^ I don't understand the point you're making. Yes, there's a difference between someone's gender identity/expression/whatever and their biological sex, and the person who messed with their paperwork is very stupid for not comprehending that, but... Well, what are you saying? Because I think we may actually agree, in which case I have just argued with myself like an idiot.

Also, @Bloo: This thing seems to get bigger every time you post an update. I'm curious to see where it goes next. The idea of xenos being made of light is an interesting take, to say the least.

Very relatable Bloo. All in all eagerly awaiting December.

"the person who messed with their paperwork is very stupid for not comprehending that"

That's what I understand from that post. It's not that different gender identities are stupid - it's just that, a medical form asking for your biological sex is not an invasion of privacy the same way a random person asking "BUT WHAT'S YOUR REAL NAME?????!" is.

ANYWAY.............

@SR: Thanks, dude. And I haven't forgotten about talking about your own project tomorrow.

@DL: Yeah, sorry that I lumped all the normal Drones/Warriors together into the same design. I'm gonna try to make variants for you guys, so that you're all slightly unique.

@DD: Yeah, it's weird how I even came to that. I guess it all started with Fire Hunter's character, 'cause I had to explain his regeneration + reincarnation ability somehow.

Don't worry, normal Xenos don't share those abilities. They're the same as they've always been.

What I'm saying is that genders should not be applied to people, only to their bodies. If there is to be gender equality, then non-binary genders are completely useless socially, unless they identify people with no genitals or with both; and linguistically they're a complete clusterfuck. I think there should be less need for people to identify with genders, not a need to add a cubic shit ton of them so people can complain about things you can't know in a language that doesn't exist. It's already hard to learn languages that assign binary genders to objects, how the hell is anyone going to communicate in a language that has a different gender for each person?

Look, I know there's a lot of non-binary identities and it seems fucking ridiculous. I agree that it sounds ridiculous, especially when the most vocal non-binary people seem to list their genders as "fuck off*," but here's the thing: a majority of these people aren't doing it to "stick it to the man," nor are they becoming non-binary because it's a cool trend. It's like being gay. They can't help it. Yes, gay people do identify with the their biological sex, but that's not the point - the point is that they can't help being gay anymore than a non-binary can help not being male or female.

It's weird because we don't grow up being taught that stuff, even though they've existed for a really long time.

I don't understand it anymore than you do because I'm a heterosexual cisgendered male. There's no way I would know what it's like to not identify with being either male or female, or feeling like a woman while I have the body of a man. No one can adequately explain it to us.

If they could just identify with being the gender they were born as, I'm sure they'd do it just so they wouldn't have to deal with all the bullshit they get. It doesn't work like that, no matter how convenient it would be. It's just the way they are. "Why can't gay people just be straight?" "Why don't poor people just buy more money?" "Why don't dead people just become alive again?"

*And honestly, I can understand why they list their gender as "fuck off," or some other seemingly pretentious/annoying thing. You're a guy - imagine everyone calling you a girl, or an it, or anything that isn't the gender you are, even after having told them millions upon millions of times. After 5, 10, 20+ years, you just get fed up with it. "What's your gender? No, your REAL gender? I bet you're just doing it for attention!!!!!" 'Fuck off' indeed.

As for the language thing - it's not like we don't make up names all the time. I can name every Pokemon type. Pokemon types aren't made up words, sure, but there's a lot of them. There are more Pokemon types than genders (or they're pretty goddamn close in numbers). If people can remember Pokemon types, they can sure as hell remember genders. Besides, it's not like words haven't been made up before. (There are 50+ Legendary Pokemon alone. Some people can instantly tell what a Pokemon's name is when they see it, despite there being 700+ normal Pokemon, and I can guarantee that at least half of those names are made up.)

By the way, I don't speak any European languages, but I do know that some of them gender specific objects. Why is that? (This one isn't exactly part of the sex argument, I'm just asking since it was brought up. I've just never known why.)

---

I really don't feel like I'm going to convince you, though. I don't blame you. I'm not exactly an authority on gender studies and I've been wrong before. I just know that people can't help feeling what they feel. They just do. They're in the minority, but that doesn't mean they don't exist and that they don't deserve to be acknowledged. The only reason it would be hard to learn these things in any language is because we've refused to acknowledge them for so long.

Admittedly, he only reason I feel so strongly about this is because I've met real trans people and real non-binary people. Before, I was extremely queerphobic (dunno if that's a word, but I guess you know what I mean). They're not doing it for attention. They're just like you and me - they're real.

They're real, and yet no one acknowledges them. Pokemon, on the other hand...

OK, just to prevent this thread from being hijacked, let's move this particular discussion to the OT Thread, if you guys don't mind.

You guys are having one of the most stupid and pointless conversations ever. Even if you did come to an agreement it wouldn't matter.

Cut that shit out.

YES, ASK ME ABOUT THE THREAD TOPIC.

I'm gonna elaborate on Fire Hunter's (legit) reason for having regeneration. Someone ask me, "Why the fuck does Fire Hunter have regeneration? Isn't that, like, stupid?"

Edit: Here's a thing - since the member characters are (obviously) gonna reenact some of the bigger fights from our RPGs, there's eventually gonna matchups like this:

Peterson VS Fire Hunter
The Doctor VS Dave
Deathdrop VS Fire Hunter
(what the hell else happened)

It's gonna be a long time before you get to see it in action, but... it's gonna happen, so, like, that's cool.

I've just finished reading this entire thread (well just Bloo's posts) and I am so looking forward to it's completion. Take all the time you need Bloo there is no need to rush your vision. With all the hard work you've already put in to it there is no doubt in my mind that it wont be anything less than brilliant.

That actually means a lot man, thank you. Also holy SHIT not even I would read this entire thread. I forgot what I even talked about in the first 20 pages. It was probably just comments about "THIS IS NOT ANIME" and "shit. this is anime" and also "look at my girls. I love them"

I do. I love them. They're all me, sort of. It's weird.

I promise I'm gonna put just as much development in your guys' characters as I have my own. I've already thought a lot about Xeuss' place in this world, as well as the dynamic between Peterson and TDN, uh... there's also DD and his shit with FH, and there's Doc and Pv2's relationship, as well as CH being pretty important to a certain plot point, and uh... oh yeah, P is really, really important.

Yeah there's a lot, I hope you all like what's gonna happen to your characters. I'm trying to emulate and/or at least allude to the RPGs in some ways.

Edit: OK, DW, what do you think of this: Everyone think Xeuss is one of those Arcturans that was mentioned in Aliens. But, he's not, obviously.

I admit I haven't looked into the Arcturans at all and how prominently they've been shown in the Alien universe, but if it checks out, I figured it was one way to have his unnatural appearance not be questioned by other people in-story.

The only thing I know about the Arcs is that they look "androgynous." My Xeuss design is really masculine (I haven't changed it at all from what I showed you a few pages back), but I figured it's not that big a deal.

CH x Verango pls kthnx

ALSO ITS BEEN LIKE HALF A YEAR SINCE BACKGROUND PICS

SHH

WHEN THEY COME, SO WILL YOU

Oh yeah, speaking of CH x Vera, each of the main characters is supposed to have a "connection" with one of the Seven Headed Dragon elders. It's not like, "A boy and his dog," just, there's gonna be something.

Edit: IT'S NOT LIKE ALEXA x SCAR, EITHER. DON'T WORRY.

SHUT UP, TEHIR LUV WAS REEL.

Wait, shit, I think it WAS real. That fucking horndog risked his life for that earth booty.

Scar is now my favorite Predator. AVP should be canon for this.

GOOD/BAD NEWS

BAD: My copy of PS CS5 has been acting up and crashing for the past 2 weeks. There's no way I'm going back to my iPad and I don't want to waste all my paper, so I haven't been drawing. I'll just move onto CS6 if I can't fix it this week - 3 weeks is too much.

GOOD: This didn't stop me from writing, so I at least kept that up. I also edited the OP to include a few examples of animation that's inspired my style.

Just so you know what I'm trying to emulate:













That's what I want it to feel like, anyway. I'm only talking about this now because I realized I was never really clear about what I meant by "high quality anime."

I wanna achieve a combination of all these styles and I think I'm on the right track (because of the positive feedback, so I can't thank you guys enough). I'm not going to stop trying until my hands don't work.

But, uh, don't expect me to animate anything.

Edit: Jesus, I don't know how to not sound pretentious when I say "high quality anime."

Good luck.

I still don't know how you read every page, but thanks, it means a lot.

Oh yeah, I'm gonna start completely revamping Art Crap, can a staff member unlock it for me?

Fucking Raito and his woman-with-great-ass murdering schemes. He could have at least made her film a JAV before she died. SHE HAD A GREAT ASS, MAN! A GREAT ASS!

Anyway yeah, I have absolutely full confidence in your drawing ability, you've never given us any reason to doubt it. I'm sure you'll get the atmosphere right every time.

The best female character in the whole show and she died right before shit got REALLY crazy - that was disappointing. But that moment was intense as hell, and probably one of my favorite scenes ever.

And yeah, that's what I'm talking about - my earliest human drawings were shit, but I moved on and got better because of encouragement like that. And now I like the way my humans look, so again, I really can't thank you guys enough for doing that for me.

I've said it before and I'll say it again! I love being a turtle... wait, no, well yes, but that's not what I meant to say! What I meant to say is, I really like your humans Bloo, they've got this certain something about them, I cant place it exactly but it is there and it is great. I am kinda sorta half-ass familiar with some anime, but out of everything I've ever seen from that type of art/animation, yours is my favorite.

Keep up the good work Bloo!