, she is willing to stand her ground and try and get the Combine to at least somewhat respect them, hencewhy she confidently mouths off to Advisors (after Cave Johnson, they’re little more than pushovers unless it’s about something really important like the Vault.) Though Breen writes the words themselves of his own speeches, the ideas within them are almost entirely Helen’s. She recognises the pain of the Combine’s oppression but sees it as a means to an end, a way for petty, insignificant humanity to earn the respect it needs to advance.

Also she is the one who recruits Mitchell in sequel!HDTF because she sees the idea of a human who sided with the Combine killing the One Free Man as a brilliant propaganda opportunity.

[juliannepepper]

Hi there! Take a seat:

My name is Julianne Pepper

and I’m an aspiring author! I currently have three unfinished manuscripts (one that I’m still working on, but I put in the back burner).

I’m a college freshman taking Computer Science, I love to edit videos and, of course, write, I’m currently reading The Fourth Wing, I dabble in art and music sometimes, and I’m a person who works a little too hard for what it’s worth lol.

What I’m working on right now:

Unnamed NaNoWriMo project: FINISHED

My NaNoWriMo account

My TikTok account

My Instagram account

My YouTube account

[welcomehomenewneighborsocblog]

Son Of Ronald Dorelaine (Welcome Home Oc)

Name: William "Willie" Dorelaine (professional surname: Maury) Relatives: Ronald Dorelaine (father-deceased); Charlotte Dorelaine (mother-deceased) ; Sarah Dorelaine (older sister); Annette Dorelaine (younger sister); Linda Dorelaine (wife) ; Kristen Dorelaine (daughter); Wally Darling(father's creation/surrogate brother); unnamed in-laws; unnamed nieces and nephews DOB: September 6, 196X Residence: Los Angeles, California Occupation: Puppeteer/Television Producer/Television Director/Voice Actor/Chairman Of Apple Homes Studios Sexuality: Straight Headcannon Voice/Live Action Actor: Brian Henson Personality: He has great nostalgia for Welcome Home and has always secretly wished it could come back in any form. He also has somewhat of a soft spot for Wally who was his favorite puppet and saw as a kindred spirit and swore he was alive. He often was saddened that the cancelation zapped his father of working in the industry and closing the studio to remain in obscurity. He was also always discouraged how he never wanted to talk about Welcome Home or Wally like it was bad shame. However, despite his father's want to dissociate with the entertainment industry he was motivated to go back. He very much sees value in the art of puppetry and never wanted to be stopped from doing so even if his father thought he shouldn't get disenchanted like he did. He cares about his family and tries to remain close with them especially after their parents died. He also wants to rekindle his relationship with Wally especially after he sees what has happened to him and the rest after being canceled and erased from history. He's protective of Wally like family and wants the best for him even when he does questionable acts out of desperation. He also values artistic integrity in the work he does and really doesn't like doing work with no heart in it. As a showman, he really tries to be understanding and give people an opportunity int he business to shine. Background: Son of the creator of Welcome Home, he was just a child when the series was first created. He was always fascinated by the puppets, especially main character, Waly Darling who felt somewhat close to and had a strong kindred with just like his father had. However, strange things began to happen around the production and suddenly things needs to be stopped, footage was destroyed or locked away, and his father told the whole family to just forget about Wally and anything to do with Welcome Home and just go into obscurity. After canceling everything to do with Welcome Home, everyone was forced to quietly act that Wally was never a thing and his father remained reclusive all their lives so no one could uncover Welcome Home ever again. He would miss Wally and the others at time and wondered what happened to make them be forced to be forgotten. As time went on, Willie got into show business, started his own studio, Apple Homes Studio, and did a lot of children and family programming. He then noticed the Welcome Restoration Project and got interested in them and pondered whether to give them personal material or not. As he was delving into the project, he was sucked into into the computer screen and taken into the world of Welcome Home where he was greeted by a figure who he thought he would never see again. Wally was happy to see his surrogate brother again and a bit surprised how much time had passed. They both caught up and told everything about each other including the fact that his father had passed on. This of course upset Wally but he tried to compose himself and convince him to stay with him forever and maybe even bring the rest of the family so he wouldn't be alone. He tried to dance around trying not to get Wally upset and said he would think about it. During this time, he would also meet another summoned into the world like Doli Daring daughter of Dorothy Darren, one of the people who worked on the show. They both would be turned into puppet themselves, find homes that originally belonged their parents/grandparents, and uncover secrets about the darkness plaguing the world. When they defeated the darkness and destroyed home they finally decided that everyone need to know about Welcome Home and he fully reconciled with Wally and promised his studio would bring them back. On that note, he was allowed to go back to the real world but with the knowledge he could finally have Wally be known. * Just like Wally, his favorite food are apple related stuff. * He gets Deshawn Dashing, Doli's brother, to work for him in computer graphics. * His dad died in 1990. * Maury is his mother's maiden name. * His father was originally from Alabama. * He took up painting as a side job due to the influence of Wally. * When the evil is defeated he does try to find other members of the crew still around to get more info out about Welcome Home. * He does find it peculiar when Wally forms a relationship with Doli since he saw him as a brother figure when he was younger but just lets it be since again age is different for a puppet. * When he revives Welcome Home he makes it more explicit from his father's notes which characters are lgbt and brings more diverse og characters. * He starts going by Dorelaine professionally after the evil inside Welcome Home is purged. * While unlike Doli, he doesn't stay in Welcome Home most of the time, he does visit time to time with some of the rest of his family and can still turn into his puppet form. Created through picrew.me/en/image_maker/25089…

[secretcircuit]

6, 8, 16, 19, 20, 25, 28, and 30!

YAY thank u !!

6. Anything that might inspire you subconsciously (i.e. this horse wasn’t supposed to look like the Last Unicorn but I see it)

this is tricky for me to answer! i feel like my artistic inspirations are things that i know (im curious what other ppl think they are...) for the most part... so i guess i dont know if i have an answer for this ! maybe other ppl do?? one time i drew a portrait of myself that looked like a wikihow illustration skdfjskfjskdjf but that was an accident

8. What’s an old project idea that you’ve lost interest in

so i started to answer this but then realized im still interested in that project skdjfksj ... ooh i know ! i used to draw this character (unnamed) with a computer monitor for a head and a human body -- because at the time i felt like people understood me to be a machine or robot-like when in fact i had a lot of feelings... so it was going to be a comic about them navigating through life with this huge disconnect... thankfully i have friends now who dont make me feel like that, so i dont feel the need to revisit it :')

(also side note i feel like ive seen comics / manga (or something?) with a design just like this since ???)

16. Something you are good at but don’t really have fun doing

this is making me realize that i like most of the things im good at, which makes me wonder if maybe i shy away from doing things im NOT good at (even if i dont like them)? i will have to ponder... i mean i guess i am passably good at drawing Mechanically Complex(ish) Things (e.g. bicycles or w/e) but find them really boring. im not interested in things that are symmetrical or engineered... (computers dont count; they are just lil boxes visually)

19. Favorite inanimate objects to draw (food, nature, etc.)

OOH so many things... i love drawing botanical stuff. i dont actually post much of it on here i guess? but i do a LOT of plant studies / drawings for people :) not to sound like a jock but i also really like drawing sports equipment?? it's fun in general and also when i draw it on people it helps with posing etc. skateboards, hockey sticks, that sort of thing. i do also enjoy drawing computers. and like... i guess they arent Objects but i like drawing interiors in general... trying to make spaces lived in etc. oh furniture is kinda fun to do... but yeah plants / botanicals are at the top of the list :)

20. Something everyone else finds hard to draw but you enjoy

people often remark that they find it hard to hatch/crosshatch the way i do? but it's just how i shade, and i like it; it's fun to do... people in motion ? hands? (dont get me wrong i also find them hard to draw but i do enjoy them.)

25. Something your art has been compared to that you were NOT inspired by

AHA well one time i posted a fanart piece of kakashi that i had done in acrylics as my fb profile picture (LOL... like we are talking 10-min study, not an actual polished piece) and someone said it looked like van gogh which ... was very funny to me? especially bc i dont feel like my style is similar to van gogh's otherwise. (and we are talking like - family friend commenting on fb. so.) ive also had ppl say that my art reminds them of alison bechdel's (which i consider to be a compliment; i love her comic style), but i had already pretty much solidified my style before reading dtwof so...

28. Any art events you have participated in the past (like zines)

i have never participated in a zine! i used to do inktober before the creator of it revealed himself 2 be super shitty. honestly the main reason i dont do zines is that i do exclusively traditional art and im lazy and dont feel like going 2 the effort of scanning / editing / etc... but also i would really like to? ive also thought about making my own zines, but thats not really an Event. i did in fact make one abt vampires... anyway

30. What piece of yours do you think is underrated

one of the orufrey pieces i did where theyre like abt to kiss after hours in the atelier... LISTEN. i used to dislike doing backgrounds but i put a lot of work into that one! i literally referenced how the couch looks based on the handful of manga chapters where it shows up!!!!!! i will live tho. honestly i have been pleasantly surprised with how much some of my art has been shared on here :')

art asks

[adamwatchesmovies]

The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988)

The Adventures of Baron Munchausen is a lot to take in just one sitting, but what a great-looking, original, whimsical, fun movie! It’s undeniably a Terry Gilliam creation, which is what makes it so enjoyable. When a director is matched with a project that suits them this well, the results demand to be seen.

In an unnamed city besieged by the Turks, the real Baron Munchausen (John Neville) interrupts a play about his many exploits, insisting that it is filled with inaccuracies. Impressed by his many accomplishments, young Sally Salt (Sarah Polley) convinces the baron to seek out his allies: Berthold, the world’s fastest runner (Eric Idle), Adolphus, a sniper with superhuman eyesight (Charles McKeown), Gustavus, armed with incredible hearing and lungs that can create a hurricane (Jack Purvis), and the herculean Albrecht (Winston Dennis). Together, these fantastic characters will surely drive the Turkish army back.

The last time I saw this film, I can’t have been more than 7. I still vividly remembered many scenes. How could you not? Every new place the Baron, Sally, and their allies visit is a treat; a place born out of pure imagination. When you think you're getting acclimated to its distinct sense of unreality, the film will pull back and reveal that what you just saw wasn’t what you thought it was, and then it swings back again and brings us to a world where giants take off their heads, where upside down is right side up, or where tall tales and the truth are synonymous. It’s all done with costumes, makeup, and incredible special effects. There’s a unique quality to this picture because of the time at which it was made. Had this picture been done today, a lot of it would've been achieved via computer, and it just wouldn’t have the same aesthetic. Because of the film's structure and the way the fantasy is brought to life, it feels timeless.

Occasionally, the picture feels a little long. As a whole, it appropriately feels like the mad ramblings of an old man who is filling in the gaps of his greatest adventures with complete fabrications. Nonetheless, a couple of trims here and there - enough to make this film last fewer than its current 126 minutes - would’ve done wonders. When you get to the ending (which is terrific), AoBM makes you immediately want to go back and watch it again, but that’s a bit of a tall order because of the length. My advice? Set aside time to watch this one during the week, and then invite a friend over to watch it with them a day or two later. One of the joys of this picture is how unexpected and unpredictable it becomes. By watching it a second time with someone who has no idea what they’re getting into, you get to relive those feelings, and you’ll also get to mentally note all of the clues that lead to that conclusion.

The Adventures of Baron Munchausen is a feat of imagination. It looks spectacular, the characters are memorable, and many key scenes will be permanently imprinted upon your brain. It’s sly and witty, funny, exciting and so perfectly put together the film becomes an experience. I look forward to catching this bright, colorful, eccentric story again. (On DVD, November 3, 2017)

[x-heartofthecards-x]

@numberoneduelist

The executive finally pulls his eyes away from the computer screen to look at his companion. Immediately, Yugi’s smile is blinding. How is it that he’d not noticed before recently? It’s no wonder that people seem to like the man.

Of course he’s amazing. He’s Seto Kaiba, after all. It doesn’t take a genius to recognize that he’s one of the greatest minds of their generation. He has sycophants praising him pretty much wherever he goes. But he enjoys hearing it. Especially out of Mutou’s mouth. It’s… different.

He hadn’t regretted it before, but right now, he’s glad that he decided to take this project on. Happy that Yugi decided to share with him. A strange feeling, that.

He’s not anticipating the answer to be that easy, to be honest. He’d fully expected a little more resistance. Maybe he’d just been thinking too negatively? Or does the man think that it’s going to be more business? The answer is not clear. Still, it’s a yes.

If he remembers correctly, Kame closes around ten. He’s someone that - unfortunately - stays up far past that most days, so it’s not much of an issue. Still, it might be nicer to meet up a little earlier if possible. At the final statement, he finds himself smiling - a soft upturn of the corners of his lips.

“I’m honored.” A quiet chuckle. “If it won’t lose you too much business, how about around eight?”

Yugi won’t have to close up too early, and he’ll have a little time after his own shift to mentally prepare. He’s not sure what, exactly, he’d like to do just yet - but he’ll likely avoid bringing work with him. Or, at least, too much of it.

As he thinks of what they could possibly do that isn’t related to their unnamed game - or duel monsters - a whim strikes him. It’s been a while, but he’s still fairly confident he has the skills necessary.

“I could… cook.” He’s nervous, but refocuses on the screen so that it’s less obvious. He hasn’t offered to do so for anyone besides his brother… ever. And he only does so occasionally at this point - most of the time he has people for that. “We could also just order something. Up to you.”

"Oh, I am pretty sure that I won't lose any business at all. Most of my business happens right after the schools get out. Eight is totally doable," Mutou replied with a chuckle.

Then the CEO offered to cook for him and almost sheepishly looked away. At least, that was the way he read the movement. His stomach somersaulted inside him at the nearly nervous action from the other and he thought, for just a moment, that his feelings might not actually be unrequited.

"I didn't know that you cooked. That sounds really nice," he began, his smile softening as he continued to look up at the other.

He considered not saying anything. Considered just seeing what happened and not risk putting himself out there for what was potentially the biggest misread of signals in his lifetime. It would be easier to not say anything. It would be safer.

Afterall, they just started this business venture together and saying something could ruin that. Not to mention the friendship they had begun to build. Saying something risked that as well.

He had almost fully resolved to remain quiet, but he could have sworn that he felt a swelling of annoyance from the Pharaoh—of course, this was impossible. Atem was gone and it was more likely just annoyance with himself, but even so, it was enough to make him pluck up some courage.

"Seto?" He began cautiously. His brow furrowed a bit and he continued, "Feel free to correct me if I am way off base. But ah… are you asking me on a date?"