#now that's out of the way I can go back to draw actually 'relevant' art

[mitamicah]

Going back memory lane to the ESC postcards for my sticker design for Kä's Allas Sea Pool gig in july :'3

(I did make some few adjustments like adding the earrings and giving the duck a bowlcut xD)

Bonus: my first attempt of a sticker (couldn't find a fitting tagline :'D)

#I miss him :'3 #it was honestly so nice to get to draw him a bit again after so long :'D #(not that I wont love going back to draw the joker out guys here soon but yeah I missed Jere xD) #also I know this probably seems forever away #I felt that now I am already going to order the böle stickers I could at least also have the allas ready #now that's out of the way I can go back to draw actually 'relevant' art #jere pöyhönen #käärijä #frank the flamingo #mine #my own art #käärijä stickers

[rallamajoop]

Lab Photos and Documents from Resident Evils 7 & 8

Near the end of both Resis 7 and 8, the player character gets to explore a laboratory full of significant documents and interesting photos, textured and angled such that it’s very hard to get a good screencap. So here’s a huge dump of all the relevant image assets I could find to extract from both game files (plus some rambling about everything that got recycled between them, because spot-the-reused-asset is still my favourite game right now).

Photos from Lucas' lab in Resident Evil 7

The photo of Mia with Eveline in front of the tanker can be found at the end of the Mia video tape, though it also shows up again in Lucas' other lab in the Not A Hero DLC. That DLC also throws in a few new photos of Lucas' creations.

And moving on a game...

Photos from Miranda's Lab in Resident Evil 8

(Apologies for the long post above the cut, but tumblr doesn't seem to let you tile images below a 'Read more', unfortunately.)

What’s interesting is that most do seem to be legitimate photos of the characters’ real-life face models, not just renders of their 3D game models. Whether the human models themselves posed for these or whether their likeness was simply photoshopped onto scenes composed without them I haven’t been able to find out (though the latter seems more likely to me, given that most face models don't even seem to have known what character their likeness would be used for). Either way, there’s an eerie realism to these that doesn’t occur in many other parts of the game, and it’s effective in its own uncanny way.

Since both games refer to the same research at the same lab, it's probably reasonable that some of RE8 photos are just slightly-adjusted copies of those from RE7 ‒ those two shots of Eveline in the lab most obviously. And we're probably just supposed to politely ignore how obviously Miranda's just been selectively edited into that original pic of Eveline with the scientists. *cough*

In fact, if you look closely, even that big group photo of Eveline with the research team and transport operatives has actually patched in both Mia and Eveline from that earlier photo of them standing in front of the tanker. In fact, Alan (Mia's partner in RE7) isn't even from a photo at all: that's a drawing from a piece concept art (no wonder they've got him standing at the back!) As a minor role who appeared in no photos in RE7, I assume they just didn't have any good shots of his face model available.

I'm a little suspicious even Miranda's face in the group shot has been edited in from one of her other photos, but the match isn't quite perfect enough for me to be sure.

Even that photo of the needle going into the egg and the developing foetus isn't new: you can see the same needle shot in some of the RE7 documents, and even the foetus development series gets an angled scan-over in the RE7 ending sequence.

Mind you, some of those "photos of Eveline" may actually not be Eveline herself ‒ text on them in the lab itself suggests they're photos of other members of the E-series, sacrificed during necrotoxin tests. Which makes it rather odd that the figure in the second photo is an adult man who looks nothing like Eveline, so I can only assume some wires got crossed somewhere in the dev team.

(Also odd: the suggestion that there were multiple E-series subjects, some of whom were put down for experimental purposes, even though Eveline herself is labeled E-001. But let's not pretend RE lore has ever been super-consistent at the best of times.)

RE8's "lab photos" also include a couple of shots of a man in snow gear who's apparently Spencer of Umbrella-fame, presumably for all those fans who don't feel it's a proper Resident Evil game if there's not an Umbrella in it somewhere. They're both about as rough as that one piece of concept art of Alan, so I'm guessing whoever created them was about as invested in that topic as I am.

Somewhat more interesting to me are the two shots of Miranda with babies. The second obvious Eveline, but the first is presumably of Miranda with Eva, way back in 1920 or so ‒ demonstrating nothing so much much as that in a full 100 years, Miranda hasn't even slightly changed how she does her eyebrows. /s

#Resident Evil Village #Resident Evil 7 #Mia Winters #Eveline #Mother Miranda #RE assets #reused assets #RE lore #meta

[clambuoyance]

Do u want to talk abt ur ocs..... I actually followed you initially bc they seemed so interesting and silly and I want to know more if you feel like sharing :)

I still can’t believe some ppl follow me for my ocs bc it’s usually for my fanart so this is really nice to hear! I have a couple stories/universes but the main one I’ve been…developing (it’s on and off) since I was like 13/14 is about these two kids named Keiko and Rolin!! Im still doing a lot of world and lore building but the main gist is that Rolin is a teenage boy turning 16 who returns to his hometown to live with his aunt and meets a strange young girl named Keiko (debating on making her 10-12 idk she was originally 10). I won’t go too much into like Lore stuff but she has like..my own version of clairvoyance. They are kind of opposites, with Rolin being introverted and jaded, and Keiko being loud and optimistic but they are both silly.

I think it’s been said before but the whole driving relationship of the story is the two of them going on adventures throughout the city and solving mysteries while simultaneously becoming family and finding a real home within each other and the people they’ve met and learned to love 😚

Now the story is centered around Rolin and Keiko, but a big focus is on the cast of characters that fill mostly Rolins life. Mira and Artie were friends with Rolin when they were kids before Rolin left with his mom, and all three grew up and have been living their own lives, but when Rolin comes back they get a chance to reconnect (with Keiko’s help). Valoryn (Val) is also new in town, and befriends Rolin and Keiko. This is just a messy fast doodle of them I have better art in my oc tags🙏

Some old sketches

The other major cast is Rolin’s family, and Rolin has always been Asian so as I worked on the story his family kept getting more and more relevant especially with a major theme of the story being about the connections you have with people in your life so like I can’t leave them out. And I’ve never settled on an Asian ethnicity until recently where I was like I might as well make him Filipino so I can base his family off my own🫡 Cousins (both blood and not) that are years older than you but treat you like siblings and give u silly nicknames 🫶

Now Diana (or Deedee) is one of those characters I’ve had for a long time, and I made her because I liked those laidback mentor figures in anime (like Qrow from rwby) and wanted a laidback lady one 🤷🏻‍♀️ she also has some Misato from nge influence. She has always been written to be a mentor figure to Rolin and Keiko, and at one point I think I was going to make her his actual aunt but stuck to her being just a cousin so I could write about her relationship with her mom 🫶 Unlike her brother Darius, she does not live with her mom and Rolin has to go out of his way to meet her.

And Rolin’s parents’ story aren’t the main focus (they aren’t really present themselves in the main story) and it’s mostly just flashback stuff but they r silly and sad and I love drawing them 😼

I could go into more detail but that’s an overview of some of the characters

#clam answers #my ocs #clam ocs

[allyaloe]

Messages for the Signs

Capricorn: Yellow, 333, you need to take a step back and assess what’s not working. You may also work with the phases of the Moon. “Take your dog for a walk, get out of the house” for somebody.

Aquarius: You need a break. You could in no contact or separation with someone significant, Aries and Scorpio placements. Someone could be into painting or digital art, 111/212. Taurus risings may be significant, too.

Pisces: The colours green or teal could be relevant to you. You may have been handed a necklace or family heirloom. Working with Archangel Chamuel could help your manifesting abilities, and lighting a red candle, 222. Long-awaited text message on the way from a Scorpio sun, moon, or rising.

Aries: Never let other people get to you. For the more spiritually inclined, you may be wondering what your mission or purpose is. You could have a Pisces, Libra moon or Capricorn placements. 333/777 are your relevant angel numbers. “I’m sorry I hurt you” is a message from someone; it is up to you whether you accept or not.

Taurus: Life may have been messy for you lately. Some of you could have distinctive Jupiter placements that you may want to tap into. Some of you could be into the darker aspects of spirituality or take a more Left Hand Path approach. There’s an emphasis on the birth chart and placements being on the axis; “Mercury and Neptune;” life path number 11 and 222. “It’s okay to feel.”

Gemini: Enough busybodying, Gemini! Some people may have been flitting around like a butterfly, without a plan to put into action. You need to go back to the drawing board, and take a pause to rest and recharge. Pisces risings could be significant as well. Take some time to think through what you want. 222, 444.

Cancer: New work opportunities may be abounding for you right now, particularly those with Scorpio or Sag placements, 555. Someone may have got a significant sentimental tattoo connected to their sister. Someone may be connected to family in the astral plane and they are looking down on you. You may have had prophetic dreams, or have Zeus as a deity.

Leo: You need to heal from that broken heart of yours and become responsible for your own happiness, 222. You may be perusing someone’s Instagram and you need to stop doing that before you hurt yourself further. I saw a visual of a pentagram symbol surrounded by black candles and crystals. Work on your self-love and the rest will follow.

Virgo: Someone may work with Aphrodite or have a connection with the Birth of Venus. This is about reclaiming your personal power. “Life is good.” You could feel a twin flame or soulmate connection with someone named Marcus or Mark. 333. Exchanging texts with a new handsome friend, could be this person. Gemini Venus placements.

Libra: “Free as a bird.” Connection to the name Ezekiel. This is SENSITIVE, so fair warning, but this could be related to fleeing abuse of some kind. One of you could have a young son. I genuinely feel for the person this concerns, you will be okay! Taurus rising. The name Dominic may be significant for someone here, too. 111.

Scorpio: Camomile tea could be a good soother for your nerves. The Barbie movie could be your way of getting in touch with your inner child, and healing wounds. You may have a connection with dolphins or the underwater world, 777. Artemis could be a being/deity to look into. Someone could have blonde hair, green or brown eyes. Don’t use temporary connections as a substitute for real love. Value, respect and care for yourself.

Sagittarius: The name Ethan could be significant. This is quite happy, actually. I see someone getting a new crush, and imagery of ducklings. It makes me feel the energy of birth and Spring time, so you could be going through a transformation or rebirth. Seeing 333/111, “watch out for yourself,” don’t be taken advantage of. The colour red and Taurus and Libra placements may also resonate with you.

If you feel called to book a PERSONAL reading, you can do so here! I hope these general messages provided some clarity to some of you.

#intuitive readings #general reading #pick a card #tarot reading #witchblr #spirituality #Spiritual Guidance #love reading #free readings #horoscope #zodiac signs

[cookii-moon]

This is my excuse to gush over Dragon form because yes.

Basically headcanon and redesign galore yayy

More under the cutoff since this is LONG. You have been warned.

The first part is an introduction, and then the second is actually talking about my designs and ideas and stuff, plus some thoughts/snippets/headcanons... help me.

SO apparently I am far more stupid than I thought, and the reason I say that is because for WHATEVER REASON, it took me ONE. YEAR. For the thought "Hey Cookie the ninja became dragons that one time" to even properly cross my mind, let alone set in. Which is surprising, because I historically freak out over dragons. You'd think that my favorite blorbos having dragon forms would make me instantly go crazy, but no, it took an entire year for my brain to even realize it was... you know... dragon related... even.though I knew they were dragon related... I just didn't... does that make sense? Probably not.

ANYWAYS

As it stands the dragon forms are forgettable because they're literally just reskins but with different element colors (which makes sense, cause yknow... Lego molds...) and then they vanish which obviously yeah. Who knows maybe they'll come back in dragons rising now that the ninja have their powers again.

BUT THAT DOESN'T STOP ME FROM GUSHING OVER THEM ONE YEAR AFTER THEY WERE RELEVANT.

Hyperfixation transcends the measly concept of time (actually that's probably not true I wouldn't know since I don't think about the very fabric of reality that often) so good luck stopping me.

ANYWAY, so uh... I might or might not have on a whim made messy concept sketches for each dragon form, made up a ton of headcanons, and chosen color scheme... no... no I didn't do that.

Okay yeah I did that.

...I was supposed to do two at a time.

How did I get here. The power of autistic brain.

Time to actually talk about the designs!!

Uhhh I'm gonna go in true potential order... because yes.

First... Zaneee!!!

Without color in case it's confusing

Also you're gonna notice a trend with this being that the drawings are not high quality or rendered or anything and are sloppily colored and that's because they're just concepts. I only did the actual "big" draconic traits because I wanted to get it finished quickly so i had an excuse to talk about it. If I ever do use them for an actual art piece then I'll fully render them n stuff obviously this is just to get across the concept.

So since Zane is a robot it.. would be kinda hard for him to suddenly get like.. organic dragon wings... or whatever...

So instead- he gets cybernetic dragon wings and a tail. Yes i know that still requires cartoon logic. The power of creation just magicked them into existence OK? It makes more sense than randomly growing scales.

The mechanic parts are mostly held together/afloat by the ice energy flowing through them (which is what the crystal-like fragments that make up most of his wings are!)

Also his horns are like a little crown... because... I dunno I thought it'd fit with his haircut and such but also ice Emperor (even though he didn't really wear a crown) look this was drawn at like 2 am I don't know what I was thinking with it or why I didn't actually draw the haircuts as well..

I imagine that he'd be very cold to the touch, especially his wings (which are pretty much sheets of ice) both Jay and Kai have ways of circumventing it, but when Cole has to deal with it (like sitting next to him or such) he gets sluggish pretty quickly. Zane is still trying to figure out a way to ease it a bit.

He also tends to make clanging noise by tapping his tail against the ground when he's upset, or make mechanical whirring noises when irritated. Nobody quite knows why since yknow robot, it's just a quirk.

His ice energy does mean he's gotten a power boost. Just like literally everyone else.

Also this is going to involve me assuming they kept these features because if Lloyd can be part dragon then so can the ninja I dare you to fight me /lighthearted

Jay!! He bird. Feather scrunchie.

"But Cookie that's not a dragon-"

Shhhh If a dinosaur can have feathers so can a dragon they're both giant reptiles OK. Feather dragon. It's a thing.

I'm going to be honest the only thing going through my mind while drawing this was vague wing shapes I can't even put a name to (they were probably from monster hunter... I think... Uh... ) and silkie chickens. Not quite sure why I thought of silkie chickens, but I did. So here we are.

So anyways I love him. HIM!! FEATHER MAN!!!

Also I just realized while writing this he can finally be fugi dove's proper equal and arch nemesis. Amazing.

So while drawing I was like "it'd be neat if he could produce static n such with his wings/feathers" so I took off to the internet and after trying a ton of different "CAN BIRDS MAKE STATIC" "ARE BIRD FEATHERS STATIC" and such search queries I finally came up with that ostrich feathers can have static and chicken feathers were used in computer components and hummingbirds can produce static from how fast they flap their wings. Is that trustworthy whatsoever? Probably not. (Surprisingly the most trustworthy one seems to be that chicken feathers were used for computer components which is funny) But rule of cool. I get to break the laws of physics and reality for my story as long as it's cool. Yay.

He's very fluffy and enjoys using his wings to snuggle up in bed :) Cole also tries to steal him as a blanket during winter. Nya and Lloyd can't because of the static but Cole can't be shocked so Jay just has to begrudgingly accept it with his hollow bones and consequentially low weight. He's also known to let sparks off when he's excited/happy, which is f u n.

Also I used the blue/yellow color palette because they seem to be leaning towards using more yellow in Jay's color themes (like how they started using orange in Cole's or blue in Zane's) and I thought it worked really well here so yeah!! It also helps differentiate him even more.

He sheds like crazy. Especially during winter where he gets EVEN FLUFFIER. (no one knows how it's even possible) Feathers everywhere. Cole and Kai also shed, but they shed skin all in one go (usually..), whereas Jay just leaves a pillows worth of feathers everywhere he inhabits, and it drives them insane.

The type of dragon he is is mostly a flight based species. They hunt in the air, live in the air for most of their lives, and such. Because of that not only does he rarely sit down, but he is FILLED with excess energy. He's also the most natural and second fastest flier, and fastest consistent flier.

Because the type of dragon he takes after is so focused on flight, they also roost up in really high places, so you'll probably find him on the top bunk, up in rafters, on the Monastery roof, etc. He loves that they're on a mountain because it means he can take a flight whenever he wants to. That doesn't stop him from being horrible at evading actual birds, though.

He also regularly makes "chirp" and clicking noises. (By chirp I mean the type a cat will do while looking at a window or such. Look up cats chirping or smthn for an example if u haven't heard it before.)

Could I have just made him a dragon with lightning bolt patterns?

Yes but that would be very boring and uncreative (in my opinion and standards I hold myself to ofc-) SO.

Jay is chicken. Jay uses wings to shoot lightning. Thank you for your time.

Cole. He crystal dragon. He's probably also gonna be a pain to draw (but also very fun) because of that. Yay.

I could of just done magma but I loved the idea of like a crystal dragon. So I made a ninjago related crystal dragon...

... again. Don't ask about the first one.

so uh I chose the colors bc like light blues/purples/white are pretty stereotypical crystal colors (plus I think they're pretty) and then orange... because. Cole. He has little crystal patches all over him and his scales also have like.. small crystals dotted all over.

I feel like whatever species of dragon he is is probably adapted to like.. mostly living in caves? Like cave bats kinda where it goes outside at night to hunt but sleeps and lives in caves, and probably goes deeper in the cave to hibernate. So because of that he can be sensitive to artificial light and doesn't really have any like adaptations for the winter, so he just tries to snuggle up with Jay or Kai to keep warm and gets really tired/sluggish when he's cold because reptile. On the other end he can sense vibrations since his species wouldn't be relying on sight as much, which is very handy.

Unlike Zane, Jay, or Kai, he can't really "fly" exactly. His wings are much smaller because the species kinda adapted to being able to use them as a sort of speed boost thing where they'd use them to get quick bursts of flight to catch prey, but since they mostly hunted on the ground and lived in caves they didn't need full on flight. However it's sorta a peregrine falcon situation where technically he is the fastest of all the ninja in flight, but only during a short burst.

He is also very well adapted to climbing vertical surfaces. His claws are REALLY good at gripping onto things since they were adapted to cling onto things such as stalactites, rock walls, etc. to traverse up ledges and deeper parts of caves, and he can also use his wings (and more specifically their claws) as a third pair of limbs to grip onto walls.

Cole tends to make more subtle noises, he growls when agitated and purrs when content or in pain (yes that's a thing, purring soothes and encourages healing, so cats will also purr when they're hurt or scared to comfort themselves) but it isn't very loud, so it's not easily noticeable.

Kai!!

Again

Could I have done magma for Cole and just given Kai flame wings?

Yes. But I'm not going to, because I find this approach more interesting.

... I joke that it's magma but not REALLy, it's still just.. fire... but his scales are brown cause I thought it fit. So. A lot of people like to draw Lloyd with the kinda dragon ears so I thought it'd be cute if Kai, as his guardian, also had them since, again, a lot of people like to see them as brothers. And I just gave him generic dragon horns. Because dragon.

It's hard to simplify it because... fire... so this is probably the worst sketch..

Look OK he gets to breathe fire. Like that's one of the most iconic medieval red dragon things, he's the fire ninja, he gets to breathe fire and blow smoke out of his nostrils when mad I don't make the rules.

I also kinda went all in on generic dragon tropes (i mean ig they're not as generic anymore because of stuff like HTTYD) because... Kai.

So like hot temper, fire breath, that type of thing.

He also has a hoarding habit, as in instead of cleaning or anything when he uses something and just tosses it aside, he puts it all in an ever growing pile of stuff that he just let's stay there until somebody else cleans it up because they were sick of it. Compared to Jay's feathers it's not the WORST thing in the world.

He's slower than Zane and Jay, but can fly for longer periods of time than Zane. His species is kind of adapted to flying closer to the land. So that they can eat some well cooked cow. Yknow generic dragon stuff.

I also think it'd be funny, since dragons are fiercely protective, if these dragons had a dragapult situation where if they didn't have a kid they'd just "adopt" (in their eyes, in reality it's abducting. Usually.) a random animal and pretend it's their child. Because. Kai.

He's also fireproof, to an extent. He can withstand intense heat (unlike Cole or Jay) and can withstand intense cold (Unlike Cole... poor guy) because fire. He can't dive bomb into a volcano though since it would eventually get through and burn him to a crisp, but in small amounts he'll be FINEEEE...

Im not quite sure if he'd make any sort of draconic noises or anything. I feel like maybe he'd growl when upset, but it'd be louder than Cole? Whereas Cole does it more frequently (probably to be passive aggressive) but it's much more silent. He also has a tendency to involuntarily raise his voice a lot.

Yeah that's about it. Also if you consider lloyd to be a dragon, or think of Nya as having dragon features from when she just became h2o that one time, then the entire group might as well be renamed to Dragon ninja. Even Wu!!

..I feel like Lloyd would be jealous- Like "Oh why do THEY get to go full dragon and have wings when I don’t?!" But he'd never say anything because Lloyd.. but everybody knows something is up and is trying to make him feel better... but it's making him feel worse because it just makes him feel more singled out... oh boy that's uh I'm gonna shut that depressing thought train down right there.

Poor pixal though... she's left out because she's too cool already.

ALSO if you ever use this or want to expand upon it/take inspiration from it PLEASE DO AND TELL/SEND IT TO ME I WANT TO SEE AND HEAR YOUR THOUGHTS PLEASE DHRJGJDJDJ I LOVE WHEN MY STUFF PROMPTS IDEAS

#ninjago #ninjago cole #ninjago jay #jay walker #jay gordon #ninjago kai #kai smith #kai jiang #ninjago zane #zane julien #ninjago nya #nya smith #nya jiang #ninjago lloyd #lloyd garmadon #lloyd montgomery garmadon #cole ninjago #zane ninjago #kai ninjago #jay ninjago #nya ninjago #lloyd ninjago #WHY CAN'T WE SETTLE ON ONE #PLEASE #ninjago thoughts #ninjago headcanons #Dragons Flight AU #Cookie’s art #Cookie’s thoughts

[ask-andante]

Hi, I've decided to officially end this blog.

It took a lot of time thinking about it (tbh i was even thinking about it before the anon) and discussion with close friends and I think I am done.

This blog was used to help me get through various parts of my life, and it can no longer serve that purpose. It's done its job wonderfully and helped me cope and even make a friend circle after isolating myself for a few years. I never thought I'd ever have an actual friend group, but it's something that was made possible VIA this blog.

It hurts a lot to end it, I won't lie, I'm like actually mourning it rn but I've started to develop a sort of resentment towards the blog and plot askblogs due to Mental Illness and I think I just cannot keep holding onto this blog anymore. So, I decided it's best to let it go before I hate it. I doubt I'll come back to finishing it after posting the plot outline, seeing as it's all out in the open, but you never know.

The doc contains the outline with a header to jump to where this blog left off. I got pretty far in so I feel extra down about tossing in the towel here, but that's just how it is. I've tried many ways to salvage my motivation, lowering art quality being the main one as art is my job now and it's no longer the escape it used to be, but I don't think the workload itself is the issue.

If I move onto future projects, you will likely see me post them on @aibouart , so feel free to check the art blog out and follow if you'd like. I am not abandoning the characters here, I will continue to draw them likely and RP them and whatnot. You can send asks OOC anytime, just know I may not be very active~

Anyways, here's the plot outline. Some things are not included in it despite having been planned because they were either up in the air on their specifics, or were late additions not added in yet (nast stops appearing in the outline some ways into it as they were a new addition to help give Andan another person to have a better dynamic with. They were planned to become friends < 3 )

Thank you for reading and for your patience, as well as everyone's continued support over the years. This blog was great as a form of expression and art, and great to get me socialising. I discovered many things about myself over the course of being here on Tumblr and this blog was one of the starting points~

If you'd like some minor additional content, you can go and read over old memes: @andanteooc

Or the related blog: @andanterelated

The related blog consists of memes I've reblogged tagging relevant characters.

You can feel free to send me asks to talk about the plot outline or anything else. I won't post any spoilers until tomorrow, or I'll just tag them "andante spoilers///" if you were interested in the doc to read at a later date.

Please note it is missing quite a few details as I used to log the combat or speech sections separately before actually putting them in the doc (the og was pasted from a tumblr page). I can answer asks about things that weren't addressed because of its nature, but will not repeat myself if it's been asked haha.

Thank you again. I initially started this blog with a goal in mind and succeeded in it years ago, so I think I can be happy that it went above my original goals.

#yeahyeahyehayehay #you can dm me too about it if u don't wanna use asks or it's too much to send #but fanmail works for that as well #just note i may be less inclined to respond to DMs as they're more personal in that way #but i will read them #unless you ignored the giant plastered warning on the doc then i will just like #ignore u #text #update #queuedante

[onyxisnotuniqueenough]

@kamari2038 thank you so much for asking! here's a rudimentary breakdown, partly because i have projects in mind i don't want to spoil and partly cause i haven't worked out all the details yet

disclaimer : i was not a percy jackson kid, nor a greek mythology kid. so there are a lot of inaccuracies

i first thought of this idea back in 2020-2021. there was some kind of debate team event i saw i saw in high school and the topic of birds came up, and i thought of :

you can ignore the text, it's no longer really relevant to the story nowadays. i was just brainstorming.

a few days later i see a picture of tom hiddleston with blonde hair

and then i abandon the idea for 2 straight years.

2 years later :

(i made a collage for an art swap, also strategically cutting out lore 👀)

in my head this was a story about "cupid" (eros, but he likes this new name) , god of love, and son of aphrodite and ares. he had many siblings ofc, the erotes etc.

i know that the gods are immortal and eternal, but in my story, aphrodite argues with the rest of the gods and she decides she can't be goddess of love anymore. she'll focus on other aspects of her godliness i guess, like beauty, lust, procreation, etc.

but SOMEONE needs to take on the role. Aphrodite accepts to keep her duties until her son is ready to do it by himself. Cupid is doing an internship i guess, or a test run, or is going through a trial period -- however you want to put it. He is trained, being put in charge of a palace and works with his brothers and sisters, in charge of innocent crushes, lust, heartbreak, jealousy, etc.

(important detail, this is probably accurate to actual greek mythology, but the main 12's kids are the first to be born BABIES. they were born adults. so this is their first time seeing and raising children! keep that in mind.)

During this trial run, Cupid makes an enormous mistake. an unforgivable one. he faces the trial of gods and should be sentenced to "death", but aphrodite defends him and his sentence is reduced to "temporary banishment until he learns his lesson". He's on close watch. If he does anything too out of line during banishment, it's over for him. They also rip his heart out for secret reasons.

He's banished to an island, completely on his own, and is tested regularly to see his..."progress"..? This island is floating in the heavens, so imagine the visuals cause i'm bad with environments and can't provide any right now 👁👁

this island is literally all nature/jungle, except for a house/mansion he lives in. and he's sometimes visited by siblings-- which are basically his only social interactions. in his very free time, he designs animals and birds to inhabit his island and keep him company - so the cupid swan and sunset sparrow are his designs! and there are many more animals he wanted to make. he is also very inspired by earth animals, obviously.

also, detail, one of his siblings brought him this broadcast tv kind of thing, so he gets to watch human tv! and even later real human interactions broadcasts!

throughout his story, cupid needs to find a way to get out of his banishment, get his heart back and save humans from his sibling's incompetence, and one particular sister's plans. 👀

i don't draw him, or any characters from his story, as much nowadays, although i know i should -- lately i've been having some doubts about the whole greek/roman mythology thing because it feels overdone with percy jackson, lore olympus, etc. I have ideas about how i'd represent many other characters from greek mythology in cool ways, and i like this story overall, but i'm thinking of making my own mythology/lore system to avoid regurgitating the same clichés over and over again. but i can't even get started with that because everything's already been done !

this is all i have so far, let me know if there's anything else about this story you'd like to know, or your opinions, or if you can help me create some new god mythology god lore 🙏🙏🙏

and let me know if you'd like other posts like this about my other ocs! i have a bunch

thank you again @kamari2038 for giving me the opportunity to spill about this! i've always wanted to share oc content but every time i posted anything on them or about them nobody would even see it. you don't know how happy i was to see your reply.

i'll reblog this post with miis of the cast, that i made on miitomo this past summer :)

#onyx's art #my art #my ocs #my oc

[raining-anonymously]

RAIN I MOVED BLOGS SO NOW I DONT HAVE ANY SILLY MUTUALS TO REBLOG MY FANART OF MY NICHE HYPERFIXATIONS AND THEY SIT THERE WITH 0 NOTES WHAT DO I DO ITS LIKE I MOVED TO A NEW NEIGHBORHOOD

genuinely? post a LOT. post all your infodumps and theories and doodles, even if you don’t think they’re that great. tag them with every relevant tag you can cram on there. (it feels obnoxious, but people WANT to see your art. as long as you’re not tagging unrelated stuff like people do on instagram, you’re good.) follow everyone who posts things you think are cool. reblog tons of stuff from other people in the fandom and leave tags/comments. interacting is scary, but listen:

do you know how rare it is these days to find people who say words on here and don’t reblog with no addition or just leave a like? if someone i don’t know leaves nice tags on one of my posts i’m bound to at least check their blog out briefly.

i categorize my fandoms by tag mostly for blacklist convenience, but this also means anyone who enjoys one post i made on the topic can click that tag and see EVERYTHING i’ve posted on it. including reblogged stuff. when other people do that and i see their blog has a lot of recent stuff for whatever i’m into, i’m likely to follow them back. of course, most people don’t follow as liberally as i do (900something people iirc. i don’t know most of the people on my dash haha). and even i don’t click on every blog that interacts with me. so if you don’t get a follow back, don’t be discouraged!

other tips- having a tag for your art or original posts can make it easier for people to find it. i have an art tag, #drawing anonymously, with what i believe is every art piece i’ve put out here. even the ones i don’t like at all. obviously it’s your right as an artist to take down anything you post, but you never know whose day might be made by what you deem your worst works. besides, this gives potential mutuals the ability to find more stuff by you that they’ll then reblog, sharing your work with OTHER potential mutuals. and boom, your network grows.

another thing that helps is joining fandom discord servers. it can be hard to find a good one, but even if you’re not getting much of a reaction, this is a place designed to drop your art, infodumps, writing, theories, what have you. use it. and if some stranger is rude about you sharing your passion, you can simply ignore them or wait for your lovely mutual to go “erm aCTUALLY that’s what this channel is for :/“ on your behalf. and that way you’re exposed to the art and ideas of people who you haven’t seen on tumblr, too!

now, i’m no expert. i’m just a neurodivergent blogger who’s had a single post consisting entirely of screenshots break 1.5K notes. but this is what’s helped me personally get attention (and make friends!!!!!) on here. and hey - i’ve got a TERRIBLY over-the-top tagging system and people still follow me back now and then so i must be doing something right.

#good luck man your art rocks #how to use tumblr #tumblr #artists on tumblr #sometimes tagging is hard #long post #rambles #fandom #fandom culture #mutuals #infodump #how to tag #artist tips #hyperfixation

[felswritingfire]

you've done freddy and sander can you do drew x m!reader to complete gay furry trio

TW: None

Slowly (slowly) chipping away at these! Sorry about the wait for them, omg, I've been BUSY lmao. Anyway, more Dislyte on the way and then hopefully I'll be able to tackle some Baki the Grappler!

🐾 It takes a while for Drew to begin to pursue you. What with his more shy demeanor when it comes to the more romantic arts and his unyielding sense of duty to the House of Ramses (not to mention the Union)- he’s hesitant to pursue you despite how deep his attraction runs. 

🐾 It takes Brynn and Q to push him to even try and attempt to ask you out. It was actually Q who pointed it out (of course he would, he has the power of Eros on his side despite his resentment of it, sometimes it comes in handy, like now-) having noticed all of the signs:

“You have a thing for (Y/N), don’t you?” He accused, pointing at the butler.

Brynn raised her brows at the way Drew continued to add creamer to  the iced coffee she had asked for. “Uh, that’s enough, Drew-”

His shoulders jerked back and he scrambled to regain his normal posture. “I apologize, Ms. Brynn-” his voice shaky before he cleared his throat to continue- “if you wish for me to make you another one more to your taste, feel free to ask-”

“Naw, it’s all good!” She jumped up from the coach to go and grab the cup. She settled back into her seat, grinning over the rim of the cup as she took a sip. “Sometimes I need a little bit more pep in my step, thanks, Drew.”

“Ah, well,” he fixed his cuff, the butterfly that enjoyed staying with him fluttering about him. “As long as you are enjoying yourself, I suppose it’s fine.”

“Soooo,” Q drawled, drawing the attention back to himself. “You do like (Y/N), don’t ya, old man?”

“I don’t see what sort of relevance this has with anything.”

“Oh, it has every sort of relevance, Old Man.” Q’s wings gave two firm flaps to lift him from the couch, soon fluttering to keep him afloat as he leaned back, pointing two fingers at him. “Because our very own Old Man of the Esper Union has a big fat  C-R-U-S-H on the pretty errand boy-”

Drew’s hand suddenly slapped over Q’s mouth, the wisps of his cloak seemingly flaring more than usually. “I would prefer if you would lower your voice, Mr. Q.” He said, his voice low and ringing with a growl. The tiny Esper’s eyes were the size of saucers, his wings stuttering mid flap. 

“Woah! No freakin’ way! You have a thing for (Y/N), Drew? He is the sweetest thing, man!” Brynn said, scooting further off the seat to set her cup down on the coffee table and turning her focus to the butler. “When’re you gonna ask him out?”

“Ah, well, I…” Drew had let go of Q, his ears flicking back.

Q gasped for air, voice considerably lower. “You are planning on asking them out, right, Old Man?”

Drew stiffened, ears pressing flat against his head. “Oh my gods, you can’t not ask him out, Drew!” 

“Yeah, Old Man, you gotta! Hold on, me and Brynn’ll come up with something.”

“No, that is very considerate but you do not have to-” 

But it was too late, neither of them were listening to him, too caught up in brainstorming ingenious ways to get the two of you together. 

🐾 Spoiler alert, none of these were ingenious ways and each time they pitched an idea to him it was shot down with a furious head shake (much akin to a wet dog as Q loved to point out. Brynn always smacked him over the head) and veheminate and polite denial. 

“What do you mean?” Q cried. “Covering yourself in chocolate and being all seductive on his bed is the perfect way to his heart!”

“No!” Drew cleared his voice, struggling to keep his voice even. “No, it is not. Imagine the mess and the shock he’d suffer. A hard no, Mr. Q.”

“Party pooper.”

🐾 It’s up to Drew to confess to you before those two do it for him in the most embarrassing and concerning way they can possibly come up with (completely unintentional, but Drew caught sight of them making giant posters of his head and putting them on sticks- he’s pretty sure he saw crude hearts drawn in his pupils (well, eyes, considering the lack of said pupils)- he has no idea what they’re for and shutters to think of the purpose). 

🐾  He takes you to a quiet garden, somewhere safe and peaceful, bringing a picnic he made for lunch. In the quiet after-lunch lull is when he confesses to you. 

“I apologize if this is too sudden,” He begins, voice gentle and almost timid, your focus coming to him. “But I wanted to… inform you of my… my feelings for you before you heard from another.” His gaze moves from the plates he’s gently putting away to your wide eyes, a gentle smile on his muzzle. “But I am irrevocably and utterly attracted to you and, if you would entertain a simple butler such as myself, I would love it.”

🐾  If you don’t reciprocate his feelings (Note from Fel: awful, stinky, I will beat your ass if you break this poor baby's heART, DO YOU HEAR ME?) he will simply nod and accept your answer. He won’t treat you any differently, but there is a notable amount of longing sighs to be heard when he’s in the room. 

🐾  If you accept his confession (Note from Fel: the only viable option tbh), he will be over the moon and softly ask if he can embrace you. 

🐾  Honestly a large chunk of your relationship consists of him asking if it’s ok if he does something for you- consent is very important to him. 

🐾  You are so damn spoiled by this man. He is a top tier butler, you are being treated like royalty, though you might have to remind him to calm down because, sometimes, he falls back into the role a little too easily again. 

🐾  He gets embarrassed about it, but if you’re gentle about it and remind him that it just shows how much he loves you, he will cover his face with his hands and his ears will wiggle, a high pitched whine will leave him- but he’ll be over the moon. 

🐾 He most likely doesn’t weigh that much, so if you are so inclined: carry him. Lift him into your arms and press a kiss to the side of his head. He’ll be a puddle in your arms.

🐾  But be careful because he’s kind of long (he’s 5’10” which isn’t crazy, but it’s still tall (at least to me *stares off in short*). 

🐾  The two of you become the Union’s dads- no and’s, if’s, or but’s- you are now team dad. The younger Espers already held an admiration for Drew, it just rolled over to you now that the two of you are together- though, in that same vein: some of the recruits are gonna be very… judgmental about you. Well, judgmental in the sense that they don’t want Drew hurt. He’s very much appreciated at the Union and it’d break their hearts to see him broken-hearted- and if you’re the cause of it? Hoo-boy, you have a whole storm coming. 

🐾  If they get a little too aggressive in their approach with you then Drew will step in- he will not sit idly by and watch his boyfriend be put down. He’d literally rather eat glass. 

🐾 I’m so sorry to say, you’ll have to make an honest effort to get along with Ollie if you don’t already because he loves that boy so much, he practically raised him- and he’s one of the only things left from his former home? Yeah, it’s a bit of a deal breaker if you don’t get along with the dude, unfortunately. And Ollie, when he first meets you- even if he’s still mad at Drew and going on the blame train with him about what happened (which like, look, I love Ollie but I was gonna beat the FUCK out of him when that part popped up in the story, ok?)- he’s still going to be the most difficult and judgy bitch imaginable. He’s very much the type to sabotage your relationship with Drew if he really doesn’t like you and thinks you’re a horrible fit for Drew. He won’t outright dictate Drew to break up with you, but he’ll definitely bring up some subtle points about you that get Drew thinking. 

🐾  Mind you, that doesn’t really mean much because if it ends up bothering him that much, he’ll simply sit down with you and ask to talk about it. But if it’s something that you can’t talk about with a level head, it might put a strain on the relationship, because Drew seems like the type to not be able to handle tension with loved ones very well (he has abandonment issues, what do you expect?), he’ll probably shut down and be very… quiet for a couple of days. Which will just piss Ollie off tbh. And if it continues then Brynn and Q will get involved. Man has a whole protection squad, they won’t forgive you if you do anything to hurt Drew, man. Also, Ollie is actually a very good judge of character so he most likely won’t do anything unless you give him bad vibes.

🐾 There’ll be little to no arguments in your guys’ relationship because Drew is an extremely mature person- also he hates arguing in general and, as mentioned before, if you two do slip into an argument for whatever reason- he’ll literally stonewall you. He’ll stop communicating if it goes on too long, dissociating from the situation, not responding to you- he just shuts down. It’s very jarring to see actually because it’s so unlike him, but you can tell he’s hurt by the way his ears are pinned back and he just stares down at his hands. At this point, you just have to give him space to calm down- honestly, the man is on the cusp of a panic attack and the only reason he shut down is because he doesn’t want to make you anymore upset than you already are- which, depending how well you respond to that, just makes you more angry/hurt- even if the situation wasn’t something of his doing. He’s got a lot of baggage bottled up inside of him and you have to be understanding and patient with him. 

🐾 If the arguments become a recurring thing, he’ll most likely break up with you despite how much it’ll hurt him (AND OLLIE WILL BE THERE STANDING ALL FUCKING FORBOADING AND SHIT LIKE A DAD ABOUT TO SHOOT HIS DAUGHTERS BOYFRIEND FOR MAKING HER CRY- IT’S ACTUALLY SO SCARY, DUDE-)

🐾  Long story short: he’s such a soft lover; all he wants is to hold your hand and spoil you, pls take good care of him. 50000/10, best thing since sliced bread, bro.

#not a reblog. #answered! #dislyte #dislyte x reader #dislyte drew #drew x reader #x reader #x male reader #male reader #sfw

[nyalternatehellkitten]

@madharemuses replied to your post “((I have a headache so I'm watching an FE:Engage...”:

[I want to enjoy Engage. I like the art design, I like the characters, I like the gameplay, but for some reason I just can't really bring myself to enjoy it. Also, it lacks replay value compared to most previous titles, so I feel like I spent too much on it.]

@gensokyogarden replied to your post “((I have a headache so I'm watching an FE:Engage...”:

ENGAGE GOOD

((Ayyyy we have the big two(tm) opinions here! Joking aside, I reply to these responses in the same post because I want to share some general thoughts. I'm not trying to pit you against each other by highlighting your opposing opinions lmao. Even though it's been a few days, Engage has been swirling around in my head for about a week or so now, and I do want to give my thoughts to you two, who responded to me, at least, so that post I made doesn't just become a big jebait or whatever the term is. So, spoilers, Zane's thoughts, and etc. etc. beneath the cut. Oh yeah, and it's long so don't read it unless you want to know what I think of a game I've not played, that a lot of people have been dismissive towards.))

I am writing this across several sittings. At the time of writing this statement, I'm watching the Avalanche map, so basically I'm right near the end. (I've also seen some supports, but the guy whose playthrough I'm watching is doing them offsceen because he doesn't want to waste his audience's time with grinding.)

This isn't going to be a structured review, it's more of a slightly-edited thought-dump.

My overall thoughts of this game so far, which is an impression unlikely to change, is this:

Fire Emblem Engage is a game unfairly criticised as worse than it actually is. It's not a super good game, but it does not fall as far below the 'average' standards of the series as much as people say it does.

Before I get into the full swing of things, I need to offer a disclaimer: I am out of touch with the series. I've played FE3-12 and Echoes, which means I'm missing FE1, the game that started it all, and Awakening and Three Houses, two immensely popular games that made big changes to the way Fire Emblem works, brought many new people to the fanbase, and generated a lot of attention. (I also haven't played Fates, but it's a bit less relevant to what I have to say.) I have never been interested in Awakening or Three Houses, but they changed the Fire Emblem 'landscape' so much that I would consider myself out-of-touch simply because I haven't played them.

Addressing some common criticisms

The two main complaints I see first-and-foremost on the internet that dominate over the better-formulated criticisms are: It's too anime and the writing sucks.

Now, the anime thing is stupid. Fire Emblem has always been anime; it's a stale and tasteless counter-argument, but it's objectively true. Most Fire Emblem games at least partially reflect the anime style popular around the time they were made, and all of them draw some influences from anime in general. The designs are too colourful and fancy for my taste, but I still find them enjoyable (Chloe and Etie are probably my favourites? Not super fond of Etie's Archer outfit but the player I'm watching made her a Warrior and she looks fine). In fact, I think this design choice was good; they clearly wanted to deviate from the grimness and seriousness of Three Houses, and can they be blamed for that? Making that sort of story can get heavy at times, so for an anniversary game I feel like going for something lighter was the right choice. Overall, the presentation in this game is excellent; not enough to make me love it like I loved Echoes (which was carried by the presentation alone for me), but good enough that I enjoy seeing it on my screen.

The second criticism is the writing, which is semi-valid. It's almost-good in a lot of places, but there's always one or two tiny details holding it back in my eyes. It's frustrating, because I feel like Engage would actually be quite well-written with a few fairly small edits that remove some of the issues or make the stupid parts (Chapter 10-11 Time Crystal) less stupid. The issue I have with the criticism is not that it's wrong, it's that people act like all of the other games in the series are god-tier writing or something. This is objectively untrue; most Fire Emblem stories are fairly straightforward or cliche plots carried by a cast of one-note, but enjoyable and likeable characters. Liking the characters makes you overlook the flaws in the plot. Just think about how many Fire Emblem games are about awakening or summoning some kind of all-powerful dragon or dark god (or both), and then think about how often that actually bothers you simply because you like some of the characters.

Let's talk about the writing for a moment, since this is an RP blog and therefore revolves around writing

It sounds to me like Engage's writing is actually really average by Fire Emblem standards (it can't be worse than the GBA games at least, if you ask me) but it's issue is that it came after Three Houses, a game which tried to be very different from the rest of Fire Emblem when it comes to writing. I haven't played Three Houses but I have seen people react to it. The amount of time people spend debating and arguing over who's in the right or wrong, beyond just which lord/house they like, shows that the game provoked more thoughts from its players than just "Oh I like this character more than this other character." Engage clearly has not done this, and parts of it that could form a good running theme just don't quite connect. The dots don't quite link up and the stars don't quite align. It falls just short.

In my head, I'm comparing it with other Fire Emblem games and I don't think it's that much worse than some (fairly well regarded) entries in the series. For example, in FE7, everything Ephidel does doesn't really make sense since he's formenting a rebellion in Lycia to gather Quintessence for Nergal to summon dragons... even though Nergal already has enough Quintessence to summon a dragon. In Sacred Stones, Eirika is supposed to be the diplomacy route, and yet everywhere she goes, stuff(tm) happens and she gets dragged into fights because Fire Emblem requires things.exe to happen so that each chapter can be a fight. In Binding Blade, the big exposition was Jahn explaining Idoun's backstory... through the medium of Roy seizing like 20 thrones in one chapter. In Monshou, the big main idea of Hardin being turned evil was great and executed pretty well, but most chapters are "So you're fighting dudes loyal to Medeus or Hardin" and the story is mostly about Marth trying to figure out what's going on in Akaneia. It's not bad, but it's hardly some god-tier story that has the player hanging off the edge of their seat at every chapter.

By comparison, Engage has an issue with build-up and payoff. The payoffs are often good, but the build-ups often don't do them justice. For instance, Morion was a good payoff because while what happened to him was quite predictable, Alchryst and Diamant's boss conversations with him are great. What's lacking is the fact that he gets captured by Hyacinth like... one chapter after he's introduced, after raising a million death flags. If he had been a green unit (or even a playable character with a big "Morion will go back to ruling his kingdom after next chapter" warning, or his stats transferring over to Diamant like with Nils and Ninian in FE7) for a while to let the player get to know him better, then his death would have been more impactful. Let Alear agree or argue with him about certain things; Alear needs to interact with Morion's pretty strong force of personality (that I think is pretty well demonstrated, even if it's quite one-note, in his first appearance).

Likewise, Lumera died too quickly. We needed a few more chapters for her and Alear's relationship to ripen. If the game had opened with Alear sent to Firine (upon Alfred's request, to help deal with Corrupted and bandits), with Lumera accompanying them but not helping them in battles to help him readjust to being awake, then it would have probably worked out better pacing-wise. Little happens character-wise in those chapters, so slotting in some Alear-Lumera interactions would have helped establish Alear's personality and motivations for the rest of the game. After Firine, they could return to Lythos for a little bit of R&R with Lumera promising to teach Alear more about the Emblems. Then the attack happens, she dies before she can, and the game proceeds with Brodia after that. It makes Lumera more impactful because the player gets to see her relationship with Alear more, and it makes their feelings for her stronger too, since they now have time to experience how she's their mother and acts like it.

One last example I will give is Zephia. Her whole death scene is kind of invalidated by the fact that she's been speaking as if the Hounds are her family for the whole game. I think a little tweak could really have fixed it. Take 'family' to be the theme of the story; a lot of Fire Emblem games place emphasis on bloodlines and family. Engage could have taken that both ways: that sometimes, blood family is important (e.g. the royal sibling pairs in the game) but sometimes your found family is just as important (Lumera and Alear) and sometimes your family can be abusive and bad for you (Sombron and Veyle, Zephia and Marni). How does Zephia fit into this? Well, imagine if her dialogue was tweaked ever so slightly. The idea is that she misunderstands how family should be because of Sombron (what he said during the time travel part). She longs for a real family, but because of Sombron she thinks that family should be abusive. Seeing Alear and Veyle helps her appreciate what family should be, and she helps them because of that. She dies thanking Griss, and hoping that Marni will forgive her in the afterlife. There we go, a villain given a better redemption than the weird one she got in the game, and completing a theme/story/lesson for the game as a whole.

Zephia also suffers from the buildup thing. The Hounds have a lot of screentime but they don't really do much with it; Griss and Zephia get their motivations and backstories infodumped as they die, and Mauvier spends the first half of his appearances being all "I am a knight I follow orders" when he should have been dropping hints that his true loyalty was to Veyle, rather than just mechanically following orders. If some of that screentime had been used to develop that Marni wants familial love, while Zephia misunderstands what a family should be, and Griss thinks of Zephia as his mother/older sister but struggles to convey that since his world is dull when he's not feeling pain, then it would have made them more compelling than the four big mooks you knock over 13 times throughout the story. Oh yeah, and of course, they do the "I must retreat" thing way too often. Fighting them feels completely insignificant because they never die until they suddenly do.

Lastly, the characters are all quirky and... oh boy. I've seen people complain that the Engage characters are more one-note crazy than usual. That... doesn't feel true to me. They feel like they're less serious than usual, but that's Engage being light-hearted. I've seen serious stuff (Alfred's illness, Hortensia's feelings about stuff) but mostly it seems to be on the lighter side. I don't mind, but I think it should have perhaps been a bit more of a balance. I will say this thought: of the supports I have seen, character motivations at least seem to make sense and stay decently consistent.

Some of my other criticisms

I would argue that there are a few things holding the game back. The writing, I have already mentioned. While there are plenty of good individual moments, there's often a lack of good build-up or connectedness that makes the whole feel like wasted potential and staleness. The gameplay, I think might actually be the most tactical in any Fire Emblem game so far; you can't just air-drop a god-unit into any situation with 1-2 range as easily because of Weapon Triangle breaking, and chain strikes mean that positioning actually matters, and tanking isn't infinite. This might not be a good thing, however, as I get the feeling that the average casual Fire Emblem player... doesn't care about gameplay much. It can't suck, but a lot of the time they do just want to make their favourite unit into a god and drop them into whatever situation.

One of the biggest problems is the Emblems, however. They're not really written as themselves. They're more like echoes or shadows or ghosts of the character they're meant to be. They often feel like they were written by someone who'd only read a synopsis of what that character was like, instead of seeing and analysing them (which... is probably what happened). The Emblem ring bond supports are bland and soulless most of the time, with often no connection between the character and the Emblem based off their commonalities (though to be fair, writing 12 Emblem supports for each character would have been hell). Regardless, all of the Emblem characters feel way too superficial to actually matter most of the time, they mostly exist to reference their own games a lot or provide the same basic statements about things. The advice they offer in the story is... logical but kind of bland and uninteresting. Sometimes they feel right, but most of the time they feel... not very good, which is not great when they're meant to be a big selling point of the game. It's like the Emblems are supposed to make you so excited about seeing your favourite characters that you don't stop to think if they're acting in-character. I won't comment on them too much gameplay wise, since I think that as much as they are meant to somewhat represent their own games (e.g. Sigurd being mobility and canter, Lucina having dual strike stuff) there's a limit to what you can do since most Fire Emblem games play quite samey.

Another issue I think that Engage has is the lack of post-game. Relying on DLC and Multiplayer to create replayability for a single-player game is just... objectively a bad idea? It's not what people are mostly there for. Watching the playthrough made me think "If I were playing this game, I'd want to run some of the other characters in side battles to see their supports and find out more about them." A post-game would be good for that, maybe with a bonus series of maps like Thabes was in Echoes. As it is, I've seen no evidence of that sort of thing.

I want to say some nice things

So I actually quite like Alear. Not a lot a lot, but a fair lot, if that makes sense. Based on everything shown about past Alear, and the way Alear loses their memories, their character makes sense for most of the game. Past Alear was emotionally stunted because Sombrero is the worst Fire Emblem dad in the series, and present Alear has a serious case of no-thoughts-head-empty at the start of the game. Given that everyone treats them super well (worships even...), it makes sense for them to develop a positive outlook on life, a strong fondness of their friends, a solid sense of duty towards everyone counting on them, and also feel kind of creeped out at being worshipped. Alear also feels a little more complete as a main character to me, oddly enough? I haven't played those games so I can't say for sure, but Robin and Corrin both often gave me a weird vibe like they're meant to be the player's self-insert but didn't commit to it enough. Like they wanted to make a self-insert character but then realised they needed to insert more character for supports, interactions, and story beats. Alear, on the other hand, feels like they wrote a complete character and then had to shove the self-insert in, to their detriment.

I also need to talk about Yunaka. I think Yunaka did something no other Fire Emblem side character (non-main character) has ever done: she immediately made me want to read about her supports to learn more about her backstory. Most Fire Emblem characters show up and I'm like "Okay, so this is this character's vibe. I'll find out more in the supports, I bet." Yunaka though... as soon as I heard her battle/crit quotes and saw how much that differed from the quirky "OwO I am cute thief" personality she was projecting, I was immediately like "There's more here. I need to know what her deal is." The game immediately shows that she's good at acting, and as soon as you put her into combat you see a side of her completely different from the one you saw before, and that sparks curiosity. That's good. Fire Emblem doesn't do that, instead it tries to establish the one note that its one-note characters are based around in a good way so that the player knows what that character's deal is. This time, it did that, and more. I haven't seen all of Yunaka's supports yet, but I will go through all of them when I get the chance to. I must know.

The music and voice acting are pretty good. The presentation and CG art is good. I don't think I need to elaborate on this, I think they're presented in a way that accentuates the atmosphere they're trying to create most of the time.

I'm hesitant about this last bit, but I think the game conveys its characters well. This is something Fire Emblem has never really had trouble doing, so it's not really a thing in Engage's favour, it's just another thing the game is not bad at. The supports (or those that I've seen at least) are good at showing what each character's deal is. That's not hard to do, though it is occasionally not done well (Vaida and Dorcas... a support that shows what their characters are like, but repeats the same joke dragged out three times in a row without really resolving anything).

Edit: Oh, and I can't believe I forgot to say that the really cheesy and campy moments are amusing rather than cringe to me. I think they just barely toe the line at times, but like... given how often the games try to shoehorn the 'Fire Emblem' into it, this really isn't even the worst.

Conclusion

This is the part where I pretend to have a conclusion so it feels structured. I already said what I needed to say at the start, so this is the part I put a bow on it.

I feel like it's hard for me to assess this game. I haven't played it, and I haven't played Awakening and Three Houses, two games that I feel like probably influenced both the fanbase and Engage a lot. But I can't help but feel like it's better than all of the hate it gets. I don't really think it's god tier, but it's definitely not as bad as it's said to be. I think if I did have the opportunity to play it though, I'd enjoy it at least as much as I enjoyed FE6, FE8, and FE11. With the others I played, I think it'd be a bit more up in the air.

If I had to say though, there's enough problems for it to be disappointing, but enough good for it to not warrant the amount of hate I've seen. I feel like the hate it gets is often an instinctual rather than logical thing; rarely do I see people fully explain how they feel, and sometimes some of the people criticising it talk like they're series veterans but it turns out they've played like... 4 games. Still, I can't help but feel like if this game came out after Fates rather than Three Houses, people would have a better view of it.

#ooc #madharemuses #gensokyogarden #((idk why I bothered with this)) #((I've been unable to play games and do stuff very freely lately)) #((so all of my free time has been watching an Engage playthrough)) #((so I think it's been big on my mind lately)) #((as I'm writing this I have reached the final episode)) #((I doubt my thoughts will change)) #((if they do I'll make an edit)) #((but like this is a 2 and a half hour thing)) #((not waiting that long to write my conclusion)) #((kitty is doing his 'I want attention' wail outside my door))

[moemothra]

your style seems really cool but how come you only draw skinny characters? :(

Hi! You should prolly send these asks to my art blog next time rather than this one in the future but that’s ok I’ll answer it here, and actually I’m glad you asked this because I agree with you. I look at my galleries and I don’t like what I see.

This is probably going to be really long so I’m putting my full response under the cut

I do want to say that I only post an extremely small fraction of my art publicly, and I post to tumblr the least. And I also almost exclusively draw ocs (you can probably see that the only fan art I tend to make is of Gon and Killua) and I am even more guarded about posting my ocs online. My neocities is still a WIP and a lot of my ocs don’t have pages yet either.

THAT BEING SAID, I still don’t have enough fat characters, there are ocs that I am redesigning to be fatter and there are fat ocs from the past that need more attention from me. You’re right, skinny people dominate my galleries. I have recently come to this realization myself and I want to remedy it.

Also I’m not gonna lie, my art has stopped diversifying in pretty much every aspect.. I stopped doing backgrounds, I stopped doing dynamic poses, I stopped branching out and challenging myself. I actually consider myself a beginner now and I am very very very slowly relearning art and trying to rediscover my love for it. I have a really tumultuous history with art, and I don’t think it’s relevant to your ask for me to dive into it, but I just wanted to say that I am VERY AWARE of all my problems and shortcomings as an artist and I am working to fix them. Treating skinny people as the default is one of them!

I honestly don’t think any of what I wrote is a very satisfactory but I want to be as open and sincere as I can be. I used to be a much better artist than I am now, maybe not in technical skill but definitely creatively and as far as subject matter went. I’m not particularly happy with where I’m at now, but I am regaining my motivation to be better. I have a list of 2024 artist goals which includes trying to find a life drawing class and doing studies again.

And now for the sappy part, your ask is actually something I really needed to hear. I’ve spent a very long time believing no one cares what I draw either way, and that I can draw or not draw whatever I want because no one is looking. Your ask, even on the off chance that maybe it was sent in bad faith, is the first sign the someone actually does care, at least a little bit, and has noticed my art enough to be able to point out a glaring flaw. No one else has taken that much of an interest, positively or negatively, in an extremely long time and I didn’t realize how impactful feedback is until right this moment.

I would say keep an eye on my neocities, because i still avoid posting ocs to tumblr, so most of my art will probably end up there. or on sheezy whenever it comes back!

#anon #i hope this was coherent it is pretty hard for me to put my thoughts into words #maybe im shooting myself in the foot posting this while taking commissions but ya know

[fyoggo]

I don't think you are consuming Hypnosis Mic properly

I have already had to tell someone else this here but it seems you need to hear it too. first off I dontlike how you use that square ended highlighter resembling brush when drawing them. They look like abstract Minecraft characters.

Seconsd off your jokes are not very funny or at least not in the context of Hypmic they do not seem relevant. You seem to have a very loose understanding of these characters and these stories, as if you were someone just pretending tney were in the fandom because they enjoy the characters on the surface, but do not bother to do digging or reaearch or someone who has only seen Rhyme animal and does not care about their full story and this is why you hyper focus on Dotsuire Hompo to try and mask in the community who know what they are doing

I have been called a troll for this and possibly a hater but I can't remember. The point is I am just saying, you snould take some time off. Take a break from Tumble or at least HypmicTumbler and then in your spare time;

I will organize a short list of what to research

Find Slugtranslations and ask for their link to their Discord where they will give you a password so you can go read the manga (it is private now due to their personal decisions). Please read all of the manga

Go to the wiki and Spotify and watxh the drama tracks and read alongside them then go to Sound cloud to find the manga drama tracks (special drama tracks that come with special manga issues these are harder to find because they are not on streaming services) Please read and listen to all of these they are the final step in canon

DNI with rhyme anima and the live action musicals they are not true to canon

I think when you come back after this you will feel very refreshed and have more relevant takes and funnier jokes. Thank you

When you are done can you please, with a normal brush draw some Saburo funny memes

I was thinking about whether or not I should answer this at all but I'll give it a shot.

First and foremost: I don't engage fandoms. I don't create story relevant content because I don't particularly feel like it... not that I should have to justify drawing what I like.

Second: humor is subjective. also the comics I draw are memes. again, I draw those to have fun to make some people chuckle. if it doesn't amuse you, that's totally fine!

I appreciate the art criticism, but unfortunately I only draw on my phone at the moment and I don't have a touch pen to do any better. sorry if this bothers you; not much I can do about it when I am pretty much finger painting digitally.

As for the story stuff... I have actually read all of the drama track translations while listening along, but none of that is really relevant to what I want to draw... I'm not sure I understand what kind of art it is that you want me to produce. like I said, the things I draw are meant to be (subjectively) funny, and I haven't gotten any anon asks like this before about any of the other games / media I created content for. is every piece of fan art you've come across 100% accurate, relevant and/or thought-provoking? I'm sure there are creators that you can follow for those things instead of sifting through my doodles. Sorry if they clutter your feed, I think I'll have to ask you to block me because I don't plan on stopping drawing things that I enjoy.

I appreciate the offer to help me open my eyes to the lore and whatnot, but I respectfully decline. it's nice of you to want to do all those things for me, but I don't like joining discord servers and I don't really think I need to do any of those things you listed either to be allowed to just draw, like thousands of other people on this website do.

thanks for this message, though! I hope if anyone else out there felt the same way they'll read this as a bit of a clarification. I doubt my sense of humor will change, and as for the takes, I haven't had a single one — I just drew characters I liked. I do suggest blocking me though, and I don't mean it in one of those "if you don't like it, block" ways, but just so you can get me out of your way. I think my blog isn't for you, and I hope you find another creator that'll check all your boxes! 😄

#ribbit #long post #long ask #tldr i just draw memes that are funny and i enjoy the game and its related content at my own leisure #i dont think i owe anybody any explanations for it but maybe im wrong? idk #followers and mutuals please lmk in the comments of this! tyyyy! #called out for being a DH fan...

[3ofpents]

100 Palette Challenge // Palette #10 // Lady Dahlia

I know I'm late again this week. I'm in the midst of a lot of school stuff. I've mentioned, I think, but I've gone back to school to get a graphic design certification. I started last Fall and it was my hope to be done by this summer because the certification programs are designed for adults with careers who want to expand their skill sets and so are pared down to only the classes that are directly relevant to the subject matter. In my case that's only 9 classes, so 3 per semester. But unfortunately I had to withdraw in the Spring because of some health issues. So now I'm trying to pick up where I left off after the school went and changed a bunch of their online systems. So now I get to try and recover my old accounts on their new system and deal with class requirements that don't exist for my program, but apparently exist now for individual classes that are required.

And on top of that we're prepping our toddler to go to daycare, which comes with A LOT of paperwork and supplies lists and doctor signatures and also EMOTIONS.

Anyway.

Today's palette comes from a poster that appears to have been an activist piece of art. I've tried not to go into too much detail here about the posters since the bulk of this book is the palettes and the pieces they were picked from. I'm already posting every single palette in the book, so I'd rather not include the posters also. But I just love this one so much, I have to at least share the information so you can look it up yourselves. It's called "Dig" by Sadie Wendell Mitchell, it's part of a series she did called "Girls Will Be Girls". It depicts a young woman perched on a chair engrossed in a book, and also surrounded by stacks of books. Only a few of the books have visible titles, "The Study of Bugology", "The Psychology of the Male Human", and "Economy" (the one she's reading). And on the wall you can see part of a poster that says "DO IT NOW".

It feels like a very pointed protestation as a poster designed in 1909.

I struggled with this palette a lot. It's not only very similar to a lot of the previous palettes, the values are just so similar, particular with the green and teal. It works fine in the original poster because Mitchell used a heavy black outline, but the author of the book chose not to include that in the palette.

I actually started a completely different piece that going to be a face study, but I just didn't like the way the colors were playing together. So I ended up scrapping it.

So I pulled back a bit. Our dahlias have started blooming and the first ones to pop were these gorgeous red and yellow blooms, and I've wanted to draw a fairy for one of these for several palettes so far, so I did it.

The dahlias were SO much easier and more fun to draw than the peony was. They're so geometric, I really just enjoyed layering the petals and the colors.

I attempted to give the fairy some petal clothes, but it just wasn't doing what I wanted it to do. And I think the form is distinct enough to make her out. I do really like the effect of the teal on the green; the heavy similarities of them both make the fairy and flowers pop more. I do wish I'd filled in some more greenery in the background, but honestly I'd spent so much time on this palette already I didn't have it in me.

I'm really pleased with the final result, though, and I doubt this will be the last fairy piece in this series.

I want to shout out Fat Photo Ref again. I used them for the pose and the hair for the fairy and I remain exceptionally pleased with the range of references available and the easy navigation.

#artists on tumblr #art #fairy #dahlias #art challenge #100 palettes challenge

[miximagic256]

Points of Interest (January - February 2023)

So here's something I may or may not do continually, Points of Interest is where I talk about anything I've been doing lately whether it's a project I'm working on or something I find interesting to talk about that is relevant.

The things I'm going to talk about date back to early January and a lot has happened during that time, so without further ado...

Short classes I've done

Back in January I joined two free short courses, one being art and illustration, and the other being about sewing, with the former lasting just 3 days (which honestly is way too short for a course) and the latter lasting 5 weeks. I realised this year that I love being creative and as such I should try and tap into various creative mediums to see how much I enjoy them.

With the Art & Illustration course it was a matter of looking at illustrations the tutor had picked out and trying to copy them while also trying different drawing techniques (such as drawing without the reference of what you're copying), despite this course only lasting 3 days it was very enjoyable and I got introduced to some really interesting illustrators. To be honest I don't think people give illustration enough credit, not only is it everywhere you go but there's an incredible amount of variants and styles from just the last 100 years alone and anyone that has any related interest in art should definitely look into illustration and illustrators.

The sewing course lasted 5 weeks (one day for each week) it was a beginner course so we were taught how to use a sewing machine and various stitching techniques, by the end of the course we had a choice of making a bag or a pincushion (I choose the latter), Despite having a sewing machine I haven't used it much but I hope I can find time to do an intermediate class at some point since I want to keep this momentum going and not lose what I have learnt. The last time I did sewing was in high school so the course was a refresher on a lot of things and the reason I wanted to take a sewing course was because I want to try and make my own clothes for cosplaying reasons, if you know me than you'd know that I have a huge list of favourite characters that I love to pieces and seeing some of the incredible cosplays people online make made me realise just how close you can get to looking like a certain character! Now granted it would probably take me a long time to reach a level like that but in the meantime I want to try and take it slow while having fun in the process!

Crash Bandicoot: N. Sane Trilogy

My Crash Bandicoot history is a little weird, growing up I had Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back and then later I got Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex, but despite being a big fan of the series and having fond memories of Crash 2 I haven't actually played many of the games. Nevertheless the announcement of N. Sane Trilogy made me and many others excited as this would be Crash's return after years of being dormant, however only recently have I been actually playing the remake and it's been a really interesting experience especially considering I haven't actually played the original Crash 1 and 3, I have to admit I wonder how I will feel about playing the Crash 2 segment of the game since that's the one I'm most familiar with.

On the subject of Crash 2, I have to say that the original game has aged incredibly well:

For one the game has a save feature in a time a lot of games were still using passwords, sure games having save features predate the PlayStation but those were often expensive and not common so as a result games would resort to using passwords instead, I imagine that in 1997 most people managed to get a memory card so there wasn't a need to try and beat the game in one sitting which also got rid the need of writing down whatever password you were given to continue from where you last left off.

Second, Crash 2 had fluid and expressive character animations for Crash and especially Dr. Neo Cortex which was way ahead of many other games at the time considering that PS1 games were infamous for having stiff character animations, Dr. Cortex in this game is pretty interesting compared to how he is later on the franchise because unlike future Crash games which toned down how threatening he was in Crash 2 he's not only the main villain but he has complete control of the situation, he forced Crash to a warp room and gave him vague instructions which Crash follows because despite having a previous negative encounter Cortex knows that Crash has no other choice but to follow his instructions, and this is expressed even further in the game over screen where if you press "Yes" he says "play again Crash" while if you press "No" he says "I guess you didn't have what it takes Crash".

Notice anything? In both choices Dr. Cortex isn't sad or angry and that's because if you think about it he wins in either outcome, if you continue the fact that you are Dr. Cortex's biggest threat doesn't matter because you're collecting the crystals for him, if you don't continue Dr. Cortex may not get the crystals anymore but his biggest threat to stop his plan is now out of the way which again shows just how much control he has over the situation, this isn't even mentioning his incredible performance by well known voice actor Clancy Brown who absolutely kills it as Dr. Cortex (ironically he only voiced Dr. Cortex three times, with Lex Lang voicing the character in most of the series' duration, however Lex Lang does a good performance as Dr. Cortex as well I want to make that clear!)

Oh and remember the game over screen I mentioned earlier? They actually re lip synced Dr. Cortex's lines where he was speaking in different languages which means Dr. Cortex has different lip syncing to match the new dialogue which is incredible for 1997 and even by today's standards!

On top of all of this? Crash 2 was made just 11 months after Crash 1, yet there are so many improvements, minor and major, that it's hard to list them all and I don't know how Naughty Dog put so much effort in so little time. However they managed that, it shows!

Social media

Yeah, I'm going to talk about social media in this section, because as of this post Elon Musk has some(?) control of Twitter, now I haven't been using Twitter regularly for nearly a year (I do plan on coming back fully though) but from what I've heard a lot has happened in the time since he stepped in. Now the reason I'm bringing this is up is because some people have said that the issues brought to Twitter recently makes them think the website might be shut down or abandoned, something a lot of people see as something to celebrate but let me tell you why Twitter shutting down is a bad thing:

A lot of websites have come and gone on the internet (chances are 10 years from now the internet will look different yet again) however historically whenever a website shut down all it resulted was the users of that website moving to another more popular website. Remember when Vine shut down and all the Vine users moved to YouTube? Or when a lot of Tumblr users moved to Twitter nearly 5 years ago? When both of those migrations happened a lot of the issues the original website suffered from got carried over, that's because when a website disappears it doesn't mean the people who use it disappear as well since the only way to fix a website's userbase is for the users themselves to sort themselves out.

(If you think I'm being broad keep in mind I'm only talking about social media websites, of course a lot of websites have gone over the years but my point is if a website is large enough to gain a large userbase then they will remain online regardless if that website stays or not, also I have to say people from Twitter coming to Tumblr is honestly a full circle moment that's incredibly ironic).

A website's userbase is often formed from two things: the people themselves that use it, and the way the website is structured. How a person uses said website is up to them and this can range from person to person, however my point is while websites can be riddled with issues the fix is far more complicated than to just delete the website itself, a website redeeming itself can only be done through its management (if it's structured in a way that has them at least) or for a site like Twitter it's for the userbase to try and be smart with how they use it (sending tweets, dealing with accounts they don't like, etc.) I know this is easier said than done and chances are this won't happen on a large scale, but even being aware of the algorithm and how you add to it can help by a long run even if it's just you advising your friends on how to make their social media experience better for them and everyone else that follows them.

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

I originally wasn't going to include this as I only planned talking about the things above, but as me and two other friends saw this movie on February 25th and considering that I don't plan to make a full post about this film, I've decided to include a segment dedicated to this as well:

WOW what an incredible film! Dreamworks is a studio with a weird track record (after all what do you do when you've achieved revenge - the very reason your studio was made in the first place?) But sometimes when they have the right direction they make something fantastic. There's so much I could say about this movie but to keep it short – what I love about Puss in Boots: The Last Wish so much is its execution.

A lot of the themes the movie tackles (vulnerability, accepting your morality, living to the best you can) are themes a lot of films (and especially children's media in general) have tackled with, but unfortunately sometimes when they are used they are either hamfisted or they aren't properly delved into making the impact far smaller than it has the potential to reach. But this film not only tackles those themes I mentioned above but it tackles them full-on, including the darker parts of those themes to such an extent that the film overall feels very mature since it knows what tone to have at that given moment.

The main plot about following a magic map so you can make a wish shows the desires of every character who wants to use it, for our three main characters Puss in Boots, Kitty Softpaws and Perrito, they all showcase themes the film is trying to show. Puss' wish is to gain back his missing eight lives because he always tries to aim himself towards this legendary status of himself that he can defeat anything and now that he's down to his last life feels that he can't live up to that. Kitty's wish its wanting to trust someone but feeling like she can't because of a history of being backstabbed, since being able to trust someone requires you to be vulnerable which results in making her closed-off. Perrito unlike Puss and Kitty doesn't have a wish to make because he's already happy with both himself and his life, which while it's clear a lot of that is a result of ignorance of how dark people can act he ends up helping our main protagonists because they realise it's possible to find people that don't want to use you and legitimately want to befriend you (Kitty) and to realise that even with one life that you can live and be happy with just one (Puss).

The film also stands out because of what it does differently, I've mentioned the themes above that it executes but it also has a traditional villain in a period where Disney hasn't done one in ages, not to mention there's a lot of fairytale characters that haven't really been seen on the big screen before which thanks to this being Dreamworks allows them to be utilised in interesting ways, since Dreamworks doesn't try to have a "clean" image of themselves unlike Disney.

There's so much more I can say about this film but I'm afraid that if I do I'll spoiler it (plus this post is quite long as it is!) If you haven't seen this movie yet then please find an opportunity to do so! You will not regret it.

Topic End: Epilogue

Well that's everything I wanted to cover from January - February, I hope you've enjoyed reading and I'll see you next time!

#docposting #points of interest

[nonepizzaleftgirl]

Over 2 years ago now, I made an analysis post trying to stitch together a layout for the city based on the few shots we had at the time. Now that the demo is available and I can walk around in the hub, I thought to revisit that post! I'll be following that post's structure and comparing it with the final release as I go. Note that some differences can be chalked up to the fact that the hub is currently undergoing Splatfest preparations.

In the initial post, I speculated that the piggy bank building might have something to do with Salmon Run—that is obviously wrong with the hindsight we have now, but I should note that the building next to it with the orange and yellow logo that I assumed to be Grizzco-related is closed down currently and may open up in a future update or DLC and become relevant then.

Also, as you can see, the piggy bank used to be way more in the back than it is now - its front feet were even clipping into the left wall! Whereas now, it's stretching out over the buildings.

I correctly predicted that the piggy bank was down this side path. Looking back at the trailer, you can actually see the hat shop up on the balcony on the left, in addition to Ammo Knights below it, which could be seen pretty clearly from the prerelease footage. Hotlantis seemed to have been closed at the time of the prerelease footage, though notably it seems that they always intended to implement it, as the logo stayed the same, even if it is at a different location now:

Given that they stated that Harmony took over the store from its absent owner, it's cute to think that in-universe, the store was abandoned and closed-down two years ago, though that is almost definitely not the actual reason why it was closed in prerelease.

Additionally, the Recon Guide was missing entirely from the prerelease footage. It's likely that they still used the Splatoon 2 recon system at the time, or perhaps the expanded recon was entirely hidden within a Lobby menu.

The chicken statue on the left seemed to have been entirely missing from prerelease footage. Additionally, a palm tree was added, as well as Deep Cut's recording studio. From this shot, you can actually see signs advertising the hat shop on the balcony even as far back as the prerelease footage!

From the trailer, I speculated that the building next to the truck was some sort of delievery building due to the motorcycle on its logo. In the final version, the truck is gone entirely, though the logo remains, so this could be to make place for Splatfest registration. Additionally, the mailbox that lets you send drawings was already visible in prerelease footage.

I had a lot of trouble initially placing this area, because it looks very different now! The little staircase is gone entirely (instead, there's a slope hidden behind the buildings on the right, which actually seems to have been there all along, going by the slant of the prerelease ledge), a bunch of textures changed around, the blue sign location changed… I initially had a lot of trouble placing this back alley, but I did eventually figure out correctly that it was underneath the piggy bank. It now leads to Tableturf Battle.

This area! So much changed here. While the train station and battle tower are still in the same location, there is now a duck statue on top of the train station. I wonder if this was hidden from prerelease footage to hide the fact that we now have three idols? Since we now have three statues in the duck, the snake, and the piggy bank... Additionally, Deep Cut's recording studio is now between them, where there used to be empty space.

But perhaps most tragically... the art installation from the prerelease footage is completely gone! I'll miss you, squid-shaped art installation...

As you can see from this mockup I made back then, it turned out to be pretty close! The traditional building, delievery building, train station, and back alley building seem to have no purpose in the final game, the modern art installation got removed entirely, and I was wrong about just how much of the bottom left was blocked off. Nonetheless, I am happy at how much of the layout was able to be gained from just these few shots.

Tell me if I missed any other significant hub changes between prerelease and now!

#splatoon #splatoon 3 #analysis #prerelease

[pdalicedraws]

[opens tumblr briefly to make this post and then fucks off again to avoid TOH finale spoilers]

So I’m at the con right now. I’m in the Artists’ Alley, where I spend most of my time at cons because I love looking at people’s artwork and getting a few new posters for my wall every year. (Well, it used to be every year; this is the first in-person con I’ve been to since 2019 and I’ve missed it a lot. I’m very glad people  are being conscientious about masking, and I watched someone get turned away at the door for not having their booster shot, so I’m not really feeling in any more danger than I am on campus. Which is to say I’m still a little nervous but also aware that so long as I’m careful I will probably be fine, knock wood.)

It’s weird. I’m so out of the loop on a lot of things. There’s so many anime that have a strong presence at the con (both in cosplays and on people’s art tables) that I’ve just never heard of. I would have thought there would be a ton of Owl House, given how popular it is right now, but I’ve only found a very few things, only one of which appealed to me enough to purchase. I might go back for that cute keychain of Eda holding King, it’s just a bit long so I’m not sure how I’d use it. 

I also expected a decent amount of Infinity Train, given how popular it is, how beloved and highly rated, but I haven’t seen any. I really wanted some posters for my wall! There’s nothing! A few people have recognized my Amelia Hughes cosplay, and a few more have just pointed at me and gone “Oh, Infinity Train!” or in one case “Conductor!” but still. It’s odd. 

The reason this ramble is going on my art blog, though, is that I keep looking at the artists who have booths here and feeling so conflicted. They’re so damn good. The vast majority of them are so damn good. 

(Not entirely relevant, but I could swear there’s a higher proportion of boobyass-artists this year than there usually is. No shade to the boobyass, nothing wrong with being horny, but bc I don’t want that kind of thing on my wall it means I keep looking at booths like “oh those colours are nice— woah that’s a lot of titty, woah she sure is bending over away from the camera in skimpy skivvies, oh dear”)

But the point here is that I don’t know how to take it, I don’t know how to handle it. I’m never going to be good enough of an artist to sell prints even online, much less as good as these folks, and I’m usually fine with that, you know? I draw to have fun, myself, and to get my dumb jokes out, and to illustrate my song associations, and to sometimes make something I find fairly pretty. I’m usually fine with that. It’s not my career path, I’m a writer, that’s the way I’m going, that’s the thing I’m actually good at. But at the same time I see these people and I think “what if I could, what if I did, what if I did a ton of TOH and IT and Utena and fairytale and SU posters, I could even have a Cain Saga one off to the corner for old goth nerds like me, what if I was actually good at this?”

But I’m not going to be good at it— I’ve been drawing consistently as long as I can remember, and I’m nearly thirty, and if I chose to make it a full time job I could probably get decently competent but I can’t, I’m in college and I’m a writer and I’m exhausted. 

So it’s giving me this very weird kind of inspiration, where on the one hand I’m having all these ideas of things to draw, the Posters I Would Make, but on the other hand I’m aware enough of my lack of skill that it’s immobilizing. 

I’ll get over it. It’s just weird right now. 

#pd alice talks #not art #spacer tag #spacety space #spaaaaacer #spacer taggity #fanimecon