You Can See Yourself Out: A Collection of Fun, Irreverent, Festive, & Wild Hand-Drawn Mazes


Well then, it’s finally here. I finished maze book number two! This one is better than the last one, I promise. The first was sort of a test run just to see how Amazon KDP works. I wholeheartedly appreciate everyone that bought that book, but this one just objectively looks better and much more time was put into its creation. It ought to be much more challenging and enjoyable, IMHO.

It’s called You Can See Yourself Out: A Collection of Fun, Irreverent, Festive, & Wild Hand-Drawn Mazes. Thanks to @brain.d.37 on Threads for suggesting the title!

This book a collection of a bunch more larger mazes, and a few small ones that I have been drawing since late 2023. There’s no common theme other than most of the mazes have a silly vibe. A few have no vibe at all. There’s aliens, rodents, yard work, holiday stuff, rock n’ roll, a treasure map, food, retail aversion, gross stuff, & more.

You Can See Yourself Out: A Collection of Fun, Irreverent, Festive, & Wild Hand-Drawn Mazes (Front Cover)
You Can See Yourself Out: A Collection of Fun, Irreverent, Festive, & Wild Hand-Drawn Mazes (Front Cover)

I hope you consider picking up a copy for yourself, & maybe even one for a friend? If not, just sharing the link to someone who you think may enjoy it, or just sharing it in general would be awesome.

The link is https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F9Y7SFXS and I’d love if you could share it, review it, favorite it or save it to a list… anything to help even if you’re not interested in a purchase. You could give me a good (or terrible) review or add it to your list on GoodReads too, if that’s your thing.

I had fun making a collage with punk ‘zine vibes for the cover. I busted out the mixed media, printed on weird paper, got two cutting, ripping, & coffee staining… and unearthed the leopard & cheetah print tape.

All of the mazes were hand-drawn, scanned in, edited (& “solved”) in paint.NET, & put together with Open Office. I haven’t stepped into the world of digital drawing yet, and I like my free programs. Someday, I’ll probably dive into GIMP a little more.

You Can See Yourself Out: A Collection of Fun, Irreverent, Festive, & Wild Hand-Drawn Mazes (Full Front & Back Cover)

I love drawing the mazes, and it’s a great creative outlet like blogging or making music or playing out live. I’m sitting on a pile of old ones that I can convert into a book… but I need to make sure they’re all solvable and do the solutions.

Find the tone! Guitar amp stack maze collage.

Some are too big to fit on my scanner, and scanning with my phone has less than desirable results… so I’m gonna have to go somewhere like a FedEx Office store and hope they can help before they all disappear. I have a problem picking up any notebook that catches my eye and is the right price, regardless of size & paper type. I like the feel & the calming of pen on paper.

Some of the ones that I have posted here in writing goofy emails/letters to companies probably can’t be included because of copyrights or trademarks when I include their products. (Unless La Choy/Conagra, Pizza Hut, Sheetz, Dollar Shave Club, Pepperidge Farm, Disney/Lucasfilm & more sign off on it, or it falls under fair use? I guess I could have included this one or these two.)

I guess I did figure this whole thing out.

Because I have been excited about this, and I made a small collage with leftover bits, I popped up some new merch designs in my TeePublic & RedBubble stores with that new collage & the book cover images. I do have some older designs there with a few of the mazes that are featured in this book too. If you have an account & follow me on either of those sites, it may help my stuff get seen a bit more. I’d appreciate any form of liking/sharing/tagging if you’re so inclined!

In fact, check out all these designs from or inspired by the book, you can get them on all kinds of merch at each store! (I ordered a sticker, a magnet, a coffee cup, & a hoodie so I’m already in the hole.)

Cover & Collage Designs:

Mazes featured in the book:

So, what do you think? Any of it catch your idea? Any ideas for maze merch? Think you’ll pick up a copy?

If you happen to get something, post a photo or video of yourself with it, & tag me on social media! I’m @AiXeLsyD13 pretty much everywhere.

The Mandalorian | Jedi Theory :: SPOILERS


I hate speculative articles about fiction, but here we are. I can’t resist. I fall for the clickbait. I feel the fervor, I feed the fervor. I needed to get t out about the Mandalorian. Don’t read this if you’re avoiding spoilers & aren’t caught up to The Mandalorian Chapter 14: The Tragedy (S2 E6).

A Jedi is coming. Eventually. It will probably occur in the last few seconds of the season ender.

As a huge Rebels fan, I had hoped Ezra Bridger, but he may feature in Ahsoka’s rumored show (hopefully with Sabine Wren) later. I doubt Luke, but you never know. I’m not a gamer, but Cameron Monaghan would probably crush it if they incorporate Cal Kestis. The choice may be much more obvious. They have a bunch more of EU to pull from, or could create a totally new character, but I feel like they have a great direction to go right in front of them.

Is it too clear-cut to be true? Did Grogu call out to Mace Windu?

At first I dismissed theories of a Mace Windu return, but it really would be a major fan-service win while remaining great storytelling.

Especially with his latest Boba team-up… it will REALLY complicate alliances.

Mace beheaded Jango in front of Boba in the prequels. Boba infiltrated the clone cadet program and tried to kill Mace and Anakin in the Clone Wars series. Now they have to work to accomplish the same goal? Protection of Grogu.

Overcoming past grievances and making new fresh decisions on continuing down a dark/light/grey path are Star Wars at its core.

Ahsoka used the verbiage “took” not rescued or saved in Chapter 13. At first I thought it maybe implied Palpatine. Maybe Mace took the child and disappeared?

Falling out a window is certainly an established non-death-sentence in the Star Wars universe… and Windu was too badass to go down without a fight. We have seen Maul, Palpatine, and Boba Fett return from similar perilous circumstances. Perhaps he has cybernetic enhancements or even an eye patch now? Ha ha.

Samuel L. Jackson has been vocal about his eagerness to return to the franchise. There is potential for him to also pop up in the rumored Ahsoka and Obi Wan shows. (He is also professional enough to keep tight-lipped about it, and has a well established relationship to Disney and directly to Jon Favreau through Marvel and Star Wars.)

Dave Filoni has a love for all things Star Wars including the prequels, and has shown to be fantastic at bridging (pun intended) it all together. It would feel like a circular rhyme, which George Lucas tried to explain once.

I see it as a win all around, and would love to see Grogu wield a tiny purple lightsaber (and a tiny beskar suit).

I also see, that in needing to save Grogu at some point, Din will have to take off the hemlet. Will he then draw the vengeance of the Children of the Watch?

I honestly wonder if the call will draw out a Sith, inquisitor, the Night Sisters or another dark force wielder, or perhaps discover & unite all existing Jedi for Luke to start his academy.

At any rate, I have enjoyed every minute of The Mandalorian so far, and I no doubt will continue to do just that, no matter where the story takes us.

Mace Windu: "Shit Grogu, that's all you had to say."
I wish I knew where this came from to give credit.

Maze Mugs? A-Maze Mugs? a-MAZE-ing Socks?


Did you see the first post and the last post about the maze mugs?  Mike has been doing some fun stuff, and I have (very slowly) been working on mazes for the box.  Also, Mike posted some fun stuff:

Check out this packaging!

https://www.instagram.com/p/B8maHIiBpfu/

 

More than one maze per mug so you don’t get bored!

https://www.instagram.com/p/B8poxfzBm4H/

 

Click through on the socks to see the second photo!

https://www.instagram.com/p/B9KzKnehsK7/

 

So, what do you think? Want to see mazes on anything else? Want them solvable? Like that packaging or love it? Check out Mike’s other stuff on Instagram!  He has been making some killer skateboard decks and a topical T-shirt.

I won’t get into the COVID-19 / Novel Coronavirus outbreak here, but if you’re bored in quarantine… remember you can do all of my mazes.  It’d be cool if you finished one, posted on the social media platform of your choice & tagged me.

I need to put a maze on a guitar. I need to update photos of my collection. I want to catalog them here since the sites I have found to do it don’t really suit my needs. Add that to the endless list of unnecessary projects to be completed “someday.”

MazeMugs? A-Maze Mug? Something else? Ci3 & I need your feedback.


Mike Copen of Ci3 Sublimation had the idea to put one of my mazes on to a mug, and I agreed that it would indeed be fun. We need your feedback to help make this something that people may be interested in buying?

Here are some images that Mike worked up;

Do you like the names? Feel free to comment your own.

☕✍

I would also appreciate comments here on this blog post, or on my social media posts;

You can comment below without needing to login to WordPress. I believe it will let you comment via Facebook, Twitter, and Gmail logins among others.

We have gotten some great feedback so far, and I dig it!

I really appreciate Mike helping take my mazes to something other than doodles on paper piling up here at the house, or floating out there in the cyberspace ether unnoticed.  Ha ha.  I am unable to determine the correct path on how to go about making a book and if there would even be an audience for just mazes.  I’m really not into making a theme other than “here are some mazes” outside the occasional inspiration for something else that’s goofy(Or on something that’s goofy.)

Mandalorian Maze


I, apparently like every other Star Wars fan, am fascinated by the Mandalorian and “the child.”

I was in a maze mood earlier too.

Help the Mandalorian find the child, or help the child find the Mandalorian.

Please excuse the drawings. I am wholly out of practice when it comes to things other than squiggly lines.

Mandalorian Maze by @AiXeLsyD13

Mandalorian Maze by @AiXeLsyD13

Print it. Solve it. Snap it. Post it. Tag me. (Or post it here in the comments.)

That’s @AiXeLsyD13 on most every social media platform.

If you’re so inclined, you could probably use a program on your phone, tablet, or ancient laptop or PC to solve & post.

I posted it on Instagram earlier.

My 6 year old saw me drawing and drew her own “Baby yoda.”

She is cooler than me.

So is it Baby yoda? Baby Yoda? Baby Not-Yoda? Baby Yoda-Clone?

Hit me up in the comments, then go read my last post.

All the #StarWars things.


I know I posted about this before, but a lot has changed since then.

All the Star Wars Things

(-o-)

So, if you were going to try to watch it ALL in chronological order, except the Lego cartoons, would it go like this?

  • Star Wars – Episode I: The Phantom Menace
  • Star Wars – Episode II: Attack of the Clones
  • Star Wars: Clone Wars (animated microseries)
  • Star Wars: The Clone Wars (3D CGI movie)
  • Star Wars: The Clone Wars (3D CGI series)
  • Star Wars – Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
  • Star Wars: Droids (animated series)
  • Solo: A Star Wars Story
  • Star Wars Rebels
  • Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
  • Star Wars – Episode IV: A New Hope
  • The Star Wars Holiday Special
  • Star Wars – Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
  • Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure (made for TV movie)
  • Ewoks: The Battle for Endor (made for TV movie)
  • Star Wars: Ewoks (animated series)
  • Star Wars – Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
  • The Mandalorian
  • Star Wars Resistance
  • Star Wars – Episode VII: The Force Awakens
  • Star Wars – Episode VIII: The The Last Jedi
  • Star Wars – Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker

Forces of Destiny and Galaxy of Adventures are messing with me by jumping all over the place.  Does Blips belong there too?

Shut up about canon.

|-o-| [-o-] |-o-|

Also, would be fun to see in the mix:

  • Fanboys
  • Laugh It Up, Fuzzball: The Family Guy Trilogy
    • Family Guy: Blue Harvest
    • Family Guy: Something Something Something, Dark Side
    • Family Guy: It’s a Trap!
  • Robot Chicken: Star Wars
  • Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II
  • Spaceballs
  • Spaceballs: The Animated Series
  • Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back

Light it up in the comments.  Maybe someday we’ll continue Star Wars movie nights.  Peep all my Star Wars related posts.