Kevin Blades (Operation: Puppet) 🇨🇦🏳️‍🌈

#Bluesky keeps growing, so let's connect! #introduction post! Hi I’m Kevin, professional #puppet builder and maker of fun media stuffs. Been doing this professionally since 2019. Here’s a small sample of my work. I also #livestream and #podcast! www.operationpuppet.com

No customer will complain that your project didn't use AI enough.

I hope Tuesday is gentle with me. On the good side I thought of a number of solutions to challenges in the current (very special) #puppet build.

An anxiety laden day. This is one of my all time anxiety antidote songs. Warning: flashing lights. And werewolf gogo dancers. Even in these chains you can’t stop me. youtu.be/j-qQ_brIsfY

It’s municipal election day in #Toronto. Remember, Brad Bradford (yes that’s a real name) hates #puppets!

Finally spending some quality time with #Soulframe since P16 dropped and THE WOLF PUPPY IS VERY VERY GOOD!

My children, the Chruch of #Warframe is on sabbatical today so no stream but Cephlon Frankie still expects you to say your prayers and harvest your moon meat like good little Tenno. We may do a watchalong for the dev stream this Friday 🤔

#podcast time! This time very special guest co-host Sunie joins for chat about #AI, #retro gaming and preserving your games locally, plus #enshrouded, #warframe and, as always, #puppets! Search Pixels and Puppets where you get your podcasts or at this direct link: shows.acast.com/pixels-and-p...

Tonight's #Warframe Prime Time raid was absolutely amazing! Thank you so much to everyone who came and hung out and drove us so much closer to the donation goal of $5K, proving once against that we all lift together! tilt.fyi/9EWD5I8j4F

I'm getting tonight's #Warframe Prime Time raid! But what's more important is that I'm just a little over half-way to my goal. Donations of $25 or more get you a chance to win a Kitty Speaker statue *AUTOGRAPHED BY THE STAFF AT DE!* tilt.fyi/9EWD5I8j4F

I feel obliged to once again reiterate that lay offs and closures are not a reaction to the economy, but a failure of leadership. Each wave of closures and layoffs should be looked upon as a consequence of greed and incompetence. If you can't keep your people employed, you are bad at your job.

I clearly remember excited discussions in the office when this "new" thing called #PHP was first becoming known. Ah, how far we've come together.

All currently available #puppets ready for adoption! Thank you so much for supporting small #artists! #smallbusiness #Etsy www.operationpuppet.com

There are a lot of great creators I otherwise enjoy who use a video editing technique to remove any and all pauses and gaps around words and it drives me up the wall. It sounds like your voiceover has been pieced together from 30 different takes. Let speech have a rhythm. Please 🙏

Nothing makes me so instantly angry as some motherfucker out there with a motherfucking leaf blower just blowing some motherfucking leaves.

HI!! It me for the #Warframe raid this week! Let's see if we can get closer to my $5,000 PMCFQ goal! tilt.fyi/9EWD5I8j4F

Moon meat for the big lady means our 1st hour long survival. Time to go to the Church of #Warframe #twitch www.twitch.tv/operationpup...

Taking Cephalon Frankie off the charger. He got too near something on Deimos and now grows thin tentacles that are very messy to trim off.

Fun fact: despite it being a common thing, I’ve never gone longer than 35 mins in an endless mode #Warframe mission. On tomorrow’s stream imma do 1hr for the first time.

Still time for Spooky Season! More #Halloween builds just listed, a Smol-o-lantern and bedsheet ghost, inspired by the classic Betty Boop cartoon! 🎃 👻 Available on #Etsy or message directly for PayPal! #Puppets #smallbusiness #artist www.operationpuppet.com

I’m noticing more & more when a video does *not* use #AI stuff like voiceover and thumbnails. An imperfect thing full of humanity will always be more impactful than some dull generic LLM output. I want to hear accents, stutters, bad line reads, awkward pauses. Perfection is boring and pointless.

Goth puppet builder. Oh wait...

Between it being too hot and dentist anxiety I didn’t sleep much last night. Result: seriously considering turning in at 7:30 pm. Rock star life, me.

Getting @brighan.com to do VTuber art for me is on my list of things to save up for. Please do give them your love (and commissions)!

Off to the dentist for some torture so reflecting on how it's going to be impossible for me to ignore all the GTA stuff in the next couple of months. Yes these things are related in my mind.

Every movie, song, and book that you love was made without the technology that people who don’t make art are now insisting is necessary for making art.

Hey mini heatwave part way through October after I’ve broken out the leather jacket? Get stuffed.

I’m no sketch artist but today I took an actual pencil and actual paper and sketched out an idea for a puppet build. It felt great, client loves it. Doing art isn’t about *having* art, it’s about *making* art. No matter how “good” the result, #AI can never be that.

Vibe coded decomps could be the real Achilles heel of corpo #AI boosters. The very companies that pushed this stuff are facing a world where any yob can prompt themselves a Photoshop clone and just put it on GitHub. It’ll be jank and impossible to maintain or update, but free is free.

Still blown away by @mischkaa.bsky.social's Banshee skin. Just stunning. I loved Banshee before but I think it's turned me into a Banshee main. #Warframe

On the one hand I lament not being able to break through into a wider #warframe creator space. On the other I frequently cancel streams. Hey Kevin, think these two things might be related?

All talked out from a long podcast so putting a pin in the #Warframe stream today. More soon!

Well I *was* going to nap but someone in my neighbourhood is setting off fireworks. At noon. On a bright & sunny day.

Yet more #podcast has happened! We cover #Diggers, #DragonsDogma2, retro tech, #StarWarsGalacticRacer, X4 Foundations and, as always, spooky #puppets! Search Pixels and Puppets where you get your podcasts or at this direct link: shows.acast.com/pixels-and-p...

BREAKING: a lone Canadian puppet builder has discovered Super *Duper* Intelligence. It runs on a mere few pounds of squishy tissue inside the human skull and does not require polluting data centers, just a large stipend of sleep and coffee. Investors, please form an orderly line. #AI

2026 #Halloween build reveal: The Bride of #Frankenstein! This was a real special one, worked very hard on her. Honestly hesitant to sell her. Please remember to contact me if you’d like to pay PayPal before buying it on #Etsy. #Puppets #maker #artist www.operationpuppet.com

2026 #Halloween build reveal: The Bride of #Frankenstein! This was a real special one, worked very hard on her. Honestly hesitant to sell her. Please remember to contact me if you’d like to pay PayPal before buying it on #Etsy. #Puppets #maker #artist www.operationpuppet.com

If you are a Toronto restaurant contemplating AI food imagery, I will photograph your food for you, and process the photos for the low cost of just letting me have the food for free, if it stops you.

#Gamer pro tip: take a look at your most used controller in full sunlight once in a while. Once you’ve stopped recoiling in horror clean it a mild cleanser and soft cloth.

Lead up 3 to tomorrow’s new #Halloween build reveal. A small sample of past #puppets I did for my favourite season. #Maker #artist

If your #AI boosting bro doesn’t also fervently support Universal Basic Income, the conversation is already over.

It’s amazing how the #Warframe subreddit can melt down over the ask of having to coordinate with squad mates. I don’t blame DE in the least for being *very* cautious about the new 6 player mission.

Lead up to the #Halloween build reveal number 2: past #puppet builds! What can I say, I have a type. #maker #artist

Almost done this years special #Halloween build. Before the big reveal let’s look at some spooky #puppet builds I’ve done in the past, starting with a small sample of Smols.

Quick update on the direct shop, #etsy, and our (upcoming) new website! #artist #maker #youtube youtu.be/aocmM1_f32w?...

The second week of featured PMCFQuest 2026 streams starts TODAY. Check out scheduled members of the Warframe Community to claim limited-time Captura Scenes as Twitch Drops! bit.ly/3W0EYqy

You see this ancient beaten up leather? I’ve worn it since literally the 80s. In a video game this armour would be soulbound. It’s time for a new augment. I can’t afford the #Warframe tattoos I want, but this is the next best thing. Lotus symbol coming soon. My highest honour.

Courtesy of @upsidedownsmore.com. I’m not normally taken with “motivational” influencers but this was genuinely like “damn”. A great mental model for breaking bad habits. youtu.be/ypOUBEzwwrU

There will still be ongoing weirdness at operationpuppet.com for a few days, but I'm finally kicking #wordpress to the curb. That does mean the direct shop is also going away (because WooCommerce) but it's hardly used these days anyway. I'm streamlining. More about that later.