cryptocism

[cryptocism]

a dænce of roëmænce

depictions of the ace experience never seem to include the nightmare-borne skeleton creature from hell so kudos to the dimension 20 team for their commitment to accurate rep

#my art #dimension 20 #fantasy high #fantasy high junior year #fhjy spoilers #riz gukgak #baron from the baronies #ive been watching the new season and god i love baron what a little freak #junior year has also solidified riz as an all time fav so this was truly inevitable #i just love the concept of a “my girlfriend who lives in canada” lie gone horribly wrong #uh oh! your girlfriend is real and he lives in your briefcase #try not to die :)

[cryptocism]

brief interruption to the usual clone-based programming we're doing Fantasy High fanart for a sec

#the new season has bewitched me heart and soul etc etc

[cryptocism]

I was reading That Scene with Three & Four then realized that at time they would've been like. 16? Which just adds a layer of hilarity & tragedy to it all.

YEAH truly... age is forever and always such a weird timey-wimey thing with Bart and co, but a bunch of teenagers being stuck in a box together at the end of the world was probably never going to go well.

of course Three and Four don't conceptualize themselves as children or yknow, full people, but their age and development still probably informs some of their actions

#asks #mattiebluebird #i think kids and teens are in some ways more capable of cruelty than adults #but its immature cruelty that has much more to do with the feelings and gratification for the perpetrators of it than the severity of harm #which has the double edged result of either banality or horror depending on how well any given act of harm serves those impulses

[cryptocism]

Did Three ever care about Five? I know he was always gonna kill him in the end but, was there ever a moment where he tried to make a plan where he and Five both make it out?

i think Three had a plan that accounted for everything except his own reaction to it

#asks #anonymous #Three was prepared for the act of killing Five #but he wasn't prepared for Five dying to save him #same result: wildly different repercussions on the psyche

[cryptocism]

Chapter 21: Inertia

A race to the horizon.

#frequency fic #too many thads au #thaddeus thawne #thad thawne #inertia #bart allen #impulse #dc #listen i know its not saturday but #if i didnt post this as soon as i finished it #it was never gonna get posted #<3 #thank u for reading!!

[cryptocism]

Frequency might very well be one of my favourite stories out there, the latest chapter has got me rereading it again and I cannot stop thinking about these guys and their conflicts that are so important to them but so nonconsequential on a cosmic scale.

I'm extremely heartbroken over Five and Six but it was also very satisfying to read. The fact that Three was prepared to kill Five yet Five still saved him and the fact Six went from trying to start a betting pool on who would kill Nathaniel to trying to do the impossible and change the timeline in order to save him is just *chefs kiss, breaks down sobbing*

Also all those moments where it looked like the timeline was matching up with the one Six saw were very intense I loved them

(And this isn't even touching on Three and Thad's whole deal like whooof)

All this to say thank you so much for sharing these funky lil clones with the world, I will be thinking about them for the next eternity

sorry for the belated answer BUT thank you so much!!!! sharing these funky lil clones has been a highlight of the past year so thank YOU for reading :D

#asks #whispers-of-gallifrey

[cryptocism]

do you ever plan on posting more speedpaints on your youtube in the future or is it totally abandoned? i love your art and would love to see the process behind more of your pieces :)

ill probably post some more at some point! the only issue with speedpaints is that i always forget to actually record them T_T

but yeah! if that's smthn ppl are interested in i'll try to do some more

#asks #anonymous

[cryptocism]

i already know the last chapter of frequency is gonna make me cry even if it's not inherently sad haha. i've truly fallen in love with all these silly clones (and your bart!!) and i genuinely can't believe we're already at the end. it's so crazy because it feels like yesterday that all this started and i've been hooked from the very beginning. thank you for all the love, creativity, effort, and time that you put into this story cause it's an absolute masterpiece. i'm gonna be rereading this till the end of time. i've been holding off on doing it until the grand finale so i can restart it in all its magnificent entirety, and so i can rediscover all the wonderful little things from the early chapters. i'll miss these beloved disasters so much </3 (also that new animation is sick and was so worth any wait)

AH thank you so much!!! its been a blast to write im so glad people appreciate it <3 <3 <3

#asks #anonymous #i am blowing u kisses anon ty ty ty

[cryptocism]

OH wow!!!

Just finished up a study of one of Malcolm .T. Liepke’s works! If you can’t tell from my profile picture he is one of my favorite artists, he truly has a way with painting that looks slightly unfinished and loose while still having the right amount of detail to keep it feeling like realism! I definitely took some creative liberties with the colors and values. but of course I couldn’t help but think of three, when revisiting some of his works for some inspiration this piece has been one of my favorites for awhile! it’s always felt reminiscent of Alexandre Cabanel’s “the fallen angel” especially with a curled in position and the focus on the eyes. So I just had to re-create it with three!🙈🙈 This story and its characters have clearly found a place in my heart 💖💖 @cryptocism

#frequency fic fanart #you do this painterly style so fantastically #once again the colours!! the colours!!!! #and oufhf the parallels to cabanels fallen angel....

[cryptocism]

oh HIM!

Oh boy more three art! who could’ve seen that coming, jokes aside I really enjoyed making this piece! I just went absolutely ham with the colors, I had way too much fun with this! I’d also Love to say a big old, thank you to everyone who’s been enjoying my art! I’m just out here making silly drawings of some silly characters from an extremely niche story that I love! And I am just so happy that my work was able to find some people that like it!!💖💖🙈🙈

@cryptocism

#frequency fic fanart #i am in love with your colours #and the texture!!! and the lighting!!! #AH

[cryptocism]

AH THE BOYS

Three and Bart from @cryptocism

I love this boys!!!

#frequency fic fanart #i love this so much ahh #their expressions are spot on

[cryptocism]

oh excellent!!

I did some drawings of Impulse, Inertia and some boys from @cryptocism

I really sorry my english is terrible!

I have a Million more drawings of these guys from Frequency that i'll post later :)

#frequency fic fanart #i love these so much thank you!!!

[cryptocism]

:O!

More doddles :D

Bro, i can draw Bart forever and ever!

And i absolutely love Six!!!

@cryptocism

#frequency fic fanart #CUTE!!! #u got their vibes perfect

[cryptocism]

!!!!

I’ve been in a bit of an art rut, but I thought I would just post some of my unfinished work, and an old piece of six I made after reading chapter 19 

@cryptocism

#frequency fic fanart #the last one of six is so #AH i love ittt #and the first image of three bart and thad i love the poses sm #ur art is so rad tyy

[cryptocism]

i know its not saturday but

[cryptocism]

GASP oh this is so good

I cleaned up the sketches I made of Jude and Nathaniel! Also I’ve got to give credit to @styxtrixmix since I was clearly quite inspired by their last post, and if you haven’t seen their work I highly recommend it! Their art is so creative!!🫶🫶

#frequency fic fanart #im such a sucker for character expression sheets i love your take on Jude and Nathaniel

[cryptocism]

Since I think about clones like I’m getting paid for it, I've been rotating those alternate universe "what if Bart and Thad were actually raised together" scenarios in my brain, with Thad either post-redemption-arc or pre-villainy. Because adjusting Thad's character to fit an ally role while still keeping true to his core motives and personality is so so fascinating to me.

Like I think there's an immediate first instinct to slot Thad into a "bad" twin category: ie rebellious and prickly, doesn't get along with people, mean lil shit. And obviously it's not wrong bc we're outside the realm of canon, but the reading still feels a little left of center.

Because Thad is mean and prickly in canon. In the Impulse comics he belittles Bart and Bart’s friends/family constantly in his appearances. He loves to goad, and monologue about his own superiority and intelligence. He’s very Not Nice, and he causes many problems, and he even does it on purpose.

But, I think it’s important to consider the context. From the jump Thad knows very little about anything except which team he’s on and who he’s playing for. He gets his orders from an unseen authority and he carries out his tasks because success means his team wins.

For all his self-aggrandizing talk, everything he does is in service of an end goal that doesn't actually center him. He's trying to get revenge for grievances he's never personally suffered, retribution for actions never committed against him. Everything he does is on someone else's behalf.

Thad sees in black and white, us or them. Up until the final few issues of Mercury Falling, Bart and co. are Thad's enemies, of course he's not going to be nice.

So Thad's motivation seems pretty simple: Thawne Supremacy™.

But it’s in Mercury Falling where this starts to fall apart, and the real core of his motivation gets revealed. Thad pretends to be Bart and suddenly Helen is nice to him. Bart’s friends think he’s funny. Bart’s teachers are impressed with his grades. Max ruffles his hair and gives him hugs and tells him he’s done a good job.

If he was actually an inherently mean and standoffish character, if Thad actually had significant personal stake in the Thawne VS Allen conflict, the weight of such tiny acts of kindness wouldn’t completely break him the way that it does in canon.

Thad thinks his goal is superiority and revenge and Thawne Supremacy™, but he's chasing validation. Thad doesn’t have a personal stake in the Thawne VS Allen conflict. He wouldn't get much satisfaction if he actually destroyed Bart and his family. Thad's personal victory would be the recognition after the fact: the praise and attention from the other Thawnes (a group of people he has literally never met) for his success.

He wants validation. That's basically it. And the fact that he gets it so easily from Bart's family and friends doesn't align with how he's told himself things are supposed to work.

Actually tangentially, Bart and Thad’s respective relationships to authority is so diametrically opposed and tbh kind of subversive in a superhero narrative. Where the hero is the one carving his own path without regard to social or societal rules, no fucks to give what anybody thinks of it. And the villain is a chronic people-pleaser.

Just based on Thad’s reaction to simple praise and affection from Max I really think Thad’s motivation has more to do with the response he gets than whatever the details are of any given task. He has no actual personal convictions beyond getting positive attention, and whatever he did have crumbled as soon as Bart’s friends laughed at his joke one time. Which of course leads into the core of his whole conflict at the end of Mercury Falling. He cares too much about Bart’s friends and family now, he doesn’t want to kill them, but worse than that, he’s faced with the sudden realization that he’s on the wrong side.

The Allens gave Thad everything he actually wanted and needed, but his conception of himself is inexorably tied to the Thawnes: who gave him jack shit. These two facts are in opposition to each other, and he can’t reconcile the reality of it.

Anyway all this to say, in an AU where Bart and Thad are raised together or Thad gets an actual redemption arc etc etc, I think my personal take on Thad’s personality whether it be pre-or-post-villainy would be one that is extremely socially conscious. He is much more of a people-person than Bart. Whether he's actually accurate in assessing people's feelings and how to respond to them can be hit or miss, but he wants to behave in a way that gets people to like him.

Pretending to be Bart isn’t remarked upon as, like, a difficult task for Thad. In his internal monologue he’s literally bragging to himself about how easy it is. But what’s especially notable to me is where his act differs from Bart's typical MO. Everyone notices, and lots of people comment, and presumably if Thad didn’t have the excuse of Max’s illness to “motivate” Bart to do better he would’ve been found out immediately. And those things are, specifically: paying attention in class, doing his chores, staying on task, and being helpful around the house. The one thing about Bart he chooses not to emulate is Bart’s rebelliousness.

Thad wants to prove himself, constantly, to whatever authority he respects (probably Max in this scenario) and will do whatever it takes to make that happen. In contrast to Bart, who only listens to authority when the shit they're saying actually makes sense to him. It’s excessively difficult to convince him to go against his own interests. (And I think a key part of that is Bart’s security in knowing that no matter how much he fucks up or doesn’t listen, the people he loves will always love him back.)

Thad’s got the people-pleaser in him that has to deserve whatever he’s given. It’s why he’s happiest when he’s given a clear goal or objective to complete, because it gives him an opening to prove himself.

All this to say that if we are quantifying Bart and Thad as a "good" or "bad" twin, in the eyes of every authority: Bart is the bad twin. Bart is the bad twin, Bart is the bad twin. Bart is the one who doesn’t care about school and whose grades vary wildly depending on his personal interest. He’s the one who goes off to do dangerous shit for fun and gets in trouble constantly and doesn’t do his chores and is thoroughly unconvinced by any authority figure trying to sell him bullshit. 

Thad is the one who needs to know all the rules just so he can experience the joy of following them. Relentlessly obedient. He'll put all his effort into doing all the right things that’ll endear him to whoever he wants to impress - meaning he’s the asshole who reminds the teacher about the assigned homework. Bart might be the most popular boy in school, but Thad is a pleasure to have in class.

Like Thad can (and should) still be high-strung and short-tempered and sarcastic and edgy and mean, because he is. But he can’t be doing all that without rhyme or reason. Colouring every interaction has to be that one-zero binary of ally or enemy. He needs to have somebody he’s proving himself to: a team he’s on and a team he’s against. He’s not an inherently rebellious character. He can go up against The Enemy, whoever he deems as such, but it has to be in service of a hypothetical future in which somebody eventually tells him he did a great job.

And in the interest of continuing to beat a dead horse, it connects to their respective upbringings. Thad and Bart were both raised in VR, but Bart’s experience had the side effect of basically hard-wiring him against insecurity. His world was a playground tailor-made for him, and he was never made to feel bad or insufficient about any aspect of himself. His first interaction with a real human person was Iris moving heaven and earth to save him, without him knowing her, without her knowing him, with no reasoning for the act needed beyond Being Her Grandson. Which is probably a significant factor in why Bart moves through the world with frankly atomic levels of autistic swag.

Thad’s VR upbringing installed self-consciousness in his psyche before any other personality trait. As in: he is immediately made conscious of himself and his relationship with everyone he will ever encounter. He’s told two things: he’s a clone of someone else (inherently derivative, lesser) and that he was made to be superior (a status to achieve). Which is such an instant clarifier for Thad’s everything. Where superiority is a condition that everyone either has, or does not. It’s the one-zero binary again: are they better than me or am I better than them. Being above others is mandatory, and if his superiority is ever challenged by hard evidence or god forbid nuance Thad’s brain physically cannot take it. He needs to be better, to be worse is unthinkable, and there is no other way to be.

And this status of better or worse is, crucially, not up to Thad to decide. He needs The Authority to validate him. Bart never tries to prove himself because he has nothing to prove. Thad’s entire identity hinges on the self-worth he gets from doing a Good Job.

It is such an inherent part of his motives in the Impulse comics canon, which is why it always feels a little off when he’s interpreted as a jackass indiscriminately.

Like I don't think he needs everyone to like him. But I do think he has either one person or a set of very particular people that he needs to like him. Everyone else is either in that circle or outside of it.

(Which is why Bart is such a great foil for Thad tbh. There is no set of words or behaviors that’ll change Bart’s opinion of Thad, because Bart is unaffected by obedience or charm. So ironically Bart is probably one of few people that Thad doesn’t bother to put on even a little bit of an act for.)

While Bart goes with his instincts, his personal beliefs and convictions at all times, Thad is hyper-conscious of big-picture goals. They balance each other out that way. Thad's keeping track of whatever expectations he has placed on him, and how his actions reflect on him and the team beyond short-sighted solutions. He's a team player. AND he's an asshole.

#soapbox #dc #thad thawne #thaddeus thawne #inertia #bart allen #impulse #like he cannot be mean indiscriminately... u must interrogate WHY hes mean and to whom #if hes being raised with Max and Helen he would not intentionally do anything to make their lives more difficult #if hes being raised by Meloni same situation #he needs to be trying to get validation from SOMEWHERE u know #and of course he'll mess up and hurt the people he loves or wants to impress he is a human being #but while that can sometimes be the result #that is never the Goal u kno #not his Core Motivation #i feel like the more i talk about this the less sense im making