#not blaming the animators or designers or anyone here

[constantvariations]

I understand technical limitations preventing intricate and complex character designs but damn if I don't wish Nora looked more like a viking. I'd love her w a fuckton of braids and a strong nose and a big gut from celebration feasts. Maybe even a tattoo or two. Itd be fuckin sweet

#rwde #not blaming the animators or designers or anyone here #i know jack abt 3d animation but i def know that all those braids in 2d would make me go insane #but nothing abt her really says Thor other than hammer and lightning yknow? #like i adore the viking aesthetic #esp big strong noses theyre literally my favorite to draw #hopefully someday ill get around to posting a nora redesign #tall and thicc nora is what we all deserve #and it makes sense considering that she'd be fat bc long periods of starvation will change how your body retains energy stores #her being food poor as a child would def make her fat and food focused as an older person

[ohnoitstbskyen]

I know it would probably bring a lot of hate comments but I am begging you to roast the hazbin character designs because I'd love to have someone properly articulate why they don't work so I could send it to people who won't believe me when I tell them. 🫠 Understandable if you don't want to get into it though.

I don't think there's that much there to roast, honestly?

Those designs are clearly an extremely specific stylistic choice, and because that style is consistent throughout the show, it ultimately feels coherent with itself.

There are trade-offs being made. Because Hazbin's design style is SO stylized and so heavy on decoration and detailing, because it puts a lot of emphasis on costuming, it isn't as good at communicating specific character storytelling as a more grounded style could be (it's kind of the same tradeoff that stuff like Genshin Impact makes).

Like, why does Sir Pentious' hat have an eye and a mouth on it that makes its own expressions? Apparently not for very much reason at all, except that Pentious has a bit of an eyes-motif going on in his design and it was one more place to put an extra eye. And that's a valid criticism of his design, but also the entire show is designed like that, so frankly it would be weirder and more out of place if his design alone didn't have that kind of overelaborate decoration going on.

It does create a situation where I have a hard time "reading" the character designs sometimes. For example, Vox, Alastor and Pentious all wear a similar style of suit with upwards-turned shoulders, butterflies and pinstripes. Now, am I meant to read that as Vox imitating Alastor due to his crippling need to replace and outdo him, and Pentious imitating the style of powerful Overlords because he thinks that possessing their level of power will finally give him relief from his paranoia and self-loathing?

Or is it just a design fixation of the creator who keeps putting their characters in suits because that's just what they like? I can't really be sure, because sometimes design elements are used to intentionally tell stories about how characters relate to themselves, their world and one another, but plenty of other times designs look the way they do Because Of Vibes.

But again, that lack of clarity is clearly an intentional trade-off - and the benefit of that trade-off is a design style that is extremely varied, wild, expressive and memorable. Hazbin Hotel seems like a very easy show to draw fanart of, and a very fun show to draw fanart of. Those designs (especially the hyper-expressive faces) are begging to be the subjects of traumatic headcanons, unbearably cotton-candy soft fluff fantasies and weird, taboo, homoerotic power dynamics. Slaps roof of character design, this bad boy can express so much vicarious emotional intensity.

It's very exuberant, very excited about itself and very self-indulgent, it's a style that prioritizes visual impact and visual interest over readability (something which the animators of the show navigate with real skill, props to them) and individual aesthetics over worldbuilding.

And I don't blame anyone for being turned off by that (I certainly was the first time I started seeing those designs going around), but I would struggle to call the show's designs "bad" when they are clearly achieving exactly what they want to achieve.

I have some criticisms, especially re: how the show treats skinny bodies as an unquestioned, desirable default, and employs fatness as a means of alienating and abjecting the audience. That sucks very badly, and is a serious disappointment, and one of the few places where the show feels like it is being cowardly in its design philosophy. But I don't have it in me to do some kind of Hazbin Hotel Sucks And Here's Why takedown, its problems are not unique or extreme enough to warrant it, at least not as I currently understand them.

#tb answers #hazbin hotel #character design

[thowawayuntilfurthernotice]

Let’s be honest here, the only reason why Viv’s fans attack anyone that draws redesigns is because said redesigns are better than the source material.

Why is that people who don’t work on the show understand that Angel and Vaggie are supposed to have a spider and moth motif, but Viv (The person who created these characters.) doesn’t?

Even the people who don’t know anything about demonology get that Beelzebub makes more sense as a giant bee/fly than a sparkle dog.

Most animated shows have a bunch of character designers on staff, so they can share ideas when it comes to a character’s design.

But not Viv’s shows! Viv is only one who has final say on what the main cast should look like, while the character designers are only allowed to design a bunch of background incidentals, who end up looking a hell of a lot more appealing than the main cast.

If you’re an artist who enjoys drawing redesigns, please don’t let Viv and her fandom’s toxic behavior discourage you from doing what you love.

Yes, there are artists who only draw redesigns because they wanna “Fix” a certain design, and those assholes shouldn’t be given any attention, but most of the people who do redesigns of Viv’s characters do it for fun.

With that being said, if you are an artist who’s thinking about posting your Hazbin/Helluva redesigns online, please be aware that the fans will end up harassing you, so be careful out there.

Also, I don’t blame anyone who says that they don’t want to draw redesigns of Viv’s characters because of how toxic the fanbase is.

#Vivziepop Critical #Hazbin Hotel Critical #Helluva Boss Critical #Spindlehorse Critical #Toxic fans #Toxic fandom

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for ditching my lunch group without telling them after the way they talked to me and about a friend behind my back?

Ok, long story. We’re all in high school, age is irrelevant. I have been sitting with this group of friends for a few months because at the beginning they were pretty cool, I already knew one person there, and they didn’t hate me, so I stuck around. Fast forward a few months, we’re all good friends and we have a groupchat. In said groupchat, my friend, let’s call them R, asks me to design a potential character for an animated series they’re doing. They tell me “go crazy” and don’t give me any guidelines at all. Being a rather colorful person, I make the character colorful. R proceeds to say stuff like “oh, she looks like you”. I say “oh, how do I fix it?” and they say “give her brown hair and normal clothes, like a white t-shirt and a jean skirt.” and “she’s 14, not everyone has to be colorful.” I’m not the most confident person ever and I’m pretty insecure, so obviously that sent me into a meltdown thinking they all hated me. Whatever, moving on. A few weeks later, another friend in the group, T, is out sick. While we’re eating, another group member says “Is it just me, or is anyone else kinda glad T’s not here today?” Others agree, saying stuff like “he’s annoying” and “he doesn’t know when to shut up”. I say “wait, isn’t T your friend?” and someone says “Not really.” Now I see T as a friend, so I do what any good friend would do and tell him that they were saying that stuff. Little side tangent here, I gave them all squeakers from rubber ducks because I promised, and they started squeaking them. Some random kid shows up and says “what the fuck are yall doing, yall are fucking weird.” and one of my friends says “thanks [my name] for the squeakers” loudly as if pinning the blame on me. Random kid says “yall are all fucking weird except maybe you, i like your hair clips (gesturing at me).” So why would my friend throw me under the bus like that for keeping my promise? I don’t know. Tangent over, back to the point. This morning I text T and I say “hey, i’m not sitting with that group anymore, i feel like it’s getting a little toxic. don’t tell them i said that.” I feel like there’s nothing wrong with leaving and not looking back, but these people have become my friends. I don’t know, but I feel like if I stay there, someone is going to turn on me and I’ll be out of there either way. Tl;dr My friends at lunch have kind of gotten toxic-ish, saying rude stuff about a friend behind his back. I don’t like the way they’re acting, but I’m torn. AITA?

What are these acronyms?

#aita #am i the asshole

[devilheartsblog]

Here’s Part 2 of some ideas I’m doodled for my Winx rewrite

Last post seemed to do better than I expected and I’m glad a few people enjoyed it. So here are some more things I want to work with.

I like Artu and Roxy’s relationship but I would have also liked some backstory on them and more depth. Like Gantlos said “it’s just a dog”. How did Roxy get Artu? Is he adopted or bought? Is there a reason he doesn’t like anyone outside of Roxy and Klaus?

In my rewrite, yes. Abandoned as a puppy, a kid Roxy took him in after her mother left her dad unexpectedly. She basically raised Artu and he means a lot to her, but she never socialised him since she herself isn’t social with people (so while Artu may tolerate someone’s prescence he doesn’t like being touched or seen upclose). Roxy raising Artu is also why she gets pissed and earns her fairy form but doesn’t want the fairy gig since it ended up hurting her dog, because as a fairy the wizards are after her and Gantlos hurt Artu.

Speaking of Gantlos

Gantlos my beloved you’re so fucking bland the only personality trait you have is having fucked up pointy hands and a cool hat <3

Ok in all honestly I like his apathy to animals and the Winx in general, but that also applies to the other wizards to some extent. At least you can say something about the other wizards; Orgon’s voice is top tier, Duman has really cool powers and design, Anagan’s banter with Flora’s entertaining. This one’s technically a headcannon I made cannon in the rewrite. I did my research btw.

Gantlos has a pretty intense fear of deers also called Elafiphobia, even asking Duman to not shapeshift into one. It’s pretty bad, seeing a deer gets him pretty close to a panic attack. I’m not going to spoil why but I’ll say it’s a consequence of the Great Fairy Hunt. In fact all the Wizards despite being the cause have been affected by the fairy hunt, either overall or because of a major event. Gantlos’ deer phobia is also why he doesn’t like/care about animals initially, I mean, why should he like them? Just cause they’re cute? Hah!

Apart from Riven and Musa I hate the melodrama in season 4 it’s so shit. Since in my version Sky isn’t in the story cause king stuff, Mitzi is narratively cremated and Nabu doesn’t die, on top of planning to expand on Anagan and Flora’s relationship as rivals and Anagan “flirting” with her, it’d be weird for Helia to be like “eh”. Like even if Flora can hold her own I think he’d at least be a little concerned and annoyed at Anagan.

So yeah, Helia’s conflict is having a case of Impostor syndrome because Anagan’s a foil to him; confident, extroverted, confrontational, and actually bounces off of Flora really well. (Like, I don’t ship Anagan and Flora but the people who do I don’t blame them, it sounds more interesting) Even if Flora doesn’t reciprocate Anagan’s feelings, Helia feels inadequate and is anxious Flora will lose interest and might even break up with him since he’s the anti-social poet of the group. Timmy could even help after his confidence arc in Season 2. He’s not overprotective of Flora like wanting to fight Anagan since it kinda goes against his pacifism but the narrative doesn’t care about that as much as I do :/

And lastly I think it’s be neat if we saw a more fleshed out dynamic between the Wizards, the best I can think of is when they’re protected by Syllia and Duman almost slips their plan to which Anagan says he’s being whoosy, Orgon complains about being protected by fairies while Gantlos is fine with it.

A lot of the rewrite is focused on fleshing out the wizards because I want complex villains grr, and they’re perfect for it. The Earth Fairies? They’re good but they’re dead in my rewrite soooo-

I like to think Orgon is pretty manipulative of them. Was he always like this? No, but he’s desperate to secure the disappearance of magic from Earth, and his manipulation gets worse and worse as the episodes go on, in the end being threats and guilt-tripping. He still cares but mostly how the wizards can be of service to the Black Circle. And yes Duman is his favorite because he has the best powers. Shapeshifting will always be OP and the best power in my heart.

Anyway that’s all folks. If I make a part 3 it’ll probs cover some other stuff like Jason Queen, which I like his character, it’s perfect for Musa’s development (until they made Bloom the fucking main singer like WHYYY) or perhaps talk about Klaus or Morgana, Tecna and Timmy and more about Nabu. Anyway I’ll go watch some more nostalgic minecraft videos and webtoon rants. See ya!

#winx club #winx rewrite #rewrite #winx roxy #winx gantlos #winx helia #winx orgon #winx duman #wizards of the black circle #winx specialists #art #fanart #digital art #doodles #fanfiction

[misculenica]

A love letter to the facial animations... And Solas's design.

I just love that first encounter with Solas, and how telling it is if you really pay attention.

We all remember how giddy he is, perhaps he even has a playful nature to some. He seems utterly delighted that you're there (of course he is - you're going to fix all his problems).

Knowing Solas, he always came across as someone who is very bad at hiding his true feelings about things (he can't help but declare everything/point out how clever he is/how wrong everyone else is) - he's an awful liar. He's quick to correct himself, but not quick enough to not let you know exactly how he feels about something.

Looking at in in more depth with hindsight of who he is and what's really going on, it's just that extra layer of ohhhh that's interesting. Praise to the creatives involved in the storyboards/animation/facial expressions, because hot damn it's beautiful to look at.

So let's go frame by frame like manaics. (yes, it's because I'm writing fanfiction and wanted more insight into his thoughts/character)

The first closeup we get of him is this;

This is not a happy man XD

I would suggest he's just unhappy with you (I believe I mentioned in another post that Solas throughout the game has a sort of grudge against you for being the cause of all this - besides himself + Coryphidkfdfsdfus), but given the situation, I don't blame him for being on piss-mode.

But just... The way he stares at Inky just hits so hard. Imagine this guy you don't know grabs your arm and gives you this stare - it'd scare me more than the demons XD

That, and the fact that when he does the thing, he looks at you

It just- whether it's my writer/artist heart or just my solavellan heart hitting me with this idk. Just nnnf how come I never noticed this.

And the first rift is sealed, and Inky stares at him all like O.o "What did you do?" And he responds "I did nothing. The credit is yours." But there's this second/half second pause of interesting aniimation from Solas that I think deserves attention/applause.

Here's his immediate response to "What did you do?";

He's staring at the mark - with such intensity - before his brain catches up to 'oh right, respond solas respond'

And as soon as he makes eye-contact with Inky, it turns to this;

The difference in these expressions hits me right in the vhenan. I really want to congratulate the animators for this, because holy crap that's a lot of information about a character and their mindstate in the space of a couple seconds - pretty much a 'blind and you'll miss it'.

And then the rest of the scene, he pretty much has the same head tilted to the side, vague smile on his face, 'I'm just going to twiddle my fingers in front of me' look happening - and it kills me.

(Also it's slaying me that Solas is leaning down as if he's speaking to a child)

All humble and appeasing, until you look away.

I particularly love this next part, where Varric tells you Solas kept you from dying in your sleep. And he just has this;

Like; "yes, what do you think about that?" turn to look at you, instead of any verbal confirmation.

They rest is pretty much similar. Though I just adore the contrast of his expressions when he's 'in the moment' and then 'in character' - it's so goddamn telling from the very beginning.

I would kill to install flycam - if anyone can give me details on how to install a flycam for Inquisition (I've tried before, but any links I get taken to have dead sites/pages)

And I just want to share a happy egg.

Part 2

I now have flycam installed and it works, however- controller isn't an option and i don't have a numpad on my keyboard XD gonna have to dig out an old keyboard!

But overall the software works and i've been able to use it! Success!

#dragon age #dragon age inquisition #dragon age spoilers #dragon age inquisition spoilers #solas #fen'harel #dreadwolf

[firedragon1321]

How to Spot an AI-Generated Tai in the Wild!

Because I am insanely obsessed with the blorbo and AI art is a hot-button topic right now, here's a silly thing. I'm sure most artists can tell the difference between real and AI art. But my autistic brain wants to pick apart Tai's character design a bit so here you go. This applies to all seasons, touching on basic traits Tai has between them. So I won't go too much into clothing here (people like to dress him up in different cool outfits anyway- keep doing that).

Note that this isn't true to all models, but works 90% of the time. AI art is advancing so quickly that this may be obsolete by tomorrow. Also, real art might "fail" these little tests simply due to lack of experience drawing the character. If you suspect someone is posting AI art, just block and move on. Report if you want, but you know how Tumblr feels about AI. Most importantly? Don't use this post to be a dick.

WARNING: This post uses AI-generative images found from around the Internet for demonstrative purposes. No credit is given because if the "creators" wanted credit, they should've learned how to actually draw. :)

SKIN TONE

Tai has this nice, tanned skin tone that the rest of the Adventure DigiDestined do not have. While he keeps it in 02 and tri, he loses his color in Kizuna. A real fanart piece is most likely to reflect this, or even add color to his paler designs.

Most AI models have a generic pasty white skin tone for anime characters. This applies to any anime character, not just Tai. I believe this model might have gobbled up his Kizuna skin tone. But I've seen fake Tais even paler than this.

There are some AI models that combat this. But the standard AI identification tricks apply. Here, the tongue is mushy, and the highlights on his goggles make no sense.

HAIR OF FLOOF FLOOF

Ah yes- my point of expertise. Tai's hair is a difficult thing to draw. I don't blame anyone for dropping the ball here. But AI does have some notable, repetitive failings.

A "legit" Tai tends to have fluff, rather than spikes. The bangs consist of one stripe over the forehead. The few spikes present designate messiness, but the general shape is actually curvy (look at the top right side of the head for the most wavy lines). The size of the floof ranges between adaptions and even storyboard artists.

AI-generators are convinced that all "anime hair" is spiky. Notice this AI Tai has more spikes and less curved lines.

Then, there's this one, which drops the ball on Tai and Matt so bad that both characters resemble Bakugou from My Hero Academia.

WHO'S THAT DIGIDESTINED?

Eye shape and color has some leeway depending on the artist's style. Adventure/02, tri., and Kizuna supply three different eye styles. However, there are still some dead giveaways.

Revisiting this AI-generated image, the eyes look...familiar. No?

How about now? The modern Pokemon anime style has been completely absorbed by AI models. Sometimes, Digimon and Pokemon will be confused for each other, resulting in similar eye shapes and other traits (look at the noses, too).

HUMAN TOUCH

There's some times you can look at an art and know with confidence it was human-made, such as-

MS Paint blobs/sketches on lined paper/anything showing layers/etc. They're too unrefined for an AI image creator to want to profit off of, so why would they make them?

Some fetish art. A lot of kinksters are using AI, which is why deviantArt made good ammunition for this post. But many have distinct art styles that AI has not copied yet.

Western-cartoony art with hard or thick lines. AI is allergic to these traits atm. Notice the softer, thinner outlines on all three fakes.

Clearly attempting to master Tai's unique traits, even if they don't translate well (e.g.- a dome vaguely shaped like his hair is more credible than a "perfect" hairdo with too many spikes).

FINAL NOTES

All of this could change tomorrow, at the rate at which AI advances. I'm fairly good at deducing AI art from human-made art. But a recent piece almost tricked me (interestingly, it was Davis- not Tai- who looked off). These things are constantly evolving. But in addition to the usual tricks, knowing your blorbos can help identify AI images so you can freely block (or, when applicable, report) the idiots who made them.

#tai kamiya #digimon #taichi yagami #taiposting #fuck ai art #all of this will change in three days #character design #ai art #ai art identification #might go into tai's hair more one day there's a lot i want to say about drawing it

[maniculum]

Bestiaryposting Results: Kraegrat

Allow me to start with a disclaimer: I woke up sick this morning, so if it seems like I'm doing a worse job than usual stringing words together, let's all agree to blame fatigue & cold medicine.

Now, on to our beast for the week. The entry people are working from can be found here:

This is kind of an interesting one: not only is there no physical description, but the entry consists entirely of describing a single behavior that has at best a tenuous connection to reality. Nevertheless, a number of people indicated that they recognized it, because this is one of those "bestiary fun facts" that tends to stick in folks' heads.

As usual, we're going to go through the depictions in roughly chronological order -- let me know if I missed yours. This week, for some reason, my original post doesn't appear under the #Kraegrat tag, so who even knows what's going on there and I'm fully willing to believe yours is hidden for some kind of absurd Tumblr reason. (Maybe it got flagged under the "don't go nuts don't show nuts" policy -- I kind of suspect that's what happened with the entry post.)

Images below the cut, because (1) aforementioned nuts, though i'm pretty sure this is within Tumblr guidelines, and (2) i really should be doing a cut for all of these but i keep forgetting.

@mobileleprechaun (link to post here) has gone all in on the pathos, making the Kraegrat small, fuzzy, and sad. They describe it as "beleaguered and persecuted" and "a poor guy" which honestly I think is pretty fair for anyone in a situation where you're constantly being hunted for your testicles. They also cite "tanuki inspo" for obvious testicle-related reasons, and yeah, I see it. Very good Sad Gentle Beast here.

@embervoices (link to post here) has done a few different species of Kraegrat, all of which have kind of a lemur look. (They also provided their own alt text, which I really appreciate, thank you.) The linked post has an explanation of design decisions, and also references that Anansi story about tiger balls. (I googled it just now, and all the results reference American Gods -- did Neil Gaiman make that one up?) Anyway, excellent whimsical lemur thing, love the depiction of it throwing the testicles.

@mayhaps-magical (link to post here) notes their "appropriate medieval disregard for standardized spelling" and explains that they reinterpreted it as "Kragen-rat". My German is almost nonexistent, so I had to do a quick check...

... okay, yeah, I see how that comes into play. I also like the idea of playing around a bit with the spelling and etymology, because gods know the medieval authors did the same with no regard for accuracy. (The vastly-encyclopedic, frequently-inaccurate work that has led Isidore of Seville to be put forth as a potential Patron Saint of the Internet is ostensibly a book of etymologies.) Anyway, I like this guy here. It kind of looks like one of those big dogs that are always kind of shy and nervous around new people, which I think fits with the description as "gentle". Also like that it apparently has both claws and I think thumbs for the throwing of testicles.

@silverhart-makes-art (link to post here) acknowledges that they're pretty sure they know what this animal is supposed to be, but they're trying to put it out of their heads. I think they've done a very good job of that: this is a pretty naturalistic drawing of a ground-dwelling mammal that doesn't quite look like any real animals, including the one that this entry was based on. The post linked above contains a description of the design decisions behind this critter, which I of course recommend checking out.

@coolest-capybara (link to post here) has, as usual, done a beautifully stylized rendition of this one. She cites the famous unicorn tapestries as inspiration, and I can absolutely see it. I think it's an interesting artistic choice to focus on the hunter rather than the beast in this drawing, but one that absolutely makes sense: the entry doesn't tell us anything about the Kraegrat except how it interacts with hunters. Enjoy your bounty of severed testicles, Sir Hunter... and, um, keep an eye on your dog if you want to make sure you still have all of them when you get home. I think it's contemplating something there. The linked post contains a brief description of design decisions, and also this line, which I enjoyed:

I'd also like to state for the record that when I started this challenge, I was not expecting to draw a field of severed testicles, but here we are. It was more fun than I expected.

@rautavaara (link to post here) has again taken an unusual direction with this one. They describe their interpretation as:

Medicinal plant-like lizard that loses its tail when scared off.

Considering this and the drawing, I think I can see the path of creative interpretation. The animal as presented in the bestiary entry is obviously ridiculous: a mammal that self-castrates to save its life is not an evolutionary success. So what could it be other than that? Well, lizards detach their tails to escape predators; what if there was a lizard with nodules on its tail that medieval people interpreted as testicles?

I can't swear that that is rautavaara's thought process, of course, but it makes sense to me as an interpretation of the material provided, and if that is what they're going for, I think it's quite clever. Also, as usual, the art style here is excellent.

@sweetlyfez (link to post here) explains that her design process consisted of blending together various animal features and then giving it sparkly magic balls, because that's all the entry really provides. Which, fair. Also I appreciate the taste in choosing what I think is "tapir + deer" as the animals to blend here. Those tusks kind of remind me of musk deer, which is actually pretty appropriate, as we'll see later. The facial expression plus the sparkly balls strike me as very funny, I have to say. Good beast.

@karthara (link to post here) was apparently also skeptical about the idea of a self-castrating animal, and if you check out the linked post, you'll see a brief explanation of how they resolved that as well as some other thoughts on design decisions. The gist is that the Kraegrat has decoy testicles, which I love as an interpretation. Fantastic. No further notes.

@cheapsweets (link to post here) has done another ink drawing that is, frankly, delightful. Love the Kraegrat escaping into the Nonspecific Medieval Trees. Love, love, love the hunter getting smacked in the face with a set of thrown testicles while his dog watches. The above linked post also provides an explanation of design decisions which I think is worth reading, go check that out.

@treesurface (link to post here) has drawn us a rat-kangaroo thing (not to be confused with a kangaroo rat) calmly displaying its lack of testicles. Looks fairly good-natured about the situation, really. They provide a brief discussion of their design decisions in the linked post, and also express a desire for more "weird scary beasts" in the future -- so I checked, and while I can't really define what is or isn't a weird scary beast, I think we should get at least one qualifying entry in January.

@pomrania (link to post here) has made the understandable decision that they aren't going to draw animal genitalia today. Fair enough. I also think this is a pretty good depiction of a Mammal that is clearly not any animal we're familiar with -- I'm impressed by how many of the drawings we're getting for this are Plausible Yet Unfamiliar Beasts. Anyway, pomrania provides early sketches and an explanation of design decisions in the linked post. They also express relief that this is not "Yet Another Bird", and I regret to inform you all that there is a small cluster of Bird entries coming our way.

Anyhow, let's take a look at the Aberdeen Bestiary depiction for this one.

I have to say I find this illustration very funny. That bizarre pose where it's wrapped around a tree is good, but what really makes it is the hunters. Look at those two. Spear Guy looks like his eyes are about to bug out of his head, while Axe Guy seems like he's going "hey, is that normal? should we be doing something about that?"

Anyway, as some of you guessed (and as I'm sure more of you picked up from that very accurate Aberdeen illustration above), this is a Beaver.

Yeah, the whole testicle thing is probably a misunderstanding of the castor sacs that beavers use to scent-mark their territory. Castoreum is still used today, mostly in the perfume industry I think, but apparently the medievals had some kind of medicinal use in mind. So the people who surmised that this isn't actually talking about testicles but rather some other anatomical feature that looks like testicles were correct. I have no idea where the idea came from that the beaver would rip them off voluntarily, though.

So! There's this week's bestiaryposting. I will now Retreat to My Chamber and Lay As One Dead (scroll Tumblr in bed until I fall asleep).

#maniculum bestiaryposting #kraegrat

[rawliverandgoronspice]

Thoughts on TOTK Ganon's appearance?

A lot of them!! Some would say: too many!!! Too much!! So much so that I was almost starting to turn this ask into a TotK early review, so I'll simplify my answer a little.

I have not finished the game yet, but I have seen the memories and a good chunk of it, but my opinion is therefore incomplete and subject to lapses in judgement/hasty positions. Also, my opinion on this is kind of a buzzkill and I already made people depressed and bummed out by explaining it, so I'm putting it under the cut to avoid hurting the good time of people who might not want to think about this/might disagree on this description alone (and I understand, since it's an opinion that also depresses me!!! I wanted to like everything!! I wanted to be blown away!!).

I think this Ganondorf is like OoT Ganondorf redux, but with even more problems than OoT Ganondorf, somehow??? which is honestly a flex at this point.

(I love OoT Ganondorf to be clear, but the flaws are pretty undeniable and you have to navigate through a lot of bullshit to get to the good parts)

Between the green skin that lacks any proper justification in the context of the game (I say this because I always hear "oooo but it's because he's a demon/undead" and uhhhh no, it's not because of that apparently), the fact that he's half naked but we're never ever meant to conceive him as a human person in any way but merely as a constant physical threat... Like I'm certain the famous Ganondorf Designer did their utmost to give him justice and there is an obvious attention to details in his design, and I'm not blaming them or anyone in particular for the Nintendo treatment --but it does add up to something quite uncomfortable in his characterization regardless. Even the fact that his face rigging is extremely flimsy and makes his emoting feels super strange bugs me (I heavily suspect it's because it's way less soft anime and structurally very different from any other face in the game, especially around the jaw, and so they had to do a custom rig and had to work around its limitations --it's all speculation, and I am always here for Unsettling Ganondorf Faces, but it kinda felt accidental and not intentional like in WW or TP). He's at once a lot and really not much. I find his characterization beyond barebones. Even Twilight Princess Ganondorf had more to him than this (like the man was fascinating in comparaison, show me a guy claiming to be chosen by the goddesses while sitting on a throne next to the decapitated statues of said goddesses any fucking day over what we got here)

I like the mechanical aspects he introduces; the gloom is cool, the hands that grab you are amazing, the bosses are such cool callbacks --and he's just causing messes and putting parasites in things!!! You go girl. I do love that he's having his little puppet Zelda run around causing hijinxes, that's very fun of him and my favorite part of his character in this game so far, tho I don't know if that even counts as him --and I'm not 100% sure what that even says about anyone?

But here's the thing: nobody (beyond * arguably * Rauru) seems to be allowed to have a character arc in this game, so it's hard to come up with anything to say since he's the sole cause of conflict while being almost completely motivation-less. I don't think anyone is written particularly competently honestly; it just shows more with him because a Ganondorf who's not well written reverts back to Ganondorf at his most generic expression of a baddie imaginable, with a side-serving of, quite frankly, really questionable orientalist themes that I see little excuse for being handled the way they were in the year of our lord 2023. Like I'm kinda shocked not to see more people calling the racism for what it is, because it's... pretty blatant. But that goes beyond Ganondorf and that's the whole game, and I said I would try to keep my scope limited, but!!! I will screech about imperialism eventually!!!

The other aspect of that discussion, which is inevitable, is how much does TotK erase everything that came before? I'm sure there are some amazing Zelda theorists out there who will find a way to reconcile all of this, but for now, I get the sense that Nintendo wanted to get away from their messy timelines (fair) and reinvoke some of the old songs for a new audience, and in doing so scrubbing the slate clean. My problem is not so much that they wanted to do this (even if I think BotW's solution was, strangely, much cleaner and more respectful of their own history), but what they introduced instead: and, in Ganondorf's case, he's kind of reduced to a parody of himself --one that is so unbelievably unsympathetic and impossible to relate to and also responsible of his own oppression and also not oppressed since he attacked first!! and also oppressive?? (I made A Sound when I heard the line about Rauru talking about "the last free gerudo village falling" bitch!! free according to whom??????)

Removing a lot of the Goddesses/Triforce thing (so far, maybe it will come up) also does this conflict zero favors in my opinion, as it makes everything and everyone's actions much less fated and an expression of self-determination/resilience over their predestination, and much more uhh political in a bad way, while still borrowing the aesthetics of divinity to justify its own mind-numbing moral simplicity.

I don't know. Maybe the third act reveal will really surprise me and make me reconsider my position, but it would take a lot to scrub off all the dedicated efforts made to flatten Ganondorf to his lowest possible denominator (him and his people honestly my follow-up to the gerudo post will probably be Oops! All Salt) for the sake of the most brazenly imperialistic and feudalist Hyrule to date and its really weird and uncomfortable reimagined origin story.

So uhhh, Thoughts Bad! I guess thoughts bad. :(

(Matt Mercer did a great job with what little he was given tho, and so did every voice actor)

#tloz #ganondorf #totk #totk spoilers #tears of the kingdom #totk critical #gerudos #asks #thoughts #thank you for the ask!! #I truly adore a lot of things about the game!! #the narrative is not a part of it #I find it so... cheerfully oppressive #my brain is really going overdrive over trying to figure out what bothers me so much about this story #so thanks for the outlet and sorryyyy #it's a rant #like a proper one #but I kind of feel insane to see fellow game writers not criticize any of this?? #like it's not at all a part of the conversation? #and it's not even the only thing I want to criticize about the narrative design #HOWEVER this is not at all a condamnation of anyone who do enjoy him or feel creatively compelled by his appearance here #I'm sure there are things to do that are cool and powerful #just like there were in OoT #but I just don't see an excuse for Nintendo itself to be so careless in handling these themes in 2023 #(again: the company not the individual devs) #(I've BEEN THERE --not in Nintendo but AAA-- I know the pain of complexity being rejected and rewritten as its opposite)

[angelofthepage]

BATDR Speculation: Who is Bendy?

So the internet is currently freaking out over little Baby Benders (rightfully so, he’s ADORABLE), and we all have a lot of questions about him. Is he as cute and innocent as he seems? Is he going to betray us? Is he the lighter half of an ink demon split into pieces? Does he have a soul? If so, is it someone we know? I have a lot of thoughts on this, and none of them are concrete, but today I want to talk about one of my favorite musings so far: How Joey and Henry might be involved in this. I wanna talk about The Illusion of Living.

https://twitter.com/LaurenSynger/status/1587778374038069249?s=20&t=b-DLbISPVNI584xRm5ALAg

Warning: if you haven’t read the Illusion of Living by Adrienne Kress, HIGHLY recommend it, as there are spoilers ahead. This book is delightful, and it’s not what I expected. When I picked it up, I thought we were getting a narrative about Joey’s life, and we did to an extent. But the real treasure of this book is that it’s a character study of Joey Drew. It gives us so much to think about in terms of who he is as a person. Because he’s Joey, you’d expect him to bend the truth (pun absolutely intended), and there are moments where it feels like some details aren’t entirely true. But there are some scenes that are written in such a way that feel all too earnest, and one of them is the scene in Joey’s apartment: the birth of Bendy.

The way Joey tells it, he’s the one who had the concept for Bendy, then his friend Abby Lambert attempted to draw it, but nothing was looking right. Abby brought Henry on board to help without consulting Joey first. Then they all sat on the floor of Joey’s apartment while Henry sketched out what would become the signature Bendy design (with critiques from Joey along the way). It’s made out to be this magical moment, and it’s believable. What reason would Joey have to lie about this? He may have a lot of feelings about Henry, mostly negative from what we’ve seen in DCTL, but he gave Henry credit here. He didn’t downplay Henry’s importance in all of this, which surprised me, and I like that a lot.

Joey comes off as being so deeply in love with his creation that it doesn’t matter who did what, the fact remains that Bendy is still his in the ways that count the most. He was made with love, dreams, and wonder at his core, Joey’s ideas and writing, Henry’s artistic execution. He belongs to both of them. I get the sense that a lot of people are going to jump into debating whether this little Bendy is somehow made using Henry’s soul or Joey’s. But I’d like to propose this: what if he’s made with both? His creation isn’t credited to a single person, but two, and who better to give Bendy a soul than both of his creators, two halves of a whole?

It gives another layer to why Joey would send Henry into the studio in the first place. Like why Henry? Henry’s just a guy who supposedly worked with Joey as an animator and business partner for one year before vanishing forever, why send him in? Is he a last resort where others failed (maybe Tom was sent in first and couldn’t fix things), or is it because he’s so integral to Bendy’s creation? Surely he has something grand to offer in that regard, by Joey’s logic. Send Henry in, sure, if anyone can stop this twisted version of Bendy, it’s his creator, right? No, this story isn’t one that you can solve by making Henry the protagonist, it’s one that needs both of them. It’s a story that needs Joey to acknowledge a lot of things in order for it to change. That could be why it’s a loop, the story can’t end without Joey playing his part, but he’s too busy blaming everyone else for the trouble he’s caused, not taking responsibility for his actions.

One of the theories I’ve seen that I really love from the first game came from @dreamfisher-nux​ which I’ll link here: https://www.tumblr.com/dreamfisher-nux/184575733862/that-child-at-the-end-might-not-have-been-human?source=share The idea that the child we hear say “tell me another one Uncle Joey” might not be human based on the milk carton texture’s inky handprints gives me a lot to think on. I have to wonder if that child might have been his last attempt to make Bendy. Yes, I know, five fingers is too many, but that’s exactly why I say “attempt,” not success. I mean he has the studio full of his previous employees, souls he’s claimed he owns, and now Henry is in there too. Is it possible this was all a plan to get Henry’s soul to make into his creation? I’ll admit, while I was around for the emergence of the “Henry is a perfect Bendy” theory, I’m not 100% sold on it for canon (though I do love it in fandom works), but an imperfect Bendy, or something close to Allison or Twisted Alice in nature? That I would buy. Henry alone may not be enough to give Joey what he wants. So what if, before the end of his lifetime, Joey gave himself up? Bendy is in part his creation, a part of him, just as Alice is a part of Susie, there is something they give to that character that no one else has. And much like Susie, Joey would do anything for the character he loves. He went to great lengths to try and see it through, sacrificed so much (much of which was never his to sacrifice).

When I first heard Joey’s tape about cheating death itself, I assumed his goal was immortality for the longest time. But TIOL has me thinking that that’s only half the story. You’re never dead if your legacy is still alive, and Bendy is Joey’s legacy. Making Bendy real and innovating beyond what any artist or engineer has done before is at the core of what he wants, to make dreams into reality. And if he’s gone, but Bendy is here and real and perfect? I think, that’s a sacrifice Joey would be willing to make, his dream would be achieved and that’s what matters. Throw on the machine machine one more time, take the child, his child, that was so close and take one more chance, add his piece to the puzzle, his soul to the mix. Become part of your creation. It’s an act of love, “but love requires sacrifice.”

Joey is believed to be dead in 1972, and this is where Arch Gate comes in. They have control of the Bendy brand, they own the rights and assets to it. Nathan was someone that was believed to be Joey’s friend, even though he’s done things a friend wouldn’t do. What does Nathan Arch know of Joey’s marvelous machine, of his dreams? While I don’t know if I buy Nathan as a benevolent character given what he’s said in the books, I do believe he would carry out some of Joey’s final wishes, though maybe not exactly the way Joey would want him to. And handing Bendy over to him, his most precious creation, to be taken care of? Well, that would be an interesting thing, wouldn’t it? You don’t leave your child in the hands of just anyone. It’s as Tom says in TLO, you don’t give up on a miracle.

Or course, take this all with a grain of salt. I think this would be an intriguing story to follow, but that doesn’t necessarily mean I expect it to be canon. Canon or not though, it’s an interesting thought, isn’t it?

#Bendy and the dark revival #batdr #batdr trailer #batdr trailer spoilers #bendy #batim #bendy and the ink machine #bendy theory #joey drew #henry stein #baby benders #tiol #the illustion of living

[threepoint14art]

Well, since you so kindly offered: I want to know about your OCs! Their names, their animals, anything you feel like sharing.

WOHOO THANKS FOR ASKING! IM HONORED IM HONORED! first of all sorry for just posting about my ocs lately I am clearly going through it </3 im gonna put all the long explanations under the cut so I don't clog anyone's feed!

But in a general not that long way: those girls were The salvaged they have a group name because we designed them around the idea of them being rivals to the nightmares! Fun fact, their names apply to the other group better than to themselves! The nightmares just like in source material all got saved or salvaged by Deuz. While the salvaged over here are a nightmare! just generally! In our AU the nightmares 1) are older and 2) Are a bit more dangerous than just school bullies (thought onnie still does that and has beef with literal children lmao), so we decided to give them mortal enemies!

This will include a bit of infodump on the nightmares too since I realized we haven't really explained the changes we made to them, and also trigger warnings for mentions of abuse, though I'll try to not get too into it it's always worth warning

Actual explanation time let's go I'm sorry for word vomiting on you multi I'm so hyped you ask it's unreal thank you so much for asking yet again:

Bébe

She is the redhaired one! she is based on scrap baby! not to be confused with the normal baby animatronic! We made her as a foil to our Deuz. Just like Deuz she is the leader of her group, but unlike Deuz she isn't the "strong, takes all the burdens, looks menacing, defends the others" type of leader, but rather just the one who sort of controls the others, more of a "you wouldn't expect this one to be in charge" sort of leader. Hence the little animation I did with her saying "I know what you want" Gives the others what they want to keep them near her since they are her " strength" her "ammunition" to put it some way. Giant dangerous insanely built bear vs a silly crow who wins She is baby faced (haha word pun) and just generally looks a bit harmless, we made her a crow because we made her main strength being creepy and offputting, inducing paranoia and all that since we already made Deuz generally paranoid, crows can make some WEIRD sounds and copy voices so it felt fitting for her bother people like that. We don't have that much of her backstory figured out just yet, mostly because she feels like a pipebomb to try and make sense of, opposite to Deuz who opened up to the nightmares about most stuff, she is a complete mistery to the salvaged. She is simply creepy, always smiling, keeps people close to her by being an enabler since she doesn't think they'll stick to her and defend her otherwise, she makes Deuz feel incredibly paranoid!

Scarlet

I would have made her name white if that was readable! I'm going by order of how they appear in my little animation, so shes the one with white hair!

She is based on molten freddy, she has a lot of issues. The main thing she wants and needs is just constant appreciation and people near her, the reason why is really horrible we are so mean to her.

Unlike bebe, we have her backstory pretty developed. She was really sick as a child, and her hospital expenses took her parents into debt, her dad was still incredebly understanding and of course mourning his daughter was in so much pain, her mom wasn't like that. She got kinda frenzied by their financial instability and blamed Scarlet for all of it, saying that she wasn't even her real daughter anymore, that the sickness already killed her daugther so that she could just kill the sickness, and tried to literally murder her! Both her parents went to jail because even though her dad literally tried to stop her from dying, the justice system is always horrible and it counted it as assault against his wife. So sickly child in extreme chronic pain feels like no one loves her! She needs that constant reassurance a lot because she's very understandably very traumatized from that.

She parallels Maggie in the most like, mean way I could have conjured up. Scarlet is and always has been ill and in pain and it her family abandoned her because of it, while Maggie in our Au is the biological brother (we trans man beamed him) of Meg, and he abandoned them and ran away because he was tired of the abuse in the system and shitty forster families, but also tired being treated as a full time caretaker who always had to protect Meg. So they kinda parallel eachother in the abandoned and the one who abandons.

She drinks a lot because it numbs the pain she's constantly under, and it also lessens the fact that she's always constantly itchy (why she scratches herself in my animation). And she is a sheep because she was "a lamb to the slaughter" as a little kid! her mom tried to kill her! A sacrificial lamb to rid you of your burdens. Raquel The fact that there was no nightmare chica irked us two a lot so we just made one haha epic. She is a cockatiel! She used to date Onyx (How we call Oxy) but little kids in relationships do stupid shit and she cheated on him which gave him a life-long grudge since he's insane about infidelity (divorced parents, thinks that if they were still together he would still have a home since when he came out as trans he already lived only with his dad and he got kicked out, thinks his mom could have defended him if she didn't cheat and ruin everything, normal stuff)

She is incredebly annoyed by the fact that he hasn't moved on, and honestly I'm annoyed too boy you were both like prepubecent fleas. She also is really quickwitted and subtle given that she pickpockets a lot of people, while Onyx is more hardheaded (haha why hes named onyx, rock) and really blunt since he has 0 need for being subtle.

She got kicked out of her home for just being a hoarder! A kleptomaniac and a hoarder to be exact. Since birds do have that thing where they nest and get a bunch of stuff and put it on a nest we upped it to a thousand here, she just steals stuff and hoards it to the point where it was genuinly unbearable for her parents so off she goes. This also ties with the fact that she's also incredebly money hungry for the sole reason of just having money, seeing a lot of money together scratches her brain. Bebé just straight up enables this girl to keep her unhealthy habits.

Back to parallels, her parents kicked her out for her own good, trying to stop a self destructive habit. While Onyx's dad kicked him out for just being who he is. Similar yet different yada yada

Mar

Ourhghghg I've already posted art of Mar on here before, she is the snake girl (specifically now a hoop snake, she had a nother snake before but we changed it) who is incredebly normal about her mom. If you trusted me on that post I'm sorry but I lied to you shes not normal ever.

Her full name is Marisol, she shortens it to Mar to be cutesy and because her name meaning Sea matches pretty well with Avani's (next to be discussed) name meaning Earth. She is a contrast to Onnie since in here we gave them both really really bad homes. They got physically abused and they both did not come out sane out of that, but while Onnie wishes he killed his dad and takes it out on everything and everyone. Mar actually killed her mom.

Cool fact about Mar, she is related to shadows! But it's not exactly like Freddy and Fred. Summarizing incredebly hard, in our AU shadows are born from empty people, If someone who is just fundamentally empty as a person walks too close to a place where people have felt a lot, were their feelings overflew out of them, they get a shadow. Freddy has fred because the little guy was just fundamentally empty as a kid (every "freddy is bland" joke ever now has real consequences/j), But Mar is a bit different, since she is the shadow.

Think of Freddy having no personality (/j) and up it to a thousand, thats what the "original" marisol was like, literal empty kid who would not cry or scream or yell and it pissed her mom off to no end, till boom, Mar appears. Since they aren't omniscent and they too don't really understand what shadows are, Mar thinks she is the orignal, and the remainder of the other girl got renamed as lake (haha matching, bodies of water), who unlike fred or freddy, who while not in the body are people shaped, is presented as just a snake.

(if you want to ask about the shadows give us 5 business days since we are still establishing how it works/lh)

So basically, Mar was a really lonely kid thanks to alcoholic mother who was inhumane towards her, she had 2 friends for most of her life. The snake she imagined who she thought was literally just the ghost of a snake who died by the road or something, and Avani, childhood friend who was her neighbour, she is insanely attached to her.

She just like Onnie suffered a LOT because of her home situation, but unlike Onnie she at least did have moments of peace at school and with Avani (Onnie was also brutally bullied at school, woups, guy got no break ever). She kept growing up time kept passing things at home were exactly the same. She met Bébe she met the salvaged and she just started doing crazy stuff simply because "it made her happy" she had an outlet and it helped her. Sadly, things at home out of nowhere aren't the same miserable mess but just somehow turn worse and worse and worse, probably because it was obvious that she was much happier with being more and more away from home and hanging out with people. Eventually she just had enough, and with the help of insane people over here (mostly Bébe) they make a plot to literally murder the woman.

Basically, since she was an alocholic and never tended to the house ever, they just turn the stove on and close all the house down and so she dies of monoxide poisoning and they pass it off as her being negligent and leaving it on on her own.

Literally as that's happening, Mar goes to her school councelor and does some fake tears of feeling like a danger to herself to get send to a psych ward, which doesn't surprise the councelor since it was pretty obvious her home life was awful and that she's a little gone since she talks to the air sometimes, she eventually gets back from it, gets the news that she passed away, does some more fake tears, and boom, surprisingly easy. Onnie wishes he could do that.

Due to her mom dying and being sent away for a little and all of that she missed wayy too many clases and got held back a year, then they tested her to see her academic level and see that she was doing even worse than they thought so she's held back another year, and boom this derranged 18 year old is in a clasroom with the 16 year olds, she scares me. She is based on nightmare marionette which is why we wanted to give her something shadow related, and also why she has scales on her face that sort of form a tear pattern!

Avan

I'll admit. I was incredebly self indulgent with her. She's based on nightmare balloon boy, but I used Loon as reference (quien lo invitó? pinche chamaco), since our version of loon is a holed up guy who just sort of rots away in his room and doesn't intend on being a functional part of society. Avani is a prodigy who graduated way too early and is already both studying and working, literally never spends time home and is always busy.

We also made her an asian ladybeetle since they are often regarded as the "evil" counterpart of a ladybug!

That's her basis, and now for parallels, I also have to explain how I was incredebly self indulgent here: She's meant to be a parallel for Spring "but spring isn't a nightmare" I know, and she also isn't a salvaged. We made spring and the nightmares friends (insane decision I know), and so both Spring and Avani interact with their respective group out of just being friends with them instead of actually being part of the group who does insane things. Spring works at a gas station and never finished his education and doesn't feel ready to be an adult at alli(we made him 24 woups), while avani has an office job and reads like a fully functional adult (she isn't) while being incredebly young.

Like was said before she is Mar's childhood friend, And she is a prodigy in all sense of the word, she too was an incredebly lonely child and only ever got along with Mar, She was always said to be too boring and somewhat creepy for remembering seemingly inconsequent stuff. She has an insane memory and an insane brain in general, her parents realized that and just fully commited to pressuring her to do better and better and better, "Pressure makes diamonds" after all. So while at first they were in the same class, Avani kept skipping grades because she was incredebly gifted academically. She still kept contact with Mar of course since both of them are horribly attached to eachother (in the animation they have matchin jewerly! Mar with the necklace and Avani with the earrings), but she literally graduated at 14, that's crazy, girl should have been watching mlp or something.

As she grew she kinda thought about herself as only that, only a prodigy only the smart one that needs to keep getting smarter and needs to be a functional adult already since if she's not its just "a waste". Her parents also didn't help with that, treating her as if she was 100% self sufficient when she was a literal kid. And as soon as she turned 18 she got kicked out to be a full fledged adult.

She got an office job and also is studying MEDICINE and also keeps active contact with a friend. "how does she have time for that" she literally doesn't, This woman is sort of a walking zombie, her being labeled a "genius" made her think she should just shoulder ten billion things at once.

Anyways the day that Mar was getting out of being in the psych ward and already was angsty and nervous she went to visit Avani at her job to calm down a little. Woupsies! Boss is a creep! Woupsies Mar just launches herself at him and beats him up and now this girl is jobless. Awesome.

She has a bit of a crisis because without a job she can't pay for her apartment and she has nowhere to stay and Mar just tells her to go stay with them, which the others don't necesarely agree with but also can't outright refuse since they are very well aware of how important this girl is to Mar.

Basically, "functional" adult stays with insane people, and none of the others understand her. A girl who should 100% have some sense of moral superiority against them just seems way to out of mark with what they expected, she's sort of way too chill with they stuff they do, seems way too nonchallant about Mar literally killing her mom, seems way too bored of everything and only ever thinks of work and studying and work and studying and Mar, it doesn't seem like she literally has any other desire than work like an animal till the end of her days. They can't figure her out! Hence the question marks in the animation! That's,,, that's all I have. Multi if you read all of this you literally deserve like an award, tysm for asking again <3 ^^ I promise I'll do more stuff with actual canon characters soon, I just had a moment ToT, if you (or anyone else who read this) Have any other doubts about them or anyone at all always feel so free to ask!!

#ask response #our au #WE NEED A NAME SO BAD LMAO #such an honor forever to be asked about ocs #also sorry if it reads like word vomit i tried really hard to be understandable #but also I just can never make something clear cut ever #THANKS FOR ASKING AGAINNN WOHOOOO

[matildaverse]

Please tell about your verses Scriddler and any headcanons for them 🙏

Okay, firstly thank you so much for this question. I would say I’m sorry for what’s to come but you asked for it this is all on you (to anyone else who unfortunately has to witness this blame anon I’m innocent). Quick preface idk who knows this but a friend and I are (VERY SLOWLY) working on our own little project which may or may not include Scriddler. My favourite character ever is Riddler theirs is Scarecrow so it works quite well. I literally got hired for a full time job today though so emphasis on SLOW.

Now I think this could be interpreted a few different ways so I’m going to break down the prompt and if I completely missed the mark whoops I’ll try again. Categories I’ve chosen are: Riddler, Scarecrow, them as a couple, and finally some of my WIPs silly goofs.

RIDDLER

Uses his Arkham outfit for mechanic/dirty work because POCKETS

Arkham uniform has a lot of question mark doodles

Nygma is the name, Nashton is the alias.

April Fools birthday cause he’s gothams biggest fool

Honourary member of Gotham city sirens

I’m personally biased toward forensic science Eddie HOWEVER questions multiply the mystery is the greatest work to ever exist. So I want a combination of that with forensic riddler (thinking he uses his circus gig to fund college). I am biased as a forensic girlie myself HOWEVER I HAVE GOOD REASONING I think it’s interesting how Ed reflects/mirrors Batman in many ways. E.g. in the Batman 2022 how they both take a creature they fear (bats/rats) and use it to fuel their version of vengeance.

I just want to mention the rats again because they are his spirit animal EVERY writer no matter the media understands he is a rat man and he has such a strong connection to them. I have a thread on a bunch of instances not sure if I posted that here. Someone I think commented on it saying he’s akin to a rat in a maze and I just wanna further that with how he uses that feeling to try and put Batman in the same position. He wants him to feel just as powerless.

I want to continue with the concept of powerlessness because I believe it’s such a strong and important motif for Eddie. Now Ed was beaten a lot by his father and fellow school kids. He’s a scrawny guy so he doesn’t really have the strength to fight back. This is kinda the first instance of him becoming powerless. I have a theory that his father not only beat him for ‘cheating’ but also maybe because he didn’t fit his ideals of a MANS MAN. I can’t remember where I got this from (maybe Arkham asylum imterview? That one my fair lady type comic??) but I like the idea that his father was disappointed maybe even jealous of Ed’s intelligence. He wanted a macho type son similar to himself. A footballer kid who was good with the ladies. Ed’s father comes across as a bit of a stupid alcoholic.

Now I’m probably not going to articulate this very well at 2:31am so apologies but I believe this leads into his ✨PHYSICAL DESIGN✨

Now a common denominator I absolutely adore in forensic riddler stories (others too but mainly these) is his slow progression into his signature look. Arkham Origins, Zero Year, Gotham, and even Batman Forever start Ed off in regular work clothes. He often slowly progresses into green clothes throughout the story to show he’s closer to ‘snapping’. Here are some of my concepts of potential employed Eddie

I also believe that Ed’s sexuality progresses alongside this. This is why I think there’s a bit of conflict in fans whether he’s a whore or an incel virgin. Truth is he’s both! Gotham showcased this well, in the beginning he’s very repressed and antisocial. Virgin supreme. As he slowly becomes his ‘true self’ he becomes more confident. He becomes confident in his villainy, he becomes more confident in his sexuality, and he becomes more confident in his attire.

Now I also think at the beginning he gets a bit too silly with it which is why he wears… spandex. I’m not drawing that tho so we may skip that phase. At the same time he may get a bit too silly with his um… bedroom activities. I am working on a list of all the rogues he’s screwed in every universe but essentially a lot of d listers; king tut, clock king, cluemaster, calendar man (this one hurt to add), capt. boomerang etc.

Nygma, unlike Crane who has a pretty consistent apathetic take on fashion, prides himself on his appearance and as I touched on before it reflects his state-of-mind. Edward can have some high highs. He will make sure he looks as dapper as can be when present his next ‘greatest riddle’ to Batman. HOWEVER when this ultimately fails for the billionth time he spirals. When he’s in his obsessive mode he can neglect some pretty important hygiene (Arkham series handles this well). His hair may grow out become messy especially when locked up in Arkham.

I have this design for him all cleaned up but I think it may be like a fancy event riddler instead of his official outfit cause the plain green suit is kinda iconic but I’d love to hear input! Idk cause I put the plushie in a regular green suit.

Arkham concepts:

Honestly havent figured out the glasses situation yet whether they’re forever or like reading glasses cause the domino mask is fun but also 🤓

ALMOST DONE WITH just EDDIE I PROMISE! Finally permanent damage/injuries. Now I have some (non-confirmed) ideas for Jon and desperately want to avoid same face syndrome cause my art isn’t great yet. I quite Minaj’s Eddie saying he ‘heals like a lobster’ I think that’s a fun way of describing why he doesn’t have much permanent damage especially on his face. He does however have scars on his chest from Arkham torture which he carved into a ? To reclaim power (I made a post about this but quick recap image)

SCARECROW

lives on coffee

Horse girl (that kid in class who loves horses so much they only draw horses they live breathe and eat horsy)

Year one origin with granny (him and Ed have a kinship through bad parental figures)

Also wanna take it a little further since we all know and love him covering himself in rat blood and getting the shit pecked out of him but I reckon she’d have other very religious based cruelties in store. So I think he’d have self-flagellation scars perhaps maybe a more modern iteration of this not sure

Unrelated, but I reckon Harley was his student and in class when he shot the gun

Cannot cook also terrible diet probably cause granny barely fed him

So nearsighted that anytime he wears the mask he runs into stuff

Can’t drive well ( I like in manbat when he has to hype himself up to drive)

Obvi the pet crows. One of them looks a lil funky like it’s gonna drop dead any second but it somehow keeps being alive.

CANNOT USE TECH TO SAVE HIS LIFE. He’d use carrier crow if he could. He just got used to fax. Ed has to set up the screens when he does his lil Gotham takeovers because he refuses to learn.

He is so freaking lanky

Okay so I don’t feel comfortable sharing my friends art without permission so I’ll just show some of my panels of their design for him (excuse Jeremiah and hatter)

Jon I think has a very slim face maybe even a broken nose I’ve given him a little tan I’m no geography expert but Georgia sounds like a hot place in comparison to cloudy Gotham and since he’d hang outside to avoid granny he’d be out in the fields a lot. HOWEVER this is not the final design I just gave him a face I thought suited as I am yet to receive a maskless concept art from my project partner.

TOGETHER (this is literally the only thing you asked for I’m so sorry)

they both fixate on a task so bad they forget to eat.

Riddler helps with computer stuff

Ed is at first disgusted by Jon’s dress sense but I think kinda comes around when he understands that it’s his way of expressing himself. Even if he’s always covered in hay

Idk if I’ve gone full insanity 3:33am mode but there’s a video of Mathew grey gubler in cowboy gear doing the hoedown I just pretend that’s Ed taking jon to Georgia or something and being like look Jon it’s your southern culture and like pissing him off

I think what originally draws Jon in is Ed’s fear of powerlessness which I think represents itself as a fear of intimacy (even in his whore era I’m not sure he gets really close with people)

In our version Ed gets arrested first so he gets the top bunk dibs however even if they were arrested at the same time Jon probably would be too long for that bunk

Uhhh kinda NSFW (hence why it’s last so it’s easier to skip) which I don’t talk about much but THE MOTIF OF POWERLESSNESS. So like one question I notice people ask when there’s a m/m ship is which one tops. Now I believe in this case (early relationship) Ed refuses to give up power so he’s on top. In fact he may even avoid any type of sexytime where he can be put in a vulnerable position. However as trust and mutual not murder happens he may lower his defences and do an old switcheroo. Someone else can write that fic tho I’m not sure I’m ready 😭

#I AM SO SORRY I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT CAME OVER ME #SCRIDDLER #PLEASE GOD LET THE READ MORE THING WORK

[colors-of-light]

A friend implored me to share my KirbyOCs on here. x3 I have 2 but here's my favorite Agape.

I've had this Kirby OC since I was like 7yrs old lol. I very rarely ever drew them and just kinda rotated them in my head for years. I finally started solidifying their appearance and character design in the last couple years cuz I really wanted to join in on the Kirby fandom's love for their characters. >.< but I still haven't lol

Their name is Agape (ah-gah-pay), tho I'm sure I mispronounce it, which is the old Greek word for the love for all things, Aka ur instinctual love for even strangers and the want to see them happy. The reason u smile at a baby when they look at you or feel sympathy and hurt when u see someone crying.

Since Amazing Mirror was my first Kirby game, I'd tried making a Chip into a Star Warrior. I loved the Emerald Spray from the game as well so their base color is that emerald/mint green (but more pastel) and their fur is a creamy yellow. Their cheekies and eyes are a light pastel pink. Once Squeak Squad came out and the Animal copy ability was released, I was more excited for them. Their design has shifted a lot since then (their fur used to be a lil hoodie the way Animal's is) but this is their design as of now! :D I'm going to try and doodle some more so I can show their adopted brother too, which is actually just Kimyrn as an AU cameo into Kirby lmfaoooo

They were a medic in the GSA. Their inate power was that they can shapeshift into anything they've bitten/ate. Some of their favorites are to turn their fur into frosting or custard to give others a sweet treat. Because of their ability, before they joined the GSA, they were a bit of an outcast. People didn't trust them and since there is no way to tell if someone is themselves or Agape playing a game, people would grow resentful of Agape and the mistrust they sowed in the communities they lived in. They learned not to turn into others without their explicit consent, but it didn't stop the inherent distrust of their person. If a monster attacked and no one saw Agape, they'd often blame Agape for the attack. The GSA was on the chase for them, having believed these rumors of a monster that bounced from town to town / planet to planet trying to trick people into letting it live in their homes only to destroy it. When they finally caught up to Agape, scared and alone, it became clear that this creature just had the misfortune of having an ability no one trusted. Agape joined the GSA to finally have a community that would love and trust them... and they paid it forward in a hunderedfold.

Agape became a medic and a fierce warrior. What good was a medic that couldn't fight their way into a monster hoard to save you? They loved all their friends with such a sweet passion that the other Star Warriors began to wonder how anyone had ever hated them. Agape was always willing to comfort and cuddle others, especially the wounded were showered in affection. When the Kirby anime made the remark that Star Warriors give their Warp Stars to those that truly love them for protection, and that they would return to that person on their own, I started tangling Warp Stars in Agape's fur. I feel like their unconditional love for everyone in their community made people trust them with their Stars. Agape cares for each and every one of them in their care.

#agape #my oc #my art #kirby oc #kirby

[tunashei]

First Impressions of Animorphs!

I'm listening to the Animorphs series while I work, through Animorphs Aloud - a fan made reading of the series. Here are my first impressions/random thoughts about them! Spoilers below if you haven't read them.

Book 9: The Secret

You know how we have the mirror test for animals to test their self awareness? How do you reckon they'd react to a clone test. My cat Sadie hates all other cats, would she hate herself if I morphed her?

BITE HIS BALLS CASSIE

Oh my gosh Tobias hangs out at Rachel's watching tv or reading books? That's adorable

Sigh. I wish I lived near untouched wilderness. Not very common on our island

(Morphing a wolf) 'The rest of the morph continued. My knees reversed direction' APPLEGATE. Why. Why do you do this to me?

One of the things that got me into Animorphs was seeing someone's take on an Andalite. They mentioned that Andalite's are never described as having a humanoid torso, so their design lacked that. It was a really nice design. This book does mention Ax having a humanoid torso however. Shame

Not another Eusocial animal! Why wouldn't the exact same loss of identity happen like it did with ants?

I wonder if anyone has animated a morph. That'd be cool to see, the images on the books are freaky enough so in motion would be even cooler

This is a pretty shitty forcefield if it just stops at the ground. You could literally dig under it, no termite form needed. If the Yeerks had made this forcefield a sphere they would have been fine

Uh oh we definitely getting hypnotised by the termite queen

I always felt bad for queens of insect colonies, spending your entire life in a hole secreting eggs sounds like hell to me. But this passage is making me reconsider the idea, if the soldiers really were like slaves and controlled by the queen then it's as if the entire colony is actually the queen. One organism. Hmm

In this book, Cassie commits regicide!

One of these days you guys are going to get yourselves crushed by demorphing in an area too small that you can't destroy

Well that was a easy escape

'The colour of nature wasn't green. It was red. Blood red' damn that's hard

Oh god damn Tobias ate one of those baby skunks. That's surprisingly dark.

Think I've discovered how I'd fail as an Animorph. I would totally morph a cat and end up dozing off in a sunbeam past the two hour limit and being trapped as a cat forever. Not the worst way to live though

Cassie is apologizing to Jake but honestly Tobias deserves one too. You can't blame him for acting on his nature especially when he didn't know these were 'special' kits. And he just saved Cassie's butt. And is offering to help raise the skunk babies.

Has a suspicion Homer would get skunked this book. Someone had to, and he was mentioned earlier. Also weird to me that someone would just trust their dog to go home on their own

My first thought upon hearing this was Cassie was gonna straight up murder Farrand 😭

I mean I guess this Yeerk plan was pretty low stakes to begin with, just them trying to hunt the bandits, but this was a pretty pathetic fight. They give up because smell bad and would have to refit ship. I guess I've never smelt skunk spray though so I don't know how bad it is

Visser Three has lost pretty much all his menace by now

#animorphs #animorphs aloud #audio book #book #reading #books #the animorphs #first impressions

[kokusfluffyhair]

Tahomaru Modern AU Headcanons

Someone on here (you know who you are) got me into Dororo 4 years too late and now I'm obsessed. Let's see if this reaches anyone from the probably dead fandom of this underappreciated anime.

I really got captivated by Tahomaru. I probably see too much of myself in him. I can't stop imagining him in the modern world now.

(In this Modern AU, Tahomaru and Hyakkimaru grew up together as brothers and there was no contract with the demons.)

Tahomaru is a minor, so I will only write SFW headcanons.

+ He's gone through a lot of different style stages, from preppy (to look like the good boy to impress his mother) to sporty (trying to seem more athletic to impress his father) and found himself switching up between emo and luxury streetwear.

+ He really likes Italian designers like Gucci and Versace. (His parents are rich, so why not) Yes, he thinks he looks cool in those flashy, overly-printed items.

+ He either wears those clunky trainers with 'BALENCIAGA' written on them or DocMartens.

+ He is probably damaging his hair with the amount of product he uses in it. That hair's gotta be SPIKY.

+ The reason why he's so into his style is because it helps him to hide from his low self-esteem.

+ He compares himself to Hyakkimaru a lot, especially when it comes to their appearances. Tahomaru is bulkier/bigger-boned than his older brother and has a rougher-looking face. Hyakkimaru always got more attention from girls, which Tahomaru blames on his appearance.

+ He complains that he's fat (even though he's not) but he loves fried food and won't give it up.

+ He tries to make up for what he's lacking by being loud and overly-extroverted. But it seems to backfire.

+ He once tried to trim and groom his eyebrows, thinking it would make him more attractive, but he ended up trimming them too much. His mother giggled at him. His father got angry and insulted him.

+ He tries to spend as little time at home with his family as possible.

+ He has trouble making friends and often ends up pushing others away by being a brat.

+ He's gone through the phase of picking up skateboarding.

+ He's gone through the phase of trying to learn the guitar but smashed it out of frustration because it was too difficult for him.

+ He's also gone through the online gamer phase, but it was short-lived after he got into fights with too many people on the internet.

+ He tends to get into trouble. He doesn't shoplift or anything like that, but he would skateboard where he's not supposed to, loiter where he's not supposed to, do something stupid like knock over a bin on the street when he's angry.

+ He does okay in school. He doesn't fail anything but he doesn't get great marks. (Neither does Hyakkimaru, though he does better than his younger brother does.)

+ He once tried going to therapy, ended up doing some extreme trauma-dumping on the therapist that led him to burst into tears, and then refused to go back out of his own personal feeling of shame.

+ He acts tough, almost like some wannabe gangster, but he is really sensitive, hurt, and broken inside.

+ He does all he can to avoid having to face and deal with his own shit.

+ He likes to draw, and he's pretty good at it. He has to hide it from his father, who thinks art isn't manly enough of a hobby. His mother isn't very encouraging either because no matter how brilliant he is, whatever Hyakkimaru does is better.

+ The first time he had a crush, he spent hours writing a love letter in beautiful, calligraphy-like handwriting. He was brutally rejected.

+ Now whenever he tries to confess to someone, he does it through these cocky, lame pick-up lines that get him laughed at, and also rejected.

+ The worst time was when a girl agreed to go out with him just so she could get closer to Hyakkimaru.

+ Whenever Mutsu tries to give him tips on talking to girls, he doesn't listen.

(I wish I could write something more positive for him 😭)

#dororo #dororo headcanons #tahomaru dororo #tahomaru headcanons #tahomaru

[greenlikethesea]

friendsgiving excerpt, fair ithilien verse

i realized that i completely misadvertised this one -- it is not a fun fic, very very angsty, and is the catalyst for eddie leaving indiana and going to live with jonathan and argyle in LA for a few months before heading to san fran. here's a piece of writing i did that i'm quite proud of:

“There are only two doors on this fucking house,” Eddie starts.

Confusion flashes across Steve’s face, alarm, but he masks it quickly. He’s mean first, and fucking good at it when he feels indignant. Eddie wishes he didn’t know Steve so well. “I think I know the layout of my own house, Eddie.” 

“If you know the layout of your own house, Steve, riddle me this,” Eddie spits. “Say I’m in the backyard, smoking a cigarette, because no one gets to decide I quit except for me – am I going to go all the way to the front door to get back inside? A door that might be locked for all I know?”

Eddie can see Steve softening a little, the steel in his glare subsiding just a bit. “I suppose not.”

“So it makes the most sense for me to go in the back door, which is already open, because you opened it, I watched you do it,” Eddie continues. “But you and your wife seem to be having a tense conversation. And I don’t want to interrupt, or make noise, or disturb it. So that’s why I stayed put until the coast was clear. No offense, Steve, but I have more pressing matters on my mind than whatever you and your wife talk about when you’re alone.”

“Eddie,” Steve breathes. It’s so kind, and Eddie hates it. “Please, Eddie, I –”

Eddie laughs bitterly. “I don’t blame you for locking your front door, of course. Nice neighborhood like this, wouldn’t want anyone unsavory coming in. Take the trash out the back, you know how it goes.”

It’s fucking mean, a snarl from a wounded animal. He feels a pang of regret as Steve’s face falls, that beautiful face twisting in regret, any anger there now fled. But Eddie’s eyes hurt from keeping them anywhere but those two fucking moles on Steve’s neck, tantalizing and inviting above his crew neck collar. The skin there is probably soft from whatever expensive body wash he uses, a gift from Megan, maybe. Steve doesn’t drown himself in cologne anymore, but there’s something lingering – new clothes smell, or the air freshener that’s plugged into the kitchen outlet by the toaster oven. He wants to fist his hands in that crimson cashmere, wreck the collar from how hard he tugs it down, just to get his mouth on those two moles. Maul him, make a mess of that expanse of skin, so no one knows there are moles there by the time he’s done.

“How are you, Eddie?” Steve says. It’s impossibly quiet.

“I’m fine, Steve,” Eddie says, automatic. “I told you that before.”

“No, Eddie,” Steve says. He steps into Eddie’s space. “How are you, really?”

Unlike a lot of people, Eddie actually knows what it feels like to be eaten alive. He knows what it feels like to have some malevolent force not even wait until your heart stops beating to tear into your flesh. But this glass barrier between himself and everyone else, the long, endless days he spends at the trailer, or on the road, or dodging people’s phone calls – this barrier that he himself created? He’ll take the demobats over this any day. At least with those things, he could immediately identify what was causing him harm. Razor sharp fangs, tail like a whip designed to strangle prey, rough scales where skin is supposed to be – no wonder I feel like I’m going to die! But the vice grip of loneliness is harder to qualify, a pain so big that to speak it into existence would make it real. Inescapable. 

What does Eddie say to Steve? He doesn’t know how to talk about this emptiness that permeates every part of his existence. It would be so easy to rebuff him, to head back into the dining room with everyone else, where they’ve all no doubt dismantled the dessert table. But Steve’s looking at him like it’ll kill him if Eddie doesn’t tell him what’s wrong. And Eddie wants to believe it’s a lie. He wants so badly to convince himself that Steve doesn’t care about him, that now that he has a wife, he doesn’t need anyone else. Doesn’t need Eddie. But Eddie can see that this isn’t true. That Steve’s just the same as he’s always been, caring to a fault, big enough to see when he’s miscalculated, and that just makes the pain worse. 

“I’m…” he starts, but the words get caught in his throat. For the first time this entire conversation, he looks away from Steve. It’s too hard, too close –

#fair ithilien verse