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slitherpunk · 2 months

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games i liked in 2023 (And Other)

I like games ! You know that ?! and I played a lot 2023! and I liked a lot :). They aren't in any specific order, it's just a little highlight of games that stood out to me this year. I've attempted to write a few thoughts on each so I hope take a look. I wrote playtimes for some also but that is very subjective.

-Ones that actually came out 2023-

Lunacid https://store.steampowered.com/app/1745510/Lunacid/ I think I mentioned enjoying this in 2022 but it officially released so I can say it was one of my favorite games in 2023 :3! I like to feel around this game's walls for secrets. I like the npcs that are full of hope and whimsy despite the bleakness of its world. Chill and occasionally spooky first person dungeon crawling around moody caverns and ruins varying from underground forests to vampire castles and blood lake. (Blood lake!!!! Lake of blood!!! Big creature there.) Lots of fun weapons and spells to find, I like the one that lets you turn blood into coffins.

~20 hours

Orbo's Odyssey https://feverdreamjohnny.itch.io/orbos-odyssey If you played the massively popular demo for "Peeb Adventures" by feverdreamjohnny then you know that Johnny makes some fun and funny games and this is certainly one of them. speedy and satisfying platforming! funny dracula moments! short and sweet.

~2 hours

A Walk in the Woods https://mooncaller.itch.io/a-walk-in-the-woods Quaint little GBStudio game :) Made by some friends of mine for a jam :) It's cute I like it. There's minigames where you catch bugs and birdwatch.

~30 minutes long

Undertale Yellow https://gamejolt.com/games/UndertaleYellow/136925 I've only completed the pacifist run and checked out a neutral run so far. as the title somewhat implies, this is a prequel to Undertale where you play as the fallen human who had the yellow colored soul. This Undertale fangame has a lot of charm!!! A lot of battles really feel like they could have been in the original, with quite a bit of extra flair in some circumstances.

~10 hours

vs really cool bird https://bobacupcake.itch.io/vs-really-cool-bird you know that really cool bird that rob bobacupcake made well you can fight it in undertale and it's really fun. yeah two undertale fangames. . . wat of it …

~30 minutes

Misericorde: Volume One https://xeecee.itch.io/misericorde I wont lie the main draw for me into this was cute anime nuns I sure didn't know a whole lot else about it when I dug into it. But it's (the first part of) a VN murder mystery! And I enjoyed it a whole lot. All the characters are memorable and I really enjoy how all of them have differentiating designs. The protagonist is so failgirl. She sucks so much and I love her. I'm very intrigued by the mechanics of the game's world, it clues you in near the beginning to expect something a bit supernatural/fantastical, which gives you (and later the protagonist) a curiosity about what's real and what isn't. The music is all very impressive too, with the ost reaching past 100 tracks varying through post-rock, folk, drum & bass, and others. (Remembering when the track "Scandal" played and my friends and I took a moment to be like- okay hang on this track pwns.) Big fan of its haunting locals and how the aesthetic of the game fits them well. Also the humor is a lot of fun, and I love all the moments getting to know the different characters. Very excited to see the eventual continuation of this.

~12 hours

Absolutely Perfect Specimen https://chambersoft.itch.io/absolutely-perfect-specimen It seems like a lot of people are craving toxic horror yuri lately. Here's a recommendation. It's a VN about the android maid "Pan" and the mad scientist girl who created her. Horrifying & gut wrenching & largely about having other people define you. The art and music is haunting & poignant and matches the ever increasing feeling of dread throughout. It's yuri with the chunks. Peak robotgirl horror for those who can stomach it.

~90 minutes

Wordhopper https://kokoscript.itch.io/wordhopper Very quaint word search type puzzle game for ms dos! I think its style is very slick and that's pretty impressive to see. Chill game with nice vibes and eyecandy visuals. also it was so cool to have played this and then ended up seeing the dev's booth at Vintage Computer Festival Midwest. I was like omg woah I just played this.

~bunny

Bossgame https://lilyv.itch.io/bossgame This game is yuriful as f*ck. Delightful humor and fun character dynamics! A simple-to-understand-difficult-to-master boss rush battle system that makes you satisfied to get it right, and enticing to get just a little farther if you get it wrong. There's a lot of detail and charm to this game's menus and dialogues and win screens, I remember noticing that once you beat a boss there would be some marquee text that would pass by with some prose on it. I love how it balances its silly moments with its heartfelt moments and its high octane moments. I like the character development and revelations had throughout the plot. & I like how good the protagonists are for each other :) It's very sweet. It's hype as hell. if you want some boss rush action paired well with that sweet sweet girl's love, you *will* play this game.

~5 hours

Elly's Adventure https://bikwins.itch.io/ellys-adventure Very cute and witchy!! You are the little witch girl "Elly" on an adventure to get your toys back!! Feels like a pretty authentic gameboy type experience, it takes a lot of design cues from Kirby's adventure and the like. I am a big fan of how playful it feels.

~1 hour

Nour https://store.steampowered.com/app/1141050/Nour_Play_with_Your_Food/ This was a treat for me, but I understand that not everybody is going to get it. It's a game where you play with food(and food accessories). And that's it. It knows what it was going for. I think a lot of people were expecting something else for some reason. It's a cute little toy game and I felt satisfied with my time with it.

~food

Hi-Fi Rush https://store.steampowered.com/app/1817230/HiFi_RUSH/ Do I have to say this game is super fun? It's a big one everybody probably already knows it. This game's dopey humor made me laugh a lot and I'm not afraid to admit it.

~12 hours

WHISKEY.ST2007S https://bonicle.itch.io/whiskey-st2007nes One of the last games I played in the year because it released super last minute. Does anybody else get a rush when running a shopping cart down the parking lot? This emulates that feeling. Short game where you collect whisky stones in the whisky stone dimension because you forgot to go christmas shopping until the very last minute. it rules. It's very short you can go play it right now & get a highscore.

~5 minutes

re:curse https://devpalmer.itch.io/re-curse Discovered this one near the very end of the year also. Fun little rpg maker horror/humor game about a weird scientist lady, her butch, and an evil clown computer virus that figured out how to warp reality. I got a kick out of it. and also enjoyed digging through the game's files, which was actively encouraged by the dev, which I thought was very fun.

~90 minutes

-Didn't technically get to until 2024 but released last year-

SWOLLEN TO BURSTING UNTIL I AM DISAPPEARING ON PURPOSE https://1207.itch.io/swollen-to-bursting-until-i-am-disappearing-on-purpose People love to dunk on a lot of indie rpgs for being "quirky Earthbound inspired and about depression" or whatever. Earthbound's great. If people can nail the kind of humor and absurdity it likes to pull off while also balancing difficult topics I think that deserves a high mark. SWOLLEN TO BURSTING was fun. Bizarre and charming places to explore & distressing secrets to find. I like how it blends meander-around-the-town gameplay with Yume Nikki sort of exploration and effects. Also I'm a big fan of the music. I like how it has the lofi sound which matches the early 3d look of the game.

~6 hours

HalOPE https://starbage.itch.io/halope Another for the fans of sweet little rpg maker games that have a lot of heart. HalOPE is about an incomplete little angel wondering through worlds. Each has a theme, usually to do with an emotion or feeling, and they do well at evoking that feeling as well as its antithesis. a lot of the music is very homey and charming at moments and unnerving at others, sometimes lonely, all doing well in their corresponding chapters to further the feeling of its specified theme. There are so many delightful characters and designs in this & I found myself feeling really attached to their tiny little stories. The narrative at the core of it all hit me. If I may be vulnerable, I cried a whole lot at various moments in this game. It was really cathartic. I feel very excited for people to experience this game.

~5 hours

-Favs I finally got around to that didn't come out 2023-

An Outcry https://quinnk.itch.io/an-outcry Kind of sad it took me so long to get to this one, but glad it meant I got to play the "definitive" updated version of it. Apartment wandering RPG maker horror. Bum smokes from your neighbors and use them to save the game. I wish I could unwrap a lot more of what I like about this game than I can without spoiling too much. But if I could, I'd probably go on for too long. Let me attempt to be succinct & not giving too much away. You can tell pretty early on that An Outcry is about taking action when necessary & not turning a blind eye. What it explores about player vs protagonist agency is very fascinating to me as well, and I enjoyed learning about the inspirations for why the game's narrative works the way it does. The character Anne is such a sweetie and I love her a whole lot. This game has a very tangible feeling, this apartment complex is dirty and crumby, it smells of smoke, and there's a surrounding desperation you can feel.

~5 hours

Pigments https://punkcake.itch.io/pigments Honestly I had gotten this game in a bundle and while I was playing it I hadn't looked at the name and I just kept calling it FRUIT. On call with my friends I'd be like "hey im gonna play more FRUIT". I straight up didn't read the title screen. But it's called Pigments. You play as a fruit and you try to paint the whole floor and not get sliced by buzzsaws. Fun little arcade type game.

~fruit

Bridge, October 3rd https://lowpolis.itch.io/bridge-october-3rd Very short vignette. I like it. It's what it says it is. I'm not going to overexplain.

~like a minute

-Other Games I Want To Mention-

Pseudoregalia https://store.steampowered.com/app/2365810/Pseudoregalia/ I think a lot of people might have already known this one but I felt like it was a pretty fun 3d platformer. There were a few issues I had with it (boss fight at the beginning was frustrating, and I got lost a lot [but it looks like there's been a map patch by now, so, perhaps for some that is a fix]). I enjoyed it but sure felt weird that the only accessibility option was to give the protagonist pants. What kind of joke is that?

~5 hours

Mushroom Musume https://mortallymoonstruckgames.itch.io/mushroom-musume (Disclaimer, this game is still early access, but I saw a lot of people talking about it last year. SO I will mention here?) Haven't played much of this yet, but I have enjoyed what I played so far!! As of writing I've gone through 6 playthroughs, I feel like I've hardly scratched the surface and I've been so impressed by its depth. It's very charming, you never know what sorts of fairytale shenanigans are going to happen, and it's very cool to see how your different stats will affect things. It very much plays out like a roguelike vn. Which is not the sort of thing you may expect to make much sense but it pulls this off well. Also all the mushroom girls are very cute and I love them very much. I hope the sad goopy one who had bugs in her skin rests in peace.

~mushroom

Knuckle Sandwich https://andybrophy.itch.io/knuckle-sandwich -_- Hm. Where do I start with this one. I was pretty excited for this one since the demo and kickstarter in 2018. I felt like the demo was a hell of a hook that got me curious & horrified. As time went on, it seemed to be shaping up into something really cool. turn based combat with action commands and wario-ware-type microgames?? with a banging soundtrack?? like, count me in!! Then it released and well, the gameplay, art, music all delivered. It was very fun and engaging in those aspects. But the story… oh it just devolves into disappointing nonsensical randomness. The whole hook at the beginning seemed to be completely thrown away for the wild goose chase plot that ensues, leaving you to wonder if it was ever going to be relevant again. It felt like it had no idea what it was trying to say or do. It disappointed me that a game that has so much good in so much else about it gets brought down so much for me by this plot.

~12 hours

Rhythm Doctor https://store.steampowered.com/app/774181/Rhythm_Doctor/ (Putting this one in mentions because it is early access.) I really enjoyed the act 5 release. When I first saw this game, I kind of shrugged it off, thinking "that base mechanic doesn't seem like it will last". I thought it was basically just that one ghost shooting game from Rhythm Heaven which I Hate. Well let's just say I am now seeking penitence for my previous transgressions. It's really fun. There's a lot more to it that I didn't know when I first took a look. Also, consistently amazed by people's custom levels, I had no idea that its level editor allows people to do so much in it, I look at some levels and think "This editor seems as complex as an industry standard video editor". I'm looking forward to what they're planning next, very curious how they could possibly one-up the last update.

~rhythm

El Paso Elsewhere https://strangescaffold.itch.io/el-paso-elsewhere This was really fun & funny so far but unfortunately I had been encountering an issue with a certain level where the game would crash. I reported the issue, got a response, and there has been an update since then so I think there's a possibility that it got fixed but I have not tried yet. I would like to return to this sometime but having to relearn controls midway through is always daunting to me.

-Things that looked good but didn't get around to-

Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood https://store.steampowered.com/app/1340480/The_Cosmic_Wheel_Sisterhood/ Still don't know a whole lot about this. But there are witches, and I like witches.

Casette Beasts https://store.steampowered.com/app/1321440/Cassette_Beasts/ I haven't felt thrilled about Pokémon lately. I know a lot of people seemed to really enjoy this little monster-collecting-rpg. The style is appealing to me as a die-hard gen 5 fan. I started playing it but haven't set aside the dedicated time for it yet, but I'm excited to dig in more when I do.

Little Goody Two Shoes https://store.steampowered.com/app/1812370/Little_Goody_Two_Shoes/ Started watching a friend play this, and I'm certainly curious.. Some sort of horror fairytale but also there's yuri? Yum. Enjoyed the style and animation in the nightmare segments that I saw.

Venba https://store.steampowered.com/app/1491670/Venba/ I've picked this up a while ago but still haven't gotten around to it, but I'm eager to, I've heard nothing but good things.

Goodbye Volcano High https://store.steampowered.com/app/1310330/Goodbye_Volcano_High/ I think there are gay dinosaurs in a band and it's going to be the apocalypse? I have also heard nothing but good things about this.

-Things I watched friends play-

Signalis https://store.steampowered.com/app/1262350/SIGNALIS/ This was a pretty big one. You probably already know it, right? Watched a friend play this and I missed various parts but I understood a solid bit of it. hey. robotgirls are always getting put in these fucked up situations. have you noticed this? one time i got really high and cried about it. it isn't fair

Bomb Rush Cyberfunk https://store.steampowered.com/app/1353230/Bomb_Rush_Cyberfunk/ This one was also probably big enough you don't need me to sing its praises. but it looked really neat. swag.

-Various Thoughts-

Lately I've been thinking more about design and narrative. I feel like I haven't been doing as much analysis as I should be when it comes to games. I want to dissect more what games are saying and figure out meaning. Also attempt to see how the mechanics aid in that. I feel like most of my own work is pretty abstract & random. I simply make what I like. While that's fun and all, I still want to improve in a lot of ways, especially in having more of a theme or message. Figuring out how other games accomplish this is obviously a good step toward this.

If you saw games here that interest you I highly urge you to take a look, many are pretty short, and I pretty explicitly wanted to highlight some smaller titles. If you know me you know I like to uplift small games. (Save for the occasional big game, but that's rare these days) I think it's healthy for you to play and support independently developed & published works. I don't want to ramble too much this time about why that's important, but I hope that you might have found something you may enjoy here and if not then I encourage you to find small stuff that you would like. And I would like to encourage everybody to share their findings as well! Little games need our help to be seen and talked about! They don't have the budgets the big ones do for advertising, and advertising on your own is a whole ton of work. If you like something, spread the word! I'm sure the developers would very much appreciate that.

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spiritsonic · 3 months

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Yo!! First off, thank you so much for the GOTF stream, it was a real treat getting to see how things wrapped up, and just getting to listen to y'all chat about the creative process!

The questions surrounding character designs got my gears turning, and it reminded me I had a design question myself, albeit for the IDW comics, so I figured it was more appropriate to wait and ask this here rather than the stream:

When you designed the former Diamond Cutters for T&W, were any of them based on personal fan ideas that you wanted to make a reality, or were they more or less created from scratch? Also, did you have any favorites when designing them?

(I'm personally a big fan of Claire -- which isn't exactly a shocker, I guess, considering I'm a huge fan of Vennie and her powers! Even if the way she got said powers was tragic...)

The DCs weren't based on any particular ideas of mine, other than the occasional octopus character I've drawn in the past and how I wanted to handle the tentacles. Since they were all riffing off of Whisper's outfit (and the MGS characters they're referencing), that's the material I focused on.

Claire is my favorite too! In her case, her species was switched mid-production from a mantis shrimp to a howler monkey. For the monkey version, I decided to draw on some of the style of a midcentury jazz singer. She also has a bit of a "spooky fortune teller" vibe, which was requested. I dunno how much of that came through in the final, but it was fun for me.

Also here's the first pass on the whole crew, cause why not

(I got Smithy's name wrong. Also He was a raven at this point.)

#IDW Sonic #Diamond Cutters #Claire Voyance #I know how to draw exactly one gun from memory and it's that revolver

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sanctus-ingenium · 1 year

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another one of these posts lol... sketches vs final. not much changed for these ones, i kind of went into them with a very solid mental image already in my head. all of these were done start to finish in procreate

thoughts below the cut

horse fight .... this is based off a really really beautiful sky i saw while driving home one evening. i'm really proud of getting the colours i saw exactly right, this kind of greenish yellow fading to dark blue and with grey clouds low over it that looked very dark against the yellow by the horizon, but very pale against the dark blue.

i thought it would be a cool backdrop to draw a scene i've been thinking about for a while. The little cartoony horses are there to provide some tonal whiplash but also because these are two immortal shapeshifters who can fight violently without it being a huge deal. the little horses represent the actual gravity of the fight (that is, kind of a slap fight between two drama queens) which contrasts with the visuals of two animals brutally tearing at eachother. also i got the two horses at the bottom mixed up, Pascal is the one with the skinny plumed tail and Macha has a more traditional horse tail and i put them on the wrong sides.

i had a LOT of trouble shading this. i didn't want the horses to be too shiny but that meant a much lower contrast in shading and even with my screen brightness turned up i could barely see what i was doing. but i wanted it to read as realistic. mixed results i think. if i did it again i might try a different shading style because this one didn't really do it for me

spooky van!!! the post i deleted by accident (rip. i will repost it soon). this is a picture of the barrow (the field) taking a different shape - in this case a cool van. the van contains every single thing the field does (including the human victims that get lost in there...) but compressed down into a manageable shape. the void is Pascal because the field is inside him. he did this for his human bf to provide novel way to travel through the Otherworld. don't ask how this works like, spatially, because the answer is: i don't do hard magic systems in this setting

i loooove shading things with pencil hatching and i really like contrasting it with smooth colours/shading so that's mainly what i did here. it was simple enough. the van is of course heavily referenced and i wish i had been able to stylise it a little more.. maybe next time. i want to draw a kind of cutaway illustration of the van showing exterior and interior (like an old blueprint schematic), which i might use as a cover for the book/comic/whatever but that will require a very intimidating level of precision so i think i'll work up to that.

RUA magazine. this is my third time doing a rua magazine cover (first time posting tho). this is an in-universe magazine distributed throughout the Otherworld to an audience of fairies. in the sketch, the illustation was originally the King of Pentacles tarot card (the pentacle being the disco ball). but i decided to make a different King of Pentacles card for him instead, since I try hard to move away from symmetrical composition for the tarot cards (it's boring). so i repurposed this one into another magazine cover. like i said Pascal is a self-absorbed attention whore and has a habit of giving bullshit interviews just so that he can be on the cover as much as possible. he dresses like this all the time (the year is 2017)

the disco ball took 15 years off my life and it's not even the first disco ball i've drawn! i finished my actual king of pentacles card before i finished the rua cover sketch, so i can show u this

which is much better even if i did reference so heavily that it isn't exactly stylised. but this card needs some serious revision before i even think about posting it. i'm just not happy with his face.

original intent was for it be mysterious with emphasis on the neon lights but it ended up far more suggestive than i expected. that's life!

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comicaurora · 10 months

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Have you seen the new Superman show on adult swim? Himbo Clark Kent rights

It's off to an extremely encouraging start! Thoughts under the cut!

I like how they portray Clark's super-strength and how comfortable he is flying and using super-speed. They really feel like innate characteristics of his body rather than powers he switches on and off - things he keeps toned down when people are watching, but things that are always present regardless. The number of times I've pulled a push door or shoved something that was stuck and thought "if I had super-strength I wouldn't get a Take Two on this because my hand would've gone straight through that" is clearly something the showrunners have also thought about. This Clark lives in a world of cardboard and physically cannot stop himself from putting his hand through it at least once a day.

There's a physicality to the way Clark takes hits that really communicates how little he feels them most of the time. Eyes open, mouth closed, immediately getting back into the fight after getting punched into a crater. This is stuff I also think about when I draw supernaturally tough characters in combat situations, and it's cool to see someone else doing it - especially since one of my very few complaints about the older DCAU is that Superman always took every hit like it was a fully incapacitating blow, which Worf'd him pretty constantly.

I also like that we have so far never seen Clark angry. We've seen him scared, flustered, disappointed - but not angry. Even in fights where he's taking serious hits, he's only motivated by wanting to protect and save people, even his opponents - he so far has never been motivated by a desire to destroy. That feels like very good writing for Superman.

It's currently a little unclear how exactly his powerset is scaling - it looks like the blue-eye-glow-and-suit-emblem thing is a legitimate powerup that lets him hit harder and recover faster than his normal baseline, but how exactly that works isn't clear yet - although that is very obviously going to be a plot point later, since they keep giving him little flashes of the story of Krypton's destruction and what shenanigans they were getting up to when it exploded.

On that note, Kryptonian tech has never looked or felt so otherworldly. I love the distorted electronic backward-voice choir they use exclusively for when Clark is on the ship. I love that hologram Jor-El can't speak English, but can clearly understand Clark - also this is the coolest Jor-El has ever looked. Some comics wax poetic about how Clark is an alien space god who only pretends to be human, but I like how this show is firmly putting Clark on the side of the audience with regards to how unsettling the "alien space god" vibes truly are. He can't understand the nature of the ship or the words of its holographic inhabitant, he's not really interested in what it means or where it came from - he just wants to know who he is, or rather who Superman should be. And I like that he concludes that Superman should be him - the heroics he was already doing, except this time on purpose. Superman should not be this spooky glowing alien god thing, even if that's the vibe we get from Krypton itself.

I like that the ship gave Superman his modern no-underpants-on-the-outside suit and Ma Kent was like "we can do better than that" and added the underpants back on.

I also like how much setup there is for future plot stuff that a DC-familiar audience can see coming. Clark hasn't used any of his vision-based powers yet, and it's possible he doesn't know they exist. No sign of Lex Luthor or Kryptonite yet, two problems we know will become more severe with time. We've already got Amanda Waller being stoically nefarious in the background. Young Hot Deathstroke is a hell of a design choice and I am Here For It.

I also appreciate how many little referential jokes are packed into the dialogue, ranging from the obvious "it's a bird it's a plane" to some hella deep pulls like Jimmy Olson's youtube channel.

And fundamentally I love how this show starts from the jump with the thesis that friendly, humble, Normal Man Clark is the real person, and Superman is the job that Clark Kent does. The title of the show is "My Adventures With Superman." The POV character is Clark. He is the "my" in that title. This is Clark's story about Superman.

I really, really hope Batman eventually shows up, because this Superman would make that hilarious.

#asks #not aurora #media recs

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ibrithir-was-here · 1 year

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Sandman Enchanted AU

So i watched Disenchanted today and it was wonderful, and made me super nostalgic for Enchanted, and since my brain has been on Sandman for two months of course it went "do a Sandman Enchanted AU"

Now, would it have made so much more sense to make it a Hope Godling AU, where Hob is the happy singing Endless who gets thrown into the real world to meet Grumpy Human Dream? Yes, of course it would--

But consider the absolute crazy hilarity of an AU where, after Dream's ruby is broken and his power releasesed something goes wrong, and he gets split into two--his dark melonchaly spooky Nightmare Half---and his whimsical, hopeful and actually happy Daydream Half

And the Daydream half gets shot across reality to the New Inn, and Hob Gadling is now stuck playing confused and rather concerned host to a singing dancing Daydream, who's free of his melancholy for the first time in years and is warping reality to make it into a Disney musical eachtime he laughs, which is often.

Hob is absolutely at a loss as to what to do, especially since his Stranger is acting incredibly stranger then usual--and he's smiling at Hob, constantly. Its a good thing Hob's immortal or he's sure he would have died from that smile alone 100 times by now. And as much as he loves seeing his Stranger so happy and affectionate he's trying hard not to take advantage of that by letting his own deep feelings loose as it's clear something is off--

A fact confirmed by Joanna Constantine (who Hob also knows, we'll put her in to fill in Nancy/Morgan's role basically as Hob doesn't have a fiance or a kid) who makes it clear that yeah this isn't how Dream usually is and something must have gone wrong with him trying to get his tools back.

So Hob's trying really hard to be a gentleman and not get too swept off his feet by Daydream--who really isn't making it easy cuz he's so sweet and open and incrediblely affectionate.

The "That's How You Know" moment--which is Daydream trying to get Hob to open up about who it is he has a crush on because how can this person know Hob likes them if he never says-- is horrendously difficult for Hob to hold back just blurting it out, especially with the reality warping 'Open your heart and sing' stuff going on. And he's trying the whole time not to join in the singing.

Meanwhile the Corinthian--who has a combined Nathaniel/Narissa role--has learned about Dream's current condition and determiend that Daydream will be much easier to off--keeps trying to stab the pair and keeps getting trampled by background dancers and such XD

So Hob and Daydream keep getting closer and closer while Joanna tries to find out whats going on, and Daydream is just having a wonderful time, as is Hob, despite his misgivings.

Nightmare meanwhile, is barely holding onto human shape and is very put out about this latest inconvenience--especially since it turns out that Daydream holds the majority of his power to talk to animals, so everything Matthew says to him comes out as more "Caw" then words.

Nightmare finds Daydream eventually and tells him they have to join back together for the good of the Dreaming and the Waking--things are getting more and more unsettled each time a musical number happens-- but Daydream begs to have one real date with Hob before they do, a date where he can just be happy and not mired down by all the self loathing and fear and such that Normal Dream has. Nightmare reluctantly agrees because they wont be able to join back together unless they both agree, so they all end up going to a dance or something thats happening

Daydream has a wonderful time, and so does Hob, who of course has fallen absolutely in love with this side of his Stranger, and will be sorry to see Daydream go.

But Hob makes sure to draw Nightmare intona dance a well "this is your date too really you get a dance too" and during that time tries to tell Nightmare that he loves /all/ parts of him, not just the happy one. Nightmare of course is less then convinced, and of course goes into 1889 mood all over again, saying that he neither wants nor needs Hob's love (liar)

Which is just when the Corinthian has finally managed to snag hold of Daydream, and seeing the current situation, tells them "Look at how upset Nightmare is, he's embarrassed by all this lovey dovey stuff. Always has been always will be. If you go back together Dream will be so humiliated by all the gushy stuff you've done that he'll never go and see Hob Gadling again...unless you dont join back together..."

So when Nightmare comes storming up demanding that they leave and rejoin now Daydream refuses--but reality starts to break down again as the separation deepens by this refusal, things warping and twisting between fantastical daydreams and horrific nightmares as the clock starts to chime down. And finally Daydream starts to break down themself as Nightmare tells them to look around at what's happening, this is why they can't let go, why they have to do their duty, not give into their own daydreams--and Daydream knows that Nightmare is right--and their heart breaks.

And Daydream starts to fade away, something that delights the Corinthian who's managed to stay hidden as he knows the loss will ultimately undue Dream forever.

But just as Daydream can feel sorrow, Nightmare can feel remorse. And he knows that there's only one way for Daydream-- the side of the Prince of Stories that is the embodiment of happy endings and the power of a true love's kiss--to be saved, so he asks Hob to give Daydream the one daydream dearest to him...

After the kiss Daydream and Hob have a tearful goodbye, thanking eachother for all that they've gotten to experience these last few days. Then Daydream finally agrees to reunite with Nightmare. The two come together, the world comes back into balance, and Dream comes back awkwardly into form.

Dream gives an awkward thanks and farewellnto Hob, telling him he needs to go after the Corinthian, and disappears, leaving Hob alone on the dance floor, with a bittersweet smile on his face.

But of course this has a happy ending, and after Dream deals with all that stuff and gets a talking to by Death and has time to process all the memories hw made with Hob as Daydream...he finally gets up the courage to head to the New Inn again, maybe while it’s raining so we can get the rain kiss scene…

And things work out Happily Ever After…

Edit: Now with fic!

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irradiatedsnakes · 2 months

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btw in the tmagp launch celebratory stream alice's voice actor said her favorite scene that'd been recorded by that point was "alice and sam go to a place". so i suppose we'll be getting that next week :]

other notes. this statement (hey! actually a statement this time! what the fuck) was SOOOOO GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD

the cursed dice angle is so good, the way the statement giver took on that role (roll), played the part, UGH it's so fun. the theme of choice that was brought up is also so good- just. ONE more roll for old time's sake :) especially given that this is a TMI statement and how HUGE IMPORTANT of a theme choice and free will were in tma, felt very fitting. fantastic, loved that.

continuing on my stuff about the entities in tmagp- once again some things here feel very on the nose, particularly the statement giver literally calling himself a mysterious stranger. this feels like a fun little red herring to me, for people a bit hung up on the entities stuff. that's how i interpreted it, anyways. i wanna know more about this world so fucking bad, dude.

also, the institute's in manchester in tmagp, not chelsea/london. which means no milbank prison, no panopticon. interesting. (though soemthing that was known from the arg already- i really need to deep dive on that. tomorrow, maybe.) statement taking and artifact storage are still a thing, evidently, but noting that there's no mention of an archivist or anything like that. and the subject/agent/catalyst stuff, that's Very interesting.

once again, chester bringing up a magnus-related statement, here in obvious reply to what sam was talking about- just when he was considering to celia about dropping his investigations- clearly (imo) to goad him into not leaving it behind. excellent. and fun given the first TMI-related incident with redcanary had the obvious conclusion of THE MAGNUS INSTITUTE IS WEIRD AND DANGEROUS while also having enough mystery to draw sam in further. sam's seen the canary die in the coalmine and has made the decision to keep digging and that's fantastic.

now! characters! sam's paperwork :) VERY intriguing that he's getting all this stuff and celia's got none of it- he said it was due to that box about the response department, but i've got my doubts about that being the reason he's being saddled with all this weird stuff. also the questions on the thing made me laugh, very good. sam and celia have such good interactions, i love how they bounce off each other. also, with regards to the paperwork- i think there's a connection to be made about the statement giver's continued rolling of the dice (it always felt like my choice.) and sam filling out all this creepy, utterly pointless paperwork to "refuse to give it the satisfaction of giving up".

GWEN AND LENA. nigel dickerson, you know, from tv? possibly. i don't watch television. i do hope we'll be seeing exactly what gwen is being told to do next episode.. delivering something, keeping calm, recording the detailed reactions to what's being delivered. maybe we'll get a bit more of a clue as to what the oair is actually for. i do like that gwen's not become one bit less indignant, skeptical, and disrespectful towards lena now that she's got this job. i'm very excited to see her on her fist job she's gonna suck at it i think

i'll admit i was a little surprised to see teddy again. i was worried for a sec he might be going in the direction of getting dragged back to the oair, but nah. not yet, at least :) and ALICE. ALIIIIICE auaaaaagh!!! i don't know if i have much to say baout this part that isn't just (shaking a plushie in my mouth like a dog). very neat that she has agreed to help sam investigate this and actually go to the institute when she's been so staunchly don't get caught up in the creepy stuff! leave the magnus institute stuff ALONE you don't want to get into this spooky shit! like.. she does not want to get involved with spooky shit and she doesn't want sam to get involved with spooky shit but she cares about him and their friendship a lot and this is obviously important to him. so. (plus, the thing about alice's brother having been at the institute alongside sam and gerry..) i like them both so much. i am so excited for next weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek

#tmagp #tmagp spoilers

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wasyago · 10 months

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Would you mind explaining the last drawing you did for the Mariana post? Was that slime holding the gun?

ok here's the drawing itself for reference

Yeah so, i have a little headcanon that mariana has super strength, not in a sense that he can hit hard but more like "he destroys everything he touches". Unless he wears his gloves ofc.

I drew mariana holding flippa with his gloves on, and then wanted to show what would happen if he took the gloves off. Something like "i want to hold my daughter with my hands and not through gloves at least once in my life".

It didn't exactly work out as i wanted it to because in the drawing mariana isn't touching flippa, he only stretches out his arm to do it. Which looked fine by itself but to me it felt like something was missing, like the drawing was lacking impact that i wanted it to have. Mariana is stretching out his arm and he's dark and spooky but ultimately nothing really happens in the picture, it lacks context.

So, i decided to add slime putting a gun to mariana's head. Sort of as if he saw that mariana was about to kill their daughter and decided to stop him with the only way he knew how. (aka by threatening to shoot mariana instead of grabbing his hand or something, idk. very healthy 10/10) So now it doesn't exactly look like mariana is moving forward, but more like he stopped in the middle of it because he's being threatened.

(Now that im looking at it, it would've been better if i made the canvas bigger and drew the rest of slime's silhouette, both to give some context in who's holding the gun and to make the composition more dramatic, because rn its just a random hand dissappearing into nowhere. But its whatever, back when i was drawing it adding slime was a last second decision so i didn't really think about it, and now i obviously wont go and fix it because im lazy and its not so much about fixing the mistake as it is about learning from it.)

(Also in addition to the one punch man headcanon: Slime can't be one-punched because he's a literal slime, its like punching water and wanting something to happen)

#whoops haha this got long #dont ask me to explain something about art bc i wont shut up ever #yagotalk #my art #sketch #el mariana #apologies for maintagging but its for filtering purposes

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maniculum · 5 months

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Bestiaryposting: Holghras Results

Now for what everyone -- or at least a certain percentage -- has been waiting for: the results for the Holghras! Anyone who found that sentence confusing can catch up by checking this page: https://maniculum.tumblr.com/bestiaryposting .

This time around, they should all fit into one post, as the response was a little smaller. I see how it is: everyone wants to draw Spooky Corpse-Eater With Magic, but nobody wants to draw Horny Bird With Problems.

I kid, of course. The Wutugald had some pretty clear visual elements that people could hook onto, but the Holghras entry is mostly about its behavior and doesn't give much information on what it looks like beyond "it's a bird". So it's pretty clear why people might have a harder time drawing artistic inspiration from that one. (And I really and truly appreciate those of you who took a crack at it anyway.) The level of physical description is going to vary a lot entry to entry, I'm afraid -- to some extent I think it's about whether it's an animal the reader is expected to be familiar with, but there are definitely a few detailed visual descriptions of animals most medieval Europeans would have seen because the author wants to do some symbolism. So it's a toss-up. Anyway, here's the link to the description people are working from:

And the results, again roughly in order of appearance. If yours isn't here, let me know -- I saw one post that said something about Tumblr eating their original attempt, presumably out of Bird Homophobia. I'm happy to reblog any that I missed due to Tumblr's functionality.

@bruncikara (link to post here) gives us our first interpretation. I really enjoy the medieval bestiary style, including the use of the Generic Medieval Plant that always reminds me of mutant asparagus. I think the border is designed to evoke the thorns in which the Holghras nests, which I also appreciate. The bird's pose, flat on its back with its neck curved up, is great, and it's shown performing its signature Hide With Dirt move. I think at least some of the inspiration comes from quails here, judging by the head... feather... thing... [Wikipedia break] ... okay, apparently it's just called a "plume", which I should have guessed. This is the first example of the common (and correct!) assumption that the Holghras is a member of the order Galliformes.

@jamiethekeener (link to post here) gives us this one, also posing with its signature dirt clods. I'm reminded of a cardinal, personally. The artist provides a brief comment on their design, noting that they are not a bird expert. I think this is a pretty cute juvenile bird, and the way it holds the dirt comes off as kind of playful.

@silverhart-makes-art (link to post here) has produced another very naturalistic drawing, which (in my non-expert opinion) manages to look very much like a real bird without specifically looking like any bird in particular. They apparently do know birds, because they specifically name-drop Galliformes in their description of their design decisions. I like the decision to also include one of the bird's Signature Behaviors, i.e., the mother carrying her chicks.

@pomrania (link to post here) has given their Holghras a selection of striking features, which they explain in their post. There's a lot in that post, actually, and I really enjoyed reading the whole journey of this particular drawing. You should go read it too -- the post linked above also provides a draft version, a link to a series of progress sketches, and a link to an explanation of their design choices that includes rumination on how to make a bird look "slutty". Go check it out, we'll be here when you get back.

@sweetlyfez (link to post here) describes her design choices briefly, indicating that her goal was to pick Bird Attributes that could look unsettling in combination and suggest that the bird depicted has a "terrible sex life". Mission accomplished, I think -- that bird does not look trustworthy. Also now we know that thing on its head is just called a plume, so good for us. I really like the effect the -- watercolor? I think? I don't know art -- provides, and that seagull-esque spot on its beak really is a great touch.

@rautavaara (link to post here) has done another beautifully stylized drawing with a very pleasant color scheme. They provide a brief explanation of their design decisions in the linked post. I'm particularly struck by the fact that this version of the Holghras apparently carries its young in the same way that the folkloric version of the stork carries babies: in some kind of cloth wrapping held in the beak. I also like that the chick's feet are sticking out.

@mobileleprechaun (link to post here) apparently had some trouble posting this, but I'm glad they got it through, because it's delightful. I like the little bird on the right with its feet sticking straight up, and the other one under its mother's wing/arm. When I first saw this, I was briefly puzzled why the drawing contrasted male and female birds, because they looked quite similar -- then I noticed the tailfeathers -- then I looked more closely at the male's tailfeathers and cracked up a little bit. The linked post provides a brief explanation of the design decisions, including why the wings look so much like arms. It also has a couple tags that I find funny.

@karthara (link to post here) provides this excellent image as well as a brief explanation of their design choices. I love the over-the-top tailfeathers on the extremely-sexy purple male Holghrases, and the babies dangling from under the female's wing, and the fact that the clod of dirt being held up by the juvenile is at least as big as the bird holding it. Also, those ridiculous tailfeathers are apparently inspired by the Onagadori rooster, which means we're back with the Galliformes.

@embervoices (link to post here) did this adorable drawing of the juvenile Holghras. I particularly like that she's taken a different route than having it just hold up the dirt: this one apparently has a little hidey-hole like a trapdoor spider. This is just very cute all around, I like it.

@cheapsweets (link to post here) provides this excellent and action-packed depiction, along with a wonderfully detailed explanation of their design decisions. (I love reading those.) From their post, it's clear that they also know more about birds than I do, and also name-check the Galliformes as the most likely category. Apparently the bird-people of Tumblr have this critter's number. Also, that is a masterful depiction of a bird running off with an egg, I have to say.

@coolest-capybara (link to post here) has done another medieval-styled rendition, which I really enjoy. This is also, I believe, the first appearance of a human in any of these drawings. (Well. Live human, at least.) I enjoy the depiction of the female bird doing her fake limp to lead the human away from her nest while the males engage in their weird drama up in the right. They provide an explanation of their design choices and inspiration in the linked post.

@scarlettbookworm (link to post here) has given us a drawing that showcases several of the odd behaviors described in the entry. The linked post also provides a description of their design process and an explanation of their decisions. I think this is another very cute picture of a bird holding up dirt, and I enjoy the one at the top shouting "HOLGHRAS!" The egg-stealer over in the bottom right is very good also.

@moustawott (link to post here) has drawn this very vulture-like Holghras in what I have to say is a very well-done bushy area. I had to look twice to realize the background was actually cleverly-arranged splashes and blobs of color that strongly suggest that we're in a bush. Very good art, love the style, and that fuzzy baby Holghras is cute as hell. The linked post provides an explanation of the design decisions.

@strixcattus (link to post here) gives us this rendition of the Holghras, which they describe as being inspired by a prairie chicken and a potoo. Prairie chickens are, of course... Galliformes. Another tally mark in that column. I'm particularly delighted by the giant mouth on the chick in the bottom right. As they did last time, the artist has provided a detailed modern-naturalist interpretation of the animal, which is of course in the linked post. I recommend checking that out; maybe it's just because I'm the kind of huge nerd that I am, but I think these are great.

@treesurface (link to post here) gives us a Holghras that they describe as a cross between a bird of prey and a bird of paradise, which I think is a pretty good idea that fits both the aggressive behavior and the mating behavior described in the entry. I enjoy the fact that multiple artists have decided this bird Likes Big Tailfeathers (and it does lie, but about different things).

@ashfly (link to post here) gives us this picture of a juvenile Holghras holding up its clump of dirt. They also indicate that they have an idea of what it is, which I really hope they'll share now that it's posted and the bird's out of the bag, because I was 100% certain nobody would guess this one. The fuzzy bird is cute, of course, and the rainbow legs are really striking. (Pride legs, perhaps?) I also like that it's clearly looking over at the "camera" to see if we're buying it.

And finally, the official medieval depiction:

... hm. Yeah, some absolute bastard apparently cut out a bunch of the miniatures in this manuscript at one point. Luckily, we have the Ashmole Bestiary over at the Bodleian Library, which is extremely similar, so we can get an idea of the image that was here:

And also, this entry in the Aberdeen Bestiary comes with two images. Here's the other one:

I'm going to assume the choice of coloration was up to the individual artist and the missing Aberdeen illustration was also brown, because the Ashmole version of the egg-stealer also has the more colorful pattern:

Anyway, in case you haven't recognized it from these helpful and very accurate images, this is the partridge. Now you know what's going on in those pear trees.

I don't actually have anything else to add about that. I was frankly a little surprised there was even an entry for "partridge".

#maniculum bestiaryposting #holghras

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dubioushonour · 9 months

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Every time I see people talking about the Pandemonium Tsukasa card they're like "oh, he's a kitsune!!! He's a tanuki!!!"

Which, like, is true and important and relevant, but I haven't seen anyone point out, very notably,

He's a kasa-obake. Also called karakasa-obake and karakasa kozo, they're classed typically as tsukumogami (tools that have become self aware when they turn 100 years old) (there is debate about this classification but for the sake of it, I'm not getting into it). They only have one eye, which is likely why Tsukasa above has one of his shadowed (besides the usual spooky supernatural hidden motives reasons). Karakasa are usually best known for being tricksters who like to jumpscare and prank people, but are ultimately fairly harmless and just enjoy the attention. They are most notable for being a yokai that isn't attached to any particular legend or folktales; people just started drawing them around the Edo period and they started showing up everywhere, with more people making stories about them. Nowadays they are pretty much a staple yokai for haunted houses, like a bedsheet ghost that will lick you.

(Karakasa also share a lot of similarities to hitotsume-kozo (or One Eyed Brat), they are functionally the same type of ghost but one is just a child.)

I couldn't tell you how relevant this is to his character, or if they just did it for the pun, but I mostly just thought it was unfortunate people didn't seem to realize there was a third, very neat yokai influence in this picture (or just weren't acknowledging it because it's not as a trendy as the other two in English speaking circles)

#project sekai #prsk #tsukasa tenma #i'll leave the character interpretations to the people #who are actually good at it LOL

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electric-s0da · 3 days

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Please note that; this post has showings/depictions of blood and strong language found within some of the drawings. @moonverc3x convinced me to join on in the @kirbyoctournament with their very persuasive words.

Bro got a really captivating vocab, how can I refuse? /pos Anyways, I am submitting Neko! Pronounced as Nico cause it took me over 3 years to realize that I was dyslexic and had been saying 'Neko' wrong the whole time. Created on SEPTEMBER 11th 2018 My oldest Kirby OC. Lil Man started off as a little cat with an absolutely horrendous design that was bleeding with the affection I had for the Kirby fandom and anime. Filled to the brim with cringe.

[OLD ART FROM 2018] Skipping over a few years, he was redesigned with any sanity I had to salvage them. Thus came this new iteration of Neko. Which is whatever you call this.

[OLD ART FROM 2022-2023] Which is still a cannon version of him but not the specific version of him that I'm submitting to this tournament. I got out of drawing puffballs and borbs in the fandom so if someone asks me to draw in the Kirby species format it may or may not look very good 👍 Coming to my last design of him that will be submitted into the ring to fight it out in brackets. His biker arc.

[ART FROM LATE 2023 TO PRESENT] This variation of Neko was made for an RP with a friend group I've been a part of since 2017 on the good ol Kirby Amino I know traumatized a whole lot of you that was on it during the prime and golden age of Amino. Therapy isn't cheap but I hope those affected can find comfort knowing the place has fallen into ruins, dusted with spider webs and rotting as the app burns from the inside. Anyways, this version of him grew up in an underground fight ring which was his home after living on the streets for his whole life, before it was discovered and the whole place scattered him and his friends across the region where the story takes place. I didn't write the story for this RP that was heavily inspired by TOTK, but that's the gist of his backstory. He's very laid back now that he'd older but was much cockier when in the fight ring. He very much mellowed out after his whole home got taken away. Learning to not treat everything like it was easily disposable in life. Neko is and has always been caring to his friends and family, doing his best to take care of them without letting his strong persona mask slip off. His ethnicity is Filipino. His current design across the board is based on my childhood cat named Jingles and his personality is based on another one of my cats that passed away last year at the age of 18. While some may thing this isn't important to mention I have to say those people are wrong as he really did shape Neko into the character that they are. So overall I hope to whomever read this far you enjoyed learning about Neko! Thanks for reading and good luck to the other bracket competitors, may the best OC win this :] Ciao~! Bonus: I don't have pictures of Jingles but I do of Spookie <3

#cat #kirby #kirby right back at ya #my art #oc #Kirby tournament #hoshi no kaabii #oc artwork #kirby ocs #gay biker #biker #oc art tag #childhood pets #kirby oc tournament

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hiveworks · 7 months

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Vampires, Witches, and Magic

Interview with Eric Lide and Angélica María

October 2023

Solstoria by Angélica María (aka: @charmwitch) and Ozzie the Vampire by Eric Lide (aka: @ericlide) are celebrating their 10th year anniversaries! We're diving into these absolute webcomic legends to learn more about their creative process in a joint interview with María and Lide.

Ozzie the Vampire is a webcomic about a vampire gal named Ozzie and her best friend Kimmy who find themselves protecting the town of Gloomburg, New Jersey, which seems to always find itself under the constant assault of demonic forces from the underworld. Sometimes they even learn something!

Solstoria is follows a girl named Samantha and her brother, Lawrence, who carries the weight of protecting his family on his shoulders. When he goes missing, Samantha embarks on an adventure to become a knight.

For a look behind the scenes at these two webcomic series, read on!

It's spooky season, and both of your comics have themes of the supernatural. What kinds of creepy or magical energy do you bring into your comic?

Eric Lide:

I think the demons in Ozzie the Vampire bring the creepy energy for sure. A lot of them have bizarre and impractical anatomy, and they’re pretty enthusiastic about eating people. Magic is a constant presence in the story as well, mostly through the spells Kimmy and Grimsley use to help Ozzie fight the bad guys.

Angélica María:

To start off, let's talk about the environments! There are certain areas and themes in Solstoria based around my love of Halloween! I'm not from the continental United States, so I've always loved the idea of a spooky air, or of pumpkins and ghosts. The Wayward Lands and Farmlands, two prominent areas spoken about in the story, are themed after the fall season in the United States. Besides that, witches carry a great importance in the story. They are magically gifted individuals of any gender, who purify the air and specialize in magics that are of help to the greater good of society. A witch is someone who can tame ghosts, calm uneven levels of magic in the city, and provide useful trinkets and charms for the everyday chore. They're just neat! Pointy hats are all the rage, too.

Which character in your comic would survive a horror movie?

EL:

Well Ozzie is more or less immortal, so she could probably sleepwalk her way through any horror movie scenario…

AM:

Oddly enough, I feel like Samantha and Oksana (eventually) have the calmest head on their shoulders. Most of the adults would probably be fine, Huxley would serve as a great merchant in between sanctuaries, but as for the rest… Actually, who's to say Solstoria isn't secretly horror…

A decade is a long time to be telling a story! Congratulations! How has your comic changed over the course of its publication?

EL:

When I first started out, I was just kind of drawing whatever and not thinking too much about the future. At that time, I was just trying to cram in as many fight scenes or gags as possible. Over the years though, I’ve come to love these characters and I think about them nonstop, so I’ve been writing more scenarios that challenge them on a personal level. There’s even a bit of romance coming up, which would’ve been unthinkable to me ten years ago.

AM:

Thank you so much! I burnt out for a few years, so you can definitely see my art style and narrative changing. I hope it's not... toooooooooo drastic of a change, but I always told myself to experiment on my pages and change things as I saw fit. If you re-read Solstoria, you will simply see my art evolve with no care of consistency. I apologize if this is glaring, but honestly- it's fun! One of the biggest changes now that I'm working on the story again is that we've swapped protagonists! Currently, we're seeing the story through Lawrence's eyes. Samantha's elder brother is possessed by a crow god, but he still thinks of his family first. Hopefully, they can figure something out together though!

What motivates you to keep going?

EL:

I’ve always been drawing comics since I was very young, so it’s hard to say. I think once a story is in me, it has to come out in some form, even if it takes forever or no one is interested in reading it. That said, comments– audience response of any kind, really– is always a huge boost for me.

Solstoria has an electric 2010s anime flavor. What kind of series inspire you? Do you have any manga or comic recs?

AM:

Oh, I appreciate the comparison, but I wish to counter it- Solstoria is heavily inspired by Japanese RolePlaying Games! Specifically, games created by Capcom, GameArts, Square-Enix, and a few others on top of that! I do have a few anime I quite enjoy, like Princess Tutu formulated my brain intensely. I highly recommend watching this show if you want to experience a masterpiece! If you just want a good time, I also quite like Slayers! As for video games, I have so many to recommend! I love Fire Emblem, Breath of Fire, Star Ocean, LUNAR, Lufia... and so much more! All of these games are close to my heart, but stylistically, I think the Disgaea series has a lot of visual influence on Solstoria.

Ozzie the Vampire has a cool punk flair that reminds me of webcomics I liked from the 2000s. Where do you draw inspiration from? Do you have any zine or webcomic recommendations?

EL:

Music was a big influence on Ozzie! There’s a lot of references to my favorite punk and metal records throughout the series, some obvious, others not so much. I always wanted the comic to look something like a scrappy punk zine. I don’t get to read many webcomics these days, but Boxcar City Rush has been a recent favorite.

What can fans of your series look forward to in the coming year?

EL:

More updates, hopefully. This year was a bit sparse due to working on my debut graphic novel, The Champion of Draeland, but I’ve been wrapping that up and eager to dive back into Ozzie. I have many other graphic novels on the way though, so balancing both worlds is going to be an interesting challenge.

AM:

I'm very ahead of schedule, so I hope I can keep the momentum going. We're learning quite a bit about Samantha's brother, Lawrence, but we will also learn soon about another character who is pivotal to both siblings. He's a quiet, gentle person who tries to take on things on his own, and it doesn't go his way. Also murder. There may be murder.

What is the best way for fans of your series to support you?

EL:

Leaving comments, reblogging and sharing updates, all that stuff really helps for sure! Fan art always brightens my day. I have a Patreon as well where I post early updates and behind-the-scenes material for only $2 a month. And of course, supporting my graphic novels once they release!

AM:

Honestly I really just love comments and tags on tumblr and twitter! If you wish to support me, you can always see early updates on Patreon! Thank you so much! But honestly, I just want to hear feedback from people and hear their thoughts and feelings about my work. It makes me so very happy.

Read Solstoria and Ozzie the Vampire for free and follow @charmwitch and @ericlide for updates!

#comic #webcomic #vampire #witches #hiveworks #solstoria #ozzie the vampire #blog #interview

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gamesception · 7 months

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Sception Reads Cass Cain #21

Ghost / Batgirl #1-4 Words: Mike Kennedy Pictures: Ryan Benjamin Additional Work: Randy Emberlin, Howard Shun

One impression I used to have that going back to look at ~all~ of Cass's early appearances has forced me to reconsider is the idea that she didn't appear outside of her own books very much. While later on that is more the case, early on she does have a fair few guest appearances and cross overs, including in this bit of non-canon dual publisher cross promotion with Elisa Cameron, aka Ghost, a Dark Horse character with a solo that had been running since 1995.

The miniseries pits long time Batman villain Harvey Dent against brand new Ghost antagonist Malcolm Greymater - a (fictional) confederate general turned zombie libertarian corpse reanimator - in a conflict over Greymater poaching some of Dent's employees (ie reanimating goons that Dent killed). Babs, Cass, and Elisa get caught in the middle and are forced to work together after following separate threads of a bombing by Two Face and bodies stolen by Greymater only to be sold off into unsavory employment after failed reanimation experiments.

I don't want to go through the whole thing with a plot summary - it's four issues of non-canon stuff after all. But as a stand alone story it works fairly well, worth a read if you're a fan of early Cass. In particular there's solid characterization of Harvey Dent and what it's like to work for him - pretty bad actually. You can see why he'd get upset at someone trying to poach his guys, working conditions for goons in Gotham are terrible, if word got around of better conditions in Arcadia (Ghost's hometown) or wherever else then Batman's villains could easily find themselves suffering a labor shortage. The mere idea of that is funny enough to me that I can't help but like this little mini series, and it's an idea I'd love to see brought back. Goons On Strike - now there's a solid idea for an ongoing Gotham event crossover.

Anyway, Ghost/Batgirl is definitely a higher fantasy story than we usually see from Cass, at least back in the early days, but there's a focus on the individual lives and humanity of the underlings working for the villains that's very grounded and down to earth. That fits in really well next to the "street level" focus of Cass's early solo title. As for the book's cross-promotional function, it does make me curious about Ghost, though probably not enough so to go back and look at her solo title. I like her villain here, but Malcolm Greymater and his crew seem to be more or less exclusive to this crossover? Comicvine is telling me he maybe appears in a single issue outside of this, so that's kind of disappointing.

So setting aside the story, how's our girl in this? Well, first of all, she's being drawn by new hands. In costume she's mostly fine.

Sleek and spooky, glossy black. The details of her form are sometimes lost in the darkness, which loses some specificity in the action panels, but in a way that mostly works aesthetically. My only real complaint here is that her facial expression doesn't really show through the mask. You don't get a sense of what she's thinking or feeling in costume, she's just this dark angry spooky form, not so much a person or a character. As I've said in the past, though, that's as much or more a criticism of her costume design as it is of how any particular artist draws her in it.

It's also worth noting that, as with Cass's early pairing with Azrael, her costume contrasts very nicely with Ghost's. White with round hood and billowing cape vs. Cass all black and pointy. Aesthetically it's a great fit.

Out of costume, though...

I don't know. Just doesn't quite look like Cass to me? I know, I know, comic character facial features don't have the same specific canon as their costumes do, different artists have different styles so characters will look different, and there's definitely a stylistic element here that isn't gelling with me. The overall shape of the head is too thin, maybe, making her look a bit older than she should, where I'm used to Scott's more rounded face, stronger jaw, bushier eyebrows, shorter, poofier hair.

Scott's style, at least at the time, also just packs in more emotional expression, which is absolutely critical for a silent protagonist.

By contrast Benjamin's Cass, when she's not in costume, is often just standing a bit behind Babs with a sort of blank, neutral expression while Babs interacts with other characters or the audience for her.

...

Which also kind of brings us to the writing for Cass here. Ghost / Batgirl is probably the best example yet that silent Cass was a mistake, because yeah, the creators of this book just do not know how to convey her character to the reader without words. The first image starts with Cass looking out over the wreckage of a bombing, and of course there's pseudo noir internal monologue all over it, because how else do you start a bat-book, only Cass can't narrate so Babs provides the narration even though she isn't even in that scene.

Babs goes along on the adventure mostly so the writers have someone who can talk for Cass, or even in some panels quite literally talk over Cass.

Cass is an intimidating physical presence in costume, but in this book she functions more as an extension of Babs than as a person in her own right.

...

It's not all bad, though. In particular there's this one bit introducing an additional ability for Cass that makes perfect sense with her backstory and yet sadly I don't think is ever mentioned again in a canon Batgirl story:

Cass gets poisoned, but she survives, and recovers remarkably quickly, because she has a natural resistance to many poisons and venoms built up from repeat exposure to tiny amounts when she was a child, because of course that's something David would do. You could just imagine little Cass and David having drinking contests to see who could take the most poison before passing out, or even sneakily poisoning each other as a little game of escalating pranks.

...

So yeah, overall a nice little stand alone series with maybe not the best depiction of Cass, but one that is illustrative of why the major change to have her start speaking, while I still don't like how it was done, was probably for the best.

#cassandra cain #batgirl #elisa cameron #ghost #sception reads cassandra cain

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lxm-memories · 2 years

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safe w/ shu yamino

✧ shu yamino x gn!reader

✧ content: hurt & comfort, spooky sorcery talk, me revealing how down bad i truly am for shu yamino and his hands. my own headcanons on how sorcery and curses work.

✧ word count: 1.5k

✧ synopsis: "say all you want about your hands being used to curse people, but in all the years i've known and come to love you - these hands have done nothing, but protect and love me. would you still call this feeling of safety a curse then, shu?"

✧ rule of thumb: please read my works as fiction related to the streamers, they are in no way real or connected to what the actual streamer is as a person - i write for the personas of luxiem, not for the person behind them.

✧ a/n: me having the chance to make shu's sorcery and curse abilities simple like it's probably intended be but instead chooses to make it more complicated because for some reason my brain doesn't want to make simple things simple. noice. i had a vision for this - but then i forgot what that vision was ://

There are nights where everything is peaceful - in order. During those nights it almost feels like there's nothing wrong, nothing to worry about - nothing to fear. During those nights, Shu becomes overly affectionate and touch starved - a stark contrast to his usual easygoing behaviour where he allows you to do whatever you want, but never initiate anything himself.

It's one of the few nights where Shu isn't smiling with guilt for waking you up, and you usually wake up with half his body hovering over yours, both hands tangled with his own while he peppers quick kisses over your face. And when you giggle, signaling that you're awake, he only pulls away just enough so he can rest his forehead on your own. "Hi," he whispers, and you lean up to give him a quick kiss on his lips in return while you untangle your left hand from his own - he usually never lets you detangle your right hand away though, gripping it tightly during these nights.

You don't mind it, even when it starts to hurt a tiny bit, using your left hand to caress his face, thumb stroking under his eyes which causes Shu to smile - not the easygoing smile he always shows the world, but one filled with so much softness and love - you almost fear it could shatter at any moment.

Then there are the nights you've gotten used to.

The nights where the sorcerer feels like everything is too much. The world, his abilities, his past, his predicament - and how scary those aspects of him truly is. Even though he got thrown into the future at quite a young age and adapted really quick, there was still a part of him tucked away at the deepest corner of his brain that whispers to him.

"Your loved ones will surely suffer because of you."

And it's during those nights, when that tiny voice becomes too much for Shu that you find him like this, tucked away at a corner of your bedroom - far enough from you, but still close enough so that he can see that you're still there with him.

"Shu," you whisper, bending down to see if he's willing to look at you and yet the sorcerer before you flinches like you've burnt him, face still downcast and covered by hands.

He's wearing his gloves again.

"Why do you wear your gloves all the time, Shu?" you ask, "Isn't it awfully hot with the sun blazing down on us right now?" tilting your head to the side, you reach out towards his hand - not intending to take it off, but rather feel how warm his hands have gotten.

But your lover quickly hides his hands away from you, a sheepish smile grazing his lips, "It's... become a habit," he starts, glancing over at you to discern your expression, but choosing to look away when he starts to explain, "You know that most of my sorcery deals with curses, right? And the hands play a vital part in that - everything from drawing out the sigils, to manipulating the energy and even cursed objects," Shu mutters - "I didn't used to wear gloves when dealing with curses, because the after effects of curses shows itself in either the form of tempering with your mind or physical abnormalities in extreme cases, although that in itself is pretty rare," he adds on, turning to you to entertwine his fingers with your own, his usual smile looking a bit more somber than you would've liked, "But given how much these hands have brought misfortune to people, from my own timeline and to the one I am in now. I just feel like it's safer for you to see these pure white gloves instead of the hands of a cursed sorcerer."

"Shu," you try to call out once again, crawling a bit closer to your lovers hunched form and Shu just shakes his head, trying to curl up further within himself, "N-No, please don't come closer," he whispers, breath heavy: "I- I don't want to hurt you, the magic feels off again, I don't know what will happen if you touch me - just please."

Your heart stings a little, because you know that as much as Shu believes that you would get hurt from being too close to him right now, you also know nothing will happen. Because it's all in his mind - every thought and scenario painted in his head is all just a result from his own magic feeding into his negative emotions.

"... Shu, did you have a nightmare?" you ask in a whisper, inching a bit closer to the sorcerer.

He doesn't answer you, but that's all the clarification that you need.

So you crawl further towards him, but Shu is too aware of your presence that the moment he senses that you're nearing him he gets ready to bolt up from his corner. But before he can you're already in front of him wedged between his legs and hands cupping his cheeks, your thumb stroking the few tears that had gathered at the edge of his widened lilac hues.

"See?" you say with a smile, "Nothing happened when I touched you, and I'm also perfectly fine."

Shu hates the fact that as much as he hoped you would stay away and let him stay inside his own bubble of fear, he can feel himself relaxing with having you so close to him.

Without saying another word you lean in to press your lips against his, sliding your hands to his shoulder while making yourself comfortable on his lap. And it's at this point you slowly feel Shu relax, leaning in towards you.

But his hands never take place on your waist - a habit you are fully aware that the sorcerer does whenever you sit on his lap. Sighing into his mouth you move your hand from his shoulder to grab at his wrist, but before you can inch them towards you waist Shu abruptly pulls away, both from your touch and from your lips, "No-"

"You're not going to hurt me," you reassure, but Shu only shakes his head - a dry laugh escaping his lips, "We can't know that, I told you that it can go against me at any-"

"The first time you showed me how your abilities work was for when Luca asked for help tracking down a deserter from his group who had wrecked havoc on a neighbourhood to taint his name," you mutter, leaning away from Shu to sit before him and opting to insteead take a hold of one of his hands with both of yours "You found the deserter within 10 minutes with the information Luca took a week to prepare."

"The second time was when a group of people kept giving the street we live in a hard time - either by being loud, scaring the other elderly people here or just being a general nuisance," you start, slowly peeling off his white glove, peeking over at Shu to see him stare at you with a twisted expression but the fact that he doesn't yank his hands away says enough, "You didn't involve yourself until the day they started to become a nuisance to me," you say, the distant sound of the glove hitting the ground making Shu flinch, but you only caress his palm with a smile.

It's spotless, not a blemish or a scar on his hand, neither are his hands discolored from the amount of flames that surround it whenever Shu taps into it - It's normal.

"Power is neutral Shu," you utter, guiding his hands to cup your own cheeks, smiling reassuringly to your lover while leaning your cheek into his right trembling right hand, "It's the handler that decides whether or not to use that neutral power for evil or good," you say, once again leaning closer to Shu and wrapping your arms around his neck before continuing your words in a whisper. "Say all you want about your hands being used to curse people, but in all the years i've known and come to love you - these hands have done nothing, but protect and love me. would you still call this feeling of safety a curse then, Shu?"

The only answer you can hear from him is his breath hitching, to which your response is to nuzzle into his neck.

You don't know how many minutes pass, but eventually you feel his arms wrap around you tightly and his own face burying into your own neck while his whole body begins to shake because of his quiet sobs.

"I love you, " he chokes out, continuing to chant those 3 words repeatedly, his grip on your waist tightening with every passing word.

"I know," you remark with a chuckle, "I love you too, Shu."

And maybe it's because you've finally uprooted his inner fears and demons - but as Shu listened in on your steady breathing and feeling the warmth emanating from your body - he too, began to finally feel safe.

#luxiem #nijisanji #nijisanji en #nijisanji x reader #luxiem x reader #luxiem imagines #shu yamino #shu yamino x reader #HAHAAA I SWEAR I HAD SOMETHING GOING ON WITH THIS I DON'T KNOW WHAT HAPPENED MIDWAY THROUGH #BUT OH WELL HAVE THIS SOFT AND HURT SORCERER JUST WANTING HUGS AND PETS

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silverskye13 · 2 years

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Tango’s build plans this season made me instantly think of your Hels for him, and I got to wondering what that conversation between the two mighta looked like 🤔

((love the writing, it’s SO good i think about it so much

"Hey! Psst! Tanguish! Over here!"

"My name's not Tanguish."

"Well I can't just go calling you Tango, now can I? That's my name."

Tango -- or rather, Tanguish -- rolls his eyes and walks a little faster down the cracked hels street. He dips his head as he passes Hel's Kitchen. The bar is buzzing with activity, literally. Evil Beezuma is in there picking a fight with someone he doesn't recognize. They're probably from a world that isn't Hermitcraft. Tanguish only knows things about Hermitcraft. And a couple hazy memories of Third Life, stolen from Tango.

"Why Tanguish? It sounds like I'm in pain."

"It needed to be edgy!" Tango yells. Or Tanguish thinks he yells. It's hard to tell. His voice always sounds loud. It sort of scares him. "That's your guys' thing, right? You know, spooky hels dimension, dark mirrors, shadow beings, blegh?"

Tanguish stuffs his hands in his pockets and steels a glance down a nearby alleyway. Someone is cornering someone else down there, but they're busy. Good. He doesn't want to draw attention to himself.

"Listen, can we talk some other time?" Tanguish hisses under his breath, and the air around him plumes with frost on the exhale. He ducks down a side street and lighting-fast lifts something from a cart as he passes. He can smell it's food, but he's moving too quick to tell what it is. It frosts a bit at his touch, whatever it is. "I'm kind of in the middle of something."

Tanguish glances down at a puddle of oily liquid pooling in between some cracked cobblestones. Tango, his hermit, glances back at him, grinning. "You're stealing again, aren't you buddy?"

"Keep your voice down."

"I'm pretty sure you're the only one that can hear me, dude."

Tanguish glances around. People are staring, but its the kind of staring they shoot crazy people who are muttering and hissing to themselves. Tango is probably right. Of course he's right. He's a hermit. The hermits always know what they're doing. (The hermits never know what they're doing, but this isn't something Tanguish knows. Sometimes he wonders about it, but he hasn't quite figured it out yet.)

Tanguish stumbles into someone, purposefully. He apologizes. He takes their wallet. He walks faster.

Tango whistles, "Wow that was smooth."

"Shut up."

"So anyway, what do you know about Wardens?"

"You really don't know when you're not wanted, do you?"

"Oh no! I know," Tango laughs, and Tanguish rolls his eyes again. "But I've got no one else to bounce ideas off of, and making you look like a crazy person is kind of fun for me."

"I'm not crazy."

"Neither am I."

Tanguish opens his mouth. He closes it again. He thinks this probably makes him look crazier.

"So, Wardens," Tango prompts him, his image appearing as a vague shadow in a window. "We're getting them soon. Do you know about them? They seem hels-y."

"They are hels-y," Tanguish finds himself saying. "They live in the ceiling, up by the bedrock."

"Really? They're super deep underground here."

That makes sense. Which means it probably doesn't. That's how hels work, right? The opposite thing? So if Tanguish thinks that makes sense, it probably shouldn't work like that. He thinks. He's not sure. He's... not sure about most things. That's Tango's job. Tango is looking up at him from another puddle of questionable liquid in the road. Tanguish steps through it, uses it as an excuse to slip into the side of another stall and pocket something. His hands are shaking. He can't believe he hasn't been caught yet. Someone down the street is yelling. Maybe he has. He doesn't get away with stealing wallets very often. He walks faster.

"I'm making Decked Out again," Tango informs him from the glint off someone's watch. Tanguish thinks wearing metal in hels is a terrible idea, given it's so hot here. But then again, he is made of ice and skulk. He would think it's hot here. Maybe this is normal for other people? That makes sense (it doesn't). "You helped me with Decked Out the first time! Remember all the level designs? You liked that."

Tanguish can't remember if he liked that. Mostly working with Tango makes him feel nervous and vaguely uncomfortable, like his skin itches. He thinks, maybe, it's because Tango is made of fire and redstone. It makes sense that he'd find those things irritating, right? (This does, actually, make sense).

"What's the plans for Decked Out II?" Tanguish asks him, dipping down a side street. The yelling is getting closer - he's definitely been caught. He starts running.

"Well I really liked the Clank stuff. And of course, there's going to be Ravagers. But I want to add Wardens. Wardens will be super cool as a final boss level. And all the sneaking and quiet stuff?"

Tanguish is good at sneaking, and being quiet, and he'd suggested the Clank. It has nothing to do with how successful (or not successful) he is at stealing things, or his ability to measure everyone else's tolerance to him stealing things. Nothing to do with it. Definitely. He vaults over a wall, scrambles onto a roof, and keeps running. There are no reflections nearby, except for the little patches of ice that spread out where Tanguish steps, and they go by too fast for him to make eye-contact with his double. This, he thinks, is a very impolite way to hold a conversation.

"But what I really think you'd be interested in, is I want it to be ice themed!"

"Ice themed?"

"Yeah, everything's scarier when it's cold."

Tanguish would argue everything is scarier when it's surrounded by lava. He leaps from one rooftop to another, and watches a river of the stuff glow ominously beneath him. Who the heck lives in a house so close to a lava flow? The rent must be cheap on this side of town.

"You've got an ice house, right? Ice... cell? Wels says you all live in cells."

"I don't have a cell. No one I know has a cell." This is a lie. Helsknight has a cell, and while he and Helsknight aren't exactly friends, he's at least not on Helsknight's kill-on-sight list. He hears its a long list. He doesn't want to be on that list.

"But you've got a house?"

Tango -- Tanguish, that's what he's been named, apparently -- slides to a stop on some deepslate shingles. Ice simmers and melts around his feet. He should invest in a new pair of shoes sometime. Sure they're uncomfortable around his claws, but it'd be harder to track him when he's running.

"I don't think I have a house? And if it did, I don't think it'd be ice themed."

"Would you like to build an ice-themed something-majigger?"

It takes Tanguish a long time to register what he's just been asked, "You mean like, with you?"

He looks down at the deepslate tiles, which offer a dim reflection, more shadow than anything, for him to stare at. He can still make out Tango's eyes, glinting like sparks. "Unless there's some other crazy dungeon-building mirror-self you know of who needs help building an ice cave for his death game."

None of that sounds reassuring.

"You can steal stuff," Tango offers, trying to sweeten the deal.

"What stuff?"

"Like, all the stuff? From everyone? We can use them as prizes for hidden chests and things in Decked Out. You could even test some of the levels. See how far you get."

Tanguish feels weirdly like he's making a deal with the devil. Isn't he supposed to be the devil? That feels like a thing he's supposed to be. He thinks he's not that great at being a hels. He could be a competent builder, maybe. He could be a more than competent play-tester, probably.

"Yeah, okay," Tanguish says. He takes the food out of his pocket - it's a muffin, thoroughly frosted over. It's melting again in the heat. He takes a bite anyway. "Yeah, I'll help you build your ice-ama-bob."

"Awesome! This is great!" A pair of hands leap out of the deepslate reflection and grab him. "Lets get started!"

Tanguish lets out a screech and disappears. His muffin bounces off the deepslate tiles and drops like a stone into the street below.

#the barking writer #Tangotek #Hels!Tango #Tanguish #answering asks #anonymous #sorry this hit me like a rock and I needed to write it #also if Welsknight is allowed to call his evil double Helsknight #Tango is allowed to pick an edgy name like Tanguish #So says me -- the person with helsmit brainrot #long post

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