Looking Belatedly Back at 2018

(Apparently it was a year of bright colors and clumsy drawing for me.)

Assembled here are four of the favorite characters of the past 12 months. 

In brief summary, from left to right: Cat Noir from “Miraculous,” the Plague Doctor skin from Fortnite, Jotaro Kujo and his strange side kick, or avatar, or something, Star Platinum, from “JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure.”

One of us has been on a many seasons long “JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure” binge.  I finally watched the first two episodes of the anime series after repeated requests...and well, I hear season three and four are wonderful, but I am not certain that I can motivate myself to watch the third episode of the first season, so I am not sure how I will make it there. Thus, I can’t really explain Jotaro’s relationship to the big purple guy. 

There’s definitely an aesthetic there for which I have not developed an appropriate appreciation as of yet.

And one of us might have watched some of “Miraculous” in 2018. Not naming names of course. 

And there was definitely a lot of Fortnite. I threatened to play, even created an account...but so far have been too busy doing stuff like knitting things no one will wear, and making bad drawings, to actually get started. 

My experiences in Minecraft....where I would just pathetically fall into a hole and then not be able to climb out- (and that was in a situation where no one was trying to kill me!)....indicate Fortnite would present a steep learning curve for me. 

But, even if I can’t play a game or learn to love anime,  I promise I will at least work on my drawing in 2019.

Fortnite Llama and Red Dead Redemption Horse

But Does the Llama Have Metamorphic Gonads?

(Fortnite Hangs with Red Dead Redemption...or Does it?)

If you follow these sorts of things, no doubt you have heard it said repeatedly that Rockstar Games’ recently released Red Dead Redemption is “so realistic that the horses’ balls shrink in the cold.” 

And there is apparently some threat that Red Dead will eventually have a Battle Royale mode, this threatening Fortnite’s ubiquity.

Both games get played in our house, each having an advocate who attests the superiority of his chosen game.

I am unmoved by the relative merits of llamas and horses with testicles, but it seemed like a fine opportunity to embarrass my son’s by posting an image with the word “gonads” in the title.

Fortnite Skins

Upgraded in Pink:

Our kids found the upgraded versions of the Drift and Ragnorak skins in Fortnite pretty compelling.

But my younger son tells me that the pink version of Ragnorak depicted here is just fan art and it should be blue.

This was a quick sketch cludged together in the morning before departure for camp, so accuracy was not at an all time high. 

Shark Headwear for Shark Week 2018

Chomp on Junior:

I hear it’s Shark Week. The folks at Fortnite companionably released a skin called “Chomp Senior” for some synergistic shark marketing. 

(The price and apparent desirability of Fortnite skins continues to boggle my mind...but I am a person who draws pictures on napkins for zero monetary compensation, so what do I know?)

Chomp Senior is a cool guy in a form-fitting shark-inspired outfit complete with a shark headpiece where his face is framed by the open shark mouth.

Sort of like this napkin, except I somehow forgot the important part which is that the cool guy is supposed to be wearing cool opaque black sunglasses.

Fortnite Llama

Llama, Llama, Fortnite Drama:

Damaged as I am by 15 years of sleep deprivation, I cannot hear the word “llama” without mentally echoing “Llama,  Llama, Red Pajama.” This is the hooky title of a children’s book that I read over and over again to at least one of our kids. (The younger one claims no knowledge of it, but that probably means I only read it to him 50 times instead of the 100 times I read to his brother.) 

Five minutes of googling tells me that this 2005 book by Anna Dewdney has since become a “cultural touchstone” and a franchise (several sequel books, a Netflix series, a rap by Ludacris, etc) So I am no doubt not the only one burdened by the mental compulsion to echo all instances of “llama” with “pajama.” 

But there is a strange relevance here in regard to Fortnite and online gaming.... 

Ms. Dewdney’s book was about a young person’s difficulty with staying alone in his bedroom without his mama.

As I recall, baby llama’s poor self-regulation eventually led to much “llama drama,” boo-hooing, and wailing, which finally summons his annoyed mother to tell him to simmer down and go to sleep....while of course reassuring him of her love. 

The drama, wailing, and general poor self-regulation in our house is now less about separation anxiety and more about the frustrations of online gaming in general...and Fortnite in particular.

We had intense stress about llamas over the weekend. I cannot claim a deep understanding of these “llama”/piñata things’ role in the game, but their acquisition is essential. Hysteria can easily blossom when they can’t be found...or when, GOD FORBID, one is snatched away from under ones nose by another player.

Listening to my sons intermittently screech in frustration is perhaps unnecessarily traumatic for me. If only I, like the mother in the book, could successfully encourage less startling expressions of llama drama.

... but let’s be serious, I never succeeded in getting them to go to bed without drama.  

At least we did get a llama, so there’s that.

Fortnite Rogue Agent Birthday Card

This is another mother/son collaboration card.

The birthday kid’s Fortnite skin is Rogue Agent, therefore, this.

Sadly, none of my son’s friends favor the more outlandish, more entertaining to draw, Fortnite skins like, say, Cuddle Team Leader or Leviathan.

Fortnite Birthday Card Collaboration

Sadly, not a napkin, just plain old paper

When the gift for a good friend is a lame gift card... you might have to make an extra special card. 

Rust Lord is the birthday kid’s favorite skin in Fortnite  so he seemed like the appropriate bearer of birthday greetings.

I drew the ink outlines and my son did the color. He did a much nicer job than I would have. I would have been all wrapped up in the light problem with the glowing candles reflecting off the helmet and such...and past experience indicates that I probably wouldn’t have been able to make any of that work.

There are more birthdays coming up, (with more lame gift cards) so perhaps there will be more such Mother/Son collaborations.

Mercenary/ Furry Acroyogo

Aspirational Yoga: Wade and Cuddle Team Leader get their namaste on. (Characters our kids have been deprived of do some acroyoga that we are not capable of)

Deadpool 2 opened and somehow we haven’t seen it yet. I haven’t figured out how I am going to fast forward through the parts inappropriate for an 11 year old in the theater.

And, curmudgeon that I am, I refused to give my older son $20 to purchase the Cuddle Team Leader skin in Fortnite.

But I drew this napkin. 

Because every mother wants provide her sons with an picture of an amoral violent superhero and a sexy furry...?