#anyways i’m trying to do some redesigns and. what was i thinking in so many of these cases

[otaku553]

Straw hat women redesigns :) I was trying to doodle some of the crew and came to the realization that I just Could Not with Nami so I wanted to play around with it a little bit

Some more design notes below:

Nami’s design actually went a lot smoother for me than Robin’s! I think canon post timeskip Nami is a very low bar. While you can argue that to some extent Nami being vain and seductive is part of her character, I do feel that there are many more integral parts of her character that can be highlighted in her design, namely map making and her combat. Though not one of the stronger straw hats, Nami does seem to be well practiced with her staff outside of its use for weather manipulation, and I think her being a physical combatant, even slightly, can be better reflected with more loose clothing for better mobility.

For her mapmaking, I wanted her to have constant easy access to her tools and to information about the locale, so around her waist she has one large pouch at the back for books and scrolls and maps in progress and one small pouch to the side for writing utensils and measurement tools. As backup she also has 2 pens in her bun, which also act as pins for keeping her hair up if she ever needs to move a lot.

I’m not sure how clearly it shows up in the notes, but Nami’s shoe soles are also made from whatever artificial cloud material makes up the weather island she stayed on during the timeskip, so that it both pads her steps to make them soundless and bounces for better mobility. The shoes are naturally shaped like heels but without the actual heel, since she tends to move around on tiptoes anyways- a nod to her epithet as cat burglar and her past as a thief.

I made her shoulders a bit broader because I think they probably get a lot of exercise with her staff, and changed out the bikini top for a more supportive chest wrap, with a loose tank over it for breathability. The compression socks and sleeve are more stylistic than anything, since I like layers, but they might come in handy for her if she spends extended amounts of time sitting down making maps for the crew.

Robin’s was a bit more difficult for me to figure out, and I might go back and revisit it at some point. For Nami, it was a bit easier to imagine what would pair well with her combat methods and her needs as a mapmaker, but with Robin, she’s an academic who fights almost completely hands off, without a specific weapon to her name. Because her strength lies mostly in her devil fruit, she has a bit more room for style over functionality, but I also still wanted her to have something that made sense with what she was. I don’t really think I succeeded in that regard, but it’s also hard to convey what she does visually— she’s more of like a professor than a field archaeologist I think.

I really really enjoy her cowboy hat but I didn’t think it would match with the rest of the outfit so I switched it out for a wider brimmed hat and kept the orange sunglasses on it, as a nod to the revolutionaries with the combination of headwear and eyewear. She deserves a trench coat. I don’t make the rules. And the rest of the fit mostly came down to things I think I would enjoy wearing, haha

The trench coat is partially a nod to the scholars of ohara, who seem to wear white coats like lab coats in some screenshots of robin’s backstory. I think also the reading glasses help to make her seem a bit more academic, but aren’t prominent enough to leave a strong impression. All in all I do wish robin’s design had more functionality in it but I also think that robin is a character who probably enjoys dressing up nicely like this, especially in the comfort and stability of the straw hats.

#one piece #cat burglar nami #nico robin

[clambuoyance]

Hi! Sorry for all the notification spamming, I just really really adore your art & the way you draw characters. It's so cool how recognizable all the characters you draw are, like their features/proportions/style idk its amazing. Do you have any tips for how to make a character consistently recognizable in drawings? Also, methinks Tim as Stray would be so much fun in a TimKon relationship, would you maybe pretty please consider doodling a bit of what you think that would look like?

Your brain is galaxy sized, your art is fantastic, and I hope you have a wonderful day<3

Ty! I’m just going to answer your first question, even though you asked forever ago 😭 I’ve drawn stray Tim before but we’ll see if I’m up for drawing it again

Anyways, as for making characters consistently recognizable, I think it helps to make character sheets.

Using my ocs for example, when I redesigned Rolin in my new style, I knew I wanted to have a very Shapey look, so I’d write notes on things such as: how the cheek should curve, what the nose shape is like or how many Fronds in his hair he should have lol

As you can see, I even have arrows indicating the motion of the lines. If you’ve seen some of my posts of my redesigns for the dc characters, sometimes you can see notes in them too. Sometimes I write them, and sometimes I just catalogue the set of “rules” I create for a character in my head.

So yeah, for further example, I knew keiko had to have softer shapes to contrast her with rolin’s personality. I can’t find it, but I have a page in my sketchbook just working out the shape of her hair, which was initially supposed to resemble a butterfly 🦋 but then I made it have boxy angles. Whenever I draw them, I guess I go through their Individual checklists in my head.

Like for rolin:

-more sharp eyes, in an almond like shape. Check

-cheek is curved but “steeper” and leads to a somewhat sharper chin. check

- I usually have to redo the nose a lot but once it’s in the right spot for me I check that off ig

Or for keiko:

- rounder, bigger, more oval like eyes. Check

- hair bangs should start a little to the left of the middle of her forehead line, then to the edge of her ear. Check

- her cheeks should be squishy and round, and she should have a smaller face with her features more closer together. Check

And so on and so on, and the character sheets help because then you get into the practice of doing those same lines over and over, and at different angles or expressions. So even though I want to stretch their face as they contort their facial expressions, I still follow the same structure and adjust accordingly to keep their form, if that makes sense, I’m not perfect at it but I like to think my designs are at least distinct from one another and consistently recognizable

And this is a recent example, which I haven’t posted on tumblr yet bc I have yet to color it, but this is me trying to explore barts design and making sure I could still make it look On Model despite the different facial expressions.

So in summary my strategy would be to

1. Sketch and explore the character design, write notes and study what lines or elements work or don’t work

2. Create a list or repository of the essential elements or a set of steps to recreate the same design

3. Practice and make a sheet where all you do is actually recreate that design over and over again, until your hand can just do it without your brain having to recall the steps one by one , if that makes sense

Of course, I like to redesign all the time as well but I try to at least capture the character’s essence 😗

#clam answers #clam draws #art tip #art tips #character sheet

[quibbs126]

Hmmm.. What if, Dark Cacao x Second Watcher? I think they're cute :>

Meanwhile, Dark Choco and Caramel Arrow in background: ...

*yea, it's fankid request*

Alright, this time I ain’t fooling around, I will make sure these drafts save!

So Carrow and Dark Choco probably already know who this is (this guy’s from like an alternate timeline instead of a hypothetical future and here watchercao has always been a thing for them. I may have somewhat misunderstood the prompt so sorry), this guy is Panela Cookie

I called him that because panela is essentially just unfiltered cane sugar, like kokuto (also I’m making Second Watcher’s new name Black Sugar Cookie). Granted, his name worked better when I called Second Watcher Toffee Cookie, since panela is like brown sugar and that’s one of the main things toffee is made of. But oh well, I still like the name. Also it’s a potential name I’ve heard for Second Watcher Cookie

Panela:

So I know Panela’s hair is quite a bit lighter than his fathers’, but that’s closer to the color of panela, so I just went with it. Though it is supposed to be a slightly darker shade of Second Watcher’s highlights. Then I added the white both to reference his other father and the sugar on the panela. I wanted his outfit to be relatively simple because this isn’t his formal wear, rather what he wears out in the wilderness. Though also I feel like the colors are a bit too dark. I’m considering redesigning it

I wasn’t sure which weapon to go with, sword or bow, since while I first envisioned him with a bow, but he’s also part of the Dark Cacao family, and they all seem to use swords, and you’d think his father and brother would teach him. So I decided, “why not both?” so yeah. He switches between them depending on the scenario

But anyways, on to Panela himself. So he’s the second prince of the Dark Cacao Kingdom, and younger brother of Dark Choco Cookie and Caramel Arrow Cookie (for those who don’t know, I like the headcanon of SW being Carrow’s dad. The age order goes Dark Choco > Caramel Arrow > Panela, though Carrow and Panela have a much smaller age gap). So Dark Cacao and Second Watcher have been together since close to the time Dark Choco was baked, though Dark Choco and Caramel Arrow were each baked separately (basically I say that Dark Cacao is Dark Choco’s only parent and Second Watcher is Caramel Arrow’s). Panela however belongs to both of them. Now unlike with Dark Cheese, Panela had a very close relationship with his siblings, particularly his brother. He looked up to him and wanted to be just like him one day. But then, Dark Choco betrayed the kingdom. Panela refused to believe that Dark Choco would ever do this willingly, and tried to learn as much as he could about what happened (which wasn’t easy as many didn’t want to speak of it), so try and find any proof of foul play.

He eventually is led to the topic of the Strawberry Jam Sword, the thing his brother had gone in search of when last they saw him before all this, and the biggest unknown in the equation. So, he starts to research everything he can about the sword, in hopes he can find some explanation in there for what Dark Choco did. However, he has to do it in secret, as he’s looking into the very same thing the elder prince did before he betrayed them, and to make this public knowledge, particularly to his father the king, could lead to him getting exiled just like his brother, or at the very least, all his research taken and destroyed, and him likely never being able to find out the truth. As such, Panela keeps his research somewhere outside of the Citadel, away from prying eyes. Second Watcher might know of his research, but he also knows the reason for it. In recent years, with Affogato gaining more and more power in the kingdom, Panela’s had to be extra careful, especially after Caramel Arrow’s exile for seeming crimes, as if Affogato ever knew the subject of his research and its significance to the kingdom, Affogato could easily implicate him for treason of the highest order, plotting to assassinate his own father just like his traitorous brother, and he’d be banished at the very least, if not worse. Not to mention, were his father to believe this, he’d probably be devastated at the the thought that even his youngest would betray him, and Panela doesn’t want that, he just wants his family to be together again like they used to. However, Panela is also aware that with Affogato, he is walking on very thin ice, and it’s likely only a matter of time before it breaks

Now, Panela is currently the crown prince of the kingdom, however in recent years, he’s spent less and less time at the Citadel and more time out in the wilds. Part of it is that he simply likes being out in the wilderness—he’s an expert survivalist and could stay in the wilderness for months and be perfectly fine—but the more prominent reason is that he can’t stand to stay in the Citadel as he sees the kingdom fall while he’s powerless to do anything. And worst of all, his father, Dark Cacao Cookie. Ever since Dark Choco’s betrayal, he hasn’t been the same and has been falling into some sort of deep depression, and now Affogato Cookie’s practically running the kingdom and puppeteering Dark Cacao’s every move, and Panela can’t stand to see it. So he holes himself up in his hovel, burying himself in his work despite so few leads, hoping that something good will come of it

After the events of Episodes 13-14 however, his family has been starting to mend and heal, being closer once again, though not yet to the level things once were. The only missing piece is Dark Choco, but even that is looking like a potential possibility. Since then he’s been spending more time back at the Citadel, and while he’s still doing his work, he’s been going at it at an easier pace, and has even been considering telling his father about his work

I think that’s about it for Panela (at least as far as I can remember), I hope you like him!

#cookie run #cookie run kingdom #dark cacao cookie #second watcher cookie #watchercao #cookie run oc #fankid #fanchild #my oc #my art #panela cookie #requests #answers #oh yeah also in this timeline of events after CA’s exile Panela might have let her stay at his workplace #since he’s already put up a cot and some jellies for particularly long stays #also I kind of feel like I didn’t talk about his role as a prince enough #because yeah he’s the new crown prince now that Dark Choco isn’t here #that feels important but I don’t know what to do with it #also half considering changing the name to something less specific like Brown Sugar #but I think that’s another case of overthinking

[beepyscircus]

Big-ish infodump on Caustic rn because I surprisingly haven’t talked about him surrounding my AU/ kind of rewrite of Apex??

(With some doodles ig)

So this whole thing started out with me just not liking the Medusa arc that much or the mole arc and then I looked into it some more and realized Caustic is horrible representation for ASPD, I’m in no means an expert, but I know being a violent murderer isn’t exactly one of the symptoms 💀

Then I just- hated his relationships throughout the game

So much unnecessary drama between him and the others that could’ve been either avoided or resolved completely, and I’m aware the fact is that it’s drama, but it’s bad drama, imo at least, and I wanted to revamp Crypto and his relationship especially since I’m tired of tropes with transracial siblings not getting along and the fact that many poc, understandably, felt like it was racist, and I’m not even gonna blame them because it feels like that sometimes, I want their relationship to stay complicated but I don’t want them to completely hate each other. I feel like they’d be kind of awkward for the most part I just want the fuckers to be relatively happy and all respawn is doing is making me mildly uncomfortable with every update about them.

Besides that, I’m working on why/how he becomes involved into death and such to even kill people in the first place, but other than that he’s almost completely developed

He’s still killed people he just kind of stopped I have no idea how to explain it rn he is a very complex and weird guy alright-

He still experiments on people, though it’s mostly bodies, kind of like how it’s- I think is hinted at during the mole arc??? I can’t tell what was happening in that comic tbh I just think it’s an interesting idea for him to get his stuff from shady places and shit, I still have to catch up on the older chapters because I joined right in the middle of the shitstorm

I’m also trying to develop his relationship with other legends that isn’t just hatred

For example he’s friends with Wraith kind of, (it gets shaky after his fight with Wattson which still happens because I’m not trying to make him a complete good guy or smthn), Bloodhound, Gibraltar, Fuse, and Mirage. (Pathfinder too but he’s friends with everyone so), he ranges from liking the company of these guys to tolerating them, but it’s never always completely the same, because ya know sometimes friends have bad days and that’s fine. I want it to fluctuate because again I’m not like- trying to make him perfect.

I feel like everyone else is either neutral, indifferent, or just weary of him.

I also redesigned him because erm

It’s fun

I actually took most of his design aspects for my AU from one of his beta designs (I literally tried my best to add the specific one I’m talking about but Tumblr literally kept breaking on me)

Because I think it looks very pretty to me

If you look at some of my older posts of him you can actually see me doing this for a while now

Because I have.

I’ve been working on this for- I wanna say 3 years?? Maybe more idk.

I might post some of my older Caustic character stuff when I was first getting into it but some of it comes off as….uhhhh-

Very biased.

Don’t get me wrong I still am it’s just more apparent in my older stuff, I wanna try getting away from that in my AU because uh I don’t like it so-

Anyway

I like re-writing characters it’s a big hobby of mine when smthn about them irks me personally, you can like canon Caustic btw I do too, this is just smthn I mostly do for fun anyway

Most of the stuff I’ve changed about Caustic have all just been personal headcanons (example being he is a trans man) or things that I felt like would make the story more interesting than what they were initially doing (his dad dying of the same cancer he has), I’m not gonna ramble and put them all here but I’m thinking of making separate posts about them or probably rough comics-

Maybe even fan fictions if I’m feeling brave enough, because I have a few.

#digital art #digital drawing #my art #art #digital illustration #digital doodle #yaybow art #caustic #caustic apex legends #caustic apex #apex legends #digital sketch #digital fanart #doodle #yaybow ramblings #fanart #this is my first time sharing my thought process like this #so it’s probably a little sloppy #I felt like I would give context at least because I do have more art with Caustic and it will not make sense if I don’t lmao #anyways uh this is mostly a comfort au that I decided to share #a lot of characters are redesigned because of personal reasons and stuff

[missnight0wl]

QUICK! You have been hired by Jam City as a writer for hphm cuz you're great and the backbone of this fandom What's the first thing you do? What do you change in the story or where do you want to take it?

Wait, what? No, too quick! Too many nice words! Task too difficult! System failed!

Seriously though, thank you so much for your nice words! 💖🥺

Aaand… I’m gonna assume that “scratch everything after the Portrait Vault, rewrite it, and release again” is not really an option? Because that’s what I’d like to do the most. No? Okay. Then it’s gonna be a hard task indeed… But let’s try it!

I will take the story from the recently released point, meaning Y7Ch42. I know that more chapters are datamined already, but for the sake of this thought experiment, let’s ignore them. Now, without further ado…

First of all, MC!

Alright, MC is probably my biggest problem with the game currently, and that’s because they’re simply too stupid. They don’t remember things, they don’t ask questions, they don’t use any logic… I need to change it. However, I think that the actual first thing I’d change is the way MC interacts with Peregrine. And it might sound weird, but I’d actually remove the options where we can be hostile towards him. Why? Because it’s being ignored anyway. So, I’d rather be forced to be nice to Peregrine. It’s not ideal, but I like it better than “giving MC two consistent personalities is way too hard, so we’re being sloppy as fuck about it instead”. Besides, it actually brings me to the next point.

I want to explain why MC was so stupid so far. Admittedly, I don’t think it can really be explained, and everything will probably sound like a stretch, but I guess the best move here would be to explain it through Peregrine’s manipulation, preferably with the use of Legilimency. It could explain both why MC was stupid and why they acted friendly towards their father.

You know me: I’m bringing Rakepick back, baby!

I don’t care that most of the fandom hates her. I want her back. And I actually think she could really help us a lot, considering everything she knows. Also, I’m using my theory of false memories to explain how Peregrine was using her. In fact, it actually goes along with the previous point.

Like, imagine that MC discovered that Peregrine was literally messing with their mind, and they somehow find out that the same thing happened to Rakepick. Therefore, they decide to contact her because she somehow survived our last meeting in Azkaban. Now, I’d also love it to be done in a total conspiracy. For example, MC tells Moody that they have to see Rakepick because of something. I dunno, they want to ask her about R. And they say they want to see her alone. Moody obviously protests, but MC claims that she’s weak because the Dementors almost got her the last time. Moody finally agrees, and when we’re alone with Rakepick, MC leans towards her and says:

“I know what Peregrine did to you. I want you to help me bring him down.”

And yes, I know that the insane route would be pretty problematic here, but I talked about it in this post.

Also, I’m redesigning Rakepick’s Azkaban model to be less insane looking, at least for the sane route. I’m not even sorry.

More conspiracy

It’s kind of connected to what I said previously: I want more secrecy. I want MC to be way more careful with what and where they say. 

That means that I want to reduce the Circle of Khanna significantly as well. Actually, our meeting in Y7Ch42 could be a good point for some people to quit. I definitely don’t want younger people anymore: Cedric, the Weasley twins, Beatrice… I want them out. I don’t want to spend much time discussing every member now, but I hope you get my point in general.

So, what about Merula?

Well, I guess we have to address her, don’t we? I want her to quit the Circle as well. I mean, to be fair, I’d be fine if the Circle was officially disbanded in general, so there's that... However, I have to recognise that removing Merula from the story entirely would be unrealistic. Still, I guess I’d like MC to have some very specific reason to work with Merula. I don’t think she should be involved in anything just because.

Moreover, I still claim that it’s way too late to give her a proper redemption arc… but I need to see some change. I want her to have a conversation with MC where she actually apologises for ALL the messed-up things she did and acknowledges that it was wrong. And then, if you choose to remain resentful, I want it to be reflected in the narrative. I also think that it’d be a somewhat decent solution if at least for some situations, we could choose whether we want Merula to be involved or someone else.

VAULT!JACOB VS REAL JACOB

You gave me power, so I’m using it. I want it to be finally revealed that Jacob we’re seeing in the game is an imposter. And I want a scene where MC is saved from vault!Jacob by the real Jacob. Seriously, I’d cry from happiness…

Tying up loose ends

Basically, I just want to answer many many questions from the past. Bonus points if it involves Duncan. He could help us to figure out that vault!Jacob is an imposter, for example.

And finally…

WANDLESS MAGIC IS MENTIONED NEVER AGAIN!

Seriously, it’s one thing I want to be forgotten. I don’t want it to be explained, and I want to pretend that it never happened.

It’s definitely not everything, but I believe these are the most important things. Also, this post is already pretty long, and I don’t really want to make it any longer.

But yeah! That’s it! I hope you enjoyed it! :)

#long post #hogwarts mystery #hphm #hphm mc #hphm jacob #hphm peregrine #patricia rakepick #merula snyde #circle of khanna #jam city #ask #anonymous

[mythicaldemigoddess-of-deltarune]

Crossing Ken Penders Name Out Of The Credits.

just found out that Ken Penders is apparently suing again,

and this time it has to do with Paramount’s Second Sonic Movie.

 I have been thinking about crossing his name out of one of the newer fan arts I did but after hearing about this new information, I’m going to put it on my to do list where I will do it around this month.

we all know the whole Archie Sonic The Hedgehog series

and the whole Shade The Echidna/Sonic Chronicles The Dark Brotherhood incident/cases....

well it’s happening again it would seem, but this time it has to do with Paramount’s Movie.

hopefully everything will work out and those who had allowed Ken Penders to win the last cases before, will finally wake up and realize what he is doing now isn’t right, and the last time it happen before, wasn’t right either.

 some fans can still love his characters and the alternate counterparts from the Archie Sonic Timeline, but not him very much...I mean don’t know how many would still be big fans of him.

I don’t believe Ken Penders has a good enough case, and it is possible he is gonna make a lot of fans who had supported him before, really mad.

I might not be able to cross out all the credits I gave to him before in fan work,

but after finding out about him suing Paramount, I believe I made up my mind and I will be editing one of the fan arts and credits by crossing out his name.

it’s okay that not everyone agrees about my deciding to cross out his name from the credits, and he just lost possibly what was left of some respect and admiration some fans had for him.

I no longer see him as a victim...or someone who jump to the wrong conclusions over a misunderstandings.

I know Scott Cawthon went through some bad stuff before, because he trusted some people who weren’t who they said they were, and they end up doing the opposite of what they said they had “stood for” which I think made a lot people mad at him.

if it is all true, that the ones that Scott trusted before were just two-faced shisno who said they were for LGBTQ, but lied and really weren’t.

I think I should try to look up that info again...I hope he’s doing okay.

hopefully he had learned to never trust those liars again, and both him and his family stays safe.

what is happening with Ken Penders, is not a misunderstanding.

even if he seems to think he owns the rights to the Echidnas from Sonic The Hedgehog’s World, he really doesn’t.

I don’t believe he has any right to Scourge, because he didn’t redesign him to be Scourge The Hedgehog, so he shouldn’t be allowed to use the character.

only the fans should be allowed to use Scourge in Fanon work after the whole Super Genesis Wave.

and hopefully IDW will get the rights to Scourge The Hedgehog, which can also mean that he can appear in both IDW Canon & Fanon, as well as appear in a future Sega game.

I hope at least some can agree that what is happening now that has to do with Ken Penders, is really messed up.

even if we all don’t have to agree about the same things, like a show or movie or video game or fan theories.

but I think some can agree that Penders has crossed a line when he went after Paramount’s Sonic Movie 2. 

we the fans are not going to take it, which is why one of the tags for this is “We’re Not Gonna Take It”, that old song is pretty good.

even if some fans could possibly be fully on Penders side, ya can’t force them to see reason and they will have to try to see the truth themselves.

anyway there is another post I am going to do next after this,

but I will wait maybe a hour or so...because I kind of want to do some other stuff before then, like play video games and also check out some stuff on here.

once again, I plan to do some editing that has to do with crossing out Ken Penders   name, I might not be able to do it for all the fan work that has him in the credits, but I’m going to do my best with editing some of them.               

#paramount #sonic movie #ken penders #we're not gonna take it #shade the echidna #scourge the hedgehog

[vonkarma2]

3 + 6 + 20 + 40 + 44? For oc asks

3. Have you ever adopted a character or gotten a character from someone else?

Not that I can think of I’m trying to think… I guess the closest would be making Meat City characters in a collaborative world, but I don’t think I’ve ever like made an oc together with someone else to my knowledge, + I definitely haven’t paid for an adopt or been gifted someone else’s character. I could be forgetting something but I don’t think so no :P it would be cool though maybe sometime in the future

6. Two OCs of yours that look alike despite not being related?

David and Tiago look somewhat similar for now, but I think I’m going to redesign David to make him stand out a bit more/convey his personality better. Rocio and her dad both look a bit like Shamash. Outside of that though I really try to contrast people’s looks so I don’t think many of them look that similar?? Maybe they do lol idrk

20. Do any of your OCs sing? If they sing, care to share more details (headcanon voice, what kind of songs they like etc)?

Saida: Originally, she wanted to play guitar, but she quit bc it was too difficult, + singing was ofc much easier so she decided to focus on that instead. She has been like actively studying for a while and she’s in the chorus of her school. She ofc likes punk rock/hard rock type music. She’s not like super talented or anything but she is pretty solid at least for her age, and she’s good at like not holding back and putting a lot of power in her vocals.

Melanie: She isn’t particularly good at singing whatsoever, but she does really like doing it for fun. She thinks it is incredibly embarrassing, however, so only does it when she’s alone. She likes a lot of genres of music, but she actually prefers pop + r&b style vocals over those of rock music.

Remy: In making pop music, he does have to sing sometimes, + his alien species has both like highly improved hearing and wider vocal range than humans, so he is considered really good. That being said, he doesn’t find it particularly enjoyable, he’s more of a dj/electronic musician, so he’ll like heavily modulate or like distort his vocals in some way to make them more interesting to him.

40. Any fond memories linked to your characters? Feel free to share!

Mostly talking abt them with people shout out to anyone who’s ever talked abt ocs with me even if it was only for a little bit I always love doing it. Staying up late to work on writing for them was also really fun, and ofc I’ve made some drawings I’ve liked of them that were a lot of fun. Artfight as well

44. Something you like about your OCs in general

I have to come up with another one rip 😔😔😔 I should have saved the masc women thing for this one. Has anyone actually read all of these to get that reference I feel like I’ve done 500 even though this is literally the fifth one. Ok anyway this is like a personal taste thing but I like how for the most part most of my ocs are generally nice people, like don’t get me wrong I love terrible evil mean characters in general and making them sometimes as well, but it’s nice to think abt these people who all want to help each other and would probably get along. Super super corny I know but I like to think about it nonetheless. Here are the biggest exceptions to this rule

Joanna

Rocio

Aya

Salem

Tora

Henry

This other girl whose name I haven’t come up with yet she’s the one who looks like this

if anyone who has read this far has an idea for what her name should be please comment with it lol

#thanks for sending these :) #I did this many oc asks in an afternoon just to flex on you specifically #<joke #my ocs #daisy gloria and laura are in a gray area on the jerk to nice person scale #adam and talia would be on the list #but adam is very nice #and talia has very good intentions/usually effects to her actions #she’s just like. mean #also I just realized I have ocs named Henry and Adam… I should collect the other trc main characters too

[mapleleavesart]

Rough Days and Lo Mein

Don't mind me posting a few of my drabbles! This is a Mikey x yokai!OC of mine and I wanted to post it but I didn't think AO3 would be a good spot for it. The OC is named Mei and she's a Qilin/Kirin. I may or may not post some art of her; I'm in the middle of redesigning her.

(Edit, they will be in their 20's in these, having dated for a few years now, but aren't in any order chronologically. They take place in the 'good future' after the movie)

Word count: 1486

Content Warnings: use of the word 'devil' but not really. Just fluff.

Mikey heard the click of the door close. Then the soft clop-clop of hooves stepping on tile. He looked up from the article on his phone from his spot at the Tian Manor’s very impressive and absolutely gorgeous kitchen. It was the size of the lair’s living room!

The soft thump of a body hitting the soft couch one room over alerted him- immediately he knew something was wrong. He stood up and figured out the way to the entry room- Pizza Supreme, this place had so many rooms!

Not two minutes later he found his target- his lavender Qilin, flopped dramatically on the couch, tail falling off one end and hooves sticking into the air.

Heh. Having unguligrade legs would do that, he supposed.

“Rough day, huh?” Mikey guessed, crouching by his lover’s head and stroking one of her long, tunnel-like ears.

“Yeeeeeeep,” Mei answered him, peeking one brilliantly phthalo green eye open. It sparkled in the natural light leaking from a window somewhere, shifting from lighter green to a darker, almost blue shade, like a gemstone with different faces underwater.

Mei’s eyes were one of her ten most beautiful aspects, in Mikey’s opinion. Up there with her hands, her dorsal scales, her belly scutes, her tail fluff, her body, her face, her hair, and her floppy ears that accented every expression she made and made it super obvious what she was thinking or feeling at any given moment, and really, it was a wonder why Mikey hadn’t fallen for her earlier. And she only got more beautiful with age, so, truely-

Right. His muse was right in front of him and she needed some comfort. Not hearts-for-eyes.

Michael pressed the back of his hand against her horn. It was pretty warm for something made of pure keratin. “Wanna talk about?” he asked, already knowing the answer but offering anyway, while simultaneously planning the rest of their evening.

“Not really,” Mei answered, unaware she was following the script in Mikey’s head to the letter. 

“Okay,” he shrugged, taking the hand pressed against her horn and intertwined it with her nearest hand. “I’m gonna make you something, and then we’re gonna curl up in a pile of blankets on the most comfortable couch in your uncle’s gigantic mansion and then we’re gonna watch funny videos. Or maybe a movie, if you have something in mind. Okay?”

The Qilin Yokai blinked at him tiredly. “When you said  ‘make something’ I hope for your sake you meant food.”

“Aww, you know me so well, Angelcake,”

Mei hummed and shut her eyes.

Mikey kissed the back of her hand, leaned forward, kissed her temple, and whispered “love you,” before he set to work.

~~~

Thirty minutes and a lot of digging around the kitchen looking for the ingredients and tools he needed later, Mikey came out with a woven tray in one hand, the way he was taught to do when he worked at Run of the Mill that one time when he was a kid. 

Did it take a lot of figuring out how Yokain foods and stoves work? Yeah. Did he try a bite of almost every strange Yokai food in the house to compare it to his usual ingredients? Yes.  Did he almost get his finger bitten off by something decidedly still alive in the freezer? Yeah. Was it worth it? Only if he could get Mei to smile.

On the tray was a ceramic pasta bowl, dark green with a few lines of gold- kintsugi- filled with a thick, dark brown sauce and thick noodles, topped with some mystery vegetables and seasonings. It’d be fine. He was a great chef and they were all flavors that worked well together! Mei would love it. Right?

… Right?

Mikey stopped in his tracks. Mei wasn’t where he left her. His hands went cold. His heart pounded in his tympana. “Mei?” He called weakly, voice not responding fully. “Mei, Angelcake?” He tried, louder this time.

One Mississippi. Two Mississippi. Three Mississippi. 

No response.

The box turtle spun around, scanning the room. It was empty. Not even a strand of tail fur. His head swiveled like a loose screw. The front doors were undisturbed. So we're the two side doors near the front of the mansion. The door to the powder room under the stairs was open and the lights were off. The giant sliding floor-to-ceiling doors under the landing that he'd never been in were… not undisturbed. Huh.

A little light peaked through the crack, softly shifting colors. He crept towards the doors, the quiet sounds of an aquarium ambience YouTube video drifting to his tympana.

He nudged the door open a little further with his foot. The back of a leather couch faced him. There was a pool table to his left and in front of him was a giant… TV? A large square of light and moving pictures was framed by twisting crystals, not unlike Yokain phones. Currently fish were swimming across the screen, casting soft blue light. 

“Mikey?” A soft voice called.

“Mei?” He repeated, stepping around the side of the couch. The love of his life was stretched gracefully across the dark red-brown leather, tail lining the perimeter. Mikey gave a soft smile. “You had me worried for a second there,”

“S’rry. Wanted to get comfortable.” Mei gestured vaguely at the giant screen. “And, y’know. Get this set up.”

“It’s okay,” Mikey shrugged, “just tell me when you disappear next time.” He sat down next to her and she scooted to sit a little more upright. “Oh, and I got you this-” The box turtle took the damp towel that hung on his arm and draped it over Mei’s horn. 

Mei let out a sigh and relaxed her shoulders. “Oh, much better,” she whispered, “you’re the best, Pumpkin,”

“Don’t thank me yet,” He answered through a grin, “you haven’t tried my new recipe!” He placed the tray on her lap and she reached for the fork. “I, uh, I’m not familiar with most Yokain ingredients, so I have no idea what’s in there, but I taste-tested everything I didn’t know so it should still be good-” he bit his tongue to stop his rambling and Mei took a bite.

Her head immediately tilted to one side. The Qilin chewed slowly. It felt like forever until she swallowed and ran her tongue over her lips. It felt like two forevers until she said anything, and even then it was just a quiet, “oh wow.”

“Do you like it?” Mikey asked tentatively, wringing his hands together.

Mei stared down at the dish. She poked a reddish-orange vegetable cut in thick circles. “Interesting use of the Devil carrots,” she noted. “Really brings out the flavor of the - what is this, Grick chops?”

“I have no idea,” he confessed. “Is it- do you like it?”

Why the hell are they called Devil carrots? Oh gosh, she doesn’t like it, does she? She’s totally gonna hate it I did all that for nothing oh god I’ve just ruined her night further oh gosh oh no-

“It’s… it’s like, really good, actually. How’d you know Devil Carrot Lo Mein was my favorite?”

Oh, if only he could become one with the couch. “Lucky guess?” he tried, relaxing and leaning into her while storing that information for later. He fit perfectly within the curve of Mei’s side, like they were two puzzle pieces made to fit. “I’m really glad you like it, I had no idea what I was doing up there.”

“Oh, sure, cause you’re capable of making something that tastes bad,” Mei remarked with a sarcastic eye roll. “I think this is better than Uncle Shangti’s recipe, actually. He usually uses Simurgh or gyuki steaks, but I almost like this better.”

Okay, now Mikey was ready to melt into a puddle of joy and leather. He rested his head against her shoulder. Her tail curled around his body like a mold-to-fit lumbar support attachment. He let out a small churr of contentment.

“Love you,” Mei said in between bites. “Here, find something?” She handed him something like a remote. 

“Love you too.” He took it and fiddled with the buttons.

Ten minutes into some bake-off show, Mikey glanced up at Mei from where he was braiding her waist long, golden-orange hair. He stared for a moment. Blinked to make sure he wasn’t hallucinating. “Mei, Angel, your throat is glowing,” he whispered.

Her pthalo eyes flicked to him, reflecting the golden light. Understanding flicked in them a second later. “Oh!’ She stage-whispered back, leaning forward to place her now-empty tray on the coffee table, “I finally get to show you why I love Devil carrots so much.”

This had him confused. “Whaaa…?” he started to voice, only to have his jaw hit the floor as Mei exhaled a plume of flames.

“DEVIL CARROTS MAKE YOU BREATHE FIRE???”

Mei burst out laughing.

#rottmnt #rottmnt mikey #rottmnt x oc #rottmnt michelangelo #drabbles #fanfic #still dont know how to tag #rottmnt yokai #oneshot

[theveryworstthing]

So over on patreon Trevor asked for my take on the Addams Family and I grew up LOVING the Addams family movies so here we are. Instead of doing a straight up style interpretation, I decided to do a full on design challenge, using the characters as bases to make a black southern gothic Addams au. I actually drew the kids first, using the character bases of Wednesday and Pugsley to create some delightful kiddos I'm calling Sunday and Blanche. I of course then redesigned Gomez and Morticia into Carlisle and Mortesha.

The Addams have a very specific high aristocratic goth aesthetic (they've got a butler and nobody really works among other things) so in this re-imagining I wanted to go with vibes that run a little more middle class/upper middle class.  I thought it would be interesting to think about what would be considered weird and off-putting in an entirely different culture, and how being a big ol' goth is way less controversial than it used to be.

I tried to keep this short (HAHAHAHAHAHA) so I didn't spin off into an essay about villain coded families, black people in the horror genre, and normalcy as it pertains to social survival, but just...bits of that are in these designs and lore. Keep that in mind.

Also I made the kids twins because they've flip flopped in age so much in different media and also twins run in my family (i'm the daughter of one). And let's face it, I'm pulling a lot of their southern gothic traits from living as a southern goth so *shrug*.

10 thousand pounds of lore incoming loooooooooool.

The Parents

From the moment he saw her he knew that there was a 50/50 chance of him either never making it out of that swamp alive or marrying the figure that was creeping out from under the distant willow tree in a black cocktail dress. The third time she found him trussed up in one of her traps, he complimented her rope work and asked if she'd like to go out sometime after his head wound stopped bleeding.

Or while it was still bleeding.

If she was into that.

Some kids and a mysteriously burnt down Piggly Wiggly later, their love is still as strong and inescapable as a bear trap in a sink hole.

Carlisle Guillermo (now Addams through marriage but I wanted to give him two first names for a name since Gomez has two last names) makes a vaguely described living practicing ‘law’ around town. A loophole king, people come to him from miles around with contracts signed in blood, fights over chunks of hair buried in their rivals’ yard, dehydrated primate hands, memories that seemed like dreams until the evidence of their happenings became too real, and other regular Legal Items asking for counsel which he is all too happy to give. For a price. Sometimes that price is a homemade pie and sometimes it’s a million dollars, depends on who you are. Whatever you’re asked to pay it’s worth that price, and if you try to scam him out of work or he just plain doesn’t like you? Well. He knows how to twist a contract better than anything at the crossroads.

And he always gets his due.

He doesn’t just serve the local (living)humans though, there are many things that need proper legal representation in this day and age. You wouldn’t believe how many city councils try to build on sacred burial grounds even after he lets them know that his ghostly clients are totally gonna haunt the FUCK out of the ensuing shitty condos and curse their families for all eternity. At least 50% of his energy goes towards dealing with real estate bullshit.

Carl is an excitable and good natured(?) man who loves his family, cigars, dancing, and his many knife-based hobbies. People find him very charming once they get past the feeling that they’re talking to a sultry gator badly disguising itself as a human. I didn’t put a ton of deep thought into designing him, mostly I wanted to make a middle aged dude who looked like he would have been voted ‘most likely to smooch the literal devil’ in high school. Tbh he probably has, but no demonic ex’s can compare to his lovely wife~

Mortesha Addams(her name was already perfect so I just tweaked it)is a woman of many talents. A self proclaimed homemaker, she prides herself on a greenhouse full of Concerning Foliage, a beautiful wasp apiary, and a coop full of what are probably chickens that she keeps for what are probably eggs. She’s also an avid creator of the outsider art that can be seen around the estate. She has taken on the family business of selling her homemade goods in a little stall by the road just outside the swamp with her mom, and makes pretty good money doing so. A surprising amount of poison gets bought in quaint southern towns.

Speaking of poison, people who come out to the edge of the swamp to buy it are usually carrying a lot of secrets around, and Mortesha knows most of them. It’s not like she pries the truth out of people, it just so happens that many nervous hellos eventually turn into the tragic backstory power hour if she’s alone with a client for long enough. She supposes that’s just how people are. Despite the fact that the Addams are very active in the community (whether the community likes it or not) she especially, as a direct descendant of the first Addams matriarch, is seen as…Well not an outsider because the community feels A Certain Way about outsiders and despite it all the Addams are their people, but maybe something like an exception. They feel like whatever weirdness they’re hiding can’t be weirder than any given Addams, so they get a little loose with their words.

This is amusing to her, since Addams’ don’t naturally keep the kind dramatic secrets that their surface level prim and proper neighbors do. It’s much more fun to openly talk about those things.

Do they have a sadly decrepit yet terrifying grandma up in the attic? Yeah, like three. They got a tv, all the creepy porcelain dolls they could want, and they’re close to family. Where do you keep your gram-grams?

Any bodies buried on the property? Yeah some, but most are thrown to the gators.

Any creeping through the balmy summer night with ill intentions? Yeah dude, everyone loves a nice family stroll.

What about dangerous forbidden love? If an adult Addams isn’t incorporeal then they’re either queer or in a torrid romance with some person/thing mysteriously drawn to that awful swamp. Sometimes both at the same time. Most times actually.

Mortesha would know.

The current head of the Addams family is just as outgoing as her husband but a lot quieter and harder to read. She never really seems to get mad about much and always has a genteel smile for everyone whether they deserve it or not. A seven foot tall human shaped “Oh, bless your heart”. A perfectly composed Lady even when she’s, oh I dunno, burning down a Piggly Wiggly. You know. A regular southern mom. Chat her up at the hair salon for 50% off a jar of wasp honey with your next purchase of a mysterious but foreboding packet of herbs.

Designing her was pretty easy because I just drew a lankier Grace Jones and called it a day. I had some problems with her outfit simply because if we were going HARD southern gothic then she’d probably be wearing a white/cream dress with a fuller skirt but I thought keeping the silhouette and the black was more important. She’s supposed to be an anti southern gothic southern gothic character anyway. A woman who looks like she has a million secrets who is actually the most open person you could meet. For better or worse. The red hair came from a coloring error that I really ended up liking (my mom had red hair her whole childhood that only darkened up in high school so I can buy that an Addams can be naturally fire engine red) and the veil was to get more of that classic Morticia silhouette in there.

The Children

Sunday and Blanche are the twin children of Carlisle and Mortesha Addams. Some say the Addams clan got their cursed homestead when a wealthy local businessman made a deal with the devil and lost, leaving his grand mansion to his least favorite maid and cutting his losses once he realized that the swamp would do everything it could to drag the house into the water and take what was owed with its horrible curse. Others say that the family has just always squatted there and no one really cares because man, fuck that particular swamp. Have you been in there? Absolute horror show.

Anyway.

Blanche is the more outgoing sibling and quite the engineer/mad scientist in the making. He started going grey at 2 weeks old but considering he was also rocking some extra fingers, toes, and a tiny tail (he takes after his dad), his parents just put it on the 'not life threatening' pile and decided not to worry about it. He's the kind of smart that teachers find utterly infuriating, less a dog eagerly learning and obeying commands and more a hyena who keeps teaching itself how to pick locks. He has a few friends in his school's robotics club (which they honestly allowed him to make so the school could contain his... creations) but mostly hangs out with his sister exploring the swamp. They find all sorts of neat things in there! wedding rings, suspiciously lumpy garbage bags, cloaked cultists who can't read private property signs, it's an adventure every day!

Blanche is all about experimentation with his creations, his look, and his tether to this mortal coil. Is lipstick a cool thing to try? Let's find out. Can he get out of a strait jacket fast enough after being pushed into the depths of the swamp by his sister? let's find out. He's not dead yet and confused local doctors can attest to the fact that he's rarely attained more than a bad bruise so he's pretty set on continuing to kiss rattlesnakes on their cute little heads and have his sister practice her knife throwing at him until that fact changes.

Blanche is very much a country goth. Cowboy boots (customized by his mom), knife, and lighter are daily accessories. He likes to wear the crusty swamp jewelry they find (the rust adds a splash of color!) and despite appearances he does try to keep himself neat. He's just got  natural Grunge Colors and a tendency to wear clothes he likes until they fall apart. Pugsley always seemed the most modernly styled to me (which might just be because little boys clothes have been the same for a long time) so I wanted Blanche to be the most purposely fashionable Addams. Everyone else is goth by nature, but he's the only one truly familiar with goth as an alternative fashion.

I got really into designing Blanche because honestly, I find Pugsley to be the most boring member of the family. And he was hard to design! I had to mess with his vibe a lot to get him looking how I wanted. I know he's supposed to evoke an " 'evil' little boy next door who's parents never reign him in", but that's just goth Dennis The Menace.  I's 2020. We can at least go queer goth Calvin.

Sunday was much easier to design. Wednesday was my favorite as a child (of course) and I really wanted to keep the spirit of her look while adding things like billowy sleeves (it gets HOT down here), big poofy twists instead of braids, and a nice tie. She's a professional after all, been running the local pet cemetery since she was 6 and the previous groundskeeper met with an unfortunate accident after telling her that tarantulas don't have souls. Her specialty is creating beautiful naturalistic animal funerals similar to those that Maquenda (https://linktr.ee/artofmaquenda) makes, and she takes pride in creating miniature dioramas of her subjects after each burial which she uses as a kind of 3D catalog for future clients.

She really wants to try out her skills on humans one day. Well. Publicly try out her skills. Lotta random bodies float into the swamp. None of them have turned down her requests for diorama models so far. Most seem downright flattered. Plus, she usually figures out which graveyard/crime scene they floated over from and gets her parents to give them a lift back. She'll even help enact terrifying revenge from beyond the grave on whoever put them there if she's not, y'know, busy.

Besides arts, crafts, and pet based funerary arrangements, Sunday is an avid lover of archery (any ranged weapon really), books where little fantasy adventure animals die dramatic deaths, and history. She is That Kid who eagerly raises her hand when asked who Christopher Columbus was and ends up being sent out of class after 15 minutes for making 'a scene'. Her favorite party trick is just picking an item in the room and talking about how it relates to either some obscure historical figure with a buck wild life or a horrible disaster. At least one charity pancake breakfast ended with children in tears after her vivid description of the Great Molasses Flood of 1919.

Social-wise, while Wednesday is the girl that people ask to smile because they think she'd, "look so pretty", Sunday is rarely asked anything at all. People just kind of assume from her quiet nature (in between horrible history facts) that she's angry all the time and that she hates everyone. This is untrue. She hates some people but she's ambivalent to most everyone else and even downright friendly if you bother to talk to her like a person instead of a terrifying cryptid. Like, she IS a terrifying cryptid but she's also a little girl.  

That’s about it for now. One day I might do the other family members but for now I’m happy with the four I’ve redesigned. Making an au! Lurch in a family that doesn’t do butlers could be interesting. Over on patreon I put forth that he could just be Motesha’s mute little brother (similar bone structure) but Amy Crook had the nice idea of quote: “ a mysterious "cousin" that "helps around the house" whose origins are both long in the past and faintly unsettling. He's good for lifting heavy things, like that tank of propane you're about to throw into the burning Piggly Wiggly... “ which i now consider canon. Who's kid is he? How old is he? Not important. Anyone willing to commit arson with you is family.

Annnnyway.  This challenge was a lot of fun! I love indulging in AU’s.

#long post #the addams family #Character Design #au #design challenge #i am incapable of doing a design challenge like a normal person #oh god i forgot the cut lol

[mauesartetc]

Hey, what made you think that Vivziepop was stealing/copying other artists for Andrealphus's design?

I mean

It's weird that Viv gave human hair to a bird, and the fact that OG Andrealphus has nothing to do with ice is a massive red flag this guy's ripped off from Elsa.

This isn't the first suspicious design she's* churned out, either. Some o' y'all might remember this image from my Striker redesign post:

Notice these two villainous cowboys with tiny mustaches and nearly-identical eye and eyebrow shapes. They almost look traced, and unfortunately, that's nothing new for Viv.

*(EDIT 8/12/23: Fact check via erinfrostart in the comments: "Viv did not design Striker, one of her designers did. I watched Striker being designed, and as much as I’m no fan of Viv I can confirm he was designed before Long Gone Gulch premiered." Important clarification. Thanks! Others who worked on the show around this time are welcome to share their perspectives as well. I know how the situation appears to me as a viewer, but I'm sorry my phrasing laid blame where it wasn't deserved. I assumed malice where ignorance was the more likely reality. My bad. Now if someone has a convincing, non-theft explanation for Andrealphus, I'd be very curious to hear it.)

But wait, there's more.

It always struck me as odd that Fat Nuggets' original name was Wiggles, which is dangerously close to Waddles from Gravity Falls. And his design from the Addict video sports a ton of similarities. I went ahead and recolored Waddles for the hell of it, and uh...

Also note how Fat Nuggets’ snout is just Waddles’ snout upside down.

Y’all might be thinking "C'mon, Maue. That's a coincidence. How many possible ways are there for a person to design a cartoon pig, anyway?" Quite. A bit.

Look at all the variety in how different artists interpreted the same animal (ok, a warthog's not a domestic pig, but still a pig). This is likely due to their confidence and trust in their own visions, and willingness to draw from real-life inspirations rather than copy other animated productions. When an artist directly "borrows" from another's work, it leaves their own with a faded Xerox-of-a-Xerox quality. It's better to stay true to their own experience rather than mimic an experience manufactured by others.

When designs by two different people (or teams of people) working on completely different projects have as many similarities as Andrealphus has with Elsa, or Fat Nuggets has with Waddles, that’s no accident. That’s calculated. 

I’m sure Viv thinks what she’s doing is just an “homage” or some shit, but copyright holders won’t see it that way. Years ago, a client tasked me with designing a Willy Wonka parody character, so I whipped up a dude in my own style with similar hair and clothes. It was innocent enough; I wasn’t trying to rip off anything. I thought the design would help the audience tell it was a Wonka parody while still being its own thing. I thought that would work, but... My client relayed a blunt message from his lawyer basically saying “um NAH don’t fuckin’ use this”, so I changed up the colors and clothing style and it was fine after that.

If Viv continues to pull this shit in Hazbin and Helluva, she’ll find herself in legal trouble. Obviously there’s no such thing as a completely original idea, but this is just lazy. Fortunately, I’m sure at least Hazbin’s design team (less sure about Helluva’s since they let Andrealphus slip through the cracks) will filter out these bad habits and won’t be afraid to tell her “no” now and then. It’s for her own good.

 “But Maue”, you might be wondering, “How do we ‘stay true to our own experience’? How do we collect visual references for what we want to make without copying someone else’s design?” Well, this post’s long enough, so I’ll answer that in a subsequent entry. But here’s a hint:

Photos.

‘Til next time.

#ask #shorikissune #character design #hazbin hotel critical #helluva critical #vivziepop #pigs #andrealphus #fat nuggets

[darkficsyouneveraskedfor]

Fully Completely 1

Warnings: non-consent sex and rape (series), attempted violence, mutual irritation.

This is dark!Loki x reader and explicit. 18+ only.  Your media consumption is your own responsibility. Warnings have been given. DO NOT PROCEED if these matters upset you.

Series Synopsis: There’s a new face in Birch and he’s come to haunt your door.

Sister series to Smalltown Bringdown, When the Weight Comes Down, and Little Bones

Note: I did not plan to get the first part done so soon. I will probably be setting time aside as I write this to also work on some original stuff. When it comes to that, I’d love if y’all might let me know what you think would be a better medium to release it? Kindle, Patreon, etc. I’m really not sure but if it was Patreon it would like be two series running at once with a chapter of each a month + Q&A and maybe some bonus materials? I am a noob at this shit and it wouldn’t be for a while yet.

Anyways, I’m rambling...

Thanks to everyone for their patience and feedback. :)

I really hope you enjoy. 💋

<3 Let me know what you think with a like or reblog or reply or an ask! Love ya!

Chapter 1: She simply slammed the door

💀💀💀

The garage smelled like oil and snow. The cold air seeped under the closed metal door as you sat on the low stool and affixed the new headlight to the propped up Harley. It was only the start of an impractical rebuild; your brother wanted everything metal replaced with chrome. You thought it was obnoxious but the parts were paid for and you could never complain for money.

You were funded exclusively by the town’s club, your garage not far from The Asp where the members hung out and revved the engines you found yourself looking at more often than you liked. You were good at what you did though and privileged for it. You had the protection of the club without having to devote yourself truly to its bounds.

You checked the wiring and rolled away from the bike to change the station as the radio crackled. The snow kept setting the speaker to static and the noise was driving you mad. You flipped the switch to play the cassette stuck in the drawer, the old stereo beaten up and filthy. Springsteen’s gristled tones filled the shop and you wheeled back to your brother’s ride.

With the storm would no doubt come more work. Your fingerless gloves itched more than they kept you warm. Your fingertips were numb as you touched the frigid metal and the sweat of your palms made the fabric uncomfortable. You were used to it, rather tolerant as your task kept you distracted.

You were interrupted as you bent to look under the tank and get a good look at the exhaust and the rest of the beast’s entrails. You had the new pieces still wrapped and didn’t intend to do it all at once. Jerome could wait for his tacky redesign.

A loud banging came at the metal door and you glanced over in irritation. Anyone in Birch knew to come in the painted door to the left and not hit the large one. You huffed and stood with a groan, your hips sore from the low stool. 

You fixed the front of your fleece-lined denim jacket and pulled the tail of your plaid shirt from inside your jean pocket. You’d been hunched over so long you were all wrinkled. You went past the large door and into the small entryway off the left of the garage and opened it with a tinkle of the rusty old bell above.

You stuck your head out into the gales as the snow continued to fall and squinted at the man in his thin jacket. He stood beside the long luxury car as another man with wild orange hair remained in the driver’s seat and blew into his hands. They were out of place in the small town and you could tell by the way the man scowled at the door that he knew it.

“Hey,” you called to them, “there’s a place down the street. I don’t do walk-ins.”

“Oh, hello, Miss…” he let his voice trail off as he neared and you stared at him rather than provide your name. His accent, his attire, the curl of his lip, it was clear what he thought of you and the bodunk town, “actually I was referred by an acquaintance. One, James Barnes.”

“Bucky?” you furrowed your brow.

“Mm, yes, that one,” he said, “my car will need detailing. We had some difficulties on the motorway.”

“Right,” you tried not to scowl, “well, if he sent you, I guess I can help.”

You left him and the door clattered behind you. He followed a few steps after as you went to the switch and pushed it to raise the wide door of the garage. You waved in the driver of the car and he carefully pulled in beside your brother’s bike. 

He got out and you were surprised by his size, he was taller even then his companion and wider; neither could be described as short. You lowered the door as the thinner man walked along the shelves and the long table along the other side of the garage. The bigger man stood by the car and tucked his hands in his pockets.

“Not much better in here than out there,” the dark-haired man turned back to you, “you have heat in here?”

“You need a better coat,” you said as you rounded the back of the car, “and some boots.”

You glanced pointedly at his leather shoes and bent to reach under the table. You pulled out the space heater and plugged it in as you set on the wood. You cranked it up and smiled at him tritely.

“So, what’s the damage?” you asked as you looked to the other man.

“Headlight, maybe,” he said in a peculiar accent, “some scratches. We had a bit off a run-in.”

You neared and bent to examine the front of the car. You sighed as you tilted your head and clicked your tongue. It was easy enough to beat out the dents and buff out the scratches with a quick refinish. The headlight would need to be replaced and you knew they didn’t carry anything for that model in town. No one there was pretentious enough to drive it.

“If you want the headlight done before you leave town, it’ll take some time to get the replacement,” you warned.

“Oh, and how do you know I’m leaving?” he taunted coyly.

“Well, I know you’re definitely not sticking around,” you scoffed.

“Why wouldn’t I? A quaint place like this, I’m sure there is so much to explore,” he said dryly.

You had no delusions of what Birch was but it wasn’t the part of outsiders to deride the dead end. You stood straight and put your hands on your hips.

“You can go back to your castle, my lord, but you will have to wait out the storm,” you sneered. “Two days for the scratches. If you want to take it back after that and wait for the headlight to arrive, that’s fine with me.”

“Two days for the scratches? Surely you could do it before the morning,” the black-haired man insisted.

“I could but I have other work to do,” you replied, “so you can be patient and take your turn in line after all the hicks who live here.”

You went back to the table and grabbed your phone from where you tossed it earlier. You unlocked it and searched the model of his car and scrolled through the parts list. 

“You’re Bucky’s guest so I’ll send the bill to him?” you asked, “though you do look to be able to afford it yourself.”

“You can invoice him directly,” he assured, “so you’re one of them?”

“One of them?” you repeated as you focused on checking out. The damn internet kept cutting in and out.

“My brother, those men in this town, I never knew a woman--”

“I’m not a biker. My brother is in the club,” you assured him, “so that big blond dope, he’s your brother?”

“Regrettably, yes,” he slithered, “Loki Odinson,” he introduced himself as he rubbed together his hands, the leather gloves doing little to protect his fingers, “my driver is Korg, and you’ve yet to tell me with whom I am trusting my property.”

“Again, there is a shop down the street. Prices aren’t bad,” you finished up your purchase and tucked your phone in your jacket pocket.

He met your eyes as you turned to him and he looked down his nose. You kept on and brushed past him as you went back around the car and sat by your brother’s bike.

“Sorry about the boss,” the other man, Korg, intoned, “he can be a bit--”

“Don’t apologise for me,” Loki snipped, “I needn’t atone to her.”

You rolled your eyes and wheeled around the side of the bike, “if that’s everything, you two can head back out. I’ll let you know when the car’s ready.”

“We might wait for the snow to calm,” Loki suggested.

“I close in an hour, you’re not staying here all night,” you sniffed.

“Trust me, I have no special desire to spend more time with you than necessary,” he retorted, “I don’t think I’ve ever met a woman so volatile as you, dear, and I’ve only just met you. I never expected you people to have very many manners but perhaps what I did presume was too much.”

You bared your teeth but kept at your work. You would worry about kicking him out when you finished the wiring.

“To be fair, had you not spoken first, I might’ve assumed you were a man,” he added.

You paused and glanced down at the open tool box. You weren’t unused to the comments, you weren’t girly in any way but it wasn’t like you were trying to be a man. You wore what was comfortable and in your work, practicality prevailed over aesthetic. Yet, your years of ridicule as a kid made you less tolerant of the comments and those had stopped long ago because you made sure they did.

“Oh, darling, have I upset you?”

“Don’t call me that,” you said as you reached into the toolbox.

“Well, you’ve not given your name and I’d hate call you what I truly think of you--”

The wrench flew from your hand as you stood and spun to him. It barely missed his head and bounced off the wall and plunked onto the table beside the heater. His eyes rounded and the other man looked at him. There was a thick silence as you glared at him.

“If you weren’t a friend of Bucky’s, I wouldn’t’ve missed,” you hissed, “now I will kindly, before I reach for a bigger wrench, ask you to leave.”

He pushed his shoulders back and tilted his head as his lips thinned dangerously. He swallowed and beckoned the other man with two fingers. His cheek twitched as if he would grin and he nodded subtly.

“Well, darling, how amusing you are. These brutes must adore you,” he snarled, “the exterior does indeed say it all.”

You bent and reached for another tool blindly. He blinked and quickly dodged as you flung the next wrench and he followed his henchman to the entryway. Your temper was a match for many men. It kept you safe.

“Barnes did not say his mechanic was a madwoman,” Loki called back as the bell rang.

“What, are you going to tattle on me?” You stormed towards the doorway, “you precious little princess?”

“Princess?” he met you in the doorway as Korg behind him held the door open and the snow blustered in, “I know Barnes will do me no other favours, but do you think he’ll do you any?”

“Get out,” you spat and shoved him, “I don’t need men to take care of me and I have no problem in proving that.”

He bit the inside of his lip in a crooked smirk and winked before he turned away and strutted out into the snow, shielding his face from the wild winds. Korg trailed behind him and the door sprang back into the frame. You crossed your arms and glared at the peeling paint. 

You were tempted to tow his car out and let it weather the storm but you were smarter than that. If he was doing business with Bucky, you would be a fool to get in the way of it. 

💀

The snow dwindled to a lazy dusting, the ground thick and treacherous. That day, you started early and around noon, you headed across the street to the diner for your usual lunch of a club sandwich and black coffee. You didn’t have to order as all the waitresses knew what to expect. You weren’t unfriendly but your association made many standoffish.

You tapped on the lip of your mug with your thumb, fingers hooked through the handle. The sleepy town felt dead in the winter. You were used to the dullness of Birch but tolerance was hardly happiness. It was home, where you’d grown up and you had no certain desire to get out, but you wouldn’t mind a little more than what was expected.

You yawned and gulped down the last of your coffee. It was bitter and left a few grounds on your tongue. You leaned back and grabbed the monthly newsletter from between the salt and pepper shakers. You read through the fun facts which weren’t very fun or even new. They were copy and pasted out Guinness and Reader’s Digest.

You looked up as you sensed someone approach your table but it wasn’t the waitress. The man from the day before slid coolly onto the seat across from you at the booth and smirked over the table. You raised the newsletter again and folded it backwards to read about the weekly knitting circle down at the rec center that was also the library.

“Good afternoon to you too,” Loki said, “it must be fortune I ran into you, I was hoping to inquire after my car--”

“I told you, two days,” you said tersely as you continued onto your horoscope …‘a new force will bring change’... You hated this tripe. You swore, every month they just switched the blurbs under each sign and hit print.

“So be it,” he cleared his throat and you lowered the paper as he shrugged out of his jacket.

“What are you doing? I eat my lunch alone,” you said.

“Well, to be frank, I was pointed here on the promise of some famous cabbage soup,” he explained as he folded his jacket over the seat next to him, “you looked like you needed company.”

“I don’t,” you assured him.

Kimmie came over and set down your sandwich. She greeted Loki and you saw the way she eyed his tailored suit. He stuck out in the town of flannels and denim.

“Hello, sir, can I get you something to drink?” she asked.

“Tea, English breakfast,” he ordered smoothly.

“Oh, sorry, we only have um, um, sorry, peppermint, earl grey, ginger lemon, and green,” she listed off as she tried to remember them all.

“Earl grey,” he sighed, “and a menu.”

“No, no menu,” you insisted, “and you can take his tea to another table.”

“And when we’re through, I’ll take the cheque,” he ignored you and snickered under his breath.

“Kimmie, can I get a to go box?” you asked as you shimmied off the seat and snatched up your coat, “I have to get back to work.” You took out your wallet and counted out the usual amount plus a tip, “thanks.”

“Of course,” she smiled awkwardly and glanced between you and Loki.

She scooped your sandwich back up and scurried away with it. You felt him watching you as you walked away and went to stand by the till as you watched Nora flit into the kitchen. She packed up your food and returned with the box. You took it and headed for the door, ignoring the arrogant out-of-towner on your way.

“Wait,” Kimmie called out your name and you turned back as she held up your keys, “you dropped these.”

You met her halfway and took them from her with a mutter. Again, he was watching you… or still watching you. She spun and promised she’d have his tea shortly.

“Hmm,” he hummed and you head to the door again, “interesting, I never would have put the name to the face.”

You pushed out into the snow and gritted your teeth. You thought of getting the work on his car out of the way quickly so he would leave you alone but your spite made you want to put it off entirely. Whatever. He’d be gone soon enough.

#loki #dark loki #dark!loki #loki x reader #birch #fully completely #series #sequel #dark fic #fic #dark!fic #thor #mcu #marvel #au #biker!au #biker au #biker boys of birch #bucky barnes #korg

[slytherwrites]

Dedicated Interest - pt 1

Costume Innovation

The moment when a Class 1A member became interested in you would be days into the second year of school when you actually approached them after the second year lunch. With your notepad in hand and confidence spurred on from Power Loader himself supporting the redesigns, you head towards your target: Momo Yaoyorozu.

You’ve seen her fight—you’ve seen all of the future heroes fight. Support Class students are encouraged to watch Hero Course students in order to gain inspiration. Over the winter break, something in you had the urge to fix many of the hero students’ costumes—particularly the ones in Class 1A. They seemed to need your help the most.

The cafeteria is massive. But the tall girl isn’t hard to spot. With her long, black hair and confident, but charming voice, you’re able to locate her pretty easily. Getting her away from the girls she’s walked in with is the hard part.

But you don’t stop. In fact, you just go for it. It’s now or never, afterall.

“Yaoyorozu,” you ask, “can I talk to you for a minute?”

“Oh yeah, sure!” She replies, “don’t wait up for me guys. I’ll be there shortly!”

You lead her out into the hallway. The noise of the cafeteria can still be heard, but it’s muted enough so you two can clearly hear each other.

“Have we met before..?”

“Not formally,” you reply, “I’m one of the Support Class students, L/N Y/N. I was watching a bunch of the students compete and I was inspired to do costume redesigns.”

You pass her the notepad. A barebones sketch of her is underneath a more detailed drawing of your suggested hero outfit. With inspiration from both her summer and winter costume, it gives more strategic thought to her hero costume than there was before. There is an open back with an easily detachable front that can optionally be worn with a cloak. Elbow pads and knee pads provide joint protection, as well as shoes that’ll support her instead of the heeled boots she’d been fighting in. The cutouts are strategically placed, with spots on her thighs, lower legs, back and stomach. There still is an element of modesty, as her breasts aren’t halfway out all the time anymore and it’s all in her original color scheme.

“This is…” She pauses. You can’t tell what’s on her mind.

“Sorry if I overstepped my boundaries, I promise not to bother you anymore!”

“This is ingenious!” Momo replies, “Tell me, when do you think you could have this made?”

“Oh umm… I would have to get you measurements and source the materials, but that shouldn't take too long. A week, maybe two tops? Nothing new’s being innovated, it’s just a matter of taking it from my notes to an actual thing…”

“Sounds great.” She takes the pencil you keep clipped on your notepad and writes down her number, “I need to get to lunch but I’m free this afternoon for measurements. Text me!”

“I will!” You take the notebook, clutching it against your chest. Yaoyorozu was the right person to start with.

===

You immediately added Yaoyorozu’s number after lunch and now you’re getting a ping from it.

Yaoyorozu: Hey, I’m free anytime from 4:30-6:30pm. What time works best for you?

You look at your clock now. 4:30’s coming up soon. A number of your classmates are still in the 2-H Workshop, but it isn’t so busy that you wouldn’t bring in another person—that’s only when Hatsume’s working, as she’s a safety hazard in and of herself.

Y/N: Now’s fine! I’m in the 2-H workshop. It’s in the east wing.

The chatter of machinery and the lyrics to some pop song trail along in the background. You’ve mostly tuned it out, so Yaoyorozu has to tap on your shoulder to get your attention.

“Y/N?” Her calling you by your first name gets you out of your daze and you reply, “Oh, hi Yaoyorozu!”

You turn to face her. A bit of heat heads to your face as you see Yaoyorozu’s skin tight outfit. She certainly isn’t uncomfortable in her skin.

“You like my outfit? It’s designer—part of Mount Lady’s recently dropped workout line.” She replies, “I thought I’d wear something closer to my skin in order to get proper measurements done.”

“Oh yeah. That’s smart. Let me grab my tailor’s tape and a sticky note!” You rummage through your school bag for spare supplies, pulling it out and pushing your classwork aside, “Here it is! Now we’ll start from the top down, getting all of the measurements and then you can be on your way.”

“Sounds perfect.” Momo stands straight, arms and legs shoulder width apart. She’s obviously done this before.

As you hum along to the music, Momo watches you. You don’t notice, but she stares at you, dedicating every little detail to memory. Something in her wants to replicate everything you have for herself. Though, as you stand up and put your tape measurer down, she coughs and clears her mind of it’s racing thoughts.

“So… what were you working on?”

“Schoolwork, nothing much.” You admit, “Just some back to school safety briefings—as if most of us didn’t come in during the winter to continue our projects. You probably don’t want to hear about it.”

Momo proves you wrong, “What other projects do you have going on?”

“Oh uh… well, Power Loader’s gave us a robotics project to work on and I’ve been specializing in costumes so I’ve been trying to create a list of heroes and hero students to make improved costumes on. You’re the first I’ve actually been able to do hands-on work for though… That’s for this, by the way!”

“How could I refuse?” Momo asks, “Your improvements and overall design is better than what I could’ve come up with on my own.”

“I guess…”

“May I ask,” Momo says, “How did you come up with this design?”

“Mostly by watching your trainings, as well as current pro hero costume trends.” You repsponds, “Most female pro heroes have their legs exposed in some capacity, but don’t have any sort of knee protection—which I think is stupid. And if we do knee protection, we need elbow protection. And I’d advocate for more coverage in order to have protective plating underneath the suit, but since you need your skin out, I had to limit it to specific areas. And the cloak came really handy for that! Plus I could have it cover your back in order to let you conceal items you create and have you… I’m rambling, aren’t I?”

“No, no! It’s fine.” Momo replies, “I find this fascinating. Please continue!”

“Well… I’ve noticed that in a pinch that you’ll lose your top and then have to make yourself new clothes. But since your shirt is magnetic and can be put back together, you can save… materials as well as use that space for other things.” You continue with a laugh at yourself, “I don’t really understand how your quirk works, but I hope this costume will work…”

“I convert fat lipids into other atoms and release them from my skin.” Momo explains, “but I think your idea will work.”

“Let’s see.” You reply, “Well, I think that’s all I need from you. Thanks for sticking around and listening to my rambling, Yaoyorozu.”

“Call me Yaomomo. My friends do, anyway.” She tells you, “Text me anytime!”

“Oh uh, cool.” You tell her, “I will.”

She eventually leaves you to your devices, but you don’t leave her thoughts. In fact, you are steadily taking up a large portion of her thoughts as she contacts her house staff to start construction on a wing in the manor to give you the biggest, best laboratory possible.

#yandere class 1a #yandere mha #yandere bnha #yandere momo yaoyorozu

[quibbs126]

Randomly I just remembered this old character and story I made back junior year high school

Basically the plot started off as being about how this one villain actually had a crush on the hero he fought against, but it kind of spiraled into its own thing

Our main protagonist, aka the villain, is a guy named Sunni, and this is the only art I have of him (it’s pretty old, I’ll probably redesign him at some point)

I don’t think Sunni was intended to be the main protagonist, or at least he and the hero he fought against shared the role, but he’s the one basically everything was written around, as well as the only one who’s name I can remember, so screw it, he’s the protagonist

Also he’s supposed to be half dragon. Magic creatures exist in this world but it’s still modern and humans also exist, and I didn’t really think it through

Anyways, so Sunni is part of this group of villains, but truthfully he’s pretty low on the ranking system, he does a lot of minor things, the story would basically just follow him and his subordinates doing stuff. He does still have a crush on the hero who goes to stop him, which would be this guy

(Disregard the guy in the corner, he’s from something unrelated)

All I remember about him is that he has ice powers, and he generally seems bland and minimalistic, but he’s just kind of like that and he has nuances to him that Sunni appreciates about him (when they aren’t fighting that is)

I think in the original, the only reason Sunni is a villain is because he wants to get the attention of his crush and doesn’t know how else to do it. He’s not really a bad guy he just got in over his head and accidentally stumbled into where he is now. I feel like I should give him an actual reason for sticking around and being a villain other than this but I’m not sure what

Also people in this world have magic powers, which they aren’t born with, but rather they get their hands on this orb thing that they ingest and it gives them powers. Sunni however does not have any because he doesn’t actually know where you’re supposed to get them, it’s more like an open secret, they aren’t just distributed around the world. However, so many people can get their hands on them, including actual children, that he feels like if he asks anyone he’ll look like a complete moron and become a joke, so he’s trying to figure out without letting it on that he doesn’t know. He gets by through sheer ingenuity and some mechanical talent

Let’s see, other characters

Well there are his three subordinates, that being two twin kids, one with the power to separate things, including himself, and the other being able to fuse things together, and then there’s his other subordinate who’s powers I don’t remember, only that she was more a femme fatale, her grandfather is a siren and her grandmother a selkie, and she’s also casually dating Sunni’s boss. Which he knows about but he doesn’t know what to do with this information, it’s just really awkward to him (note that this lady is like at least in her 30s, she’s not a young adult/teen like Sunni)

Speaking of his boss, she’s basically the person who runs the villain group/organization he’s a part of, and she controls black holes, which is why she’s considered so dangerous. Also her and the other lady’s romance are like a casual subplot that shows up every now and again

One other thing I remember about this story is that there would eventually be a plot where everyone who has powers (which is a lot of people, at least in the cast) one night suddenly becomes incapacitated, because there’s something affecting the orbs that give them power. And since Sunni doesn’t have powers, he’s unaffected and has to try and figure out what’s going on and how to stop it by himself

I think that’s all I remember about it. I’m kind of invested again, but I also notice some issues here and there, and I want to go and see if I can redo some things

Oh another thing I just remembered, Sunni eventually had a thing where after finding out his crush liked women (his crush is bisexual but Sunni’s not really aware of that), he disguised himself a woman and as a completely different person to see if that would get him to hang out with him, and they did eventually become friends that way, though his crush didn’t know this was Sunni. This didn’t mean anything when I wrote it but maybe it should. Or I should take it out

#also Sunni was in theater and is very proficient in disguises via makeup and costumes #didn’t know where to put that in #original characters #original story #sunni #my art #I don’t know what else to tag this

[shining-magically]

so I’ve wondered this since the trailer came out years and years ago and Chloe defended the movie - was the red shoes teaser written by the same team that made the movie? were they forced to market it like that, was that based on an earlier draft, etc?? not sure if you know but you seem like the leading expert!

Sorry, this is gonna be an absolute novel because you know I’m an animation fan and the history and production of Red Shoes and the Seven Dwarfs is SO interesting and insane. Like, Tangled levels of insane. Thanks for calling me an expert, no one else was gonna do it so I just kind of took up the helm lol.

Here’s the low-down... The timeline of the movie’s production is an absolute mess and kind of an extremely wild ride. It was in production for ten years, went through a lot of different crew members, and went through at least two other major versions of the story before landing on the final version.

Since there’s not a ton of info on the movie’s production, a lot of this is pieced together from different interviews and context clues, and also a lot of what I’ve read and what I am quoting has been translated from Korean, sometimes pretty roughly. But yeah.

Here’s the story of why the Red Shoes and the Seven Dwarfs teasers and poster were so, so bad and fatshame-y and the actual movie was so, so good and body-positive. (With pictures and production artwork!)

(This is a beast of a post so I’m putting it under a cut.)

All right, so. After its conception originally as a short story by the South Korean studio Locus Creative in 2009-2010-ish, Red Shoes and the Seven Dwarfs was being worked on and was set to come out in Summer 2017, as evidenced by this poster at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, featuring a different logo and very different character designs for most of the dwarfs.

In early-mid 2016, the first teaser (in which we see Snow White undress and then two dwarfs recoil in horror at her fatness when she takes her magic shoes off) was released, after the film had kind of been slowly chugging along for 6 or so years. (I am having such trouble pinpointing when the second teaser was released (in which one of the dwarfs basically attacks Snow while she is sleeping to steal her shoes), but I believe it was around the same time.) The teasers didn’t get that much traction because this was a small film from a small indie studio in South Korea.

None of the final actors had been cast yet. At this point in the production, the story was different, one of the many versions that the movie went through. As in the final movie, the dwarfs were actually cursed knights/princes and Snow White switched back and forth between two body types due to her magic shoes, but in this version, the dwarfs needed to steal the shoes from her in order to break their curse (rather than needing “a kiss from the most beautiful woman in the world” like in the final movie).

The weird thing is, I believe they had JUST changed the movie’s story when the teaser came out. I’m almost positive it was released more as a proof of concept than as an actual trailer for the movie. They had just recently combined two separate characters (seen above), a typical pretty, skinny princess character (Snow White) and a cute chubby girl character (’Bonnie’), into one single character that switches back and forth between the two appearances when she wears the magic shoes (also they had just dropped literally half of the movie taking place in the real world, with a magic mirror portal, it was a whole thing). 

They didn’t have the details of this aspect of the new story hammered out yet, and the first pass at presenting Snow’s magically changing body type, was, yeah, not good and super offensive. This was a really inexperienced indie studio making their first film on a low budget, so even the animation and voice acting wasn’t great. I think they just wanted to get SOMETHING out there because it had been 6 years and they wanted to have something to show for it.

But here’s the thing. Despite how the teasers make it seem, this was always supposed to be a movie about body positivity, letting go of appearance-based prejudices, and loving yourself and others for who you are and for who they are, which we see in the final film.

I like to think of our film as a kindhearted one. Our intentions are nice.

- Director Sung-ho Hong

It’s important to keep in mind that this movie was made in South Korea by a 99% Korean crew, and, as I understand it anyway, in Korean culture, ‘fatshaming’ is not really a thing that is seen as overtly offensive. Also, children’s media there seems to have more adult things in it than in the US, which probably accounts for the more risque parts of the teasers. That said, I really believe that at this point in the timeline, the movie was on-track to be bad (or at least not very good) when it was released, and it would have ended up bad IF a few key players hadn’t signed on (which I’ll get to in a moment).

Interestingly, the movie’s producer, Sujin Hwang, said in a 2017 interview:

“[Both teasers] were solely produced to induce curiosity. They’re completely irrelevant to the actual story.”

- Producer Sujin Hwang

I think what she was trying to convey was that neither one is a scene in the actual movie, because while the teasers didn’t reflect the revamped story as it existed in summer 2017 (the time of the interview), they DID reflect the earlier version of the story where the dwarfs wanted her shoes, which is what the story was at the time they were made.

Now that we’re in post-teaser 2016, HERE’S where things start to turn around. After the teasers were released, my guy Disney veteran and native Korean Jin Kim joined the project. He and Red Shoes director Sung-ho Hong had been buddies for about eight years and Sung-ho had been trying to get Jin to come to Seoul and work with him at Locus for a long time, and he finally succeeded.

Jin and his twenty years of Disney experience as an animator and senior designer on films like Tangled, Frozen, Big Hero 6, Zootopia, and Moana, had a HUGE HUGE HUGE influence on the movie. He redesigned almost all the characters, oversaw all the visual development from the moment he signed on, and heavily (HEAVILY) supervised the animation, literally going frame-by-frame through preliminary animations and drawing over them, teaching the inexperienced animators at Locus everything he knew. (Literally almost everyone except him either only had TV experience or had no professional experience because they just gotten out of school.)

From an outsider’s perspective, it really seems as though Jin joining the project (and his gargantuan effort) made the quality SKYROCKET. Not just in character design and animation, but also in things like effects animation, story, etc. After he joined, Locus really started pushing HARD to make a good, high-quality movie, and his influence and experience from being a prominent figure at Disney was absolutely key. The studio also began to really study Disney films and other well-made animated films from other studios to really try and pinpoint what the DNA of a good animated movie really is.

I don’t have any solid evidence, but I’m pretty sure that Tony Bancroft (an animator and the co-director of Mulan) then joined the project because he’s good friends with Jin Kim. He is only credited as the voice director (the movie was recorded in English and the characters were animated to the English dialogue), but I am SURE that he probably also had a pretty big influence on the movie, because like... How could he not? I really really think there was more to his role than his title would have you believe, even though there’s almost no info out there about it.

So now the movie goes through a gigantic metamorphosis. Character designs, visual development, and animation quality are all rapidly improving, the story is tightening, and the themes of the movie (which, again, were always the same and intended to be positive) are being presented in a more sincere way. The movie is becoming the sweet, self-love-encouraging and body-positive movie that was eventually released.

I’m putting a gif from the credits of the final movie here. As we move into 2017, when the giant eruption of backlash occurred, please keep in mind that the story was finalized at this point and that THIS was the movie people were so mad about:

Chloe Grace Moretz accepted the role of Snow White immediately after she read the script and she recorded her lines (I think) in early-ish 2017. Her co-star Sam Claflin also immediately accepted the role of the romantic interest, Merlin, after reading the script and recorded his lines in (I believe) July 2017.

In the summer of 2017, the story and script were more or less the same as in the final movie. Promotional images from that time show that most of dwarfs had been completely redesigned by this point and didn’t have their teaser designs anymore.

They also released a few screenshots that look exactly like the final film. The movie was advertised as coming out in ‘2018′ at this point. Here’s a promo image from 2017 that is MUCH more tactfully worded than the infamous Cannes poster:

So now we’re in summer 2017. The Cannes Film Festival. The movie’s script and story have been basically nailed down, animation is underway, and the Korean film company Finecut is beginning to market and sell the movie to worldwide audiences. They are planning on showing some footage to potential buyers at the festival, and they make a poster to advertise the film there.

Unfortunately, it’s THIS POSTER:

Now here’s where there are some unknowns. By this point, the movie is basically in its final form, which is an adorable, body-positive story about loving people for who they are, loving yourself for who YOU are, and that provides commentary on society’s standards of beauty and how they affect how people are treated/viewed. So why this poster??? All I can really tell is that someone (I think Finecut) really, REALLY messed up and either horribly mistranslated the tagline, or didn’t do enough research to know that this kind of thing is REALLY NOT OKAY in western culture.

The above picture is shared and the internet backlash begins, fueled by tweets from prominent body-positivity activists like Tess Holliday. Even Chloe Grace Moretz speaks out against it, because she of all people KNOWS that that’s not what the movie is about. The internet then finds the old teasers from before the movie was revamped and it makes things worse. Producer Sujin Hwang profusely apologizes and says that that is NOT the message of the movie. Locus pulls the advertising campaign, and takes down the two old teasers.

“Our film, a family comedy, carries a message designed to challenge social prejudices related to standards of physical beauty in society by emphasizing the importance of inner beauty.”

- Producer Sujin Hwang

Voice director Tony Bancroft also tried to explain the situation:

“The truth is the film has a body-positive message as its core theme–it’s the opposite of what reports are saying. The problem is one poorly translated movie poster that has been taken dramatically out of context.” 

- Voice Director Tony Bancroft

And then... There was nothing for a while. The movie didn’t come out in 2018 and was delayed. From what I can tell, I DON’T believe this delay was related to the Cannes backlash. I think it was mostly due to Locus’s limited budget and resources, because as we know, animation is difficult, time-consuming, expensive, and easy to do badly but hard to do well. Also, probably with Jin Kim and Tony Bancroft’s influence, they REALLY wanted to make sure to do a good job with the animation because they now had a great story and they really wanted the movie to be a quality, worldwide hit that would kind of put South Korean feature animation on the map. Just take a look at how nice the final animation was:

The movie was released in South Korea on July 25th, 2019. Unfortunately, the damage was done in the English-speaking markets and it was not released to an English-speaking audience until June 22, 2020, when it was released digitally in the UK. At the time of this post, there is no set US release date, but the distribution rights were recently bought by Lionsgate and the MPAA gave the film an official PG rating.

So who’s to blame? There’s no good answer. You could blame Locus for making those old teasers. You could blame Finecut for the competely tonedeaf Cannes poster. You could even blame cancel culture for raging against the movie based on one poster and two old teaser trailers without researching what the movie was actually about.

All I know is, it’s a damn shame.

#mooncactus #red shoes and the seven dwarfs #red shoes and the 7 dwarfs #animation #animation production #animation history #red shoes movie #redshoes #jin kim #tony bancroft

[imaginativeamateur]

So excited for the event! Congrats on the followers!! Could I request prompt 18 with some angst and fluff for femreader and Shikamaru?

[Shikamaru Nara X Reader] True Relaxation

|200 Followers Event|

Prompt: 18 — “Why are you yelling at me?"

Pairing: Shikamaru Nara x fem!Reader

Note: Thank you for requesting, anon!!! This prompt was so interesting to write about! And I think my title-generating ability is approaching its limit huhu, I honestly don't know how to name this piece. But anyway, enjoy reading and have a great day!

You were immersed in the housing catalogues and magazines that you got from your scouting for the last few weeks. Decided to move into a new apartment, you volunteered to search for some options because you knew the Nara had a ton of work to tend.

When he opened the door to your shared place, you did notice his return but you were in the middle of scribbling some notes. Without lifting your body, you greeted, “Welcome home, Shika. I’ll be done in a few minutes-oh, this one seems nice!”

Shikamaru plopped himself down onto the couch and released a long sigh, “Hey, Y/N!”

You shot up from the bed when you finally discovered the perfect apartment for the two of you. It was close to the Hokage tower and not too far from your office either. The region was safe and had a lot of facilities, including access to a sauna and many eateries. Most importantly, the price was also suitable. You exclaimed excitedly, feeling a sense of achievement before scooping the stack of catalogs and notes in your arms, marching into the living room, “Shikamaru, look! I found the perfect place for us!”

You received no reaction from the man, his face turned away from your direction but awake. But that did not bother you to go on with your findings, certain that he would pay attention the moment to disclose the information. Hopping onto the couch, you set your notes and the pictures out in front of the two of you, “This one lies in one of the main streets. The security there is on-point, not to mention all the restaurants and food stalls they have. Oh, there’s like this sauna service that operates 24/7. And there’s a nearby park where we can go cloud watching or stargazing if you want to spend time outside. It’s also very close to where we work and the price is feasible, too! What do you think?”

“Y/N…,” he breathed, eyes drifting elsewhere.

“If you don’t like their interiors, we can redesign it once we move in.” You thought he did not have a positive impression of the option and held out a different advertisement instead, “But if you don’t like it still, here’s another one that I think is also suitable. This one is a bit farther from the Hokage tower, though. It’s still surrounded by numerous facilities like department stores and restaurants. Oh, I remember, it’s close to Ino’s place! The price—”

“Can you please stop?” Shikamaru spun around to face your direction and scowled.

“Yes? I-I just want—”

“Can’t you see that I’m trying to take a rest? Can I just relax without having to listen to all of this?” His voice was malicious to your ears and your eyes widened.

“Why are you yelling at me?” You tried not to whimper at his sudden outburst when you already felt a lump in your throat and a burning sensation in your eyes. You just wanted to tell him the great news you discovered with no whatsoever intentions to upset the man.

Shikamaru did not answer your question, instead, he leaned back and closed his lids in exasperation. His day must have been very stressful and you suddenly felt extremely guilty for not considering the fact that he was up for a meeting as early as five in the morning. Quickly wiping your tears away, you gathered the scattered papers back in your hands, “Right, I’m sorry for disturbing you. You must be tired, I-I’ll get going. I’m sorry.”

You stood inside your bedroom, trying to suppress the hot tears that kept falling onto your cheeks as your head hung low. You did not want to cry over something like this—when it was totally your fault. You were insensitive, you did not realize he was completely drained when you rambled about things that could have been said during another occasion. But tears kept strolling down your face and you hated it, you hated yourself. Sobbing as quietly as you could—the last thing you wanted was to disturb him again—you sat on the bed and stare blankly at the dull catalogs that you found so interesting and attractive moments ago. You could have given him a cup of warm tea instead of torturing him with the momentary unimportant, bleak facts. If only you could rewind the events within the last ten minutes…

Then, you suddenly felt a pair of strong arms around your shoulders as his familiar scent overwhelmed your sense, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to yell at you, Y/N. I was just tired and I took it out on you, which I’m awfully wrong for doing so.”

“If you’re tired then you should rest,” you merely distanced your body away from his.

“I do need some rest but can’t relax when my little Y/N is crying by herself. That’s even more troublesome, yeah?” Shikamaru smiled and laid onto the bed with open arms, “Come here!”

------------------

Taglist: @dai-tsukki-desu @thenightfallingstar @animepickle7@iam-gaaras-loveintrest

#shikamaru fluff #shikamaru x you #shikamaru nara x reader #shikamaru x reader #shikamaru nara #shikamaru nara x y/n #shikamaru x y/n #shikamaru imagine #shikamaru scenario #shikamaru

[h-worksrambles]

Overdue thoughts on Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes

I’ve been meaning to talk about my reaction to the latest Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes trailer, and now I’m finally gonna do it. This isn’t some super in depth theory crafting. Much like my Kingdom Hearts IV post this is just some early reflections.

I’ll start with what I’ve noticed in terms of gameplay because this’ll be the shorter part. Also, I’ll just quickly point out that most of my Musou knowledge comes from the two Hyrule Warriors games. So if I sound ignorant about specifics of Dynasty Warriors gameplay, it’s because I am. Just a heads up. 

One thing I’ve been consistently impressed by in Koei Tecmo’s latest Musou spin-offs is how committed they are to trying to make them feel like part of the series that spawned them. Persona 5 Strikers and Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity both perfectly match the graphical style of the games they’re based off. They also both pull a ton of aspects from the gameplay of their source material and blend them with Warriors gameplay. Sure enough, we have already seen Combat Arts, Gambits, Adjutants and the class system in these trailers. Combat Arts are particularly neat, since OP special moves are a Warriors tradition, but letting you choose from multiple ones is a neat bit of customisation (or maybe it’s already been done idk). Teaming up with allies on the battle field for group attacks is also cool as is more control over AI allies, but I hope this doesn’t replace actually swapping characters which I think is a great mechanic for these games both to keep variety, and bolster their light strategy elements. Three Houses’ training is also back, and hopefully will be used to cut down on the typical Musou grind rather than increase it.

Ok, that’s all I can observe from the gameplay as far as I can make out and it all looks great. Here’s hoping there’s not any egregious performance issues.

Anyway, onto the story. So far I’m getting major vibes of Age of Calamity. This very much appears to be an alternate timeline, much of which revolves around our new protagonist, Shez. The idea seems to be that Shez’s absence was the main reason Three Houses played out the way it did, and now that they’re here, things may go differently. 

Incidentally I’m glad Shez isn’t a silent protagonist. Byleth had more characterisation than your average silent protag, but they really couldn’t carry a story without the three lords (see Silver Snow for proof). I’ve already praised the new redesigns, and yes they are all chef’s kiss. But I wanna talk chronology. Anime ages are hazy at the best of times, but from what I see, there is definitely a timeskip here and they do look older, but the changes are way less pronounced than they were in Three Houses. The war has not been going on for five whole years it seems.

The game also seems to be going out of its way to tap into some unexplored ideas from the original. For instance, we see a pink haired warrior in the trailer who could very possibly be Holst, Hilda’s previously unseen brother, as well as a new character who resembles Claude (another member of the Almryan nobility?). Even Monica seems to be here, though the jury’s still out on whether this the real or Monica or simply a disguised Kronya. 

Shez also has a companion figure much like Sothis named Arval, but this guy’s whole colour scheme resembles the Agarthans. I know that, as such, some people are expecting a twist villain but I actually hope not. The Agarthans were probably the weakest part of Three Houses’ story as they hindered the game’s gray morality by being obvious villains who masterminded many of Fódlan’s worst aspects. Giving them a sympathetic god figure similar to Sothis, or at least having one Agarthan who isn’t cartoonishly evil could provide them depth, much like the Nabateans.

And of course, we gotta talk about Byleth. 

I think posing Byleth as an antagonist is a great reversal. It takes their silent, borderline Gary-Stu/Mary-Sue nature and turns it into something threatening by turning it against us. Nice to see them living up to the Ashen Demon name. And supposedly, they nearly killed Shez at some point in the past and the story is hyping up a rematch of sorts. However, I highly doubt they are a true villain. We see that their name and gender is still decided by the player, which implies they’re playable. So I’m expecting a dual perspective story simillar to Gaiden and its remake Shadows of Valentia. This would mean switching between Byleth and Shez at story intervals much like Alm and Celica, leading up to their second confrontation. Then again, this game apparently has three routes, so I don’t know how this could logistically work in that context. Interestingly, Sothis’ narration in the first trailer makes some comment about revenge and given how, normally, only Byleth can hear her, that implies to me that maybe Jeralt’s death plays out differently in this timeline. Could Shez themselves be involved? We’ll see I guess...

Lastly, there’s the question of whether this game will have any kind of ‘everyone lives’ golden ending. On the one hand, Three Houses is supposed to be a tragedy. It has no completely happy ending and I think it’s a better game for it. That being said, the Warriors crossovers have often been kind of fanfic-y. They’re bombastic fan-pleasing spectacles that run on hype, and Age of Calamity specifically set itself apart as an AU so it could run wild without contradicting Breath of the Wild. I see no reason Three Hopes couldn’t do the same. Though the fact that it still has multiple routes means that unless there’s some Fates/Sonic Adventure 2 ‘last story’, it probably won’t have a fully happy ending. So maybe bring tissues to be safe.

There’s still a lot we don’t know, but I’m still really excited. I loved Age of Calamity (though I suspect some people would shoot me for saying that because something, something ‘false advertising’) and this looks to bring a lot of the same buckwild AU energy to one of my favourite Switch titles. Plus I’m just looking forward to seeing these characters again, AND using them to curbstomp entire armies. I just hope the playable roster is up to par, considering how much I love Three Houses cast. 

But yeah, long story short, I’m incredibly excited. 

#fire emblem #three houses #three hopes #thoughts #speculation #kinda