As the title of the last blog I made may have indicated...two entries today. (Well, two entries written today. Strictly speaking, it'd be 5-6 entries total depending on whether Saturday would've been one or two, but you know what I mean.)

I just wanted to write down some vampire trivia when it comes to Red Hood Rider.
-Vampires are classified as non-magical beings. This is in spite of them possessing such skills as turning into mist, shapeshifting, hypnotizing, illusions, and the dark arts they employ, among others. With the exception of the dark arts (which are definitely classified as magical), this is because the abilities are fundamentally a part of the vampire. While most vampires don't have the majority of these abilities fully developed, they are theoretically available to any vampire.

After all, if you took away vampires' ability to drain blood, which might not seem entirely natural, you'd be killing them. (Well, not quite, given as how vampires can ingest blood through their mouth, but you'd certainly be making their lives much harder, and leaving their victims/donors in a lot more pain and danger, since mouth bites are more prone to having things go wrong.)

-Vampires are also classified, more obviously, as creatures of the night. This is because, of course, they gain their strength during nights, and they're at their strongest on the new moon. Vampires are considered to be the rulers of the night, in fact, because among creatures classified as rulers of the night, vampires are overall one of the strongest. Stronger creatures of other races will still beat weaker vampires, but Lord-class vampires are indomitable. One reason they have an edge is that they're not even limited to the night; plenty of vampires are active during daylight hours. While there are other creatures of the night functioning this way, vampires are still generally among the strongest during the day.

-One unusual fact about vampires is that they are classified, by magical terms, as being undead, yet in a very, very weird way: if you try to cast something like an equivalent of 'turn undead', it won't do anything. If you blast them with traditional methods of dealing with undead, they'll be no more harmed than any flesh and blood person would be. What it mostly does is make healing difficult. If you're healing a minor wound on a vampire, it'll take more effort than it should. Major wounds are impossible to fully treat, with spells meant to cure merely being stopgap measures to allow the vampire's regeneration factor to kick in. And when it comes to reviving a vampire? It's virtually impossible. Dead vampires, for the most part, stay dead. While this is true of most beings, duh, when I say 'stay dead', I mean in the sense that most of the time when trying to revive undead, it doesn't work. The undead are already dead, so if their undeath ends, it's virtually impossible to revive them.

-In spite of this classification as undead, though...vampires are anything but. (At least, our main Rubyverse vampires. More on that in a bit.) They are very much alive, having basically everything a living being does. They breathe, they have a heartbeat, do not spontaneously combust when killed, bleed just as much as humans when injured, suffer from ailments like broken bones if hit hard enough, grow stronger by working out muscles, they get tired just like everyone else, basically...everything a human has, they have still. They can even eat real food and drink liquids...in fact, most vampires do, since by doing so, they need blood less often!

So while by some technicality nobody understands which makes them classified as undead for magic (yet only some kinds of magic, with the rest recognizing their humanity and livelihood), they may be in that category...they're not really following undead rules.

-It should be noted, however: like many mythological creatures, there are many creatures in the Rubyverse that could be called vampires. However, the creatures actually CALLED vampires in Red Hood Rider are the vampires I describe in my blog and my notes, like in the above. They are, by far, the most dominant species, having quite frankly out-lasted and out-competed other types for the most part. (Namely, more visible ones, more restricted ones, etc.)

Any other types of vampire still existing in the modern day go by other names (e.g. it'd be possible for 'Nosferatu' to actually be a name for a different type of vampire--I said "it'd be possible", because frankly, Red Hood Rider does not go into detail about this; there's only one or two types of vampires that are important), OR, if going by the moniker of vampire, have some prefix or suffix attached to it, an add-on to the name. For instance: chi vampires would be called...well, chi vampires.

-Our main vampires can and will adopt (and for that matter, adapt) any cousin kin that're biologically compatible, though only a few covens accept vampire-variants which are too different from their own selves. And even then, most of them treat said variations as the vampire equivalent to second-class citizens, making them highly subservient and not very well-treated.

None of these details are particularly new, but I felt like getting them all into one place anyway.

Story time: by now it's fairly public knowledge that, two years ago (almost exactly two years ago in fact), I had an accident. This is common knowledge, in part because the accident is what helped me figure out that I was trans. I mean: I had already started down that path of truth long before then, back in fall of 2013. But the accident is what truly kickstarted the realization that I am a woman. I probably would have figured it out on my own without the accident, but it would have taken me months, if not years, to do so.

The accident changed all that. It's the best worst event in my life for a reason. But...what's not so public knowledge about it is that the accident had foreshadowing. Have you read the comic God's Revelation? I mean, I fell behind a few years ago, so I'm not up to date, but I've still read about 50 or so of the pages, maybe more, maybe less, enough to have seen the girl go to God and have God explain a lot of things.

Well...you know what he described? Of giving lots of warnings to the girl, which she missed/chose not to act on? Guess what. When it came to my accident, back then, that exact thing happened to me. There were many, many warning signs here and there. Believe me, two years ago, this was fresh in my mind that I could list a dozen of them. No joke, a full dozen warning signs that I saw and ignored. Most egregiously, though, would have to be the time when I was traveling between the main Campus at Everett and their Boeing campus which is a few exits to the south, closer to the huge Everett building.

I was going around the corner on the exit, but the roads were slick. Really slick. And I was taking the corner fast: the speed limit, rather than the recommended speed. I paid the price: my car lost traction and I had a huge freak-out as I was powerless to watch as my car did a full 180 degree turn to face back towards the corner I was taking. Huge skid marks and all. But, fortunately, I had spun out (and it was exactly that, a spin-out) into the shoulder, so no accident happened there. I was able to turn the car around, then simply get back on the road, and I was fine.

Never said a word of this to anyone. Until just now, of course. I had very, very, very good reason to keep knowledge of the incident away from the panicky nature of my mother, who no doubt would have had what in my opinion would have been a severe overreaction. (She does that a lot.) After all...I was fine. The car was fine. (I checked. Multiple times. Tires smelled of burnt rubber, but aside from that were unharmed.) No need to raise the alarm for my entire family.

...And then I had the accident only a few days or weeks later. Forget the timeline there. College started probably the first week of January (forget which day I went to that building, though--I think Mondays and Wednesdays?), and the accident was on either the second or the third Tuesday of the same month. It wasn't the day after, I know that much, but it was fresh in mind at the time, which is why it was so vividly immortalized: I thought of the comic, how God warns people (keep in mind, this falls in line with my own beliefs; I started reading God's Revelation partially because the comic has beliefs that LARGELY reflect my own), how I had a harmless warning, chose to not follow it, and as a consequence...had a not-so-harmless experience: one which hurt, but that I ultimately came out stronger from.

Why am I sharing this today? And not, say, on the actual anniversary (or one week's approximation from the anniversary anyway) of the event? Well, simple: because this Friday, it became relevant again.

Two years later, warning signs appeared again. I can't quite remember all of them, but they include various times taking corners and having something not quite feel right, having trouble steering even on a straightaway, wondering if I have a flat tire even when I don't, noting slipping in the wheels, and these things happening even with other drivers than me. (The most egregious example for this time was when I had a fender bender with a car on my way to counseling, a while back. Both our cars were completely unharmed, so I'm pretty sure nothing came of the incident. That one, I did have to mention to my mom, awkwardly enough.) So I quite literally was thinking, as I was driving, "Slow. Slooooooooow. You left early, remember? You have the time. Sloooooooooooooooooow. If you're not careful, you're going to have an accident."

And this time, I actually listened. I mean, I still thought, "You know, I'm going to have an accident sooner or later." I had that thought even as I continued showing caution. I thought I was heeding the advice this time, listening to the warnings, and being more alert, paying more attention, but in spite of my precautions...

...It happened anyway. I'm fairly convinced that if I hadn't paid attention to the warning signs, the accident would have been much, much worse. I could have gotten myself killed, and/or totaled the car. That didn't happen. The car's mostly fine, aside from a cracked windshield, some oil tank rupture of some kind, a little damage to the front of the car, but nothing that can't be fixed and nothing that should be expensive, so the car's likely driveable, once repaired.

If you're worried about me, I'm also fine. After the adrenaline wore off, I realized I had some pain in my left elbow, but it was gone by Saturday. I was definitely rattled at the time, and honestly, am still recovering, but...I actually...don't feel that terrible. Since I did crash into someone's yard (through their fence), the police were called, but the officer didn't give me a ticket, which is a relief. (My mom keeps telling me that if I get another one, I could lose my license. I don't think she's right, but I'd very much be inclined not to test her theory.)

And, hearing again about others makes me feel better. I was going under the speed limit. I didn't make a sharp turn. Both my mother and my older sister have driven the car and thought they felt something wrong in the steering, yet brushed it off as their imagination. It's even possible that insurance will even list it as a mechanical failure, too. (I already know they're going to cover the cost of replacing the fence I trashed.)

And...actually, seeing how I reacted to this accident, I feel like I've become a bit stronger as a result. I still didn't react perfectly. Kinda hard to, given, you know, I freakin' crashed a car; there aint a civilian in the world who can be unfazed by that. My hands trembled as I sent text to work letting them know I'd be late (ended up only being half an hour, which is good, since that's when the other guard was scheduled to leave), which resulted in a hectic work day (can't talk about details there, though), and I did have times where I didn't know what to do, but...

...I was able to run through the process, explain (albeit with enough pauses that the officer asked me if I have any conditions and I responded in the affirmative that I have aspergers, which seemed to satisfy his concerns) what happened more or less, was able to call my parents in a timely manner and inform them bluntly of what had happened (that conversation never goes well, but at least this time they don't blame me given that they are under the impression it was not my fault and there was nothing I could do, which I think is accurate), basically, recover quickly, and be on my way to work in a relatively-timely manner.

It was awkward, yes. It was a hell of a day, yes. But I was still doing okay. I handled the situation okay. Not perfectly--had to have my parents arrive and have them call AAA, because I didn't know what to do there--but well enough that I feel like, in comparison to two years ago, I've become more...mature. And it happened without me really realizing it.

Still sucks, obviously. Still recovering from it, as you might be able to tell in the delay in the blog entries. (Me saying this today rather than the day of.) But...I think the accident, while unfortunate, has still served to show some positive. Two years ago, reflecting on the accident started me down a path. Now, two years later, having another accident has illuminated just how much I've begun to become a fine young woman, of how much growth has happened in that time, of my progress as a person. So that's at least awesome.

Blehg. I have some stuff that should be talked about.

Just...haven't been able to.

You'll understand why when I actually DO talk about it.

Sorry.

UPDATE BEFORE I GO TO BED:
BECAUSE I HAVE TO MENTION IT.
KUBO AND THE TWO STRINGS.
I SAW A PREVIEW OF IT ON ADULT SWIM.
AND IT'S JUST...OH MY GOD I WANT TO SEE IT.

It's just...holy mother...

I...don't think I've ever had an urge to see a film as badly as I have that film.

One second. ONE SECOND. And I was already in love. No, seriously. They were telling me it was a first-time look at a film and this being adult swim, I was skeptical.

...And then, I saw it. Instantly, the chills down my spine, and the WIDE grin across my face. That's just...

...Wow. WOW.

Uhg...rough day. Talk tomorrow.

So continuing my work on Red Hood Rider, I decided that there would be something to add. This is something not unique to the elemental eight; it holds true of any rider, and even most magical girls, but it most strongly manifests in the elemental eight, because for a normal rider it's not as noteworthy a power.

Basically, each rider has the potential to develop an ability unique to them, which they can even use when not transformed. This technique is therefore not based on their powers--it would be possible for a normal rider to have one elemental attack if it was their unique ability, for instance; it could also manifest as, say, the elemental rider of fire having a spell to douse flames. These are both hypothetical, showing what it can be.

What it isn't, though, are abilities the rider naturally has. For instance, both D.D. and Whitney have shields for temperature active even untransformed as a passive ability, but those are 1: based on their powers, and 2: not unique to them; any elemental rider of their element could (and often would) have those.

So what I mean is, something truly unique to THEM, which no other rider has as a power. These powers are usually based off of their personal interests in some manner. As such, they can vary from completely worthless, serving mundane utilities only, being only effective in certain situations, being very handy, and so on and so forth. Most of these unique powers develop as passives, though: things that take very little energy to maintain, which can have some use but are not really noteworthy in the grander scheme of things.

So, for the main cast, there's a wide variety. Ruby's unique ability is what I previously mentioned: her ability to maintain her transformation. While this is a completely worthless ability for combat, it allows Ruby to maintain female form for a prolonged period of time, essentially allowing her to hang out with friends in her preferred form.

Sally has the most combat-oriented ability: she can turn Tree of Life as a whistle (remember, these are abilities used when not transformed, which is why most don't see use in combat: a rider using them is at human, rather than superhuman, levels, albeit upper level of human) into a lightsaber-by-any-other-name. (Technically, a light-rapier.) For the longest time, this is actually her ONLY cutting weapon.

She has plenty of attacks that can cause blunt force, and her explosions do a lot of damage, and she can even develop specialized rockets for puncturing, but actual cutting is hard to do with a bazooka. Sally realized this, and tried to find a way around it, which is why her ability doesn't match as well to her personality as most: because she realized, during training, that she had no way of using a fundamental attack, and needed to develop one, with this being the only solution she could figure out.

Gary's power is based on how he was there supporting Ruby and Sally even before becoming a Rider. As such, it's an ability activated by his presence near them. Specifically, by touching someone: he basically acts like a magical Gatorade; the person becomes more alert (waking up), replenished, and energetic. However, while this does provide some energy, it's no substitute for proper rest, thus, it serves as a temporary boost to help out when battle fatigue sets in. So, it gives some of what's needed (like Gatorade), but is not a "proper meal" so to speak. Basically, it'll keep a tired fighter able to function, but it won't magically fix them...with the exception of Sally.

Thanks to synergy between her and Gary, both elementally and personality wise, the normally-minimalistic boost suddenly becomes a huge boon, and she's able to function much more effectively. However, while she does get more out of it than everyone else, she still is going to suffer a net negative amount of energy in a fight, slowly being drained even with the support.

Hannah's unique ability is similar to something all spirit totems (and thus, all riders) do. Basically, all spirit totems can act as a one-stop shop for every method of modern-day contact: phone, text, voicemail, email, skype chat, radio, you get the idea. But spirit totems deal with all that type of non-physical communication, things that aren't really tangible. Hannah's ability? Tangible. Her unique ability actually has a name: Infinite Canvas. And it's exactly what it sounds like.

Hannah, essentially, is an infinite source of paper, for writing and drawing. This can be done with it being blank paper, with her writing/drawing with her own two hands, OR, she can send her thoughts into the paper, effectively giving a "perfect" vision of the image or text she was drawing/writing. You know, basically the ability every artist/writer dreams of having. This comes from her nature prior to becoming a magical girl; she was a shy introvert who spent most of her time reading, writing, and drawing.

Vili's unique power is also combat-oriented, but it's less useful than Sally's, because it's largely redundant with what she can do using her electricity powers. Basically, she turns her spirit totem from a knife into a gun, either a pistol or a rifle, with infinite ammo, no recoil, and perfectly-lined sights. This comes from her love of combat, and how she mostly prefers melee attacks: she likes having ranged attacks in her arsenal (especially non-magical ones! Well, non-elemental at least) for variety.

D.D.'s unique power is not directly combat-oriented, though it can help. Essentially, her power is a specific form of stealth: she's 'light of foot', with people unable to sense her through enhanced smell, hearing, or supernatural senses, which allows her to mostly approach unseen: it's not true invisibility, but it's like a dampening field: she becomes harder to spot. This becomes doubly so when applied to a crowd: she can blend into one and disappear, again, not becoming invisible, but even if you know what to look for, having a hard time actually finding her. (Think: the zebra effect.) So while not true invisibility, her being hard to spot allows her to sneak up on people often. The reason she has this power is technically a spoiler, though.

For Whitney, I'm actually thinking of rewriting her stealth mode ability to be this: it didn't really 'fit' with her other powers, yet was a fundamental part of her character. This is a change I'm extra comfortable with, given it would also explain why in that form I envision her as looking almost exactly like her civilian self, and also help to explain why in that form she's not quite professional yet not quite her natural self, either: because it'd be an in-between state.

Now, this does mean her power is combat-oriented and basically a combined version of Vili's and D.D.'s: shooting from a long range, while having a cloak that turns her into a very good sniper, hidden yet deadly. I'm still okay with this, given that Vili and D.D. are younger and less experienced, and that Whitney's a professional. It would make sense for her to have advanced training when developing her unique ability.

So, very happy about this decision overall. Might require a little tweaking here and there of character things, but nothing that I wasn't already heading towards changing anyway.

That means time that I can use productively!
In theory!

In practice, well, the closest I can think of to productive use of my time is to create some vampire coven rings.
Basically, you know the Darkblood coven ring. (Well, you might. I mighta shown a drawing of it once? Certainly meant to.) It's the black bat, with the dark purple eyes engraved into it.
I figured out a few others: the Dragul coven, contrary to what their name may conjure up, holds a rather intricate gray wolf with ruby eyes, symbolizing their close ties with werewolves.

The Zu clan has a green eastern dragon on it, with sapphire eyes engraved into it.

One of the main rival clans to the Dragul coven and antagonistic to Ruby, the Jagen clan (their chosen spelling), is symbolized by a dark crimson crescent moon.

I haven't really figured out what other covens would be, though. There would probably be something like either 16 or 28 different rings, depending on how many members of the council there would be. (This is a vampire council for the entire world, yet...at the same time, this is a council I see comfortably sitting at one gigantic square table. The latter number fits the former in terms of scale, the former number fits the latter in terms of scale...not to mention, artistic simplicity.)

Remember that only a current coven has a ring, since rings are a privilege of vampire lords and the vampire lord's immediate two underlings. Never more, sometimes less. (A coven can have as little as one ring.)

I need to work on something Red Hood Rider related every single day.
You know, I said this before. But back then, that was in, "so the comic will actually get made" mode: Red Hood Rider was just a dream back when I said that. A passionate dream I had poured my heart and soul into, but still just that.

Now...it's so much more than that. I've been getting waves of dysphoria attacking me every single day now, usually worse each time. Fortunately, I haven't re-crashed (as you can tell by the fact that I'm actually writing a blog still!), but there's always the risk I would if my current mood shifted to be more depressed again. (Depression+dysphoria=guaranteed hell.) And the thing about this is...

...Well...

...There's literally nothing I can do to stop dysphoria from happening--even if I could, I'm not sure I'd even want to stop it. Well, what I mean is, Rain actually had a comic covering this, where...well I believe it was Gavin asked Rain if there was a magical pill to make the dysphoria stop, would Rain take it, and Rain said, flat-out, bluntly, no. Think like that. (Would have to track down the link for the full explanation/comic, but if you read Rain--you really should!--then you'll know the scene.)

Obviously, if I could stop the dysphoria by suddenly being biologically female, yeah, I'd do that. But that's the only way I should get rid of dysphoria: via steps to transition. Meaning that, until such a time as that becomes viable, I'm going to have to live with it. The dysphoria will happen. Similarly, the depression will happen, too. I can't magically go, "oh, I'm not going to be depressed today!". It doesn't work that way; it is a mental disorder for a reason. (Well, technically I have bipolar disorder, but half of that's depression.)

...Meaning...by those figures, a future crash is inevitable.

...Except...

...There's something in my life that serves as a counter: Red Hood Rider. I'm dead serious, here. Working on Red Hood Rider is therapeutic, moreso than even writing a blog is. It's not just because of pouring my heart and soul into the work. It's because Ruby represents who I want to be as a person. (More or less, anyway.) Yeah, she's a Mary Sue as a result, but...all the same, I draw strength from her by drawing her.

That's why I need to work on something Red Hood Rider related every single day. Because...Ruby has inspired me. She was meant to be an ideal version of what I would be, and in that regard, with me having brought her to life as much as I have, she's become as real to me as you would be, if I was able to see you, yes, you, the reader of this blog whoever you may be, face to face. Flesh and blood. She's a person. A proper being, strong, feminine, and just...

...Someone to look up to.

I know that might not make sense to you. But...seeing what she does...she is literally the highlight of my life. I seriously look up to Jocelynn Samara, and I seriously look up to Rain, but my own character, Ruby, has managed to surpass them both, in that...I actually feel I grow as a person by working on Red Hood Rider.

Every time I work on it, I feel like I'm taking a step to being a stronger woman. Every time I work on Ruby, I feel like I'm just that much closer to being the person I wish to be. She has changed my life. More than anyone else, my own character has helped me assert myself, giving me the strength to go on and the passion, the drive, to follow through on what I want to do.

So by working on Red Hood Rider every day...I will get closer to my goal every single day.

Again. This time, I was listening to a song that I had never heard before, and basically going, mentally, "you know, this song has some good elements, but they're just not brought out enough". So I mentally composed something which would bring them out. And...yep. It was the tune.

Well, a variant thereof. Butstill. This was a song I had never heard before. (I unfortunately have to listen to stations like KISS on Monday nights, because I usually operate by the principle, "the lifeguard there longer gets priority--failing that, the lifeguard who has BEEN there longer gets priority...and failing that, the lifeguard who has worked there longer gets priority". More or less. And by that rule, the closer gets his choice, and I don't get mine.) I was still able to turn my tune into it. Must be how, in my tune, the notes are fairly simple, and easy to adapt.

Anyway, in Red Hood Rider news, on the main site I'll be hosting the comic on, I've been doing some playing around here and there. It doesn't look great, but it'll hopefully be good enough to work. Otherwise, nothing special. Just trivia. One thing I want to do is to describe every aesthetic choice behind every one of my characters, though that'd take time, given that I haven't actually drawn most of them. This would be a very thorough list. For Ruby, it would cover:
-Her pigtails
-Her ponytail
-What she wears outside of combat
-Her hair color
-Her domino mask
-Her eye color
-The hood of her hoodie
-The black on her hoodie's chest
-The hairties she has
-Angel Wings in his unreleased form
-Her fingerless gloves, why they're fingerless, and why they have the square hole on the palms
-The color of said gloves
-The zipper of her hoodie
-The pockets on her hoodie and why they're black
-Why the pockets of her hoodie have zippers
-Why her hoodie's sleeves go down to the elbow
-Her skirt's top
-Her skirt having the red seam
-Her outfit when she changes to Dark Ruby, namely, the red wings on her chest and otherwise black jacket, plus her black shorts
-Her knee-length socks
-Her street shoes

...Going into both the in-universe reason and the out-of-universe reason.

...But another thing I wanted to do, separate of the above, is describe a detail about clothing in relationship to Riders, especially Ruby. I actually explained this on ComicFury, but not elsewhere; I wanted to get the explanation on here.

Basically, what happens to the clothes a Rider wears? Well, in essence...Riders' spirit totems act as a Star Trekesque replicator, with a side of transporter and holodeck thrown in for good measure. (Hey, they're all based on the same technology in the Star Trek 'verse!) Whenever a Rider touches an outfit they wish to wear, the outfit instantly disintegrates, and is (usually) immediately applied to the Rider's body via magic. This outfit that covers them is not the original outfit: it's based on magic. So it's stain-resistant, tear-resistant, and other similar properties.

This 'buffer' can hold up to ten outfits, not including their superhero attire. (This ability to transform outfits is an ability they can use without transforming.) It's possible for them to be half- or entirely-naked, of course, and to only be wearing undergarments for that matter should they choose to, but usually, they're going to be wearing something. However, what happens when the Rider no longer wants to wear the outfit?

Simple: by taking it off, the original outfit rematerializes, now restored. This process is a little bit complicated to explain. But...say Ruby has three outfits: dance clothes, a dress, and martial arts clothes. She is currently wearing the dance clothes. She spots some civilian clothing she wishes to wear. By touching the civilian clothing, she instantly dons it: the dance clothes go into storage, morphing into the civilian clothing. She now has four outfits.

She decides later to change into the dress. This transformation is also instantaneous. Now, her civilian clothes are in storage, and her dress is what she's wearing. But let's say she decides for whatever reason she doesn't want that dress anymore. By removing the dress, its original form rematerializes: she no longer has it in her buffer, and the dress is now solid again, able to be worn by anyone again.

Yes, this does involve undressing, but it's not like normal humans can get an outfit off without undressing, either. But this is the gist of it, anyway. All Riders have that as a power. It should be noted that Riders have two forms: their normal, inert form and their active, superhero form. Their normal inert form is not entirely powerless; it has abilities like the above. However, they can still use this ability when active in their superhero form, it's just that most have no reason to: it takes milliseconds to transform, being in their superhero form drains energy, and whatnot.

...Ruby, however, is special. She actually has a third state, where the majority of her power is in hibernation: in this state, Ruby is still female (because if she were to take full inert form, she'd transform back to her biological body), and her powers can be accessed at a moment's notice. However, she will have donned civilian attire and her powers will largely resemble those of an inert rider: barely registering at all, and exerting almost no drain on her.

It's not indefinite, but it allows her to stay in her preferred form for the majority of the time, even when not fighting. (She usually sleeps in this form--her powers recharge in their entirety during school, where she has been Ryan her entire life. So that's a few hours per day she's entirely untransformed.)

Words. Fail.
Just...well.

See for yourself.

So I wanted to try out my techniques while they were fresh in mind. (I'd say...partially successful, not entirely.)

And I practiced on the most awesome panel I have at my disposal.

And just...

...Well. If I want to go all critical, there's small things: I made a mistake on her left arm by not putting the sleeve shorter (thus, not showing her hairties), her right arm isn't well-done either, as a consequence of trying to fix the perspective yet keep her face I ended up accidentally extending her neck length (making it too long now), the coloring didn't quite work perfectly, there's no texture to the clothing, but...

...Uh...

WOW.

Just...

...Did I just make that?

That's seriously my emotion right now. Because...this. THIS. This is Ruby. This is her skirt. This is her hoodie. This is angel wings prepped with an arrow. This is her fingerless gloves. This is her mask. This is her hair. This is her eyes. This is her facial expression. This is...this is exactly. EXACTLY. How I envision her. The colors, the aesthetic...when I look at her, this is what I see.

And this is only my third attempt at using the program; I'm likely to only get better and better from here-on out.

So just...

WOW.

Words fail me. I'm just so ridiculously proud of myself.

THIS is art.
This is what I can do.

...Took me three hours for what would just be one panel, but...this is where my art is at. And...it's as close to perfect as I can get. I'm happy with this as a style. I just need to make it faster from here-on out. Because DANG.

If I can do this level for every panel of every page...

...I might have a webcomic that's actually...you know. Successful not just off of my name.
When I start Red Hood Rider, there will be hype: "OMG, Ranger's making a comic!!!" (Ranger being my ComicFury name where the comic will get the most attention, though I imagine I'll still get comments on the mafia site I play on when I post it there.)
People will subscribe because it is ME making a comic. No other reason, that's enough for them.

...But...

...I think...with art like THIS. With art like this, which I can actually stand firm and call art. I think...

...I think that I will get people looking and reading because they see an ARTIST creating a webcomic with good ART.
And that.
THAT.

Is something to look forward to.

Because...oh my god.
Just.

Shut up any critics.
I'm ignoring you.

Let me have this moment of euphoria. I feel like I've earned it. I MADE SOME ACTUALLY PRETTY AWESOME ART!!!

So yesterday was family night, which is why the blog I typed out yesterday is only now getting posted today. (Oh, the irony of having it be titled "I'm back" when I had to not post it.) My bad for that. At least I'm posting it now, rather than ten days from now! (I really suck at this "daily blog" thing.)

Anyway, we watched Mad Max: Fury Road. I have to say, going in, I was expecting it to be just two hours of mindless action, done like every other modern day action film: Star Trek, Star Wars 7, you get the idea. By which, I mean: I was expecting it to have that continuous action and no real time to pause, like older action films (e.g. older Mad Max films, the original Star Wars trilogy, Independence day) had.

...So. Technically. Technically speaking, I, uh. Was right there.
...But, uh...

...This is how you do it right. Like...when it comes to the new Star Trek films, you can watch them, and maybe rewatch them a couple of times and still get enjoyment out of them. After that, it's just not really worth the time. With the new Star Wars film, I was left feeling similar to Star Trek, only worse: with Star Trek, I wasn't too bothered by plot holes or anything. With Star Wars, I left the theater instantly disappointed, with all the various flaws in the film evident from just the first viewing. Things that five minutes worth of extra time could have helped.

Pacing issues, how everything felt rushed, how the timing was off, how little the characters grew and forced their interactions felt, all the myriad of different things the film did that just felt wrong. I had that for the new Star Wars. I was expecting something similar for Mad Max: Fury Road.

...Except it wasn't.

I had none of those issues. The "show, don't tell" was handled beautifully. This is a movie that knew how to balance its elements perfectly. While it, strictly speaking, was one continuous brawl from start to finish aside from one or two slow scenes here and there to give the obligatory sad scenes, this is a film which manages to make it fit. The timing was excellent. The characters' development happened at an organic rate: it did not feel like it was too fast given the high-paced nature of the chase (the chronology of the film is, what, something like three very tense days worth of continuous fighting? So characters forming a bond quickly makes sense given the utter hellish nature of what they're going through), nor did it feel like they weren't growing enough.

Each character of importance--and this is a cast with like ten or so major characters--got significant amount of attention. All of them were unique, individual people. There were so many details crammed in that I could rewatch the film two or three times and still feel the need to watch it more, as to better catch elements of their characterization.

Sure, it's a bit over-the-top. It's a freakin' Mad Max film. But I was enjoying every minute of the film, in spite of my skepticism towards it, and would continue to enjoy it if I rewatched it multiple times in a row. (Something I cannot say of the new Star Treks, and CERTAINLY not of the new Star Wars.) Everything about the film was just...so...good.

Sure, it's not the type of action film I've found myself in love with. I absolutely hate how in modern days, film-makers seem to think audiences lack an attention-span. (Granted, I find the pacing of films like Blade Runner abhorrent, and the original Terminator film dragged on and on and on, so that's an example of going too far in the other direction. Yet films like T2? Independence Day? Aliens? Movies like that have plenty of slower stuff utterly absent from modern action films, and I miss it.)

Yet Mad Max: Fury Road is a perfect example of how you can pander to the film-makers by following the no-attention-span formula while still making an airtight solid film. I'm not sure what exactly is there that sets it so far above and beyond the others in its genre this way. It's some sort of magic that I can't fully explain. I can try analyzing as a very-much-not-a-professional movie critic, but honestly it'd just be me giving my best guess as to why this film does right what seemingly every single other modern action film does absolutely wrong.

Honestly, if I had to guess, I'd say above all else it'd probably be love. Love, care, and attention to detail, on all the things that matter. Kind-of like how Galaxy Quest was such a big hit for fans of Star Trek, capturing the essence of the show it is affectionately parodying. A great deal of thought went into making this film. You can tell. And, really, I think that's what makes the largest difference: actors not just phoning it in, but caring for the work. A director who wants to give the film the respect it deserves. Someone who isn't there to make money, someone who isn't there to draw audiences in and make the film intentionally pander to as many possible bases as possible to make as much cash as possible...

...And instead, just focusing on making the film. And letting those who like the film speak for it to draw those others in. I think that's the success formula that Hollywood just doesn't understand, but which lies at the heart of great success: don't compromise films trying to make it appeal to people, just make the film with love and care to tell the story you set out to tell, and let the people who want to watch that type of film come in and realize it's a film that others outside that demographic will still enjoy.

That's just how it seems to work when I think about all my favorite films. They all just don't care about being successful. They don't care about drawing viewers in. They don't care about trying to get others to watch the film. Others watch the film because they find appeal in it which was not directly intended, because the makers of the film made a masterpiece without even realizing it, because they weren't trying. They weren't focusing on getting those viewers. They instead focused on making the film be beautiful.

And it shows. Films, truly great films, films that are instantly memorable, classic, and rewatchable, all have that dynamic. Films that were meant to draw in viewers usually succeed in getting watched, but are generally forgotten. Because they're nothing special. Because they were not made to last. They were made for money, and once having made the money, fade. Until some sequel of even lesser quality renews interest temporarily, only to once again heavily fade within a few years.

Films made for love? Last forever. At least, that's what I believe. And I think that's the critical element which made Mad Max a success. I can only pray that the future of films in the genre is taken with similar care, that people realize this, and don't try to make a point-for-point replication. Trying to imitate success breeds an empty shell of a safe film that'll make money but be forgotten. Trying to make a film with love will create the next big thing.