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dreammeiser · 20 days

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Is it okay to ask what where the inspiration for the characters of Dream along?

Of course! I'm always dying to talk about their creation and inspiration but worry about getting too wordy/annoying about it, so I hardly talk about it unless asked (please ask me about my brainrot heeheehee). I can only fit so much on an Instagram Story or a Tweet, so I'm glad you asked here. I guess this will be the master reference for them. Sorry in advance that this is wordy!!

I made these characters spanning the past 14-15 years, with their story only being worked on about 10+ years ago, give or take. I will mention that they were made with Earl as a starting point while I was working at the cool puppet place; the show I was interning on wasn't scratching the creative itch I had, so it was recommended to me to make the project that I wish I was working on. :oD

The Muppets, Sesame Street, Osamu Tezuka's works, and Moomin were some animated/puppet media off the top of my head that always stuck with me my whole life and have influenced my retro inspired work the most. They all had such sweetness and charm to them, and all felt like a found family :o) My favorite trope. Puppets were also just deeply meaningful to me because they were physical forms of creativity and childlike wonder you could hold and play with! I thought whenever you made one, you put a little bit of your heart and soul into them.

I wanted the Dreamalong Gang to have the charm of Jim Henson's and Tove Jansson's characters, but I wanted them to have the humor and intrigue of Gravity Falls, Over the Garden Wall, Don't Hug Me I'm Scared, and Welcome to Night Vale. DHMIS and Night Vale actually inspired the story the most because they were both a really nice mix of absurdist humor and horror! Sleep Paralysis Demons were a point of intrigue for me that I thought were perfect for a Dreamscape setting, so I started working on including those.

The Dreamalong Gang has little bits and pieces of friends that I had loved, but I leaned into the group dynamics more for them. They're composed of friends I wished I had growing up!

Visually, I'd think of a fun/dream adjacent theme for the characters to tie them all together thematically. I know people tend to bark at me when they see what I'm inspired by but, I don't like to copy directly from my inspiration sources. They're just there to inspire you, ya know?

Archie's theme was Wishing Stars and Bedtime Stories; Hunson Abadeer from Adventure Time used to be on here, but I moved away from anything that might've made Archie spooky. I forgot to include Peter Pan and his Shadow on here, but they inspired him as well!

When it came to palettes, sometimes I'd have something in mind for them already like with Roy G Biv, Archie, and Mae-- Roy has his kidcore rainbow/SMPTE bars, Archie had some of my favorite blues and creams with a pastel minimal rainbow, Mae's were based off the colors of a golden hour rainstorm I had seen on my travels. Other times I had to play around with what color I hadn't used much of yet. I wonder if you can tell which colors are my least favorite and which ones I like a lot hahaha :'o)

I would also think about stories and songs that went with the characters thematically and use those to shape their character a little further, like looking to The Impossible Dream from the 1972 Man of la Mancha and Moon River for Archie, as well as old Ole Lukoje fairytales. He used to draw inspiration from Hijo de la Luna, but I wanted his story to be more upbeat on surface level with hidden tones of sadness instead of dramatic.

I don't want this to get tooooo long, so I'm going to put a pin in it there. If people want to know more in depth inspiration sources for specific characters feel free to ask! I like being open about my inspiration sources and my process since so many other artists gatekeep stuff. I hope this was a nice read!! :o)

#thank you for the ask!#please ask me questions yes yes #If you are curious or unsure! Always ask!#I will get to them hopefully soon!#dream along with me #dawm project #dawm asks

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who-do-i-know-this-man · 9 months

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Anti-propaganda for Tedd (their name is misspelled in the poll) Verres because I am ASTONISHED more people on this very transgender website have not heard of El Goonish Shive (the webcomic from which Tedd hails).

For simplicity's sake, since Tedd is gender-fluid and prefers different pronouns in different situations, I'm just going to use they/them.

Note: I am pulling all this lore from the top of my brain so it may not be completely accurate. Reader beware

okay FIRST of all. Tedd starts out as a pervert. El Goonish Shive was started by a highschooler in 2002, and the author, Dan Shive, has matured greatly since then. Tedd is also a highly capable scientist (despite being a junior in highschool), and with the help of some alien technology (long story short, Tedd's dad works for a secret government agency dealing with magic and has been in contact with alien lifeforms), they craft the Transformation Gun (TF gun for short). This gun, well, transforms people. There are multiple forms that people can be transformed into, all of which are based off of their original bodily form. The Female Variant 5 form (the form that transforms anyone into a quite attractive lady) is the one that gets the most use. Of course. El Goonish Shive has been described as "the most perverted squeaky-clean comic on the internet".

Thing is, Tedd has been bullied. A lot. They are very androgynous, even in their natural state, and they get mocked for it a lot. They're not very comfortable in their own skin, so they like to exert control over their environment by way of the TF gun. Eventually, as their friend circle widens and their support system grows, they mellow out considerably (though they were never terribly vindictive in the first place) and become more confident in who they are.

As of the most recent comic, Tedd is at dinner with their father the government agent, the alien woman who is his secretary, and their girlfriend (for lack of a better term) Grace, a shapeshifting alien-human-squirrel hybrid.

I highly highly HIGHLY recommend EGS, even if there's a solid chunk of early installment weirdness while Dan was growing into his own as an author/artist. The characters are all very well-developed and have strong personalities, the magic system is convoluted but fascinating, there's all sorts of weird beings and cool spells and secret identity forms that may or may not change your personality, and it's funny as heck. Also, there are a ton of queer characters of all kinds.

Two notes, though:

One: Dan Shive relates very strongly to being neurodivergent (something he discovers over time; read the end notes on each comic!), and as such, the comic is VERY thorough. Arcs may take a while to pan out, and there are plot points from over twenty years ago that are still popping up today!

Two: EGS is a weird comic. I think the perfect exemplar of EGS's weirdness is the following line (note that this panel is from 2003; the art has improved considerably since then):

Having read both, I would not hesitate to say that EGS is definitely less weird and less convoluted than is Homestuck. It's still weird and convoluted, though. But that's part of its charm, in my opinion.

I would happily add more information, but, in the words of the great Mr. Verres:

#asks #not blorbo poll #propaganda?#long post

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runningatypufullspeed · 1 month

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@vostokmcclellan you have no clue what you have just unleashed within me. You reap what you sow. You have asked, and you shall DEFINITELY receive

Intoduction to C,honny jash 🔥🔥🔥 (no way fire... like from *gets shot)

CLAPS HANDS TOGETHER OKAY. OKAY. so chonny jash is this really cool singer guy song cover man on YouTube he makes some really good goddamn music and if you like tally hall, will wood, lemon demon (all other alternative/indie music creators and bands) then you MIGHT like him.

I think his most popular work/the work that gets most people invested into his music in the first place would be his album CCCC (chonny’s charming chaos compendium) which is a cover album consisting of songs that were originally from tally hall before jash took the lyrics and the music and like. Molded it to fit his ocs. That’s the best way I can describe it.

The three main characters of this album would be Heart, Mind, and Soul, and people (including me) GO ABSOLUTELY NUTS OVER THEM jash’s writing and singing and like general music skills are so good if you want to get into this album I’d seriously consider checking out his mind electric video first (the twelve minute one, it has 3 songs in total and they all do a pretty good job of introducing all three characters respectively).

Not only is the music like REALLY FUCKING GOOD the entire. Differentiation between sepereate characters based off of jash's artistic skills thing + motifs/symbolism for each one is extremely well thought out and the relationships between the three of these guys are CRAZY and TOXIC and RIVETING and bottom line SUPER GODDAMN RELATABLE to the vast majority of those in his audience. I would definitely recommend it if you enjoy concept albums/piecing together a story based off of several songs for me it was certainly an arduous process but BOY was it rewarding.

The lore/message itself is mostly up to listener interpretation but I personally like to think of that album as being centered around how valuable self acceptance is, how important communication and understanding and empathy is in a relationship, learning to break free from the bars that society cages one within, and just general dealings/causations of psychological turmoil. I think that what I like the MOST about CCCC tho is how lax/free you can be with your interpretations. it allows a LOT of space for creative liberty and overall message variation, and I like that. I like that very much.

OH and if you enjoy witty lyricism/enjoy having a bunch of allusions that you can rabbit-hole yourself into then you’ll probably like chonny jash . His stuff is like a puzzle but in video/music form. Anyway chonny jash changed my life I think everybody should listen to and look at the lyrics of one of his songs at least once in their life this shit is so good

Tergun 🤤

AND . AND TRIGUN. TRIGUN ISN’T A VIDEO GAME it’S a space western anime. Well OKAY it was originally a manga from the 90s that got adapted into an anime in the late 90s and then ANOTHER newer anime in 2023 so it’s actually just a broad term for these 3 pieces of media .

This is very general btw and while all adaptations go about it in different ways all of them center around the same plot; humans completely NERFED earth so they sent out these ships in order to find another habitable planet, and this mission is called “project seeds”. Aboard these ships are a bunch of humans put into cold sleep but OBVIOUSLY they can’t survive without resources, so alongside the cold sleep people are these human-made organisms called “Plants” who produce the necessities + more that humans need to survive.

Still with me? Ok So everything’s all fine and dandy, but then suddenly due to an event that I cannot disclose because of spoiler related reasons these ships CRASH on a deserted sandy desolate planet, and the remaining humans are then forced to survive solely off of the remaining plants (since all the technology from the spacefaring age was lost in the crash).

Now that the worldbuilding stuff’s outta the way, the main character is this dude named Vash the Stampede who is constantly being chased and hunted down because of this CRAZY bounty he’s got on his head and this is where . The main themes of Trigun start to shine through. It’s about morality and the lives of other people, about the cycles of abuse that lead to why people do certain things and it dives quite deep into the psychological and philosophical aspects ESPECIALLY since this is like a “kill or be killed” world and the main character ALWAYS chooses NOT to kill, no matter what.

I started out with watching the newest adaptation (Trigun stampede) but there’s no right or wrong order to consume the three medias, so start with whichever one you’d like ,,,, assuming you do want to start watching it, anyway.

Judging from what little i know about ur interests, I think trigun would be more up your alley BUT ALSO chonny jash is so good ESPECIALLY CCCC AND ESPECIALLY IF YOU ENJOY A SMALLER AMOUNT OF CHARACTERS COUGH COUGH COUGH but it's ultimately up to you, this is all assuming you'd wanna delve into anything in the first place. anyway yeah rant over . 👍

#I know this is an f451 acc but bear with me here #the brainrot has hit #me spewing my twisted gospel #these are (somewhat) old-ish hpfxs btw so if I got some things wrong I apologize #cough #stinkygirldays pee you!!!!!!! 😡#unshowered #I love acting like I know what I’m talking about #yapathon #kinda copied my friend at the trigun part I was having somewhat of a hard time remembering I am a #fake fan

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concreteemo · 24 days

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The ones that bitch about ''not liking bad omens that much anymore'' are the ones that were never really into them and were just in the ''phase'' of being in the fandom and now are moving to something new or the ones that really liked them and still do but don't realize that metalcore bands and their fans dont operate the same way k-pop idols and their stans do so they got disappointed

I see where you’re coming from anon but I wouldn’t throw it all on k-pop fans for this behavior. I’m trying to word this the best way but as someone that’s been in the “metalcore” fanbase as long as I have… (or longer) I’ve never ever expected bands to always update on social media or always put out music. I’m used to this type of stuff. I mean I was discovering a lot of bands through AP magazine under the new artist articles and MySpace lol. The whole “needs to stay relevant by posting what they’re doing 24/7” is overrated. I get the frustration but I also see the guys as human beings. They’re not robots they’re literally a band making music because they like to and they are doing their best to make music that their fans will like as well. They are also touring non stop lately and still will be throughout the rest of this year basically.

If you’re antsy about bad omens not putting out new music on your scheduled time then I highly recommend checking out other bands in the scene. There are plenty of them putting out good music and touring.

Sorry I kinda ranted there but it’s just getting out of hand. Bad omens are not going to lose their fanbase based off how often they put out music or update you on what they’re doing LOL and if that’s the case then yea… maybe you never really liked them to begin with or else you wouldn’t say dumb shit like that. I don’t know. It’s not cool to trash the band that you “LOVE SO MUCH”

JUST BE PATIENT THEY WILL PUT OUT NEW MUSIC WHEN THEY ARE READY!!!!!!! AND IT WILL BE SO WONDERFUL THAT WE ALL BURST INTO TEARS AT IT’S BEAUTY OKAY I’M DONE. 🫡

#anon asks

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arromantica-lucha · 8 months

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i got a lot of thoughts about loveless by alice oseman and if this post seems very one sided well thats just how it read to me. my opinion isnt the end-all and i value how everyone interpreted and was affected by this book. this isnt a closed topic lets talk about it

gripes with loveless by alice oseman

took a while to actually explain that ace and aro are two separate identities and still not that well. it makes aro seem like a subset of ace which is entirely false. its cool there was an aroallo character involved but still

the book title 'loveless' is a real term and identity and the entirety of the book kinda shits on it by enforcing the ideal that its still okay to be aspec cause platonic love can be experienced and any type of love is required or at least better than "not feeling anything and being alone forever"

it was weird for her friends to forgive her over gestures that had nothing to do with apologizing before georgia actually apologized and explained but that may just be more of a personal thing that i didnt like. likewise the story being about platonic love it kinda sucks her deepest connection is with her roommate and not the people shes known for years and wronged

kinda sex negative. i mean rooney says she doesnt dislike casual sex but then that whole thing becomes the reason she hates herself and a reason to cope with being "unloveable" and its kinda lame. you can tell that story without making it seem like casual sex is just a means of devaluing yourself. and you can be sex repulsed and still not do that. it just feels unfair to aroallo people especially who are told they are monsters for enjoying and only wanting casual sex when this book is supposed to be about aromanticism too

(can we also be done with harry potter references??? lets stop hurting trans and jewish people thanks)

basically particular identities' stories shouldnt come at the expense of others and other ways of life. its great and important to write different experiences because no one is gonna relate to them all but no one has to replace romantic love with ANY type of love to feel good about themselves and be human. loveless and aplatonic people shouldnt have to read something that uses rhetoric against their identities within a book about aspec people

things i like about loveless

i didnt relate to it personally but the experiences felt very genuine. internalized aphobia, being hounded by aphobic comments, finding it hard to portray love even in a fictional or artistic sense, etc.

I appreciate the references to race and intersectionality that come with being queer even if they were minimal. so few times is it actually acknowledged that there is privilege when it comes to being understood, coming out, being accepted, etc. the references to that were nice to see because too often intersectionality being brought up is brushed off and blatantly ignored or people pretend like they understand

it was written by someone who is aroace even if there are some things that can be less isolating within the aspec community with the language being used. someone being open about their identities and how they choose to define them in the mainstream world is how we get more peoples voices in there

it has helped people discover their own identity though id still recommend further research on the actual identities being named and ones not named. these stories are the first introduction of aspec identities in mainstream and that hopefully means itll start to expand to other identities within that community that have not yet had representation

this should be the start of developing more rep. the first takes are not gonna represent everyone and its a good thing it exists to tell a few peoples story. but that doesnt mean it should be free from any criticism because thats how we make them continuously better. i hope to see an aroallo character soon. i want the term loveless to be properly used in media and expressed for what it is. i want to stop pretending like ace is the umbrella term for all aspec identities. i want amatonormativity explained as the sociological term it is that harms all life not just aromantic and polyamorous people. i want a polyam aspec character and polyam characters in general. i want disabled and ethnic aspec characters where the intersectionality is just as important to the narrative. i want a whole lot more and to stop prentending like any of that should be unreasonable

#loveless #alice oseman #osemanverse #aromantic #arospec #aspec #aroace #aroallo #loveless aromantic #loveless aro #queer #lgbtqia #made this sideblog specifically for this post

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gerardpilled · 2 years

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Gerardpilled Concert Etiquette Guide

Okay so this is my guide for general concert etiquette I think could help a lot of first timers or just people who might not have thought of this!

This isn’t meant as a definitive, written in stone, lists of do’s and don’ts. In fact a lot of people probably think is is overthinking things. If you want to do any of the things I say not to, go right ahead! I just know I personally have gotten a lot of anxiety in the past over if I’m acting weird/rude at shows and I’m just trying to ease that burden for some of you!! Also don’t feel bad if you have done any of this stuff and/or end up doing it in the future. Most of this I’ve learned through trial and error so I’ve definitely committed social faux pas, it’s not the end of the world :)

My experience is limited to shows in New Jersey, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Buffalo, and Toronto. Honestly the atmosphere/vibe has been different every time. Sometimes it’s just a case-by-case experience depending on location and artist!

I have never been to a festival show

Most of this pertains to general admission. Seated events are generally pretty straight forward, but all the clothes/what to bring pertain to those as well!

Google your venue and make a plan before going! See what the capacity is, where you can park, etc. if you are getting dropped off/picked up, organize meeting places. Maybe have an organized check-in text system with a friend if you’re going alone.

Clothes/What to Bring

Dress comfortably! I feel like tiktok has made it seem going to a show requires An Outfit and that you have to go all out. I try to dress cute, but my comfort and safety comes first. no matter how cool it is outside, assume it’s going to be much hotter inside the venue. Definitely don’t wear clothes you’re afraid of messing up. I’ve gotten beer and other stuff spilled on me, it just happens! Here’s what my partner and I have worn to shows in the past:

This was in Canada in March so we wore light jackets and were then able to tie them around our waists once inside. Jacket Checks might exist, but basically ruin any spot you previously held in line.

Shower/bathe in some way before attending. Odds are if you’re waiting in line you’ll get a little gross anyway, but you want to start off clean.

Sturdy shoes. Don’t wear sandals. Boots work for toe protection, just make sure they’re easy to move in and won’t make you overheat (especially at outdoor shows) I personally wear my converse run stars. They give me a bit extra height with the comfort of sneakers

Binders. If you want to wear your binder, I say do so with caution. It can get pretty suffocating once in the venue, and they could just make it worse.

Small bags. This is important for three reasons: 1) a lot of venues have size limits for bags you can bring, 2) comfort inside the venue and 3) bag-checks slow down the line. Mini-backpacks seem to be popular nowadays, but even those can be a little inconvenient (plus easy for people to open) so I’d recommended a cross-body bag. I personally just got the Herschel Sinclair Crossbody in Large (and shortened the straps to sit higher on my body). Don't Bring Tote Bags (annoying to hold and easy to steal out of)

Hydration/food — bring snacks if you’re planning on lining up early! Water too if possible. Most if not all venues will not allow water bottles inside so don’t bring reusable ones. I’m planning on buying one or two of these reusable plastic roll-up ones used for hiking that way I don’t have to waste plastic :)

Travel light. Bring the bare minimum into the venue. Money, ID, phone, keys are all you really have to worry about once you’re in there.

Carabiners. These are great for securing so much. I’ve personally gotten like a 10 pack of these little guys that have a little locking system. These are great for keys (either secure to belt loop or internal zipper within your small bag). The bigger ones are great for hats or anything really!

Might be Controversial, but don’t bring signs. With a few exceptions, signs basically bring nothing good. They block the view of people behind you and most of the time the artist cannot see them at all. A few people have brought fabric banners/flags and I think that makes more sense. They are way less of a nuance.

Don’t bring self-defense items - these will usually get confiscated by security.

Queueing

This is usually where you hear about the most drama. General rules should be just be nice and respectful.

Getting on the queue. The quality of the spot you get on the queue and the time you join it range dramatically between venues/states/countries/type of concert. I’ve never personally started queueing the night before, and I’ve always ended up okay. What usually happens is there’s ~20 or so people who line up night before/early morning, and then sudden influxes midday and also 1-2 hours before the show.

Saving a spot for your friend(s)/cutting. General rule – don’t do it. If you want to be near that friend(s), go to the back of the line where they are. This might sound mean, but cutting is disrespectful to the people who have waited hours. Also don’t put your friend in an awkward position by asking to cut.

Leaving the queue. For every show I've been to, people have been pretty cool about this. Always ask (preferably the person/people behind you) if it’s okay first and be clear what you’re leaving for. If you’re getting food/coffee, offer to get them something. If you’re in a group of friends, at least one should stay behind. Try to make this trip as quick as possible. If the person behind you does take issue with it, you could probably ask the person behind them if it’s okay and just forfeit the one-person spot in line. Also, if you are the person being asked, try not to have a problem with it!

Smoking. This might sound specific, but I’ve heard of problems surrounding this. If you want to smoke (anything) while on queue – ask people around you if it’s okay and/or walk a few feet off the line. If you don’t smoke – try not to get upset over people around you doing so. Odds are you’re all standing on outdoor public property, they can do whatever they want. I personally don’t smoke of any kind and people have been pretty nice about asking if them doing so bothers me!

Talk to people! You are all lining up to see the same artist, odds are you have something in common. Especially if you’re by yourself, it’s great to at least know some people before going in. HOWEVER – considering mcr is such a big ‘fandom’ band, test the waters of what is okay to discuss with people around you. Personally I do not want to discuss shipping or basically anything I post online in person.

Have your bag ready/items in hand before security. Most venues have a simple metal-detector system where they ask you to take off your bag, look inside it, and place it inside a bin so you can walk through a metal detector.

Where to stand

Okay you’re in the venue – now you have to figure out where it will be best to stand. A lot of people automatically think barricade is best, but that’s not necessarily true depending on what you want to do/who you’re with

Going with parent/friend/partner. If you are bringing someone who doesn't care about the band, I will say aim to stand towards the outer side edges of the stage. If you and your parent is okay with it, ask them to split up so they can stand out of the way. With a partner or friend, maybe ask them to stand behind you if you’re not willing to go to the side. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been stuck behind someone who obviously does NOT want to be there. It just kills the vibe.

Barricade. If you’re lucky enough to get barricade, remember this can come with side effects. People have gotten bruised from the metal and have been squished against it to the point of breathing problems. Only stand here if you’re prepared for this!

Middle/center crowd - usually where the crowd can get the most active/rowdy! Stand here if you’re okay with that.

Back. There are plenty of people who just like to attend a concert and vibe with a drink and friends. The back is usually where the casual listeners/older audience members stand.

Specific to mcr– it’s kinda become a joke at this point, but it does seem Frank’s side of the stage fills up quicker/denser than Ray’s side. Do what you wish with this info.

During the show

Getting merch. I usually aim to get merch after the show. If you get it before, you risk losing a good spot and also you have to hold it. However, the line will be long afterwards and with mcr i’ve heard stuff sold out.

Be attentive! Be aware of your surroundings. If you are someone who has health concerns, make that known to people around you and try to notice if others are struggling. Make sure people aren’t being creepy or making others uncomfortable.

Be respectful to the openers. Do not talk through the opening sets or stay on your phone during them. You wouldn’t believe how many times this has happened at shows I've been to. I get it, I personally don’t care about any openers for my mcr shows, but I'm going to stand there and pretend like I do.

Phones. Hot topic issue right here. My recommendation is try to use your phones as little as possible. It’s very distracting for anyone behind you and I guarantee you will not be watching all those videos back. I personally aim to record the little banter between songs because at least that’s unique for every show! If you think something interesting is going to happen or your favorite part is coming up, whip your phone out and aim for less than a minute? (this is just an estimate). After shows I usually have less than 20-30 total videos/photos from the actual set. Especially with mcr, there’s so many people and so much online discussion that odds are someone has captured something. Side note – maybe don’t stand at the barricade just recording entire songs the whole time?

Pushing. It’s going to happen. If it’s obvious it’s an accident, try to be okay with it. Try to be careful, but also don’t leave tons of space in front of you (people will see and it just leads to more pushing). If someone spills something on you, odds are they were pushed and it was an accident. They are probably pissed their drink got wasted.

Shouting at artists. Debatable. Sometimes what people shout can be funny, other times extremely embarrassing. Don’t harass them or make sexual comments. Don’t shout song titles or fandom-inside jokes. I’ve seen people attempt to have whole convos with artists after getting their attention and it’s just awkward for everyone involved.

Sorry that was way longer than I expected! Remember these are just my recommendations, and stuff I've personally noticed. If you have any specific questions about anything or if you think i’ve missed anything send me an ask!

#lost post #shows #concert etiquette

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non-fantasy · 3 months

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Hello!! I saw your post about the game you're making - it sounded fascinating, and out of curiousity about a genre I don't know much about I got into a visual novel/dating sim related rabbit hole.

If you don't mind my asking, do you have any recommendations? VN or datesims or both! or any adjacents too.

(thank you, and good luck with the game!!)

YIPPEE!!!

i'm a huge fan of it gets so lonely here because it does a lot of cool things with the narration and multiple playthroughs. her tears were my light does similar things with the multiple playthrough thing and it was the first visual novel to really open my eyes to what the genre could be like! and because apparently today is horror yuri day i will add liar liar and liar liar 2. the artstyle is very cute! and there's blood!

for less horror yuri and more dating sim, i am currently completely obsessed with tokimeki memorial girls side 1-3, the dating sim/visual novel/stat-raising hybrid that inspired a lot of otome games—— and for good reason, too, because it's JUST THAT GOOD. i almost exploded something trying to play the fourth game but i will not let that stop me

in pure visual novel, i have to recommend heartbaked, it was one of those games i played in my free visual novel frenzy when i was younger and it really stuck with me! i still think about the radley ending.

i adore adore adore pacthesis games and i would love to direct you to my number one favourite and inspiration, number days sim date, because the intertwining of plot and romance and friendship was wonderful. xolga and mr toko is more point and click but check those out too

i love you was REALLY GOOD and i adored it. if you want proactive women and blushing boys this is the game for you! kill them with blushing right now

senpai please look at me was good!!! i love it! absolutely worth sticking around for all the bonuses! very short and sweet and you will love it

sweetest valentine is a game. in a genre called :). if you don't know what :) means don't worry about it!

play yuki 4p for lesbians and its sequel, scheme, for even more dumb lesbians. i am absolutely begging you to click those links because the names are too long for me to type out and i don't know if googling lesbians scheme will bring you to the masterpiece properly

hermes and gry is REALLY FUNNY but also one of those games that opened my mind to how complex the ren'py system could be. you made a map, a constantly-updated journal, an inventory, and the best damn ending ever? i was screaming when all my evil schemes came together. absolutely 10/10 worth it if the creator wants my liver i'd hand it over

hot coffee is SO SO SO good that i ended up reaching out to the creator just to praise it so much please play it please i'm on my knees please

speaking of games i am begging you to play

absolutely play i want to pursue the mean side character and my sweet zombie!!!! tsun is a great artist and the stories are good and you have to have to have to have to play okay!!! tsun is also making i just want to be single which is so so so cool the game of the year every year and it hasn't been released yet and you need to become. a fan okay because aro pride is right now

#thank you anon it really was delightful to hear that you liked my game even before it was released!#i wanted to recommend no-good noelle but. apparently the creator just went offline?? sad #there was also our life beginnings and always which is very acclaimed and i loved the demo #but i haven't finished the full game so i don't want to recommend something i didn't finish #xoxo droplets is also good but it's half free half paid and i was focusing more on free stuff that is underrated #(p)lanets and heartstring bugs are also games i played years ago that i'm fond of #but like in a nostalgia kind of way.#it was absolutely wild to play tokimeki memorial girls side and realize that heartstring bugs was so heavily based off it tho #like it wasn't copying characters or settings but the stat raising and events and clothing system were all drawn from it #special shout out to corrine cross' dead and breakfast which isn't a visual novel or a dating sim #i just like it #i also need to clarify that her tears were my light is not like HORROR horror but like. existential gay nightmare kinda deal

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tazahan · 2 months

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Yeah different cultures but it's more of the comment on "Tomas is such a lucky lil baby brother" with a kiss emoji. I also found it a cute and innocent piece. However the artist was an incest artist so I didn't and steered clear of it.

I'm not blind to the fact twitter recommends artists like that and you can randomly like/comment. However I do know once you interact with an art from them, more pop up from them and eventually you'll see the art they make often.

I do want to give the benefit of the doubt. That you just saw that one art piece and that's it. I can appreciate the art style but hate what it's used for so I want to lean towards that as well if you did know what they made. However it's just the comment on Tomas and Kuai Liang bath piece. Yeah seen innocent by you but it can be taken another way. Especially with the artist and what they draw. That's what kinda got me questioning you as well.

It's unfortunate you got into this situation. This isn't me trying to attack you either. It's explaining why I thought what I thought. I still do believe you aren't into incest (Your post about Kuai Liang x Smoke MK1 versions isn't helping. Joke post or not, you posted it at a bad time. Especially since they are step brothers) or shota. I think you have bad timing or just unaware in general.

Thank you for your concern and I appreciate your warning about that. Yes, it was unfortunate for me that I got into this really hard and complicated situation. Now I just found out from one of my friends that the artist was actually pro-CP and Inc*st was really flabbergasted to me as well bc like you said. I wasn't aware and I just scrolled and liked their art without paying too much attention. So yes. I was not aware of what they drew and what they posted. Bc I was just like "Hmmm cool... okay next" But didn't aware that what I liked or commented on was actually deeper and darker than that. But once I realized my mistake. I immediately unliked that. I already blocked half of the artists who drew some kind of stuff. And that art about Tomas and Kuai Liang, siblings bath together was indeed quite common in Asia countries. But not for Western. So my comment was actually to express the adorable and cute activity. But that's all. I didn't see it as an inappropriate piece at first. But again. I made a mistake and I admit it. Bathing or taking a shower together with family or siblings is pretty common in Asia. Even with your step-siblings, your friends, or even with your neighbor's kid when you were children. I am Southeast Asian, me and my friends back then played outside a lot. After you play outside in the field or in the forest, and when you come home you always get dirty with mud or dirt. It was normal to wash up together. Get sprayed by our mothers or with our Village chief while they yelled at us with a garden hose. And probably that experience was so different in Western childhood culture.

I hate incest and have never been into incest and I am heavily against minor pervertation. And I never participate in making any kind of that stuff

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godbirdart · 1 year

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first off, i just want to say that i love your art, you are a huge inspiration to me and i love how expressive your characters are! would you have any tips for someone trying to grow a following from their art? specifically within the furry community ideally. im just not sure where to start

i hope youre having a great day!

thank you so much!!

okay i gotta preface this with: i have been doing commissions for over a decade. everything i say here i've been doing since roughly 2014, but my career as an artist didn't really Take Off and become reliable until 2019. success isn't immediate. some artists will grow faster or slower than others, not every tactic is going to apply / work for every artist; and that's okay. just keep pushing yourself and adapting and figuring out what works for You!

i’m putting this under a readmore as it got a bit long. every time someone asks me for advice on professional Anything i always write up a five page essay despite trying to bulletpoint it oof

post on multiple platforms and keep them all updated. i’m putting this one in bold because it is possibly the Most Important thing. we’re all watching twitter sinking over there, and many of my mutuals there were floundering because they hadn’t established themselves on any other social media site. i strongly recommend three or four socials minimum. my main four sites are tumblr, deviantart, twitter and toyhouse. furaffinity is also good. inkblot and artfol are new and i use them frequently as well. if you don’t like posting manually to every site each and every time you post art, Postybirb exists and is what i use to crosspost all my art to most of my socials at once.

avoid venting a lot on main. we all have frustrating days where our art isn’t getting the recognition we hoped, or we’re feeling petty about a controversial topic or the latest drama. it happens! it’s okay! however, many people just don’t like seeing dozens of negative posts on their feed. most people will sympathize, but if your negative vents are constantly clogging their dashboard they’re not gonna stick around.

shamelessly self promote yourself. reblog your own art. retweet it again. repost it. mention your other socials. we live in a world of timezones! when you post art, only a fraction of your audience is going to see it. i recommend reblogging / retweeting one to four individual pieces periodically over the course of a day and change it up each day. you can also repost your own work into photosets and title it “recent commissions” or the something like that.

don’t hide your linktrees and carrds. seriously! the amount of times on twitter i went to try and follow someone on another platform only to find they had no carrd or linktree link,, it is infuriating. put your socials link in your bio or pinned or SOMEWHERE readily at the top of your profile that’s easy to spot.

if you’re offering commissions, make a telegram channel or discord server for your announcements / openings.

post regularly. this one is a lot harder for artists that don’t make a lot of content, but posting even a status update once or twice a day can go a long way - especially if you’re on twitter with that platform’s hideous algorithm. alternatively as i said earlier, just retweet/reblog your work a few times a day and you should be good.

art trends are cool and fun and an easy way to get your work seen by others. see a “draw your sona in this outfit” meme? go, have fun with it. this one’s a bit tricky as timing is everything when it comes to ~trending~ content, so try and draw quick. that said, it’s never outdated to drawover reaction memes with your fursona.

try not to clog your socials with memes and shitposty images. this one is directed at twitter specifically. with twitter moments now gone, your media tab is the last way for people to hope to find your work organically on your profile without having to use the twitter search. they can’t get invested in your work if they can’t find it!

it’s okay to change course if you’re not vibing with where you’re headed. if you want to move onto a new aesthetic - that’s fine! you may lose some followers if they don’t click with your new vibe, but you’ll inevitably gain some new ones.

avoid frequent name changes. so many of the artists i follow have changed their brands / urls over the years that i don’t recognize them anymore.

tag your work properly. on tumblr, the first five tags on the original post are the tags your work will pop up in in the search feature. make those first five tags the Most important ones; example: #furry, #anthro, #art #fursona etc. twitter’s algo seems flip-flop if it likes tags or hates them. if you see a tag trending, repost your art in a photoset with the hashtag in the post [example: if #pokemon is trending, repost some of your pokemon fanart with the hashtag in the post body]. if the tag isn’t trending,,, i’ll be honest it’s a gamble if twitter likes your post or not at that point. i have no advice for that hell algorithm.

hosting raffles or doing a mini art request event [example: “leave a ref and i might draw your oc”] is good for traction while simultaneously giving back to the community + your audience a little!

try and reply to / like comments on your work. it’s not required per se, but it’s good to express gratitude.

engage with other members of the community. comment on other peoples work. like it. retweet it. follow other people. obviously don’t be disingenuous about it, but this is what the professionals call ~networking~

don’t compare yourself to others. this one is one you have got to keep in mind constantly. you’re going to find 17 year olds with huge followings and 30 year olds that are doing professional industry work whose level feels alien and almost out of reach. if you’re not doing as well, don’t let yourself get discouraged. we all gotta start somewhere!

related to the above point: be nice to your followers. venting on main about not having the same audience volume as others can come off as a huge middle finger to the audience you already have.

gaining a following takes time. unless you get a really lucky break, it’s going to take a lot of work and self promotion to build up your brand.

slap your name on everything. i mean it. any art you do - sign it. watermark it. people can and will share art in telegram channels and discord servers, and if the art interests someone they can easily source it back to you if your name is on it.

you can buy adspace. if you’re catering to a furry audience specifically, you can buy adspace on furaffinity pretty easily. inkblot i believe also offers adspace for artists though i haven’t looked too deep into it. this is really a “if you’re okay burning money” situation, as the huge chunkk of internet users have adblockers now and it’s a gamble if people will see or even click on your ad.

just have fun and do your own thing. you can hop on trends and draw art that caters to your audience’s tastes, but don’t forget to draw what YOU want and what YOU’RE about. Draw what makes YOU happy.

hope these help!! ;w;

#long post

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your-local-grubdog · 1 year

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Pikmin Fandom Monthly: February 2023

Welcome to the first edition of Pikmin Fandom Monthly! This is just a little monthly series I'd like to do where on the first day of each month, I share neat fan projects from the pikmin fandom made in the previous month! For this I will be focusing on creative projects (so no analysis or theories, at least for now). For this first edition, all entries will be ones that I have found and enjoyed but in the future I hope to have some that were recommended to me as well! (Most of these entries are from Tumblr as a result, oops.) No images or snippets will be posted to these: all entries will be links to where the artists have posted the original work!

Please feel free to leave suggestions in the comments about how to handle this series in the future and of what March 2023 works should be included in the next edition! Any creative pikmin fan work is welcome, so long as it was made during this March.

This will also be cross-posted to Pikmin Park!

With all that out of the way, here are our categories!

Multi-Page Fan Comics and Visual Ask Blogs

We only have one of these for this month, that being Pikmin x Weirdcore - a visual ask blog over on Tumblr! It's fairly surreal, but it's been a lot of fun thus far! Olimar, Louie, and the Koppaites have all crashed on PNF-404 (again) and have been separated (again). This time, however, it seems a beast that is other-worldly even to PNF-404 is after them now. Quick warning, the artist has stated that there will be violence, glitchy imagery, and body horror in this one!

Fan Art and One Page Comics

Aka the largest collection I've gathered this month!

Firstly is Professor Pikton by Buttery Cuties! A purple pikmin dressed up like Professor Layton to celebrate the upcoming games in both franchises, how cute!

Corromon drew this Olimin, which simply looks great! Poor Olimar certainly needs a hug, though.

Higgy also drew Olimar - two Olimars, in fact! The sketchy style and expressions are very pleasing to look at, and I adore his little boots.

Next up, Alph (rightfully) worries over Louie's eating habits in this short comic by Cirtus. The style closely resembles how the characters look in-game, which is a very nice cherry on top of how sweet and charming this two-panel comic is.

SparrowOvO drew this amazing art of a baby snagret sitting with a very spooked ice pikmin. I don't even know where to start with this one - the colors, lighting, texturing, and expressions are all just so good. This may easily be my favorite out of this month's fan art!

Zombunny drew three of our four new leaders with Oatchi! They're all so adorable, and this looks great (as for where our unnamed bald friend is, he is reportedly in jail for tax evasion, among other crimes. (For legal reasons, this is a joke.))

This next entry is apparently older art, but it wasn't posted until this February, so here's this really cool idea for a phosbat variant: the Beguiling Phosbat by vehemoth-phosbitch! This beautiful little beast can withstand sunlight and is based more so on the luna moth (and maybe the flying fox as well, but I may be wrong).

Louivi drew this gorgeous piece simply captioned as Smokey Progg. The colors, the textures, it's all so good an so very haunting. Perfect for the little horror that is the smokey progg in game!

And last but certainly not least is the only piece of fan art that didn't come from Tumblr: this beautiful art of all four of our new leaders hanging out, made by Porinu! They all look adorable, each with their own pose! I particularly like how our unnamed pink friend looks - she seems so curious and even innocent to a degree.

Fanfiction and Written Ask Blogs

Once again, I only have one piece for a category. This time, it is Safe in A Father's Embrace written by PiperRose90. This story may be very short, but it is also very sweet! Olimar must make sure that Louie and Alph will be okay for the night - they are practically his sons now, after all!

Other Works

Firstly is this amazing little sculpture of a pyroclasmic slooch by Tete's DIY! This video shows their process for making the little sculpture from start to finish - including how they made the "fire" really glow!

Creative Sushi did this wonderful little cosplay of the Hocotate Freight Ship! It looks fantastic, and all of the little details really show how much love and effort went into the creation of this cosplay.

Kevin Fagaragan animated this adorable concept for a pikmin 4 ending - don't worry, there's no spoilers! Just overwhelming cuteness as the pikmin hang out and dance with Oatchi.

And to wrap all of this up is yet another animation! In Wooden Turtle's Do Not Pet the Baby Snagrets, not even Olimar can resist how adorable these new additions to the pikmin planet are! But, ah, it seems that leads him into a bit of trouble...

Thanks for sticking around until the end! I hope I get to do more of this in the future, I really want to be able to show off what the fanbase can do! Please, give any and all of the artists featured here a follow - and feel free to suggest works to be featured next month! I'll see you on April 1st with the best of what March had to offer (with minimal fooling around... probably).

#pikmin #pikmin fandom #borb screams

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sangfielle · 2 months

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favorite songs last week

#1 - i had this list a little different before sunday night, but then i saw jhariah live again (i saw them for the first time during their i believe first tour in '21), and this song live is really special - to them, i presume, given the fanfare they give it, but also to me. it's not quite the same as when it was performed for a group of people so small it couldn't be reasonably called a crowd, but it still means a lot to me. i didn't want to put two songs from the same concert on here, so this beat out reverse (also fantastic to hear live) because of the personal significance. these are both some of his older works, and he expresses that he thinks he could do way better with them if they made them today instead of when they were in high school, but i don't know, i think they're really good as is. i acknowledge that i have nostalgia goggles on. i've just been into them since before any of their newer shit that they like better came out, and s/r in particular helped get me through a really rough patch in late '21 after the show.

#2 - g-d, danny brown is such a good artist. he had, apparently, been adjacent to my music taste for years and has featured on a number of songs that i loved in high school and really early adulthood without realizing it, but i didn't really start listening to him until i saw him live during the scaring the hoes tour last year (i'd liked him on that album a lot, but i'd listened to it for peggy). i now... have my issues with peggy, but the two of them put on what was almost certainly the best show i've ever been to. he's a captivating performer, and i always love live music more, but even without that, he's got a fantastic backlog of music & is basically always putting out cool and creative shit. i love the sound of this song. it's much softer in sound than a lot of music i tend to seek out these days, but i do need a break from all the shit i put in my ears that's designed to be abrasive now and then. i think it's great, the production is great, q-tip is obviously a powerhouse, and danny's always fantastic. this one is mostly my track of his of the week because i hadn't paid attention to it before. i'm so put out that he's not coming back to my area for the quaranta tour.

#3 - i'm a huge clipping.head. everyone knows this. i'll like to love anything they put out. this is no exception. it's probably my most played track of the week (and the week before last). i played it enough in the first day after i heard it that i immediately forgot what the original sounds like. i've relistened to it, and i prefer this version. the b-side midnight is also a pretty cool little project. though not as earwormy as the first part, lol.

#4 - this one's another cover. i like covers, okay? i like when they sound different than the original. i'm very taken with this one. spotify recommended black alley to me recently. i don't remember why and i don't know what the context of it was, but this was the first song of theirs i heard and i really enjoy it. i'll be going through their original music shortly.

#5 - paramore is good. i like paramore.

#reverse live made me feel a little sick (in a good way). felt.#anyway. hi. i am not going to keep myself to a schedule of doing this weekly. lol. we all saw how quickly i threw away the sotd thing. but #i like to share music. so i might throw together little lists of my favorites of what i'm listening to right now on occasion.#effortposting #personal #music #sotd #Spotify

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moss-the-moon-moss · 1 year

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Hallo, I'm back again with another music talk!! As I said in my last one, I basically am just talking about music I like, what I've been listening to the last week and rambling. Anyways enough of that, let's get straight into it😊

Okay to start off I'm going to talk about the playlist i've mainly been listening to this week. This playlist is called 'pacify her' . It's called that because I was listening to that song while making it. I don't really know what kind of genre the music in this playlist is but I'd say they all sound really cool. While making this playlist i found an artist called 'jack of jill' her music is so good, her song 'vivica' is definitely worth checking out. In addition to 'jack off Jill' i also found another artist named 'johnny goth', his songs just sound so otherworldly i really don't know how to explain it. He has some really sick instrumental parts in his songs, i really recommend listening to him! The band 'i monster' also showed up a lot on this playlist, i've been listening to them for a while now but have discovered some new songs by them as well. I initially found this band through their song called 'who is she' . This song is really good, however I would think my favourite song by them is actually 'lust for a vampyr'. The album covers this band makes are just so good oh my life, anyways i think 'i monster' is definitely one of my favourite bands currently😊

Anyways this playlist has a lot of really good songs, it's definitely worth listening to!!

I know i rambled about melanie martinez in the last music talk but i'm going to do it again anyways😔

The closer we get to the album release the more excited I get, all the spoilers Melanie has been giving are so exciting. Her new form is looking so cool, she looked absolutely gorgeous performing at lollapalooza!! This morning she released a song from her new album early and i have to say that 'death' is actually such an amazing song. It's a bit different from what we were used to from Melanie but I personally think that the change is good. The new style compliments her vocals really nicely!

Lately with the snippets of Melanie's album having been released I've been seeing a lot of people hating on her. I think this has been happening due to her changing aesthetics and music style a bit; which is really not an excuse though. I get that it's a bit of an adjustment to move on from Crybaby especially if you grew up with her like myself but Melanie has been planning this for years now! Melanie said in an interview a few years back that Crybaby is going to evolve as a being/ soul and she's finally getting to do that with this album and I am honestly living for the dark fairy vibe that she's going with. It may be because I listen to a lot of genres compared to others but I really like how the new songs sound. They are less soft than things she's previously made but it really isn't too different. Melaine has always been weird and displayed that very clearly in her songs and music videos for years now and yet she's getting hate from people who claim to be fans only now? See I understand not liking her newer stuff, you're not obligated to; but that doesn't mean you can be such haters either. People need to learn to humanise celebrities more, Melanie doesn't deserve even half the hate she gets.

On a lighter note this album means that she will likely go on tour again meaning i may get a chance to see her perform live for the first time!!!

The song that is second from being my top listened to in my stats called 'angry' is so good oh my life. When i first went to check who the artist was and saw 'mars argo' i was shocked because i could have sworn i knew her from somewhere. Turns out she made a popular tik tok sound that goes 'welcome to my computer show, im mars argo', anyways i just thought that was kind of cool. Mars has such good vocals, I think I'm probably going to look into more of her songs soon.

To end this off I'm just going to ask for music recommendations, I listen to most genres so feel free to send in anything! If i like something enough i might mention it in my next blog, you never know🤷

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thisaintascenereviews · 3 months

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The Record Exchange: Episode 1

One of my favorite things to do, especially with friends, is talk about music. We all have them, right? Well, friends, or friends that love music. You’re either that friend, or you know someone that is that friend. I’m that friend, for sure. I love music, and have for the last couple decades, and throughout that time, my knowledge within music has grown considerably, but so has my curiosity about new music. I love discovering new music, regardless of what it is, and one of the best things is when you find another person who’s also a huge music fan, let alone someone that enjoys a lot of the same stuff you do. It’s even better when you have something to work off of, versus just agreeing or disagreeing. What good would conversation about music be if you didn’t have anything to talk about, or you just agreed with each other. There’s also something to be said about enjoying the same kind of music as someone, but also being able to debate and have a conversation, and not completely agree or fanboy about everything. Hell, it’s great when you can recommend music to someone that may or may not be out of their comfort zone, and they check it out. Whether they like it or not is a different story (and it’s okay if they don’t), but a lot of people don’t listen to or care about stuff that’s recommended to them. That’s where my buddy @jakeh2987 comes in, however; we’ve been friends for over a decade now, and in that time, we’ve introduced each other to a lot of music. Some of it we’ve liked, and some of it we haven’t, but that’s okay. In that time, we have talked about a lot of the music we’ve recommended to each other, and I had the idea recently to make that into a series. At least a periodic show, anyway, so welcome to The Record Exchange, in which we pick an album, regardless of genre or artist, and we have each other listen to them and then we talk about it.

For the inaugural episode, we’re going to talk about metalcore, well, sort of. Metalcore is a genre that I know very well, as I’ve been a fan for years, but the genre has been doing a lot of cool stuff lately (at least within the last few years). For every band that wants to stay the same, and wants to make the same generic albums, there are bands who are moving the genre forward, and today we wanted to talk about a couple of those. It all started because we were talking about the band Issues, and how they released a new song before their final shows, and we talked about how Issues was a band that was very ahead of their time, and in some degree, they helped to usher in the new wave of bands who bring new perspectives and ideas to the genre. In their case, they brought funk, R&B, and pop music to metalcore. Because of that, we talked about other bands that have been doing similar things, at least bringing new kinds of music into metalcore, as well as hard-rock, because some of these bands can qualify as both metalcore and hard-rock, depending on who you talk to. Rock music, as a whole, is in a state of flux, because it doesn’t know what it wants to do or what it wants to do, but there are a few bands moving the genre forward, and two of those bands we’ll be talking about today, as well as what they mean for the genre and what the future of the genre could be. Since Jake is the guest here, let’s start with the album that I recommended he listen to.

Bring Me The Horizon- Post-Human: Survival Horror

Ever since I first heard Linkin Park’s Hybrid Theory at some point in middle school, I’ve been a pretty big fan of the hard-rock/alternative metal scene. Bands such as Three Days Grace (at least, before Adam Gontier left the band), Breaking Benjamin, and Chevelle, to name a few examples, shaped what I like to call the first “phase” of my music tastes, and I still enjoy a lot of that music today. But, if I’m being honest, while a lot of them are still kicking around, it’s been a really long time since I listened to something from those bands and came away really blown away or impacted in a way beyond “Hey, that was pretty good!” As I was writing this, I decided to sit down and revisit some of the most recent releases from the bands of that era, and the main recurring theme I kept running into was that they sounded exactly the same way they did 20 years ago when this sound was in its prime. To put this into perspective, put Three Days Grace’s One-X from 2006, an album that I still love a lot, next to Saint Asonia (Adam Gontier’s current band) and their most recent album from 2019, and Gontier’s basically doing the same thing he’s been doing for his entire career. For a lot of artists, that’s totally okay! You can get away with sticking to what you do best, and even in Gontier’s case, I’m not expecting him to be an especially progressive artist in terms of sound, but I feel like this case is a perfect microcosm of the whole genre; it’s just gotten safe and predictable, and I haven’t truly fell in love with an album from that scene in going on 10 years now.

In comes Bring Me The Horizon, undoubtedly one of the biggest bands in the world right now, and arguably one of the most important. When Bradley recommended their most recent album/EP (it’s not entirely clear what it’s officially classified as, nor does it ultimately matter), Post-Human: Survival Horror, for our first “episode” of this new recurring series we’re trying out, I was really excited. BMTH was a band I was always fascinated by from afar, but ultimately kinda brushed off. However, I have been taking a little more notice of them recently as they’ve dropped singles for their upcoming second part of this Post-Human project, called Next Gen. Bring Me started out as a primarily deathcore band, but other the years, they’ve shifted into more of a metalcore band, and then starting with 2013’s Sempiternal, but really going all in on it with 2015’s That’s The Spirit, they really embraced a more accessible and catchy alt metal/hard-rock sound. This was an interesting evolution for them, because while it might seem predictable for a metalcore band to venture into more of a standard rock sound now, they were one of the first in the scene to do it and have any real success with it. After that came Amo, which is a bit more of a divisive album, but one that really solidified Bring Me as a band who were willing to throw genre conventions out the window and incorporate whatever other genres they wanted into their sound, while also still sounding like them. And that’s what Post-Human: Survival Horror does really well; it’s an album that both feels all over the place in terms of sounds and influences, but is still very rooted in the band’s hard-rock/alternative metal style they’ve been perfecting over the decade since Sempiternal released. And for me, coming up in the hard-rock scene but feeling rather disillusioned with it as of late, Bring Me The Horizon has been such a breath of fresh air. I love that this album can have these rather heavier moments followed by parts that wouldn’t feel out of place in a modern pop song, sometimes within the same song. The song “Ludens” I think is a perfect showcase of this album and what Bring Me is all about, it’s a blend of pop and hard-rock and even has a really cool breakdown, but it all works. And it’s just exciting me as a fan of the genre to see a band really experiment and do new things and not really care about sounding exactly like radio rock did in 2006. Not to mention, where else are you gonna get Babymetal and Yungblud on the same album as guest features?

I’m so happy Bradley recommended this album to me, especially as we’re on the heels of the next step in this journey for the band. All the singles they’ve been dropping over the last year have been really cool, so Next Gen has the potential to be even better.

If there is one band that’s really moving rock and metal forward, it’s Bring Me The Horizon. As Jake said, they’re a breath of fresh air, because of how they’re taking multiple sounds from multiple genres and putting them into rock and metalcore. A lot of bands in this vein today want to sound like they have for the past 20 years, and while nostalgia sells, progression is also important. I’ve been a fan of BMTH for years, even in their earliest incarnation as a deathcore band, but their change as a band has given me mixed reactions; I used to not be crazy about their change in sound, but I’ve really grown to love it, especially 2019’s Amo, where they took electronic and pop music and made it their own. Other bands have been popping up, too, and it’s very refreshing to see a lot of these bands coming out of the woodwork.

The Home Team - Slow Bloom

One such band is The Home Team, and their second album, Slow Bloom. This is the record that Jake recommended to me, and I’ve surprisingly heard of this band before. I listened to Slow Bloom a couple of years ago after hearing about them through seeing their videos on TikTok, and I got really excited about them, because they were a really unique band. This band takes pop-punk, djent, and R&B but makes it their own. Slow Bloom is an album with an ironic title, because this album isn’t slow with how much time it takes to bloom. Hell, these guys have one of the most fresh and unique sounds I’ve heard in awhile; they take the best parts of each of these genres and combine them together. The impressive vocals of R&B in the form of Brian Butcher, the catchy melodies of pop-punk, and the groovy guitar tones of djent / metalcore are all here, and they’re perfect ingredients. In fact, the first song I ever heard from them, “Watching All Your Friends Get Rich,” is a great example of this. Songs like “Right Through Me,” “Who Do You Know Here,” or “Sail” are great examples, too, but Brian Butcher is one of the best vocalists of the alternative scene right now. He’s been filling in for Issues on their farewell run of shows, and for good reason. Not too many vocalists can match that, or have the same talent that he does, but this band is going to be one to watch. This band isn’t only so talented because of their vocalist, but the rest of the band is talented, too, and it’s the musicianship that makes this band for me. I love the combination of the djenty guitars with the pop-punk melodies, because it gives me the best of both worlds — catchy hooks and heavy guitarwork. This is a cool band for people that want something a little heavier, but also don’t want screaming or breakdowns. These guys aren’t “heavy” in the sense that they’re brutal, or whatever, but they have that heavier tone, and it works for them. That also works for them, too, because what it means to be a metalcore band is being vastly rewritten by bands like Issues, Bad Omens, Beartooth, Bring Me The Horizon, and The Home Team who are utilizing more outside influence.

Talking about these albums made me think a lot about metalcore as a whole, and hard-rock, too, because rock music is in a weird state right now. You have people one side of the fence saying the genre is dead, and that there are no popular rock bands (at least ones worth caring about), and those are the most vocal people of the bunch, but on the other side of the fence, there are bands like BMTH and Issues that are redefining what rock can be. A lot of bands, especially ones that Jake mentioned, are fine with staying stagnant, and I guess there’s nothing wrong with it if that’s what you’re looking for, but there’s also nothing wrong with progression and moving forward. A lot of these bands mean something for the future of the genre, whether it’s for rock or metalcore. Both Bring Me The Horizon and The Home Team give me hope for the genre moving forward, because they have a lot to offer, and there are plenty of other bands out there that offer something new or interesting for the genre, so rock and metal are in a very exciting place at the moment.

That’ll do it for the first episode of The Record Exchange! We plan on doing this periodically, or at least whenever we have something to recommend each other, but I had this idea to start a conversation about two different albums, or at least in this case, two albums that are different yet oddly similar, especially for being in the same scene. Metalcore is a genre that I have a lot of love for, considering it’s one of the first genres I got into, and I like seeing the genre finally evolve, so I’m glad we were able to talk about a lot of albums and bands in that scene that are doing some cool things.

#music #rock #metalcore #metal #pop punk #djent #hyperpop #bring me the horizon #the home team #slow bloom #post human survival horror #Beartooth #issues #heavy metal #pop #pop-punk

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