This is a blog primarily dedicated to sending asks to other people, but it is an ask blog as well! If you're in need of an ask, visit the ask call link below, if not, you can check the other links for more with this blog!
hello! its been awhile since ive posted here! I do really wanna bring this blog back, but am unsure exactly how, given the place we stopped. so i figured i'd ask you all what you think.
How should I go about starting this blog again?
cut the 'just a glitch' event short and return to the cafe for now
make a recap and then proceed with 'just a glitch'
make a recap and cut the 'just a glitch' event short
just proceed with 'just a glitch'
soft reboot and give a recap of what's still canon
Voting ended onJun 9
NOTE! this is just me seeking second opinions, i won't just blindly go along with what's the winning vote if I decide its not viable.
feel free to leave any comments with suggestions/ideas below. i wanna get this blog updated and running and start sending these guys out into the world again !!
"Aha.. uh- well, uhm, it's only beeeeeen... three years? Almost three- yeah.. "
"I mean- that's according to Mr. Bonnet, he liked the idea and the readers did too! My only regret is that... well, he's not allowing me to show my work if it for these comics before the magazines are up..."
"You like art? Any specific style? Genre? I can show you sci-fi, fantasy, steampunk, paranormal, futuristic--"
Ah. The big fish in the pond guiding all the little fish to do their bidding. You cannot effect the world beyond this Cafe... But you knew how to help these fools guide Krampus here, which means you still have the means to peer further. And even further then that... But why here. Oh! wait! I think I have a Theory... this Cafe is in an In-Between and you 'Moderate' it. That's how you could help Krampus once they got him to a Crooked Trail, isn't it?
simple compliment stuff, but i love the way you draw the moderator's glitch effects, its a very clever simple-ish way to convey the "idea" of glitches without needing to spend 5000 hours on brushes or shading or layers, wich is something i struggle with. i'm putting that in my art book of stolen ideas, nyehehe >:D
oh haha thank you! just little blocks is a very simple, easy way to do it yeah.
Morris @ Moderator: "So, you seem like a rather powerful entity, going out of your way to help out a couple of regular Pokemon," The Vivillon flutters, simply curious about the eldridge being, "And I'm just kinda wondering, why bother? Does helping these mortals benefit you in any way? Or are you just the sentimental sort?"
oh yeah, since Moderator's currently abound, here's an ask call specifically for it!
So comment if you want an ask from Moderator. Standard guidelines, be sure to include:
What blog you want an ask for
Additionally you can include:
Who (of your characters) you want an ask direct to
What you want to be asked about (in the vein of 'ask hints')
Moderator is. Weird! and is currently having the first two-sided discussion it has ever had in. probably its entire life? and certainly the first conversation its ever had that lasted longer than like, a minute.
so! It will be strange! it will be bad at interacting with people in a normal and not unsettling way! Moderator's a weird fella!
If you want an ask from some less socially inept Pokemon, the standard ask call is also always open.
and ofc, just like in the standard ask call, if you wanna plan out some kind of more in-depth interaction, DM me and we can discuss!
first up, its voice in the video: the voice is from THIS TTS, overlaid with my voice whispering. The original idea in my head for its voice was 'Oracle' from an Analog Horror whose name I can't remember, or for the voice to sound like the IMB704; That's the computer that sung Daisy Bell, which is part of why that song plays in the background of the video!! The important thing is I wanted its voice to be robotic, and the best way to do that was with a TTS. I believe the one i used was a proper TTS and not an 'Ai copy of someone's voice done without consent' thing, which was also important for me not to do. Both because of, y'know, ethics, and because those voices try to sound as un-robotic as possible.
Next up!! the design!!!
This is a breakdown of which parts came from where. many people have also aptly pointed out the gaster inspo, which, yeah. true. I would've changed Moderator to look less like gaster but I liked it looking humanoid; helped it feel bizarrely out of place imo. So its main form stayed gaster-like. It will likely receive alternate, less gaster-like forms in the future.
The monochrome Pokemon forms are based on the (supposed) XY glitch of, well, exactly that. The Pikachu has a black tipped tail as reference to that one mandela effect, and the reason for there being a Magnemite form is to reference a different Red/Blue glitch Pokemon (there's a few glitch 'mons that appear as Magnemite, actually.) The Jirachi form's notes are shaped like little Missingnos.
Next!! something a little special relating to the puzzle! if you don't want puzzle spoilers, don't worry too much.
What would naturally be the second or third page you find has text that has changed! this text currently references the new year, but previously, it referred to winter. It doesn't provide any kind of hints or anything now, so nothing new, but I've put up an archive page of that version of the text just for a little bit of character building for Moderator :)
This next bit is a bit of spoilers for that puzzle;
the tag 'm essage failed to send' was hinting at two of the pages names! the first page, which you can also find linked somewhere else on the blog is 'messagefailedtosend'. the second one, which links off of the messagefailedtosend page is 'm', short for Moderator.
and last little funfact!! moderator!! was not supposed to be an important character!! it was supposed to be a one off! and then i realized it filled in some gaps nicely so i had it replace a role that was going to be played by another pokemon!! which is. part of the reason it looked like gaster. Didn't matter when I designed it because it wasn't an important character. but then it became one and Aw Heck Im attached to this design now. unfortunate!
Non-gif versions of the prior ask + the text included beneath them, so people unable to view the flashing images can still get roughly the same context. These images have still frames with a non-moving glitch effect, so I believe they should be all clear. Still put under a cut, just in case.
but nobody came... ?
Congrats to asksavel for finding 2/6 hidden pages on this blog! They actually found them back on Dec. 16, but I didn't wanna answer their ask until after wrapping up the Krampus stuff. Fret not, they were rewarded for their efforts with a little fanart; As will whoever the first person to find their way to the final page is. Without that last page, though....