I suppose it has been awhile since the last real update. First of all, the general forum has died. As someone who was a regular for about a year or two, I honestly can't say I'm that sad to see it go. I met some fun people on there for sure, but as I talked about in my 2023 update, I just wasn't really vibing with the community anymore. Even after trying to give it another go around the beginning of this year, I still wasn't really feeling it like I used to. Something definitely changed.

Hell, just before it shut down, I was considering just not posting on there anymore and fading away to focus on my content/OCs. I'm thankful for the opportunities it gave me, though. Interacting with the community like that made me brave enough to post said content to my account, despite my lack of skills, resources, and general knowledge. I feel it's thanks to those interactions and collaborating with the users there that I've gotten 145 fans so far. Fact that I've got so many feels kinda criminal considering so many better artists struggle to get even a fraction of that, but I'm grateful for it. In spite of my dying interest in it, I'm ultimately glad for my experiences there.

Guess the decision to not post on there anymore was made for me, eh? I feel this was inevitable, as I think that Tom's probably been wanting to shut down the forums for awhile. Just a total waste of resources, bandwidth, and manpower that's better served elsewhere. Also, between you and me, I think he was kinda embarrassed of the little community that formed around it, which I can't really blame him for.

Is that it? Well, this sorta leads into the more important update. With the general forum dead and buried, you might see this account go under a bit of a rebrand at some point. I'm not sure what direction I want this rebrand to go in yet, but I feel a bit restricted by my current identity. I don't think I'll do anything as drastic as a rename, but maybe lighten up on the Metal Sonic theming at least. Don't get me wrong, I love the guy, but I don't want people to think that's all I'm about, y'know?

See, now I'm all about my OCs (mostly two of them). Speaking of which, what's next for them? I dunno, I don't really have like a huge plan or anything right now. I just make things as they come to mind. Nothing's really been grabbing me, making me think, "OH DAMN WHAT AN IDEA I MUST DRAW THAT NOOOOOOW."

The other day I noticed I surpassed last year's submissions count in just a fraction of the time, so I've been pretty active lately. Right now, I'm just chillin'. It's been nice taking a bit of a break, but more content is sure to come.

I love these characters a lot, more than I can really do them justice. Seeing people respond positively to them despite that has been so validating. Sincerely, I'd like to thank everyone for the support. I've even had some friends draw them entirely unprompted, which means a lot to me. I save every bit of art they get too.

All in all, that's the current update. At least as far as NG goes. If you're at all curious about how things are going for me outside of here, I'll just say that things are pretty good right now.

I feel like I say this every time I dump a metric ton of thoughts into one news post, but nobody's gonna read all of this lmao. Thanks if you do, though. Hope your day is going well.

One of the coolest parts of having a figure of your OC is being able to pose them with your other toys.

You read that title right, marketable Ninjiro merchandise is REAL. Kinda. It's a custom. I've been working on this project for the past two weeks. Well, it's more like I've been waiting for the final pieces to come into the mail after finishing the rest last week. Now it's finally complete! It's not perfect, admittedly. I painted the area around the eyes with a Gundam marker and a toothpick since I don't know how to actually paint. It's a bit iffy as a result. I'm sure if I used proper thinned acrylics it would have been easier and better looking, but I'm stupid :)

I didn't care to sculpt anything either, so he doesn't have the "cat ears" as I like to call them. As a result of not wanting to sculpt, I also had to get a cloth tunic off of eBay. Shockingly, not many options so that meant I had to go with a color that's darker than the rest of the costume when it really should be lighter. The facemask is the same color as the rest of the uniform too. Obviously, it could be more accurate, but it's close enough for me. I'm just so happy to have a figure of my OC!

Of course, it felt a little lonely to only have him so I got this Fortnite (yeah yeah make your jokes) figure to stand-in for Jenny right now. Maybe one day I'll put in the work to make it look more like her. Learn to paint so I can make the hair pink and take that print off of her shirt since I don't think it's really Jen's style. Would probably be a good idea to swap the legs since I don't think Jen would carry grenades (I dunno maybe she would). I'd like to get a beanie too, but those surprisingly aren't easy to come by in 1/12 scale. At least for a price I'd want to pay.

I've got more pics, but NG only lets you upload ten per post, so I'll post them in a second news post later on.

My followers cry out in agony. "No more," they beg. I hear their pleas, but I do not care.

That's right, here's MORE Ninjiro content! I wasn't sure if I was gonna write a follow-up to the last story, but I had so much fun writing it that I couldn't help but make at least one more. This one delves a bit further in Jen and Ninji's bond. While that's what was most important to me, I also enjoyed writing Liquidizer more than I thought I would. You can read this new content in the link below:

https://pastebin.com/8TJZFF32

Yeah, it's another pastebin link. There's nowhere else for this stuff to go I'm afraid.

For those of you here for my art, I'd love to work on more, but I'm actually trying to figure out how the hell Gimp works since I think it's time I moved on from PhotoFiltre 7. Once I get that sorted, then more should be on the way. Or maybe I'll just give up on trying to adapt to Gimp's UI. Either way, thanks for sticking with me.

I've had this sitting in my files for awhile and I've been meaning to post it somewhere. NG's lack of writing portal left me without many options, so I'm finally just dumping it in a Pastebin. Feel like it's important to at least establish how the current Ninjiro status quo got to where it is and I'll be damned if I'm gonna draw all this. At this skill level I could never.

So, how does a ninja eventually end up living with a punk chick like Jen? In a very contrived way, which you can read about here:

https://pastebin.com/LEbQ8Kw8

I've always considered myself to be something of a writer more than a visual artist, but maybe you disagree! Let me know what you think if you actually choose to read this.

I posted Ninji and Jenny in the art forum's OC Plaza and @PerKGrok drew them both!

A great take on their designs, really get a comic book-y sort of vibe from them. Check out his account for more cool content like this.

Check it out, I commissioned @YonusBahtzee to draw this and it is glorious.

Give the rest of his account a peek while you're there and maybe drop a follow too. He's a great artist and a cool guy.

you need to be prepared for any situation

@Rim was taking requests on the NG BBS to write theme songs for people's OCs and Ninjiro was fortunate enough to get one. Be sure to check it out here, it's great!

If it's not obvious enough from my recent art posts, I've been thinking a lot about my OCs. These are characters I've always vaguely visualized, but finally having them materialized is nice. Although, one most wonder if "OC" is the right term. After all, what's original and unoriginal?

It's obvious I pull a lot of inspiration for my characters and I don't really try to hide it either. But when does inspiration end and outright theft begin? What really got me thinking about this was seeing these two images paired together.

And, I mean, c'mon, right? Hard not to think about it.

Really, Dr. Buzzsucker is one I'll admit was quite blatantly influenced by Baxter Stockman (and Doctor Octopus while we're at it). Though, if you want to go further back, '87 Baxter Stockman himself is quite similar to The Fly from 1958.

Lunaeus is a character I realized the similarities to instantly, but they were more unintentional. Derived more from their overlapping roles as leaders of malevolent ninja clans and leaning more on the samurai side when it comes to designs. As I caught the similarities, I did try to avoid make their designs TOO similar. Whether I succeeded or not, I dunno.

TMNT itself is a franchise that REALLY leaned into its inspirations, starting as a parody comic and all. It was a Frank Miller Daredevil comic mixed with the X-Men. The Hand = The Foot, Stick = Splinter, Cyclops = Leonardo, Wolverine = Raphael, mutant = mutant...I could go on.

Shredder you could argue is inspired by Darth Vader, especially in the '87 cartoon and '90s movie, and Vader was inspired by Doctor Doom. Doctor Doom was inspired by the visage of Death as a cold and inexpressive cloaked figure.

Am I saying all of this to justify myself? No, not really. Am I saying it to deride myself for being an unoriginal HACK? Again, not really. I'm more just thinking out loud about the cyclical nature of media, about where the lines are drawn when it comes to creating a character that takes inspiration, whether you meant to do it or your brain did it subliminally. It's interesting to think about.

Now reread all of that and take a drink whenever I say inspired or inspiration. Bet you're now in the hospital getting treated for kidney failure, aren't ya?

All the same, I've been having quite a lot of fun. Although, I'm a bit worried about audience retention. Not sure if the flood of original characters rather than fan art is causing things to dip, or if said lack of audience is more from me not being in the proper art portal...or just disappearing for a couple months. Maybe it's because I'm posting too much at once! Or nobody's interested, that's also likely. So many possibilities!

Still, even if nobody EVER gives a shit about these characters...well, it'd break my heart a little admittedly, but I'd carry on despite that. I really do love them, some admittedly more than others (Ninjiro and Jennifer my beloved idiots).

One day, I might even do something for them. Nothing animated (you look at my BBS Shitpost Collab submissions and tell me I could) and not a game, but maybe some comic pages spread out here or there. Show some fun interactions and maybe develop some of that sweet sweet lore only I know about right now.

Uhhhh, yeah, I guess that's it. I don't know why I wrote this. I don't know why I'm posting it. Nobody's gonna read it anyway. Guess I just had these thoughts and I needed to get them out before they make my head explode. If you actually made it this far without your kidney exploding or quitting because you can't stand this insane rambling, thanks.