#but also the best rendering i've ever achieved???

[pappelsiin]

#going insane rn #wip??? #but also the best rendering i've ever achieved??? #printpirntprintprintprint #hualian #<3 #my wrist hurts <3

[sayruq]

Here's what the situation looks like on the ground (bear in mind I'm not exactly an expert in war).

The Palestinian resistance fighters (it's not just Hamas you guys, every Palestinian militia is fighting right now) have been baiting Israeli forces into a ground battle ever since the operation started. IDF isn't exactly the best at on the ground battles which is why they usually prefer using their air force and long distance artillery. And also because Iran and Lebanon have indicated they will join the war if there's a ground operation in Gaza.

In preparation for this, Hamas and other groups have struck military bases and have taken equipment back to Gaza. In addition to weapons from Iran and Hezbollah, the fighters now have Israeli military weapons in their possession and they've been using them.

So far, Palestinian fighters seem to be achieving their objectives.

The Israeli response to the attack has been chaotic, careless and haphazard, something that has angered Israeli citizens. It took them hours to organise a coordinated response. The Iron Dome was rendered useless as thousands of rockets were launched into Israel.

There has been multiple reported cases of high ranking officers being killed

Many Arab military groups have either joined in or announced that they will join the fight so we might be looking at a regional war here.

This by the way is a big blow to Israel. It, alongside the US, has been working to normalise relations with Saudi and Emirati States like UAE.

So how long will this conflict last? All indicators point to 'a long while.'

The Israeli government has said this will be a long, difficult war for them.

Hamas has refused a ceasefire and is also prepared for a long conflict in Gaza and other Occupied territories (I've seen people say there's no fighting in the West Bank and that this is a Hamas only operation but that's not true)

I don't know what is going to happen next but I also don't think Israeli forces are going to crush Palestinian fighters quickly like a lot of people are expecting.

The casualties are already very high.

This is shaping up to be a very bloody conflict on both sides.

#palestine #free palestine #israel #gaza #west bank

[bryce-bucher]

Basidia Post #4

Vintage CGI:

Modus Interactive and I have been spending the last week or so learning how to use Alias Power Animator 9 which is essentially an old version of maya. It was used on sgi workstations back in the day on games like ff7 and mario64 for all the pre-rendered stuff. For a long time Modus and I have been pretty invested in learning how to replicate the look of old pre-rendered stuff, and, as it turns out, the best way was just to do it how they did it. For so long I tried to wrap my head around how old cgi stuff was modeled because the sorts of shapes that were often created seemed like they'd be unnecessarily hard to create with polygons. The thing that specifically stumped me for a while was how they handled wrinkles in clothing and organic shapes. As it turns out, the answer was hidden right under my nose the whole time. They weren't using polygons at all! Instead they were modeling with NURBS! It seems very obvious in hindsight, but I feel like I deleted the memory of NURBS once I exited highschool, and nobody ever seems to talk about or use them these days. If you don't know what they are, it's basically a style of modeling that involves making a bunch of bezier curves and using them to define surfaces. It's a totally different style of modeling from polygons with a lot of pros and cons, but it achieves that smooth look we're after extremely well.

Scout Rifle Render:

As shown in the pics above, I decided to make a model of the scout rifle in Basidia so that we could use it for an item icon. The process was definitely a learning experience, and one of the things I learned is that modeling like this is super fun. It's like creating each shape is a puzzle where you need to theorize what is the best approach to take, and following through is always a multi-step process of defining a surface and slicing it up. I find it super satisfying to pull off, and making slapping materials on it is always fun as well. Moving forward we are probably gonna use this program and/or older versions of maya to create any pre-rendered item icons or backgrounds that we'll be needing. Modus actually made new versions of the vials in it as well which I will put right here \/

Wow there it is would u look at that. Power Animator just has an amazing way of outputting some unique, rich colors that are hard to get in modern software. I mean, just look at that cork. How do you make a cork have such interesting colors? Amazing. Fuck it, I'm gonna show off a little guy I made in power animator that has nothing to do with Basidia. I've been hyperfixating on this program since I downloaded it so I owe this to myself.

Here he is! Power animator has this amazing glow effect you can put on any shader that adds this bloom as a post processing layer. I used it on the head in this one, and I think it achieves a particular dreamlike effect really well. The sorts of shapes I can get for cloth out of NURBS is also super fun and rewarding, as shown with the cape here. Character modeling is something I'm always really excited about, and I'll definitely be modeling some Basidia characters in this thing.

Conclusion:

I am loving this program and I cannot stop thinking about it. Anyway, I have some commissions to take care of before switching back to midwest lost development, so I may or may not be posting about that game next week. I'm trying to buy an old sgi workstation with the commission money, and, if I can pull that off, then I will have access to all the old software they used back then (including the IRIX version of poweranimator). If you want to check out power animator yourself then here is a link to the program, and here is a helpful tutorial. Oke bye take care!

#lowpoly #power animator #maya #vintage cgi #old cgi #raytracing #indie game #indie games #game development #gamedev #indiedev #indiegames #indiegamedev #indiegame #the winds of basidia #basidia #winds of basidia #snow of basidia #the snow of basidia #3d art #screenshotsaturday #nintendo 64 #n64 #haunted ps1 #rpg #pre rendered #prerendered

[cosmicjoke]

I really like your analyses and explanations and wanted to ask you about something I've been really stumped about ever since I got to the Yeagerist-Alliance part of the story. While I don't agree with the genocide the Yeagerists are supporting, I also don't think that the peace that the Alliance was seeking was possible. But I could be wrong about that so I wanted to ask. Were peace negotiations between Paradis and the rest of the world possible if Eren hadn't done the rumbling?

Hi there, and thank you!

It's a pretty complicated question here. Peace is, and always has been, a temporary state within the real world, because people are, as a species, naturally inclined toward war and violence. As Erwin says, and as the ending of the story itself demonstrates, as long as there is more than one person, there will always be violence and war. That's just the state of the human condition.

However, I do think that peace on some level would have been possible if Eren hadn't enacted the Rumbling the way he did, but of course, it would have been a shaky and uncertain peace, since it would have had to have been achieved through force. The original plan was to enact a limited Rumbling, in which the rest of the world's forces would be wiped out, rendering them incapable of attacking Paradis for at least fifty years. If this could have been achieved, it would have given Paradis time to build a more advanced and sophisticated military with which to defend itself. It would have been peace through mutually assured destruction, basically, which isn't exactly ideal, but it's better than no peace at all.

The Survey Corps under Hange's leadership went to Marley in the initial hopes of negotiating a peace deal between the island and Marley, but they found out quickly that the hostility toward them was too strong to depend on a more peaceful approach to solving the problem. Still, they weren't even given a chance to try when Eren defected and launched his attack on Liberio, so we'll never really know if the SC could have made some headway if they'd been allowed to talk. It was unlikely, given the hostility toward Paradis, but again, they weren't even allowed to try.

The genocide that Eren committed ended up just making everything worse. It basically ensured continued hostility toward Paradis, not just from Marley, but from the whole world, and intensified it by orders of magnitude, as well as leading Paradis down the path of militarism and warmongering themselves, which, just like it did with Marley, ultimately ends in Paradis' own destruction.

The best solution probably would have been a limited Rumbling, even as it wouldn't at all have eliminated war or violence between the countries and people. But it would have, like I said, at least for a time, ensured a shaky peace through the threat of mutual destruction, and also allowed Paradis to at least have a fighting chance of defending themselves.

Instead, because of the path they chose to go down, just like what happened with Marley, they ended up destroyed. It was no longer about simple defense with Paradis, by the end. The Yeagerists clearly wanted to reestablish the Eldian empire. It became about world dominance at that point, and that's the tragedy of becoming a militarized, isolationist, Nationalist country. It's never about defending yourself at that point, it's about spreading your power and ideology and forcing other people under your control. That's what leads to a country's destruction, in the end.

#attack on titan #shingkei no kyojin #meta #commentary #analysis

[thegimmicky]

I absolutely love your builds, they're some of the most beautiful uses of creative mode/different block states I've ever seen. ���️ Would you be willing to talk a bit about the process of creating these builds? Do you have anyone you follow (here or elsewhere) for inspiration/ideas?

Thank you so much! First thing to do is always to find an inspiration. I have an inspo board with over 1000+ concepts for minecraft projects on my Pinterest. It is public so everyone can check it out if you're out of ideas (it's all linked in bio). I do also take inspiration from my trips since I take a lot of pics while travelling. Then I tend to start with the main structure and then add the foreground, background and other things to make it shine in the best way. Also, I've recently started to play with the render distance and glass block walls to achieve some nostalgic and really foggy scenic frames. As for some great builders, you can find most of them on Twitter/X in my following list (linked in bio), I do sometimes repost builds I really like too!

#minecraft #minecraft project #minecraft build #minecraft builder #art

[decamarks]

Have you ever thought of making an actual game? Even a little one?? Your 'Atom Amulet' art and gif look soooo good they legit fooled me for a bit when I first looked at them into thinking they were from a real game! Your enjoyment and respect for glitches and games as a medium is really neat, and tbh I'm super curious what you'd make! As someone who actually played a few weird old PS1 and computer games as a kid, sooo many attempts at 'retro low-poly style' games I see always break my immersion when I can see like.. too much anti-aliasing, too many things rendered in real time instead of prerendered (not extremely subtle stuff like raytracing or font choice, which gave away Petscop to a few incredibly observant people lol), etc.. part of the charm of old 3D games is devs clearly trying extremely hard to work with limitations of disc space and RAM! No one's cutting corners! Also the design for Atom Amulet's character is the kind I've been wanting to see SO badly in modern-retro games.. no one ever goes for 'rounded little creature guy who looks a little wonky' designs like you see in Creatures or SHEEP because they think it's too ugly! But it looks COOL! And that's part of why it really seemed like an actual old game to me at first.. I like your blog and art, your passion for games and glitches is really inspiring! Nice job on the animation and 3D art!

AHHHHH THANK YOU SO MUCH ANON ;__; This made me really happy to read... Trust me, I have daydreamed extensively about the kind of games I'd like to make, so I've definitely got ideas for stuff like that. Animation and 3D art in general is my main focus right now though, since I've got a lot I want to create, and still a LOT to learn as well, LOL. I would probably be most interested in making a game with a small team or creative partner, since even small games can be incredibly taxing to create and I'd prefer not to mentally and/or physically implode. (My main problem is mostly finding those people... I'm not good at initiating this kind of thing.)

Anyway, I absolutely agree on being kinda disinterested in a lot of 'retro low-poly' aesthetics, just because they feel too divorced from the actual technology that gave the style a reason to exist in the first place. That's not to say at all I think this style should exist in a chronological vacuum, or that it shouldn't be iterated upon with modern technology, but that it just looks too clean too often, too streamlined! I don't want that! I want WONKINESS!!!

I don't think it's necessarily a fear of this sort of 'ugliness', or at least not always—it's more so that this wonkiness can be sometimes hard to achieve at all. Like. Hold on. I could write stupid poetical paragraphs about this concept, but I think this post sums it up 10,000 times better than I ever could.

The primary function of a comic is to tell a story that is best shown through the format of sequential images. So you might expect that anything made for a primarily visual medium must look 'good' to be effective, right? But it doesn't; MS Paint's ugly palettes and pixelated pens only serve to amplify the expressiveness in this image. It looks silly and simplistic, and that's exactly why it works. Whether this was intended by the artist is irrelevant. It's effective not despite its strange, subtle stiltedness, but because of it.

It reminds me of this post about animation by PilotRedSun, which I think about a lot:

I’ve learned a bit of animation fundamentals, branched out to other styles . . . but I still adhere to the rule that every animation on my channel should have a dysfunctional aspect to it. When an animation contains an error, it distracts the viewer. Thus when an animation is composed of errors, it mesmerizes the viewer.

Video games are interesting to compare to comics and animation in this sense, because most games are made simply to be played. Despite being a visual medium, it isn't necessarily expected to look good; it just has to function as an interactive experience. This emphasis on functionality, created through technological limitations of the time, is exactly what originated low-poly and pixelated styles. Older video game art didn't need to be particularly beautiful, just purposeful. You take a concept, put it on the screen, and continue stripping away pixels and polygons until only its most minimal existence remains, because if you don't, you won't be able to fit it within your meager 64 MB cartridge capacity. It looks wonky, and may not really resemble the initial concept as you saw it anymore... but it works.

That's not to say huge, high-res canvases of pixel art and raytracing on low-poly renders can't be uniquely beautiful as well—I think the ways these styles are innovated with modern technology is just as intriguing. The fundamental aspects of these styles will always be worth exploring, because at their core, they're about conveying things in unconventional ways. Simplicity makes it stilted and strange, and 'ugliness' is what makes it so evocative.

But like I said, I don't think it's a matter of intentionally avoiding these more subtle sorts of strangeness. It's just that harnessing and embracing it to its full extent is very hard. Particularly because modern technology often just... lacks limits. You can do practically anything with it, and that's the problem. If you have a decent GPU and the capacity to follow basic instructions, you can make a simple yet frighteningly hyper-realistic 3D scene in mere minutes, the kind that older video game developers could have only dreamed of. And technologically, it's impressive, but that's it. There are no corners cut, no concepts compressed, and nothing your computer can't handle for you. As soon as the realistic refractions and flashy lights fade, you realize it's all a little empty beyond the subdivision surfaces.

It's easy to get lost in a world without limitations, because empty canvases are just as freeing as they are intimidating. Making beautiful things because you can is obviously fun, and often impressive, but it gets boring. Sometimes I simply want to see things breaking at their seams, stripped down to the point of struggling to exist at all, and working—and being not just beautiful because of it, but fundamentally fascinating.

[delkios]

As I put at the end of the fic, here's the Tie a Knife with a Ribbon Commentary post

I don't think I've ever actually done a commentary thing for a fic before. But I had a lot of thoughts, headcanons and worldbuilding while making this that wouldn't fit as well as some things that I wanted to put in there but couldn't for one reason or another.

I might have one more fic in me for this 'verse but after that, who knows.

After weeks of ambushes, they’d finally managed to turn the tables on the commandos that had been chasing them.

So ever since Scorch's cameo in the first season of The Bad Batch I've had ideas about Delta Squad having to hunt the Batch down, how they'd go about doing it and how well they'd match up. The biggest question, of course, is why is (the remainder of) Delta Squad separated in the first place? I originally thought that maybe they had ulterior motives- mostly using the Empire's resources to get a lead on Sev among other things -and splitting up would make it easier to achieve. Recently I've been leaning a bit more into the idea that the Empire split them up, as well as any of the remaining first gen commandos, essentially holding them hostage in order to ensure they cooperated.

Basically I just want a reason other than 'because loyalty/the chip made them' because that would be boring. But when Scorch was sent to hunt down the Batch none of the crosstrained commandos could keep up with him so he pestered his CO into letting him bring in the other Deltas.

Also, I know everyone wants Vode An to play when Delta Squad shows up but I propose something different: if Delta starts off as antagonists, I say the song that should play is Rage of the Shadow Warriors. Then, after the two groups ally up and the Batch get in over their heads and Delta comes in as the cavalry

THEN Vode An can play.

They knew how to use Clone Force 99’s abilities and knowledge against them... the best way to counteract that would’ve been to stay together.

I know there's at least one video floating around that pits the two teams together but I haven't watched it so I don't know what their conclusion was but this is mine:

Due to the difference (that I headcanon) in their training, I think Delta Squad would have better teamwork and, knowing who they're up against, would be bettered prepared for the fight, especially if they're able to get the Batch into an area they've prepped. Both advantages the Batch could overcome eventually. I think Delta's best bet would be to isolate one of the Batch from the others and find ways to neutralize their abilities. For instance get Hunter in a place that would overwhelm his senses, rendering them useless. For Wrecker, get him in a situation where his instinct is to build an IED and booby trap the materials he'd use. And so on.

Hunter had closed the distance... opting for hand to hand combat rather than ranged.

Knowing Fixer's favorite weapon is the Katarn gauntlet vibroblade, this match up is about half the reason I wrote this fic. The other half is the idea of them bonding over knives.

These commandos weren’t to be taken lightly... how easy it was to lose sight of them even with glowing visors.

I love the commando visors but I have to admit that giving a unit whose job is to infiltrate armor with a distinctive glow seems silly.

...it wasn’t until the commando fell back into an attack stance that Hunter realize he’d stolen the knife right out of Hunter’s hand.

The idea of Fixer (accidentally) stealing Hunter's knife didn't come to me until I started thinking up scenarios for this fic but once it did I knew there was no other way for this fight to go. I like to imagine that when he regroups with the rest of Delta the conversation would go something like: Scorch: Did you steal a knife? Fixer: No... Scorch: What, he just gave you his weapon? Fixer: I didn't steal it intentionally. Scorch: So you're borrowing it? Fixer: (looking the knife over) ...it's a really good knife. Boss: Do I really have to go over the 'don't take other people's things just because you like them' rule with everyone again? Scorch: Yeah. Our thefts are purposeful!

“/Yes. I’m heading his way right now. The commandos seemed to have fallen back./”

Even though I like the idea of Delta Squad hunting down the Batch, in every scenario, Delta isn't doing it with the intent of beating them. They're making a good show of it but always leave the Batch at least one out and so long as the Batch keeps finding those outs or make their own, Delta won't bring them in. Either because having the Batch running wild figures into their own plans or because they're failing out of spite.

None of them were exactly happy with the situation. Certainly they were glad for the return of their missing teammates...

The very first scenarios I thought up way back in season one all had to do with Delta Squad giving the Batch an ultimatum: Delta would pass along all the information they had on leads to Sev to the Batch (some scenarios included Rex) and once Sev was found, either alive or dead so long as there was proof, they'd bust out Crosshair (and, in the Rex scenarios, Cody).

They'd been in high demand ... Only a fraction of the original generation of commandos survived and the three remaining Deltas were among them.

In the Legends books the commando's numbers were cut nearly in half in the first battle of Geonosis due to mishandling by the Jedi: being thrown into the battlefield instead of what they were actually trained for, infiltration and sabotage. After, some clone troopers were picked to crosstrain as commandos.

Given the kind of time crunch there must have been to try to fill out the commando ranks, I find it doubtful the crosstrained ones were as good as the first gen commandos. Not a diss, just pointing out the difference in what was likely a few months of additional training verses several years worth. Crosstrained ARCs likely weren't as good as first gen ARCs, either. For the record, I consider Gregor to be crosstrained as a commando as, in Legends, commandos were given RC prefixes while Gregor is a CC which has already been used by other non-commandos.

Also, fun game to play: how many missions in Clone Wars would've gone better if they'd used commandos?

Hunter didn’t know how it went down behind the scenes but it didn’t feel right leaving without thanking Rex for his part in this.

I thought about going into detail about how Rex brokered this deal but then decided I didn't actually want to figure all that out.

Chiding himself for the foolish thought, Hunter took it and slide his knife back in its sheath.

Look, let's just pretend that Tech isn't the only one that actually has gear and weapons as part of their model and everyone else pulls their stuff out of nowhere.

As much as he hated to admit it, Delta Squad was trying to survive this mess as best they could... he couldn't blame them anymore than he did Crosshair.

Look, I understand why the inhibitor chip had to exist but I think it's ridiculous that people push it as the reason clones worked for the Empire. They're slaves that were created and taught only one thing: to wage war. The Republic didn't look out for them. In Legends they originally weren't even paid for the work they did. They weren't seen as people, they were considered property and the civilians certainly didn't think much of them and many probably thought they were basically droids themselves. Clones would've had no where to go, no money with which to leave and most of them wouldn't have employable skills to fall back on. That uncertainty versus something they know they can do and know they'll at least have food and shelter, it's no wonder they'd stay with the Empire, even if it meant doing things they didn't like. They were essentially raised to be as dependent on the Republic (and Empire) as the Republic was made dependent on them.

“If anyone could survive this long, it would be Sev.”

For a while I've considered Sev not surviving. But then, after a few years away from the fandom, I decided I preferred him being alive. It helped that the game devs were considering a sequel in which he did survive and fell in with the fledgling rebellion before it was canceled.

And, even with Scorch potentially about to be an important character in the Batch, there isn't a guarantee that particular cliffhanger will be addressed (for the third time) so I'll do what I want.

“Some of our training sergeants set up a place for commandos to retire to, but…”

In Legends, some of the commando's training sergeants- a hundred people, mostly Mandalorian, hand picked by Jango called the Cuy'val Dar -set up a colony for clones (mostly their commandos but also any other clones than found them) at Kyrimorut on Mandalor. Delta's trainer, Walon Vau, was among those that helped set it up. They also researched how to stop the clones' advanced aging.

Even in their isolated corner of Tipoca City, they’d heard horror stories about what the commando trainers put their men through.

From a young age commandos were trained in live-fire exercises (meaning using actual ammunition and not simulation rounds), interrogation resistance (i.e. torture), etc. Fatalities sometimes occurred during training and Vau was considered one of the more brutal trainers. He treated his commandos as soldiers from the beginning and was determined to push them to be the best of the best even if he had to thrash them to do it. If memory serves, he was the only on that didn't lose any commandos on Geonosis.

When Hunter inspected his knife... he found it had been newly sharpened, the blade cleaned and oiled until it gleamed.

Fixer, 1000%, always intended to give Hunter's knife back even if it took years to do so. He always kept it on him, never used it and did his best to ensure it was in the best condition possible. Boss and Scorch might've thought he was being ridiculous but when Fixer commits ain't nothing swaying him.

“He seemed confident you’d get out of whatever trouble you might’ve got into on your own.” Boss had also sounded a little hesitant, like he was forcing himself to believe that...

I imagine, after losing Sev and the rift it caused and getting split up on top of that, Boss got overprotective when they were all back together again. He'd always been a little overprotective though that was mainly in things like taking responsibility for the squad and chaffing whenever control of them was taken out of his hands (Boss has control issues, fight me). But he'd always had faith that his squad could handle anything thrown at them. So having him be suddenly overprotective about everything grated with the others, especially in the beginning and Boss had to relearn how to let them out of his sight all over again.

“You’ll have to get them out of my pack, then. They should be in the left side, grab two just in case.”

How do these packs work? Are there divided sections like a backpack? How do they attach? What do they do? Why won't the game devs return my calls? I need answers, people!

Stealth had always been one of Hunter’s strengths, his enhanced senses locating any nearby guards before he was ever in danger of being spotted.

Man, how I wish the show actually utilized Hunter's enhanced senses in a consistent manner.

Hunter abruptly realized that this was the first time he’d seen Fixer- or any Delta -without a helmet

I haven't really put all that much thought into how much older I think Delta Squad is verses the 99, anywhere between two to four years old. Which would, biologically, make them about four to eight years older but I imagine Delta looks older than they are due to how hard they've been worked and the stress of their missions. They probably wouldn't look as old if they got a healthy amount of sleep on a consistent basis. Someone get these boys a vacation.

...new blood on his lip partially covering up an old scar and a long healed notch at the rim of his right ear, like something sharp had taken a slice out of it.

The scar and notch he got during training: Fixer has a tendency of biting his lip when he's stressed and, during interrogation training when one of his squad mates was being tortured next to him in order to get Fixer to break, he damn near bit through his lip to keep quiet. The notch he got while fighting another commando during knife training. They took a slice of his ear, he sent them to the infirmary. Vau was both mildly irritated and grudgingly impressed that Fixer made no move to deal with the injury until Vau told him to.

Also Fixer's nose had been broken when Scorch punched him in a fit of anger after they were sent away from Kashyyk without getting the chance to look for Sev. Fixer didn't bother getting it set properly, he claims because it didn't affect his performance but it was also due to guilt.

“People don’t usually notice me.” Fixer eventually said.

This is totally not me calling out fandom (and the books) for the tendency of pushing Fixer into the background at best or completely ignoring him at worst. It's fine that he's not people's favorite- he isn't my favorite, either -but he's not just a bland stick in the mud. I don't know why people think he would be when he's had to deal with Scorch and Sev every day for his entire life and was part of one of Vau's best squads. Fixer is just as ruthless and capable of getting into just as much trouble, he just hides it better.

That got him that soft almost-laugh again

I imagine Fixer's most common laugh is more of a huff that could easily be passed off as a sigh. It's a defense mechanism because Scorch knows Sev and Boss find him funnier than they let on and if Scorch knew Fixer did too, he would become insufferable.

(Spoiler: Scorch knows but is trying to get Fixer to admit it first)

The shield in the first gen commandos’ armor was good for dissipating the kinetic force from energy bolts but a powerful enough electric blast could shred right through it.

I know it didn't show up in the episode but I imagine the shield is why Scorch was able to tank so many stun bolts before going down. In the game there's no real pattern with the types of weapons that can shred through the shields- Geonosian beam weapons, scav droids' lightning, Trandoshian mini gun -and they don't come up in the books. My take is that they're like a weaker version of a droideka's shield. They're mostly made to hold up against blaster bolts while the armor itself deals with physical attacks. A strong electric current can overload that shields and while their blacks insulate them from weaker surges, EMP grenades or a shock stick can still leave them vulnerable to follow up attacks.

Despite their usefulness they weren't put in later iterations of the Katarn armor, probably because they weren't expecting to replace as many commandos as they had to after Geonosis and couldn't manufacture enough shields to keep up.

Hunter didn’t know when or why they’d stopped being integrated into the Katarn armor...

I haven't figured out a reason for that, though. Or why they don't show up anywhere outside of games.

...he realized very suddenly that he practically had his fingers intertwined with the commando’s.

I'll admit, that's for me. Give me all the hand holding and fingers tangling together.

“It won’t take long and it just needs some common supplies... it’d be easy for you to install once you find a compatible one.”

Even though Fixer is explicitly stated to be a tech aficionado, between it making sense that commandos would be able to maintain their armor themselves in case of damage or malfunction while in the field and Fixer's preference for the gauntlet blade, I don't doubt he'd be able to take apart and reassemble it. Whether the mechanism is easy to build from scratch, I have no idea.

Fixer finally seemed to get annoyed... “If you don’t want it-”

When Fixer offers you something, take it. He's absolutely not the type that will put up with hemming and hawing or play the polite back-and-forth game.

He was fairly ambidextrous with both pistols and knives so he supposed it didn’t really matter. “Left.”

I don't recall if he tended to use a knife in a particular hand and didn't feel like combing through episodes to find out. So ambidextrous he is.

Tech hated people touching his armor- his helmet, especially -without his permission. Fixer must be the same way.

I don't think it'd be common for clones to swap their helmets around and I'd bet some are very particular about others putting their helmet on. Fixer is definitely going to give his helmet a thorough cleaning. Also I'd bet he's done unauthorized modifications to his helmet, another reason he doesn't want people getting too close a look at it.

Sev had been trying very hard to pass off any responsibilities he’d been given during the forming of the rebellion to Boss who repeatedly declined.

I'm a firm believer that half the reason Sev stayed with the rebellion is because he was so offended by their lack of tactics and by the time he'd realized he'd become a trainer it was far too late for him to back out. When he reunited with his brothers, they all agreed that Sev called the shots for the squad which is why they also joined the rebellion. The one exception to that is Boss refusing to take over Sev's position both as a trainer and part of the rebellion's hierarchy. Partly because Boss was amused that Sev got himself in this position despite how much he complains about it and also because he's really come into his own in that time. In the field, they still fall into the habit of Boss taking the lead (and Fixer his second) unless other circumstances requires Sev doing so.

The commandos’ attitudes had changed drastically since reuniting with their lost brother.

I feel like it shouldn't need to be said that Delta's bond was irrevocably damaged after they left Sev behind. Reuniting with him helped to heal the rift but it'll never be the same way it used to be. Ironically I think Sev was the one least affected. Were he in the same position, he couldn't say what he'd do so while there is some resentment due to what he'd suffered in his time alone, he doesn't blame them for following orders like they were trained to. It probably helped that he was so shocked at how that decision hurt his brothers that, even if he didn't realize it, he was quick to forgive them.

“Because he’s used to doing things his way, he hates the idea of someone else coming along and taking over,” Crosshair once observed before turning a lazy, sideways look to Hunter, “just like you.”

Again, Boss has control issues. He's perfectly deferential when dealing with someone that outranks him, it was usually because when out on missions there was very little oversight and Boss still made most of the decisions. He tends to be more abrasive, competitive and arrogant when dealing with peers, subconsciously seeing them as a threat to his position. In Legends he nearly came to blows with another commando sergeant in part due to his attitude.

I'd imagine Hunter is much the same, especially with the tenuous position the 99 would've been in. The Kaminoans made them as an experiment but they also had no qualms with reconditioning or decommissioning clones that weren't up to their standards so Hunter would've had to simultaneously push his brothers while protecting them. It's no wonder he doesn't trust others to have his team's back.

Childhood trauma is a bitch.

Maybe it was the way Fixer seemed to prefer to fade into the background, letting his more gregarious brothers draw all the attention... Hunter couldn’t help taking great pleasure in bringing Fixer to the forefront whenever possible...

It's probably because Fixer's armor is my favorite but I tend to think he has an understated vanity, not just in terms of looks but also in his skills. He doesn't need people to acknowledge it, he already knows he's good at what he doese. That doesn't mean he won't flaunt it on occasion. In terms of teamwork, Boss and Scorch tend to draw attention while Fixer and Sev hit where the enemy isn't expecting them and, when something needs to be sliced in the heat of battle, that's usually Fixer's job so he tries not to draw attention. Staying in the background is kind of his thing, so having someone consistently noticing him, going out of their way to acknowledge him is something he isn't used to dealing with. He's very much an introvert.

Hunter could feel Fixer watching him afterward, as if Hunter was a great mystery he hadn’t been able to puzzle out.

When this first started happening, Fixer was just confused but he'd respond promptly. As he started getting more flummoxed with Hunter's behavior, he'd take longer to respond, trying to figure out what was happening. That would be the point that Scorch and Boss, who had found it hilarious in the beginning, would start redirecting attention to themselves and Fixer would stew over the interaction for sometimes days. It got him out of his comfort zone, forced him to figure out things like what about it made him uncomfortable, if he actually was uncomfortable or just not used to it, if he didn't mind the attention, if he was okay with Hunter closing that distance, and so on. Once he got all those questions sorted, Fixer began replying promptly again though not as clipped and impersonally as before. When he realized he actually looked forward to those interactions, his replies- though still always professional -were warmer and he relaxed enough to throw in a dry joke or tease in there occasionally. His brothers definitely noticed this but were so caught off guard they never brought it up with each other.

In any case, whenever a mission required them splitting into two groups, Boss always lead one and Hunter the other... they were joined by Crosshair, Scorch and Omega...

This is actually based off an old scenario I had long ago using almost the exact same teams though back then it was Echo instead of Crosshair with Tech on the other team. I thought it would be fun to mix up the two groups because I wanted to imagine how Boss and Hunter specifically dealt with the other squad's eccentricities and how well their leadership styles would allow them to work around those difficulties. But I had no idea why they were working together, what they were doing or who they were dealing with so it never got further than a vague idea. But it was where I first got the idea of Hunter throwing his knife for Fixer to use and the first time I considered the two could possibly get along.

Fixer grabbed the hilt, ripping the blade through the side of the neck. From there the commando was a whirl of movement and Hunter was transfixed.

Is this maybe me projecting onto Hunter? Maybe. Action scenes full of flashy attacks requiring lots of space to do large movements like flips and spins are all well and good but I prefer my action sequences to be full of quick, sharp movements. Where attacks are meant to either be lethal or create an opening for a lethal follow-up attack. I think there can be beauty in brutality and that needs to be embraced more in media.

“It’s a quality knife,” Fixer said. “Good weight, well balanced.” ... His voice dropped, turning something dark and silky...

This was a bit of an odd scenario because I'd had it in mind since I first imagined Fixer using Hunter's knife and it kind of went back and forth between how flirty it would be. I'd probably say this scene was what made me go from "Oh, Hunter and Fixer connecting over knives, how fun," to "What about exploring how their relationship changes using knives as a mirror". So, really, I blame all of this on this one scene.

“You are not flirting right now,” Scorch cut in. “Stop it. Sev’ll never believe me.”

That is, honestly, how I kind of feel about this entire relationship. In all my headcanons Fixer was the most insular one in the group. He was always the one most resistant to socializing outside of the squad and had the hardest time wrapping his head around why his squadmates might want romantic relationships, struggling to understand what was lacking in their fraternal one. Of all the Deltas, Fixer was the one I never saw getting into a relationship, either long term or casual. So, when this idea hit, I kind of had to sit with it, puzzle it out. Figure out how Fixer would react to it: the things that would get his attention, the things that made him want to be intimate, the things he wouldn't like, etc. It was enlightening.

I figured, as far as physical intimacy is concerned, that Fixer is more on the asexual end of the scale. He doesn't care much for sex mainly because he's repulsed by all the mess and stickiness involved. He's not above masturbation, he has an interest in toys and things like gloves, condoms, whatever will keep fluids from getting everywhere is appreciated. But, if he's in the right mood- and that seems to be following a good sparring session -he could be more receptive to something hot and sloppy.

The four of them reminded Hunter more of Fennec Shand than they did a reg, moving more with a hunter’s glide than they did a trooper’s march.

I think about clones a lot. I'll be honest, I'm not sure how much I'd care about Star Wars were it not for them. I liked the original trilogy alright but the rest is.... eh. But I have so many thoughts about clones, clone culture and the ways they differentiate themselves. To an average person there'd be very little difference between commandos and troopers. To clones, who developed the ability to easily spot differences between each other, commandos and troopers are nothing alike. The way a small group who grew up trained by a mercenary would move and act would naturally be different from a massive group who grew up trained for large-scale military maneuvers. I wish the media we're given would focus on that kind of minutia more because I don't want to be the only one that spends their time thinking about these sorts of things.

He composed himself as he’d been taught, putting on an air of confidence he absolutely did not feel and approached Fixer, pulling his knife- sheath and all -from his belt. “Here. Keep it.”

When I decided that this relationship was going to be romantic, this was obviously going to be the next step. Knives are a love language. There are few gifts more romantic than knives. And I'm not just talking about me. For a group that deals with practical and life-threatening situations regularly, one giving another a weapon they very clearly cherish is probably THE most courting gift possible.

...he said with a wink and much more bravado than his nerves were currently capable of.

One of the secrets I learned while in the military: it doesn't matter what you say, just say it with conviction. Even when asked questions during an inspection, even if you know your answer is obviously wrong, say it with your whole chest.

Fake it 'till you make it, baby.

Fixer just stared at him, looking dumbfounded and if it weren’t for the subtle shift in his scent or the rise of color in his cheeks, Hunter would’ve thought he’d made a fool of himself.

The moment Fixer realized his feelings shifted from "I'm curious as to where this goes" to "...oh".

Boss shook his head before following- Hunter could’ve sworn he chuckled as he did so...

I debated on how I'd write Boss's reaction because while he's mildly annoyed by it, it's only because it's Hunter but, 1) Boss is aware enough to realize there's not actually anything wrong with Hunter, and 2) Fixer having an interest in someone is such a surprise occurrence that he's not going to ruin Fixer's happiness by what Boss recognizes as a him-problem.

And then I was amused to because Boss is on the other end of that same situation in regards to my preferred ship for him.

Days later Omega was happily updating Tech on what they’d been up to on their weekly check-in call

I debated about being vague about Tech surviving and leaving that up for the readers to decide but what the hell. Not like this is going to be canon compliant once the next season drops in any case. So he's alive and still very much a part of the crew despite essentially being forced to retire due to injuries.

As far as canon goes, personally I don’t believe he’s dead. We watched Gregor and Echo get blown up and they inexplicably survived, Ashoka literally died fighting Vader and was saved via space-time portal. Even if he doesn't show up next season Ashoka was brought back after being missing for a season and the other two came back after even longer. If this were Clone Wars I might feel differently but it’s not like Bad Batch has issue showing dead bodies on screen so. We’ll see, I guess.

As far as Tech's state goes, he was obviously badly injured in the fall, broken bones, punctured organs, severe brain damage. Hemlock's forces found him fast enough to stabilize him- though I imagine there were periods in which he was technically dead before they managed it -and gave him enough bacta treatments to heal the worst of his brain damage but left his body badly broken. By the time he'd been rescued his body's natural healing caused a lot of that damage to become permanent, even if he was willing to get surgery (he wasn't because of the time and money that would take, finding a reputable hospital capable of doing all that surgery would mean a higher risk of the Empire finding him and, even if he got the surgery, he wouldn't be able to keep up with the Batch and would be sitting out missions anyway). I haven't thought what the exact nature of his injuries may be but it would be some amount of paralysis, chronic pain and some permanent side effects from traumatic brain injury. At least.

“He knows how to handle my knife.”

I struggled with finding a response that I liked until I decided "What would be the most innuendo" and finally liked what I wrote.

Tech’s voice was far too amused, “/I’m sure he does./”

Did Tech, despite not being there to witness it himself, deduce just from talking to the others that Hunter had a crush on Fixer before anyone else? Absolutely. Well, Phee probably figured it out first because she's very emotionally intelligent, but Tech can catch patterns quicker than most anyone.

Echo’s digestion was permanently karked from his time as a Separatists prisoner.

I firmly believe Echo has to deal with chronic pain and internal issues. I don't know if this is common in the BB fandom as I haven't done any real delving into it but I kind of hope so. The details canon doesn't give to me, I can only hope that fandom picks up the slack.

“Hey, we came bearing gifts for our poor, malnourished vode!”

I had wanted to put in a scene somewhat early on where it was discovered that the Batch don't know Mando'a. In my head, they were trained after all the Mandalorian trainers left and they didn't spend enough time with any one company to pick it up from them and Nala Se certainly wouldn't have bothered teaching Omega any Mandalorian culture. Upon learning this, Echo would've been abashed. He'd assumed, because the 99 were a later addition, that they'd refused their Mandalorian heritage like many clones did near the end of the war. He hadn't realized it was because they were never given the choice and was determined to teach them everything he knew.

Whenever he or Fixer shifted or anything happened to make him aware of Fixer’s leg against his- and he was incredibly aware of it -Hunter seemed to forget that anything else existed.

I don't know if it would be considered in character for Hunter to be this flustered but, in my defense, nothing like this occurs in canon so you can't say he absolutely wouldn't. Besides, between this probably being his first (serious) infatuation, being in close proximity with the person he's infatuated with who he doesn't really get to be with all that often and senses that can zero in on the tiniest thing, I feel justified in saying he wouldn't be able to help hyperfocusing on Fixer.

This, meanwhile, is quite a bold move on Fixer's part as he's neither a big toucher, sometimes even where his brothers are concerned, and is the least likely to socialize with non-Deltas, let alone share his space with them.

The 99’s trainers were only there for training, outside of that they only dealt with the Kaminoam scientists... and, on occasion, Shaak Ti.

This is probably going to be a hot take but I don't consider the Batch to be commandos (obviously not Echo, who's an ARC and Omega, who was meant to be a non-combatant). I certainly believe the 99 have some amount of commando training but, given they were specifically created with genetic mutations in mind, their training would most likely focus on developing and exploring those limits more than anything else. In fact, in an alternate universe where Delta and the Batch are more teeth-clenched allies, Fixer disparages the fact their commando training was a secondary concern at best.

Of course the knowledge that the Kaminoans made the 99 the way they are is hilarious when held up to Legends in which the Kaminoans' first attempts at fulfilling Jango's request for special forces clones resulted in the Null Class ARCs that were deemed too willful and unpredictable and were slated to be decommissioned if not for the intervention of one of the commando trainers. The succeeding ARCs were less independent but made to Jango's specifications while the commandos were created to the Kaminoans' specifications and were made more obedient than the ARCs.

And then with the 99 it's like coming full circle.

Hunter kind of liked the flash of warmth he felt whenever he became aware of the empty space on his belt and knowing Fixer held the missing piece.

This part was one of the first sections written and in the back of my head I kept going "oh god why is this so cute".

“One of the commando training sergeants had one like that...”

This is a reference to Kal Skirata, one of the main POV characters in the Republic Commando novels who was the trainer Delta Squad probably had most contact with outside of Vau. It was often mentioned that Skirata favored a three-bladed knife that he inherited from his father and while I don't think it was ever brought up in the books, I'd imagine someone that could appreciate a fine knife like Fixer would find that style of blade intriguing.

“This must’ve cost you a fortune!”

I don't know if this was ever addressed in the new canon but in Legends there were zero systems in place for the Republic to offer any support or compensation when they suddenly found themselves in possession of a clone army. And it didn't improve that much over the course of the war given the absence of any kind of retirement benefits and that clones who were too injured to fight would sometimes be euthanized in order to free up resources.

Vau was born into a rich, influential family before he was disowned and became a Mandalorian. At one point, enlisting Delta Squad's help to get him inside, Vau staged a bank robbery to take what he felt his inheritance from his birth family and to cover his tracks, stole millions from the vault. Everything, save for his inheritance, he put toward gene therapy research to slow the clone's aging. For all his brutality and cruelty- and one could argue he was perpetuating the cycle of child abuse he went through but I argue absolutely everyone that had anything to do with clones committed child abuse even if they tried to be nice about it -Vau cares for the clones and his men and was not happy with the Republic's lack of care for them. Therefore I believe he split his inheritance among his surviving commandos, giving them the means to be independent from the Empire and even from himself if they wanted. And, since Delta likely wouldn't have much need for the finer things in life, with some shrewd investing they probably don't worry much about money.

Looking back at Fixer’s face, Hunter could see a tightness in his brow and the corner of his lips, something shuttering behind his eyes like he was preparing to be hurt.

If you guessed that Fixer believed he was being rejected and Hunter nearly inadvertently broke his heart, congratulations on leasing a spot in my head. Rent is $5 a month or talking to me about clones.

...he saw Fixer’s helmet tilt and Hunter desperately wanted to know what that meant, if he was smiling underneath it.

In all my time in various fandoms I've come to realize there's something I enjoy about faceless or near-faceless characters and how they- and, subsequently, the people writing/drawing/depicting them -need to move or stand or gesture to get their feelings across. How does the angle of the head change how the audience reads their emotions, what's the difference in movement between a hand gesturing with emphasis versus gesturing with apathy. Seeing the character's romantic interest noticing those differences, learning the subtleties been their moods and how they hold themselves makes it even better.

...long enough to stop Wrecker from trying to sneak a pack of ryshcate into a purchase...

Hunter pays attention when it counts. Mostly.

Stealing shuttles seemed to be a habit of theirs.

Okay, I think that only happened once in the books but I enjoy the idea that Delta doesn't need their own dedicated shuttle, they'll just steal it from whatever asshole is in their area.

They said they knew some people that would strip the shuttle of anything trackable...

This is another reference to the clone colony at Kyrimorut. Assuming I'm remembering correctly and not attributing this to some fic I read, they started amassing a collection of different ships, some imperial ones to help with infiltration and information gathering. I like the idea of Delta passing some of their more useful, ill-gotten shuttles off to the Nulls to make use of.

Unfortunately for them the vessel they chose to sack happened to have Delta Squad on it... then took over their ship for good measure.

One of my favorite things is having some fools busting in some place, talking a big game and making demands, only to find themselves thoroughly outclassed by someone who was there merely by chance. And then the person in question taking the fools' stuff because they started it so why not?

As the knife felt more and more like an extension of his arm, Hunter began to move faster, the rounds getting longer until they were nearly dueling.

As opposed to the ruthless efficiency of the earlier fights, this I picture more like the sword fights from old movies like The Princess Bride or Errol Flynn/Basil Rathbone duels. Testing each other's guard, not aiming to hurt but willing to take the opening if it presents itself. It's about finding each other's rhythm and matching it, like a song, like a dance, like a heartbeat. Even though Hunter could see beauty in Fixer's brutality, the beauty in this is how in sync they are.

(oh my god they're drift compatible)

...just wanted to stay in that patch of the docking bay with Fixer in front of him and all the people he cared about around him.

These boys been through a lot, they all need hugs and drinks and a therapist.

“Sooooo?” Omega drawled out before Hunter even acknowledged her. “When are you going to tell him you like him?"

Omega had been lightly grilling Fixer every time they've met because she's been on board this ship for months. He's nice, patient, has an answer for nearly any question she's had, he's a little awkward at socializing but he doesn't treat her like a child (which is probably because he's never been around a child before). So while nearly everyone else is willing to spoil Omega with things like sweets or gifts, Fixer is the one that will let her do to more adult things like explaining to her how different firearms work and being able to tell when an explosive device has been armed. No shying away from the grislier side of what they do just because she's young. She's old enough that if she wants to know, she should know. Also he seems just as invested in Hunter's well being as she is and Hunter is always happier when they see each other. If Hunter hadn't decided to make a move, she was about ready to make one for them.

Because there wasn’t much else to do when flying through hyperspace for hours on end. He and Crosshair would bitch at each other over the characters’ idiocy afterward.

Though Crosshair was able to get back on good terms with the others and Hunter was understanding of his reasons, they had a difficult time trying to get back on an even keel with each other. Complaining about those soap operas helped them to bond again and they'll deny it to the heat death of the universe but they've gotten invested in the story. Echo may or may not have been the one to encourage those discussions between them.

“Guess we’ll swing by Pabu when we get some free time.”

I really like the idea that Pabu and the people there being a sort of sanctuary for the Batch. A place to go when they need to lay low or take a break and people who are willing to explain things natborns consider second nature but was considered unnecessary for clones without judging them for it. And that's before they settled Tech there, knowing he'd have a place to recuperate as best he can with people that will give him the best possible care.

He wasn’t sure any clone did though whether that was genetic or a result of their upbringing was unclear.

Clones have a very distinct love language that a lot of other people would just pass off as them being nice. No, my dudes. When a clone shares their food, that means something. If they allow you to take care of their gear, it means they trust you with their lives. Should they give you one of their very few possessions, you're basically part of their family. And being gifted a neigh indestructible weapon is all but a proposal.

“Just do stuff for him. Take care of him.”

The unfortunate part about being aware of the differences between clone culture and natborn culture (among many things) is the subconscious worry that the way clones do things is the 'wrong' way. Clones weren't taught to be paternal, therefore they don't know how to properly care for children. Clones were never taught to be romantic, therefore their ways of showing affection that's more than platonic isn't good enough. All clones need non-clone friends to explain there is never just one proper way to do things.

...friends that aren't Jedi because by the end of the Order they were kinda yikes.

When they reached out to Sev, he grumbled and made a show of being far too busy to deal with them before transmitting a passcode to land.

Sev tries so hard to keep up a persona of being too hardcore and angry to be nice these days. Only the newbies fall for it, everyone else goes along with it just to make him happy.

“You kidding? We were about to start making bets on you two!”

I assure you that bets had already been placed but if Hunter knew that then he'd want to know how long that had been going for and would probably be mortified at the answer. Wrecker is just being a good brother by lying and making sure payments are dolled out when Hunter isn't around.

“We’ve taken to using voice changers to make it easier for the natborn to differentiate between us.”

I know why and fully expected Delta Squad to be given the same voice as everyone else but I still write them with their original voices in my head. So any scenario in which I can give them voice changers so they'll have those voices, I'm doing it.

“They can make their own excuses... I don’t know the reason behind every time they get weird.”

Boss says a very similar thing whenever his squad gets into trouble because he just needed to take a goddamn nap.

...but with the blaster holstered on one side and knife on the other, he was still framed quite nicely.

Tangentially: I never really cared for Bo-Katan as a character but in The Mandalorian, her dual pistols and the nice little box they make? Wow.

...the town was built on a combination of rock and giant mangrove roots which essentially divided the town into two levels... here the trees had been dug into and, in some cases, straight through.

I originally had zero intention of describing this outpost but this 'mini date' section, as I think of it, was the second to last thing I had to write and realizing I had to have them moving through a space in order to get the moments that I wanted out of it, I ended up making a sort loose amalgamation of two video game locations: The Grove from Guild Wars 2 and Torigoth from Xenoblade Chronicles 2, specifically the area with the suspended bridges.

“It’s a wedding boat.”

Originally it was just going to be a fishing vessel making a lot of noise as they brought up a huge haul but that seemed too mundane, too uninspired. I'd recently watched a documentary that featured ethnic groups in the Philippines and some of the nomadic people's transition to a stationary lifestyle. They spotlighted a wedding and one of the traditions was the bridal party traveling on a boat in a similar manner. This wasn't meant to be a 'nudgenudge you boys getting any ideas nudge' kind of thing, it's just that that portion of the documentary really stuck in my mind.

“You’ll have to show me that some time.” Fixer’s hand squeezed his. “Of course.”

Fixer took him out that night, after Hunter finished making dinner and they ate under the stars with the crashing waves glowing blue and soft green and orange lights around them because this was a date and Hunter deserved better than to spend it in a cramped, ramshackled room filled with random junk.

Hunter began to tense from the overwhelming sounds and smells...

Again, don't know how fandom does it, but I imagine Hunter tends to suffer from migraines, especially in places with lots of strong smells and constant loud, overlapping noises. He can- and has -suffered through it for the sake of missions or to get tasks done but it sucks and he tries to avoid crowds when he can. If he can't, he'll wear his helmet if possible so he can shut off necessary filters if it starts to get too much.

“It’s more for my peace of mind- our peace of mind.”

Fixer may treat Omega most like an adult but that doesn't stop his instincts from pinging whenever he sees her. He can't stop thinking about things like "You need more weapons than just an energy bow" and "Why do you have a helmet but no chest plate, torso shots are more common than head shots". But, as someone who is 1) not part of her family, and 2) has not been part of any discussions regarding what kind of protection she has, and 3) knows the Batch are the most invested in her safety so they'd already cover that sort of stuff, he knows it's not his place to get into that. But he'll make her that knife because, c'mon, whose gonna turn down a concealed blade?

And to find whoever made Fixer doubt his capacity for kindness and beat them to within an inch of their life.

It's not so much that Delta Squad are surprised that they're able to be kind as it is they're surprised that they'll extend that kindness to others without thinking about it. Vau was a very pragmatic and blunt trainer. He made sure, given the things commandos were expected to do, that his trainees understood that, behind enemy lines, they'll only be able to depend on themselves and if anything were to happen to them, no one would help them, the only ones that would ever look out for them are each other. Even if he didn't say it outright, he implied that offering a kindness to people that wouldn't offer it back was nothing but wasted energy. So whenever they realize they're doing so- especially when people show appreciate or give kindness back -it kinda shorts out their brains a little. They'll get used to it, though. Eventually.

“In case someone needs some space.”

That's a bit of a deflection as much as it is an answer. As stated before, leaving Sev behind caused a rift and things were said and done that Sev's return wouldn't be able to heal over. It was worst between Scorch and Fixer and, even still, if both happen to be having bad days at the same time, neither wants to look at the other be it out of resentment or guilt. Boss did his best to keep the three of them together and maybe his responsibilities now aren't as numerous or stressful or demanding but some times he just needs to get away from everyone and recenter himself. Often when there are bad days, Sev gets the brunt of it because his brothers need reassurance that he's there, that he doesn't hate them and he tries to be as patient and understanding as they need but if he couldn't get away from their smothering he would explode at them. And then there are times when they just don't want to be cuddled because it's too hot or they're feeling restless or maybe someone is too gassy and needs to be exiled from the pile.

“Didn’t realize I missed being able to pile up with my brothers until I saw that.”

Poor Omega never got to be part of a cuddle puddle. Once Hunter realizes that, he'll rectify that the next time they're on Pabu. There will be tons of cushioning for Tech and Crosshair may be skittish at the start but Hunter and Wrecker and Echo will show her how it's done and afterward Omega will demand they make it mandatory every so often.

There was a long stretch of silence and then Fixer asked uncertainly, “Is this a date?”

The thought occurred to him after everyone else made themselves scarce. It just took him this long to get the courage to ask.

“I’d like to, if you don’t mind. I like watching you handle a knife.”

And, of course, it all comes back to knives.

#republic commando #bad batch #fic #fic meta #still can't believe i wrote that #and am impressed that some people actually read it and liked it enough to tell me

[manonamora-if]

August Check-In!

July has been a bit more chill? I was kind of forced to slow down cause sickness (and other personal stuff), which made progress rather slow... On the other hand, it was nice to have a bit of a break.... and kind of needed, seeing how my body just didn't want to cooperate... I have honestly not written a thing in about a month (I don't count editing/coding/fixing), so I'm half-looking forward half-dreading getting back to it.

Long post ahead:

Start with what has been done this past week (hella busy).

Some other me and IF-me-related stuff

Some IF events to participate in

What I'm planning this month

A little re-haul of the templates and guides, getting some much needed TLC:

fixing typos/errors (mainly guides),

editing the credits with more resource links,

and some reformatting/re-organising the code (mainly templates).

Update your games with the latest version! Or re-download the guides!

ALSO ALSO, this was still technically last Sunday (late), but the SugarCube Guide has been fixed of its broken links, bad formatting, and explanation errors. But as a bonus, I've found some time to add some extra passages:

The other Engine API

Localization and Translation of a game

Events to trigger code at specific rendering moment.

Some of my older Coding In Twine asks, especially the CSS ones

(Version 1.1.0)

MelS finished checking my comments on the investigation part (still needs to add the missing part), and is processing the ones I left on the exploration side (there are a lot, he's doing his best).

Fixed some minor typos in the French version. BUT most importantly, the code is now available on my GitHub! Also will be shortly on the IFArchive.

Clarence Street, 14 est maintenant disponible en Français!

I've also added the source code to my GitHub, as well as sent them to the IFArchive.

I made some minor fixes in the UI for the title page and the Restart one (issue with text size). The source files are also now available on my GitHub and sent to the IFArchive.

Quick list on other IF-me related stuff:

I've finally started AND finished reviewing the Anti-Romance IF/VN entries. That was 20 new reviews (4 I had already done with the NeoTwinies, 1 was mine :P ). If you are interested, check out @manonamora-if-reviews, they are all there. Otherwise, play the entries! I'll prob go back to finishing replaying the IFComp entries and update those reviews... Or you can submit one for me to play!

@if-confessions closed last Monday - well, the asks box did. You can still read and interact with the posts. Just because I won't be answering for a while doesn't mean the discussions are closed.

Another player has been going through the @neo-twiny-jam entries, and gave me some some lovely reviews on IFDB ! That was a nice surprise!

Some IF Events:

The IntroComp entries are out! While voting is set to start out shortly, you can already check the entries (and maybe think of feedback for the author?). Note: the stories submitted were not complete games. Also I missed the deadline... I didn't have a working WIP...

There is still one month to submit your intent to the IFComp (@ifcomp). If you don't plan on submitting a game, you can already create an account to vote. I'm not participating this year, so you might see some reviews of mine this autumn.

Over at the @neointeractives, the Single Choice Jam will be ending in about 2 weeks. There is still time to add your story to the dozen already available!

If you are looking to make something a bit more NSFW, the Orifice Jam might be for you! There is a bit more than 2 weeks to add something hole-y!

THE PLAN (for August):

This is what I'm aiming to do, probably not what I'll end up achieving.

Play some more IF games. Maybe not 7/day like this week, but a few of them/week to add to my review pile. I'm getting closer to the top of the Reviewer List... I don't think I'll ever be number 1, but I need 137 more IF reviews to get to the front page (as of today - after the IFComp this year, probably will need more...). Also I want to be better at reviewing, so practice... Also I want to bring more attention to the French games...

I'd like to swing at least a jam entry for the SingleChoice. Something either silly, or related to one of my WIPs (toying with that...). Maybe testing a new engine for funsies. I have two weeks to think about it...

In the meantime, I need to fix my website. It's a bunch of games behind, and missing some important links too! Also been toying with having a more Web 1.0 vibe to it...

Maybe try to take one one of the WIPs and add a chapter or something (haven't decided which... the folders have been side-eyeing at my complacency).

Add more pages to the SugarCube Guide.

Code the update for TaTEH (dependent on MelS)

And if I can't write a single world, I can pick from the following pile pr probably not too much brain power needed:

translate Escape Goncharov! into French.

fix the bugs in EDOC + overall the French version to match

fix the bugs of TRNT + find a way to add the missing pieces (mayyyybe translate into French?)

fix the formatting of DOL-OS + translate into English

update LPM with the missing content + translate into English

The rest of the To-Do pile is (not month specific):

Finish The Rye in the Dark City (and maybe translate?)

Finish P-Rix - Space Trucker (and try to translate)

Finish Exquisite Cadaver (translation unlikely, current gameplay too complex to port for French)

Add a chapter to CRWL

Re-working TTTT to its originally planned state (lol, not likety)

Re-working SPS Iron Hammer (samesies)

Emptying my inboxes

Let's see what can be accomplished this month! I would like to check some more boxes of my new year resolutions.

#dev log #check in #august #progress #update

[airasora]

So, I have some shitty news. And I'll keep it brief, but the point of me telling this is to say I'm pushing my livestream of the new horror game Bramble - The Mountain King to Friday next week.

If you want to know why, click the keep reading button.

I was fired. From the best goddamn place I have ever been.

Well, not fired. "Let go". Along with every single person on my team, including my team manager, my "boss".

Long story short, I work for an outsourcing company who were hired by a major travel company to find travel agents to work from home in all of Scandinavia. I, along with 10 others, were hired last year in July. We became part of a small team with just 5 people already present. Then came a couple of new "waves" of people and our team suddenly had 30 people.

By December, this big travel company had already asked our outsourcing company to let go of two of the new travel agents. Then in February, we were told another 10 would have to be let go. And now, last working day of April, we were told all of us were gonna be let go.

The reason? Redundancy. Which is bullshit because we've always had plenty of work to do. The real reason is money. My country ensures a VERY good salary for the work we do and, in return, our work was brilliant. In fact, our team often cleaned up other teams' mistakes and so forth.

But, despite our team bringing in the most money and getting the best KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) we were also the most expensive one of all their teams, so they let us go.

The one good thing out of all of this is that the outsourcing company itself is doing its best to find alternative jobs for all of us. If we want them at least.

Doesn't change the fact that the first job in my life that I have ever loved and continued to love is now gone. I'm 28 years old, and been in a total of 6 different work fields.

I've been in two toxic work environments, one of which where I cried almost every single day for 7 months

I've been let go from one place due to my chronic headaches.

I've been let go on the last day of the 3 months trial period, which I later learned was their plan all along because it gave them three months of free labor from me since my education covered those first three months.

Three of my educations were delayed by a year by the school itself, was suddenly under investigation by the governement and the third one was rendered completely useless.

I'm not saying this to get sympathy. I'm saying this because I am so fucking tired of having to start over again and again and again. This job was the first time I was happy, that I kept loving it, that I loved my coworkers and that I felt good at what I do.

I've struggled with believing in my own abilities for years due to all the shit I've been through. My confidence and self-esteem grew every day at this job, and I was finally reaching a place where I could actually believe that I was good at something worthwhile.

The thought of not being able to achieve that feeling again is terrifying. This was the first time I ever felt like I belonged in a work field. And it's been ripped away and I'm back at zero.

Again.

And it's that "again" that really kills me.

Ok, enough woe is me. I will play Bramble next week, hope to see you guys there :)

#real life

[ottawavalleycreations]

What's in Progress

Ah, the holidays. The Season of Giving, and a time for spending time with family, friends, and all manner of loved one. One could wax and wane poetic about the various high holy days of the holidays, or speak to more secular approaches to the season, or even the outright marketable approach regarding the consumerist society in which we find ourselves bombarded with the pressures of sales and selling. While there is much I myself could say about this season and much more that could be complained about regarding the aforementioned market pressures from every conceivable angle to either buy or sell or provide the best "deals" on the latest hot ticket item or otherwise fad-tastic happening, I'd like to take a moment to talk but briefly about the things I am working on, or otherwise procrastinating working on by writing this blog post.

I am in the process of writing a Journal Entry for the membership site over at Ottawa Valley Creations and have been continuing to repost The Venture Series, the latest page having been just uploaded today. The in-progress Journal Entry is one that I have been wanting to write for some time and is actually in no way related to the holidays, though there is another too that will be written that may be more thematically appropriate-- at least in the interest of dates and specific days. The entry currently in progress is in regards to a certain ancient world deity that I have been tracking through various sources and papyri to render but a small snapshot look at in my own words and writing, so too, at the people that may have worshipped this deity in question.

Another thing I've been working on for Ottawa Valley Creations is getting together more items to take literal snapshots of so to post them within the store. I am also in the process of developing several paintings of a large size and heavier detail of others that have already been listed, though in all honesty, this is entirely dependant upon overcoming the frustrations, depression, and melancholy which seems to afflict many this time of year with the Vitamin D deficiencies prominent in countries of the Northern Hemisphere this time of year. This being said, however, there is also a smaller project painting that I am very nearly finished with which will be being posted and available both as the original canvas and as prints, this painting being a long time in the works and of the Angel Raphael, the young Tobias, and his bride, Sara. Just a sweet little portrait attempt based upon the apocryphal story, laced of course, with my usual bunches of abstract symbolism.

There is plenty in the works, as one can see, and aside from the seemingly ever wilding turmoil that is the battlefield of attempting to achieve mental wellness, it is business as usual over here with Ottawa Valley Creations. I personally cannot in good faith make my time with the holidays a completely secular and capitalist greed machinist attempt to swindle the masses with promises of sales and discounts to make up for the black hole of lacking purpose except but to consume and purchase without thought or concept of ethics and morality; but we are still here, still live, and still avidly working on new art and getting old art posted for the enjoyment of viewing. And perhaps if I can plant the seed of supporting an artist, and historian, who is trying very hard not to be too cynical about too many things, then all the better.

I appreciate any that have taken the time to read this and thank any and all for their support. My thanks, and well wishes, always,

M.R.Reid

Ottawa Valley Creations

#artists on tumblr #blogging #blog #ottawa valley creations

[mysticdragon3md3]

🐁🏰🎵🎵🎵🎵

It's funny. I haven't been interested in Wish at all, but now I'm got one of the songs stuck in my head and I kind of like it there. Maybe doesn't mean the best for that song/movie, that I like the song as background sound because it's not interesting enough to be distracting in my brain. But I've gone from being disinterested in Wish, to having watched so many bad reviews of it, that I'm curious now, I watched some clips of the songs, and now I've got one of the main songs stuck in my head. Odd. lol

The other day, I saw an ad for that Ubisoft game Just Dance, featuring Wish. And now I can't stop wondering if Disney got pop music people to make the songs for Wish, just so it could fit better into Just Dance. But that's silly, right? Right? They wouldn't dump 100 years of musical theater sounding songs, on the 100th anniversary movie that was supposed to be a celebration of the past 100 years, for a reason like that, right?

Sometimes I wonder if they got pop music producers to write these songs, because musical theater was kind of like the pop music of its day...back in the day. o.o??????

Honestly, I want to say that I'm disinterested in Wish because ever since Nimona came out, I haven't been able to think about any other animated movies. But I think I just wasn't interested in anything in the trailers or descriptions I've heard of the plot. And after all those bad reviews came out, I feel kind of bad how increasingly disinterested I'm becoming.

But I will say that unlike most reviewers, I'm not bothered by the art style. I've always preferred stylized art styles, in general. Sure, hyper-realism can be a cool magic trick, especially, when rendering cool materials like glass and water. But I'm not bothered by Wish's art style. I wish it looked more like its own concept art though. One of the reasons Sleeping Beauty is my favorite of the Walt-era animated Disney movies, is because it's so stylized and flat. I remember hearing that for Sleeping Beauty, Walt Disney specifically wanted the end product to look just like their concept art. He wanted its style to succeed in ways that Alice In Wonderland had failed to capture Mary Blair's concept art. Yes, I think Wish could have achieved this better with 2D hand-drawn animation. But I did hear that Disney person reveal that all their equipment for hand-drawn animation is just gone. Maybe dumped somewhere, with the way he made it sound. But there are also movies, like Nimona, proving that computer generated animation can look stylized and more closely mimic 2D art styles. Maybe some part of me wished that they just went for their usual hyperreal style, so we could at least marvel at how hyperreal some textures or lighting could be. Because, I'm sorry, but Disney animation's CGI doesn't seem to be as willing to lean into stylization as far as they should have to make it STYLISH, like Nimona and the Spiderverse movies. There's just a little something extra more in Wish's concept art, that got lost in its final movie's rendering. But I still think the final art style in the movie is fine and not "unfinished", the way so many reviewers keep saying.

#personal fandom records #mousemonarchy

[leam1983]

Victoria Gloriana

I haven't gone ahead and turned into an apologist for the British monarchy; this is more of a victory cry for Linux Mint on 2022's Razer Blade 14.

Since I bought my Blade, I'd scoured forums trying to see which distro worked the best on such a closed ecosystem as a Razer laptop. As I've said before, Razer tends to leave everything related to drivers and basic functionality to Windows Update, which means that every reformat comes with a lengthy period that's spent waiting for Microsoft's repositories to deliver the one file I need to go wireless - sometimes upwards of four hours of successive updates and reboots. In the past, Ubuntu and Mint had trouble getting open-source drivers to work out-of-the-box. Now, it seems like 21.2 "Victoria" is the final achievement I'd been hoping for.

Everything works out-of-box, now. The wifi, audio drivers, chipset - everything's there, with my one and only issue being common with non-native Linux laptops: the battery's capacity is either under-estimated to criminal levels by the UI, or over-inflated to ludicrous levels. With no AC, my Blade currently sits at an estimated 3 hours and thirty minutes of uptime, whereas Windows 11 could stretch that to an estimated five. If I plug in the AC to charge, the percentage can actually fluctuate in either direction by a few increments, before eventually settling on 100% and a Fully Charged mention. If I use my portable charger, it doesn't get detected in the UI but still delivers power, which makes my rig's uptime go up to comical levels.

Battery Levels: 100% (discharging) - 322 hours and 45 mins remaining.

Something like that. It's kind of a funny problem to have.

Nobody's cracked how to get my onboard 3060's RTX cores going, however, and NVIDIA's proprietary drivers are more or less designed to snub Linux users on that front. The Team Green-issued drivers are listed as the recommended ones, as per usual, but we're still left in the dust, when it comes to top-tier features. It's also a bit of a hassle to have to remember to manually switch to NVIDIA On-Demand, as Mint's default video renderer on my laptop seems to be the onboard APU. On-Demand works, but it seems to shunt a constant light workload to the GPU, even when I'm idling or performing tasks that would normally be of the APU's domain, like watching YouTube videos.

Still, it's a small price to pay for stellar boot times and a UX that's, as ever, leagues and bounds above Microsoft's turgid mess. There's something telling to the fact that I don't mind Mint's Weather applet, while Windows 11's drives me up the freaking wall. The gamers will tell me I've just excised half of my library, but that's only because most aren't willing to jump through the hoops required to get World of Warcraft running on Linux. These hoops aren't numerous, but they do exist - and I have no problems whatsoever with using them.

I think I'll try Bottles, this time around - it's a little more stable than Lutris, on the whole.

Then there's the Ubuntu question, which I'm always asked by the IT team... I don't use Ubuntu's mainline distro fork because I'm still fundamentally a Start Menu stan, and because Mint's UI feels sleeker and smoother to me than Ubuntu's very Cupertino-inspired and quasi-tablet-grade UI. The pack-ins are useful, printers are picked up instantly - I've got everything I need, honestly.

Score one for Victoria - it feels damn good to free my overpriced and proprietary slab from Redmond's clutches. One day, I'll work my way to only my work PC running on Windows...

#computron #IT post #Linux Mint 21.2 Victoria #Razer Blade 14

[lozislaw]

HELLOOOOO, I LOVE YOUR ART 💗💗💗💗 but I want to know if you have some tips for anatomy??? CUZ I WANNA LEARN TOO, or do you know some artists that may have some tips for anatomy? 🥺especially HANDS cuz omg they’re a total pain 😩😩

I love you btw 🖤

Oh god oh jeez. I have no idea what advice I could possibly give that wouldn't sound like a goose trying to learn English with a parrot translator. But goddammit I'm gonna try my way.

This is embarrassing because I'm literally in art school and I'm lacking fundamental advice for anatomy like those incredibly clever art-tips you see online. But I've picked things up along the way I swear. Maybe not exactly what you're asking for (probably definitely not - so I apologise in advance), but I think they're good to know anyway. Bear with me as I vomit them out.

Firstly, I'm gonna play a broken record to you on repeat here, which is the most important thing when it comes to improvement. You guessed it: PRACTISE (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

I know - Trust me I know it sounds tiring, and the idea is much easier than actually picking up your tool and doing it. But there's no way around it. Not even the most talented and incredible artists in the world become that way at the moment of birth; they're spending their lives practising and learning new things. Whether professionally or not, you don't become amazing overnight. It takes effort; and whether you want to treat that effort as work, or fun, is completely up to you. Being one or the other doesn't change your skill - it only changes the way you view your practise. Personally; I view my practise as fun, because it feels like more of an achievement when I make something I'm proud of. It's a win-win. Also because fanart is extremely fun always XD

If you keep practising - even if you hate your work at first and want it burned, I fucking promise you it'll pay off, even if it takes years. The best part about it is looking back on your progress and thinking: wow, I'm so proud of myself. For example here is my own evolution, one from August 2020 - to September 2021

(I was brand new to digital art with a purely traditional background, so I was extremely naive about the whole concept. Looking at multitudes of fanart is my only education XD)

This is the evolution of practice and studying the shit out of other peoples art; experimenting like crazy and teaching yourself from the basics to the advanced. Spend one week practising curls and nothing else. Spend another learning how to render skin. And another doing nothing but hands and fingers and wrists galore. Draw a hand using a photo, even trace over it. Learn your shapes first and then you can advance to the next step. Dip your toes in and you won't get overwhelmed <3

I know this isn't exactly nitty-gritty anatomy tips, but at the end of the day any advice is just more education; it helps all around. I'm gonna give you something else - a much more specific tip; an exercise. It's fun I promise, because there's no such thing as a bad result, they're all equally bad XD Shit - I can hear my teacher scowling, I meant good.

You can do this digitally if you prefer, but I like using simple pencil and paper, it feels more fluid. There are two ways to practise accessing the right-side of your brain (the creative side). Or in a less pretentious way to say: how to stop giving a fuck about being perfect.

The first way is called blind continuous line-drawing. It’s pretty self-explanatory: you either use a reference in front of you or just on memory, and draw it without ever lifting your pencil up. But you don’t look at your paper at all, you’re letting your hand and your memory guide you. The more you practise this, the more you stop worrying about making it neat and perfect, you can fucking let loose. Make music that sounds like cats shoved into a washing machine. This exercise will follow you on your other art pursuits, even if you don’t realise it. Remember, practise baby~

Next exercise, and my personal favourite is loose line sketches. They’re similar to continuous line in the way that you’re encouraged to let your inhibitions go and make a mess. You can lift your pencil, and you can look at your paper, and essentially it’s like sketching... if your sketching was like an ice-addict having a seizure. Which is beautiful! And unique, and dammit you don’t need to feel embarrassed, but none of these are meant to be perfect.

See the heavy loose lines that I use sparingly in the sources of light, and condensed in the spaces of darkness. I put away that little devil telling me to be perfect and concise, and just have fun and go bonkers. It teaches you about form and light without spending 5 hours trying to make it photorealistic. These all took less than 5 minutes, that’s how little I gave a fuck about making them perfect. And goddamn it helps. Give them a try, spend no more than five minutes on them, and see how you go <3 It works digitally too!

Okay this answer is so long and I’m so sorry, I don’t even know if I’ve answered your question at this point, I’ve gone off the rails. Hands... okay hands. Hands are the most difficult thing for me to draw, which is just cruel irony because they’re also my favourite aside from faces. The most I can offer at this point is that practise will save your life. Observe other artists and how they draw, take the time to notice things about their art that you wouldn't at first glance. The highlights and source of light? The length of their fingers? Are they thick or delicate? Are they anime hands and fucking massive? Is that body slender or thicc? Where are they putting the curves, fat and muscle on their person (or furson, furries are welcome here ❤). Decide through this observation and your own practise what kind of style you aspire to have out of your art. Do what makes you proudest, what you find the most enjoyable, and as I've said, stop giving a fuck about anyone, including yourself. You have your own unique take on reality and it's beautiful <3 You can draw blob hands and it's okay, because they're your blob hands :3

And anon? I love you too ;3;

#fuck im sorry im sorry i try not to make asks too long #its a bad habit #im too passionate to keep my piehole shut though ;-; #i dont know artists who give anatomy advice im sorry - im not aware of my surroundings half the time #digital artist #traditional art #digital art #artist #art tips #art advice #anatomy #fanartist #i try so hard to keep myself away from the snobby ass art world #i met a guy the other day at a social event who is the epitome of an art snob - down to the glass of wine fancy colourful suit and tie #and off course that shit-sniffing head lifted up #sneering: im soo much better than you peasants - be grateful you're in my presence

[amelylinaa]

hello, amelylina! I hope you don't mind a small interview through asks. I was given a task of interviewing someone I look up to, so I would really appreciate you answering my questions 😅 1. What is your real name? How do you like to be called by your friends? 2. Describe yourself in 4-5 words. 3. What do you study right now? 4. What made you chose this field? 5. What you would've said to yourself 4 years ago? 6. What are you most afraid of? 7. What do you think is your best trait? (see part 2)

Ok........... I legit almost had a stroke when saw this like WHAT?????

THIS IS SO SWEET THANK YOU SO MUCH I DO NOT DESERVE THIS IM JUST A RANDOM GIRL DOING SOME RANDOM STUFF 🥺❤

Answers :

1. My real name is Evelina. My friends usually call me Lina, but I prefer to be called Amely or Ame.

2. Med student with a hobby

3. I study medicine and all of the millions academic studies attached to this wonderful field.

4. I've always loved chemistry and biology, but once I've read one amazing book about genetics I absolutely fell in love with medicine and the way our bodies work. My favorite class is definitely pathophysiology.

5. Don't blame yourself for people leaving you, it's not always your fault.

6. To be left alone.

7. The strive to learn :)

8. Just to share and communicate with people with the same interests, definitely wasn't expecting what I have now, still in absolute shock!!

9. Hopefully something positive ;) Sometimes I really want people to remember me not only for alpha clothes and haha funny name reference. But I understand it's hardly possible, which is ok don't get me wrong.

10. Every single time I post something, especially renders, and recieve comments, asks or reblogs, people saying how good I am. I don't think so. I really don't think I deserve any of this honestly.

11. Probably thinkinh what I want to do, finding some clothing reference, and pre-thinking of the whole process of making particular clothes.

12. I just really love all the details. Nevertheless huge respect to all of the maxismatch creators, you guys have a lot less freedom than us alpha-creators in what to create. (i'm talking mostly about frankenmeshing, as you depend on EA meshes for this, so it takes a lot of imagination, creative thinking and overall pretyy amazing drawing skills) And still you guys create best looking clothes, they impress me every single time, I feel like I could never do something similar.

13. Ah yes, the joke running in this blog from the very beginning. (gosh im so edgy in those tags) I don't really want numbers if this makes sense, I want to see that people like what I make, that the clothes are used and maybe even inspire someone to do something similar. This is probably the top achievement ever for me. I literally cried when some of you sent me an ask, telling me you look up for me and also want to do something similar one day. Thank you, I'm 100% sure you'll rock it, just keep moving forward and learning something!!

14. Yeah it crossed my mind a couple of times, but not because i don't like this community. The main reason is that I'm trying my best right now to earn enough money to pay for the better university and move from my family home. My cat also wants to thank all of my lovely patrons, all of the toys and food and other supplies are bought from the patreon money, which I'm always super grateful for. Thank you so much!

15. Having enough courage to write to the person I looked up to @clumsyalienn. Meeting Jen is the best thing that has ever happened to me. She's so sweet and the bestest friend and human ever possible. I can never express how grateful I am to her for absolutely everything. If not for the virus we woul've finally met this summer!! :c

THANK YOU FOR YOUR QUESTIONS IT WAS SO FUN ANSWERING THEM!!!!! 💜

#ask #anonymous

[arrtemisia]

"Hmm Labrys' codename should be Labrys!" Lord what a mood I've done that before dygihosyk Knight works with the protector theme but hmm if you're up for suggestions maybe... Bear? They're pretty protective uhh Shield? Bird maybe? Pfft maybe Futaba jokingly calls her 'Eagle 1' or something cjgioudhg anyway if ya bored or feel like it also your Labrys/Sumi post and just 👀👀👀 thoughts??

Hi again sorry this took so long to answer! I didn't get the notif and I'm not used to my inbox actually having things in it so I keep forgetting to check lol

I'll settle on a codename for labrys eventually, one day it's gonna click! I've given up on actually writing the au my pt labby is from bc every time I try something drastically changes about it and I end up needing to scrap everything. I think at one point or another I had like 30-40k words down in a suuuper rough first draft before I ended up needing to trash it all? I still have some pieces of it in my docs but that was a really really early version so not much can be salvaged. Every other attempt has been nowhere near that much, usually ending at about 3k words in. It's just been stewing in my head and not on paper for like three or four years now, so there's no rush on settling the details.

As for sumibrys. Deep inhale.

They'd be so good. They'd be so, so good and it's the biggest brained thing I've ever come up with (at least I'm like 99.9% sure I came up with it, I went looking for content and there was absolutely nothing, not a single tiny scrap) and I have achieved ultimate enlightenment.

Prince (@/princekirijo) and I were talking abt this a couple days ago but to paraphrase:

Their personalities are so so compatible, they're similar enough people and have so many shared experiences between them that there'd be a pretty instant understanding, and yet their outlooks on life are different enough to constrast each other and push the other to be better. They're just both really warm, gentle, supportive people, but in slightly different ways. Not to mention the HEAPINGS of nearly identical trauma. The moment they met they'd be BEST friends.

And from then on like? They just feel like they'd have the sort of friendship where it turning romantic would feel like the most natural thing in the world bc nothing would really change. Kinda like the way a lot of ppl talk about akiryu. They're just the sort of people to be constantly soft and supportive of the other, in awe of every little mundane thing the other does (such as labrys being amazed by sumire's grace plus sumi doing mundane human things and sumire being rendered unable to speak by watching labrys swing around a giant rocket axe like it weighs nothing), constantly watching out for each other's struggles, wanting better for the other. It'd just be so pure, and so sweet, and god it's a blessed concept and I want ppl to jump on it SO BAD-

Ahem. Anyways, I will force this rarepair into the fandom with my bare hands if I have to and I will accept any help I can get in converting others to the church of sumibrys (and also labrys in general labby deserves so much more attention from the fandom). Sumire deserves a robot gf, as does labrys a cinnamon roll thief gf. They can both have it, as a treat

#sumibrys #sumire yoshizawa #labrys #faith #if I can get like 5-10 converts I'm making a sumibrys discord server #soon as I get get over my brain bullying me I'm writing some fic #if u fuckin want smth done u do it urself #but yes they'd just be so precious to each other #and they'd also have a rlly nice aesthetic together #and they'd get along so well #and they have so much shared history #p5 #p5r #p4au #mod answers stuff

[wingheadshellhead]

Hi, I love your blog! So I've been reading a lot of 616 stevetony lately, and I've noticed that in both canon and in a lot of fiction, Steve seems to really dislike Extremis (even before superior iron man). Why do you think that is? Even without looking at this with shipper goggles (which I always am), I think it's really strange that Steve has so much disdain for something that essentially saved one of his best friend's lives.

(THIS HAS TAKEN ME 5 BILLION YEARS BUT HERE IT IS FINALLY)

i used to be in the same boat and automatically assumed steve’s dislike of extremis was one of those fandom headcanon things that was so commonly accepted it’d basically become fact, but it’s really, actually, all 100% canon. but the comics that deal with it happen right before civil war so i think many ppl have simply forgotten or skipped over that part of tony’s timeline.

execute program is the 6-issue arc that comes right after extremis and it’s the main thing i tell everyone they have to read if they’re putting themselves thru the ringer that is 616′s civil war. it is so so important to understanding tony’s headspace and where he’s at before the events of civil war occur. 

READ EXECUTE PROGRAM. a) bc it’s absolutely crucial to tony’s side of civil war, b) the follow-through from the extremis arc is just… amazing, virtuosic. i really genuinely think it is a fascinating, excellently-written arc, c) when it gets gay it gets very gay. truST ME you do not need your shipper goggles for this at all bc guess which of the following things are canon: the sound of steve saying his voice being the only thing that snaps tony out of (likely a dissociative episode) trying to murder a villain that nearly kills peter, dyeing his hair blond when he’s going on the run, tony stopping his heart to save steve’s life. all of them !!! all canon !!!!!! 

extremis is, basically, terrifying. to the average human being, hell even the average superhuman. it’s p much unfathomable the sheer level/magnitude/scope of extremis. extremis allows tony to access and control any piece of technology on earth and even in earth’s atmosphere, he can hear satellites. it’s like having the singularity as a superpower. 

so part 1, iron man vol. 4 #7 (2006), opening issue and we have tony stopping a villain with lethal force, all while counting down the milliseconds and bidding on priceless artefacts.

now, avengers don’t kill. and tony doesn’t, he stops the man’s heart, then restarts it, basically performing defibrillation. 

and then we get this conversation: 

and after tony jets off leaving the new avengers to sort out the aftermath, we get this disturbing reminder:

a proper reread might prove me wrong but i don’t think the writers ever clarify whether this transformation in tony’s personality is due to extremis or outside manipulation (which is the culmination of execute program’s arc as i’ll go into in a bit). but when your brain is literally a machine and you Have Become more machine than human, this is the natural progression of tony’s humanity – the aspects of compassion, empathy, etc. – fading into the background to accomodate for extremis. 

extremis brings out everything about tony that steve (and possibly the world) fears most. it makes him cold and calculating, and with a brain like tony stark’s elevated by the superhuman capacity to think and react at the speed of a machine, he’s unstopppable.

part 2, iron man vol. 4 #8, we have tony nearly straight up burning a man alive for almost killing peter and laughing about it. 

he’s so deep in Destroy Mode that he doesn’t even register steve’s warning, and here i think he acts entirely out of instinct –– like extremis is thinking for him rather than his brain prompting him to do this. 

extremis is also the cause of tension between tony and the newly-formed new avengers (one of my favorite line-ups!!), he almost gets into a fight with logan and jessica has to break them up. it turns out tony is missing time in his memory, which is extremely worrying for someone w/ his level of power…

what’s so fascinating about extremis, and why we have so much to thank warren ellis for (the writer of the extremis arc), is that it is the perfect and the most logical climax of the modern iron man story. tony’s worst villain, as we’ve known since the very beginning really, has never been anyone else but himself. and in the case of extremis, it’s a highly technologically advanced version of himself that can do and be everything he’s ever dreamed of being able to achieve vs. him. 

the question extremis asks is at what cost? at what cost does technological advancement, bleeding-edge breakthroughs, and the spirit of human innovation come at? how far would tony go to become the Ideal version of himself that he sees as superior in every way? what would he sacrifice for that?

extremis represents basically the pinnacle of sci-fi tech in iron man comics, it’s why even god awful superior iron man used a 3.0 version of it as the foundation for tony’s sins. it’s the farthest point he’s ever reached, and it’s also the lowest in terms of the damage and fallout that comes from it. because ofc, tony stark can’t have nice things like this, but also bc the hubris + nature of extremis allowing its host to play god can’t exist without there being negative consequences. really b ad consequences. 

huge respect to danial & charles knauf, the authors of execute program, too, because they find a way to perfectly bring the arc full circle as ellis did with his extremis. the central villain plot revolves around ho yinsen’s son. the kid hacks extremis and uses it to control tony, sending him to subconsciously assassinate a bunch of people on his kill list, i.e. a list of all the men involved in yinsen’s death. i mean like, HOLY SHIT, an iron man plot where a literal ghost from tony’s past – a direct victim of events tony was involved in, the son of the man that sacrificed his life so iron man could be born and so tony stark could live – shows up, weaponises tony’s own body + technology and uses him to murder people who are scheduled to participate in a peace summit despite the blood on their hands and the human cost of their involvement in the weapons industry.

DRAWING PARALLELS BETWEEN YINSEN’S LIFE’S WORK AND TONY’S LIKE DEATH AND DYING WOULD BE KINDER. again bc of my memory or even regardless due to constant retcons + reruns of the iron man origin story, i don’t know if it’s ever been explicitly stated before that yinsen also got into the weapons industry in order to get the funding necessary to support his other revolutionary work. but his son literally conflates yinsen with tony here, blending them into one + the same with that final panel and it becomes very obvious that at least a small part of him blames father for entering into weapons design. if he hadn’t, he might never have been captured by the the terrorist group that wanted him and tony to build them missiles. 

also, yinsen + villains involving yinsen are a recurring theme in iron man history but can we talk abt the fact that tony has never ever let himself forget the man bc jesus christ

yinsen’s kid is killed by a SHIELD sniper, activating the dead man’s switch and unleashing all the peackeeping units tony built that are now compromised. now, tony’s no jean grey or wanda maximoff but if this arc shows anything it’s not to underestimate him bc intentional or not (lmao) if he put his mind to it there’s literally no limit to the damage he could do. 

we see various heroes fighting off the peacekeeping units, and the new avengers are at the peace summit fighting a hulkbuster. 

and here it is people !!! the 23989485th time tony kills himself so steve can live. 

JUST. THE LOOK ON HIS FACE. AND THEN THIS ABSOLUTE LACK OF HESITATION:

so, yes. extremis was traumatising for pretty much every single person involved. steve has extremely good reasons for HATING extremis, even in the early stages or even if a fic is taking place before the events of execute program.

if you read the full arc, you’ll see tony running himself into the ground with his new abilities (world’s greatest multitasker can now multitask 192483958 things at once? ofc he’s going to use and abuse and exploit that), you see him spiralling and losing his grip on reality (mainly because he’s actually having dissociative episodes and losing time due to being remotely controlled to assassinate ppl but also bc of the Effect extremis is having on him). i brought up wanda and jean earlier as a casual reference but like, to put it in that kind of perspective, people just weren’t made to have this much power.

on a smaller scale, apart from eating up all of tony’s time and attention and mental health in a really bad way, it just Distances him from everyone. especially from the team. it’s Isolating, having this much going on in his brain and no one else in the world to fully understand it. 

and on steve’s side, you also have the fact that tony’s genius is both one of the things he loves and lowkey resents most about him. he has this deep-set anxiety about tony with all his brilliance and intelligence leaving him behind in the dust, or worse, laughing at him and how outdated and dim-witted he is in comparison. this is steve’s version of tony’s “i’m never going to be good enough for him”, a sentiment summed up in a quote from him as early as tales of suspense vol. 2 (1995): “yes, tony stark, a man of today and tomorrow is the man i’ll never be.” he’s so afraid of being abandoned + alienated by tony’s mind and the future that tony’s worked so tirelessly to build that might render him irrelevant. he’s scared of a future where he has no purpose, but more or just as importantly, he’s scared of becoming obsolete in tony’s life, of not being needed by tony anymore. one of the things that endeared him so much to tony, and which laid the foundations of their lifelong friendship, was the fact that from Day One (1), tony made him feel At Home. he never let him feel ashamed or isolated as The Man Out Of Time, he actively worked to make steve feel comfortable and to give him the things he needed to acclimatise and to fit himself into this brave new world. 

extremis undoes all of that. it propels tony so far and so fast into the future that it makes tony untouchable to steve. all of the ‘i can hear satellites’ stuff renders steve helpless and even more out of his depth than usual. it presses all of steve’s secret buttons and then some.

to sum this all up, and to finish my extra rambling abt tony bc u asked me about extremis and i couldn’t not finish with this:

here we have, ladies and gentlemen, everything u need to understand abt tony going into civil war. and it’s not on any of the official civil war fucking reading lists which really pisses me off because whether or not they did it on purpose the knaufs basically wrote all of execute program as the perfect precursor and characterisation groundwork for an antebellum tony stark. 

a tony stark who was just very recently manipulated against his will into assassinating people and causing a world-threatening incident that could have resulted in the deaths of thousands, including his own friends and teammates (and the love of his life), is a very different tony stark to the one ppl see in civil war #1.

what happens in stamford was an accident, too. no one meant for that to happen. tony knows first fucking hand what that means and what it feels like to carry that responsibility and guilt. his position in civil war supporting the SHRA is not only to protect the potential lives that could be lost in another stamford incident but also to protect superhumans and superheroes from ever being exploited against their will by villains to kill and hurt and destroy. 

superheroes are inherently susceptible to being used, it’s just part of the narrative convention –– a superhero is brainwashed or mind controlled or otherwise forced against their will to do something awful. and even if it’s not their fault there needs to be  accountability  for the victims. both the victims that suffer directly because of superhuman incidents but also the superheroes that become victims of ppl who abuse their powers. it’s abt protecting superheroes not just from civilians but from themselves. and if u’ve read a single comic u kno that this kinda shit happens way too often and way too easily.

sO YE S T hIS iS W HY. AND IT Ex PL AINS SO MUC H AND i j UST WISH P PL WOULD GODDAMN REA D THIS. LIKE EVERYONE WHO EVER WANTS TO SAY ANOTHER A GODDAMN THING ABOUT TONY STARK IN CIVIL WAR NEEDS TO FIRST READ EXECUTE PROGRAM FIRST OR PAY ME $10

anyway…………… one last time, i’m so so so sorry this took forever to get to. hope the wait was worth it!

#mod: answer #averageapplepie #stevetony #stony #extremis #text: meta #universe: 616 #comic: iron man v4 #original: meta #i'm so sorry u had to wait so long like #i should warn ppl that ever ask me a meta question that i might take half a yr to reply #......not to deter u tho bc i promise that my answer will be as well thought-out and in-depth as i can make it