Morak isn't big on Metroidvanias, but Prince of Persia is core to his identity as a man and as a father. Well, that may be too dramatic. Let's say that it is a kind of videogame he likes; that may be sufficient. He wants to play through a game and he doesn't necessarily want to replay parts of a game over and over, which is why most roguelites bounced off him until the pure, uncut fucking heroin of Vampire Surviors. I told him about it when it came out, but he couldn't see it. He sees it now. I like this genre, so I'll probably grab it today. Metroid Dread kicks ass too, if you like this kind of stuff. But Mike also sorta likes Prince of Persia. Like, Prince of Persia Prince of Persia. Y'know?

I managed to take a short break from sticker making to check out a couple demos that just hit the PS5. You can play the new Prince of Persia:The Lost Crown as well as Granblue fantasy:relink right now. I played a bit of both and came away excited for each of their full releases. 

For a while now, about fourteen years I think, Brenna's hip sometimes decides that it is completely done being a hip and it's time for something else to happen. It doesn't want to get pigeonholed as a rigid structure that connects the torso to the legs. It can be so much more. Where does it end up, you might wonder? It never decides. It's an eternal student situation. But in the meantime what it means is that she essentially can't do any stuff. I haven't really done any research but I came away from all of that thinking "Wow. Hips are a big deal."

Star Wars has run up its tab. That's how I feel about it now: it has to pay me for all the time I spent giving them a chance over and over the last few years. Is that gonna be "The Mandalorian & Grogu"? Even the name sounds weird.

Stickerfication is a process whereby a person - maybe Gabriel - gets hooked on stickers and then starts making stickers all the fucking time. You'll note that on his Instagram this hellward descent has been captured at the highest resomolutions possible. I knew that things had gone amiss at the molecular level when he started putting stickers on the thing he uses to make stickers.

In the way that a tree produces oxygen, I now produce stickers thanks to some built in chemical reaction. Growing up, my Mom was always very into crafts. I have very fond memories of making reindeer out of clothespins and ghosts from cheesecloth soaked in starch. I’ve maintained a love of doing crafty stuff as is evidenced by the way I run my D&D games. I have often joked that running games for me is just an excuse to visit Michaels. Even when it comes to Wargaming I think I prefer that building and painting to the actual playing. My latest obsession, sticker making scratches a lot of my itches. I get to draw and then I get crafty with the art once it’s printed! 

Phil Foglio, a man I once purchased pornography from ironically, recently posted about the list of artists MidJourney proudly used in their training model. He's suggesting that he has a good lawyer. For my part, I was delighted to learn that my own name was on the list! I thought maybe I was just drafting on Gabriel's potent comet, but this list has revealed to me that I am a co-equal creator and it's time to take the fore.

No matter what it is, no matter how rude, egregious, or illegal, there is always going to be some creature crouched at the periphery ready to materialize downthread to prostrate themselves before arbitrary corporate dominion.

Sometimes in order to get around the flagrant theft inherent in a product like Midjourney, an AI enthusiast will suggest that an artist should train their own AI using their own work. This way the AI could make art for them you see, freeing them up to do other things. This shows an incredible lack of understanding when it comes to art. What artists want to do is make art. This is like having an AI eat fresh cookies for you or smell a flower. We enjoy making art. We like to draw and create things. You are trying to get rid of the good part you idiots! Use AI to remove the drudgery from our lives, not the joy. 

Gabriel had never heard of Kala, The Suburban Mine Lady, and writing it that way makes her seem like a League of Legends champ. And shit man, maybe she is. She seems like she has an ult of some kind.

I’ve got to say not being on Twitter has been very refreshing. It’s true I’m still posting artwork over on my Instagram but the vibe there is so different. Instead of being flooded with spicy hot takes, I just see a feed of art and inspiration from creators I like. 

We've been playing Lethal Company in various configurations, one of which being a four person crew entirely composed of Krahuliks. My daughter's Role Playing group is laying it with the More Company mod, just to fit all them in. I have experiences I want to detail here in more detail, but until then here is something novel that everybody gets to learn the hard way.

Morach watched Rebel Moon, which he assured me was "one of the moon-types." It's a Zach Snyder movie, which I guess is sort of a genre. I don't hate his movies automatically, and some of them I think are much better than are given credit for. But it does involve recognizing his motives.

Rebel Moon was one of the dumbest things I’ve ever seen. I say this as someone who generally really enjoys Zack Snyder movies. In fact his Justice League cut is one of my favorite films of all time. Rebel Moon though…woof.

The Merriest of Christmii to you, on this, the hour of the nascent God Seed. I haven't been to church in a while so I'm not up on everything that happened in the last season - the last episode I saw (S2 E27, "Revelations") was pretty hardcore. It was sort of a reboot situation? Honestly, it needed it; this thing has been running longer than One Piece. But, as for today's strip, please enjoy this return to the days of our youth.

For Christmas, I got you a time capsule from the dangerous days of yore