#i was originally going to draw a proper digital version of this

[sanshinexx]

a series of events

#i was originally going to draw a proper digital version of this #but then i got lazy and just pulled up a pencil and some paper #and created this masterpiece #in like 5 minutes #please ignore the part-floating golf club thanks #let's just pretend that the ground is very uneven okay #technoblade #technoblade fanart #techno #techno fanart #c!techno #philza #ph1lza #philza minecraft #philza fanart #c!philza #c!phil #emerald duo #emerald duo fanart #nihachu #niki nihachu #nihachu fanart #niki fanart #c!nihachu #dsmp #dream smp #dsmp fanart #dream smp fanart #dsmp syndicate #the syndicate

[oftenwantedafton]

What Remains - Springtrap/William Afton x Female Reader

Chapter 2

Rating - Explicit

Word count - 2k

CW - mild body horror, no explicit content

Also available on AO3

Progress has been made on Fazbear Fright: The Horror Attraction.

You descend the ladder and stand back to inspect the animatronic mural you’re creating, then move forward, climbing the rungs again to add a few more brushstrokes to the brim of bear’s top hat before you’re satisfied with the area you’ve completed on the cinderblock wall. It’s so much easier working with proper lighting. Decreased clutter as crates and boxes are unpacked have made the environment less hazardous. The decorated spaces are beginning to take shape, the vision steadily coming into focus. Originally the dining room portion was intended to solely be a visual recreation, but the lure of potential further profits has driven the development of an actual functioning restaurant, albeit much smaller and more basic than the original it draws inspiration from. The idea of a simple narrated, guided walking tour has evolved into construction of an actual ride on a controlled track throughout the building. It was almost becoming like a miniature indoor amusement park now, the scale and scope ever broadening.

Springtrap is nearby, flipping through the sketchbook you’re working from, glancing over the ideas that you create before coming to the repurposed warehouse. You can’t help but notice there is a distinct odor emanating from him now. Before it had been the fragrance of must; mildly unpleasant, but tolerable. Kind of like a dusty attic or old basement. Now it is evolving into something much more sinister. Fetid. You find yourself backing away whenever the yellow rabbit gets too close.

“There was no such mural in the original restaurant,” he comments, head cocked thoughtfully to one side as he regards your work.

“I know. I just thought it was a nice nod towards the stained glass versions of the mascots that were featured in the dining room. It’s a shame they were destroyed.”

“Quite. I notice you’ve also taken certain liberties with the designs as well.” His voice has changed significantly since you’d first met, the last vestiges of rusted disuse vanishing, becoming smoother, almost melodic.

“They wanted something more overtly horror themed. The razor teeth and dripping blood seemed the way to go.”

“A bit overdone, I think.”

You flush. You can feel the disapproval wafting from the rabbit encased figure. “It’s what the owner wanted,” you say defensively.

“The owner. Yes. I’m eager to meet this individual who saw fit to steal another man’s lifework.” He continues flipping through the book. Amazing how dexteritous the steel digits are. Pages turned without tearing or bending, an odd sort of delicate, respectful care in them. He pauses when he sees the image of a man’s face. Clearly out of place amidst all of the other drawings. “And what about this?”

“Oh. That’s the owner. The original one, I mean. William Afton.”

“I’m aware of who it is. I’m curious as to what inspired you to draw him?” There’s something buried in that query. You can’t define it, precisely, but the suited figure sounds…bemused? You’re not really sure.

“I don’t know. I just thought his face was interesting.” It was true. Something in the structure of the sharp lines of his facial features intrigues you: the high cheekbones, firm jawline and aquiline nose contrasting so starkly with soft looking, full lips. Piercing eyes that demanded attention immediately. So stern and proud looking in every picture. The broad spread of his shoulders. Spine ramrod straight. Perfect posture. Overall, he exuded a kind of intimidating presence, odd for someone that operated a children’s party themed restaurant.

You actually found the man himself intriguing as well. Not that there was much information available. So few photographs. Sparse quotations and blurbs here and there in the media. A greater focus on him during the latter years when the pizzeria’s popularity was at its peak, coinciding with the time period that the children had started going missing. The obvious blame and suspicion laced in every journalist’s article, the bias clear. Judgment passed. Condemned and found guilty on a moral level even though legally he’d never been convicted of any crime. Just that lingering idea that it was highly suspicious that these kids all went missing when they were in the vicinity of his establishment. How could he not know what had happened? If he was responsible, what motive did he have? What happened to the children? Why was there no evidence, no bodies ever discovered? Where was he now?

“So you did know him. I mean, you worked together, obviously. Did you know him well?” It’s a question you’ve been meaning to ask. The strange creature had taken his time before stating what his job title had been. Security guard. He certainly knew a lot of details. More than just casual knowledge that the average employee would have, you think. Pressing for insights about the missing children and the subsequent closure of the restaurant is always met with an abrupt end to your discourse. You’ve stopped inquiring.

The glowing eyes meet yours. A little shiver runs through you. You try to focus your gaze elsewhere. The decaying suit’s tattered fur. Worn buttons. Frayed bow. No work has been done on it at all. Maybe because it already looked perfect for a horror themed setting in its current state. You wonder how he would react to someone attempting to tinker with the mechanics of the suit. You think about the accident that had occurred when the mascot had been retrieved from its strange placement inside a vent. A man had almost died. Had it really been an accident?

“You could say that, yes.” Another cryptic answer issued. He’s definitely hiding something.

“Did he ever talk about what happened?”

“No.” He closes the sketchbook. You get the feeling it’s a metaphor for the conversation ending. A touchy subject for some reason. You decide you’ll drop it for now, resuming you work. Time to give the lead star some more attention. Hesitating over paint colors before you decide on blending several to create a brighter shade of red. Very aware of how closely Springtrap is supervising you. It’s difficult keeping your hand steady.

“You’ll recall you offered to get me whatever I wanted? In exchange for your continued existence in this mortal plane, as it were?”

You set your brush down, a chill going down your spine. It’s the first time he’s mentioned that ill concealed threat since he’d first issued it. “Yes. I mean, within reason. I can’t, like, rob a bank and get you a million dollars.”

“I wouldn’t expect you to. I don’t require financial assistance in any case. This is something much different. Your participation in an experiment, of sorts.”

“An experiment?” This sounded ominous. You’re already feeling a sense of dread building for whatever plan he’s teasing the outlines of.

“Yes. I’m sure you’ve noticed certain…changes in my condition.”

“Mmm-hmm.” You lift the paint brush once again and attempt a few strokes of crimson to highlight the bear’s rosy cheeks. Struggling. Surely he can see past this facade of calmness.

“I have a theory that it might be related to what happened that day when you reached inside.”

You swallow past a lump forming in your throat. “That was an accident.”

“Oh, most assuredly. A fortunate one, I think. The only way to be certain of its efficacy is to replicate it.”

“You want me to put my hand inside you again?” You don’t know if you can force yourself to. Especially now that things seem so much…wetter inside. Fleshy. Like caressing a rotting corpse. That’s what he is, isn’t he? The bits you can see. A man that should be dead, somehow alive. You wonder sometimes if you’ve lost your mind. If it isn’t all a hallucination. A nightmare. But it’s all so vivid. So real.

“You’d only have to do it briefly. Just like before.” As if that made the prospect any more appealing.

You shiver again. “I don’t…I don’t know if I can. If I can make myself.”

“Is it really such a hardship?”

“It feels…strange.”

“I agree.”

“Unpleasant. Like…it’s not natural touching the inside of a living thing. Forbidden. It’s warm and wet…”

“Yes, it is.” There’s something almost fond in his tone. As if he’s reminiscing. Savoring a memory. The rabbit’s head drops forward sharply. “We had a deal. It’s not open for debate. You will do this.” He advances towards you. There’s nowhere to go. A wall of wet paint at your back. Could you outrun him? You dare not risk it.

Why did you have to be the one to do this? Why couldn’t he have chosen someone else to torment? Just your dumb luck that you worked evenings, when there was no one else around. Revealing himself to you and you alone. Your fates intertwining. Keeping his secret in exchange for you keeping your life.

Just get it over with already. Teeth clenched. You rub sweaty palms on your coveralls. “Where am I touching?”

“Wherever you prefer.”

You suppose the previous place was as good a spot as any. That gaping cavity in the chest portion of the costume. Fingers outstretched. You’re shaking. Should you close your eyes? Was it worse to see it? You preferred watching when you got shots at the doctor’s office. Seeing the needle pierce the skin. At least you could observe what was happening, the precise moment the breach was made. Eyes open, then. You suck in a deep breath and thrust your hand across the remaining distance.

You’re reminded of a Halloween party you’d attended as a child. There had been a table of mystery food items that were meant to represent horror themed substances. A plate of cold congealed spaghetti for brains. Slimy gelatin serving as monster guts. Pudding for zombie vomit. Peeled grapes for eyeballs. Creepy and fun in your youth.

This sensation now, anything but. Your fingers sink into heat, into slime. A distressing firmness palpated further in. An organ? That strange purple light slithering over you again. Coiling and uncoiling. Serpentine. Running over your fingertips as if they were the bars of a prison. Seeking a way to escape.

You can’t tolerate it. You attempt to jerk your hand free, but Springtrap has captured your wrist. There’s no escaping that steel manacle. How long have you been touching him? Surely longer than the first time now. This close, you can see inside the headpiece through the gap in the animatronic’s teeth. Patches of skin. Ligaments and tendons and muscle and bone. Raw, oozing tissue. Those horrible teeth, still so starkly white, so clean compared to the rest of the massacred flesh within.

You’re getting lightheaded. Drowsy. As if your energy is being sapped. Is that what he’s doing? Stealing your lifeforce and making it his own? Reanimation. His insides writhe against you. Restless. Impatient. Eager to find a point of egress.

And then you’re shoved, so hard you stumble and end up in a collapsed heap on the floor. Panting. Diaphoretic. But alive. You’ve been spared again.

“So that’s it.” The rabbit figure’s voice low. Not addressing you. Musing aloud. Attention focused elsewhere. “When it opens, when there are others present…an endless supply…”

You struggle to regain your footing. “What?”

“Hmm? Oh. Nothing you need concern yourself with. You’ve been most helpful. You can return to your work now.” So casually dismissive. As if you hadn’t just had your hand buried inside his body. Doing…whatever that had been.

You look down at the extremity that had been plunged inside of the mascot. Nothing visible. Not even a smudge of dirt from the soiled costume this time around. But you can feel…something. You drag your hand against your clothing, trying to wipe the unpleasant feeling away.

It doesn’t help. You can still feel it. Beneath the layers. Marked. Tarnished. Tainted. Deep inside.

#william afton x reader #william afton x you #springtrap x you #springtrap x reader

[bikwin5]

"ELLY'S ADVENTURE" notes and retrospective

It's been almost a month since I released "ELLY'S ADVENTURE," my first finished game in quite a while. I kind of dropped it without any context so I want to talk about it a bit. This is going to be a long post.

If you haven't played it then GO DO THAT CLICK ON THIS NOW!!!!! Just now I uploaded a recent 1.2 version that fixes a couple more bugs. I highly recommend you read this after at least beating the main game.

THE ORIGINAL

The first thing I want to reveal about Elly's is that the characters and setting did not begin with this project. How scandalous!!! They were actually conceived for a different project that I started thinking of as early as the end of 2015. This was also a game maker project, but it was much larger in scope than what Elly's Adventure became. It was going to be a "METROID MANIA" type game that many indie devs love to make.

The characters themselves didn't change that much in terms of roles. Elly was still the protagonist with Natalie as a supporting role, and I even had the idea of a hard mode where you play as Natalie back then. The plot was that there was like a magical item that got stolen and Elly and Natalie accidentally end up in a situation where they get recruited by the military and sent to take it back from a factory being used as a front for a base of very evil operations. The tone was still kind of funny but a little more serious than Elly's Adventure.

These are the earliest digital drawings of Elly and Natalie from 2015 and they look like FUCKING DOGSHIT!!!!!! SOmehow worse than I remember. I'm glad I learned to draw a bit better if nothing else.

Chandra was also a part of this project but she was not the main villain, rather she would have been the main henchman you fight multiple times throughout the course of the game, getting new attacks each time. She was to work under a character who I called MINERVA, THE CYBER-QUEEN who was to be the main antagonist. Chandra was more of a funny character who displayed moments of incompetence while the Cyber-Queen was more serious. I never really settled on a finalized design for the queen and I didn't even really like her that much in retrospect so Chandra ended up being the main antagonist of Elly's Adventure due to its more lighthearted nature. The enemies were also always meant to be weird round robots with green eyes, and I reused some designs for Elly's Adventure.

Old sprite sheets of Elly and the enemies. Was never really satisfied with Elly's animations.

Yulie was also part of the original project but she was to not make any physical appearances. Rather she was to give hints and bits of lore from pieces of her writing you would find around the factory, from a time when she worked there and slowly discovered that something sinister was going on. Surprisingly Yulie was never actually intended to be Elly's mom from the start until I started thinking of her being a support character in Elly's Adventure and I was like wait why should she be helping these kids... well her and elly both have blonde hair so she's her mom now LOL

This project never had a proper name, I think I also considered calling it Elly's Adventure but I didn't want to exclude Natalie from it so I was thinking of names like "Sky Diamonds" but it doesn't take place in the sky so that's stupid. I got as far as laying out the whole game and getting basic controls and some of the opening area down but that was about it. Truthfully I was never really satisfied with how it controlled or the art direction I was going with and making a metroid type game that lasted several hours felt so daunting I didn't really want to work on it anymore after a point.

Here are some old gifs of what it looked like. The main gameplay idea was that Elly was going to have a propulsion as a double jump that could be upgraded, sort of like the booster 2.0 from Cave Story. That idea ended up working its way into Adventure as a powerup. There was to be other mechanics like shot upgrades and secondary items that would do fun things but I never got around to that.

THE INSPIRATIONS

Now that I've spent long enough talking about Elly origins I can get to the actual game that, if you are reading this, most likely played. While it uses the same characters and setting as the last project, Elly's Adventure has a much smaller scope and style of gameplay. I am not a huge fan of the word "inspiration" something about it pisses me off. But with everything there was stuff that Elly's was inspired by.

First off only the most keen of observers may have realized that Elly's Adventure very much emulates the look and feel of titles played on a certain handheld system. It is the GAME BOY and it's one of the greatest things ever made. It has TI-84 ass graphics and sold a hundred million. I think the Game Boy might be the most rudimentary electronic game device to ever be so popular and I love it for that.

What's really ironic is that I actually did not have a Game Boy growing up YES that's right my first system was the Game Boy Advance. I know it's backwards compatible but I didn't know that as a kid and the only way I knew about games was either seeing them directly in the store or the sears catalog. And I loved Yoshi so much that I wanted a GBA specifically for the Super Mario Advance games with Yoshi in them. I enjoyed my Yoshi's Island port very much. So any original Game Boy title I've played I was either a teen or older since that was when I discovered the magic of emulation.

Anyway this is getting too anecdotal so I should start talking about the specific games that actually did inspire Elly's: Mole Mania and Link's Awakening.

MOLE MANIA is a puzzle game released by Nintendo in 1996. No one bought it because the Game Boy was dying and Pokemon had yet to breathe life into it again. People like to call it "Miyamoto's forgotten masterpiece" and then not say anything else about it. But it is legitimately a very good puzzle game that manages to do so much with so little and it's surprisingly difficult too. Each level is a series of one screen puzzles where the mole has to get the big ball into the goal, like this:

I got this from a youtude video so it has the cool Super Game Boy border. Anyway Muddy Mole can go underground to get to places and push and pull the ball around and all sorts of stuff. It's all designed in a very competent and concise way and I love everything about it except for the bonus stages and final boss. It feels unique among Nintendo games because it feels like they almost never do pure puzzle games that aren't some sort of falling block variant.

Of course Elly's is not a puzzle game so you might be wondering why I'm even bringing this one up. I felt compelled enough by the concise puzzle design that I wanted to make a Game Boy styled thing myself, something that I was considering for a while. I thought the idea of moving from screen to screen and clearing everything out would be fun. So I ended up digging up the handful of characters I had hardly thought about in years and set out to make a game with them.

Funny enough, even back in the day I was considering making a Game Boy styled game with Elly as a sidescroller. The idea was that it would have been a primer before jumping into a big game. It would have been something really short, like only 20 minutes, and the only characters would have been Elly and the Queen. But I didn't really get into it, not even writing down any ideas. So I suppose I was itching to do something with the GB style all along.

LINK'S AWAKENING is a much less obscure Game Boy game, and is probably the most well cherished GB title ever that isn't Pokemon. I went and played it shortly after Mole Mania because I wanted ideas for Elly, which was to be a small funny game of action. It wasn't purely for research, I just realized it was one of the few Zelda titles I hadn't played yet and I figured now would be a good time.

Of course it's a very good game. It uses the Game Boy's capabilities to its fullest and the color version enhances it even more. The overworld is made to feel bigger than it really is and the dungeons are honestly a lot more elegant that what Link to the Past had to offer. But mainly the thing I took away from this was level design stuff that could translate to Elly's well. I think STAGE 10 with the waterfalls was a good example of stuff I took away from this. A lot of the background graphics were also inspired by Zelda, such as the cliffs and castle walls.

did you know between DX and the remake its impossible to find any good screenshots of the original GB link's awakening... anyway just imagine this screenshot in monochrome and that's pretty much everything the desert stages were referenced from.

The Kirby series ended up being another source of inspiration, despite not taking many gameplay influences but rather style influences. Kirby is a funny little guy with awesome power and Elly could be considered similar, maybe even a ripoff if you think about it. I took a lot of ideas from the GB games in particular but moreso the spinoffs than anything. I think Kirby's Block Ball is a neat little title that's probably the best you can get with Game Boy breakout. Stuff like the structure of the game and the concept of an Extra Game were also taken from Kirby.

There are a couple of other minor GB titles that served as inspiration. Painter Momopie is a Japan-exclusive game about a little witch that has to paint floors. It's not an amazing game but it's cute and small. Elly's sprite, which was the first thing I drew for the game, was in fact based off of Momopie, and that's how I set the graphical style in motion.

There's also a game called Out of Gas which has these full screen cutscenes with fucked up looking people in it, which I tweeted about once.

I don't remember how I found out about it. This pic stands out to me a lot because there is not a single other game on the Game Boy that looks like this. This was dated May 10th and the notepad file where I started writing ideas for Elly's Adventure was also May 10th. So it's very much possible that this somehow ended up pushing me to make the entire game LOL

Moving on to Elly's Adventure

As implied by the last section Elly's Adventure started development around May of last year. This was probably my fastest turnaround from concept to development ever for a game idea. Somehow I still have the first things I wrote in the notepad file here unchanged:

There is a LOT more to the file than this but also I want to show that my process of making big projects is stupid as shit. Just take a big notepad file and start putting things in it until it gets so big I have to make a separate one. It's not the best but it works for a one person team.

You might also notice I intended the game to be about 30 minutes long, which did not happen as now it's more than twice that length. This is something called "scope creep" and it happens with every video game ever made by an ambitious indie dev. Honestly not sure how I intended "20-25 stages" to only take 30 minutes. Regardless scoping as small as I did I expected this project to take maybe a year and it ended up only taking a year and five months!!!!! I probably could have done it sooner if other projects and real life things like moving didn't get in the way.

Regardless it was relatively smooth to get Elly's Adventure off the ground. Since earlier last year I was already playing around with making a prototype of a different top down game that was puzzle based (don't count on me picking it up again) it wasn't too hard to do something similar on a smaller screen size, with already existing characters. I had some ideas that I scrapped early on like a score counter and a timer and decided to make Elly's a simple action game where you are simply focused on destroying everything you see.

This video is the earliest footage of Elly's after only a couple of weeks. The music was added by me, it wasn't in the game yet.

There's only one other bit of gameplay that's different than usual and that's the bonus stages, those were added fairly late in devlopment. I had the idea because I realized that a handful of Yulie locations was a pretty slow way of gaining 1ups by itself. I kind of forget they're in the game until I play it myself.

Truthfully I made Elly's as small as I did because I really did want to have a whole game out there that felt complete and polished. My Kirby games of the past might be funny but they're derivative works and VERY unpolished. With Elly's I wanted to give myself as much time as possible to refine a smaller game and I think based on reception it turned out alright.

THE DEVELOPMENT

Elly's Adventure was made in Game Maker Studio 2, a platform that I used because I had prior experience. Is it the best platform for making games? Honestly not sure. It's ok but it's obviously built off of an old codebase, much to its detriment. But I think Game Maker is very good at making 2D games that you can compartmentalize into a series of rooms, and Elly's was perfect for that. So I ended up doing that instead of learning GB studio or something because I didn't want to deal with actual GB limitations.

The development timeline of Elly's Adventure I ended up splitting into three phases. The first phase was to send the game to a couple of friends in secret and see what they think, purely as a proof of concept. The only feedback I was looking for was confirmation it was a good idea for a game. This was about three months in development and it had stages 1-10 without the stage 10 boss or the bonus stages, something I hadn't even conceived of yet. I got enough feedback that I knew I wanted to continue with the project.

The second phase was the longest, spanning like nine more months. This was the bulk of creating the game's content, as well as stuff like me moving that got in the way. I was more open about the game at the end of this phase and I sent it to a number of friends who are listed as "Generous Playtesters" in the credits. Special thanks to them, again, for doing this. I had more people than I expected willing to give me feedback for free. It took them a while, I think because I ended up sending it out the same time that fucking Zelda came out.

The "demo" I sent out was in fact the full game in a less polished state. All 20 stages, the intro and ending, and even a less refined options menu was all in. I did this because I really wanted the whole game to be polished as much as possible, especially since the last big game I put out (PEKSCTG2) was a hellscape tested only by me. Most reception was actually pretty positive and I think the thing I ended up changing the most apart from bug fixes were the bosses. I think all of them had a bit of rework to adjust their difficulty. This build actually did not include the Extra Game you get from finishing the main story, so all those stages actually are an untested hellscape. Have fun!

The third phase went from May to now, taking longer than I expected. Pikmin 4 coming out in that time didn't help either. When making the extra game it turns out making 20 harder versions of the existing stages takes a while!!! It was that + refining pretty much everything else and getting it ready for release. Speaking of level design here is a little snippet of the MS Paint type stuff I did for that:

Later I would put the actual sprites in instead of these shitty placeholders. Note that some rooms are not the same as they are in the finished game, I made some changes on the fly. That's kind of a fun thing of working by yourself, you don't have to like tell a separate design person to do something if you want changes.

Sometimes I see sentiment that making a project is easiest at the start and really hard in the middle but for me it's the opposite, at least with game dev. Getting something off the ground beyond just an idea is hard but making the content is honestly pretty smooth sailing. Then you have the end where the last bit of the game is most of the work. It's a bit painful having to comb through such a big project multiple times to make sure everything is there and running. Despite this project taking way longer than expected I'm still glad to finally get something done and out there.

THE GWAPHICS

If there is something between 2015 and now I have done a lot it's drawing. I'm not exactly an accomplished artist but I think a lot of my stuff has improved in past years. Or at least that's what they say. Taste is subjective after all.

However I didn't do very much pixel art for a while. Especially not anything with a palette as limited as the Game Boy. So making all the graphics for Elly's was something of an exercise in trying to figure out how this pixle art shit works all over again.

Almost everything in Elly's is drawn by me. A few images are actual things shrunken and convered to 4 colors but otherwise it's all me. And as it turns out drawing all the assets for you own game takes a long freakin time even when they're this simple!!!! While no one sprite took very long apart from bigger ones like bosses it all adds up to a lot of hours.

Not all of those hours are on Elly's but still. I think doing the tilesets took up a lot of time, in particular the playroom area because I was insistent on including a bunch of funny easter eggs and references. I can't explain all of them here because it would take much too long, but let it be known that this thing before the third boss is called "The Fumpship" and has like 3 layers of inside joke to it.

As for the character designs they were simple enough that transcribing them into Game Boy sprite form was actually pretty simple. Elly and Natalie in particular I had to remove the symbols on their clothes since it wouldn't translate in sprites.

You already saw this at the start of the post. These are character sketches I did around the start of development. Note that Natalie's outfit color is different, later I made it lighter to make her more distinguishable from Elly in-game. There are very few "concept art" things for Elly's, most of it I started with doing the sprites.

As for the enemy sprites since the ones I already had (see sprite sheet 10 pages above) already worked pretty well in this setting so I used that as a base for other enemies. The "Big Boy" enemies in particular took a while to figure out their sprites but I do like how they turned out. My favourite enemies are the exploding dolls, so much that I even used them as the game's icon.

THE COADS

This section is very technical and vague so you can skip it if you want. I'm something of a programmer... I think. I don't talk about it that much. A lot of what I know is not exactly suited for game dev BUT I did have a lot of residual Game Maker Language knowledge from my past projects. And there was a lot to learn too, since this was my first time using GMS2 in particular.

Truthfully since Elly's is kind of simple there wasn't THAT much that was that difficult programming-wise... I think the hardest shit for me is doing collisions and stuff. Collisions for Elly weren't too bad but for certain enemies like the grinders it was a pain in the ASS!!!!! That's why getting any game off the ground is hard for me, trying to make the groundwork for everything is daunting because I'll worry if it's good enough to accomodate the rest of development.

I think a lot of the challenge was not from getting things to work but rather having everything neat and organized. When you're making a game there is a lot of stuff to keep track of and even sometimes with the way I organized things I get lost in the game maker asset browser. I also made sure to comment things a lot... If you ever decompile the game i'm sorry if my comments are weird and embarassing.

The reason why I'm even bringing this aspect up is because in my past projects, particularly Pik's Epic Kirby Sprite Comics 2 I didn't know SHIT about programming nicely or efficiently and a lot of it was brute force via if statements. I did not want that!!! So with Elly's I made it so that adding new things like powerups and enemies was as easy as possible and I think that ended up making the project bearable.

This was also my first time making certain things like an options menu which was kind of strange and daunting as Game Maker does not have anything build in for menus. You just kind of have to do it from scratch. I was really insistent on having remappable controls in particular because I feel like that's essential for PC games these days. Also I enjoyed making the map system a lot, which was something I only added late in development. It uses a very hacky method of finding hard-coded arrays for each stage and drawing boxes for them but it works.

THE BOSSES

I think bosses in video games are a very novel thing on how inefficient they are for such a capital-driven industry. You have these things that take up a lot of effort and development time and are usually a small part of gameplay but they get made anyway because they look cool and also maybe you can use them as marketing or something. Maybe "boss fights" can be viewed as a disruption of power making its way into the hands of the workers? Ok I'm just talking out of my ass here.

There are not a lot of bosses in Elly's and they don't last very long but I wanted to discuss them anyway because there are some fun things to say about them. The first thing is that I wasn't even sure if Elly's was going to have more than one boss at first. Then I came up with the idea for the first boss (Death Orb) and started getting ideas from there. Fun fact, the Death Orb is named and modeled after the enemy (obstacle?) from Warframe:

I honestly thought it was really obvious but no one, not even my Warframe-playing friends seemed to notice. Anyway I just wanted a very simple boss that doesn't move with one attack. For a long time it didn't have the beeping sounds that telegraph its moves and therefore was very difficult to avoid the second phase without getting hit at least once! It was a bit bulb shit once I realized so I did that.

The second boss is a fish and funny enough, the only surviving boss idea from the original project. The major bosses were planned to be massive weapons named "______ Guardian" and the fish is loosely based off of an underwater boss idea I had back then. Of course the current day Water Guardian fight is not anything like that, and instead likes to flop around. Fun fact, the boss was a lighter grey color for most of development until I decided to make it dark so the weak point was more visible. I also changed the second phase movement late in development so it would flop less, making the grenade powerup feel more useful against it. The way it acts in Extra Game is a lot closer to how it originally was.

The third boss is a hat and is largely based off of "WIZ" from Kirby and the Amazing Mirror. Wiz is just a clone of Paint Roller from Kirby's Adventure but I thought the design was neat enough I even based the intro animation off of it. I also really wanted to tie into the toy theme and the doll enemies so I figured why not a funny magician doll? This boss used to always spawn in the middle after a cycle but then people would spawncamp it so I made it appear in multiple spots instead.

^^^WIZ

The Pillar Knight boss is honestly not that hard for how late it is in the game but I made it to just be a surprise at the end of a boss rush. I don't have that much to say about it really, I based the name and greatshield off of the Tower Knight from Demon's Souls. The big stomp it does in the second phase used to summon a single bouncy and nothing else but that was kind of pathetic so I changed it to falling rubble instead.

The "Antlion" final boss was actually a boss idea I had early on, possibly for the second or third worlds. It's kind of similar to the "head and hands" type bosses you see in so many Nintendo games. It was moreso going to be based off of the "Giant Enemy Spider" from Jerma's car game video. Then I figured that having the biggest boss for last would be a good idea. Funny enough this was the boss I received the least feedback on, most people seemed to like it. It was also a bit of a pain to test because I had to ensure that all 5 powerups would be viable, but I'm pretty satisfied with the end result. The second phase where Chandra shows up in a pod is very much based off of Eggman fights from Sonic, I'm sure you can tell. Something about seeing a little round flying thing is very satisfying.

THE SOUNDS

The sounds and music in Elly's are not mine. It's why I released it for free on itch instead of bothing to publish it on Steam or anything. Why am I even writing about this? I think that there is some fun to be had from digging through existing sound or music libraries and picking the best ones.

The style of Elly's is very upbeat happy scrimblo type game as you can tell, so I went out of my way to pick songs that fit that. The first levels having Mole Mania's first world music is pretty emblematic of what I wanted. I wanted to pick songs that were not necessarily obscure but not too well known so I made an effort specifically to avoid Mario, Zelda, Pokemon. Then I broke the rule because I liked the Link's Awakening nightmare battle enough and that's not exactly a super recognizable iconic song. I think the style of the music is not always consistent, as you can tell with the Belmont's Revenge music in later levels, but I tried to keep to songs that I felt fit the game well enough.

The sounds were taken from various Kirby games mostly because those are the easiest to rip, as those games have individual sound tests. With everything being kind of Kirby inspired I also thought it was the best decision. I think if maybe I were to ever do a Steam release I would hire some bastard to do a GB soundtrack and play around with making sounds myself but I DIDNT FEEL LIKE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THE LAST PART

There is so much more I could say about the old project and the finer details of development but I think this post is already long enough.

Elly's is not something that I think is ever going to go viral. It did get more attention than I expected for the first few days but it's petered out by now. Elly's is not meant to be anything groundbreaking or revolutionary. It's not going to turn heads all over the world. It's not going to make me the new Tony Box and that's OK. I wanted Elly's to evoke the sort of feeling of finding a weird cartridge in a Gamestop bargain bin of the past or maybe a thrift store of the present. The feeling of digging through an archive of every Game Boy ROM ever and finding something refreshingly decent after playing 10 crunchy janky sidescrollers in a row.

QUICK LAST MINUTE EDIT: Apparently Elly's Adventure was featured on a Hungarian news site??? Not what I expected but I'm still honored to be mentioned by a publication.

I don't really know what's next for game dev from me. I am not interested in breaking into the industry, I just do this for fun. I've considered doing more things with Elly, which may or may not be in the same style. I've also considered ideas with other characters, and even using things that aren't Game Maker. Maybe in another 8 years there will be something. Keep an eye out!

Overall I am satisfied with Elly's Adventure. I mostly enjoyed making it. I don't know if I would call it my magnum opus. It doesn't have the same sort of unfiltered eccentricity of my Kirby things and it's hardly character or story driven enough to leave much of a lasting discussion. To be honest I liked making a game with no dialogue because in the cases where I do have a more character driven game idea I think about the funny dialogue more than I do the actual game. Regardless I think we can all agree that Elly's Adventure is, and always will be, a small funny game of action.

if you bothered to scroll to the end of this post here is a FUN GAME TIP: on stage 1 from the starting position go one screen right and investigate the rightmost flower on that screen. this can be helpful for those wishing to see the 1CC screen.

#gamedev #elly's adventure

[elspetharts]

[ Image ID: Image 1 - Lineless digital painting of a portrait of a person in a red hood and cloak. His face has a skull-like appearance with no nose and eyes that glow faintly orange. The background is black and the lighting is limited.

Image 2 - A cropped version of the first image focusing closer on the face. End ID ]

Maybe this will end up only a work in progress or maybe I'll leave this as it is. There are certainly issues with it but I never started this with the intention of it being a proper piece. It went much better than expected.

I've been practising both digital art and drawing faces over my Easter holidays. I also recently read The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux (the original story that the Andrew Lloyd Weber musical is based on) and it is full of some really great imagery that I would like to, eventually, have a go at doing some illustration style paintings of.

This isn't that, because I didn't go back to double check any of the passages and descriptions or research any fashion from the time or reference images, and, once again, I didn't plan this to be anything but a rough sketch for practise. Instead I'll call this roughly inspired by Leroux's descriptions of the Phantom (which is very different from the popular image of the character created by the musical adaptation).

#not sure how to tag this #digital art #digital painting #art #le fantome de l'opera #no way I'm putting this in the main phantom tag #i think the cropped version is better

[v-mos]

It's been a long time since I've actually sat down and drawn something, over a decade at least from the times I would draw pokemon out of a Gen 2 pokedex book into a sketchbook instead of paying attention in class, so this was pretty fun. Had an idea for a sort of AI assistant character that would be the kind of middle ground between Humans and Luminoth that would help facilitate Honoka's use of Luminoth technology a little better, almost like a Luminoth version of Siri. Aside from just being a way to interface with Luminoth tech in a way that would be easier for someone not familiar with it, she is also the voice and text for Honoka's scan visor she also gets from the Luminoth.

Her name is super not clever at all, I just took google translated words for "everything" in latin (Omnia) and "moth" in greek (σκώρος - skóros/Skoros) since she's an AI that would know A Whole Lot (since the scan visor just knows like damn near everything) and also based off of the Luminoth, which are moth people, essentially she's just Everything Moth. I was originally going to give her a proper face, but I really like the kind of Digital On Top Of Metal look I tried to go for instead and the placeholder face just became her actual face by the end.

The form on the left is her original base that's lacking the touchups I started to give her once I was making her clothes that I included just to show how I tried to incorporate Luminoth physiology and stuff onto a human shape (minus the wings and chest/neck fluff because I was having a hard time coming up with how to draw it/make it look good ;u;), and the right is the more cleaned up and finished version of what she would look like normally. If it's not obvious, I've never drawn clothes before or even tried to design them in the first place so they might look a little amateurish, especially with my attempt at lighting and shading (another thing I've never really done before), but I still think she turned out pretty good. ^u^

#honoka #metroid #metroid prime 2 #this damn tablet finally getting some use lmao #ive also never drawn hair so that was also a struggle but it was easier once i decided to make it look like its made of light instead #maybe one day ill learn how to make an actual face for her but until then she has Alarm Clock Face #also fuck drawing hands even the 3 fingered ones she has were a bitch to try and make presentable all my homies hate drawing hands

[hvidhendriksen7]

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[emmavoid]

In which I go back over episodes 1-5 of Serial Experiments Lain in order to collect my thoughts on them before continuing on to a liveblog proper!

(this was done at butt-o-clock in the morning don't @ me for rambling/misspelling/etc)

Episode 1-

Lain’s shadow, and the shadows near her house, have an intensely weird pattern to them- like there's something hiding deeper within those shadows than any other shadows

The focus on humming powerlines, Lain’s asking them to be quiet- something/someone is trying to communicate with her, even this early on

The steam that comes from Lain’s fingers- at first I thought it was an intense imagination, but it felt similar to the steam coming from her computer in later episodes- another early sign that she’s already in the Wired

“Why did you die?” “God is here.” the first mention of god in the show

As a whole Lain’s family seems off; her parents weirdly robotic, inhuman- almost monstrous in their appearances, and her sister distant; lain did not know them well, and so these simulations of them suffer

When another student dies by jumping in front of the transit train, lain has a strange experience of “viewing” the student’s death while surrounded by fog. I originally thought this was more of her powerful imagination, but having since connected the “fog” or steam to computers, i think this was her simulating the event over again in an attempt to cope with her very human feelings

“Come to the Wired as soon as you can.” More communications from “the universe” to Lain

Episode 2-

the night scene at the beginning of each episode has been, mostly, a repetition of itself, with more communications; however, with Lain not present for most of them, who are they directed towards?

The girl in the nightclub Cyberia- looking at her again on a re-view, she does seem similar to Lain, but wears earrings- something I’ve noticed the “digital” Lain in the opening has that differentiates her from the more innocent, child-like, human Lain.

The explanation of Accel cuts to Lain in class- with the camera specifically focusing on her ear. It seems as if, throughout the show, she’s learning certain information without seeking it out.

The first appearance of the digital ghosts, like what would become of the “fake” version of Lain’s sister in a later episode, plus the figure she “imagined” after the train slow-down.

The man with the gun high on Accel- a test for human-Lain? She freezes, drawing his ire, but when he recognizes her as the Other Lain and points his gun at her, she speaks in a different voice- possibly the Other Lain’s? Possibly… a God-Lain’s voice. The man kills himself as if controlled by an outside force, and Lain appears shocked. I think that God-Lain- the one who has been communicating with Lain all this time- took over to ensure that Lain’s failure of this test wouldn’t lead to her death (or possibly, to interrupting her growth and forcing some kind of reset?)

Episode 3-

After the events of last episode, Lain is shaken- she can barely respond to Arisu. When she returns home, her family is nowhere to be seen- possibly because them existing during all of what happened would be detrimental to her growth? But when she falls asleep at her computer then checks on her family again… their presence or absence isn’t shown.

Another case of information about something strange- this time the Psyche- with a focus on Lain’s ear; again, picking up some kind of information.

“We saw someone die right in front of us yesterday, but we’re acting like it’s something we saw in a movie.” lain's friends are the most fleshed out "people" in the simulation because she knew them the best- and that's why none of them could react properly to the murder in that club, because Lain had never experienced what their reactions would really be like to something traumatic like that.

Lain’s Psyche shows up in her locker- perhaps put there by God-Lain?

The first mention of The Knights, who may have created the Psyche. Are they possibly a front for God-Lain?

Lain’s father attempts to leave immediately when she shows him the Psyche- further evidence that he can only react how he’s “programmed” to? The guy in the club who recognizes Lain- God-Lain has definitely been visiting here regularly.

“I saw you once, in the Wired. You were totally different.” God-Lain doesn’t seem to mind folks knowing about her. Is she leaving hints towards her existence for Lain on purpose?

Lain’s sister is definitely more fleshed out than her parents- when the Agents at the door try to tell her to ignore them she seems properly weirded out

Episode 4-

The origin of my connecting steam/fog to computing power- lain has a fan set up to directly cool part of her computer, releasing steam/condensation

Lain’s parents continue to have strange, robotic responses, but her sister seems genuinely concerned for her.

The main “plot” of this episode- the crossing over of the two net games- seems mostly unrelated to Lain? But it does seem to be causing suicides and murders, showing direct interaction between the Wired and the “real” world

I love the speed with which Lain is acclimating to computers and the Wired- contacting a professional for assistance with the Psyche is a great detail

The more adult-seeming Lain- so, possibly, God-Lain- appears to ask the DJ at the club about the game. But, she’s not there when he looks, and after that scene Lain has suddenly learned about and downloaded the game in question. Was it maybe Human-Lain tapping into her latent god powers to learn this information from him?

A Lain travels through the net game, and seems to try to contact a fleeing player. “I can’t go where you are.” The voice sounds much more like Human-Lain? Then the player encounters a child and kills her- seemingly in-game, but then one or more corpses can be seen wrapped in sheets afterwards as Lain watches. Highly unlikely that this guy had a real gun IRL- especially in Japan- so this seems to be more Wired/IRL fuckery.

“My buddies and I think this might be the work of the Knights too.” A point against my theory of the Knights being God-Lain?

“I’ll be able to enter it soon. … Don’t worry, I’m still me.” “Sometimes, I wonder…” Yeah, there’s no way this is a real reaction her real father would have.

“The Knights do not physically exist. They can be thought of as a religion that is spreading through the Wired.” And then this quote feels like another point towards my God-Lain theory!

the two men who were spying on lain... I think might've been actual outside agents given representation so that human-Lain would have the chance to deal with them- which, she did, by tapping into her god-powers to destroy their spy-glasses (which, when she did, caused her computer's fans to go into overdrive to keep it cooled)

Episode 5-

Lain hears directly from a being calling itself God, before the episode jumps to focusing on her sister for most of the episode.

This episode felt like it was jossing my theory- how could this whole reality be for Lain’s benefit if her sister was experiencing strange stuff?

“There is nothing that you don’t know. I can’t tell you a story that doesn’t exist.” On some level, Lain is both God-Lain and Human-Lain. These conversations with the doll, the mask, then fakes of her parents throughout the episode, seem to be more of Lain learning without personally experiencing- being fed information by her other self.

“The other side is overcrowded. The dead will have nowhere to go.” Isn’t this straight up a quote from one of the Romero zombie flicks?

All the talk of prophecy and “fulfill the prophecy”... Lain seems to be on a set path towards entering the Wired, which is part of why it seems like this is just her reliving an approximation of something that already happened.

A connection between the Knights and The Prophecy. The fake of Lain’s sister isn’t the only one to encounter word of the prophecy, since we hear about it from Lain’s friends as well

Hmm… I hadn’t thought of it before, but, mayhaps the fake of Lain’s sister doesn’t show until the strange holo-effects of her water at dinner? None of the really weird stuff happens to her until after… maybe this was a copy of her then, made during that moment before being pushed into this prophecy-horror scenario?

The Lain’s Sister who enters the house crying then sees herself disappears- or, it seems she does, until Lain sees a digital ghost of her, like she had previously seen in the school… after seeming to see this other self of hers, the real Lain’s sister seems… robotic and nonchalant. Was she a full, real person before this happened?

Theory Overall thus far-

my theory thus far is that lain's already living in the wired, and is, in fact, a god there- she is both Lain and The Knights; but, the more human part of her, Lain, is reliving her pre-wired memories with slight alterations in order to help her get to the point where she can accept her godhood.

the opening of the show ties into my theory too- that god-Lain (portrayed in the intro with earrings) is spread throughout the world, controlling everything, while human-Lain (in her much more childish outfit) is just experiencing and trying to understand the world

Things that were pointed out to me-

Arisu’s name is a romanization of Alice (referencing Alice in Wonderland)

Be inc and Copland being old computer companies

#serial experiments lain #lain #blind liveblogging #summary #i'm bad at tags #whoops #Spoilers #Lain spoilers

[gethoce]

A little artstyle and design improvement thing incoming, years in order.

Edit: Found the original on paper version of ‘em! Added the pic. It was drawn in 2015, not long before the first digital version.

  2015: That's the year I got my first proper drawing tablet and finally got to move from paper to digital. This is one of the first things I drew digitally (if you don't count DSi drawings in). It looks a bit rough, not gonna lie, but I still like the wings and the anatomy is pretty okay. There was another drawing of Stodg before this one on paper, where he wears apparel and got additional tubes below his chin, if I remember right, but I didn't go out of my way to look for it since it really was more of a first design concept illustration. The colors were diractly taken from one of my Flight Rising dragons, because I had a hard time picking colors when I first got into digital art. 2017: The year my artstyle went downhill for a while. It didn't hit Stodg as badly as others, I still like the wings, but the face got some major issues. I remember experimenting with Cypro anatomy a little at the time, especially the way I draw faces, attempted to make them look more animalistic, but my RP partner at the time wanted Cypros to look more humanoid and flat faced and I followed suit despite disliking the idea myself. They didn't look as weird frontally, sometimes. 2019: After noticing how bad Stodg's facial anatomy was in 2018 I decided he needed a facelift at very least. This was before I started writing solo, so I still kept the maw shorter than I meant to and the body mostly unchanged. To keep his design less busy I decided to either lower the amount of tails or remove the rings around them and went for removing the rings since I got enough ringed tail designs already. I also looked into changing some of his colors around, but ended up keeping them the same. 2020: This is the year Cyborg Prophondos finally lived up to their name again. Writing solo allowed me to go back to older designs and make them proper cyborgs once more. I put the lines back into Stodg's neck you can faintly see in the first version, which is something I thought about a lot throughout the years. The colors got duller and more natural, I finally dropped sexual dimorphism between Cypros and stopped dressing them up for the most part. I feel like this is close to how I originally imagined Stodg to look like but didn't have the skill to make it reality. For the first time I'm actually happy with how this design looks like and I don't see myself changing it again anytime soon.

Here is a little something I wrote about him a while back: Stodg is known to be the very first entity who managed to take on one of the mantle of a deity, which Zuki Yoh had offered to the world. He made it his duty to guard the astral planes which he represents. The original champion of the first has so far been the only one who dared to rebel against the god of Liquids and Souls, but he was no match for Stodg. The champion's soul was sent to be reborn into the body of a weaker creature to teach him a lesson of humility. As one of three Seeker Deities he rules over his own tribunal of Nihil gods, Boratesonyx, Helterloth and Taeten. How much communication exists between them and him remains unknown, yet some speculate that it was him who sent Boratesonyx to attack the planet of Obeross. One of this planet's nations, Zwedrikadia, worships Stodg specifically seeking to resemble him as much as possible. Croscotan believes state that Stodg most likely doesn't care about the elves and might not even be aware of their existence. There has never been direct communication between an elf and him. Some other cultures however suggest that Stodg chose an elf to be the new champion of the first, a choice left to him since Zuki Yoh was split into two leaving the opportunity to chose to the Seeker who has the power over souls, however critics say only the first God is capable of naming their champion.

#original character #oc #original species #improvement meme #art improvement #my art #cyborg

[adultswim2021]

Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law #1: "Bannon Custody Battle" December 30, 2000 - 4:30AM | S01E01 Welcome to the first episode of Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law, the first show on Adult Swim’s roster that I rejected as a substandard product. It should’ve been the Brak Show. In the opening episode, Birdman takes a case from Dr. Benton Quest, better known as Jonny Quest’s father. Race Bannon is fighting for custody of the boy, arguing that he’s a much better, much more present father figure to Jonny. Harvey Birdman was first conceptualized with an episode of Space Ghost Coast to Coast. In the episode “Pilot” we’re shown a supposed disastrous pilot episode of “Coast to Coast” where Birdman was originally attached as the star. Birdman, a depressive, out-of-work super hero, utterly botches the job as his inability to host a late-night show due to his deriving all his powers from the sun becomes more apparent. The character recurs a few more times, most notably in the episode “Sequel”, where Birdman guest-hosts the show. Still, to call this a proper Space Ghost spin-off requires carrying a big asterisk along with it. The character name “Harvey Birdman” was invented for Space Ghost, but besides both being based on the old 60s Birdman Hanna-Barbera show, they have little to do with one another. One would get almost nothing out of watching the original Space Ghost episodes before watching this (except for, you know, getting to see episodes of a much funnier show).

So in Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law you have one 60s Hanna-Barbera character as a lawyer taking court cases from various other Hanna-Barbera characters, usually of a similar vintage. In this particular episode we’re treated to a lot of jokes about the homoerotic subtext of Jonny Quest, specifically the relationship between Race Bannon and Benton Quest. The writers decide to tastefully side-step the seemingly pederast relationship between Race and Jonny. Watching the original Jonny Quest with the same attempt to subvert and recontextualize the relationships between the characters through a modern lens, a certain type of observer would probably note the amount of shirtless roughhousing Race does with Jonny. Speaking of watching Jonny Quest: I have to admit something: I never really watched Jonny Quest at all before writing this blog. I’ve had an interest in older shows and cartoons my entire life, but the entire genre of action cartoon didn’t appeal to me whatsoever when I was a kid. So last night I watched my first episode of Jonny Quest, in glorious 1080p on my new 4K television; a format it was never EVER intended to be viewed in. Jonny Quest is objectively junk. It’s fun, boyish, escapist entertainment, and there’s a lot of good irony in it, especially with it’s antiquated portrayal of other cultures from a bygone era when we were far less connected to the rest of the world. It has limited animation and simplistic design. The backgrounds look like they were painted on a post-it-note and most of the men are drawn to look like reskinned versions of Race Bannon. But there’s at least something a LITTLE charming about it. In fact, there was one moment of beautifully scripted action that absolutely won me over: Race and Jonny’s speed boat goes airborne briefly and crushes the bad guy’s boat from above as they speed towards one another. I nearly cheered when it happened. I knew The Venture Bros took liberally from Jonny Quest, but the coolest action sequences on that show seemed to be striving for the same exact visceral reaction I got from seeing Race crunch up some lizard men on a boat. Birdman is a similar deal: He was a cookie-cutter imitation of comic book heroes from the silver-age of comics (the obvious comparison here is DC’s Hawkman). I actually did watch a Birdman adventure late last night as I was falling asleep to follow up on Jonny Quest, but it felt less important. I can remember checking out the original Birdman on DVD not too long ago. Also, your typical Harvey Birdman usually focuses on jokes about shows other than Birdman. Still, it’s neat to see those characters in their original context, as well as that Hanna-Barbera stock-explosion animation we all know and love from Space Ghost blowing up Zorak on Coast-to-Coast. Also the episode I watched will be heavily referenced later, but not for this. I only watched the first episode of Jonny Quest taking a cue from my friend Kon who noted that most of the references in “Bannon Custody Battle” are directly from the first episode. The most specific (and funniest) scene in the whole show involves the Lizard Men, the main villains of that first installment. Other characters show up very briefly, and are all ones that appear in the opening sequence. Unless I find out differently (I’ll probably try to make my way through the rest of Quest in preparation for Venture Bros.), it really does seem like the writers just watched the first episode of Jonny Quest to write this show. Watching this episode of Harvey Birdman was like batting away an existential crisis. I remember vaguely at the time not being SUPER hot on this show, but I cut it a lot of slack and trusted that it would simply get funnier. I wanted to love all the shows on Adult Swim. Anyway, I went from being lukewarm on Birdman, to hating it. Reading my own earlier review of Birdman I blasted this episode for being homophobic. I used to have a very low tolerance for gay jokes, back when they were highly in fashion. But now that we live an era where there’s an arms race to find new ways to scold one another for perceived slights gay jokes can sometimes, NOT ALWAYS, be a little refreshing to hear. The fact that my stance on gay jokes can change as long as it’s in direct-opposition with the rest of the world is at least a little troubling. Does this mean I’m an inauthentic reactionary? Yes. Yes it does. There, I admitted it. Now, let me off the hook, please. I say that sorta jokingly. The gay jokes in this are mostly pretty lame, and come off like Mike Scully-era Simpsons gay jokes. The early scene at the beginning where Birdman eyes widen when he’s misunderstanding the nature of Dr. Quest’s and Race Bannon’s relationship really does come off as early 90′s homophobia. I remember it seemed out of place at the time. I’m sure it played just fine in the midwest, but the show didn’t really put it’s best foot forward with that. Speaking of lame jokes, this episode has a few that have nothing to do with insulting gay people. One of my least favorite bits involve the specific gag of undercutting a dramatic moment with characters fumbling around awkwardly in true-to-life fashion. Why, if a person tried to recreate a dramatic sting you’d see before a commercial break in real life, you’re right, it’d probably go awkwardly! But this 11 minute show has at least 3 explicit examples of this, and it’s only mildly amusing once:

Bannon dramatically walks out on Dr. Quest, after announcing his intention to take Jonny with him. He awkwardly comes back because he forgot his keys

Birdman dramatically argues with a rival prosecutor and summons his personal digital assistant, and then awkwardly fumbles with it

Birdman proves that the Race Bannon on the witness stand is actually a robot by unplugging him, but he accidentally pulls the wrong cord and has to spend a few seconds untangling and retracing the correct cord.

Another thing about Birdman is that there is usually a lack of strong jokes. The show usually includes a layer of comedy where there are simply characters who simply have odd, scattered speech patterns or odd ticks. The rival lawyer in this slurs his speech in a particular way: cut to the jury looking confused. That’s the joke. The Judge grumbles in an ornery fashion and generally acts like he doesn’t wanna be there. He says stuff that sounds like bad improv. That’s the joke. The show will only ocassionally come up with jokes to justify these character traits. It’s just silliness that doesn’t usually go anywhere. But, I do kinda like some things about this episode. It was animated by J.J. Sedelmaier, known for early digital animation seen in the crude era of Beavis and Butt-head and SNL’s TV Funhouse. They really do have their own style of comic timing, and there are some gags in this where the animation works in their favor. There are some jokes where the drawings really sell the comedy. I’m not sure if I liked this animation better or worse, but it does match the oddly-stilted Jonny Quest animation better than the episodes that came after this would have. Oh, one of the funniest bits not on the show was when I popped in the DVD I forgot that the menu music is Wesley Willis’ “Birdman Kicked My Ass”. If I were in high school when the DVD came out I would have loved it just for that reason. Same could be said “Jonny Quest Thinks We’re Sell-Outs” by Less Than Jake. I was an easily impressed kid.

#adult swim #harvey birdman attorney at law #adultswim2021

[billyboymiki]

5 Works Tag Game

Rules: it’s time to love yourselves! choose your 5 (ish) favorite works you created in the past year (fics, art, edits, etc.) and post or link them below to reflect on the amazing things you brought into the world in 2020. tag as many writers/artists/etc. as you want (fan or original) so we can spread the love and link each other to awesome works!

I got tagged by @tippenfunkaport and @caramelaire for this tag game!!

I’m not one to compliment myself on anything honestly. Recently I remember thinking about how I barely drew anything this year. There was a part of my brain nagging at me to check how much I had drawn last year. So, I uh did. Turns out I drew basically nothing?! I triple checked this in fact. My DeviantART, Tumblr AND my camera roll. Nothing . . . I drew 5 very basic pinback button designs and that was it. I couldn’t believe it; but, it made be feel so much better about what I did this year. Basically my whole instagram is all artwork from this year, since I am actually really new to IG. I got super close to 40 works this year!

Now onto the works! They are in order of when I drew them 😊

Glimmer Inspired Patterns

I wanted to teach myself how to make patterns on Clip Studio so bad! I watched a couple of YT tutorials, and I can’t even remember why I decided to make She-ra ones specifically; I’m glad I did though! The Glimmer one means so much to me. Just looking at makes me so happy! The fact that so many people have now called it ‘aesthetically pleasing’ makes me feel as though I actually created a work that others could relate to. That was enough praise for me; to create something for myself that everyone else loved as well 💖

Glimbow Cuddle

This was my first real She-ra artwork. When I saw there was a Glimbow Week again I knew I had to join this one. I don’t know if anyone knows this; but, drawings take me forever to make. I used to be strictly a traditional artist and still prefer to draw rough drafts on paper. I couldn’t decide if I wanted them on Glimmer’s window seat or in Bow’s dads’ library. I was afraid of doing backgrounds; so, both sounded absolutely terrifying. I decided to go for the fireplace even if it meant fancy lighting on top of the background aspect. I think I actually spent more time on the lighting that’s hitting Bow than on anything else in this picture. It was worth it though. I studied how the show did backgrounds and lighting for a while. I tried so many different attempts at how I wanted it to look and ultimately went with this one! I love it so much 🥺

Bow’s list with doodles

Ah, yes the drawings I did for Tippen’s birthday!! I knew I wanted to draw a scene from ‘Tuna Cans’, but I was worried to try something like this. You see, I’m somebody that likes to stay in a comfort zone and only uploaded fully rendered perfect artworks. This year was the first time that I let the ‘fun’ aspect overrule my perfectionism. I’m so happy that I stepped out of my comfort zone for this, because I love Chibi styles so much. I can’t even explain the absolute joy I had drawing these. I didn’t tell anyone what I was up to, so it was just me laughing at myself for being an absolute goofball. The end result and everyone’s reactions were more than I could have ever expected. I’ve decided I’m going to revive this style soon as well so please look forwards to it!!

Space Suit Squad

Okay, so I cheated a little with this one! I couldn’t just pick ONE of the squad. Honestly though, I drew these with the thought of making them into prints in the back of my mind. I taught myself how to draw a space background and I’m really proud of it! So much in fact that the one in the final pictures is the first and last one I ended up doing! If I had to pick my favorites I think I’d have to pick Glimmer, Bow and then Catra. I LOVE the way I draw Catra I don’t know why? Maybe the eyebrows I’m not sure 🤔 It took me a while to decide on expressions and poses; although, I figured these were the ones because I could look at them and go ‘yep that’s them.’

Winter Glimbow

This one took me soooo long; I actually had to tell myself that I should put my pen down because it was done and I should stop touching it!!! I was sketching pictures in my sketchbook to make more patterns for my Redbubble account, and of course I’m like 100% Glimbow brainrot. My brain went, oooo you know what would be cute? If this skate was actually Bow’s and not just generic. So, I ended up sketching Glimmer’s as well. The heart that their skates make is like the cherry on the top for me, it had to be done! I’m not sure I did the background justice on this one? It doesn’t matter to me though because the concept was worth the effort. It was snowing here and I needed this picture like I needed air, even if it wasn’t even December at the time I posted it 🤣 I liked this one so much that I have similar ideas for the other seasons sketched out as well 👀

I’m sorry that I ramble so often. I’m like this quiet person; yet, it’s hard for me to get out everything I want to say? I’m horrible at it actually my brain runs at a hundred miles a minute and I’m not good with words most of the time. This turned out as more of a thought process than my actual feelings on each one I suppose. SO, in conclusion. I drew A LOT, I stepped out of my comfort zone, taught myself digital art and patterns. I let myself come to terms with the fact that not every piece of art has to be ‘perfect’. I drew at least 5 FULL backgrounds and I never used to draw them! I’ve also always been one for simple shading and lighting, and I do think there’s a time for that type of style, while other times sometimes a more difficult one might be appropriate. I’m glad that I did both because now I know I can do both, and they each give a characteristic that I adore 🥰 Thank you to everyone that has followed me through this journey, or just anyone who read my rambling! I have an honorable mention under the cut and some originals for anyone that made it this far! 💖

I’m not going to tag anyone; but, if you want to do this PLEASE do it. It was so great to reflect on what I did this year, it really surprised me and I think what you have done will surprise you as well! It’s been a rough year, and in the end we have been here supporting each other and that’s one of the most rewarding parts of being in a fandom! 💜

Glimmer screencap redraw

Another picture where I really tested myself on drawing a background! I love it even if it killed my hand!! The background definitely took the longest on this one too. My sister literally said ‘Wait, you did the background? I thought you just drew her?!’ And that was the only validation I needed!! I ended up thinning out Glimmer’s outline so she matched the background better. If you use the vectors on Clip please use this feature! You can do the opposite as well, it’s super useful!

Oh hi! Remember when I said I couldn’t decide between the two locations? Truth is, I also couldn’t decide if I was going to make it traditional or digital. I ended up getting really mad at the traditional version unfortunately. I haven’t gotten the hang of traditional backgrounds. In the end, I should have also done it in Copic and not cheap pencil crayons 😫

Just some space friends! There is something so rewarding about traditional art. Yes, I can see the mistakes and the proportions are most likely off; yet, it doesn’t bother me? I wanted to also show these bonus drawings because nobody is perfect and I thought some of you might like to see some of my process. Being able to hold it in my hands is something I will never tire of, in a way it’s super rewarding. I keep all my art actually and sometimes I like the rough drafts more than the finished work 👀 Outlining artwork can actually ruin the charm every so often 😔 I do really love the final versions of these though!

Annnnnd the last bonus!! As you can tell the final version stayed pretty true to my sketches! I almost went with a more realistic look and made the symbols ‘stitched’ onto the skates. In the end it felt like it didn’t fit the rest of the drawing unless I wanted to add extra details to the clothing as well. The wings on Glimmer’s skates turned into ‘Shwings’ PLEASE tell me other people know what that is? I had a pair a few years ago and misplaced them. I was doing the rough draft and it popped into brain and I treated it as a joke at first, until I gave it a proper chance XD In the end I fell in love with it!!!

#she-ra #spop #fanart #tag game #billyboymiki #Miki speaks #long post #sorry #my art #I actually cried a little writing all of this 😱 #the only thing I wanted to do really bad this year was make an spop amv #I might juggle art and making one so I can get one out at some point

[lynxgriffin]

Paper Trail - Frequently Asked Questions

Got a question about Paper Trail? Please be sure to check this FAQ to make sure it’s not answered here first! Thank you!

The complete FAQ is under the Read More!

1) How often do you update Paper Trail?

It depends a lot on how long or complicated the next part is, how busy I am with work and other adult life things, and how my wrist is feeling. After severely injuring my drawing wrist in mid-2019, I am a lot more careful about how many hours I spend working on the comic, and try to have only set drawing hours on a daily basis so that I do not accidentally hurt myself. That said, I do try to get new parts out in a timely manner, and updates should ideally be every 10-14 days or so.

2) What tools/programs do you use to draw this comic?

I primarily draw in Photoshop CC, although I will also occasionally switch to Sketchbook Pro for some backgrounds, plus I do all lettering in Comic Life 3. Everything is done digitally.

3) Will [X/Y/Z character] appear in the comic?

While it is likely, I can’t guarantee it. You’ll just have to wait and see!

4) Will [X plot point] happen in the comic?

Any questions about future plot stuff that I deem too spoilery to answer will just get you this gif as a response:

5) Wait, how does this relate to canon?

Paper Trail sprung to mind not long after Deltarune chapter 1 was released, and was my initial interpretation of where the comic could go in future chapters. While I try to stick closely to canon, I know that a lot of it is up to interpretation, and I imagine that by now Paper Trail will be vastly different from the complete canon game. So for now, Paper Trail is a fan continuation of canon from the end of chapter one, and in the future it will just be an AU.

6) Did the Fun Gang fight Jevil in Paper Trail?

Yes, they did do the Jevil fight, and won via pacifist means after a number of tries. 

7) What will you do if Toby releases the remaining chapters of Deltarune before you finish Paper Trail?

That’s a bridge I’ll cross when I get to it. In any case, I’ll try to finish Paper Trail before Toby finishes the remainder of Deltarune and wraps things up as they should be. :)

8) Wait! Are all the different Ralseis based on the SOUL traits??

Really good guess, my friend!

9) What’s with Kris’s gender?

I try to stick close with canon, so in this comic Kris is nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns. Please try and do the same when sending me any asks about Kris! As a courtesy to followers who are sensitive about misgendering and pronouns, I tag any asks that refer to Kris as he/him or she/her with #pt misgender.

10) Do you ever livestream work on this comic?

I do! This is my Picarto channel. I usually stream about once a month on holidays for my country, in large blocks. I’ll announce art livestreams a day in advance, usually!

11) Can I do a voice dub for Paper Trail / translate it into another language?

Yes you can! If you do a dub or a translation, please 1) be sure to give proper credit for the comic and link back to the original version, and 2) PLEASE be sure to link me to your dub or translation so that I can add it to the masterpost! I like to keep all this stuff together, and it’s sad when people ask me about a dub or translation and then I never hear from them again!

12) Can I repost this comic to other sites, even with credit?

While I know Paper Trail gets linked or reposted to other places like Reddit and Funnyjunk, I’d rather that be limited on other sites. Please do not repost pages to places like DeviantART, Facebook, Tapas or Webtoon, even with credit, unless it’s an approved translation. I don’t get much traffic when it’s reposted as-is to other sites, and it’s already up on multiple social media platforms, so you have a few options for reading it!

13) Can I do fanart/fan music for Paper Trail?

Yes, absolutely!! Please link or tag me with it so that I can do a super excited dance and add it to the masterpost!

#paper trail #deltarune #frequently asked questions #faq

[cateringisalie]

9 years later and we have at last got a new Eva film and the end of the Rebuild project.

Much was made at the start of Rebuild of the desire to introduce Eva to a new audience. 1.0 more or less leant into its original goal and restaged episodes 1 to 6 of the TV series with a bigger budget, CGI, some more blunt and early reveals and a few weird alterations for the existing fan base. The Angel numbering was off; everyone knows Lilith is stuck in the basement, Seele just default to their monoliths. Kaworu is actively introduced at the tail-end rather than alluded to in the opening titles. As an intro, its fine (though most would agree the equivalent stage of the TV series isn’t really a struggle to cope with either), though a few stylistic and environmental changes lead many to conclude this was a direct sequel to End of Evangelion. 2.0 seemed content to build off of the intro but steer away from the relevant section of episodes – roughly 8 to 17. Recognisable moments like the falling Angel, the corrupted Unit 03 and the ribbon angel and Unit 01’s impossible reactivation share the screen with altered relationship dynamics. Now we get Mari one of the few wholly new characters who gets to open the second film in a wildly dramatic fashion. The key of Nebuchadnezzar (which does at least re-enter proceedings in the final film, but I am even shakier on what it is or used for – even fandom seem to have struggle to explain this as anything other than a blunt drop-in replacement for the Adam embryo in the TV series). And come the end its time for Third Impact already, Shinji altering the world around him to rescue Rei from the depths of an Angel. Kaworu uses an unfamiliar spear to incapacitate Shinji and the preview hints at a story further from the rails than ever. 3.0 is as promised more or less completely divorced from anything Eva had done before. Just not the off-the rails version 2.0 advertised. Some will be quick to note that none of the Rebuild previews have entirely accurately advertised their subsequent instalment; 1.0’s features at least one key scene that never happened (Mistao slapping Ristuko in a seeming allusion to the Sea of Dirac Angel) while even the sequences of animation that did make it look nothing alike. Which is fair, but even then 2.0’s bears absolutely no resemblance to 3.0 and even 3.0’s very strange preview doesn’t really jibe with 3.0+1.0 ultimately. 3.0 is post-post-apocalypse and with a whole 14 years just evaporated between films. There’s a distinct last third of Nadia feel to it. About the only part similar to a former incarnation is Kaworu and Shinji’s relationship which while not even roughly mapping to episode 24 serves the same function; to make Shinji distraught before the climax of this story. But 3.0 is also the point where that initial premise of the series slams headlong into the drift from familiar territory. Where the film is a quantum leap away from the mystery terms and slow reveals. The oddities and confusions pile up given the glimpsed state of the world, the strange gridded moon, the sea of Eva corpses, the strange state of Lilith in the depths of Nerv. An awful lot happened while Shinji was (for reasons no one has explained or seems to care about except me) IN SPACE and the film only ever alludes to the sequence of events occurring between these two films in the broadest of strokes. Which if done a certain way can be compelling though I did not find it to be the case here in the slightest. It’s a huge struggle to build up even a vague idea of what went down and that’s with heavy deferral back to the TV series again. If you’re new, none of this means much of anything. Even mixed media doesn’t help. The reveal there was a limited run manga of events prior to 3.0 had a potential for answers, but upon reading a synopsis... Nope. Helps not even a tiny amount. Also this mixed media attitude is never to be encouraged. So, I didn’t like film 3 much at all. Film 4 does little to not be based on where it left off. Which is a small mercy that it doesn’t effectively toss everything out again and skip further ahead in time. And 3.0+1.0 does at least make use of some of what 2.0 revealed and setup in the spirit of trying to get this into something cohesive. It fails, but it tried. Maybe the points it touches on were the intended direction of the films. Maybe Anno changed his mind on this one. It’s not like Rebuild’s failure to cohere should be a surprise – the title of the film is simply confusing in sequence. Titled neither 4.0 nor 4.44, instead we have the pretty inexplicable 3.0+1.0 which is just annoying to type. Even thematically this doesn’t feel right given its more like 2.0 mushed into 3.0 but I suppose that’s technically film 5 so... Unless, 1.0 here is supposed to mean the original TV series or EoE, which... End of Evangelion figures unexpectedly largely in the film. Could be that its meant to infer some collection of the Eva cast (the original pilots + Mari? The Ikari family + Mari? The pilots from 1.0 (Shinji and Rei) plus the pilots from 3.0 (Asuka and Mari)?). The other part of course, is that the three prior films had titles in the form of [Thing](Not)]Thing]. 3.0+1.0 decides to dispense with this entirely and instead is titled “Thrice Upon a Time”. Nothing like confusing matters (and instead media library ordering) by not only giving the film a title that puts it before the 3rd film (since prior to this cinema releases are .0 and the home media (excepting the first release of 1.0) are triple digits of their instalment number) but also has another reference to three within it. It might be some kind of holy trinity allusion, some play on Third Impact, or an acknowledgement that this is theoretically the third version of events surrounding the end of the world (if you take TV series as 1, EoE as 2, and Rebuild as 3). Also potentially a literary reference about cyclical time and messages from the future which is all well and good and fits into a whole other essay about how Rebuild and FFVII Remake are operating on the same basis and making many of the same mistakes by both trying to be fan-service for the new fans and draw in new ones and do the big fan-moments similarly but diverge wildly off in others. Good start! The final film starts with bombast as per 2 and 3 (and thus focused on Mari) though the setup and point of the action is possibly more confused and less explicable (which is saying something given 3.0 opened with retrieving Unit 01 from space. No, I will continue to complain about not getting this. Yes it was very exciting but why was Unit 01 in space? In a strange crucifix coffin. Anyone at all?) – and only vaguely connected to anything resembling the plot. At least 2.0 and 3.0 had some immediate and long term stakes with a cover for Kaji stealing something and bringing Shinji into the plot. This film opens with a scrounge for spare parts in a red Paris that the tertiary cast make no longer red while Mari fights off a massed horde of Evas while battleships are puppeteered from orbit. It’s all terrible cool and everything, but given at no point do we even begin to understand what is going on or what the stakes even are. Which is a problem with the latter half of the sequence. 2.0 might have started with an Eva vs Angel fight but while there was ambiguity over the situation it at least seemed to lead into the eventual plot. Here we’re getting Eva spare parts for later and a whole dose of new terminology the film has no interest in explaining. Which is par for the course for prior Eva incarnations but again, I feel there was more explanation setting the weirdness up. Here we are reduced to keywords that sound important. The film proper opens with our familiar trio of Eva pilots winding up at a village with their old classmates (which of course, to follow the proliferations of 3 all the way down and also match to Tokyo-3, is in fact, Village 3. The far future sequel to Resident Evil 8 presumably). Who are necessarily now 14 years older than them. Asuka is naked (in a sequence to contrast to 1.0 and 2.0) or in her underwear for far too much of this sequence (and just as creepy as 2.0 got with this) as Shinji struggles in the aftermath of Kaworu’s death, Ayanami (critically not the Rei of 2.0) learns about life (and visits a library with – I’m not kidding – a poster for Sugar Sugar Rune on display. I like to think not many in the audience caught this slightly odd reference). 30 minutes of the film are taken up with Rei being happy and contented with her life while Shinji slowly recovers and re-enters polite society (sulks, throws up at the sight of the DSS collar, is insulted and force-fed). There’s a good case for this section just being an unnecessary time filler, though you don’t need to fill time in a film that is 2 ½ hours. But if it was cut down, perhaps it would have the same strange feeling as 1.0 had where the aftermath of Shinji’s second Angel fight lead was mostly skipped and left that part of 1.0 feeling strangely hasty and actively (and badly) abridged. Maybe that’s just my familiarity with the source material again. There’s still an edge of weirdness in the air on the film hits the 45 minute mark; even prior to this gigantic sections of the land are missing, and some things just float around now (apparently because). Past this mark is where weirdness creeps in; the barriers keeping the village from suffering the fate of Paris – the structures a curious match to the Cocytus facility at the start of 2.0. There are headless Eva copies who roam the landscape. An indicator on Ayanami’s suit runs down. Shinji is advised to talk to his father before he loses the opportunity forever. This one made me laugh, and even Asuka comments that given who Shinji’s father is and what he’s done don’t really make this plausible (or sensible). Ayanami concludes her pastoral life and this stage of the film by transforming back to her original white plug-suit; her AT Field then dissipates and she bursts in a familiar spill of LCL. For such a previously central character, Rei or Ayanami or Lilith will have exceptionally little bearing on the remainder of the film. The plot now kicks in properly as Gendo decides enough is enough and he’s going to be doing some world ending. Our Eva pilots are ready but not the same; we have Asuka, Mari and Shinji. And standing orders for Shinji to be shot if he tries to pilot anything (but given we’re at the end of the world and basically the original plan fails to stop Nerv bringing about the end of the world, that people still try to shoot him is... a little weird and an almost pointless resolution of factors the quaternary cast brought up in 3.0). The entire rest of the film is even more impenetrable and confusing than Kaworu’s sweeping explanations of what happened between films 2 and 3. If 3.0 fumbled the ball on being newcomer friendly 3.0+1.0 actively doesn’t care. Not that familiarity with series helps since so much new terminology is thrown at the audience. The entire cast – literally the entire cast – are not only caught up on but also understand the varying levels of psychological, biological and religious nonsense that Eva has formerly wielded as something almost coherent. You, as audience member, are not privy to a fraction of this understanding and thus left to flail for the remainder of the film making what you can of the maddening breadcrumb trail of exclamations and partial explanations. Shinji is no help here and infuriatingly asks barely a single question about what is going on (thankfully he does prompt Gendo to explain a few things – presumably where even the staff had gotten lost on what was supposedly going on). For existing fans, you might get a sense of it by application of known quantities from the previous incarnations (I pity newcomers struggling to make sense of this). What the Lance of Cassius is a thing introduced abruptly into the series – and contrasted with the Lance of Longinus you can muddle through to get some idea of what was going on. 3.0+1.0 however, decides that even that grip on its story is too much and adds a bunch more unnamed spears. Some of them formed from Lilith. This is a thing of some import apparently, though ultimately is effectively buzzword name-checking. We know who Lilith is in context from both 1.0 and the TV series but how that relates to spear formation is beyond me. And then there’s the part where one of the flying ships (there were four made according to Seele’s plan. Seele, the former sinister puppet-masters, who died in film 3, and if the flying ships were their idea or this stated at all, I had totally forgotten it in the last 9 years (checking wikia seems to indicate no one else knew this either so I feel vindicated). Seele feel an artefact of the old Eva Anno has no time for – EoE had what equated to three groups vying for control of the process of human instrumentality. Seele are adhering to a prophecy of sorts, Gendo is trying to subvert that process for his own ends, and Misato is trying to stop it. In terms of economical story-telling, the distinction between Seele and Gendo’s goals in causing Third Impact are so slim as to be basically zero (few critical differences though), I suspect Seele were deemed unnecessary and shuffled out of proceedings hastily despite their continued name-checking at this late stage) is turned into another spear because if all the spears are used up, the end of the world can’t be averted. You will have to forgive me for failing to notice how and where most of these spears (save three) wound up or what most of that means or why or how or anything. But we have a budget to squander and why not channel the Gurren Lagann energy for action one last time? And there is some action, this presumably part of what a good section of the audience have waited for with baited breath, that thing the TV series so rapidly lost interest in; that EoE staged for narrative cruelty. Smashy giant robot action time! So we get billions of Eva enemies for Asuka and Mari to cut through without problem. They explode and fall away despite exhaustively overwhelming numbers. There is a palpable lack of threat here. A few hitches but nothing the pilots can’t cope with. It’s just empty fan-service, a boast about how much can be rendered into a single frame. We get Asuka, unable to stab critically important Unit 13 (looking distinctly Unit 01-like just with four arms), and then hooking into an odd leftover thread from 2.0. Her accident in the activation test of Unit 03 has left her with a part of herself now more correctly classified as an Angel. And like 2.0 for surprise value, her Eva has special Angel blood injectors to again overcharge her Eva (which seems to be a thing in the latter three films – turn the Eva safety off and go beserk. As if Unit 01 didn’t do that all on its own in the first and second film). And this too fails. But this too is just another moment of important and pretention. Where the audience is meant to gasp at Eva/Angel hybridisation (not that the dividing line between Angles and Evas is ever completely clear (not least Unit 03)), at Asuka revealing herself to be part Angel (as if Kaworu and Rei weren’t established examples). So her Eva bloated and animalistic is... just another moment. We saw this in 2.0 with Mari releasing her limiters. We saw it in 3.0 in almost the same way. The distinction isn’t meaningfully different to the last few times the Evas were let off the leash and became more brutal. And just like the prior times this escalation of Eva body horror, ferocity, blood and over-indulged violence doesn’t actually help the situation. Asuka fails in her task as the Unit 13 counter-attacks. She’s saved by getting pulled out of reality moments before her end. Of course this being narrative, this being Eva; Gendo, the architect of this situation, is three steps ahead. Misato’s flying ship is badly and perhaps critically damaged so Gendo can retrieve the limbless body of Unit 01 formerly powering the flying ship. Shooting Gendo doesn’t work thanks to the key of Nebuchadnezzar (which did... Uh. Something? Kaji noted it as the lost number kept as a spare in 2.0 which implied Angel or Eva or... No I don’t know nor can I make sense of what it’s done to Gendo. Wikia informs me that while it’s never seen on-screen past the one time, its case is in some shots of 3.0. How amazing) and he leaves. And thus, of course, Shinji must get in the f-ing robot once more. But we’re back to the confident, more certain Shinji who 2.0 birthed as we enter the last (but still very long) final stage of the film – and restage End of Evangelion. Curious of course; EoE by turns can feel like a legitimate replacement for the final two TV series episodes or a bleakly, darkly, disturbing and flippant retort to the low-budget metaphysic version of the TV apocalypse. EoE to some has been not so much the intended ending (though buying a complete set of the old Eva in Japan will always net you the 26 original TV episodes, the four amended episodes and EoE), but more a poisoned chalice for the people who wanted a less introspective version of the end of the world and the process of human instrumentality. Anno was free to do what he wanted and veer off the tracks here – he can’t get away from the end of the world – this is integral to Eva’s base concept. 2.0’s glimpse of Second and the starts of Third Impact depict a process completely unfamiliar from the TV series’s version (reading Wikia explains some of 2.0’s imagery but is still bewildering with reference to 3.0+1.0’s reveals). In Rebuild, the end of the world is staged in the space below the strange aftermath of Second Impact, in an anti-universe where humans cannot venture. And yet, we are still clearly revisiting End of Evangelion. Not exactly the same, but a lot of imagery (the symbols in the sky, the gigantic form of Lilith at multiple points, the crucifix explosions across Earth’s surface) – to say nothing of some actual sections of animation – are taken straight from the 1997 film. Those moments and images were haunting and disturbing (the more overtly sexualised imagery has been completely removed). Clearly no matter what was said at the time or in the interim, EoE is in fact how the ending must play out; this is, or has become, what happens externally and internally when these characters attempt to force a next stage of evolution. The End of Evangelion will always be the end. ...just not quite the same. Not least it is missing most of the infamous moments (Shinji in Asuka’s hospital room is notably completely absent). There’s no moment where Shinji strangles Asuka, Komm Susser Tod is missing entire (in favour of something similar sounding but in Japanese), the live-action sequences of the empty cinema or the world without Evas aren’t utilised (though some live action footage is included), Rei betraying Gendo and beginning Third Impact outside his control etc. It's actively absurd to type this, but Lilith – Lilith! – has less character here. Which is so astonishingly absurd given the only depiction of Lilith we get is effectively Rei/Rei was Lilith the entire time, but those introspective sequences hinting at something more involved with Rei or the points Lilith does talk directly to Shinji are gone too. This shouldn’t be a surprise – we are after all missing a Rei character at the climax. Mostly. 3.0+1.0 almost expects you to remember the last time you saw Eva end the world and contrast it to this new version. The EoE imagery, the footage of Lilith descending from the crucifix, the looming figure of Lilith rising as humanity ends. Even something like the sequence of the backsides of cels running backward is reused – this footage also cribbed from EoE and played out on a wall between two characters. The animation breaks down into scratchy storyboards and later degenerates from finished footage down to outlines, animatics, and storyboard. The end of the world is this time around is more heavily meta. Both EoE and the TV episodes “staged” the process of Instrumentality (or parts of it) for Shinji. It occurs in filming spaces and on sets, there’s lighting equipment and dolls as stand-ins. The strange artificiality of pulling back the curtain on the TV or film production, or else the effect of  setting the camera back further than you should for filming a theatrical experience. But even that’s a false layer given a true pull-back would be to people in front of computers or previously drawing key-frames. Here the staging is more blunt still. It begins with an Eva vs Eva fight between Gendo and Shinji in the anti-universe where their brains make sense of the impossible space with artificially staged areas of familiar locations. A fight in a city has a huge sheet as a backdrop and carboard buildings the Evas kick around. They fight in front of Nerv headquarters and in Misato’s kitchen. A blow knocks over a section of scenery and sprawls Shinji in the studio space surrounding the set. A crossroads of sort where Shinji will move on from Gendo to meet with Rei, Kaworu and Asuka. The major difference to EoE is that the end here is much more concerned with Gendo; we dive into his psyche and his past. His isolation and desire for it. This feels extremely confessional for Anno all things considered given Gendo was always previously kept at arm’s length. This feels revealing about the man behind it all, a reflection of the director. He has admitted during production that at his stage of life he is far closer to Gendo than Shinji – I think this is barely obfuscated here. The flashback is more about understanding Gendo and how Yui changed him than anything about Evas or the end of the world. Gendo’s motivation is revealed to be the same as always; this is how he gets to be with Yui again. Odd details catch as this past plays out. And is that Mari in his memories? Mari, who Fuyustuki calls Mary Iscariot upon meeting her and has prepared something for her. Which feels much more like religious buzz words; there’s an obvious implication coached in that selection of a name, but how it actually relates to the story or the circumstances is really unclear. Nor am I clear on what Fuyutsuki prepared. He explodes into LCL like last time too. The process is so close to EoE but the mood is lighter and the reasoning behind the cast a little different. Asuka is part of a clone series – same as Rei. Just without the physical signifiers that Kaworu and Rei exhibit and the prior short-hand for clones in this universe (as noted, their design is intended to invoke lab rats). Nice consistency there. The beach ending from EoE is re-done under a blue sky; Asuka is saved thanks to Shinji and Mari working in concert. Kaworu’s beach meeting with Shinji is restaged, the newer, confident Shinji discussing the circular system that delivers Kaworu into his place at the end of the world. So Eva has happened before, meta-wise or time-wise or dimensionally. Take it as you will, no interpretation is more valid than another. Only that Kaworu remembers them all. It’s happened before and it’s expected to happen again. But Shinji’s different now, so the end of the world is different. Now it’s time to move on; Kaworu is left with Kaji to tend the earth assured the cycle of Eva productions is at an end – both have been dead all this time. Anno’s attitude to his seeming forever association with this one franchise his and his desire to set it down and move on? EoE finished in space; 3.0+1.0 finishes beneath the Antarctic. The idea of Unit 01 living forever as a testament to humanity is no factor at all Shinji intending (and his parents possibly driving) the final riddance of the Evas from reality – none can be allowed to remain. But now, the film takes an odd turn, and as with EoE, there’s the coda. In EoE this was the beach scene. For Rebuild: The sun shines, the sky is blue. An adult Shinji sits in a train station and meets with Mari. She’s older too now; the pair share a kiss and run from the station hand in hand. So. Uh. Yeah. That happened. There’s Kaworu and Rei seemingly alive and well as adults. And Asuka of course. But Shinji winds up with Mari. Mari who knew everything the whole time and might somehow have been part of Gendo’s group at university and known Yui and no, we are not getting any insight into those peculiarities! (or more plausibly it could be Mari’s mother who looks near identical to Mari but... What are we meant to take from this, really?). Mari who met Shinji in a handful of brief moments and has never spent any actual time with him. Mari won the love-triangle! But this is not some simple alternate reality, a different better take world where the cast existed in something resembling our reality; Shinji still wears the exploding DSS collar given to him before rejoining the giant robot fray. Mari effortlessly removes it from his neck. The film ends with a live-action sequence – this is reportedly Anno’s hometown. The world without Evas; we passed the relevant date while 3.0+1.0 was stalled. Shinji made it to 2014, or more plausibly past it in a world without Second Impact. And he’s happy, well-adjusted, and... Not really recognisable as Shinji. Shinji now exists in the present, not the future as he had for so long in pop-culture. But he’s in a different 2021; a world without the pandemic. And that was Rebuild; a project intended as a new introduction to Evangelion that blatantly had its entire core conceit revised at least twice (the 4th film delayed because of Shin Godzilla and then a struggle to write at all) that increasingly and confusingly leant more and more on its famed initial incarnation even as it veered increasingly and erratically away from the familiar sequences. I liked 3.0+1.0 more than 3.0, but can’t help but still bemoan whatever 3.0 was going to be when 2.0 happened. The alternate other sequence. And despite it all, despite the allusions to a repetition of Eva and of this being the break in the chain, even those working on and involved with the film see even this as a definitive end. Even Anno’s not convinced that’s the last word. Eva will come back all over again; naturally – there’s money to be made here, and what’s yet another alternate take to add to the TV series, the manga, the games, the other manga, EoE, Rebuild and so on. Kaworu apparently is indeed doomed to revisit this forever alongside everyone else and also remember that for once he was gifted a true end. An impossible conclusion for modern pop-culture it feels.

#long post

[dennou-translations]

Violet Evergarden the Movie: Special Interview

Public commemoration for the Violet Evergarden movie! Featuring the series producer, Hatta Shinichirou.

Raw || Index

――Firstly, could you tell us the circumstances from when it was decided that the original novel by Akatsuki Kana-san was going to be animated into a TV series?

The original was the first winning work of the Kyoto Animation Grand Prize, as its story, which depicted the importance of delivering feelings through letters, pierced through the hearts of the judges, who are living in the current digital era, so its victory was decided unanimously. From that point on, comments such as, “I want to transform this deep work into animation” arose amongst the staff members of Kyoto Animation/Animation Do, and this led us to the TV series.

――Was the production of “Violet Evergarden the Movie” decided from time you started making the TV Series?

I was not expecting it when we began the series’ production, but the TV series portrayed the figure of Violet Evergarden living her life, and we believed that depicting the future from then on would be the conclusion point of this work, so taking the TV series into account, we decided to portray it in detail through a theatrical version.

――So you commenced the movie adaptation when the TV series’ broadcast ended.

This topic came up for a little bit when we were making the TV series. In episode 10, there was a story where fifty letters ghostwritten by Violet are uninterruptedly delivered to a girl named Ann for fifty years. While making this episode, we staff members were talking amongst ourselves things such as, “How was Violet doing during the time those letters were being delivered?” and, “What happened to her in the end?”. They linked up in a natural manner with the concept of this movie, which depicts “her future”.

――With what kind of balance did “Violet Evergarden: Eternity and the Auto-Memories Doll”, which was released back in 9/6/2019, progress towards the movie?

The production of the Gaiden and the movie happened at the same time. Director Fujita Haruka was the one in charge of the Gaiden as her directorial debut, so the work also included this challenge for her. The Gaiden is but a sidestory, so the idea was to follow it and make a conclusion in the movie, which depicts Violet’s future even further.

――The movie is an original story in film format, right?

That is right. The narrative of the TV series differs from the novel in the first place, so it is a matter of course that the movie will be an original one. But the author, Akatsuki Kana-san, shared with us conditions for the scenario and settings, thus the movie also properly reflects the essence of what is most cherished in the novel. I hope that the people who enjoyed the original work will enjoy her future again with a different flavor to it.

――Yoshida Reiko-san has been writing the script since the TV series; what do you deem as the charm of her screenplay?

I guess it is the fact that she wrote sensibly about Violet Evergarden as a young woman. On top of having Violet stand at the center, she also granted her the function of narrator, and I think she was able to very finely portray the process where Violet could do nothing at first but then developed through the meetings she had with all kinds of people and through accomplishing the jobs assigned to her by them. I have the impression that she operated in tandem with director Ishidate.

――So she saw the same world as director Ishidate.

Right. The drama’s course of action was the same for both of them, and the outlook configurer, Suzuki Takaaki-san, created the foundation for the worldview that the two had pictured, so the image of a work where they were cooperating with each other became even more solid.

――What are the highlights of the movie’s story?

If I had to say it, there are several parts of the TV series where Violet is the point of view, thus it became a composition where she pieces together the feelings of the many people she met through her ghostwriting job. On the other hand, we are matching the focus of this movie with Violet’s way of life itself, so I believe this will be a big highlight.

――It also has the charm of a “story that tells about love”.

Agreed. To begin with, having been raised as a “weapon” since she was little, Violet had no idea what emotions were and did not understand the “I love you” that Gilbert had conveyed to her, so she was looking for what they were. In the TV series, we have portrayed her until she comes to understand the meaning of “I love you” a little through her many encounters, but in the movie, this “I love you” has become the very base of the developments. How does Violet personally feel about “I love you”? We would like everyone to watch over it.

――Then it seems we will be able to see her growth and evolution in it too.

You are right. If it were the former Violet, there was the fact that she also did not understand her own emotions, so I believe she was pushing her way forward according to the course of events, but now she has become able to properly dig up people’s feelings and take action after thinking about them. This is a growth greater than any other for her, but since she became capable of understanding her own feelings, Violet’s “I love you” has turned into something madder and more dramatic.

――What are the distinctive characteristics of director Ishidate Taichi and the appeal of his work?

He is a director full of obsessions and skills, from the making of the art to the layouts, up to the action of the animation. Moreover, he strongly loves the young woman named Violet Evergarden as if she were his own daughter, so I guess the fact that he had the resolve to handle and depict her life steadily is appealing of him as a director.

――These strong feelings can also be felt from the script. The climax where the complicated thoughts of Violet and the people that she meets will surge and intertwine seems like it is going to be terrific, both drama and animation-wise, so I am looking forward to it.

Director Ishidate’s passion is incredible. From the cityscapes to the landscapes, from the actions to the ways of presenting Violet, every single cut is drawn dynamic and carefully. Not even the smallest detail is compromised, and he carries his obsessions to extremes until the last minute.

This work was developed with the intention of being delivered to people all over the world since the start. The director’s posture during the production transmits his desire to make the series even better, and the staff is also frantically getting to grips with it, so we are working on it as one.

――Following the Gaiden, instead of the TV series’ screen proportion of 16:9, the movie be of a theatre-appropriate size of 2.31:1, which broadens the sides, so are there any obsessions with that as well?

The one who first suggested it to be made with this screen size was director Fujita, who had discussed with director Ishidate about what the adequate animation making would be for watching “Violet Evergarden” in the theaters. Because of this, the sky, sea and mountains are drawn larger and more dynamically. The necessary composition and essence of the paper we use is also related to its size, so along with the Gaiden, it turned out as a challenging work in our production struggles.

――I also believe there are many fans looking forward to the abilities of the character designer and general animation director, Takase Akiko-san.

Takase-san is also someone who has the story and vision inside herself quite clear, such as, “I want Violet to be this kind of woman” and, “I want Gilbert to be this kind of man”, which become the characters’ peculiarities and strong points. I think this plays a big part on the reason why the individuals she draws are so charismatic.

――The nearly-completed movie is about to become a masterpiece over two hours long, and this is also a result of director Ishidate and the staff unleashing their obsessions, isn’t it?

We must handle and depict the life of the young woman named Violet Evergarden in a steady way. The director’s sense of responsibility also shows in that he says we simply needed this much if we were supposed to make a proper “Violet Evergarden Movie”.

――I believe there are also people who will be discovering the world of “Violet Evergarden” through this movie, but can they expect it to be a work that they will also be able to enjoy?

It has turned into something that people can enjoy quite a lot even if they watch only the movie. Aside from the usual work of the young woman named Violet Evergarden and her sentiments from such occasions, the people involved with her and her feelings are portrayed carefully, as they had always been until now, so the easiness to watch this work and dive into it have not changed from the time of the TV series. Should anyone become interested in her way of life after watching the movie, if they go over the TV series and then watch the movie once again, there will be further depth to the story, so I think it would be even more fun.

――Lastly, please leave a message for the fans who are looking forward to the Violet Evergarden Movie all over the world.

“Violet Evergarden the Movie” will be the finale of this work, which started with the TV series. The staff is making it while putting their utmost thoughts into it, and it has gone through to a point where director Ishidate and the screenplay writer, Yoshida Reiko-san, decided that they cannot write any further. I would be happy if people could warmly watch over the lifetime of the young woman named Violet together. I strongly wish that we will be able to share our feelings with the fans who watched this series, and that our thoughts will connect with the future. Thank you very much.

#violet evergarden #violet evergarden movie #fyeahvioletevergarden #kyoani #kyoto animation #hatta shinichirou #interview #my translation

[popculturebuffet]

Ducktales (Comic) Reviews!: Happy Happy Valley!/Fight! (Issue #4)

My first look at the IDW Ducktales Comics! And for a comission by @weirdkev27​! Seriously he’s basically my boss at this point. If you’d like to comission your own comic or animation review just pm me or shoot me an ask to get my discord. Single stories for a comic are 3 bucks, single comic issues and single episodes of a show are 5 bucks with deals on multiple issues or episodes of a show. With my shameless plugging out of the way the stories themselves are:

Happy Happy Valley! (The Comissioned Story): The Main Cast sans Beakly end up stranded at a resort where everyone’s forced to be happy all the time. A classic trope with a twist ending you can’t predict.. mainly because it’s.. 

Fight!: The boys have a garage sale with stuff from the broom closet to raise money for Huey’s woodchuck trip. Naturally this quickly snowballs into a samurai fight to the death. 

Wonders, a full recap with spoilers, and extreme stupidity await bellow the cut. 

After a quick commission break for this week’s episode I’m back in the saddle and back into comics no less! It’s been exactly a year since I’ve done a single issue comic review. Oh sure I looked back on house of x, and will again next year, and I do want to cover Empyre at some point and some other comics, but I haven’t done a full recap of a single comic book in some time. But the first story of this issue  really, REALLY confused and infuriated Kev, and rightfully so, so I got the commission call, and of my own volition I’m doing the second story entirely for free. I just wanted to do both for completion’s sake and because when I did read this comic I remembered the stories not being very long so it gives me more to write anyway. And if your curious yes I would gladly review classic Don Rosa, Carl Barks or really any duck writer’s work on a story by story basis, it just works easier to do the Ducktales issues all in one since their both more recent and I don’t have to go back and do it later if, once i finish seasons 1 and 2 at some point in the distant future, I decide to do this series too as well as the Sound and Fury mini that was clearly used to offload stories they had left over. 

As for my experience with these comics I DID read them when they started out. .but quickly petered off and never even got around to this story, I remember reading page one but never read the rest of it. Part of it is I tend to flitter in and out of comics and part of it was the stories just weren’t that gripping, with the characters often feeling like flatter versions of the far more multi-layered one’s in the show proper and the stories being a bit too short to properly flesh things out like the show, especially since for some weird reason each issue has two stories instead of having one big story on occasion. They weren’t bad and there is a story or two I want to go back to like Lena and Webby being spies together, Fethry and Fenton have a story together apparently, we get an early look at Della, and there’s one where Bradford hints at them plotting against scrooge long before the show revealed it. There’s some interesting stuff I might look at eventually, I just have a LOT of show to get through too, and i’m not going to pidgenhole the entire series as bad or lackluster based on a few early issues.. or one story in this issue. But yeah i’ve held it off long enough.. let’s talk about 

Happy Happy Valley!

First off the titles for these are .. pretty lack luster. Their basically just what the stories are about.. Happy Happy Valley and a Fight, that’s.. about it. I didn’t realize just HOW awesome the show is at titles, making each sound like a thrilling and unique adventure which they usually are, until I got to here. It feels like IDW, and by extentsion disney, didn’t care what the stories were called and just wanted a comic out to tie into the show. Which bothers me when they put this on IDW, clearly having a release platform for disney works.. but didn’t bother to use it for their Darkwing Duck comic continuing from the original, the reprint of the BOOM! Studios comic, or the short lived Star VS Comic Deep Trouble, which I will be covering at some point as it was pretty good. Same with the Boom! Studio’s darkwing, I just want to watch more episodes before revisiting it. Point is the title isn’t great. The story is even less than that. 

We open properly with our heroes.. all woken up from their beds in the middle of the night for an adventure. It’s not a bad start, though Louie weirdly starts in constantly about how Scrooge’s rich and can do this and that and Subtley dosen’t exist in this story does it?  Anyways, later, far away from Louie’s bed.. that’s the caption they go with and I love it, the Sunchaser suddenly stops working and Launchpad’s crashing skills come in handy, 

This isn’t a bad scene as Donald brings up good points and likely has his own “times he’s been nearly sacrificed tally” like Louie.. and Della likely also said “Della’s coming out on top!” when her total went into triple digits. Also  “When your rich you can even buy luck launchpad”

It just.. dosen’t fit Scrooge at all.. granted this issue hasn’t BEGUN to not fit Scrooge at all but let’s save that for the end. Anyways rather than hostile locals they find Gladys Seeya, good pun, an overly smiley woman whose eager to please and just wants everyone to be happy and has them carried because tired people aren’t happy. Yeah it’s suspcious as heck and a well worn trope, really nice place with a dark secret, to the point the series proper would parody it in the Mervana episode, and subvert it by having them turn out to just be very nice hippies who i’m still convinced had a three way with Donald... I mean he could use it, they were really nice, and Donald is probably very generous. That’s something you didn’t want to think about but now you have to and it’s there. If you GENUINELY think that’s bad, then you should hear about Goofy’s sex life. 

See way more horrifying. Now everyone’s miserable! Horay! Moving on, point is Donald had a mer-three way and this is a well worn trope, but it is used in an interesting way.. that’s entirely ruined by the stupid ending, but we’ll get to that.  Point is everyone is soon happy, given a buffet, all the food they can eat, and whatever they want. They just want you to be happy.. no secret plot here.. wink. Louie continues his annoying “Every rich person gets X” schtick which feels forced as hell and gets worse with every line and more obvious. It’s one of the weaknesses with this story. It’s basically the writers constantly elbowing you and saying GET IT.. YOU GET IT.. BEING HANDED EVERYTHING YOU WANT IS ANNOYING GET IT. YOU GET IT.  The problem is.. the Island’s moral dosen’t fit that. Kev  helped here as we discussed the issue once I finished it, as I hadn’t thought of it yet, but the valley isn’t about giving you everything you want.. it’s about just FORCING you to enjoy things. Sure you can be happy off some things like the food but when Donald politley declines to dance because he can’t, which tracks with his life in general, they basically all glare at him to do so. Later they basically force acvitites on them with the ducks only agreeing because clealry they worry about what might happen if they DON’T. Telling someone to smile or enjoy something dosen’t make them enjoy it it just makes them miserable. Problems are 1, the issue very clearly WANTS to have the other moral and 2) the series would do this kind of story MUCH better with “Mystery at McDuck Manor!”. That’s not on the writers fault, as this comic started right before the show premiered and this issue came out before said episode, but it really doesn’t help the show came along with the same exact moral of not forcing your idea of fun on someone else and did it WAY better. It’s the same message, the ducks being forced to endure something only one person thinks is fun, but delivered right and wrapped into a very clever and fun mystery. Honestly I might cover that one this week or sometime soon because it both fits the Halloween season and this issue if nothing else reminded me how good THAT episode is. 

But I’m stuck doing this issue. Naturally, and in one of the issues few clever moments, the Ducks try booking it out of there as soon as they can but find their raft gone, and a ring of sharks suddenly there that weren’t before, and Donald understandably doesn’t want to risk the kids lives with that. Thankfully Webby soon comes up with a plan using the activities, and uses a napkin to get it around. This bit.. is actually clever as they use the various bits to get a plan and even Huey has a really clever bit where he just leaves his hat and shirt behind to go looking for the generator, likely on Webby’s request, knowing his brothers can just play him once in a while to draw suspicion. Also apparently Huey wears a tank top under his shirt, which looks weird on him, as he’s not the sporty type, but does fit his “always prepared” mindset well so I like it.  Using Basket weaving and balloon decorating, they create a way out, and Webby ties up their host while everyone escapes. They nearly don’t fit out but luckily Donald contributes. And again i’ll give the story this: Donald does more in this one story than he got to do in the vast majority of season one.  So our heroes escape with other patrons begging them to take them with them and the stories apparently wrapped up. The generator Huey found was to show the sharks were just holograms which given the science in this world makes sense, as does it jamming the sunchaser. What doesn’t make sense, and what got me my three bucks for this review in the first place is this. I”m putting the full picture there both so you can let it sink in and to let you know, since most of you probably haven’t read this comic, that i’m not making this shit up, nor is it one of my jokes. This .. this is the actual twist for the comic. 

...................................................................................................

 This is probably the thrird dumbest line in comic book history. Before you ask the other two are

And why yes those are both from the series. And why no I will not be covering All Star Batman and Robin unless someone forces me too.  My point is WHAT THE FLYING HELL IS THIS.  I mean this makes NO sense on any level. For STARTERS one of Scrooge’s most well known traits, that’s part of his character in every version is that he doesn’t like to spend money. He will to MAKE MONEY and sometimes grumble about it but if he doesn’t. Even if season 1 had it dialed way back, he still reused his old teabags, charged extra on his in house vending machines and tried to get out of buying burritos for recently freed slaves. Being cheap is an iconic part of his character. Granted the series took out things from the comics and original like underpaying employees, barely paying Donald even though in the comics he supports three children, as well as barely paying those children, and refusing to donate to orphans, but still it’s not THAT so far removed that THIS is remotely in character! He had to either buy this old resort or have it renovated to keep up the ruse, pay for the creepy lady running it, pay for the other guests as actors because otherwise his hired minion KIDNAPPED people who were begging for escape, pay for the activities/escape supplies, and pay gyro to build the GIANT GENERATOR THAT BOTH PROJECTS SHARKS AND MAKES TECHNLOGY NOT WORK. While I do think Scrooge would gladly want to teach Louie a lesson, this is a lesson that at best costs hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not at least a million to pull off.  And that’s not even getting into how he forced everyone else to go with it, denied them a good night’s sleep and clearly told NONE of them. Beakly not being there actually makes more sense as she would’ve noped out of this horrible horrible idea and bonked him on the head for this. It makes no sense and it’s GROSSLY out of character. And while I’m used ot that from comics, writers often don’t give a shit about the characters their writing, I expect better from DISNEY when it comes to lisencing shit. They’ve done better. I’ve mentioned better and even SINCE this they’ve done better: Christos Gage’s Incredible’s Comics are excellent and I want to read more of them. And the previous run by mark waid is also suitably incredible, if now sadly no longer canon.  And even in this very ISSUE there’s a much better, if not amazing, story we’ll get to in a moment. I get disney’s greenlit weak tie in material before but this is ridiculously bad and shoddy. Shame on them, shame on the writer, and shame on this INCREDIBLY stupid story. We get an everybody laughs ending, who cares. we’re out. 

Final Thoughts for Happy Happy Valley: 

I don’t have much less to say about this story. This about sums it up. 

Fight! 

We open with a samurai.. though it quickly turns out to be Dewey with a mop on his head hitting Louie with a broom while saying Two Damage! Two Damage! and already in one scene this is so much better and feels so much more natural. Naturally this story has a different writer. The artist is different for both too, and the art is good on both though I do prefer the art for “Fight!” more as it’s a bit more expressive. Though it also benefits from having less characters to juggle so that probably helps.  The boys are having a Garage Sale, or Yard Sale as some call it. As a huge fan of Garage Sales, I’ve gotten tons of stuff from them over the years and good shit too like my G1 Snarl, or even just recently a three in one of the first three loud house Graphic Novels for a freaking quarter. You REALLY can’t beat that. It’s why I love these things. So this story already had my money. As for why, Huey needs money for the Junior Woodchuck Camping trip. How else is he going to hold hands iwth Violet and Boyd under a tree. Wait neither of them existed yet.  Damn. Well i’m retconning that in anyway. If they can retcon the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver not to be mutants, which If eel is getting undone VERY soon, or if not Hickman will use that well, I can retcon this to taking place in season 3. Plus i’ts all very wholesome and innocent... their only eleven. 

But yeah Scrooge in a nice moment if an off-screen one gave them the contents of the broom closet.. which is really just a bunch of old used up brooms, some buckets and other cleaning supplies. Probably stuff Beakly rarely uses or has long replaced and if not.. well he’ll have to pay for them himself won’t he. Unlike the above clusterfuck this.. feels entirely in character. Scrooge likely apricates that Huey is working hard to EARN the money for his trip and that his brothers are helping, especially Louie since he gets nothing out of this unless they go over what Huey needs. But also being Scrooge he still only gives them some old Junk.  But Louie, being louie easily scams a guy into paying 15 bucks for a broom. Still this is slow progress and if Huey wants to be with his poly relationship he’s gotta step it up. Luckily, and naturally given this is Scrooge’s closet, they find an old Samurai helmet, which Huey feels could be worth millions. granted...

But eh it’s going to a good cause, tiny children holding hands by campfires, and when has common decency EVER stopped Louie? Dewey though, wants to start a collection of war stuff.. starting with this. It’s part of why I LIKE the story better: not only does it have much better dialouge but it’s actually rooted in the characters instead of “One trait of Louie’s cranked up to 50 and drilled into our heads”. Huey is trying to earn money for the woodchucks, Dewey only wants something for petty reasons and Louie wants money. It feels like the actual characters and not just cutouts and makes me wnat to read more stories in the hopes of finding more like this.  Anyways naturally nothing Scrooge has in any of his storage areas of the mansion tha’ts ancient isn’t cursed, magical or really neat to look at, and the helmet comes to life as they fight over it, and the helmet clints to Dewey, who talks in a deep red voice calling himself Ronnith of the Twin Samurai. The name.. isn’t great but the concept is. Thankfully Huey knows what it is thanks to the guidebook. and just like the Donald bit last episode this one story gets the guidebook better than season 1 did a lot.  Turns out the twin samurai were two brothers who hated each other and always competed for their mothers affection.. their mother was also forced to sell her beautiful sculptures for next to nothing after their father left. Instead of going after him though they both blamed each other as teens when invaders struck and burned everything including their mom I guess down, and fought the rest of their days, and while Ronnith never settled things due to growing too old, his spirit, and his intense hate, went into his helmet which now curses any brothers who fight over it to fight with the looser turning into a statue. 

Naturally no one wants this but Dewey can’t get the helmet off and Ronnith possess him to destroy the guidebook.. though Huey explains it’s his “third backup copy” which.. yeah again like the tank top thing tracks. Ronnith then manifests armor on Louie and we get the image above.. which is really neat. With Ronnith forcing the two to fight each other, Huey searches for a way to stop it. And while he can’t find it he does figure it out and the solution is REALLY clever: Just as Ronnith’s about to kill Louie, with Dewey apologizing.. Huey blocks. And Ronnith is naturally confused and upon finding out there’s a THIRD brother, the curse dissipates and thus everything’s back to normal. And wrapping things up nicely a guy shows up to buy the helmet and while Dewey tries to just give it away Louie says it’s free with purchase of a bucket for 50 bucks so Huey has his money to go on his romantic camping trip.. though he does ask if hte guy has a brother.. best be safe.  Final thoughts on Fight!: It’s like night and day. While the previous story is stilted, has one of the worst endings in duck history and overall is just kind of bland outside of one or two moments this .. is really good. It doesn’t add much to the world or anything, but it’s a fun side story with a clever monster of the week and resolution, some great lines and some good art. This is what should’ve lead the issue, as the main story is again just dreadful. Overall i’d recommend checking this story out.. though maybe get in in trade instead as the A-Story here is really bad, but you can find both on comixology and this issues on comixlogy unlimited if you want to check it out along with a ton of other great comics. 

That does it for this review, if you liked this I do regular coverage of ducktales every week, I JUST COVERED THIS WEEK’S EPISODE YESTERDAY.  So check that out and until next time vote if you can and check your house for Gary Busey!

#ducktales #ducktales comics #reviews #scrooge mcduck #louie duck #donald duck #launchpad mcquack #huey duck #huelet #webby vanderquack #idw

[tomboyjessie13-artblog]

Here's the digital drawing I promised, it's of Majora's Mask in their human form and in Modern era Hyrule. They're actually a bit of a redesign of a base drawing from 2016(Don't judge, it was years ago). I also made two of Majora's outfits before the modern era. Anyways, here's the bio and description. Keep in mind that there's gonna be some stuff based on Zelda canon but there's also stuff that are non-canon and made for RP purposes and personal enjoyment only, so don't take it seriously. But you're more than welcome to draw my version of Majora if you want, just remember to credit me. This also took hours to upload due to getting carried away with the backstory here.

Majora, Born "Tsukiyomi Majora" and formally called "Court Witch Majora", was a demon sorcerer who once lived peacefully in the Demon Realm prior to the events of "Skyward Sword". They once served the Merry-Go-Round royal family as their Court Witch before Demon King Demise took the throne, and is a family friend to them and Demise's four daughters. Unfortunately, when the Demon Realm fell due to Malladus' recklessness, Majora was gravely injured during the destruction and ended up falling into the primitive Termina through a wormhole and became a mask by a member of the ancient tribe. Consumed by their hatred and MALICE from the incident and being used for hexing, they snapped under the weight and became the most evil and cruel being who nearly brought Termina to it's end, infamously named: "Majora's Mask", before they were defeated by the current Link's ancestor; the Hero of Time. They, alongside Zant, currently reside in New Clock Town as a resident hexer after receiving a Mud Golum body by Veran.

~Technical Information~ Japanese: ムジュラ Romaji: Mujura Other Names: Tsukiyomi Majora(birth name), Court Witch Majora(former title), Majora's Mask(Infamous name), Parasite(Zant), Little Monster(Link), Aunt Jojo(Beelzebub and Lucifer) ~Biographical Information~ Born: Centuries before "Skyward Sword" Age: Ancient(physically in their mid-late 20's in Demon and Mud Golum forms) Classification: Demon(till catastrophe), Mask(till "Majora's Mask"), Mud Golum(currently) Gender: Genderless(currently) Sexual Orientation: Asexual Hair Color: Red Eye Color: Green Affiliation(s): Demon Realm(place of birth/formally), Termina(currently), Ancient tribe(formally), Clock Town/New Clock Town(currently), Court Witch(formally), Hexer(currently)

History and Personality

As a Demon

They were said to be a eccentric yet talented, charming, and funny demon sorcerer in the Demon Realm, thus earning their reputation, but is also criticized for being childish and bratty when things don't go their way, regardless, they were once a sane individual. In the Demon Realm, Majora was actually close friends with Queen Mirai Merry-Go-Round and Royal Chef Bellum, but is rather cautious around Demise due to his "strange behavior", they're also rivals with Demise's aid Malladus. They also have a soft spot for Demise and Mirai's daughters, Beelzebub, Lucifer, Aku no, and Karma, even acting as a surrogate "Mother" to them, and often hang out by Majora's favorite tree(It's rumored that the four remains are the masks the daughters created with them, and the tree is the same tree from the moon).

Later, Majora have grown to greatly despise both Demise and Malladus, the former for killing his own daughters to secure his throne, and the latter for foolishly destroying the Demon Realm and injuring them, both of their actions were one of the few factors that pushed Majora over the edge. During the destruction of the Demon Realm, they fell into one of the expanding wormholes that lead to worlds outside the realm, this one landed Majora in a primitive Termina.

There, they witnessed a group of humans celebrating a festival with four giant beings known as the Four Giants(these people will later build "Clock Town", and the festival will later become "The Carnival of Time"). They tried seeking their help but were too weak to move. Soon enough, a "man with white hair"(Whom the Fierce Deity's Mask's appearance would be based on) walked by and asked what happened, Majora explained what happened to them and told him that they'll die soon because their injuries are so severe. The man, feeling pity for the Demon, healed their soul with a "soothing song" with a instrument and their body was turned into a tree.

As a Mask

The man took the tree to his home and carved it into a mask based on Majora's original body, he made a small grave for them in his home, Majora had gave the man gratitude for giving them peace. Unfortunately, the white haired man died from old age years later, and a stranger walked into the home and found Majora's Mask. He examined the Mask and discovered that it contained all of Majora's magic, Majora tried asking what he was doing but their voice has fallen on deaf ears. The man took Majora to a settlement of land belonging to the ancient tribe that specializes in hexes and claimed that he created Majora's Mask to house magical powers, Majora called him out on his bull, but was ignored again.

The tribe began to use Majora for hexing rituals, they tried to stop them but was once again ignored, this continued for years causing Majora to slowly grow insane from the constant exposure of the hexes, even becoming desensitized to the twisted curses they created. During this time, Majora was left alone with memories of their past life, remembering what Demise and Malladus had done to them, their family, and their home back to the day, causing Majora to grow angry and unstable by the day, even developing a bloodthirsty hatred towards humanity for using Majora for their selfish gain, and blaming the white haired man for turning into a mask, thinking it was all a trick when really he was just trying to help. Regardless, they only have the memories of Mirai's four daughters to keep them sane. Until one day, there was one hexing ritual became so great that it caused them to lose memories of Mirai's four daughters, leaving them as a empty husk fueled by anger and hatred.

This acted as the breaking point for Majora and they snapped, their anger turned into rage, and their rage turned into MALICE, the very thing that plagued the Demon Realm for so long, and used it to get back at the tribe that used them by possessing a human. They eventually used their concealed powers and started destroying the tribe's home and it's inhabitants, developing a sadistic glee and enjoyment for chaos and destruction in the process. Laughing insanely, they happily proclaimed that they want all of humanity to die by their hands, and threatened to drag the moon from orbit to do that. But the surviving tribe members, fearing such a catastrophe, used a spell to put them in their place, knocking them out cold. The surviving tribe members then sealed Majora away, preventing misuse and the world from ending.

Pre-"Majora's Mask"

Centuries later, long after the tribe disappeared, Majora's obsession with destroying the world grew, while also trying to remember who the "four people" were. Then one day, a smiling man with a backpack full of masks(Happy Mask Salesman) arrived to Majora's prison, proclaimed that they're the ancient tribe's sacred artifact, and that they would make a proper addition to his collection, taking them away. Majora sees this as a chance to get back at humanity and tries coursing the salesman into wearing them, only to discover that he's too strong-hearted and sound of mind to be corrupted, and instead made the salesman pass out from trying to resist Majora.

Not long after, a Skull Kid and his fairy companions arrived out of curiosity, sensing that the imp isn't as strong in heart and mind as the salesman, they coursed him into wearing them and succeeded, giving Majora a new body and Skull Kid their tremendous power. During their that time, Majora learned that the Skull Kid was once friends with the Four Giants of Termina, and used that as leverage to push him into creating chaos and curses throughout the world and trap the Giants using the four masks the four daughters supposedly created, first starting with the Ikana Valley, then Snowhead, then Clock Town, then Great Bay, and then Woodfall, at some point they murdered the Deku Butler's son and took his soul, turned Kafei into a child just to satisfy their twisted sense of humor, and tried pulling the moon from it's orbit again to destroy Termina, creating a hideous looking face in the process.

Afterwards, Majora heard the Skull Kid crying and created a mental version of the tree on the moon to confront him. The Skull Kid cried that this isn't what he wanted, he just wanted his friends back, Majora berated them for being weak, telling him that they had all but abandoned him and caused mischief in the past in retaliation. While the Skull Kid had admitted that, they told Majora that they're hurting and murdering people who had nothing to do with both of their torment. Majora doesn't care, they just wanted all of Termina to die, and whither the Skull Kid likes it or not, they're dragging everyone with them to do so, thus leaving him trapped in the mental world. Soon enough, the Hero of Time arrives to the Lost Woods, and the events of "Majora's Mask" takes place.

Post-"Hyrule Warriors"

After being defeated, their soul was banished from their body and lost all of their magic, causing them to be even more angry. They spent more centuries roaming Termina and all the lands outside of it as a evil spirit, watching the worlds as they grew and watching the Hero of Time's descendants from afar, eventually they watched the events of "Hyrule Warriors" take place, at on point they met the Usuper King Zant and shared a lot of things in common with him. After which, they found the descendant of the Hero of Time(Warrior!Link) and snapped again, they began haunting his nightmares in an effort to drive him to insanity as revenge until they were sought out by Beelzebub, who recognized them as Majora.

Realizing that Majora has lost their memories of their past life, Beelzebub used her Black Box(a device that can only be used by Demon Gods) to try and restore it, while also reviewing what has happened to Majora during these last eons. Majora felt their first tears upon gaining their memories back, feeling like the daughters would never forgive them for trying to destroy Termina, while Beelzebub agreed what they did was unforgivable and chastised them for it, Beelzebub was willing to help them recover and get them a new body, but would require bribery. She took Majora to the newly revived Veran who gave them a new Mud Golum body, but was told that their new body would not possess any feelings of hunger nor fullness no matter how much they ate or drank, and that they would not bare children because the body's interfile.

Afterwards, Beelzebub took Majora to the Skull Kid they possessed and forced them to apologize to the imp, but was understandably rejected. After which, Majora began to hide out in Termina and the Lost Woods again since they have nowhere to go, but was warned to not cause anymore trouble in that world again like the last time. Because they had no magic, they're forced to use other means to gain it such as potions and food consumption, at some point they found their old Mask body being guarded by the Great Deku Tree in the Lost Woods, but was disappointed to learned that it doesn't contain any magic, but took it with them as it was their old body.

"Breath of the Wild" and Afterwards

Majora has gained a reputation in Termina as a Hexer, but is also criticized for being childish and sadistic. Soon enough, the Guardians, autonomous machines created by the Sheikah, entered Termina and started causing mass mayhem and destruction through the world much to Majora's sadistic glee. But that glee stopped when one of the Guardians started targeting them and shot at them, not having any strong magic to stop them, they lost their right leg during the carnage. Thankfully the Four Giants were called upon and the Guardians were deposed of, Majora was founded by Beelzebub and was taken to a doctor to be given a new prosthetic leg made from dark wood and Sheikah tech.

They were surprised to know that the humans and even the Giants would allow them to stay in Clock Town to recover after what Majora tried doing to them, Beelzebub explained that it's because they're compassionate to those in need, no matter how cruel the person is. She then told them that if Majora want to continue to stay in Town, they outta help them rebuild the town, Majora caved in and agreed, saying that they needed a roof over their head anyways, they participated hesitantly in the rebuild of Clock Town, now named "New Clock Town", using the Sheikah tech they salvaged from the broken Guardians.

After 100 years, they met the new hero(Wild!Link) and Princess Zelda who stumbled upon Termina, and teased Link ruthlessly, but was easily bested by him much to their chagrin. After a while, Aku no destroyed the worlds with her Key, but teamed up with Beelzebub to restore it and defeat MALICE. Once the worlds are restored, they joined Beelzebub and her friends in searching for the old Demon Realm. At some point they returned to Hyrule and Termina, during the Modern Era, they met up with Zant once more after having been banished from the Twilight Realm for his past crimes, they allowed Zant to live with them in Termina, becoming their roommate and partner in crime.

Trivia and Personality traits

- The name Majora may have been inspired by the ancient Brazilian society of a similar name, Marajoara, a culture that created masks, some of which look strikingly similar to Majora's Mask, this may also explain Majora's human appearance. The Japanese name "Majou" means "Witch" in Japanese, hence Majora's evil magic and previous occupation as a Court Witch.

- Majora follows a Japanese moon motif here; their family name is an alternate name to "Tsukuyomi", the Japanese god of the Moon, and their pigtails in their Mud Golum form resemble rabbit ears, which references the Japanese Moon rabbit. Both of them references Majora's infamous deed of dragging the moon from it's orbit in an effort to destroy Termina by crushing it.

- Despite being genderless, Majora prefers appearing female due to hearing the human belief that "all women are innocent little angels" when they know it's not true, thus uses this to lull people into a false sense of security and get away with things. 

- Majora was described as very beautiful in their original Demon form, even having several suitors coming onto them because of this. But they turned them all down, saying they have better things to do than be tied down by marriage, though they admitted to liking Zant, they only see him as a partner and nothing more. They also don't seem to mind being infertile since they're asexual and don't like raising kids, Mirai's daughters being the only exception however. 

- While they got their memories back and their malice exorcised, they still act as sadistic and childish as they were before due to the over exposure of hexing and games, becoming just as twisted as the tribe's hexers. They also gained the ability create small versions of the moon to throw at people.

- While displeased about having to consume human food and drinks for health, magic, energy, and climate resistance at first, they eventually became a bit of a Epicurean due to developing strong taste buds. They admitted that their favorite drink is Chateau Romani due to it's delicious flavors and great magical potential. 

Design belongs to me

#artwork #legend of zelda #human!majora's mask #majora's mask #hyrule warriors #breath of the wild #modern au #roleplay #fanfiction

[cee-grice]

new writeblr intro!

Heya! So I’ve been stalking the writeblr community for awhile and finally decided to make an actual blog for that, late as it is. I guess this is where I introduce myself somewhat...

You can call me Tea (I promise it’s not just because I like tea)! I’m from Lithuania, but right now am studying Psychology in the Netherlands. I’ve been having a difficult time finding any writers around here, so, naturally, I decided to go search on the Internet!:D 

I’ve been writing fiction for around six years now, though I started doing original stuff in English only a little while back, since before that fanfiction ruled my life. And as many writers, I’m dying for some validation and interaction with my fellow cave crawlers or sunshines or whatever you might be. So I had the ingenious thought of “hey, what if I actually... post stuff and like... talk to people”. Madness, really, but hey, new life, new me(ss), so here I am! 

I also sometimes draw digitally, so you might see some of my OCs or fanart in the future (whenever I deem them adequate enough for the eyes of others).

Now, the most important part - my WIPs.

...They don’t have names yet, but shhhHHH I’m fine with referring to them as “The Purgatory One” and “The Siren One”, so until I say otherwise, that’s what they’re called. I’ll do proper introductions for them later, but for now, the short version!

Primary WIP - The Purgatory One: it’s a dark fantasy about a world in which you end up when you, basically, “abandon your life” by going away with only one purpose - to leave. The realm to which your soul then gets taken is similar to your world but also completely different, since your and everyone else’s subconsciousness there reigns over the construct of time or physics or anything bound by laws that we’re familiar with. It probably sounds complicated, but, well, it’s supposed to be a mind fricc, so :’)) Don’t get fooled by how I refer to it in my head, though, it’s a sort of joke, and jokes aren’t meant to be explained, so! Bear with me pls

Secondary WIP - The Siren One: now, how I call this one is way more straightforward. It’s about sirens, how shocking. Why not mermaids, you might ask? Because sirens are just way cooler and deserve more attention  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯  Now, we all heard about beautiful women with their beautiful voices and beautiful songs, but what about... a boy siren that thinks “hey, I can also hunt with singing, watch me”, and fails spectacularly. Let’s leave it at that for now.

As you might have realized by now, I’m not great with putting my thoughts into words, but that’s only when I’m writing as I’m speaking! With my actual works the situation is definitely better (or so I’d like to tHiNK), so I hope I don’t scare you away! To wrap this up, I really hope I’ll get to meet a lot of you! I’ll try to hit up people as I go along, but please don’t hesitate to reach out to me as well!! I’d love to freak out over whatever you want me to freak out about, for example, ur own stuff ;))))

Also, I have no idea how blogging actually works and what do I actually have to do, so, again, please bear with me as I figure it out!! Drop down a note if you’re also a writeblr or are just interested, would be great to find some friendos!

#writeblr introduction #writeblr intro #writers on tumblr #writing #writeblr