More VashMeryl for the soul. 😚

ouh.... i had never heard of goblet grotto but i googled it, & the artstyle looks so charming. would love to hear u talk abt it sometime, when u get the chance or feel like it ^_^

THANK U OH MY GOD nows my chance …. idk if u wanted me to explain it in ur dms or anything so im just gonna infodump here!!!

goblet grotto is a game made by thecatamites (who still actively posts games, just mostly under the name garmentdistrict) in 2012. the main Thing abt the game is that you play as a little swamp toad knight (probably) named swampy, who ventures into the grotto for their search for goblets. the game itself though is absolutely giant, branching paths at nearly every corner and the “story” becoming more bizarre as time goes on. goblets become less of a collectable, and more of an item of worship

the moment youre thrown into the game and it begins, there are already several noises screaming into your ears. first thing you notice is the glyphs popping up at the top of the screen, each one appearing accompanied with a Horribly Loud “BWAH”. you take in the side menu, looking at swampy’s little avatar and noticing how one of the options is just “pray”, and seeing how theres a Whole Ass Paragraph describing your surroundings right now. halfway through reading the paragraph, you are killed by wolves. you have eaten 0 meats and collected 0 goblets. the game is absolutely ruthless to the player, sometimes it will just throw an unkillable enemy at you, force you to crawl around slowly without an explanation, completely destroy your save file, etc. theres also just moments where the games like Oop You Fucked Up! like if you pray too many times it completely destroys the side-text into becoming incomprehensible screaming nonsense, along with just randomly spawning pyramids that make a horrible buzzing noise that you cant turn off. also theres an npc where if you interact with them it makes all your side-text start saying weird shit.

how ruthless the game is is what makes it so enjoyable to me, its so just unabashedly itself. youre thrown into this world screaming and bleeding, and you have to figure out how everything works to even manage to survive. the glyphs mentioned earlier are a whole ass language, the translation of each and every single glyph being in the guide book that comes with the game. you need to manage to memorize a good amount of them to realize that they have An Actual Meaning and Mechanic in the game. whenever swampy collapses and starts crawling, its not for no reason, its because theyre hungry/havent collected goblets recently and theyre screaming this at you through the glyphs. also would like to mention that praying too much also leads the glyphs to become more panicked and almost trivial, eventually them turning into symbols that Arent even seen in the guide book and i had to ask thecatamites directly what the glyphs meant.

theres so So much damn story in this game, and at the same time theres little to none. the moment you see something that seems like it could be a reoccurring theme, its instantly thrown out the window. its extremely rare for something to be consistent through a small section of the game, nevertheless the whole ass game. the only example i can think of is the game’s depiction of god, who speaks in funny little typing quirks and says shit like “UP AND ATEMCOWBOY!!!!!! WORLD IS HYOU OYSTER ;^)”. its heavily implied that, once you pray too much and the side text becomes all fucked up, its god speaking to you in their fucked up little way of speaking, screaming at you to keep on moving and collect goblets and have horrible dreams and Replace all files in your computer with a list of Swears (direct quote from god). there are also altars in several areas through the game, purple hooded people surrounding each altar. if you pray at it, god just straight up appears and gives you goblets. what’s special though about the inconsistency is that, at the very “end” of the game, seemingly all the vaguely important characters that you only see once in the whole game appear once again. it just like makes it special and really sends it home. god, along with the purple hooded people appear in this area, i just thought that was fun.

also want to mention the sound design and music is so unique and honestly fantastic. i am specifically talking about the glyph’s “BWAH”s, and also how everytime you collect meat, swing your axe, and collect goblets, you hear a man say in your ear “MEAT.” “KILL.” “GOBLETS.” aside from the sfx though the music is genuinely so fucking good im not even joking. its got such an amazing vibe to it, my personal favorite is world end because of how melancholic it feels compared to every other song in the ost

theres honestly so much i could say about this game, but i have autism and cant properly put my thoughts into words, so all i can say is just Pleaaaaase check out goblet grotto, even just for a moment. the gameplay sucks complete ass if youre not familiar with it, but the newest vers of the game DOES have an immortal mode (press L at the start screen and it brings you to Secrets Menu). if you dont wanna play it i recommend vinny’s small vid of him playing it, it gets the main thing abt it across pretty well! ALSO i made a whole ass website of me just talking about everything i know about goblet grotto, its like a sort of guide for the game as theres no other good guides of it online due to how obscure the game is.

anyway thank you so much for listening to me. autism be damned i can write essays about mediocre game

(pfp anon back again im just gonna call myself rory)

More fun questions since ur my favorite tumblr acc :3

What made you initially start shipping ragequit, if anything in particular? Did it just kind of happen?

A lot of people don't finish Rain World when they try it due to it being too hard/not beginner friendly - what was your experience like? Did something in particular motivate you to finish? Did you spoil yourself for the lore ahead of time?

Are your designs more slug, more cat, a balance, or would you say there's no "line" and they are just Slugcat?

(In any AUs) Why does Hunter have the Rot? Lots of different depictions for why they have it - e.g it being an accident or smth, it being deliberate, Sig not feeling bad/feeling guilty forever, etc.

If a slugcat ate a slug would it be cannibalism

Feel free to skip any questions you don't want to answer I'm just enjoying myself tbh :P

YAY QUESTIONS!! 1) funny enough i started shipping ragequit when i was very new to the fandom (it just for some reason clicked even if i dont have wide knowledge about their characters yet) so yeah!you could say it just kind of happen! i find it silly at first actually but then i thought about it and went 'oh actually this is pretty neat this could actually work' 2) my first experience when playing rainworld was me experiencing PAIN AND MISERY as expected to new players like me. but i kept going because i wanted to know the lore and explore because damn the whole world building and game design alone took my breath away its just so pretty literally every single screenshot i took are wallpaper worthy. also i wanted to beat the game !! beating a difficult game is such a big achievement for me. also i accidentally spoiled myself in the process like a few times already but they're not major spoilers thankfully 💀 3) hmm.. well my artstyle when it comes to drawing slugcats is so inconsistent LMAO i started with the 'more cat-like' having some of them with more fluffy,curly or short fur then my style would eventually settle with a balanced style (and also cat and slug). it is very simple yes but i seem to be more content with leaving it simple as possible 4) (critical system failure/disarray AU) - NSH sent hunter to search and investigate five pebbles after he had mysteriously disappeared for several long cycles, long enough to grow suspicion throughout the group. Hunter does not have the rot when he was sent for the mission though however. something had gone wrong when he entered Five Pebbles. and you can pretty much guess just what happened to hunter next 5) hmm nah, slugcat and slugs are both different organisms

Cereza and the Lost Demon is so beautiful

I’m going to be totally honest, I partially bought this game out of spite because people were being really annoying about how “it didn’t look worth the price” and “it isn’t bayonetta so it’s bad :/” (I was interested in it too but that definitely catalyzed it lol)

Were they right? Ok, I think it’s kind of a cop out answer, but I think “if this type of game looks up your alley” then it totally is worth it, and it really carves its niche out fairly well. No it’s not bayonetta but like.... obviously not lmao? Funnily enough, actually, amidst the revival of the dumb “give me back old zelda” with totk on the horizon, I think this game hits a lot of the notes of the more linear temple-centric zeldas... 

It’s also a very pretty game in many ways, honestly possibly one of the most aesthetically appealing games on the switch overall, though I do have my gripes with gameplay. Full thoughts below, with minor spoilers so be warned.

I’m just going to start with what I loved about it, because if I dig into the gameplay first it’ll come off worse than it is, because my only real complaints were gameplay-related. The music was absolutely gorgeous and always so fitting, and the adaptations of music from the mainline games to this new aesthetic were done excellently. It might honestly be my favorite bayonetta soundtrack, and I really like those soundtracks. From fully orchestrated, lush environments, to more jovial lighthearted moments, to serious heartwrenching developments, the soundtrack covers everything so well. 

The art, too, was great. In addition to the painted artstyle, they do the thing that I fucking love in animation where there’s like a still textured background, and as the characters move, they like, move past the background? I don’t know what to call it, and the internet doesn’t know what to call it, but if you’ve seen Chowder or Gankutskuou you know exactly what I’m talking about lol. The painted aesthetic also lends itself to like actually creative uses more than just looking pretty too, most notably a part at the very end that was so touching, when you play it you’ll know what I mean. If there’s any small nitpick it’s just that the storybook format of cutscenes leads to just a few “stiff” moments? But it’s like totally understandable. 

That said, I loved the cozy storybook narration and framing, and I honestly don’t really get when people say it’s tonally inconsistent with bayonetta (I’m going to avoid the worst case explanation of this). The mythological vibes, for lack of a better word, are still extremely present, so people must just dislike that it’s a story about Cereza as a young girl? Because like obviously she isn’t going to be a badass, sexy witch as like, a 12 year old, but it’s not like the game moves the needle in the complete opposite direction and becomes a super cutesy wholesome 100 vibe. The vibe is, like I said, cozy, mythical, maybe whimsical, and yeah it’s at a slightly slower pace than the mainline games, but it’s not so out of the question, especially for a game exploring the journey of a young Cereza.

Her journey is not the deepest thing in the world, really, and it is kind of in part due to the set up of the game, where you have to collect these four elemental cores to unlock powers and get to the heart of the forest. Kind of like zelda, in a way. There are a couple twists and turns, but I think the main element is the growth of Cereza and Cheshire, independently and together. There are some tropey elements for sure, but I’ll be damned if I didn’t still tear up after certain events occur.

And speaking of zelda, I really felt like the overall gameplay loop was very reminiscent of that kind of style, but with a twist. As you traverse through each region, there are obstacles that serve as “puzzles” to solve to continue your path forward, sometimes using some mechanic that you may get in the future (there are literally bomb flowers lol), and then you get the upgrade, and solve more puzzles or traverse new types of land with the powers you unlocked. And of course, there are Tir na nOgs which, like literally everyone says, are pretty much semi-required shrines from BotW. Many of them presented interesting puzzles, some of them were just like tests of strength?? (like botw!) And of course this is all on top of the unique control scheme of controlling both Cereza and Cheshire with each side of the controller which certainly takes a good bit to get used to. The parts where you have both characters separately doing different tasks were really fun.

But, honestly, I felt like there wasn’t enough of that. Like I said there was a lot of combat trials, and honestly, even though I really did enjoy the combat, I almost wished there was less of it? There is a lot of fluidity possible between the 5 different stances Cheshire can get, and light and heavy combos, as well as bind combos, but besides that the enemies were hardly really that threatening (outside the bosses, which were certainly very cool fights) so it just felt more like an annoyance beyond the honeymoon period after I unlock a new skill. And it felt like it took away time from doing puzzles, which I wouldn’t call sparse but I would call just a little deficient. Maybe it’s because it’s relatively short, or the difficulty was designed to a younger audience? And as a result, I really didn’t feel like I wanted to go back to find the other Tir na nOgs, because their main reward was getting spirit orbs fragments of health, which I didn’t really feel was super necessary. And that’s a shame, because maybe I did miss out on some really cool puzzles. There are also upgrade materials for special skills Cereza and Cheshire can get, but I felt like I more or less got the ones I got from the materials I could get more conveniently. Overall it just kind of felt, both from a combat and puzzle standpoint, that they could have and maybe should have really fleshed it out more and get those gears turning. 

I also just would like to mention that the opening of the game felt glacially slow. Not just like introductory stuff, but pretty much everything until your skill tree gets unlocked (and you get your first elemental core relatively soon thereafter). I think I get why, because they not only want to actually set the exposition and I felt that was paced fine, but also let people get used to the dual stick movement once you get to control Cheshire. But man the base combat without any additional upgrades is not that interesting, and the very early puzzles were, obviously, pretty simple to ease you into it. I absolutely think after that part, things start to really open up and feel much much better, but that opening segment has gotta be like, a couple hours or so. 

Besides those gripes, though, I do think it’s at least a very visually pretty game with great music and a cozy story and setting, and the gameplay, if you’re vaguely interested in a game like this, definitely works well. While the extra chapter of this game does tie into Bayonetta 3, a game that I actually still haven’t played and am not planning to play soon, oops, the actual main story is fully independent. So regardless of if you’ve played a bayo game or not, if you think you’d like it, or if you’re one of those people who just really really wants old dungeons back in zelda, then I’d recommend it. Not my favorite, but a solid spinoff that I think they could really expand upon.

Welcome 2 blog!!!111!

Hey, I'm Peanut, otherwise known as Peno. (or whatever silly ass nickname you come up with for me)

Call me by any pronoun, it doesn't matter.

Don't repost without credit.

A lot of my posts would contain silly stuff, with some of them involving me or my sona with characters. I do crossovers too.

My artstyle may also be a bit inconsistent, plus some noticable referencing or inspirations.

Occassional OC posting.

There WILL be some sensitive themes like violence, smoking, alcohol, blood, gore, firearms, and some mildly suggestive content, which are usually depicted in lighthearted manners but will still be present. Viewer discretion is advised.

If you don't like what I post, you can just block me.

VN/ENG 👍

About me 🍤

Vietnamese 🇻🇳

Agender & Pan

Me like drawing heheharehrhahhr

I tend to use vulgar humor and/or say things without realizing how offensive or rude they may be until later, so I apologize if that does happen. Please be patient with me.

I am a minor.

Interests (Relevant & past stuff are mixed) 🍤

Games: Assassin's Creed, Genshin Impact, Honkai: Star Rail, Honkai Gakuen/Guns GirlZ, Bayonetta 1-3, Splatoon, Cookie Run: Kingdom, Yakuza series, rhythm games in general, Roblox, Need for Speed, Minecraft, Detroit: Become Human, Sky: Children of the Light, Touhou, Blue Archive, Nier: Automata, Omori.

Animes: Initial D, Asobi Asobase, Bocchi the Rock, Serial Experiments Lain, JJBA, Houseki no Kuni, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Chainsaw Man, Cells at Work!, Nichijou, Oshi no Ko, BLAME!, Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic, Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt.

Music: Drift Phonk, EDM, Pop, Artcore, Eurobeat, Hardstyle, Future Bass, Vocaloid and a bunch of other mixed genres.

Subjects/Themes: Engineering, Sci-Fi, Horror, Techwear, Guns, Cars, Mecha, Tacticool, Science, Chinese & Japanese Mythology.

DON'T EVEN TRY TO PARK YOUR DAMN CAR HERE (DNI)

Basic DNI criteria, zoos, MAPs, proship, ai "art", NFT collectors.

Seriously. Get out of my sight.

Everyone else is welcome though :))

website update log #7 (April 14th, 2023)

Note: all changes in the site are documented in github now :D

the only reason i havent actually worked on /index is because i cant think of any ideas of what it should actually look like..

my creative juices arent spewing out of my brain and into the site, so i gotta look for inspiration.

and what better site to look for inspiration than... neocities!

i know that i wont be using this site anymore for site hosting, but i realized that there are so much creative websites in neocities that are just out in the wild so i decided, why not use those sites for my struggling brain to figure out what my website index is supposed to look like :shrug:

when i was browsing the site for a bit, i came across this site called NOT FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION by sugarforbrains...

besides the colorful artstyle that i love so much, it made me contemplate some things about this site and mine.

well first, ive seen that same chatbox (the box on the right with the text “WEB SITE DO NOT EAT”) a couple of times now, and im thinking if i should add one as well, but like, there wont be activity for a while since only like 3 people know about this blog and website aghaha

second, im seriously thinking if i should replace the top navbar with a sidebar, as it appears here, since there has been a problem i havent been documenting as much...

...and it was centering the damn top navbar.

ok now that im actually looking at this it doesnt really look like its a problem since no one is going to use the site at 6400x3200 but it still makes me angry.

but even if i wanted to change the top navbar, thats not what im in neocities in the first place.

i wanted to find inspiration for replacing the “hello” textbox youre seeing now, but now im just getting pissed at something i already finished creating, which was the top navbar!!!

now, back to finding inspiration.

im not a fan of the grid lookin look, because of how inconsistent it looks, but ill think about it!!

oh btw if you have time, please visit the site!! it looks so visually stimulating its great!!! here

now, onto more exploration!

i found some sites by neoratz and keyzklubhouse (neo's HEAVENWURLD ଘ(ˊ_ˋ) and Key's Klubhouse) that piqued my interest ‘cause of one thing.. can you guess what it is?

if it wasnt obvious enough, its the characters on the side of the boxes!!! I wanted this thing to be the first thing you see when you enter the site! it felt good that i was actually making progress on this for once, but then i realized that...

i already did this already!!!

on my old site!!!

its the old me on the old site, on the side of the menu screen! what im planning to do here is that instead of giving one half of the home screen to the image and another half for the text box (which is shown here) im going to make it so that the box is going to be centered, and the character is going to be layered in a way where its still beside the textbox, but its layered!!

this is a visual representation of what i am talking about:

actually, ill throw another character while im at it:

probably add one more here just to fill some space:

ok this should be enough characters:

now that the overall concept of the first thing you see when you enter the site is finished, i was going to figure out what i wanted to show when yall scroll on the site, but then something just hit me.

i need a way to show the characters. how do i do that.

im actually planning to show one of my characters, slooshi (the icon of the website and my internet persona in general) but how do i present it to you??

this can go two ways. i can either 3d model the character, or draw it. the catch is that they both have to be pixel art as to match the theme of my site...

i could totally go for 3d modelling, with a more low poly 3d look, kinda like the style of pico-cad by Johan Peitz:

but i want to step outside my comfort zone, which brings me to my second choice, drawing.

its not like i forgot how to draw people, its just way harder now since i havent drawn actual people in a while. ive been focusing more on 3d modelling, game development, and school that i havent really been practicing on my drawing skills more, which sucks but its what happens...

ill think more about it, but for now i finally figured out what im going to do with the site! (atleast the first part of it...)

- sushiwt <3

Bluestar

Alrighty!

Favorite thing about them: She's a fairly well-written character, despite the inconsistencies in personality she has, especially after she died and became a StarClan cat. She enjoys being a good mentor, tries to be a good leader, but at the end of the day she thinks too highly of herself to realize when she's wrong or has gone astray. I also find her religious crisis a bit too relatable, but I won't get into it haha

Least favorite thing about them: Other than the personality inconsistencies after she died, there is also the fact that, when she was alive, the writers never knew what they wanted her to be. A good, selfless leader? A harsh, egocentrical leader? A caring mother, or a hardened warrior who has lost too much? It got so bad that I don't know anymore what exactly I remember her as. The woman ignored Fireheart's warnings, then instead of resigning when she felt she could no longer lead, she was irresponsible and kept her position, worsened Brightpaw's PTSD, left Fireheart practically alone, and almost went to war with WindClan for no damn reason? What the fuck Richard

Favorite line: I don't remember the exact quote, but the moment where she regains a bit of her awareness a little before she dies and screams at the dogs before attacking them and falling to the river. Not really a line, but this moment was an entire vibe

brOTP: I don't think she had anyone as close as a sibling other than actual siblings, so no

OTP: As much as Oakheart and Bluestar is canon, I prefer Bluestar and Yellowfang. They are two mothers who had given up on motherhood and watched their children grow up away from them, not to mention the fact that they are two very motherly figures to Fireheart throughout his journey. When Yellowfang shows up at the camp, if I remember correctly Bluestar starts treating her less like a prisioner and more like a guest once she discovers her identity as ShadowClan's doctor (of course, that includes political reasons aswell, but she respects her). They are also seen a lot around each other after their deaths, and their spirits often banter about prophecies and all of that. They're a couple to me, man

nOTP: I don't have any, unless someone ships her with Fireheart, in which case: NO. NO. NOOOOO

Random headcanon: I'm not sure if it's canon or not, but she's the sort of mentor that doesn't take it easy even if it'd boost your self-esteem. Even in your first fighting challenge, she's already giving her all even if you barely know any fight moves. She thinks it's fairer this way, because her apprentices will face far more experienced warriors in battle; and when her apprentices are able to immobilize her or even accidentaly hurt her during training, her praise is earned and the apprentice feels that because the woman was NOT faking her loss.

Unpopular opinion: I don't know if she deserved to go to StarClan all that much, honestly. Though I understand her reasons, her later years as leader were awful to the point where her irresponsibility forced Fireheart to break the Warrior Code to protect the clan at least on one occasion. Her irresponsibility also indirectly caused the death of Swiftpaw and the permanent injury of Brightpaw, and nothing is going to erase that fact. As much of an asshole that is Thistleclaw, he wasn't a bad mate to Snowfur and as far as Bluestar's Prophecy lore went his biggest crime was being unecessaringly violent, and that was the only POV we had until Spottedleaf's Heart came out. I don't know, man, I just don't think this woman deserved StarClan at all. If Frecklewish can go to the Dark Forest for "not grieving the right way", how the hell is this cat in Kitty Paradise?

Song I associate with them: Stand in the Rain - Superchick. The first animation/edit I saw of hers had this song, and now it's permanentely printed in my brain.

Favorite picture of them: I can't SAVE IT, but it's one in the older artstyle where she's in attack position in the middle of a bush, her big ol' eyes looking at the audience. Creechur

Art Analysis: Gorillaz, and How an Art Style can Lose its Edge.

Ah, Jamie Hewlett. My hero, and ultimate inspiration. I hear y’all praising Damon all the time, but I never would have gotten into Gorillaz if it weren’t for Jamie’s artstyle....at least, it was amazing. What happened though? How does Gorillaz in 2018 compare to Gorillaz in 2001? Well, lets take a look back through the history of Gorillaz.

Welcome to the first Art Analysis. I’ve wanted to do this for a while because, frankly, I haven’t seen many other people do it. Today, I’ll be talking about the art style of Gorillaz, not actually Jamie Hewlett specifically (bummer, right?) We’re going to analyze what made it great, and why, I feel, it has lost its magic. Remember, this is all my opinion. Even though your wrong, feel free to tell me your thoughts as well.

Phase 1:

(Early Gorillaz Concept Art)

The Gorillaz was born when Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett expressed dissatisfaction with the modern state of mTV. The idea of having cartoon characters replace real musicians lent itself to be a vessel for great social commentary, but in order for this to work, the characters had to be distinctive. Gorillaz in phase 1 feel very at home in the early 2000s. Powerpuff Girls, Dexter’s Laboratory, and Johny Bravo all rocked the specific, thick-lined, angular, flat shaded style, and the Gorillaz followed suit. Many have pointed out how this style feels like a throwback to 50s UPA animation, and the Gorillaz use similar animation methods as well.

Let me just say that this is, in my view, the BEST cartoon style. Phase 1 Gorillaz art and animation felt more lively and slick. They had an over-emphasized cartoonyness that not only carried their message well but also contrasted beautifully with the dark nature of the characters. Jamie Hewlett’s work in Gorillaz phase 1 was his best work to date, outside of maybe Get the Freebies.

The Gorillaz in phase 1 also remind me a lot of urban vinyls, like those of KidRobot. This may be due to the smooth, flat colors and shading. It suits the more urban feel of their first album quite well. The Gorillaz fan artist Irina Bolshakova has mastered this style and deserves a mention because I think she is the greatest Gorillaz fan artist of all time. I often reference her work more than Jamie even!

Phase 2:

The most significant change in direction in terms of the Gorillaz artstyle, atleast until recently, was with the beginning of phase 2. Demon Days, as an album, have significantly different themes than the band’s previous outing. It was a post-911 world now, and gone were the innocent, chill vibes of Self Titled. The world just got a whole lot drearier and more paranoid. The cartoon network inspired style wouldn’t work for this, and changes needed to be made.

For starters, the characters became more gritty and detailed. They often looked worn out and ghoulish, like zombies, which was especially fitting. The thick lines, unfortunately, were diminished significantly, replaced with what almost resembles pencil lines, and shading began to use a gradient. It was often darker as well, making the eyes of the characters look sunken in and vampiric. Limbs showed more of a natural curve, and were less geometric, and muscles were more toned. The characters often felt stiff and spidery in phase 1, legs jutting out at exaggerated angles. They were often posed more naturally in phase 2. The colors in this art are often muddled and dull as well. To me, I describe the style of phase 2 as akin to walking into an old, dusty antique store.

While this style works very well for Demon Days, I feel like it was overall a downgrade. The characters feel less distinctive and eye catching. That may be why they are often seen wearing outlandish costumes in this phase, but I digress. The gothic feel of the album should be right up my ally, and, well, it is. I love this album so much, as well as D Sides. And I love the artstyle, don’t get me wrong. I just feel it changed too much and lost what made Gorillaz art so appealing to me in the first place.

Much like Irina is the best phase 1 Gorillaz fanartist, Lora Zombie gets the award for the best phase 2 Gorillaz fanartist.

Phase 3:

Phase 3 marks the beginning of a downward trend in the artstyle’s evolution. Plastic Beach is a bit of an odd-ball album from them, and a hit or miss for many people. The style of the album was dramatically different then previous outings, transitioning from demons and self destruction to a “Gorillaz at Sea” carnival attraction. At least that’s how I would describe it. 

With only 1 2D animated music video for this album, and considerably less promotional imagery than past outings, there isn’t as much to go off of. The first thing I noticed was that the pencil lines in Demon Days are significantly more pronounced, making much of the art look unfinished at points(ironic, considering Rhinestone Eyes). This clashes with the more dynamic shading , leading to a bit of a strange look. Perhaps this would look good with darker colors, but since this album is much more pop-y and upbeat, the colors are actually much brighter than past incarnations. It is also here that Jamie appears to loose a sense of consistence with his character designs. Most notably is Murdoc, who appears to have gotten some sort of jaw reduction surgery (something we’ll see more of in phase 4), and at some points looks like a racoon, as the dark circles around his eyes are often extremely exaggerated. Murdoc particularly looks distinctly different at different parts of the album. 2D’s issue in phase 3 has to do with magically reducing his age. In some art, he has very visible wrinkles and a receding hairline, but other times, he looks just as old as he was in phase 1.

Phase 3 is a dramatic drop in quality, and it feels fitting that this album led to a falling out between Jamie and Damon due to his art feeling underutilized.

Phase 4:

7 years after Plastic Beach, the Gorillaz make an admittedly lack-luster comeback. Not only was the music of Humanz pretty dull, but the phase 4 artwork in general was Jamie Hewlett at his worst. The first change was the abandonment of any sort of consistent outlining on the characters. I hate when cartoons do this; thick outlines are amazing! Why tf would you get rid of them? The characters in this album are designed to look very human like, with very human proportions and less exaggerated features.

The style is unrecognizable. Eyes are smaller and less circular. Limbs are lankier and hands grosser. The classic “ape nose” seen in the past three phases and an iconic part of their design was shrunken and narrowed. Shading is more 3 dimensional, adding to the comparably realistic character designs. 2D and Noodle also joined Murdoc in getting jaw reduction surgery. 2D also grew back one of his front teeth apparently. And with this album, any consistency in character design is gone completely. I wouldn’t believe you if you told me that this:

and this:

Were the same character. What the hell? Phase 5 was a dark time for Gorillaz, and it shows, as not only the music itself, but the art also felt jumbled and inconsistent.

I feel like I should add, though, that while this is my least favorite Gorillaz artstyle, it is by no means a bad artstyle in general.

Phase 5:

It was with phase 5 that the Gorillaz started to look more like the Gorillaz again. It was also with phase 5 that Russel finally joined the jaw reduction club, but that’s besides the point. The Now Now was one of the best albums to come out of the Gorillaz, and that says a lot. It’s somber vibes were the score to my summer vacation, and were a breath of fresh air after the hot mess that was Humanz. The new art with this album took a different turn, feeling yet again like a throwback, not to UPA unfortunately, but to old fashioned comicbooks. 

This style is marked by harsh shadows and flat, two-toned shading. Yes! Its about time you brought that back. Just like the album itself, the art gives a 70s vibe, particularly with the choice of color and tacky clothing. But a few things in this style don’t work.The body proportions of the characters are identical to real humans, and the hands and ears are considerably more realistic. This really bothers me, but at this point I’ve excepted that the Gorillaz aren’t just cartoon characters anymore. For the most part, this art is more consistent and stylish, and is a welcome change to the previous incarnation.

Having a damn good style for the Now Now is great and all, but I certainly miss what we had back in 2001. The Gorillaz are less underground now, and feel more consumerized, especially seeing as Noodle has an instagram, and I feel that the art has gone a similar route. I hope to see a bit more of that classic Gorillaz in the future, and I sure hope that the television show takes pointers from the OG Gorillaz. Until then, here are the artstyles of each phase ranked:

5. Phase 4

4. Phase 3

3. Phase 5

2. Phase 2

1. Phase 1

I hope to do more of these Art Analysis. This was really fun to put together.

23 , 24, 25 ,10 for the dragon ball ask thing.

23. What is your favorite technique?

lol well, I always liked Solar Flare for some reason, I think it’s a useful technique to use to surprise the enemy and then attack while they are incapacitated. 

25. What would you wish for with the dragon balls?

*rubs chin* Oh damn, I have so many ideas I could chose from! But I suppose if I had to pick one (basing the fact that I am in the same universe for this to happen), heck, then either make me a Saiyan or an Android, because those are dope as fuck. Or infinite money. Either one. 

10. The Dragon Ball series isn’t exactly known for being consistent with its story, its characters, and various other things. Which inconsistency irritates you the most?

Oh man, I really dunno what to pick on this one. Because I feel like if I pick at something, people will bitch at me no matter what. I guess if I really have to pick one thing, it’s Toriyama’s artstyle. Granted, an artist’s style will change along the years but...Akira’s style for me went from a buffed or rounder style (which was awesome in my opinion) to making characters seem...Starved. What I mean is, making them seem thin when it shouldn’t? I dunno if people will get what I mean, but yeah. I really don’t like his new style. 

Star Renegades Offers A Stellar Take On The Indie Rogue-lite Genre

July 22, 2020 9:00 AM EST

Star Renegades is entering the saturated market of pixel-art indie rogue-lites, although its depth and string of interesting systems should be enough to make it strong enough against its competitors.

Pixel art has been undergoing somewhat of a renaissance within the indie scene for the last few years now. Massive Damage, Inc.’s upcoming game Star Renegades is part of this resurgence. It takes its own spin on the artstyle and gears it towards an interesting sci-fi setting, looking very good while doing so.

I had the opportunity to go hands-on with the first couple of missions in Star Renegades and from what I played, it’s an interesting rogue-lite strategy RPG full of varied systems, quirky characters, and slightly inconsistent dialogue.

The early moments of the game set you up for a big revenge story, crossing multiple realities in order to exact vengeance on invading forces. The game quickly, however, seems to forget about the story in favor of witty dialogue exchanges between characters and its interesting gameplay loop, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Strategy games aren’t always known for the best stories, so I’m hoping this continues throughout and is just supplementary to the gameplay.

The core gameplay of Star Renegades is split into two parts, exploring and battling, with each section littered with various systems. You enter your scenario on a randomly generated map that has rebellion forces scattered throughout who are trying to impede you from completing your goal.

The missions I played in this build weren’t particularly creative or different from anything else I’ve played within the strategy genre, but what did differentiate Star Renegades from its counterparts was the battle system.

When you encounter foes, you enter (with quite a long jarring delay at points) what the game calls a “deterministic combat system.” Everything within battle takes place on a timeline displayed at the top of the screen. The timeline is completely transparent, showing you how and when the giant robot enemies plan to attack, allowing you to then strategically plan your turn. Some of your attacks hit harder but will fall further down the timeline leaving you open, while others are quicker but are likely to deal less damage. Sometimes, it’s also just best to not attack at all.

The combat in Star Renegades is extremely tactical and is all about being opportunistic and having a solid but adaptable plan.

The most basic, but effective method I found was simply to attack before the enemies could attack me, which in doing so led to landing critical hits. By attacking first you could also stagger and then break the enemies, with each attack pushing the adversary further down the timeline. This lets you knock them off it and stop them from attacking this turn. The combat in Star Renegades is extremely tactical and is all about being opportunistic and having a solid but adaptable plan.

Like most RPG battles, Star Renegades has strengths, weaknesses, and immunities system incorporated into it. This adds yet another layer of depth to combat. Yes, your light attack will be quicker and allow you to hit first, but it will deal significantly less damage to your enemy and might, therefore, be counterproductive to your overall strategy. Battles also have combo attacks, which are stronger moves that take place between two of your party members whose relationships have been leveled up by the campfire (I’ll touch on this later).

Not only are the battles incredibly deep system-wise, but they also look and sound great too. The attack animations are nice and the sound design is fantastic with each move or enemy death sounding slightly different to the last – it’s really damn cool.

While the battle system is unique (at least as far as any game I’ve played) some of Star Renegades’ other features are borrowed or at least heavily influenced by other games. The opposing rebellion forces have “adversaries” – enemies that are unique and get promoted, evolve, and grow whenever they defeat you. It’s very much like the nemesis system from the Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor/War games. It’s a system which when first released I (as well as many in the industry) thought would become much more commonplace within games. However, this seems like one of the first instances I’ve seen of it outside of its originating series, and most importantly, it has been implemented well.

Depending on what you are tackling you may also have to camp partway through or at the end of a mission. This is a system that, to me at least, feels reminiscent of camping within Darkest Dungeon. This time though you use cards to determine your actions. When you set up camp you have a predetermined amount of action points which allows you to play cards and use up these points to benefit your party. Cards range from healing and armor repairing to relationship building. The relationship-building cards help boost the affinity between two party members which in turn helps improve the aforementioned combos in battle. I’m not sure of the necessity of it being cards rather than character-based skills, but it’s not a huge gripe.

Other influences within the game are slightly more referential but are welcome nonetheless, with small nods to Super Smash Bros. and Star Wars creeping in. Most importantly of all, you can pet the dog in Star Renegades.

There are a couple of further systems in Star Renegades based around leveling up. The main system is simple and sees you earning DNA after every battle and then investing that into leveling up your party members. Secondary to that, when you return to base, you can spend your research points, earned by beating or damaging enemies, on new heroes, upgrades to existing heroes, and perks for your party.

Star Renegades states that there will be 13 different classes at launch. While the game itself is deep and varied, I didn’t particularly see that in the classes I got to use. Visually and personality-wise, each one is unique but I didn’t see a huge difference in play style. I’m willing at this point, based on how many systems this game has, to chalk it up to the fact my party members were all level one and at the beginning of the game, and the more they level up the more they’ll evolve and differentiate themselves. The differing personalities added some light relief and fun dialogue in what is otherwise a thematically dark game, although, at times, the conversations could feel quite contrived.

Overall, what I got to play of Star Renegades showed a deep and complex strategy RPG with some genuinely interesting gameplay systems integrated throughout. The systems and gameplay loop should be strong enough to support what I feel is, at least at this early stage, a slightly lukewarm and unoriginal story. The two missions I played have done more than enough to intrigue me and have definitely made me want to see how the game evolves before it comes out on PC and consoles later this year. It’s certainly one to keep an eye out for.

July 22, 2020 9:00 AM EST

from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2020/07/star-renegades-offers-a-stellar-take-on-the-indie-rogue-lite-genre/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=star-renegades-offers-a-stellar-take-on-the-indie-rogue-lite-genre

My thoughts on Wreck-it Ralph 2

(Originally posted on Deviantart June 27, 2018)

I know what you`re thinking. Isn`t it too early to talk about a movie that hasn`t even come out yet and that we`ve only seen two trailers of so far?* Yes, yes it is. But I`m gonna do it anyway. And technically, by internet standard I`m not too early. More than a few people before me have already published editorials or videos or other form of reactions where they`ve picked apart, nitpicked, overreacted or in other ways jumped to conclusions about things they don`t know enough about. By internet standard I`m pretty late to the party. Grin like a moron and giggle like an idiot Not gonna lie, part of... ("part of?" Oh who am I kidding?) The reason I`m writing this is because of the  scene where Vanellope meets the Disney Princesses. Like most of you I read about this online and it became this movie`s "too fun to miss" thing for me. When the first Wreck-it Ralph movie came out I was on the fence about seeing it, but then I saw a pic from the Bad anon meeting and I felt that a movie with a scene where several famous videogame badguys (like M. Bison, Eggman and Bowser) go to a support group seemed too fun to miss. I had a similar thing with Guardians of the Galaxy where the idea of a talking, machinegun-wielding racoon in a Marvel movie was the "too fun to miss" thing. After that the next movie with a "too fun to miss" thing was Moana, because I did not want to miss the chance of seeing Dwayne Johnson in a Disney musical. Not gonna lie, when I first read that the Disney Princesses where gonna show up together in Wreck-it Ralph 2 I grinned like a moron and giggled like an idiot. One comment I`ve heard somewhere about this scene is that what it does is not very new or original since Enchanted did the whole "Disney poking fun at itself" first, years ago. Another comment is that people have been making Disney crossovers in fanfics and fan art for years and that Disney themselves are pretty damn late when it comes to doing it themselves. Yeah, and? First: People seem to think that something has to be new or original to be good. While originality is a good thing it is not always necessary. Something that is not original can be good if you do something interesting and creative with it. Before Toy story there was a tv movie where toys came to life. It also had a protagonist, who was the favorite toy, that had to deal with a newcomer who was a sci-fi action-figure who didn`t know that they, themself were a toy. It`s called The Christmas toy, made by Eric Till and Jim Henson. It came out 1986 and it`s existence does not make Toy story worse. Toy story does more with the "living toys" idea than The Christmas toy did and it was funnier. Second: Yeah, it`s a little late. But better late than never. Press start button for hero`s journey As much as the princess scene is the biggest reason I want to see this movie, my common sense told me that this is only gonna be one scene that most likely will only take two minutes max of the movie`s runtime. And no, I`m not one of those who wonders "Where`s Kida? Where`s Meg? Where`s Eilonwy?" Because I`m reasonable. You can`t put everyone who has two X chromosomes in the Princess lineup. But Moana`s in the room with the other princesses and she`s not in the official lineup. Most likely because animated movies take a long time to make and the filmmakers probably assumed that she would be included in the lineup by the time the first trailer premiered. Personally I don`t mind, because Moana`s awesome. But it would be fun if Kida, Meg and Eilonwy at least got a small cameo, like Chun Li and Cammy got in the first movie. It would be a nice way for the filmmakers to show that they remember the little ones. But this is not a movie about Ralph and Vanellope meeting the princesses, it`s a movie about Ralph and Vanellope travelling the internet and doing so for a reason. If you`ve read the plot synopsis you know that someting in Vanellope`s game breaks down and they can only get a replacement for it somewhere on the internet. I have a few predictions (most of them will probably be wrong) and a few hopes (most of them will probably not happen) about where this film is going. This film may take inspiration from Homer`s The Odyssey and the tale of Orpheus and Eurydice. Both are stories where the protagonist goes on a challenging journey filled with obstacles and dangers. And, since it is implied in the title that there will be some degree of destruction: National Lampoon`s European Vacation. Maybe the movie will have some commentary about internet culture and how much time we spend online? Maybe. These are the thoughts I had before the release of the second trailer. Here are the thoughts I had after I saw it. When princesses attack or: How I learned to stop worrying too much and be OK with what I saw I have to admit that I like the Disney Princesses scene... But I also have mixed feelings about it. Part of it is the design, I would have preferred it if they had been closer to their original design. I`m not saying that the 2D princesses should have been in 2D but I would have liked if their 3D form had been more directly translated from their original versions. I can however understand why they changed it. The "real life" humans in this world don`t look very close to us in their design, they are slightly stylized and caricatured. To put a fictional character that looks closer to us in their world would make them stand out a little. However, there are only two of the princesses that are made to look as close to real people as possible in the princess lineup: Snowwhite and Cinderella. So maybe you could tweak their design a little while leaving the rest of the 2D princesses the same (just translated to 3D) and leave the 3D princesses untouched. But then again, changing only two characters from their iconic look that the public is used to and leave the rest with their iconic looks unchanged would probably create a feeling of inconsistency. Their classic looks, while not drawn by the same artist and therefor not very consistent in artstyle, are familiar to us and we like familiarity so we overlook the inconsistency. And technically, Disney has kinda built their brand on familiarity. Personally I believe that it could have been funnier if they had looked closer to their original designs while acting like they did in the trailer. It`s similar to David Zucker`s first rule of comedy: deliver a funny line with a serious face. I wouldn`t mind if they had compromised and gone 50/50 between the classical designs and the WiR 2 designs. Another option is to keep the WiR2 designs and only change one thing: Cinderella`s hair. They have kept the most distinguishing features from the old classics in their new designs so that you can recognize them despite the new look, except Cinderella`s hair. In the classic version her hair was more of (for lack of a better word to discribe it) a curve. Here it`s just an ordinary hairbun, not as iconic or recognizable. She can keep her ears but don`t lose the hair curve. *** It`s similar to the Doctor`s Tardis in Dr Who, sure, it`s an old look but it makes it more recognizable and timeless. And While we`re on the subject: yes, they made Merida`s eyes a little too big. And then the jokes. The jokes were fine. I especially found it funny when Punzie and Belle asked Vanellope with great interest if she`d ever been kidnapped or enslaved and Vanellope wondered if she should call the police. About this line from the trailer: Rapunzel: Do people assume all your problems got solved because a big strong man showed up? Vanellope: Yes! What is up with that? It`s technically not bad, it`s just that the feminist commentary in he trailer to The Lego Movie 2 was funnier. Sweet Mayhem: This guy was a fierce warrior? Wyldstyle: Okay, well, technically, *I* did the warrior stuff, but... Sweet Mayhem: So you fought, and master built, and kicked butt, and then the hapless male was the leader. Wyldstyle: He, uh... Well... The commentary in WiR 2 just felt like, exactly that, a commentary. One that was very light on the funny. But what if you don`t compare it to lines from other movies? What if you just focus on how it works in it`s own? Still not as good as Vanellope`s  "Should I call the police?" line. But does it have to be funny? Not necessarily, but things being funny in a comedy is always appreciated. Oh well, at least it`s better than the forced strawfeminist commentary from the Emoji movie. People on the net have brought up complaints like: "It`s just a bunch of product placement!" and "The Disney princesses are out of character!" First: Yes, but the first movie had product placement too. Remember "Nesquiksand"? or "Oreo, Oreeo". Then again: In the first one the product placement was cleverly delivered in joke form. What we`ve seen so far from the trailer, when it comes to product placement, the jokey delivery is very light to pretty much absent. Second: Yes, the princesses are out of character, you know who else is? Ralph. He`s the bad guy in his game but when he`s not on the clock he`s a nice guy. Can`t the princesses be similar? Kind and gentle in their own movies but capable of being mean in the "real world"? They are fictional characters with self awareness after all. Then again: The princess jokes in the trailer felt a bit generalizing and seemed at times almost close to Shrek humor. Mel Brooks once said: "You have to love the thing you parody". Shrek was built on Jeffrey Katzenberg`s hate towards Michael Eisner (The CEO of Disney at the time.) and many of the jokes were meant to be a big middlefinger to Disney. Poking fun at Disney is fine but don`t try to be Shrek. But isn`t all this just nitpicking? Yes, yes it is. But I like nitpicking! I guess I expected it to be something more, something bigger. But why did I do that? Is it because The filmmakers themselves made such a big deal about it on the D23 expo? "Guess what, in our next movie we`re gonna have all the Disney princesses interact with Vanellope! We even have all the original living voice actresses coming back to reprise their roles! Isn`t that awesome?! Let`s have them all come up on stage! Come on! Big applause!" Maybe it is or maybe it`s because I heard about the scene but never saw it and it made me create many possible scenarios in my mind of how it could play out. It`s like that feeling you get when you watch a movie based on a book you like and feel that this is not how you imagined it. Or maybe I`m just spoiled by Kingdom Hearts and Pocket Princesses.** First I wondered if it was such a good idea to show the princess scene in the second trailer but in hindsight I realize that it is. By releasing the scene six months before the movie comes out, all those grumpy people that complain about their design will have had enough time to get used to it by the time it premieres. At least if they are reasonable grumpy people. Lies, damn lies and movie trailers Mark Twain is rumored to be one of the people to have said that there are three kinds of lies: "Lies, damn lies, and statistics". But you can also add "movie trailer" to that list. One of the best ways to give people the wrong idea of what your movie`s gonna be about is to be very selective with what you show in the trailer. One example is Tangled: The trailer made it look passable and filled with nothing but slapstick, but the movie itself turned out to be genuinely good. Another example is X-Men Origins: Wolverine. The trailer made it look cool and badass but the movie as a whole was just uninspired, rushed and disappointing. The phrases "What we`ve seen so far from the trailer" and "The princess jokes in the trailer" are there for me to remind myself (and others) that we don`t know the whole picture yet. The princess jokes we haven`t seen yet could be funnier than those we have seen. (...Or they could be worse.) It`s possible that they`ve shown most of the movie`s product placement in the trailers already. And the product placement that`s left could be delivered in a jokey way or not be very intrusive or important to the plot. I think that the filmmakers (most of the time at least) knew what they were doing, otherwise they would have had Ralph and Vanellope ask a real life search engine, like Google, for directions instead of Knowsmore. Speaking of that scene: Disney is not a stranger to altering scenes in their trailers to fool us. Once again an example from Tangled: the scene from one of the trailers where Eugene sneaks into Rapunzel`s tower and has a fight with her hair was not in the movie. So the scene with Knowsmore could go something like this: A: Vanellope doesn`t ask him to take them to a crazy fun place but instead to a place where they can find the missing piece to her game. B: Vanellope asks him to take them to a crazy fun place and he directs them to Buzztube where they meet Yesss. There are of course more possibilities but those two were the only ones I could think of. I`m cautiously optimistic about this movie. I think that`s all I had to say. Now, if you excuse me, I just finished making one hundred pancakes and I`m gonna feed them all to my pet bunny. Feel free to disagree but try to keep it civil. *At least by the time I`m writing this **Kingdom Hearts because they do more faithful 2D to 3D translations and Pocket princesses because it has better characterbased Disney Princess jokes. 

***After repeated viewings of this scene I saw that they technically did try to preserve as much as possible of her hair curve in the new design. It just looked like an ordinary hair bun in the offical stills. My mistake.     

Atrzygurl Please do help spread the word and warn this user they are doing wrong BUT please do not harrass them This one take other artist artworks and edits them into found background and even going so far as to claiming them http://web.archive.org/web/20190513085512/https://www.deviantart.com/atrzygurl Also on her profile "Hi, I'm a digital artist who has an unhealthy obsession with anime. I love both cute and scary things and I am making my own "anime" series, but it's just writing. I want to publish it here one day. My artstyle is inconsistent at times since I have a shaky hand and I like to experiment with other programs from time to time, so it's going to look different a lot since I'm focusing on my backgrounds, not my artstyle" By the looks of this lil bit she is claiming she drew these stolen work when all she did was cut and paste and using experimenting as an excuse Inconsist because it is damn stolen Stolen/claiming as OC https://www.deviantart.com/atrzygurl/art/Roses-797442681 http://web.archive.org/web/20190513085312/https://www.deviantart.com/atrzygurl/art/Roses-797442681 Original Not really orig but shows they didn't draw the art background is https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/425871708507206740/ Image of boy is https://weheartit.com/entry/297339575 Stolen: https://www.deviantart.com/atrzygurl/art/Love-is-Love-LGBT-Support-797439356 http://web.archive.org/web/20190513090347/https://www.deviantart.com/atrzygurl/art/Love-is-Love-LGBT-Support-797439356 Original Pixiv artist https://www.pixiv.net/member.php?id=7609394 Work https://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=55508776 Also stolen from same artist on pixiv and claiming them as her OC https://www.deviantart.com/atrzygurl/art/Nassy-797438297 https://www.deviantart.com/atrzygurl/art/Nassy-again-Read-description-797438601 Original https://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=61861856 And the rest of her gallery is also stolen