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.

The year is now 2023. Where was I during 2022? Not that I've been entirely absent, but I have been much less active these past few months. Last year was a big year for me, filled with many BIG changes in my actual life. I don't care to get into what that entails, but Newgrounds sorta fell to the wayside due to that. Not that I didn't have the time for it, it's more that I just didn't have the motivation.

My activity on the BBS definitely took a hit, I'm not sure if it's because I lost interest or the forum itself has become less interesting. Again, not wholly MIA, just quieter than I was in 2021. I do want to be more active in the community again, though. I even joined a couple NG Discords last year... then left after a period of inactivity because it's hard to keep up with an active chat and I'm more shy when in a chat like that. Maybe I should give it another go and rejoin those servers.

Let's be honest here, though. 2022 was far from a bad year for my presence on NG. I'd say it was rather good overall, even. I did get user of the day, after all! The first half was actually better than 2021, it's only the second half where I fell off the face of the site.

2022 is also when I noticed how much of a following I've gained, one which I am still thankful for. If you told the me of 12 years ago I would eventually reach 128 fans and counting on THE Newgrounds dot com, I wouldn't believe you. It's still so crazy to think about.

I've said it before, but I'm not an artist. I'm not trained classically, I'm not trained contemporaneously (sucka!), I'm just a dumbass with a free photo editing program and a mouse. That being said, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't happy with what I put out in 2022. I didn't draw as much as 2021, but I'd say the "quality" of what I posted was higher. So many pieces I'm actually proud of for coming out exactly how I pictured them in my head.

Perhaps my greatest achievement art-wise was FINALLY putting some of the OCs I've had in my head for years out there in the world. Long have I wanted to, but I was too afraid. Afraid nobody would care or that my doodles just weren't good enough. Newgrounds and its community is what gave me that motivation to finally do it. More than anything else, for 2023 I really want to post more of the little cast of characters I've been developing. In fact, keep an eye out for a piece of art that'll be going up shortly after I post this.

All in all, I'm definitely not going anywhere. Even when I'm less active in the community or my postings slow down, I am always browsing Newgrounds. I love this place so much. So, here's to many more years spent here!

peak derangement