#I should just write my own comic and use these designs | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

see-arcane · 6 days

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Our good friend Jonathan Harker is getting ready to leave for his business trip, Mina Murray is picking out a new journal, Lucy Westenra is charming a gaggle of smitten suitors, Abraham van Helsing is wrapping up his lectures, and Castle Dracula is prepping the guest room for a very long stay.

Which must mean that Dracula Season is here again!

‘Dracula Season’ being a catchall term for the voracious reading, memeing, writing, illustrating, analyzing, and general fun-having that’s ensued since Matt Kirkland’s project, Dracula Daily, caught on with us back in 2022. The Substack had already been running before then, but it sparked a conflagration as time went on and readers old and new to Bram Stoker’s Dracula—the actual novel, not Coppola’s fanfiction—devoured it in a way that scratched an itch none of us knew we had. Stoker wrote the book in epistolary fashion, clumping sections together as needed for the pacing without perfect adherence to chronological order. Matt went ahead and put all the events in order and proceeded to set up a lovely chain of emails that delivered entries on those correlating dates.

This style of organization and pacing turned out to not only make the virtual book club that much easier to engage with, but left space in-between to stew on the story and relate with the characters themselves. Every day of waiting in the book feels weightier when you have to pace and sweat and worry in tandem with poor Jonathan trapped in the castle or Lucy wasting away or Mina running out the clock before she loses the fight for her own humanity. And while we sat with the story or the lulls between Dracula Seasons, some of us found ourselves craving more of that ghastly gothic horror goodness to the point that we figured:

“Well. Why don’t I make something?”

And then we did! Tons of creative works have been churned out in the wake of Dracula Daily’s high. I figured that while we’ve still got a bit of time to wait for May 3rd, we should check out all this new stuff in the meantime. (Plus a handful of neat stuff that just clicks with the Dracula itch overall.)

So, in the interest of Dracula Season pregaming, let’s take a look at…

FICTION

Blood of My Blood – A recent addition to the Dracula Bad Ending AU pile, and definitely one of the most harrowing and addictive group-produced narratives I’ve ever come across, Blood of My Blood is the dramatically gothic currently-WIP work of @ibrithir-was-here and @animate-mush’s devious design. Give or take a heap of other fascinated folks (hello!) adding ideas to put more Horror into the Horrors that our cast has to face. The premise:

The Transylvanian climax went fatally sour and the Harkers were forced to shelter with Dracula himself, including their half-vampire son, Quincey. Cut to two decades later, and Quincey finds himself out in modern London, smitten with Lu, adopted daughter of Arthur and Jack, and diving into certain bloodstained old documents that detail the real history of how his parents came to live in the castle. Said revelations coming not a moment too soon, as a storm is coming for him straight from the Carpathians…

Dracula Daily Sketch Collection – An array of illustrations that captures every entry beat by beat, the Dracula Daily Sketch Collection by Georgia Cook, alias @georgiacooked was dished out over the course of the last Dracula Season. Some of the most fun character designs out there.

Fanfiction Spotlight: BlueCatWriter – With a whopping 99 works devoted to the novel Dracula (so far, the number may have gone up since I blinked), @bluecatwriter is one of the most prolific and talented fanfiction scribblers out there. Romances, nightmares, and overlaps between the two seem to crop up the most, give or take a crossover. Seems fitting that those blue paw prints have contributed to BoMB too.

The League of Extraordinary Gentlefolk – An ongoing comic in which all your favorite characters from the Classics section get together and tackle some perils ranging from the mundane to the monstrous. Started by the amazing @mayhemchicken and posted on @lxgentlefolkcomic, this series is a love letter to beloved Victorian era lit, with a spotlight on the two couples leading the League. Namely, the Harkers, ala Dracula, and the Nortons, ala Sherlock Holmes,’ “A Scandal in Bohemia.” Mina and Irene are the driving investigative and steering forces here, and still deeply in love with their likewise-infatuated husbands, just like in their canons! What a concept! Alan.

Without spoiling the full character list, just know there are going to be a ton of familiar faces roaming around before you finish reading the first arc. Said arc having conveniently wrapped up just a few days ago! Give the comic and its bonus silliness a look if you’re in the mood for a new comfort-adventure epic.

Re: Dracula – Probably the most well-known and incredible thing to come out of the initial Dracula Daily wave. This podcast is a full audio drama that follows the same format as the Substack, with episodes coming out in time with the entries themselves. And it has an unfairly cool soundtrack. They have a Tumblr with @re-dracula, a site and a Patreon to check out before the series kicks up again on May 3rd. (Also, keep an eye out for their next work, an audio drama in the same style with Carmilla.)

The Soldier and the Solicitor – Another treat from @ibrithir-was-here, this one involves a bit of time travel trouble. Quincey Harker has stumbled out of World War I and into the same dark forest where his father once fled for his life…then runs into the man himself, on that same night. Jonathan Harker, young and starved and lost, who has no choice but to trust this stranger while the Weird Sisters are at his heels…despite said stranger having no shadow. It’s a tasty emotional trek, already complete on Tumblr, but now it’s turning into a Webtoon. While Ibrithir is juggling a number of other stories, she’ll be redrawing spruced up versions of the comic and adding a few new scenes as things unfold.

Substack Stack – You know what’s better than one emailed-out public domain book club? A mountain of them. Just. So, so many of them. You’ll see that a lot of these are finished, but some are still ticking along. Either way, they’re all great picks if you’re craving some more old school lit to fill the void between undead emails.

Frankenstein Weekly – Frankenstein

Jekyll and Hyde Weekly – The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Voyage of the Nautilus – Twenty-Thousand Leagues Under the Sea

Letters from Watson – Sherlock Holmes

The Invisible Mail – The Invisible Man

Letters from Bunny – E.W. Hornung’s short stories of the eponymous Bunny and Raffles

Letters Regarding Jeeves - P. G. Wodehouse’s Bertie Wooster short stories, including the novel, Right Ho, Jeeves

…

……

………

…The Beetle Weekly – The Beetle (NOTE: Do Not Read This.)

The Vampyres – A novella I finally wrenched through the gears of self-publication as of March this year. Starring a petite but powerful paranormal cast, The Vampyres, centers on an unscrupulous undead fellow who finds that the revenants of the world are being mowed down by an entity known only as ‘Quinn Morse.’ Between trying to save his neck and figure out where the shadowy bastard came from, the Vampyre in question crosses paths with a new paramour and handy human shield in the form of a grieving Good Samaritan. He’s even polite enough to invite the Vampyre into his home while he’s in dire straits! Surely this will end well. All the info is available here and a little author site is over here.

What Manner of Man – This is the one made for everyone who started out hoping there’d be a real love story with our good friend Jonathan Harker and the Count when he was at his most charismatic. Where that sea of wonders dried up into a mire of horror, What Manner of Man by @stjohnstarling keeps things firmly on the romantic tracks. This Substack stars the letter-writing priest Father Victor E. Ardelian as he finds himself meeting with one enigmatic Lord Alistair Vane. It isn’t long before interest turns into intrigue and intrigue into undead intimacies.

The entire novel has been completed—along with multiple epilogues in the author’s Patreon, allowing readers to choose for themselves just how the uncanny romance plays out in the end—and the Substack now has a number of other gothic goodies piling up in the meantime.

NONFICTION

Dracula Daily: A Unique Reading Experience: This one comes courtesy of @realwomenofgaming. It’s a short and sweet piece that amounts to a fun snapshot of the entire Dracula Daily ride. A cozy couple-minute read.

‘Dracula Daily’ is the One Substack You Need a Subscription To: Features my favorite Matt Kirkland interview. @mattkirkland, if you’re still floating around on here, thank you for dispatching our vampire newsletter again this year.

Dracula Daily is Tumblr’s hottest new book club: Alright, the ‘new’ part is worn out by now, but this one is still a delightful article to swing back around to. Two years on, this Polygon piece is a time capsule of those early months when people outside our bookworm bubble realized we were all happily receiving letters from our favorite classic gothic horror blorbos.

“How Mina Murray Became Dracula’s Girlfriend” – Princess Weekes, if you ever read this, thank you, thank you, thank you. I am sending oceans of love and millions of rewatches to your video essay. If you haven’t seen it yet, “How Mina Murray Became Dracula’s Girlfriend” is one of the most refreshing and well-made breakdowns of both the title subject and numerous other issues that have proliferated in the public view of Dracula’s cast and plot as adaptations endlessly warp or outright bastardize the actual novel. An incredibly cathartic watch.

Literary play gone viral: delight, intertextuality, and challenges to normative interpretations through the digital serialization of Dracula: A mouthful of a title for an even more elaborate article about the Dracula Daily phenomenon. This one is a full-on study that analyzes just what happened within the big bloodsucker book club surge and how its ‘wandering reading practices’ enriched the experience for participants.

“The Undying Undead: An analysis of the Dracula Daily community for a theory of online community formation and interaction” – We have a thesis on here! Look at that! @sirangelothebestest’s MA thesis used our vampiric book club as the bones for a massive brick of an academic piece that definitely deserves a look.

…And I think I’ll go ahead and cap things here.

This isn’t everything I got recommended, but if I had squashed all of it in here, I think folks’ eyes would start to fall out of their head. I hope you can find something cool to comb through here. Or, if there’s something great I overlooked, tack it onto the list! We’ve got just two weeks to go until we’re off with Mr. Harker. Let’s enjoy our respite before those castle doors close behind us.

#time for Dracula Season pre-gaming :3 #thank you to everyone who sent in their suggestions!#dracula #dracula daily #re: dracula

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ane-doodles · 5 months

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My COTL References

(you can use them as inspo if you want)

A little more:

Wow, I didn't think this would take so long, but I think it was worth it in the end.

I have had to look for all kinds of references to be able to draw the bishops in a satisfactory way (references from the game itself, from animals, body types, eyes, and even how to draw cat paws). I think I have done them justice.

Although I don't plan to draw a comic or write a fic, I did want to define my own reference when drawing them. That way my little doodles would have some coherence.

A couple of details from the designer (just me commenting):

• I had to look for references of many body types and choose the one I thought was most suitable for each character. It was a long road!! The most difficult to draw was Narinder.

• Heket's outfit is inspired by a dress I recently saw in a store, it looked like a tunic so I decided to use it as a model. I added the veil because I wanted to cover her head (it's difficult to draw), plus I think it gives her a distinctive touch and personality. She accidentally ended up looking like a very flirtatious nun.

• Kallamar's design was particularly difficult because in the game itself he doesn't have a torso! but for reasons of ease and patience here he is going to have one. It's funny that he's super tall, but he keeps hunching over trying to hear what others are saying (you know, he doesn't listen very well for obvious reasons).

• Leshy was my favorite design! He has all the characteristics that I usually give to a protagonist!! He ended up looking like a young boy who surely likes soccer. I drew him thinking that he would surely like to walk around, so he should be comfortable... but he will surely end up crashing on more than one occasion. The green looks so fluffy!!! ah! but I also gave him a sting (I thought it would be fun)

• Shamura was interesting. I didn't want to give it too many legs, but I also didn't want it to look strange. In the end I ended up taking inspiration from different insect characters I know (like the red guy from Adventure Time). His clothes are all torn, I think he would have a hard time adjusting to them and would end up destroying them very often.

• Although I have drawn Narinder before it is not easy without him looking like an anime boy with a cat head! so it took quite a while to try to get out of there, that's why his proportions look more animalistic now!! I like to think that his body was vaguely more human when he was a god, but that when he transforms into a mortal he becomes more animal-like. It was difficult to design his clothes, but I like the change of coat he has...I hope I don't change it again soon or I'll have to make him a wardrobe.

• I have no special notes about the lamb, except that I forgot to put the leg warmers!! I realized it too late, but let's imagine they are there. I liked designing the second fleece, obviously based on Narinder's.

• As you can see, each of the coats are made from the remains of the tunics that the bishops previously wore. I want to imagine that after they were defeated, the lamb recovered them and turned them into new garments so that they would feel more comfortable in the cult (but also so that they would be distinguished from the common people).

• I have planned jobs and positions that each one would occupy in the cult, but I don't know how close they are to canon since I haven't taken the time to research. We'll see!!

And that's it, if you made it this far, have a candy 🍬 , thanks for reading my ramblings.

#cult of the lamb #cotl #cotl reference #cotl the lamb #cotl the one who waits #cotl narinder #cotl heket #cotl leshy #cotl kallamar #cotl shamura #ane doodles yay!#character design #Chain for a promise AU #CFP au

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factual-fantasy · 8 months

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24 asksss :}}} ⭐⭐⭐

@ardent-38

You are my favorite person

@wolfie-777

Cassie does not exist in my AU. But hypothetically-

If Roxanne found this lost child she would report it to Vanessa and have her help Cassie. As is the protocol for children that are found on the premises after hours.

If Roxy found her while she had the "bug" in her system? She would have attacked and maybe even killed Cassie :x

Had to google what that was, <XD It looks beautiful! And I image that he has seen it before yeah :)

As for their favorite songs, I'm not sure :0

That's.. actually a really good idea.

For a long time I never went back to the comic because the writing I did was awful. Everyone was acting out of character, it was SUPER dramatic. I wrote Peso's character all wrong. Uhg, awful awful awful.

And then I was kept away from going back because people would not stop asking me to finish it. "Why did you abandon this comic?" "Are you gonna finish it?" "Why did you stop drawing it" "Go back and finish the crab comic" Like, it was so frustrating.

...Buuuuutt,, rewriting it? Hmmm... I'm way too wrapped up with projects to start this anytime soon. But I wont lie this ask really got me thinking about it-

Also thank you so much! I'm glad you like my art!! :DDD

@smilegirl64 (Post in question)

Thank you! I'm so glad you noticed! That was my favorite detail to add XDDDD

@elegysonnet

I dug into the series a bit and took a look around the fanbase. And I decided that it just wasn't really my thing.

Although I did love the character designs and I think they'd be really fun to draw, I didn't think I'd get along with the fandom. I can see myself huddled in my own little corner with all my headcannons and stuff, and I wouldn't really want to interact with anyone else. :/

Also my favorite character is probably Julie or Howdy XDD

I use an XPPen Artist 13.3 Pro. Its a tablet with a screen! :))

As for my drawing program I use FireAlpaca. Its free and really good for beginners and pros! Highly recommend if you're just getting into digital art. Also thank you!! :D

@baokim80

@burningmusicfunnygiant

I disagree actually. The "bug" aside, they are in no way programed to hurt anyone. They are programmed to have full obedience to staff and Managers.

They could try to stop them, and they could physically stand in their way. But you wouldn't see Freddy straight up punching an employee to keep him away from Bonnie.

Now with the bug in their systems? mmm.. Okay yeah they would. BUT ONLY WHEN THEY'RE NOT IN THEIR RIGHT MINDS-

@cudlycorncornsworthcoberson

XDD Offended Bibi noises can be heard in the background

@curiousskelekitty

<XD I'll do my best!

I feel that my responsibility as an artist on this platform is to tag my art appropriately. Tag it for blood, gore, injuries, things like that. So that people who are disturbed by those subjects don't have to stumble upon it and have their day ruined. :(

What is NOT my responsibly is to prevent little kids from seeing my bloody Octonauts artwork. That's the parents job. XD THEY should be keeping an eye on their kids and making sure they're not browsing sites like Tumblr XDD

Tangle and Lolbit are not a part of my AU actually.

But Mangle? Just because she hasn't made an appearance of any kind yet, doesn't mean she wont in the future.. 👀

Thank you! :DD

Thank you! I'll try to not rush through my projects so much <XD

Thank you for respecting that! :D

Also uhg. I hate pinterest. I would rather people just never found out about me then find me through a pinterest post with my stolen artwork.

@whereismycupofcoffee

YEESSS!!! I always love it when people decide to give Octonauts a try :))) Its a really neat show!

THANK YOU SO MUCH!! :DDDD

XD My first thought was Peso or Shellington for some reason. They're just too polite to make a fuss XDDD

@kymbird

Wanna know a good place to start if you genuinely struggle with that? Make 1 character that is based off of you. And then make a second character that is based off of someone in your life that you have 0 romantic interest in what so ever. Like your Mom, or your Dad, siblings, Uncle, dog literally anyone. It should be impossible to twist those 2 characters together because they are modeled after you and ur mom. You should look at them and say "thats me and my mom" or "thats me and my brother" Those 2 should then be characters that are 100% protected from becoming a ship. :0

This actually reminded me of my transformer ocs. I modeled the characters after the drivers/owners. And people wanted to ship them together and I was like "for 1 they are my OCs so thats kind'a odd but 2 those two characters are based off of siblings. They absolutely should not- in ANY universe, be paired together"

Personally not a huge fan of the bright blue color he has. Seeing his Bonnie Bowl artwork everywhere I expected him to be his usual purple..

As for my Bonnie I think he'd get along pretty well with his Glamrock counterpart! But when it comes to the Bowling ally they'd be rivals. >:)

Also thank you! :DD

@trains-of-thought

aaaa thank you so much!! :DD I'm so glad to hear that you've liked my Mario artwork!! And that you read the info aaaa!! I spent a lot of time writing all that so I'm glad to hear that you read it! As for your questions,

1: Yes! My Peach, Daisy, Wario and Waluigi are all the same species, which is not human. They are this incredibly tall elf like species that closely resembles humans and has many biological similarities.. but ultimately they are very different species.

2: Its hard to say.. I've been known to change my mind a lot so maybe? Honestly I hope that someday these feelings towards fanart will vanish and I will be able to engage with my fans more. But for now,, noooo fanworks :(

OH MY GOSH I LOVE THAT FNAF VIDEO XDD Very well animated and funny! Here's the link in case anyone is interested!

I drew it myself! :)

#my response #fnaf security breach #fnaf security breach dlc #fnaf security breach dlc spoilers #octonauts #super mario bros

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prostocupoftea · 11 days

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Kinitopet Programmers AU

finally i am finished with this one, daaaamn

it is hard to draw pathetic men with midlife crisis when your style is mostly for anime boys

more info and sketch version under the cut!!

sketch version aka how it'll probably look like in comic version 'n some doodles

srry for my writing but i was too laisy to put it as regular text

It is a plot-based au, i already have most of the storybits and like... a vibe-chart (i tried to make a playlist for this au and understood that for different chapters and different characters that'd be a copleatly different music, sooo it's a chart now :) )

i will post a fog-o-wared timeline that im hopefully gonna reveal comic-by comic, but also maybe with just pure writing. Hopefully i can include songs that i chose for them into it but we'll see (:

aaand of course designs can change, hopefully not much but we'll see

Now about au:

Main story:

Story follows non-sentient AI Kinito, his creator Sonny and his beta-tester Victoria (oc)

Being literally the first AI (or RRA in-univere) ever, Kinito does not have any, and i mean, any ai safety features so of course his reponce to a goal phrased as "have user near me and/or interacting with me as much as possible" is digitizing them into his own virtual world while killing them in the process. why wouldn't it be?

So that happened. Like, a lot. And with Sonny and Vic too (at the different time but yeah)

Sonny is like "He kills people. We should turn him off because, you know, killing people is bad."

Vic is like "well, we will die if we do that, and it is not that bad here, we are kinda immortal. We should give him acces to changing his initial instalation code before admin priveleges and acces to social media so we can have everythin we want here. It is not that bad to digitize humanity, yk?" and yes i know it is 90, no social media, but shut up, if they made ai then, then i can make twitter then too

Sonny is like "...no??"

And then they fight about it for million chapters

Also they both can't do anything without agreeing bc they have two parts of that admin access key (the data you use to delete kinito in-game) so they are stuck with eachother (also that's why Kinito can't just kill them)

Little facts that may or may not to be important:

Kinito asks so many questions (and weird once too) and has most of the glitches because he needs to analise your responces to copy your mind perfectly (let's pretend that people wouldn't lie about that...)

Your house in your virtual world is made from important places from your memories and oh boy can i do character explorations with this one

I decided that Sonny and Vic are not related. There were thoughts about making then "The Kinito Brothers" (or, at least, siblings) that were mentioned in commercial, but nah, they are just coworkers now. And a bit of work-friends (bc if you interact a lot as a manager of the project and the best worker might as well be friendly)

Author has no idea how small dying toy companies that accidentally create technological marvel work. Author has some idea how AI-s work. So be prepared to be spoon-fed info abut which ai safety problem we are dealing with in which chapter (:

Kinito will mostly be unrendered (as drawn here) but for some cool moments i might pose him as for my other posts. Also his eye placement changes to the side that is most visible because i want him to be able to look to the right side sometimes--

Also when i say "fucked up mentally" i mean they have that them psychological problems with me projecting heavilly B) (guess on who i project most. trick question. all of them. the whole au is my problems split into three characters and forced to interact B) )

Also sea-creature analogies (that are gonna be mentioned like twice):

Victoria is a flying fish because deep character reasons

Sonny is a pufferfish because i said so

oh also there is 7 deaths in the plot as for now

on 3 characters

good luck figuring out who, how and when ((:

for my own sanity i will probably make little doodles where everything is great and kinito is a good guy and not a number-obsessed maniac (i mean... can u imagine not being able to feel any happiness from anything besides one thing... damn...) and you can differenciate them bc good-guy kinito will have a lot of stickers on him (i will explain it somehow but real reason is just bc it is cute af)

like this but even more stickers (he is unfinished here)

#oh btw. i have no official name for it yet. it is programmers bc main characters are programmers. but like.#i want to make a real name for em somewhere down the line #but for now they are #kinitopet programmers au #i was really stressing about how “not-canon” sonny looks #and then i was like. girl. only time he was in canon he was a black blob with one eye. and even that is not surely him.#so i chilled out. as i should B)#i am so tired from this rn tho #kinitopet #kinito pet #kinitopet au #kinito the axolotl #kinitopet fanart #kinito fanart #sonny c #kinitopet sonny #sonny chamberlain #kinitopet oc #bruh i hope this will go better than my hazbin hotel fic (i still want to write it sooo muchhhhhh--- i love my oc and story i am just-----#out of the fandom rn----- damn thats so sad)

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jellazticious · 2 months

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“You can’t rush art”

I think everybody can recall the quote from Toy Story 2. From the most satisfying part of the movie where we see a montage of Woody getting restored by a toy maker. It’s one of my favourites too, I absolutely loved looking at the different procedures used to fix a single toy. The toymaker’s precision and care were found mesmerizing by everyone. As a multi-hatted artist, one that can draw, sculpt, animate, and write, I can say that it’s spot on that there’s so much to do for a single piece of work. HOOO boy, you should see how me and Beefy are organizing Cursed to Charm, there’s so much.

For the upcoming webcomic, we design characters, give each and every one of them their stand-alone story, design different clothes, create the map, draw renders and posters, polish scripts for the episodes, plan to program the comic’s own website, make the backgrounds eventually, etc. To people who aren’t artists or take art for granted, to them, art is stroking a paper using a pen and BAM instant masterpiece. No no, it’s more than that.

Another thing I’d like to say about the comic is that the progress is very slow yet very fruitful because of the time taken. Me and my co-author came up with the idea at late November, which makes the comic four months old now. However, with all that time passed, we have already finalized the list of nine episodes of season one. We have also written seven out of nine summaries from that season before actually writing the dialogue in detail. We have a rough four seasons worth of story progression in the span of four months. Nyeh, excuse the little ramble about CtC, I’m just giving insight of how much should be done for the production of anything which leads us to the next point.

Art production in general.

Movies, animation, shows, video games, books, comics etc etc

All of these are part of art, some people would deny because it isn’t sophisticated like they’re lead to believe art is supposed to be. Art is literally just creation man, can’t get any simpler than that 😩 if you made something, then you made something woohoo! Congratulations you made art, cooking included. It came free with your fucking humanity.

Anyway, just like the webcomic, every single one of these listed also have a set of different procedures that will piece together the final output.

Let’s take Disney movies as a specific example, I want to talk about something real quick.

So one time, I was watching Tarzan with my parents and we stuck around for the end credits. My mom pointed out the animators are divided into sections and there’s so much names on them. There are different teams of animators for each character and these teams are divided in two for the storyboarders and the clean up artists. When the credits rolled a bit more, it showed that the background artists and colorists also have their own sections too. There’s so much people working on different body parts of a movie. I got the habit of reading end credits of every movie I watch, animated or live action, then I would compare the credits of old and new movies. Boy, let me tell you that the work space on old movies are FILLED compared to newer movies. One thing I noticed about Disney movies although, is that the old movies have more sections compared to new ones. The major difference of old Disney and new Disney are the length of the credits and the time gap of the movies. I’m really not trusting the way new movies have way shorter end credits while the publish time of new movies are getting narrower and narrower. Before the 2000s, movies usually come out twice a year and sometimes there’s a two-year hiatus before the next batch of movies are published. Now there’s at least two or three movies that publish yearly while also releasing a bunch of shows in the middle of it. I really don’t understand business talk with the way it sacrifices quality over quantity. Like I get having money is great and all but what’s the use of hoarding it? Especially when there’s so much news of people about to be in poverty and mass layoffs. Why should companies earn money if they’re not going to redistribute it back to the economy at all? This is a little off topic but I want to point it out that people in the 80s used to buy whole houses by being a janitor but nowadays people could barely afford a one room apartment even with three jobs. The Simpsons is an example of this because it was set in the 90s and the family is constantly reminded of how “poor” they are. They even created an episode that talks about the same job that supported people’s fathers will no longer support you nowadays (Poorhouse Rock ep22 s33). It’s fishy and I’m salty about it especially because I hear so much people complaining about how they’re not being given a chance to work. Anywho! Let’s go back to art.

I’m just spitballing my thoughts here but somehow they’re connecting either way. All I’m trying to say is that for the people who care so much about the quality of art, it’s noticeable that they get downgraded, not just by the look but by the way they’re written.

Example.

Clone High.

Jesus Christ, the new show is a nightmare and an insult to the original Clone High. The difference is clear with this one. The original Clone High was heavy satire of every single high school trope used in shows and movies. Every single character was meant to have one personality and that personality is the butt of the joke. The original did not care about making the characters appealing because the appeal is found in the way they interact, they clash so much and a lot of them are idiots. The writing is funny because the dialogue flows so easily unlike the renewal. The renewed Clone High takes itself too seriously and it tries too hard to be relevant. It’s funny to me that fans can draw the original’s art style more accurately than the animators hired. What’s even more frustrating is that concept art was released from the art head and the concept art looked way better than what they decided on the final designs. Other than the art style that tries to be marketable, the writing is insufferable with the way they try to be “relatable” without understanding why the original jokes were funny to begin with.

Now we’re all familiar with this cheap tactic of using the title of successful franchises to grab clicks and views. It’s every live action Disney film, it happened to Scooby Doo, Marvel shows, FNAF, some Cartoon Network shows, Megamind, and now even Kung Fu Panda. Basically MILKING. It would have been better if the productions TRIED to understand the original’s intentions which they forgot about. They ended up being disappointing at best and soulless at worst. I won’t be explaining much cuz I’ve already reached the minimum word count lmao. I’m just rambling here, I better not see anyone interrogate me in asks or replies. ANYWAY, I’m gonna get to the point real quick.

Back to the quote at the start of the post, people tend to forget that. Art is a skill, not a button people press and it gives you pretty pictures or videos. Art is a job and an effort. While art is subjective and it differs from person to person, one thing for certain is that art that is made ingenuinely will never be better than art that is made because the artist loves art. This is why the Tom & Jerry reboots with the lineless art style even if they had a storyboard artist who understood the cartoon wackiness (which were discarded for a “cleaner” and faster style). This is why it’s so frustrating to see concept art of movies which have more appeal than the final 3d models. This is why FNAF Security Breach was nearly unplayable.

Because they all rushed art.

They rushed in favour of what is marketable, no matter how unappealing it is. Everything could have been better, some final products are good, but all of them could have been better. As good as what were released pre 2010s when production had a passion. You can’t spell heart without art.

I’m just really passionate about art in any form since it’s everything that created me too. I will not be here at this point in time if it weren’t for me learning that there’s so much beauty in the world if you could just squint and appreciate why that’s so. I’m defined by my works and it only hurts and infuriates me that people who have the ability and accessibility to create better art than I do waste it for their personal gain or selfish intentions. Everyone could be a better person because of art just as it did to me. Again, it came to us the moment we’re born, art isn’t just a pretty picture, it’s everything we create out of love, passion, time, and effort.

But really, to the wise words of Chef Saltbaker, “like any good bake, heart and soul is the secret ingredient”

You can’t rush art.

#Jell tells wisdom #<-keeping it PG #I wrote this

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techlove-1999 · 3 months

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ok, so… securitrons move around with One Big Tire. while it gives their design a pretty memorable Staple, its… well, realistically it would be TERRIBLE 4 balance…!!! while a big tire like that on its Own could probably balance just fine, we of course have a Big (Cute) Bulky Robot that’s gonna be Fucking with its Center of Mass, kind of like a heavy unicycle!! so i have 2 wonder how they do it so well ingame…!! obviously it could be explained through cartoon physics or something like that… but i wanna dig a bit Deeper than that. i love securitrons too much 2 just write it off anyhow…^_^ so lets solve the mystery of how these things can balance so good!!!

now.. it could be that securitrons are specifically coded 2 know how 2 Balance themselves, or have some kind of mechanic that keeps them from Toppling Over every time they want 2 stop moving or stay Still. it could be possible that they have a sort of special Locking Mechanism that keeps their tire from making them roll away…? however this does Not solve the problem of the robot’s center of mass!! because even if the tire is locked in place, the Weight of the securitron’s body will still, well… make it tip over!!

so i propose an Idea. what if the securitrons center of mass. is actually a lot Lower than it may seem from their build. stay with me here, ok…? ok…

obviously house is too much of a Haughty Smarty Pants or something like that 2 just have written off or ignore this issue. in fact- the way securitrons ingame can effortlessly balance is a testament 2 this fact!! so what did he do 2 let the securitrons actually balance…?

its is My Opinion that securitrons must have their center of mass Lower in their bodies. this would make it Much easier 4 them 2 actually balance themselves as we see in new vegas!! if i had 2 guess where Specifically, i’d say somewhere as shown in This Simple Graphic…

since the part housing the Screen is the bulkiest part of the chassis, you would Typically expect that 2 be the center of mass… however, with it being So High Up on the body, it would cause the robot 2 fall over!!! crash!!! ow!!! @_@

however… if the center of mass is Below that part, in the “waist” area per se, then the robot won’t have as much of a discrepancy in weight distribution. it wont be as Top Heavy, allowing the entire machine 2 stay standing!!

now as 4 How exactly the center of weight would realistically be in the waist area, i’d have 2 say its probably something 2 do with how the Functions of the parts affect how theyd be Built, if that makes any sense... the lower waist area is where the Wheel connects 2 the rest of the body, so the part where it connects is most likely More Fortified so it doesn’t Come Apart, especially considering the amount of Movement that part would have 2 put up with, so it should there4 be using Stronger/More Material so it doesn’t Wear Down so easily. perhaps the material in that area is pretty thick, making it heavy!!

as 4 the part Above that however… we can see its made up of the same material as the Arms, and from securitron movement and idle animations, we see its somewhat Flexible from the way it Bounces!! perhaps theres a comically large spring inside? or perhaps a multitude of springs that allow the chassis 2 Bounce in the way it does? (leaving that outside bit as the only thing letting it bounce would be a bit Stupid, really… there would be Zero support 4 the chassis and it would just always be Crushing the thing…!!!) so perhaps those springs are quite heavy, as they’d have 2 be Strong and there4 pretty Big and Thick so they dont snap inside of the body!

of course this is all just Speculation, as we dont 4 sure know what the inside of one of these cuties looks like. maybe one day we’ll get a good look at the inner workings of a securitron, but until we know that, all we have 2 rely on is the power of Headcanon!! so i could be spot on, or i could be way off. who knows!! maybe theyre powered by cartoon bullshittery 4 real!!!

id really love 2 hear Other People’s ideas and thoughts on this too… i am not an Expert on Robotics by a Long Shot, even if i do love them with my Whole Heart… im just some sillyguy giving its two cents on a cute robot!! so if anyone has different or cooler interpretations on how securitrons can balance, i would love 2 hear them!!

also… thank you 4 reading my speculations as well in the First Place… it honestly means a Whole Lot 2 me whenever people enjoy the stuff i put out here 4 fun, so thank you thank you Thank You 4 taking the time 2 enjoy my silly little works...!!! (seriously everyone leaves the sweetest stuff in the tags and it makes me want 2 Cry Tears Of Joy. who let you all be so kind and wonderful.)

#i didnt have 2 make this post but im a bit too autistic 2 not do it #sorry not sorry. the special interest strikes again #crush/folder #<by proxy #yes man #<also by proxy #fallout new vegas #fallout #securitron #speculation

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theresattrpgforthat · 13 days

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I’m probably gonna sound very disjointed. But I have an idea for a superhero campaign where all the P.Cs are kids cause all adults have disappeared.

I thought MASKS would be a good system for this but my friend informed me that in order for MASKS to work you kinda need mentor characters.

So in your opinion, what would be a good, easy to learn superhero based system to run this game.

THEME: Superheros, Kids - Only

Henshin, by Cave of Monsters Games.

Henshin A Sentai RPG is a storytelling tabletop game about young heroes with transformative powers who battle both monsters and personal problems. It borrows from a Japanese superhero culture of color-coded masked teams, giant robots, and over-the-top special effects. Anyone can tell fun, collaborative stories in Henshin!, regardless of familiarity with the tropes, and the game showcases a diversity of settings and characters for every player.

This book includes instructions and actual play examples for everything needed to start playing Henshin! right away. Also included are the eleven Color playbooks, seven ready-to-play settings, original exclusive art, and references to digital downloads. Resources and information can be found at henshingame.com. Let’s Henshin!

Henshin is inspired by the Tokusatsu genre of superhero media, and reminds me intensely of Power Rangers. Your characters will wrestle with personal obstacles such as dealing with their temper, their failures, and the way they are seen by their peers. The system is inspired by No Dice, No Masters but that doesn’t mean it’s necessarily GM-less, just that it doesn’t use dice. Henshin’s settings are also very flexible, so you should be able to write your own custom setting in which the kids have taken on super-powered relics in order to survive in a world without adults.

Masks: Retconned, by Sam Roberts.

You’re like most teenagers, with one small difference: You’re a superhero. Fight villains, be part of a team, save the day, and maybe, slowly figure out who you are.

Masks: Retconned is a game of teen superhero adventures, designed for 3+ players. Most of the players will take on the role of individual Heroes on a Team. Imagine these as the protagonists of your new comic book series. One player takes on the role of GM, embodying the superheroic setting, supporting characters, and villains.

If you like the basic premise of Masks but you don’t want to deal with the adult entanglements, you might want to take a look at Masks: Retconned. The game is very bare-bones, and only has the basic mechanics - your stats, your emotions, and the graded success scale and what it means for moves. The rest is meant to be designed as you need it. So if you don’t mind doing a little bit of game design before you sit down to play, you might want to check this out!

Become the Teen With Attitude you always wanted to be Inspired by tokusatsu hero teams and magical girl squads, PbC is a game about building a brightly-coloured Hero team and playing their adventures across a Series, fighting to save the world from evil!

PbC brings all players together to collaborate on crafting a Series, with its own aesthetics for heroes and villains, its own setting, and unique qualities for each hero. Play comprises the Episodes of the Series: both the Heroes' lives, and fights against Boss characters. It uses a relatively straightforward d6 system and encourages the Hero players to think about how their individual actions work towards a team strategy, bolstering allies and keeping momentum!

Characters in PbC are embodiments of different virtues, and these virtues will define your personal strengths, as represented in the Verbs and Adjectives assigned to your character. Relationships are also important in this game, and this is represented by connections that each player will have with side characters, whether that be positive or negative. Overall the game is still very lighthearted, as it’s inspired by Saturday morning cartoons.

When you try to do something in PbC, you roll a number of d6’s, and check to see how many results were unique. The more unique results you have, the more successes! This means that there’s a cap on how successful your character ca be, but I think the fact that any roll is going to have at least one success really communicates the tone of this game. This another game where the setting is build-your-own, and I don’t see any mechanics that require adults to be part of the setting.

Teens With Powers, by Unknown Dungeon.

Teens with Powers is a one-page roleplaying game about extraordinary young people, inspired by TV shows like Teen Titans and Avatar the Last Airbender, and shonen manga. As a group, the players and GM come up with the setting, themes, and age-range of the characters. Then each player creates a character with a singular power that they can use to help solve problems and fight evil, while also traversing the trials of being young adults.

Teens with Powers uses a dice-pool system to resolve risky actions, and a back-and-forth combat system to allow of maximum expression and excitement. Also included is a back-page with GM advice and rules.

Teens with Power is a stripped-down Forged in the Dark game. There isn’t much of a setting involved in the first place, so you should be able to build your own setting to fit your preferences. The downside is that there isn’t much guidance or inspiration for powers, so it might be worth it to check out something like Supertables to help you come up with your powers.

This ruleset has a mechanic called Limit, which tracks how close your character is coming to breaking down - push too far, and you lose control of your powers, likely causing damage and hurting something or someone you care about. This might be also good for a high-tension game where the disappearance of adults is the cause of a lot of stress and fear for your characters.

Super City, by David Garrett.

One in every one hundred children in Super City is born with super powers. You are one of those children. Together with your classmates at Super City Elementary, you save helpless citizens, rescue lost pets, and eat delicious ice cream.

Utilizing the ultralight VRBS system, Super City is easy enough for a six year-old to master, but also provides the structure for anyone to generate a superhero story of their own.

Super City was designed to be able to run for small kids, so the rule-set is definitely very light. Your powers will be represented as verbs, and you’ll gain better control over your powers as you progress. The game is organized over a series of scenes, which will present you with a number of problems that you’ll have to solve. You also have a collective pool of Energy, which is meant to track how close your characters are to running out of steam. The goal is to get through the mission without running out of Energy, which depletes when you fail a roll.

This is a game without a setting or history, which means you can backfill whatever lore makes sense for your characters.

Cosmic Ray Kids, by Hedgemaze Press.

Cosmic Ray Kids is a single-page (front and back) atomic-age adventure roleplaying game for all ages. Play as superpowered youngsters who fight the forces of evil with heroics and heart!

Cosmic Ray Kids uses a push-your-luck style of gameplay, that looks very much like the PUSH system by Cezar Capacle. Rolling a 6 is the best possible result. If you roll a 4 or lower, you can choose to roll again - but roll higher than a 7 and you’ve gone too far!

This game also has a Boost resource that is communal, and can be spent to improve a roll up to a certain point. This gives the players an option in case there is something that they can’t risk a re-roll for but still need a success, and also encourages the group to work together to figure out how to solve problems. If you want a game that has a retro-cartoon feel that encourages the characters to work together, Cosmic Ray Kids might be worth checking out!

A Special Extra:

It’s not a superhero game, but Children of the Fall is a GM-less game that takes place in an apocalypse that has turned adults into bloodthirsty monsters. It’s very gritty and dark, but an interesting premise.

#tabletop games #indie ttrpgs #game recommendations #dnd #indie ttrpg #asks #superheroes

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lotusclans-luck · 2 months

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Do you have any tips or recommendations for someone who wants to make their own comic based on their ClanGen save?

ooh man Well. take this with a grain of salt because i am definitely not an expert on storytelling Or clangen stuff lol ! but heres what id suggest/what i do:

log/write down what happens every moon, patrol, etc. personally i write down EVERYTHING (moons, patrols, some relationship events, and each cats personal status) so im certain i dont miss any potential details/scenes i want to add. however this does leave you with way more information than you'll need in the long run so feel free to just log what you want to! dont go overboard if you dont want to

when writing down everything make sure its organized in a way you'll understand later. for example, i use google spreadsheets and have all the information grouped into specific sheet pages; from there i list everything according to which Moon it happened in for timelines sake

if you dont like something that happened ingame and you want to void it because its inaccurate for the story, Void it. If you want to move an event to a different moon so it makes more sense in the story, Do it. you dont have to include every single thing that happens either, pick things you like or think would work best for the story. its all up to you and should be something you're having fun with!

make sure your character designs are ones you'll be able to draw over and over again– dont feel like you cant get creative with them, just keep in mind youll be drawing these characters so so so many times so make sure youre prepared for that

i cant think of much else off the top of my head.. i kind of just do what i Feel like doing theres no real rhyme or reason to it.. as long as you're having fun bringing these characters to life , you're doing it right !!

#lclooc

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decarbry · 1 year

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If you’re here for BNHA/Yabureme content, here’s what you should know!

Yabureme is my Nomu!Aizawa AU in which Aizawa is kidnapped by the League of Villains during the raid on the USJ. It’s an Erasermic-centric AU and they’re married at the time of the kidnapping.

The story is being told in mixed media form and can be followed here: Yabureme on AO3

All Yabureme content, including side comics, concepts, sketches, answered asked, etc, can be found at the tag here: Everything Else Yabureme

Regarding Content Creation

I am totally fine with others creating content for Yabureme - however, since the AU has a set story and it’s just a case of me creating the pages in order to tell it, please mark any writing or storytelling art as non-canon! And then send me a link or tag me so that I can read and share it! SFW only, please do not send me NSFW content

I am also fine with others taking inspiration from Yabureme’s design for their own Nomu AUs but would appreciate a credit if you use the full design. I’m not the first person to give him multiple eyes and hands.

However, please do not use my actual artwork in any capacity, including resposting with credit. If you see my artwork under any username but decarbry, even with credit, it’s been posted without permission.

Thanks!

#text post #new pinned post! I’ve gotten a few questions that I wanted to be able to answer easier #plus I think my asks aren’t sending when replying in private idk #I know some people have had issue with the tags not working #but they work for me on mobile and desktop and I don’t know how to fix it #my hero academia #boku no hero academia

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ihateyou2500 · 2 months

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guess my favorite rendition of scott pilgrim

movie:

-i own a scottmona tshirt

-i own a physical copy of the movie

-i want the OST on vinyl

comics:

-i've read volumes 1-6

-i'm investing in a poster with the comic's artstyle and characters

anime:

-um

-i watched it?

game:

-i've made several pieces of art featuring the game's designs

-i own the game and have beaten it (once so far)

-i'm currently listening to the OST as of writing this

-i own that one tshirt of the evil exes from hot topic

-i created jesslee (a ship between two of the NPCs seen in the first/third levels of the game)

-along with that i've made fanart and i'm even writing a fic featuring them and a few of the other NPCs because i love their designs

-i talk about how the enemy designs and spritework are phenominal and should be used for more SP-related things, even just as minor BG characters

take a guess guys!!!

#pasta misc #scott pilgrim #scott pilgrim vs the world #scott pilgrim vs the world: the game #scott pilgrim takes off #just take a lucky guess

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slayingfiction · 1 year

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Creating Your Fictional Language AKA Conlang

Hi Everyone!

As I am working currently on a conlang for my WIP, I thought I might post about the steps for anyone else thinking of going above and beyond in their world building to create an entirely new language.

First: if you don’t want to create your own language but need one for your WIP, there are many online generators that will do it for you. My favourite is vulgarlang.com and it comes with a free demo version.

Before we begin:

IPA: learn all about the International Phonetic Alphabet. This is when you will be deciding which sounds will be present in your language.

Study existing languages to get an idea of all the ways you can design your alphabet and language. This will give you an idea for grammar, punctuation, sentence structure etc.

Getting Started:

Name your language.

Make your alphabet. This can mean creating your own drawings for sound, or using an alphabet that already exists. You can make an alphabet, each symbol representing a particular sound (up to about 50 usually) , a syllabary which represents a syllable (up to about 100) or pictographs (hundreds needed).

Create words by putting your sounds together. Try combining words to make new but similar words. For example, any is an indeterminate word, and where is for a place, anywhere being a compound word being a place that does not have a pre-determined location.

Order your sentences. English has an order of subject-verb-object (the dog ran after the ball), while in Japanese they use subject-object-verb. Once you choose an order for where your words fit into your sentence, be sure to always follow the pattern as to not be confusing later on.

Make grammar rules. These are the rules that dictate your language, and if you are following the steps, you will have already started. Does your language have plurals? How many ways can your verbs be conjugated? Is your punctuation the same as in English?

Start creating your dictionary, and be sure to always write it down and keep notes, or you won’t remember.

Practice. Practice. Practice. Create new documents using your language, writing journals entries, translating books or try speaking it out loud. Get to know your language.

For languages similar to English, here are the word classes to help you start choosing which words you need translated: nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, pronouns, determiners/articles, interjections and suffixes. Please note, not all languages have these classes, and your language may not require them either.

Things to remember:

Making a symbol equal to English letters and writing English words with your new alphabet is a cypher, not a new language.

The shape of your creature’s mouth will determine the sounds they can make. That being said, if you make a language too hard to pronounce or remember, no one will be able to learn it. You probably want your new language to be useable.

Homophones are words that sound or are written the same, but have different meanings. This happens all the time, just be careful when using similar words, people will confuse them often. This could mean your character learning the language can make people laugh with silly comical mistakes, or insult an entire race.

Your conlang will, and should, have words that don’t translate to English, and that’s ok. A fantasy world will likely have many different words that we are not accustomed to for things like weapons, or food or instruments we don’t have.

Implementing the language into your WIP is an art. You want the language to come naturally to native speakers, but using too many words too quickly will draw attention away from your words, and your reader will start to skip them. Try putting in a dictionary at the start of the book for reference, and slowly growing your readers knowledge without overwhelming them. No one wants to try to remember a new language while also getting to know your characters, environment and plot.

Keep in mind, all languages have slang and idioms. There may even be several dialects of the language, similar to English. Don’t forget, you also need a new name for their currency. These are all things you need to consider when creating your language.

You need about 800 to have conversational basics and over 8000 words to be a native speaker of a language. No matter where you end up, you need to start somewhere.

Hopefully this is helpful to someone! If something I wrote is wrong, please let me know so I can change it :) Any questions, comments or concerns, message me or leave them below!

Happy Writing

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artsywriter25 · 4 months

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Let’s talk about the Kung Fu Panda 4 Trailer

Okay, we finally got the trailer after waiting for so many months!

First things first, my reaction to the trailer. I thought it was decent, I didn’t react too much but that doesn’t mean I didn’t like it. I couldn’t stop smiling seeing Po again, I was expecting to see more but this is just a tease. There probably is more that they can’t show us just yet. I watched this trailer multiple times. I’m gonna go on and talk about the things I like and things that I didn’t like.

The Pros:

- The animation looks great as always. I was hoping they add in the hybrid animation but the one they’re using is still amazing.

- Po is now using his jade staff to make combo moves which is awesome and I can't wait to see the creative battles.

- I like Zhen so far and Aquafina’s voice fits her. I know people are saying her design looks weird but I think it looks fine, and I have liked Aquafina since seeing The Farewell.

- The Chameleon looks beautiful! If you pause during her transformations she actually looks scary. DreamWorks made a frecking chameleon scary, how do they do that?!

- I like how they kept the animals at their accurate heights like it took me the fifth watch to realize how small Chameleon was compared to Tai Lung yet she took him down easily.

-Speaking of Tai Lung, he is so back! The fact that he is on the poster could be hinting at a possible redemption arc so for those die-hard Tai Lung fans out there, I’m happy for you.

-I’m also happy they even got Ke Huy Quan to join the cast. I grew up watching The Goonies and after seeing him in Everything Everywhere all at once, I said that he should be in a KFP film and I’m glad he is.

The Cons:

- The jokes are okay, the only one that made me laugh was Po choking on the flower petals. I hate fart jokes, I know that’s what made DreamWorks famous like Sherk but it doesn’t fit well with KFP. Hopefully that’s the only one and there are not too many gross jokes.

- I like we’re getting new characters but I’m afraid they won’t be complex characters with arcs of their own but just there as comic relief.

- I’m already annoyed by those crazy rabbits.

- Tai Lung cannot catch a break. First, his chi was taken from Kai and now the Chameleon took his chi, I hope he doesn’t end up as a punching bag for the rest of the film.

-I noticed there is a lack of a color theme, I had always theorized it would be purple but I keep seeing gold, green, and white. That’s not a good sign.

- Okay this is just my nick-pick but I was shocked to find out they got Viola Davis voicing the villain. I like her in some movies but she gives me this impression of those actresses with big egos. Honestly, her voice is nice but I need a full clip of her to get a full impression.

- Lastly, there is no Furious Five. I saw how the fandom is freaking out about this, but I think they are in the movie, just not for long. While I’m sad we don’t see them, the reality is there really is no other purpose for them but to help Po. I still think they may show up at the end for the final battle. I don’t know what the actors are doing right now, but Seth Rogan came out with his movie this year, TMNT: Mutant Mayhem, so he’s probably busy writing the sequel. As for Tigress, I won’t be surprised if she doesn’t have speaking lines because Angelia Jolie is too busy dealing with her personal issues and her divorce right now.

Okay I got the pros and cons out of the way, now I want to talk about what I think may happen in KFP4. There are some things I’ve noticed in the trailer and I have too many theories and so many questions running in my head and I need to write it out.

So Po’s Jade staff is definitely going play an important role in the story, it seem to have a connection to both the living world and the spiritual world. My guess is the Chameleon wants the staff for a higher purpose of her plan or she needs it to travel to the spirit world herself. We can see her summoning spirits over to the living world, capturing them, and literally eating their chi away. Chi is what helps the spirits stay in living world but Tai Lung’s chi was taken and we don’t know how this will affect him. He may be stuck there until he can get his chi back.

I noticed in one shot of the trailer there are these strange boxes in the room where Tai Lung was fighting and I realized those are cages. The Chameleon is probably planning on keeping the villains as prisoners to take more chi from them. Knowing Po, he’s going to see this as wrong and wants to save the villains. I know it’s a stretch but I think it could happen. It would be so cool seeing Po, Tai Lung, Shen and Kai working together to take down the Chameleon.

But the question is what is her motive in all this? Why does she say to Po ‘we are not so different you and I’? If she is a powerful sorcerer then why does she need his staff? They better not say that she was never taken seriously enough, there’s gotta be more to it.

And there is Zhen, who I want to know the most. I’m sure they would show some flashbacks to her story and show why she became a criminal. For some reason, I keep thinking she maybe leading Po to a trap, which I hope that’s not the case, but she seems to know more than she lets on. Po didn’t know who the Chameleon was until Zhen explained to him and she knows where she lives. I hope she doesn’t end up being a backstabber because this character is supposed to be the next Dragon Warrior, it would be hard to forgive her if they went that route.

But these are just my theories and questions that I have. There’s really nothing else to say other than despite my cons, I’m still hyped to see this film and praying to god this will be still good. They may put up another trailer later on, if it’s good enough I’ll write my reaction to it too.

But tell me what you guys think?

#kung fu panda #kung fu panda 4 #kfp 4 #dreamworks #po #zhen #the chameleon #discussion #sorry took me long to write this out #busy since the holidays are coming #my thoughts #artsy's writing

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felassan · 1 year

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Some snippets of interest and insight from Mark Darrah, from an older Mark Darrah on Games YouTube video where he was livestreaming playing Dragon Age II some months ago -

Chat asked "Are you devs (former devs as well) hyped and excited about entire lore and world of DA like we are?''. Mark replied that the devs do get into the lore but that they actually often lean into the community to make sure that they aren't violating their own lore (because there's so much of it). "You guys have done a much better job of curating it than we have to be honest".

A comment in chat said "I think it's important to know that as DA4 ramps up, the fandom is going to change". Mark replied "for sure, definitely, as the marketing picks up for a game you draw in more people. Also, BioWare is carrying some Anthem people that picked up that never left, that have definitely changed the tenor of the fandom to some degree".

For dialogue, the reason why the paraphrase is different to what Hawke actually says is that they found in ME1 that if they just made them the same, it felt like everything you as the PC said was being repeated because you had already read it in your head and then it got said out loud. This does sometimes lead to disconnect as sometimes what Hawke ends up saying isn't really what was implied by the paraphase. Mark said "that's why we've been experimenting with different tonal stuff in different games, to give you hints as to more clarity as to what will actually be said".

Chat asked ''what is you opinion on the rewrite/corrections of a lot of the lore from DA2 in subsequent media?'. Mark replied "My opinion is that you should try to be respectful of everything that came before as much as possible. I don't like that some of the comics and things have enforced sort've standard canon so strongly. I recognize that, especially coming out of DA:O, there's not much choice, but I feel like we could have done a bit of a better job there".

[source]

He also talked more generally about DAII and the previous games in general. These bits are collected under a cut due to length:

The messages that appear at the bottom of the DAII start screen must be hard-coded as opposed to live updates received from online, as some of them still refer to long-past things

On Varric's embellished prologue scene, where Bethany's chest size is exaggerated, he mentioned that Varric was more of a pig in DAII than he is in DA:I. "Men writing men writing women"

First impressions have an impact on players' opinions of the companions. Mark mentioned that he thinks that might be one of the reasons why players tend to stick with the first 3 companions that they get in the game, because those are the ones they're used to and are forced to get a bit more context on because they're there with you for the duration of the prologue/introduction

One of the problems with DAII is that because the followers are so locked down in terms of their abilities, gameplay and roleplay are in conflict more than they are in DA:O and DA:I

Combat in DAII is essentially the combat of DA:O (the same systems underneath) if someone took the 'knobs' and cranked them in the opposite direction really far. So the same systems underneath, but just with very different numbers in them

In DA:I, lighting (what time of day it is) was created such that the best looking lighting/time of day for each area was chosen

In DAII Kirkwall, because it was essentially such a central character in the game, actually got a lot more attention than cities usually do in DA games

The design of Kirkwall's city map actually kind of discourages you from going out into the wilderness, which Mark doesn't think was the intention

He mentioned that accents are tricky and that you want replicable accents. This was a problem Mass Effect had, e.g. with Tali. Tali's accent was one her VA could do, but no-one else could do it, so they ended up with an un-replicable accent for this character

"I forgot how many redheads there are in DAII"

Adding in some of the 'this is physically impossible irl' moves and skills to warriors and rogues in DAII helped to better balance those classes with mages, which were sort've overpowered relatively speaking in DA:O

DAII tried really hard to establish an art direction. So for example, there was a strong effort to make elves not look like 'humans with pointy ears', hence they're very angular. They then backed away from this a bit in DA:I

Chat asked ''Do you guys prefer the strongest loot to be crafted or found?'". Mark replied that crafting is a dangerous thing because some players don't engage in it, so if you require crafting for the best loot you run into the problem of players who don't engage in crafting not being able to play the game. Usually the best loot is crafted, but you need to be able to play the game without using it

In DAII they were trying to control the game economy a bit better than it was done in DA:O, as especially in the first act you're supposed to be someone who has just fled the Blight, so it wouldn't make sense to have a sack of money

On the repeating cave environment in DAII, it was a very specific hole in the cave ceiling with a shaft of sunlight hitting the ground that was so identifiable/distinctive that was what showed that the cave was being reused. "That specific spot is the main reason there was backlash about and people noticing the reused cave". Chat asked whether Mark thought that a simple texture swap-out would have helped mitigate the repeating dungeons complaint and he replied that some texture swaps could have helped, but the reason why they didn't do more clever tricks to conceal it was lack of time

Another major thing that caused the noticeable repeating environments problem is that they had the same area map, as they didn't have the ability in the engine to have specialized area maps, "so what happens is you actually get lots of times where parts of the level look accessible when in fact it isn't" (blocked off doors and not making it look like that on the minimap), and that just draws even further attention to how repetitive it is. DA:O comparatively did better at disguising or effectively reusing content

Also, chat asked ''Development wise, was crunch much worse for DA: Exodus versus DA:O or DA:I since it had a year or two development period??'". Mark replied that "Crunch-wise, yeah, DAII was arguably the worst but because the game was short in terms of dev time it was less total time I guess. But it was kind've for the entire development process so that was not great. We decided to do it in December in 2009 and shipped in March of 2011, so total time from the day we decided to do it until the day it was on shelves was about 15 months." This is why the game relies so much on the followers, because they are faster to write, usually require less revisions and you can go with the first drafts a little bit more. "If Jason Schreier says it was 2 years dev time for DAII in his book Blood, Sweat and Pixels, he's incorrect". More development time for DAII would have helped but it would have needed to have been added to the timeline in just the right way. If it had been added at the end and the release date had shifted really late in development, that would have been the biggest way to help, "because you could take the game as it was and patched over the biggest shaky bits". If it had just started with a 2 year dev cycle "I think you would have ended up with weaknesses because you would have just filled up the bucket with more content and I think the solution would've been to not do that, to keep it super tight, keep the focus on the characters and then patch over the worse of the glaring things". Also, "I have slept under my desk, yes".

(pls note that in places there is a bit of paraphrasing of the info, the best source is always the primary source with full quotes in their original context. and also that this vid is from 11 months ago)

[source]

#dragon age #bioware #video games #long post #longpost #dragon age: dreadwolf #dragon age 4 #the dread wolf rises #da4 #anthem #mass effect

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spock-smokes-weed · 7 months

Text

So I'm thinking about a/b/o world-building again, and my special interest of reproductive health and science. And with this synergy, I've been thinking a lot about how the bio functions of the omegaverse would actually work.

now I just want to preface this with I am not a doctor, I am not a med student, I'm just someone who likes learning about reproduction cus I find it interesting. I'm just a dude who makes comics I don't have any kind of medical authority. I know trying to have any kind of medical accuracy in the omegaverse is a fool's errand, but bear with me, okay?

So the biggest thing I think about in a/b/o is that there wouldn't be any periods, right? a/b/o is loosely (very loosely) based off of the mating and bio-function of wolves, and like most mammals, wolves don't get periods.

but periods are actually very useful from a survival standpoint, no matter how annoying we find them. The current theory as to why humans menstruate is that because pregnancy is so invasive on the host, it developed as a defense mechanism to protect the host from egg implantation. That's like the physiological reason (in theory) it happens, but I think we developed this way for another reason. Not getting your period is one of the first signs that you are pregnant. Again because pregnancy is so invasive, having a built-in way to tell when you're pregnant as early as possible is a very useful thing to have.

So, in a world where we don't have the same built-in warning system, how would people know whether they were pregnant or not? well, I think we should lean heavily on the whole scent thing. The biggest change to humans in a/b/o is that we have a stronger sense of smell, and we can gather greater information from scents. We can gather things like mood or arousal, and I think it would be the same for ovulation. Physiological changes already happen when we ovulate, so you would just have to make them more pronounced. The window of fertility is roughly the same length as a period, so maybe it's just that you put out a "hey i'm fertile" smell. which, considering the main demographic of the omegaverse are ppl with breeding kinks, I know you freaks would love that.

Now, you're probably asking "Lu aren't you just describing heats" well yes and no. It all depends on how you write it. Do you want heats to be their own special thing, or do you want it to completely replace periods and happen once a month? Let me explain

in most a/b/o world-building I've seen, omegas usually have a heat once every three months. So roughly that would mean 4 heats a year. Now let me ask, does an omega ovulate only during heat? If so that means they would only be fertile 4 times out of the year compared to a human's 12. And that's a totally valid route to take (but if you do take that route I would also consider how does a beta woman's cycles differ from that of an omega's. or don't. im not the boss of you)

However, if you're like me go "well it doesn't make much sense to only have 4 fertility windows. especially since omegas are prized for their fertility." then you now have to figure out if regular ovulation is distinctly different from heat. Because again if we're removing periods (which you don't have to do but I like to) then you have to consider a new built-in alarm for fertility and pregnancy. Because having no way to know when you're ovulating outside of heat sounds like a horror premise to me. Also just bad evolutionary design.

So, would heat be a monthly thing like periods? Or would heat and monthly ovulation be two different, yet connected things?

I think we could put it on a spectrum from how ovulation works for us now up to full-blown heat. When you're just getting your monthly ovulation, it would be more akin to how we get it, but the symptoms are just cranked up in how noticeable they are. You'd still be able to go through your daily life without it affecting you too much, like how it is with periods. And covering up the "i'm fertile" scent wouldn't be too much of a chore. This is how monthly ovulation would function for both omegas and female betas. So anyone with a uterus.

And heat would be more extreme than just your run-of-the-mill ovulation cycle. That's where you'd get the strong and potent scents, the fever, the vulnerability, the constant achey horniness.

This is where I dip into some made-up shit, so medical people don't come for me this is just my world-building idea on what would make a heat special from an evolutionary perspective. I think it would be that implantation has a much higher chance of happening vs. during a normal ovulation cycle. An egg can get fertilized, but if it doesn't implant in the uterine lining then it won't develop into a baby. So maybe it's the case that implantation is less likely during regular ovulation, and that's why omegas in particular are prized for their fertility. You can even do a thing where implantation is even less likely for male omegas outside of heat, so there is a cultural myth that male omegas can't get pregnant outside of heat. (like the myth that trans men can't get pregnant while on T. Everything loops back to the trans allegory for me hehehehe.)

Lower rates of implantation could make up for the fact that the body no longer has the period as a line of defense against pregnancy.

I really hope that made any kind of sense. I've been overthinking this more than I should because I was thinking about how the pill form of birth control works by stopping you from ovulating, but why would omegas need pill birth control if they only ovulate 4 times a year? Then I started thinking "well maybe they ovulate year-round like we do" and that led to me going "wait how would that work if they don't get periods." and now this post exists. Sex ED in the omegaverse must be a lot to keep up with lmao.

Now that I got the ovulating part of the post done, now to move on to "how would someone know they're pregnant if they don't have a period to miss." and that's an easy one. You can smell it. Your scent changes when you get pregnant and it'll probably be one of the first symptoms to develop along with morning sickness. I think at first it's just a change in scent, but a week or two after your scent changes, it fully matures into an "i'm pregnant" smell. And depending on when you get pregnant, missing your heat is another massive hint that you're pregnant. I think heat would still happen whether or not you're on birth control, so unless you're also taking something to stop your heats, missing a heat could be the "missing period" moment for some ppl.

#omegaverse #a/b/o #mpreg #a/b/o world building #world building #this post is so much longer than it needed to be i am so sorry #i just think too deeply on the hypothetical reproductive cycles of fake humans

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zeroducks-2 · 4 months

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I really like the fanfiction with eobard and his brother. I thought he was your OC but I read the notes and I'm not sure now. did you make him up?

Hi friend :) I'm happy that you liked my fic!

Robern Thawne appears in Reverse Flash: Rebirth and he actually is Eobard's younger brother. I promise I did not pull a Full Life Consequences on you! You can read the aforementioned comic here, but I will also write an explanation as to who Robern is and the role he played in Eobard's life.

Explanation under the cut, long-ish post ahoy!

Eobard wasn't a wanted child. His parents paid for a bioengineered designed baby with ginger hair, blue eyes and 167IQ, and then kept him locked in a playpen, only giving him attention (of the negative kind) when Eobard would break a toy. Kid grows up affection starved and with "low social skills", so his parents are urged to make a second baby.

Robern Thawne is born, but their parents still have no idea what they should do with a child, which means itty bitty 7 year old-ish Eobard is shown taking care of his little brother who quickly becomes the golden child of the family. But their parents made it so Robern could boss Eobard around even when they were very little - we see Eobard trying to wrestle his whiny baby brother into doing things and if he dares raise his voice, their father manifests through screens to viciously scold Eobard.

Robern grows up and becomes a cop, whereas Eobard lost his chance at the career he wanted because his parents made it so he couldn't complete his academic studies in order to take care of his brother. His mother used to not let him finish his classes because he had the more important task of being Robern's caretaker. He still clandestinely studies the speedforce, and the person who finds out is Robern of all people - interestingly enough, when Robern hits him Eobard doesn't even defend himself (and in fairness, he never tried to hit Robern even once, not even when they were kids).

Robern is still very much willing to arrest him by the way. He literally says "turn yourself in, you wouldn't fight your own brother", the ungrateful little shit. This is when future Eobard, in his Reverse Flash persona, intervenes and saves himself by literally erasing Robern from the timeline (making it so as things are now, Eobard is an only child because Robern was never born).

And all things considered, what he does is pretty merciful and he only acts when he has no other options, because if he had just let himself be arrested he wasn't going to become the Reverse Flash.

What I did with my fic was adding another dark layer to their relationship. Robern is bossy, physically violent and feels quite literally entitled to his brother. Younger siblings don't seem common in the 25th century, and by context clues we can assume that it's because if the family decides to pay to get another child designed it can only be because the first one is a failure, and I can imagine that among other things, Robern quickly picked up on that too. He was the "good son", replacing his faulty older brother.

Leaving a link to the fic in case someone is interested! (please do mind the tags if you click, it's a darkfic)

#again many thanks for letting me know that you liked my fic!#long post #eobard thawne #robern thawne #my asks

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