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crooked-wasteland · 1 month

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Hazbin Hotel Live Blog: Welcome to Heaven

Coming back I found I did enjoy the last episode far more than I did the others. It obviously suffers from who the director is, but I could still see the more competent writer underneath certain portions of the episode. This one is written by Adam Stein who was credited for six episodes of Harley Quinn, a series I admittedly do not particularly care for. I wouldn’t consider the series bad and I enjoy scenes more than the whole, but its clear that Hazbin and much of Medrano’s writing ideas are in many ways ripped off from Harley Quinn far more than Bojack Horseman. To be frank, if Medrano had stuck her comparison to Harley Quinn, I doubt she would be criticized nearly as much as she is for her writing. I know, for myself, if she had compared her shows to Harley Quinn and never once breathed in the direction of Bojack Horseman, I wouldn’t have ever been motivated to even criticize this series. I think a comparison to Harley Quinn is fair, it is an objectively worse version of Harley Quinn, but it is better suited to the style and audience of that show far and above something of high art and value like Bojack. Harley Quinn is simply not my tastes, I wouldn’t say it’s bad, but even with a gun to my head I could never in good faith consider it good. It’s better than Hazbin and Helluva Boss, but its also a fairer comparison.

Vaggie adds “gah” to her line about being a liar in the most painful way. While they obviously paid Stephanie the most, they in no way paid her enough to care. It was physically written into the script and it highlights how little the actress actively participated in the series. She didn’t even try to make it sound natural, she doesn’t care for the character she is playing and she doesn’t care whether or not we know.

It makes no sense that Angel Dust is still working for Valentino. He could just stay in the hotel and ignore Val’s calls and texts like we have actively seen him do. So it’s like he hates working for Val, does so under duress and due to a contract on his soul, but Charlie is the princess of Hell whom Valentino openly stated he was threatened by and her hotel and patrons are under the protection of Lucifer who aligned himself with Charlie and her goals…. Just don’t go? There is Vaggie, Charlie, Lucifer and even Alastor who are more than capable of handling someone like Valentino on their own, let alone as a united front. Why is this still happening?

The physical comedy falls flat. Cheri grabs Sir Pentious’ hand and it cracks and is all mangled like it is broken, but he has zero response to it. The humor requires there to be a reaction to the level of violence displayed. Having not even a minor one means the sequence may as well not have happened, and it frankly feels like an excuse to just say Alex Brightman was in the episode and have him say as many lines as possible regardless of whether or not he should. I genuinely don’t understand why this character is even in Hell. Who is he as a person? Just why?

Sera says she only green-lit the exterminations so that Hell didn’t act up, and places the blame on Adam for Lucifer getting involved. But then she just… keeps letting Adam do what he’s doing, which is what caused her to feel threatened like this in the first place. So essentially “This is all your fault because of the things you’ve done. So keep doing them.” I don’t even get why Sera or any of Heaven feels this way about Hell. I assume Sera knows Charlie’s plans about redemption, but she seems threatened by it? When in reality treating Heaven like a prize for sinners seems like a logical way of cooperating with Hell and even maintaining civil relations.

Also, can I just point out how the character designs really fail to send any sort of message. Alastor, Niffty, Velvette, Carmella and her daughters, Rosie, and Mimzy are hyper humanoid demons in a Hell where non-human designs make up a majority of the cast and the distorted, abstract and animalistic designs in Hell make sense, whereas Heaven is mostly humanoid with random demonic designs walking around. It fails to send a message as well as just makes Heaven and Hell entirely the same. It fails to really sell the idea that Heaven is in any way better than Hell. Honestly, demons should have less human designs and appear more twisted and deformed. Heaven should have prioritized humanoid figures. Especially seeing as Medrano with a heritage in Latin America and Catholicism would know that the idea of Christianity she is supposedly criticizing emphasizes that humans were made “in the image” of god and angels. It also sets up an idea of one’s soul being cleansed by having this “godly” form. Mixing in furry designs at the same rate as Hell collapses any argument for media literacy or messaging being made.

Welcome to Heaven as a song is the best song of the show thus so far. It is the One Short Day of Hazbin, a vapid superficial scene-setting song that isn’t meant to further the characters, just the plot, and it actually succeeds. I’m not amazed by it, never would i play it for enjoyment reasons, but it works for the role it plays and is the only song that does so well.

Adam is telling Vaggie her own backstory, my favorite bad writing trope.

Additionally, I thought heavenly weapons were the only thing that could harm an angel. But Lute just rips off Vaggie’s wings with her bare hands. It really confuses the world when you don’t even keep to your own rules.

In the previous episode, Charlie says the hotel isn’t “working”, this episode has Adam demanding “evidence”. The lack of understanding what Charlie is looking for when she says Progress is never defined. On one hand she says Angel Dust is making progress, but just the last episode said that the hotel wasn’t actually helping anyone. Even at the start of the episode we don’t see any change in Angel Dust, just that he’s sad. He still swears performs sex work, is rude and crude, and at no point has his situation with drug addiction been addressed in any way. I can appreciate not wishing to say someone performing sex work is committing sin. As well as the implication that how one holds themself is unimportant to Heaven. But I think everyone can agree that drug addiction and abuse is harmful to those in the addiction and those who care for them. And also, it is extremely difficult to break. Drug addiction would be an excellent analogy for sin and breaking it would work as a parallel for redemption easily. So why is it the one thing you had going for you in way of themes and a show of progress and character growth we’ve never actually even addressed. In fact, Loser Baby enables the idea that Angel Dust’s use of drugs is fine because he’s a loser anyway. Just give up on yourself. So when this episode inevitably implies that Angel has actually been making progress on that front, it’ll make no sense.

That happened a whole lot sooner than I thought it would. And it being Husk saying he thought Angel was “Better than that” really does make his whole message in Loser Baby hypocritical. Him being the one to judge others on how they cope, offloading his hypocrisy on the excuse “I’m not trying to get to heaven”, but then still performs the emotionally abusive tactic of publicly and maliciously shaming is partner into a form of compliance. And this is the romantic relationship I’m supposed to be going nuts over? Even in the case where one can argue he is doing it from a place of concern, he has never once cared about Angel’s drug use in the series. It has never been mentioned in any detail of it being harmful. It is literally placed on the same level as his hypersexuality in the song Loser Baby, which we are supposed to wave away as not being harmful because he enjoys it. The line is he “samples” every sex toy and drug. This is just the Alastor must be lying because nothing makes sense argument, except its the world that doesn’t make sense and thus nothing can be trusted and the suspension of disbelief and the act of world building is inherently gone. This isn’t even a story at this point. It is merely a bunch of drawings doing things for nearly half an hour because time is money, and Medrano likes money.

I feel the setup isn’t too bad. It’s the story of Job, which, yes, you should use the material you are criticizing if you are actually seeking to criticize it (whether or not Medrano’s is even attempting a critique on Christianity is hugely up to debate, but that’s not for this kind of post). It’s Lucifer in the Bible coming to the court of god and saying he’s been on earth observing the humans. He claims humans would never worship god if not for god incentivizing them through blessings and so god is like, “bet, do your worst”. Except, in the Bible story it shows god’s callousness. He allows Job to suffer and gives permission to Lucifer to torture this faithful man, of which when Job laments, god chastises him for doubting. This removes the negative qualities of god from the story by just watching Angel Dust make his own decisions. Which works for the idea of free will, I suppose, but the idea of free will being imagination from the last episode to now just waiting for Angel Dust to choose to conform to an idea of morals takes away any meta critique on the nature of heaven. Just saying.

Still not a fan of how infantilized the show makes Niffty.

The scene with Angel standing up to Valentino was such an attempt at an emotional reaction, and in reality it only succeeds in tiptoeing the edge of emotional catharsis. It never gets to reach that point because we don’t actually see the way that Val and Angel interact most of the time. And I’ll just say it, the Poison sequence ruins this scene. It set up this idea that Angel Dust has complicated feelings for Valentino and in many ways their relationship is just as much an addiction as the drugs. But we never see the harmful side to Angel’s drug addiction and nor do we see his complicated feelings for Val break down as he grows closer to Husk. It is unearned. And then having Charlie point blank say why that scene exists for the narrative kills any and all investment. It was there just so Angel Dust can fit Adam’s checklist. So there is no authentic emotions attached to that scene from the ground up. It is a contrivance that feels almost hateful in its existence.

Why is Adam treated as Sera? Adam was the one who made the list, but Emily contributes it to Sera. Sera didn’t even know how a soul ends up in heaven, all she says is “he was the first human soul here”, meaning she defers to him to understand. To have her be the one saying not everything is written in ink, when she openly is the first one to say she hasn’t any idea, really confuses the lack of story you are trying to tell.

So, the whole series has now confirmed it has no clue how to tell a story. “If Hell is forever then Heaven must be a lie”, so the idea of moving between heaven and hell is not a concept. Someone from heaven cannot fall to hell and someone from hell cannot enter heaven, except they can. Vaggie. Her entire existence is proof that heaven isn’t forever, so why would Hell be? If anything, Vaggie should be a spark of hope for Charlie. Additionally, the threshold of whether souls can be redeemed has nothing to do with if they can or not. Rather, it ends the same way it began. No one is in control and no one has any power one way or the other. But Vaggie being in hell, despite being an angel, who was never held in a court to determine if she should fall or not and was deemed unholy by humans, not the council of angels, just brought this whole house of cards down. In fact, the person on trial should have been Vaggie, and in extension Lute. Who is Lute to have the right to make such a call compared to Emily? Why does no one bring up this discrepancy? And having Vaggie on trial instead of an ignorant Angel Dust being critiqued without his knowledge would have been a better vehicle for not just exploring Vaggie’s past, but also the ideas surrounding redemption and banishment and the values/hypocrisy of heaven. As it stands, this episode was a waste of everyone’s time.

Adam Stein brought nothing to the table, all the same issues in Medrano’s writing are present and played out here. Adam may as well be a ghost writer as he didn’t even attempt to bring any of his own strengths to the script. I can’t say I’m surprised at this, however. It is just Harley Quinn after all.

2/10

#vivziepop critical #vivienne medrano #vivziepop #spindlehorse critical #vivziepop criticism #spindlehorse criticism #hazbin critique #hazbin hotel liveblog #hazbin critical #hazbin hotel criticism #hazbin hotel critique #hazbin hotel critical #hazbin hotel #hazbin criticism #adam stein #harley quinn

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ahb-writes · 7 months

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How to write villains.

(from Harley Quinn, S3E02: "There's No Ivy in Team")

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nrrrdgrrrl2002 · 1 month

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Gave Adam a design update

#batim #batdr #bendy #bendy and the artificial industry #batai #Adam Stein #nrrrdgrrrlart

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whatsnewtonetflix · 2 months

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The short month of February brings some interesting titles to Netflix in 2024, and you can always count on What's New to Netflix to inform you of all the latest and lamest stuff heading your way.

Later, we watch some hitmen struggle to take out some survivalists and fire jumpers after starting a deadly forest fire in Taylor Sheridan's Those Who Wish Me Dead from 2021. Then we glimpse a hyperrealistic look at life at a rundown motel in Sean Baker's The Florida Project from 2017. And last, a father and daughter have to hide their special mutant powers from the world in Freaks from 2018.

All of this plus Magic Mike's strange journey, the wrong Plus One movie, traditional sitcoms, James Spader, Love Is Blind chit-chat, Britney Spears at the Grand Canyon, little scoundrels, awards shows, and the unusual story of a guy that used to be an orange.

CLICK BELOW TO STREAM OR DOWNLOAD

got a suggestion for the show?: [email protected]

#netflix #podcast #those who wish me dead #angelina jolie #jon bernthal #aidan gillen #nicolas hoult #taylor sheridan #the florida project #willem dafoe #sean baker #freaks #emile hirsch #bruce dern #zach lipovsky #adam stein #what's new to netflix

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thisangstriddenschoollifetragedy · 1 year

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Song Lyrics as my Reserve Course OCs

Kana Yumejin: The adults won't leave you alone, As you have fun rolling around in the darkness, They drag you out of there and turn the spotlight on you! Then they consume you - The Real Disappearance of Hatsune Miku - CosMo

Namake Mono - i'm just ES and i'd prolly rather,nap than wonder, restlessly: will ya ever be impressed by me? - Crying - ES

Eito Sozokujin - The wasted years, the wasted youth, The pretty lies, the ugly truth, And the day has come where I have died, Only to find, I've come alive - Teen Idle - Marina and the Diamonds

Suru Nishiki - I know I'm nothing more than an empty ghost, An empty shell of lies and it haunts me so - Ghost Rule - Deco*27

Taro Yamada - I've been to Tokyo and to South Africa, so many places that you may say I've seen it all, but my favorite place, is the warm embrace, of holding your hair back in a bathroom stall - Bittersweet - Panic at the Disco

Adam Stein - Sense never seemed to make sense to me, not the sense you administer repeatedly, I fled to the hills so I could clear my mind, I couldn't swallow the pills that I was prescribed - Rules - The Hoosiers

Ikino Korimasu - Welcome to the family jewels, coal to diamond, sold to fools, welcome to the family jewels, simmerin' sapphire can't keep his cool - The Family Jewels - Marina and the Diamonds

"Muno" - I've seen the good side of bad, and the downside of up, and everything between, I licked the silver spoon, drank from the golden cup and smoked the finest green - What It's Like - Everlast

Nawa Ganyaku - The sun is fun, the land is dandy, I only talk to dogs because they don't understand me, My teeth are yellow, hello world, Would you like me a little better if they were white like yours? - Alien Blues - Wunderbar

Sansei Shinjijutsu - Now the world must pay, for making me this way heavy's the head that wears the crown - I Will Be King - The Hoosiers

Gekai Shizukesa - A vivisection of me, done by God for all to see, say "Hello! Honey, I'm home!", three voices come all alone - Honey, I'm home - Ghost

Kaijo Tenmetsu - Now I am the violence, I am the sickness, won't accept your silence, beg me for forgiveness - Blood//Water - Grandson

Eiji Kanri - Nature versus nurture, how do I know what's true, what's me, what's you, mother, maybe father, which words are mine, are you, am I - Nature vs Nurture - Chase Petra

Himitsu Yuzai - And I'm not leaving, I won't let you, let you give up on a miracle, when it might save you - Miracle - Paramore

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orochiposting · 2 months

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“I can fix him dw” [drill sounds] {screaming} [chainsaw revving]

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girlbossblackbeard · 7 months

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i know we've all talked about how insane the "ed plays with the wedding cake toppers pretending they're him and stede" scene is but i don't think we've really comprehended how GENUINELY INSANE it is like??? edward teach, blackbeard, the kraken, the scourge of the seven seas, the most fearsome pirate the caribbean has ever known that has recently been on a non-stop slaughtering spree, painted a bride wedding cake topper to look like himself which he then scoots next to a wedding cake topper that looks like stede so ed can imagine that he's marrying him. this man carefully rubbed kohl on a cake topper to give it darker skin and darker hair and a BEARD. to make it look more like himself. so he could then. put it next to a cake topper that looked like stede. and pretend. they were getting married. i've written that 3 times now and my brain STILL refuses to fully process those sentences

#ofmd #our flag means death #blackbonnet #gentlebeard #edward teach #ofmd s2 #ofmd s2 spoilers #literally what the fuck adam stein

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spenglernot · 6 months

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STORIES TELLING: NED LOWE AND THE DEATH OF POOR REPRESENTATION IN OUR FLAG MEANS DEATH

In history, Ned Lowe was one of the most sadistic and violent pirates in the early 18th century, so he’s an obvious choice for a villain for season 2, episode 6 – Calypso’s Birthday. What is interesting is what the OFMD writers chose to do with him.

Lowe announces himself to the crew of the Revenge with great fanfare (cannon ball attack) and gets right to the point.

Ed is thoroughly unimpressed.

Cut to Ed and Stede tied up while Ned attempts to set the mood so he can monologue about why he wants to kill Ed.

Ed knows what’s coming. He is going to suffer but he still can’t be arsed to meet Ned with anything but vaguely bored dismissiveness (and Stede is happy to play along).

Up on the deck, Ned prepares the crew for his big, dramatic moment of symphonic torture.

Note that the Revenge crew is tied down, braced by vices and generally unable to protect themselves from imminent torture and possible death, but their spirits are up. They don’t seem terribly fussed.

Then Stede uses his people positive management style to happily orchestrate a worker uprising in Ned’s crew.

Ned’s crew responds instantly; severing their allegiance to Lowe and telling him off.

The crew sails away and talks profit sharing while Ned dully threatens to hunt them down.

Ned is now a prisoner of the Revenge crew and seems entirely disinterested in his own survival.

And Ned sinks to the depths, without struggling at all.

There is a lot going on in this episode: pay and labor equity direct action, gay love engagement bliss, kink humor, Stede being a hero and saving his crew by playing to his strengths, then having to decide whether to kill in cold blood and feel the consequences of that choice. Ed having one more reason to be done with piracy (while being so impressed with and fond of Stede), and then watching his man make a fraught choice and having to deal with the fallout from that. (And, damn, I haven’t even mentioned the passionate sex bit.) Anyway, back to the point.

Now for the the meta part

The Ned Lowe sequences are perfectly in keeping with OFMD’s signature blend of madcap violence, humor, and big emotional gut punches. But something about Ned Lowe just strikes me as off for this show.

Ned is seriously threatening the crews’ lives, so why don’t they take him seriously?

Why does Ned have such a boring, throwaway backstory?

Why is Ned so nonchalant about his own death; like it’s a foregone conclusion?

Why does Ned have a silver violin and silver spurs on his slip-on dress shoes?

Why is Ned sartorially monochromatic?

And then I realized who Ned reminds me of.

This guy,

Earnst Stavro Blofeld in the James Bond film Diamonds are Forever (1971)

And this guy,

Scar in Disney's The Lion King (1994).

And this guy,

Xerxes, 300 (2006).

And it sure seems like Ned Lowe isn’t just an episodic villain. He is an archetype of the one-dimensional, stereotypical queer-coded villain that has been endemic in film and television throughout history. The OFMD writers have a lot to say about what to do with this kind of character:

Don’t respect him.

Feel free to openly mock him.

Don’t let him take your joy, even though he will hurt you.

He won’t disappear on his own. You have to throw something at him (take action) to make him go away.

Once he’s in the water, he’s content to drown. He’s not into what he’s doing any more than you are.

Oh and, just to be clear,

The LGBTQIA+ community has a very long history of turning shit media into better stories. So, hey, big media, prepare to have your crap characters wrecked (improved).

Now, back to our transformative pirate show with rich, complex queer characters and a multi-layered plot that surprises me every week and makes me feel big feelings - most of all, joy.

Final thought: I do wonder if Ned Lowe is monochromatically silver as a tribute to/poke at, Hollywood and the silver screen.

This meta was written before OFMD season 2 has fully aired. No idea what’s going to happen in the finale (and I’ve generally fled social media to avoid spoilers). I’ll be back, looking at everyone’s fascinating posts after episode 8 airs.

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ripleycano · 12 days

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This is what Joey sounded like in TIOL

#joey drew #batim #bendy and the ink machine #the illusion of living #tiol #henry stein #sammy lawrence #kyle #adam sinclair #art #digital art #fanart #hey there art department

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the-real-dev · 18 days

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guys when they nurse their best friend back to health over the span of several months (ft. 8ft tall son who is So Tired of his father's shit) (also ft. victor dying for some reason)

#dev's art #shitpost #this is kind of just like doodles i made while procrastinating AHAH #im putting this in the main tags sorry franking stein gang. feast ur eyes upon this shitpost #frankenstein #victor frankenstein #henry clerval #the creature #adam frankenstein #clervalstein #tw blood #just! in case!#also adam top surgery stitches because WHY NOT

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bbeeohazardd · 2 months

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Stein/Adam and Gordon swap au ^^

#freetein #stein #adam chio #hlvrai oc #hlvrai #maintagging. i'm such a scaredguy pls be niceys #art #my art

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wandapinkay · 8 months

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Ok let me explain this atrocity I saw the og movie's poster on Twitter as a template Everyone is just redrawing it with different media and, of course, I wanted to do my part You're welcome

#wanda's art #wandapinkay #steins;gate #steins gate #makise kurisu #okabe rintaro #mayuri shiina #itaru hashida #daru #luka urushibara #redraw #adam sandler #adam sandler's eight crazy nights #adam sandler movie #movie poster redraw #anime #anime art #anime meme

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alexiseatzbeez · 1 year

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Redesign of my redesigns from last year !?! I’m obsessed with mh again so I’m redoing my redesigns because I’ve grown attached to the g3 designs lmao. So here’s Frankie first because they’re my fav

I’ll write more headcanons here, feel free to read them !!

Ok so for the “child of Frankensteins creature”, instead of being the child of victor Frankenstein, imagine a universe where victor was actually nice to his creation, gave him a name (Adam Frankenstein), and created a child for him instead of a bride. Also imagine Frankie sees Victor as an uncle more than a grandpa even tho he is technically their grandpa lmao

15 days old = 15 yrs old, they’re a sophomore at monster high

Since Mattel can’t make Frankie green anymore because of copywrite, I made them bluish and greenish yellow, blue for the g3 design and green yellow for the book design of Frankensteins creature (his skin is yellow because of formaldehyde so why not have Frankie’s skin a little yellow too)

Loves doodling on their prothetic leg

I went with an even nerdier design than last time I drew Frankie just because in the reboot movie, they wore sweater vests a lot and I thought it was cute lol

Loves accessorizing and piercings sm like their room is probably filled with diy jewelry kits and different jewelry for piercings (ofc their dad makes them get them professionally done no diy piercings here 😞)

Has a friendship bracelet with all friends possible and probably makes more all the fime

Their bag is a blue star bag with a yellowish white fluffy shoulder pad

Very very very tall, not as tall as their 8ft tall dad tho lmao

Loves platform shoes and bright makeup

Hair is like a side shave (shaved side is purple) with black streaks and a blue underdye

Doesn’t have braces anymore maybe they got them removed Lmao

Very much involved in school and probably has the most school spirit out of everyone

Doesn’t understand certain phrases (ex: bottle up ur feelings-they literally bottle up their feelings, it’s raining cats and dogs-probably will go looking for cats and dogs)

Based on my last redesign, probably still uses mobility aids when needed but they also have a prosthetic leg so idk how much

Can remove and add new limbs whenever

UPDATE: another idea I had and have said here before is that their dads could also be Herbert and Dan from reanimator because I think it's funny lol

If I think of anymore I guess I’ll add them lmao but ty for reading these if u did !!!

#art tag #procreate #procreate art #digital art #digital artist #fanart #character design #monster high #monster high fanart #frankie stein #monster high g3 #monster high redesign #monster high reboot #Frankenstein #adam frankenstein #victor frankenstein

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