...but can anyone tell me the history of the gag of blowing into one's thumb to inflate or grow?

I know many of the famous applications of it, from The Three Caballeros to Biker Mice From Mars. I find it hard-pressed to believe it is an uncommon trope, let alone one that only seems to be known within fetish circles.

While I'm at it, perhaps I could get more information on other "famous fetish follies", such as the conflation of growing with inflating (using inflation to grow proportionally larger rather than bloat out, or defeating a giant monster by bursting or deflating them), as well as the idea of living inflatables which I have studied and waxed poetic about several moons ago.

I know I haven't kept a good fanbase as of late. An explosion of content and then buh-bye.

Yet I follow quality artists who have months in-between their works, so maybe I'm worth hanging onto if just for checking to see if I may try again.

The Furld Project is still a go, but I'm reluctant to post stuff for it because it's kind of experimental and really WIP. Reply here if you'd be interested in seeing it. It'll probably all be in scraps unless I can finish something for once, but at least it might be here instead of languishing in a scrap folder for eternity.

Also, GigaCake's finally back, and she's talking about more collaborations, but also about her own inflation projects. Her kinks are far different from mine in terms of how far she's willing to take things, but I'm actually pretty interested in mutual support.

Then there's the joys of new programs with which to make balloonie images and videos. I have yet to find a 3D software that can satisfactorily simulate the inflated form, let alone a sentient, animate one, but I'm still keeping my fingers crossed.

Point of the journal is that I promise to be a bit more active, if you could just tell me of your thoughts.

I know there are a few VR games available with a macro/micro bent, but I'm currently unable to play any at the moment for lack of the proper equipment.

That said, I have heard of Mindshow and one of my friends signed on for the early access in spite of not having a working VR set yet, and I know we're both wondering about the potential of first-person growth/macro stories, since it's what I've wanted to do for a long time ever since I understood it was possible.

I know also that Draco-rex, Cantstopgrowing, and corvidius have done/are doing first-person/VR growth animations, and I feel I could try them myself, or at least commission them.

I have no excuse; my computer didn't crash, I didn't get any high-falutin job, and I haven't got some horrid medical condition, not that I know...

Issue is, of course, that I just can't cope with the lethargy of my ideas versus the quick-change around me. Sure, many people have said that it's good that I don't change so fast and for change's sake, but maybe I envy some of the changeability of certain people.

I'm still stuck in a rut dug by late 80s cartoons and their unusual taste in physical comedy that left many people wondering why it makes them feel so hot.

F.L. Gwynne's stories are still in the works, as are some stories for others on here, but no longer because I feel I owe everybody (if you still wonder where your requests have gotten to, just ask, please); I just want to do stories for stories' sake, but at my pace and at my deadlines.

Prepare to be in the freezer if you expect me to post regular content, sad to say. I want to make more and better macro and inflation erotica, but I'm feeling really iffy about the competitive nature of the fetish community, and how I seem so quaint compared to some who seem to make the most wild ideas in a matter of hours.

Plus, as an X on the Kinsey scale, I'm not as motivated by pure sexual desire as others; I just want to make pure inflation art as I feel that's sexy enough on its own.

Do I sound really passive-depressive to you?

I haven't been feeling well, that much is for sure. I didn't know why the click-bait, question-mark-overloaded tiny journal was a good idea.

Basically, I've been having a rethink of my life and identity. It's difficult to take on the label of furry when it's often a little oversmutty. Why don't I just turn filters back on? Well, maybe I like some of the harder stuff every now and again, but not always.

Plus, I think I have food sensitivities. I have a neighborhood friend who's been pressuring me to try more foods to increase my limited palette, and while I have found nice vegetables and fruits to eat, I think a lot of the new stuff is having an adverse effect, if only for the trauma of being "forced" to eat it. Not so much force-feeding as force-enjoying - not my favorite. I think it's giving me a reaction similar to allergen irritation, even though I reviewed with them what I am and not allergic to. This Cracked article explains what I think is going on. It's already ruined some "sweet" vegetables for me, and now the "meaty" ones may be next.

Again, why don't I just ignore the neighbor?

They're very supportive of the art I do try to accomplish, so I try to gain as much knowledge as I can, even if it means having strange dinners loaded with spices and flavors I may or may not enjoy. I might even share some of the art I have done under their guidance if I felt it was worth the trouble. I experiment too much and don't post nearly enough of its results publically. I have artist's block, so much so that I even miss requests (if yours is missed, remind me calmly and I'll get back on it as soon as I can...), and it's not healthy for me artistically... or is it?

Sadly, I think I like taking an extended vacation from internet life, even if it hurts my fanbase, which I seem to be collecting. I love you guys, but I also think that it's about time I move on, beyond internet issues.

Damn, I wobble between tiny journals and large ones. I think maybe rethinking is in order of how to reword these things.

Big fat changes to be made.

No time to explain.

Give me suggestions in the meantime.

Friends are working on their own thing, and I should too.

Need to get back to animation practice.

I hate saying that I'm doing this for friends, mostly because it sounds like it's so obviously false, but I can't leave these alone, not when I know there are those who can and will help.

There was a long time ago that I wanted help from others in making an inflation nozzle model for Poser, but that was a terrible request that never got fulfilled. Certainly, though, in the deepest, darkest recesses of the internet I'm conditionally afraid of (have others explore them for me), there's got to be some perverted workforce dedicated to concocting the best models for inflation goodness, from valves to nozzles to one decent godforsaken bicycle pump! I know I really should know how to port things already, but some things are really terrible, and bastienl should know that I can't get Blaze's model to work in Poser, only SFM.

Gigacake is an excellent but rather unconfident SFM animator, shares my kinks of course, but is working to make them something beyond the usual same old sexual metaphor, and I can honestly agree with her that I've grown a little weary of all this overdoing the sexual aspect over actually exploring the subtle erotic beauty of inflation itself, the squeak of latex, the groan of overstretched skin, and the hiss of just one last puff, before an explosive end. For most inflation artists here, it starts off that way, but then they dabble in erotic inflation, pornographic inflation, and before they know it, inflation and sex are, pardon the pun, conflated.

Yeah, body parts of the sexual sort do fill with blood upon arousal, I am no stranger to this as much as I boast asexuality, but for me it's just a reaction, like the way hairs stand on end when it's cold, or the knee-jerk reaction when striking a certain tendon or bone. I don't like sex, but I like sexual expression, the way people avoid the usual sexual exploration and find another form of expressing oneself. That's what got me into fetish in the first place, but it's starting to get me out of it again. Gad, that sounded pretentious.

What I'm really wanting to say is that, before I leave for something a little more wholesome, I need more models, more starts to make models, and/or resources that will aid in perhaps making inflation animations that are a lot less sexually portentous and more whimsical, loving, and detailed in the way that brings it out of some freak fetish into an artform.

Gigacake and I have been discussing inflation works, the best and the worst, which ones have the best sense of physics, etc. She raised me a question which I hope you can answer.

Basically, she observed that there were two major types of inflation works, each separated majorly from the other... Type 1 consists of inflation works done by younger artists and "children-at-heart", utilizing or overutilizing inflation tropes and gags in pure or naive form because they "like them a lot". Type 2, by contrast, utilizes inflation in more erotic ways, turning balloons into a direct metaphor for the pleasures of the flesh, engorging and swelling in response to sexual stimulation. Basically irreconcilable.

Gigacake wanted to know whether there was something in-between, where balloon characters were neither silly or sexy, but rather sensual, romantic, or cuddly. True love to be found in something so squishy and puffy, the biggest, warmest hugs, and the feeling almost like being bubble-wrapped in the protection of a fated mate, who just so happens to be made of rubber and filled with air. Obviously, as something of an asexual, I would find this much more agreeable, and I love to write rubbery romance when I get around to it, but I have to wonder why it's hard to find.

Even weirder is that she finds that macrophiles/sizeplay-fans have more examples of fluffy love than inflatophiles, which I find hard to believe personally given that I tend to conflate the two fetishes - it's just that one inflates with air and the other with... matter and organs... Basically, both fetish fantasies are illogical, so I can't understand people who favor one over another with their own syllogisms.

Again, these are our observations. Rather than bite our heads off over how wrong we really are, try and give us a little understanding as to where we can find a bit of love to counteract this like and lust gap. She says it's for research, but I wouldn't blame her if it had something else to it.

Anyone interested in giving me another prompt for writing.

I know I have a few not yet completed, so for those still looking for me to do those prompts, message me pronto, and I'll get back on them immediately.

Macro Gaster.

I mean, it's not something I dreamed up, or even something I came up with on my own, but Gigacake wanted to do something in that vein, and she got me interested in the idea.

I mean, someone or something that has been previously wiped from existence, their bodies would not take kindly to suddenly existing again. Normally, in most sci-fi, this would lead to decay, but what if it led to growth instead? What if their temporally unstable body absorbed the potential mass from other sides of their existence, quantum possibilities and higher dimensional selves, until they were simpler dimensionally, but physically massive.

I've always been obsessed with the quantum side of size-change, the possibility of extra dimensions leading to a drawing and shaping of mass, but also the idea of only being temporally satisfied if all their mass existed in a few dimensions of space and time at any given occurrence, otherwise having a hell of a time being "the right size" (tiny or human-sized), but in the wrong plane(s) of existence.

Of course, I like regular, slightly less scientific, growy guys as well.

Drink your milk, Sans, so you can grow big and strong!

I have finally gotten into the new folder system for FA, which is pretty nice if you actually have stuff to fill things with! Of course, as life goes on, so does my work, which basically consists of working up to some reasonable job and in the meantime taking odd jobs so that I feel I'm not just mooching off the world.

Basically, if and when I have the time to do fetish/furry stuff again, what do you think I should do more of?

☸ - Explore the workings of my Furld, including the adventures of F.L. Gwynne.
◍ - Do more general arts and writings
⋙ - Do more animations and comics
➺ - Look into a specific character or idea within my Furld (list character or idea in question)
☞ - Take more ideas from others into consideration
✎ - Enlighten us more on your thought processes

All of the above can be used in mixed conjunction, along with written suggestions on how further to live this piece of my life which I have painted myself into so neatly.

A browsing through retro game playthroughs (not the kind where people talk over them and share their life story) reminded me of the adventure games I used to play when I was young; the games that penalized you for doing the wrong thing, and felt so satisfying when done right, if a bit anti-climatic at times.

However, with the interactivity of such old games, I have to wonder whether anyone has ever done one where the protagonist can inflate or grow. I know that the Neverhood had the protagonist shrink to access a normally unreachable area, and Space Quest 6 featured a "Fantastic Voyage" homage as the shrunken protagonist sought out and destroyed body-altering nanobots. I would have liked to see the opposite effect, and not just for a gag or a one-time deal, but someone who shifts stature to solve puzzles and otherwise do as they must to complete the game.

From what I have seen, animating adventure game characters is already costly enough without accounting for growth and shrink animation (and that IS preferred - no cheating with magnification!) and multiple sized sprites. Heck, if they got big enough, they'd take over the entire screen! I can barely create reasonable inflation antics in 3D, let alone 2D, but as the collections of greatest growth and inflation animations have shown, when it's done right, it's an art as much as it is fetish fuel.

I would hope that a grow-based adventure game would be like that as well, artistically tuned as well as attractive to any macro/inflation lover. What would also be cool is the kind of depth found in some of the best old adventure games where performing actions would lead to different results based on context; not just limiting growth to action/puzzle scenarios, but able to grow at any point in the game, with different results each time. And of course, some situations would be lethal to grow in, such as crushing oneself within the confines of an unbreakable room...

Thanks for playing Growth Quest.
Restore - Restart - Quit

I am back on writing the fetish fiction, and I might even get to work on well-overdue requests and art trades. In the meantime, though, I will only accept the occasional request.

P.S. is it right to ask for 3D models of characters who already have 3D models in a sense (that is, edits of Poser models)? I am trying to save up for more advanced versions of my characters.

"There's just something that bothers me..." I say in my best Columbo impersonation.

Recently, I've noticed a lack of true feelings for inflation art anymore; briefly, I wondered whether I was "cured" of my fetish, but my dreams discredit that hypothesis. However, upon analysis, I realized that the thing missing from most arts I view is the feeling of truly ballooning out, the visceral feeling of actually filling with air and stretching out. "How can anyone draw that, mister inflato-know-it-all?" you wonder, to which I shall elucidate...

I know most people are simply turned on by the inflated shape or the idea of getting to that shape, to which I am not badmouthing you, but for me, it's much more complex. I have found that much of my feelings come from a sense of visceralness, not just the getting bigger and rounder, but the true feelings, both physical and emotional, of such bizarre states of being. Of course, constant spewings of "Oooh! This air feels so good as it fills my body bigger and bigger!" and "Oh my, I'm getting so small and flat letting myself deflate." can get obnoxious, so I prefer that sort of stuff insinuated rather than expounded. Maybe I'm just too much of an intellectual that way.

Not to mention, with plenty of pictures of inflation I've been seeing recently, there's an issue of texture. I've seen plenty of inflation artists simply make their characters into big round balls; while I like the shapes they get into, I get the feeling that these characters have always been ball-shaped, rather than having been forced, or at least coerced, into such shapes. I think it's because they are colored in such a way that they simply become shiny rather than stretched, and I don't mean transparent (not always). I have found that the best way to portray balloons or balloon characters, especially over-inflated ones, is to have a very subtle "stretch mark" texture.

While hardly as obvious as the stretch marks on a human or animal, balloon stretch marks occur on the balloon body due to stresses and strain, especially when over-inflated. Balloons are hardly ever perfectly smooth and round due to whatever little errors crop up in manufacturing, and if you're inflating an organic being (heaven forbid for real!), such effects would show up naturally, perhaps more noticeably due to the imperfections of flesh. The lack of such strain marks, especially at exceedingly large sizes, rather messes with my perception of it as inflation; more like embiggening or magnifying.

Speaking of magnification, the same can be said of giants. Not just macro inflation suffers from a lack of detail, but macro in general. Without a sense of texture to say that a giant is interacting with light in a way a large object would, it looks no better than a photoshop job. I guess I'm spoiled by the way Eiichiro Oda draws giants with plenty of hatching, so you KNOW their skin is not just smooth and sweet (except on lady giants, of course :|). Maybe I just stare too much at my own skin, wondering what it would look like multiplied over the area of a football field.

It's too bad that I can't express it into words very well, but I suppose it's good that I am at a loss for words, since I would hate to come off as self-aggrandizing, especially as I haven't posted any good art in forever. My favorite texture is still the fur textures that come with Krystal for Poser, and I think they "inflate" so lovely.

Anyways, here are some of my favorite arts that illustrate more of a sense of balloon texture that I so love, or otherwise actually look "ballooning".
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/3051784/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/10554988/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/4153002/ - Don't forget to check out the sequence from beginning to end.
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5325392/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/10754068/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/12443170/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/13754431/ - Love his works in general
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/13681066/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/13895822/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/14189151/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/14562767/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/13898220/ - Sound warning, but good sound design
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/15134476/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/15877041/


You may note that a lot of the textural examples are vinyl, if only because the strain marks are so much more pronounced on such a relatively inflexible material. Latex can and will strain also, but the effect is much more subtle, apparently unachievable in more cartoonish works. Also, if you think any of these arts don't mesh with my "high standards", let's civilly discuss what there is to look for rather than argue "DUMB (SUNNUVA) BITCH, DON'T BE AN ELITIST PRICK!"

Can't we all just get along?
╯◡╰

As you may have noticed, I'm not too active on account of self-doubts and life stuff. I'm currently working on ways I can put my skills to more non-fur-friendly ways (I've made some banners and stuff for the family), and also pondering many problems that I am currently obsessing about concerning fetishistic scenarios.

I will probably return to writing by this summer, and hopefully have some pictures and even animation along with. I'll see you there.

Before I leave, though, who recommends a good fetish "basis"? A friend of mine has introduced me to a cartoon called "The Super 6", which features an animate man of rock, a time-travelling fop, and a size-shifting spy. Very strange stuff!

http://www.generatorland.com/userge.....r.aspx?id=7427

This is nice

I have been researching into other (relatively unpricey) 3D programs that support any effects akin to inflation, whether it be just the scaling and deformation of body and limbs, or perhaps a rudimentary pressurized cloth simulation -- fingers crossed on that one -- and so far I have found only a few hits, including the game engine movie maker known as Source Filmmaker, used to make the cinematics and trailers for Team Fortress 2. Since 2013, SFM implemented a scaling feature which enables for the alteration of the size of models and their bones, making for interesting effects (having the head disappear in a cloud of pink mist when hit with a sniper's bullet, for instance). Of course, the effects I am interested in are in inflation and growth. I appear to share this desire with donanman, who has made custom expandable modification of pre-existing video game characters (all female or hermaphroditic). I have seen only a few movies that have utilized such effects, some fetishistic, most comical, but I would like to know whether there's a group that utilizes such effects to more dedicated ends.

Namely, I want to know whether anyone has made a more functional inflation model. Not just growing breasts and buttocks, but perhaps certain muscle groups or simulating weight gain. It would be like cantstopgrowing's growth rig, but a bit more towards the Source Engine's regulations, whatever those may be.

I would just like to know whether that's a possibility.

Part one:
If you feel that I have denied you of your request or trade, please let me know! I do not mean to forget you, but real life has taken me on strange turns that have brought me away from my work.

Part two:
Since I cannot do polls on FA, I want you to comment with a symbol on how you feel about human inflation.
♕ = Favorite!
❤ = I really like it.
❥ = I kinda like it.
◕ = It's OK.
◔ = Not into it, but I don't mind those that like it.
№ = Not into it at all.
╳ = Take it away! It's hideous!
✿ = Only non-sexually or comical.
☸ = Only original characters or characters with known inflation/rubbery powers.
♂ = Only to human males or male-likes.
♀ = Only to human females or female-likes.
⊗ = Only to ungendered or nondescript humanoids (not counting dolls and aliens).
Ӝ̵̨̄ = No strong opinion
Believe it or not, my only beef with it is being presented with visions of human anatomy undergoing the body horror aspects of inflation (skin tearing from muscle, stretching to and beyond limits, the pain of bloating internal organs to the Nth power, etc.). Furry portrayals soften the gross feelings and make the experience seem enjoyable. However, as I experiment more with at least writing human inflation, I start to realize that such fantasies, whether desirable or frightening, exist as a possibility of the individual mind rather than an absolute truth. I have no real qualms with humans as fantastic fetish subjects apart from relating to whatever strange and unusual torments they are going through. I just hope that the way I write my inflation of humans bridges the gap between my enjoyment of the fetish and how I feel about the inviolability of the human body.

╯◡╰

Christmas writing requests are still going on.

I've been thinking about it since I've analyzed a few key science fiction pieces, along with reading a few too many articles from Cracked.com, and came up with an interesting prompt idea... What if one could make a legitimate, well-developed alien race based on a sexual fetish, preferably something within one's personal interests? I know GigaCake made humanoid giant balloon aliens, and I have my not so large, but capable of inflating to great proportion, extraterrestrial races (the Grea'Bloons and the Elastilords to name a few). However, I'm not entirely sure about the legitimacy of these alien races; they seem more like works of fantasy than something that could work in a hardcore (not that kind) science fiction. Given that one of the more famous alien species, the Xenomorphs, is based on the disturbing and erotic imagery of H.R. Giger, one could potentially create a similar, or greater, alien race from even the most unequivocally fetishistic of arts.

The way I see it, "hard" science fiction is just that, hard. Hard as in taxing and puzzling, requiring several doctorates just to make a plausible organism, let alone a civilization. Personally, I like certain "harder" science fiction pieces, the kind that delicately examine the "whys" of their works, rather than just say "fuck it, it's aliens; I ain't gotta explain shit!". However, even with my above-average knowledge in the sciences, I doubt that I want to spend my days working out just how a creature... does. Perhaps this is what separates the men from the boys when it comes to sci-fi; the Mars trilogy was written by men, while Red Dwarf was written by boys (explains the penchant for slapstick and crude humour). However, I always felt the Red Dwarf novels at least tried to be harder in the sense that they replaced a lot of the gags with actual scientific theories, at least such filtered through the mind of a comic writer. Perhaps that is where I should begin.

Plus, there's the aspect of the Planet of Hats, a monocultural population centered around a single idea or factor. This sort of stuff happened too many times to count throughout Star Trek's franchise, including the infamous gangster planet, but given some humans' penchant for a single norm, a single approach, a single identity, sometimes I wonder whether it's completely illogical for an alien civilization to base its culture on a single book. Before you get on your high horse, I'm not talking about the influence of the Holy Bible, which is just that, a bible, a bibliotheca, a collection of personal accounts inspired by God's work. I'm talking about secular, single reference books; books on gangsters, warriors, botanists, pacifists, fetishists, you name it! The whole thing seems like eccentric speciesism to me.

Still, the idea of a Planet of Hats where the natives' "hat" is specific human "fap material" intrigues me. Aliens with law systems based on bondage and sadomasochism, creatures with air-filled rubbery physiologies appealing to inflation and latex fetishists, beings of great intelligence that not only appeal to sapiosexuality, but in their towering bodies as well as intellects, appealing to macrophiles as well. I could go on, but things could get hairy (and I don't mean trychophilic). The point I'm trying to make is that, at least the way I make my characters and species, I start with a fetishy idea (macro inflation as a metaphor for Maslow's hierarchy of needs, for instance), and then run with it in a way that keeps the kinky part in the background, and brings all the little details giving it substance to the forefront. You wouldn't know it was a fetish fic until it got into specific detail about how the main character obsesses over giant muscular balloon men; even then, hopefully you would empathize with her, or at least see her as a little more than just some oversexed broad.

I just wonder whether there are people out there that have done the same.

Dissatisfied with my output as of late, I think the thing to get my creative juices going is to open up writing prompts again.
I do have a few personal writing projects, as well as some art trades and requests I owe (feel free to remind me), but I want to get back to the good ol' days of writing fetishy goodness for random people. :)

It's simple. Just comment below with the phrase "I'm on the nicest naughty list", and then summarize the idea you want to see from me. Anything without the phrase will be seen as a simple idea, but not anything immediately for consideration. The fics will hopefully be done between December 1st and December 31st, meaning that the entire month of December will be dedicated to writing prompts.

Things I will write:
Inflation (Tops!)
Growth/Macro (2nd fave)
Transformation (Not always my fave but it's fun to write)
Shrinking/Micro
Soft vore/mouthplay
Suggestive material
Descriptions of nudity
Age change
Bringing objects to life

Things I MIGHT write:
Sexual matters (High end of PG-13)
Human characters (Experimenting with some in a fic I'm working on, and yes, they turn into balloons for some damn reason. It's purposely creepy.)
Hard vore/digestion (Has to make story sense, though. Not interested in seeing sentient beings get eaten alive without reason!)
Weight gain/slob (Kinda too close to home at the moment, but if it can be made funny rather than icky, than I might be able to do it)
Feet (As much as I like shapely paws, writing for them generates little interest in me)
Crush (See hard vore)

Things I DO NOT write:
Hardcore sex
Masturbation
Gratuitous descriptions of arousal
Sex toys (Blow-up dolls are an ishy thing, as I write for a kind of anatomically-correct blow-up doll that is also alive and fighting for its civil rights...!)
Human/anthro sex
Underage sexual encounters
Watersports/Scat
Flatulence/stench
Erotic asphyxiation
Snuff
Panty raids

That's all I can think of. Feel free to shoot me with any questions you have concerning ideas not mentioned on this list. I will add them to any of the three if I think it's notable.

Have happy holidays for the rest of the history of humanity!

No, I checked whether it was a hidden adult submission, but nothing shows up no matter what my rating setting.

Is this just on my end, or a site-wide bug?

So sentient inflatable beings are a little far-fetched (I still love the concept, though)...

However, I just thought of a concept worthy of real-world consideration: inflatable pets.
Like a cross between inflatable robots and toy pets. It has its basis in reality, and it's still puffy and squishy enough to befit the interests of us fanatics.

No, not THOSE interests! Those will have to wait another time.

Imagine, though, technology not based on clunky devices with bladders attached, but integrated into those bladders. Possibly able to self-inflate, detect damage, and maybe self-repair under certain conditions. All it needs is a reasonable artificial intelligence, an appealing design, and PRESTO!

It would probably cost a few hundred dollars to own one, but it would be interesting to imagine. Perhaps it could be "trained" to play games with children and other pets (need the DLC). Perhaps super-durable and larger versions could aid in dangerous climates (sort of like technologically-advanced rescue dogs, think St. Bernards with kegs on their chests).

Still, knowing the more driven members of this site, some owners of them might just use them for less-than-pure purposes.

Besides that, what do you think about the idea?

For the past year or so, I've been trying to get a Poser scene of mine to render into a video, and to this day, it refuses to work for whatever reasons. It's official name is "huffandpuff" or "Squirrel's Pump", but I've been eager to call it "jinxed"!

First off, my computer is not entirely the best, despite being told it was for my operations at the time I bought it, so render times have been difficult for me, sometimes crashing in the middle of it (more like the first quarter!). Second, even when I have rendered it at its lowest setting, I cannot get it to convert in my conversion software.

It pisses me off since I find it to be one of my better animated works (despite a terrible amount of clipping), and I only wish I could share it with you.

Air, one of the essentials of life, along with food, water, and shelter. We breathe it in, we breathe it out, we gain many things from it, good and bad, and sometimes we obsess about the bad in it enough to demand gasmasks for everyday living.

As an inflation artist, however, I am of course interested in air for its filling of inflatable items. Pressure, volume, pneumatics and parenchyma. Wait, what?

Air in balloon-like beings has always been compared to its internal organs, or perhaps its very soul or essence, which is probably why deflation is seen as akin to snuff around some of these parts. I never saw it that way, though obviously it's very bad for one to lose air. I always saw it more as a fluid of support, rather like how a spider uses its blood to straighten out its legs (other creatures have a similar system to straighten out their you know what). Obviously, without air, there is no support, and therefore little to no movement, so deflation could very well be akin to a coma-like state.

However, would the opposite be true? Even if air was not of spiritual nature, could inflating a balloon creature with more and more air bring more support, more strength, more power, more life?

As appealing as the concept is, it brings even more questions. If more air is equal to life, would loss of that air diminish that life? It seems worse to me that one could so easily giveth what one could taketh away, to coin a phrase. Yeah, you might find me one to believe that life is precious, but don't start debating to me about human population and children. What I simply mean is that, in these fantastic conceptual contexts, an intelligent living being made from formerly inanimate material is a great honking deal, at least to me. Strange that they're manufactured so plentifully in my Furld.

I've always designed my balloonies with the sense that, if they are mass-manufactured lives, that they be treated as both property and partner. Property only in the sense that they have manufacturing dates, warranties, and manuals of operation, but otherwise they have rights much like any living being. Sure, they're conditioned to believe in subservience and don't mind being deflated and packed away for the night, even for a long weekend of their owner's vacation, but that doesn't mean that they're not thinking through that flattened period, developing ideas, thoughts, and opinions during that time.

Back to my main question: Is Air = Life? Well, one of my favorite stories/sequences is Nathan Ounce's old sequence, New Toy, which features a skunk woman with a tigress balloonie, challenging herself to inflate the balloon as much as she can over the course of a year, to see how big she could blow her up. For its lack of production value at that period, it was enough back then to inspire me to do what I do now, especially the parts written by maloo. Of course, looking back at it now that it's put on permanent hiatus in favor of more complex stories and ideas, I do wonder what would've happened had it continued.

Maloo has admitted that he is intrigued by the idea of balloonies coming to life with the application of more air, which of course reminds me of balloonie-cat's story, Full Power, which is a good example of such ideas put to action, as well as their consequences. Either way, my take on the subject is a little less magical and a touch cynical. For me, the idea of balloonie life is not so much dependent on air as it is on certain pre-programmed parameters, such as first-time inflation and other sort of things listed in instruction manuals. After such, no further inflation will empower it, nor deflation make it perish.

Air as strength, on the other hand, is a concept more up my alley, but still very unusual. Tanks with "muscle gas" or similar novelties are cute and all, but recently, the only sort of thing like that that makes sense to me is a multi-chambered setup much like a humanoid musculature, somehow able to redirect air through the chambers as needed. Not that I've grown out of magical mayhem, but I have always been a scientific type by nature. I like to know how things work, and how they affect the workings of their environment. It's funner to me than just "It's magic, shut up and enjoy it!".

Speaking of magic, any magical, mystical works I tend to do come under the magnifying glass of science. I prefer "magiscience" or "magitech", where mystical properties are analysed as any other property known to man. I think I tend to do such with balloonies, since as far as we can tell, no such technology exists in real life to bring balloons to life, let alone allow them to inflate to skyscraper proportions. Just because it is magical or fantastical doesn't mean it can't be analyzed or considered scientifically. I suppose mostly the feeling around here is that heavy science =/= fun, which is untrue.

While it doesn't always bring me pleasure, I really don't mind. It helps me to exercise my knowledge and creativity, which probably doesn't mean much to you seeing as how I'm not creating much to post here. There's a ton of W.I.P., but otherwise nothing that I can really share for whatever reasons. A lot of old projects have even got shelved, which is unfortunate since most of them involve the development of my characters (a list of them I should upload, if nothing else). I suppose I just wanted to make something to see if I can get someone thinking.

Any thoughts?