Dextive Studios

[dextivestudios]

Welcome to Dextive Studios

What This Blog is About

Welcome to Dextive Studios! This is the main blog under the Dextive name and will be about upcoming projects, personal works, and general blog posts. If you want to keep up with all things Dextive, this is the place to be.

While I won’t directly express my political opinions (that is currently a dangerous thing to do in the USA), which side I stand on will become quickly apparent.

This blog will be the one that will interact with others the most, and I can’t wait to re-acquaint myself with the denizens of this hellsite.

About Me

Hello! I’m Echo Dextive. I am an artist with several interests, and most of them will pop up on this blog. There won’t be any illustrations coming out for a little while, as my current drawing tablet is dead, but I just know Tumblr will love my works once this account starts getting picked up! The things I love: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Minecraft, The Legend of Zelda, My Hero Academia, Video games, Adventure Time, The Owl House, the Helluvaverse, Cats, Ocarinas, Cosplay, and Ita bags! Things I’m currently learning: CGI, programming, Italian

Things I’m interested to learn: Japanese, Spanish

Oooh other links!

Let us start with my other blogs:

Dextive's Ita Bags - Honestly, I love ita bags a little too much. I currently have four personal ones (and counting) and one for sale with two more to come. You may see crossposts onto here from time to time, but since the main blog is meant to be more so for normal social media use, you get to have a dedicated blog to look at my neat bags. The interactions this blog will do will involve other ita bag-related posts/blogs.

Dextive Shop - The self-promo blog. This is where you will hear about what I have for sale, discounts, commissions, and other links that will take you out of Tumblr. It will be crossposted onto here and the ita bag blog from time to time, but this blog exists so that way the amount of self-promo on the other blogs will be minimalized so you can enjoy the content in peace. The interactions this blog will have will consist of reblogging other artists and small businesses trying to promote themselves.

Now for my off-site socials:

Dextive Studios (@dextivestudios.bsky.social) — Bluesky - Honestly, this is my main one where I’m the most active. It’s just yapping. Dextive Studios (@dextivestudios) | Cara - Artist Social & Portfolio Platform - The perfect website to have easy viewing of my cute art.

[dextivestudios]

Hey, sooo...

Some big, good change may be coming soon, and I may need to clear out my shop by late Summer-early Fall.

So, I'm pushing my shop on here.

If you can't afford anything of mine, then all I ask is for engagement.

The home page for Dextive Shop - a place to get products from a small queer artist including prints and knickknacks.

[dextivestudios]

Well, I suppose it is the end of the month now!

So, here is where my faces are at and what ~a month-ish of practice can do to you, I suppose.

May keep going, idk. I think the glowup is shining, though!

[geek-ramblings]

https://glaad.org/fcc/

[ixpitzin]

Ita bags

Woman on the left is wearing indumentaria of Panchimalco, and woman on the right is wearing the modern indumentaria of Texistepeque.

I used the two due to their similar silhouettes BUT also because Panchimalco uses brighter colours contrary to Texistepeque!

Might redo this in the future, from 2024 under @natstky

[dextivestudios]

Willy Wonka Continuity Journal 5 - Wonka Confectionaries LLC

Finding/Establishment In 1920, a dreamer made it to Ganachefort, Pennsylvania. A wealthy young English man arrived with a sparkle in his eye and his heart filled with passion for chocolate. He found himself with other wide-eyed dreamers, who offered him warm welcomes and mentorship opportunities. However, this man did not want to slow down and learn the traditional ways. His mind was simply too swift, too innovative for such slogs.

This man was no other than William "Willy" Wonka. At only twenty, he was already quite an accomplished chocolatier. His first claim to fame occurred when he was only fourteen in coming up with a special technique that made it possible for chocolate to be delivered to soldiers in the trenches and still be enjoyable to eat. A feat that granted him sponsors to attend Le Cordon Bleu at such a tender age.

Mr. Wonka tried it after the war was over, but he found the environment far too snobby and restrictive for his creative mind to thrive. So, he voluntarily dropped out and took on a more independent life, in spite of warnings that it may ruin the trajectory of his career.

But Ganachefort was no fancy Parisan culinary school. When he opened his shop, curiosity followed. Every piece was handcrafted, but they quickly became too popular for careful craftmanship to stay viable as a business model, and Wonka was left with no choice but to register an LLC and expand. Yes, he seriously opened a shop without registering the LLC first. If Wonka was bad at anything, it was doing research on the legal side of his dreams.

Rise Within a year, Wonka Confectionaries LLC was the largest employer in Ganachefort, and it only kept growing. The factory expanded with ideas and operations until it became the largest chocolate factory in history. 

Other chocolatiers started closing up shop or selling themselves to Wonka Confectionaries LLC, as they found themselves struggling to get any employees or customers. Wonka's products were top-notch, and the LLC's pay and benefits were far ahead of their time. It was this time when Wonka started collaborating with the city government for events, infrastructure, and community initiatives to help improve the lives of his people, who were also now his employees.

By 1925, Ganachefort was officially reclassified was a company town owned by Wonka Confectionaries LLC. People often called the LLC the Roman Empire of chocolate, and in a twist of irony, the nickname proved more accurate than they could ever anticipate.

Downfall Wonka Confectionaries LLC was strong enough to help Ganachefort weather the initial stock market crash in 1929. It was thriving and even saw an explosion of growth as people from out of town flocked to what was one of the very few stable towns in the United States at the time.

The key thing that led to Wonka Confectionaries LLC to rise so far and dodge anti-trust laws is that there were still other chocolatiers. Independent artisans beloved by little pockets of the city and those who were searching for a different profile to touch their tongue than what has grown usual for them.

The most notable name was Arthur Slugworth. He had the charm of a showman and his chocolates were touched by the angels. He saw the success of Wonka Confectionaries LLC and grew bitter with envy. He wanted the trade secrets that made Wonka Confectionaries LLC so special. So, he conspired with other independent chocolatiers and sent spies to find and leak said trade secrets.

It was something that broke Mr. Wonka's heart. His life's work was taken, snatched from underneath his nose. He was betrayed by a man who he believed he was close to, and he no longer knew who to trust. So, he shut his factory down and went into hiding. All at the height of the Great Depression in 1930.

The Dark Ages Wonka Confectionaries LLC was officially recognized as dormant for these thirty years. Many people wondered if he was alive, especially after they heard he attempted to replace his body with chocolate.

Did ol' Willy finally lost it? Was it some sort of suicide attempt? Worries were swiftly quelled when the press notified of a new miracle machine; one capable of creating functioning organs made of chocolate. A revolutionary device that would change modern medicine for eternity, released by a Mr. Wonka who can't even be considered human, let alone mortal, anymore.

There were similar blips of activity during this period. He would suddenly drop a new world-changing invention and then disappear once more. A machine you can play Tic-Tac-Toe with, a living chocolate bunny, a telephone not bound by wires in the house, records that utilize lasers, a vacuum that directed itself, and so many other things widely considered ahead of their time, even if they were treated more like curiosity experiments and were yet to catch on.

In 1960, something miraculous happened. Smoke billowed from the chocolate factory, and the small of hot sugar and fermenting cacao filled the air. There was no word of Wonka making a return, nor were there job openings. Around the same time, homes started cleaning themselves. Children reported sightings of mouse-like people around two feet high and started leaving chocolate out for them.

Speculation and rumors spread, and the world practically exploded with Wonka Mania when the golden ticket raffle was announced. Five lucky winners got to go on a tour, and a special one became Mr. Wonka's apprentice.

Renaissance Charlie Bucket was a good boy. He listened to rules, was quiet, but ultimately, he was kind and empathetic. It was these traits that endeared him to Mr. Wonka, so he took the boy in as a protege. He proved to be every bit of the prodigy that Mr. Wonka was and took over the company as soon as he turned 18.

Charlie managed to bring Wonka Confectionaries LLC, and Ganachefort, back to life into a renaissance era. He established the Wonka Confectionary School and uplifted other chocolatiers into starting their own businesses. He invested into tourism and bringing families back on their feet.

Ganachefort was soon no longer dependent on Wonka Confectionaries LLC and is primed to thrive, much to the reluctant acceptance of the retired Willy Wonka.

Modern Day Charlie Bucket has taken on an apprentice himself, and Willy Wonka is now running a small candy shop where he creates products on a small scale, utilizing practices such as limited opening hours to keep the scale small. The company is thriving, Ganachefort is better than ever, and Mr. Wonka is living his best life as a semi-unretired artisan who came back because "have you ever seen an artist truly retire?"

[dextivestudios]

Gatwa's Doctor would have been groundbreaking as aroace rep if he was meant to be an openly aroace Doctor.

And that irrationally pisses me off. lmao

[dextivestudios]

Willy Wonka Continuity Journal 3 - Ganachefort

Finding The town was established when three Puritan siblings encountered a riverbank in 1692, having fled the Quaker Pittsburg in hopes of finding a better home for themselves. There, they started farming a vegetable they believed to be both humble and noble: the cabbage.

What started with one family quickly became a town within its own right. More Puritans moved in until the land qualified as a township. So, they named the town Ganachefort after the siblings who initially settled on the land; the Ganache Family. The "fort" suffix came from the people wanting the settlement's name to sound more town-like than simply..."Ganache."

Death of the Cabbage Industry For a long while, Ganachefort was a humble cabbage town. The residents grew, harvested, and sold cabbage to other towns in Pennsylvania and were content. It was a slow and simple way to live, but something always felt off in the background.

They were growing cabbages in a town called Ganachefort for crying out loud! Not Cabbage City, not Brassicaville, not even Capitata Town! Ganachefort!Even if nobody was able to articulate it, they felt like this town was destined for something a little....more than cabbages. 

Then, the turn of the century came.

In 1900, a wealthy man arrived in town looking for a place to plant a mansion and expand his business. However, it wasn't cabbages he was looking to sell. No. It was something that the initial Puritan settlers rejected, and generations sense could have never dreamed to afford. An indulgent and sweet type of food that held no nutritional value, formed from a bean in Brazil.

This stranger shared this strange stuff with the locals, a ball filled with a creamy filling made mostly of fats and butter, and he could swear that something within them immediately clicked into place. When he explained a chocolate truffle to them, it wasn't difficult to convince them to consider a change in careers. Especially when they were told the name of the filling inside the chocolate truffle: Genache.

Many chocolatiers formed in that town. Passionate people who grew tired of toiling away in the fields were supplied with ingredients and knowledge by this newcomer, and Genachefort exploded as a result.

Starting in 1910, many celebrity chocolatiers at the time moved in. Genachefort caught their attention as the place for chocolatiers to be.

From Town to Company Town A young face new to the chocolate scene came to town in 1920. He called himself Willy Wonka, and he looked and behaved like he was fresh out of culinary school. Many older chocolatiers advised him to work under a mentor first, but Mr. Wonka went straight to opening his own chocolate shop.

To the surprise of everybody, it immediately found success and the new Wonka Confectionaries company exploded in growth. His recipes gained a reputation for their creativity and innovation, and he was a kind employer who had the best pay, benefits, and treated his workers as though they are people. He called it the "bare minimum," but employees and customers alike kept flocking to him until all other chocolate businesses were closed down or sold themselves to his company.

Economic Downfall 1929 is considered the worst year of Ganachefort. A massive conspiracy to take down Wonka Confectionaries LLC and "liberate" its products among other chocolatiers started in 1927, and it proved successful. However, instead of Ganachefort rebounding and become stronger, the stock market crashed.

Wonka Confectionaries LLC ran until 1930, when Mr. Willy Wonka realized his trade secrets were being leaked and shuttered down his company. It destroyed 90% of jobs for the town as a result.

It took less than 20 years before the city fell apart. For the sidewalks to crack and the trash to pile up. Although, oddly, the crime rates remained low due to the city's oddly hopeful and kind culture.

Communities gathered together and helped each other through the hardship. Another consequence of their positivity was a boom in the art scene. Chocolatiering was especially popular, as people wanted to bring a piece of what they valued most about their Town, even if it wasn't quite the same as a genuine Wonka treat.

It was in 1960 when things were starting to change for the better. The beloved factory started billowing smoke again, and new candy shops opened. Many jobs were created, although none of those jobs were inside the factory. Candy shops opened and selected recipes went to certain businesses such as bakeries and cafes. The economy didn't truly recover, but it found itself in a better state and a small rise in activity.

The Golden Ticket Craze From November 1963 to January 1964, there was an announcement worldwide. Five golden tickets are hidden in select bars of Wonka's Whipple-Scrumptious Fudgemallow Delight. Anyone who gets a ticket gets to meet Willy Wonka himself, tour the factory, and win a life-time supply of Wonka Confectionaries Chocolates. Slowly over the course of the months, five children won the five tickets. The final winner being none other than Charlie Bucket.

Nobody can say what went down in that tour, but four of the innocent children came out permanently mutilated and traumatized. None of them claimed that Mr. Wonka attacked them, and their state is the consequences of their own actions. Nobody tried to sue Wonka Confectionaries LLC due to the incident, although Veruca Salt alleged neglect in following safety guidelines, enslavement of undocumented immigrants, and animal welfare violations many years later.

What is known is that Mr. Wonka took on Charlie Bucket as an apprentice, who officially inherited both the factory and the LLC in 1972 at age 18. He worked with Veruca Salt to address the concerns and improve conditions as his first action as the new owner.

Renaissance It wasn't just improving the factory that Charlie did, however. He was quite busy during his first twenty years running the factory. He worked with the mayor to support the opening of many independent chocolate businesses and diversify the industries the town relied on. Cabbage farming saw a return, along with logistics, entertainment, food, and technology. He opened a culinary school to spread the art of chocolatiering, and worked to make Ganachefort an appealing place to tourists.

The economy made a boom, and it thrived stronger than it ever had. It quickly reclaimed its title as a hub of chocolate, even earning the nickname "Chocolate Town, USA."

Modern Day These days, Ganachefort is nothing like its downtrodden past. It is a bustling city with a diverse culture that prides itself in its chocolates. Many businesses exist to preserve Willy Wonka's original recipes from the 1920s, mainly for the enjoyment of tourists who want to sample the historical works for themselves without having to purchase a copy of a recipe and stepping foot in their own kitchen.

However, Ganachefort is more than a chocolate museum for a certain brand. Many independent chocolatiers, including the descendants of the very group that tried to diversify Ganachefort's industry nearly a century ago, make their own original recipes and create new techniques that even Mr. Wonka himself tries from time to time.

The town's general relationship with the old chocolatier is...complicated. Many still feel resentment towards him, but he is still an important figure to the town and its history, and he has done a lot of good. His immortality makes him essentially a living museum exhibit and an archive of his own recipes, techniques, and the town's history. While he was protective of his trade secrets in the past, he has opened up to sharing them after seeing the positive impacts that sharing such knowledge has on the city as a whole.

He still holds remorse for the decisions he made back in 1930. Perhaps if he listened to Slugworth, Ganachefort could have been like this the entire time. But he was too blinded by his own ambition and greed. (Though, we will get more into that messy situation in either a section about Willy Wonka himself, or on Wonka Confections LLC)

[dextivestudios]

Tales of Ganachefort - CATCF rp

Welcome to Ganachefort! A town in Pennsylvania where the culture and economy are both based on chocolate. It is an important landmark in the confectionary industry as a whole and is practically a hub where chocolatiers come and start their careers.

Sure, we had it rough for a while, but we have bounced back stronger than ever thanks to the efforts of Charlie Bucket (current CEO of Wonka Confectionaries LLC) in restoring the local economy.

Here, we offer:

A custom fanmade continuity that spans across over a century to explore

Doomed yaoi

Quality standards for both character creation and roleplay posts to ensure the best experience

Plenty of channels that support both serious storytelling and silly fun

A culture that encourages research, and keeping track of your characters

An art category with quite a few dedicated channels

And, of course, nonsense!

So, if you wish to have a fun time that still has some sort of structure and standard to it, why not step into a world of pure imagination?

This is the same server I posted about earlier. I just mainly made a better name and description for it, as it was always meant to be an OC-heavy anthology space. Which was simple as...putting more emphasis on the setting. lmao

[dextivestudios]

Another boost. It's a fun, goofy time here! You can even get a personalized themed nickname on here.

[dextivestudios]

Meet my new and totally original character: Madame Cerise Noire!

Wait-

Why does she look familiar?

[nyxn0ctum]

[dextivestudios]

Tales of Ganachefort - CATCF rp

Welcome to Ganachefort! A town in Pennsylvania where the culture and economy are both based on chocolate. It is an important landmark in the confectionary industry as a whole and is practically a hub where chocolatiers come and start their careers.

Sure, we had it rough for a while, but we have bounced back stronger than ever thanks to the efforts of Charlie Bucket (current CEO of Wonka Confectionaries LLC) in restoring the local economy.

Here, we offer:

A custom fanmade continuity that spans across over a century to explore

Doomed yaoi

Quality standards for both character creation and roleplay posts to ensure the best experience

Plenty of channels that support both serious storytelling and silly fun

A culture that encourages research, and keeping track of your characters

An art category with quite a few dedicated channels

And, of course, nonsense!

So, if you wish to have a fun time that still has some sort of structure and standard to it, why not step into a world of pure imagination?

This is the same server I posted about earlier. I just mainly made a better name and description for it, as it was always meant to be an OC-heavy anthology space. Which was simple as...putting more emphasis on the setting. lmao

[dextivestudios]

This server also has an extensive art section....by rp server standards! I'm willing to expand it on request, but right now it has:

Illustrations

Food

Writing

Photography

Misc

Commissioned Art

[fallformeinstead]

How many have you read?

The BBC estimates that most people will only read 6 books out of the 100 listed below. Reblog this and bold the titles you’ve read

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

2 Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkein

3 Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte

4 Harry Potter series

5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee

6 The Bible

7 Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte

8 Nineteen Eighty Four – George Orwell

9 His Dark Materials – Philip Pullman

10 Great Expectations – Charles Dickens

11 Little Women – Louisa M Alcott

12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy

13 Catch 22 – Joseph Heller

14 Complete Works of Shakespeare

15 Rebecca – Daphne Du Maurier

16 The Hobbit – JRR Tolkien

17 Birdsong – Sebastian Faulks

18 Catcher in the Rye

19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffeneger

20 Middlemarch – George Eliot

21 Gone With The Wind – Margaret Mitchell

22 The Great Gatsby – F Scott Fitzgerald

23 Bleak House – Charles Dickens

24 War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy

25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams

26 Brideshead Revisited – Evelyn Waugh

27 Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoyevsky

28 Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck

29 Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll

30 The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame

31 Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy

32 David Copperfield – Charles Dickens

33 Chronicles of Narnia – CS Lewis

34 Emma – Jane Austen

35 Persuasion – Jane Austen

36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – CS Lewis

37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini

38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres

39 Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden

40 Winnie the Pooh – AA Milne

41 Animal Farm – George Orwell

42 The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown

43 One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez

44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney – John Irving

45 The Woman in White – Wilkie Collins

46 Anne of Green Gables – LM Montgomery

47 Far From The Madding Crowd – Thomas Hardy

48 The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood

49 Lord of the Flies – William Golding

50 Atonement – Ian McEwan

51 Life of Pi – Yann Martel

52 Dune – Frank Herbert

53 Cold Comfort Farm – Stella Gibbons

54 Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen

55 A Suitable Boy – Vikram Seth

56 The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon

57 A Tale Of Two Cities – Charles Dickens

58 Brave New World – Aldous Huxley

59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time – Mark Haddon

60 Love In The Time Of Cholera – Gabriel Garcia Marquez

61 Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck

62 Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov

63 The Secret History – Donna Tartt

64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold

65 Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas

66 On The Road – Jack Kerouac

67 Jude the Obscure – Thomas Hardy

68 Bridget Jones’s Diary – Helen Fielding

69 Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie

70 Moby Dick – Herman Melville

71 Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens

72 Dracula – Bram Stoker

73 The Secret Garden – Frances Hodgson Burnett

74 Notes From A Small Island – Bill Bryson

75 Ulysses – James Joyce

76 The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath

77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome

78 Germinal – Emile Zola

79 Vanity Fair – William Makepeace Thackeray

80 Possession – AS Byatt

81 A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens

82 Cloud Atlas – David Mitchel

83 The Color Purple – Alice Walker

84 The Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro

85 Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert

86 A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry

87 Charlotte’s Web – EB White

88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven – Mitch Albom

89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

90 The Faraway Tree Collection – Enid Blyton

91 Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad

92 The Little Prince – Antoine De Saint-Exupery

93 The Wasp Factory – Iain Banks

94 Watership Down – Richard Adams

95 A Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole

96 A Town Like Alice – Nevil Shute

97 The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas

98 Hamlet – William Shakespeare

99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Roald Dahl

100 Les Miserables – Victor Hugo

[dextivestudios]

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen (Ew, romance. Pretend this note is where it applies.)

2 Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkein

3 Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte

4 Harry Potter series (shamefully. Worse: Willingly)

5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee (School tried to force me. Never completed for one reason or another.)

6 The Bible (Attempted - Didn't get past Noah's Ark)

7 Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte

8 Nineteen Eighty Four – George Orwell

9 His Dark Materials – Philip Pullman

10 Great Expectations – Charles Dickens

11 Little Women – Louisa M Alcott

12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy

13 Catch 22 – Joseph Heller

14 Complete Works of Shakespeare

15 Rebecca – Daphne Du Maurier

16 The Hobbit – JRR Tolkien

17 Birdsong – Sebastian Faulks

18 Catcher in the Rye (WHERE IS THE AUTHOR??? WHY DID WE ERASE THE AUTHOR FOR THIS BOOK SPECIFICALLY AND NOT THE REST????)

19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffeneger

20 Middlemarch – George Eliot

21 Gone With The Wind – Margaret Mitchell

22 The Great Gatsby – F Scott Fitzgerald

23 Bleak House – Charles Dickens

24 War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy

25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams (Have access to a copy...probably should read that at some point. Mah :/)

26 Brideshead Revisited – Evelyn Waugh

27 Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoyevsky

28 Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck

29 Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll

30 The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame

31 Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy

32 David Copperfield – Charles Dickens

33 Chronicles of Narnia – CS Lewis (Willingly)

34 Emma – Jane Austen

35 Persuasion – Jane Austen

36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – CS Lewis (Willingly)

37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini

38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres

39 Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden

40 Winnie the Pooh – AA Milne (Attempted to. Should attempt again, tbh)

41 Animal Farm – George Orwell (Forced to at school)

42 The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown

43 One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez

44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney – John Irving

45 The Woman in White – Wilkie Collins

46 Anne of Green Gables – LM Montgomery

47 Far From The Madding Crowd – Thomas Hardy

48 The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood

49 Lord of the Flies – William Golding (Forced to at school)

50 Atonement – Ian McEwan

51 Life of Pi – Yann Martel

52 Dune – Frank Herbert

53 Cold Comfort Farm – Stella Gibbons

54 Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen

55 A Suitable Boy – Vikram Seth

56 The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon

57 A Tale Of Two Cities – Charles Dickens

58 Brave New World – Aldous Huxley

59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time – Mark Haddon

60 Love In The Time Of Cholera – Gabriel Garcia Marquez

61 Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck (School tried to force me. Never completed for some reason...so, no thanks)

62 Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov (No thanks)

63 The Secret History – Donna Tartt

64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold

65 Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas

66 On The Road – Jack Kerouac

67 Jude the Obscure – Thomas Hardy

68 Bridget Jones’s Diary – Helen Fielding

69 Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie

70 Moby Dick – Herman Melville

71 Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens

72 Dracula – Bram Stoker (Tried to, don't remember if I completed it or not)

73 The Secret Garden – Frances Hodgson Burnett

74 Notes From A Small Island – Bill Bryson

75 Ulysses – James Joyce

76 The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath

77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome

78 Germinal – Emile Zola

79 Vanity Fair – William Makepeace Thackeray

80 Possession – AS Byatt

81 A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens

82 Cloud Atlas – David Mitchel

83 The Color Purple – Alice Walker

84 The Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro

85 Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert

86 A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry

87 Charlotte’s Web – EB White

88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven – Mitch Albom

89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Want to read)

90 The Faraway Tree Collection – Enid Blyton

91 Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad

92 The Little Prince – Antoine De Saint-Exupery (Want to read)

93 The Wasp Factory – Iain Banks

94 Watership Down – Richard Adams

95 A Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole

96 A Town Like Alice – Nevil Shute

97 The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas

98 Hamlet – William Shakespeare

99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Roald Dahl (Willingly...at 18...as a grown-ass adult. Glass Elevator, too!)

100 Les Miserables – Victor Hugo (I heard the musical is iconic)

6.5/6....les go! (Half point for all the ones I partially read/tried to read)

Edit: Also: this list is absolute shit. They counted Hamlet different from the Complete Works of Shakespeare, and The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe different from The Chronicles of Narnia.

Anyone who has whatever it is the BBC is trying to prove would call this out way faster than I have. A good chunk of this list is padding and forcing it to 100. What the fuck?

[dextivestudios]

Willy Wonka Continuity Journal 3 - Unique Creatures

Just a list of the fauna for my Willy Wonka fan continuity. Most of it are based on the books with creative license applied.

Sorting Squirrels The sorting squirrels are the only species of mega red squirrel that stands at 10 inches at the shoulders when they are on all fours. However, it is not their massive size that is the most notable thing about them. 

No, the thing that the sorting squirrels are known for is their behavior. They are the most intelligent species of rodent in the world and are notable for sorting behavior. They look for the best nuts to stash, while discarding any that don't meet their high standards. There are several ways they check a nut for its quality.

They check the scent, see if it floats when submerged in water, tap it against a hard surface, and use a variety of other methods depending on the nut they wish to check. Once all rigorous testing is passed, they will either consider it food, or toss it aside for less picky animals to eat.

Sorting squirrels can be found in the UK and Ireland, although they have also made it to Europe and North America by sneaking onto ships.

Vermicious Knids Vermicious Knids are a species of alien from the distant exoplanet Vermes. They are apex predators that have wiped life completely out of inhabited planets that lacked an atmosphere. Their egg-like structure makes it easy for them to absorb their targets, and they hunt in packs of five.

They cruise at 50,000 miles per hour (or as all research claims: "1,200,000 miles per day"), although they are sadists and hunt for sport. Therefore, they will slow down to match the speed of their target for the thrill of the game. You will know you've been targeted, as they have a unique calling card:

When you're spotted, the first Knid will form an "S." The rest of its pack will come over and complete the world "SCRAM." Not only does it give its prey time to have a head start in following that very instruction, but it is also a way to bring the rest of the pack together and commence the hunt.

Very little is known about them, as they are weak to atmospheres. Specifically, they are weak to fire, and they burn up when trying to enter planets with atmospheres long before they can cause any trouble. Missions to encounter one has never gone well, with the only individual able to survive coming face-to-face with such dreadful beings is Mr. Wonka himself, having even saved some American federal employees helping with the building of a space hotel in January 1964. Embarrassingly, the US President thought he was an alien until he showed up at the white house for lunch with a family.

Therefore, everything known about them should be taken with a grain of salt due to the unreliable nature of Mr. Wonka.

Golden Geese The golden goose is a breed of goose that Mr. Wonka has genetically engineered to optimize egg size and quality. They are massive birds that lay eggs that rival the size of an emu's egg and are quite docile. The eggs are incapable of being fertilized, and all living individuals are female. However, the most striking thing about them is the golden color of their eggs.

While the eggs are not true gold, Mr. Wonka still gave them the trait as he found the color to be quite beautiful, and those beautiful shells are often reused after the eggs have been cracked and the whites and yolk move on to the rest of the production pipeline. Most notably, they are turned into pendents and charms for jewelry and used as material for picture frames. But after some cleaning, their tough material can be turned into dishes for the Oompa-Loompas.  

They only exist inside Willy Wonka's chocolate factory, and all attempts to purchase a goose has been denied. Both Mr. Wonka and the factory's Oompa-Loompa population are highly protective of the geese, and they don't wish for the geese to be in the hands of someone who may mistreat or harm them. Plus, the geese have a dedicated group of Oompa-Loompa caretakers that have established a deep bond with the birds.

A singular egg can produce up to 20 chocolate bars.

Homo chocolata A new species of human came about in 1930. Not quite man, not quite confectionary, but a cursed combination of both. The Homo chocolata.

The only known individual is Mr. Wonka when he replaced his flesh with a chocolate body. His most notable property is that he doesn't age, although in turn, he can't walk into walk-in ovens, else become a puddle on the floor.

His unique nature came from testing an invention on himself. A medical device that could create artificial functioning body parts out of chocolate. It has been integrated in American medicine as a cheap way to get replacement organs and prosthetic limbs, with a 100% success rate for such operations.

So, while Mr. Wonka may be the only person who qualifies as a Homo chocolata, there are plenty of people with chocolate arms, beating chocolate hearts, thinking with chocolate brains, and other confectionary body parts that help improve their lives.

Interestingly, replacing parts with chocolate is not a cure for everything. Replacing brains does not cure neurodivergencies, although it has a 20% chance to ease up the more debilitating symptoms for many neurological disorders, increasing ability to function and live independently. It does not change the gender or sexual orientation.

This discovery alone has helped boost research into neurological disorders and sexology and is sited as the cause of the closure for many conversion therapy camps and psychiatric hospitals that specialized in childhood psychosis.

Neurodiversity and queer identity are not the only things that can't be changed by the mold. There are plenty of physical disabilities and symptoms as well that remain, depending on what they are and how they formed. Genetic disabilities are the least likely to show any signs of improvement after a mix of both replacement of impacted parts and physical therapy.

For the first 60 years of its wide adoption, it has been used to try to "cure" people that fall under these demographics until legislation against forced replacement procedures were made, with Mr. Wonka himself being a massive advocate for "banishing improper and unethical use of something good."

[dextivestudios]

Why does drawing Willy Wonka drinking tea always makes me crave tea myself?

[dextivestudios]

It's not looking good for Doctor Who.

They were supposed to have a Christmas special this year, but they are struggling to find a new Doctor the last I heard.

Honestly, I do think it is overdue for another prolonged hiatus and perhaps LONG overdue for a hard reboot.

I say this as a fan who had fun with the recent Disney seasons, btw. Lux especially was a goated episode and was basically the SFX team flexing what they can do.

Have the Christmas special give this gen of Doctor Who a proper ending, perhaps a wrap up party for the studio/crew, and a formal declaration of Doctor Who being over....at least, for now.

And I do mean a hard reboot. The more distant we get from 1963, the less practical another soft reboot/continuation (and expecting the audience to have seen Classic Who) would be.

Not a knock on Classic Who or anything. I enjoy watching it myself. I'm just thinking in terms of casual viewers, fans who are Nu-only, and people new to the IP. Classic Who is not for everyone, and it should not be required (nor expected) viewing to enjoy a silly time travel show. It should be for people who do want to dive deeper and explore the IP and its history further. (Which I do recommend it!)

[dextivestudios]

To end the night off, I decided I want to improve some things about my art. I started drawing my comic, and I'm not the happiest with how it looks so far, soo...there is only one way to fix that!

I'm not starting over what I have done with the comic so far or anything. It's my first comic - the early chapters are meant to have a rough charm!

But I do want later chapters to look amazing!

I did do some figure drawing practice as well, and a third shading, but I didn't save those.

I will post about this again at the end of May.