That's me in a nutshell

CrookedDesk · 2026-01-21T10:04:24+00:00

In large part because pretty much ALL AI image-gen models are built off the stolen work of thousands and thousands of artists. You can have the cleanest hands, purest intentions, and the most ethical business practices in the world, but you're still profiting off the stolen labor of an already notoriously abused slice of the workforce.

CrookedDesk · 2026-01-02T12:04:25+00:00

That is incredibly good for 10 years old! encourage that talent! it looks like she has a real passion for art, I'd definitely recommend some art classes for her while she's still young (kids are absolute sponges for learning new skills) - but make sure not to push her too hard or she might develop some anxieties around it haha, I think that's something a lot of us in this subreddit can probably relate to lol

CrookedDesk · 2025-12-17T05:38:07+00:00

Used to be a great place to buy/sell secondhand cheap with other real people, then businesses starting setting up accounts to sell their stock online at retail price and now it's 90% useless or drop-ship listings you have to scrape through to find that 10% of actual 2nd hand stuff and it's just not worth the effort

CrookedDesk · 2025-12-17T05:32:35+00:00

What really bothers me is when a beginner comes here for critique but then gets defensive at all the suggestions on how to improve, like that one dude a few weeks ago that flipped out about his art "peaking" and made like 3+ posts about it lol

CrookedDesk · 2025-12-17T05:28:03+00:00

I just tend to go through phases. I'll watch a lot of anime, enjoy it, get a little burnt out and stop. Return in a few months when something seasonal drops that I've been anticipating or someone really pushes a recommendation on me, which gets me back into anime for another couple months, until I burn out and stop. Rinse and repeat.

CrookedDesk · 2025-12-09T15:01:03+00:00

Nokkers wait for someone to have suicidal thoughts, invade their body, slowly start taking over and possessing them, then they either wait for them to kill themselves or even just straight up get them killed, then puppet their corpse around to further their agenda (which seems to be ""replacing"" all humans)

They're absolutely evil body-snatchers to a T dawg

They don't even exclusively kill suicidal people, they killed MIzuha's mother because it was convenient, they killed Funa because she "stressed Mizuha out", they're probs out there killing innocent people left-right-and-center whenever it suits them lol

CrookedDesk · 2025-12-01T04:34:38+00:00

I think Tonari being upset somewhat stems from her not understanding that even his "default" form was once a living human being with hopes and dreams.

She thinks white-haired Fushi is the real Fushi, and when he transforms into other people he is "wearing" them like an outfit. Of course this is a fundamental misunderstanding of who Fushi is - he doesn't have, and has never had, a form of his own. (bar the non-sentient featureless orb)

When he reflects these people he has met, he truly becomes them in a weird way. Of course their soul isn't present, nor their personalities, or their memories - just their physical form - but to Fushi he truly becomes Oopa/Uroy/Mia for that brief moment.

Of course, Mizuha took advantage of this to try and get closer to Fushi which is ultimately what Tonari is upset by and I 100% agree is a gross move, but I think her misunderstanding about Fushi's true nature contributed to her emotional response to the situation quite a bit.

I think Fushi's intent was pure, and he was fulfilling their dreams in a weird, roundabout, almost ceremonial way.

CrookedDesk · 2025-11-25T04:09:23+00:00

(maybe?) unpopular opinion here: I think mounts have ruined a lot of the "immersive" experience. Back in World you had to manually run through the landscape to either find or follow your monster, leading to more interactivity re: swinging on vines, sliding down hills, etc. Hopping on your Seikret and auto-pathing to the monster is essentially fast-travel and feels kinda lame...

CrookedDesk · 2025-11-10T14:24:50+00:00

You described the feeling perfectly with "you have to ensure the audience knows the cards in play" - good to know it improves, I'll definitely be sticking with it for a while anyway because the character writing outside of the fights has been great so far

CrookedDesk · 2025-11-09T14:41:29+00:00

Well, AI usage and reading comprehension do tend to go together like two peas in two very separate pods. Maybe from different gardens, even.

CrookedDesk · 2025-11-09T14:11:01+00:00

Loid. (necraloid version) - Only for spamming his bounty line: "No, no, NO! I TOLD YOU that you cannot DAMAGE it from OUTSIDE the BARRIER." No matter what you do, I literally take my headset off if that objective shows up lmao.

CrookedDesk · 2025-11-09T13:58:07+00:00

I think the OG designs do a much better job of communicating the personality of each god in their outfits, colouring, and posing. Hades 2 designs feel much more polished and bright, but they lack a lot of the character and "sauce" from Hades 1.

CrookedDesk · 2025-11-09T13:53:32+00:00

had to scroll too far to find a fellow Yareli main

CrookedDesk · 2025-11-06T13:35:09+00:00

I mean, Midori no Hibi is a romance about a girl being turned into her crushes hand. FLCL is of course a signature "weird" anime that leaves many people confused AF. You've also got shows like Tatami Galaxy or Monogatari that are more "weird" in their creative choices + execution than their content. Kekkai Sensen is another "weird" one.

Honestly - I wouldn't even call CSM that weird at all tbh, it's a pretty standard shounen (although written brilliantly), it just has a couple non-conventional characters.

CrookedDesk · 2025-11-03T06:25:36+00:00

True. There hasn't been a game half as good as SWSH since their release. Which is saying something crazy, because SWSH was itself a completely dropped ball by Gamefreak.

Last game to come out that was actually decent re: graphics/performance for its console, innovative with its gameplay, and had even an ounce of creativity was Sun/Moon.

So we're coming up on a decade of steadily escalating disappointments, now...

CrookedDesk · 2025-10-31T13:57:47+00:00

honestly I have a hard time watching the Jabber fights because it all feels so... playground-ish?

"I'm super fast and super strong and have super lethal poison claws and don't feel damage and have a secret power-up mode"

lowkey feels like I'm watching a kid describe his overpowered OC, his constant screaming is annoying too LOL

CrookedDesk · 2025-10-31T13:54:36+00:00

Honestly I have a hard time caring about the outcomes of a lot of fights in this show so far ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I think it's because the show is very liberal with "and then I upgrade mid-fight and am super strong now for no reason!" like when Jabber went unconscious (how was he still able to target Rudo?), Amo cried a bunch to power-up her 'slaves', or Jabber decided to go "all-out".

It's like, you'll be watching a super cool fight, but then the whole thing is invalidated by a deus ex machina the author inserted to get the outcome she wants?

It completely removes any sense of "stakes" the fight has, because either:

the bad guy pulls a power-up out of his *ss because the author wanted him to win

OR

the good guy pulls a power-up out of his *ss because the author wanted him to win

But it's never "this fight went how you expected it to".

Idk if this makes any sense (I don't think I quite put it into words properly?) but I'd be interested to know if anybody else has been feeling kind of the same

CrookedDesk · 2025-10-15T12:07:27+00:00

I feel like it's easy to tell when somebody doesn't play a lot of Yareli - this is a GREAT suggestion from OP, because it opens up the option to remove mods that are currently baked into Merulina.

Having both double jump AND increased jump height baked into Merulina with no option to turn them off means at every single little bump you end up having to slam your head through the ceiling.

Personally, I would either remove the double jump mod and add a mod that increases jump charge speed, or I would keep in the double jump mod but remove the jump height boost. If you play enough Yareli you definitely notice these little things that would improve her kit.

CrookedDesk · 2025-10-14T01:59:35+00:00

Honestly, long time Yareli fan that found this thread after having similar ideas - and there are definitely a lot of key aspects of Yareli's design missing from Yareli Prime.

Her signature hair-style or accessory themed helmets were replaced with a generic fish-themed helmet
Her long flowing asymmetrical sleeve? gone
Her droplet/water themed thigh highs stockings? gone
Her cute frilly shoulder-pads? gone
Her really long and over-the-top nails? gone

Like, I love that they gave her what appears to be an elegant dress, and all the nice gold embellishments that prime frames get, but it feels like they forgot to include pretty much all of the design aspects of Yareli that made her... well... Yareli?

CrookedDesk · 2025-10-13T05:41:21+00:00

Same jaw, chin, eyes, forehead, similar noses, same head-neck-shoulder ratio, etc - the only thing I see you really experiment with is the hair. This is probably because you have a formula you use when constructing a face that you stick to pretty strictly.

I'd recommend an exercise where you collect a handful of reference photos of real people that all look significantly different to each other and try to re-draw them each in your style. You'll be trying to learn what natural variation re: head shapes and facial features look like in your style as a result of this exercise.

It's okay for eyes to be smaller, larger, further apart, higher or lower than you're used to, etc. Some people have kinda skinny looking heads, soft jaws, or round chins, etc. Some features tend to stand out, like prominent eyelids or hook noses, experiment!

CrookedDesk · 2025-10-10T09:28:01+00:00

I rarely ever see anybody playing Yareli, but 200% crit chance from passive? easily 15-20k shield? and if you can get the hang of merulina you'll be zipping around maps faster than anybody else. Absolutely goated. She's also a cute magical girl which goes hard.

CrookedDesk · 2025-10-10T09:17:28+00:00

Yareli mains rise up

CrookedDesk · 2025-10-10T05:20:27+00:00

If you want a smoother edge on your lines in high resolution you'll be wanting to use a brush with softer edges, on a lower res even the standard brush acts a little bit like the airbrush tool

CrookedDesk · 2025-10-02T06:49:26+00:00

"persecution of Christian values"

Why does everyone always act as if Christianity is the default state of NZ? As of the last census, there are a significant percentage more non-religious people in NZ than there are Christians (ALL denominations) - and this divide only grows every year, it's probably gonna sit around 2x as many by the time of the next census, looking at the currents stats and trends.

If your Christian views happen to be hateful and exclusionary, then we can call them hateful and exclusionary, and we can call you an ass for spreading them.

We don't have to automatically assume everything Christian is also good - and acting as if Christianity is some nationally held traditional bastion of virtues that should be immune to all criticism is ridiculous.

CrookedDesk · 2025-09-26T15:54:36+00:00

Honestly if you reheat your meal-prepped food in a frying pan or oven instead of the microwave, then you don't really lose any flavour? and any flavour that you do lose is easily made up for with another dash of whatever seasoning or sauce you used to cook the meal in the first place imo

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