Care Bears. Help

So, as shown in my recent reblogs, I went on a bit of a nostalgia trip recently. I loved care bears when i was a little kid. The Care Bear Family series, The Joke-A-Lot and Big Wish Movies, and the Welcome to Care-A-Lot series, as well as Adventures in Care-A-Lot were Huge hyper fixation for me. I still have some rlly old care bear plushies around, and some figures. (id have to find em tho) Mostly of Bedtime Bear, who's always been my fave.

But I thought, hey- Why not draw All of my favorites? A lot of them are the cousins, tbh mostly just bc when all the characters are just bears - after a while - the lamb or cat character is the only really unique one. 😭 (Tender Heart is also a favorite of mine, but he isnt here bc i couldn't fit him on the page 🥲 rip bear grampa)

The Characters from top right to bottom left are:

Wish Bear, Bedtime Bear, Hugs and Tugs, Grumpy Bear, Cozy Heart Penguin, Perfect and Polite Panda, Gentle Heart Lamb, Proud Heart Cat, Good Luck Bear, and Harmony Bear. :>

Also, most of the characters are modeled after their appearance in The Care Bear Family Series, since its what I have the most nostalgia for. Especially good luck bear. :]

Also, can I just say- I adore how ungendered the characters are in the classic series. Seriously, Its immaculate. To long have we suffered under the tryrannical rain of disney gendering our anthropomorphic animal charachters. These classic designs deserve more recognition.

Like look at Perfect and Polite, The Brother and Sister Panda twins

THEY ARE PERFECT

i absolutely love your leshy design!! He’s so pretty and cool!! 💚💚

If you don't want to read, there is a small reference below

Aw, thank you. It's incredibly nice to hear from others. To be honest, I'm pretty bad at drawing characters like this (I specialize in non-anthropomorphic animals). I'm quite uncomfortable drawing characters with this kind of anatomy, I don't fully understand it, but I like it. So such words are even more pleasant to me.

Another problem is that I don’t fully understand what you write to me and what you are interested in (I don’t speak English), which only creates more fears in the foreign fandom, since the people of our country can be... Quite aggressive....

Thank you for these words to you and all of you who paid attention to my art

Especially for you, reference of a berry bush)

I have been into studying animals for basically my whole life. Not a day goes by where I don't pour through books and documentaries relating to them, and I am especially in love with their anatomy. Becauseof my knowledge,to me, 3D animals always felt weird for some reason, They never seemed animal. I don't know how to explain it but they always feel off. I pour hours and hours into making up species and trying to figure out how to make them seem animal even if they don't exist. Even Disney with their million dollar budgets couldn't get this. I concluded that it's just impossible to make something cgi feel 100% animal. But you??? Just??? Did it??? I literally have chills. They look like actual creatures. I don't know what you did or how you cracked the code but I am just in awe, I feel like I've stumbled upon some kind of hidden treasure trove. Honestly and genuinely with every animal loving bone in my body your stuff is the most impressive I've seen and I applaud you for it.

Wow, I think it's an honor to hear this! :D I don't consider myself that good, heh, but thank you very much! 💙

As an animal art lover, I think I understand what you mean! I think this because people are less aware of all the details of animals, and tend to be less picky and less attentive to their features and expressions. But if you know animals well, you can notice many small details that make them seem weird or unnatural. This is true for me too - any animal I try to draw or model will most likely be really weird and look a bit like a Vaeraf, because I'm too used to them :D

But speaking of my characters and art, this (as well as many other questions and comments) made me think about my perception of animals and my characters, so I decided to share my thoughts. I hope you don't mind! ^^ The fact that my characters are perceived as animals, with all the nuances of such perception and attitude, is a rather complex topic for me to think about.

I don't know if it matters, but I believe so - I don't see my characters as animals - meaning wildlife, because for me Vaerafes are hardly more wild animals than humans, while Tkhorm is a Varlaf, a kind of fantasy spirit, a mystical creature. I understand why other people perceive them as animals and that's ok, technically we are all animals, but often this leads to a certain impersonal perception of them, seeing them as just cool creatures, "things" to pet or be afraid of, or with a focus on biology and anatomy. But I see my characters as persons, as people in fact, with their own personality, sometimes quite complex thinking, personal dilemmas and philosophy, which simply belong to another species, even if their species is non-human, fictional and fantasy. Their movements, their expressions, their appearance, even their anatomy and species - all this is part of them as persons, of who they are.

Real animals, especially complex and intelligent ones, also have all this in their own way, they aren't just biological objects.

Also, I don't work with characters because I create species, but I learn about species because my characters happen to belong to that species, so I need to learn at least a little about their nature to understand them as persons. I learn, allowing them to live their lives inside my head and tell me their story, their life. It doesn't matter if it's something realistic, fantasy, or crazy and cartoonish chaos - that sometimes happens too. (and now I suddenly realized that I actually never even really wanted my characters to be some kind of fictional species, but it just turned out to be so, because no real animal suits them, heh!)

And knowing my characters as individuals and persons, I can say that I still have a lot of work to do, really a lot, maybe even more than I have already done :D

The problem with Disney movies, if I take the 3D Lion King as an example, is that they were never animals. They were never even meant to be animals. They are slightly stylized - too little to be anthropomorphic and humanly expressive, but enough to seem "wrong" for realistic animals. And since the behavior and expressions of the real animals don't work for their story and the interactions between the characters, they seem weird and even less expressive than real animals. I believe this is not a problem of artists and budget, but of the concept as a whole, including the story that didn't intend for its characters to actually be realistic animals.

Whereas realistic animals… well, they are difficult to use them for a beautiful movie for a wide audience. Although there are such things as, for example, "Prehistoric Planet". These are dinosaurs, but they are animals too, so I think they can be considered 3D animals being animals, heh! :D Plus, they're just really beautiful and well made. I would recommend watching this to all 3D animal lovers c:

(Sorry for such a long post, but this is a really catchy and interesting topic for me ^^')

Don’t give me wrong, I love yandere Dogday as much as the next person who ships Dogday and Catnap

But out of all the smiling critters

I always thought Bobby Bearhug was the most likely to be a yandere

⬇️Blood and rambles underneath⬇️

❤️In this AU thingamajig Crafty wasn’t taking proper care of herself (barely slept, barely ate, etc.)

💙Bobby eventually has enough of seeing the woman she loves more than anyone slowly, but surely destroy herself and so decides to take Crafty’s care into her own hands

🤍Unfortunately however, in Bobby’s twisted mind, this means kidnapping Crafty, and keeping her locked up in her basement to protect her from the world, force feeding her, and using chloroform on her when she needs to sleep at night, or talking Catnap into lending her some of the red gas he uses, and hurting, or even killing, anyone who tries to take Crafty away from her 

💕On the surface Bobby still acts like her sweet and normal self and if anybody asks her if she seen Crafty, she just says that she hasn’t and she’s very worried

💞 but with Crafty her usual, sweet and kind, nature has turned into a more twisted version of the sweet woman she once was she still very caring towards Crafty, but she’s a little more…Pushy with her love and affection 

💗And also just for some sweet, delicious angst Crafty, if presented the opportunity to escape Bobby, probably wouldn’t take it, partially because she still loves her and partially because unfortunately, she knows that Bobby is…Kinda right, she wasn’t taking care of herself and didn’t care about taking care of herself until Bobby forced her to care 

💖Also in this picture, the clothes that Crafty is wearing are actually Bobby’s, because I imagine that Bobby changed Crafty’s clothes into some of her clothes because the clothes that Crafty was wearing initially were probably dirty 

💓Also, I’ve never drawn anthropomorphic animals before, so these two were a pain in the neck, especially Bobby, I’m not used to drawing a humanoid character that’s covered in fur

Donald, Daisy, Huey, Dewey and Louie Duck in Australia in Sydney - Australia Day - Quack Pack and Duckverse - My first OC

Yes, I am late, because Australia Day is celebrated on the 26th of January, but for some reason I didn’t get to finish it until now. However, since I’m currently in the spirit of Australia, I’m going to publish some drawings of our heroes related to that country.

By the way, Australia Day is celebrated because on that day, in 1788, the first fleet made landfall and raised the British flag under the command of Arthur Phillip and founded Sydney there. Admittedly, the first settlers were prisoners.

I drew another drawing related to Australia Day and related to Quack Pack, primarily my version of Quack Pack (Quack Pack AU). I drew Donald and Daisy Duck, as well as Huey, Dewey and Louie Duck went to Sydney, Australia, of course as a tourist and reporter job (Daisy is a reporter and Donald is a cameraman). They went to visit a famous wildlife conservationist, explorer and adventurer called Steve Kangaroo (named after the famous Steve Irwin, also a wildlife conservationist, television personality, and educator who unfortunately ended tragically) and that is my first OC (original character) related to the Duckverse in general, and certainly for Quack Pack. Daisy interviews Steve Kangaroo for What In World (that's the name of the show Daisy hosts), while Steve hugs Donald, like his old friend, and Huey, Dewey and Louie hang out with Steve's son Jack Kangaroo (also my first OC and he is a teenager and is the same age as HDL), and Jack shows them a boomerang, as a well-known Australian tool, "weapon" and toy. And then there's Kent Powers, who hosts the What In World show, but he's unhappy that Daisy has taken over the image for him. There is also Steve's dog Dingo (a dingo dog based on the Ducktales 1987 episode "Back Out in the Outback"). And behind them you can see the famous Sydney Opera House.

I know that Quack Pack had problems with the writing in certain episodes, but the series itself turned out to be good, and I have one dissatisfaction with that series, that they did not introduce more anthropomorphic animals, so I did it my way, by introducing kangaroos (as inhabitants who live in Australia). XD Yes, Steve and Jack wear the famous Australian outfit and Wally Jr. outfit wildlife adventurer (if that's the right word) and I also found inspiration in Backwater Jack (also an Australian adventurer) from the Quack Pack episode "Hit the Road, Backwater Jack". Only Steve and Jack are not so timid and they are brave adventurers, and Jack would be one of the best friends of Donald's nephews, and especially he would hang out with Louie, since they have similar personalities, and he would be one of the regular visitors to Duckburg. And so they all go on a trip to Australia together. My only apologies are that the camera and certain things in bolding with the marker turned out badly. Also, Steve and Jack love this music, and it's also a symbol of current Australia: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfR9iY5y94s

I hope you like this drawing of mine and my first original characters for the Quack Pack and for the Duckverse and feel free to like and reblog this. Just don't use my ideas and my characters without mentioning me and without my permission. Thank you! I hope you like it and once again Happy Australia Day!

ULTIMATE CBS MASTERPOST

(or, a general hub to answer a few questions that my followers who are here for other things that are not my passion projects might be curious about)

recently i've been really pushing hard into working on this revival project, so i thought it would be helpful to have a nice big post with links to all of my stuff inside it!

"what is care bear stars?"

care bear stars was a 2008-2009 fanime created, drawn, and animated by joshua click (known at the time as jcstars5). here's a general synopsis:

Care Bear Stars follows the story of Terry Rogers, who meets a magical anthropomorphic bear named True Heart Bear. She gives him a magical talisman, and with it, he transforms into Tender Heart Bear. Along with the other Care Bear Stars, they work to protect good feelings and love among humankind and fight the evil Professor Coldheart, alongside a rogues gallery of otherworldly foes.

for those who don't know exactly what a fanime is and what it entails, here's a good definition from TVtropes:

Fanime (a portmanteau of “fan” and “anime”) is a type of Web Animation typically created by young amateur artists that originated on YouTube around 2006, a year after the site's launch. ... In the past, many fanime were animesque cartoons based on pre-existing anime, especially Tokyo Mew Mew and other Magical Girl shows. Tracing was also common. Instead of using animation software, creators would usually draw frames in MS Paint or Photoshop and composite them in Windows Movie Maker. ... As fanime was predominately created by very young artists inexperienced in animation in the beginning, it gained a reputation for being bad. ... Following the mainstream popularity of Nyan~ Neko Sugar Girls, this type of fanime dominated the community for a long time, but creators attempting to create genuine shows still remain and the community has grown increasingly talented and creative throughout the years.

care bear stars was received pretty well for its time for fanime, receiving a decent amount of fanwork and discussions on websites like deviantArt. though it was far from the only fanime at the time with its premise, its generally considered one of the pillars of first generation fanime alongside series like elemental goddess, and stood out for having full TV length episodes (something that was unheard of at the time for fanime).

the project was cancelled in 2009 after the creator received a cease & desist letter from then (now defunct) owners of the care bear stars franchise, cookie jar group.

for a more in depth write up of my knowledge of CBS during its active period, joshua click's thoughts looking back on the series in adulthood, and where many of the VOs in the project are now, you can check out this document i've worked on and off on for 8 years

"why do you gaf?"

autism

i met some really great friends from the fanime community and now i've imprinted on this show in my mind more than any fanime that i'd ever watched

i love care bears

autism again

as a testament to said autism: here's a collection of all the care bears stars fanart i've ever found

"okay so what is care bear stars r?"

exactly what it sounds like. it's just a 1-to-1 remake of the premise, characters, etc with what i could find of the original project + what i would have done if it were me

for an in-depth (but WIP) write up of my revival, CARE BEAR STARS R, you can click here

you can also find all of my art & write-ups here , and all of my friends' fanart here , and all of the references for them here

other resources

my twitter thread that i consistently update

my tumblr tag for posting about care bear stars

the original series in chronological (series) order

thank you so much for reading!

Do You do headcanons if so what are your headcanons. Some of mine(mostly for petey cause hes my spirit anime) are: peteys an aroace level 1 autistic,Molly definently bullys little kids on roblox,flippy and petey would def be drinking buddys,petey has insomnia that keeps him up all night were he questions his life's choices,dogman has the mine of a dog and isn't capable of human consent whichi why I don't ship him with anyone,lil petey can draw hands,sarah and yolay are dating

Those are some interesting ones! Thanks for sharing them, def going to accept some of those (especially the Petey insomniac one)

Here are some of mine below the break:

- Petey can swim, but Li’l Petey can’t. The former learned how to swim soon after the vaccum cleaner incident (from the first book), but only because he didn’t want to nearly drown again.

- ‘Molly’ is a nickname. Her real name is Margaret, but she hates that ridiculously long name with her guts.

- Grampa wanted to name Petey after himself, but Grace argued for for the name "Peter", with Petey as a nickname. Even after, Grampa still calls his son Junior because of resemblance.

- Big Jim and Petey are very distant cousins. (I've had this hc long before Scarlet Shedder released)

- Sarah and Zuzu met in passing after the latter bumped into the former during the Mutt-Masher scene in the first book. Sarah took a liking to the poodle, and then adopted her in the next book.

- Melvin used to keep a list of all his siblings’ names, and cross each one off the list when they got their first timeout. (He was ecstatic when the last one was crossed out)

- Adding to the above, Molly got her timeout after the infamous Chip-Dip Incident; afterwards, Molly made the frogs swear they’d never speak of it again. Because of said incident, Flippy no longer buys chip dip for the frogs.

- Even though Knight would screw up a lot in Chief’s presence, they were close friends before the former’s death - rip :’(

- There is a Captain Underpants cartoon (possibly TETOCU?) existent in the universe - this stems from the (canon!) fact that LP learned to draw from cartoons, saying this while doodling CU.

- Molly came to Petey lab in Mothering Heights with the intention of working on Squid Kid and Katydid with LP (and they actually did - whenever they took a break, they made song parodies)

- As an anthropomorphic cat in the DM universe gets older, they lose some fur, especially around their paws. So Li’l Petey actually does have fingers/an opposable thumb; they're just covered by mass amounts of fur.

- Both Officer Knight and Greg had heterochromia, the former with blue-green and the latter with brown-blue. (By extent, doggy man has it too)

- Petey used to be quite the doodler as a kitten, until something involving Grampa happened (screw you Grampa >:/)

- A bajillionth reason to hate Grampa; the motor brain was Petey’s idea, but it was a blueprint when the former raided the latter’s house. Grampa had changed most of its design so he couldn’t be sued. (That doesn’t mean he won’t be sued though haha)

- Grampa found Grace’s ukulele while raiding Petey’s house. Since he didn’t want it, he stuffed it somewhere Petey wouldn’t think to look, which is why Petey thought he lost it.

- Frida (who was noted to have designed the frogs in Baby Frog Squad) designed CC after Molly, at the latter’s suggestion.

And a wholesome one to close out: both of the Peteys love strawberry ice cream :)

I get irrationally pissed when people fill out my hitlist wrong, so here are some of the most interesting specimens so far:

1. I have a question of “what character types do you have” with the response options of humanoid, anthro, feral, monster, mech, & a fill-in-the-blank “other”. I have had *multiple* people fill in the “other” field with “humans” and “animals”. But the cake goes to the individual who filled it in with “anthropomorphics”.

2. I end my form with one of those free response “anything else you want to add?” questions. Most people wish me luck with the fight or link a playlist or something else friendly like that. But one person decided to write an entire PARAGRAPH preemptively apologizing if the art they draw for me is bad. Like I’m really sorry if you lack that much confidence in your art, but I am not your therapist. :(

3. Same question as 2, someone linked their gaming YouTube channel. I’m not angry. I’m just fascinated by the hustle.

4. I’ve got a “which of my characters would you draw if revenging” question. Shoutout to the responses of “none sorryyyyyyy :(“, “i don’t know your characters”, and “what’s the point of this”.

5. Lastly, my LEAST favorite response so far. An answer for the same question as 2. “if you’re ok with it i would love to see [my character] tickling [their character, notably a CHILD] especially on the stomach or legs!” I am not doing that.

.

Cult of The Lamb hc’s (part of me feels like I should wait till I play the game myself - or watch a full playthrough at least - before I “solidify” these but meh. For now at least these are how I see things):

* Kinda typical hc I feel like but Leshy is the youngest, then it’s Heket, Narinder, Kallamar, and then Shamura is the oldest.

* Idk what their ages would be chronologically wise but my personal hc’s for “biological” age are: Leshy (21), Heket (25), Narinder (27), Kallamar (32), and Shamura (40). I think Lamb is about 200 years chronologically but 28 “biologically” (I think it’s funny if they’re “older” than Narinder)

* I don’t have a name for them yet but my version of the Yellow Cat is a little bit fucked up actually. Like they seem chill and they kinda are? But they’ve got a body count. And no not the sex kind. Think of that one audio where the guy answers the body count with 30 and when it’s clarified that it’s about sex he’s like “Oh well I haven’t done that yet!” And the other persons like “WHAT DOES 30 MEAN THEN???”

* I need y’all to know I project onto The Lamb HARD. So yeah, they always wanted to be kind and sorta made it a big part of their personality. Unfortunately their world and circumstances just doesn’t allow for their kindness. They still try to be as kind as they can be, but it’s hard when you’re slowly ascending to godhood, especially into the god of death.

* Also Agender Lamb. They/Them and ONLY They/Them Lamb all the way. Demi ro & sex & pan. They’re a?ab (assigned ??? At birth; bc I can’t decide but if you MUST know I think they can shapeshift a bit now so. Maybe they forgot themself lol). Presents androgynously, leaning either way whenever they feel like it. They have a more masc voice though I think, like the ones people use in comic dubs a lot.

* Once I figure out how to draw (could stop it there I am Rusty) anthropomorphic animals it’s over for y’all (Translation: I will draw my self insert and The Lamb being kinda fucked up Besties)

* ((PLEASE ASK ME ABOUT MY SELF INSERT AND OTHER OC INSERTS I HAVE FOR THIS THE BRAIN ROT IS SO REAL))

* The cotl fandom is filled with queer people who’ve got some level of religious trauma, let me recommend a recent song I’ve been looping and imagining a cotl/narilamb animatic to: Collared by Vane Lily (look it up on YouTube to watch the fun mv first!) WARNING IT IS HIGHLY SUGGESTIVE

* I’ve been flip flopping a bit on what species she’d be but I have ideas for a follower love interest for Heket! At first I thought a bunny, then a bee, and currently feeling like a bat would be cute. Idk but I do see her as a warrior type who also likes to bake and do cutesy things too

* I think once the bishops become followers their injuries are worse but they can still “work” around them: Leshy can kinda see things if they’re up close. Heket can sorta speak but not fast and she’s got. Well not a sore throat bc. She doesn’t have one of those anymore. But something akin to that constantly. Kallamar can only hear loud things or if someone spoke into his ear directly (he only allows those in his polycule and his siblings (minus Narinder) to get that close). Shamura does get a bit lost in their own mind, and even when they’re more conscious their memory is spotty.

* Back to my Yellow Cat being a bit fucked up: They actually really liked the idea of chaos (though they hardly show it) so when they find out Leshy was the bishop of chaos instead of being scared or unnerved they’re like “*twirls hair (fur??)* ha ha ha, omg, really~?”

* *slaps the top of The Lamb, Leshy, and probably so many others don’t underestimate me* these bitches can fit so much adhd (+ autism probably) in them

* Probably (geez I use that word a lot huh?) got more hc’s, especially for other characters, but this is already pretty long so I’ll leave it here for now

introduction because i did one like 20 years ago but i’ve had important character growth

So, hey! I’m Fletch! Any pronouns, but i prefer a mix of he, she, and aer. I dislike being referred to with a label, but if you absolutely must you can call me genderfluid and abrosexual.

I’m chill with almost anyone besides the typical DNI criteria (racist, homo/transphobic, etc) though I will let you know if you’re making me uncomfortable. This is also a SFW blog; I might write down-bad posts from time to time, but I do not make suggestive art or writing.

My fandoms as of right now are Murder Drones, Terraria, Cattails, and Rain World. I like to make art and write sometimes, though I mostly just shitpost and think out loud on this blog. I use Kleki for art and Quotev for fanfiction. My Quotev username is Fletchah if you’re interested.

I’m on the autism spectrum, but just barely. My special interest is anthropomorphic animals, specifically furries. I have been one for around 6 years now.

I have chantraphobia, the fear of beads and other similarly shaped objects like pearls, peas, and marbles. Seeing them, hearing them, or just being aware of their presence makes me anxious and uncomfortable, often rendering me unable to eat or drink. It’s not fear per se, and it’s gotten better as I’ve been more exposed to them, but I can rarely touch them and am especially nervous about them being near my mouth. Imagery of beads and sometimes even the word can upset me. It’s not a lasting effect anymore though, so don’t worry too much about it :V

Asks are always open! If you give me an image of an object, a character, anything, I’ll write a paragraph or two describing it. I take art requests, but it’s a little iffy whether or not I’ll actually do them since I’m a slow worker and prioritize drawing my own characters and such. Art trades would be pretty swag too, but once again i’m not that fast. Id love to do one someday though!

I cant think of anything else to put here, so that’s it for now i guess. have a good day! drink water, don’t die, be swag

Hi it’s phurry anon! I don’t have any well put opinions myself; I’ve just been thinking about how for a long while the jokes just went into an unnecessarily sour/mean territory at least in my ears and definitely in the phandom (exactly what you mentioned in the tags of your previous reply!). It does seem like the tone has mellowed out (especially since coming out and the dapg revival) and that they’ve started leaning into it for real. I don’t think they were ever purposefully mean-mean abt it though, like I’d draw a comparison between the overly mean tone abt furries & 2012 Being Straight-business; not that they’re exactly the same, but it feels like being in the same vein to me (and phandom meanness is obviously its own thing). Anyway I love the development I’m a dnp furry truther 4ever <3

Sorry about the wall of text. I’m not really into furry stuff myself so I’ve wondered if it’s just me being too sensitive/etc, I’d love to hear your (/other peoples) thoughts!

anon you are absolutely correct, as someone who was kind of on the short end of the stick wrt phannies being weirdly mean about furries. like it was always in a Just Kidding tone but like, you can tell when people are arent actually just kidding and just straight up think youre weird :) i highly doubt dnp were ever trying to be actually mean about it, but also the bullying of furries was just kind of a universally accepted thing in internet culture for a while as like, people only saw it as a weird sexual thing. and while i'm not gonna deny that sex and nsfw content is a part of some people's enjoyment of it 1) it's anthropomorphic which means HUMANIZED and not actual animals and 2) that's not all there is to enjoying furry stuff or being a furry or whatever. ultimately, it's just self expression. it's being able to imagine a version of yourself that doesn't have to have anything to do with what you are like in real life, it's not a coincidence that furries tend to be queer and neurodivergent. idk if dnp are "Actually Furries" whatever that means, but there isnt just one way to Be A Furry. for example there are so many different art styles, some closer to western disney cartoons, some more anime, some that look like realistic animals and some that are just Symbols or Suggestions of animals. theres also levels of anthro LMAO like, human boy with cat ears and tail to straight up warrior cat, and plenty of places to fall in between. so i think dnp just land closer to the human boy with cat ears side of the scale (which tbh i dont consider "furry" but i do think is like, when you keep joking about it theres a point where its not a joke..... and i think that point is when ur putting crash bandicoot and robin hood in ur crushes tier lists)

stuff about James? I saw your post about commissions and I don't want money but i was considering drawing James and arcade for you. I'm not very good but like what's James like (socially & physically) if that's okay

YAY YAY YAY SOMEONE ASKED ME ABOUT MY GUY!!!!

Okay so, about him, which I'm gonna try to be brief lest I send a whole book overthinking small details

He's 5'10" and takes good care of himself so he's usually pretty built, muscular but with a decent amount of fat on him too (think Laios from Dungeon Meshi sort of...but he's got body hair and top surgery scars). Generally he's normally pretty clean, he has a ton of freckles on his face and body and some scars on his face too (his most noticeable ones being one on his top lip and one on his eyebrow). He doesn't do much with his hair besides combing it occasionally because he has sensory issues regarding it, so he just lets it grow out naturally instead of styling it since he doesn't like anyone touching it and can barely stand the feeling of touching his hair himself unless he has to (fun fact, it took him ~10 years to finally give himself a haircut)

Personality wise? He's very nice. That's like the main thing about him is that he's at his core a good person (he would probably always have good Karma). He tends to have hyper empathy towards basically everyone and everything, which unfortunately can cause him stress due to not everything being in black and white, especially in the Wasteland since sometimes there's no right or wrong side to things. But he tries his best to make things better for other people

Around people he's not familiar with he's kind but rather quiet, and with his friends and loved ones he loves to make them laugh and sometimes teases them in a playful way, and tends to be pretty clingy sometimes. That being said he's not always one dimensionally happy-go-lucky kind of guy, he has a lot of moments where he prefers to isolate or just sit and stew in his thoughts if he's upset. He doesn't like to rely on other people (both emotionally and physically) despite being very eager to help others, he has some kind of feelings of guilt concerning it even if he doesn't show it

He tends to anthropomorphize robots and animals, like considering ED-E his friend and being very protective of him despite being a robot with very little ways of communicating

He's generally kind of silly and curious, although he can also be serious and is extremely quick to catch details and very intelligent! (I imagine intelligence would be his highest SPECIAL stat) It's not uncommon for people to assume he's too naive just because he's optimistic either, which actually kind of annoys him because he thinks it's stupid to consider the desire to be good a childish thing

He's also autistic, which as previously mentioned ties in to him having sensory issues with hair, certain clothes, and he's also avoidant to eye contact unless he feels particularly safe around someone. His special interests are history and robotics, and his hyper empathy and strict morality is probably also partially tied to his autism

I said I'd keep it short but uh. I guess not. But otherwise thank you for asking about him and letting me ramble about my beloved oc :3

welcome back! i’ve really been enjoying langtime studio. it’s been really inspirational for my own conlanging, both regarding the linguistics stuff you guys use as well as your general workflow

Thank you! That was the hope.

For those unfamiliar, LangTime Studio is a joint project by me and Jessie Sams (@quothalinguist). Jessie and I created the Méníshè language for Motherland: Fort Salem, and we loved working together so much that we wanted something else to do in the downtime between that first season and a potential season 2 (which was no guarantee, at the time). I couldn't wait for some other job to come along, so I decided to do something with a project I'd been neglecting.

For a long time, I've wanted to do something that was essentially a board game version of the Sega Genesis game Shining Force (for newer gamers, it's like proto-Fire Emblem, but better). I wanted to set it in a post-human Earth featuring anthropomorphic animals (mutated somewhat like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), and I wanted them all to speak their own languages. They'd have absolutely no connection to previous human languages, just as they'd have no connection to previous human culture. In order to have any characters in this game, I'd have to create actual languages to draw names from, and I kept stalling.

Originally my plan was to "upgrade" my old languages. I was goingj to have five different anthropomorphic species, and I was going to take the following languages and redo them, bringing them up to my current standard:

Cats: Zhyler

Rabbits: Kamakawi

Opossums: Sidaan

Dogs: Gweydr

Mice: Njaama

I even started with Zhyler (I have a tiny little document called New Zhüler on my computer), but there was just too much to change... It ripped the heart and soul out of the original projects, and the new versions simply weren't as good as I wanted them to be.

Then I hit an idea that combined this idea with one I'd had earlier (to wit: Some famous author could set up a subscription service where essentially they write their new novel on, like, Google Docs, and they let people watch literally while they write). What if Jessie and I created these languages together, and did it on YouTube, and then started a Patreon to justify the work hours we were putting into it?

And this is where LangTime Studio was born. Jessie and I worked together to come up with the details, and ultimately we decided we'd stream every Thursday at 2 p.m. Pacific. We've been doing it now since February of 2020, and we've worked our way through the languages for the rabbits, opossums, and mice, and we're nearing completion on our cat language. Only the dog language remains!

I'd always hoped that anyone could pop in at any time and not have to be there from the beginning of the season. I mean, if you're watching Bob Ross, it's fascinating to see him start from a totally blank canvas, but if he's already got a sky, ground, and a mountain on there, it's not like you turn it off. It's still fun to see a happy little tree come into being!

Most of the time it looks like this:

That is, Jessie and I spend a lot of time to thinking and trying to figure out what to do next, and people watch and chat and give us ideas, answer questions, etc.

It's been a fun Thursday tradition for us for what's coming on three years now, and we're looking to keep going!

So that's partly what we've been up to. We didn't know how well we'd be able to keep it up with my travel schedule, but you'll notice this started in February of 2020. February 27th, in fact. I actually did have a talk in between then and the total lockdown which put our second episode on a Wednesday. The next talk I had was canceled. And the next one. And the next one. And the next one...

Of course, catching a live stream isn't something everyone can do or wants to do, but hey, if you want to know what it's like for a conlanger to work on a language from absolute zero to fairly functional, this is it. I'd always hoped especially that beginning conlangers would find it inspiring and encouraging to see how utterly and completely lost we get—and how often it happens. Like anything else, you just gotta keep plugging away. :)

The Animated History of Treasure Island: Shin Takarajima - 1965

I have been on a journey to watch every animated adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island. (I pick cool hyperfixations right?) I wanted to share my thoughts and research on them as they were compiled before hopefully making a long video about the entire topic.

So today I want to share a bit about Osamu Tezuka, "the father of manga," and his own history with the classic sailing tale — Shin Takarajima. If that catches your interest, read on!

It would take an entirely different essay to list Osamu Tezuka's works, influences on animation across the world, and other achievements. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step; in Tezuka's case, that was Shin Takarajima. It was his first manga published way back in 1947. New Treasure Island as it's known in English-speaking markets has little in common with the similarly named classic novel from 1883. Minus a young boy, a pirate, and an island full of treasure, the two share nothing else in common.

Osamu Tezuka famously adored Disney, not only supposedly watching Bambi over eighty times but even drawing his own manga version of the story. Looking to make his own version of the anthology series that would come to be known as The Wonderful World of Disney, he set out to create Mushi Pro World.

He would go on to create Japan's first-ever sixty-minute animated television program, confusingly titled Shin Takarajima. It had nothing to do with his previous work, instead retelling Robert Louis Stevenson's story with his own unique anthropomorphic twist. Sadly, this would be the first and only episode of Mushi Pro World as none of the others ever materialized. Thankfully, that one episode is one of the strongest animated adaptations Treasure Island would ever receive.

Part of this is because of what Tezuka decided to do with the anthropomorphic animal cast. It was just as common then as it is today to simply slap some talking animals onto a story for kids simply because, well, kids love talking animals. Tezuka not only gave us adorable bunny Jim Hawkins but also ran with the kind of story that we'd see fifty years later in Beastars. Dr. Livesy walked so that Louis could run.

No seriously, that joke has quite a bit of truth to it. Sure, it's a children's film so there's plenty of slapstick (some of which I'd argue is on par with early Looney Tunes) but it also manages to get a lot of smaller details of the original story down to the letter. The most important part of the movie is where it decides to stray from the original narrative.

When looking at the pirates and brigands aboard the Hispaniola, it's easy to see just how many carnivores are among them vs the herbivore "good guys" on the side of Jim Hawkins. This is a classic trope within anthropomorphic stories. What punches it up a notch is how whenever they are particularly rowdy, they start to literally lose some of their human features and become full animals. Especially when they get horribly obsessed with the treasure, even some of the "good guy" herbivores join in, losing their clothes and running on all fours, with their hands turning into paws and hooves.

The idea of literally losing one's humanity in pursuit of riches is an extremely powerful theme, masterfully executed in a way simple enough for children to pick up on and the adults in the room to be able to latch onto strongly. The only one to resist is the best of them all — Jim Hawkins.

This movie also decided to make Jim and Long John Silver's relationship much stronger than it was in the books. For those without extensive knowledge of the original book, Jim wasn't exactly mad when Long John left the crew. As the book says, "I think we were all pleased to be so cheaply quit of him."

In this case however, they find the "wild dog" that Flint is described as the entire time was also a bit literal as his treasure is just tons of different kinds of bones from all over the world, no real money of any kind. It's a strong moral lesson, not only did those who tossed away humanity not actually get anything from it, but it shows that people should strive to find what is truly valuable to them instead.

In the end, Long John completely gives up on hunting for treasure ever again and even denounces those who would continue to seek it. He instead chooses to leave Jim with a collection of shells that the buccaneer had collected over all his travels, something Jim had noticed and appreciated earlier in the film. Long John is not only trying to make up for not being able to actually split what he assumed was a massive haul with the young boy, but making sure Jim is truly rewarded for being the only one to keep their sights on what was most important for the entire journey.

Also, the movie has a sexy pin-up bee girl in it, which is probably the most important thing here so ignore the rest of that sappy stuff about the theme or whatever I just was going off about.

All kidding aside, this idea of animals losing their humanity is something we can obviously see used in huge successful animations today, everything from Zootopia to the aforementioned Beastars. The idea of the inner animalistic nature of people would be something Tezuka himself continued exploring in works like Vampires for years to come.

While it's now considered a literary classic, it's impossible to deny that Treasure Island is a story that comes with plenty of flaws. Still, Tezuka did a lot to try and patch up some of its issues by adding an even deeper theme than that of a boy just trying to be good and learning how to be courageous on a formative adventure away from home. Sadly, not all of the animated adaptations of the story would get remotely close to matching this achievement. Speaking of, if you enjoyed this, stay tuned for when I discuss the first-ever animated adaptation of Treasure Island from Mel-O-Toons back in 1960. Or if you've been bitten by the Treasure Island bug as bad as I've been, why not go learn about an adaptation with way more historical significance than you might imagine — Mr. Magoo's Treasure Island.

Me again.

Just curious.

What would you say the main inspirations are behind your OCs?

I can’t recall if I told you about mine (Leon Vartanian. Star Wars OC. Bisexual autistic ballet dancing space lion and ex-fugitive). The main inspirations I had for him stemmed from a need for Star Wars to have more non human protagonists, hence why I made him.

I don't think you did! That sounds like a pretty neat oc XD

As for the main question, you've just opened the Pandora's box of asking me about my fictional guys...

For my ocs, I think the main thing that inspires them, both in terms of look, tone and story, are just all of the things I love. Movies (especially the works of Martin Scorcese!), traditionally animated films, fashion and music of the 1960s-80s, and anthropomorphic animals.

That's probably (definitely) the reason I love drawing them so much, they're literally just a mishmash of all my favorite-est things :p

My main ocs' setting and story take a lot of inspiration from movies I've seen, but especially two films in particular- Goodfellas and Casino. I consider them both to be perfect movies (in my opinion at least!) I could go on forever about how much I adore the works of Martin Scorcese. Personally I would give anything to see a dramatic crime story such as those two films told through anthropomorphic animals in flashy clothes. Hence, my ocs...

I also really love putting my favorite tropes and characters into my ocs! For example, Klaus (the bespectacled coyote who is begrudgingly Nick's confidant :p) is pretty directly inspired by Clarence Boddicker from Robocop. Even down to the name, fashion sense, and seeming at first glance to be an odd fit for a crime boss. What can I say, I love the idea of a deranged sadistic criminal hiding under the thin veneer of looking like a college-professor.

Clarence my beloved <3

Nick himself is an oc I've had for years and years now, definitely for more than 6 years. His old name used to be Snickerdoodle

I've always been drawn to characters who look scary and dangerous but are actually just tortured souls. That explains him pretty well, I think, but I'm not sure how much of that I've been able to communicate through the stuff I've posted here. A lot of their story lives in my brain, and I've yet to find a concise way to format it all yet!

I think the biggest inspirations for Nick's personality have been characters like Winslow Leach (Phantom of the Paradise), Henry Hill (Goodfellas), Ace Rothstein (Casino), Sonny (Dog Day Afternoon), and more I'm probably forgetting.

Visually speaking, more recently Nick has been looking more and more similar to Scar from the Lion King. That's most likely subconscious- I just like characters with scars on their faces. My style has also drawn a lot of inspiration from the works of Tracy Butler, which might be a bit more than obvious in some of my fanarts.

Anyways, I think I've gone on for long enough xD if you can't tell I really love my ocs and I love talking about them (and tysm for asking me hehe)

this may have already been answered but im curious! im sure you wanted to make the main cast of lions disabled in some way as thats a core part of the story, but what made you choose which ones got which? like, hope specifically missing a back leg as opposed to a front, or storm being deaf instead of adhd or something like that? (random examples, sorry if i worded this a bit weird! just curious about the process love the story :> )

We mainly had to go with things that would work in a comic with talking animals that weren't anthropomorphic (the kind with opposable thumbs). We explored the ideas of potential injuries and deaf characters, but we knew we wanted Hope specifically to be born with her disability. Deafness didn't work in this comic format due to its inherent restrictions. Its something we felt was better suited to characters with hands and/or being animated, and we didnt want to cheat by having subtitles or something. So we looked at other options. Learned that pretty much any animal can be born without specific body parts fully developed. But she also had to reasonably be able to travel long distances. And I also wanted something I wouldn't struggle with drawing. I think I opted for the back leg because I liked how Bold was animated in Animals of Farthing Wood when his leg was injured. This was when Hope still had 4 legs so all I did was get rid of it.

Diamond is partially there to show what Hope's life could've been like had she been nurtured properly by her family (among other differences in their upbringing). She's used to getting around on 3 legs, on fairly flat terrain where she doesn't normally have to run very fast. But she is not yet used to only having one eye. Storm having ADHD and low empathy wasn't planned from the start but the more we wrote her, our friends pointed out similarities between her and themselves, so we continued to work with that especially if it meant we had another character to portray these traits in a more positive light than what's usually portrayed negatively for the sake of drama. - Cat