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therowenamacleod · 3 years

Note

14 through 20

Mun’s Asks: RP Edition

What are your thoughts on duplicates?

Yes please. Duplicates of Rowena, I am thrilled to see love for her, she deserves it. I’m down for interactions with another Rowena, plenty of ways to make that work in my book. With duplicates of other muses, I’m following some really brilliant people playing the same muses, some similar, some different. But there are so many possibilities for building plots that everything will be different and I’d love to explore that with different people too. Also, I’m open to threads with duplicates of same muses and Rowena. That said, I totally understand when people have anxiety or worries about duplicates. So if you are playing my muse and I followed and you’d rather I not, please let me know.

What’s your impression on blogs who are selective/private?

I don’t take any issue with it. I technically consider myself to be both. I know that sometimes that can read as snotty to others, sometimes people think they aren’t being given a chance at all. But I don’t think there is anything wrong with setting boundaries for yourself. I know that for me, I can’t always handle everything thrown my way at a certain point of rp. If you’ve had your blog for years, drawing the line is necessary. And the moment that you don’t enjoy something, you shouldn’t feel obligated to do it. Not everything is personal.

What do you expect from others when they want to roleplay?

Communication, ideas, and honesty. Willingness to make a starter, even if I am often down to make it maybe lol. I’m not saying people have to come with a full plot or anything. Lord knows I don’t always have a whole idea lol. But I like to write with people that can give me some ideas, even just streams of thought on the characters, and a basic starting idea. And then are able to give ideas throughout an ongoing plot as we work towards ideas we both like. And ideally the ability to just say what they are thinking ooc if they have a need that isn’t being met or a worry, etc. This doesn’t mean I require explanations for anything. Not everything will be any of my business.

What are your thoughts on people who goes all out on the aesthetic for their blogs? Do you think they’re have the right to express their creativity however they want?

I have a love hate relationship with aesthetics. I love pretty blogs. But I also struggle with vision on occasion. (I’m old okay lol) And I often have to highlight text and increase font size in my browser to read things. Hidden buttons are a pain. It’s their blog, they should do whatever they like to it. But if it’s really hard to read or find links, for me, it may be off putting enough to not bother with.

What’s the one thing you want to try the most on your blog?

I think most of all, I just want to expand relationships with other canon characters, fill out more backstory for Rowena, and write the things that I want out of fanfiction that didn’t exist when I went looking for them. Romantic connections, poly shipping, friendships, found family, more of Rowena as the Queen of Hell but still checking in on Sam, giving up her throne, living a real life, giving up immortality, various AUs, idk. There are a lot of things. I clearly can’t pick one here lmao.

Give us a headcanon about your muse that you never shared to anyone else or wanting to explore deeper.

Rowena never tried to sell Fergus for three pigs as a child. She just made him think that because she was so very frustrated with everything going on in their lives. It’s easier to let him believe what he wanted because she needed him to hate her as much as needed to hate him.

Is there someone you admire on here?

@buggeredson is amazing and I’m keeping them 100%. Mine now. Everyone who has taken the time to reach out and write with me, and everyone following back. Honestly, there are so many amazing people that I’ve met on here. Many that I haven’t gotten to write with yet and I cannot wait to do so.

#Anonymous #{ Made of Hellfire } ☽☼ { about Bryn }#{ Munday Meme Answers }

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iatasbcl · 5 years

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You Were Born

Pairing: Deviant!Connor x Reader

Summary: It’s Connor’s birthday and the two of you take a trip down memory lane.

A/N: I didn’t feel motivated enough to write on the 15th so here is a late birthday fic for my boy!! Prepare yourself for some tooth-rooting fluff and shitty references, Enjoy!

W.C: 2K? I think

Monday, August 15, 2039

The first thing Connor noticed was how abnormal the silence surrounding the Andersson household was. His home wasn’t one known for quietness nor peacefulness, it disconcerted him how he couldn’t even hear Sumo’s familiar barking that he heard every time he came back from work. The lights were out too.

The atmosphere sent him spiraling into the worst possibilities, was everyone attacked? Were you hurt?

The thoughts terrified him, but he moved towards the door nonetheless, he knocked once, twice, thrice. He touched the doorknob and it turned with ease, the door let out long creaks as he tried his best to look in the dark, he, unfortunately, was not equipped with night-vision optical units.

Something was wrong, something was wrong, something was wrong —

“Surprise!”

As soon as the word hit him, the lights were on and his eyes immediately adjusted. The inner decor was covered with birthday decorations, a big ‘HAPPY ACTIVATIᵛᵃᵗᶦᵒⁿ ᵈᵃʸ’ sign hung between the living room and the kitchen. It was your font; you probably didn’t take the size of the banner into account.

Most of the people he knew were there; Hank, Sumo, Nines, his friends from Jericho, and even Gavin. And you, who was smiling at him with the adorable smile he loved so much.

You closed in on him and pulled him into a tight hug, your lips pecked his cheek and you whispered, “Happy birthday.” Into his ear.

—

The party wasn’t over the top, as most of the people here were exhausted from another tiring Monday.

“It was ____’s idea.” Said Hank with some blue whipped cream covering his mustache, “They managed to gather everyone today, took a whole lot of convincing bring that rat-man.” Connor now knew that was Gavin’s nickname.

He appreciated it, you gathered everyone he loved in one room for him on a weekday, nonetheless. You and Hank made him cake shaped like a cartoonish robot with blue frosting, it was a bit messy, but it looked perfect to him. He appreciated the sentiment behind it even though he couldn’t taste it.

—

“Then I yelled ‘Fuck da police’” Said a weirdly drunk Gavin, Connor wondered where he got enough booze to become this intoxicated. He locked everything away for Hank’s sake.

“Detective, you work for the police.” Was Nines’ coolly response.

“Yeah… Fuck ‘em.”

“Nice,” You interjected, taking a sip of your drink “So, you’re saying where you were 15 you stole a car, crashed it, stole another car and yelled ‘fuck da police’ in the face of the office that was arresting you?”

“Yeah… it was awesome” He slurred.

“I feel like I should be surprised but I’m not.” You nodded to yourself.

—

“Hey, Markus?” Connor noticed the alcohol in your body slightly increased as you swayed next to him, “Is it true? Is Warren an android?”

Markus blinked at your sudden question; Connor gave him an apologetic smile.

“I can’t confirm nor deny that.” He chuckled.

“That’s a yes, Gavin you own me 20 dollars.” You ran to where the said man was.

—

Everyone had left as it got late, Nines accompanied Gavin to his home, Markus and the rest of Jericho went to the airport to catch their flight and a rather tired Hank retreated to his room.

It was just the two of you know, he did what you advised him to do if you slipped and drank too much. He made you coffee and gave you water, it didn’t take that long for you to begin to sober up.

“I am dating a one-year-old.” You muttered to yourself, sobering you liked questioning your life choices.

“I am technically designed to be in my late twenties or early thirties.” He corrected and you groaned, “Yeah, yeah.”

For the first time in the last hours, it was quiet. But this felt pleasant.

“Do you… wanna open your presents?”

Presents were a common part of birthday parties, given in celebration of the person’s birthday. He did receive gifts and cards from the attendees that he was curious to see.

And so, he did. He and you sat next to each other on the comfy couch and began to open the gifts.

The first one was a physical copy of the book ‘I, Robot’ by Isaac Asimov. He was surprised to see it was from Gavin, of all people. “Aw, he really loves that book,” you said, “Do you think you noticed you reading a lot in the precinct?”

Reading was another hobby he picked up, he enjoyed how relaxing it was.

The second one was from Nines, it was a mug with a Saint Bernard on it, it looked just liked Sumo. He smiled; he was going to use it for his thirium.

You were smiling too, like you felt happy for how loved he felt right now.

The third one was from Markus; it was a portrait of him. His Art always managed to take Connor’s breath away. “Damn, we gotta hang that over the fireplace.”

North gave him a custom-made knife; Josh wrote a birthday card that thanked him for his help with their cause and Simon gifted him a little cactus.

Hank’s gift would’ve knocked the air out of his lungs if he had to breath. Most wouldn’t call it a spectacular gift, but it meant a lot to Connor. It was an antique coin, similar to his dear one he lost a while ago. He flicked it into his other hand, testing the waters as they say. He knew how Hank found his habit irritating and yet he got him a new coin, a beautiful one too.

“Okay, show off. C’mon open mine.” You ushered and he noticed how you started to look anxious, “Are you alright?”

“Yes, of course, just open the thing.” You pushed the wrapped box towards him, and he nodded.

It was a scrapbook, made of polaroid pictures of him and the people around you. The first page was from the first time you met, the Carlos Ortiz crime scene. He remembered how Hank scolded you for taking a picture of this piece of shit instead of working. You did not care at all.

Friday, November 5, 2038

-Welcome to the team, Mr. the android sent by cyberlife

The next page included a picture of him and Hank in the car while you drove to Kamski’s place, he remembered it being rather… dull. You didn’t talk much nor did Hank.

Tuesday, November 9, 2038

-Going to visit Mr. I live in the mountains while the whole world burns, this should be great. Also, Connor is listening to heavy metal lol

He did mean it when he said he would like to listen to music, heavy metal has been one of his favorite genres ever since. His grin only grew wider when he saw the next picture. It was taken in Hank’s house, a shot of the TV displayed him standing behind Markus and the thousands of androids in front of them.

Friday, November 12, 2038

-This dork literally joined a revolution and won… what a power move

also hank is tearing up but he threatened to break my camera if I took a photo ):

“Hank cried?” He asked and you immediately nodded, “I told you he’s a softie… he was happy you were alright.” Right, he was almost killed beforehand by his ‘evil twin’ as you said, it made sense for him to worry.

He flipped the page and a wave of happier memories hit him. Things were still hectic since the revolution ‘ended’. Many evacuated the city despite the peaceful approach that Markus took, their fear was irrational yet understandable. This meant most of the resident of Detroit were androids.

It wasn’t bad but the evacuation only meant many humans still refused to acknowledge the fact that androids were alive and in time would be their equals in the eyes of law. It lowered his spirit a bit.

Hank wasn’t having it, at all. He decided to take out the old Christmas decorations he had and invited you over to help decorate the house. It wasn’t even December, yet you rushed here.

This one was of Hank scolding him and his counterpart while they tried to put the star on the tree.

Monday, November 29, 2038

-Life is great, Connor and Nines just tried to put Sumo on the amazing (decorated by me) Christmas tree

Androids really are superior to us

He chuckled at your comment and continued. The photo was of him in a ‘casual’ suit that hank gave him. It was your first date since you asked him out. You were going to watch movies at your place.

Tuesday, February 14, 2039

-Taking this one because Connor looks nervous… and cute.

You snickered, “Do you remember how nervous you were? It was so adorable.” He shook his head, “Yes, my stress level was a bit high. You failed to mention the date would be in your apartment and not out before I borrowed this from Hank. I didn’t want him to feel bad about it and I ended up looking overdressed.”

You chuckled, again. “Well, you still looked perfect.” Your loved complimenting him and it always made his face heat up, he bit his lip and proceeded.

The next one was of him standing in Hank’s bathroom with his LED gone for the first time since his activation, it took a lot of courage to be able to let go of what he was made for, be it that little spinning device. You and Hank were with him every step of the way.

Sunday, April 3, 2039 -My boy is accepting himself

He teared up a bit, the support he got from you and the others was heart-warming, to say the least. He held your hand and gave it a quick peck.

The following one featured a hug between him and Hank. He had received gifts from both Connor and Nines, the former gave him a card with a heartfelt message while the latter gave him one that simply said, ‘You are an efficient parental figure.’ It was impressive since it came from Nines, who still struggled with his lack of a social program.

Saturday, June 19, 2039

-Father’s Day with our fav grumpy old man.

After that was him in shorts and a tank top from last month. He stood next to Sumo with a box of fireworks in his hands. He didn’t participate with the celebration since he wanted to make sure Sumo would be okay, you stayed with him.

Monday, July 4, 2039

-Happy 4th of July! Connor, your legs were made for these shorts- god bless Cyberlife.

That night did end up being… Interesting because of his choice in clothing. He did end up wearing them a bit more since then.

He flipped the page and realized the rest of them were empty. “I didn’t realize this was why you insisted on taking pictures of me with your polaroid camera.” You shrugged.

“It wasn’t in the beginning but… I wanted to capture those moments you know? Keep them with us forever.” You moved closer and snuggled with him, “You can fill it up if you want. I know you can see any memory you want anytime but… I guess this is just a sappy way of doing it.”

“No,” he interjected, “I appreciate your gift and the meaning behind it. I also wish to have many more pleasant memories with you and those around us.” You hummed with a smile then yawned. You put your head against his shoulder and soon drifted off.

He noticed your Camera on the table next to him, how convenient. He slowly reached for it and used it to take a picture of the two of you. You looked breath-taking to him, with your peaceful face and soft snoring.

Something about this felt… right. He felt like he finally belonged. Like he found his place, his family, his love. This was ‘it’ as some would say.

Monday, August 15, 2039 -I am happy.

#happy birthday connor #Connor x reader #Rk800 x reader #connor imagine #dbh #dbh imagine

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mynameisdreartblog · 5 years

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Teachers

Aries: Football (unamerican) coach. I feel as though Betty Crocker's employees have been studying my movements in anticipation for something. Everyone I meet I assume is working for her, and that's not my paranoia acting up. Recently, factory locations have been springing up all over this country, and here I was thinking the hag would just stay in America where she belonged, but no. I was struck terrifyingly curious about this, so I looked on her website <excusing the modem's start-up process>, and look! It says here that she, herself, has ninety-plus different reasons as to why we still love chicken breasts. God, there's no way a human could write that much about chicken breasts; I'm terrified of each and every one of them if I'm quaint. This is a disturbing sight, but I'll abstain from doing something now until it really starts to become a problem… I fear I'm falling into old pits though. […] I hopped on the 'net today and I saw something only describable as vile. Fuck Betty Crocker and her offensive Kiss Me, I'm Irish cookies. Crocker, you liar and probably not even human; you are neither Irish nor worthy of a kiss. She's done it now, she's cross the line and struck me straight in the soul with everything she has: This witch wanted to infest my land with her polluted factories, steal my press with her spam articles, and now steal my culture too! [,,,] I know what I must do now; can anyone drive me to their headquarters? The new one they just built here, the one that's already polluting our water supply with chicken broth. God, I'm so furious, so vengeful, and so willing to vanquish this evil that I! That I… that. Wait, what do you mean we can't use Betty Crocker for this one? Some other epic internet-based literature uses this as a canonical joke? For fuck's sake, just use the Quaker Oats dude instead; we'll take the words we had already and change them to be about Quaker Oats and his offense towards Irish people. <Redmond starts to drive 'til their ride runs out of gas halfway through> For fuck's sake! GIVE ME THE QUAKER OATS MAN, I'M BEING PAID BY THE HOUR HERE!

Gemini: Sociology teacher. I can feel James Rolfe writing a letter that details all the offense that I caused him right now, and I'll be sure to refute his every claim like he refuted all my feedback. Just for reiteration: I will not apologize to him for those honest criticisms I made of his newer video-reviews, specifically of the 2006 Sonic the Hedgehog game and Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing. If he's been going at his online profession for ten-plus years now, then he can handle a fair bit of digital criticism. [,,,] I told him that I'd prefer if he'd respect my position more after a paragraph-long explanation as to what my position was. Frankly, I thought Rolfe would be a more understanding and self-aware person to recognize that my life as a national mailperson whose work spans across the entire Indonesian archipelago. Clearly, my goal was that he'd attempt to sympathize with my working-class struggles as he'd do with any American mailman whom he is familiar with, but I didn't get any of the respect I was expecting. Not even I was spared for the decency of verbal abuse, because I was given something worse: The unrelenting silence of zero responses towards my effortful comment. That told me that Rolfe is a man who doesn't care about the issues of working-class folks like me. I'm hesitant to state, and possibly slander Rolfe, for the likelihood that he has a strong prejudice against Indonesian and Papuan peoples by refusing to acknowledge my criticism and my simultaneous first and third-world perspective. […] I just don't know what his issue with me is; after all, I've read every one of his love letters to me and I managed to enjoy them despite how sloppy his nerdy, rage-filled writing was. I think I made out his name the best of all and the thanks he granted me for sending him all of the games nobody else here wanted. «Truce, thanks for supporting my quest to protect the world from shitty-ass games. From: The fucking nerd.»

Scorpio: Public skills teacher. "Mexican-South Korean relations, from Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Mexico-South Korea relations refers to the bilateral relations between Mexico and South Korea. There are an estimated 15,000 Koreans and Mexicans of Korean descent living in Mexico. Both nations are members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, G-20 major economies, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, and the United Nations." [,,,] Yeah, so I pulled out a random book from the library for my book report assignment (I'm still surprised they gave me the freedom to do this), and I got a book about Mexican-Korean relations. I'm also surprised by how they can create such a thick book on a topic with little-to-no history, so I naturally assumed it was some sorta fictionalized history. As you could tell, I opened up the first page to find out that the first quarter of the book was a copy-paste job from the Wikipedia article with most of the citational numbers removed. The font was also in a very large size, presumably to fill space and not be readable for readers with impaired vision. [,,,] I tried opening the pages beyond to the rest of the book's contents, but they seemed glued shut, and the more I attempted to pull them open was I expected them to rip, but they just stayed firm to the bookcase. A closer inspection revealed that it was actually a container welded to the bookcase, and that it there was something inside of it. It wasn't alive, but it could jingle alright. [,,,] I decided to pry that sucker open and I found a mysterious note, but I was scared 'cause it addressed me directly! All it told me was that I should be in bed by 9 pm; I was so scared, but I knew the note told what's best for me, and I obeyed it. The moral of this story is that you should do your homework and follow your bedtime schedule! […] «Dear Dad, stop writing in my diaries, thanks.»

Capricorn: History teacher. You can tell the people who go to this place are from the '70s. After hauling an artificial Christmas tree into a lady's car, she gave me two quarters and said, "it's not much, but get yourself a cold drink." I felt so vintage at that moment: I felt like I was consumed with vintage appeal. My worker overalls were put onto me in that moment and I was ready to work the rest of my life in a windowless retail store. But it was before they sold all of the cool shit they have now like E-cigarettes, so they just sold regular cigarettes to teenagers who had predominant facial hair. […] Right then, wouldn’t anyone be compelled to by the working-class American luxury that is a cold soda: Preferably, whatever they sold at Becker’s? Yeah right, I used to do the same thing everyone else did except I looked aged enough to not even rely on facial hair to get one of those… cold sodas. Isn’t it so vintage that we live in a polity completely built around the idea of infinite room for exploitation resulting from the false belief that there’ll always be new lands to exploit? Isn’t it so vintage that the complete destruction of two entire continents was all done in the name of securing the existing powers in Europe at the height of the 15th century when they were beginning to crumble due to their unsustainability? Isn’t it so vintage that countless cultures, peoples, and languages were… Heh, let’s not let the blade in our mouths become too sharp and let’s get back to that vintage ‘70s lifestyle. Let’s gather me and the boys to stop by Becker’s and get some nice, cold sodas… and be called a savage by the racist clerk who made sure to call the police on me if I ever walked into that place again. Motherfucker should know his goddamn place telling me that I can’t be in the store that he built on land that isn’t his. I was a 27-year-old man and that’s how I was treated… back in sunny Halifax! Ha, I still have the fake pine on all over my hands: My bloody, beaten hands.

#Zodiaccupuncture #Zodipunc #Aries #Gemini #Scorpio #Capricorn

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buddingentreprendre · 3 years

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budding

We’ve had two more lessons on entrepreneurship the past few weeks. One was on doing things that don’t scale. Personally, I understood this a bringing things that can’t be measured, like ideas, into a sort of physical manifestation which could be through a prototype or a minimum viable product. It stresses the importance of allowing these physical manifestations of your ideas to be a source of learning, I suppose, to show areas for improvement and growth in these ideas. Formulation of a well-designed product has to go through this sort of cycle, I’ve realized. But, throughout the discussion highlighted for the need to launch products fast as well which I think was a bit pressuring. It worries me personally that this rush to get ideas and products out quickly can come at the expense of the quality of the product. Sort of like what we’re currently doing but oh well.

But anyways, another topic discussed during the week were the fundamentals of pitching. It starts with the sprouting of the idea within yourself, then the sharing of this to a co-founder, then family and friends, then basically everyone else. These people can act as sources of funds to the person that comes up with the business idea. I’m not sure why, but personally, seeking funding from other people doesn’t sound very appealling to me. If I were ever to start my own business (which would probably be never), I would much rather that my endeavors were personally funded which I think would leave me with more legroom to continue making big decisions for my business without really having to rely on the input of others. That’s just my personal take though.

I also learned how strict pitching actually is! The 10-20-30 rule is actually a rule founded by Guy Kawasaki which refers to 10 Powerpoint slides being the most optimal number of Powerpoint slides, 20 minutes being the longest amount of time for you to speak and 30 being the smallest font size one can use in their Powerpoint. A pitching presentation should also contain 10 sections which highlight the problem your product seeks to solve, a detailed description of your proposed solution and the specific economics that would come with creating a business out of this proposed solution. With all this in mind, I’ve realized that it would truly take a special type of person to be able to sell an idea to a room full of investors. Sort of like how not everyone can be a leader, I think it one would have to have a degree of personal captivity to be able bring people to fund a vision. I can only wish to be able to do anything even close to that.

Anyways, so far, my group and I haven’t discussed who will be presenting our business pitch. I’m honestly not sure about whether I’d like to volunteer to do it or not (it’s a moral dilemma, honestly). I’m also still thinking about what I’d like to do with the notes left by our instructor. Not sure about what the appropriate price tag for our type of product would be, I have not really seen any applications like ours but I think that a fair way of charging would be on a yearly basis, in which there’s just a flat rate for a certain number of product information that they would like displayed on the application. This will definitely require a table. I think I’ll go do that later. I’ll also try to get on with discussing who’s going to be doing our business pitch (I personally don’t think I’m the right person for the job but I also don’t wanna be left answering questions about a product that I don’t care much for: yikes) and also on who will do the Powerpoint since there are now some very specific criteria meant for us to follow now.

This journey has honestly been quite uninspiring. I mean, though I do like to read all these stories of these people turning their ideas into full-on businesses, the whole endeavor is still very unappealing to me. First of, I’d rather not capitalize off of the problems of other people unless it was something that actually improved their wellbeing or at the very least the wellbeing of the environment. Second of, I despise capitalism (and I know, then why am I studying business then? I like to think that I can make a change to our capitalist system) and would rather not benefit from a corrupt system that shows preference for the rich over the struggling lower classes. And third, it’s just something I’d rather not spend a majority of my time and money on. Like, I’ve always thought of opening a bookstore or my own bakery/cafe but never of making that my life’s whole mission, you know? I suppose I just prefer being a contributor to something bigger to being the ‘bigger’ thing itself. I think that’s it. Nothing wrong with being an entrepreneur and all that but it’s just not for me.

Bye for now, the budding has begun and I’m now sure about how I’m not cut out for this business thing.

#bud

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woohooligancomics · 7 years

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Webcomic Whimsy: Nextuus!

Welcome to the Woohooligan Weekly Webcomic Whimsy! If you're a webcomic author and would like a review, you can see my announcement and review rules here.

Title: Nextuus: the Search for the Ocean Shard

Author: "Undoubting" Thomas Hotka • Facebook • Twitter • DeviantArt • YouTube

Site: Nextuus.com

Genres: Action, Adventure, SciFi, Space Opera, Cyberpunk, Espionage, Illuminati, Treasure Hunting, Psychic, Square-eyed minecraft people

Rating: PG13, T for Teen(?) - some language and violence

Updates: Tues, Thurs, Sat

My Starting Point (requested by artist): Chapter 8.

Synopsis: Space opera treasure hunters in a world with aliens and psychics. (I couldn't find an official synopsis on the site.)

Nextuus is the name of an Earth-like planet in some other part of our galaxy that's been settled by humans (the Confederation), and subsequently conquered by another alien race called Donts. (Rhymes with font.) According to geologist Alec Dougan, the crew of the hoverplane (not starship) the Truemark are treasure hunters. Their green-haired boss and pilot, Randall Lockheed, prefers "entrepreneur". Once famous for his exploits, Randall will find anything for the right price, although he's fallen on hard times and disbanded his crew for many months. The story opens on a new job and Randall getting the band crew back together. Add in an illuminati-like cabal of psychics and it makes for an interesting setting.

I see a lot of influences in this work: Star Wars, cyberpunk, a little Star Trek, etc. but what it reminds me of most (despite the inclusion of Aliens), is Joss Whedon's sci-fi TV series, Firefly. To be fair, Tom Hotka and I have been friends for several years, though I never got around to reading his comic work until now. He actually waited in queue like everyone else for this review and has been real patient with me while I've been struggling with some health issues in recent months. In any event, when I say it reminds me of Firefly more than of Star Wars or anything else, I mean that what I've read of the story focuses a lot on the personal relationships of the crew, who resemble the Firefly crew quite a bit. The crew's hoverplane is described as an "ancient" junker (Serenity), their mechanic is a wide-eyed girl named Elle (Kaylee), who came aboard to escape the utter boredom of her one-horse town and who doesn't seem to notice that Aareck (Simon) has a massive crush on her. Randall (Mal+Wash) claims to be all-business, but it's implied that it's all really about getting back together with his ex, Liz (Inara).

Admittedly, I'm playing a bit loose here, since Aareck isn't a doctor, he's not looking after a psychic sibling with a tragic history, the psychics are an illuminati-like cabal called the Waywachrie, and I assume Liz' profession is not companion. The major players in the political climate do however include the Confederation (probably more like Firefly's Alliance than Star Trek's Federation), and while weapons look to me like conventional firearms (Firefly) and there are no Star-Wars style lightsabers (that I can tell), swords appear to still be common (okay, Mr Universe made the point that the sword was weird in the movie, so maybe this isn't a Firefly thing).

As an aside, I have to give Tom props for some decent disguise humor. ;)

Also, my first impression while looking for some kind of synopsis was that it seemed a little Seussical when I started reading about Ways and Donts on the About page. You see, there was a Dont War, but not with Ways, because Ways don't war, Dont's war. Let's all be grateful where aren't any Whos... yet. It's a bit less comical once you realize Dont rhymes with font, but you'd have to read their description for the pronunciation guide. It occurs to me also that there's no page to describe the Confederation, which is described as the human government in the descriptions for the Nix (think CIA) and the Nextuus Planetary Defense Force (NPDF), and I'd like to see the crew of the Truemark separated from non-crew characters on the About page. And in general, I think a synopsis of the story would be helpful on that About page as well.

Tom asked me to start reading at the beginning of Chapter 8.

I dunno... is it normal to go through all that procedure when your engine is belching thick black smoke and you're crashing or damn near? "This is your captain speaking, at this time we're going to initiate crash-landing procedures, but first we're going to let the flight attendants finish taking your drink orders."

Two comments on the art here. First, although it's a bit hard to look at, that double-vision effect does a really nice job of simulating the shaking camera effect. Nice job, Tom. Second, and I'll expand on this a little more later, but I think this page could have had two of these panels, and possibly a panel or two from the following page could have been included here. The dialogue from the tower could have been presented in the same panel with Randall's dialogue, and in general, I don't see the visuals in the middle two panels adding any information to the scene.

No, we're not screwed! We're option-challenged!

To be honest, I think "you're coming in a little too steep" would have been a great punchline at the end of that first page.

Wait... is she fixing her hair during a plane crash?! <looks back> Oh, her hair was on fire, she's putting it out. I thought you were supposed to stop drop and barrel roll...

Also... you're allowed to just hang-up on air-traffic?!

I think I would have made the latter 3 panels here a single panel and daisy-chained the dialogue balloons together, using just the art from panel 3, or possibly a profile shot like panel 2 from the first page.

I think this is the moment where I really started thinking about Firefly. That line from Elle about parts falling off the plane just feels so close to the opening of the Serenity movie.

This is also the point at which I start feeling like there's a pacing issue. I realize I'm sounding like a broken record, and maybe people will just write it off when I say this from now on, I'm certainly not any kind of authority, but most of the comics I've reviewed so far seem to me to be slow getting important info to the reader. It's not always the same kind of info, for example, when I read Modest Medusa I interpreted it as primarily being a slice-of-life comedy (surreal though it was), and there the missing info seemed to be details about the main character's life (family, job, etc). In Next Town Over, which is a steampunk action/adventure, there's obviously a backstory that Erin was trying to keep in the dark and let readers piece together, although I felt like the brief glimpses of backstory were infrequent and often too short to be meaningful for me as a reader.

Nextuus gives me a wholly different kind of "sluggishness" for lack of a better term. I feel like the story is moving and things are being revealed, but that Tom is giving me too many visuals, which bumps the page count up. It's not too noticeable at first, I'm just reading along, but then over time, those creeping page counts seem to add up and I end up feeling like a whole chapter went by without revealing much information. At present, Nextuus is 34 chapters and a total of 1053 pages, and while I'm sure there are fans out there who enjoyed every page, for my part, I'm thinking about the printed volumes. What's that? At least 10 trade paperbacks? I know Tom's had four successful Kickstarters for volumes of Nextuus so far, and in his video for the last one he said the first three volumes were fifteen chapters, so if a chapter averages around 20-25 pages, you're looking at five chapters per volume being 100-125 pages? That can't be right... not with over 1k pages so far...

Okay, I'm getting into the weeds here, I apologize. What I'm getting at is that any extra panels or extra pages are going to drive up the price of the books. You could still get Volume 4 for $25 on his last Kickstarter, which is a reasonable price for a trade paperback, but I wonder if the size didn't eat into Tom's margin and make it harder for him to make ends meet in the long run. So... long story short, Tom, I think if you could cut a few of those panels in future chapters, it might help you bring costs down and may even help bring sales up if the readers feel like it's more "action packed" that way.

And that's where we get the two page landing sequence that I feel like really could have been one page.

That picture of Elle at the top grabbing the co-pilot seat, I feel like really would have worked better as the last panel on the previous page, also because then you get to see her standing behind the chair and then grabbing it without the page-break as an interruption.

So if you put the first panel from the previous page onto this page with these three panels, I think that would have worked out nicely.

The big dude on the right is One-15, who joined the crew in response to an ad. He's said to be from the planet Carthe and while the details of his anatomy are left ambiguous (I think intentionally), he certainly feels to me like a robot with an air of Star Wars (you can't say "droid", or the big silly mouse will sue your ass into the last century).

While I'm on the subject of pacing, it feels to me like Tom is kind of married to individual pages being 3 or 4 panels. This page in particular, although it is four panels, certainly feels like it has plenty of empty space that could have been used for another panel or two. Shift the first panel over to the left, slide panel 2 up on its right side, repeat with panels 3+4 and you've got a whole third row that could be the top two panels from the following page.

Aww, Elle, don't you want a puppy?!

I think that second panel is meant to be a joke? I dunno... it feels either like it needed a little more work as a joke or it's sort of unnecessary in the page.

Fine, I'll get him, just stop looking at me like that! Seriously, what is that look in the first panel?

No place that's described as "south central" has ever been a good thing. It could be south-central Candy Land and you'd still take a gun just in case of a peppermint stickup... shoot them in the candy heart, wrap them in a trash-bag and drop their body in the ice-cream floats.

Also, dude! You totally had room for the first panel of the next page up there. Look at all that empty space!

Randall, look out! There's a zombie behind you!

Aww, One-15, don't you want a puppy?!

Mustn't... look... at... empty space!

Auuugh! The empty space! It was right there at the end of the previous page! Begging for this first silent panel.

I don't think I've read enough to know for sure, but I do feel like Tom is emphasizing Aareck's interest in Elle here while writing Elle as oblivious. That's not exactly the relationship between Kaylee and Simon in Firefly, as Kaylee always showed interest in Simon, she just wasn't sure if he felt the same way until they made the movie.

Following this, I don't feel like a whole page of Aareck's commute was really needed. Maybe just the last panel where he checks the address in front of the building.

Aareck and Alec... what are they Hobbits? Biffer, Boffer, Bofer, Ron, Don, John, Kurt, Burt, Bart, Evan, Devin, Kevin...

The "ding!" sound effect at the top I think could use a little more contrast, maybe a wider white border around the text and maybe lay it on top of the company logo, becuase when I first saw it, I saw "6 Ding!"

Man, I've heard of hostile work environments, but this is ridiculous! Dude quits and the boss thinks the best way to get him to come back is to berate him as he's walking out the door? That's like domestic abuse. Chill out. Try some meditation, or Xanax, or maybe Hair Club would help take the edge off.

Randall needs to lighten up? Your last boss is apoplectic, looks like his head's gonna explode and shower the room in bald-juice.

I really need more contrast on those dialogue balloons. Several of the tails for balloons in these office pages are virtually invisible, like the middle two panels on this page. I know you're not putting borders on your dialogue balloons in general, but I think you probably should have broke with tradition for these pages.

Cynthia doesn't know what she's lost, man... a guy like you, who can appreciate the finer things in life. Like the rush of addrenaline when you see a high PH balance in a soil sample!

In retrospect, I would be fine with this entire scene starting on this page (above). You could cut Aareck's commute, walking into the building, asking for Alec and all that stuff with him quitting his job. I get that there's a bit of comic relief with the boss, I'm just not convinced it's worth three whole pages for that one joke about the bald guy who desperately needs to switch to decaf.

And then in other places I feel like the dialogue could be an easy way to shave some pages. At the end of the page where Alex says "I've always been a little jealous of you", there's plenty of room to add "because you got to stay with Randall when he disbanded the crew." It would have saved you a panel and it wouldn't have changed the meaning of the dialogue in any significant way. I'm also iffy on the need for this whole page to point out that Tim is the kind of guy who holds grudges -- that's better explained via the character interaction in the subsequent pages where Randall talks to Tim (a good case of show, don't tell). Speaking of which, this whole page where Randall presses a doorbell also seems unnecessary. I could maybe use the opening shot of the side of the building, although I honestly think the next page (below) is fine on its own.

Yes, hatred has a hard use-by date. After two years it immediately molds and that's when you start doing crazy shit like scrap-booking newspaper clippings and writing cryptic letters in haiku under assumed names.

Anyway, Tim lets Randall in and they dispense with the small talk. (I really think those could have been one page.)

Ack! A minute ago when I called those newspaper clippings and haiku letters crazy... you know I was kidding, right? Tim? Buddy?

Man, I'd have thought they'd have much better reconstructive surgery this far in the future!

On the other hand, it's nice to see Baron Underbheit is keeping busy.

I said no small talk!

Anyway, Randall says he's all business, but Tim's convinced it's still about Liz.

One Way or the other, I can never really tell them apart... Are you sure it wasn't One Direction?

Now this is getting interesting though, because I'm like 24 pages into the chapter and so far I've mostly heard talk of broken hearts, broken airplanes, and soil samples. Now we're talking about psychics and anti-psychic devices, that's cool!

Oh, uh, hi Liz. Oh me? Emotionally scarring children with my horryfing visage, but let's not talk about me. How have you been?

Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly repurpose the cheapest random objects we can find as props. It's the best we could do with the budget the network gave us.

It looks like Randall's gonna keep psychics out of his head with a giant slinky. :P

Fashionating!

Anyway, that being the end of Chapter 8, I think this fairly makes my point about the pacing of the story. Yes, there was some information in this chapter about the character relationships, but the only movements in the plot were that Alec returned to the team and Randall replaced his slinky-helmet.

Chapter 9.

The bags under your eyes alone should be a dead giveaway!

Also, it's the elusive comb! The rarest relic in all the galaxy! All these characters seem to have that Dragonball-hair syndrome.

Oh, I forgot to mention, the continents on Nextuus are named Primaris, Secundus and Tertiann. I suppose it could be worse, they could be A-ko, B-ko and C-ko.

Is it common for war orphans to enlist? Oh wait... there was that one guy...

Trust me kid, the Clone Wars were overrated.

Oh, for Pete's sake!

Your uncle sounds like A. Square.

Not sure his reaction to the haircut needed a whole page, but they did need to make him unrecognizable.

Wait... didn't she have a comb a minute ago? Maybe she was distracted by all his impure thoughts. But what's a little non-consensual probing between friends? Incidentally, Katja felt the probe was necessary because Jon was given adrenaline-activated powers by a corporate experiment...

On our world, robot technology has only reached three feet. We could only dream of having robots like you, tall enough to dunk! We have to settle for robots that are tall enough to reach the kitchen counter... with help.

The text balloon in panel 2 is a good example of why I'm not a big fan of the square dialogue balloons. Here it's created a parallel and/or bump-up tangent, and possibly a "fake panel". If you're not familiar with tangents, Chris Schweizer has a good article about them that's tailored for cartoonists like us. On the whole though, the square dialogue balloons in Nextuus seem to create these kinds of issues quite often.

A good handshake involves bone fractures, check.

That was really two panels worth of content, max.

Aww, Elle, don't you want a puppy?!

Elle twerks the engines and Randall returns without Tim. (Maybe this page isn't unnecessary, but it feels like a lot of room to say "it's good to see you again, Tim's not coming.")

Challenge Accepted!

The last panel there wasn't really necessary -- One-15 is carrying a bag at the top of the following page, where Aareck stays to help Elle. Oh wait! That page had five panels. :P I'm not sure it needed a second page though to show Aareck getting ... rejected? Dude, if you ask to stay and help the mechanic, she's going to put you to work... whether you're hitting on her or not.

I'm dying to know!

Oooh, psychics 101! You'll never have to ask anyone to pass the salt again. Does it work on pepper? What about buffets?

Okay, but if you're going to teach me, maybe you should wash that oil off your face first. I smoke a lot, I don't want to catch your face on fire.

Luke, you can destroy the Emperor. He has forseen this. It is your destiny.

Oh, for Pete's sake!

Why do villains always put spotlights over their valuables? Why?!

Oh, that's not makeup, it's a scar. Anyway, that's the end of Katja's backstory for the moment and they rinse Jon's hair.

Given the context and the fact that Katja laughs, I'm thinking gray hair is supposed to be a joke? But without knowing why Jon is unhappy about it, I'm not sure I get the full effect. Have people joked about him being "old", like Aareck's objection to "pup"? Does it make him look like something or someone he wants to avoid? Even if it's just not liking looking old (eye-bags and all), I think it would make a snappier joke with a little additional response from Jon. Maybe, "Great, now if I can just remember where I left my cane/walker/Geritol/dentures."

Overall, I think all the elements of a really cool scifi story are here, I just think the script and page layouts could be a little tighter. In particular, I love the visual design of One-15, his ambiguous physiology (robot or armored organism?), and the use of him for comic effect. I also love the Waywachrie's Illuminati-like structure and I think their masks are pretty cool. They're described as "skull masks", but they look to me more like grinning ghosts because of their round shape. That's totally fine by me, if anything I think they would be a lot less cool if they looked like more realistic skulls. So a+ on design there, at least from me.

So there's my pitch. If you enjoy scifi stories with intrigue, psychic cabals, and a lot of personal relationships, check out Nextuus!

If you are a webcomic author and are interested in a review from me, you can check out my announcement and my review-request rules here.

If you enjoyed this and want to help me make more reviews, you can contribute on our Patreon or if you're short on funds you can also help by checking out and sharing my own comedy and laughtivist webcomic, Woohooligan!

Thanks to Tom, and to all of you reading, for sharing yourselves with us! Sam

#Action #Adventure #SciFi #Space Opera #Cyberpunk #Espionage #Treasure Hunting #Psychic #Illuminati #Aliens #Review

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This company wants to replace braille with a controversial new font

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This company wants to replace braille with a controversial new font

Learning to read and write was a challenge for Louis Braille. While many kids struggle to read, Braille was blinded at the age of three by an infection following an accident in his father’s leathering workshop. Unable to see words on the page, his best chance at literacy was at his fingertips—literally.

Frustrated by existing communication options (most blind people used the Haüy system, where Latin letters were embossed in paper), Braille set about developing his own tactile writing system when he was still a child. By the age of 15, he’d created a simple, efficient system of dots and spaces contained in compact cells that allowed a reader to comprehend each letter in a single touch.

Since its creation in 1829, braille has remained the predominant tactile communication system in the world. It’s been modified for dozens of languages and allowed countless people to read and write. But braille, which is read by fewer than 10 percent of blind or visually impaired people, is far from perfect. That’s why, almost 200 years after braille was created, Andrew Chepaitis decided to disrupt it.

Chepaitis is the president and CEO of ELIA. For almost 20 years, he and his colleagues have been developing a new tactile learning system that was more intuitive and accessible than braille.

“The reason Braille used dots was because the easiest way to create a tactile alphabet was to take the point of a pen and push into a piece of paper,” says Chepaitis. “That was great. That was a revolution.” But, he argues, technology has advanced beyond pen and paper, so tactile fonts should, too.

Chepaitis has thrown out braille’s dots in favor of a system of raised symbols form from curved and straight lines. Whereas braille was loosely based on a military code, ELIA mimics the shape of typical English characters wherever possible. An ELIA C looks almost identical to the C seen in the standard alphabet, except the ELIA C rises above the paper. But for a letter like W, which a tactile reader could trace in many directions (is it a V? Two Vs? One W?), ELIA has completely transformed the character. In the ELIA system, a W is a small box with a triangle wedge at the bottom, essentially a simplification of the switchback in a standard W.

After six years of sustained research on 175,000 participants, ELIA launched its Kickstarter campaign on April 18 to bring attention to their work and raise funds to produce its tactile reading frames. The company also announced it would release a customized HP Inkjet printer for ELIA fonts this fall. A specialized HP Inkjet printer, the machine stimulates a chemical reaction that puffs up the paper in all the right places, allowing a blind reader to feel the letters on the page. With this new technology, Chepaitis hopes to rectify a number of the problems he sees with existing tactile codes.

While thousands of people say braille has changed their lives, on a purely statistical level, the code’s impact has been rather limited. Of the 8.4 million people in the United States with a visual impairment, only about 100,000 read braille. Those who are literate in braille are more likely to graduate high school and to secure employment. But the rest of the population continues to struggle.“Most of those who read braille were born blind,” Chepaitis says, “while 99 percent of people who are blind lose their vision later in life.”

Unfortunately, it’s harder to learn braille later. The National Federation of the Blind offers courses on braille and other tools for the visually impaired. Each course lasts six to nine months. In that time, the federation says, most people become comfortable using braille in their everyday life, but some will continue to struggle with speed and comprehension. And some never learn braille at all.

By building on the standard alphabet, ELIA hopes to meet people who go blind later in life where they’re at. “For them, they’ve invested years in learning the normal alphabet,” Chepaitis says. But the ELIA team has implemented other innovations in the hopes of making their alphabet easier to use, too. ELIA’s font is bigger than standard braille, because the company’s research suggested enhancing the size of the font even by a few millimeters increases reading speeds. The space between each letter is also expanded, again for clarity. These changes mean that, unlike braille, ELIA letters cannot always be read in a single swipe of the finger. But the company says that shouldn’t be a hindrance: the new tactile reading system can be learned in as little as three hours.

For all the sweat, tears, and special ink that have gone into ELIA, the system’s success isn’t guaranteed. “I’m not going to sugarcoat it: We are braille advocates in the National Federation of the Blind,” says Chris Danielsen, the federation’s director of public relations. While he thinks ELIA may prove helpful to some individuals, Danielsen remains skeptical of efforts to replace braille. ELIA argues its larger fonts and spacing are better for reading comprehension, but Danielsen contends one of braille’s best attributes is that each letter can be determined in a single touch.

There’s also the matter of accessibility when it comes to writing. Right now, people who rely on braille have roughly three options. They can write with an inexpensive stylus, which the federation sells them for just $10 a pop; lug around a six-keyed “brailler”, which is essentially a tactile typewriter; or invest in a specialized printer. ELIA’s own system is a specialized HP Inkjet printer, which debuts later this year. While Chepaitis is excited about the breakthrough design, Danielsen is worried about the price. A $10 stylus is more cost-effective than an inkjet printer, which currently retails around $200 in its standard form.

“I can only expect—and respect—people who disagree with us and argue this is not a worthwhile endeavor,” Chepaitis says. Still, he continues to believe ELIA’s potential for good dramatically outweighs the negatives. Chepaitis intends for the ELIA system will increase accessibility and reading speeds among users. He also hopes the printer, which took years of development on its own, to improve tactile photo printing. While braille can communicate some of the contours of an image, like the details of a map, ELIA’s puff ink may have more success. If all goes well kids with visual impairments wouldn’t just read the words in their textbooks—they’d get to feel charts, diagrams, and illustrations.

Most of all, Chepaitis sees ELIA as a way of bringing families together. Even if a person with severe visual impairments learns braille, their sighted family members continue to struggle to learn and communicate with them. Because ELIA is based on a standard English alphabet, it can be read both with the fingers and with the eyes. As a result, the company says it’s even easier for sighted people to learn than for the visually impaired. “[If] your mom is losing her vision, and she puts the labels on her canned goods, you can read them, too,” Chepaitis says.

Whatever becomes of ELIA, one thing seems certain: Braille probably wouldn’t have minded the friendly competition. He once said, “Access to communication in the widest sense is access to knowledge.” For all the resistance it’s received, ELIA is nothing if not a widening of the communication options for the blind and visually impaired.

Written By Eleanor Cummins

#Technology

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