Kris' Ramblings

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.

"Villainous/Villanos" is finally officially available in the US! It's streaming on HBOMax or just... Max now, apparently. So, in celebration, I dashed out and colored this sketch.

...Okay, now back to a SWAT Kat piece I've been poking at on and off for literal years and have decided to make myself finish this year for KaiJune.

So, in the last year, I had an outdoor camera installed. Besides updating me on package deliveries, it's also captured a whole array of wildlife overnight. From the expected rabbits and opossums to a surprise gray fox, who visits like clockwork every morning around 2:00am. Then, a couple weeks ago, there was a new surprise - a coyote. I'd heard they were everywhere but had yet to see one.

When I told my uncle, he immediately asked if the coyote was chasing a roadrunner.

Thus, I was compelled to make this. Yes, that's the real security camera footage of the coyote... plus "enhancement".

So, here's a bit more SWAT Katty-ness:

First, I decided to color a little doodle I did of Felina. It's not much, but I'm slowly trying to get back into my art groove.

Then, one of the YouTube channels I follow recently covered SWAT Kats!

So, Christmas has been and gone, and, despite some hiccups (sick cat, sick friends, burnt out septic pump), it was a good time. My aunt and I went only a little crazy with cookie and fudge making. I got to see my cousin's family for the first time in months. Many delicious meals were eaten. And, a lot of nice vegging out happened.

I also did indeed finish my annual SWAT Kat Christmas image right on time on the 24th. It's a companion to one I did in 2010 with the ten year anniversary being completely unplanned.

Also, I made myself a holiday-ish Ao no/Blue Exorcist wallpaper via editing some of Kazue Kato's amazing artwork. You can see it here.


Giftwise, well, I have plenty of goodies to watch/re-watch, some reading material in the form of more of Gordon R. Dickson's "Dragon Knight" series and Peter S. Beagle's "Tamsin", and, of course, fandom goodies thanks to jordannamorgan and MintySage.

Good times, but here's hoping for a brighter 2021.

Soooo, Christmas!

It was a good, if oddly busy season. Thanks to a new job (and some happy timing with the weekends), I've now enjoyed the longest Christmas vacation since college. It's been awesome! I've spent most of the time with family doing last minute shopping, eating out, watching movies, etc.

And, of course, I made it my mission, as I do every year, to get my hands on everything peppermint I could find. Here's this year's haul. (Many thanks to my enablers, chiefly my aunt and jordannamorgan.) I also tried my hand at making my own peppermint bark. This is my second, prettier batch. Though it still got a little crumbly when I broke it up.

Also, while I was late, I did manage to finish some Christmas art. I made an odd choice this year and opted to do a SWAT Kat version of that ubiquitous red truck with Christmas tree.

Gift-wise, I got some nice fandom goodies - the second season of the anime "Assassination Classroom", a couple more MCU blu-rays for my (very behind) home collection, older favorite movie "DragonHeart" on blu-ray, some vintage "Ultraman" for my kaiju collection, and a few cute Ao no/Blue Exorcist goodies. Then there's my two big items - the former which I bought for myself after making some extra money - the complete collection of classic/Showa Era Godzilla films and the final, all-in-one "Fullmetal Alchemist" manga art collection.

The only downside to this year was that there was no Fandom Stocking. So, no flood of shorts from me in early January. But, I will try to get more "Pact" and "dragon!Roy" coming along soon.

Yes, it's been forever, but I actually have eked out a couple of quick color pieces based on older sketches.

First, a glorified sketch of Callie braving the rain.

Then, a quick Rin for Halloween. One of these days I really need to draw Rin in one of those classic red devil suits for Halloween. ...And, maybe Yukio freaking out in response.

Real life hasn't been fun lately, but at least there's been some fannish goodness going on.

For starters, the birthday happened, and I received this wondermous collection of Kazue Kato's color art. Finally a full-size artbook from one of my favorite manga artists! And, naturally, it's mostly Ao no/Blue Exorcist" material with some gorgeous color spreads from her older "Robo to Usakichi" series too. It's provided many an art squee. And, made me wish more than ever that I could find more than the first chapter of "Robo" translated. The opening is really interesting, and I absolutely must know how a robot child grows into a teenager. Especially when he's apparently a special design and his creator is dead.

Also, his technology-ness, my brother, got me a blu-ray player at last, which has facilitated more forays into the world of Godzilla movies. But, I'll jabber more about them in a later post.

Somewhere in the midst of it all, I got a Twitter account, mostly to follow the updates in the SWAT Kat fandom. Though I am cross-posting any announcements/links to fannish posts - new fic and art, website updates - there too. And, because my Twitter account needed a pretty fall banner, I updated my fall image with bonus TurboKat.

Lastly, things are happening in Ao no/Blue Exorcist!
( Spoilery babble behind the cut... )

So, after poking at it for ages on the tablet, I've finally finished this very simple fanart of Rin as a full-fledged exorcist.

And, squeaking in with a completely random Halloween SWAT Kat image. I doodled these two up a few weeks ago and decided to color them on a whim.

Also, I have a fanfic recommendation. I'm not really a big Halloween fan, but I do like a little bit of creepy. (I blame childhood exposure to "The Real Ghostbusters" and my grandfather's collection of sea-based ghost stories.) And, this fic hit the spot beautifully.

The Kraken by SectoBoss
Series: Stand Still Stay Silent
Rating: K+/PG
Warnings: Some violence, creepiness.
Location: Archive of Our Own
Status: Complete/Oneshot
Summary: On the journey from Iceland to Denmark, Reynir's crewmates tell him the tale of one beast every sailor prays to never have to face.
Comments: I got into the Stand Still Stay Silent webcomic a while back. It's the ultimate exception that breaks my personal no zombies rule. Because the storyline is definitely a variant of the zombie apocalypse. Set 90 years after the mysterious Rash Illness decimated all mammalian life on land and sea, the nations of Scandinavia are, so far as they know, the only survivors. Everything else - including large swathes of their own former countries - is now the so-called Silent World, crumbling ruins filled with monsters. Because, with the Rash, death is the kinder fate.

"If you come across a Beast, a Troll, or a Giant, do not run or call for help, but stand still and stay silent. It might go away."

And, into this world, this fanfic brings the suggestion of an even more terrifying danger. One the story builds slowly through an old seaman's tale, sightings and clues gradually gathering into a nightmarish conclusion.