CaptainCassidy

working on selfhosting

Sat, 04 Apr 2026 08:51:47 GMT

I'll try to remember to link my new, entirely self-hosted blog, once I have it up and running. :)

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Darkstalker's Written Kinda Weird

Thu, 18 Dec 2025 22:23:05 GMT

(Crossposted from tumblr, which I kind-of-am-kind-of-am-not using atm)

Darkstalker is such a theoretically interesting villain, but he's utilized so poorly. He's born evil (his first thoughts, just as he hatches, are that he wants to kill his father and to keep Whiteout from being with "his" mother), every action he takes appears like it should be calculated but he fails to acknowledge the most obvious things--like how getting rid of Indigo would irreparably damage Fathom, or how manipulating Clearsight would threaten their relationship to the point he would have to enchant these dragons he calls his friends for them to still want to be near him. He acts so hateful of his father while acting and thinking identically (and yes, to a certain extent that is the Point).

None of that would be an issue! The problem isn't actually that Darkstalker is an idiot, but that the narrative doesn't treat him like one. The narrative itself, and the characters within, treat him like some kind of evil genius (Indigo even calling him a "supervillain," which, while funny and apt, makes me wonder where the term originates in that universe).

He's treated like he's really smart by the narrative and characters, while doing absolutely nothing to back that up. His smartest moves are the earring that makes people like him... and that's it.

Darkstalker is inherently selfish and awful, which would make more sense if it was because his father was abusive (though I mean, that's a whole can of worms I'm not opening rn), but him hatching with thoughts of murder kind of negates that. He was born a bad person. Clearsight and Fathom seem to be fighting desperately to justify him as not a bad person, but there's just no real evidence, except for a couple of lines on his scroll--lines that, in the long term, still benefited him more than anyone else (the enchantment to ring a bell whenever Fathom was sad, so he could "be there for him," which was just manipulation again).

Darkstalker is my FAVORITE character in the series. I absolutely love how fucked up his story theoretically is. It just felt really poorly-written. Which is a shame, because I ADORE how Clearsight was written, and really liked Fathom's inner turmoil. Ironically, Darkstalker felt like the weak link in his own book, and was only scary in the second series because he was giant and had somewhat learned from his mistakes. But he still screwed up so profoundly, even when the narrative was trying to tell us that he's the most intelligent, capable, and dangerous dragon--so much so his entire tribe abandoned their home in the Lost City of Night, and stories were told of his terror for 2000 years.

Again--none of that is, itself, a negative; it's how the narrative treats it. Which feels antithetical to the story being told.

Anyway, my key trait is criticizing things I absolutely adore bc I Love Talking Abt Books and I love the series despite its flaws (screams about animus magic).

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Boosty.to Withdrawals (Help)

Wed, 09 Jul 2025 02:09:17 GMT

I'll speedrun where I've been some other time. Until then, I really need some help with figuring this out.
(Crossposted from FA.)

Okay, long story short: I'm in the US. I was using Boosty as a "safer" way to receive payments for adopts from my sales account, which is also inactive besides the occasional resale.

Boosty will not send money to the US. It can't, for whatever political reason is happening out there. I was advised to use a "digital card" registered in another country (like Italy) where it can send payments, then transfer from there to my US bank, but I have no fucking idea what I'm doing or how to do it. I just really need access to my money.

To answer any questions:
1. I had a Boosty because it was safer than PayPal for NSFW. If my adopt refs had exposed genitals I was scared PayPal would nuke me.
2. PayPal fees.
3. Using it allowed me to easily support RU artists, though considering all the Other Stuff going on I'm going to have to cut it out entirely. I don't really buy art anymore anyway.
4. My SubStar was removed with the email "I don't understand tip jars" from staff, and I still have no evidence my subscribers were refunded. So no, I can't switch to that.
5. I'm not dead, and I'm not "coming back," either, thank you.

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Smork Alam

Thu, 17 Apr 2025 04:52:02 GMT

This is the THIRD TIME the fire alarm went off in my building--all three for false alarms! I was fatigued by the second, but this time I thought "Might as well make sure" and got me and my cat out of there. This one happened later in the day, when more people were home from work/school, so many didn't know about the previous two instances. There should have been a statement of some kind for us, since both were the fault of either the maintenance guy or people doing repairs in the building. :I

Someone got a hold of the building manager and the fire department, thankfully, but it took a hot minute. This time it wasn't because of someone working on the building, it was some idiot in the main area who just... hit the alarm? I'm not sure how. He might've been high as balls, based on the glimpse I got. The fire department was talking to him when I got me and my Cherry Berry back upstairs. Poor sweetie, he was crying the whole time. I felt terrible for him. :( Luckily he's a very sweet boy and he did not rip me to pieces, and once we were back inside, he went right back to sleeping on my lap. ;_; I could not have asked for a sweeter cat!

I know they're gonna get it from others, but I'm going to give the building manager a piece of my mind when I see them. I know most people will be belligerent and nasty, and I don't intend to be, but this is unacceptable! Three false alarms since January! What if something real happens? Luckily I've a good nose for smoke, but still (the fact that I couldn't smell smoke this time made me figure it was another false alarm, too, though it can also go off for flooding--still, I chose caution this time).

Anyway, hope you guys had a better day! XD

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Headache

Sun, 13 Apr 2025 06:24:39 GMT

I've had a headache all evening/night ;w; It's very distracting and napping did not help! >(

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Overdesigning Ponies For Fun (Not Profit)

Fri, 11 Apr 2025 20:38:33 GMT

Derpibooru
Fimfiction

When I design or redesign ponies, I tend to lean to the more extreme side for markings. A trend in infection AUs in the past was to over-complicate the Mane 6’s designs, or build upon them in a truly colorful, extravagant technicolor horse world. It’s something I’ve done for years when it comes to designs; I lean towards the complicated, and seeing that trend catch on in some MLP-adjacent spaces was pretty nice. Finally, I could over-design a pony to my heart’s content!

But seriously; while I really like these detailed designs, ultimately, if I were to do anything with them (comic, video, whatever), I’d have an “animator-friendly” version. A good example are my WoF dragons. In general, the dragons in WoF have very detailed bodies and designs—but they can be simplified down to their basic components pretty easily. ANY RainWing is a good example, lmao.

That said, I’d like to make a little pony base of some kind that I can use as a base for their “non-complicated/animator friendly” designs. I think that’d be a fun exercise, and it’d be nice to do just for the sake of my own sanity.

I do have SOME ponies that wouldn’t need this treatment, thankfully. But anything I tend to design… augh, yeah, definitely. Esp if I want to do PMVs, comics, etc.

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Stress and Relapse (It's a Process)

Sun, 06 Apr 2025 09:44:23 GMT

I really struggle with ruminating thoughts and what I think is a form of OCD, so you'll see me "relapse" into these behaviors once in a while. I'm trying to work through it and learn to manage self-soothing behaviors vs destructive avoidance, neither of which are necessarily good.

( Read more... )

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Detailing and Redesign

Sun, 30 Mar 2025 22:25:13 GMT

As mentioned in this journal, I’ve chosen to rehome a great deal of my former adopts because, quite frankly, I’m rather sick of the constant anxiety around whether or not someone is going to lose their shit because I’ve drawn/written porn, or that I have “bad opinions,” or whatever else. There are some exceptions; some designs I can’t part with at all (yet, at least), and some designers who I know and trust who I don’t mind keeping the designs of. But ultimately, it’s just not worth it anymore; the adopt “community” has been just as commercialized/sanitized as anything else, and if every single person is going to try to hyper-control every single design they make, then it’s not fun anymore.

In leu of that, I’ve chosen to redesign many of them, because their names or lore are important to various stories or other characters. Calling them a “redesign” is pretty loose; these characters look minimally or nothing like the original, with only their names kept (and sometimes not even that), and maybe a similar palette (i.e. two brown ponies, two blue dragons, etc). So far I have to rework one, because I redesigned them before I was certain I was getting rid of the original; but the only similar aspects are their colors at this point. Shifting the color scale and changing their eye color would make them an entirely different character.

In this case, “Skycrash” and Cloudbreaker. You can see the colors were picked; I want to redo this. But otherwise, these have two entirely different vibes as characters. And note, again, this was before I planned to get rid of the original—so not as much care was taken into this redesign as others.

Another example is Liquorice Hearttwister. After seeing the original designer use a disgusting, outdated, and dehumanizing term to refer to CSAM, I decided fuck it—I’ll make my own. I don’t want to out the original designer or encourage harassment (as unlikely as that is), but the original pony is a pale brown with black hair, a heart necklace, and nothing else. :P

I have one I’m kind of dreading redesigning, because the reason I adopted the design in the first place was because it was SO similar to what I imagined for the character. Red and purple, namely, is a pretty obscure color scheme—I figured it would be safer to adopt the character instead of risk being called a ripoff. But I suppose that would happen either way, in this case. :P Her name is Queen Astrapia, mate/wife of Queen Mesmer, and the ruling queens of the RainWings in my WoF AU. Specifically, she stays red as a way to honor their SkyWing allies; so her base color is red, while her accents are purple and gold. Actually similar to one of my oldest OCs, and one of my favorite color schemes. :I Unfortunately, I’m going to have to work really hard to make them look different—and I’m sure people would bitch about it either way.

There’s a lot of “you can’t take inspiration from my OCs!!! >(“ online these days, which is supposed to be a threat saying “OC DON’T STEAL.” But these kids have 0 idea what the difference between “inspiration” and “copying” is. Skycrash/Cloudbreaker looks like a copy atm because of the color picking; something I want to undo and avoid in the future. Hence his impending color changes. But with LHT, the only common theme is brown (and a different brown, though I might lighten her a bit more later) and black hair, both color picked from a pile of Allsorts licorice.

Doing this exercise has made me realize that I don’t actually hate my own designs; I just can’t make up something out of thin air. If I have a very rough basis, I can design something… which is pretty much how designing works. :I But spending so much time in amateur art circles kind of poisons your idea of art and design, what with the Western(?) obsession with “originality.” There is no originality, everything’s been done and will be done again, 10k times over. Own it.

In any case, there are some designs I definitely can’t redesign in a way that’s different enough for my liking. So I’ll just old onto those for now. :P

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Final March Manga Update!

Sun, 30 Mar 2025 20:06:47 GMT

The next post on the topic is intended to be the actual review(s)/discussion(s)!

To Save The World, Can You Wake Up The Morning After With A Demi-Human? Vol. 6-7
*Laughs hysterically*

Dinosaur Sanctuary Vol. 4
This was a cute volume! I really liked the whole thing with the boss of Blue World. I still consider this a relatively “uninteresting” manga, in that it’s not got a “hook” in the story that particularly keeps me; but I love anything with dinosaurs, and the characters are compassionate, AND there’s dinosaur facts from a professional! So all of that combined, it’s worth reading.

Ero Ninja Scrolls Vol. 1
Okay, I have no idea if it’s just me, but the translation of this manga is very hard for me to understand. I’m not certain when something is ninja-magic vs actually happening, or what the character’s main motivations are, or why anyone does what they do. But… holy shit. That paintbrush scene… 🤤

Guilty Smile Vol. 1-2
This is another one of those series where the side characters are vastly more interesting than the main couple. It’s a bit of a bodice ripper, in a loose sense of the term, and the main couple is very… one dimensional. But the side couple, Lutf and Amina? Holy shit, I want to read THAT story!

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Commissions + Artistree.io

Wed, 26 Mar 2025 00:31:08 GMT

Got asked if my comms were open the other day. Wasn’t sure how to answer; on the one hand, I’d JUMP at the opportunity to do commission work again. On the other hand, I’ve been so badly burned by modern fandom/modern behavior around commissions (and people who do non-Kosher NSFW in general) that I don’t really know what I want.

I’ve said before that I don’t want to be in that “must make money/capitalist” mindset, but at the same time, I’m disabled and can’t work right now. College is slow going because of this too, and because of the way things are ~politically~ right now, I’m unsure I’d even be able to get into the career(s) I’d want; I’d be afraid of being blacklisted for drawing, writing, or reading “bad” porn, or whatever. I know that doesn’t seem to deter big name anti-censorship folk, but I wonder if it’s different for me because I draw/write more extreme things.*

*(That being “dirty” or “gross” things, not extreme underage or anything like that; sorry, it’s just not for me, and I’m really tired of people thinking just bc I’m anti-censorship that I want to draw/write about prepubescent kids :I)

There’s that deep-seated anxiety of “my life is unsalvageable bc I was a fetish artist/writer and I was not 100% separate/anonymous,” but I have no idea. My therapist says people would use anything against me if they REALLY wanted to go after me, which is true, but the fetish stuff causes more reactionary/hostile responses. Other stuff (like being trans) would just be… whatever.

I really am considering living in Japan for a while, if I can get the money to do so. I keep hearing stories about being an ENG teacher there. But I don’t know; plus, yk, trans. :I I’m kinda fucked no matter what.

UGH SORRY, POLITICS ASIDE.

I miss doing commissions. I like doing them! I always wanted to do writing comms, which I’ve got a document work up/account for with my AD stuff (which I now only really separate by not linking back to my main with it, and visa-versa; it’s too late to change that any further imo). So when I was asked if I was open, I said “sorta, depends what you want.” I’m fine doing nudity or pinup, I just don’t want to do anything explicit right now. But those were the only comms I ever really got.

I’ve had an artistree.io for a little while. Like, a few months I think? I appreciate their honesty and policies. They pretty much say “go for it” when it comes to fiction, within legal* reason, which is really nice/rare. I’d like to support any website like that if I can.

*USA legality, iirc

Sometimes I wonder if I’m being paranoid or overly negative. My writing is good; at least, I think it’s good. I think it’s gotten a lot better in the last year, actually, after reviewing some fundamentals. My art is amateur, yes, but that was never really a problem pre-2020. I always had a couple of comms, even if I can’t do bugs (rn) or struggled with some anatomy/poses. And now I’m a lot better at things like style mimicking, have a defined style for dragons/ponies/ferals/pokemon/etc, and just generally like my art more than I did then. But I don’t have the time/money/energy for professional art classes right now; I know some people can do it all on their own, but I really benefit from that kind of thing.

But being bitten in the ass has maybe scared me too badly into a corner. I wonder if any of those people even think about me now? I hope not; I don’t really want anything to do with that sort of thing again. I learned my lesson. But I’d still like to exist as an artist in a space/community, yk? I would also like to not be bombarded with all the people who hate queer folk/queer folk who don’t fit a certain mold, or make accusations based on opinions I hold… :( I think an artist “without opinions” is not really an artist at all; they feel like a shell to me. But I can’t say I don’t get it, at this point.

Sorry for rambling. I have far too much time to think and a ruminating disorder. :P

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Today’s Updates

Sat, 22 Mar 2025 07:11:32 GMT

-Drew the redesign for Adao, a character featured in my post-canon TLOS AU, Find Your Way. You can see that here.

-Worked on my character archive website, updated the blog, added pages for Spyro characters, added an “intro” on the index page.

-Started work on Isfrid’s ref (Adao’s friend).

-Decided on which old adopts/characters to give away, redesign, etc. Sent a bunch of characters to a bunch of random people as gifts. Accepted that if I don’t want any strings attached to my characters from now on, they need to be made by me, or someone I really trust. This means I have to redesign a couple of lore-important and beloved characters, but hopefully I can do so while keeping the same vibe/not making them too similar. _@

-Fixed my Pixiv so it can be read by Japanese folk. Commented nice things to the mangaka of I’m a Wolf but my Boss is a Sheep. Lamented Blsky and Twatter being so horrid for my (and anyone’s) mental health, making Pixiv the only way I can follow mangaka I like 😭

-…Went outside! :)

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Laryngitis :(

Fri, 21 Mar 2025 19:32:48 GMT

So, I have GERD. Joy. Because of that, I get the occasional bout of laryngitis. I’m 90% sure it’s not the viral version, because I can directly trace the start of the symptoms to particularly bad bouts of GERD. It’s been like, a decade now, but I really need to get my throat looked at again to see the damage. :I

Yeah, long story short, I lost my voice completely. I can whisper a little, but not enough to be heard (unless you’re REALLY dedicated to listening, and we’re in a quiet place). So I have to pass notes for stuff I need. And since everyone knows I’m a talkative person by nature, I have to add “I lost my voice” to the notes. Admittedly, it’s pretty funny when they look up and go “D:” and such.

As for my short absence on DW, I had some events going on, including meeting up with someone I hadn’t had contact with in a couple years. Past that, I got sick, and just haven’t had anything to talk about :P

I finished a handful of the manga I was reading, and uhh… finally got MHW and MHR downloaded onto my Deck. And I don’t know what happened, but I SUCK at MHW right now. I think I need to relearn all the fundamentals; I’ve never fainted this much in my entire run before! Feels bad, man.

I’m also still (slowly) binging SpongeBob. Eugh.

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“I’m a Wolf, but my Boss is a Sheep” and Other Pred/Prey Media

Mon, 17 Mar 2025 20:07:50 GMT

Don’t worry, it’s not another “you need to read this” post. I was just thinking about the interesting genetics and quirks of this series. It’s reminiscent of omegaverse dynamics, though not overtly. It’s clearly the primary influence, but it’s altered for a more generalized audience. I actually kind of prefer this “toned down” omegaverse-type story, because some of the very intricate parts of omegaverse feel deeply restrictive to me, personally.

It’s also interesting to note the difference between Western predator/prey media dynamics, and Eastern ones. In the East it feels more driven by gender (Beastars even going so far as to compare eating meat to rape with their “registered meat offender” thing), with dynamics that heavily really on the predator/male being the “aggressor” who is “trying to hold back their instincts.”

We have these parallels in the west, of course, but modern work makes a point to subvert this dynamic for fear of being sexist. Zootopia is a good example. And that’s not even getting into the flaws around “animals who are predator/prey as minorities.” I don’t have the time or energy to explain, but this video by Jack Saint does a pretty good job of breaking it down. Interestingly, I think Eastern media actually benefits from this change, but I’d have to really pick apart why I feel that way, and I don’t have the time to do that in this journal.

The topic of hybridization also often comes up in these stories, and that DOES almost always relate to interracial dynamics, especially how they are perceived in the East. But as a Westerner, I’m only a third-party viewer to that culture, so all I can say is “I think the vibe is generally positive towards that kind of thing in these romance stories, which is nice.” There’s likely tons of things I’m missing, and an argument at least one person would have that these stories “fetishize” that dynamic, but… eugh. I don’t have the energy for really bad-faith takes like those (though I can tell you with absolute certainty that, esp in Western chan interspecies fetish circles, it’s a raging problem).

Anyway, this series also discusses hybridization, particularly in the third volume. It does so in a much more subtle way than works like Beastars, and seems to handle the genetics more like Archie Sonic did. As in, the child will take primarily after one parent, but may have small quirks of the other. For example: a deer and a squirrel have a child. The child is a squirrel, but has eyes unique to the deer parent. Or a leopard and a goat, where the child appears as a goat except for having carnivore teeth. But since all of these characters are human first, these feel much more like normal genetic oddities than the wild hybridization in Beastars.

Later, I think I’ll try to compile something about what we see in canon…

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Why You SHOULD Read SCUMBAG LOSER

Sun, 16 Mar 2025 20:17:23 GMT

High-schooler Masahiko Murai has exactly one thing going for him: a keen sense of smell. Not exactly the sort of defining trait that helps someone become one of the popular kids, especially given the malodorous scents he finds particularly appealing. But that's okay. He's set the bar pretty low in terms of his expectations. He doesn't have to be cool or popular -- or even liked. Just as long as he isn't the biggest loser, he can get by. As luck would have it, there's always been one rung lower on his class's social ladder, but when the "biggest loser" gets a girlfriend, a panicked Masahiko pulls a name out of his past -- Haruka Mizusawa -- playing the long-distance relationship card in a desperate attempt to keep his worst nightmare from becoming reality. Naturally everyone's skeptical, but when Haruka shows up at school the next day and backs up Masahiko's story, their skepticism is quickly laid to rest. You'd think that Masahiko was off the hook...But what he failed to share with his classmates was that Haruka actually died years earlier...so who's turned up wearing her face, and why is she playing along with him at all...? Masahiko's about to learn that there are far more horrifying fates than being the biggest loser in school... ~ Yen Press

Why you SHOULD read SCUMBAG LOSER!

( Read more... )

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Yen Press

Sun, 16 Mar 2025 19:53:24 GMT

I learned about the publisher Yen Press recently because of an ecchi series I happened to pick up, and decided to read more of their translations after reading their copyright page. It says as follows:

“Yen Press, LLC supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of
copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture.”

So few publishing companies have anything like that, and it made me feel as if Yen Press’ translations would be less censored and more varied. Some of their translations are extremely unique and interesting. Folks seem to complain about YP because they remove honorifics, but so does Seven Seas and several other big translators. I don’t think swapping “-San” for “Mr.” is all that egregious, so long as the same vibe is kept. Folks are also complaining about printing errors (which I see frequently in manga regardless? It’s got one of the highest margins for error I have seen in anything I read) and over-localized translations, but what I’ve read from them is very recent; none of that seemed to be a problem. In fact, I didn’t notice any “jelly donut” type stuff at all, like folks seem to be bitching about?

But in the spirit of fairness, I figured I’d tell you all of this before getting into Why You Should Read SCUMBAG LOSER. To me, it feels like one of those cases of “Nothing is gonna be good enough for you weebs” re: the criticism. But feel free to correct me if I’m wrong! Also, much of these criticisms are aimed at their LN translations, and it’s been more difficult for me to find anything on their manga series.

Consider this a prequel to my next post! It was too much for the intro of it, though, so I figured I’d slap this here instead.

You can check out Yen Press here. Happy reading!

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List of Fanwork Types?

Sat, 15 Mar 2025 06:03:26 GMT

This may be silly, but are there any lists or challenges or similar pieces that detail types of fan-content? The Fannish 50 is the first time I realized making icons was considered making fan-stuff, or anything other than being lazy (if you didn’t draw your OWN icons where I was, you were thought less of lmao). Heck, I didn’t even realize how interesting icons can be; though I do have a really old folder of Doflamingo icons from various doujin, but now I don’t know which they are, so I wouldn’t be able to properly credit them… D:

Erm, anyway, I’ve heard of “banners” and “trading cards” and stuff like that, too, but I work best off templates. If I start with a template for practice, I have much better luck later on when creating my own thing! For that reason I’ve been looking into literary zine creation, too, so if you have any info on that I’d be appreciative as well!

I don’t have a lot of energy for non-original works, partially because I am still in that “corporate” mindset of not being able to “sell” or otherwise profit from fan-creations. I really hate living in America as an artist/creative. D: So often I will err to the easiest option first… Maybe a habit I should break, or at least think about expanding!

Umm… I’m not good at poems (I used to write tons, but I don’t think I have “it” with those), and calligraphy isn’t my strong suit, either. But I would kinda like to get into edits/AMVs again, tho I probably won’t be able to do a full song. Besides DMCA-YouTube and TikTok, where else do people post those things?

Uhhh… I wanna make something for Rooster Fighter. Maybe a banner? Or funny icon/gif? Or a joke set of icons with good editing XDD

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Birthday Manga!

Sat, 15 Mar 2025 02:23:02 GMT

I got a bunch of manga today! They are as follows!

Guilty Smile vol. 1 & 2

Dragon and Chameleon vol. 1

Euro Ninja Scrolls vol. 1

Dick Fight Island vol. 1 & 2

Game of Familia vol. 1

The only one I had heard of before is Dick Fight Island, which I avoided buying in the past because I had heard the mangaka/author was furious that they renamed it to something so… like that. D: But I am also on a quest to read as much ero/horror manga as possible (and collect as much as possible, in case our political situation gets worse…), so I figure I would get here eventually. And it does support the mangaka!

Honestly, while I am very pro-yar har, I think it should be a vessel for purchase, or for things you otherwise CANNOT get. I would have all of Magical Girl Apocalypse were it not for scalpers…

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Pressure and Art

Fri, 14 Mar 2025 07:18:13 GMT

One of the big reasons I stepped away as an artist/creator was because of the ever-changing landscape of fandom. It’s well known that things became very stressed because of the tumblr purge, and the ensuing hell that followed (and is still happening), but something else really pushed me away from art besides that.

I got to thinking about this because of a post from michifugu. So, thank you! And as usual, you are very insightful.

( Read more... )

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READ ROOSTER FIGHTER

Fri, 14 Mar 2025 04:19:55 GMT

Okay, I’ve seen these called “manifesto” before, or basically a journal to tell you why you absolutely SHOULD read or watch something, but I don’t really like the association of that word so I’m just gonna call this a very firm recommendation!

READ ROOSTER FIGHTER!

( Read more... )

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Coromon!

Thu, 13 Mar 2025 03:38:57 GMT

It took a while, but I finally got Coromon AND started playing it.

WOW. Every all the criticisms I had about Temtem don't apply to Coromon thus far. It's well-written, succinct, doesn't hyperfocus on identity politics, and the designs are tight as hell! If I had to find some criticism so far, it'd be that some of the Coromon look like "final evos" in their second evo. But that's not really a problem for me; I prefer something be over-designed than under-designed (I LOVE Digimon).

Moreover, this game isn't pretending to be an MMO, has online battles, and you can play multiple save slots! So you can run one casual and one Nuzlock if you want! It's something Pokemon has needed for YEARS.

The unique way you pick your starter in Coromon is also a plus! While I'd like an option where I can just pick ~whatever~ starter, it does a Pokemon Dungeon-esuqe questionnaire to pair you with your partner! I chose Nibblegar, which is a Garchomp-like Coromon-- and since Garchomp is one of my favorite Pokemon, I was pretty happy with that! :D

As soon as I understood the "Potential" mechanic (TL;DR there are two kinds of shiny; good and REALLY GOOD, and they have better stats/IVs) I decided to only catch Potential+ and Perfect Coromon. Which has been kind of annoying; I was doing fine in the first area, but when I went to Donar Island I've had terrible luck.

So far I have a Potential+ Pitterbyte, Silquill, Tinshell, Humbee, Bazzer, and Mino.

If I were to nitpick, I'd say the little joke/nag at internet piracy is kind of eye-roll inducing. But it's not egregious like Temtem's weird moral grandstanding.

I don't know how online battling works yet, or if you can add friends, but if that's a thing, hmu! :D

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Velvet & Veneer

Wed, 12 Mar 2025 05:36:14 GMT

I don't have TONS to say, because I didn't... watch the movie. And I don't plan on it; I really don't like jukebox movies or the weird "lol random XD yolo!!!" vibes of the Trollz movies, but I did see these two in a cool infection AU and ended up watching a review of the 3rd movie by DazzReviews. So uuuhhh, here's my unasked-for take.

1. Veneer's earring appears to be in his right ear. You get a cookie if you're old enough to remember what that means (and why we're probably going to be needing that kind of thing again in the US soon, orz).

2. Their scenes are REALLY sexually charged. I guess that's just... how a lot of music is? Heck, the lyrics in boybands are so sexually charged that I'm pretty sure one of the Jonas Brothers tried to speak out about how profoundly uncomfortable it made him. And like, yeah, that checks out. Sometimes that shit IS weird. Maybe it's just culture AROUND music that has some... questionable practices? But I'm not saying anything revolutionary; I think fame and media presence feeds on the psuedosexual, especially when it becomes taboo. But I digress.

3. THEY'RE SO NOODLY?? Noodles are a great character design. No notes.

Dunno, might try to reinvent Veneer (the one I actually liked) as an OC. I need more practice pulling from other works into something original. I've found myself enjoying art a lot more when 1) I feel like the work isn't directly fanart, but accepting that there is no such thing as originality and everything is derivative, so why not embrace it? And 2) it helps me practice my character design skills.

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March Manga Update!

Mon, 10 Mar 2025 04:00:34 GMT

Here's what I've read so far! This month I've had a bit more energy, so I'm catching up a bit. I'm also staying at mum's place to take care of the cats while she's away on business. Bunny really misses me! He's so cuddly. ;w; I'm glad him and Cherry get on so well. They're just like brothers!

As of right now, I have read 80 books this year already! It's all manga, but a book is a book!

Rooster Fighter Vol. 1-3
I had to order #4 online, but I picked up the first volume on a whim... then went back and bought the other 5 that were available. It's One Punch Man, but chickens.

Dinosaur Sanctuary Vol. 2-3
My interest in this waned a little in vol 2, but I'm more interested again as of vol 3! I really liked the Benkei plot in 2, but everything else felt a little boring. Even the t-rex story didn't have much impact for me. But the third vol introduces a new dude, and I like him!

The Hungry Succubus Wants to Consume Him! Vol. 1-2
Ahaha... I'll have to talk about this one on my AD account.😏

I'm a Wolf, but my Boss is a Sheep! Vol. 1
Aaaa... it's really cute! Very omegaverse-y, but not. I picked up the rest of the series for like 25% off, since it's only 5 volumes... I spend too much money on manga. XD

Volumes 3 and 4 of The Other World's Books Depend on the Bean Counter showed up, so I can read those now too! I also got five volumes of something called Pumpkin Scissors from the library.

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Fanfic Archive

Sat, 08 Mar 2025 22:47:12 GMT

I made one! None of my AD (explicit fetish/erotica) stuff will be featured there. I’ll do something else for that, prob.

interstellarvoyager

Still looking for a nicer layout, lmk if you guys know where to get them! ^^

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Personal Fic Communties?

Thu, 06 Mar 2025 21:42:04 GMT

Uhh, here’s another “Cap is asking a dumb question again” post. XD

I see some people have communities for their fic/meta so it’s all in one place. But I don’t really know how that works? Do people just post links, or the fic entirely? What could I look up to observe how others format theirs? I work best off examples.

I think a community like that for my (admittedly sparse these days) stuff could be fun! And it’d be another potential archive, I suppose. It’s also a little more personable than AO3 or SqW. More “you have to go looking for it,” ig? Dunno, I just think it’s kind of appealing. O:

Well, no guarantee on doing anything with it. Just curious, as per usual. ^^;

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February Manga Reads

Thu, 06 Mar 2025 21:36:18 GMT

Because it’s kind of a pain in the ass, I won’t be adding all the pics this time 😭
Also, if anyone doesn’t know where they can read certain manga, I’m happy to PM you! :)

Also also, I saw a couple of people reviewing manga “by chapter,” or by groups of chapters. I’m not sure if that’s unique to certain people or not, but it’s a great idea! O: I might do that for something at some point, if that’s not “stealing.” :P I’m pretty sure that’s how One Piece bloggers used to do it, but I can’t remember 😅 so I’d rather err on the side of caution.

As for February’s manga… TW for Junji Ito’s works!

( Read more... )

Annnnd… that’s it. Only 7 manga over February, most of which being Junji Ito’s work. I didn’t get around to some of the other shojou I had, maybe because Honey Blood put me off it. But hopefully I’ll read a few more this month; I’ve already read vol. 1 and 2 of TOWBDOTBC (I’m firing whoever names animanga these days), and picked up something about a rooster fighting monsters… so maybe I’ll get through a few more. XD

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