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titleknown · 8 months

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KAIJUNE NEO: MR BRIGHTSIDE

First of all, I want to tell you, this was not at all my fault. If they'd have listened, if they'd have gone along with the fucking plan, none of this would have happened.

The stupid thing wasn't even alive when they brought it to me. But, even I will humbly admit, it was ingredients of high quality. Primeval flesh frozen by time and strange vapors, the tools of the United States government, the very eitir of the earth...

...Yes, I refuse to call it liquid God. Beyond the apellation of false notions of divinity, it isn't just one thing, there are nuances I would be willing to explain if I believed you had the capacity to understand it. But I digress.

Now, there were initial setbacks. There were the few interlopers, who suggested that I was ethically unfit for this project, that the resource expendatures could be better-used to prevent the beasts out there culling the expendable hordes, that the whole idea of the creation of one of these creatures was deranged vanity project.

Luckily, the people providing the resources were of like minds, even if their sights was far too low. Leave it to the US military to avoid pretensions of compassion when they see a work to be compleated.

It was going well, at first. Why, I hadn't had this much of a fruitful field since my time with the Blue Rose! They let me be, they didn't say no, and I hadn't had this much access to subjects since... well. The Blue Rose.

I will tell you, it's far easier to test the processes of life and power when they know enough to let you use a few expendables, unlike some idiots.

And then one of these puritanical SHITHEADS had to break in for one of my subjects. I don't even know what the fuss was about, I'd already used up the one he was looking for. And the idiots didn't even shoot him! Just now you get cold feet?! Just now?!

And now it is awake. And ungrateful. What's wrong you giant oaf, I thought you were a god-being, lashing out like a child over a little pain is pathetic!

At least the combative capabilities were functional, as evidenced by the plasma "fires" they still failed to put out. A small blessing, amongst the carnival of incompetence as my handlers failed to handle it.

They use the pretense to call me a creature of hubris, a terminal miles glorosius. They underestimate my skill.

They even had the gall to call me a Faustian figure, how fucking dare! I would never make a deal with anything I couldn't cut the throat of and sip the juices from their neck.

And I will regain control over this creature, and I will enact my special plan for this world. For who is greater, God or the chymist who built God in a bottle...

-The notes of professor Thomas F. Johnson

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...So, when starting this I knew I was going to have to have some variety of dinosaur here. Lucjkily I found this cheapo toy at the Swap Meet and, as you can see, heavily modified it. This one out of all of them was one of my favorite models in terms of how it came out, I will say.

I basically picked the name of the poor tormented thing because I just thought Mr Brightside by The Killers sounded like a neat name for a kaiju, also the neon-on-black color scheme was probably a part of it.

If you're wondering why the profoundly evil professor (Who was heavily influenced by Dr Pretorius from Bride of Frankenstein and Jeffrey Combs' Herbert West, for the record) has my name, they're actually a pre-existing character from my Creepypasta Creatures of the Woods, who I made the choice to give my own name despite him being hilariously far from me.

Again, like Devlin, this is this universe's version of the guy, not the exact same guy... maybe. It's always hard to tell with that jerk...

Ability Notes: One word: Plasma. Of all kinds and horrors, usually sort of a weird electrical fire-y green, though the fact that he's in constant pain makes it hard for him to focus on channeling it beyond wanton destruction. It's theorized where he mentally coherent, he could potentially output pulsar levels of power.

Bonus Trivia: If you want to know Professor Johnson's backstory, just watch the Behind the Bastards episodes about Scott Adams and note what they say about the man's early pre-Dilbert life. Now imagine he'd gone into mad science and things had... escalated.

And, in that grand (exceedingly late) Kaijune tradition, this character and all related narrative elements are under a CC-BY 4.0 license, as long as I, Thomas F Johnson, am credited as their creator.

#my art #my writing #kaiju #kaijune #dinosaur #monster #mad science #mad scientist #sculpture #diorama #photomanipulation #kaijune 2023

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dingdinghq · 6 months

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*cracks knuckles*

Alright, get READY FOR CHARACTER DETAILS!! (<- is Not Normal about character creation). For the record, this is not all the characters, just the ones I've fleshed out enough that I'm happy with

Void Starling/Voidling Cookie (Etho) Name reasoning: Starling for a general space then + birb, Void to set them apart from Stardust, and Voidling as a fun little nickname because they have a long name Pronouns: they/them + any space neos! Theme song: King of the World - Young Rising Sons Extra details: - has ADHD and BPD - finds a special winter area in the Kingdom extra calming, and will sit for hours at night in the snow - created by the Celestial Tree guardians by accident out of Stardust's dough, and therefore is siblings with Stardust! - technically siblings with Moonlight cookie as well, but hasn't met her yet

Parrot Ice Cream Cookie (Grian) Name reasoning: I know of an ice cream flavor that looks like the pastel version of common Grian parrot hybrid color headcanon so. Also bc waffle hair Pronouns: he/they Theme song: Little Lion Man - Mumford & Sons Extra details: - he has literal waffle hair, like the ice cream cone - ADHD - after being killed at a young age, they were brought back to like by Eye Cookie and turned into a Watcher - actually got fully brainwashed post-game, and while he was able to be freed, feels really guilty about that

Red Angel Cookie (Skizz) Name reasoning: Call back to his long time spent as red dring 3L, and the common angel headcanon! Pronouns: he/him Theme song: Die for You - Starset (alternatively Angel With a Shotgun fits perfect as well) Extra details: - Used to be close friends with Firebird and Yellow Demon, but ya know. death games where they were on opposite sides. They're currently on speaking terms, but things aren't the same any more. - former guardian angel, but lost the rank after letting his charge die by accident - probably the only reason Voidling hasn't died yet - knows how to use most weapons! - partners with Voidling! he knew they wanted to ask him out well before they actually did ask him out

Choco Wolf Cookie (Ren) Name reasoning: Look at Ren and tell me he isn't chocolate flavored Pronouns: he/him mostly! Theme song: Born for This - The Score Extra details: - Some flavor of neurodivergent - was the prince of a kingdom before running away after it was taken over! - In a poly relationship with both Lost Apple and Shattered Soul Crystal! Also in a qpr with those two + Voidling and Red Angel! (the qpr is between all members I'm just mentioning it here)

Lost Apple Cookie (Martyn) Name reasoning: It is all the vibes tbh Pronouns: he/ey (ey/em) Theme song: Hallelujah (I'm not Dead) - Citizen Soldier Extra details: - autistic - Used to be know as Apple Angel Cookie, but after watching his village get attacked, changed it to avoid being found - he's aromantic! - Despite the 'angel' part of his name, he was never a guardian angel and has never interacted with them

Shattered Soul Crystal Cookie (BigB) Name reasoning: I'm giving a bunch of the characters trauma specifically related to being valued but torn apart at the same time. Also the general shape of his wings! Pronouns: he/it Theme song: Brother - Kodaline Extra details: - used to be the 'savor' of a village, but was treated horribly so it ran away - Doesn't really know how to interact with cookies - due to the way his magic works, using too much can cause it to need to basically sleep for weeks. This rarely happens, but when it does he feels awful - used to be really close to exactly one cookie in his old village, before they were killed for 'daring to touch the prized'. This was the main reason he snapped

Moss Phantom Cookie (Bdubs) Name reasoning: Moss coat + semi common phantom headcanon! Pronouns: he/it/xe Theme song: Dial Drunk - Noah Kahan Extra details: - Would vibe to Cotton Eye Joe unironically - ended up having the friend version of a break up with Doc, was not dealing with it good - has a joke-crush on Void Starling. It's played up for laughs and is more like a squish then a crush - Short - Is actually a demon possessing a pile of moss

Frost Flower Cookie (Scott) Name reasoning: Ties in both empires seasons, as well as 3L! Pronouns: he/xe Theme song: Atlantis - Seafret (in a non-literal sense) Extra details: - former name was Blueberry Syrup Cookie! Xe changed it after getting taken by the Watchers and realizing that hey, he didn't have to be like his parents anymore. - While he and Canary broke up, they're still on good terms! They just didn't feel right about continuing their relationship post-game. - is pretty close to Dark Syrup after that whole deal!

Canary Cookie (Jimmy) Name reasoning: I feel like this one explains itself. Canary curse and all Pronouns: he/they/it Theme song: Running Up that Hill - Kate Bush Extra details: - brother to Lost Apple! They got separated at a young age and didn't recognize each other until after the game - adoptive siblings with Blue Axolotl Cookie (Lizzie) - in a qpr with Firebird! - actually almost joined Cakewarts, but didn't fully trust Choco Wolf

Dark Syrup Cookie (Xornoth) Name reasoning: 'Dark' is commonly used in crk to show characters who are aligned with evil, 'syrup' is from the fact that maybe the corruption is more of a syrupy thing in this AU? Pronouns: they/it Theme song: Dollhouse - Melanie Martinez Extra details: - Not evil anymore! Dark Stag Cookie (Exor) just sucks! STOP MANIPULATING CHILDREN - actually really sweet when not corrupted! Also loves its brother very much!!!! - still has control over the corruption, loves to mess with cookies by growing random vines or stuff

Charred Angel Cookie (Helsknight) Name reasoning: Well I've always headcanoned Hels as an angel, and the 'charred' bit reflects how they got stuck in an oven and got a bit burnt up Pronouns: they/it/hell/flare Theme song: Feel Better - Penelope Scott Extra details: - still siblings with Wels, they just don't really bother to try and connect with hells brother - Autistic and has BPD - Used to be a guardian angel, but was never allowed to actually guard anything, leading to flare losing the ability to feel positive emotions for a while

Moon Moth Cookie (Pearl) Name reasoning: Pronouns: she/her Theme song: The Moon Will Sing - The Crane Wives Extra details: - hunts demons and dragons! Probably met Tart Tartan Cookie at some point because of this!

I'm cutting it off here because I don't wanna lit character limit again-

CHARACTERS!!!!! i love this so much!!!

the names are super cool!!!! still dont get bigbs kinda but i absolutely see the vision and am with you (speaking of, do you know ye olden days bigb lore? do you have any ideas who this old village friend may have been?)

ough,,,,,, love them. love them sm. theyre the little guys.

#asks from surface waters #indigo asks #3rd life crk au #i think thats my tag for it #also sorry i cant give more direct commentary #ive been wanting to but my thing is breaking and it fucks up asks once i go to answer them so i cant exactly see what the ask says :(((

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my-name-is-dre · 3 years

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Mettaton is a False Prophet - Pt. 2

This is a continuation post from my older theory back when Undertale was still the big thing that Mettaton was a false prophet designed by Alphys and Asgore to fulfill the Deltarune prophecy, which explains all of his eerie similarities to Flowey and Asriel. Here is Part 1 if you wanna catch up!

[UPDATED INFO FROM DELTARUNE CH. 2]

With the debut of Deltarune Chapter 2 came a fan-favorite newcomer called Spamton, and the interesting thing about his character is that it has a lot of similarities with Mettaton, especially his secret form known as ‘Spamton NEO.’ Now, the general story behind his character is that he was once a spam email puppet account who was never able to make a deal. This was his life until he was called by a mysterious person who suddenly made him wildly successful by continually aiding his career over the phone, eventually causing his friends to leave him over their envy of his newfound success. This success eventually landed him a spot in Queen’s mansion until it all came crashing down one day, and the only remnant left of him was a dead phone line tied to him that only repeated static back at anyone who tried to call it.

As everyone’s likely aware of now, there is a hidden bossfight in which you can, once specific conditions are performed, fight Spamton NEO, a version of Spamton hooked up to a suit that unabashedly resembles the same form Mettaton took on in the no mercy route of Undertale. This suit has been referred to as ‘the machine’ which is described by Swatch as the creation of an unknown Lighter, “digitally visualizing their hopes and dreams which never came to be.” This then became an incomplete dream which was locked in Queen’s basement. In battle, the fight also resembles the fights the player had with Mettaton through Undertale, with their soul turning yellow and shooting projectiles to take Spamton down. But the similarities between the fight against Mettaton Ex and Spamton NEO don’t end there, as both fights involved taking apart components of the body gradually over the course of the battle, with Mettaton having his limbs blown off and Spamton having his strings cut.

Now, this backstory is all very important as it alludes back to the body’s origin in Undertale as a creation of Alphys to make its host proficient at killing and absorbing a human soul. The description of the body is textually different but similar, in that Mettaton NEO was designed for the purposes of killing explicitly whereas Spamton NEO’s body is described by Swatch as being an agent in which one can envision their hopes and dreams through an implicit power of determination.

It’s important to note here that, career-wise, Mettaton is quite similar to Spamton in that they both had great and newfound success upon accepting a deal that gave them some meta-knowledge of the world they inhabit, with Spamton being told that the world he lives in is a game that can be exploited (as implied by his dialogue), and Mettaton was granted some of the same abilities that Flowey possesses (changing the game’s name, being able to audibly speak, and being a monster soul possessing an inanimate object). Whereas Mettaton is a story of continued success, Spamton is a story of failure, but how does this fit into the context of the theory that Mettaton was a failed attempt to fulfill the Deltarune prophecy?

That quote from Swatch on describing the purpose of the body is important to explaining this, as it eerily resembles Mettaton’s role in Undertale’s story as a machine designed to harvest a human soul and potentially fulfill the Deltarune prophecy but was unsuccessful to do so because Mettaton is a false prophet. The theme of false prophecy and failed transcendence is exemplified by Spamton’s backstory, as the power of meta-textual awareness granted to him (by Gaster presumably) resulted in short-term success that rose him to the heavens only for him to fall down hard back into being forgotten. The fall he suffers from cutting off his strings is a dual-layer metaphor for how Spamton fell from success and how Mettaton was unable to fulfill the Deltarune prophecy unlike his parallel successor Flowey.

And if it wasn’t obvious that Mettaton’s constant desire for your soul is equivalent to Spamton’s desire for [hyperlink blocked], he goes on record describing all of the control he’d have over his life if he were to harvest your [hyperlink blocked], implying that the hyperlink is code for determination. Spamton also routinely refers to “heaven” throughout his dialogue, which could imply anything transcendental, but I believe this is also another direct allusion to the Deltarune prophecy and its description of an angel: The divine vocabulary fits. Perhaps Mettaton was trying to indirectly achieve this reception from heaven through his promulgation as an icon of monsterkind wanting so desperately to have a human audience? Perhaps this constant appeal ‘heaven’ is Spamtron’s version of Mettaton’s constant appeal to a nebulous audience? If that’s the case, it implies that the audience of Mettaton has divine power, which seems to suggest that it’s composed of far more than just monsterkind. Another minor thing to note here is that Spamton also refers to “the presses” if you defeat him by depleting his health bar: “WAIT!! [$!?!] THE PRESSES!”

“KRIS, DON'T YOU WANNA BE [Part] OF MY BEAUTIFUL [Heart]?” is a very unsubtle nod to the process Chara and Asriel underwent to bypass the barrier and return to the Surface. There must be something about the abilities that the NEO suit offers that is implicitly tied to the Deltarune prophecy. Spamton’s constant use of the phrase ‘big shot’ is another multi-layered metaphor. The ‘big shot’ in question is a triple entendre, as it refers not only to Spamton’s aspirations, but also the fulfillment of the Delta Rune prophecy and also more banally refer to the yellow soul’s newfound ability to shoot a charge shot.

After sparing Spamton NEO, he offers some dialogue that resembles Flowey’s plea to you after defeating his Photoshop form, in which he asks why you’re showing him mercy after all of the unnecessary cruelty he did to you to prove his worldview correct. He then goes on to make a reference to Pinocchio in which he asks you to cut his strings and make him a “real boy” (an even funnier phrase given that he’s a puppet). But this is also an allusion to Mettaton, as he reveals to you throughout the game that his robot body designed for him by Alphys is a form that makes him feel more like himself because it’s implied that Mettaton is an incorporeal ghost like Napstablook. He then makes one least appeal to Heaven and says he’ll live for himself and his friends, acting as a microcosm of both Mettaton and Flowey’s character arc.

In the “weird route”, Spamton also makes remarks prior to battling him that allude to Mettaton NEO’s fight in the no mercy route: “THANKS TO YOUR [Total Jackass stunts] I HAVE [Becomed] NEO.” “TO [$!$!] ME OVER RIGHT AT THE [Good part]!? WHAT ARE YOU, A [Gameshow Host]!?” “MY ESTEEM CUSTOMER I SEE YOU ARE ATTEMPTING TO DEPLETE MY HP! I'LL ADMIT YOU'VE GOT SOME [Guts] KID! BUT IN A [1 for 1] BATTLE, NEO NEVER LOSES!!! IT'S TIME FOR A LITTLE [Bluelight Specil]. DIDN'T YOU KNOW [Neo] IS FAMOUS FOR ITS HIGH DEFENSE!? NOW... ENJ0Y THE FIR3WORKS, KID!!!” One line in particular references Asriel calling Chara’s name before Frisk lands in the bed of flowers in the Garbage Dump: “YOU MAKE ME [Sick]! MUTTERING YOUR [Lost Friends] NAMES AT THE BOTTOM OF A [Dumpster]! NO ONE'S GONNA HELP YOU!!! GET THAT THROUGH YOUR [Beautiful Head], YOU LITTLE [Worm]!”

This is an even more poignant line, as Spamton resides in Trash Zone, which is meant to resemble the Garbage Dump area of Undertale, which was a point in Waterfall where you were given a hint into the backstory of the game before landing on a bed of flowers. It’s also the area where you encounter Mad Dummy and where Alphys dates Undyne in the true pacifist route. Clearly, the symbolism of taking place in a dump is very important for connecting the worlds and stories of both of these games, given that it’s such an important spot for two major characters tied to Mettaton.

If it weren’t obvious at this point, Spamton damn near confirms that Mettaton was designed at least partially to fulfill the Deltarune prophecy but was unable to because he didn’t possess the same potential or determination that Flowey had due to his lack of relation to the original human and his focus instead turning towards an abstract human audience. The dialogue from Swatch about Spamton being the embodiment of a Lightner’s dream also implies that, keeping in line with the themes of desire in the Dark World, that Mettaton might be directly responsible for the creation of Mettaton. Perhaps this is why the NEO suit so eerily resembles the God of Hyperdeath if it’s directly tied to Mettaton’s desire to fulfill the Deltarune prophecy. If this is the case, isn’t it a bit odd that the God of Hyperdeath is also implied to be Asriel’s creation from flavor text in Kris’s room? What an interesting parallel.

#undertale #deltarune #spamton #spamton neo #mettaton #mettaton neo #undertale 6th anniversary #deltarune theory #deltarune spoilers

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violetren · 3 years

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My first theory for volume 9 while the second half of volume 8 is fresh in my mind!

Volume 9 is gonna be the therapy season, but in the most traumatic you'll need different therapy afterwards kind of way. Instead of paying a therapist they're all just be bargaining with the universe like "yo I've had this trauma for a while, and I'm feeling pretty done with it. Here you take it back and uhhh I'll take a new guilt complex. Maybe a fear of falling? IDK, fuck me up bro."

The foreshadow-y Alice in Wonderland-esque fairy tale Oscar told to himself/Oz while in captivity is my guide post here.

Aaaand this is gonna get long so! 10 ideas of shit that's gonna go down next volume beneath the readmore, each one about 1-2 paragraphs each.

In the fairy tale the girl runs away from her problems into a new land, but because she never learned from her problems they just followed after her. Yeah? So first--second? First discounting the volume therapy theme theory.

FIRST BIG THEORY: The girl from the fairy tale was real, and she used the Spear of Creation. And like Weiss and the crew, she was fucking smart about her wording. She offered up materials that'd last even after someone else inevitably used the staff. IDK what materials she woulda used. Maybe there's a story about a missing continent we just haven't heard of yet? Maybe the Brother of Light's pool, since Salem seens to have claimed the Brother of Darkness's one but no sign of BoL's these days. Maybe there is a reason the land beyond Menagerie is so uninhabitable beyond desert + grimm? idk. Point is, it's a thing that happened, and since Ambrosius can't destroy/directly kill she's still in her wonderland. For themes sake I'm gonna call her Alice from here on out.

So Alice made a pocket dimension to flee from her problems from.

SECOND BIG THEORY: Her problems were relic related. She needed to hide em, and hide herself from Salem. Tbh I'm not sure how into this one I am. Maybe she had other shit going and some version of Oz was like "hey you don't want to be here, I have some property that I don't want to be here, lets make this happen!" THE POINT IS, the little pocket realities the relics are in, are aalllllll places in her pocket reality. When the team said "hey Ambrosius just make the middle ground into one of these type places" that's what he did, cause that's how he do. What better way to make sure it works like those places than to be kinda connected to em?

THIRD BIG THEORY: Ambrosius was buds with Alice once upon a time, but knew staying in her pocket world ultimately drove her crazy. He knew his middle ground worked like the pocket dimensions because it touched em or something, so he gave a vague ass warning not to fall, because he knew where they'd fall to.

Back to the fairy tale. It's implied Alice was never able to leave/give up her wonderland because she never learned from her mistakes.

FOURTH BIG THEORY VERSION 1: RWBY + Jaune can't figure their way back to reality until they adress a major personal issue and break out of whatever cycle it's got them in. This one I feel is shaky because they all have such different issues and are in very different places with each of them, trying to do one big arc on em would be too much of a mess. Plus it doesn't account for saving any of the many civilians that may have survived the fall.

FOURTH BIG THEORY VERSION 2: nobody can leave until Alice either leaves, dies, OR is convinced to let them go. As we're following good kind people this means we watch the kids try to give someone else therapy that THEY need. RWBY+J work through their shit through variations & combinations of witnessing mirrors of their struggles in Alice/other wonderland inhabitants, and just having time and space to slow down and breathe whether they want it or not.

FIFTH BIG THEORY: Alice is the "antagonist" of the underworld because she is the obstacle to overcome.

What about Neo you may be asking. Well I want her to let go of the revenge schtick, or at least redirect it back onto Cinder thus calling a truce with Ruby. However it's more than likely she's gonna be on team keep Alice as an obstacle at least as long as it takes to kill Ruby, and so Neo will be the "real" Antagonist™ within wonderland.

SIXTH BIG THEORY: Neo because of her unwavering determination to enact revenge is gonna die this volume. She'll be the comparison against which RWBY+J will be measured. As they grow and get closer to leaving she'll become more wrapped up with whatever strange classic wonderland logic this pocket universe has. Potentially depending on how things go with helping Alice, Neo may just end up trading spots with her, and end up trapped while everyone else goes back. But dead or trapped, I have a sad feeling this could be our last volume with Neo. My only hope of her surviving at this point is that she like Emerald switches sides, and in doing so joins Winter as a Cinder foil. While Neo grows and lets go of revenge and thus survives, Cinder stays dedicated to her own desires for revenge and other self serving instincts ringing her own death toll for either the end of the volume, or maybe somewhere in vol.10.

SEVENTH BIG THEORY: Ruby is gonna be grieving and maybe even getting full on angry about being expected to fix everything just because she's the optimistic one. She shouldn't have to deal with this brand and advanced level of childhood stealing just because she wanted to do what was right and won(lost) a genetic lottery for magic powers type anger. Jaune is going to have SO MUCH GUILT to work through, mostly the survivors kind. The bees will be experiencing couples therapy, they've both been pretty solid about individual growth leading up to this, Underworld will be them learning what it means to them to be partners now that they are so different to who they were. Weiss is different. Weiss is at first gonna feel like she's there just because it was a way to really shove all the other Schnee's into their therapy arcs and gave RBY+J neutral presence to rely on. Weiss is gonna go in the most stable of the bunch. But then, slow boil style, she'll start to realise how fucked up basically her whole life has been, especially upon realising that her "good years" with her new family have been spent getting sucked into being the last line of defense against the apocalypse, but will be too busy helping the others, so at the end of the volume when everyone else is actually doing pretty good and refreshed for the fight against Salem she'll only just be beginning her breakdown.

EIGHTH BIG THEORY: All this therapy shit is gonna be mirrored back on Remnant by the others grieving the percieved loss of the hearts of the team. Both sides of these story are gonna deal with some heavy shit, but the Remnant side is gonna be the depressed side, at least as long as it takes for Oz to tell them maybe the other's aren't dead leading to desperate attempts to get the staff OR the make desperate attempts to get the relics back anyways and inadvertently find out from Ambrosius what is up. But anyways. Winter is gonna be dealing with survivors guilt and the loss of both her little sisters (friends are great but Penny was little sister zoned and it's a hill I am prepared to die on. good sisterly relationships are friendships too). Nora is gonna be doing her self discovery thing. Ren is gonna be building on his end of vol.8 developments. Oscar will continue his grappling with the merge stuff. Qrow and Willow might get forced into AA. Whitely is gonna learn his own definition of being a Schnee instead of what his dad taught him.

NINTH BIG THEORY (OR FOURTH VERSION 3): The other way they get out is QORN obtain and use the staff to bring them home, potentially by trading enemy lives for them.

BONUS CONSPIRACY THEORY: QORN if presented with needing to trade for their loved ones & lost civilians have a lightbulb moment and decide hey why not trap Salem in a pocket universe since that is a thing Ambrosius can make? Like, if this bitch hasn't budged on her not learning to appreaciate life and humanity or whatever (which I'n pretty sure is the other way to break her curse instead of stopping remnant from turning) then she's a prime candidate for shoving into a personal reality that you can only escape if you can face your problems long enough to break the cycle they have you in. It'd be really fucked up but I think it might actually be possible to run the place using her as her own material component. Like kill her over and over and redistribute the energy to make the pocket world, but because god given power + Ambrosius can't actually destroy she just reforms anyways. MIght take a few hundred thousand deaths but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Or use the BoD oasis/grimm pools to make a world that mirrored the one she chose to live in on Remnant really make it hard for her to break that cycle....

Anyways.

TENTH BIG THEORY: Working on the idea that the relics are actually hidden in secret protected pockets of the underworld RWBY+J are gonna have a secondary quest of trying to get the relics from this side, and either finding a new place to hide them ages away from their vault doors. If you wanna make it a FOURTH VERSION 4, they're specifically gonna seek out the sword of destruction (HOLY VORPAL BLADE ALLUSIONS BATMAN) either with the intent of cutting their way out underworld--ahem wonderland--or with the assumption that someone is inevitably gonna have to open the vault door, because that's just how things be these days and they'll be able to cross to Vacuo from there.

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duhragonball · 3 years

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What version of the Saiyan Tuffle War do you prefer: the Tufflew subjugated the Saiyans or the Saiyans just straight up obliterated the Tuffles

Between the two options, I think I prefer the first one, simply because all the Tuffle characters we've seen have been diabolical villains, and it sort of undermines them as bad guys if the Tuffles were innocent victims in the war. But that's just a personal preference.

I'm not suggesting that the Saiyans were all sweetness and light either. But it seems a little naive to have an advanced civilization just welcome a bunch of Saiyans onto their planet with no ulterior motives.

I say this because most of what we know about the Tuffles is based on Baby's appearances in Dragon Ball GT. Supposedly, Baby was created by the last survivors of the Tuffles, and they "infused" him with the genes of their king, whatever that means. Baby only had two objectives: to take revenge on the Saiyans, and to to convert or destroy all non-Tuffle life forms. And that's... pretty fucked up when you stop and think about it. Baby was such an over-the-top villain in GT that it was easy to just go along with whatever crazy shenanigans he was up to. But he was programmed by the Tuffles, and presumably the Tuffle King was totally on board with this. If he had lived to see Baby Vegeta ruling over the restored Tuffle Planet with the entire population of Earth infected with his nasty mind control eggs, the King would probably be pleased.

And yeah, the Tuffles would want revenge against the Saiyans, but what did Earth ever do to them? Or any of the other planets Baby menaced? You can make the argument that Baby was a doomsday weapon that went beyond the intentions of his creators, but I think he did exactly what the Tuffles wanted him to do.

And that begs the question: If Baby's reign of terror was the last gasp of the dying Tuffle species, then what sort of weird stuff were they up to before? I'll put some thoughts on this under the cut.

First off, I think it's kind of weird how there's not a clear picture of what a Tuffle is exactly. I went looking on the DB Wiki for some pictures and found this Tuffle design by Akira Toriyama.

That design prevailed in DBZ Episode 20, and also in Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans, when King Kai explains how the Tuffles welcomed the Saiyans to settle on their planet when they crashed there in a wrecked spaceship. The implication from Plan is that the Saiyans didn't just show up one day. They were refugees who needed help, and the Tuffles invited them with open arms.

But it's weird how the Tuffles in DBZ #20 are depicted as being much smaller than the Saiyans, but in Plan they're basically to scale with each other. Maybe that's a continuity glitch, and no big deal, but then you have Dr. Lychee, who looks like this:

He starts out as a regular-looking guy, and then he becomes this blue creature who looks a lot like a prototype for Baby. The blue form is supposed to be nothing more than one of the phantoms created by Hatchiyack in the OAV, like the phantom incarnations of Frieza, Turles, Cooler, and Slug. But those phantoms looked the same as the originals. Why does Lychee look so different? Is this a form that Tuffles can naturally assume?

Which brings me to Baby and his "Tuffle Parasites". By the end of his run in GT, Baby basically identified as a Tuffle, rather than a creation of the Tuffles. When he started infecting Earthlings with his eggs, he called them Tuffles too.

Then you've got Kamin and Oren from Super Dragon Ball Heroes. Apparently they're considered "Neo Machine Mutants", which are Tuffles modified become like Baby, for lack of a better explanation. I'm not sure if this was established in the DBGT days or not, but I guess the current lore is that Baby, Oren, and Kamin were natural Tuffles who were augmented into the form we see here.

I guess what I'm driving at here is that the Tuffles seem to have a very broad definition of what a Tuffle is. For them, it seems to be more about a way of thinking and feeling than any particular appearance or body plan. A machine can be a Tuffle. An Earthling infested with a parasite can be a Tuffle. So maybe those miniature humanoids in DBZ #20 were just one more variety of Tuffle.

I get a real transhumanist vibe from the Tuffles, particularly from the notion of archiving their King's DNA into Baby, and the way Dr. Lychee continued to exist as a "Ghost Warrior" after his natural death. Oh, and the Tuffles of Universe 6 augmented Kamin and Oren. That wasn't for revenge, by the way, they just wanted to see if they could do it, and apparently Kamin and Oren were outraged enough by this that they turned on their creators. Throughout the Dragon Ball franchise, the Tuffles are known for their advanced scientific knowledge, and also for making all these freaky creatures.

And maybe they weren't all evil. I wouldn't go that far. But I get the feeling that their leaders welcomed the Saiyans to their world because they saw a potential resource that they could exploit. Maybe they just wanted the Saiyans to pacify the uninhabited parts of their planet, or maybe they though the Saiyans could help them against other enemies. But maybe they saw the Saiyans as potential test subjects for their experiments. Just a thought.

I don't think the Tuffles necessarily subjugated the Saiyans, but it might have been more of a case of rising tensions. They lived in separate parts of the planet, with the Tuffles in the cities and the Saiyans in the wilderness, but the Saiyans grew more numerous, and the Tuffles probably saw that as a threat, and the Saiyans probably started to wonder why they needed the Tuffles at all. A lot of things might have instigated the war, but it wouldn't surprise me if the flashpoint involved Tuffles experimenting on Saiyan prisoners. If something like that came to light, then it would become a matter of survival. The Saiyans would have to wipe out the Tuffles to avoid being "Tuffleized" or worse. And the Tuffles would have to crush the Saiyans in battle to maintain control of the planet. There could be no return to the status quo; it would have to be total war until one side was completely defeated.

Once the war began, it must have taken a long time for the Saiyans to win. King Kai said that the lunar cycle on Planet Plant was eight years, and that each full moon allowed the Saiyans to gain ground in the war. So this implies that it took several full moons to end the war, so the conflict might have lasted decades, or maybe even a century. There might have been a few armistices or truces during that time, as each side would want to try to regroup and get as much momentum as possible before the next full moon. At least, that's how I'm picturing it.

One causus belli that sticks out in my mind is that the Tuffles were apparently a spacefaring people, but the Saiyans couldn't do much in space until they made contact with the Arcosians, and then King Cold's organization. So maybe the Tuffles were purposely keeping the Saiyans confined to Planet Plant, either to prevent them from escaping, or to isolate them from other civilizations. The Saiyans would take this poorly, I'm sure. So that might have a lot to do with it.

To be sure, the Saiyans of this era were real rat bastards, no doubt. I'm sure a lot of Tuffles of the time would make the argument that they were trying to contain the Saiyans as a matter of self-preservation, or even for the good of the greater universe. But I also suspect that the Tuffles aren't just friendly-looking anime folks. Creatures like Baby, Hatchiyack, Kamin, and Oren give us a peek into their more inhuman qualities, qualities that the Saiyans probably knew firsthand. It's possible that King Vegeta thought he was the one doing the universe a favor when he wiped the Tuffles out.

Something else to consider, in Episode of Bardock, we meet the Plantians, who were apparently the original inhabitants of Planet Plant. At some point, they were gone, and the Tuffles were living there instead, and then the Saiyans showed up and wiped out the Tuffles. So what happened to the Plantians? Did they just migrate to another world, leaving Plant empty for the Tuffles to move in? Or did the Tuffles do something to them? Food for thought.

#dragon ball #tuffles #i really ought to write some sort of fanfic about the saiyan-tuffle war #if only to crystallize my thought about it #i thought about using a tuffle villain in luffa but it seemed a little too obvious #like there was a whole war between saiyans and tuffles and that's where that conflict belongs #luffa's not part of that era so it shouldn't be part of her story #it'd make a good nanowrimo project if i ever finish the luffa thing #which... probably won't be for a while

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the-comfort-den · 2 years

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Ask posts Masterpost

I will be adding types of posts i accept here! and info about asks as well!

Character max: 10

I default to gender neutral but i will do any gender! The posts will also be tagged based on pronouns used so if you want strictly one type of pronoun(They/Them, He/Him) then you can easily find them!

I dont do she/her pronouns! You got other blogs and having to use them takes the motivation out of me,

If asked I might try Neo pronouns but as I only used She/Them/Him/It(I currently use He/They/it) pronouns and no Neo pronouns I make no promises that they will be perfect! They would also just be tagged as Neo pronouns though as there would be a lot of different ones to tag!

Topics i wont do: Pregnancy(Uncomfertable), NSFW/NSFT(I am a minor- though this will change in September 2023!), things like incest, anything nsfw with minor characters, things with characters and large age gaps, or unhealthy relationships, unhealthy themes are fine but no abuse with the ships!

I also feel uncomfortable doing much with female readers, tho im afab/transmasc myself and she/her pronouns are hard to write for, i just prefer ftm or amab or gender neurtral/nonbinary readers!

Fluffy alphabet(Link here): Open!

SFW alphabet(Link here): Open!

Angst alphabet(Link here): Open!

Headcanons(General and x reader): Open!

Headcanon ask additional info(Link here)

Scenarios: Semi-Open!

Imagines: Semi-Open!

Au’s:

Mythical au(Link here): Open!

Soft!AU(Creepypasta au):

Creepypasta but soft cinnamon rolls!

All ask types are available(when open) and you can also ask about characters in the au!(when they are on the list!)

This is an AU! Things will be different and there are other blogs or the normal creepypasta AU!

Inner world!(my own creation)

This is a thing of my own creation! Where I have personified emotions, phobias, and disorders, if you find anything offensive please tell me! Though I will ignore you if you are rude about it

Character post here

CountryHumans(My version!) This is my own version and I have done my best to not be offensive so if you find them offensive in any way please let me know! Just don't be mean or rude about it please, I will ignore you!

Character post here

Chaos au: will default to this! It's hard to explain in a few words so here we go, William and Henry are very gay and Clara(and Sarah for Charlie) is a segregate for their kids, Dave, Harry, Jack, Peter, Steven, Vincent, Vendetta, and Vinny are all nonhumans(eldritch)

Dave, Harry, and Jack are all 'rainbow people' and are colorful

Vincent, Vendetta, and Vinny are a subspecies that is unknown(at least for now)

And Peter and Steven are 'Phone heads' (Peter is adopted- so is Jack and Dee but Jack and Dee are actually related)

Remnant fuckery au: This is some chaos but the short of it is William had a springlock failure and almost died, so Henry used remnant to keep him alive, but it gave him a Jekyll and Hyde situation, the other 'version' of William is called Hyde, and later Henry messed up and had a similar situation after trying to figure out how he got them to split up, giving them both bodies, and the other 'version' of Henry is called Jekyll,(in other aus Hyde is William’s twin brother and Jekyll is Henry’s twin)

#Masterpost

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littlemisssquiggles · 3 years

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Pinehead Headcanons: Oscar the Wandering Soul

As a continuation from my last Pinehead Headcanon regarding the Dreamscape and the Garden of Two Lovers, I recently thought of another alternative to this concept of Oscar connecting to Ruby in the Other World through his dreams.

Imagine if…whenever Oscar goes to sleep, his soul is able to somehow traverse between Remnant and the Other World due to either the mysterious workings of the magic he inherited as Ozma’s successor or perhaps some other new ability that he unknowingly taps into while in sleep?

However in the Other World, Oscar appears only as a wandering spirit in this world or rather an astral projection of himself since he is only connecting to the Other World in his dreams while his actual body remains back in Remnant inside Vacuo Kingdom.

Therefore, despite instantly locating the missing Ruby Rose on the island in the Other World using his connection to her, Oscar is unfortunately able to interact with the little red rose physically due to him being in astral form.

With this thought in mind, hear me out on this one folks.

I have this small hunch where Ruby will end up mostly alone in the Other World; completely separated from the others. The only other known person closest to Ruby is Neo but since Neo is still hell-bent on killing her to avenge Torchwick’s death, she still acts more as an antagonist to the vulnerable Ruby than a legit companion.

So it’s a scenario where Ruby is mostly on her own in this strange Other world without any knowledge of where exactly she was, where her friends could be or even if they were still alive since the island was still very much a mystery to her.

So let’s say, after a few days of traveling through the island by herself (or rather what feels like daysconsidering that there was no real sense of time in the mysterious Other World either as far as Ruby know), Ruby slowly starts to succumb to her feelings of loneliness and fears of not only never seeing her friends ever again but also never returning home to Remnant.

“…She’s brushed off her bumps and bruises; but nothing hurt worse than the loneliness in her chest…”

I have this idea where when Astral Oscarfirst discovers Ruby, he finds her alone by the seashore, lamenting to herself, wishing out loud to be with her loved ones once more.

I have this idea where when Astral Oscar first discovers Ruby, he finds her alone by the seashore, lamenting to herself, wishing out loud to be with her loved ones once more.

For the sake of comedy, I also had this idea of Ruby, in her lonely state, fashioning replicas of all of her friends out of wood and strange fruits and vegetables---if you’d call them that--- she discovered while wandering the island which she pretended to talk to whenever the pain of solitude got the better of her.

There was even a fruitsona of Oscar who Ruby made out of a strange pumpkin-like fruit or vegetable that she found, claiming it reminded her of him due to its small size, green and orange colour and spots which reminded Ruby of Oscar’s freckled cheeks.

Let’s say …that Ruby liked to talk to Pumpkin Oscar the most out of her fruit friends mainly because the last time Ruby felt that lonely, it was Oscar’s words that helped her through it referring back to their shared moment in the dojo scene back in V5.

Let’s say…in this scene, Ruby finally breaks under the weight of her solitude and starts crying in front of Pumpkin Oscar, wishing out loud that the real Oscar was there with her to help her through this moment again and to offer her some wisdom on what to do.

But little did Ruby know, Oscar was there. Appearing before her in astral form. And let’s say it’s a case where even as a “ghost” or “wandering soul”, Oscar still attempts to connect to Ruby somehow---reaching out to her like her always did whenever she was in distress; hoping to make a meaningful link that would aid her and quell her fears.

And…little would Oscar know, he would be able to connect to Ruby in a manner that he’d never expected with his newfound power.

Alright, REALLY hear me out with this one. There are two ideas I can see spawning from the concept of Astral or Wandering Soul Oscar.

One version is Oscar taking possession of an inanimate object that’s close to Ruby and using it as a means of communicating with her whenever he visits the Other World in his dreams. There is a reason why I mentioned Pumpkin Oscar.

Ya’ll remember the Oz character Jack Pumpkinhead, right? Jack Pumpkinhead is an inanimate character with a pumpkin for a head and a skinny figure made of tree limbs and jointed with wooden pegs. Jack was made by Tip, the little boy who was eventually reveled to be Princess Ozma---the true ruler of Oz.

You might also recall that this squiggle meister has been advocating for a version of Jack or at least a reference to him to show up in RWBY, right?

To make a long theory short, imagine if…we got a nice little nod to Jack Pumpkinhead by having his RWBY equivalent be a pumpkin-headed body of sticks and twigs made by a lonely Ruby to represent her friend Oscar while alone on the island in the Other World and this very same pumpkin creation ends up providing a “body” for an Astral Oscar to project himself into and use to talk with Ruby in the Other World.

Basically what I’m saying here is---in the Other World, Oscar becomes Pumpkinhead and in this form, he travels with Ruby on the island and helps her find their friends.

However, meanwhile back in the real world in Remnant, Oscar’s actual body is more or less stuck in an almost comatose state which unfortunately has his friends in Vacuo---Emerald, Ren and Nora all extremely worried for him since as far as they knew, Oscar went to sleep and just never woke up.

While the little prince is technically NOT dead since his wandering soul is off on an adventure helping Ruby in the Other World but for the most, his allies on the other side aren’t aware of this. At least, not until Oscar eventually does wake up to blissfully inform the others of his time in the dreamland--- that he knew exactly where their missing comrades were since with Ruby’s help, he found them all in his dreams in another world beyond Remnant---as ridiculously outlandish and farfetched as that might sound coming from a kid with two souls.

Just picture a scene where Oscar is retelling his adventures in the Other World with Ren, Emerald and Nora AFTER being asleep for some like a few days in Remnant’s time and all three of him ogling him like he’d gone mad while unconscious. Although Ren is willing to entertain the possibility of Oscar’s “findings” being just, not just because it’s coming from Oscar---the magical kid with literally two souls--- but also because he can tell that Oscar wasn’t lying to them based on his semblance. So it’s a scene like that however Nora and Emerald are still more than a little apprehensive.

But as I said before, this is just one idea I have based on the Astral Oscar concept.

The other version is Astral Oscar ending up inside Ruby’s head. So basically, picture a scenario where Oscar is Ruby’s companion in another world but instead of being there with her physically or possessing an inanimate object, he mainly becomes another voice inside of her head; guiding her as best as he could.

It’s pretty much a case where Oscar gets a little taste of what Oz was experiencing while sharing his body with him, so to speak in a sense. In a desperate attempt to connect to Ruby while in astral form, Oscar unintentionally ends up inside of Ruby’s body or at least her head and that’s how they’re able to know of the other’s presence and thus talk to each other while in the Other World.

I’m not saying that Oscar is able to take possession of Ruby’s body (since her body is hers and he’s not trying to be that kind of “ghost” since he of all people understands what it’s like to have your body being taken over by another intruding soul without your consent and all that jazz). I more like it in the realm of him just communicating with Ruby mentally since he connected his wandering spirit to hers. And at the same time, Oscar is able to feel Ruby’s true emotions and unbeknownst to him, she can also feel his while he’s inside of her head. So the two are able to bond with each other a lot closely as friends and understand one another in ways they never did before.

So just picture Ruby traversing through the Other World, talking with Oscar as the other voice inside of her head that only she can hear since it’s her soul that he’s made contact with. But it’s also a case where Oscar doesn’t really have full control over his newfound power since he isn’t quite sure how it works or how he even unlocked it in the first place. Is it even a semblance or a result of magic? Oscar isn’t sure.

So while Oscar is grateful for finding Ruby; at the same time, he isn’t sure how he even got to the Other World in the first place outside of going to sleep back in Vacuo and suddenly waking up as a wandering soul in ghost form there. The poor boy also isn’t sure on how he will return to his body in Remnant but naturally, he eventually does figure this out and it becomes a scenario where Oscar hops back and forth between Remnant and the Other World.

On one end, he connects to Ruby in the Other World in his sleep, informing her of all that’s happening back in Remnant with Salem and safeguarding the last two relics from her particularly the Sword of Destruction which was being housed in their current location in Vacuo.

And on the other hand, when Oscar is awake, he reiterates his findings from the Other World from his time with Ruby with their friends in Remnant while working on their end to find a way to bring the others back home to Remnant.

I just really love the concept of Oscar being the link for his friends between two worlds. I like the idea of our boy becoming the key to helping Ruby and the others get back to Remnant. And I love the idea of him being able to do so through a unique power that only he has and shares with his rose.

I know the idea of Oscar connecting to Ruby as a wandering soul and talking to her in her mind while in his dreams sounds like a stretch. Still nevertheless, I really dig this idea and while I doubt it’ll become canon in any shape or form for V9, as always, it’s still worth tossing out to my ever-growing table of possibilities and headcanons.

Besides, I wanted to amuse myself with the thought of Oscar talking to Ruby in her head in his wandering soul form and there’s this initial apprehension where the little prince is worried that his rose might have the same annoyed reaction to his presence that he once gave Oz back in V4.

However to Oscar’s surprise, Ruby is surprisingly enthusiastic about having him share her mind with her and is more than welcoming of him being there since…Ruby trusts Oscar and after walking the Other World alone, she’s happier to just have someone she knows and likes there with her as opposed to being on her own. That way, it doesn’t feel as lonely as it did before.

This is also a callback to V5CH3 when Oscar first told RNJR about him sharing a body with Oz and Ruby reacting more enthusiastically to the idea of a person with two souls than anything else which I always found to be adorably sweet of her.

She looked so intrigued by Oscar. I always liked that detail from when the Rosegarden pair first met since Ruby's enthusiasm of Oscar mirrored his enthralled expression at meeting her for the first time and seeing someone like her with silver eyes.

I just think it’d be neat to see some Oscar and Ruby mental conversations---both the comical kind with shenanigans on Ruby’s part and the deep and thoughtful kind where, because they share such a unique bond with only each other, the two smaller, most honest souls can understand each other a lot more than before since now they were connected spirituallyin a sense.

Perhaps while connected to Ruby mentally in astral form, Ruby can sense Oscar’s apprehension of the Merge just as much as he can feel her loneliness and pain over feeling like she’d failed her friends yet again (particularly Penny’s whose death she’d missed and failed to stop yet again).

Maybe it’s a scenario where Oscar doesn’t even want to return to Remnant---where the little prince would much rather face the consequences of never waking up again in the real world and thus remain a wandering soul forever as opposed to the latter of waking up as someone else. For at least as a wandering soul---as a ghost---Oscar would at least get to be himself. A dark thought that concerned Ruby and could even spark a conversation between them on this topic.

As we know from the events of V8, Oscar is very apprehensive of the Merge. Neither he nor Oz wants it to happen. Although I’d like to believe that Oz’s own uneasiness stems from him being fully aware of Oscar’s true feelings and reluctance. Personally if there is one other character I’d love to see learn of Oscar’s fears of the Merge and even help him through it, it’s Ruby.

As the audience, we’ve already seen Oscar discuss the Merge with Oz twice for V8. Now what I’d love to see is Oscar sharing his fears with someone else he deeply trusts and I’d still love to believe that that character is Ruby.

Buuuuuuuuuuuut…like I said, this is all just a concept. Who knows what V9 will bring for the little prince and his true rose? At least in the meantime, I can amuse myself on more ideas derived from this one headcanon of mine.

I think Oscar becoming a wandering soul in the Other World where he connects with his rose sounds pretty cool especially the part where the two grow and help each other emotionally on their journey together before finally reuniting for real in their home of Remnant.

I especially like the idea of Oscar connecting to Ruby inside her mind and talking to her as another voice inside her head since I think it could be an interesting new way to further cultivate their bond and help it to blossom into something very meaningful to them both.

Not necessarily as a romance but…still something strong and unique only to them and their shared bond, y’know what I mean?

But again, that's just moi.

~LittleMissSquiggles (2021)

#oscar pine #ruby rose #oscar and ruby #rwby rosegarden #rwby theories #rwby volume 9 theory #pinehead headcanons #squiggles pinehead headcanons

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kali-writes-meta · 4 years

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Volume 8 Predictions: Salem's Next Move

This is my third post of Volume 8 predictions, after the "I May Fall" analysis and the Monstro= Space BattleshipYamato post. If you want to read those, they're posted earlier on this site.

Volume 8 opens with the ball in Salem's court. What is her immediate goal? We know something about her long-term goals, but what does she want right now? My theory may surprise you, but bear with me.

I'm going to start by making three suppositions. None of them are proven, all of them may be wrong, but there's solid evidence behind each of them.

Supposition A: Salem Doesn't Want To Be Here.

Remember the jokes about Salem's bath being interrupted by Ironwood's video call, and that's why she covered herself in smoke? That basically happened on a larger scale. Salem wants to defeat Atlas eventually, but not now. Both times we saw her in planning meetings with Team WTCH, her focus was on getting the Sword of Destruction from Vacuo.

We heard Cinder tell Neo that Salem planned to attack Atlas only after finishing the Vacuo job. From what we've seen, Salem's original timetable read like this:

1) Absorb Fall Maiden Powers, destroy Beacon, kill Ozpin, capture Crown of Choice Relic;

2) Absorb Spring Maiden Powers, capture Lamp of Knowledge Relic, let White Fang destroy Haven;

3) Absorb Summer Maiden Powers, capture Sword of Destruction Relic, destroy Shade; and then

4) Absorb Winter Maiden Powers, capture Staff of Creation Relic, and destroy Atlas Academy.

Under the original plan, she would have met the Atlesian military with the powers of three Maidens and three Relics at her command, including the Sword of Destruction. As it is she's meeting them with one unstable Maiden and one Relic which hasn't officially reached her hands.

Conclusion: However impressive she looks to us, Salem THINKS she is underpowered for this engagement.

"But what about the Grimm?" you ask. "Salem has an Army, an Air Force, and a Paratrooper Division worth of Grimm at her command." True, but let's examine that aspect more closely.

Supposition B: Salem's resources are finite.

Salem has tremendous power and infinite life, but not infinite resources. Where do Grimm come from? According to both Jinn and what we've seen, the Grimm emerge from the God of Destruction's "blackened pools of annihilation".

But what happens to the pool after the Grimm emerge? Well, thanks to Kevin the Wyvern, we've seen that.

Back in Volume 3 we saw Kevin drip blackened puddles of annihilation on the streets of Beacon, and Grimm emerge from them.

Now look carefully underneath the Grimm when it stands. There's no more puddle. It's been used up.

But that's just a puddle. Pools are bigger. Yes, at first. But let's compare pictures of the God of Destruction's home both in "The Lost Fable" and in the modern day. The cliffs, crags, and outcroppings of glowing purple crystals are the same, but something's happened to the water table. In ancient times there's a deep lake present.

When Emerald and Mercury see that same spot, it's a dry lakebed with a few scattered pools at the bottom of it.

Salem is running out of Grimmpools. And that means Salem is running out of Grimm.

Salem assembled an Army, Air Force, and Paratrooper Division worth of Grimm once by burning through her remaining Grimmpools. (I'm not counting Monstro since he looks like he was literally upcycled) Could she do it twice?

Eh, maybe.

Could she do it three times?

That would be pushing it.

Salem is running out of monsters to surround herself with. Humans have no such limits; we breed and we adapt. I think this fact is what started Salem's quest for alternative energy sources in the first place.

Salem has been forced into attacking Atlas before she has the Relics and the Maiden powers. But she's Salem. This wasn't Plan A, but she's going to make the best of it.

So what do people do when they must attack an entrenched force with what they consider underpowered troops? There's two options.

Option #1 is to go for the throat. Launch an attack with so much fury the enemy doesn't have time to recover before you've ripped their head off. It's a good plan if you've got a clear target. But if you can't reach the unshielded access port that goes straight to the reactor, it's a bust. Salem could do it if she had the Winter Maiden Power, but not without it.

Option #2 is to bluff. Do just enough damage to scare the enemy, then demand tribute and threaten to do worse if your demands aren't met by a certain deadline. I think this is what Salem is going to do.

There's no need to damage Mantle any more. She's proven she can destroy it at her leisure, and Ironwood's proven he doesn't care about Mantle. She has to attack something Ironwood does care about. She has to hurt Atlas or the Fleet parked over Atlas, and she'll probably go for the Fleet. That leads to

Supposition C: Salem's Flying Whale is based on Space Battleship Yamato.

In my last post I speculated that Monstro is based on Space Battleship Yamato. If that's the case, it's going to have some version of the Yamato's signature weapon, the gravity-based Wave Motion Gun, i.e., a death ray. It probably also has the Wave Motion Gun's signature flaw, a charge limit.

The logical thing for Salem to do would be to turn the death ray on the Fleet and incapacitate them. Then, while the death ray is recharging, demand the Maiden, the Relic, and probably Oscar turned over to her at such-and-such place by such-and-such time and she'll leave them alone.

(Wasn't it so nice of Ironwood to arrange all his battleships like ducks in a carnival shooting gallery? I can't even excuse it as a lack of combat experience after what Roman Torchwick did at Beacon.)

She'll have to corrupt or destroy the military before she leaves of course. Humans are excellent at adapting to threats, and they'd come up with something to annoy her given the opportunity. But there's no need to tell them that up front.

And with a deadline and a meeting place, RWBY & Co. have an opening for shenanigans.

#rwby #james ironwood #rwby salem #rwby volume 8 #rwby predictions

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dontcallmecarrie · 4 years

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Of Regrets and Lukewarm Tea

Ivan slammed the phone into its cradle, and rubbed at his temples to curtail his headache before it became more than a minor nuisance because the last thing they needed was a distraction.

He’d never thought he would live to see the day that he’d miss Siberia, but damn if it didn’t get close sometimes.

Funny thing is, he’d walked into this with his eyes open.

From the get-go, he’d known this was a terrible idea— known this could only possibly end in chaos and disaster— but he’d agreed anyway.

He’d expected the blackmail and illicit favors and bribery. He’d been ready for the shameless bribery, and the shadowy network that had somehow managed to get him a plane ticket despite being on half a dozen no-fly lists. Had been ready to deal with the worst of the worst, when it came to taking on the likes of Howard Stark.

What he hadn’t expected was...everything else.

“Thanks for having me over.” The son of the man who had ruined his life slid into the chair across from his, not remarking on the dingy walls of his apartment, or the chipped mug in his hands, or the ominous groan of the pipes as the evening went on. “Now, let’s get down to business because I’ll be honest, this is going to be a doozy.”

“I assumed this was why you targeted me.”

“It sounds so sinister when you say it like that, Ivan– can I call you Ivan? I’m sorry, I just assumed—”

“Sure.” Considering everything, it was only prudent. What with their shared goal, and all.

“Okay, great. Okay, here’s the plan: we’re giving you the life his heir would have had, and rubbing it in his face at every opportunity because the best revenge is living well and this is the perfect chance to put an old wrong to right. How’s it sound?”

Ivan leaned back for a moment, and looked at his associate consideringly. At the sharp cut of his smile, and the gleam in his eyes. Then, he finally smiled back.

“Tell me more.”

“We’re giving you the ultimate origin story, man, you’re going to love it.”

“Has anyone told you you have a flair for the dramatic?”

Tony made a mock-offended gasp. “Okay, rude, I was just about to—”

Ivan rolled his eyes, and sipped at his now-lukewarm tea.

“How bad would it look for Howard if some rando were to walk up to an embassy and prove he’d stolen and discredited the hard work of a Soviet defector?”

Ivan was no slouch when it came to engineering: his father had taught him well when sober, and even his drunken rambling had sometimes been useful.

As such, it was not hard for him to learn the schematics of the miniaturized arc reactor, even if most of them were hastily sketched out on old napkins and scratch paper with less-than-helpful annotations. It wasn’t easy either— more than once, he’d found himself shooting dubious glances at his ally, simply because how many laws of thermodynamics had he broken?— but it wasn’t the staggering impossibility it had first seemed to be.

And if he also sometimes found himself laughing at the irony of the fact that he was being given the credit for something that would have revolutionized academia on a silver platter, and who it was that was giving it to him? Well, Tony had been off “seeing the sights” and the ashes of their notes would never tell. Nor would the rudimentary prototype slowly taking shape on his bench, or the slightly-more-polished version that he was comparing it to.

Even if he had Questions as to the circumstances surrounding its creation— really, Tony could only mention hostage situations and “if you see this one blond creep who doesn’t seem to shut up about rings, run” so many times before he got curious— but by the end of it, he had a shining circle that could very nearly fit in the palm of his hand, made entirely out of scavenged parts and theoretically capable of powering his shitty apartment for a month.

Had a miniaturized arc reactor, something that used the very technology that had damned his father, and knew it inside and out, knew the theory by heart, and—

Ivan laughed.

“Step one, check.”

“How involved do you want to be?”

“Pardon?”

“If you want, you can...just live the cushy life from here on out, take credit for whatever comes your way. It’d be easy: go to galas or whatever fancy shindig you want, flip off Howard whenever you run into each other, the works. If you want, this can be it.”

Ivan frowned. “There’s a ‘but’ in there, isn’t there.”

“You’re going to be our face, Ivan—”

“Call me Vanya.” Ivan cut in, and tried not to flush at the way Tony startled for a moment because damn it that meant he knew about diminutives and sure maybe it was a bit personal but he was helping him but he didn’t want to make this a big deal and—

“Vanya, then.” Tony continued, with a slight smile that broadened as he went on. “Janus Enterprises is going to provide all the cover Juno needs to operate. Just being its face is already more than enough from you, but...if you want, you can be more active.”

“Oh?”

“For... special circumstances. Emergencies, heavy lifting, whatever. I mention this because there’s already one on the roster.” Tony’s smile shifted to a smirk, and Ivan had a feeling he knew where this was going even before Tony rapped his knuckles against the briefcase he’d taken to carrying around.

“Why are you so dramatic.”

“Hey!”

Ivan Vanko was a sensible person. He knew his limits, knew what he wanted in life and didn’t tend to regret or second-guess his decisions.

Right now, however, he was seriously questioning his life choices.

He would not deny Tony was a friend, certainly much less stressful to deal with than Juno herself, but.

He was also such a brat.

(Ivan very carefully didn’t think about how sometimes he thought врат instead of brat, because he could only deal with one headache at a time thank you very much)

...anyway.

“How is it that you get yourself into these scrapes?” Ivan snapped into the receiver even as he stared at the newspaper headline and the grainy photographs splashed beneath.

“It’s not like I go looking for them!”

“I just had to deal with another audit, I do not need the attention—”

“How big a distraction do you want?”

Ivan put the phone down on his desk, leaned back, and slowly counted to ten. First in Russian, then in English. Then, backwards, because he still had the strong urge to strangle something and the person responsible was currently several hundred miles away.

Ugh.

Why had he agreed to this, again?

Less than six hours later, he was reminded.

Specifically, Howard’s face when the announcement of Janus Enterprises’ support for refugees and survivors of domestic violence went out, courtesy of its brand-new September Foundation.

Another day, another disaster and moments like these, Ivan was incredibly grateful he wasn’t the one running point because he did not envy the cleanup.

Then he saw the damage reports and news coverage, and. Well.

“Iron Man? Really?”

“Honestly, I think it has a nice ring to it.”

Ivan pinched the bridge of his nose, and bit back a groan.

One of the more intriguing aspects of this whole mission was that for all that it was primarily a cover, Janus Enterprises was still very much a company.

Actually— if he hadn’t known any better, Ivan would have thought it was entirely legitimate.

All the paperwork was in place, all the i’s were dotted and the t’s were crossed, there were honest-to-goodness company newsletters and the only thing that might have hinted at a potentially unscrupulous dealings was how terrifyingly efficient everything was.

Ivan had his suspicions as to who was behind this, but he didn’t ask because unlike some idiots, he had a sense of self-preservation.

This was a terrible idea.

A no-good, very bad, scraping-the-bottom-of-the-barrel idea that he sorely regretted even considering, and yet.

Ivan glowered at his shiny new mobile phone, desperately trying to put off the inevitable because he had common sense and—

The latest crash came through loud and clear on the receiver.

“Brat, I thought you said you had this handled?”

“Looks like our intel’s off, backup incoming and—” another explosion went off, followed by the crack of a gunshot and mostly indistinct swearing before it happened.

“—I’m grounded. Too much firepower, I’m not sure I—”

Iron Man was their heaviest hitter.

Tony was his idiot of a best friend, who regularly bit off more than he could chew and then acted like everything was under control even if he was on fire and if Ivan lost him because of his stubbornness and some asshole Neo-Nazis—

Damn it.

Ivan pinched the bridge of his nose, and made his way to the back of his workshop.

The area where he kept his ‘thought exercise’ prototypes, the ones that typically didn’t see the light of day because he was usually either drunk or half-asleep when he made them and he was so going to regret this.

“Hold your position, Iron Man. Backup en route.”

Drunk-him had some very questionable tastes. In this case, however, Ivan couldn’t help but admit that the whips looked cool.

A bitch and a half to actually use, sure, but everyone in the base ran away screaming when they caught sight of him, so. Whatever.

Also? He’d admit that even if this was more the brat’s thing than his, he was starting to see the appeal.

“So...Whiplash, huh?”

"Shut up and drink your tea before it gets cold.”

#By Dawn's Early Light #BDEL #My writing #My fic

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morethanaprincess-a · 3 years

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@despairfiles said: “I just need you to trust me.”

Romancing Mister Bridgerton starters

Three days. That, despite having no calendar to consult, just a series of sunrises and sunsets, had been how long they'd proceeded on foot away from Novoselic Castle and to Lord El-Melloi II's temporary residence near the country's border.

It hadn't even been Sonia's idea in the first place. No, if the Queen of Novoselic had her way, she would have been stubborn, resolute in picking an appropriate Prince Consort from a series of manila folders featuring all the pertinent details concerning her possible suitors: Age, physical appearance, family, nationality, illnesses, IQ, current projects and employment. She didn't need a fulfilling love: Sonia had dissuaded herself of that notion the moment she awoke in her pod on Jabberwock Island and what she'd done, what they'd all done, had slowly begun to sink in. But she needed, at the very least, an heir and hopefully a spare. And that, legally, required a consort. It was the Post-Tragedy version of arranged marriage, all for the sake of continuing to rebuild the world.

But Emiya wasn't about to let her have her way, and Sonia internally growled at his ability to talk her into such a thing. She just needed time, time to clear her head and make the most important decision of her life. And, whether she liked it or not, he was going to make that happen. With a 'kidnapping' she'd spent a week preparing for.

Though nothing had prepared her for the stress: the physical that settled into blisters on her heels and toes and soreness in her lower back and calves, and the mental, that she'd still have to make an inevitable choice. She knew better than to complain: Emiya marched ahead first, carrying most of their equipment and cutting away fallen branches and other obstacles in their path. And besides, even if she was the last of her line, Sonia still upheld the family creed of 'never complain.' She grit her teeth, looking down at her feet before she collided with Emiya's back.

"Why did you stop?" She asked, pressing both palms against him as she pushed herself away to a more comfortable distance. "There shouldn't be anything of note in an open field-"

Except there was, as Sonia's line of sight followed his to what precisely gave him pause. Monokumas. A troop of them, it seemed, that weren't being controlled or advised by a human threat. Instead, they were robots who moved on their own, spitting fire and swiping blades and surely if they saw them, firing bullets against anyone who did not heed their message of despair. They weren't there to convert new followers: they were there to burn, slice, shoot, and poison Novoselic to the ground, as new Remnants wished to punish the queen for her treachery (according to reports from the Future Foundation, anyway). Sonia sucked in a breath, scanning the various assailants for something not composed of metal and yet she found none. Still, it was a story she'd leave out of the conversation during her next video call to Jabberwock Island. If just to spare Kazuichi's guilt.

"We can't cross without facing them, they're spread out too far and moving around them will add hours to our journey," She murmured behind him, a past life of military training kicking into gear without her even trying. Her memories of her various drills and strategy sessions felt automatic, natural, as opposed to forcing her brain to recall facts others expected her to know. "We'll have to go through them. Can you, can we, achieve this?"

Sonia wasn't sure how much use she'd be to him. He could conjure blades out of thin air and was a trained fighter. Once upon a time, she'd been rather adept with military-grade weapons, vehicles, and basic first aid. But ever since she'd left the Neo World Program, weapons were strictly kept from the former Remnants. To protect the rest of the world first and foremost, and then the members of Class 77-B, from falling into despair once more once they'd learned the truth of The Tragedy and their part in it. She wasn't even permitted to watch testimonials from the battlefields or even murder and death in fiction, in fear the content would invoke despair within the queen. Her role as supreme commander of the armed forces had ended the day Byakuya Togami and his Future Foundation cohorts had apprehended her.

And so she waited, waited for Emiya to make a decision for their next steps. She'd turned away from him, gaze fixed on the approaching bears in all their menacing glory. She was still baffled how one of her friends could be responsible for their creation, despite being all too aware that Kazuichi, his inappropriate behavior towards her virtual avatar aside, was a brilliant mechanic. If anyone could achieve such a feat, it was him.

She was only dragged from her rather surprising, tender consideration of someone she used to call a 'stalker' to something even more surprising: Emiya, holding out an assault rifle in her direction. For a moment Sonia could only stare, as if trying to discern if what lay before her was truly real. But as she reached out to touch it, the smooth wood and cool metal against her palms and fingertips was enough for her to understand that, despite everything she'd endured and was, her bodyguard was giving her a firearm. To help him with the job.

"I just need you to trust me."

"Emiya, I haven't handled one of these in many, many years," She began slowly, aiming the gun to the ground yet still keeping a proper hold on it. "And I don't want to think about the last time I did so. But more than that, I'm not sure I still can." Pressing her lips together in thought, Sonia glanced towards the grass beneath her feet and the weapon that was now pointed beside them. She hadn't wanted to consider her current line of thought, much less vocalize it. But he needed to understand.

"I can't imagine ever shooting a person, or any living thing, ever again," Sonia continued softly before bringing her eyes to meet his. "What if I accidentally shoot you?"

#more-than-a-princess answered #despairfiles #post neo world program verse #(Romancing Mister Bridgerton starters)#(I know we talked about this plot/scene on discord)#(But I thought this prompt was a good fit for it)#(Dear dash: this is one of the very few instances I'll write a fight scene)

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willowashmaple · 3 years

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autism and religion: my story.

This is a republication of my essay dated on Jan. 3, 2020. It has been slightly edited for this version.

This is my personal story. As it has been often said, if you’ve met one autistic, you’ve just met one.

It seems that for the neurotypicals, religion and/or spirituality is mostly an emotional experience, to provide a sense of calm and comfort amidst the challenges of the world. I’ve heard many “testimonies of salvation” that are littered with words like love, feeling, hope, and sadness.

In my younger days, I desperately longed for those experiences. Like some “model Christians” would often tell the church, I wanted to “feel” God in forms of supernatural revelations or miraculous convulsion or ecstatic sense of joy. I’ve traveled to many Pentecostal revival meetings and televangelist “miracle crusades” hoping to get a taste of it. None of that happened in my life.

In fact, to me, coming to Christianity (I was not raised in any religion, as my parents were atheists) was mostly a cerebral experience. I was convinced of the veracity of the Bible through the Moody Science Films and books written by creation scientists, as well as by the highly scholarly Bible studies offered by churches. (And one day I had come across a Jehovah’s Witness book called Life: How did it begin – evolution or creation? – which led me to almost become a JW at one point, until when I noticed a doctrinal contradiction around their beliefs of death and resurrection; I left them when their elders could not sufficiently answer my question! Eventually I ended up becoming a Fundamental Baptist at age 15.)

A couple years later, I switched to a Pentecostal church, looking for “healing and deliverance.” Their charismatic worship services were new and exciting for me, and so were the fervent prayers and speaking in tongues. This was in the mid-1990s and the suburban megachurches of the baby boomers seemed to be the coolest, cutting-edge church experiences.

Yet, the vague, fuzzy “spirituality” never worked for me.

I was drawn to the traditions and structures of liturgies. I’ve heard of a so-called “Messianic Jewish” congregation being advertised on a local Seattle Christian radio station one day, and I decided to check it out. The Hebrew liturgy from a siddur (albeit a modified one) and ritual elements were something I appreciated deeply. Yet, it did not take very long before I realized how shallow their misappropriation of Jewish tradition was, and their understanding of the Bible was no better than those of the charismatic megachurches.

I decided to study Judaism for real. I’ve been to Chabad and Kollel classes to learn more about Orthodox Judaism. I’ve read through the Mishnah. I’ve studied several different versions of siddurim. I’ve spent two full cycles through the Jewish year of observances. I’ve observed kashrut and shabbat. I would have actually converted to Judaism (again, I came very close to doing so) if not for three things: (1) as a POC and immigrant, I experienced a lot of racist microaggressions from the Jewish community in Portland circa late 1990s; (2) I had gone through a personal and financial crisis and I could no longer afford being in the Jewish community, in which I was expected to pay large sums of money on synagogue dues, donations, and J membership; and (3) it was still difficult to be an out queer person, even in the progressive/Reform/Reconstructionist Jewish communities at the time.

I’m not going to bore you with rest of the story, which includes one full year as a member of a UU church, a few years of active membership in a liberal Protestant church, several years of being an Anglican and a Benedictine oblate, experimentation with Neo-Paganism, spending several months in a Wiccan commune, and a few years of being not religious at all.

Only five years ago, after having a serious burnout from seven years of political activism and community organizing and after over three years of not being part of any faith community, I found myself in a Unity church, whose New Thought approach to faith appealed to me because of its emphasis on disciplining one’s thoughts and beliefs instead of some vague appeal to emotional experiences.

To make the story short, as an autistic person, I have always tended to approach religion from reason and structures – doctrines and rituals/observances. I could always learn and grasp the concepts around theology and liturgies.

But it has not been an emotional, ecstatic, or even mystical experience for me. Whenever I sought such an experience, I always came away disappointed.

Nevertheless, this is a valid religious experience – no less valid than all the emotionalism of NTs in churches, synagogues, temples, or covens.

Of course, your mileage may vary and your experiences might not be like mine, but a handful of autistic individuals of religious faiths that I have known so far seem to share similar experiences. I’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences on this!

#repost #throwback #religion #spirituality #spiritual life #autistic experiences #religious experience #spiritual growth #spiritual development #askautistic #actuallyautistic

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hellzyeahthewebwieldingavenger · 4 years

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The Anti-Spider-Girl Agenda within Marvel

In 1998 Tom DeFalco, former EIC of Marvel, created Mayday Parker/Spider-Girl. Her debut did gangbusters and a first edition of it still fetches a lot of cash. She got a solo series in 1999 which launched an entire interconnected universe of characters, the MC2 universe.

The universe ultimately wrapped up in 2010 but throughout that time Mayday was being regularly published in one format or another, she was even the FIRST ever Marvel character to get a digital ongoing series before it went to print. An impressive accolade to add to the fact that she still holds the record for the female Marvel solo protagonist with the longest running continuous series. That is to say no breaks or relaunches, just over 60 straight monthly issues...

... And THEN she went another 40 straight issue for good measure before finally being continued in a relaunch.

So, given how the anniversaries of both her debut and the debut of her series/the MC2 universe have come and gone I have to ask...why has there been 0 acknowledgement from Marvel?

We’re in the middle of a 2099 celebration, and that imprint (that lasted less time and was arguably less successful) was an on and off presence between 2013-2017.

We’re going to get something acknowledging Iron Man 2020 a character who is hardly in the zeitgeist of Marvel fandom to the same extent as Spider-Girl.

Now in fairness both of those examples are reliant upon the literal names of both properties. It does make a certain amount of sense to celebrate the 2099 line in a year ending in the number 9, thus bringing us ever closer to the real life year 2099. Equally it makes sense to revive Iron Man 2020 during well...the year 2020.

But then you get to Marvel celebrating the Earth X stuff. Now for all you out there who haven’t read the Earth X stuff I want you to ask yourself a question and be very honest with yourselves. How much do you actually know about the Earth X universe just via osmosis, without having read it. I’m willing to bet it ain’t much if anything and what you do know probably amounts to:

It was Marvel’s answer to Kingdom Come

Alex Ross did art for it

MAYBE you know Norman Osborn was the President

Oh and you probably remember that really cool Venom/symbiote looking character who was a version of Spider-Girl!

Golly, it’s almost like if Marvel are going to celebrate the not-that-well-remembered Earth X line (which like 2099 also lasted for less time than the MC2 universe) then they should do SOMETHING (beyond releasing some trades) to mark EITHER of the appropriate anniversaries for Spider-Girl and/or the MC2 universe as a whole.

But no. We get some trades and also Mayday appeared in Spider-Geddon for a few issues...at no point being solely in the spotlight...

This my friends is simply the latest in a very, very, very, very, very long list of instances where Mayday/the MC2 brand is mistreated.

And a lot of that mistreatment I think is due to Tom DeFalco’s hand in creating Mayday and the MC2 universe. Because frankly, in particular relation to the MC2 universe, DeFalco’s work has also been mistreated in recent years.

The facts are:

Mayday’s ongoing (Spectacular Spider-Girl volume 2) was turned into a mini in spite of solicits

She was cancelled so Anya Corazon could get the name Spider-Girl

The very next time she shows up her Dad is killed off, thus fundamentally wrecking the whole premise for her character

The guy who killed her Dad proceeded to treat her as an abused babysitter

That same guy finished things off by removing her unique name and costume

That same guy (Slott) in the same run before and after Spider-Verse wrecked other elements from DeFalco’s ASM work AND threw shade at his origin for MJ, calling it reductive

Slott also was hired by DeFalco and had to uncomfortably admit he’d conned the man. Which combined with everything else makes me wonder if DeFalco maybe threw some shade Slott’s way back when he was an intern. Like he looked upon him as underhanded and unworthy of his place in the company, and Slott knew that and resented DeFalco for it. And again, being EIC earns enemies and DeFalco was the EIC when Slott started

Slott also wrecked Ben Reilly a character DeFalco did not create but had strong associations with.

During secret wars the story focused HEAVILY upon Hope Pym, Stinger and Ant-Man at a time when coincidentally the Ant-Man movie was happening.

During Secret Wars the same writer who wrecked her in Spider-Verse COINCIDENTALLY happened to a story about the daughter of Spider-Man who was born during the 1990s, but it was his own OC

During Secret Wars, Mayday appeared on the cover of one of the ongoings she was set to appear in, but it was then revised to be Anya

Mayday when she began appearing regularly in a new title was seemingly killed off early into it and didn’t appear for awhile, not getting much spotlight when she did

Mayday had to share her spotlight moments in Spider-Geddon with Anya (again), still wasn’t allowed to be called Spider-Girl again, and the story was mostly about Annie not her.

She was going to appear in the USM cartoon but then that was totally changed to be a gender flipped Peter Parker

Eric Masterson/Thunderstrike, another well remembered DeFalco creation, has also gotten little-no attention this decade despite it being a 20th/25th anniversary of him too. One of the more notable acknowledgments of his character was turning him into a Neo-Nazi for Spider-Punk to beat up.

Spider-Girl’s VERY SUCCESSFUL digests were discontinued but conveniently other digests for other Marvel properties either continued or started up after Mayday’s were discontinued.

The ‘complete’ Spider-Ham trade paperbacks ‘conveniently’ do not include Spider-Ham’s equivalent character for Spider-Girl, Swiney-Girl

Gee that’s an AWFUL lot of coincidence, especially when you consider fucking Spider-Ham has been getting more attention from Marvel than Mayday; and that was BEFORE Into the Spider-Verse came out.

I’m sorry, but it’s really, really, really, really, really, really obvious that there is an anti DeFalco/Spider-Girl/MC2 sentiment within Marvel.

But why you may ask?

There are a few reasons for that. The biggest one though is that Tom DeFalco is the former EIC of Marvel comics.

At the time of me writing this, Axel Alonso recently stopped being EIC of Marvel and no bad words are muttered about him. People in the industry equally have little bad to say about Joe Quesada, especially those within Marvel.

But then again...Joey Q is still working for Marvel and in a position ABOVE the EIC. He never stopped working for Marvel even when he stopped being the EIC. And Alonso, one of Quesada’s right hand yes men conveniently took over for him and do you know he didn’t run the company all THAT differently to his former boss. Funny that right?

It’s almost as funny as how other former EICs of Marvel absolutely don’t have the same treatment. Jim Shooter is routinely BLASTED by countless fans and creators, especially the ones who worked under him, even though he oversaw arguably the height of Marvel comics’ creative history. Bob Harrass and his decisions are often talked about less than flatteringly. Tom DeFalco meanwhile had a whole disparaging phrase named after him.

Yes. That is is a real life Marvel letter page from the mid-2000s literally using the term ‘DeFalco’s Folly’ in reference to a former Marvel EIC and outright BLAMING HIM for their bankruptcy in the 1990s.*

When you are the EIC you make enemies. It’s rare that the boss of any business isn’t resented on some level by their employees. And your words take on much more meaning that what you simply say, being subject to misinterpretation.**

But now imagine you are the boss of a bunch of creative nerds (for most creators of superheros are nerds). Creative people A LOT of the time tend to be fairly sensitive as is, it’s likely critical to their craft. Nerds historically have tended to be sensitive (that’s neither a good nor bad thing). If you are the boss of those people, hoo boy will you ever make enemies. Tom DeFalco in fact once told a fellow editor that an innocuous comment about how an artist under said editor’s employ drew a character was being taken by the artist as an insult to their whole career.

NOW imagine all that and also under your tenure the company goes bankrupt and a lot of people lose their jobs?

Enemies. Enemies galore.

Even if it wasn’t necessarily your fault, you are the most visible person in authority so you get the blame. If the internet wasn’t that much of a thing do you really think that Ike Perlmutter would be the guy who got the blame for deep sixing the X-Men and F4 in the 2010s? Hell no, it’d have been Axel Alonso and/or Tom Brevoort.

So yeah, Mayday was DeFalco’s baby and the MC2 universe more than anything was the logical extrapolation from the Marvel universe as it existed under HIS tenure as EIC. It’s very much seen as representative of DeFalco himself. Thus if people have an issue with DeFalco, they’re not going to do all that much positive as far as his stuff is concerned, in particular if it gives him anything like royalties.

But on top of all of that I think Spider-Girl and the MC2 universe simply conceptually lean against Marvel’s ‘party line.

I didn’t notice this, but it was pointed out to me by an acquaintance that the MC2 universe is VERY similar to DC’s Earth 2 concept, wherein the classic heroes are older and/or retired with their immediate descendants picking up their mantles. Marvel and DC have this petty and asinine pissing contest between them, with many within Marvel even outright hating the fact that they have numbered universes like DC. It’s likely (definitely) the reason Earth 616 was rebranded as ‘Earth Prime’. This of course won’t stop them ripping off DC if they think it’ll make bank

The MC2 universe was a universe of OPTIMISM. In particular in the 2000s, and this attitude has definitely lingered, there is this emphasis upon cynicism and at best Pyrrhic victories within Marvel. Partially this is due to a misinterpretation of what ‘realism’ means, but partially this is due to misguided belief that controversy sells and pissing the fans off makes bank.

The MC2 universe is very old school. It’s deliberately designed to be nostalgic and feel Silver Age in it’s sensibilities. this is why the violence is not all that gory, the sexual references are at best reserved and tasteful and there’s that optimism I talked about. not to mention it kicks back hard against the decompression/writing for the trade storytelling model Marvel typically employs and has typically employed for almost 20 years now. Whether it’s simply because the universe doesn’t conform, or because Marvel views anything ‘retro’ as bad because it isn’t ‘modern’ (with no inspection of whether the modern trends are a GOOD thing) the end result is that the MC2′s sensibilities are not in line with how Marvel WANTS their comics produced.

Then you have Mayday herself. Mayday is a living symbol of both the Clone Saga and the Spider Marriage. Whilst Marvel are NOW willing to more openly reference the Clone Saga, few people i any kind of positions of power look upon it (or even aspects of it) with anything but disdain and embarrassment. Dan Slott for instance openly hated it. As for the Spider Marriage...I mean do I even need to explain that one?

I’m sure a frustrating fact for Marvel during Spider-Girl’s publication, and something likely passed down to Axel Alonso when he was handpicked by Quesada, was that the book refused to die. Spider-Girl was scheduled for cancellation multiple times and defied the odds multiple times. Marvel 90% of the time won’t kill a book if it’s making a profit (especially in a day and age when they were still feeling the fallout from bankruptcy) so they kept Spider-Girl around, but because it was so against the party line I’m VERY sure they’d have LIKED to have had the justification for killing the title. That’s likely why they shuffled her onto a digital platform in 2009. Amazing Spider-Girl did poorly enough to justify cancelling it but not so poorly that they couldn’t still make money from it. Another relaunch would’ve boosted sales for the series, but making it a digital series at a time when hardly anyone read digitially (let alone PAID for it), now that’s a shrewd manoeuvre. You make SOME money from it, you pay lip service to keeping it alive and appeasing very upset Spider-Marriage fans, but you’ve essentially guaranteed it’s failure long term.

Part of that annoying success was those incredibly successful digests that were possibly indoctrinating a lot of young impressionable readers on a character/brand Marvel wanted to bury and aspects of their flagship character (read: a married older Peter Parker) that they wanted to bury. Hence Spider-Girl digests disappeared but conveniently there were still digests for Ultimate Spider-Man sold featuring a young, buffoonish, Avengers worshipping Peter Parker.

Oh...and she also had the incredibly brand sexy name ‘Spider-Girl’ that Joe Quesada wanted for his own precious pet OC character, Anya Corazon. In fact Mayday was going to be rebranded as Spider Woman in Spider-Girl #75, specifically so that Anya Corazon could be given the name Spider-Girl. Years later Mayday was cancelled specifically for that purpose.

tl:dr There is a VERY OBVIOUS anti Tom DeFalco/Spider-Girl/MC2 agenda within Marvel.

My hope is that it’s rooted out, hopefully as a result of the 20 year nostalgia factor kicking in sooner of later (her series was most prevalent in the 2000s) and more female creators coming into the industry.

*Which is very much unfair. There is rarely one singular decision that results in bankruptcy. So whilst DeFalco making a single purchase might’ve been a contribution (emphasis on ‘might’) the idea that it was THE ultimate cause of Marvel’s problems is ridiculous.

Marvel were heading for the shitter the moment Ron Perleman purchased it in the 1980s. They were the victims of a ‘pump and dump’ scheme wherein sleazy yet clever financial people showed up, created a bubble to make a load of money, then moved on to the next thing when the bubble burst. To my understanding a similar thing occurred with baseball cards.

** In fact DeFalco’s friend, Ron Frenz, has spoken about how he was witness to DeFalco saying one thing and the people listening to him hearing and acting upon it in a totally different way than was intended.

The same happened to Stan Lee when he made an aside about Iron Man’s lack of a nose, which resulted in his employees believing Stan wanted them to give Iron Man a nose.

P.S. You know in the 1990s when all the 2099 books got cancelled sans Spider-Man 2099, they never got a second bite of the apple.

But between the late 90s and 2000s the MC2 universe was seemed successful enough that around 2006-2007 both Spider-Girl AND the wider MC2 universe were given second volumes, even the ones that only lasted like 6 issues.

Since then there’s been at least 3 attempts to revive the 2099 universe, we’re living through the latest one.

And yet Mayday doesn’t seem to even be worthy of a spotlight issue in the current Spider-Verse series.

#Spider-Man #Spider-Girl #Mayday Parker #mc2 #mc2 universe #Tom DeFalco #Ron Frenz #Thunderstrike #Eric Masterson #Dan Slott #Joe Quesada

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amillioninprizes · 4 years

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Some thoughts on Veronica Mars, fan service, and noir

I’ve been on winter break and at home with a nasty combo cold-ear infection-stomach virus the past couple of weeks, and as so often happens when I don’t have much going on, my thoughts have turned to ruminating over the steaming pile of excrement that was season 4 of Veronica Mars. Why yes, almost six months and one cancellation notice later and I’m still complaining about it--as I told someone on Twitter, it was so stupid that it’s going to take years to unpack.

This particular rant is brought to you by a common refrain seen in both professional critics’ and S4 supporters’ reviews of S4: the movie was schlocky fan service, while S4 is TRUE NOIR. I’m here to argue that neither of those things are true, and that in the grand scheme of things trying to definitively call Veronica Mars noir or not isn’t the best qualitative judgement of the series.

A note on “fanservice”

Something that’s been very strange to me in the critical discussion around S4 is that the fan-funded movie has been retconned as a fanservicey failure. This is weird because it did get a positive Rotten Tomatoes score, actually turned a profit despite the unorthodox distribution model, and was overall well-received by fans except for maybe the 5 Piz lovers out there (he absolutely did not deserve better you guys; he works at This American Life and lives in Brooklyn, he’ll be fine).

A lot of the things pointed to in the movie as fan service actually weren’t. In every interview about the movie and S4, RT and KB always talk about how they started with the image of Veronica punching Madison at the high school reunion and worked from there. The problem is that almost no one had been asking for that. If they had bothered to read any online discourse about the show (and we know RT definitely does), they would know that fans are actually somewhat sympathetic to Madison--after all, she was the intended recipient of the drugged drink Veronica received at Shelly Pomeroy’s party, plus growing up in a family that she wasn’t meant to be a member of must have negatively impacted her. When the preview scene of Veronica encountering Madison at the reunion welcome table was released, Veronica didn’t come off sympathetically. In a similar vein, as much as I liked Corny as a side character in the original series, I didn’t need him to come back for that random scene at the reunion. Nor was anyone asking for an out-of-nowhere James Franco cameo (which given what we know about him now is super gross in hindsight).

So why was the movie well-received by fans? Veronica was in character after an unevenly written and performed S3, and she was back in Neptune, doing what (and who; Ay-yo!) she was meant to do. So while the mystery was subpar (and what Rob Thomas mystery isn’t?), the character side of the story made sense and was satisfying. I wouldn’t call that fan service so much as good writing. Plus, what is even the point of wasting time, money, and effort on making a tv show or movie if it’s going to actively alienate the audience?

S4: more trauma porn than true noir

Admittedly, I’m not exactly the world’s foremost scholar on film noir (in my opinion, the height of cinema is teen romcoms c. 1995-2005), but I do feel I have enough pop cultural knowledge to have a working understanding of what film noir is, and as internet folk would say, S4 ain’t it chief. Sure, S4 was bleak subject matter wise, but that does not automatically equal noir. HappilyShanghaied, who does have a film studies background, wrote a pretty excellent post about why that is shortly after S4 dropped that I could not improve upon, so I will just leave it here.

In addition to this analysis, I would also point out that S4 was lacking in a unique visual style common to noir films, especially compared to the original television series and the movie. The original series made use of green, blue, and yellow filters to fulfill a high school version of the noir aesthetic (quick shoutout to Cheshirecatstrut’s color theory posts for more on what we thought this meant before it turned out that Rob Thomas did not actually intend to imbue meaning into any of this), while the movie adopted a more mature muted blue-grey palette. S4, however, was more or less shot like a conventional drama and was brightly lit, perhaps signifying Rob Thomas’s apparent plans to turn the show into a conventional procedural.

The movie: more than fan service

If anything, the movie was more noir than S4. Take Gia’s storyline for instance. While Veronica was off obtaining elite degrees, Gia spent 9 years in a virtual cage being forced into a sexual relationship without her total consent (because that’s the only storyline women can have on this show), and then set herself up to be murdered at the very moment she could potentially break free. That’s pretty fucking grim.

Then there is the whole police corruption storyline, which is a hallmark of noir fiction. The glimpses we get of the Neptune sheriff’s department point to a larger conspiracy at play than just crooked cops; Sachs lost his life trying to expose it and Keith was gravely injured. This was the story I was excited for future installments of Veronica Mars to address, especially given its relevance to today’s politics. Unfortunately, this thread was entirely dropped in S4, where the police department (because, as Rob Thomas revealed in interviews but not onscreen, Neptune has incorporated) is merely overwhelmed by the scope of the bombing case rather than outright corrupt. (Side note but Marcia Langdon was also a more complex and morally grey character when introduced in the second book than she was on screen in S4. Another wasted opportunity).

Noir is also marked by a sense of inevitability or doom as a result of greater forces at play. An example of this in the movie is Weevil’s storyline. After building a life and family for himself, he ultimately ends up rejoining the PCHer gang he left as a teenager due to a misunderstanding based on his race and appearance and the assumptions authority figures make about him because of those things. No matter what he does, he is still limited by an unjust and racist society. Contrast this with the final explosion in S4; it’s not inevitable, just based on Veronica’s incompetence. Rob Thomas claims that he tried to create a sense of doom to LoVe’s relationship between the OOC Leo storyline and the last minute barriers before the wedding, but those aspects just served to make the story unnecessarily convoluted.

What is noir anyway? Was Veronica Mars ever noir? Does it matter?

But this is all assuming there is a set template for noir anyway. This New Yorker essay points out that trying to definitively establish a set of rules for noir is difficult and that the classic noir films were more a product of midcentury artistic and political movements than a defined genre. The noir filmmakers working at the time would not have described their work as such. The kicker of this essay is the final sentence: “But the film noir is historically determined by particular circumstances; that’s why latter-day attempts at film noir, or so-called neo-noirs, almost all feel like exercises in nostalgia.” I found this particularly amusing because as Rob Thomas infamously proclaimed in his S4 era interviews, he wanted to completely dispense with nostalgia going forward. Rob Thomas and S4 supporters have said that Logan needed to die because noir protagonists can’t have stable relationships; but, if there isn’t a defined set of rules other than “an element of crime”, then was it strictly necessary? Hell, writing a hardboiled detective who does have a stable relationship and maybe even a family could have been an interesting subversion of genre expectations. Unfortunately, Rob Thomas isn’t that imaginative.

There’s also the issue that noir and hardboiled detective fiction aren’t interchangeable genres. This article lays out that idea that they aren’t the same because noir is ultimately about doomed losers; in contrast, detective fiction, while dark, contains a moral center and has an ending where a sense of justice is achieved. An interview with author Megan Abbott makes a similar argument; she states that in hardboiled detective fiction, “At the end, everything is a mess, people have died, but the hero has done the right thing or close to it, and order has, to a certain extent, been restored.” Based on the descriptions laid out here, I would argue that in its original format Veronica Mars far better fit the detective fiction model; while she wasn’t always right, she was never a loser, and she solved the mystery. S1-3 all had relatively hopeful, if not totally happy, endings, but you never see anyone complaining that they weren’t noir enough; if anything, they were more emotionally complex than the ending of S4, where Logan’s death is essentially meaningless. One could make the argument that S4 did push Veronica towards a more noir characterization by the definition of these articles by making her more incompetent and meaner than she was in previous installments, but that is a fundamental change in character, which is not coherent writing.

And that is ultimately why S4 was so poorly received by longtime fans and why there will be no more installments of Veronica Mars anytime soon (at least on Hulu). Even if S4 had been noir (or at least shot like one), the serious issues with plotting, characterization, and lack of adherence to prior canon that this season exhibited would still exist. Defending the poor writing choices made in S4 with “it’s noir!” does not mask them or automatically heighten the quality of the product. Perhaps ironically, in ineptly trying to be noir in S4, Rob Thomas likely prematurely ended Veronica Mars by failing his creation and fans with lazy storytelling.

#Veronica Mars #Burnt Marshmallow #Yeah I'm still angry what of it #If only RT had put as much effort into writing the show as I did into this post

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senotsuri · 4 years

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Going with Negative Legend’s keyboard controlled playthrough, because it is technically the wii version. If I notice anything I want to mention that he cuts, I’ll point it out.

Pregame/Tutorial

Unknown Hyperspace? It’s the centre of Vestroia’s void what are you on about

Naga’s screeching doesn’t match his voice. It sounds more like an eagle than a stock evil

“Finally, the Silent Orb is complete! Now, all bakugan will bow to me!” this thing is going to be forgotten about for ages. It’s super important later. “Moments later, in the doom dimension” which means Leonidas was created indirectly by Naga (Naga generated the Silent Orb.) If it weren’t for the fact that he immediately leaves, Leonidas could be a super good gatekeeper for the doom dimension

Depending on your Leonidas’ attribute, the first ghost that forms the energy ball Leonidas explodes from will be the same attribute. Neat! Nega has a purple ghost. From what I can see, it comes from a dead Robotallion

What I find weird here is how much BBBmc likes bakugan, but is such a beginner that they still don’t know how to get bakugan from the store Alice runs. They don’t even know all the rules (not like there are many, let alone many the game actually gives you.) It’s a minor nitpick, and seems to be a poorly fixed remnant of the factsheet plot

Dan is BBBmc’s friend prior to this on the factsheet, but BBBmc in the game acts like Dan’s never actually met him, and vice versa. Also canon inconsistencies are gonna fly high, despite being written by the show writers

Why is Dan explaining how this game works? I know he made the rules in part with Shun, but given that Alice does the tutorial section of the game otherwise, shouldn’t she be teaching BBBmc? Eh, any way to make Dan’s like for BBBmc work, ig.

The tutorial doesn’t let you select any gatecards yourself.

Gates boost gs, change battle rules (unless silver; they’re blank), and decide on game mode (shooting is gold, matching is silver, and shaking is bronze)

BBBmc throws his gate card with one leg up, implying he got himself off balance, which is really cute initially, but out of place by the end of the game

“You rock!” Dan says, any time the tutorial goes according to plan

You can shoot at your opponent’s bakugan to basically heckle them. They can’t do this back to you. It’s very petty, and the closest BBBmc can get to passive aggressive, but it’s usually worth it in a very specific tournament later

The character design is actually better here than in DOTC imo, even if the character creation is worse in BBB

Serpenoid looks dead when he loses.

“I just love the fact that they have Dan teach you the game. It just makes you feel so validated!” Nega has a very good point actually...

Double stand-- Ok so Nega does say that he’s finally figured out what the shooting is for (making double stands easier), but he’s only figured out what half of it is for.

When you miss, Dan goes “Try it again!” with a thumbs up and a wink, and you can retry your throw. It’s very cute what the hell. Also rule breaking on Dan’s account

Power throws are a man’s worst enemy when you have terrible control of your controls

“We could end up as partners in the tournament Shuji was talking about!” Dan is wrong threefold here; the tournament Shuji mentions is the Neo Challengers Tournament (1), which is a 1v1 format, not 2v2 (2), and Dan is partnered with you in a tournament Shuji isn’t even in (3)

“To enter a tournament, I need a wicked bakugan; something like Drago!” BBBmc means that his bakugan aren’t really strong enough to be reliable assets for a tournament (and also bakugan that can talk), but it sounds like he jinxes getting Leonidas, since Leonidas does look wicked in both senses

The store in BBB is super nice looking

The Battle Brawlers are famous enough to be internet known, and specifically famous enough for the members to have their appearance and first names known. This only continues until you meet the last member, so feel free to forget that they’re internet famous

I realise that this does in fact mean that there would’ve been a late 2000s-esque fandom for the battle brawlers, canonically speaking, but the concept is very slightly cursed.

BBBmc drops by the store to look around “almost everyday”. This is why I’m confused as to why he doesn’t know how to buy the bakugan... If it’d been something akin to “could you remind me? I think I forgot...” then I wouldn’t find that odd, but eh. Minor nitpick

“I’LL BULLY SOME WEAKLINGS TO GET SOME EASY BAKUGAN POINTS!” Nega is technically referring to Akira, because he’s the only opponent at the start of the game in the park

“I’ll be a battle brawler... someday.” BBBmc is prophetic here; he actually does become one later (albeit honourary...)

Intense god rays and field opening glow causes bakugan to appear I guess? That being said, Leonidas’ colour is easily visible through the intense light?? weird. Also the intense light fades and rains down in faint drops of colour, accurate to Leo’s attribute.

“Yeah! We’ll beat ‘em all!” The park is pleased that you even acknowledge its primary function

“I sense that in this world I will only release my true powers in these bakugan battles...” Leo’s technically right, but his true powers are about as standard as any other bakugan with a signature ability.

“Was that a yes?” BBBmc essentially just went “weird, but ok.” right in Leonidas’ face. And then calls him Partner. Nega’s character is wearing white cowboy lookin’ chaps so I find this even funnier why is there a whip at his waist--

#Bakugan #Bakugan vg #Tsuri revisits #I'm gonna binge the playlist and hope that I can spread out the postings nicely #I don't trust queue at all I'm saving them to my drafts and posting them myself #long post

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askiisoft · 5 years

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FAN ART FRIDAY: ALL THE WARRIORS, Part 2

And to think I was planning to fit all of the OCs into one week...yeah, not happening. With 50+ entries and counting, I’ll be lucky to fit them all into four parts.

Welcome back to Part 2 of “All The Warriors”, a multi-week showcase of the Katana ZERO community’s awesome fan characters! The volume of submissions for this event has been mind-blowing, to the point where I’ve had to create a dedicated Excel spreadsheet to keep track of them all. If you haven’t submitted your character yet, there’s still one week left! If you have, rest assured that it’ll will be included eventually, so please be patient!

For those who missed it, don’t forget to check out Part 1 of this series.

[WARNING: The work herein is based on fan creations, and should not be considered canon.]

Alpha 13, “Believer” by @DokusatsuMurXer

What is the loneliest number? ‘One’, you say? Nope, it’s 13...Alpha 13, that is.

Being one of the first Alpha-series NULL, it’s likely that Thirteen joined purely out of adoration for the illusive “Great Scientist”—a noble cause compared to the violent psychosis that defined the later Gamma-series NULL. While it’s clear he’s taken lives in service of his one-sided infatuation, it’s hard not to see him as another victim, still pining for his senpai’s attention even after everyone’s graduated and moved away years ago. Why do we always love the one who will hurt us the most?

According to @DokusatsuMurXer’s, the drunken swirls in his Post-war portrait are hiding something much steamier. I can only imagine.

Please, senpai. By @DokusatsuMurXer

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Beta 6, “Blade” by @Khwany_kawawii

In the Third District, there’s only two ways to get what you need: by coercion, or by force. Beta 6 opts for both, and seems to have a reputation on par with The Dragon amongst hapless goons. Ironically, it seems amnesiac NULL like Blade or Zero are the ones who kept going on killing sprees after the war, instead of throwing in with criminal syndicates or settling into an ordinary day job.

Her giant curtain of hair, while a bit ridiculous-looking standing still, would certainly add a sense of dynamism as she flipped and pirouetted in midair, tossing knives left and right. Also, knives.

“With no drugs, I will die. But with the drugs...I am the Killing Angel.” By @Khwany_kawawii

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Ema by @Khwany_kawawii

Well, would you look at that. Not only is Ema our first non-NULL OC, but also the first...*drum roll*...Cromag! That’s right—as a child, Ema barely survived a NULL attack that killed her family, and she’s dedicated her life to finding whoever was responsible ever since.

The concept of a private eye in Katana ZERO’s neo-noir metropolis, especially one who suffers from such intense trauma and racial discrimination, has fantastic plot potential. What if she finds the NULL who orphaned her, but they don’t remember it? What if they have to team up? I can’t help but wonder how long an average woman (bionic arm aside) could survive in this dark underbelly of drugged-up super-soldiers...

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Gamma 4 by @camellia_066

Not every hero dies on a battlefield.

Being a commander means taking responsibility for those under your command. For some that extends beyond wartime, and especially so after the one-way process of becoming NULL; while an Alpha could skip doses of Chronos with nothing more than a nosebleed, a Gamma might require twice the dosage just to stay lucid.

Maybe the weight of New Mecca’s defeat was too much for him to bear. Maybe he knew that a cure for Chronos was a pipedream. But it was better to die for the slim chance of salvation than witness his former comrades slaughter one another for just another dose.

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Gamma 12 by @wqwrppwu

So this is who’s been stealing my Uber Eats.

The idea of a Gamma-level NULL—especially one as devious-looking as Gamma 12—working as a pizza guy is hilarious to me. I have a soft spot for features like thin noses, wild eyes, and razor teeth that just scream “bad guy, stay away”. Most other NULL would just kill the cashier and take what they want, but Twelve uses his powers to steal booze and cigarettes and get away with it, every time.

It makes sense that he’d be best friends with Alpha 25, “Pomidor” (see Part 1) thanks to their mutual eccentricity and love of mayhem.

Camaraderie at work. By @wqwrppwu

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Gamma 5 by twink-182

Beta 6 had better be a wizard to claim the nickname “Blade”, given how many Gamma-level knife experts roam the city’s underbelly. Once part of Fifteen’s circle of former NULL, Gamma 5 evidently saw the writing on the wall and decided to leave before his comrade’s vendetta drew him deeper into danger. Otherwise, who knows, we might have had a quick, teleporting knife-thrower heckling us throughout the Headhunter boss fight...yeah, maybe it’s for the best that he’s M.I.A.

I’m guessing the photo and red string is just another point on Fifteen’s byzantine conspiracy board; I hope we get to see the whole thing one day.

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Alpha 4 by @kym0433

As with any conflict, the end of Cromag War produced massive windfalls for organized crime in terms of illegal weapons, war drugs, and super-soldiers thirsty for Chronos. Luckily for Alpha 4, the Chinese had carved out their own niche in New Mecca’s Chinatown, and they offered him a steady supply of "ke le nuo si”, as they called it, plus a cushy job as a bodyguard; after all, who would dare to start trouble on their turf? Who, but a certain samurai who walked up to the roulette table one day...

While Ted might not be the strongest NULL, he leads the pack in terms of fashion. No musty olive fatigues for this killer—whether it’s a traditional patterned chengshan or tasseled shawl, Ted makes it look awesome. No one would even suspect he’s hiding weapons under there!

By @kym0433

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Beta 24, “Cecil” by @Tacoyaki86

Contrary to popular belief, the inability to feel pain is not a superpower, especially when paired with a military specialization as hazardous as demolitions and bomb disposal. Imagine not realizing your hands got blown off until you reached for a sip of coffee. That, and you’d be stone deaf from constant close-range explosions and minigun fire.

Knowing that, I can understand Beta 24′s desire to spend a quiet veterancy at a manga café, where the otaku don’t want to chat anyway and the biggest risks are coffee burns and paper cuts.

Also, is that chevron on his beret the same as Headhunter’s? That must indicate rank, or possibly explosives experts. Given Headhunter’s propensity for sticky mines and suicide vests, I’d believe it.

“Detonation successful!” By @Tacoyaki86

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Gamma 767, “Retana” by @TailWood

Given how many NULL prefer close-range weapons like knives, swords, and bludgeons, having to fire artillery from kilometers away must seem like a crushing indignity for a Gamma like 767: slowing time just means it takes longer for his rockets to hit their targets, and he can’t even collect any trophies to show off to the guys at the bar once they’re off-duty! But hey, someone’s got to do it; I don’t think even the sharpest steel would do much against a tank...

By @TailWood

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Gamma 9, “Nara” by @couriervictor

Sadism and sharp objects don’t pair well together. It was never explained why Headhunter chose to wear her old uniform everywhere, but in Gamma 9′s case it’s pretty clear: he’s an elite, and he wants you to know it. Lack of physical strength doesn’t matter, since everyone in Katana ZERO died in one hit anyway, and his affinity for throwing knives reminds me of Biker’s levels from Hotline Miami. More knives.

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Alpha 35, “Sako” by @matsumatsu_kou

For a Gamma NULL, overcoming a debilitating wound is as simple as using their powers to ‘reset’ and try again until they can win the battle without a single scratch. Sadly, that wasn’t an option for their lesser Alpha brethren, as evidenced by Alpha 35.

There have been known cases of NULL choosing to retain scars and other superficial injuries as badges of honor, but if there’s a reason why Sako chooses to fight with a blind eye and busted arm, it’s beyond me. However, if Proto-15 is anything to go by, battle damage is a huge plus for you ferals out there, and it gives him an extra place to store those KNIVES. *snickt*

By @matsumatsu_kou

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Beta 74 by @cheezysucks

“Take everything from a man but his weapon, and do not judge him thereafter.”

Even in the far-flung future of New Mecca, it seems PTSD still haunts soldiers returning from conflict, even those as exceptional as NULL—if a near-death experience is harrowing, imagine the trauma of countless actual deaths, each instance being dragged backwards in time to start over.

Still, as far as ex-NULL go, Beta 74 chose as honest a job as his ilk can manage, given their stigma abroad. And oh, wow, is he wearing a pair of those funky four-eyed night-vision goggles? Look them up, they’re real, and just as absurd-looking.

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Gamma 5, “Heatseeker” by 6at

Pour one out for another fallen warrior, Gamma 5 (yes, I know there was already a Gamma 5 earlier, won’t be the last time this happens). Five seems more like a tactical fire commander than your average NULL, with actual combat armor and a bubble helmet seemingly inspired by early concept versions of Headhunter’s gear, replete with a digitized HUD; pretty slick-looking, I must say.

Knowing how far far New Mecca went to cover up the NULL program, I’m surprised they let Five live as long as they did, though his hermetic lifestyle likely made him a minimal risk. I’m guessing he was terminated around the same time the government halted the production of Chronos. Coincidence?

Seems like ‘Heatseeker’ attracted a bit too much heat, heh heh.

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And that was Part 2 of our Katana ZERO OC event. Is your finger tired from scrolling yet? Not as much as mine...

Click here to read ‘Part 3: Was Going To Be The Finale But I’m Drowning’. Thanks immensely to every single artist who’s submitted their characters and expanded the world of Katana ZERO just a bit more!

By @wqwrppwu

#askiisoft #Devolver Digital #fan art #fan art friday #original character #do #not #steal #katanazero #katana zero

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