#my relationship with the anime is uh conflicting

[piiratriesthings]

CANCEL ALL PLANS KEVIN PENKIN HAS DROPPED THIRD MADE IN ABYSS ALBUM TO SPOTIFY

#I know what I'll be listening the next six months #my relationship with the anime is uh conflicting #but the soundtrack man the soundtrack #it's like free top tier inspiration juice to my brain #made in abyss #kevin penkin

[nanomooselet]

My Brother's Keeper (I)

So, uh, I have seen the complaints that Stampede is "poorly-written". Often enough, really, to get... somewhat overly bent out of shape about it. Stampede was my entry into the story and I may have mentioned once or twice that I like it. You know. Just a little. This is not to say it's without its flaws, but it's technically very skilful, at least to my eyes. It's just… skilful in roughly twenty-two minute chunks, so it crams a whole lot into those chunks.

Vash tells Wolfwood he can "see [kindness] in his eyes" half an hour tops after hitting him with a truck. It's assumed that they're relying on previous characterisation of the two to carry this beat.

They're not.

See, animated shows or films (and definitely in the case of Stampede) aren't only written. They're story-boarded, rendered, scored etc. and all the parts interlock with the other parts. It has to be taken as a whole: spoken, written, visual, musical, situational, compositional. These are twelve instalments of a single story where everything in it develops, comments on, or reflects what lies at the work's thematic heart, but you have to figure out how. It's not going to explain it to you. If the relationship between two characters appears strange, that's because there's more to it. And whenever you see something in it that visually echoes something else in it, get out your pasteboard and stick in two thumbtacks connected with string because the show's letting you know it's important.

Now, because I viewed Stampede first, my reaction to this part was very much like Wolfwood's ("???") but the more of the show I watched, the more sense it started to make, and the more I appreciated what it did for Vash's characterisation. Having since read the manga, in my opinion the boys aren't at all interacting like they're accessing past-life memories. Vash is too busy silently reeling over Jeneora Rock and dreading his confrontation with Knives to keep up the whacky act that the older WW pierced. Wolfwood is too young and trapped by his own hurt to empathise by seeing through Vash's false smiles.

There's something else going on with these two, and if you think carefully, it's clear what it is. There were two loved ones that Vash lost tragically early in life, and we can assume it's not Rem he's thinking of.* The heart of this series is "the song of the brothers."

Whose side are you on?

I have to choose.

Lo and behold, through that lens the character interaction made a whole lot more sense. And I want to talk about how.

So, according to the show's language, right from his very first appearance Wolfwood has a connection with Knives.

In the ensuing scenes/episodes, it was then clear to me that Wolfwood isn't just connected to Vash's brother. He's a representative, serving as a sort of understudy while Vash journeys to confront the real thing. Anything and everything Wolfwood does or says is with that role in mind, because he's either playing along or fighting against it. It dictates his development as the show unfolds. He's got a job and he'll do it, but which of the twins' agendas is he ultimately serving as he does? Even he can't yet be sure.

This is a significant change. It has a huge effect on Wolfwood's characterisation; it's why he comes across as less confident, more surly - he's rebellious, but conflicted and immature. In the manga, the first time we meet Nick he's (mostly) his own man and he (mostly) makes his own decisions. While he isn't honest about his agenda, he is trying to temper Vash's idealism for honest and well-meaning reasons, albeit in a bitchy way. When he reveals himself, throwing down the coin halves, you feel the man is protesting too much so it'll make what's coming easier on Vash. Despite how deeply the two came to love each other they couldn't communicate their forgiveness, but Wolfwood is at his core a good man first who lost his way, then finds it again in Vash. **

Again by contrast in Stampede, Nick's identity isn't his own to shape (yet). He standing in for Knives, and he doesn't much like it. He does know more about the actual shape of things than the reporters - for instance, he doesn't bat an eyelash when Brad mentioned how long they've known Vash. So he can readily talk with Vash and test his convictions. They basically both know each other's biggest secrets already, so they don't have to make a whole production of getting to know each other.

But standing in for Knives is also why the introductory aw-look-he's-nice-really scene is so quickly revealed to be staged. Knives is the primary antagonist, not a neutral agent - he's the most dangerous and personal opponent the protagonists face. He's also cruel, controlling and manipulative. His "help" is anything but. Any gift he seems to freely give, like a protector, will either extract an awful cost down the line or have some hidden purpose (if he isn't "solving" a problem he himself created). Approach with caution.

(You know how Nick did something no one asked him to do then hit Vash, Meryl and Roberto with a massive bill for it like a dick? You know how he then violently rescued them from a situation he himself engineered so they'd have gratitude? Those are Knives's most basic manipulation tactics, when he isn't just hurling verbal abuse: I help you/I love you so I'm entitled to take this from/do this to you. Wolfwood is causing problems on purpose by acting out because it's funny, and knows he won't get whatever he's demanding. Knives thinks he's helping, and rarely hears when he's told "no".

Also, both the English and the Japanese have Roberto calling Wolfwood someone who kills with a smile on his face. He doesn't, really, but we have met someone else who does.)

That means like every other character, Wolfwood isn't quite himself. Not yet.

And that's actually awesome. Because it speaks to who the other characters are - specifically, about Vash.

(Part II)

(Part III)

(Part IV)

(Part V)

(Part VI)

(Part VII)

* OR COULD IT BE, as inevitably assumed on tumblr when two men are in proximity, unspoken romantic desire????

I'm not saying it can't be a factor, but it doesn't explain why they start having discussions over their principles like they've known each other for years. Or at least, to me it doesn't. As I've said I don't ship them. If you disagree, it's totally fine! Hear me out and decide for yourself. There's no reason to believe both can't be true.

** By what's coming, I mean the same development that eventually comes to every iteration of Wolfwood. You know the one. And by "they loved each other" I don't mean necessarily mean romantically. My personal belief is that there were mutual feelings along those lines, but they're both too emotionally reticent to acknowledge them and might not have regardless. But that's just me!

#trigun stampede #trigun meta #vash the stampede #nicholas d. wolfwood #millions knives #not sure when to add the next part #there are at least three more. maybe four. help it's so long #day? two days? #tristampparty #meta: my brother's keeper

[mae-i-scribble]

I rewatched a few of the early episodes of spyfam today bc getting to see the movie gave me an itch to scratch, and in particular episode two made me finally able to conceptualize what about fandom twiyor that irks me so deeply. If you like widespread fandom interpretations of them I would uh, look away bc none of my opinions on it are positive.

Episode 2 of the spyfam anime remains one of my favorites because of all the little flourishes the studios add to sell you on Yor as a character while also expanding a bit on the manga's original commentary on the stigma that follows older single women. What draws Yor and Loid together as a family is that neither of them are capable of having conventional relationships. Both of them are war orphans forced to grow up far too soon and who threw away aspects of their humanity to fight for what they believe to be a better world. While Loid's position as a spy and mastery of deception allows him to avoid the stigmas that would come from the ordinary person discovering what he does, that is not something that holds true for Yor, whose weakest point is that she simply cannot understand "normal." She's aware of the way her coworkers demean her and insult her but can do nothing about it because her only conflict resolution skill is murder. She is constantly reminded that she is an outsider, hence why Loid's declaration at the party is so meaningful to her, and what convinces her to ask him to continue the facade as a married couple.

Underneath it all however, is a quiet showcase of amatonormativity that drove both Loid and Yor to their arrangement. Eden requires a student to have a perfectly nuclear family. Societal conventions dictate that Yor, happily single at 27, is someone pathetic (to her coworkers) or someone in need of help (to her brother). Marriage is an expectation that Yor is pressured to commit to, and a societal requirement that Loid must uphold for the sake of his mission. And while this showcase begins in episode 2 it is something that spyfam continues to highlight when it comes to the expectations both Loid and Yor struggle to meet when they try to hard/become to anxious over what is "expected" as a married couple vs what the other person is actually thinking/feeling.

Now, what the fuck does this have to do with fandom you ask? Here's the thing. Spyfam reached the broad range of anime fans when it exploded in popularity, which is when I started engaging with it beyond just comments on the latest manga chapters. Modern fandom already has the issue of classifying ships into tropes rather than actually like, shipping characters as they are. And that's exactly what happened with twiyor. People began going "oh my gosh this is the moment she fell for loid," "oh he's so in love with her just look at him," before we had even reached episode 10. Which was incredibly frustrating to me because clearly Loid and Yor are not anywhere near in love that soon in the story- and the basis for that frustration starts in episode 2 for me. Because Loid and Yor's marriage is one that is unconventional from the very beginning, and it is that factor that defines their dynamic an allows them to function as healthily and sweetly as they do. People don't need to be in love to be married or to be a parental unit. None of that requires romantic love, it is simply an expectation of our society, the same sort of expectation that cripples Yor and makes her think she has to find a partner, then that she has to find a husband to appease those around her. Seeing that completely erased in a large portion of art/commentary/fics written about them angers me because its something baked into the foundation of their dynamic and something I feel enhances them as a potential romantic pairing rather than detracts from it. But we can't have that because of course a man and woman living together and caring for a kid fell in love almost immediately.

And don't even get me started on how people misinterpret Loid for their far more romantic interpretations of his motivations and relationship with Anya and Yor or else I will start losing teeth from how hard I am clenching my jaw

#spyfam #spy x family #criticism #mae rants #for me the ultimate appeal of spyfam is them as a FAMILY #far more than loid and yor as a couple #to both of them their main goal is preserving the familial unit #and i say this as someone who fully expects and is excited for a slow romance with yor and loid #it just makes me so mad how people talk about them as a romantic couple #and obvious disclaimer of not all people yadda yadda im just generalizing here and i know that #doesnt make me less frustrated when the great interpretations seem to be a minority

[escapismmaxing]

icewing redesign and headcanons!!

this is kind of a jumble sooooo

physical traits

i think they are so huge. easily the biggest out of all the tribes on average 

huge not just in height but they also tend to be chubby and fat like blubber

furred at hatching, but can lose fur as they age, often ending up with partial fur (mane, down the spine, trailing at ankles, etc)

also perhaps “beards” (genderless, duh)

(my imagination for this is kind of traditional unicorn esque, like those fuckass tails + hair around their feet and their mane. yeah)

speaking of fur,,, they have little toe pads with fur sticking out between their toes!

tiny little baby ears to prevent frostbite

antlers instead of horns!! or at least horns with many branches like antlers

kind of smallish wings compared to their body size, so they tend to be slowish, lumbering fliers but they still get the job done

this “style” of flying lets them be very sturdy despite high arctic winds

icewings hunt underwater, so they’re somewhat partially aquatic and can hold their breath for long periods of time (also hence the blubber)

their “spines” aren’t spines connected to their skeletal structure, but quills connected to their skin, so they fall out and regrow a lot, and also get embedded in opponents skin during battle

colors,,, im always conflicted on. for sure natural arctic animal colors (all greys, whites, beiges, yellows and browns during summer months) but also like. fuck it they’re dragons so blues, purples, and pinks too

i don’t remember when i originally did this, but i gave them a pronounced throat sac thing to produce sound and music? so yeah. we’re sticking with that because ive been drawing it for like a year

on the topic of their throat sac! i love to imagine what the tribes individual voices/languages sound like. i think icewings are very veryyyy scary according to other tribes, with deep growling, warbling, and clicking (like a leopard seal). and really throaty hoots and high pitched screeches like a snowy owl!

just saw a video of a caribou (?) fucking screeching. so yknow what icewings do that too (but not in normal communication it’s explicitly like an “uh oh!” noise)

frostscales! and also frostless. warmscales? i don’t really know but they exist to me. they’re kind of a lot less,, harmful than firescales, especially when kept within the ice queendom, because they just add more ice to existing ice

culture!!

so even though snowfall broke down the physical tracking of the circles, that hierarchy persists and there is for sure a hierarchy of dragons with closer relationship to the queen etc

now it’s just less concrete so it’s easier to move up and down etc

i wouldn’t think it matters any less though, like social standings persist

i think the social climate within the castle is insanely different to what it is outside the castle

inside the castle: cold, cutthroat, fuck you

outside the castle and outside the circle: living in a really harsh environment, so an insanely strong sense of community and togetherness, still with distinct familial groups, and icewings probably have one of the more common rates of monogamy/marriage

formal school settings depend on the town, some towns have them,and these towns also tend to be more formal in general and carry more remnants of the circle system

what’s more common is apprenticeships

speaking of apprenticeships,, jobs

hunting is taken on as a community activity, and there isn’t much to grow so there’s not a lot of agriculture

but there ARE a lot of traders/merchants in the border villages

also a lot of icewings who focus on hide/leather preservation, clothing and fabrics, sculptures,, lots of artisan work

lots of holidays, like holidays allll the time (high stress environment creates a need for frequent relaxation)

just for shits and giggles,,,,, some examples

celebration of first snow melt

celebration of first flower buds

midsummer celebration 

summer ending celebration (heralding in a kind winter)

probably during the winter a celebration every biggest full moon or something

you get the idea

i forget if this was confirmed at some point in the books, but i think “royal” instruments are just straight up like woodwinds carved from ice. so they’re royal because they can’t leave the tippy toppy coldest place of the continent otherwise they’ll melt

i think there’s a lot of legends related to like dragons trapped beneath the ice and lost in snow storms etc, just because water beneath ice makes some crazy terrifying sounds

as for population distribution, i think icewings are kind of concentrated at the castle, and then closer to the sandwing border. the tundra is kind of just meant to be traversed rather than lived in

they’re very friendly with sandwings and seawings! also eventually friendly with mudwings because of crystal, and probably at least somewhat friendly with skywings as well

although they did have a history of fighting with skywings for the northern mountain territories, they’ve come to an agreement now

also, of all the pyrrhian tribes, they’re one of the most friendly w the pantalan tribes since the icewing queendom is the hub for travel

fashion!!

so there’s a lot of mixtures with sandwing culture! drums and woodwinds, shawls are popular, beads braided into manes and tails

furs and leathers are common (using all parts of the animals they hunt) and carvings made from ivory are also common art + jewelry

i think other jewelry would consist of like really thin strands of metal looped around their face and antlers (so inconvenient but so pretty)

royal vs commoner

wow these categories are getting,,,, messy. sorry!!

royals have really political weddings still, related to rising in the circle ratings and whatnot (lowkey so much incest within the castle,,, save them)

it’s getting better, and dragons are marrying outside the nobles but still

monogamy would be commonly practiced but i don’t think they’d hold the “nuclear” family model i think all generations would help raise the hatchlings and instill family values into them or whatever

i think it’s similar for commoners, with generational but not communal raising, but obviously marriage is isn’t as pressured, so it’s less common

i generally think marriage isn’t the norm amongst dragons even if a couple is monogamous

as for commoners' view on royals,,,,, very very icy and unkind. royals tend to be really only concerned with royals.

i think they’re so unconcerned, actually, that there’s a whole separate “cabinet of diplomats” setup that live closer to the sandwing border and handle all the dealings with the other tribes. they send a report to the queen every first moon cycle. fucking maybe

royals and nobles tend to have more fun/thick and long fur because fur is really hard to maintain, keep healthy, and keep clean so a royal with a lot of clean and beautiful fur is a really clear sign that they put a lot of effort into their look

versus most dragons don't have the time for that, so over time they’ve lost fur (not completely)

religions/superstitions 

i think they’re insanely superstitious!!

the amount of ermines or stoats they see in a winter correlates to how fast spring will come (more = faster)

also to herald in spring, icewings collect flowers and seeds, dry them, and hang/sprinkle them around all the entrances to their house

polar bears and leopard seals are bad omens. they’re some of the only other animals that can take on dragons. icewings avoid them

(they’re seen as highly holy or a bad omen. or both. depends on who you talk to)

i think icewings think fire bad. you see smoke in tundra? bad. run

however. still. light is rare in the arctic, especially the winter, so it’s bad luck to snuff out a light and often is thought to mean inviting death into your life. this is also bad! 

so coming across a fire? bad. PUTTING OUT THE FIRE? worse. get outta there

i think there’s a lot of myths of seeing apparitions in the tundra and during the winter (that’s just snow being kicked up by the wind,,,, but also what if it’s not)

most common are: a giant dragon-like creature with a horn on its forehead and a finned tail, following this creature is debatable

still with the apparitions: crowd of small rodents (ermines, stoats, lemmings) scurrying about. decidedly don’t follow these, but they do often point to an early spring

i could go on forever.

(i also think icewings use water to “scry”) ((in general i headcanon magic to be a bit more present in the world. not just animus have it))

holy shit this got so long 👁👁 i hope these were somewhat interesting. dm or send an ask if you want more info on any of them i love spinning these guys around in my head i think icewings are so interesting fr.

#wof #wof art #wof redesign #wings of fire #wof icewing

[yuhi-san]

Point of View

Chapters: 3/3

Fandom: Trigun Stampede

Wordcount: 16'039

Rating: Teen up

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Relationships: Vash the Stampede & Nicholad D. Wolfwood, Meryl Stryfe & Vash the Stampede, Meryl Stryfe & Nicholas D. Wolfwood, Vash the stampede/Nicholas D. Wolfwood

Characters: Nicholas D. Wolfwood, Meryl Stryfe, Vash the Stampede, Roberto de Niro, Brad, Luida Lutner, Minor ship three character

Additional Tags: Pre-Relationship, post episode 7, Plants, ship three, Friendship, roberto is the only reasonable one and he has them all figured out, wolfwood is not having a good time here, conflicted feelings, hurt/little comfort, everyone is very protective of vash, the Wolfwood has complicated feelings, Angst, Introspection, Pining, not quite comfort but some reassurance, backstory

Summary:

After seeing Vash collapse in the plant room, there was no way of pretending he was human like them. Wolfwood isn’t exactly handling the revelation well and it wasn’t even news to him. As if everything wasn’t bad enough already, the gang suddenly finds themselves faced with another group here to take Vash. ----- On a spaceship in the sky, both parties try to get a feel for each other and their relationship to Vash. Wolfwood keeps struggling with the events of the days and at least some of it, Brad really gets.

This was initially meant as a one shot. I did always consider adding a part for Brad to the Perspective series eventually anyway but thought about making a separate one shot. But for one this takes place immediately after the end of the last chapter. It was also too tempting to explore some of the similarities between Wolfwood and Brad, especially when younger. Partly because Brad even states that he used to be a lot like Wolfwood in the way he can be harsh and getting worked up about things. And of course their instinctual fear of what Vash is. So here we are. Especially the second chapter was actually meant to be my contribution for @tristampparty day for Brad and Luida but uh, as you all can see i am very late haha

#tristampparty #nicholas d. wolfwood #meryl stryfe #vash the stampede #roberto de niro #brad trigun #luida trigun #ship three #everyone just wants to help vash #wolfwood aint having a great time with the possible eldritch horror #vashwood #fanfic #my fanfic #trigun #trigun stampede #point of view fanfic

[least-carpet]

MDZS characters and Western astrology: Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng

I was thinking about the pure comedy of Jiang Cheng, Wei Wuxian, and Jin Ling all being Scorpios (genuinely fucking hilarious move by Ms. MXTX) and was like: but what is the rest of everyone's chart?? (I was also like is this too niche? but I assume this fandom is full of other queer people and some of y'all must also be into astrology, right? Right?)

That's biting off way, way more than I can chew. HOWEVER. Some Big Three placements (sun, moon, rising) seem more reasonable. (Has someone done this already? Is there consensus?)

Does it make sense to analyze this work through the lens of Western (rather than Eastern) astrology? Probably not! This is just for fun. Take it with many, many grains of salt.

TL;DR I think Wei Wuxian has a Gemini rising and a Sagittarius moon to go with his confirmed Scorpio sun, and that Jiang Cheng has a Capricorn rising and a Cancer moon to go with his confirmed Scorpio sun. If you're an astrology fan then you know that I'm saying WWX is wildly annoying and Jiang Cheng is a champion grudge-holder from hell. Still thinking about Lan Wangji.

Wei Wuxian

I don't think he has a lot of earth placements, if any. My guy is brilliant, dynamic, impulsive, and completely shitty at managing practical stuff and long-term consequences. He's also otherwise pretty well-balanced, so I think he likely has one of each of the other element. Scorpio provides a fixed water sign. I would guess that he has Gemini as his rising sign and Sagittarius as his moon sign.

I love a big Gemini placement, but they are incredibly annoying. Charming-annoying, outgoing annoying, won't shut the fuck up annoying. This also means that his rising sign would trine Lan Wangji's sun sign, which is a generally harmonious aspect. Gemini is a mutable air sign.

I think his moon sign has to be a fire sign, and I want to say that it's Sagittarius. This would put it into his 7th house of committed partnerships. I feel like it's suitable there for a variety of reasons. But truthfully, this pick is purely based on vibes. Sagittarius is idealistic, likes to lead through teaching, and is the fire sign most prone to just straight-up escaping if feelings gets too real. The avoidance and idealism are linked; the desire to maintain distance comes from the desire to maintain the idealism, which might not survive conflict or intimacy. IME they're also wild-ass party animals who love a drink and hold it well (said with the greatest affection and admiration). Sagittarius is a mutable fire sign. That said, I would also buy Aries or Leo.

For more about Gemini risings, check out Alice Sparkly Kat's breakdown here.

Jiang Cheng

Contrary to Wei Wuxian, I would guess that his chart is a lot less balanced. He's shrewd, grounded, and effective. He's also got Big Fucking Feelings. With that in mind, I think his moon sign is another water sign (water ruling the emotions) and his rising sign is an earth sign. Specifically I think his moon is in Cancer (the cardinal water sign) and his rising sign is Capricorn (the cardinal earth sign).

The Cancer moon-Scorpio sun combo is a pretty brutal one-two hit. Congratulations, you now have every feeling and you will get over them precisely never! The other important thing to know about the moon is it sometimes represents the mother; Cancer is additionally ruled by the moon; in my experience, people with notable Cancer placements have particularly significant, overdetermining relationships with their mothers. With the rising sign I've picked, it'll be in the 7th house of committed partnerships—which, uh, his mother's relationship to his father and how that relationship is explained to him absolutely affects how he understands partnership. That's why dude is still fucking single when it would make a lot more political sense for him to marry and have a kid. He experiences partnerships through the lens of his mother's disparagement, humiliation, and rejection, because he's always been identified with her by his family. I digress.

Anyway, now that we have a person who has comically huge feelings, how do we account for his political success? I think his rising sign is Capricorn. Out of the earth signs, Taurus is too lazy (I say, with my own Taurus rising—Nie Huaisang is also a Taurus sun) and too slow getting started. Virgo is too idealistic, it loves a system, it wants things to be simple. It has incredible hustle but what I've noticed about people with big Virgo placements is that they struggle with the disjunct of how they think things should work and how things actually work. It also is a sign with a tendency to wilfully impose itself on others. Capricorn, meanwhile, is pragmatic, strives for self-control, and is sensitive to boundaries. This also puts his sun in his eleventh house, which is the house of the collective. Jiang Cheng's life trajectory is public leadership, which he's born to, groomed for, and sacrifices hugely in pursuit of.

Alice Sparkly Kat also wrote a breakdown for Capricorn risings.

I wanted to put Lan Wangji in here, too, but I'm still rotating him around in my brain... I kind of think he might have both an Aquarius rising and an Aquarius sun. He has big Saturnian energy.

#jiang cheng #wei wuxian #yunmeng shuangjie #those two PLUS jin ling being scorpios... amazing #mdzs astrology headcanons #just making up facts about my blorbos. don't mind me #mdzs + #astrology #least-carpet thoughts

[sebastianshaw]

I have been working on this for quite a while! It's a mass redraw of the cast portraits from my fanfic universe "Alt Marauders" that I did in 2021. I think I made a pretty big improvement for two years! I learned facial proportions, stopped with my massive noses (I was overcompensating for years of tiny anime noses, I'd found once I started drawing proper big noses they were SUPER FUN) and started drawing with thicker lines and line variation. Tried with some uptilted facial angles on the twins too! Didn't do so well with that but hey, future redraw material! While all the characters have dynamics with each other, I picked specific pairings to focus on for the portraits. Details under the cut if you're interested!

Shaw & Haven - The 'official' leaders of the group as appointed by X.avier, their extremely conflicting perspectives provide a lot of room for exploring different opinions between each other and the other cast members. Despite, or perhaps because of this, they develop a relationship focused around philosophical discussion, and Shaw does protect her---only because, of course, it would look terribly bad if the human liaison died on HIS watch! Shin & Pyro - The "fun" of the crew! Their lackadaisical ways and love of carousing bring them together, but there's a deeper element to it as well. Pyro hints he had a lonely childhood in the canon Marauders, and we know that Shin did, and both came from single-parent households---Shin raised by his mom, Pyro by his grandma---and probably have some issues feeling rejected by one (Shin) or both (Pyro) parents. And Pyro def dislikes Shaw in our version, so he's on Shin's side against him immediately despite not knowing all the details for some time. M.adelyne P.ryor and C.laudine R.enko/Miss S.inister: Maddie and Claudine have a complicated and evolving dynamic. Both are victims of S.inister, both have had their agency under assault, and both have been villains in their own right because of it. But while M.addie's was done under demonic influence, Claudine's was a choice made in full control of herself, and it involved children. Claudine was ready to take over the body of L.aura K.inney to save herself from being taken over by S.inister, and as someone who has struggled with agency and identity and having that taken from her, M.addie can't abide this when she finds out. As for Claudine's feelings on this...honestly, I'm still figuring that out. Alice, M.anon, and M.axime - In the aforementioned story with Laura, C.laudine is cloning a young girl named Alice over and over. Alice seems to have the memories of her previous clones who have died, so likely this was part of her developing the process by which she would take over Laura. We never see Alice again so I thought I'd bring her back. . .or a new her. M.anon and M.axime are another pair of kids I wish we'd seen more of, and have some serious issues of their own. These three aren't regular cast members but would show up in the story enough I wanted to draw them, if only because, hey, no one else will! Alice finds them sus, which, uh, well, they are. But it's also not really their fault and they do need help. I switched her sideeye from M.axime in the first to M.anon in the redraw since she seems the more deliberate of the two in her behaviors.

#my art #alt marauders #redraw

[rookflower]

For the opinion ask challenge How Do you feel about Swiftpaw?

sexuality/gender headcanon: never thought about it before. first thing to pop into my head is transmasc and aro/ace and i like that for him, so uh, that I guess?

rating out of 10: 7/10, there's not that much there but i gotta give it to him the guy makes for some great animations so that definitely factors in

fav thing about them: concise but incredibly impactful character arc for what is basically a background character to whom things happen offscreen. congrats of having one of the coolest deaths in the series, pal

least fav thing about them: i don't think there is anything to Actively Dislike about swiftpaw if i'm being honest, so again probably the fact that he's inherently not a very deep character. not necessarily a fault mind you, just limits my attachment a bit.

when i first started liking them: when he died LOL

favourite moment: i feel like this is self-explanatory

fav ship: n/a, don't think he ever really interacts with any unrelated cats in his age group. besides cloudtail i suppose, but uh, i don't ship them.

fav platonic relationship: brightheart! his apprentice/mentor relationship with longtail is also great, at least fanon-wise.

ship i hate: swiftbright.... they are cousins, sorry. i normally wouldn't feel to mention obviously gross non-canon stuff here but feel like this is a weirdly understated fact considering it's probably the most common instance i see of people accidentally shipping closely related cats.

prefer canon or fanon?: fanon! people have gotten some really cool things out of swiftpaw.

random headcanon: i like to think he grew up very close with his cousins cinderpelt/brackenfur/brightheart/thornclaw, due to being a similar age and not having any littermates of his own besides the deceased and dubiously-canon lynxkit. i also like to think he is named after the bird rather than the adjective, but doesn't tell people that because your prefix being a compliment is cool.

unpopular opinion: he shouldn't "have lived". listen, it feels mean to say that about any character who dies prematurely (just as a young adult in swift's case actually, since his ceremony was overdue), and i've seen swiftpaw lives aus that are really cool, but speaking canon-wise? swiftpaw's death IS swiftpaw's character, and if he'd survived happily he'd most likely be a boring background character who dies between books, or something. swiftpaw died for conflict and tragedy thank u swiftpaw

song i associate with them: neighbourhood ii (laika) by arcade fire

favourite map/amv/pmv: these feel like wildly easy picks and i know everyone's seen them already so im sorry. but come onnnn

my cat walked on my keyboard and added this: ff6666666666666666 , so that's her input

#swiftpaw #character opinion meme #i gotta go to bed but i might do more of these later #they take ages to write up and im pretty busy with school stuff rn so we'll see lmao

[joshhhhhhhhhhhhhhh]

mario movie thoughts ig lol

I don’t really have any idea how to concisely sum up my thoughts on the Mario movie, so uh, to hell with being concise! Spoilers and also negativity if that bothers you

I’m absolutely gonna have way more negatives than positives so just gonna get the positives out of the way before I start complaining.

The effective intro to the movie is good. Mario and Luigi are set up pretty well as characters and especially as brothers that value one another. They’re embracing the plumbers from Brooklyn backstory and even giving Mario tons of new family members who can treat him like shit so that we want to root for the underdog and stuff. And it works, it’s endearing. Also full of general Nintendo references because hey, enjoy your 5 microseconds of spotlight Punch Out and Starfox fans lmao. Not gonna call this part flawless, but it’s effective at setting up the central conflict and emotional core of the movie. It’s also very much the reason that Mario finally rescuing Luigi at the end of the movie worked well, in fact that scene ended up being almost the only time I felt emotion in the entire movie lol.

I think Donkey Kong is done fairly well? The approach they take is effectively making him and Mario frienemies with more in common than they like to admit. They’re able to see themselves in one another through their poor relationships with their dads and while it’s not explored in uhh any depth at all I think it’s a nice idea, in general I appreciate that Donkey Kong’s history is recognised here and he’s given quite a large role in the movie accordingly.

On embracing the Brooklyn stuff, I think in general it’s nice how open this movie is in its appreciation for Mario’s history and lore. They’re not trying to soften Mario for the masses or anything, Bowser’s still out to marry the princess, Mario still eats mushroom to go big, Nintendo like recently said Mario’s not really a plumber anymore but he sure as hell is in this movie. There’s not actually too many more examples, but it’s still just nice to see a movie that’s unafraid of its source material. There are even a few ways it builds on the source, the thing sticking out most in my mind being DK and Peach getting to use the fire and ice flowers respectively, which is sick! We’ve not seen that in Mario before and it lets them have cool new designs and stuff! I’m about it!

The other big point of praise is of course that the movie looks and sounds pretty fucking great. These character designs are iconic for a reason and this animation brings them to life in a way we’ve never gotten before, with a Mushroom Kingdom at scale to match. It’s a stream of Mario iconography rendered in beautiful detail beamed straight into your eyes. And indeed, taking a series as musically rich and remembered as Mario and just giving those tunes movie composition worked super well, the soundtrack breathes even more life into the world. Even the voice acting was better than expected, Pratt was competent enough to work in his role and most of the rest of the cast give fine performances.

And that about ends the praise! Yep, really. Fuck, if anything I gave more praise there than I thought I’d manage to when I set out to write this. And so, let’s dig into where I thought the movie sucked.

The biggest thing I feel is wrong with this movie, by far, is that it concerned itself with looking and feeling like Mario, and then accomplished absolutely nothing else. There’s like nothing that happens in this that’s worth caring about in the slightest. It jumps from scene to scene to stuff as much Mario imagery down your throat as possible without letting you have time to breathe and appreciate what’s on screen for more than 5 seconds. Emotional beats are introduced and handwaved away in the span of mere moments for the sake of, what exactly? There’s a scene where Peach is evacuating the toads and tells main Toad to go, and main Toad says he’ll stay because he promised to protect her, and then Peach just smiles and the scene continues. No buildup, no catharsis, no actual character arc or growth or recognition of anything they’re worth - it just kind of happens in a 5 second window and then moves on. And then the whole movie feels like that. It knows it’s supposed to tell a story since hey it’s a movie, but it’s afraid of actually committing to that, so we just get literal scraps of interesting characterisation while the movie instead focuses on doing action scenes or telling shitty jokes.

And god for that matter the jokes really do suck. You can feel the sheer “this would be good in a trailer” for every single one of them. Haha Mario’s dressed like a cat and DK is laughing! Haha that cute baby luma with child voice is actually saying cynical edgy stuff! Haha the toads are calling themselves adorable! And because there’s no attempt to actually build on any jokes and create like actually interesting and funny running gags, it’s literally just a series of nonsequitor one-liners that exist for like... the sake of gifs? For parents to share on facebook? Or something? There’s a couple fun slapstick visual gags but the actual joke writing is just eye-rolling.

Also despite liking DK himself in this movie, I found the Kongs in general to feel super weird? Like I’m not strictly a Donkey Kong fan - I’ve beat Country Returns and honestly that’s about it - but for having praised the movie’s accuracy to Mario lore earlier I feel I should call out how little a shit it gives about Donkey Kong lore. There’s no attempt to embrace any aspects of the DK setting or original lore whatsoever, it’s all just new shit made up for this movie, things that outright contradict DK lore even. Cranky is DK’s dad now! That’s not correct! And not just that but Cranky is the fucking king? Of the Kong species and the Jungle Kingdom? Like what?? If the movie wasn’t really faithful to Mario this wouldn’t bother me in the slightest but because they’re so careful to accurately represent Mario lore it feels downright disingenuous to just throw everything that ever mattered in Donkey Kong out the window. Like yeah the movie is called Mario but guess what the first game with Mario was called, yeah? And on Kongs, Cranky is absolutely fucking unbearable. Like actually by far the most insufferably unfunny and atrociously acted character in the movie, bar none. I was actively annoyed when I had to listen to him speak, I’d take a whole cast of Chris Pratt over the voice that Cranky ended up with.

I’m also weird on Peach. I don’t necessarily mind the girlbossification - if anything she gets the coolest action scenes in the movie anyway and she ends up quite fun to watch for it, but they actively scrub away Peach’s usual self to that end? I’m down with her playing a leading role and getting to kick ass and not just being a damsel in distress but surely the polite pink super girly princess that she’s always been can also be a thing this movie recognises, right? It’s not out of character for Peach to be both at the same time, we literally have Smash! Most things Mario the series does are timeless and inoffensive with Peach being the only real holdover from earlier bad attitudes, but hey movie execs you know you’re allowed to have your cake and eat it here? Peach can bake cakes and be badass at the same time? Girls give me gender envy man I’m tired of seeing traditionally girly characters forced into the exact same badass cool girl mold, it literally feels more sexist to admit that you can’t be badass and girly at the same time. Mario’s an everyman, it’s hard to get him wrong. Luigi’s cowardly but rises to the occasion, despite a lack of screentime the movie still portrays the Luigi we know and expect. Bowser’s an evil fucking bastard that wants to marry the princess, the movie delivers exactly that. Peach is the missing link. The Peach we know and love, only half of her is in the movie. It sucks.

I’ve probably not emphasised the sheer lack of even remotely interesting storytelling in the movie so I’m gonna double dip to complain about Mario and Peach’s relationship. It’s just so, not a thing that feels written by humans. Peach is excited to meet Mario because he’s a human. Then she’s kinda just standoffish almost because #Girlboss. Then without him really doing anything Peach suddenly thinks of Mario as like her closest friend. And that’s effectively where they stay the whole movie. There’s not like a moment where it clicks that they have good chemistry or anything, there’s no established setting that sells me on their dynamic with few words like Mario and Luigi earlier in the movie, it’s just they’ve met and they’re kind of a thing. There’s even a scene where Mario like chats to Peach and DK is like “dude your flirting game SUCKS she’d never date you!!” and Toad is like “uhh fuck you she totally would!!” and Peach is just like “come on guys” all playfully, end scene. What’s the fucking POINT dude. This movie’s the origin story! And it’s being exposed to millions upon millions of people that have never stomped a goomba before! You can’t just “boy meets girl” Mario and Peach’s relationship in the context of a feature length animated film! There needs to be chemistry there needs to be development there needs to be conflict there needs to be something worth latching onto and there just isn’t.

Feel like I’m running out of specific things to say here so I’ll probably just end it here roughly. The tl;dr is that the movie’s good at being Mario but really bad at being a movie, and yeah as it turns out that’s absolutely a bad thing. Yeah maybe your favourite Mario enemy appeared and maybe you heard a familiar tune but did you get good writing? Or even a fun story? Nice humour? Anything that goes into a good movie? I get that Mario’s not story heavy so making a movie was a tough shot in the first place but there’s gotta be more that can be done than this. Game accuracy and following the lore doesn’t have to come at the expense of writing a good linear movie. It’s nice that we got game accuracy! But we should be aiming higher than that. Alas, we got the safe, bland, totally inoffensive and unmemorable Illumination movie we all feared we’d get. And somehow I’m still disappointed.

As a parting note, it’s 2023, post-credits scenes for life. This movie’s post-credits scene is woah a Yoshi egg and it hatches but cuts to black before we see what’s inside of it! With the “Yoshi!” voice line then playing! Gee I wonder. But fucking honestly, if the movie does well and we get this sequel they’re baiting. I don’t see myself watching it in cinemas at all. I’m sure I’d watch Mario movie 2 or whatever but at this level of quality? I certainly wouldn’t dare pay money for it. That’s all.

#mario #5.4.23 #josh reviews

[chronicbeans]

Random Character Facts/Bios (Iolite Hospital)

Random info dump for my OCs! Yippee!!!!

TW: Chronic Illness, Hospital Settings/Doctors, Death/Embalming, Nihilism, Age Regression Due to Trauma

THE MORTICIAN: New boi! His name is Baxter and is Maya's uncle. He is a "land shark". Land sharks have a few defining features - floofy shark tails, short claws, paw pads and "toe beans" on their hands and feet, three fingers, and sharp teeth! Baxter loves death in the oddest of ways (he sees it as the most important thing in life, and uses it as a motivation to live how he likes). He is very excited over the prospect that EVERYONE will die, NOBODY will live to see their legacy, and as such, he believes that NOTHING matters. Unlike most, he fears never being forgotten after death. He is a hopeless romantic, falling in love quickly, easily, and obsessively. He currently has a crush on his assistant, Elizabeth. When "lovestruck", little hearts with X's for eyes will float around him, chirping out pieces of his thoughts. So he's just standing there, hearts in his eyes, as little hearts float and chirp things like "CUTE!" "PRETTY LADY!" "BEAUTIFUL VOICE!" "PERFECT!" His tail also wags when happy, the end of his tail curling to form a fluffy heart. Oh, he can also just like... Pull off a mean Charleston out of completely nowhere, with no warning. He'll be embalming a body, then just start dancing for no reason. He didn't even know he had a niece until Maya was admitted to the hospital. None of the doctors are really allowed to leave the hospital, instead just living in their offices. Only Dr. Cogsworth is allowed to go outside, because he is essentially an experiment on creating an artificial human. So, his creators want to see how he interacts with the outside world. Baxter is jealous of him. The only person he feels conflicted about dying is Maya, due to her both being related to him, as well as so young. So many things could happen in the Iolite Hospital that could hurt her, or worse...

ELIZABETH: She's a transgender woman, MTF. She's an Eyeless, much like Aluminum and many of the other doctors at the Iolite Hospital. She is very uh... off put by Baxter's nihilism. Not necessarily about the idea of nihilism, just by how enthusiastic and happy he is about his beliefs and obsession with death. She is also pretty conflicted by Baxter's feelings towards her, both from how off put she is by him, as well as the fact that her family isn't very accepting of relationships between land sharks and an Eyeless. Actually, they don't really accept relationships between any being with many animalistic features, such as tails, ears, and such, due to those animals existing separately (as in, normal sharks exist, too, alongside land sharks). So, despite the fact that land sharks are just like them with different physical features, many find them, alongside other animal-based beings, to be an odd choice to have a relationship with. Elizabeth never really denies his affection, and doesn't tell him to stop, either. She just finds it odd.

ALUMINUM: My baby boi. He's transgender, too! Specifically AFAB, agender, and he uses he/him they/them. He has allergic reactions to apples, cherries, and a few other fruits and veggies. This has caused him to just stop eating the majority of them, due to fear that it will make his esophagus more inflamed and narrow. So, his diet is mainly meat, bread, and dairy. He rarely eats nuts, due to them getting stuck in his throat. He is very particular about his meat, wanting it to be SOFT so it doesn't hurt. He needs to be able to turn it to mush with a fork. Dr. Cogsworth plans to try to convince him to go on a puree diet. Aluminum's favorite drink is strawberry milk, with his favorite food being cheesecake (but only the filling. He hates the crust). This has led to awkward moments where Aluminum will say "I love strawberry milk", then loudly slurp on his milk, with Derek standing right next to him, looking absolutely horrified, as Aluminum is confused as to why he looks so concerned. His room in the hospital is filled with plushies, sensory toys, a few baby bottles and his baby blanket from when he was a baby. That blanket is kind of a security item for him.

Derek: Strawberry cow boi. He is disturbed by the fact that people drink strawberry milk, but won't judge you for it. It is just odd to him as to why someone would WANT to drink the milk produced by his kind? He doesn't understand that, in the hospital, they don't go up to strawberry cows and milk them, and instead use powdered flavoring to make strawberry milk. Or that the carton milk isn't harvested from strawberry cows, either. Because he is so tall, when Aluminum is age regressing, he will just pick him up like a kid and carry him around. He also sleeps in a nest of blankets and pillows on the floor, since he doesn't fit in the hospital beds, and it reminds him of the hay nests of his home.

Dr. Cogsworth: He can't eat. Which is ironic, because he works with the digestive system. He didn't get to choose to be a doctor, due to him being built to be one. Due to this, he has always lived in the hospital, finding that he is both physically relaxed when in it, but also a bit stir crazy. When he goes out to meet with Father Cosmos, or to get supplies, he often invites people to stay in the hospital. He is always confused when they say no. He doesn't entirely understand why his patients are upset, but can see the small signs that they are. He just... Cannot comprehend not wanting to be in the hospital, but wants to help the ones who don't leave.

^Here's a little bonus pic of Baxter being a loveable simping dork, taken from my phone's potato camera. Also, he calls Dr. Cogsworth Coggy just to annoy him.

#Tales from the Iolite Hospital #My OCs #my ocs are my babies #Info dump #oc info #my stories #story info

[sadbastard-bug]

FREELANCER TIME

I thought it would be really funny to give them the harem anime mc hair where it like covers their eyes for basically no reason

Oh yeah headcanons too. Let's do that.

First things first! I'm 100 % on the gavin/lasko/freelancer trio! Its upsetting this polyamorous clusterfuck isnt a cannon thing. Although i do very much enjoy freelancer and gavin by themselves.

Okay so. If the little route game is anything to go off of I'm going to assume everyone had or still has a crush on freelancer. They are a certified academic cutie.

I say had because of course damien and huxley are a thing (my beloveds)

So I have a thought of order of how the crushes went in cannon? Fannon?

Damien's crush was the least serious. It was a schoolboy crush basically. A "this guys an idiot but a cute one" damien's crush dissapeared early on during working on the project however.

Next huxley. I like to believe it was puppy crush. A freind crush. Like "theyre so cute and sweet I want to be they're bestie" this also dissapeared quickly after him and freelancer became freinds.

Then gavin. Yeah yeah hes just a playboy who did not expect to catch feelings. He feel hard and fast and is now connicaly freelancers boyfriend.

Oh boy lasko..this man is very complicated in my headcanons. This nervous mess took one look at freelancer and went. "Oh no they're hot" NOW add his run in with gavin and you get a emotional mess.

Lasko is standing there watching a guy hes crushing on date a man he hooked up with. Cue very conflicted attraction to both of them. It is very much not helped by the couple's teasing. (Look I just want this trio to happen! They all have two hands just let them stand in a triangle or something please!!)

Alright..uh my lasko filed rambling aside, some uh actual freelancer ideas.

They almost exclusively wear D.A.M.N merch not because of school pride but because they just have that shit laying around. Lots of grays, blacks, whites, and browns. A neutral palletes with clothes.

They are mlm. polyamorous (they have no problem being monogamous though, well okay maybe some but that's the trauma taking)

Freelancer is the only one in my brain with an actual uh gender? They're agender to me.

Freelancer was alone before D.A.M.N their fear of magic and general lack of understanding made them pretty uneasy around people so they never really tried to have any long lasting relationships.

Now that they are surrounded by loved ones they will work themselves into the fucking ground for them. Including pushing their own feeling aside if they believe that will preserve their current friendships.

[This next one is a tad suggestive I guess?]

Uh honestly this may seem strange but considering how quickly they slept with gavin and the incubus mentions of uh freelancers experience? [from what I remember anyway] I feel like freelancer probably had alot of casual hookups. It's a quick way to find some comfort without having to think of anything serious like idk how your magic abilities would play in? It just makes sense. Hell maybe freelancer and gavin bonded over that shit or somethin.

#this one was a bit long #redacted audio #redacted freelancer #keep in mind this is my opinion #none of my ramblings are anywere close to canon:p #also theses headcanons are based of of the first season of the freelancer playlist #i have no clue what happens in patron audios so ye #im too broke for that

[thunderpounce-inc]

Rough draft ref for Cloudy & Orange, my two dumb TFA OCs who still need actual names

Cloudy is actually the transformer in my icon, making the ridiculous facial expression!

There IS a story to go with these guys, though idk if I will ever write it or anything. Said story mostly explores a pre-war spot on the timeline, actually, so there isn't much interaction with cannon characters.

It goes about like this:

Cybertron has a semi-functionist caste system, and Cloudy is a 'war-frame' transformer literally manufactured BY the military, like a soldier ant. Cloudy is an experimental model from a line of attempts at biomimicry, to make soldiers that were even more effective, ferocious, and resourceful than normal

Cloudy is kind of like if the MILITARY commissioned a much more real, much more genetically engineered (which, I would like to note, I headcannon that basically all TFA transformers are genetically engineered; they come in different 'models' and 'upgrades'; and that just sounds a lot like 'we are genetically engineering ourselves and are at the brink of outright cladization' to me) 'cat' 'catboy' than one normally thinks of. Less 'cute NYAH!', more 'scary TIGERboy who could bite your arm off'

also, uh WARNING! (robot) cannibalism is touched on below a bit

Cloudy serves in the Cybertronian military (he was BORN there,,,), during which he is stranded on a ship after a battle goes pretty Bad. Cloudy is the sole survivor of this, and pulled through by drinking fuel from the corpses of enemies (MAYBE fallen allies too, dunno how dark I wanna go). I DO know that even just doing that to DEAD non-transformer enemies would be a big deal, since transformers normally live entirely on inanimate fuels like energon, oil, ect- so I imagine even drinking BLOOD would be indistinguishable from cannibalism to them. Cloudy is literally intentionally programmed to like the taste of blood and this stuff distresses even him (arguably even more so BECAUSE of that)

Eventually the war Cloudy was forged for (most likely conflict with the Quintessons) is won, and he gets to go planet-side while on stand-by. Cloudy tries to do that Civilan Life, but its kind of tough when everybody is smaller than AND and kinda scared of you. He makes friends with this more open-minded motorbike (Orange) while he's there.

(they meet when a disaster of some kind causes a building to collapse, and Cloudy lunges at the nearest way-too-tiny-to-survive-this bot (Orange) to shield them. They get split up after that since Cloudy gets knocked unconscious, and first responders drag everyone off the scene for medical attention. But when Orange next bumps into Cloudy, he's determined to actually talk to him and find out what this 'scary war-frame's' deal is. Which is good, because Cloudy is way too shy to initiate conversation like that, haha)

Cloudy's secret eventually gets out when investigations of the stranding reveal that all corpses had been exsanguinated and gnawed on, all rations exhausted, and Cloudy came back weirdly healthy for a guy who should have starved to death. He's then sentenced to 'you die fighting in the gladiator pits, OR you die right now!' Cloudy gets immediately shipped out to the pits on the spot, and then Orange follows him there because he is a stubborn, loyal little mother fucker.

From there the story is less defined, BUT I know both of them become Decepticons when THAT war breaks out, seeing as both have become quite sympathetic to 'yo the current situation on Cybertron is FUCKED!'

I would also like to note, by 'reptile handler trust-bond', I mean some kind of wacky queer platonic(?) relationship defined primarily by it's foundation of carefully earned trust. I'm not very good in the social department, gonna be honest, but I like animals a lot, so that was the best analogy I had. Cloudy and Orange's relationship isn't romantic, I wouldn't say? It's based primarily in how Orange is one of the very few people Cloudy, who is very distrustful, is willing to trust closely.

#transformers #maccadam #TFA #transformers animated #OC #Inc's art #robocannibalism #oc: cloudy #OC: orange

[iamanerd1]

hi i am a person on the internet who cares about star wars and doesn't really like to be negative about things. Here are my thoughts about the Ahsoka show so far (which will include some negative things)

Every time I heard Ezra's name said aloud I bleated like a struck animal

How?? did Ahsoka figure out the room with the carvings to get the map, if she couldn't also figure out how to use the map? Like don't those seem a bit like a transferable skill set? (I wish we were brought into her mind a bit here and saw her thought process, from our vantage point it looked like she was just pushing buttons)

Ray Stevenson is immediately killing it and I also like his apprentice

Sabine needs to cuddle the lothcat more :( Give him kisses

I am assuming that Jacen is with his uncles on Lira San until proven otherwise

I am so confused on this timeline and yet I am very interested into what was the thing that drove Sabine and Ahsoka apart

Another thing on that point is uh, they don't seem like they like each other and not just in a 'were both scorned by the other person' way but like that they've never had any comradery ever? I can't see these two people working together happily

And why does this have to be a master/ apprentice relationship? Why not just a partnership? Sabine is an adult, she is Mandalorian, why does she have to be taught to be a Jedi when even Kanan never attempted to teach her to be a one? Light saber skills and Jedi philosophy sure, but he was never her 'Master', nor did he need to be. Jedi are taken as younglings for the express purpose of 'easier to train', of course it's going to be hard to train an adult woman????

Jai Kell took me out I'll be honest, why wasn't he played by dante basco

I am, frustrated with how slow everyone moves. Is this just a me thing??? It feels like everyone is purposely not moving at the standard rate of human beings

It made me a little sad that like Huyang is being ordered around like just another droid. Ahsoka, that is an old master that was present at nearly every construction of a lightsaber for the last 500 years, say please and thank you when you talk to him

Morgan Elsbeth is a descendant of the nightsisters ...okay I guess??? She said 1000 years so I assume this is a LONG descendant line (Merrin would kick your ass though)

Also you say you are one of thrawn's closest allies, but does he consider you a friend? HMMM?

Sabine got stabbed and was fine and there is no 'oh she has the force so she used her rage to survive' excuse to be made here. By all accounts, she should have died. It also startled me that she was just on a hospital bed, baby you are going to need like 2 weeks in bacta to fill that hole.

The fight scenes are just not impressing me. I can't quite point my finger on all of it, but one thing that stood out to me was that when Ahsoka was being pressed down upon by another lightsaber her arms buckled and the blade was forced closer to her. That block is specifically a move that we have seen her use against DARTH VADER and she never gave any ground then. There is no way that any of these antagonists are stronger than him, so it just made it look 100% choreographed to me

Overall, what really worries me about this show is that we are not going to get any performances from the actors portraying these characters. Like, I need to see the character's choices building their emotions, not just them telling me how they feel while sitting in the correct blocking position. For these episodes I wish Sabine or Ahsoka snapped at each other and raised their voices, so we could really feel the frustration and history between the characters.

Is there going to be real emotion here? Are we going to see Sabine's fears and hopes and state of mind? How does she feel that she's lost her father figure and brother figure and failed her "master"? Does she have conflicting emotions about the possibility of Ezra being alive? Did she think he was dead? (rebels tells us no, but here if she believed that why doesn't she jump at the chance to find him again? Did she and Ahsoka really have that bad of a falling out?)

In these first two episodes we don't even see any reflection from her that she's even happy that the rebels won the war and that the empire is gone?? Is this because Mandalore is still under Imperial control or because she's not any happier than she was when the empire ruled over the galaxy. She's living on Lothal alone, isolating herself, not even going to the ceremony that she's an invited guest to. Right now, it looks like she's lost two families. I hope we explore these things.

This show is going to shake things up in a way we haven't experienced before. I just hope that those shake ups leave me feeling like I've experienced a satisfying story and not just frustrated by any retcons or changes in character that are definitely going to occur.

#star wars #ahsoka series #ahsoka spoilers #long post #nerd's words #i want to be a fan #i want to be happy with this #but i also will not lie to myself and pretend i like something when i dont #judgement will be reserved until the whole story is told

[song-of-the-rune]

To anyone who does OC writing of any kind -- essentially, how do you decide who a character is?

Thinking aloud, please feel free to answer without reading all of the rambling below, which is more about a specific character than the question in general:

I found this in my drafts. I don't need advice on this particular character anymore, but I am still curious to hear about others' processes!

I have a character who I know a little bit about, but he's relatively undeveloped, and I'm trying to make him the protagonist of this short story I'm writing. I have a vague background, and I know how he typically handles things in the moment -- but I'm not sure how to have him react in the longer term. Partially because I know he himself is conflicted.

I guess part of my problem is that I don't want him to be too similar to the antagonist/deuteragonist, or if he does end up being very similar, I want to keep it clear that that's a corruption of his old self or it's otherwise forced on him.

I guess, partially, I am torn on -- do I want a happy ending for my protagonist?

I like happy endings, but I also like torturing my characters a bit and exploring pain through writing. I know I shouldn't worry about what others think of my writing in general, but when this is done, it's going to become lore for my tabletop setting, so... it does need to be a little bit consumable. (Or, I guess not? It's not like this is all happening on-screen.) It's also not like he's particularly... relatable for most readers, I'd think, at least not for my players. He's established in the setting as not a fantastic person, though I've started sympathizing with him when I started writing this. On the other hand, he's also a great candidate for a redemption arc, and I'm a sucker for redemption arcs. On the OTHER hand... It's very much against his own sense of self-preservation at this point.

Okay, I guess let me explain some things to help clarify the question:

(Spoilers for a story about my OCs I want to post here later if I get around to finishing it)

How do I decide how much Kaz values self-preservation?

High-fantasy setting. The man has been murdered and forcibly turned undead to grant him immortality. Why? So he can serve as a soul cage for the now-lich Rik who forcibly turned him -- essentially, he is the key to someone else's immortality. But he needs his own soul cage, and in an attempt to make things "even", embeds it in Rik's body. So, the two need each other to survive in order to keep surviving -- almost, I'll get back to this in a moment.

However, uh... obviously that's not a healthy relationship. So Kaz wants out, because he trusted Rik up until this happened. However, he didn't come prepared like Rik did, so he's actually at a bit of a disadvantage. Basically, Rik could replace Kaz at any time, taking away his immortality, so he's essentially at Rik's beck and call if he wants to survive. Not only can Rik take away the thing making Kaz invulnerable, but because of the way they're bound, Kaz can't put distance between them to keep himself safe from Rik; there's essentially always the option to teleport directly to Kaz. The best option in terms of survival is to make himself indisposible, which means cooperating, even if minimally. But, he knows that Kaz is going to be psychologically manipulating him the whole way and it probably won't be minimal.

What does he do? Does he just... die? Or does he keep doing things he doesn't want to do in order to survive?

How do I decide what a character lives for?

He's undead. He doesn't want to be. He misses food and feeling the sun and being able to be around animals without them being terrified of him.

#ocposting #ocs.kaztik #runic ramblings

[diagonal-queen]

belated thungo thursday! someone's about to be real sad and that someone is ME

dazai: you have to do an impossibly important job for me akutagawa: oka- dazai: keep atsushi safe akutagawa: N E V E R

akutagawa was like 'dont kill the weretiger. not cus i like him or anything, but because if you kill him, he's gonna revive and he's gonna be an even bigger pain in the ass. save all of us the trouble'

NOT fukuchi being like 'respect the elderly' and akutagawa is like 'i don't discriminate. i hate everyone regardless of their age'

am i the only one who sometimes gets a little annoyed at how atsushi and akutagawa are always arguing with each other? like in the right time and place it's very funny and actually very important to their relationship but the two of them will literally put more effort into insulting each other than defending their lives from the powerful enemy who is very much trying to kill them. PRIORITIES BOYS. PRIORITIES. EVEN SOUKOKU DON'T DO THAT

'Do we need any more?' who wants to tell him

(SORRY THAT WAS SO UNCALLED FOR LMAOOAAOOAOAOAOAOAOAOA)

i wonder how fukuchi discovered his ability. like imagine as a kid he was just like hanging out with a friend or something and they were eating chips or something and he jokingly throws a chip at his friend and the impact from that single chip makes said friend fly across the room and land on the floor dead and fukuchi is like 'uh. whoops'

NOOOOO THEY DIDNT ANIMATE THE PART WHERE AKUTAGAWA AND ATSUSHI WERE ARM IN ARM FOR A SECOND BEFORE AKUTAGAWA PUSHED HIM AWAY :(

'four years ago dazai san abandoned me' omg akutagawa taking that shit SO personal. he left because his bestie got killed by some french dude it had nothing to do with your emo ass

'i don't get paid enough to die with a villain!' he was so real for that

holy shit the part where sskk caught the bullets and dropped them i fucking gasped. that was so sexy and for what??? why was that so hot i rewatched it like ten times holy shit hotties

okay akutagawa knowing how to safely choke someone?? i guess we know what he's into

im curious as to why atsushi didnt ask akutagawa to go longer without killing someone- like a year or something. did he think he'd say no? was he thinking 'that's too high a goal for this maniac. baby steps' LMAOOOO

i love how atsushi's run is like this goofy ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ ᕦ( ᐕ )ᕡ thing while akutagawa just naruto runs with a stone cold expression

'should we be outed, my head will be the first to fly' akutagawa on his odasaku arc

(THAT ONE WAS EVEN MEANER HELP IM SO SORRY)

i think its established pretty well now that i find atsushi sexy (and im sure absolutely nobody else does, but dont come for me) his tiger stripe mark things on his face make him look WICKEDLY attractive. argue with the wall

fukuchi live tweeting this crap like 'having a smoke while these gay boys plan to kill me. i'll update if i live lol'

people really always be like 'fukuchi has a point because of his war experience' i guarantee you if you were to approach any actual veterans and ask them if their experience in conflict made them want to plot for decades in order to kill everyone in the world who has ever been a veteran/fought in any sort of conflict, they would NOT give you an affirmative response. shut the fuck up

AND HE'S LIKE 'my struggles have been infinite and nobody gives me recognition for them so im mad' BUDDY WHO DO YOU THINK YOU'RE TALKING TO?????? AKUTAGAWA IS RIGHT THERE (and atsushi too but i mean he's kinda gotten some recognition for his rough life. akutagawa's gotten NONE)

imagine akutagawa like in beast breaking his arm and yosano is like 'oh dw akutagawa i can fi-' and then he's just using rashoumon to do it himself lmao (does he do that in beast? i havent finished it)

atsushi: i need to defeat this villain me: cus he wants to end the wor- atsushi: because i dont want akutagawa to do it first me:

DO YOU SEE WHAT I MEAN ABOUT THEIR CONSTANT BICKERING???? DAMNIT SSKK

heyyyyy we finally got an akutagawa ass shot!!! *adds to collection* i

akutagawa: i need to defeat this villain me: cus he wants to end the wor- akutagawa: because i want dazai to think im cool me:

i mean he soon followed it by saying 'i would never work for you because you'll never be as cool as dazai' which is very true, so i guess you've redeemed yourself for now akutagawa

akutagawa in uniform >>>>>>>>

whoever is voicing akutagawa and atsushi in this ep deserves a million billion dollars

im sorry sskk. i didnt mean to laugh. but the sudden triumphant moment being cut off (as well as atsushi's hand lmaoo) made me giggle im sorry

TIGER FISHEYE

this episode got me wondering all over again; HOW is anybody going to defeat fukuchi. there is (seemingly) literally no way to best the spacetime sword (can't be arsed to remember its name im sorry). how the hell are they gonna resolve this. im not smart enough to theorise like the rest of you guys

holy shit what a perfect way to end that episode. like the suddenness of it and screaming akutagawa's name, but also because i haven't stopped listening to tetsu no ori since it came out and i'm obsessed with this song. everyone say thankyou granrodeo

i'm surprised i spent most of that time thirsting instead of crying. let's wait and see what happens next thungo thursday!!

#dia's daydreams #thungo thursday #the sillies #thirsty thungo thursday #haha #alliteration frustration #HAHA #rhyme time #HEHEHAHSHDHDH

[jessicas-pi]

#1, 9, 12, and 29 for Winter and Carthage, please?

Sure thing!

WINTER:

What's her nickname?

Probably something silly and cute and punny like Snowflake, because she's a kid who's small even for her age.

9. What's her relationship to her siblings?

Winter is an only child, but she does have an older-sister figure in Isolde, a maid in the palace (this is the medieval au.) They get along really well, because Winter looks up to her, and Isolde always wanted a little sister.

12. What's her favorite animal?

Mythosaurs. Hands down.

29. What's her favorite color?

She likes blue a lot, I think. Sparkly blue. But also white, because SNOW and WINTER!

and, CARTHAGE:

What's his nickname?

Depends on who you ask. His older brother calls him Fudge (because when carthage was little he always lisped his name as "carfage") and Carthage hates it. If you asked anyone else, he doesn't have one.

Well, besides Sabine. She has a nickname for him, but it's unprintable.

9. What's his relationship to his siblings?

He has an older brother, a twin, named Hadrian. They don't get along, at ALL. Partially because there's some debate over if Hadrian is ACTUALLY older, and as they're the eldest sons of *ominously unsubtle villain music* Gar Saxon and this is the medieval AU, there's some throne-grabbing-power-stealing conflict between them. I haven't decided if they have younger siblings yet, but they do have a half-sister. Neither of them know about her. Her existence is a well-kept secret, not in the least because she's older than both of them—and thus, the rightful heir.

12. What's his favorite animal?

Carthage is far too manly to have a favorite animal.

29. What's his favorite color?

Well red obviously, because Clan Colors and Loyalty and Valor! But alsooooo... purple! Purple, yes, it's an excellent color, very regal and royal, portrays elegance like no other, and if I might add, looks absolutely ravishing on you, my dear Lady Wren, and—uh—wait, wait a second, hold on now, there's absolutely no need to threaten me with a knife! Where did you even get a kn—you keep a knife in your dress? —you keep MULTIPLE KNIVES IN YOUR DR—

#sabine's done with your nonsense carthage #oc ask game #winter eldar #carthage saxon #my ocs