Kris' Ramblings

Wow, the last few months have been crazy. I'll have a longer Christmas wrap-up and explanation post later. For now, I have my annual SWAT Kat Christmas art to share. Knowing I'd taken on two gift pieces for Christmas as well, I went with a simplified design. It's also a callback to my 2006 Christmas piece.

Also, here's one of the gift pieces I did - a quick portrait of a friend's sweet little beagle, Evie.

Wow, this October 3rd drabble didn't want to work with me. I think I wrote three completely different starts. But, who knows? Maybe I'll do something with them later. Anyways, this time, Mustang gets some focus since I've done so many with the most obvious characters of Ed, Al, and Winry.

( Responsibility (Fullmetal Alchemist) )

So, while it's not one of the series I talk about - or have tried fanworks for - the 1980's "Transformers" is definitely a strong memory from my childhood. So, it's been a lot of fun to see all the stuff recently released as part of its 40th anniversary.

Like Studio Trigger's amazing music video that manages to reference something from almost everything Transformers released in the US or Japan. I'm not sure about the comics, but the live action movies are included. And, for those like me who never kept up with much of it, here's a meticulously made guide to who's who and from what in each shot.

Plus, the entire first season of the 80's cartoon has been made available as one mega-file officially posted to YouTube.

Oh, and there's also this collection of music from the original 1980's score.

And, while not official or necessarily for the anniversary, YouTuber 87render has done some fantastic and well-made fan animations (also laden with anime references) as well as things like this older short that makes me laugh.

It's SWAT Kats' anniversary season again, so here's this year's entry in my "Becoming the SWAT Kats" series. This follows: Discovery, Exploration, Armored, Uplifting, Delivery, and Fueling Up.

( Disguising (SWAT Kats) )

Wow, the spring anime season was good. I watched three series, one I'd been anticipating and two that weren't even on my radar.

First, "Kaiju No. 8". I've been following the manga since it started, and it's a great, fun series with a likeable cast. The anime adds to it some truly awesome action animation and great music. Plus, watching the story's beginning has reminded me how I was hooked in at the start. It's a fantastic show, and I'm happy a second season has already been announced.

Then, there's the shows that I picked up by chance, "Tonari no Yokai-san" and "Wind Breaker".

I thought "Tonari no Yokai-san" was going to be my relaxing show. Just a gentle, Miyazaki-esque drama about a little village where humans and youkai or other supernatural beings live in relative harmony. Plus the bonus of getting to explore such a charming world through the eyes of Buchio, a former housecat who, as he was dying of old age, wanted to stay with his loving family so badly he transformed into a nekomata, a two-tailed youkai cat with shape-changing powers. The show was so much more than I expected. Yes, Buchio was adorable and my favorite character. But, beyond that... Firstly, it's not just the one village - it's an entire world where humans and the supernatural co-exist. We get to see beyond Japan with a brief trip to England, and there's even a (real world style, not sci-fi) space station crewed by humans and other beings. Secondly, well, I won't spoil it. But, the show went places I didn't expect, brought me to tears, and resolved just as it should. (And, no, I don't expect more of this one. It's apparently adapted from a manga that only has four volumes.)

Then, there's the season's surprise favorite, "Wind Breaker". I don't-- How did this happen?! I was promised some great fight animation, so I went in for what I thought would be one episode of an otherwise uninteresting delinquent show. I mean, there weren't even any superpowers! Yet, somehow, I watched and loved the entire season. The animation is stunning with full-bodied fights executed in-camera and each character given a unique fighting style. But, it's so much more than that. The cast is great, each introduced character instantly standing out and almost all of the Bofurin crew having some charm. The lead, Sakura, is especially endearing. Granted, it helps that he reminded me heavily of early Rin from "Blue Exorcist" ;) ...Though he's definitely more of a classic tsundere with that instant blush of his whenever anyone is kind to him. It was a joy to watch his character grow across just thirteen episodes, and I can't wait for the already announced season two!

I have no idea why I didn't post these literal years ago. But, here are a few Hetalia crossover fanfic recs I typed up and somehow forgot.

( Click for Fic Recs... )

I recently got my hands on the fantastic "Art of Godzilla: King of the Monsters" book. I had wanted it primarily for all the concept art. It does not disappoint in terms of gorgeous full page spreads of surreally beautiful kaiju art as well as close-up shots of a few gorgeously detailed clay models. I was a little disappointed to see very few rough sketches, and at least one two page spread is laid out rather poorly with Godzilla himself almost lost in the gutter/fold of the book. Still, the art is wonderful and the interviews and discussions were fascinating. I don't think I've read anything on the movie-making process in years, and the amount of digital storyboarding that goes into a modern special effects extravaganza is impressive.

And, while I'm talking Godzilla, let's throw in my (nonspoiler) commentary on "Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire". (Does anyone know how you're supposed to say "Godzilla x Kong"? Do you pronounce the X? Is it a stand-in for "plus"? "With"? "Multiplied by"? "Cross" like so many anime use it?)

Anyway, it was a very fun movie. The plot was much more coherent than "Godzilla vs. Kong", the returning human characters were used well, and the monster fights were good fun. The last movie felt like I'd missed an installment where technology suddenly took a leap forward, and I had the sense the villains' background was left on the cutting room floor. (Though I have some hope the Monarch series might fill the latter in. Yes, it's on my watchlist.) This one felt like a much more natural continuation of previous movies, and I enjoyed the new character, Trapper. "Kaiju vet" is a cool job title. There should be a slice of life manga or something about adventures in kaiju veterinary practice. Like the world discovered that most of them are only rampaging because of a sore tooth or something.

Also, Godzilla curling up in the Colosseum in Rome like a cat was oddly adorable, and I love that it's inspired a flood of even more adorable art. Like this and this.

Continuing my drabbles about England's accidentally enchanted house. I actually wrote this one first, and then created the others around it to give some concept to this dangling snippet.

( Modernizing (Hetalia) )

This may take a little explaining. My brother got me started watching gameplay videos of people playing "Lethal Company". This despite the fact that the last game I played was flailing through a few rounds of "Beat Saber" with my brother's VR headset. My knee and a coffee table were almost casualties. Anyway, games aren't my thing, but the videos were strangely addicting. Then, this idea started. In "Lethal Company", the players are serving as intergalactic scrap collectors for a ruthless, faceless company whose "disciplinary process" for failing to meet quota is ejecting employees into space. Oh, and you apparently hand your scrap over to an easily angered tentacle monster, who will murder anyone who rings the service bell too many times. Or makes too much noise near the window. Or just breaths wrong.

So, I got to thinking of a certain other lethal company run by a corporate tentacle monster. And, this happened.

So, I promised to talk about the kitten... Also, I just like talking about the kitten.

Back in September, I found this little mite (pictured here being held by my brother) crying under a car in the parking lot where I work. With the help of a co-worker, I was able to catch her and drop her off at the vet's office nearby for a look-over... and for babysitting services until I finished work. They found that she was able to eat solid food despite her tiny size, so I decided to give raising her a go. (No, I've never had to bottlefeed a kitten. All past kittens arrived in the womb of abandoned pregnant cats I took in, so there was always a mommy cat to handle the tricky stuff.) After some dithering over a name, I settled on Smokey or Smokey Bear for the kitten and regularly address her as "The Bear" and "Bear-Bear".

Although, she also gets called "Squitten" often. Because, when she was small and still not allowed to interact with my older cat, Pai-Pai, without supervision, my brother built her a multi-story playpen out of wire shelving, and she was immediately climbing it like a squirrel. (This photo was taken of the first version of the playpen. The earlier photo is a later version after we modified it to keep her from climbing upside-down on the ceiling and added space for her big girl litterbox plus some bonus upper platforms.)

Since then, it's been quite a ride. She ate well the first nights, then abruptly stopped. I panicked. There were tears and desperate prayers and a lot of flailing around. But, we got through it. I had supportive family and friends and received some great advice from a kitten fosterer I was able to reach by text. (For the record - baby food. Turkey or beef flavor. It tempted her into eating again, and I slowly mixed it with more and more of her kitten food.) Once we got through that, I learned that she has a heart murmur, and that prompted a trip to a veterinary cardiologist. Thankfully, her condition doesn't appear to be severe. At her size, even an ultrasound could only show so much, but, while there's definitely a deformity to her heart, the cardiologist gave her a good prognosis. She'll go back in the spring once she's grown a bit. Otherwise, we've weathered a bout of truly horrific-smelling diarrhea and a bad reaction to her first round of vaccines.

But, Smokey's doing well now. She and Pai-Pai get along great. I mean, they play-fight incessantly, but it's friendly. And, I've caught them snuggled together in one of the window seats.

Before I go, Smokey in her Thanksgiving bandana.