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dragonpropaganda · 2 months

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The Architecture of Rain World: Layers of History

A major theme in Rain World's world design that often goes overlooked is the theme of, as James Primate, the level designer, composer and writer calls it, "Layers of History." This is about how the places in the game feel lived-in, and as though they have been built over each other. Here's what he said on the matter as far back as 2014!

The best example of this is Subterranean, the final area of the base game and a climax of the theme. Subterranean is pretty cleanly slpit vertically, there's the modern subway built over the ancient ruins, which are themselves built over the primordial ruins of the depths. Piercing through these layers is Filtration System, a high tech intrusion that cuts through the ground and visibly drills through the ceiling of the depths.

Two Sprouts, Twelve Brackets, the friendly local ghost, tells the player of the "bones of forgotten civilisations, heaped like so many sticks," highlighting this theme of layering as one of the first impressions the player gets of Subterranean. Barely minutes later, the player enters the room SB_H02, where the modern train lines crumble away into a cavern filled with older ruins, which themselves are invaded by the head machines seen prior in outskirts and farm arrays, some of which appear to have been installed destructively into the ruins, some breaking through floors.

These layers flow into each other, highlighting each other's decrepit state.

The filtration system, most likely the latest "layer," is always set apart from the spaces around it. At its top, the train tunnels give way to a vast chasm, where filtration system stands as a tower over the trains, while at the bottom in depths, it penetrates the ceiling of the temple, a destructive presence. (it's also a parallel to the way the leg does something similar in memory crypts, subterranean is full of callbacks like that!)

Filtration system is an interesting kind of transition, in that it is much later and more advanced than both of the areas it cuts between. This is a really interesting choice from James! It would be more "natural" to transition smoothly from the caves of upper subterranean to the depths, but by putting filtration system in between, the two are clearly demarcated as separate. The difference in era becomes palpable, the player has truly found something different and strange.

Depths itself is, obviously, the oldest layer not only of subterranean but of the game itself. The architecture of Depths has little to do with the rest of the game around it, it's a clear sign of the forgotten civilisations that our friend Two Sprouts, Twelve Brackets showed us, there's not actually that much to say about it itself, it's mostly about how it interacts with the other layers of subterranean.

That said, Subterranean is far from the only case of the theme of layers of history. It's present as soon as the player starts the game!

The very first room of the game, SU_C04, is seemingly a cave. It is below the surface, the shapes of it are distinctly amorphous rather than geometric. (well. kind of, it doesn't do a very good job of hiding the tile grid with its 45 degree angles.)

But let's take a closer look, shall we?

See that ground? it's made of bricks. The entire cave area of outskirts is characterised by this, the "chaotic stone" masonry asset is mixed with brickwork, unlike the surface ruins which are mostly stone. This, seemingly, is an inversion of common sense! The caves are bricks and the buildings are stone. This is not, however, a strange and unique aspect but a recurring motif.

This occurs enough in the game for it to be clearly intentional, but why would materials such as bricks be used in otherwise natural looking terrain?

The answer lies in the "Layers of History" theme. This is in fact, something that happens in real life, and it's called a tell

To be specific, a tell is a kind of mound formed by settlements building over the ruins of previous iterations of themselves. Centuries of rubble and detritus form until a hill grows from the city. Cities such as Troy and Jericho are famous examples. The connections to the layers of history theme are pretty clear here, I think. Cities growing, then dying, then becoming the bedrock of the next city. The ground, then, is made of bricks, because the ground is the rubble of past buildings. The bones of forgotten civilisations, heaped like so many sticks!

#rain world #rainworld #rain world lore #rainworld lore #rw lore #rw #subterranean my beloved #thank you to videocult for making the first survival game themed around stratigraphy and new york city rats #i would've gone on for another paragraph about how OE relates to this but like.#that's dlc stuff #and i still think of the dlc stuff as modded content lol #better to keep it separate #also this analysis is not comprehensive! the layers of history stuff is common throughout #there's farm arrays there's the relationship between shaded citadel and five pebbles there's the stuff buried under garbage wastes #so much more #unfortunately i do not have much energy lol

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cryptidclaw · 7 months

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Star Ravenscourge!

Apprentice version v

Design Notes:

New Raven designnnn

I have completely changed his build, he is no longer tall and lanky, he is simply dinky <3 Im obssessed with this design, one of the faves I have done yet!

Character Bio:

fun fact: he looks a lot like his outsider sire, which makes him stand out a lot bec of how small and not average Thunder looking he is.

Alsoo I'm adding the leader crowns i designed!!

Star Ravenscourge

(Ravenpaw)

Gay; demi-boy; he/him

Age as of 1st arc's end: 2 cycles, 6 moons; ~26 Hyrs

Title meaning: -scourge = a terrifying and powerful cat, a cat who is a "scourge" upon their enemies. This tile is unique to Raven, as he earned it from the tales that began to spread about him once he became leader of Blood Order.

First Leader of Blood Order; he alongside several city cats founded Blood Order, and Raven was appointed their leader, much to his honor and surprise.

Seconds: Bonehunter (appointed before they followed succession laws) -> (Star) Paintdapple (mentored by Raven)

Mentor: Star Tigerclaw -> Bonehunter (unofficial mentor)

Mother: Dappledew

Siblings: Dustpelt

Half Siblings: Downnose; Cricketstep

Mate: Barleycloud

Kits (donor: Violetdream): Cowstep, Lambcry, Ryewhisper

Other notable kin: Thrushcloud (uncle); Shriketail (nephew); Cloudtail (adoptive nephew); Snowshoe (nephew); Mistletoe (niece); Spiderleg (nephew); Shrew (nephew)

Bonus facts: He came up with the idea of reinforcing his claws with sharpened dogs teeth, bec of Tigerclaw's extra big claws. Tiger always told Raven he was extra weak because his claws were rather small, so raven thought, maybe he could find a new, better way to protect himself, and make his claws even stronger than Tigerclaw's ever were. They were in fact stronger than Tiger bec they disemboweled him.

Character Summary:

In Progress (to be added later)

...

[Image 1 ID: a digital drawing of Ravenscourge an au version of Ravenpaw from Warrior Cats. He is standing with his right side showing, his right paw raised with claws (reinforced with dog's teeth) unsheathed. He has a proud and determined expression on his face. He is a small, slender, black tom with a white tail tip, above his nose and on his chin, two spots on his cheek, and a white sock on his right leg. He is mostly short furred with longer cheek and tail fur, as well as a tuft on longer fur on his chest and on his head, acting as bangs. He has extremely large ears and purple eyes, he wears a crown on his forehead with a teardrop shaped bloodstone and a smaller teardrop shaped moonstone hanging below it. He also has a tooth pieced through one ear and wears a purple dog's collar adorned with sharp teeth and claws. he has claw scars running along his shoulder and flank as well as a scar over his right eye and on his left upper lip./End ID]

[Image 2 ID: a digital drawing of Raven (apprentice Ravenscourge) an au version of Ravenpaw from Warrior Cats. This image is the same as the previous one, but Raven has no scars, wears no collar, teeth, or crown and has wide scarred eyes and a general fearful expression on his face./End ID]

#cryptidclaw's warriors au #rise of change #ravenpaw #ravencourge #scourge #ravenpaw design #scourge design #scourge au #ravenpaw au #warrior cats #warriors #warrior cats design

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dognonsense · 2 months

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Question...how do you make your patches? They seem so fuckin cool. I'm working on a vest and a jacket atm, and I'd like for them to be done by the time a pride fest rolls around next month.

Main technique I use for making patches nowadays is linocut. Its best suited for mass production of patches.

Make sure to remember your carving the mirror image so you have to flip all the text. Using tracing paper to flip the design is a good trick, as well as leaving graphite marks on side, then pressing that to the lino to leave the marks in the same spot. Another trick with pencil is to view what ur carving in negative space quickly, put a paper over your design and shade over it with pencil, darker marks will be where you haven't carved yet.

I use speedball fabric ink, it takes 1 week to set then will be fine to be washed. I have magenta, violet, turqouise, and white. They have a limited range of fabric colors at the store. I have seen gold and silver fabric paint for sale and I will investigate it one day.

I use a speedball roller, i find the smaller one to be better than the big one as I can be more precise and waste less ink.

I got a fancy handle for $40 but the screws fallen out so its broken now so just get some heavy books. I used to use a mug. Whats important is pushing your whole body weight into it.

I got a speedball carving tool with different heads I can swap out so I can cut into the lino at different deepness and widths. The heads are stored inside the tool since its hollow and has a screwable removable bottom. I use linocut or dollar store erasers for my carvings. Make sure to wash the ink off your linocuts after your done using them.

A thing to increase the lifespan of you're linocuts is to use wood glue, some cork or wood pieces, and glued the lino stamps onto them. I dont do that yet so my stamps fall appart from overuse sometime and because I cut way too deep into the lino since I hate chatter.

Chatter is the term for in linocutting when theres little messy lines and stuff. It makes the art more recognisably to be linocut. My work is very clean with no chatter which is why people don't notice its linocut usually. This is a stylistic choice, with diy styles having a lot of chatter can look really cool so experiment with leaving bits of extra uncarvered lino sticking out in ur stamp. I need to experiment and buy some more lino.

You can also use multiple linocut stamps together to make a patch. Some patches ive made have like 8 different stamps. Ive made a dog nonsense patch where each letter was their own eraser stamp. You can also use different colors between the different lino stamps on the same patch to add more color. An effect I like to do is first stamp it in color, then the next day I stamp it in white over the same spot but shifted to the right and down slightly. It makes the text have a cool border 3D effect I love doing.

If making a more detailed picture with colors, i reccomend hand painting patches. I use white fabric paint mixed with acrylics for color to get all the shades i need. Acrylic paint mixed with fabric softener works too.

If doing words and you dont want a unique font reccomend using letter stamps. If you want a unique font for that i recommend hand paint for individual or linocut for mass produce.

The positive of letter stamps is the font is neat and can be done quickly. I know from lending them to my roommate that they are very helpful if you have dyslexia and have trouble getting letters right.

A visual effect of the letter stamps is that have a nice boxy edge effect, its an imperfection that adds a personally touch to it. I have both lower and upper case stamps that I got from michaels. You can use a hair band or elastic to hold a bunch of letter stamps together to make a word stamp.

You can use other stamps than letters that you find at craft stores for example my racoon print is a craftstore stamp.

You can also find big plastic letter stencils at the dollar store that you can use to do lettering by filling in gaps with a sponge or or paintbrush. They make special paintbrushes just for using stencils.

You can also get plastic stencils in the shapes of things, i got some for children and use a horse stencil for my horse smoking weed patch. Easier than drawing a horse myself.

Another technique I use for more unique clean patches is gel plating. I haven't tried printing laserprint images with it as ive seen online a lot but I will try one day. What i personally do is use it to make imprints with chains and physical objects.

Another thing i use with gelplates are any stamps or linocuts that dont have words, or words ones that i fucked up with and forgot to mirror when carving. It flips mirror image twice with the gel plate so it goes back to being right again on the patch.

Another patch making technique is using foamboard cut into shapes glued onto cardboard. This is good for a quick test of a design and is very cheap to make. It will not hold under water so is more difficult to clean.

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thelivingwild · 1 month

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The Living Wild - Female Meditation Practice

This is a practice designed to bring awareness, sensation, and pleasure to your entire being.

Environment:

Firstly, choose a quiet and comfortable place to relax without interruptions.

Candlelight or a red light to softly illuminate your body.

Position yourself so you are lying down or in any comfortable position.

Let us take a few centering breaths to relax your body and mind.

Inhale deeply through your nose, hold for a beat, and then exhale slowly through your lips.

It is good that your lips are relaxed and that you feel soft, loose, and careless.

Let's begin by focusing on the soles of your feet.

Notice any sensations like warmth, coolness, pressure, or tingling.

Now, three breaths:

One…Breathe deeply through your nose, hold for a beat, and out through your relaxed lips.

Two…Breathe deeply through your nose, hold for a beat, and out through your relaxed lips.

Three…Breathe deeply through your nose, hold for a beat, and out through your relaxed lips.

Gradually shift your focus to form your feet and move to your ankles and lower legs; feel them sink into the ground, supporting them. Sense any tension. Once found, release it and keep moving slowly north.

Feel your knees, and let all the muscles around them relax totally.

Be aware of any sensations this crates:

Now, three breaths once again:

One…Breathe deeply through your nose, hold for a beat, and out through your relaxed lips.

Two…Breathe deeply.

Three…Breathe deeply.

Move your awareness to your upper legs and thighs.

Feel the muscles surrounding them. From the backs of the legs and hamstrings, release to the tops of the thighs. Breathe into this area. Be aware of the sensations as you relax everything in your upper legs and thighs. Let your thighs sink to the ground that is supporting them.

Slowly and gently move that awareness to the inner thighs; breathe into this area.

Notice how this area relaxes your breath.

Breathe into your right inner thigh.

Then, breathe into your left inner thigh.

Be aware of any sensations and release any expectations and judgment.

Completely let go.

Completely let go

Now move that awareness from your inner thigh up a little further to your outer labia.

Take that awareness and sense how close your lips are?

The warmth and connection between them.

Breathe deeply and notice any sensations here.

Notice the warm sensations of your vagina's lips beginning to slowly emerge.

Take your awareness now to your clitoris; sense how it feels right now, how it's resting on your pubic bone. Imagine how the nerve endings of your clitoris extend down on the sides of your labia to the opening.

Breathe deeply and notice how this area responds to the air caressing it.

Now, we will move the awareness to your stomach. Release all the tension there. Feel your belly rise and fall naturally with each breath, sending the energy from your breath throughout your body.

Breathe deeply in through your nose and out through your relaxed lips.

Move now to your chest.

Sense the fullness of your breasts and how they are resting on your chest.

Bring your breath to each breast and feel the air of the room caress them as you breathe in and out, as they rise up and down. Feel the air gently caressing your nipples; pay close attention to that subtle sensation.

You may feel a building of pleasurable, uniquely feminine energy. As you do, breathe into that energy and imagine sending it throughout your body.

Bring the awareness now through your upper chest into your neck and shoulders. Notice any tension and breathe deeply.

Let the sensations tingle down your arms through your fingertips; feel the tips of your fingers, starting with your right and then your left. Let your hands and arms sink into the ground they are resting on.

Breathe deeply through your nose and out through your very, very, very relaxed lips.

Bring your awareness up through your neck and into your lips. Maybe wet your lips gently while keeping them extraordinarily relaxed and supple.

Bring your awareness from your wet, glistening lips all the way up your neck to behind your ears.

Pause here and breathe deeply.

Now, to your mind, I want you to breathe three times, and each time you breathe, I want to relax the front of your mind, the middle of your mind, and now the back of your mind.

As I count down from three to one, I want you to relax your entire mind more and more and more deeply.

Three…….

Two…….

One……

Now take one more deep breath, and with it, I want you to imagine energy being sent from your relaxed mind down the back of your neck down through your spinal column, considering each of your 33 vertebrae.

Now, at the bottom of your spine or your tailbone. I want you to imagine a ball of beautiful and powerful white light. This white light represents your power as a woman and your ability to feel pleasure. It's warm and glowing. I want you to move that light to form your lower spine to the top of your pubic bone.

Let's sit there for one breath.

Imagine if you will that warm light energy slowly dissolving over the spaces of your vagina.

Breathe and notice all the sensations emerging.

As these sensations arise, relax and breathe through your loose lips.

Let us now connect the relaxed nature of your lips in your breath with the relaxed nature of the lips guarding your opening.

You can now move your left hand to your mouth. With the pads on your fingertips, feel your lips. Lightly massage them.

Then I want you to take your right hand gently and do the same to the lips of your vagina, breathe there for one deep breath, feel the sensations of your labia lips connecting to your clitoris and then move up and massage your clitoris.

Notice the connection between being formed and the energy flowing from your vagina to your mouth.

Breathe deeply now and let your hands roam with a toy or partner…wherever you need.

Lastly, as you explore your pleasure, breathe deeply with a natural cadence. Do not quicken in the pace as you near orgasm. As you near orgasm, continue this rhythm and tempo of breathing, move the awareness of your pleasure through your entire body, and imagine that white light as energy moving through every cell in your body.

You may experience multiple waves of pleasure, some more intense than others.

When you finish, embrace yourself warmly and honor your practice.

Namaste

#meditation

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ramshackledtrickster · 3 months

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How can you describe the facial features/structure of Connor ? ( I tried to draw him but I don’t know how to match his facial structure) tysm if you answer me

Hi!! I’m super super super sorry for the late reply on this one <:,)) but here’s my best approximation on answering this

With my art style leaning a bit more animated/cartoon ish, I wanna thank @thou-babbling-brook for extra input and advice since she’s more familiar with a realistic style— but no matter the style, there’s a few key points you can use to ensure he maintains his canon look!

Essentially, the key features you wanna look out for are the shape of the face, and making landmarks of the features on the face. Everyone has kinda unique facial proportions, so nailing that can get you pretty far ahead in terms of likeness.

Key features to look out for include (but aren’t limited to): jawline, eyes, cheeks, nose, and lips.

Details to keep in mind to make Ratonhnhaké:ton resemble his game design would include the pronounced Philtrum (space between the upper lip and bottom of the nose), sloped upper eyelid and the way the lines of his eyes extend out, ‘coffin’ face shape, large nose with a wide base, Cupid’s bow lips, strong brows and strong high cheekbones.

Other extra details are his crows feet by the corner of his eyes (not always pictured), cheek scar, the lil chin thing, and freckles !!

And here’s a big ol slab of pictures of his face to hopefully help since looking at reference first hand is probably more reliable than just my word lmao

Hope this helps!

#assassins creed #assassins creed 3 #ratonhnhaké:ton #connor kenway

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attyattlaw · 4 months

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cross posting yesterday's rambling thread for posterity and because tumblr lets me edit things. anyway this is a sorta long thing and i might add things i forgot to mention in the twt thread

i tend to draw on-model canon because im a coward + just personal preferences. but the way i convert the canon designs into my artstyle is that i take the distinct features oda gives them and then combine it with personal headcanons to complete what should look like a unique human. Starting with Trafalgar Law, who is unfortunately a bland-ass conventionally pretty boy

someone commented a while ago the law hat drawing tutorial i made a while ago didn't make much sense and i realize its bc of the specific way i draw law's face: heart shaped (ba-dum-tss). That meaning, a narrow chin widening into a mild defined jaw, wide cheekbones, and up to his know-it-all brain dome.

given that, the pudgy guitar pick shape of his head i mentioned here should make a lot more sense.

i don't think this design point is unique to me, as most conventional pretty anime boy gets given jaws like this. a lot of law artists tend to veer into this head shape. just how life be sometimes. other points: flat, thick eyebrows is bc im a hairy gal and i need to feel better about myself.

Killer gets to be more interesting, because he shouldn't be considered conventionally attractive. my idea behind killer's is that those individual features is smth he would be insecure with enough to hide himself in a helmet but i draw him with all the love in the world actually. i'd like to think its how kid sees him or yknow, law, bc he's my kin assigned blorbo and maybe you ship lawkill as a guilty pleasure too i mentioned before (and ruined people's days) when i said whenever i draw killer he looks like griffith before i put on his goatee. the upper half of his face is distinctly feminine, with the lower half kinda over compensating. other than that uhh...idk. stan killer

Kidd is the bane of my existence, i feel like i can never draw his face consistently. yet at the same time he's so damn fun to draw everyone gotta try it.

my problem with kidd is that this mf does have eyelids. most kidd painters out there interpret this as him having deep set eyes (think Matt Smith or jeffrey star) . and yeh skill issue on me i should practice that. other notes, i try to make him younger than canon makes him look. he is my babygirl and he deserves to look cuddly. my band au kidd version has the honor of being allowed some chubs. he's just tries to look older and more menacing with edgy makeup. also i try to give him dimples when i can because, well i can.

Rosinante last bc i lost steam after kidd. the thing abt cora is that aside from not having eyebrows, everything is structured with the generic one piece man template. which means i gotta do everything myself doffy is there bc the way to figure out how to draw these two is to give them minor differences from each other, that being doffy gets slightly sharper features. in canon, these two are also rly wide boys (more of an oda style feat tbh) but i make them long. though bigger brained donquixote artists know that of these two brothers, doffy should be the wiry-er built. anyway that's it. in conclusion, i need to draw more girls actually i feel like im becoming misogynistic by osmosis from oda's style and now i draw girls all looking the same too.

#one piece #trafalgar law #eustass kid #eustass kidd #op killer #massacre soldier killer #donquixote rosinante #donquixote corazon #donquixote doflamingo #was gonna do robin and perona too at least but like...i have a job and stuff

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blue-and-gilt · 3 months

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Early 18th Century Venetian 'Schiavona' Sword

The Schiavona is an iconic basket-hilted sword that was closely associated with the Italian city state of Venice. The earliest examples are believed to have come from an elite body of Slavic soldiers hired by the Venetian council, and date back as far as the late 16th Century.

Schiavona are identified by their unique basket hilts and 'cats head' pommels. The renowned sword historian and author, Ewart Oakeshott grouped the schiavona basket hilts into two broad categories, the simplified Type 1 with it's broad flat bars, and the Type 2 of lattice work design.

They Type 1 hilt began to appear around the early 1600's and the first Type 2 between 1620 and 1630. Type 1's remained in use for most of the 17th Century after which Type 2 hilts became dominant.

Over the life of schiavona swords, (1600 - 1797) their hilts became increasingly complex and ornate as they became associated with the character of Venice, with the upper levels of society also carrying their own schiavonas.

Based on the features of the hilt, this sword most likely dates to 1710 - 1740. The iron pommel and 93 cm blade suggest that it is of munitions grade and was likely carried by a regular cavalry man.

Stats: Overall Length - 1,075 mm Blade Length - 930 mm Point of Balance - 165 mm Grip Length - 135 mm Inside Grip Length - 94 mm Weight - 1,090 grams

#swords #antique swords #military antiques #Italian #City of Venice #Cavalry swords #Schiavona #18th Century #Broadsword #basket hilt #Italian Basket Hilt

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evan-collins90 · 7 months

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Sam Goody stores at Universal CityWalk & Horton Plaza (1993 & 1995)

"The synthesis of three distinct merchandising departments for the new Sam Goody store at the Universal Citywalk exhibits a design of dynamic expression by the Jerde Partnership design team.

The new building sits on the center court of an outdoor shopping mall in Southern California. Representing the three merchandising concepts of Sam Goody, the design pronounces each area through unique and interrelated façades.

The customer enters the Popular Music department through an animated, neon-accented color plaster façade. The entrance to the Classics department and the upstairs Coffee Cafe is between two 40 foot high, 10 foot in diameter Corinthian columns within an interpretative classical façade. A 35 foot high, two-dimensional profile sign depicting King Kong climbing the face of a black and metallic bronze tile building hangs over the entrance to Suncoast Motion Picture Company (video).

The central sales environment is referred to as Backstage, and has the character and atmosphere of a soundstage/studio. The two-story space is defined by upper level catwalks and the destination mezzanine known as the Coffee Cafe. A three-dimensional, walk-through Media Wall features music advertising, photos, oversized images, photo lightboxes, video monitors, projected music videos, reader boards and graphic elements.

Media events are orchestrated throughout the day in an ever-changing environment that depicts the trends of popular music and movies. Weather reports, current events and promotional messages continuously scroll by on the reader boards. In-store performances, CD signings and record promotions bring a sense of "an event" to the store. A live VJ/DJ controls all aspects of the store's music and video media, and interacts with the customers.

On a floating piano-shaped level, the Classics department features a state-of-the-art inventory of classical and jazz selections and creates a controlled, intimate area for the customer with special acoustics, localized sound systems, listening stations and lighting. In the Suncoast Motion Picture Company department, tall video columns accent the environment, supporting the sale of videos and laserdiscs. Interspersed throughout the department are video monitors creating the effect of video confetti.

The Coffee Cafe features a wide variety of interactive listening stations and media experiences. It is intended to be an intimate environment where the customer can pause, enjoy the fare, engage in conversation and take in views of the store as well as the street below through its windows."

Scanned from: Stores - Retail Display & Design (1997), Great Store Design 2 (1996), Shops & Boutiques (1994)

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jpitha · 6 months

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Don’t worry, I know someone.

Gev, Palitan, and Vivian stood in front of the door. It was at least three meters tall, 2 wide, and made of metal. It was inscribed with words in at least 4 different languages.

It was unfortunate that nobody knew any of them.

“Well, It’s clearly a warning.” Gev gestured towards the text. His furry, clawed hand tapping the lowest text, which was at their eye level. “Whoever made this would not have done it in so many languages if it wasn’t something important to be read by everyone who came by. I’m sure whatever is behind this door is dangerous.”

“No, it’s clearly a proclamation. Something some ancient Ruler wanted to be known far and wide. Information that was important to their peoples. They might have ruled a large swath of land, home to many peoples who spoke many languages. It’s designed for intelligibility. That’s why it’s in so many languages.” Palitan’s upper tentacles stroked the sunken carved letters while Vivian made a face. Her archeological training was screaming in her head at them touching this clearly ancient thing.

Gev’s laquered claws slid in and out of their sheaths. “It’s unfortunately really that we’ll never know what it says. We could learn so much about these people.”

Vivian looked up from her notes. “Why wouldn’t we know what it says?”

Gev laughed his barking cough of a laugh. “The people who wrote this are millennia passed. There hasn’t been anyone who has spoken this language in at least one thousand solar cycles. Viv, you humans need to understand that sometimes there are just things in the universe we’ll never learn.”

Vivian scoffed. “Well, then if you think you’ll never learn this, you won’t mind if I give it a try. You can continue your survey.” She began unpacking a portable sensorium from its carrying case.

Palitan’s chromatophores swirled and flashed confusion. “Vivian, you’re not a linguist, you’re an archeologist. How can you learn an ancient language?”

”I’m not a linguist, but I know some. Don’t you network Palitan? Don’t you make friends outside of your discipline?” Vivian didn’t look up from the case as she clipped together a framework and started attaching recording devices at regular intervals.

Palitan’s swirling colors stopped, and they settled on the cool blue of curiosity. “I mean, I do but… I have a feeling humans do it differently.”

Vivian chuckled. “I doubt it Palitan. Humans are just human. We’re not some kind of strange and special people.”

Gev’s fur rippled. “Now you’re being modest. I’ve seen your homeworld, and its gigantic moon. Another planetary body that large that close? It must have done something to your development.”

That was enough to make Vivian look up from her work. “Gev, you’re telling me that moon power makes humans unique? Do you hear what you’re saying? Can you hear how that sounds?”

Gev’s small ears - looking oddly like teddy bear ears - waggled. He was being deliberately silly.

After about a tenth of a cycle of work Vivian had the sensorium completely set up. The framework was positioned around the door and the projectors and emitters were in place. She signaled to their ship in orbit, and it dialed a connection that she provided in the ansible. As Gev and Palitan watched, there was a short tone, and the holoprojectors resolved the image of someone. It was a Gren, tall and imposing with their reverse articulated legs and many sets of eyes. It turned and looked around and seeing Vivian their mouthparts opened wide in their version of a grin. “Vivian! You old battlestar! How have you been?”

Smiling, Vivian put her hands on her hips and faced the Gren directly. The sensorium sensed her reaction and focused on her. “I’m doing well Tami’tarr. I’m pleased to see you’re still taking my calls.”

“How could I not, Vivian? Your calls always show me something… interesting. What do you need today?” They gestured towards the door. “Something to do with this I presume?”

Vivian nodded and walked over to the projection. Standing next to them, Gev and Palitan marveled at how it looked like the Gren was here next to them. They knew about the sensorium of course. Ever since the humans came onto the scene they brought their multi-sense recording device with them. They especially liked using them in interviews so that the whole room could be recorded. The sights, sounds, smells, even touch and temperature could be recorded and played back so anyone could almost be where the event was recorded. They were unaware of them being used as a projection device however. Vivian took out a small digital pointer. “It’s a door - we think - looks like pre-fall Heliman. None of the languages carved into the door are Heliman however. I know they had relations with a few of the sapients in their nearby section of space, but we don’t recognize any of the languages here. Do you?”

“Hmm.” Tami’tarr peered at the words on the door. His body made a rumbling noise that Vivian couldn’t help think sounded like a contented purr. Tami’tarr always liked a mystery. He leaned back and gestured with his own pointer. “Here, near the top. This one looks like it’s Late three hundredth dynasty Uutipan. I can’t read it though, I just recognize the shape of the words. Do you know Professor Filomina at Brekin University?”

Vivian nodded. “I met her two years ago at the conference. You were there. I think you introduced us.”

Tami’tarr’s mouthparts waggled a nod. “Ah yes, you are correct. She can translate Uutipan. I don’t know if she understands all the way back to the late three hundredth dynasty, but she’ll know it better than me.”

“Thanks Tami’tarr. I’ll give her a ring.” Vivian reached up and patted Tami’tarr through the sensorium.

“Let me know what she finds. I must admit I haven’t seen something like this before either.”

“Of course, Tam. Talk to you soon.” The Gren disappears as the connection is broken.

Vivian spends the next solar day making calls, making small talk and describing her problem. Gev and Palitan spend the time taking measurements and gathering other information on the site. “Vivian is wasting her time.” Gev shakes his head irritatedly. “She should be helping us take measurements. The words are untranslatable.”

Palitan’s color shifts to a acquiescing yellow. “That may be Gev, but she has gotten permission to run the dig in her own way. If we could translate the text, it would be helpful. We can afford to have her burn a day going through her address book pestering her friends.”

‘Hmmph. That’s their problem.”

“What? Vivian?”

“Humans in general. You tell them something can’t be done and their first reaction is to go ‘I bet I can actually do it.’ They wind up wasting time and resources on things that were declared impossible a century ago.”

Palitan says nothing, but continues to work.

Just before evening meal, Palitan and Gev save their work and upload their measurements and notes and make the way back to the door. Now, Vivian is talking with a K’laxi they’ve never met. They’re one of the few sapient species that is actually shorter than the human and they’re both standing very close to the door, looking at the bottommost carvings. The K’laxi is talking very animatedly as they walk up.

“…haven’t seen things like this in decades! I can’t believe you found another example Viv! This completely upends our research on what we knew about the late three hundredth dynasty! You’ve given me enough here to write three papers at least. You’ll get co-authorship of course.”

Vivian laughed. “I appreciate your generosity Lem. Let me know when you need my notes.”

Lem snapped their pad closed and stood. “As soon as you have them compiled please.”

Vivian bent straight and stretched. “You got it Lem. See you soon.”

Their tail flicked and they winked and the holo disconnected. Vivian stared disassembling the sensorium.

“Have you given up Vivian? Ready to continue the work we were assigned to do?” Gev’s fur bristled. “Well, too bad, we’ve completed the measurements. I’ll be sure to let the head know about this.”

Palitan’s color switched to a pale pink of surprise. “Gev! There’s no need to be hostile. The head stated that Vivian’s main job was to learn more about the people who built this.”

Gev’s head bobbed vigorously. “Indeed. And spending all day calling the entire galaxy to translate a door tells us nothing about who built this site!”

Vivian finished putting the sensorium away in its case and stood. She calmly walked over to Gev and Palitan. Palitan was only a little taller than her, and Gev was nearly two meters tall and was more than a bit intimidating. She looked down at her pad.

“This door shall remain open from dawn to dusk without exception. The offices herein will be open according to the hours mounted on their doors. All who enter shall surrender their weapons. A chit will be provided verifying their ownership. Those with appointments with the Head Builder are to check in with the front desk before proceeding to the Builder office.

“What’s that? What are you talking about?” Gev looked down at her irritatedly.

Palitan nudged Gev with one of his tentacles. “It’s the translation of the door.”

Gev looked down at Vivian and at the translation she showed him. All of the different languages were translated and sure enough, they said what she read off to him. It was a protocol note on what to do at the Builder Administration building.

Palitan gestured excitedly. “Gev! That means this was a Builder building! Part of the original Empress! Not only did they have local influence, but they either traded with, or were a part of the full empire. We’re far away from a Gate too, I wonder if one was destroyed, or they just flew a long way.”

Vivian nodded. “See Gev? Now that we know what the door says, it opens up so many new questions that we can try an answer. Even though the door is ‘just’ protocol rules, it implies so much more.”

“Hmmph.” Gev says nothing but his ears twitch.”

Palitan’s coloring changes to an impressed green. “Vivian, this is amazing. You figured all this out in just one day!”

“That’s just is Palitan. I didn’t do it. I knew people who could help. I wound up calling five different experts while you were working. It pays to know people.” Vivian picks up the sensorium case. “It’s not what you know, but who you know.”

#humans are deathworlders #writing #sci fi writing #jpitha #humans are space capybaras #humans and aliens #humans are space australians #humans are space orcs #humans are space oddities #I know me a guy #Humans know someone #pack bonding

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stylebets02 · 2 years

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What does a Mandala lotus flower tattoo mean?

Mandala lotus flower tattoo is one of the most beautiful flowers that make for amazing body artwork. Lotus flower tattoos look fantastic. The best thing is there are myriads of lotus flower tattoo designs. One can get anything from a Mandala lotus flower tattoo to a Geometric Lotus tattoo. For more information visit here https://bit.ly/3KQHaWp

#small mandala lotus flower tattoo #mandala lotus tattoo #lotus mandala simple #lotus mandala tattoo arm #lotus mandala tattoo back #lotus mandala tattoo thigh #artist #target tattoos #fixer upper #japanese temple tattoo #fine line tattoo #women hand tattoos #blackwork #tattooist #tattoo design #tribal tattoos #cover up tattoo #blackandgreytattoo #unique flower tattoo

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shakingparadigm · 10 days

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Speaking of Guardians, I'm just going to make a list on the information I have on the ones associated with the main cast so far.

Note: the information here is mostly from official material (patreon interviews, merch, the videos themselves etc) but some portions of it are my own assumptions based on this information as well.

Mizi -> Guardian Shine

Guardian Shine is a prominently pink and white alien that wears a peaceful expression and bears resemblance to certain aquatic creatures, most predominantly associated with the jellyfish. Their body largely consists of floaty pink frills.

Guardian Shine is the only alien of the main cast that is explicitly stated to have a close and loving relationship with their human pet, treating Mizi like a "daughter" and ensuring that she is happy and well-provided for.

Guardian Shine created Mizi's performance dress for ROUND 1.

It seemed that whenever Mizi accomplished something good in the Anakt Garden, she would become ecstatic and excited to tell Guardian Shine about her victories.

Sua -> Guardian ???

Not much is known or seen about Sua's Guardian (the information isn't public, at least), but from the glimpses we see in MIZISUA, her Guardian is a rather luxurious and feminine alien with clawed, ring-laden hands and a lower half akin to a flower-patterned dress. It seems as though they are wearing a pale-colored fur coat.

In the disc:mizisua artbook, its stated that Sua was raised by influencers, which seems to be why her Guardian is dressed so lavishly.

Sua's Guardian did not particularly care for her, only raising her as a means to "show off".

While Guardian Shine warmly entertains Mizi before her departure, Sua's Guardian has their back turned and is instead busied with an interview (as seen by the alien holding the microphone next to them).

Because Sua's Guardian didn't care for her and only raised her for public image, they dressed Sua in doll-like clothes without care as to how it would fit her. The book states that despite it's lovely look, Sua's dress was stuffy and ill-fitting.

Till -> Guardian Urak

Guardian Urak (in earlier iterations) is a humanoid alien with a predominantly white color scheme, most recognizable by a covered upper face and floating chair. (I highly suspect the alien from ROUND 6's first verse to be the new Guardian Urak design, but I could be wrong.)

Similar to Sua's, Guardian Urak seems rather neglectful and maybe even physically abusive to Till, as seen by the multiple bruises left on him even before he's thrown at the wall. If the head alien in ROUND 6 is confirmed to be Urak, this is further proven by the first few scenes.

In an interview for a magazine portion of ROUND 2, Guardian Urak is shown to be easily dismissive of Till's misbehavior as long as it garners them a win.

Guardian Urak believes that a human's bizarre behavior is synonymous with their talent. "The more talented humans, the more likely they are to be freaks." Urak apologizes for Freddie's murder on Till's behalf, but doesn't seem to care about it beyond the surface level.

Urak barely seems to invest much into Till, at least not as much as the other Guardians do for their own pets. Till's stage in ROUND 2 is the most plain, unlike the other rounds where the stages are unique and decorated with different designs and lights. Till's outfits are also the most plain among the cast.

Ivan -> Guardian ???

Ivan's Guardian is a large, slightly Cthulhu-like alien dressed in dapper clothing, which many fans find akin to that of a mafia boss. They are dressed in colors of mainly red and black, a color scheme that their followers seem to align with as well.

Ivan's Guardian is well-known in alien society. Due to this, Ivan makes sure to behave carefully and properly while out in public as not to sully their name.

It also seems as though they are incredibly wealthy, seemingly involved in a business of some sort.

Ivan describes the relationship with his Guardian to be more like a business partnership rather than something parental.

Ivan's Guardian seems to have invested a lot into Ivan's success. Adopting him from the slums, cleaning him and remaking his image from a lowly slum child to one of the most famous, talented, and influential humans of the current season. Ivan states in an interview that he will always be grateful to them for taking him in.

Due to the investment, Ivan's performances are always of high quality, his costumes intricately made and his stages flamboyantly themed.

Since their relationship stands on business, it's most likely that Ivan was able to connect and partner with several brands due to his Guardian.

Ivan's relationship with his Guardian seems mutual, Ivan himself states it's "not bad". His Guardian provides him with what he needs to succeed and in return Ivan is obedient and always excels at what he's assigned to do. It seems as though Ivan's Guardian is often pleased with him, patting his head when he passes preliminaries and gathering other aliens to celebrate. One of the aliens even presents a bouquet of flowers, clapping their hands together.

Luka -> Guardian Heperu

Guardian Heperu is an alien with a round, squat head, bulging eyes and a pronounced neck. They seem to don a robe of some sort, paired together with a small hat.

Guardian Heperu seems to be yet another influential figure in alien society, possessing the resources necessary to invest in Luka's intensive training.

They also ensure that Luka's performances are always phenomenal, going so far as to rent out a special site for ROUND 5 (iirc, they performed ROUND 5 on the corpse of a large and powerful alien, hence the spine and bones you can see in the back of certain shots).

Guardian Heperu is an extremely envious figure who wished for a pet to trump all others, to stand above all the competitors unmatched.

Luka's unnatural conception and strict training is a result of Heperu's insecurity, the need to remain at the top constantly. Perhaps this desire ended up seeping into Luka as well.

Luka never fought back against the aliens, most likely because Heperu conditioned him to be the epitome of performative perfection since birth. How Luka interacted with his fellow humans was irrelevant, what mattered was how he interacted with the aliens who's opinions were of far greater worth. This may be why Luka seemed to be an outcast in the Anakt Garden yet a beloved prince in the eyes of the alien audience.

Luka directly refers to Heperu as "Father".

Hyuna -> Guardian ???

So far, Hyuna is the only character without even a sliver of alien connection. It makes sense, of course. She cut herself off from everything so long ago.

However, a sketch of Hyuna's alien was drafted all the way back during the production of Sweet Dream.

I'm not gonna spoil anything, but let me just say that's one hell of an alien.

Hopefully we get to see them soon!

#alnst #alien stage #alien stage guardians #idk how to tag this help

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carionto · 6 months

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Blot out the Sun

It's hard to comprehend the true scale of Human engineering. Even if you see one of their capital ships as it gets bigger on approach and does not stop getting bigger until you can no longer see one end to the other. It's like trying to grasp how large a city is - you've been on the street level and you've seen it from a bird's eye view, but that never gives you an idea of how precisely big it is. It just is.

Which presents a unique problem, because unlike practically everyone else in the Galaxy, ALL human space ships (and even most space stations) are capable and often prefer to land directly on planets instead of shuttling. When there is an atmosphere, the sheer displacement of one such vessel can cause days worth of chaotic weather patterns and even seismic activity should they decide to land. As in proper land land, as in - landing struts skyscrapers touching the physical ground.

The simple act of a Dreadnought coming to a halt above the surface of a populated planet is considered an act of war.

Suffice to say, nearly everyone has banned Human ships with a displacement of over 200'000 tons from landing, and nothing over 2.5 million tons can even enter the upper atmosphere layers of their planets at all.

Given how chaotic Earth's weather is already, (and the things they're willing to do to it) Humans don't have much problem with that.

It is quite a spectacular event, however, when on a sunny day, all of a sudden a huge form begins to take shape far above the few clouds there are. Millions of tiny lights blinking away on this gigantic dark metal body. Hobbyist astronomers and enthusiast engineers all look through their telescopes, identifying individual markings, hatches, docking ports, weapons, anything and everything of note and not.

Then it flares up.

A fireball streaming gently down towards your world. It is already as big as the sun in the sky, and nearly as bright, but you know it is dozens of kilometers away still.

The heat from the breaking sequence dies down. A shadow begins to loom along the horizon. Slowly, ominously. Still so far away, yet it dwarfs and snuffs out whatever cloud coverage there was, the heat pushing the water along the sides of the behemoth and further up.

The wind is picking up. It's getting warmer.

And darker.

It was day time, now it is beneath the belly of the beast time.

It comes to a halt, only one kilometer above the ground, two hundred and twenty meters from the tip of the tallest building. You can barely see the edge of the horizon - it is just a thin strip of hazy blue, everything else is metallic darkness illuminated by the lights from the city and the massive ship itself.

Then they descend. Hundreds of small ships, all uniform in core design, yet individually decorated and no two are truly alike. Troop transports. They land everywhere.

In unison, the landing bays open and out step the soldiers.

In their off duty clothing with bags and backpacks and suitcases.

It's mandatory leave and we're in Neo Las Vegas, and the city paid to put on a show like no other. Have fun boys and girls, the night will never end!

#humans are space orcs #humans are space australians #humans are space oddities #humans are deathworlders #humanity fuck yeah #carionto #so this took a random turn #i didn't expect that #and i'm the author

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sleepyspots-wc-designs · 21 days

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Two days late but here he is!

SOL

“...No cat should just accept what has gone before. StarClan's time is over. These cats are dead, and their spirits have no power over you.”

[Black-based chimera with ginger classic-tabby and chocolate mackerel-tabby tortoiseshell patches, high white spotting, short-and-long fur, and heterochromatic gold-and-blue eyes.]

Oh Sol… They did you so dirty… You could have been such a cool villain if you were utilized properly…

Design notes!

Uneven fur lengths due to his chimerism. Most of his coat is sleek and short, especially around his torso, tail, and the length of his face and ears. Much longer, thicker fur grows naturally from his tail-tips, mane, belly, legs, ear fluff, and from the sides of his face.

Polycaudal! I think I was one of the first to come up with this idea, but I could totally be wrong… Means “many-tailed”; very rare, but something that can occur in real cats in real life!

Sectoral heterochromia in both eyes.

Tons of striking, stylized markings. His left ginger tortie leg is styled like a star, while the patch over his eyes is like a circle or an eclipse.

Each of his paws are unique. Hind left has ginger and brown spots; upper left has ginger toes; hind right has a single brown toe; upper right is pure white.

Scarring includes: A slash on his jaw, made by Leafstar on accident while being driven from SkyClan; this is purely headcanon.

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sunnysam-my · 16 days

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Hazbin Hotel redesign ideas p. 2

I am a bit of fashion, especially men's, history nerd, and I'm also a bit of radio nerd, so here I go, biblically accurate Alastor.

ALASTOR:

Alastor was a radio host (a radio star?) who lived and died in Louisiana. He was shot during a hunting accident, in the head, somewhere in the 1933, during radio's golden era. He cares greatly about his image and always smiles to show no weaknesses. He hates modern technology and doesn't allow his face to be captured by video recording or non black and white camera. His is mixed-race Creole.

Nothing about Alastor design make sense and it pisses me off. Not only it doesn't fit the time, it also doesn't fit his character! Besides, he is too red. He disappears into the background, especially walls of the Hotel.

Alastor cares about his image greatly, yet his clothes are torn. He is supposed to be like Hannibal, yet he looks like an edgelord wannabe. It's awful. I learned nothing about him from his design, other than "he's and old-time radio deer guy", and that's really bad.

Fashion in 30s was inspired by Hollywood, and sport and movies celebrities.

Back and white fashion in this period wasn't that different, at least for men, as long as you weren't poor, but here are some photos of specifically black fashion in 30s. In general I recommend that website if you want to look more into the fashion of this period.

His hair is completely wrong. And it's also really ugly lol. For richer black men a shiny straightening hairstyle was the go to since 1920s. One such style was "the conk" where one would chemically straighten their hair. It left hair shiny, but the process was painful and expensive. It literally could burn your scalp.

Another popular style was the brush wave. It's creating narrow waves rolling on top of head with the sides cut short and smooth. This hairstyle is still present to this day, but nowadays it's done on the whole head.

Other than that, men just wore their hair naturally, but short.

There is no focus on trousers or vest in Alastor's outfit. (Which is wild considering zipper fly was introduced in the early 30s, but was got popular by the mid ’30s). This was time of experimenting a bit with vests. If you wanted to look fancy and/or formal, you would wear a vest. Pants were wide legged, had a high waist and a single pressed line down the center of the leg. Some trouser waistbands were unique in the 1930s, for example a Hollywood waistband trouser. It had an extra wide band with a double row of buttons. They fit very high, overlapping the ribs. they often had netal ring tabs on the sides to tighten the pant to the correct fit without the need for belts or suspenders.

Also, monocle? Really? …Really? Here you go, read this if you're curious. Lots of pictures of glasses included. Glasses stayed essentially the same in 30s as they were in 20s. They were "round with a center bridge in the early years and an upper bridge in the later years. Frames could be tortoiseshell, black plastic, or thin metal."

Moving on from fashion, because I could never shut up, microphones!

The most probabale one that everyone who is redesigning Al is drawing is a good old classic Carbon mic. It looks like a ring with a metal star and the microphone inside. It can be hand held or a staff.

But, if you wanna draw something different!

Other than Carbon mic there is also a Ribbon microphone (first row) and Moving Coil mic (second row). Unfortunately, they killed Alastor in the best part of the radio golden age, so the mics are still a bit ugly, not gonna lie.

How would I design him:

First things firsts, either he is mixed or he is white, because right now it just feels like a cheep excuse to have an "evil voodoo" character without getting too much backlash. Let's be honest, nobody thought he was a POC and that white face doesn't help. Again, just like I mentioned with Vel, when you're drawing a character with human like skin tone you have to be careful and think how it ties to their race.

Second - fashion. His outfit and hairstyle is a disaster. He has always tried to 'dress to impress', so obviously I would give him well maintained clothing and that 'high quality', formal style. I would give him the dark brown Hollywood trouser with buttons and dark crimson shirt, like dried blood almost. Under a coat or jacket he would have a brow vest, both the same colour as the pants. Highlights would be golden and green or purple. I for one would love to see him start out with a jacket/coat which he stops wearing inside the hotel after he bonds with the people inside it more, but he would still wear it outside and in the finale would put it on again, after his breakdown in the tower. This would show he began to trust the hotel residents a bit before he 'realises his mistake' after the battle. I would give him short haircut, because not even white people wore hair like that. (What in the Karen-core is it supposed to be?). Say goodbye to that monocle. Why is it even there there? Because he is old-timely? What is he, a children's cartoon villain? His design doesn't need more soulless clutter. Give me something that tells me about him as a character. I've seen people give him old radio as teeth or chest and I love it! When it's not too detailed, it's a great idea to make Alastor less like a living human but also less of… just a deer. He just looks like a deer demon. I would keep his shoes, hands and antlers, and give him ears that would fit the hairstyle I would go with.

[Edit: I forgot to mention, I would give him a time accurate hat or a free wavy lock of hair to cover the mark on his forehead where he was shot]

Thirdly, the microphone! My love. I remember the microphone used to be able to talk, but now it doesn't, unless I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure. Now it's just a weird look staff microphone with an eye and that's about it. But imagine something like a moving coil with the metal sign on top of it were the letters on it change. It could be a way it's communicating, in a simple way. This was it could still have a unique shape. That would have been fun to see. I can certainly imagine it being something of an 'unfiltered voice' of Alastor, where it would change it's writing into "Shut up", "Die" or something like that and he would hit it in a reprimanding way to reverse it to "Smile!". I'm just saying, that's a cool idea.

Well, this took forever to make, I actually forgot about this, so it just sat in my drafts. Anyway, if you want to see brilliant use of costumes and detailed, accurate depiction of fashion (especially black and queer) through history in New Orleans I recommend "Interview With The Vampire" (2022). It's also a great show.

#hazbin hotel #alastor #hazbin hotel alastor #hazbin alastor #hazbin hotel redesign #hazbin hotel fanart #redesign #hazbin hotel criticism #hh #hazbin hotel critical #hazbin hotel critique #men's fashion #men's style #menswear #mensfashion #fashion #fashion history

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