elitetrick

Weekly Update - 294 - 10/27/25

Halloween just kinda snuck up on us, didn't it? We didn't do anything fancy this year. Didn't even get the decorations out. Just weren't feeling it. Everyone who would normally be helping us was busy, stuff kept coming up, and we're all depressed so motivation is just kinda tanked across the board. Which is a shame, because it'd be a good year to build a lil haunted house or something, given that it falls on a Friday... FRIDAY?! Wait, that means Halloween is this week! AAAAAAAAAHK.

Drawing:

Vampyre will be done this week. And also Solipsus Page 23.

I also got to draw a lot of Xane the other night, storyboarding out the next several God Slayers pages. 'Tis fun. He's just got so many wittle pawbs.

Playing:

I finally beat V Rising, the last boss anyhow. Dunno if I'll keep playing just to build up my castles. The building in that game is probably my favorite part, but it doesn't seem like there's much of a point to it now, since the whole point of the game is to gain power to beat the bosses, and I've beat them all. Meanwhile I'm back to playing Cyberpunk 2077 apparently. Just something about that game keeps me coming back to it. Maybe it's because it feels inevitable at this point, idk.

TTRPG:

Still wanna type up somewhere between 3-5 sample scenarios for one-shot or campaign inspiration. The idea is to include simple scenarios, along with suggestions for how to run each of them in this system, and for them to be basic enough for any potential GMs to use them, combine them, or build off of them to create their own sessions/campaigns. Figure I'll just run these ideas past you guys, see what you think before I start typing them up. Lemme know if I'm forgetting something important, or if there's some other scenario you want to see that you consider core to the TTRPG experience that I've left out.

1. RESCUE: Someone is in peril, and the party is promised a reward to rescue or recover them, alive.

2. HEIST: The party is given a job to break into a secure location or settlement and procure an item of some value.

3. HUNTED: The party is being stalked by a vicious apex predator, who will try to split them up and pick them off one by one (like Xane, for example >.>). Sort of a solo boss encounter-type scenario.

4. COURIER: The party has been promised payment for the delivery of something valuable to a specified location.

5. RIVALS: The party is being hounded at every turn by a pack of rivals of similar power and quality that want whatever they have.

God Slayers - Page 237

Do you see it too?

God Slayers - Page 237 - High Res

Little bonus for y'all at this tier: the bottom panel unblurred, just for fun.

It's sloppy of course, because I knew it would be blurry, but Xane's still cute af. I never meant for him to be cute. And are we calling him Xane? Is that what we're doing? I'm not glued to the name -- I only picked it because it fit well with Zina, who is on another planet... and also dead. But... I'm also still kinda waiting to see if it sticks.

Oh yeah, he's got some things. Ears. Lots of them. They fold up inside the bigger ears, deploy and position as needed when hunting. The tiny ones at the bottom are rear-facing, enabling him to zero in on and track multiple targets at once. He has an incredibly complex sensory processing center in his brain, enabling him to parse all this information instantly and give him basically a complete picture of his surroundings at all times. He can probably zero in on a weak heartbeat from three stories up. His entire evolutionary path seems to be based on redundancy, so the extra parts probably have overlapping function, and the species on the whole is probably used to losing a few of them over the course of one's life.

One thing I haven't talked about much outside of the TTRPG, but ambush predators are actually somewhat common in Kuserra, at least outside of the Downtown and the other more guarded/populated settlements. Many of them rely on stealth to opportunistically sneak up and snatch prey, or lie in wait perfectly still, waiting for delicious prey to wander too close. Many of them have also evolved to swallow their prey whole, then retreat to safety where they can digest in peace, as in an environment where scarcity is king, successful predators need to be as efficient with their use of energy as feasibly possible. They can't afford to expend a ton of energy chasing down prey and then leave a bunch of said prey behind for other scavengers. So they wait, they conserve their energy for as long as possible, and when they catch something they extract every possible shred of nutrients they can get.

In some outskirt communities, it is probably common for people to vanish without a trace, snatched away in the dark without so much of a squeak.

Interestingly, Xane's particular breed (and Zina's) is probably descended from a favorite Ancestor housepet.

Weekly Update - 293 - 10-20-25

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Thank you to Hellhound, Sasha Ischia, Shampoo and KuroNyra ALL for subbing and/or upgrading your subs this week! <3 <3 <3 <3! All four of you arriving at Trader tier as well! All in a single week!

Thank you so SO much for your support! Honestly I really don't do enough to deserve it, you guys, holy crap. o.o

HOKAY.

SO.

Last chance to vote in this thing! I want to close the poll out tonight or tomorrow and get started so I can finish the vampire bonus art by Halloween. Pyre's pulled way ahead, but there's always the chance of a final re-shuffle! Just wanna make sure everyone has a chance to vote.

Above is one possible argument for Vampyre. Cuz I guess... there's no shame in shameless fanservice? Eh, whatever, censorship can go fuck itself! (Which is to say, I'm gonna continue to abide by the rules and terms of Patreon -- but they can't stop me from posting spicy things in other places on the world wide web!)

Comic this week: God Slayers 237

Escapism: V Rising

GS TTRPG pre-alpha:

Finally FINALLY made some halfway decent progress this weekend. Gave Adaptations a complete once-over to correct anything that got broken with the new combat system, I think I fixed everything. I also started on Equipment, made kind of an initial list of weapons with their new stats, but there's still some to do there though, also balance will require playtesting, armor values may need to increase just because damage has also increased. Oh I'm forgetting I need to go over Mutations again as well. And... traps and hazards. And make a monster compendium.... and edit the piss out of roughly 400 pages of rambly nonsense. Shit. Well that last thing isn't an alpha problem but still.

Apart from that, I think combat is in a testable state. Now I just gotta... GM it. Oof. -piles more weight onto shoulders, breaks back, cries- Seriously though. While others have graciously picked up the GM torch for our pre-alpha playtests in the past, for which I am eternally grateful, it is ultimately my responsibility to organize and run playtests. I can't expect to put that burden on others. So I'm gonna have to throw something together... soon. GMing is just a lot of work, and as much as I'd love to get better at it I have ZERO confidence in myself right now.

Maybe I need to prepare like... 3-5 one-shot adventures for running quick playtests. I could put them in the book. Add it to the list.

WHOSE STUPID IDEA WAS IT TO MAKE A TTRPG? Trick question: it was mine. I'm at fault for all of this. Guilty as charged.

Anyway, the plan is still to get the "Alpha" out by the end of this year... and as that date approaches I'll feel... even more pressure to get it done, which is certainly motivating in its own right, if also stressful as hell. And in our infinite collective wisdom we've also decided to mush all the holidays in at the end of the year too. So, I may adjust the scope of the alpha release to just the player guide/character sheet, which is probably about 90% of what is needed to play the game. The GM guide and Lorebook, while they exist, aren't pretty right now and may need to be pushed into the "after the holidays" category. For my own sanity. But I DO want to get it out to all y'all first at the $10+ tiers, and eventually to everyone at the $5 tier too. Just to get more eyes on it so you can all tell me how bad my ideas are and maybe help me come up with better ones!

And again, I've got no plans to actually publish and sell this game at the moment, so Patreon will be the only place to get it. For now. Unless y'all end up telling me you'd love a full printed version, which is theoretically doable through the publisher that did Volume 1. But then I'd have to illustrate the entire fucking book and put the comics on hold again omfg someone save me from life.

I need like four of me.

No, that'd be awful. I need like four people that'll actually be useful.

Solipsus - Page 22

Boot to the head.

Solipsus - Page 22 - High Res

Honestly I don't feel good about this one. I tried to do something artful with it, but... I don't think I quite succeeded. In my efforts to maximize the use of contrast, lighting and shadow, I think I ultimately ended up creating a lot of visual noise that just makes the image look confusing and messy. Dunno. What do you think?

Weekly Update - 292 - 10/13/25

The armor on Cerellia will probably continue to change over time as I continue to explore armor design options within my limited knowledge pool.

There's still time to vote in this vote thingy!

Pyre has pulled ahead as of this writing! Which is fun. Vampire Pyre is almost just regular Pyre on a liquid diet. I do intend to pull in some classic vampire themes in the art that I don't normally get to draw. Gothic architecture/victorian clothing, bat motifs everywhere, that sorta thing!

Now, normally I try not to influence the outcome of the poll too much. However, in the previews above I've included some additional arguments in favor of tipping the scales more towards vampire Riley. I think you may find them to be rather cogent points. I mean, just look at her. I rest my case.

But don't let me change your vote unless you want to! If I REALLY wanted to choose the winner myself each month(-ish) I'll just draw whoever I like and skip the poll entirely. It's more fun for me to see who y'all want to see!

BUT... Riley also hasn't won a poll in awhile... just sayin'. XD

I also might just draw her anyway as an extra extra bonus art if she doesn't win.

Comic this week?

Solipsus - Page 22

Escapism: V Rising, WoW: Legion Remix.

GS: TTRPG Update:

I swear to every god I'm committing to finishing the combat update this week. Been dragging my heels partly because the combat system is the most mechanically heavy part of TTRPGs and it's also where every other part of the system kind of comes together in one place and is expected to function like clockwork. It's intimidating to muck with, because I want to make sure most major fantasies and combat styles can be represented in the system, so it needs to be complex, but not so complex that it is difficult to pick up, understand or play. I made some progress on it this weekend, wrote it all out on a cheat sheet to make sure it all... just sorta makes sense and hopefully flows well. Tweaked a few things, I think I'm on the right track, given the current track. But there's still some lingering questions and a lot of things that still need to be updated to function with the new system, and we really won't know how it feels until we playtest it. HOPEFULLY this version is better than the last one. But I have no idea what I'm doing so... SHRUG. Whatever. Life is an experiment, so we might as well experiment!

Ramble:

I dunno. I've rambled enough already.

Zina and Xane? - High Res

Nothing more to add, this came together in an afternoon and was super fun to do. Is his name Xane? I don't know. He's literally about to eat Kiva. Why would anyone name him?

Zina was the winner of the last monthly(-ish) art poll. Vote for the next one here:
Who Should I Draw Next? - Round XVIII | Patreon

Zina and Xane?

I know I shouldn't name him. I'm already way too attached.

Is his name Xane? Maybe? I'm not sure. What do YOU think of the name Xane? What would you RATHER his name be?

Zina was the CLEAR winner of our last poll, go ahead and vote for the next one here:
Who Should I Draw Next? - Round XVIII | Patreon

Who Should I Draw Next? - Round XVIII

I feel like I wanna draw a vampire. Whoever wins this poll will be drawn as a vampire.

Who is the vampire? Vote for as many as you like.

God Slayers - Page 236

Bonding.

God Slayers - Page 236 - High Res

Meanwhile, Kiva got eaten, the end! Thanks for reading!

Weekly Update - 291 - 10/6/25

Kiera and Skye... I REALLY never saw that coming, honestly. But who is actually playing who, there? Is it genuine? Or not? Also, in case you missed it, there's a new spooky season voting incentive up on TWC. Kind of a late last-minute thing I threw together because I felt like it suddenly. It's up on FA as well. The preview up there is the reflection that's in the knife, pre-flipped and pre-distorted.

Anyhoo.

This week's comic: God Slayers 236

Escapism: Age of Wonders 4

Ramble:

With the return of depression comes the return of the ramble. Huzzah. I know you're all excited to hear what I've been ruminating about lately.

I've been feeding the birds in our backyard lately. The cat enjoys watching them, and so do I. They're funny little creatures. Messy, but funny. The way they fight over the best perch on the feeder, the way they chase each other around on the ground. The way they hop along with their little bird legs and tease the neighbor's cat by keeping just out of her immediate range. The way they hang out in the shade of the trees, even when it's cold, seemingly just to hang out. Today, I watched as a hawk... (or is it a falcon? Eagle? Not sure) swooped down and caught one of those funny little birds, ending its life in brutal fashion, then proceeding to rip it to little tiny pieces right in plain view for us between the two bird feeders.

We've known the hawk was around. We've seen it circling overhead, casting its shadow on the land below. We've seen it swoop, watched it chase the birds around. It tries and fails to catch them all the time. And it's killed before, leaving behind only a pile of feathers as evidence of its hunt. This was the first time, however, I've actually witnessed it catching something in the moment, and the way he sits there, still, even as I write this, probably at least an hour later, still ripping that poor bird to pieces just for his own stupid benefit, ngl it kinda pisses me off. The cat doesn't care though, he's long since gone to bed. The birds are only of interest to him during the ~30 minutes a day he spends awake, just around sunrise. Oh to be a cat.

Now, I understand the nature of a predator-prey relationship. A hawk must eat to live, and sometimes it must prey upon those smaller birds to eat. It's only natural. And yet, there were dozens of birds back there, probably at least twenty, minding their own business, being no bother to anyone. When the hawk arrived, they all scattered in all directions in an effort to save themselves and I'm sure they will probably not be back for a couple of days. But it got me wondering, rather than scattering in all directions to save themselves like a bunch of fucking cowards, what if they ganged up to defend one another? Does that ever happen? There were enough of them they probably could have easily driven the hawk away if they chose to stand together instead. It wasn't a big hawk, and they weren't all small. Maybe some of them might have gotten hurt, but it would sure give that hawk something to think about the next time he tried to just show up and murder one of them without any consequences. Wouldn't that be better than just letting themselves get picked off one by one forever? It probably had sharp talons, but it's still just a bird, and any injury inflicted, even a small one, might prevent it from hunting for a long time, possibly even forever. So what is there to really be afraid of? Why should those littler birds be content with being prey?

Just a little while ago, while the hawk was still feasting on the bird it murdered, a chipmunk showed up to eat a bunch of the seed left behind by all the fleeing birds. He gave ZERO fucks about the hawk that was eating a bird like two feet away from him. Filled his cheeks to bursting and then he ran back to wherever he came from... hopefully the neighbor's yard. So the cowards that flew away lost twice, first they lost a life, then they lost their food. Seems the only way to win in nature is to have no fear.

The moral of this story, I guess, is that nature is super fucked up. And yet, the actual murder taking place in my own backyard is somehow still way less distressing than flipping my piece of shit phone over for 1/10th of a second. Maybe I should just ditch that shit in the trash.

Anyway. Forget all that... Forget I said anything. Everything's fine. Nothing is real.

Actually, I'm curious... does anyone have any theories about why so many of my characters have asymmetrical eyes? It seems like most of my characters are either missing an eye, they have one eye of a different color, different patterns around one eye, or hair that covers one eye... Or even Riley who is missing the eyelashes on her left side. It's weird right? I can't say I've given a ton of conscious thought to it, but it keeps happening regardless. All I know is sometimes I deliberately make a character extra symmetrical to suggest they are significantly more orderly than the average. IE. Snowball, Ash, even Reese (pre-scar, pre-rulership).

Solipsus - Page 21

Hmmm... seems pretty handy for a weapon that isn't real.

Solipsus - Page 21 - High Res

This page was actually really fun to draw. I made a lot of mistakes still, but after about a dozen failed sketches trying to figure out how to make halberds look cool, I really like how Cera's poses turned out.

And before anyone takes me out back for that comment, I should clarify: halberds ALWAYS look cool, but that's because they ARE cool. The difficulty was with ME trying to draw Cera so SHE looked cool with the halberd. I think I did pretty well.

Weekly Update - 290 - 9/29/25

The weather is beginning to turn back towards the chilly. The leaves are just starting to turn colors, the pines are shedding some needles. Most importantly, there will likely be no more hot days this year.

Comic this week?

Solipsus #21

Zina won the last character poll! That was honestly unexpected, and should be an interesting art to try and do. Maybe I'll include her distant cousin from Kuserra in it as well, I haven't decided yet!

Ramble?

Meh, words are for suckers. Guess that means I'm a sucker, because I've dumped more words out here onto The Internets over the years than many. I've said enough words that I'm bored with words. And none of them were probably useful, but then, how many really are?

Plenty! Probably. Words are sometimes good and sometimes they carry wisdom. Wisdom for learning things from. But not these ones. These words are just a waste of your time. Also mine. These words, specifically: the ones in this ramble. I think -- I hope -- that my comics still have value, and that you find value in them... but those are less words and mostly art. Art that is good? Art that is okay, perhaps, room for improvement. I dunno! Words are hard, and these words in particular are dumb.

Anyway! I've wasted enough of your time now with these words, and also mine. I'm going to go drink some eggnog and enjoy some 10C (50F) weather and I hope you have a nice day.

God Slayers - Page 235

Taisuko is saying exactly what you think they're saying on this page.

God Slayers - Page 235 - High Res

It's late, I'm tired, but this is done now and I'm gonna post this while it's all fresh in my brain. (Also I know some of you are on the other side of the planet so please enjoy a rare daytime post!) After this I'm gonna go to bed, wake up, rescue the poor stranded husband from the big scary city, (his flight got delayed half the day then cancelled, so he had to get a hotel, it's a whole big stupid thing.) and then I'll post the rest of the things in all the regular places tomorrow when that is all done.

Taisuko Transcript:

Ugh, Glegh!　ウエッ、ゴホッ！ (Onomatopoeia - "ueh, gohoh" gagging sounds)

Cough! -- I'll live.　コーッ！ ("Koh!")　…生きてる。("Ikiteru." Lit. "Is Living./Alive.")

Siiiiiigh... Yeah.　ハァーッ…　…うん。("Haaaah... un.")

Blegh.　ブエッ (Onomatopoeia - "bueh")

Quit fucking around! Untie me!!　ふざけんな！　解けよ！！　(”Fuzakena!" Lit. "Don't goof off, don't be foolish," angrily. "Tokeyo!!" Lit. "Untie it!!" angry command + context. )

Shit...　くそぉっ…　("Kusoou..." Lit. "Shiiiit...")

As always I research to the best of my ability but I'd love to know if I've made a mistake so please let me know if I've gotten anything wrong!

Weekly Update - 289 - 9/22/25

It Mondee. Hap Mondee.

Comics this Friday?

God Slayers - Yes!

Solipsus - No.

It may be too soon to say for sure, but I'm starting to feel myself sliding into a better rhythm for managing both comics. Of course the original point was to release more comics more often... I think I've shelved that ambition for now. The quality of both comics seemed to suffer and I felt myself rushing to get them done a bit too often. I still have a lot I can focus on improving, so it feels kind of shitty to sacrifice quality in favor of speed at this point.

For the past couple of weeks, when I've released one comic, the next page for the other comic was already half done (half, being subjective, as the sketches alone have been taking more and more time as I try to focus on the underlying structure of my characters more). I find myself going back and forth, working on both at once, which... seems to be enabling me to finish a page earlier in the week, and then I get to have a head start on the next one.

Dunno, but it seems promising? Over the past 7 years or so I've learned when I'm really committed to something then rhythms like this tend to show up fairly naturally and they are generally fairly helpful for overall productivity.

I still have so much work to do on the TTRPG, which lies outside of my rhythm right now. I'm starting to try and come up with a plan of attack for the next parts that need doing, and to motivate myself to get those things done in the gaps between art. Might try to tackle some of that this week, while the husband is out of town. I won't have much else to do anyway. I could stare at the cat perhaps. That's sometimes kind of exciting.

Solipsus - Page 20

We really 20 pages into this story already?

Solipsus - Page 20 - High Res

I promise this was not a conscious effort on my part to insert myself into this story.

Weekly Update - 288 - 9/15/25

Snake be all like, HMMMMMMMMM. And did you know that Cerellia's base fur color is very close to that puke green BG color I use for sketching on? It wasn't on purpose, it just turned out that way. Her color is yellow, but the slight green hue nicely contrasts with the much brighter yellows of her tracing and hair. And her eyes are more of a sea-green. I usually shade her with a touch of blue.

Comics this week?

Fuck, I don't know. I'm so... what's a good word for it... neurasthenic. Perfect. But after striving to try and post multiple comics a week, I think I may have to just accept the fact I'm at best a one-per-week kind of creator. I just don't like rushing myself when I draw. I much prefer to take my time and experiment and fuck around.

God Slayers: I want to get it done. If I can get the linework done by EoD Tuesday then maybe.

Solipsus: Current page is coming along, flat colors are about 70% done. So probably?

I really wish I could be more clear about whether or not I expect to get comics done this week, but it's harder to predict how the week might go, especially when I'm simply not feeling my best.

Silksong is still fun. Though I've been craving more base-buildery type games lately and I've dipped my toes back into Satisfactory of late.

There's also still time to vote in this thing!

I've been doing a poor job of talking about it, so there's not a hugely incredible number of votes yet, it's still pretty even across the board.

Ramble:

I just need to rant about this some more, because I JUST DON'T CARE ABOUT IT SO MUCH.

So... anyone remember Starcraft 2? Yeah, me neither.

Anyway, if any of you ever played the original Zombitastrophe mod or whatever it was called, surprise! I was its creator, and I'm here to tell you it's officially 100% dead now. I voluntarily took it down. Its legacy will live on through its scripts, as the important components are out there, but the original is dead (and other people were already taking credit for it anyway so I don't even know why any of this matters. Does anyone even still play that game?)

The "extension mod" feature for SC2 was released back in 2014 while I was still working at Blizzard, and these were effectively plug-and-play scripts that could be applied to any map, adding a lot more flexibility to the custom maps scene. Now instead of publishing a custom map with static terrain, it was possible to publish a fully independent script/data package that could be run on all maps, any map. When the feature launched, I shotgunned out a fistful of mods I'd been working in internal builds to get them out day one as examples for other modders to look at and learn from in the hopes of dropping a bunch of whacky ideas out there and kickstarting the extension mod community. Truth told, it probably didn't need my help, but I wanted to help anyway.

Of those five or so mods, only Zombitastrophe (I -think- that's what I originally called it. At some point admins changed its name ever so slightly for some bizarre reason (probably false reports by dicks) and I don't remember what the original was. I wanted to call it Zombocalpyse but someone stole that name the first minute the feature went live) Anyway, it was the only mod of mine that got any attention, because it had a couple neat things going on that were implemented in a very clean way. Chief among them was a neato little recursive function I wrote for spawning enemies in the relative center of a map regardless of a map's terrain. Since mods could be loaded onto a map of any size and any shape, the map itself became a variable and it was a challenge (at least initially, I don't know if they ever changed/improved it) to specify regions on the map for say, consistently or predictably spawning ground units. By default, you could specify points, basically coordinates, or regions centered around points, but if the point specified was unwalkable, the game would sort of try to find a valid point that was kinda close, but it wouldn't search very far from the chosen point, and if it couldn't find a valid point it'd simply fail to spawn the unit. Alternatively you could specify a region around a point, but the game would only pick random points within that region, and if the region was too big you'd lose control over where the units would spawn. Ergo, simply trying to spawn zombies in the center of the map without some clever finagling would often fail on many maps with unwalkable centers (of which there were plenty) and end up making the mod useless on a whole bunch of maps. My mod attempted to solve this problem by recursively "walking" from the corners of the map towards the center (or maybe it was the other way around, I forget), and stopping once it found a valid point that was walkable and also fit within certain parameters. So even if the map had a huge unwalkable section in the middle, the mod would still function, spawning zombies around its edges. Best of all, this function was super lightweight, just a few lines of script. I was pretty proud of it at the time, getting to put some of my limited coding knowledge to use. The mod also had some function to aggro the hundreds of zombies towards the closest building in a way that wouldn't completely melt everyone's hardware, though at the end of the day I think the sheer number of zombies spawned by the mod ended up doing that for some people anyway.

Anyway, just this past week I guess (the year of our lord 2025) some trolls reported my mod for being inappropriate, because, I guess it's some sort of trend now? Exploit the lazy and shitty automated reporting systems for... something? Then profit? Sure, I guess. Kill your own fun and free mod scene by attacking and driving away its creators. Corps are DROOLING to fill that void with paid mods instead, and I'm sure that'll turn out great for everyone. Anyway, speaking of lazy report systems, Blizzard did the stupid thing and actioned my account as a result, because how silly of me to think I shouldn't be penalized for a forgotten mod that's probably older than the people reporting it. It wasn't like a serious action, I didn't get banned or anything, in fact they wouldn't even let me appeal it, because they won't be bothered with normal support tickets these days let alone ones that ask for the overturn of a minor penalty, but given my 20+ year spotless record and my former employment WITH THE DAMN COMPANY, one would think they could cut me some damn slack for a mod I uploaded in 2014 and haven't changed since? I swear this world keeps getting fucking stupider with each passing day.

So if that's how it's gonna be, my solution to this is to delete the mod and all of the others I put up way back in 2014 when the mod feature was first released because I simply don't care. I don't play SC2. SC2 was the game that gave me PTSD because of 3 grueling years of mandatory 60 hour workweeks. Furthermore, I uploaded the mod unencrypted. Other people have had 11 years to steal my scripts and repurpose them however they want, and even just a year or two after I posted it I saw my exact scripts reused in countless mods both credited to me and not, and for the ones that weren't credited I know they were my scripts because they left in all of my disabled debugging scripts as well, so I know my work is still out there in the wild floating around. Furthermore it seems like someone else already uploaded my exact same mod and claimed all the credit for it anyway. Like, yeah, that all sucks, but at the end of the day, I can't be bothered to worry about a mod for a game I don't play. If any of you want the original mod, I think I saved a backup copy before going scorched earth, but honestly I doubt it contains anything of any interest or value these days.

I'll just consider this another nail in the page I ripped out of a chapter that I buried long ago. It sure doesn't help with my existential crisis though. Perhaps that's why, no matter how much I tell myself I don't care, it isn't working. I guess I do kinda care a little bit. People forcing me to destroy something I hoped only to be remembered positively for. Sigh. All I've ever wanted is to feel like something I do matters, but nothing in this age will ever last, will it. Perhaps I should take up stone carving. The digital age is simply too temporary and humans are simply too petty. Or maybe I'M the one that's being petty. I put my mod out there for other people to copy and then I'm upset that it got copied and inevitably reported by some shitty trolls to force me to take it down so they can pretend like theirs was the original? I don't know any more. AITA?

I know I always try to loop back around to something positive, but hope is hard to come by in these days where it feels like only stupidity and evil can ever win, from every tier of human life, whether it's the highest office in the land or the lowliest struggling creator that just wants their existence to be noticed and maybe create something that means something to someone. I guess... I mean... you guys are proof to me that something I'm doing isn't total dogshit. So, as far as hope goes, I simply hope you guys keep enjoying my comics.

God Slayers - Page 234

Taisuko might have even more reason than Kiva to just hate everything right now.

God Slayers - Page 234 - High Res

Taisuko's one-liner there was quite a process. Roughly translated, it means:

"Behold, my unsavory savior."

Originally their line was going to just be "哀れな..." or "Pathetic..." which wouldn't have required any translation because their expression alone says more. But I wanted to explore different ways for them to express themselves with a little bit more personality, I settled on the latter, which... as an anchoring phrase for this page, almost feels like it wants an on-page translation, and I thought seriously about including one... but I've not established that I'll be doing that on the 233 pages before this one and I really don't want to make it a precedent going forward. It could eat up a lot of space on the page and I still sort of enjoy the idea of letting people wonder about what's being said there. Let people read it if they can, otherwise, let them guess, or leave them with the freedom to look it up themselves if they feel so inclined.

So hopefully, without the translation, the message is still conveyed well enough through art alone. I do worry though that, since it's now three words instead of only one, many people may feel more like they're missing something important, when I'd argue they're really not. Taisuko's biting internal commentary doesn't really add much to this page nor does it affect the story in any way. Actually, as the character's been evolving in my head, I'm beginning to see them as sort of a... in-universe critic, if that makes sense.

Anyway, when I say that it is a ROUGH translation, it is because one of the beautiful things about Japanese is that it doesn't always translate very cleanly into English. If I translate Taisuko's line literally, it's more like, "came, unsightly champion." 出た(deta),　無様(buzama)　勇者(yūsha), but given the context, it can be interpreted more like "there it is, the (ungraceful/unsightly/clumsy/awkward) man of valor," (as 無様buzama is a single adjective that suggests something is just all-around pretty embarrassingly gross and awful, and yūsha specifically implies sort of an epic/fantasy style hero) and based on Taisuko's expression we can imagine them thinking this all in a very sarcastic, deadpan tone. Context, expression and body language are all a part of communication after all. Though the latter is probably pretty difficult for poor Taisuko right now.

Which is why, if I were to translate it into English, I'd give it just a little more of a biting sarcasm with "behold" and a little more poetic alliteration with "unsavory savior," in an effort to capture just a little more flavor in the translation. The meaning is effectively the same, with only some implied nuances being lost in translation.

So... yeah! When I use Japanese to represent my universe's Takaigo language, I do try to research each word and phrase I use as thoroughly as I can to achieve the best clarity and accuracy, but I am certainly no expert and I fully expect to make tons of mistakes. SO! Take this with a grain of salt, but I do believe that's what it says, based on using 2 translators and my favorite Japanese to English dictionary. If there's anything I've misunderstood, I'd love to know!

Weekly Update - 287 - 9/8/25

Comics this week?

God Slayers - Yes! 'Bout time, amirite?

Solipsus - Eh, maybe. Actually probably not. But maybe. We'll see.

And... don't forget to vote in the thingy! Who Should I Draw Next? - Round 17 | Patreon

It's pretty even spread across the board, currently, which is interesting! Anyone can still win!

Double the previews this week, why not. Those dynamic fighting poses are hard to tease out sometimes but drawing them as stick figures first always helps quite a bit! These ones are way better than my first couple of attempts, so I'll probably end up using them.

Welcome to all the new and returning subscribers! Whether you're rejoining for the second time or just tossing a dollar at me to take a peek past the paywall, your support's appreciated either way!

Apart from that... I don't have a ton of extra shit to ramble on about this week. Mostly drawing to distract myself from reality. Silksong is really good? But I don't have to tell you that.

What Do You Mean YOUR Bed?

It Mine now.

Winner of the last vote! Vote for the next stuff here:
Who Should I Draw Next? - Round 17 | Patreon

What Do You Mean YOUR Bed? - High Res

Whose bed is this? Doesn't matter, it's Mine now.

For now y'all can enjoy it in high res, and vote for the next stuff here:
Who Should I Draw Next? - Round 17 | Patreon

I'll be putting up more variants of this up on the extra place where extra spicy variants go, once said place returns to life. Or maybe tomorrow because I'm tired and I have some Silksong to play.

Who Should I Draw Next? - Round 17

The usual drill -- I'll leave this poll up for a couple of weeks, you vote for your favorites, as many as you like, and I'll draw them doing something sometime in about a month.

Might be spicy, might be not! I'm an artist. We're whimsical creatures.

Now, I've been told it's helpful to explain a little who each of these characters are. By now you should all know the main five. Kiva, Kiera, Max, Riley and Skye. At least four of them have Character pages up. I still need to make one for Skye, maybe once she's been around long enough to form solid opinions of the others.

Cerellia is, of course, the protagonist of the new comic, Solipsus. We're starting to get to know her a little bit.

Zina is Cera's tragically pink mount.

Taisuko, who is probably still one of the more obscure characters on this list, is this one.

Solipsus - Page 19

Oh yeah? Can a non-real weapon do THIS?

Solipsus - Page 19 - High Res

Finally beginning to touch on why the comic is called Solipsus.