![[sticky entry]](http://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/entry/sticky_entry.png){kind=small}
Twitter is insufficient for my "let's talk about writing" needs.
The wife and I are co-writing an anthro fantasy story that's currently being published chapter by chapter on Kindle Vella. How y'all doing?
(Our romance pen names are also still going; Soul Flame is our passion project that we acknowledge probably has no audience beyond the two of us.)
![[sticky entry]](//www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/entry/sticky_entry.png)
Sticky: I may have stopped loving WoW, but I still love my WoW characters
So when I got a bit of extra money (thank you, erotica readers of Amazon and your willingness to spend money on weird tentacle smut) I commissioned a picture (rendered in Blender) of my brewmaster monk, relaxing in a bath.
The original reference I gave the artist was Geralt of Rivia, but Pandaren are not proportioned like that, so some adjustments needed to be made to the pose due to the stubbiness of panda legs. Also, the image was cursed, start to finish, with weird weight mapping issues, absolute chaos with the fur particle systems, and my monk just generally proving he's a troublemaker in all things.
However, in the end it was all worth it, and I have a gorgeous 3D render of my monk in all his scarred-up glory, relaxing in a bath while looking like the happiest damn panda you've ever seen. ( Behold, the wonders of Pandaria. (SFW) )
Also, see that lovely paw pointing at the camera? Belvane, the artist, had to sculpt and texture the pads on it, because in WoW Pandaren don't get bare feet, their sandals are part of their texture. Then she took the original sandal texture and put his sandals on a keg in the background.
She also did some amazing detail work on the artifact staff from Legion, seen leaning against the wall in the background, but alas, the room is steamy and in this render you can't really appreciate it, so someday I'm just going to have to commission an image of my monk in combat, beating something over the head with his keg on a stick.
The original reference I gave the artist was Geralt of Rivia, but Pandaren are not proportioned like that, so some adjustments needed to be made to the pose due to the stubbiness of panda legs. Also, the image was cursed, start to finish, with weird weight mapping issues, absolute chaos with the fur particle systems, and my monk just generally proving he's a troublemaker in all things.
However, in the end it was all worth it, and I have a gorgeous 3D render of my monk in all his scarred-up glory, relaxing in a bath while looking like the happiest damn panda you've ever seen. ( Behold, the wonders of Pandaria. (SFW) )
Also, see that lovely paw pointing at the camera? Belvane, the artist, had to sculpt and texture the pads on it, because in WoW Pandaren don't get bare feet, their sandals are part of their texture. Then she took the original sandal texture and put his sandals on a keg in the background.
She also did some amazing detail work on the artifact staff from Legion, seen leaning against the wall in the background, but alas, the room is steamy and in this render you can't really appreciate it, so someday I'm just going to have to commission an image of my monk in combat, beating something over the head with his keg on a stick.
Entry tags:
Merry Christmas
Because I have apparently decided I'm really going to learn Blender this time, I made a little holiday animation slash Christmas card.
It's over 50MB, so really, YouTube is my only option for hosting it.
It starts with a train whistle, so you might want to have the sound down before hitting play.
It's over 50MB, so really, YouTube is my only option for hosting it.
It starts with a train whistle, so you might want to have the sound down before hitting play.
Blargle blargle blarg
Have spent the past week dragging around like an ambulatory corpse thanks to covid, and am finally getting a couple of active brain cells back and enough energy to not spend the day sleeping on the sofa. Which means I can get back to futzing around in Blender, since I'm still incredibly burned out on writing.
This is my current animation level in Blender, and my goal is, like, early Warcraft cinematics, so I have a ways to go on the Blender front. But, baby steps;![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
darthneko and I have a rough outline for a big project that's probably going to take us a year to make, so we're going to be learning things as we realize we need them, becasue we're organized like that.
This is my current animation level in Blender, and my goal is, like, early Warcraft cinematics, so I have a ways to go on the Blender front. But, baby steps;
darthneko and I have a rough outline for a big project that's probably going to take us a year to make, so we're going to be learning things as we realize we need them, becasue we're organized like that.Entry tags:
"I'm not like other books"
Yes, I'm still working through Lackey's Elemental Masters series.
One thing that deeply annoys me in this series (and which is probably responsible for why I never got into it the way I did the Valdemar books) is how heavily its brand of feminism relies on the "I'm not like other girls" trope of being dismissive of women who are not, in the character's opinion, sufficiently strong and independent. To the point of the main character in The Fire Rose literally thinking that unlike most women, SHE uses her brain.
Sarah and Nan are the worst offenders, possibly just because the middle of the series randomly became The Sarah and Nan Show before moving back to stand-alone stories in a shared magical universe. Sarah and Nan, who are portrayed as virtuously middle class in spite of the fact they're actually being supported by Lord Alderscroft so they can be "on call" when he needs their powers for investigations. All the benefits of being the idle rich, but they have to darn their own stockings rather than buy new ones, so they're allowed to still be good people.
I don't much like Sarah and Nan. Or rather, I don't much like the "people should help one another, except when we disapprove of the person needing help, and then she's a silly bint who should have known better and fuck her, learn to be self sufficient" behavior that's so common to them. (This is very specifically aimed at the opening of The Case of the Spellbound Child, which is completely unrelated to the rest of the book and either exists because Lackey needed to fluff her word count, or just so Nan and Sarah can be sanctimonious.)
So anyway, I have issues with these books, and the issues just expand as I grimly force myself through the series.
But as annoying as it is when characters are smugly superior about other characters who exist solely to give the mains something to be smugly superior about, it's a whole other level when you have your characters be smugly superior about how "silly" and "unrealistic" the popular novels of the time are, with the unspoken but clear message of "unlike the well-considered tome in your hands right now, Gentle Reader".
I mean, maybe it's a sign of self awareness, of Lackey knowing she doesn't have a leg to stand on when it comes to criticizing "horrid gothic romances" and "people who make up the most absurd idiocy out of whole cloth." But frankly, given the tone of this whole series, I'm more inclined to read it as the book proudly proclaiming "I'm not LIKE other books."
One thing that deeply annoys me in this series (and which is probably responsible for why I never got into it the way I did the Valdemar books) is how heavily its brand of feminism relies on the "I'm not like other girls" trope of being dismissive of women who are not, in the character's opinion, sufficiently strong and independent. To the point of the main character in The Fire Rose literally thinking that unlike most women, SHE uses her brain.
Sarah and Nan are the worst offenders, possibly just because the middle of the series randomly became The Sarah and Nan Show before moving back to stand-alone stories in a shared magical universe. Sarah and Nan, who are portrayed as virtuously middle class in spite of the fact they're actually being supported by Lord Alderscroft so they can be "on call" when he needs their powers for investigations. All the benefits of being the idle rich, but they have to darn their own stockings rather than buy new ones, so they're allowed to still be good people.
I don't much like Sarah and Nan. Or rather, I don't much like the "people should help one another, except when we disapprove of the person needing help, and then she's a silly bint who should have known better and fuck her, learn to be self sufficient" behavior that's so common to them. (This is very specifically aimed at the opening of The Case of the Spellbound Child, which is completely unrelated to the rest of the book and either exists because Lackey needed to fluff her word count, or just so Nan and Sarah can be sanctimonious.)
So anyway, I have issues with these books, and the issues just expand as I grimly force myself through the series.
But as annoying as it is when characters are smugly superior about other characters who exist solely to give the mains something to be smugly superior about, it's a whole other level when you have your characters be smugly superior about how "silly" and "unrealistic" the popular novels of the time are, with the unspoken but clear message of "unlike the well-considered tome in your hands right now, Gentle Reader".
I mean, maybe it's a sign of self awareness, of Lackey knowing she doesn't have a leg to stand on when it comes to criticizing "horrid gothic romances" and "people who make up the most absurd idiocy out of whole cloth." But frankly, given the tone of this whole series, I'm more inclined to read it as the book proudly proclaiming "I'm not LIKE other books."
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I continue to do this to myself
So, after discovering that yes, Reserved for the Cat was an infinitely better version of Steadfast, I went all the way back to the first-but-not-really Elemental Masters book, The Fire Rose.
I'm not sure if the series rebooted with a new book 1 because Lackey changed publishers, or just because she wanted to retcon out some of the highly ritualized magic she used in this book. (Not that how magic and elementals work is super consistent across the Elemental Masters series anyway.) She completely abandoned the idea of "masters of the same element can't share an area", which seemed weird and never fully explained (frankly, I tend to think the real explanation was "masters with incredibly large egos can't coexist" given Jason's personality and everything we heard about the master who trained him).
I don't actually like either of the main characters. Rosalind's attitude is a bit too much "I'm not like other girls, I use my brain *sniff sniff*". This is something Lackey does a lot in this series, where she manages to simultaneously harp about how the laws and society of the period were incredibly unfair and limiting to women, while also being supercilious about any women who don't buck society and have a properly modern view; I find it incredibly grating.
Our beast, Jason, is fully aware that hubris caused his bestial transformation, and this knowledge has done nothing to curb his ego. While these flaws undoubtedly make our hero and heroine more realistic than Lackey's pure sweetness and light characters, I still rolled my eyes at the both of them.
As is typical of Lackey, you know the villain is villainous because he's a sexual deviant who likes to rape and murder women. There is no subtlety to the black hats in this book.
The book has one Chinese earth master, who is mostly there to be the Magical Oriental, dispense herbal medicine, and establish that Eastern and Western elemental magic is Just Different and those Eastern Masters are so darn inscrutable. There's also a Chinese air master, who exists solely so the heroine can see his burns and realize he must be why the local air elementals dislike the evil fire master.
On the up side, both the heroes and the villains did things, as opposed to passively talking about why they shouldn't do things and then having the villain conveniently die by his own hand. Having last read this book when it first came out in hardcover decades ago, I actually wanted to see what happened, and the climax did not disappoint.
Edit: Oh, I can't believe I forgot the most ridiculous part of the book, which was the pages and pages and PAGES spent on how very important all the elements of summoning a motherfucking unicorn were. How Rosalind had to go vegan for three days to purify herself of the taint of blood, how wool couldn't be used for the robes because it was an animal product...all while the characters are doing this ritual wearing silk robes.
I'm not sure if the series rebooted with a new book 1 because Lackey changed publishers, or just because she wanted to retcon out some of the highly ritualized magic she used in this book. (Not that how magic and elementals work is super consistent across the Elemental Masters series anyway.) She completely abandoned the idea of "masters of the same element can't share an area", which seemed weird and never fully explained (frankly, I tend to think the real explanation was "masters with incredibly large egos can't coexist" given Jason's personality and everything we heard about the master who trained him).
I don't actually like either of the main characters. Rosalind's attitude is a bit too much "I'm not like other girls, I use my brain *sniff sniff*". This is something Lackey does a lot in this series, where she manages to simultaneously harp about how the laws and society of the period were incredibly unfair and limiting to women, while also being supercilious about any women who don't buck society and have a properly modern view; I find it incredibly grating.
Our beast, Jason, is fully aware that hubris caused his bestial transformation, and this knowledge has done nothing to curb his ego. While these flaws undoubtedly make our hero and heroine more realistic than Lackey's pure sweetness and light characters, I still rolled my eyes at the both of them.
As is typical of Lackey, you know the villain is villainous because he's a sexual deviant who likes to rape and murder women. There is no subtlety to the black hats in this book.
The book has one Chinese earth master, who is mostly there to be the Magical Oriental, dispense herbal medicine, and establish that Eastern and Western elemental magic is Just Different and those Eastern Masters are so darn inscrutable. There's also a Chinese air master, who exists solely so the heroine can see his burns and realize he must be why the local air elementals dislike the evil fire master.
On the up side, both the heroes and the villains did things, as opposed to passively talking about why they shouldn't do things and then having the villain conveniently die by his own hand. Having last read this book when it first came out in hardcover decades ago, I actually wanted to see what happened, and the climax did not disappoint.
Edit: Oh, I can't believe I forgot the most ridiculous part of the book, which was the pages and pages and PAGES spent on how very important all the elements of summoning a motherfucking unicorn were. How Rosalind had to go vegan for three days to purify herself of the taint of blood, how wool couldn't be used for the robes because it was an animal product...all while the characters are doing this ritual wearing silk robes.
Actually, Speaking of the Silver Bullets of Annie Oakley
This book was less annoying than Steadfast, but also unintentionally hilarious in how it was structured.
It opens with a flashback slash dream sequence that reveals the evil werewolf villain. This dream sequence ends by the 5% mark.
Then there is an entire book of more than I ever wanted to know about the logistics of being a Wild West show touring Europe, a lot of retreading the familiar ground of training Elemental masters and mages, and some hunting magical creatures. I quite like the German elemental masters more than the English ones; they tend to be more practical and less preachy. Annie grapples once or twice with the question of "If the werewolf who tortured me as a child was in front of me right now, could I kill him?" without coming to an answer.
At the...I don't know, 80% ish mark...there's a bit of "I have a bad feeling that I'm being watched" along with reported werewolf activity. Precautions are taken but really, let's talk about roadshow logistics some more.
At 98%, Annie is ambushed on the street and knocked out. She wakes up in an abandoned building surrounded by the werewolf from her childhood and his new pack.
Turns out, yep, she can kill him without batting an eye, as she pulls the air from his lungs and suffocates him (while - I think - merely using the same trick to render the rest of his pack unconscious).
It's hard to call it a climax, because that implies the plot actually built to something, but it was definitely an ending. And nobody even gave her shit for not waiting around to see how badly the werewolf would hurt her before acting...though, I suspect that's because he was an "evil magical creature" rather than an evil nonmagical-or-maybe-magical-but-it's-ambiguous human.
It opens with a flashback slash dream sequence that reveals the evil werewolf villain. This dream sequence ends by the 5% mark.
Then there is an entire book of more than I ever wanted to know about the logistics of being a Wild West show touring Europe, a lot of retreading the familiar ground of training Elemental masters and mages, and some hunting magical creatures. I quite like the German elemental masters more than the English ones; they tend to be more practical and less preachy. Annie grapples once or twice with the question of "If the werewolf who tortured me as a child was in front of me right now, could I kill him?" without coming to an answer.
At the...I don't know, 80% ish mark...there's a bit of "I have a bad feeling that I'm being watched" along with reported werewolf activity. Precautions are taken but really, let's talk about roadshow logistics some more.
At 98%, Annie is ambushed on the street and knocked out. She wakes up in an abandoned building surrounded by the werewolf from her childhood and his new pack.
Turns out, yep, she can kill him without batting an eye, as she pulls the air from his lungs and suffocates him (while - I think - merely using the same trick to render the rest of his pack unconscious).
It's hard to call it a climax, because that implies the plot actually built to something, but it was definitely an ending. And nobody even gave her shit for not waiting around to see how badly the werewolf would hurt her before acting...though, I suspect that's because he was an "evil magical creature" rather than an evil nonmagical-or-maybe-magical-but-it's-ambiguous human.
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I do this to myself, part two
A lot of the reviews for Steadfast said it was just a less entertaining retread of Reserved for the Cat.
Naturally, I decided the thing to do was read Reserved for the Cat. I'm presently at the 90% mark.
Hold on, because you're not going to believe this.
I am thoroughly enjoying this book and its main character.
Are the Elemental Masters still pretty damn preachy? Yes, they are. Is anyone at all telling Ninette that the thing to do is just keep her head down and not make waves? Hell no. Sure, they're trying to keep her out of the line of fire, but that's because she's not a Master, not even a magician, as much as because she's a woman and they are Manly Men. On the other hand, she has a gun and has learned how to use it (though I feel like "blessed lead from the roof of a church" is giving Christianity a lot more weight than it deserves), and she and her equally unmagical maid trapped a nasty little plague elemental in an iron cooking pot.
So, you know, she gets to DO things as opposed to hearing about how doing anything would make her just as bad as the villain of the piece.
More importantly, we have an actual villain, who does actual things. On the page! That we the readers get to experience!
Unlike in Steadfast, where the villain was just an asshole abusive drunk and "the law is on his side" was trotted out as a good reason to do nothing but appease said abusive drunk (and the story implied but never got around to telling a far more interesting story) - or The Silver Bullets of Annie Oakley, where the villain was established in chapter one and then appeared again at the 98% mark, acted, and was dispatched within three pages - the villain in Reserved for the Cat has had multiple chapters from her point of view. We see her scheme, we know what she wants, we know just how awful she is. The villain is a character, who acts and is countered, and even if the counters are sometimes too easily managed on the part of heroes at least the villain is doing something.
You know, almost like this is an actual book with an actual plot, as opposed to the twentieth retread of "newly discovered magician's training montage" and "preachy men preach preachily".
For the record, this is book #5 in the series, published in 2007. Steadfast is #8, published in 2013. I don't know where Lackey's storytelling chops went in those six years, but I dearly wish she'd go back to books where people actually do things.
Naturally, I decided the thing to do was read Reserved for the Cat. I'm presently at the 90% mark.
Hold on, because you're not going to believe this.
I am thoroughly enjoying this book and its main character.
Are the Elemental Masters still pretty damn preachy? Yes, they are. Is anyone at all telling Ninette that the thing to do is just keep her head down and not make waves? Hell no. Sure, they're trying to keep her out of the line of fire, but that's because she's not a Master, not even a magician, as much as because she's a woman and they are Manly Men. On the other hand, she has a gun and has learned how to use it (though I feel like "blessed lead from the roof of a church" is giving Christianity a lot more weight than it deserves), and she and her equally unmagical maid trapped a nasty little plague elemental in an iron cooking pot.
So, you know, she gets to DO things as opposed to hearing about how doing anything would make her just as bad as the villain of the piece.
More importantly, we have an actual villain, who does actual things. On the page! That we the readers get to experience!
Unlike in Steadfast, where the villain was just an asshole abusive drunk and "the law is on his side" was trotted out as a good reason to do nothing but appease said abusive drunk (and the story implied but never got around to telling a far more interesting story) - or The Silver Bullets of Annie Oakley, where the villain was established in chapter one and then appeared again at the 98% mark, acted, and was dispatched within three pages - the villain in Reserved for the Cat has had multiple chapters from her point of view. We see her scheme, we know what she wants, we know just how awful she is. The villain is a character, who acts and is countered, and even if the counters are sometimes too easily managed on the part of heroes at least the villain is doing something.
You know, almost like this is an actual book with an actual plot, as opposed to the twentieth retread of "newly discovered magician's training montage" and "preachy men preach preachily".
For the record, this is book #5 in the series, published in 2007. Steadfast is #8, published in 2013. I don't know where Lackey's storytelling chops went in those six years, but I dearly wish she'd go back to books where people actually do things.
Entry tags:
I do this to myself
Every so often, I read a Mercedes Lackey novel. I don't know why; I know her New Age version of "the meek shall inherit" will inevitably drive me crazy and make me rage. But I do it because I like her prose and I still have fond memories of Valdemar. And with the Elemental Masters series especially, I know that the Lawful Stupid alignment forced on the heroes will substitute for actual tension as they make their lives 10x harder than they need to be.
But now I've finally read a book where the main characters do nothing of substance.
( Beware now spoilers for Steadfast, the Elemental Masters book ever-so-loosely based on the Steadfast Tin Soldier. Oh god, this is long )
It wasn't until the final chapter that I accepted the fact that the protagonists in this book didn't DO anything to drive the plot, beyond Katie running away in the first place. The abusive husband shows up 3/4 through the book by unexplained means, does abusive things while everyone tries to find ways to placate him so he doesn't hurt Katie too much, and then accidentally offs himself through his own vices.
That...that's it. That's the story. With a charming bonus message of "just keep your head down and don't make your abuser mad, and eventually the problem will solve itself."
This book was like a distillation of everything people say is wrong with Disney Princesses (just be meek and good and pretty and your prince will come save you), only in this book, the "prince" also does fuck all. You could have replaced all three of the main characters with potted plants, and Dick likely would have met the same end because Dick is the only one who actually DID anything through the entire book.
Oh, and how did our intrepid soldier lose his leg in the war? you may ask.
He broke his ankle, his commander thought he could wait for the next train to get medical attention, and the injury turned septic.
Somehow, that feels like a metaphor for this entire fucking book.
Addendum: Someone needs to put a moratorium on Lackey's use of both em-dashes and exclamation points outside of dialogue.
But now I've finally read a book where the main characters do nothing of substance.
( Beware now spoilers for Steadfast, the Elemental Masters book ever-so-loosely based on the Steadfast Tin Soldier. Oh god, this is long )
It wasn't until the final chapter that I accepted the fact that the protagonists in this book didn't DO anything to drive the plot, beyond Katie running away in the first place. The abusive husband shows up 3/4 through the book by unexplained means, does abusive things while everyone tries to find ways to placate him so he doesn't hurt Katie too much, and then accidentally offs himself through his own vices.
That...that's it. That's the story. With a charming bonus message of "just keep your head down and don't make your abuser mad, and eventually the problem will solve itself."
This book was like a distillation of everything people say is wrong with Disney Princesses (just be meek and good and pretty and your prince will come save you), only in this book, the "prince" also does fuck all. You could have replaced all three of the main characters with potted plants, and Dick likely would have met the same end because Dick is the only one who actually DID anything through the entire book.
Oh, and how did our intrepid soldier lose his leg in the war? you may ask.
He broke his ankle, his commander thought he could wait for the next train to get medical attention, and the injury turned septic.
Somehow, that feels like a metaphor for this entire fucking book.
Addendum: Someone needs to put a moratorium on Lackey's use of both em-dashes and exclamation points outside of dialogue.
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Beast Wars!
Or, really, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, but I went to see this movie for one reason, and that reason is BEAST WARS!
And it did not disappoint. I'd say it was about...90% of what I wanted from the introduction of the beast era to the big screen, and most of what it lacked was due to having to share screen time with those other franchise-defining transforming robots.
But, lack of Rattrap, Blackarachnia, Silverbolt, Dino-butt, and The Best Megatron™ aside, the movie did offer lots of robot on robot violence (munky smash!), humans I did not actively hate even once (unheard of), and a surprisingly entertaining Mirage who, quite frankly, can replace Bee as the Official Kid-Friendly Robot any time now (it's hard to overstate how very OVER Bumblebee I am at this point). I loved Mirage's whole, "You do this and I will let you sell me; you get paid, then I take off" sales pitch to Noah. Mirage is clearly the ultimate grifter, and probably a menace to this planet, and I'm pretty okay with that.
The action sequences, with flipping in and out of alt modes and partial transformations, were pretty much everything I want from transforming robot fight scenes. Loved Arcee riding Cheetor into battle, and just the fact the Maximals' beast modes were bigger than most of the Autobots. Also, if I have not mentioned, Munky Smash.
Rhinox and Cheetor needed more screen time, I categorically refuse to accept a certain character's fate, the movie definitely needed more hot, poisonous, and deadly (just spin off a Blackarachnia/Silverbolt romcom for me, really), but overall, I was much happier with it than I expected to be. It wasn't enough to make me fannish again, but it was enough to make me want a sequel. Or a new series. Or just the original series but with prettier animation (which could probably be done by a team of dedicated fans in Blender, at this point).
The name drop at the end was brilliant and I await my crossover eagerly.
Edit: I forgot to mention my amusement over Optimus Primal telling Optimus Prime that he was named after him, and then his private "and frankly I find meeting my namesake rather disappointing" conversation with Airazor.
10/10, would definitely watch again, and plan to buy as soon as they allow it.
And it did not disappoint. I'd say it was about...90% of what I wanted from the introduction of the beast era to the big screen, and most of what it lacked was due to having to share screen time with those other franchise-defining transforming robots.
But, lack of Rattrap, Blackarachnia, Silverbolt, Dino-butt, and The Best Megatron™ aside, the movie did offer lots of robot on robot violence (munky smash!), humans I did not actively hate even once (unheard of), and a surprisingly entertaining Mirage who, quite frankly, can replace Bee as the Official Kid-Friendly Robot any time now (it's hard to overstate how very OVER Bumblebee I am at this point). I loved Mirage's whole, "You do this and I will let you sell me; you get paid, then I take off" sales pitch to Noah. Mirage is clearly the ultimate grifter, and probably a menace to this planet, and I'm pretty okay with that.
The action sequences, with flipping in and out of alt modes and partial transformations, were pretty much everything I want from transforming robot fight scenes. Loved Arcee riding Cheetor into battle, and just the fact the Maximals' beast modes were bigger than most of the Autobots. Also, if I have not mentioned, Munky Smash.
Rhinox and Cheetor needed more screen time, I categorically refuse to accept a certain character's fate, the movie definitely needed more hot, poisonous, and deadly (just spin off a Blackarachnia/Silverbolt romcom for me, really), but overall, I was much happier with it than I expected to be. It wasn't enough to make me fannish again, but it was enough to make me want a sequel. Or a new series. Or just the original series but with prettier animation (which could probably be done by a team of dedicated fans in Blender, at this point).
The name drop at the end was brilliant and I await my crossover eagerly.
Edit: I forgot to mention my amusement over Optimus Primal telling Optimus Prime that he was named after him, and then his private "and frankly I find meeting my namesake rather disappointing" conversation with Airazor.
10/10, would definitely watch again, and plan to buy as soon as they allow it.
Entry tags:
Well, that was pointless
I can't* believe World of Warcraft sent me on an entire quest chain to resurrect a dead dragon, only for the conclusion of the chain to be "actually, I can't do the ONE THING you resurrected me for, but my daughter - who sent you to resurrect me - can totally do the thing."
Ysera died years ago, and apparently instead of Merithra taking over as leader of the green flight, everything has just been in limbo since then aside from one dude who spent that time trying to figure out how to bring Ysera back from the dead. Which was presented as a side project, honestly; it wasn't like all of the green dragons were dedicated to this endeavor.
It did help crystalize why none of the dragon-related quests in Dragonflight work for me, though. Unlike the centaur and tuskarr, who seem to have been living their lives while the dragons were away from the Dragon Isles, everything dragon related feels like actors waiting for their cue to go on stage and follow a script. And it would be interesting if the writers used this as a way to show how dragons just Think Different, and for the green flight six years is like the blink of an eye. Or if they'd built Merithra up as enough of a character that we actually sympathized with her wanting her mother to return and fix things. But instead, Ysera's (pointless) return was very clearly designed as a way to trigger player nostalgia (just like the exchange was clearly designed for random angst) rather than for narrative structure. Oh, and to kick the night elves in the teeth one more time, because why the fuck not.
Alas, the game did not give me the option to return my defective rez'd dragon within 72 hours and get my archdruid back, which I frankly think is poor customer service on the part of the Winter Queen.
*Yes I can
Ysera died years ago, and apparently instead of Merithra taking over as leader of the green flight, everything has just been in limbo since then aside from one dude who spent that time trying to figure out how to bring Ysera back from the dead. Which was presented as a side project, honestly; it wasn't like all of the green dragons were dedicated to this endeavor.
It did help crystalize why none of the dragon-related quests in Dragonflight work for me, though. Unlike the centaur and tuskarr, who seem to have been living their lives while the dragons were away from the Dragon Isles, everything dragon related feels like actors waiting for their cue to go on stage and follow a script. And it would be interesting if the writers used this as a way to show how dragons just Think Different, and for the green flight six years is like the blink of an eye. Or if they'd built Merithra up as enough of a character that we actually sympathized with her wanting her mother to return and fix things. But instead, Ysera's (pointless) return was very clearly designed as a way to trigger player nostalgia (just like the exchange was clearly designed for random angst) rather than for narrative structure. Oh, and to kick the night elves in the teeth one more time, because why the fuck not.
Alas, the game did not give me the option to return my defective rez'd dragon within 72 hours and get my archdruid back, which I frankly think is poor customer service on the part of the Winter Queen.
*Yes I can
Arggg, I say
Freevee, I love you. I love that you allow me to watch Very Old TV Shows. I do not even mind the 3 minutes of commercials each break.
But for the love of all that's holy, these shows come in with built-in breaks for commercials. Why, why, why can't you actually align your fucking commercials to go in the breaks?
But for the love of all that's holy, these shows come in with built-in breaks for commercials. Why, why, why can't you actually align your fucking commercials to go in the breaks?
Entry tags:
Space Goat!
With Twitter imploding, artists are scrambling for a new home, and one of the contenders is Inkblot. Since they were recently doing a membership drive, and had artists volunteering to do sketches for new members, I decided to ask for my draenei paladin...but with the twist of taking "space goat" more literally, since I'd been delighted to see Prophet Velen with adorable goat ears.
The result of my request, which is FREAKING ADORABLE (click for big):
Yes, she is getting added to the icon pile.
The result of my request, which is FREAKING ADORABLE (click for big):
Yes, she is getting added to the icon pile.
Luckily, I have a short attention span
Because, you see, I have no artistic skill.
And I'm so bad in Blender I managed to screw up importing and rigging a WoW model even though I was using a step-by-step tutorial.
And yet...
I find myself considering trying to sculpt and rig Blackarachnia in Blender, just so I can make some really BITCHIN' icons.
And I'm so bad in Blender I managed to screw up importing and rigging a WoW model even though I was using a step-by-step tutorial.
And yet...
I find myself considering trying to sculpt and rig Blackarachnia in Blender, just so I can make some really BITCHIN' icons.
I get to take a month off from writing
Well, specifically, I get to take a month off from writing smut.
Because as of today, I am six, count them, SIX smuts ahead of my publishing schedule, which means I have smut to publish all the way until June 12.
Which means I get to spend the entire month of May writing anything I want, with not a single thought to how marketable it isn't going to be.
At this point, I have no idea what I'm going to be writing, but there's not going to be a lick of sex anywhere in it.
Because as of today, I am six, count them, SIX smuts ahead of my publishing schedule, which means I have smut to publish all the way until June 12.
Which means I get to spend the entire month of May writing anything I want, with not a single thought to how marketable it isn't going to be.
At this point, I have no idea what I'm going to be writing, but there's not going to be a lick of sex anywhere in it.
Beast Wars!
I AM SO EXCITED ABOUT THE NEW TRANSFORMERS MOVIE
Really, it doesn't even need to succeed as a movie; it just needs to have lots of Maximals running around looking amazing.
The humans seem...inoffensive, as far as humans getting in my giant robot movies goes.
My only regret is that Rattrap and Dino-butt didn't make the cut. On the up side: Airazor.
Edits to change icon: Oh Blackarachnia, how I have missed you. (But, frankly, a movie appearance could not do my girl justice, so it's okay she's not in the new movie. New Beast Wars TV series when?)
Edit 2.0: I am amused that I coincidentally wandered back just in time for 3 Weeks for Dreamwidth.
Really, it doesn't even need to succeed as a movie; it just needs to have lots of Maximals running around looking amazing.
The humans seem...inoffensive, as far as humans getting in my giant robot movies goes.
My only regret is that Rattrap and Dino-butt didn't make the cut. On the up side: Airazor.
Edits to change icon: Oh Blackarachnia, how I have missed you. (But, frankly, a movie appearance could not do my girl justice, so it's okay she's not in the new movie. New Beast Wars TV series when?)
Edit 2.0: I am amused that I coincidentally wandered back just in time for 3 Weeks for Dreamwidth.
Oh, book twitter
Saying this here because weighing in on AI as anything less than LITERALLY SATAN can get a person eaten alive on twitter...
Feel how you want about AI, but if you're going to compare using AI art on a book cover to "being okay with slavery" then you have seriously lost the plot of life.
(Also, I need to re-up my paid account so I can have more icons, but then I would need to make more icons, and that just feels exhausting.)
Feel how you want about AI, but if you're going to compare using AI art on a book cover to "being okay with slavery" then you have seriously lost the plot of life.
(Also, I need to re-up my paid account so I can have more icons, but then I would need to make more icons, and that just feels exhausting.)
I am so, so bad at posting here.
Granted, most of what I would post isn't that interesting. It's more like "I desire to post a one sentence complaint about World of Warcraft", which I shoot out into the void that is Twitter and promptly forget about. Because complete ideas...complete ideas are HARD.
This does at least spare you from the occasional burr under my saddle where I complain about the War of Thorns (none of which have to do with the night elves, because I only care about Pandaren), or just WoW's complete lack of coherent world building in general.
In conclusion: I'm not dead and I do remember my login. Huzzah!
This does at least spare you from the occasional burr under my saddle where I complain about the War of Thorns (none of which have to do with the night elves, because I only care about Pandaren), or just WoW's complete lack of coherent world building in general.
In conclusion: I'm not dead and I do remember my login. Huzzah!
We provide...Leverage
So I found out that darthneko has never seen Leverage. Luckily, it can be watched free with ads on Amazon Prime. Only, not so much, since trying to watch it on our not-so-smart TV got us the message that our device can't' handle the "subscription information" for the Freevee app.
Which, you know, has mostly just given me an excuse to buy Leverage season by season.
We got to roughly the midpoint of season 1 when she got home from work, and I suspect Leverage is how we're going to be filling the dinner to bedtime hours for the foreseeable future.
darthneko has never seen Leverage. Luckily, it can be watched free with ads on Amazon Prime. Only, not so much, since trying to watch it on our not-so-smart TV got us the message that our device can't' handle the "subscription information" for the Freevee app.Which, you know, has mostly just given me an excuse to buy Leverage season by season.
We got to roughly the midpoint of season 1 when she got home from work, and I suspect Leverage is how we're going to be filling the dinner to bedtime hours for the foreseeable future.
I hate writing fight scenes
Why do we keep coming up with stories that require fight scenes?
Past!dragon and past!darthneko are assholes for coming up with this outline. I should go back and punch us both in the face.
Past!dragon and past!
darthneko are assholes for coming up with this outline. I should go back and punch us both in the face.Twitter is destructive to my brain
And I know it, but I keep going back.
The current outrage in my corner of the twittersphere is over Clarkesworld closing submissions due to a glut of AI generated submissions. And while I have no doubt the Clarkesworld situation is caused by people doing the "push button, generate crap, submit" cycle over and over (possibly right down to automating submissions), the level of vitriol - and the refusal to conceive of any nuance between "generate crap" and "lovingly pen every word with blood taken from the author's own veins" - is giving me an undue amount of stress.
And honestly, it's less because of the people arguing that AI is unethical, and more the ones falling back on arguments about "human connection" and "art and writing need to have meaning that only a human can create." I guarantee I'm not here to do more than (hopefully) be entertaining for a few hours, and I don't want the burden of meaningful literature pushed on me.
I don't need more stress on top of my depression, thanks.
The current outrage in my corner of the twittersphere is over Clarkesworld closing submissions due to a glut of AI generated submissions. And while I have no doubt the Clarkesworld situation is caused by people doing the "push button, generate crap, submit" cycle over and over (possibly right down to automating submissions), the level of vitriol - and the refusal to conceive of any nuance between "generate crap" and "lovingly pen every word with blood taken from the author's own veins" - is giving me an undue amount of stress.
And honestly, it's less because of the people arguing that AI is unethical, and more the ones falling back on arguments about "human connection" and "art and writing need to have meaning that only a human can create." I guarantee I'm not here to do more than (hopefully) be entertaining for a few hours, and I don't want the burden of meaningful literature pushed on me.
I don't need more stress on top of my depression, thanks.
My entire brain is one giant blue screen of death
As it has been for a while now. I keep churning out the formulaic erotica for Amazon to pay the bills, but put anything in front of me that requires a functional brain cell and I go straight to "what are words?"
I'm currently trying to write the epilogue to the mpreg romance we've been posting on Vella, and even though I know what happens I don't seem to have a clue how to write it. I've been staring at this screen for six hours and have 200-ish words to show for it, and really, I so desperately want this thing DONE. (I'd like to say, "I want it done so I can go play in a fantasy universe full of queer anthropomorphic bears" or possibly "and then I can write about lesbian sky pirates" but the sad truth - and possibly part of why my brain is rebelling - is that once it's done I need to go back to churning out erotica for cash).
Don't get me wrong, writing smut is way better than getting a real job, I just wish I could make four figures a month writing quirky fantasy instead.
I'm currently trying to write the epilogue to the mpreg romance we've been posting on Vella, and even though I know what happens I don't seem to have a clue how to write it. I've been staring at this screen for six hours and have 200-ish words to show for it, and really, I so desperately want this thing DONE. (I'd like to say, "I want it done so I can go play in a fantasy universe full of queer anthropomorphic bears" or possibly "and then I can write about lesbian sky pirates" but the sad truth - and possibly part of why my brain is rebelling - is that once it's done I need to go back to churning out erotica for cash).
Don't get me wrong, writing smut is way better than getting a real job, I just wish I could make four figures a month writing quirky fantasy instead.