swept a huge pile of leaves off the back deck & then got hit with a powerful urge to frolic in the mangree suit 🍂

Monkey time :)

Finished Myst IV Revelation! I (mostly) enjoyed it. Some thoughts/spoilers under the cut. 

First off, I liked all the Ages except Serenia. Eh, that’s unfair. I found Serenia really beautiful, but frustrating. The water puzzles didn’t make logical, physical sense to me, even once I worked out the solution (and I know it’s a bit much to expect real physics in Myst, but being able to reason them through is key to being able to solve the puzzles, and I felt like my reason was working against me somewhat). Spire was incredible though, and I loved the twist about its true nature when you get below the clouds. And Haven... is where the graphics get the most dated when it comes to the animated creatures, but it felt, even more than Edanna, like moving through a properly inhabited world. I, too, wish to befriend the mangrees!

Also, I wasn’t a big fan of Dream, or rather, I quite liked it but it felt out of place in Myst. I play Myst for weird steampunk-esque machinery and figuring out the works of scheming people, not so much for mysticism and elemental spirits and pretty colour games (and what was with that weird music video when you first enter the Dream anyway?) I dunno. Learning that it was Catherine’s Age mollified me a little, because she can make unphysical weirdness work, but it still didn’t quite feel like it gelled with the rest of the setting for me. 

I’m just being fussy though. I really liked the story, and returning to choosing between who to trust of the two brothers again, and this time there being a right answer, dependent on having fully explored their prison Ages and learned how they’ve grown (or not) in their time imprisoned. I also quite enjoyed having an extended cast of people showing up - the video acting was a cool thing to keep doing, and I’m glad they leaned into it. And, having started this game not long after it came out and grinding to a halt, it’s very satisfying to come back to it and finish it now.

And that’s it! For the chronicles of the Stranger and Atrus at least, since I know it’s not really the same ‘me’ in Uru and Myst V as it is in the first four. And I’m quite happy to leave them there. Let Atrus and the Stranger catch a break and actually hang out for a bit. 

no one asked for this BUT I’ve been thinking about Myst Characters if they were in dunegons and dragons and now you all get to hear me back on my bullshit lets GO

Atrus: the fact that he doesn’t seem like a physical combat kinda guy + he’s a book fiend = Wizard Atrus!!!!! he learned his magic from Anna. he’s School of Conjuration bc he creates ages n stuff! love this nerd

Catherine: she’s a ROGUE BAYBEE!!!! can you IMAGINE her in a cool cloak + her moiety daggers. also she’s sneaky and a total badass (she took out two of Gehn’s guards singlehandedly, only responded to him in Rivenese. rebel ICON)

Sirrus: see I WANNA say some sort of Sorcerer because electricity -> lightning magic BUT THIS MAN GIVES ME MEGA ARTIFICER VIBES, he’s got all his cool gadgets and stuff. mad scientist king👑

Achenar: He WAS a Barbarian but after reforming in Haven he multiclassed into a Ranger instead since he no longer ✨murders people for fun✨ (also because 1. crossbow and 2. MANGREE BEASTMASTER. WHAT MORE COULD YOU ASK FOR)

Yeesha: okay so I haven’t played Uru or EoA yet BUT from my knowledge I’m THINKING about adult Yeesha being a warlock because 1) Vibes and 2) the Bahro being her patrons 👀👀.

AND THE SERENIA DREAM PROTECTOR LADIES ARE DRUIDS

LET ME KNOW IF YOU WANT A PART 2 HAHSHSJF

Just wanted to share a batch of costume photos from Mysterium last weekend! I'm super happy that my mangree fursuit was such a hit! Still can't believe I was so comfortable wearing it at Cyan's HQ on Saturday considering the heat, but I guess dry heat really does hit different! if I tried suiting like that at home this time of year I would FRY.

The whole weekend was so much fun!! I'm so happy I got to see all my friends from last Mysterium again, and make a whole bunch of new ones! And getting to meet & chat with Cyan in person was awesome too!!

I hope I'll get to see as many of you again as possible in Montreal next year!! 🩵

I finished my mangree partial!! I’m super happy with how it turned out! Can’t wait to bring it to mysterium next year :)

rejoice, bouncy mangree ears be upon ye

fursquared prep is going great so far

ok, these have GOT to be some of the most convoluted fucking digital art pieces I've ever done. but the gang's art badges for this year's FurSquared are coming along great so far!!

My goal for this year's badge batch was to make them look like miniature versions of old-school animation cels! Each badge consists of a digitally drawn foreground layer printed on transparency film, which is then carefully aligned & layered over a separate background printed on cardstock, and the two are then laminated together as one piece. It has a very subtle 3d pop-out effect to it that doesn't really show up on camera, but it looks SO cool once you notice it in person!

unfortunately can't print off any more background cards right now to finish the other badges because our printer ran out of ink... haha oops 🙃

hey, myst mutuals. who’s all planning to go to mysterium this year? i’m curious who I’m gonna see there 👉👈👀

should I post fursquared pics here too this year? idk I usually just keep those over on twitter

Omg Omg I saw your mangree partial from last year while browsing #myst. It’s so cute Omg! Very well done too! Just have to tell you how much I love it :)

aww, thank you so much!!

tbh I still can't believe I managed to make all of that in less than 3 weeks, especially considering it was only my second serious attempt at designing a fursuit. That post-con burst of motivation hit me like a truck, lmfao

I made it to wear at @mysterium this year, but I also plan on bringing it to FurSquared next weekend to give it a sort of test run, so expect better more pictures of it soon :)

so I’ve got a mangree suit partial planned for next Mysterium, I started working on it right after I got back, and I’ve made a TON of progress on it in just the past couple days! Got the tail base put together last night, furred it today, then put together both the arm AND foot bases. So I guess now all I have left to sculpt is the head base (…which is probably gonna be the most time-consuming part, all things considered, I’m a lot faster at hand/footpaws 😅)

Everything fits great so far and it feels nice and comfy to walk around in! Can’t wait to see this one finished :)

day 1 of fursquared was a blast!! met so many cool new buds and saw a bunch of familiar faces :) wish I couldve stuck around the con space even later but my legs couldn't take much more standing lol

I mostly spent today taking the mangree for a test run, which went pretty well! Even though people haven't been able to recognize the species, everyone I've talked to REALLY seems to like the ears lol, and while they make going through doors & crowds a little scary, they have some really fun bounce physics and it adds a ton of expressiveness to my head movements! The head has surprisingly good visibility and it's super easy to get in and out of, and most importantly, I can still drink out of a water bottle without needing a straw! Overall i'm super happy with this partial, and aside from the ears being a bit unwieldy, it's been a total breeze to wear around the con space! I'm really excited to take it out to Mysterium later this year :)

Here's a few photos I got with folks! I was in WAY more photos than this but I've yet to be sent them/ find them in the twitter tag so they're kinda MIA at the moment ^^'

(the other suiters in these photos go by anthroignitex, dalekeric, and kaedernathan on twitter! I'm unsure if any of them are on tumblr though 😅)

I tried changing over to my main suit once night rolled around, but I ended up feeling more comfortable in the mangree head so I switched back. Definitely gotta rework that older head build at some point now that I actually know what I'm doing tbh >.> I can still handle wearing the paws at least, so I'll probably just chill in those without the head in the morning.

but yeahhhh for now my legs feel like lead so I'm just gonna go ahead and family guy death pose for the night 😅

What’s up Mystblr!!! I finally freaking made a side blog for Myst stuff!! Imma just drop this here now :)