Hey, Newgrounds, what's up? Did you have a good Halloween? Mine was pretty alright. A bit slow overall, but I still had fun dressing up. I was Jason Voorhees this year.

As we all know, this is the season to watch horror films and Halloween specials. Well, ANY season is the season to watch horror films. Still, there is something undeniably special about watching them this time of year. This year, I decided to actually go out of my way to watch a lot more than I usually do. My rotted attention span makes it hard sometimes, but this year I've managed to watch a fair amount starting from around the end of August (yeah I'm one of those people). I've compiled a topsters chart to show what I watched in no particular order.

Some of these were rewatches, but a majority was the first time I'd seen them. I had a lot of fun this season. If I were to name the ten highlights they would be...

1. Nosferatu the Vampyre - Fantastic remake. Follows the same basic plot beats, but the characters feel more fleshed out, the score is beautifully haunting, and it's just a very well put together film. It's a different take on the story that still manages to feel respectful to the source. You can tell Werner Herzog has a lot of love for it.
2. Son of Frankenstein - The last great film of the original Universal Frankenstein series, this movie is arguably the best. I personally prefer Bride still, but could see the argument for this one. The real star of the film is Bela Lugosi as Ygor, though Lionel Atwill and Basil Rathbone ALSO give standout performances in their respective roles. This is also the last time Boris Karloff got to play the role that made him famous. He feels overshadowed and underutilized in this film, but still gets ONE really good scene to himself.
3. The Revenge of Frankenstein - This film isn't part of Universal's Frankenstein series. Instead this is the second entry in the Hammer franchise. Unlike many Hammer sequels, this film keeps a tight continuity with the first, beginning right where that one left off. It's a very, VERY different take on the Frankenstein formula. By this point the series has completely abandoned the literary source it was already very loosely adapting. What set these films apart from their black and white predecessors is that they focus not on the creature, but on Baron Frankenstein. He is always played by the brilliant Peter Cushing, who is delightfully evil in the role.
4. It (2018) - This film is so recent I feel like you probably already know everything about it, assuming you haven't seen it outright already. I'm not gonna spend a lot of time on it, but I'll say I really liked it. It's got a great main cast that all manage to be compelling and likeable, even if some are definitely more developed than others. The titular It makes for a strong antagonist, played well by Bill Skarsgård. I thought he was gonna be played as a super serious dark monster, but he gets kinda goofy with it. Especially some of those line reads. This is a good thing.
5. Blade (1998) - Hell yeah. Kind of film that makes you say that constantly. From the brilliant action set pieces to the amazing set design. The film supposedly takes place in New Orleans, but you literally cannot tell if it even takes place in the US. This is fine, since is prioritizes what makes for a cool setting and this film BLEEDS cool. Wesley Snipes is so fucking cool. This film was a major puzzle piece in that sort of, Y2K aesthetic of the late '90s and early 2000s that the Matrix codified. The CGI is dated to hell, but I didn't care. It honestly adds to the charm. Also in one of the scenes, you can see the 1995 MK movie playing on a TV. Hell yeah.
6. Psycho (1960) - You know Psycho. Even if you don't know it by name, you know Psycho. You know, the film with the shower stabbing scene that has been homaged and parodied to death. Yeeeaaah, now you know what I'm talking about. Even though you more than likely know the many twists of the film, it still manages to make for a very compelling narrative. It almost adds to the tension in some ways, since you know what's coming and can only anticipate when it's gonna happen. What can I say about Psycho that hasn't been said before? You just gotta watch it.
7. King Kong (1933) - One of the films I had seen before, but it had been awhile. I love this movie, everything about it. Well, maybe not everything. It's very dated in many respects, obviously. Not just talking about the special effects here, but the general attitude towards natives and the character of Charlie the Cook really remind the viewer this was the '30s. Taking the context in which it was made in consideration, it feels more respectful than many of its contemporaries. That they actually got actors' races to match the characters they were playing is already more than a lot of other films of the era. Still, in that aspect, yeah it doesn't hold up to modern scrutiny. There has also been a narrative that the film could be a metaphorical warning against interracial relations??? I think that is a huge misread of a film that is a clear as day environmentalist allegory, but I digress. I've gone off on a tangent because there really isn't much to say about the movie itself. It's KING KONG. As with Psycho, it's one of the most homaged and discussed movies ever made. You have to have been living under a rock to not know what it's about. Despite its age, the film manages to feel VERY bombastic in its presentation and many of the effects still boggle the mind. They don't 'hold up' in that they look real, but it gives the film a style all its own that does hold up. Between this and The Invisible Man, this was a great year for special effects.
8. Dracula: Prince of Darkness - Another I had previously seen, this is the sequel to the first Hammer Studios Dracula film. It sees the return of Christopher Lee in the title role after he was absent in Brides of Dracula. Brides is a very good film in its own right, but a Dracula film without Dracula just feels wrong, y'know? It has a very slow and deliberate start, really setting up the moody atmosphere. Dracula himself isn't resurrected until about an hour in and when he is, he doesn't say a word. There are conflicting reports as to why this is. Chris Lee said it was because the dialogue was so abhorrent, he refused to speak it. The screenwriter disputes this. Either way, he doesn't need to speak. His presence alone says more than words ever could, this is the most feral his Dracula would ever be portrayed. Aside from him, another standout is Andrew Keir as Father Sandor. Sandor takes the place of Peter Cushing's Van Helsing in the narrative, which is an unenviable task for anybody. However, Keir fills Cushing's shoes no problem, he makes for a GREAT foil to the prince of darkness that I wish appeared in more sequels.
9. Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers - While presenting nothing the viewer hasn't seen before, Halloween 4 is a very solid entry in a franchise with a mixed track record. This was my second time viewing it, since the last time I had seen it was on cable at like four in the morning. Donald Pleasance is great as always in the role of Sam Loomis, but Danielle Harris' Jamie Lloyd was a surprising highlight as well. Kid actors get a bad rap since good acting is a lot to ask of someone with so little experience, but she really did a great job in the role. Her relationship with her foster sister is the heart of the film, you really do get invested in it and hope they both make it out alright. Michael's depiction is weird. He has the shoulders of a linebacker and his mask looks like shit, frankly. Still, the low lighting makes this tolerable in most instances and it doesn't detract from the overall quality too much. The best part of the film is the vibe. It, more than any other entry of the franchise (outside of III which doesn't really count), just FEELS like a small town Halloween. That crisp, fall air radiates throughout it.
10. Ed, Edd, n' Eddy's Boo Haw Haw - It feels like cheating to put a 20 minute Halloween special on here, but fuck it. This is my list. I remember watching it on TV back when it first aired. Haven't seen it in YEARS. This was my favorite cartoon back then and I still do love it even now. The special is pretty solid, capturing the atmosphere Halloween has at that age very well. Dressing up in costume and going on an adventure. The world felt different on that day. Maybe not to the extent that Ed's movie addled mind hallucinates, but still! It's also very funny, which is to be expected from Ed, Edd, n' Eddy. I'll be honest I remember it being longer, but I think everything feels longer when you're a kid.

Overall, there was a lot I enjoyed here. There were only three I didn't particularly like. First was Bram Stoker's Dracula. It's a visually stunning film with a lot of style, but the narrative didn't really sit right with me. Making Dracula a romantic character is not to my tastes at all. The scene where you literally hear him cry BLUH HUH HUH HUH it took me out so bad. Comical. Nosferatu the Vampyre had a much stronger take on a sympathetic Dracula. While the film is accurate to the novel in many respects, this change makes it a VERY different story overall. Accuracy to the book isn't normally a huge thing for me. I happen to love a lot of films that are loose adaptations at best, but when it's LITERALLY called Bram Stoker's Dracula it does feel a bit insulting to the original.

Of a similar vein, I wasn't crazy about Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow. This film is apparently meant to homage Hammer's output so it SHOULD be for me, but man I dunno. Again, I don't usually mind deviations from the source, but the changes here aren't for me. Sometimes it's alright to admit that there's simply some things you just don't vibe with. It all feels very Burton-esque, but like one of his later films that's not so good. There's a lot of his Willy Wonka and Alice in Wonderland remakes in it. I heard that Depp was trying to channel Peter Cushing with his take on Ichabod Crane which lol. Mission failed on that one, buddy. These '90s era sort of 'prestige' horror adaptations just aren't my thing.

The last I wasn't terribly fond of was Evil of Frankenstein. The third in the Hammer Frankenstein series, this film is more of a quasi-reboot. Cushing is back, but his character feels VERY different this go around. Despite being called EVIL of Frankenstein, he doesn't feel that evil here. He's just a guy trying to mind his own business most of the time, more an anti-hero than straight up villain protagonist. Not a nice guy, but far from the bastard who would go to ANY lengths for his experiments you saw in the previous two films. The idea that Frankenstein does not seek to show his creations to the world contradicts a major plot point in the previous film. The narrative just feels confused. A good chunk of the film is devoted to a flashback that kills the pace entirely. Also the monster looks like crap.

One more thing I'll say is that I don't think I'm too awful fond of mummies. Might be my least favorite monster archetype. I liked both the 1933 and 1959 films I watched well enough, but they're definitely on the lower rungs of both Universal and Hammer's catalog for me. Maybe the 1999 film will change my mind, need to watch that next.

Overall, I'm glad I watched all of these. Even the ones I didn't like too much, it's just nice to have seen them. Did you watch any scary movies for the season? If not, it's never too late! Anytime is a good time for horror. If you're looking for any to watch, I just gave you a whole big list worth looking into!

Bonus extra sketch thing based on my latest image.

Now retroactively included with the original!

Whoa, what the fuck? Did you see that? Let's take a closer look at my latest post.

Do you see the duende? The picture is blurry, but if you squint your eyes and open your mind, you might see it. We can do better, though. Computer, enhance the picture and remove all filters.

THATS HIM THATS HIM HOLY SHIT. MARCIANITO.

My last art post might have raised some questions for anyone paying attention to the Moon's Eye Saga lore. As promised, I'm here to elaborate more on that. Revealing Jennifer's identity as Spring-Heels is something I've been waffling back and forth on. I was gonna reveal it in Spring-Heels' updated character sheet, but held back. Only decided to let the secret out now.

Why? I feel it's integral to understanding her backstory and character. I think it's a worthwhile exchange; give her that added depth, even at the cost of potentially robbing viewers that initial shock of it being first revealed within the story itself. Especially since it might be awhile before I get to telling that story, if ever.

All that preamble aside, let's dig a bit deeper into her past. Jennifer's father was a man named George Halton, a chairman of the board at the Omnitropos Corporation. Inspired by tales of Spring Heeled Jack, George used company resources to build equipment in the urban legend's image. He took to the Belfry Haven streets, earning the nickname Spring-Heels for obvious reasons. Spring-Heels quickly gained a reputation for brutalizing criminals, leaving countless dead in his wake... if they were lucky.

George eventually grew so attached to this alter ego, he sought to keep it alive even after his own death. To this purpose, he took his daughter from their home on her twelfth birthday. For seven years, he trained her, molded her to fit his perfect image of a successor: the same kind of killer he was. Forced to live in the condemned Omnitropos warehouse that was his hideout, Jennifer lived a lonely life.

On her nineteenth birthday, things changed. Finally gathering the courage to stand up to her father, Jennifer swiftly defeated him. She had long since surpassed his skill level. After leaving him, Jennifer took to living the streets for awhile. Eventually, she returned to the warehouse to find it abandoned. Everything was as she left it.

Taking the money he had stashed away and a spare set of Spring-Heels gear just in case, Jennifer left it behind for good. Using that loot to put her foot in the door, Jennifer got herself a nice apartment and a job at the local mall. Maybe she wasn't as far gone as she thought.

Yet, reintegrating with a society that had passed her by proved difficult. Robbed of important developmental years of her life, she had a hard time connecting with others. She hardly made any friends beyond those she knew at work and all relationships crashed, primarily due to her unwillingness to open up. For five years she tried living like this, tried to move on, but she never could escape the shadows of her past.

At her wit's end, she dug up that old Spring-Heels costume she stashed away. Maybe, maybe she really couldn't live a normal life. Maybe George did succeed at turning her into a monster and she was just living in denial. Donning the costume for the first time, she sought to at least do some good for the world if she should spiral. Now utilizing methods far less brutal than her father, Spring-Heels had returned.

Yet, it's just when she had finally given up that life threw a curveball Jen's way. It was a night as ordinary as any other when a stranger popped up outside her window. A stranger that would change the trajectory of her life forever...

And that's story of Jennifer Halton at the start. Knowing all of this, you might finally see the parallels between her and Ninji. It's a very important factor in their dynamic and relationship. You also now have a better understanding of her burning hatred for Leapin' Jack.

I do fear I'm revealing too much, but very little of what I've unveiled so far extends past the so-called 'first act' of the story. After all, even this backstory leaves a few unanswered questions.

You might be thinking, "Hey, I've never followed a 'MetalDoom' before!" Yeah, I decided to FINALLY change my username after all these years. Why? Well, it's just not cool anymore.

What? No, Metal Sonic is still cool. Do you know what'd happen if you swore on the bible that Metal Sonic wasn't cool? That's right, you'd burn in Hell. An eternity of damnation and suffering awaits for lying under oath with God as your witness. Unfortunately, @MetalSoNic is taken. God, I'd be SO cool if I had that as my username.

What I really mean is that names with numbers aren't cool anymore. Back in like, 2009 when I first came up with it, putting numbers in your name was the style at the time. EVERYBODY did it. Now, though? It's a new era. Rather than a name a 10 year old would come up with, my username is one a 15 year old would think is cool instead. Progress!

my god...

Hey, man, it's been over two months since the last art post? What gives?

Yes, it has been a minute, hasn't it? I prefer keeping my real life at an arm's length from my online life, but I do feel you're all owed an update. A lot of my focus has been on said real life, something I've neglected for a long time now. Things have been, interesting lately. To quote one of the great American novels, "It was the best of times, it was the BLURST of times."

Mixed affairs, very mixed affairs. Highest highs, lowest lows. I'm currently recovering from one of those lows right now, actually. It can be hard to come to terms with the way things shake out sometimes. Some days I wonder if things will ever work out in the way I hope. I think they will, one day. Hey, if I keep telling myself that, maybe I'll actually believe it someday.

So, that's a vague statement on how things have been going. Again, consciously trying to keep real life at an arm's length here.

Anyway, what's all this mean for my art? I've been a little burnt creatively. Had an image cooking in the oven for months now, but I'm not really feeling it. I work on it for a couple minutes, dislike how its coming along, and then close the window. There hasn't been much of a solid vision behind it, which has resulted in something that feels stiff and unsure. Speaks to a lack of confidence I've been feeling lately.

Of course I still love my OCs, but I think that year long period of constant creation has officially ended. So, I'm not sure when I'll draw them again. I should really commission more art featuring them at some point if nothing else. We'll see about that.

I hope things have been going well for you all. If not, try to keep your head up high. I know that's easier said than done, but hard times always pass, even if it takes awhile.

206 to be exact.

Way back in the once distant year 2010, I created this account. This is one of few things Street Fighter 2010: The Final Fight accurately predicted. Now, before you say that's not true, have YOU played that game, let alone to completion? Didn't think so, buddy. For all you know, it could be in there somewhere.

It's surreal to think about, really. I never could have imagined I'd get 200 fans here on Newgrounds. Maybe sometime in the next 14 years, I'll get 200 more. Yeah, we'll see about that. I'll be honest, I don't have anything special planned for this, but I'm sure I can dig something up...

Ahh, yeah, here we go. Here's four things I never posted on here. Two for my main OCs and then two more for their respective arch enemies. Heads up, the first two are kinda old so they look outdated compared to my more recent works.

Now you can see the some of the sources I pull inspiration from, both the obvious and maybe less conventional. I'm one of those freaks that gets satisfaction from filling out arbitrary charts, so these were fun to do. Tempted to make more.

Anyway, wow! The big two hundred! The support I've gotten on here has been unreal and I can't thank you all enough for it. So many genuinely skilled and talented people have expressed interest in what I make, something I never could have imagined when I first started. You're all so cool!

you either play the station or the station plays you. something to think about.

What? Already? Yes.

As the new year approaches, I figure it'd be worth writing something like this. Truthfully, I'm not even sure where or how to begin. It's been an interesting year on my Newgrounds account, to say the least. There's so much I could say. Let's just get the obvious out of the way.

A WHOLE BUNCHA OC NONSENSE

If you've been following me for awhile, you've no doubt noticed the major shift in content around the beginning of the year. I'm of course talking about the major focus on my OCs. I actually started putting them out there back in 2022, but it's only this year that I started to really LEAN in on that. Many of them are characters I've had floating around in my head for so many years at this point.

I'm not gonna lie, I was in a terrible headspace at the end of 2022. Not to throw a pity party for myself, but I felt like I was going through the wringer beginning the October of that year. Some of it was self inflicted, admittedly, but a lot of it wasn't. Regardless, I don't want to get too deep into real life shit like that on here.

What I'm getting at is that as I entered 2023, I realized that I'm not getting any younger. Life is passing me by and if I don't start doing something with these characters, these ideas, then will I ever?

To finally put all this out there has been truly cathartic and I'm happy to share that with you all. I can only hope you feel the same about them, in some way. They're very personal to me, two of them in particular. To see any kind of positive feedback for them has just been so rewarding. Whether that be through faves, reviews, or even fan art. My OCs have FAN ART. HOW

It's also been quite strange, admittedly. I've never considered myself a visual artist and in a lot of ways I still struggle to see myself that way. I often feel that it's almost disrespectful to call myself one, like I haven't "earned" it and I'm not really putting in the effort to earn it either. I don't go through steps like sketching things out, I don't really watch many tutorials (some here or there if I'm really struggling), I'm not going to classes, I don't look at references as often as I should, and I haven't got any of the proper equipment. Can I really call myself an artist? Eh, not worth stressing over ultimately.

With my lack of skill, equipment, and general knowledge I'm just diving into it all headfirst, trying to have fun more than anything. Like I said before, I just wanted to put my OCs out there into the world, regardless of it all. Just fuckin' DO IT before it's too late.

Even though I haven't really been following any kind of structure, it's undeniable that I've improved. Like, visibly so! This was the first year where I was drawing seriously in years, outside the shield of irony and, "it's supposed to look like shit bro." In general I've been trying to be more sincere, both through my work and as a person. It can be so hard to be vulnerable like that, but I know it's even more tiring for others to deal with someone that acts so jaded all the time. It's also much more gratifying to be open with others, to an extent anyway.

If you want an easy way to keep up with what I've posted so far for my OCs, you can check the various playlists I've made for them. Though, it's still not gonna be too easy to keep track of since I post content from all over the hypothetical timeline of events I've set up. If you're also just too darn lazy to go through all that, then here's...

TEN HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE PAST YEAR

Yep, here's ten pieces from this year that I'm either really proud of now or was proud of at the time. Not in any particular order and I'll try not to write too much about them since they already tend to have descriptions that go on for way too long.

The latest piece I'll be highlighting, I'm a little sad this one kinda underperformed compared to the posts around it tbh. Maybe I just posted it on a bad day or it could just suck. I dunno. Even if it does, I still like it. It was interesting to draw Ninjiro completely outside of his ninja uniform without a mask for the first time and I think this is the best I've drawn Jenny's body (so far). I've always imagined her being pretty bottom heavy with a slimmer frame up top. That is the, uhhh, nicest way I can phrase that. I'm not the most consistent artist, so that isn't clear sometimes. Hopefully I'll continue to get better at that.

Now the oldest image I'm gonna be featuring. Not the first comic I've done for my OCs, but the first one to focus on the daily life of Jennifer and Ninjiro. This was back when I was using Photofiltre 7 to draw before switching to Gimp later on. All of the images I used Photofiltre 7 have a certain, "crust" to them as it's an old photo editing program I stuck with for so long because I liked the UI.

You can see I was still using (mostly) handwritten text and speech bubbles. My handwriting already sucks, but done with a mouse? It's ROUGH. I didn't like typing the text in back then because whenever I tried it always looked out of place with PF7. Even with a more proper font. Just so much visually inconsistent with this one, some of it done for humor but most done out of error or laziness. I've gotten better with visual consistency in the time since, even if I'm not great with it even now. Still, I like the premise behind it so much, that I feel it (mostly) shines through the presentation.

I didn't do a lot of fanart this year, it just wasn't where my passion lied. Still, I did put out some here or there. Of them all, I think this is the best. I love the TMNT and their rogues gallery. Like I said in the description, I truly believe they have the best villains of any comic characters outside of Spider-Man and Batman. I didn't take from any one adaptation either, just drawing whichever ones I liked the best with the designs I liked best (at the time). Heck, in Rat King's case he's not really based on any one canonical look for the character. He's based on the Mirage look but with the colors of '87 toon version.

Can you call it fanart if it's technically for something you aren't a fan of? I dunno. I love Boba and Cad, but I'm not a fan of Book of Boba Fett at all, honest! I know I talk and joke about it way too much for someone who doesn't like it. The impact this show left on me and a group of friends has been damaging to an unspeakable degree. Unironically mindbroken, we're actually still living with the consequences of it to this day. This was so much fun to do and it... raised a bit of controversy lmao. Shoutouts to Cad Bane's little red blinking light.

This was perhaps my most ambitious comic of the year. Multiple backgrounds, dynamic paneling, and more involved posing. I think it was worth it. I've always been a big fan of Simpsons style "screw the audience" jokes, so I wanted to do something like that here. I liked this one so much, I even extended it out. It was originally going to end with the reveal of them eating literal Hertz Donuts, but I added those extra panels at the end to have a cute moment in it. Seemed like everyone else agrees since this one did major numbers and I am so thankful that.

My submission for the Loss Kollab. Truthfully, I wasn't planning on participating in this until @CrockettDK sent it my way and I was like, "Eh. Sure." I don't join many collabs since I'm not confident enough in my art to really do so (this is also a reason why I skipped out on Secret Santa 2023, which I kinda regret in hindsight).

Despite being a funny shitpost, I undeniably got some quite valuable practice in with this. As simple as they look, it was my first real attempt at that kind of background/object angling and perspective since middle school. The poses are a bit stiff, but that's because I was using CAD as a reference LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. Nah but seriously my posing is generally kinda stiff, should continue to work on that.

I was cookin with gas or somethin around this time since the last three images were posted concurrently. This was a bit of fanart for @HeartisttheArtist, featuring his character Contessa Scarlatta. My own vampire OC, Lord Velo Belosa, is also in the background there. I've drawn a couple pieces of fanart for Heartist this year, but conceptually I think this one hits the hardest. I was going for a Hammer poster type of vibe and think I nailed that aesthetic about as much as I could. It's very rare I use filters on the actual characters I draw, but I think it paid off here quite well. It's something a bit different for me. I've put some genuine thought into a Ronin/Ninjiro crossover, as forced and unrealistic as that'd likely turn out to be. Would certainly be cool, though!

Speaking of something different, this! This was a radically different style compared to what I'm usually doing and it was so exciting. Just filling out the page with all these different sketches and thoughts from the perspective of Jenners from around the time she first met Ninji. Jennifer being an artist has been a fairly recent addition to her character, though I've always seen her as a bit of a creative type. That hat you see her wearing sometimes was her own design, she sewed the "eyes" on herself and most of her skateboard decks were also designed by hand.

I can't believe how nice this turned out for what was ultimately my first attempt at this sort of style, one that's essentially the polar opposite of what I usually do. I'm not ranking these in any order, but this might be my fave of the year. Maybe. I'm just thrilled it performed so far above my expectations!

This one is important for a couple reasons. First of all, it introduced Carol! Carol here came to be when I wanted to recycle Jennifer's original gothic character design after I revamped her to be a more upbeat punk type girl. She's an important part of the dynamic since she sort of, grounds both Ninjiro and Jen. She's not only the straightman to their shenanigans, but she's also the closest their little group has to an 'average' civilian. Carrie here has slowly raised through the ranks to be my most reoccurring OC outside of the main two.

You'll also notice the second appearance of running gag Skate Dracula. This gag was actually born from this image. By the end of drawing this, I was so tired of it I couldn't think of anything to put on Jen's shirt so I just wrote SKATE DRACULA and called it a day. From there, I've just kept the bit going. I adore the absurd fake movie and TV shows/commercials gags in shows like The Simpsons and Gravity Falls so Skate Dracula falls into that category, fueled by my unironic and ironic obsession with Dracula. Surprised nobody had done much with the concept before now.

This also began the more subtle running gag of Jennifer being thirsty as fuck, always drinking something. I actually don't know if anybody has even noticed that this is a recurring thing. Truthfully, it wasn't even intended to be a bit at all until I noticed the following three posts also involved her sipping on something in one way or another. So I bring it back sometimes. Goddamn, can't believe I got this much out of this one.

There's a lot of posts I could have finished this retrospective with. In particular, I'm also quite fond of these. In the end, though, I decided to go with this one. While I've always had a loose idea for how Ninjiro would look without his mask, this is where I finally solidified it. I didn't think I could design an unmasked Ninji that I liked as much as his masked look, but I pulled it off somehow! This post also marked a sort of, slightly belated one year anniversary for when I first posted the original Ninjiro character sheet so it's worth highlighting for that as well.

Remember how I said I'd try not to write so much about this? Crazy how long ago that was, huh?

I've definitely been keeping myself busy with all this, as you can no doubt tell. When I started this, I was more than a little scared. Scared how it might be received by friend and follower alike. Would this be seen as embarrassing? What if nobody cares? Why should they care? It was completely new territory for me and it still kinda is, really.

Yet, my passion outweighed the fear and I just kept going. Kept going because I love these characters and I'm gonna keep shoving them in your face until you do too... or you at least tolerate and acknowledge them. That works too.

Oh, but they've definitely gotten some major love! In general, my posts have gradually been getting a warmer and more consistent reception as the months and my art progressed. And as I said before, I've even gotten fanart! Lots of great fanart! Love to see it so much!

I really can't thank everyone enough for the support. The reviews, the faves, the follows, and everything else. Like, really, I can't. I know I'm not the most skilled or talented artist, but in spite of that I've been truly blessed to have more people who enjoy my stuff than I could have hoped for. As I said before, I'm so happy I get to share all of this with you, whether you like it or not. Thankfully, a good chunk of you seem like you do. All this out the way, let's finally move on to other things.

MISCELLANEOUS NEWGROUNDS GOINGS ONS

I also lent my voice to a cartoon this year. That's right, I got to play the illustrious part of Ratmire McRat in the cartoon Eugene's Show! It feels like the role I was born to play.

Seriously, though, this was a cool thing to be apart of. Being a voice actor has been a bit of a dream of mine, but I also hate my voice so it's not something I've ever seriously pursued. Being asked to do this was really something else, Fezbet was totally cool with the few changes I made to their script and was very nice to work with overall.

If you ever want my vocal talents, feel free to ask. I don't know if I'm going to really be searching for roles myself quite yet.

If you're curious how things are going with me outside of NG, I'm doin' pretty good. Better than I was doing this time last year at least. That being said, I think I should wrap this up since good god that's a lot of words.

But before I go, I'd like to give a special thanks to a couple people.

THE BIG SHOUTOUTS

@HarukaFucksBees

@CommanderFordo

@Turbo-Tastic

Genuinely my oldest and dearest friends. Thanks for dealing with me through all this, even joining NG after I got so hard into it again. I know I can be a bit much to put up with sometimes, but you guys are always there for me. It's offical, you rule!

@Xaloid

Xaloid, my bro, you've been supporting me for so long and I really cannot explain how much I appreciate that. That validation has been so vital for my journey as an artist. So fun to talk with and so supremely talented, I'm glad I can call you a friend. I can't believe how lucky I am to have met someone who enjoys my company and work so much on the NG forums of all places. I hope to see more from you in 2024!

@HeartisttheArtist

Heartist, your OCs and dedication to them have proven to be vitally inspirational to me. It's always a delight to talk about them (and literally anything else) with you and I can only hope you feel the same with me. It's crazy to think someone as good as you likes what I make, but I'm so thankful for that. It means the world. Excited to see what you got in store for next year.

@CrockettDK

Another person I met on the NG forums back when I used to post on there and I've made many connections thanks to them. Genuinely a cool person with a bright future on here. Really looking to that Transformers collab, good luck with it!

@TheShokBlok

We don't talk much since the general forum closed, but you've always seemed super cool and your art style is too cute. Your Ninjiro and Jenny fanart really came at the perfect time after a particularly rotten day at work and I cherish it so much, you don't even know. Thank you.

@BUNKUMBITCH

We've never really chatted much so this might come completely out of nowhere for you, but your support for Jennifer and Ninjiro hasn't gone unnoticed. I appreciate it a lot and I really dig your sharp art style too. Dominique is a cool ass OC, keep up the good shit! Grateful for your support!

This year, I tried to actually reach out and form new connections. In some cases for the better, in others maybe not so much. That's just the way it goes, eh? For what it's worth, I've formed some of the strongest friendships I've made in years thanks to that, so I'd say it was totally worth it. I might just try more of that in the new year. I've never been the most social person in the world, but I'm trying to improve.

FINAL THOUGHTS AND PLANS FOR 2024

Uhhh, none? I dunno, I don't have a solid plan going into next year. I don't think I'm ready to do anything serious with the Moon's Eye Saga stuff yet, but that can always change. Either way, I'd also like to say thanks for 180 fans! Wow! Never did I think I'd get this far on NG, but I've managed it! To think I might even reach 200 one day...

Until then, stay cool. I appreciate every single one of you, much love for your support! I have one more new comic for the year going up sometime tomorrow and then that'll be that. I hope you have a happy new year and may 2024 be a better year for us all, regardless of how good or bad your 2023 was.