Some last-minute eclipse art that frankly could have been much better.

Before Cracked.com self-destructed, they used to have these fun "photo-plasty" contests that I frequently partook in.

Below are my two entries for this one. My username, LizzyChrome, used to be on the bottom of each image, before the hogs decided to cut out all of our usernames from all our plasty entries.

Just in time for Black History Month and Leap Year!

Harlem Renaissance

New Orleans, Louisiana

Tiana learned her staunch work ethic from her father, but was vastly luckier than him in timing. James came of age in time to be drafted into the first World War, and tragically didn't live to see his dream take off. Tiana however entered her twenties at the same time as modern America, just in time for the Harlem Renaissance--a relatively good time for a Black entrepreneur to find success. Lottie and Big Daddy were friends with Tiana's family decades before it was cool for rich white folks to frequent Black restaurants, but no one nowadays questions them doing so; since radio helped spread Jazz around the world, the rich and powerful from all backgrounds are now visiting Black establishments (one of endless double-standards of the era). Some of Tiana's more like-minded friends likely left Louisiana in the Great Migration to pursue their career goals in the urban North. But Tiana's creole restaurant was always gong to be right here in New Orleans. It was ironic that Tiana's workaholics nature kept her from enjoying the jazz scene exploding in her own community, and the Roaring Twenties in general; luckily she met Naveen before missing too much of the decade. 

However, Tiana and Naveen may want to rethink their approach to how they go about violating Prohibition at Tiana's Palace... 

AN: I hate how long this took me. I badly wish I had been able to post this at the start of February, not only for Black History Month, but also Mardi Gras. Then again, upon seeing the Google doodle just now, maybe the Leap Year is the perfect time for a piece on "Princess and the Frog!" 

I wanted this out on the day of the Chinese New Year, but better late than never.

Feibo Girl

For much of China, the phrase “Roaring Twenties” may have a less jovial meaning. While the U.S. is in the middle of its Jazz Age, China is in the middle of its Warlord Era. The end of the Qing Dynasty has seen China is split into waring fractions called cliques, with those living in the country suffering the worst violence. It’s an especially dangerous time to be a woman.

Fortunately, the Fa family lives in Shanghai, where the wars usually aren’t as close, and women’s rights are blossoming. Heavy with Western influence, the neon-lit city is “the cosmopolitan Paris of the East.” It’s an even blend of old and new. Ancient-looking ships sail past modern skyscrapers, and pedestrians push wooden carts next to buses and trollies. [Link] It’s a good thing the women of Shanghai have more opportunities, because the warlords impose high taxes on their people, and ill veteran Fa Zhou can no longer work. His wife brings in some money sewing trendy qipaos, but it’s not enough to cover necessities and the warlord’s taxes. So Mulan takes it upon herself to save her family from financial ruin.

She first tries getting a job at a cabaret called the Lucky Cricket. Her mother and grandmother help give her the makeover needed to transform Mulan into a winking Feibo Girl—a Chinese flapper. Then, hesitantly, Mulan bobs her hair using a long, sharp family heirloom. But despite her best efforts, Mulan’s clumsiness clashes with the cabaret owner’s inability to listen, resulting in a show that entertains everybody for all the wrong reasons. While the patrons laugh wildly and snark that the performer is “on fire,” the literally inflamed owner loudly fires Mulan.

Ashamed, Mulan sits in the family’s garden, deep in thought. Near an opened window, Grandma belts out to American jazz on the radio. Grandma’s dance session is interrupted by an announcement from Dr. Sun Yat-Sen, a political and military leader seeking to reunite China and put an end to the warlords. He is recruiting soldiers for what he calls “the Northern Expedition.” Mulan—athletic, strategic, crafty, and often mistaken for a boy—perks at the announcement.

Since Mulan has already been bobbing her hair and binding her breasts per Western flapper fashion, all she really needs is a fake name. She enlists in the National Revolution Army under the alias “Ping.” Joining her are a tiny dragon sent by her ancestors, and the mascot from the Lucky Cricket. Training with both swords and machine guns, “Ping” initially causes some mayhem (thanks in no small part to pranks from her comrades). But by the time the troop boards the train out to their first battle, Ping is one of the most promising recruits Captain Li Shang has ever seen. Control of the railways is crucial to the warlords’ power, and most battles are fought near tracks. While squeezed onto the train and speeding through the country, the soldiers’ songs about girls worth fighting for are punctuated with harrowing scenes of massacred villages. They pull to a stop at a town that’s been burned to the ground, where Li Shang’s father lies among the dead. This is not the work of just any warlord. This was the infamous “Dog-Meat General,” Zhang Zongchang. A particularly ruthless and incompetent ruler, Zongchang is the most feared of China’s warlords. Mulan’s ingenuity leads to the troop’s first major victory, when she creates an avalanche that buries Dog-Meat’s most important railroad—with most of his troops still onboard. While in the infirmary, Mulan’s true sex is revealed. At first, Shang and the other men don’t know how to feel. But it turns out that a woman may be exactly what they need in their next move against Zongchang. The Dog-Meat General has a harem of 30-50 women, who are assigned numbers because he can’t remember their names. And he forgets their numbers. The guy is just asking for this infiltration. Mulan’s experience at the Lucky Cricket cabaret is now inviable. She drills the men on how to dress and act like attractive ladies, and the operation is soon underway.

Ling, Yao, and Chien Po giggle behind their fans as Zongchang boasts of his supposedly enormous masculinity. Meanwhile, Mulan and Shang quietly move to free the captured Dr. Sun Yat-Sen. Along the way, they rescue another prisoner, from Zongchang’s kitchen; the Dog Meat General’s name has several possible meanings, but he does indeed enjoy certain canine dishes. Mulan saves an energetic pup from the butcher, and names him Little Brother. Though not the brightest pooch in the word, Little Brother sniffs out Sun Yat-Sen’s holding cell.

Back at the harem, it’s time for the next phase of the plan. This requires the drag-queens to take out some guards, which means another distraction is needed. Luckily, the Dog-Meat General also fancies himself a poet. Mushu and the cricket take over the job of distracting him, by claiming to be his new typists.  Cri-Kee hops from ink to paper, taking down what the Dog Meat General dictates, while Mushu observes. The finished poem reads: You tell me to do this,

He tells me to do that. You're all bastards, Go fuck your mother.

"Poem about bastards" by Zhang Zongchang[b]

Instead of applause, this poem is followed by an explosion of fireworks detonating all around his military base. Mulan has finally destroyed Zongchang’s army beyond salvaging. The Dog-Meat General himself is killed by an officer avenging his father; Li Shang blows his smoking pistol with satisfaction. Shang follows Mulan back to Shanghai, where they begin a new life together in a unified China.

AN: This picture came out looking very similar to the design that Jacquelynn Harris gave Mulan in her Disney flapper series. I assume this is because we both based the outfit on Mulan’s matchmaker attire, and her hair on actress Anna May Wong. The background border is clipart.

On the story: In the old version of my Disney flapper series, I set all the stories in the U.S. Someone suggested that I look at non-Western fashion from the era, and I dismissed the idea, ignorantly assuming that the Roaring Twenties only happened in the West. This time around, I decided to check if anything interesting was happening in China in the 1920s…and wow, what a rabbit hole! So many things fit so perfectly with Disney’s version of Mulan, especially with that bizarre Zongchang character. I’d never personally create an Asian villain with “dog meat” in his name, but the Dog-Meat General is one of those “can’t make this sh-t up” historical figures. Of course I took liberties with how the history actually played out, as Disney often does; but all of the personal traits described, from the numbered harem to the literal dog meat to that poem, were real. And yes, he was killed by an officer avenging a relative.  To anyone so inclined, here are a couple of incredible time-capsul videos from China in around this time period.  Up the Wangpoo River to Shanghai (1920s)  A video with sound and color from 1929

WIP: "Moonlight Run"

Too late I realize that these are not wolves, they're domestic dogs. At least the ears need changing. Sigh.

When did Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks fall in love?

Here is my proposal: 

As they grew closer, Remus lamented missing his moonlight runs with the Marauders, the best times of his largely depressing live. Empathetic and adventurous, Tonks was already experimenting with her Metamorphmagus abilities for her undercover work with the order, using potions and spells to enhance her natural shape-shifting abilities. One full moon, she surprised Remus with a new trick, morphing into a wolf. Once she'd reassured him that she had not actually infected herself with the Lycan curse, they took off into the woods. Tonks amused Remus and herself by changing her fur color from red, to black, to purple, to pink, and so on throughout the night. That was the night Remus and Dora confessed their feelings for each other.

Tonks would later join Remus on some undercover missions infiltrating the werewolves, taking a tawny brown tint similar to her natural hair color. After a close shave, Remus refused to let her join him on such missions anymore, and this kickstarted her anxiety for his safety and depression. Once they officially hooked up and she regained her powers, they took to the Forbidden Forest for another run after Dumbledore's funeral.

I wanted to have a picture of Teddy Lupin and Victoire Weasley to accompany this one, since both had a history with werewolves on their fathers' sides, and shape-shifting on their mothers'. (Recall that Veela can transform into monsters.) Unfortunately I came down with a bad cold, and was lucky to get this picture done in time for Valentine's Day. 

I've been meaning to fix this piece for a feu years now. Mainly it was the fox's tail needed fixing, but I also added whiskers and tweaked the ice to accommodate the new tail.

If you share this on another site, please credit me. Thanks, and have a warm and fuzzy Valentine's Day.

I meant to gradually post this series throughout the year 2020 but... then 2020 happened. So I'm trying again.

Bluenose Fairy

Brooklyn, New York 

Although it’s the Roaring Twenties, not all women, and not even all feminists, are wild flappers. Madame Fay Starling is a local Brooklyn schoolteacher and social activist, proudly successful Suffragist, and frustrated Temperance proponent. Don’t get excited boys; I said Temperance. As in, pro-Prohibition, and anti-alcohol, premarital sex, and overall “indecency.” These prudes are referred to by the flappers and their boyfriends as “bluenoses." 

Keep reading

I meant to gradually post this series throughout the year 2020 but... then 2020 happened. So I'm trying again.

New Money

Manhattan, New York 

The proverbial Cinderella Story is the very definition of the Roaring Twenties, as young Cindy Tremaine is about to find out.

Keep reading

I meant to gradually post this series throughout the year 2020 but... then 2020 happened. So I'm trying again.

Apple Cider Wishing Well

Baltimore, Maryland 

All throughout the 1900s, stage actress and model Grimhilde “Queenie” Applecomb was the most admired lady in Baltimore, her buxom curves and elegant Old World grace making her the quintessential “Gibson Girl.” For nearly 20 years running, she was nominated “Fairest in the Land” by the Magic Mirror Magazine. But as times changed, so did America’s idea of “beauty.” Suddenly, it’s the 1920s. And suddenly, the Magic Mirror has named Queenie’s petite, flat-chested, bob-haired stepdaughter Heidi “Snow” White, whose singing career has kicked off at an early start, as the new “Fairest in the Land.“

Keep reading

I meant to gradually post this series throughout the year 2020 but... then 2020 happened. So I'm trying again.

New Money

Manhattan, New York 

The proverbial Cinderella Story is the very definition of the Roaring Twenties, as young Cindy Tremaine is about to find out.

Keep reading

I meant to gradually post this series throughout the year 2020, but... then 2020 happened. I'm trying again this year.

Right in the Kisser!

Rural dwellers receive only feint echoes of the Roaring Twenties deafening the urban cities. In a cottage on the outskirts of a small town in Montana, Rose Forrester lives an isolated teenage-hood filled with berries, and devoid of dates (d-d-chhh!). Her three aunts, Flo, Fanny and Mae, run a dress shop on the edge of town. 

Keep reading

A mouse working from home.

My idea for robe clasps that Hogwarts students might wear.

House clasps for daily school robes:

...and for Quidditch robes:

A very special thanks to sinnedaria for the parchment background. 

You need balls to play Quidditch.

A very special thanks to sinnedaria for the parchment background. 

Cosmic!

Summary:  While getting ready for her first year at Hogwarts, Kamala Khan discovers her grandma's old wand in the attic, and unlocks her own Jinn heritage.    

House: Gryffindor  

Blood Status: Halfblood and “half-breed”

Species: Human/Jinn hybrid

Wand: Deodar Cedar, 6 inches, Djinn hair from her great-grandmother

Broom: Cleansweep; has since upgraded to crystal air-steps 

Patronus: Marbled Cat

Specialties: Conjuring, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Divination

Sorting:

It was a tossup between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, due to her craftiness and imagination. But Kamala's true power is daring, and her true desire is to join the heroes she idolizes. 

Jinn:

The Khans are an average half-blood wizarding family—muggle father, magical mother. While getting her trunk together for her first year at Hogwarts, Kamala finds an old chest in the attic that belonged to her estranged grandmother, containing some interesting items: a Gryffindor scarf, a bangle, and an elegant wand. Her controlling mother demands she forget all of this "junk" and use the boring wand they bought from Ollivander. But Kamala sneaks the effects onto the Hogwarts Express with her. She rides the train with her muggleborn friend Bruno, and her half-blood friend Nakia, a third year Gryffindor Prefect. At the Sorting Ceremony, Kamala and Bruno go into Gryffindor and Ravenclaw  respectively. 

During her first Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson, Kamala discovers that her grandmother's wand can do things no other wand can. And her bangle is a Portkey. Bruno analyses the wand and discovers that its core is a Jinn's hair, from someone sharing DNA with Kamala. With Bruno's help, Kamala begins uncovering her buried family history. Kamala practices her new magic on the roofs of Hogwarts. At one Care of Magical Creatures class, she saves Fleur Delacour's irritating nice Zoe from a rabid niffler, and gains an ally. During a fight in Hogsmeade with some evil Jinn, Kamala discovers that the Portkey bangle is also functionally a time-turner, and completes a Stable Time Loop to save her half-Jinn grandmother as a child.  Also on Kamala's tail is a zealous Ministry of Magic agent named Dolly Stoher-Umbridge, Dolores's less interesting niece. The most incompetent agent in Ministry history, Umbridge 2.0 spends the entire school year failing to capture Kamala, then loses her job after nearly blowing up Hogwarts.

Mom finally comes around and supports Kamala joining the Order of the Avengers, even making her new robes. Kamala then does some missions for Mad-Eye Fury, with Carol Danvers and Monica Rambeau. 

Patronus:

Kamala leaps and bounds through the air in the constraining urban landscape very much like a small cat hunting in the rainforest, trailing her long scarf like the marbled cat’s exceptionally long tail. She has a cat's disdain for doing as she's told, but also a feline's stealth to break the rules under her opponent's nose. She is overall harmless, yet hunted simply for standing out. 

Mermay  2023: Shiloh 

I’m hoping to redo this one this summer. 

Mermay 2023: Xerva