#why the hell change the art style like THAT in the middle of the story??

[thankskenpenders]

The Lara-Su Chronicles: Beginnings review

The day has finally come. Many, understandably, thought we'd never get here. Maybe we shouldn't have gotten here. We've been through so much. Lawsuits, reboots, redesigns, unreleased NFTs, empty legal threats over the fact that movie Knuckles has a dad, an attempt to license out Scourge the Hedgehog to fans that immediately got canceled (in both meanings of the term), and many, MANY idiotic Twitter controversies. But now, here we are.

Thirteen years after first announcing it in the middle of his legal battles with Archie and Sega that changed the American Sonic comics forever, former writer Ken Penders has released the first part of his new series: The Lara-Su Chronicles.

Yes. I had to buy the book. I had to take one for the team. Look at the fucking URL of this blog, a blog I've been using to talk about the American Sonic comics for nearly a decade while the specter of this book loomed in the distance. The one time I've actually been paid to write an article about anything in any professional capacity, it was an article about the Penders lawsuits. I'm cited on his Wikipedia page. There was no way I was going to skip reviewing this, and there was no guarantee that scans would ever turn up online given the incredibly small audience for this trash. (Only 166 people preordered this, and even that number feels way higher than it should be.) No, I had to preorder it to ensure I could get a copy and cover it for the blog... even if that meant my name would be forever immortalized in the list of "supporters" in the back of the book. These are the sacrifices I must make as a woman who stumbled ass backwards into being an amateur Archie Sonic historian.

So, what exactly is in this book? How much of it is new? How bad is it? How did we even get here in the first place? How can this exist without Sega pursuing legal action? What happens next? And, most importantly... why are there multiple depictions of an Archie Sonic character breastfeeding in this book?

I'm here to answer those questions as best I can, and in agonizing detail.

First, for those just tuning in to this decades-long saga or those who maybe don't know the full story, here's a refresher on the background info.

"What the hell is this?"

The Lara-Su Chronicles is Ken Penders' long-dreaded long-awaited continuation of his 1994-2006 run on Archie Sonic, ignoring everything written after he left by other writers like Ian Flynn. In particular, it picks up from the cliffhanger ending of the 2003-2004 arc "Mobius: 25 Years Later," which was set in what Ken considers the definitive canonical future of the series. It stars Knuckles' daughter from that future era, Lara-Su, among other new and returning characters. The project was first announced near the start of Ken's legal battle with Archie in 2011, and he's been posting WIP previews online for about a decade. Now, after all this time, a Lara-Su Chronicles book finally exists.

We'll get to the actual contents of that book in a bit.

"He can do that without getting in trouble with Sega?"

Believe it or not, yes, he can.

Thanks to the outcome of Archie Comics' woefully mismanaged lawsuits against Ken (yes, they sued him after he started filing for copyrights, not the other way around), he now has full legal ownership of every story he wrote for Archie Sonic and every character he created for the series. This was explicitly granted to him in the terms of the settlement between him and Archie (acting on behalf of Sega). He can even reprint his old Sonic material as-is to his heart's content. The main catch is just that he can't write new stories featuring Sega characters or trademarks, and his new stories also have to be distinct from Sonic at a glance to avoid confusing readers. As such, reprints can't use Sonic iconography on the cover, a few Sega characters (mainly Knuckles) have been renamed and slightly redesigned in the new stories, and the art style has been changed to less closely resemble Sonic. But otherwise, he can do whatever he wants with his own characters.

All of this is because Archie lost the original copy of Ken's work-for-hire contract that signed over the rights to his work. Without that (or any alternative that was considered permissible in court), his comics and characters are the property of their creator by default. Yes, those old comics are full of Sega stuff, but Sega doesn't automatically own the copyright for every drawing of Sonic in existence. And Sega put their stamp of approval all over those comics and let them get sold at retail for decades, even though (in the eyes of the court) there was no legal paperwork granting them ownership of any of it. It's almost like they were unwittingly distributing a fan comic for years and declaring it a fair use of their property, and now there's no takesies backsies. It's a strange and unique copyright situation. Again, they worked all this out in the settlement. And, yes, fans have long speculated that Ken stole and destroyed his own contract to regain the rights to his work, but frankly Archie was so incompetent throughout the lawsuit (it went so bad that they had to fire and replace their lawyers midway through) that I completely buy the idea of them just losing important legal documents.

Also, in case it needs to be spelled out: while Ken's a weirdo, it's ultimately a good thing for creatives everywhere that Archie lost their lawsuit against Ken. We do not want to live in a world where corporations can claim ownership of peoples' work without the contracts to back it up. That would be an incredibly dangerous legal precedent to set. And more comic creators, and artists in general, should own their own work! Corporations are not your friend! They'll delete your work for a tax write-off in a heartbeat! It's just bewildering that this guy, of all people, was the creator who ended up successfully getting his shit back, and that this is what he's doing with it.

"What about his old collaborators? Are they involved? Is he paying them?"

Ken is mostly doing The Lara-Su Chronicles solo, though he has, in fact, talked about compensating the artists involved in any material he's reprinting. The ones who give enough of a shit to get paid for a small scale reprint of something they did 20 years ago, anyway.

On the subject of his collaborators, it's also worth pointing out that Ken's wasn't the only contract that was lost. Most of the early Archie Sonic writers from before Ian Flynn's time seem to be in the same boat as Ken, with the ownership of their stories and characters defaulting back to them. Again, Archie fucked up big time. But like I said, most of them don't really seem to give a shit. For most of them, Sonic was just a random temporary gig they took to pay the bills while Marvel was busy going bankrupt in the '90s, not the thing that defined their entire careers.

The only other Archie Sonic contributor who's tried to do anything on the level of what Ken is doing was writer and editor Scott Fulop. In 2016 he attempted to sue Archie for the unauthorized use of what are now retroactively considered his copyrighted characters and stories, and he even announced a standalone comic about his most famous Sonic character, the recurring villain Mammoth Mogul (sort of a pastiche of DC's Vandal Savage and Marvel's Kingpin, with wizard powers added for spice). However, Fulop lost his lawsuit because he didn't put together a particularly compelling case. Since then he seems to have wiped all traces of his ill-advised Mammoth Mogul comic and his company, Narrative Ark Entertainment, from the internet. For now, this leaves The Lara-Su Chronicles the only project of its kind.

"What about those other Archie Sonic reprints he just announced?"

At the time of writing, Ken is once again claiming that he's trying to get the band back together to reprint all of Archie Sonic, now under the bad new banner "Floating Island Productions: MOBIAN LINE" that I can't imagine he consulted literally anyone else on.

So, like, look. As we've established, Ken can reprint his own stories. And if he can work something out with the other contributors whose contracts were lost, he can print their work, too. But there is no fucking way he's getting his hands on Ian Flynn's run, which Sega undoubtedly holds the copyright for. Even if they don't, Ian needs to maintain a good working relationship with both Sega and IDW if he's to keep his job, so he'd never go for this. Not to mention that Ian and Ken just... don't get along! Ken's whole plan here seems to be predicated on IDW going out of business (a thing he REALLY wants to happen) and freeing up the Sonic comic license, after which he knocks on Sega's door and goes "hey I've still got dirt on you guys," blackmailing them into giving him the Sonic license back so that he can reprint the later comics. Every step of this plan is ludicrous. It's never gonna happen.

He's been saying he wants to reprint the whole series for a few years now, though. This isn't really anything new. And despite his lofty plans that set Sonic Twitter ablaze, he quickly backpedaled. The only specific things in the works right now are a "two-volume omnibus" of all of his Knuckles stories and a collection of artist Scott Shaw's work on the very early Archie Sonic issues, since they're on good terms with each other. I have no idea how Ken plans on packaging these when he can't put any Sega characters or the Freedom Fighters on the covers, but these projects are small enough in scale that there's a decent chance they'll see the light of day. Scott Shaw only did like five issues. But anything beyond that? I'll believe it when I see it.

Or, y'know, this could've all just been a publicity stunt for his new book. I wouldn't put it past him. Let's just focus on the book that actually exists.

"So he finally did it? He made a whole Lara-Su book? It's out? He finished it??"

Yes and no.

The book that's out now is The Lara-Su Chronicles: Beginnings, a prologue for the series of seven graphic novels Ken somehow plans on making, even though it's taken him 13 years to put out literally anything new. I don't know whether or not this counts as book one of seven, because it only features 30 pages of new comics. 30.5 if I'm being generous.

Most of the book is actually just a reprint of his infamous Archie Sonic storyline "Mobius: 25 Years Later", which ran from issue #131 to #144 in 2003-2004. (Again, yes, he can reprint this, he just can't put Sonic on the cover.) Why's it infamous? Well, Ken had been building anticipation for this future era of the series for basically his entire run. We kept seeing King Sonic and Queen Sally from the future. Knuckles' entire backstory hinges on his dad having a vision of this future. Several years before Silver the Hedgehog was created, it was Lara-Su who was Sonic's equivalent to Future Trunks, the cool-looking child of one of the main characters who traveled back in time to try and prevent a dark future. Believe it or not, yes, there was hype for Lara-Su. And then we finally got M25YL, and none of that cool stuff happened. Instead it really ended up being about how unbearably boring the middle aged Sonic, Knuckles, Sally, and co. are in this peaceful future where Robotnik is dead and they're all married with kids, forced into traditional nuclear family gender roles. Lara-Su is present, but she mostly just does generic teen girl stuff and complains about how Knuckles won't let her do anything even though she REALLY wants to be the new Guardian of Angel Island, like, super bad! Come on, dad!!!

In its original printing, this meandering arc ended on an abrupt time travel cliffhanger that Ken was never able to follow up on before he left Archie in 2006. This new printing slightly changes that ending, using the unresolved timey-wimey shenanigans as a convenient excuse to alter the entire timeline. This creates the slightly different world of The Lara-Su Chronicles, where the few relevant Sega-owned characters have been replaced and everyone is ten times uglier.

After this, we finally get two short new stories picking up where M25YL left off: "The Storm," starring Acorn Kingdom super-spy and known creep Geoffrey St. John, and an early release of the first chapter of The Lara-Su Chronicles: Shattered Tomorrows, the first full TLSC graphic novel.

And now that we're all on the same page about what we're looking at, let's actually talk about the book!

The cover

Let's start by beating a dead horse. The cover art: it's still bad! But why is it bad?

The cover is, of course, based on Patrick Spaziante's cover from Archie Sonic #131, the start of the "Mobius: 25 Years Later" arc. (Ken did the layout for that cover, though, so in the eyes of the law he's the original creator who owns that cover.) That cover was, itself, a tribute to the iconic cover of Giant-Size X-Men #1 by Gil Kane and Dave Cockrum, the issue that introduced the version of the team with Wolverine, Storm, Nightcrawler, etc.

Ken seems to have forgotten that the point of both these covers was to hype up the arrival of a new cast of characters. The new guys are supposed to make a dramatic entrance front and center. That's the focal point. Meanwhile, the cover for Beginnings has the old timeline versions of the cast from Archie Sonic dramatically bursting out of a shattered crystal ball, while their new counterparts look on in mild bemusement - if they're even bothering to look at all, since most of the characters here are just copied and pasted from their profile pages. That's just not how you do this particular homage! The point is supposed to be "out with the old, in with the new." And why are they using a crystal ball to view the past? Hell, why are they even using a crystal ball at all? The original arc was presented as a magical vision of the future courtesy of Tails' uncle Merlin (don't ask), but the new story leans all the way into being futuristic sci-fi.

Of course, there is no real artistic intent at play here. The old versions of the characters are placed front and center in the crystal ball simply because Ken traced over Spaziante's original art of Lara-Su and Julie-Su (the only two characters on the Sonic cover he owns) and threw out the rest, ruining the composition in the process. Look at the awkward empty space where Sonic, Sally, and Rotor once were, and the new drawing of The Character Formerly Known As Knuckles who's no longer properly centered between his wife and daughter. Even if Ken can claim ownership of the cover because he did the original layout, this all just feels scummy and lame.

And, yeah, if it needs to be said, the new characters and Ken's new rendering style look like absolute fucking dogshit. Putting new Lara-Su directly next to old Lara-Su does her no favors. The shattered glass effect looks absolutely atrocious. I could go on, but we'll have plenty of time to talk about the art style when we see how bad the stories inside look.

Changes to "Mobius: 25 Years Later"

Overall, 99% of M25YL is presented identically to its original printing. Sonic, Sally, Knuckles, et al. are still present with no changes to their names and no tweaks to the art. Even the original cover for issue #131 is included only a few pages into this book with its Archie, Sonic, and Sega logos still intact and everything. Again, because of the weird copyright situation described above, these preexisting comics can be released without any changes.

There is exactly one bizarre change to the art, though, where a hand drawn shot of Angel Island is replaced with an unfitting photo background and the ugly Floating Island photobash that Ken has been using as his personal logo for decades. I think he only did this as part of a test for his motion comic app that nobody asked for. I don't know why this had to make it into the print version. It's like the book is firing a warning shot for what's to come if you keep reading.

The new content begins on the final page of M25YL. In the original wet fart of a cliffhanger ending, Sonic and co. accidentally alter the timeline with an old time machine of Robotnik's and Lara-Su begins to fade away. Then, after everything goes white, we just cut to the present day heroes going "gee, you ever think about the future?" In this new printing, that last bit has been cut, and the rest of the page has been awkwardly shrunk down so that Ken can fit in a new panel. We now see the hands of an off-screen villain, seemingly named "Override," proclaiming that "the Praetorian" (Knuckles) has messed up the timeline again and that they'll finally get their revenge.

Who is this Override? I have no fucking clue. The new stories in this book make no mention of them. You have to buy the next book to find out.

My confusion over the identity of this villain overlaps with another big problem: name changes. So many names and nouns have been arbitrarily changed in The Lara-Su Chronicles, even ones Ken didn't have to change for copyright reasons, and I only know what half of them are replacing because Ken's been tweeting about this shit for years.

The echidnas are now a totally original alien race called "the Echyd'nya." Even in flashbacks to events from M25YL attempting to mimic the old art style, if it's on a new comic page, they're gonna call themselves "Echyd'nya." Evil echidna faction the Dark Legion is now the "Cyberdark Dominion," hailing from the "Cyberdark Colony." The Brotherhood of Guardians is still the Brotherhood of Guardians, but now the main guardian is called "The Praetorian." Angel Island is still called "The Floating Island," like it was in the older Archie comics, but it's ALSO sometimes called "Avion"? When I read this I wasn't sure if he had randomly renamed Albion, the other echidna city from the Archie comics. But no. Now we have an Albion AND an Avion. Sally is mentioned simply as "Princess Acorn," while Sonic is referenced once as an unnamed "blue-spined Erinaceinae," using the scientific name for hedgehog to make it sound more sci-fi. In an incredibly ballsy move, Ken even mentions Robotnik as "the Insurrectionist Kintobor," retaining his original surname from the Archie comics that's just "Robotnik" backwards. Guess Sega never trademarked that one.

Aside from every name change being a downgrade, this leads to confusion when you're not sure if something is supposed to be new, or if it's just an Archie thing you're supposed to recognize despite having a new name and design. Is "Override" someone I'm supposed to know already? Am I just supposed to have read a fucking tweet from Ken where he said he changed the name of some existing villain to "Override"? The answer is no, but I had to term search his Twitter just to verify this.

Moving on!

New story #1: "The Storm"

If you've been following the WIPs, this is that story about Geoffrey St. John that Ken's been posting previews of for almost a decade. The title page copyright dates it to 2015, and that absurdly long gestation is probably why the art is so inconsistent here. Even the style of speech bubbles and the font change between pages two and three.

This is a problem when there's supposed to be a deliberate and noticeable change in art style here signaling the moment where the time travel stuff alters the timeline, replacing the Archie Sonic world with the Lara-Su Chronicles world. If you don't already know that's what's going on, the idea isn't conveyed clearly at all. It just goes from one hideous art style to a slightly different one with no explanation.

The main problem here is that Ken has hitched his wagon to a franchise about anthropomorphic animals when he can't draw furries to save his life. (Though a bit later in the book we'll also begin to wonder if he can even still draw humans.) He's shifted away from the cartooniness of the original designs and given them more human proportions and facial features, but this just ends up making them look incredibly uncanny and lumpy and gross. With some designs he's trying to lean into more of a Star Trek alien vibe, but then he still insists upon retaining the giant Sonic eyes on most characters even though he has no idea how to make them emote.

The rendering of these godawful designs doesn't do them any favors, either. Ken's going for more of a painterly look now, but it almost seems as though he's shading everything with Photoshop's burn and dodge tools that are designed to darken and lighten select areas of a photo. The result is a muddy, smudgy look that makes it feel like the color layer has been smeared in vaseline. And it only looks worse after coming off of 14 chapters of M25YL that have way more palatable art.

The backgrounds, too, are a complete mess, a jumble of low res jpeg photo elements (sometimes with extremely noticeable pixelation), stock textures, and smooth digital gradients. There's no real sense of place here, and it gives everything a surreal, dreamlike quality when you can't really tell where anything is supposed to take place. This first story is seemingly set in a high-tech stronghold below Castle Acorn called "the Bunker," but it could just as easily be confused for the bridge of a spaceship. This whole story features characters speaking to each other over floating video displays and hologram projectors from three different locations, but without a hologram effect and without a clear sense of where the characters are it often feels like they're just in the same room as each other. Characters will be in one location on one photo background, and then the camera angle changes and they're in a completely different place, because Ken just uses mismatched photos off of the internet. It's been like 25 years since he first tried using photo backgrounds in the Archie comics and he hasn't gotten any better at it.

When I had my boyfriend read the book to see if it made literally any sense to him (it didn't), Anthony said this: "This is the kind of shit I'd see linked on a Second Life world that hasn't been touched since 2004." I think he really hit the nail on the head. Now, there's actually a contrarian part of me that thinks that might theoretically almost be kind of cool, in sort of a messy counterculture way. I love weird indie shit. I was a Homestuck reader! But this isn't a scrappy mixed media zine, or experimental outsider art from someone just messing around with Photoshop, or a loving throwback to weird old internet art, or even something intentionally bizarre and offputting like Xavier: Renegade Angel or a PilotRedSun video or whatever where the fact that it's weird and ugly is part of the humor. This is supposed to be a sincere sci-fi epic drawing on Star Trek and Jack Kirby comics, made by a guy who's been drawing comics professionally since the '80s. This is supposed to look good. This is supposed to compete with mainstream comics that are on sale right now. He thinks any day now IDW's gonna go out of business and Sega will come crawling back to him so that he can stamp the Sonic logo on shit like this. It just doesn't work.

But, okay. It's ugly. We knew it would be ugly. But that ugliness would be much easier to accept if it was in service of an otherwise genuinely good story. So what about the writing? After all this time, how does Ken choose to kick off this new saga? Well, credit where credit's due. "The Storm" feels like a proper continuation of Ken's writing style from M25YL.

Because it's eleven pages of characters standing around and talking while nothing fucking happens.

Here's the synopsis: A dog woman named Brownie, an ensign in the Royal Secret Service fresh out of training and the only character who's almost cute, walks up to Geoffrey to deliver a report. He's immediately suspicious of her, asking who let her in and if she's a spy for Elias (Sally's brother, if you're new here) or Alicia (Sally's mom). The art style suddenly shifts when the timeline is altered, but the scene continues uninterrupted. Geoffrey points a gun at Brownie when she won't say whose spy she is. Geoffrey is distracted by a call and proceeds to have a conversation via a mix of holograms and video screens with Remington (head of Echidnaopolis security), Spectre (Knuckles' great great great great great grandpa, the one with the helmet who always looks evil), and a new scientist character named Dr. Zephyr/Zephur. (The spelling of this character's name changes multiple times throughout the 11-page story, because I guess nine years wasn't enough time to spellcheck this shit.) They say a bunch of made up technobabble nonsense about how it looks like the timeline was just altered and Knuckles and co. seem to be involved. It's complete drivel that I'm not even going to try to make sense of. Everyone decides to investigate further, and the conversation ends. Brownie tells Geoffrey she's his spy, then walks out and implies she's actually Alicia's spy in her inner monologue.

To be continued!!!

Yes, that's it. It's really just a bunch of technobabble where some characters talk about how it seems like the timeline has been fucked with. That's it. The whole time Geoffrey doesn't even get up out of his damn chair, which he's of course sitting in backwards to show how cool he is. It's just 11 pages of Geoffrey sitting in a chair and talking to people and looking uglier than he's ever looked. Nothing happens. Nine years for this.

I'm also struck by how meaningless all of this is to anyone who hasn't read Archie Sonic. The added context from M25YL may help a little, but "The Storm" focuses on characters who weren't in that arc, and the story does very little to introduce who any of them are. Brownie could've been super useful as an inexperienced point of view character who's only meeting the others for the first time here, but instead she's really just a passive observer who's here as part of some kind of 4D chess game between Geoffrey and Alicia, an off-screen character whose motivations in this era of the story are completely unknown to even returning readers. Who are the good guys and bad guys here? What are the conflicts and the stakes of the story moving forward? What do these characters want? Basic questions like this aren't really answered. I can't imagine a new reader being able to make heads or tails of this. Hell, I can't really imagine a returning reader who hasn't been following the last decade's worth of Ken's tweets about this story making heads or tails of it, either.

...Maybe more will happen in the next story?

New story #2: Shattered Tomorrows preview chapter

After another message from Ken, the story of The Lara-Su Chronicles proper begins with the redesigned Lara-Su walking along a jpeg photograph beach at sunset and crying while thinking about how Knuckles - sorry, his name is K'Nox now - is dead.

Yep! Straight into the dad stuff!

Look, I'm the last person to complain about writers getting super personal and drawing from their own baggage in their writing, but Ken's just no fucking good at it. There's no nuance, nothing interesting to say. He just keeps writing mediocre-to-horrible dads whose misdeeds are always justified by their "good intentions," and then sometimes they die and their kids are like "we may have fought but actually you were the bestest dad ever and I'll miss you forever, I'll never be able to fill your shoes!"

This is the only part of the new material here that feels like it has any heart behind it, because I know how much his complex relationship with his late deadbeat father means to Ken (there's an author's note in this outright saying as much). But the guy died 42 years ago, and it doesn't feel like Ken has had any new thoughts about this part of his life in those four decades. He's just not an introspective or self-aware enough artist to actually mine his personal baggage for anything beyond "father knows best."

Anyway, so then it jumps forward in time(?) and now we're following this human guy who looks like this.

Previously, Ken got a lot of shit for literally just using the likeness of Anthony Mackie for this guy, based on his IMDB profile photo. Ken has thus redesigned the character... and by that I mean I think he looks more like Ernie Hudson now? Ken's clearly just working off of photo references (if not straight up tracing), given his face is the most detailed and realistic-looking thing on any page where he's present.

But you may be wondering: who is this, and why is he here? Well, for one, he's here to run around in front of some low res space photos while making trite references to things like Planet of the Apes and Star Trek. Haha, he makes a joke about red shirts! Original!! But beyond that, Commander Mykhal Taelor (yes, that's really how he chose to spell it) is a human... from Earth! Archie Sonic readers are probably confused, because in those comics Mobius is Earth in the distant post-apocalyptic future. Well, despite being a Planet of the Apes fan, Ken always hated that particular worldbuilding decision from Karl Bollers, always preferring to think of Mobius as a separate alien planet. And now he gets to make that canon in his own stories and throw out Karl's ideas. So Mobius is basically just, like, a Star Trek planet now, with its own alien creatures that sometimes just so happen to look like anthropomorphic Earth animals.

Also, at one point Taelor wonders if the inhabitants of the dead Mobius might have been human, and the alien ally he's talking to over the radio says it's unlikely. "I don't understand why your kind has a problem understanding you're a minority within a minority." Perhaps poor wording for a line said to the only Black character in the story.

Anyway, Commander Taelor here seems to have discovered the uninhabited husk of Mobius after the vague time-space cataclysm everyone was worried about in M25YL has come to pass, and he finds an audio log from Lara-Su that I presume will explain what happened. I guess those are the titular Lara-Su Chronicles. In theory this flash forward establishes some sense of pressing danger, but when the threat to the planet is so unclear and technobabble-y it just kind of lands with a thud.

It doesn't take long before we get back to Lara-Su being sad about her dad. A good little chunk of the chapter is spent with this new timeline's Lara-Su recalling moments in her life, including echoes of the original Lara-Su's memories from M25YL, which feels redundant coming hot off the heels of a straight reprint of that entire arc. And boy, for anyone who read the later Archie Sonic comics, the protagonist having vague memories of the old version of the series from before a lawsuit-related timeline reboot sure does sound familiar, huh?

The art inconsistency somehow becomes even worse in this story, with Ken flip-flopping on whether or not he wants to use outlines, with the no-outline art managing to look even worse by relying entirely on Ken's awful rendering. By this point in the book, readers are also likely to start noticing how often Ken reuses art from previous panels. This is a shortcut that tons of comic artists use, of course. Invincible famously did a joke about this. It's often understandable. But, again... it sure does stand out in a book that took 13 years to make with only 30 pages of new art. Amusingly, Ken even manages to combine his inconsistency and recycling problems by reusing the same art with and without outlines. And, of course, any time Ken tries to draw the Archie era designs it's just... the worst.

And, yes, it's in this dreamlike montage sequence of Lara-Su's life that we get...

The uncomfortable family nudity scene, followed by the dual timeline Julie-Su breastfeeding scene.

Yeah, you might have heard about this one already. If this incredibly eerie presentation of Lara-Su's hazy memories of the two different timelines make it hard to tell what's going on, don't worry. There's another, clearer version later in the book as part of Julie-Su's character profile, because I guess Ken was just so proud of it.

(I censored these myself because I'm not playing Russian roulette with Tumblr's inconsistent nudity rules and risking getting banned lmao)

Like, okay. Is a mother breastfeeding her child really that shocking of a thing to see in a story? No, not at all. But, like... when it's two characters who you previously created for an officially licensed Sonic the Hedgehog comic for 7-year-olds... and some of those officially licensed Sonic the Hedgehog comics for 7-year-olds are reprinted in the same book... and when it's drawn like this... yeah, it's kind of a shocker.

It just looks so unnatural. Julie-Su is posed very deliberately so that you'll see both of her breasts, and in the new timeline version she's barely even holding Lara-Su so you can really get a good look at her supermodel body, showing zero physical signs that she just gave birth. Most people will immediately jump to this being Ken putting his fetishes in his work (a type of criticism that I'm incredibly tired of - it's 2024, all the cool artists are blatantly putting their fetishes in their work now). And my immediate response is that, no, this is probably just Ken trying to come off as really mature on a surface level, a thing he's been obsessed with since the Archie days. Free from the shackles of writing a licensed children's comic, of course he's going to jump immediately into depicting some nonsexual, artistic nudity to try and prove he's A Real Mature Artist For Grown-Ups who just thinks the human body is beautiful and breastfeeding shouldn't be a taboo etc. etc.

But then, like. You look at some of the other character designs. Like Espio's daughter Salma, who's now this horrifying alien lizard person who's always nude, and her scale pattern puts scales exactly where her nipples should be. Or you look at his comments about the Echyd'nya age of consent. Or you look at how he keeps drawing Lara-Su in this. Like, does the shuttle really need this, like... reverse chaise lounge thing in the cockpit? So that we can keep getting these shots of the 16-year-old Lara-Su lying on her stomach and posing with one of her legs kicked up, her naked ass in plain view?

The vibe isn't great, is what I'm saying!

I'm not going to try to ascribe authorial intent here. I don't know. I'm not a psychic. Given his very blatant reliance on photo references elsewhere in the book, it's entirely possible he just referenced some figure drawing photos that were maybe just a little too sexy. And also, he's an American comic book artist, and a boomer one at that. Those guys tend to draw women a certain way, even when it's not supposed to be sexual. I don't fucking know. It just sucks. I'm not gonna make some hyperbolic statement about how this makes him a literal pedophile who should be in jail, but it is deeply offputting and objectifying.

But if you already knew about the nursing scenes and were hoping there was some other really shocking stuff in there for me to talk about in this review, sorry to disappoint, but nope. That's the only shockingly weird new thing in here. Once again, not a lot happens in this story, and what does happen is pretty boring.

Once we get past the recap stuff and the human guy, the plot developments boil down to this: The timeline was altered at the end of M25YL... but not as much as you might think. In the new timeline, Knuckles ("K'Nox"), Cobar (now looking significantly younger), and Rotor (now a rhino just called "The Emissary") still traveled via shuttle to go find a time machine in the Badlands and fix the time-space continuum, like in the climax of the original arc. This time, though, Sonic wasn't there, and Lara-Su came along without having to stow away. Lara-Su watches the ship while the grown ups go deal with the time machine, and then after a couple panels Not Rotor comes back with Cobar and is like "Hey, Cobar got hurt, we gotta leave. Dunno what happened to your dad." And then they just, like. Presume that Knuckles must have died. Even though we have no idea what happened to him. And then they just fly away. And then Lara-Su is sad that her dad died.

And that's pretty much it!

This is supposed to be a really emotional sequence - it's literally the scene where Lara-Su learns that Knuckles is dead - but instead it comes off as unintentionally funny because of how poorly it's portrayed. Not showing Knuckles' actual disappearance is a huge misstep, for one, making his uncertain fate more confusing and anticlimactic than dramatic. But also, Ken keeps just using the same two drawings of Rotor for two pages, so he doesn't really seem to be emoting at all, and he's in this spacey hazmat suit that honestly just makes him look like fucking Moltar from Space Ghost. So the whole time I'm just reading his dialogue in Moltar's deadpan voice as he's like "I dunno. We did what we could. Anyway, let's leave."

After this, we get a two-page spread previewing the rest of the story from Shattered Tomorrows. It's basically like a trailer in comic form. It has one of the most mystifying layouts I've ever seen in a comic book. I have no idea what order I'm supposed to read this in.

Yeah, I kinda have a feeling this is the full extent of what Ken has drawn for the rest of that book. I'd love to be wrong, but I fear that I'm right.

Bonus material: Data files

These are mostly very dull, recapping a lot of events shared between Ken's Archie run and the new Lara-Su Chronicles timeline. It seems like almost his entire run is still considered canon to the backstory of the new timeline, just with some names changed, and things only really diverge at the climax of M25YL. But I'll share the interesting stuff here.

Lara-Su

The main thing you'll notice in Lara-Su's profile is the massive, unreadable wall of text where Ken felt the need to list the entire Knuckles family tree, split across both pages.

This is literally so long that Lara-Su's personal history has to awkwardly cut off mid-sentence and be continued on the final page of the book, after the rest of the data files.

Also, please note that this list gives Julie-Su's mom's full name as Mari-Su of the House of Atrades. Incredible on all levels.

There's also a reference to the dark timeline Lara-Su was originally supposed to come from. You know, the one where Julie-Su is the leader of a rebel movement fighting against a Knuckles who had gone mad with power? The timeline that would have been way more interesting than the one in M25YL? Here it seems to have been written off as the result of another "timeline disruption." Lara-Su allegedly has vague memories of this timeline, in the same way that she has vague memories of the M25YL timeline.

Geoffrey

Geoffrey's bio mostly recaps events from the Archie comics, which means the Sonic/Sally/Geoffrey love triangle has to be alluded to. His rivalry with Sonic is described like this:

"He would later resurface when Kintobor was transporting his latest hi-tech weapon, the Dynamac-3000. It was during that mission he discovered a rival for the Princess' affections. Whereas the Princess would be one of a line of conquests where St. John was concerned, the blue-spined Erinaceinae who protested doth a bit too much regarding his affections for the Princess for St. John's taste would prove to be a source of great sport and amusement."

Yes. It's gross. Saying that Geoffrey saw Sally as "one of a line of conquests" is gross. Ken writing this and then still treating Geoffrey as the coolest badass ever is gross. The "Princess Acorn" is also first on the list of Geoffrey's "female relationships" elsewhere in his bio, though I suppose how much of a "relationship" they had is left vague. Honestly, at this point the fact that Ken didn't explicitly confirm that Geoffrey took the underage Sally's virginity in the book comes off as a display of restraint. The bar couldn't be any lower, I know.

Remington

His bio is, frankly, shockingly long for such a minor character, though I guess he does get a large portion of the word salad dialogue in "The Storm." There's a lot of stuff here about how the identities of his biological parents are shrouded in mystery, a plot point that fans have long speculated Ken just straight up forgot about in his time at Archie. (Ian confirmed that Kragok from the Dark Legion was Remington's dad, though, so this isn't really much of a mystery.)

Lien-Da

She gets a bio even though she's not present in the two new stories, just so we get to look at her awful new design and compare it to how Steven Butler drew her earlier in the book:

Commander Taelor

We get to see two drawings of him with the same exact Ernie Hudson face side by side! That's fun.

Julie-Su

She gets a list of "known friends," but the only character listed is Knuckles' mom. Poor Julie-Su.

Also, Ken feels the need to reiterate that Knuckles and Julie-Su are still distant cousins. He made a whole new timeline where he can change whatever details he wants, but THAT had to remain canon. Thanks, Ken.

And then after the data files we get the special thanks page, listing everyone who preordered the book and/or bought TLSC merch from Ken.

With my name on the list. Because I had to buy a copy to cover it for the blog.

My name is on the very next page right after the breastfeeding panel in Julie-Su's data file.

Yep. He got me.

Is it at least a well put together book? Like, in terms of manufacturing quality?

Its physical quality is... fine. It's a nice, sturdy hardcover. The print quality seems fine, though mine does have a bit of smudging from some sort of printing error on one page. The pages don't seem like they'll fall out on me. The image quality is crisp. The colors are vibrant. This is a low bar, but this is one of the few places where I'm able to give this book anything resembling praise.

The formatting and graphic design work, on the other hand...

(I didn't crumple those page corners, it came like that.)

For one, the placement and sizes of the M25YL pages is inconsistent, largely due to the fact that the book doesn't actually match the proportions of a comic. A lot of pages aren't properly centered vertically. Some pages go all the way up to the top edge of the paper, while others leave a visible gap of about half a centimeter. Every page has a 1cm gap to its left and right, which is sometimes filled in with a solid color or gradient that doesn't quite match the page it's surrounding. I have to assume Ken didn't have any sort of source files or original artwork to work off of, as those ideally would've had more generous bleed to account for slight shifts in printing. It kind of seems like he just got the highest resolution versions he could find of the digital releases online and printed those. The colors are a dead ringer for the digital versions, which have always looked slightly more saturated and pastel than they did in print.

I can't say this bodes well for his further plans for Archie Sonic reprints - sorry, Mobian Line reprints. If they ever come out, please, for the love of god, do not buy those. I don't care how much you love Archie Sonic, they aren't going to be good reprints. For comparison, IDW's similarly priced hardcover Sonic collections have none of these formatting problems, because they're made by people who know what they're doing with access to the actual source files.

The book also has its fair share of text-focused pages, split between the data files and messages directly from Ken about the history of his career and this project, and these are formatted in the most amateurish way possible. Just massive walls of Arial text over either plain white backgrounds, simple gradients, or faded photos. I've seen school yearbooks with better graphic design. Even ignoring my subjective feelings about the art and stories within, this book does not feel like it's worth $36 USD.

It's frankly shocking how shabby he let this thing look considering it's supposed to be his baby. And doesn't that really sum it all up?

Closing thoughts

Obviously, I did not expect this to be any good. But I'm still left kind of dumbfounded by it.

I think what really strikes me about it is that Ken had a blank check to do whatever he wanted here. He got an opportunity many writers would kill for when he gained complete ownership of his most famous work. He's free from the limitations of a monthly licensed comic book for children, free to make whatever creative decisions he wants without editors or other writers or Sega to worry about, free to completely reinvent the series to his heart's content and finally tell the story of his dreams. And with that opportunity and 13 years of his time, he made... this. A direct continuation of "Mobius: 25 Years Later" that barely changes anything about the characters or world beyond their awful new designs, even though much of the word count is spent rambling about how the timeline has changed. A story that makes zero concessions for new readers, or even returning readers who don't already have the last decade's worth of Ken's tweets explaining his creative decisions burned into their memory. 30 pages where nothing really happens and the story barely moves forward an inch despite the decades-long wait - but maybe something will happen if you buy the next book!

Who is this for? Maybe this really is a project for no one but Ken. Maybe he just really, really wants to finish the story he started, a story that's personal to him due to the family history it evokes, and the number of people who enjoy it or buy it beyond that is irrelevant. I think that many of the best artists are incredibly self-indulgent ones working with that exact mindset, artists whose enthusiasm for their own work jumps off the page or screen. So, if that's the case, then why the fuck isn't he telling the damn story? What's stopping him? Why is he still spinning his wheels? Where is that passion for his own work? Because it sure as hell isn't there on the page. There's a huge part of me that really wishes I could say "Man, what a weirdo, but you do you, Ken. You tell your weird little story." But there's barely any story here. It's like he loves styling himself as a storyteller, but he's terrified of finally having to actually tell a story after all this time. He's still stuck in the exact same mode of writing he was in almost 30 years ago when he was doing 6-page backup stories about Knuckles, just killing time and stringing readers along until he's eventually able to truly realize his vision. If not now, then when, Ken?

Even the back cover blurb is mostly just a dry recap of the history of this thing. It was a Sonic comic, the original arc was published in these issues, it went unfinished, Ken left Archie, the lawsuits happened, now he's continuing the story. There's nothing about why anyone should give a shit about this as its own story, even though Ken has spent years trying in vain to convince people TLSC is its own beast that shouldn't be judged as a Sonic story. I think deep down he knows that there's no pitch for this beyond the novelty of it originating from Sonic. And that's why, despite declaring that he'd leave the site, he's still on Twitter riling up Sonic fans. It's the only attention he gets at this point.

Maybe this is too harsh when those 30 pages of new comics are just intended as a preview for the "real" book. But the elephant in the room is that we have no idea if that "real" book will ever actually come out, let alone the entire series of seven graphic novels that will supposedly complete this saga.

Ken is undeniably a complete jackass and all around unpleasant, vindictive person who's rightly become an industry pariah. He's a self-proclaimed paragon of progressive values who'll send Comicsgaters after his successors for the crime of not worshiping the ground he walks on, and then turn around and announce he's going to reprint their work without even consulting them. He's a sore winner who already won his copyright battle on a level most comic writers would never dare to dream of, and yet still won't truly be satisfied until he sees an entire major comic publisher go out of business, putting god knows how many people out of work, because he thinks this would get him back the license to a video game franchise he doesn't even like.

But I still have to pity him.

As an artist, the trajectory of his life is my nightmare. I think all of us fear dying before we can tell all the stories we want to tell. There's simply never enough time to do everything. And here's Ken in his 60s, talking about how he's still planning on making his magnum opus all by himself out of stubbornness and pride, despite demonstrably proving he can't handle the workload, and also talking about how if he dies before the project can be finished he'll have to pass the torch on to his kids and get them to finish it for him. It's so grim. Even just typing that sends a shiver down my spine. It took nine years of his limited time on Earth to finish and release an 11-page comic about Geoffrey St. John sitting backwards in a chair.

This is a purgatory of his own creation. And yet... I'm not sure he's ever been prouder. One must imagine Sisyphus happy.

I guess if I want people to take anything away from this review, it's this:

Lesson one: If you're an artist or writer of some kind, or an aspiring creator, don't wait around. No one else is going to tell your story for you. Start writing that novel. Start drawing that webcomic. Start making that game. If Penders can put out this damn book that no one asked for after 13 years of work, then proudly proclaim that he's still going to make six or seven more books and also reprint hundreds of comics he doesn't have all of the rights to, then show up to cons with that foul Lara-Su Chronicles: Shattered Tomorrows banner and sit in front of it beaming with pride, fully aware of his critics but saying "fuck 'em, I know I'm hot shit," then you can do fucking anything. Tell the weird, sincere, cringe story of your dreams. If Ken Penders doesn't have imposter syndrome, then nobody should.

And lesson two: Don't buy Ken's books.

[initforthelolzz]

No one does queer representation quite like One Piece.

Allow me to explain in great detail.

I’m going to talk about the queer rep in Impel Down, and you’d best buckle up cause it’s rant time.

Impel Down is one of my favorite arcs because I love the story line, it’s downright hilarious, and Luffy’s struggle to rescue Ace is incredibly compelling.

But there is another reason why I love Impel Down so much, and that’s the queer rep that utterly knocked me off my feet.

Now, I’ve come to accept that queer representation in anime (not touching on any other media in this rant) is generally nonexistent or extremely rare… if you’re watching anything other than a BL.

On the rare occasion that we do find some LGBT rep it is usually extremely subtle, and shown exclusively in convoluted subtext and minuscule details that are easily overlooked. While this representation is so incredibly meaningful to everyone who’s able to pick it out, the subtly makes it all the more easy for homophobes to argue that it was never in the first place.

Keeping all this in mind, I finally picked up One Piece several months ago after refusing to watch it for a long-assed time (It was too long and I thought the art style was weird. Dear god have I eaten my words.) I’d heard on social media that One Piece was big on trans representation, but I wasn’t prepared at ALL for what I’d find in that department.

I had NOT expected to find One Piece’s treasure trove of LGBT characters in Impel Down of all pleases, and the shock factor made it so much better.

The arc had already been chaotic as fucking hell by the time Luffy reunited with Bon Clay, and their reunion made me tear up. Like dude!

I hadn’t been particularly attached to Bon Clay before but THIS ^ was it. This scene right here, he wormed his way into my heart istfg.

Can we appreciate this scene please?! The sparkles in the background?? The leg lifting?! The REUNION HUG?!?! I love this so dearly not just because it’s fucking ADORABLE but because of what it *says.*

Bon Clay is an outwardly queer character, and Luffy absolutely adores him. Those two are best friends and we treat queer people with respect and they are good people. We can be friends with them and allies with them and they aren’t something to shy away from just because they’re different.

Be fucking for real. The representation is so positive, and it never ceases to blow me away.

If you thought that this representation was enough YOU WERE WRONG because this BARELY SCRATCHED THE SURFACE.

Iva. Emperio Ivankov. The Queen of the Queers. He is a gender fluid ICON and a literal drag queen. His special attack is a wink that blows shit up. His Devil Fruit ability is quite literally hormone therapy.

Do I need to say more?

THATS RIGHT, I FUCKING DONT

Now, this is One Piece we’re talking about, so naturally characters are going to be wildly exaggerated but ARE YOU KIDDING

IVA’S ABILITY IS HORMONE THERAPY. HE CHANGES PEOPLE’S GENDER AS AN ATTACK. HIS POWER WORKS THROUGH SYRINGE NEEDLES THAT POP OUT FROM UNDER HIS ACRYLIC NAILS.

I love Iva so fucking much words cannot describe 😭

Oda didn’t just say “look, I made a queer character” he really said “fuck it, nuclear option it is.” It is literally impossible to ignore the fact that Iva is LGBT, and One Piece’s queer rep is SO IN YOUR FACE, especially in Impel Down. It’s impossible to ignore, which is the stark opposite from the usual business with “implied” queer characters in anime.

Implied? HAH.

There is a kingdom of gay people living INSIDE THE WALLS of the biggest prison in the world. They are led by a gender fluid drag queen and run a strip club bar in the middle of a fucking prison, where they drag new gays through the cracks in the walls to join them.

Dude.

I love One Piece so much.

All joking aside, the introduction of Iva and his kingdom of gays drove me to tears. Like deadass. The representation literally drove me to tears, I was sobbing.

Why? Because it was so positive.

Do you know how meaningful that is?

It made me fucking cry, man.

Iva’s speech introducing his gay kingdom, like goddamn. I can’t even remember exactly what he said because I was crying the whole time.

“We’re here and we’re queer.” That’s a quote from fucking One Piece, dude. I can’t, I can’t.

It wasn’t just the introduction of Iva’s kingdom or the LITERAL LESBIAN COUPLE SITTING AT THE BAR, it was the way the sense of community was presented.

We’re called the LGBTQ Community and I don’t know if Oda’s a member or not but HOT damn if he doesn’t know what it means to be a part of it.

I’m talking about the Luffy situation. He fought the Warden and got his ass handed to him. He was poisoned to all hell and about to die at 17 but Bon picked him up and carried him to Iva’s Kingdom. He’s wanted to meet Iva his whole life but by the time he did he was more worried about Luffy’s condition than anything else.

And then we find out that Luffy had insisted that Bon get medical treatment before he did. What a guy. When Iva got Luffy, he said that it was a lost cause to try and overcome the poison. But he was willing to give it a try anyway.

Let’s discuss.

Iva injected Luffy with hormones to help him beat the poison. Luffy underwent hormone therapy. (I will cling to this tidbit of information forever, YOU CANT TAKE IT FROM ME.) When Bon woke up, he demanded to see Luffy.

Iva warned him about what he would find, but brought Bon to Luffy at his request. When Bon found Luffy, he found his friend chained up and screaming in excruciating pain. We didn’t see Luffy in full at all during this time, but when Bon looked through the door he was horrified.

He got defensive. He started yelling at Iva, saying that the person inside that room was not the Luffy he knew.

Iva was firm, and told Bon that Luffy was going through a tough challenge, and he would be different afterwards, but he was still the same Luffy.

Do you see it? Can you read between the lines? This exchange made me sob all over again. Why? I urge you to think about it, to see the underlying message here.

Bon broke down into tears, realizing that Luffy was fighting for his life. He apologized and took back his harsh words.

Then he spent hours outside Luffy’s cell, screaming till his throat was raw and cheering him on. He couldn’t do anything to help Luffy, Luffy was fighting this battle on his own. But he could be there for him.

I ask you again, do you see it?

As the hours passed, others in Iva’s kingdom trickled out to see what Bon was doing. They told him to stop screaming, that it was useless. They mocked him, told him he was being a fool.

Then Iva stood up for him, and told them to see Bon for what he was doing. He couldn’t help Luffy, but he could cheer him on. He could be there for him.

Within moments, the entire kingdom was outside Luffy’s cell. Cheering him on. Encouraging him. Supporting him. They didn’t know who he was but they saw him fighting and immediately backed him up.

It isn’t just representation, merely the presence of a queer character or even an entire kingdom of gays that makes it meaningful. It’s how those characters are shown, how they behave.

Oda could have thrown in a queer character here and there and left it at that, but he went out of his way to show the incredible support system that this community provided. They jumped to Luffy’s aid. They were so supportive and cheered him on until he beat the poison. They fought alongside him… and you know what else?

When Luffy woke up, he accepted them in a heartbeat. He didn’t question anything, just saw a bunch of people and thought “huh. New friends!”

Oda’s representation is exaggerated as much as it is painstakingly accurate in nature and positive to a tee. Obviously it isn’t perfect. Iva and the squad were still mocked, called “freaks” and “weirdos.”

But it’s about Luffy. How Luffy behaves. How Luffy reacts. Even in the face of how the rest of society views Iva and his kingdom, Luffy sees them as friends and allies and doesn’t give a singular shit if they’re gay or not.

Luffy accepts everyone, and he doesn’t draw the line at queer people. The aroace king himself. You heard it here, Luffy is the ultimate ally.

Of course I’m not even scraping the surface on this topic and Oda’s representation is in no way perfect, but Impel Down remains the greatest example of queer rep that I’ve seen this far.

You gotta give credit where credit is due ✨

[ponpuriitx]

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐔𝐍𝐄 𝐓𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐑.

One shot! Neptune x reader.

summary: Life was tough, and with the spawn of your new job you encountered a really interesting fortune teller machine.

Tag list: @head-in-the-icloud and the anon who’s name I don’t have :c

Warnings: not any tbh, just a fluff and lots of love to Neptune!

Notes: This character is not mine!! It belongs to @head-in-the-icloud, you can check her work for more of Neptune!! And mostly because I wanted to write for her characters, they’re so cool and their art style?? Chef’s kiss tbh. This story may not be too good, just late night thoughts and silly writing. Anyways, enjoy!!

Life was tough, really tough. Prices were skyrocketing and the money you had was little. So it was little to anyone’s surprise that when you got the job at the Pizzaplex you were relieved to the core.

Who could’ve blamed you? The job payed thirty bucks the hour, for other people it wasn’t much but for you it was plenty. So when the day came you dressed up, cleaned your hair and was ready to go.

When you arrived to the Pizzaplex you were met with lots and lots of families, some kids running around and a group of teenagers. You stood there not knowing what to do, until a bot came over and started talking to you. “Welcome to the Pizzaplex! A place of Joy and entertainment. Would you please follow me?” You weren’t surprised since this place was known for its immense success and incredibly advanced technology. But it amused you seeing it finally in person.

The bot started to walk rather fast for your liking, making you jog sometimes because of the slight speed it took. While he was moving he started to blurt out the terms and policies of the building and what the staff was ordered to do. When he finished he gave you a map of the building, while indicating which parts were the employees only. Including the employees changing room and uniforms, so giving it a smile and walking away you decided to go over there and change.

You already had a list of tasks that the bot gave you once you entered the building. So at least you weren’t lost in most of the things to do, “let’s see, uh cleaning the bathrooms, taking gums and stuff out of the tables, cleaning some stuff at the arcade etc etc..” you thought to yourself while walking down the hallways to fulfill other tasks.

You did a pretty good job you could say, the bathrooms were really cleaned and the tables were set too. Although It surprised you the the amount of gum and some stickers stuck below the tables at the place. Guess some kids don’t want to stand up and look for the trash can. Now, you checked again your tasks list and saw the “cleaning the arcade” with a little list below of the things you had to clean.

In the arcade, you looked around to see all the colorful lights and the various games that were installed. No wonder why this place was so popular, it was big as hell! Surely kids could see this like heaven. “Okay now..” you said to yourself before going in and reading some of the machines you were supposed to be cleaning. Some of them were really neat and some of them had some dust on them, probably because they were on the corner.

Walking around the place, you stopped over your shoes and looked besides you. It was a somewhat big machine that had Neptune written in the top of it. Looking at it, you saw the big animatronic sitting in the middle and the arms in the sides. It amused you, and you couldn’t hold yourself into seeing what it was about. After all you were very curious yourself, so you took out a coin out of your pocket and insert it into the machine. Watching with intense curiosity when the head of the animatronic lit up and a “hi :>” popped in it.

You cracked a smile and said hi in a low tone, the animatronic seemed to scan you for a moment or at least that’s what you thought since it stood there watching you for a few seconds before a card popped in a small compartment of the machine. You took it and read it “A lot of fortune is coming to my way huh?” You quoted taking a look back to the animatronic who now it seemed to look at you.

You smiled at it, while putting the paper on your pocket. “I’m going to come back for you in a sec.” You could’ve sworn you saw its head move before waking away with a smile to clean other machines, it amused you and you really liked fortune tellers since you were a child. You didn’t really know why you just enjoyed them.

You walked around the arcade finishing your tasks from the other machines and going out of the arcade to finish up the others too. But while you were doing one you got the opportunity to talk with Freddy a little, I guess to introduce yourself better and he welcomed you to the Pizzaplex. You were of course first taken really off guard since The Freddy Fazbear the face of the whole Pizzaplex chain was talking to you. But he was really a nice guy, definitely someone you saw that you could talk at least. You didn’t met the other animatronics of the band, but you thought they might as well be nice too.

Of course the little chit chat didn’t last long thanks to a couple of families that wanted to take pictures with him along some of the children fighting to get his attention which you thought it was pretty cute and funny. You said your goodbyes before going back to your tasks and finally finishing them up by the time the store announced its closing, you smiled and went to the arcade before going to check out.

You came back to the fortune teller machine, you put a coin inside before he lit up and a card was deposited in the compartment. You took it and read it “Try to not worry about the money, the best things in life come free.” It said, you giggled at this

“Not trying to be rude, but with this economy I think I do have to worry about the money.” You looked up and you were suddenly taken aback when the animatronic moved his head to the side in sign of confusion. Mimicking your expression almost right away in his face-ball, your sight changed to one with curiosity at this. Okay so he can mimic expressions, noted. You could’ve stayed longer but your thoughts were distracted at the sound of the speaker saying “The store is now closed.” Meaning that it was definitely time to clock out, made sure you had your things on you before moving to the exit but not before waving a goodbye to the machine as you went to check out.

After this encounter, you decided to make this a regular thing. You clocked in, you did your tasks and you went to the fortune teller machine. But you started to notice that slowly, the papers started to get a little bit more personal than just random fortune telling. You started to get papers like “remember to eat” mostly when you skipped your lunches without knowing it, but how could he know when you did it? And “Are you okay?” Questions when you were feeling a little down, you didn’t know if it was because he could sense it or if you were obvious. But you shrugged it off telling him that you were okay and that there was nothing to worry about.

But strangely, that day was the day that you got sick. You got sick when you woke up in the morning and you had to call in to tell the staff management that you couldn’t come. That was for three days before you could recover, and when you did you received a little pep talk by Freddy when you arrived to the Pizzaplex on how you should keep an eye on yourself and how you should stay more cautious. Since you were still trying to beat what was little left from the cold you had you forgot to visit the fortune teller animatronic that day.

But it felt strange to you that all the time you were working you felt a pair of eyes on you if that was even possible. But when you turned around to see if anybody needed help or if there was even someone there, you were met with.. nothing. Nothing on sight. Maybe you did really needed to take a look on your lunch and stop skipping them.

That day felt strange, but when you arrived home was when you realized that you didn’t visit your fortune teller that day. You felt guilty, but also you felt a little curious about the feeling of being watched. Maybe it was just some random staff bot who was wondering around and it looked at you doing your job. Yeah, that had to be it.

So when the next day came, you made sure to try and do your tasks a little bit faster so that you could go to the machines and talk a little with the animatronic. Now that you thought of it, you didn’t really knew his name, so you decided on now refer to him as Neptune since that was the big name written all over the top of the machine. Figures too thanks to his planet-like appearance, you took a look at your clock before realizing that it was already lunch time. So this time you wouldn’t skip it, leaving one of the brooms aside and taking the lunch that you actually had time to pack that day. It consisted of a sandwich and a chocolate milk box that you bought from the cafeteria at the Pizzaplex.

Looking for a quiet place to eat, you felt the pair of eyes looking at you again. You tried to shrug it off by thinking of some random staff bot looking at you, so looking forward you were able to find a spot. It was a room that had employees only written on the door, the room looked pretty old and worn out you took a wild guess it was because there hasn’t been a lot of human staff since the great technology that this place had they really didn’t need them.

So you sat on the chair besides the table and decided to eat there. Checking your phone and scrolling through social media for a while now. But the feeling of being watched only intensified when your eyes were on the screen, so you looked up and you were suddenly shocked to see the planet-like animatronic looking right at you. “Jesus christ-!” You said before catching your phone from almost falling since it slipped from your hand.

“You can’t be scaring people like that!” You scolded, it really took the soul out of you seeing him so suddenly in front of you. “I thought you couldn’t get out of that machine since, well you’re always there.” You watched as the animatronic took a card out of his pocket and hand it over to you “I can get out, and move around with it too.” You read

“Well that explains it.” with a sigh, you left the card on the table trying to clear up your thoughts about what just happened before feeling two cold hands make their way to your cheeks. Holding them while the animatronic looked deeply at you, with worry you could’ve sworn. One of the other pair of arms handed over another card meanwhile the upper couple of hands were kept on your cheeks.

“Are you alright? I haven’t seen you around the last few days.” it read. You smiled at this but also felt a bit guilty by not coming to visit him. “Yeah, I just got sick. I’m sorry if I worried you.” You tried to smile it off, but you felt the pair of hands leave your cheeks as the animatronic sat next to you. “You aren’t much of a talker, can you even talk?” The animatronic moved its head to the sides, so he couldn’t talk? Well that explained the cards. You didn’t mind, as long as he could communicate someway it was okay for you.

Then, the animatronic pointed at the sandwich which was now long forgotten in the table. You chuckled at this taking it and taking a bite out of it for Neptunes satisfaction. You watched by the corner of your eye how his fingers were trying to really slowly get with yours. You smiled and drew your hand closer to his, and slowly intertwined your fingers with his and holding hands after. It was very peaceful, just how you liked it. When you finished your sandwich you stood up, noticing how Neptune shot you a concerned look for both of your hands.

“It’s okay, we can stay like this. I really don’t mind.” You reassured, watching how he nodded and stood up too. Since lots of the families were already leaving and the places you had tasks left to do were completely alone, you managed to do your tasks with Neptune by your side. It was funny how he watched with curiosity how you did some of them. It seemed like it was going to be a long night.

But even if it was, you didn’t mind any of it as long as you had your fortune teller besides you.

[popculturebuffet]

Next up for Cartoon Network era of shows, who is your favorite character from each of the mid-late 2010s Dimensional era (shame they didn't get the best treatment and exposure on the channel, being the point when Cartoon Network was overplaying Teen Titans Go and pushing most other shows to the side) shows you've seen like: We Bare Bears, The Powerpuff Girls 2016, Mighty Magiswords, Ben 10 2017, OK KO Let's Be Heroes, Apple & Onion, Craig of the Creek, and Summer Camp Island?

We Bare Bears: Ice Bear though I loved them all. And as for thoughts, I really need to go back and watch all of this show as it was really good. Relaly solid. I think I just was in that hole of "If the status quo dosen't change I dont like it" which is still mostly true, it is kinda annoying to have a series long arc of someone wants to get a girlfriend with panda and not.. doing anything with that. But it's very clearly mostly slice of life shenanigans. ALso seems to have ended well

PPG: SIlico as he seems neat.. but I watched maybe one episode of this. I wasn't intrested, everything I heard was bad and looking back it seems half assed.

Mighty Magiswords: Yet another one from this era (and the last) I need to go back to, a true classic. Character wise I love Porhias for his voice and whole vibe. Though Vambre's legs will always have a place in my heart... moving on.

Ben 10 Reboot: Kevin having a bootleg omnitrix. This one I didn't see much of and while I may watch it some day for completions sake... it seems mid. Not as messy as ultimate or omniverse with some growth and really intresting ideas, but not nearly as intresting as the og or alien force seasons 1 and 2. It's firmly in the middle: trying hard to be funnier, inoffensive, but as bad as omniverse could get in it's worst moments... it had ambition. 2016 takes a much needed fresh start and just kinda... does a weaker version of the first show without the charm or real stakes or neat jack kirby-esque art style.

OK KO Let's Be Heroes: It's like asking me to pick my children you monster. But i'd have to go with Professor Venemous. He's a compelling villian, and while I feel we coudl've gotten more post shadowy figure takeover out of him (and may give him just that some day), he's an intresting villian whose bisexual as hell, clever and whose motivatoin and history with characters is great. The cast as a whole is though as this is the best show of the bunch here, though it has close compettition and you can probably guess who. It's fun, has well done character arcs, great action at a time Cartoon Network hated doing acction scnees (it's why SU got the shit end of the stick for a while and why this show ultimately did not last) and ended on one hell of a final episode (The actual climax is mixed but still pretty good given the time constraints). An all time classic and one of the best show's cn's put out and certainly one of my faviorites.

Apple and Onion: Onion, though ti's bittersweet given the whole Grahm Lihean thing. God dammit richard. A great show I wish i'd watched more of, really sweet and chill and like most of these as you pointed out , given the short end of the stick for teen titans not for me.

Craig of the Creek: Another all time faviorite and one I need to watch more of including the full story arc. But what i've seen of the story arc is excellent and the show as a whole is great, the recess successor I didn't know I wanted. It's still largely i'ts own thing but it's hard not ot see "Kids in their own elabroate clicks with terriotirY" and not think recess, but going way bigger than it's more grounded cousin. It's still clear most fantasy stuff is just the kids imaginations, but it dosen't hold back a fantastic show with a stacked roster of characters, a truly great world that just gets better and better, and a lot of nice character growth and moments. I'm not ready for it to end and boo HBO MAx for not wanting one of thier most succesful shows to go on. Favorite is JP. Eaisly. he's the boy.

Summer Camp Island: I"ve barely seen any of it I hear it's great and once again they screwed it over badly.

[1moreoffkeyanthem]

17. talk about your writing and editing process <3

Man apparently I’m allergic to checking my inbox but HEY better late than never my love!

So my process, if you can even call it that, is chaotic as FUCK!!! I stare off into space writing it mentally first, type all my bullshit in my notes app like a heathen, don’t proofread, drop unsolicited personal lore in the notes, all that. Gonna use TWITR as an example again btw

I’ve said it before, but The Webs In The Rafters is based on a WHACK ASS DREAM I HAD. specifically chapter 17 and the climax of the story. Like I was the Kenny character, Sansa the dog was telepathically speaking in my mind, there were piles of cuddling cats everywhere, the sound of helicopter blades and a trail of spiders in the hay. I woke up like bro what the hell this is a story right here and I went from there. And in fleshing out the plot, pinning the story beats, the time I was writing it was PERFECT TIMING. Because I had a six hour drive to make for a friend’s wedding. And what did my insane ass do? I FUCKING RAWDAWGED that drive. No music, no audiobook, just silent highways and plotting TWITR. By the time I got home I had a very clear idea of where I was going with the story that at that point was only a few set up chapters and a title.

Speaking of titles, a lot of the time I have titles before I have plot, which is kinda weird bc I know a lot of people struggle with titles, but that’s one of the first things that comes to me. Especially with my one shots, like my kysterion fic All The Punches That I’ve Thrown. That lyric popped into my head and a fic idea with it. Song lyrics inspire a LOT of ideas for me.

So does art. Like with In The Truly Gruesome, I saw a drawing emilyartstudios did of Stan and Shelley working a booth for Tegrity at a fair and I was like YO WHAT IF I FUCKED THIS UP AND STUCK ZOMBIE ALIENS IN THERE lmfao. And ofc, the OrangeJuiceVerse wouldn’t exist if I hadn’t seen foxydodo’s art of basketball player Kyle and mascot Stan.

While oneshots come together pretty fast for me usually, being written out in my head to be typed out in the course of a day (back in the days of janitor Riley bored as shit at work and having the time and energy for that lol), multichapters are require more thought structurally. So what I like to do with a multichap:

Think of it in three acts. In script writing, there’s something called the “page 12 event”, the event that gets the plot rolling near the beginning of the film. And I like to stick an event like that at the end of chapter 1 of my stuff a lot of the time, like ITTG and uhhhh yeeting Stan into a mineshaft after we find out the boys are being chased by monsters (jesus what is wrong with me). What I’m getting at: I like to know where my beginning middle and end are, how the characters are feeling at each step, how their relationships change, all that. And a lot of the time I think of the end before I do the middle or beginning tbh. Like I said, chaos. I think of a random scenario (as we know usually someone is hurt and getting taken care of bc I’m fucking evil and that’s where my brain goes constantly), hence the WhumpShots.

And I do primarily operate in WhumpShots. I picture a scene with a character getting their injuries tended, sick and dizzy but having a friend or loved one at their side, etc, and BAM that scene becomes a oneshot. Even the REALLY short ones, like the sot bunny I did last summer called So Only Say My Name, was about 700 words and one sequence of events. That kind of to the point structure comes easy to me, which is why I loved doing Style Week so much; new oneshot prompt every day. And while I don’t usually proofread after I finish a work, I edit as I go, sometimes post random lines on here or send a screenshot to the R.A.N.T. homies (I’ve definitely done this more as of late, a habit from when I attempted writing smut for the first time and would send neen a screenshot all “IS THIS CRINGE?!?” lmfao I love the Idea Trampoline tho). And I can’t spell so autocorrect is fr my saving grace unless it betrays me. Off the top of my head I can think of 3 words in 3 separate fics that I need to fix but am simply not going to bc that requires effort and oh fuckin well.

And I say that, but I may be lax about the more fiddly stuff but I care SO much about the big picture. Like “does this convey the feelings I want it to? Is this going to be a bright spot in someone’s day? Is the vibe I want there?” That’s my priority. If I can leave an impact on a reader, entertain them, make them smile, that’s what matters to me.

Jesus sorry this was a convoluted answer lmao it’s 3 in the morning and I woke up all “hey I should actually check my inbox” and here we are

Thank u for asking abt my chaos melda tâe

[leanbeefpattysimp3]

Hello to all of the baki fandom on here! I’m @leanbeefpattysimp3 but you can call me Bug instead. I’m not new to the fandom nor Tumblr (majority of us had that cringe middle school emo phase and found this app💀) but I’m new to the fandom on here so this will be fun learning about! Which brings me to why I made this account, so I’ve been putting together this Baki oc and the story for about a few months and I wanted to share it! Everyone meet my oc, the adopted daughter of Doppo Orochi, Solomon Orochi!

Here’s the description and background of this feral mf.

Description

19 years old

6’2 (long legged spider mf, Katsumi still argues he’s taller when he’s really not)

265 lbs (this bitch packed with muscle, beefy fr)

Caucasian Decent, half American and half Ossetian (we’ve got another cracker besides Eminem Hanma)

Brown hair but has dyed blonde streaks in it(her hair changes overtime cause I can’t make up my mind on how I want the blonde)

Quite the firecracker for someone of her background and stature, you normally don’t see a big person get the zoomies like a smaller one, a huge ass gremlin if you will. She’s the kind who will make people uncomfortable in public on purpose (not in a bad way more like Impractical Jokers).

She’s definitely her father’s child, if she’s fighting she’s gonna keep fighting till either her opponent is no longer able to fight back or she flat out dies. Which does make Doppo nervous, even if she is a fighter, that’s his little girl.

She has multiple surgery scars, 3 most prominent on her knees and abdomen, she had to get her kneecaps fixed due to them shattering during one of her MMA fights, and had to have emergency surgery on her intestine because it ruptured during that same fight, however the mf still won cause “Momma didn’t raise no bitch”.

Background

Solomon was adopted by Doppo and Natsue when she was 2 months old, Doppo was friends with an American heavyweight martial arts champion and his Ossetian wife who had moved to Japan, however that would come to a short end when the wife went crazy and killed the husband and herself, leaving behind Solomon, who Doppo and Natsue decided to take in and call their own. 3 years later they adopted Katsumi, and from then on the two became inseparable, one always going wherever the other one went, doctor’s appointments, school trips, everywhere and anywhere they always wanted to go together.

When Doppo starts teaching Katsumi Shinshinkai Karate, he decides to start teaching Solomon as well cause “Hell why not?”. To his surprise she catches on more quickly than Katsumi, and is even kicking Katsumi’s ass when they spar (which Natsue doesn’t know how to feel about cause her kids are kicking each other’s asses and her husband is laughing at it). Solomon went to school with Hanayama, and the two started talking, and eventually dating. Katsumi and Solomon get older, stronger of course, and by the time Katsumi is 18 and Solomon is 16, they’re basically pros. However, Sol was to learn more than just Shinshinkai Karate, and asks her father if she can travel to her biological parents motherland, America(🦅distant eagle screech) and learn MMA style fighting , which he thought about for awhile, his little girl traveling thousands of miles away from home without him and the rest of the family, but ultimately decides that with how amazing her fighting and strength has gotten, it would be great for her fighting abilities. Solomon tells Hanayama that she’s about to leave for a few years, so they ultimately decide to break up, knowing things wouldn’t work if she’s thousands of miles away (at this time they’re 16, still quite young).

Solomon gets sent off to America, but before then her father gets in contact with the best of the best MMA fighters and trainers so she can get the best training. She’s expecting to go to one of the cool fancy states like California or New York, however Doppo thought it would be funny to send her to Texas of all places from the things he’s heard about from there. So here she is, a person of Caucasian descent who doesn’t know a lick of English besides introducing herself and the word “Chicken” (she saw it on an ad back home about food) which everyone who she became friends with or taught her thought was quite funny, a white girl who never learned much English. She did eventually learn it “fluently” during her stay, however she spoke it with quite the interesting accent since everyone who taught her had southern accents ( I just want you to try to imagine a Japanese accent that has southern twang to it, it’s quite funny)

She ended up staying and training for 3 years and was given the title “World’s Strongest Woman” at just 18 year old after she had become the heavyweight MMA champion in America and scoring 2100lbs in the 2000lbs club for the International Powerlifting Federation. She was one of the most powerful fighters in America until she got a call from her mother saying her father had almost died from a fight with a man named Yuujiro Hanma (dirty nasty crusty man-thing), and which terrified her more than anything, immediately after the call she wanted to go back home to her family and immediately started packing. She ends up coming back in time for the Maximum Tournament, but not in time to compete in it. Even with being upset she can’t compete, she does get excited about watching two specific fighters during the matchups, Jack Hanma and Kaioh Retsu.

So since we’ve gotten to this point I’ll start writing the main story on her and such, if you’d like you can also request types of stories on her and head-cannons and if y’all want to can ask for different ships, and whoever wants to can use her in other Baki stories n such, just make sure to credit me for her! I’ll also post more artwork I’ve made of her and y’all can request artwork as well!

[tobiasdrake]

Let's talk about those new snippets of backstory 3-2 drops.

This is a bit of sleight-of-hand from Tsumugi.

The interesting thing about the Flashback Lights is that they aren't prepared in advance. What we and, by extension, the audience in the middle-reality experience is made to feel like there's a history set in stone that's being revealed piece by piece. That's often how the act of consuming media feels.

But that's a trick of the art. We think of learning more about the world and the lore and the backstory as things being revealed. Things that have always been true, but we did not know them until the story presented them to us.

But when you get into the nitty-gritty of creating fiction, that's not how it works. Rather, these things are being established. They're things that were not true until the story said they are. Any details about the story, the world, even the characters themselves are malleable until the moment they're finally put to print. Before that point, they can be changed around however you want.

Hell, even after, there are still ways to alter them. We'll see that when Tsumugi retcons in a plot point later down the line.

This is what the Flashback Lights embody. Tsumugi has a workstation right here in the building where she can write the reveals to suit the story as it's developing, rather than needing to have it all scripted out beforehand. These lights grant her the ability to edit her story however she needs before publication. And right here, we see that in action.

The Ultimate Hunt was always meant to be a part of the story. She'd laid clues about it as early as Rantaro's survivor bonus. And, of course, they need to have their memories altered as part of the story because it's a Danganronpa game.

But this specific detail about everyone erasing their memories and hiding as high school students, yet somehow managing to all be hunted down anyway? Despite the fact that the whole point of erasing their identities was to hide from the Ultimate Hunt?

That's new. Specifically, that's there as a story patch to explain away the Monokubs' fuck-up in the prologue. They accidentally released all of their actors on-set without programming in their characters first. And they're filming this shit live. So the middle-reality audience saw that.

So Tsumugi has to account for that in the script. She needs to explain, in a way that the middle-reality audience will accept, what that was. Why were these characters, when we met them, ordinary high school randos? Why did they need to use a Flashback Light onscreen to become Ultimate Students? Aren't they already supposed to be Ultimate Students from the start of the show? Within the fictional story of Danganronpa 53, what was happening there?

The answer she came up with isn't perfect but it's pretty solid. She works it into the Ultimate Hunt and uses it to introduce the obligatory amnesia mechanic. Capitalizes on the Monokubs' error with style and aplomb. Not bad, Tsumugi.

Though as we'll see later, her attempts to wing it won't always be up to this same standard.

[oddygaul]

Girl Juice and Michael DeForge

Girl Juice

P good. It has some absolutely hysterical, standout moments, but overall didn’t leave as much of an impression as I was expecting it to. I dunno, I might’ve just been expecting more of an ensemble thing, when in fact everything’s more or less centered around Bunny. She’s a pretty commanding character, for sure, but the humor loses a bit of its luster when she’s the punchline nearly every time.

I think the format contributed to this wear a little bit. Girl Juice is structured a bit like a comic strip / webcomic compilation, where each page is ostensibly its own standalone story; when they’re more straightforward gag strips with a payoff, they usually kill, but there’s some bits on the first half where it tries to be a bit more narrative / slice of life, and the layouts start to feel stiff and restrictive.

I did appreciate the ending story for branching out a bit in that regard, with deviation in both the paneling and the pacing.

Overall, the art and vibe and character designs are incredibly charming, and I quite like the author’s voice for dialogue, I just think medium-wise it’s a bit clumsy at times.

Also the slow drip feed of clownlore about Nana was fucking wild. The first time it dropped the clown fetish thing it was a fun one-off gag, then we see her clown boyfriend and hear about her clowning aspirations, and things start snowballing - by the end she’s wearing full-on clown outfits with ruffs and buttons, and suddenly I realize that her red nose, which I assumed was an artistic choice and didn’t think twice about, is a big ol clown honker she puts on / paints every day?? yo.

---

Sticks Angelica, Folk Hero

Reading Sticks Angelica, Folk Hero consistently filled me with the same delight that first reading the title Sticks Angelica, Folk Hero did. which I consider a success story

This is probably my favorite thing I’ve read from Michael DeForge. I think (unintentionally) everything else I’ve read from him are collections of shorts, so it was kind of a shock to get something with this much of a throughline. DeForge is so confident with his style here, and I felt the longer format really gave him time to fully explore the tone and visual style of this setting.

The art is gorgeous throughout, and remains cohesive while still featuring lots of experimentation and playfulness. The tritone coloring is eye-catching, and DeForge really makes the most of it by constantly messing with line variation and texture, adding a huge variety of middle values even between each of the three printed colors. The book, generally, is incredibly lavish - while heavily stylized, both the characters and backgrounds are popping with detail and incredibly graphic, and it feels like DeForge rarely repeats himself with his visual effects. Lots of cartoonists making a strip-based story like this find a trick for certain elements then put them on autopilot; as if to make up for the book’s general artstyle not changing for once, DeForge instead finds new tricks for each element constantly.

All the designs are incredibly memorable, too, from the geese with their mouths constantly agape to the fuckin constantly sweating outline bear.

“Why should [she] be the exception? Penance is her birthright, just as this mushroom is mine.”

---

Heaven No Hell

So yeah, after the relatively cozy Sticks Angelica, hopping straight in here was a fuckin trip.

This is DeForge back on his short story bullshit, and totally nailing every one. The man is a style chameleon - if not for the titling, I genuinely think you could convince someone this was an actual anthology. Visually, not every style resonates with me, but there’s no denying the sheer variety of aesthetic inside Heaven No Hell.

On the recommendation of some internet rando, I held myself to only reading one or two stories a day, leaving time in between to digest them, and… if anything, it only made collecting my thoughts on the book more difficult. Each of the stories is so short, maybe ten pages on average, and they’re all so drastically different - the voice of the writing, the artstyle, the setting - yet they all, to a one, left me with a sense of unsettling bemusement I couldn’t shake. It’s as if you see only a brief snapshot of a story, and are yanked away before you can fully come to grips with what’s going on. Heaven No Hell is almost short comics done as poetry rather than prose, which is a rarity in a medium so tied to narrative.

Some of them come off lighthearted - Soap Opera is one of the funniest shorts I’ve read in a minute, and the middle school murder mystery is surprisingly jovial for its subject matter (and the anti-carceral solidarity that all of the 11-year olds inexplicably share). Some are heady - the title track’s ridiculous tiered heaven system manages to strike a melancholy chord despite its flippancy (honestly bronze tier fucks tho), and the impostor syndrome society, where not a single person is who they claim to be, feels a little too real to be comfortable. Some are surreal and delirious - the war of the unreasonable, New Museum, was an incredibly potent tone piece that fully swept me up in its conceit. And then some are just legit actual nightmares, like the girl whose new ant stepdad keeps knocking up her mom, leaving clusters of giant squirming eggs rampant around the house, hatching and dying and crawling.

Fun panel but also this story is about a skeleton afterlife where the skeletons of every dying thing end up, their skin slowly blooming off them and collecting into a giant shell of flayed skin that girds the planet like a fleshy atmosphere

---

“When the crowd cleared out and the snow off everyone’s boots had melted, we realized that at some point in the night our bodies had crushed and killed Barnaby. Barnaby was the littlest among us. He died the way he lived: misremembering the lyrics to a Hole song. We held a service for him, just a few of us stragglers–the ones tasked with cleaning up. It ended the night. We said a few things. Everyone knew the words.”

---

In a few words: exhaustingly creative.

[comicweek]

Just to get this out of the way at the top, this isn’t really the space for me to critique the promotional and commercial system that justifies the sale of Ezra Miller’s image in relation to this movie, given all they stand accused of. Nor is it my place to judge Miller for the numerous legal issues swirling around them. While I don’t believe in separating art from the artist, film is a collaborative medium that hundreds of other people worked on to bring a movie to light. Miller’s off-screen episodes are the least of this film’s problems unless you want to get into a discussion about the film’s marketing. If you don’t want to see this movie because of Miller’s involvement in it, go right ahead. The Flash is, ultimately at best, a middling film that offers nothing new and perpetuates the reflexive hollow nostalgia that has propped up Hollywood blockbusters since Batman (1989). If this is one of the best superhero films DC Studios co-head James Gunn has ever seen, either he hasn’t seen very many of them or has a low opinion of the genre. Now if you want to find out why I think of the film in this way, read on.

Honestly, the fact that this film isn’t a Suicide Squad (2016)-style garbage fire – because of the sheer amount of developmental hell, corporate changes in direction, and everything in between – is commendable. It isn’t technically broken in the way that film was butchered, most likely because reshooting major chunks of the film would’ve been cost-prohibitive. This movie had three endings shot! So much has changed about this film that I am certainly forgetting something. The swirl of intrigue around the meta-narrative of this film is more interesting because the film itself is honestly kind of boring. To screenwriter Christina Hodson, director Andy Muschietti, and his producing partner Barbara Muschietti’s credit, this isn’t a bad movie. It just never offers viewers anything new.

Timing is everything, something the lead character Barry Allen (Ezra Miller), abundantly lacks. He’s always late to work at the CCPD crime lab, which makes it fitting that The Flash is ultimately so late to the comic book movie party, any novelty over the promise of the multiverse in storytelling or the nostalgic extended cameos of heroes from previous eras feels like old hat. Now some of this lateness isn’t entirely the film’s fault, the COVID pandemic did set off a chain of events that pushed the film from July 1, 2022 to June 2023. But that is after the films original release date of March 23, 2018, where it would’ve beaten Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse to the punch and introduced the multiverse to cinemas. (Which still would’ve been well after the The Flash TV show as part of the Arrowverse had already done that years prior.) Instead of being one of the first films, The Flash is one of the last with Spider-Man: No Way Home, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and Across the Spider-verse all coming out and laying the groundwork for how audiences understand these multiverse movies. To say nothing of Everything Everywhere All At Once coming out last year and really showing everyone how it is done.

The “Flashpoint” story-event from 2011 inspires the core of this film, wherein Barry goes back in time to stop the murder of his mother and the imprisonment of his father, something the show also already did, better in their own way. In the process, he creates a nightmarish alternate earth where there is no Justice League, or in the case of the film, Superman, to stop General Zod during the events of Man of Steel. To try and fix this Barry must go on a search with an alternate version of himself, also played by Miller and Ed Wade, and find Batman. Only this Batman isn’t Ben Affleck; it’s Michael Keaton reprising the role, and the Superman is Supergirl, Kara Zor-el played by Sasha Calle.

The film’s core themes of accepting the bad things in our past and learning to move forward are essentially what Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness wanted to be about. This film is perhaps more structurally competent than Multiverse of Madness but lacks any sequence on par with the Rami-esque energy of Wanda’s horrifying destruction of the Illuminati. There is nothing about this film that is emotionally or thematically new or interesting. The fact that this movie comes out a couple of weeks after Across the Spider-verse is perhaps the worst timing imaginable. The animated Spider-man sequel is a plainly better movie on every level. Go see that or watch Everything Everywhere All at Once.

[striveattemptfail]

so i took this screencap after i read the latest ep and—

hn. (=_=)

idt i'll liveblog this week but i'll put my Thoughts under the cut

(tl;dr jason's Moobs and artemis' arms are the only thing getting me through this webtoon and unfortunately i am near hitting the point where that can no longer sustain me 😔😔)

(also pls heed the tags on this post bc there is a lot of Wank And Bitching. if you don't wanna read the meandering negativity, pls move along ᕕ(ಠ_ಠ)ᕗ)

okay so Thoughts™️:

i said i'd stick around to make sure lobo was done well but considering he folded and fucked off in <5 panels i can't even judge that

and idr if i mentioned it on my blog but i told some friends i'd stick around for the first season of rho and likely drop it after that

but idek if i can keep to that anymore

i've read a lot of really crappy comics, superhero issues and webcomics alike. i've had my fair share of whiplash pacing and wildly ooc canon

i'm not saying i'm an expert at judging comics, but i'll give myself enough credit to say at the very least that this webtoon is Just Not Good

while i'm personally not bothered by changing the art style—

(actually, it's one of the few things i appreciate in traditional publishing for superhero comics, so introducing it to the webcomic medium has been really interesting to me)

(but that's a whole other post lol)

—they're not using the change to its full potential, or even for its intended purpose

i get that the webtoon weekly schedule is brutal and borderline inhumane for a lot of asian artists, so it's probably hell on earth for western artists having to switch to that kind of scheduling

nico offloading all the inking to another artist so he can get a break makes sense

but if that's the case, the art should be more polished—and it just isn't

it's still abundantly clear to me that corners were cut to get eps out on time with the same kind of length

i'm not an illustrator, and my eye for perspective is already pretty awful with my glasses on, but i think it still says something that my half-blind ass can still see errors

if the art has to change to give the regular artist a break, why isn't any of the art (both from the original artist and the fill-in artist) not up to par?

and this isn't even considering that the art just changes in the middle of an arc, which makes everything hella confusing for a reader who can seamlessly read episode after episode due to the nature of the webtoons platform and the webcomic medium in general

at least if there's an art switch in most traditional comics, it's introducing a new arc or volume to that series, and it's physically broken up into multiple comic books/issues

the changes in rho thus far have just been ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ at best, and (to me) without any thought about how the style could affect the overall story

to be clear: wayne family adventures also does this. but at least toby succeeds in emulating starbite's art style enough not to break immersion. and because it's been toby every time, the changes in art style is usually only noticeable when scrutinized

unlike with rho thus far, who's had different artists with similar but still distinctly different styles

so the abrupt art change is not only impacting the immersion of a reader but the effectiveness of the storytelling

and i don't even wanna get into patrick young's abysmal writing thus far. i know better than to yell on the internet about comic writers after namedropping them lol

i love jason. i genuinely like his rebirth outlaws team. for all the flack i give lobdell for rhato (2011) and in general, he did some actually decent things for all three outlaws during their 2016 run onwards

(some things. i'm still not forgiving him for rhato (2016) #25, or the fact that willis todd was apparently gd wingman, or for a lot of other things, but that is a discussion for yet another post lol)

i honestly cannot say the same for patrick young's writing

aside from the (fucked up) storyline happening to bizarro, i stand by my point that the highlight of every arc thus far has been the villains

which would be a compliment if it weren't for the fact that the series is supposed to be about the titular (anti) heroes of the story, or if the heroes were just written half as well

and yet?? i've been disappointed by every development for jason, and the mostly lack thereof for artemis, much less the downright disrespectful treatment for all the other characters introduced thus far

bizz really is the best boy, not only for his kind nature but for being the only decently written character out of the three

i get that superhero comics allows for different characterizations and the webtoon is continuing that tradition

doesn't mean i like what's happened to most of the characters

it's just........it's been really disappointing reading this webtoon

and i honestly feel bad for those who've spent hard earned coins unlocking any of this webtoon's fastpass eps

verdict: am i gonna drop this sooner than i thought? likely so

unfortunately for me i am a stubborn masochist of a stan so i'll be testing how long i can hold on just out of love for these characters 🥴🥴🥴

[moonlight-selkie]

Been a while since I have posted thing OC or art related so hear, have 9 wip characters for a wip story idea.

So first of these guys are for a story idea witch is a fantasy "Josai" that focus on the characters interpersonal relationships and how they can make one want to change for the better.

While romance will be a part of it, it' s more of a side element, and the leading lady will not just be meekly taking any of the dude's shitty attitudes.

As for the guys, in this somewhat reverse harem situation well there is 9 of them. Yes 9, and each of them has cosponsoring vice or sin, with the 7 Deadly sins (from Christianity) + Ignorance from the 5 / 3 Poisons (from Buddhism) + Deceit (cus why not, it fits.)

And cus I felt like it all the dudes are demons too, but in the classic fantasy way, not the biblical way. this is a fantasy story so Hell, and Satan are not a thing in this story.

Anyway now onto the dudes themselves. thought I won't share too much about them as they are still being worked on and so I am going to list some changes that might happen.

note: these are wip, and thanks to that I have yet to get clothing designs done, and also none of these peps have names yet : b

Left:

Deceit, A skinny yet toned guy with purple eyes, and bleach blonde hair, thought his real hair color is dirty blonde but if you ask him about it he will insist that his hair color is naturally beach blonde.

I am not sure on how I drew his hair so it might be getting re-drawn.

Middle:

Hubris, a guy with a mostly average build out side of some mildly toned arms and legs, he has cobalt blue eyes, and brown hair.

I am thinking of redoing the specific shades of his color palette as I think it needs a bit of work.

Right

Lust, a pretty guy who has a bit of chubbyness in the "right places" he has lovely vermilion eyes and wavy strawberry blonde hair.

note much to add other then they may receive some minor adjustments to the face or hair.

Left

Wrath, who is a somewhat bulky dude with short black hair & sideburns, as well as one red eye and a blinded left eye.

I am still on the fence with him having a blinded eye as the broken horn and scar give a fair amount of asymmetry as is.

Middle

Envy, a guy with a fairy average body type, who has long light brown hair and deep green eyes.

I am probably going to get rid of the ear rings and change his hair styles too.

Right

Greed, a man with a some what more delicate frame, he has long silver hair and bright golden eyes.

honesty there is not really anything I want to change with this guys design atm.

Left

Gluttony, a bulky yet a bit chubby dude guy with curly dark ginger and bright orange eyes.

another one who's design I am happy with and thus do not want to make any changes.

Middle

Sloth, who is a mild skinny guy with bright blonde hair and dreamy light cyan colored eyes.

I want to redo a bit of his hair as it dose not look as good as it could be.

Right

Ignorance, a guy who is delicate and skinny with long somewhat unkempt dark brown hair and pale pink eyes.

Outside of the bit of hair going down the middle of the face his design is all good.

AND that is it for now, if you have any suggestions feel free to tell me.

[sinceileftyoublog]

Durand Jones & Kara Jackson Live Show Review: 5/9, Lincoln Hall, Chicago

BY JORDAN MAINZER

Even if you’re familiar with the retro stylings of Durand Jones & The Indications, Wait Til I Get Over (Dead Oceans) is a reintroduction. The solo debut for Jones is inspired by his roots in Hillaryville, Louisiana, a town established as part of reparations to previously enslaved Black folks, and it sees him grappling with his biographical history while gaining a greater sense of self. Contextualized in the duality of the South--the beauty of the landscapes and the simultaneous institutional racism that’s devastated it--Jones’ record traverses a swath of Black music, from soul and rock and roll to R&B and gospel. With spoken word interludes, hymnals, prayers, and laments, all backed by guitar, bass, keys, and drums, he’s provided a contemporary classic.

Playing his first solo show in Chicago on Tuesday at Lincoln Hall, Jones brought many of the album’s players with him, including drummer Ben Lumsdaine, guitarist Drake Ritter, keyboardist Matt Romy, and bassist Glenn Myers. They gave all the songs on Wait Til I Get Over the “Lord Have Mercy” treatment. On that first single from the record, Jones sings, “Can you see me in those sad, smiling eyes?” emphasizing the further contradictions within himself, his desire to overcome by keeping on. Similarly, it was the celebratory aspects of the music that shone live, the raw guitars and slinky bass and Jones’ dancing. He let out cathartic James Brown-level screams during “I Want You”, a described prayer for music written during a stint working at a science lab before music was his full-time employment. Though the orchestral flourishes on the studio versions of songs like “Gerri Marie” and “That Feeling” give them a cinematic feel, the songs didn’t lack drama on Tuesday. The moment Jones walked out on stage, clad in a fitted blue suit with white stripes, a saxophone in one hand and a drink in the other, you knew you were in for a show.

Further, sharing the stories behind the album, both in the rollout to the release of Wait Til I Get Over and Tuesday night, proved therapeutic for Jones, who has been citing James Baldwin’s belief in “strength in vulnerability.” That includes both the blue-eyed doo wop of “Sadie” and “That Feeling”, the latter of which was not only the first breakup song Jones has ever written but his first love song written to another man, effectively his coming out as bisexual. During the middle of “Some Day We’ll All Be Free”, essentially a Donny Hathaway cover with a verse from rapper Skypp injected in middle, Jones cited another vanguard of Black art, Nina Simone. “To be free is to live without fear,” he quoted over the band’s percussive funk, later declaring, “Love will win.” It’s the same sense of radical optimism that permeates a song like “See It Through”, existing alongside the doubts and sorrow, and the very ethos of Wait Til I Get Over. Towards the end of the show, Jones admitted that he almost had to cancel the tour; a bout with food poisoning led to 3 ER trips and a lost voice. But with patience and belief, Jones has used the spirit of the album and seemingly every show to move one step closer to where he needs to go, personally and communally. 

Oak Park’s Kara Jackson has also released a hell of a debut, Why Does The Earth Give Us People To Love? (September); like Jones’, her set acted more as an introduction of a newfound voice than a faithful recreation of her released songs. Playing acoustically, Jackson sang a few new tunes in a short set, plus two from her 2019 EP A Song for Every Chamber of the Heart and Karen Dalton’s “Right, Wrong or Ready”. The latter showcased a few of the talents that would extend throughout the set: Jackson’s smoky, controlled, octave-leaping voice, her dexterous finger-picked guitar playing, her effective tempo changes. But the songs from Why Does The Earth were the true indicators of her poetry. At multiple times, the audience howled with laughter at Jackson’s directness. “Every man thinks I’m his fuckin’ mother,” she sang on “therapy”. “And if seeing you naked wasn’t such a bargain / It would be a home run,” she quipped on “no fun/party” right as her dress strap inadvertently fell, an admitted possible cosmic wink. Of course, “dickhead blues”, whose very announcement garnered the most cheers to an audience clearly already familiar with Jackson, was the highlight. The crowd wowed at how her wordplay and delivery followed along with her guitars during lines like, “My dilemma is always a dickhead / Who’s drunk on the daily news / Like coyotes in culottes / Clawin’ for coffee in open-toed shoes.”

I admit that I can’t wait to hear what Jackson’s new songs sound like with a full band, should she decide to play with one. On the album, she collaborated with Chicago wunderkinds KAINA, NNAMDÏ, and Sen Morimoto, whose lush, shimmering instrumentation alongside Jodi’s slide guitar gives many of the album’s songs a borderline theatrical feel, the furthest thing from Tuesday’s stark arrangements. Jackson was never going to play 7-minute epics like “free” and “rat” in a short opening set, nor the heartbreaking title track of her new album, an ode to romantic and platonic love, inspired by the death of a dear friend in high school. “I’ve buried old and young / I’ve watched them lower a saint / We’re only waiting our turn / Call that living?” she sings. Its wistfulness would not have been the best way to prime a crowd for Jones’ life-affirming songs, which Jackson undoubtedly knew. What she does have in common with Jones is the sheer ability to punch you in the gut, with a one-liner, bluesy guitar lick, or an octave change. Inevitably and deservedly, in due time, they’ll both be headlining bigger stages and reaching more people with the power of their stories.

[minimoll7]

gfjdksgf just a little complaint here but hrrrngghfds recently an artist left the VE team and it was announced that the comic was gonna change art styles (which would’ve happened regardless if that artist had actually stayed). A new update just came out today and oof. If that’s the new art style, I am very disappointed and upset :( Its not a bad art style or anything, but its something I kind of hate seeing trolls in? I just want the normal head round, cartoony-ish style

This would happen to when I end up developing a special interest towards 2 characters whose designs I’m picky with when it comes to art styles uughh

[tobiosmilktea]

umpah umpah! smau

↪︎ bokuto x f!reader x iwaizumi

[004] — it’s you!

masterlist | prev. | next

a/n: i wrote this during my psych class cause i was bored,, also this wasn’t proofread lol

by the time iwaizumi gets home after long days at work, he would usually knock out like a light after dinner and a bath, but tonight he had more energy than anticipated. and if he was being completely honest, he was not expecting himself to be spending the rest of his night reading a random webtoon. hell, he wasn’t even planning on reading it in the first place, but his boredom got the best of him.

a sigh escapes him as he settles at his desk, finger hovering over the lime green webtoon app for a brief second before giving in. quickly, he input in his information to create an account and before long he was already bombarded with promotions of many other webtoons until he was met with the biggest one—the love cemetery: soon to become a major motion picture!

that’s it, iwaizumi thought as he clicked on the promotional advert as it redirected him to the webtoon’s table of contents. there, he reread the synopsis over again, peering slightly at its contents purely from the plain inkling of familiarity of it all.

the moment he opened the first chapter, he was immediately enticed by the art style and colors. it was as if he was suddenly transported into this world that you have created that the hours had past faster than he had anticipated. the only reason why he even looked up from his phone in the first place was due to that little white box notifying him that his phone was at the cusp dying. iwaizumi’s eyes flickered over to his clock, two in the morning, he read as he let out a sigh. despite wanting to read more of the webtoon, he knew he was going to regret staying up. never mind the fact that he needed to go into work early and even hesitating to close his phone was a good enough reason to force himself to stop.

no wonder bokuto was obsessed.

iwaizumi’s thumb hovered over the author’s handle then, “dddeities?” he whispers to himself before swiftly pressing on the link.

it was then did his familiarity was suddenly confirmed. the moment the link took him to the webtoon author’s twitter account, iwaizumi recognized your name and face within a snap. a lump formed in his throat.

he wasn’t sure what really came over him as the obvious fatigue in his eyes was nowhere to be seen. grabbing his laptop from his desk, his fingers quickly typed away on his keyboard to search up your name on youtube. once the videos loaded in, iwaizumi found himself hesitating again as the first video that was at the top of the list had your smiling face. it still had his heart thumping in his chest even after all these years.

you looked amazing and the fact the interview had just been uploaded a few hours ago had him feeling shy for a brief second. iwaizumi scoffs at himself before shaking his head, “fuck it,” he mutters to himself before clicking on the video. it wasn’t like you, his first love and ex would ever find out he had ever read your webtoon.

“hey, my name is (y/l/n) (y/n) aka dddeities and i’m the author of the webtoon, love cemetery,” your voice softly emitted from iwaizumi’s laptop at a low volume. “today i was invited by webtoon themselves to answer some of your questions you have asked me!”

iwaizumi couldn’t remember the last time he had heard your voice. it was strange hearing it after so long now that you’ve matured since the last time he had seen you—from your looks to the way you dressed, a lot of things changed. granted, you both weren’t fifteen anymore.

“the first question is from seonshines who asked, ‘how does it feel to be able to be part of love cemetery’s film production?’’ you read off the slip of paper before discarding it off to the side, “it’s genuinely a dream come true! i’ve never expected love cemetery to be popular enough to even become a film, but considering how a lot of live actions tend to flop whenever the original creator isn’t part of production, i’m really excited for this project and i have high expectations.”

still as eloquent as usual, iwaizumi thought as he didn’t even notice the smile that was melting upon his expression the more he admired you.

you grab another question from a bowl, “from iloveddd, they asked: how do you plan your webtoons? …well when i first got the idea for love cemetery, i just started plotting it out on a piece of paper. it was initially only me who started drawing, coloring, and publishing each chapter, but once it started picking up a bit, my best friend murakami kaori started co-writing it.”

“kaori?” the familiar name slipped out of iwaizumi’s lips. “i remember her,” how could he forget the girl who got you and him together in the first place?

“overall, she’s mainly the one that keeps the story a bit more interesting while another member of my team, akaashi keiji, is my editor. he’s very meticulous and knows whenever there’s a plot hole somewhere so he’s often part of the writing process as well.” you finished off your answer before continuing to the next one, “this question is from user bokutoxbaisho. they asked ‘did you know that bokuto koutarou of msby black jackals is a big fan of love cemetery?? how do you feel about it??”

hesitance radiated out of you as you awkwardly laughed.

“um...” you trailed out, “i think it’s pretty cool i guess. it’s definitely a shock considering i never thought he would be the kind of guy to be into these types of things.”

iwaizumi’s eyebrows furrowed at this. how would you know? it wasn’t like you were the type to make assumptions about people you didn’t know either. if anything, he found it a bit strange but he shook it off.

“alright the last question is from annaoopsy,” you swiftly changed the subject, “this love triangle trope is honestly one of the best ones i’ve read. it’s really a breath of fresh air for a cliché ,which comes into question, how did you come up with this romance? was it from personal experience in past relationships?”

a chuckle left your lips as you discarded the question with a pink tint appearing lightly on your cheeks.

“let’s just say first loves were a major impact to the creation of this webtoon.”

iwaizumi felt his breath suddenly hitch the moment those words left your mouth. as if a sudden downpour of each and every feeling he felt back then in high school was catching back up to him after years of suppressing them. he swallowed the lump forming in his throat as he slapped his laptop shut, “oh no.”

fun facts! —

kaori was the one who got y/n and iwaizumi together back in middle school after she tricked them into being alone together to get to them to confess

iwaizumi was the one who confessed first since y/n was a shy, art hoe™️ back then lmao

taglist: (comment or send an ask to be added!)

@moonlightaangel @elianetsantana @k4tiepie @memorableminds @skyguy-peach @suhkusa @kitsunetea @airybby @noeminemi @truly-a-snitch @keichan @cosmicmermaid25 @bap-kingdom @saturnfarie @kwdflash @ennos-baby @dinablossom @chrisrue15 @seikamuzu @nestlevanilla @chasekudo @yammmers @pixcldust @iwaizluv @h0ngh0ngh0ng @emogril @tiredandkindaoverworked @atsunakaashi @underratedmage @bokutosuwus @kellesvt @kaiju-teeth @oh-tapeworm @scrappydaisies @alittlebitofrain @mxngy @tpwkatsumu @atsumuwoah @macchiatoast @dicerawr @kageyamasbabygorl @some-random-stranger-007 @vhskenma @wntrmn @little-plants @stargirlara @kissungjae @je11yfishwriter @sbaepsae @apollochjld

[queenlybeastly]

I don’t think I’ve ever told people I’ve had a cat on here….

Meet Orion Pax Angel VillaSenor

So long story

I wasn’t the one who found him, that would be my aunt while driving through a McDonald’s drive-thru when she first found him. He was skinny as all hell and covered in flees, and a while later I was sent a photo of him in a box at my grandmothers house(where I lived but was at another place at the time.)

And the funny thing was that he looked exactly like a small plush cat I have. Exactly like that. And when I arrived back home he was already cleaned and eating well. Now my grandmother is allergic to cats but she just found him too cute to give him away and I always wanted a cat so…. I got to keep him. Funny thing though was that at first we all thought he was a she, and the original name was Elita, up until a few weeks later when I rechecked him… and promptly changed his name. Since then he’s grown a lot and his fur has darkened, we know who the mom is but not the dad so he’s perhaps a mixed breed. But here’s a few facts about him:

He rarely meows and when he does it sounds like he’s a 60 year old smoker

He’s obsessed with feet. He’s been given the name of ‘Nibbler’ on the account of him attacking my feet all the time.

Speaking of names, his middle name of Angel is my dads middle name. My father calls him ‘that alien’ because he rarely sees him but knows he’s there.

Once had the zoomies in the middle of the night and jumped on my guitar before going down with it. He was okay. My guitar was not.

Has a fascination with string cheese?

Has a specific style of throwing hands with me when I’m trying to make the bed. I don’t know why he thinks the covers are attacking him but he knows I’m responsible somehow.

I have created his own personas within both the transformers fandom and the predator fandom. He’s named Orion pax for a reason.

So far has two fan art pieces from friends! He’s seen them and he loves them.

So… why make this post? Well in short I’ve recently come to realize that if anyone should be remembered on the internet, specifically on this page, then it should be my cat. Yes he’s given me scratches and has bitten me on some occasions and my wallet cries because of how much I pamper him yet I wouldn’t trade it for anything else.

Love ya Orion

[melodyalanaroster]

Dear @chinomiko,

When I first started playing My Candy Love on New Year’s Day in 2013, I was simply a 17 year old girl who was starting the second half of my Senior Year in High School. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, and I certainly had no idea where I’d end up. At the time, I was just looking for a new anime style site to call my internet home after the destruction of TinierMe. In my search, I stumbled upon your site. I had never played a dating simulator before, and I fell for your art style, so I decided to give the site a shot. It didn’t take me long to bond with Nathaniel... He was a kind young man, who loved to read, and had a tortured home life... Even though the torture at home was different between him and me, I still felt like I had found a character I could recognize... Hell, I did the same thing with Ken... My bond with Nathaniel was just so much deeper... 

Then I graduated High School... I had no college prospects, and no idea what I even wanted to go to college for (still entirely don’t know).... My issues at home were getting worse, my love life was far from perfect, and living in Texas can be kind of ruthless on those who aren’t following the status quo... Even with going to the United Kingdom for 5 weeks, things still didn’t get better... And of course, the death of my childhood cat, Luna, in 2014 made things worse... So, I started focusing my free time on the game.... Working like crazy to get up to date with the episodes and bonus episodes, editing pics, and even writing fanfics... It became my escape from real life.

That did not change when I met the love of my real life in 2015. Despite entering into a relationship that is still going strong, I needed an escape from the hell my abuser was putting my family and me through, from the shitty job that I had gotten (and still have as of this letter), and from the hell that a really rare disease that had kicked on in my mother’s immune system had begun to put her and my family through. No amount of talking to people in my inner circle in real life helped... And there were times where it felt like the only emotions I knew were anger, sadness, and fear... It was during this time that my main MCL OC, Melody Alana Roster, came to life as what she is today... A strong, smart, beautiful, powerful, woman who goes through some of the worst hell imaginable and ends up living a life of peace with the man she loves (Nathaniel).... When my abuser’s time in my family’s and my life was ending and she was going “all out” on me? I thought of what Alana and Nathaniel would be doing during the newest episode of the game. My job putting me through mental and physical hell (it’s a very demanding job)? I daydreamed about Nathaniel and Alana. My mother’s disease progressing and making my mother put my grandmother and me through hell? I would go in my room and write a section of my story or edit a pic when I could. Hell, My Candy Love became so prominent in my life as an escape that when my abuser’s daughter came back at me (this time with my boyfriend’s ex friend), one of the things she’d say to me was “All you do is sit in your room and write fanfiction.”... I needed something and My Candy Love and it’s fandom was something I enjoyed that kept me in my room (where I felt safe)... To this day, my boyfriend understands why I’ve put so much time and effort into it... Why I’ve spent so much money on it (AP, Gold, commissioned pics, and items)... It was a light in what felt like a sea of darkness in my life...

Now, I’m going to clarify something here... What is written in the last paragraph took place over the course of 5 years... Of course, when I get to the point of 2020, its easy to guess some of the reasons why I continued to focus on My Candy Love... However, I have an added reason.... Not only did the pandemic bitch slap Texas mid March, but about a week before that happened, on March 10th, my mother succumbed to the secondary infection brought on by her disease... And I had to grieve... Of course, when the pandemic hit about week later, I was told by society that I didn’t have time to grieve... As I am a grocery store worker... Which, I still tried to use My Candy Love as a means of escape... It felt like life was going “Yeah, you’re free from your mom’s disease, now here’s one that YOU could bring home to your grandparents and kill them with simply by going to work!”... Because, I’m sure even you know how poorly America has handled the pandemic... And Texas is one of the worst states when it comes to that...

I’m not saying this to make you feel sorry for me... Not in the slightest... I’ve leaned on my family, friends, and boyfriend for everything, so it’s not JUST My Candy Love that got me through all of this... I’m telling you this because My Candy Love and what I’ve done for it has helped me with it all immensely. I thought I had lost my passion for writing while I was still in school, even though my favorite teacher was encouraging me to continue... And here I am still writing my MCL fanfiction... Not only am I still writing my fanfic, I’m getting it turned into 1 copy of an actual book for my shelf when I’m done... When I took photography in High School and wasn’t good at photoshop, I thought it would never be a skill I’d use... And, yet, over the course of my time with MCL, my photo editing skills have improved DRASTICALLY... Sure, I can’t really edit real life photos... But I can make stuff for MCL avatars and such...

I mean, if someone had told me 8 years ago that I’d be so invested in this game that I’d have a body pillow of my favorite love interest, a folder of commissioned art, a blog with over 1,300 followers, an Instagram with nearly 300 followers, a custom plushie of my favorite love interest, a Discord Server with around 200 people in it... That I’d be the Vice President/Club Photographer of the US version of a fan club... That I’d make friends throughout the world in the fandom... That my editing skills would become as good as they are now... That I’d be working on the biggest writing project I’ve EVER worked on... And that I’d cry at the last episode the same way I cried during the Season 8 finale of Scrubs, the series finale of iCarly, Matt Smith’s regeneration in Doctor Who and the ending of Deathly Hallows Part 2... I would have told them that they’re crazy....

Yet... Here I am... I’m turning 26 years old in July... And all of that has happened... In real life, I’m still dealing with the pandemic, I’ve celebrated my 5 year anniversary with my boyfriend, and I’m even preparing to move in with him... Yet, online, I’m still VERY invested in your game. I’m still a long way from finishing my OC’s story... I still want to edit pics for Nathaniel and Alana... And I’m going to be contemplating playing the new game for a while... I’ll still play events... As long as Nathaniel is around, I’ll be there to greet him with a smile... But I don’t know about your new project...

All that being said.... There’s one MAJOR thing I’d like to say to you, Chino....

THANK YOU!

Thank you for everything! For all your hard work in this story... It’s far from perfect, but I still enjoyed the majority of it... For creating Nathaniel, the holder of my 2D heart.... Seriously, thank you for creating him... I have anime crushes, but I don’t love them as deeply as I love Nath.... Thank you for your art! Its amazing! You’re in my top 3 favorite digital artists... The others being Drachea Rannak and Marco Albiero... Thank you for all the work you continue to put into the game that a lot of us have, kind of, grown up with.... I wasn’t really a kid when I started playing, but I do consider myself to have “grown up” with it... Thank you for all of the other love interests... For Castiel, Kentin, Armin, Lysander, Priya, Rayan and Hyun... They’re not the ones I love most, but they’re all interesting characters... Thank you for Candy... While she and Alana greatly differ from each other, Candy was the heroine in a story that gave birth to Alana... Candy is far from perfect, but I’m glad her story ended well.... Thank you for creating the game that brought this fandom into existence... While the fandom can be VERY toxic at times, there are a lot of amazing people in it... They have become some of my dearest friends...

While the entire My Candy Love team at Beemoov deserves my gratitude... I feel like you are the most deserving of it... Because, without you, My Candy Love would not exist.

I look forward to seeing My Candy Love’s future... Either from the sidelines, or from the middle of it... I will see it’s future...

Thank you ChiNoMiko.

All my love and respect,

Melody Alana Roster