Finally Drawing Mono 💙

finished the blaze drawing !!!!!!! im far out of my comfort zone with the colouring but its going really well i think :]

also WOW yall really liked the werehog drawing. thank uuuu

It's so, so distasteful how the only 2 canonically referred to female characters are there to provide and cater to a family/male partner; nothing more than a counterpart. The entire "I don't want to introduce major female sticks into my writing because I don't want to include romance within my characters" bit is misogynistic. Nothing more, nothing less, and I wished the fandom would say it how it is. I'm tired of people trying to march around eggshells and thorns with the wording. It's okay to criticize your favorite. You need to say it.

the problem with mitsi (or as i like to call it. mitsogyny)

(context: this was written under a youtube video, which i'm sure most of us have at least seen pop up in our recommendeds, in response to many people taking criticism against the new episode. it has been edited a little to be more cohesive as a somewhat-essay)

ok, i wanted to write out a rant/essay/ramble/whatever sort of summarising the criticism against mitsi's plotline because a lot of the people here seem to be misunderstanding the fundamental issue that people have with it, including some of those people themselves.

first off, an analysis that i think tell both sides of the argument very well which i feel should be read before reading the essay: Mitsi: What Makes A Fridged Character (and why y'all are wrong about it) | an AvA essay by InksandPensblog. i will note: i don't care to discuss whether mitsi was fridged or not and that won't be of much importance in this post. the above link gives some insight into some of the fandom's criticism of mitsi and how she was "fridged", defining common tropes for examples. that's what's relevant to this post.

the main issue with mitsi, in my opinion, is less with the fact that mitsi's a girl and moreso the fact that she's one of the only female-coded character in the series, and that her character's main purpose was to further victim's own development. the other arguably female-coded character in the series is pink, who (like navy) only really exists to explain purple's motivations. i don't have much of an issue with that since they're not meant to be important or sympathised with at all. that's not their job in the story.

with mitsi, i've seen people point out that she has more character to her than just victim's love interest and supporter: she invents rocketcorp, she's smart, she's kind, innocent and helpful. narratively speaking, she shows other creations' relationships with their animators, parallels her innocence with victim's trauma, and introduces victim to the outernet (as most fans call the stick realm).

but most of this things imo are either stretches or invalid arguments. she's not really a 2/3-dimensional character in any way; her main character traits boil down to the fact that she likes to be in service of others with no nuance behind why she likes helping people. she hypes up victim for the villagers, she starts a company with him to share his talents with the world, and she helps him overcome his trauma from alan's torture. all of her main plot beats center around victim: and while technically the sticks are genderless and free to be interpreted however the viewer wants, alan and most of his team see all the main characters as male, and that subconciously affects how they're written. mitsi, the first major female-coded character, spends most of her storyline in service of victim, a character not written as female.

there's also the issue of her being victim's canonical love interest. i feel like this statement from alan is important to keep in mind (don't mind the sound effects and edits, this is the only isolated clip i can find at the moment). in particular:

"i just assume that [the ava/m characters] are just a bunch of bros]. i haven't thought of adding any female stick figures but i think it'd be good. i don't want to introduce any romance though, i don't want that to be a theme."

he seems to have changed his mind on that last part, which is fine, but the notable part for me is that he seems to associate female characters with romance from the getgo. before anyone misinterprets this, i'm not trying to call alan sexist or anything. but there's a common issue with women in stories being reduced to just a romantic partner for the male lead, and mitsi falls under this, with her entire character existing to serve victim. (not to mention people will make things about romance whether you like it or not. that's just basic fandom. search up grapeduo or chodark.) even her death is to put victim on the path of vengeance--- it doesn't need to happen to show the extent of tco and tdl's destruction, because that's already made pretty clear in ava s2 the flashback and the earlier scenes showing various characters escaping burning buildings. when you write a female-coded character whose only purpose is to serve a male character, you're contributing to sexist narratives.

a counter i see many people point out with the idea that she has no character is that she does have character traits, it's just that they're generic ones like "kind" and "innocent". the issue is that she has no flaws to counterpoint this; it's not that she didn't have enough screentime. in ava4 for example, we see tsc's flaws pretty clearly; they can be very mean when they want to, they're petty (albeit for a fair reason), they're a little impulsive. this is shown in 11 minutes (from the moment they come alive to the end of the video).

with mitsi meanwhile… she doesn't seem to have any flaws? she helps victim whenever she can. she's nice to all the villagers. her customers all like her and she's a great leader at rocket corp (to note, specifically as part of a pair with victim. they're a power couple, she's barely given credit for her work alone). she has 13 minutes of screentime, or 10 if you count from her waking up in the outernet. there's plenty of opportunities to show her having flaws; maybe she acts a little selfish during tdl and tco's attack, only wanting to help herself and agent smith, or maybe she overworks herself, or feels awkward at having too much attention (and that could also be why she redirects so much attention to victim, she's shy). you could argue that the episode needs to develop victim and agent smith too, but ava4 shows that's easy to do too: just a few seconds dedicated to showing rgyb fighting over who leaves first shows that they can be selfish and childish. it's very easy to insert a moment like that for mitsi.

it's a little disappointing when the first major female-coded character in ava is completely flawless, with no personality outside of being nice and helpful for others.

also, slightly unrelated, check out this quote from mitsi's plushie website: "her white featureless face seems to ooze mystery and feminine power all at the same time." her main character trait, as a woman, is being feminine. it's irritating as someone who's been raised a woman to see her reduced to just her gender. she feels more plastic than a person, like the concept of what a woman should be (perfect, kind, useful) and not an actual character/person.

i would expect more from the writing in the series seeing as it's not just an independent passion project anymore, and has multiple writers that all could've worked to flesh out mitsi, or at least get a sensitivity reader of sorts to point these issues out. it's extremely disappointing and i can understand why people were upset.

tldr: the problem isn't just that mitsi's a girl, or that she's nice or dating victim, it's that she's written in a misogynistic way.

hi shadow

I always found it a bit interesting to view Orchid and Navy through sexist pair of lenses within their writing because you wouldn't be wrong for thinking that. Looking at the couple's design, it's just blatantly allegorized as such; It's rather encouraged throughout their ingrained positioned roles. It's a different perspective to partake for sure. In a general observation, the best part is that it appears just as explicit as it is consistent in the two.

But if you're asking me on a deeper, personal level, I like to explore the nuances within that frame of enlightenment. The out of bounds of that construct is so incredibly fascinating to me. I enjoy my share of speculations, after all.

As a couple, the two are ever hardly mentioned or brought up. As someone who developed such an attachment, you can imagine my shock in the newsletters’ one truth, two lies.

And then you consider what their cameo was in the episode itself. The complications are the timeline.

When escaping the frame, Purple seems as though he's a fully grown stick, and his first reaction is to reach out for his dad. If you were to consider his bout of chasing and longing, the reaction seems a bit underwhelming from my takeaway when acknowledging just the severity of his state, which is why I personally don't agree with Navy's state in abandonment in the period just yet.

As valid is this concern is, what bugs me the most is the thumbnail.

The thumbnail of the file has the trio in the frame. It's a bit ironic considering how.. catering and loving the family is when we only ever familiarized them as not the best via Purple's presentation. Oddly enough, Purple appears roughly young in the frame. Somewhat between the height of his first presented sparring and the second.

The first bargaining versus the second bargaining has a drastic and visible difference in a general observation. It's quite a gap with Navy's eagerness and roughness alongside Orchid's lack of accompany. This can suggest the frame in which their written canon got altered from the attack in an attempt to make sense with the sudden disruption.

When thematically, the two’s writing are still ongoing, not properly constructed. Perhaps they didn't have the time to be. Perhaps because they can't be. And that causes many, many issues. (being in which we know of)

To consider the 5 second scene as an “origin” seems so utterly.. lazy and jagged when you're viewing it from a writer's standpoint. Things start to drastically change when you portray the bit as a potential kickstarter to what we are presented later on, and everything just seems to click.

The file withering away without the security of their rightful positioned page on Newgrounds. Without their predicament in coding, it completely discards alongside speculated hundreds (if not thousands) of others.

While not directly stated, the implications of Dark and Chosen's rampage conquencing and ingrained not only in their victims’ traumatic nightmares and loss of loved ones, but instantaneously in disconnection with their coded writing and platforming—makes an incredible poetic combination.

StickWave on X

The severity of the two's actions and how Chosen's intricate reluctance (but bystanding) will be contributed in the long run, as Alan stated his plans on exploring the emotional depths and development of his character. (As hilariously traitorous and belittling it sounds when Chosen is already quite in-depth. He already has much exploration, careful thought, naunce, and a lot going for him as a stand-alone character in his established arc.)

But I'm getting ahead of myself for the PowerPoint.

Without the uploader's ability of continuation in their chain of chronology and writing in a digestible format (as it contradicts the already decaying code from the displaced file), it practically leaves this family stranded. How the two will continue on with their nurture and catering from here is plausible to one's eye.

I find Purple as a character very useful when understanding Navy and Orchid as individuals, as their styles are very well coreherent within him. As anonymous as they are, they appear familiar when keeping Purple's responses in mind.

Navy's design is a simple dark blue color. Commonly associated with masculinity. Displayed in authority, strength, solitude, power, responsibility, care, and common sense. His programmed positioning well highlights and compliments that standard. His role stems as a husband and as a mentor for their child, giving strict tutorings.

Orchid’s design is a light pink color. Commonly associated with femininity. Displayed in carefulness, dignity, delicacy, kindness, tenderness, and usefulness. So shocking when her programmed positioning consists of that standard. Her role stems as a wife, a mother, and a comforting and supporting role.

Their creator redirects these socially constructed (and vaguely misogynistic) choices into their original characters. It's gender essentialism. It's an extremely patriarchal thought to have. This is what happens when writers don't want to look too deeply into their own biases and replicate them into a fictional construct thats still based on the society that generally formed those said biases.

It only ever feels encouraged with Alan's own odd choices and remarks toward the topic of diversity in a female cast. But then again, I digress.

The two play as role models. The two are parents, after all, as much as they are lovers. Or supposed to be. It's a general faux relationship.

And then you have Purple—whose role is simple in itself; a child of the two. Children who are nurtured, raised with careful precision, and molded on whatever methods they are conditioned to. It reflects on them.

What stood out to me the most was how Navy's adamants in strict authority, which was not only directed to Purple but to Orchid as well. So it only ever appears as strange when he does the same with her.

This only ever came off as an odd question to me of course. Navy's methods were not only coherent within Purple but began to rub off on Orchid as well. Orchid isn't even a subject for sparring, unlike Purple, yet she's treated with the same field of intellect. Not offering a hand, not offering help. His methods appear as a "You help yourself or no one will." Directed for everyone in general, not just Purple. In Navy, it's all for oneself and their ability in defense. Combat is quite a normalized bat of action in-universe regardless, and he still offers a gesture. He's just as alarmed, of course. That's his family.

It's such a huge gap for someone who we saw as so, so loving and catering. Someone who was made to be so loving and catering.

And you wonder where Purple's nasty tendency of running away from his responsibilities stems from. And you wonder where his longing for validation stems from. And you wonder where his difficulty of forming and maintaining relationships stems from. And you wonder where his warped perception of belonging stems from. How he ends up defying (most of) these very traits and facing them head-on. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

As someone who is characterized and coherent within Purple via harsh training and micromanagement, he's cold. Navy wanted only the best. He wanted to raise someone who was special, someone who knew what they were capable of, someone who knew how to fend; to fight. Someone who was good. It's what he was made to do. From an interrogated perspective, these ideals can be a very parallel to what Navy forces within himself. To be held high, to feel validated, to feel worth. A beg that he's living up to phantom strings of a no longer existing story, something that doesn't hold strength in necessity anymore, but a necessity of confirmation.

And if Purple isn't cut out for those expectations? It's like a betrayal to life itself. But what is the purpose to life itself when the purpose withered away long ago? And if there was supposed to be something more, he wouldn't know.

He's trapped in a fading prison that is not essentially out of his making but is left with his responsibility to escape. But how can you retrieve the digits when you have no conscience of the fact that it was rotting with your own independence to begin with? How can you care, when all you can think about is the emotional hurt that brings out the worst of you, the part that your lingering hubris and negligence doesn't want to fathom is the worst of you?

In his worst, he stays clinging to the structure because it's beneficial for him. In his best, it's the only thing he can comprehend. And he sticks to it.

It's an endless cycle of dysfunctionality, a constant feedback loop. Though not by his own hands, but kickstarted by his utter ignorance to process his emotions that he deems unfitting for a role as his. A sublevel degree of dependency of an origin that no longer exists, and his inability to move on. Someone who metaphorically runs from his consequences, fear of accountability, but someone who is willing to subject those steps away if it contributes something for the only other obliged and existing role he has. He's a husband as well, after all.

And Orchid.. doesn't look back once. Not even a glance. Something that bugged me from the get-go was Orchid's flinching/covering herself when confronted by Navy. If you're in a safe, healthy relationship, you shouldn't feel the slightest bit of obligation to defend yourself. Because you trust your partner. This implies that Navy had either

1] Laid his hands on her before (which I highly doubt)

2] Grew anxious from watching his sparrings with Purple

And if 2 is the case, it comes off as intricate. You would ask why she wouldn't just leave him? If the viewing of sessions made her so wary to the extent of self-defense, why would she submit her child to go through that?

You could assume there was denial and codependency playing out and you wouldn't be wrong for thinking that. You would think that her ability on leaving that relationship would be so difficult within herself that she would chase when Navy redirects that choice.

But she proves you wrong. She doesn't beg, she doesn't interfere, she doesn't digress, and she doesn't look back once. From what we were shown during that time frame, it just didn't make any sense.

If you were to separate Orchid from her role and ask of her within her identity, you would get plainly nothing. She's a mother, a wife, and what else? She is empty behind them.

She doesn't attach herself to Navy and Purple. If anything, she isolates and disappears away from the scene. It's only ever evident in her discomfort with Navy and how he acts out in his conflict. How he treats their child. Stomping her away. As loving and empathetic she is for Purple, she doesn't interfere unless she's positive that it's a necessity, thus her flaw.

And you wonder where Purple's adamants of independency and self-soothing stems from. Once again, I'm getting ahead of myself.

Motherhood in Orchid is equivocal. It's both the desire and loss of identity. But what identity is there to be loss if there's plainly nothing if not her role? Nothing in store for her? In her writing? You really can't be alienated either way.

In her assumed relief, it's all of that. She's dazed. She's paralyzed, up until her legs begin to give up from under her, and she needs Purple's help to stay upright.

Using Alan's interpretation of death within animations, their code is disconnected, but still very there. It's the inability to be altered by one in the real world, so it's left as unadulterated (unless with the acceptable scenario of Second) as death in-universe doesn't abide by human biology. But what code is there to detach when they detached long ago?

...or rather, the last strands of code taking those steps in separation. In whom by definition, was Orchid's last strand of function.

In their discarding canon, it's the loss of functionality in both the pursuit of it and in the defiance of it.

It's the self extertion to the point it is actively damaging to not only yourself, but everyone around you versus the other whom is so out of touch that it causes unintentional hurt to the self and those around you. (In which both parties can't be communicated properly.)

Or as I love to put it in trope, the burning hatred of the figure you were made to love versus the boundless affection of how at the end of the day, you were still made to love them.

alright

a lil yuri chodark doodle before i sleep

the romantic tension between the blood related parent and the found parent is so fucking crazy gotta be one of my favorite ship dynamics

lemon ><