#work is a trap

[synthaphone]

finally drew a fakemon concept i’ve been excited about for a while- Ambear, the Bug/Rock type mon! Something went wrong during the revival process for this fossil, and the amber itself became imbued with life.

[zephyrine-gale]

commission of a scene from this fic for @enter21 !

[shittysawtraps]

Hello writer, in front of you is a empty google docs document, write a single, coherent, grammar cohesive sentence

[ectokelpeigh]

There's so much to love about Maternal Instincts but I really super extra love the piggyback ride

It's funny because there's no explanation. I'm pretty sure Maddie's just coddling Danny. Yes Danny just did a lot of running from the mutant ghosts so he could be tired, but Maddie had just fought all those ghosts off. Danny also tripped pretty bad over a log but there's no indication that he twisted an ankle or anything. In fact, we only see the piggyback ride for two seconds before Danny casually jumps down so he and Maddie can talk face to face.

But here's my favorite thing about this moment: it's not played for laughs. It would have been perfectly on-brand for the show if Danny made some comment about being thankful no one could see them like this. It doesn't matter that they have bigger fish to fry— if Danny Fenton feels like complaining, he makes time to complain.

It's so endearing to me, seeing our superpowered protagonist in an extremely vulnerable situation (literally powerless) letting his mommy carry him (again, literally and metaphorically). Danny is typically resistant to help like this, but we don't see it here. Right before this scene we had the emotional turning point of the episode, where Danny hugged Maddie and told her "You're awesome!" It takes Maddie by surprise but she melts into it. The above shot is the next thing we see, and the apparent lack of necessity for the gesture or any awkwardness around it gives it an air of normalcy. It stands in huge contrast to the rift between Danny and Maddie at the start of the ep. We start to believe that these two were indeed very close for years, you know?

gosh it's cute it's REALLY cute!!!!

[prokopetz]

I love how much you post about osha

In the course of my first three paying jobs, I variously found myself:

Going hopscotching from support beam to support beam inside a dropped ceiling suspended thirty feet over a hotel ballroom, with no safety equipment and only a handheld flashlight for illumination, in order to replace a misbehaving wireless router  

Emerging from my office and quite unexpectedly finding myself waist-deep in a pile of trash bags full of freshly severed duck wings that may or may not have been infected with avian flu  

Climbing onto the roof of a twenty-five storey building, in the middle of a gale-force windstorm, in order to attempt to point a giant laser at City Hall, without having been issued eye protection of any sort – and all this while coated in petroleum jelly

These are the sorts of formative experiences that lend themselves to the development of a keen awareness of exactly what constitutes appropriate workplace safety!

[pangur-and-grim]

I didn't want to talk about it until the whole horrible thing was over, but Wednesday slipped out an open door last week and (with the help of a motion-activated camera on the porch) we finally got him back last night!

he’s acting so sweet and cuddly today, it’s clear how happy he is to be home and safe inside.

[the-final-sif]

I've got a lot of feelings I'm still figuring out about prison break lore, but I'm holding firm that Ranboo's death was fucking hilarious in context and I will not change my mind on that. Like. c!Sam: "Dream, go back in the torture cube or else I will murder this teenager because you've vaguely expressed positive feelings for him." c!Dream, a necromancer who has proven that he can and will bring people back from the dead, something Sam personally witnessed: "...No." c!Sam: "I am in shock. It is utterly unthinkable that my foolproof plan didn't work. I can't believe you've forced me to murder this teenager." c!Techno: "You literally do not need to murder him, nobody is making you do that." c!Sam: "Well if I don't, I'd be a liar, and I'm pretty sure that's worse than murdering a teenager."

[beetlesanbutterflies]

Personally I think TDWT is the best season of Total Drama, but what did the public think of it? like the in-universe viewing audience.

 Because we get two new characters and one of them is some superfan who, you might have know about beforehand if you were really into the show, and the other is just some random hot guy who is just casually flirting with all the girls and getting them eliminated and no one on the show figures this out somehow?? 

And then you start to notice that this guy has like a thing for Heather and you’re like okay where is this gonna go? cause they both clearly like each other. and then they get to be the final two and are just like lowkey flirting with each other the entire time?? 

THEY THEN CONFESS TO EACH OTHER ON TOP OF A VOLCANO, KISS AND THEN HEATHER KNEES HIM, AND SHE WINS??

 so now you’re thinking okay so was it all an act? What’s gonna happen?

 THE VOLCANO EXPLODES AND THE SEASON ENDS. And then after the season premieres NO ONE HAS HEARD FROM THIS GUY SINCE THE SHOW ENDED. I’m sure that total drama executives cut the clip of Alejandro getting burned and being put in the robot suit so the public just doesn’t know where this guy is. 

Heather is out here getting the most fame of her life because she won, didn’t get the money, and was in a weird romance with this guy who is missing. Reporters keep asking her where this guy is and if they’re together or what were the details of their relationship on the show and she’s just replying with that it was all an act on her side and she hasn’t heard from the guy and certainly doesn’t care that he hasn’t texted her back. And one day some fan just asks Sierra what happened with Heather and Alejandro and she just replies with “ya pretty sure he died.”

[tiktaalic]

serenely cornering jensen ackles and kindly asking if i can show him my favorite performance of his and then playing the convention clip where he whips out the EXTREMELY homophobic lispy gay cas voice and then looking him dead in the eyes and asking if that’s the voice he associates with angelic higher than romantic higher than sexual love and if so what voice would he associate with homosexual men who date and have sex with other men

[rubybug]

A custom design and reference sheet commission for @nuggetlumps! 🪴🥩🌟

[softerhaze]

some last minute fun in sulani before heading home 😪

[tanoraqui]

Outline of a Guide to the Lord of the Rings Movies if you Can't Watch Them With a Books Fan (Chronological Order)

Before we start: quick primer on the existential difference between Men (gender-neutral) and Elves (also gender-neutral, I suppose); VERY simplified rundown of the difference between Valar, Maiar, and etc. races.

Leaving the Shire: this is actually pretty smoothly adapted BUT in the books it all happens over a much longer period of time and Sam, Merry, Pippin, and another hobbit named "Fatty" Bolger all put together Frodo's actual plan (leaving the Shire) and the gist of his mission (the danger of the Ring) and inform him that except for Fatty, they're coming too. The scene where they tell him this is hilarious.

Wizard Fight: this is not how wizards fight

Nobody minds that they left this out but FYI for worldbuilding: the Barrowdowns, Tom Bombadil (GALOSHES!; swords of Westernesse for the hobbits)

Arwen vs. Glorfindel (we actually do support Arwen)

Council of Elrond: actually Sam was noticed halfway through and they just let him stay because he refused to leave; stubborn icons only

Everyone Elrond Loves Not Just Dies but Actively Chooses To Leave Him: A Tragedy in Three Ages (but still this characterization is bad)

Corrollary: Aragorn Had No Hesitation Toward Kingship

Saruman's Storm: this also is far too explicit magic, but it fucks so I'll allow it

Moria: that's Balin from The Hobbit! Also several other dwarves from The Hobbit! If you didn't yet, this is where you're supposed to realize that this will not be an overall happy romp like Bilbo's book

[Optional: The Creation of Dwarves (And Ents BTW)]

The Origin of Balrogs (ft. reprise of What Are Maiar (and Istari))

Why Galadriel's Gift to Gimli Makes Me Shriek Softly: a frantic attempt to explain the entirety of The Silmarillion as fast as physically possible before I'm cut off by loving but tired friends

Aragorn Had No Hesitation Toward Kingship (Reprise: And Boromir's Death Scene Does ALL the Work In It) [delivered through tears] [can be delivered after the movie ends]

[break for snacks]

Geopolitics are More Complex: Saruman is properly his own faction, not subservient to Mordor, and also Gondor has fiefs and allied states.

Brief primer on the historical difference between Men of Rohan and Gondor, and why this matters thematically

Viggo Mortensen's Toe

[Reminder: Ents and Dwarves, Yavanna and Aulë]

Treebeard is based on CS Lewis, bc Tolkien liked trolling his friends

The flag just happened to blow off right then! Movie MAGIC!

Again, this wizard magic is far too dramatic

This orcs&wargs fight didn't happen in the books either but whatever

FARAMIR IS SO MUCH BETTER THAN THIS

Elrond Deserves Better (In Multiple Ways) (Reprise) and Geopolitics are More Complex (Dunedain, Not Galadhrim, in Helm's Deep Reprise) [can be delivered after the movie ends]

FARAMIR IS STILL MUCH BETTER THAN THIS (Osgiliath Remix)

[break for snacks, maybe a short walk]

Saruman didn't die here, nor did Wormtongue, but we'll get back to that later

Faramir is being alright now; I'm just still angry about how he is in the 2nd movie

Gollum didn't frame Sam to separate them like this in the books but whatever. Frodo's projection and deteriorating mental state and Sam's caring incomprehension are compelling

Pippin got shown around Minas Tirith by a ten-year-old, casually downplayed the fact that he is the closest thing the Shire has to real aristocracy, and it was great

Tired reminder that neither Elrond Nor Aragorn Should Need These Character Arcs

Gandalf Knocking Out Denethor: It's Funny Because He's Probably Not Supposed To Do That

The terrifying, despair-inducing screams of the Nazgul and their mounts maybe-not-deliberately evoke Luftwaffen shrieks and air raid sirens!

ARAGORN ARRIVES WITH THE LIVING, NOT THE DEAD. He only leads the dead to take the ships; he sails them and arrives at Minas Tirith with a small army gathered from the no-longer-corsair-besieged southern fiefs, as well as the Dunedain (his people! including Elrond's sons!) who've been with him since Helm's Deep [optional: reading aloud this passage in the book, bc it's Epic]

The books make it explicit over and over that Isildur's heir will be known not just by sword or countenance but by having "THE HANDS OF A HEALER", and this is where it culminates

[Optional: quick discussion of Eowyn and feminism, ft. the themes of the work, the general presence of women in the work, etc]

Tolkien specifically described Sam defending Frodo from Shelob as "No onslaught more fierce was ever seen in the savage world of beasts; where some desperate small creature armed with little teeth alone, will spring upon a tower of horn and hide that stands above its fallen mate"!

Sam took the Ring, Sting, and Galadriel's star-glass and accidentally convinced all the orcs that he was some great and terrible Elven warrior

Orcs WERE Whipped (And Haradrim Have Loved Ones): Tolkien was deliberately writing about he horrors of fighting a faceless enemy, a la his days in the trenches, but didn't say the average soldier had no face, merely that our heroes cannot see them

Only Pippin went to the Battle at the Black Gates; Merry was still recovering from hamstringing the Witch-King

The giant eagles are servants of Manwë, king of the Valar, and so basically the most official divine intervention one can get

Needless to say, Eowyn and Faramir's Recovery Romance was more than 1 scene in the books

The Scouring of the Shire

This Wasn't Actually The LAST Ship: Sam; Legolas&Gimli; other Fellowship deaths; other elven (and half-elven) characters

"Into The West" was inspired by a young filmmaker who died of cancer!

[mintafterdark]

piping hot take; the repeated/emphasized use of "dark" and alluding to Darkiplier appearances in the past simply to get us to open the door is the true meaning of the phrase "thirst trap"

[shittysawtraps]

Hello cat owner. So, you decided to declaw your cat. If you look down, you'll see I've strapped you to a chair and put mini guillotines over all your fingertips. You have 20 minutes to find a way out of the chair using only your feet before I decide to declaw you. Time starts now.

[everybodybutbuddie]

you betrayed me (traitor, olivia rodrigo)

[gertritude-art]

Progress Update...?

I mentioned this a while back, but here is the aforementioned progress update on the visual novel I’ve been working on!!  I wanted to get more done before I wrote this up, but college unfortunately keeps getting in the way (I have a month and a half left until I graduate, and I’ve been very busy because of it).  

Anyway, I still don't have an exact measure on how fully complete the ENTIRE thing is, but here is what I have done so far.  I've split the game up into the five broad sections I've been imagining it in my head (they are not equal in length):

OPENING 

This section covers the entire set-up of the game’s premise.  All of it takes place out in the woods.

writing: 50% complete, but fully planned - this percentage used to be larger until I had to scrap most of what I had written and start again :’) Honestly, it probably is more than 50% complete, but I’m giving the low estimate since I have a tendency to scrap large sections of writing in the editing process.

backgrounds: 100% complete!

CGS: cannot say until I’m fully finished writing it, unfortunately :(

MIDDLE

This section features Mordred running around his school’s Homecoming dance and meeting lots of odd characters.  Most of it takes place in the school, but you can visit the woods if you want to.

writing: 70% complete - this was the section I was trying to fully finish before this update, but school got in the way :’) Should be done by the end of next week, though!

backgrounds: Only one left to complete, which I have been putting off for months.  Please lend me your strength.

CGS: There are none in this section!  So I will call it 100% complete :^)

CLIMAX

A relatively short but very important section where lots of little pieces come together.  Can’t say anything other than that.

^ non-spoiler image that technically spoils this section but not in the way you would think 

writing: 50%-ish done; it’s quite short, though, and will probably only take about two days for me to write, once I sit down and focus on it.

backgrounds: This section re-uses backgrounds, but makes heavy use of the one I haven’t drawn yet.  We’ll call it... 40% done for this reason.

CGS: There are quite a few in this section, but I only have three done.  We will see how many more I need...

ENDGAME

Cannot describe this section without massive spoilers, but i can basically say it’s like:

mordred sowing: ha ha, yeah, this is so epic

mordred reaping: hey what the fuck is this

Including this story section of the game has granted me a massive amount of extra work, but I will force myself to do it if it means that the story will be stronger.  Anyway

^ spoiler-free image that describes this section

writing: ???% done - I made a massive change to its structure recently and now I need to see how much extra I need to write and how much I can keep

CGS: 0% done... this is a CG heavy section too, I imagine, so I can feel the pain already

backgrounds: either 0% or 50% done, depending on whether I go with one specific plot choice...

Most of the uncertainly in this section has come from me knowing exactly what plot elements I need, but struggling to find the best way to have these elements come together.  This will probably be the section I put off the longest.  I have to include it though because it has one scene I started writing back in october and god damn it i WILL have this scene finished

EPILOGUE

writing: 40%-ish done - this is a pretty short section, though, so it won’t take me long to finish it once I fully dedicate my time to it! backgrounds: 50%-ish done; this re-uses backgrounds from the middle section, but with characters drawn in different places - so, it won’t take that long to do, once I finally do it! CGS: 0% done.  The good news, though, is that I only need one CG!  I just haven’t drawn it yet :)

------

OTHER STUFF

SPRITES

- There are some edits to be made, but all the base sprites for the characters + many of the expressions are basically done.  At the moment, all that’s left is to draw some expressions for the characters, and then fully implement them into the game once everything is written.

ITEMS

- all drawn B) I still need to implement most of the point-and-click sections, though!

SOUND DESIGN

- leaving this until the end :(  I'll probably spend, like, two weeks straight on it lol ;w;

MENUS

- I will be honest.  I’ve been putting these off until the very end.  Literally the lowest on my list of priorities.

-----

IN CONCLUSION

This story has gone through quite a few changes since I had the first idea for it back in July.  At the moment, it’s only about 22,000 words long - although, I imagine I’ve written at least double+ that, if you count everything I’ve written and then rewritten/cut out from the final product.  I honestly don’t mind all the revisions I’ve made - I think they were necessary to figure out the best way to tell this story, and what words I’ve kept, I’m incredibly happy with.  

I had this lofty idea of finishing the game by the time I graduated (which, as of now, is in exactly six weeks), but it seems that this, unfortunately, will not be the case.  (This is an unfortunate habit I’ve always had, called “I have literally no idea how long things take and what I assume will take an hour will actually take, like, five days or something.”)  

I am still going to try to get as much as I can done by that time, though.  Hopefully, things will be a lot more complete by then :’)

Anyway, thank you to anyone who has stuck around to read this.  I appreciate your support of my creative adventures, even when it has taken me so long.

See you later,

- Gert