Grumpy Beastie's Other Lair

I had meant to get this up the last week of September, but was just not able. Better late than never I guess?

October is the beginning of what I call prompt list season. The main factors for this seem to be the flood of alternative lists to Inktober, the fact that virtually any theme of challenge goes well with -tober, and it's the warm up for the holidays & gifting season.

While these are mostly intended for art, they translate well into other things and sometimes you just need a good prompt list. And some of us just hoard them like a dragon.

Because I'm doing this on a phone and linking is difficult, this list will be light on links, but hopefully, I will have given you enough to find anything you find interesting.

On DW, vexed_wench and I are hosting our 10th Fall Fest at allbingo. kiramaru7 has already agreed to make personalized banners for those who make bingo by the end of the month.

At krazykattstableemporium, we have added several new prompt tables: tables 2-7 of the Halloween Baking Challenge inspired prompts, a Batman 85th Anniversary table, a fall flavor inspired table, and fall/Halloween candle inspired table. (We are aware of the typos, but a certain hurricane interrupted the editing process.)

Prompt lists that have caught my attention elsewhere in the wild:

On YouTube, ZoeHartist posted a video titled Alternative Prompt Lists for Inktober in 2024. I found her recommendations quite good and she stays on the prompt list long enough to screencap it and links to where they're from in the video description. In the video, she recommendeds:

- ArtyFartober 2024 - it's a very fall themed list, a bit random, and includes a secondary lite version of the prompt list. She links to the Artyfartists discord & Arty Farty Annie aka Annie Claxton's YouTube channel

- Mab's Drawlloween Club 2024 - this is a popular annual list that doesn't change drastically from year to year. It's mostly creatures and very spooky. It also includes a lite list. She links to MabGraves Instagram.

- Dark Artober 2024 - "1 prompt, 2 days, 0 pressure", the prompts are animal or creature combinations, like ghost + goat or toad + cow. She links to Dark Arts by Racine's YouTube channel.

- #kattober - 31 days of cats, the idea is to use the prompts like upside down, jars, thick, etc. to draw cats, but the creator has stressed it does not have to be cats. She links to Kattvalk's YouTube channel.

- Peachtober 24 - This list is if you are looking for something a little different. Some sample prompts are daisy, sparkle, apricot, pixel, pearl, and grass. She linked to Furrylittlepeach's Instagram.

- in the comments, people also recommended shiptober/otp, which there are usually several versions of every year, and birdtober, which seems to be very popular this year.


The rest of these are from Instagram:

- #inktoberbyash, hosted by ashsgreen. It's their 3rd year and this year's theme is combining cozy, fall + woodland themed prompts. It's a short list with an optional color palette.

- ACFUNTOBER 24 by ayangcempaka. It's a very random, unthemed list of 31 prompts.

- Citrus.mouse's 2024 Inktober prompt list aka #citrusmousetober by citrus.mouse. It's a very classic Halloween list. Citrus.mouse plans on using it to strengthen their flash tattoo portfolio.

- 2024 Witchtober Challenge. The theme this year is bewitched boutiques. There are 5 business themed prompts with mood boards. It has 5 hosts, but I found it via sorubiart's account

- Sharktober 2024. "A fun art challenge about creating shark related art to help spread better representation for those incredible creatures that take care of our oceans." I found it at astralrequin.

- 2024 Doodle-a-Day October by ellolovey. They have been putting up monthly lists of daily prompts all year with optional color palettes. October's is very traditional Halloween.

- Inktober Elves. This is the 7th annual list. The goal is to draw an elf a day. They have included all 7 lists to mix and match as you choose: cottagecore, flora + fauna, magical, autumnal, witchy, professional, & fashionable. There is also an optional element list to combine with your other prompt. Hosted by ranefea.

- Morning Crocodoodles October 2024 by morningcrodiles. The theme is classic horror this month. (They do lists every month.) There are 2 alternative variants of the list and an optional color palette.

- Cat-tober 2024 by black_cattober. Not to be confused with the other cat themed list, this one has prompts that are types of cats.

- Tattoober 2024 by anonymous.ink the prompts are all tattoo themed

- leartober 2024: spooky 2024 prompt list lite by learistically. A short list of spooky prompts.

- Fear'o'ween by boyfear. It has 2 prompts per day, but instead of combining them, you chose between them. Some are creepy, very seasonal.

- Witchtober with Joyouart 2024. It's a bit random, but also has witch's spell ingredients vibes

- calmtober by kriksisart 2024, a shorter list of cozy prompts

- cozy cauldron by marcies_art. It only has 5 prompts

- Goretober 2024 by strawb3rrymeat. Title is self-explanatory

- Mushtober by aly_ber. Loosely mushroom themed list

- Drawtober 2024 by drawtober. 6 prompts. The theme is monster mash.

- pinuptober 2024 by deuza_art. Pinup themed prompts

- Endicott's Tea Party 2024 by lanylevendula. Mostly cozy tea party vibes

- Dolltober 2024 by salem_sisterhood. This list is geared towards doll collectors and doll & toy photography

- Cabinet of Curiosities Inktober 2024, #sadinktober24, by stephanie.artdesign. things you'd find in a cabinet of curiosities.

- minitober magic by minimagia_3 just a very cute & different list

- emojitober by isa.b.e.e the prompts are strings of emojis

- rattober 2024 by thebeanbaguette. You guessed it, rat themed prompts.

- The Haunted Tea House Japan Edition by yumi.tiger This one if fairly self-explanatory

- SuperBatober has no official list, it's just an artist (mikemaihack) drawing Batgirl & Supergirl comics. They are fun. Check them out.

I have 9ish more lists saved and they are great lists, but they are all more typical Halloween lists, cute Halloween lists, or cozy fall lists, and once you start looking for lists, you are bound to find oodles of them. These are just the ones that caught my eye the last week of September.

Or more accurately, Batman adjacent things. Most of this might actually be Jason Todd. These are all little things that were originally going to be there own posts, but I have collected them together into one big post so, that they would actually get posted. Enjoy!

~ Batman's 85th anniversary is this year. When it is most appropriate to celebrate is debatable, but I'm still kicking myself for not doing anything for the 80th anniversary. I have no ideas though. If you have any, please let me know.

~ It was recently Jason Todd's death day. My Instagram was flooded with wonderful fan art and I had planned on finally watching my interactive Blu-ray of Death in the Family, (it was not meant to be). It got me thinking about if their are any other fandoms where they commemorate a character's death day, but also I think Jason is the only member of the Batman that has a single established birthday. I could be wrong on this, but I know Dick Grayson has 5 official birthdays, Bruce has 2, I think, and several characters just don't have one. Also, logically it's a little weird we don't also celebrate his coming back from the dead day, but there are so many different variations on how that happened, I don't think any date was ever established. Did anyone else do or plan to do something for Jason's death day?

~ I was on a Taylor Swift kick for a couple days and it struck me that Shake It Off by Taylor Swift would be the perfect karaoke song for Bruce Wayne when he is in Brucie Wayne mode. Please look up a YouTube video with the lyrics and envision the near himbo Brucie Wayne alter ego performing it while you listen.

~ Looking for some input: I am working on a couple collages, one for Jason Todd, and a SuperBats one, both are in the collecting materials stages. I am trying to go for the 2000s fandom graphics/Blingee/Myspace vibe, but in a physical format. Any ideas are welcome.

~ I do not know how or why, but for nearly a week, my Instagram recommends were full of Batman/Hello Kitty artwork. Not Batman being a Hello Kitty fan, not Hello Kitty dressed as Batman, but Batman/Hello Kitty as a shipped pair. And it was multiple different artists. I've refrained from interacting with it enough that it's mostly gone away, but my brain is still unsure what to do with this information. It did give me a surprisingly not cursed fic idea though (with Vexed's help).

~ I no longer have the article (pretty sure it was Screen Rant), but someone suggested a live action fan casting of Jensen Ackles for Batman and Timothee Chalamet as Robin. I really wanted to hate it, but damn, I like it. (The specified Robin was Damian Wayne.)

~ Panda Redd's April Tik Tok compilation videos came out on YouTube and unexpectedly, he has his own theory justifying Jason Todd having an autopsy scar. I was not expecting him to be pro-autopsy scar. To be fair, I am also pro-autopsy scar, mostly for aesthetic reasons, but I also know it doesn't make sense for him to have one, and frankly, the logic part of my brain can't get past some horrifying implications. If you want me to do a post on this, let me know.

~ kibar.art for #nationalsuperheroday put up a guide on how to light a face from different angles using Batman on Instagram and it tickled me.

~ impyssadobsessions on Tumblr made an adorable fanart called My Neighbor Batman that shows the bus stop scene from My Neighbor Totoro, with Batman as Totoro and Dick!Robin & Jason!Robin as the kids, that needs to be seen.

I actually have 6 more things, but I think I will stop here for now and do a part 2 later.

Challenge #9

Rec Us Your Newest Thing.


So my newest things are Our Flag Means Death meme accounts on Instagram and Daylists on Spotify.

When I first got into Our Flag Means Death, with none of my friends being into it, I didn’t really feel like I had a space to play in, but I found community on Instagram, especially with meme accounts, that did more than just post fandom memes, but also dissected scenes and had discussions in the comments.

These are my favorite Our Flag Means Death meme accounts on Instagram:

our.memes.mean.death
our.flag.means.sass
ourflagmeansdeathbb

Honorable mention to ourflagmeetsgoodomens, as it is still a lot of fun, but it is primarily screencaps of tumblr asks with Neil Gaiman about Good Omens (TV series) – which again, a lot of fun, but off topic from Our Flag Means Death.

Daylists are a new thing on Spotify. I found out about them when a mutual I have on Instagram posted in his stories “screw your astrology sign, send me your Spotify daylist title,” with a screen cap of his current one. This peaked my interest as it fits in with my “send me your playlists, not your nudes,” philosophy, but also because I had no idea what he was talking about.

How you find them, is you search on Spotify for daylist or my daylist, and it will bring up for you a playlist titled daylist (which you will need to add to your library if you want quicker access too). Unlike the daily mixes it was already doing, The daylist changes multiple times a day. From my experimentation, there is a morning, afternoon, evening, and late night list. Under the title, it gives you a description of you playlist, including what genres it includes, (sometimes) what you listened to that made it pick these genres, how long the playlist is, and at what time your daylist will change to the next one. (You can also preview tracks like a regular playlist.)

My first Daylist I got was titled, “lip sync teen angst afternoon,” which made me feel seen and called out at the same time. It seems to be a common reaction, though I know a couple people that have gotten ones that seem to have nothing to do what they listen to, so sometimes it misses, but I am hooked.

It also gives you a bunch of other mixes it thinks you might like based on your listening and says they were created “for you,” but they seem to be premade mixes they push on everyone. So far, my suggested mixes have been, “Goblincore Mix,” “Anti Anxiety Mix,” “Pirate Metal Shanty Mix,” “Spooky Evil Gay Mix,” “Egg Punk Mix,” “Bubblegrunge Mix,” “Meme Mix,” “Tuesday Mix,” “Murder Ballad Mix,” “Purple Sound Mix,” “Horror Movie Synthwave Mix,” “Angry Whistling Mix,” and “Crying Birthday Mix,” at least those are the ones I took note of. It also sent me a bunch of kpop, which I have never listened to. (Nothing against it, just never have, but noted here to show that the other mixes don't necessarily have to do with what you listened to and are probably premade.)

My favorite Daylist title so far has been “dynamic religious music Thursday night,” which had zero religious music and was almost entirely goth bands and various flavors of horror and doom. It was a lot of fun.

My current daylist while I type this is “angst college rock Wednesday afternoon.” The titles are not always inventive.