iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Eyes5 @metroidhat.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I saw this video years ago, and it has informed a lot of my understanding of how plushie production works. And I am currently a professional plushie factory correspondent/technician!

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Eyes5 @metroidhat.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Oh heck! I didn't appreciate the scale of the plushie until you popped in, and it really surprised me!

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Eyes5 @metroidhat.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

I love your depiction of hair and muscles!

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Eyes5 @metroidhat.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Do you have time to do dinner at some point?!

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Eyes5 @metroidhat.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

In Prime 4, I kept freeze framing when Samus was around people, comparing their heights. It was a relief to see that she's tall in that game.

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Eyes5 @metroidhat.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

When people tell me my plushies are too expensive, I like to put on a customer-facing (or effacing) smile and say, "No worries! I completely understand. You ought to make your own then; it's much cheaper! :D >:)" And watch them sputter away in bafflement. Bonus: "Buy this pattern to help you along!"

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Eyes5 @metroidhat.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

I read an interview that states the music of Prime 4 was made as if it's the music Samus has rolling around in her head as she lives through the events of the game. I think she has a penchant for thrashing guitar metal and haunting operatic vocals.

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Eyes5 @metroidhat.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

I got one of those mini watercolor palettes and did a little sketch on a spare notebook. I also used watercolor pencilcrayons, frisket film, and pen. I haven't done physical painting in yeeaars, but this was really fun and rewarding!

A watercolor painting of a metroid above a field of poppies. Also pictured is the mini 8 color watercolor palette I used and a tin of watercolor pencil crayons.

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Eyes5 @metroidhat.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

Oh hey I just came home from there! And I too got the Rocky in Science World print.

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Eyes5 @metroidhat.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Can you believe that there's enough of us AdamXSamus shippers with enough creative juices to make not one, but two zines?! Our second just came out! Due to a busy year, I wasn't able to contribute much this time. Maybe for the third~~

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Eyes5 @metroidhat.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

The scourge of open mouth construction in plushies!

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Eyes5 @metroidhat.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

I felt like making a cute bucket hat. So I did! It's got Earthbound embroidery on the side, and it's reversible to reveal some dragon fabric from Japan. The denim parts are cut from some old jeans and the brim features stripy piping. I'm ready for the sun~

Five photos showing off a bucket hat I made. The top photos show the hat on a mannequin head, while the bottom ones have me wearing it in a park setting. The middle image shows my initial sketch, which turned out very close to the final product. The hat has orange and red stripes with an embroidered Mr. Saturn, Ramblin Evil Mushroom, and Mobile Sprout marching along. The reverse side of the hat has a pattern of dragons against a red background. Parts of the hat are made with blue denim, which I cut out of old jeans.

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Eyes5 @metroidhat.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

Harvest day! Here's today's haul, and some glam shots of my garden. This pic really doesn't convey the scale of the produce; that broccoli is about the size of my head. More descriptions in the alts.

Yellow pattypan zucchini, a huge honkin' head of broccoli, like 20 Russian Red garlics freshly dug up and ready to be cured, all framed by a bunch of California poppies. I've never been so successful with broccoli before! And this is my first time growing pattypans, which have turned out quite tender and tasty. I was worried about my garlic, because another variety that I grew ended up kinda small, but the Russians are ever robust and reliable. I haven't had to buy garlic in years.

A pic of a portion of my garden. Several garden boxes are resplendent with growth. Well, the garlic plot is half harvested. Another one is jam packed with sunflowers, peas, squash, and corn. Perhaps I overdid it this year; it seems like the corn is suffering from the proximity to the robust sunflowers. Though you can't see it very well, the hind boxes have brussel sprouts, cabbage, strawberry, and asparagus plants.

Another sector of my garden. Here we've got beets, more squash, zucchini, edamame, potatoes, broccoli, carrots, and onions.

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Eyes5 @metroidhat.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

Of course I remember! Ahaha I wonder what happened to it. I bet it melted down in the heat. XD

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Eyes5 @metroidhat.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

Alright you cretins, come at me. I was responsible for Fangamer's Split Head plushie! www.fangamer.com/products/spl... I didn't make a full prototype myself, but I drew the turnaround, created the print texture, and figured out some of the troublesome construction elements.

A prototype Split Head plushie photographed with some printed fabric. The fabric prints are uncut pieces of Split Head's pattern pieces. It's tricky creating so much print because I don't know what my art will look like in the final product until it gets made. Are the colors going to print okay? Is the positioning of print going to be in the correct location once the fabric gets sewn? I still don't really know; I have yet to hold the completed plushie in my hands. I have to assess my work through photographs on a probably-inaccurately-calibrated computer screen.

The turnaround for Split Head. It's a drawing of the plushie from different angles. Most of the drawings don't have texture so the shapes are clearer. The hind legs were particularly difficult to realize in the drawing and in sewing. I was trying to emulate how Split Head's legs look in the game, which is kind of splayed out at an odd angle.

A photo of a sample hind leg I made. The factory was having trouble understanding it because a normal animal wouldn't have legs bent like this.

A photo of my test of Split Head's zipper mouth construction. I unfortunately made it pink. It was important for the mouth to be round enough or else the internal fabric of the zipper would start objecting to the sudden changes in angles.

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Eyes5 @metroidhat.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

For all their missteps, I really like how generous Mel is and how much they genuinely care about Talita. I hope that that gets appreciated some day in the future, or at least acknowledged. :3

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Eyes5 @metroidhat.bsky.social · 27/01/2026

30 years ago, lil' Eyes5 wanted to make a comic book and drew inspiration from a 2 page featurette in Nintendo Power about Dragon Hopper, a VB game that never got released. Didn't matter; she spent the next 4 years making a 28 chapter, 280 page epic where she imagined what would happen in the game!

Dragon Hopper's 2 page spread from Nintendo Power 86, 1996. It was the only info I ever saw on the Virtual Boy game before it was quietly cancelled. And now, in 2026, the game has finally been released on Nintendo Switch Online!

A page from my 'Dragon Wings' comic, drawn on a little square of 7x9 cm paper that I cut out. Every chapter had 10 pages stapled together. This page shows Narlo, the protagonist, opening a chest containing whip, x3 candy, knowlage ring, leather headband, and faerie in a jar. I was ripping off Secret of Mana left and right, and I wanted to make the comic evoke the item management systems of RPGs. Items are collected and used, and equipment is reflected in what characters wear.

Another page of 'Dragon Wings', this one showing a map of the world. It sure as heck was ripped right out of the Dragon Hopper map shown in Nintendo Power!

The final page of 'Dragon Wings'! Narlo, with his friends Rego, Slurpee, and Bino, collected all the faeries, retrieved the fabled Dragon Wings, defeated the dreaded Sartono, and finally reunited with his fiancé Mego!

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Eyes5 @metroidhat.bsky.social · 25/01/2026

I got Metroid ice cube trays for Christmas! Though instead of ice cubes, I learned to work with chocolate and NOW I'M MORE POWERFUL THAN I COULD HAVE EVER IMAGINED HAHAHA

Chocolates in the shape of Metroids on a plate. The body is brown milk chocolate with the nuclei and fangs being milk chocolate.

Metroid chocolates on a plate and in a box, with the emptied silicone molds.

Metroid chocolates. Some on a plate, some still in the molds.

Metroid chocolates as they're being made. Peanut butter filling is in some of them. Bowls with filling and melted chocolate and other ingredients are scattered on a table.

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Eyes5 @metroidhat.bsky.social · 16/01/2026

Cut to one of them sneezing on you.

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Eyes5 @metroidhat.bsky.social · 08/01/2026

Oh no! It's kind of amazing that you do so much new merch for Magfest every year. A flub once in a while isn't such a big whoop.

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Eyes5 @metroidhat.bsky.social · 19/12/2025

Post them all. Be the change you want to see in the world.

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Eyes5 @metroidhat.bsky.social · 17/12/2025

Thanks! It's really fun and straightforward. It does take some initial investment of materials though.

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Eyes5 @metroidhat.bsky.social · 17/12/2025

I carved some Metroid stamps~ I wanna stamp some fabric, though I'm not sure what I'm gonna make out of that fabric. Any ideas?! I'll also try a few paper printing experiments~

A picture of some Metroid stamps before they're carved, plus the stamp design that's been printed on paper. My process is this: first I draw the design on Clipstudio, then I inverse the image and print it out on a laserjet printer. The ink becomes sticky when heated, which makes it perfect for transferring onto the rubbery printing block using an iron (though I risk deforming the block). What is left is a transfer of black ink on the pink printing block. All I have to do is carve out the black parts to get the image I want.

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Eyes5 @metroidhat.bsky.social · 16/12/2025

Whoa! Are your teeth often at risk that it requires a mouthguard?

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Eyes5 @metroidhat.bsky.social · 14/12/2025

Oh heck, I also plan to fire up Prime 3 soon as well. I finished 4 twice and I'm thirsty for more.

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Eyes5 @metroidhat.bsky.social · 09/12/2025

Oh! Another cool observation I had, is that if you scan the Feds before they introduce themselves, you get a generic entry. But if you scan them again after learning their name, the log updates with the name and their personality. So the scan visor is updating dynamically as you get more info!

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Eyes5 @metroidhat.bsky.social · 09/12/2025

I felt exhausted by all the names in Dread. There's so many, from Arteria to Itorash. Diegeticly, I guess the Chozo language is more natural for Samus and her suit. And if the Lamorn phonetic translation of words gets us pronunciations like Vi-O-La, maybe it's better if the translation is literal~

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Eyes5 @metroidhat.bsky.social · 09/12/2025

Great and fair review! I feel the opposite about the naming convention. To me, it implies that Samus's scan visor assigns and transliterates names, sometimes favoring descriptive translations over phonetic ones. It makes sense even in past games, like why would Pirates use English terms like "Omega"

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Eyes5 @metroidhat.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

Although I lost my save file (save your game in a separate slot before the endgame, folks!), I had a lot of fun with Metroid Prime 4! I'll play it again soon and get 100%! But for now, I'm channeling my leftover energy into making some spoiler-free, low-effort Metroid comics.

A 3 panel comic. In panel 1: Samus, on her motorbike, buzzes past a green energy crystal, thinking "whoops"

Panel 2: She swerves to try to hit the shining gem, but misses. She thinks "C'mon..."

Panel 3: Samus is driving donuts, yelling "Why can't I hit this rock?!" The crystal is in the middle, unmoved, untouched, moisturized.

A 3 panel comic. Panel 1: A Lamorn (an alien creature with gills like an axolotl and 4 arms) says to Samus "Chosen One... To navigate our world, you must open your third eye..."

Panel 2: The Lamorn plucks a googly eye sticker from a sticker sheet.

Panel 3: The Lamorn sticks it on Samus's forehead, with a 'boop!' sound effect.

Panel 1: A Galactic Federation soldier says to Samus "Samus! I'm a big fan!"

Panel 2: With sparkles over their head, they say "I even have your trading card!" They hand Samus a card that has a picture of her on it, Justin Bailey style, with green hair and a magenta onesie that leaves little to the imagination.

Panel 3: Samus stares wordlessly at the card...

Panel 4: She thinks "Who am I gonna hafta sue...?"

Panel 1: Samus in her blue/yellow/magenta fusion suit, fighting off some yellow X parasites. The text says "This is Metroid Fusion"

Panel 2: Adam Malkovich in his blue and white general's uniform, lifting a struggling Samus up by the scruff. The text says "This is also Metroid Fusion"

Panel 3: Samus in her green Metroid suit, biting Raven Beak's head. The text says "This is also Metroid Fusion"

Panel 4: Sylux placing a Metroid on a Space Pirate's head, who is sweating. The text says "This is also Metroid Fusion"

Okay, so I'm gonna overexplain this joke! Panel 1 depicts the setting of Metroid Fusion, but Panel 3 and 4 depicts Metroid Dread and Metroid Prime 4. Dread, like Fusion, Samus becoming more Metroid-like in her DNA. And in Prime 4, Metroids are literally fusing with creatures to make them crazy or whatever. Panel 2, which depicts Metroid Other M, has many similarities to Metroid Fusion the game, although no Metroids are fused with anything. There's many story beats, tropes, and characters in Other M that are lifted right out of Fusion. Hence, some people describe Other M as 3D Fusion.

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Eyes5 @metroidhat.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

Sooooo, if you're at the Prime 4 endgame, be very careful about your save. Ideally, copy over your save file. I made a mistake and I basically lost my data.

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Eyes5 @metroidhat.bsky.social · 06/12/2025

I wonder if Talita finds humans cute, the way that elephants supposedly find humans cute~

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Eyes5 @metroidhat.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

I made a sweet little Emul plushie for a present. I love the fluffy accents in her ears, tail, cheeks, and chest! It's been a long time since I made a plushie that I didn't have to worry about replicating, so I took a lot of shortcuts and used a lot of hand sewing, which I don't normally do.

Four photos of a little hand-made Emul plushie, from Shangri-La Frontier. She's a bunny that wears a tophat, blue suit jacket, and red tunic. The jacket is removable, and I think she looks very cute without it too. One view has her face-down on the ground so you can see her fluffy tail.

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Eyes5 @metroidhat.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

When I glanced at this, I'm like "What are you doing putting a plushie in a bowl of noodles?!? Wait... oh."

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Eyes5 @metroidhat.bsky.social · 04/12/2025

My biggest fear when a new Metroid game comes out is that any new lore might mess with my precious headcanon.

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Eyes5 @metroidhat.bsky.social · 26/11/2025

The Lace plushie I prototyped is finally available! Would you believe that she's been sitting on my desk for five years?? She went through at least 5 iterations. Please enjoy these pics of some of those older prototypes, plus a pic of all the patterns I went through. More descriptions in the alts.

4 pictures of my final Lace plushie prototype from different angles. She's wired, so I put her in a number of sassy poses.

I picture of my first Lace prototype, posed as if she's doing a musical number in "Singing in the Rain". Something I really tried to achieve was crazy flexibility in the legs, as she's pretty much doing the splits in some of her sprites. This meant that her legs needed to be separated all the way up to her hips in order to do those high kicks. In the end, her high-riding pantaloons were sacrificed in favor of badonky pumpkin pants, which only allowed her to do little kicks at the knees.

A picture of two Lace prototypes, face to face, comparing their various features. I believe the left one is a newer iteration. The feedback I kept getting when it comes to Lace's head and butt was "bigger.... Bigger... BIGGER!!"

A picture of all the pattern pieces used in making of all the Lace prototypes I went through. The final pattern is in the upper right corner. I keep all my working patterns until the plushie is declared finished, in case I need to go back to a previous iteration.

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Eyes5 @metroidhat.bsky.social · 22/11/2025

I do not! Unfortunately, I'm too busy for commissions nowadays.

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Eyes5 @metroidhat.bsky.social · 19/11/2025

My prototype for the Frinos plushie is a borb. It's actually kind of challenging to make a borb that has curves in all the right places, like the jut of the mouth, the subtle curve of the head, etc. Please enjoy these pics of a pink, crescent-less, toe-less Frinos plushie.

Pics of my Frinos plushie prototype at different angles. They're pink, and is missing their crescent and toes and embroidery details around the eyes.

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Eyes5 @metroidhat.bsky.social · 18/11/2025

I was tasked with translating Trogdor's very 2D design into a 3D plushie! I prototyped just the head cuz I wanted to experiment with the eyes and eyebrow placement. Is it possible to get that 2D look in a 3D plushie? ...No. No it's not. It's just too weird!

The drawn turnaround art of the Trodor plushie. It shows Trogdor at different angles, plus various notes and schematics for the factory to follow when they make the plushie.

Three different angles of the Trogdor plushie prototype head.

Three different angles of the Trogdor prototype head. But this time, the eyeballs and eyebrows are oriented like the 2D drawing, all along the top sagittal plane of the head.

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Eyes5 @metroidhat.bsky.social · 01/11/2025

It's good? I like it just fine.

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Eyes5 @metroidhat.bsky.social · 19/10/2025

Whoa, it'd be cool to see other Hades characters in your style! It fits well!

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Eyes5 @metroidhat.bsky.social · 10/10/2025

What does that mean, "too cool for etsy"? Like, are they cracking down on fan merch for certain licences? Whoaaa!

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