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luludreamscape · 4 months

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꧁༺ 𝒞𝒽𝒶𝒾𝓃 𝑜𝒻 𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓃𝓉𝓈 ༻꧂

..and a butterfly effect takes place

-> Prominent Tags: Gojo Satoru x (Psychic?)reader, Other pairings might follow(depends on how this idea evolves); Reader is not a Sorcerer; Language Barrier; Weak to Strong; Canon Divergence; Slow Build/Burn; Author has no idea what they are doing; Unreliable Narrator; No Beta-Reader; Reader identifies as female; Reader has a vague backstory as you'll see; Hints of past bullying; Little bit of angst in the beginning?;

->Short summary points: Brief mentions of Synesthesia(I apologize for any inaccurate depictions); Reader and Satoru's first meeting as children; Kid with no social clues vs. kid with no social clues; Maybe more than a OneShot Story if People like it; Follows in line with my headcanon. The Reader can't speak Japanese well. Leading to various misunderstandings and bickering lol.

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A sky painted in hues of orange and purple greeted you when you sat down in your designated seat. The window fogged up under your breath as you admired the soothing sentiment the sight brought with it. With the passing of clouds, your mind found its resemblance to cotton candy.

"So pretty," your mumble seemed out of place as it broke the silence of your surroundings.

Slowly but surely the faint smell of lavender crept up your nose, and a soft taste of orange left a faint smile on your face. Accompanying the scenery in a symphony of a new memory.

It set a harsh contrast to the blue air next to you, it connected to the larger hand that practically engulfed yours. It reeked of a cold summer night's rain and tasted like shaved ice without the syrup.

Shadows clouded your sight at the suffocating feeling of the emotion. Your mother's face was blank, but you knew better than to trust her expression. Her grip was tight almost crushing your hand as you glanced up at her. Like she always told you, many people lied to save their face. Maybe she was no different from them.

"You can never trust a man's smile. Never let yourself rely on it."

That was, what she told you. After you two had set off on an adventure, as she worded it. Somewhere new, somewhere different. A fresh start for both of you. Even as confusion set in, your mother remained firm on her decision.

As if a faded red string had been snapped, breaking her in the process. In another life, the two of you may have remained in your home. Unchanging and never lasting, making no change to the events of your life. It was on this day, when the both of you set off on the plane. When the realization hit out of nowhere like an upcoming train. It had you wondering if you would ever see your father again.

༺═────────────═༻

The seat under you creaked as you swung your small legs back and forth. A soft thud emerged from your hands as you let three keychains dangle from your hands.

It didn't leave any damage, because of the soft cotton they were stitched out of. Three small gifts of consolement are what you had gotten from your father on your departure. Small monsters with large hearts. The moment you first saw them on screen, had them embedded deep into your soul. They were different, but they had a big heart. Just like you.

You couldn't control your emotions. They overcame you like the tides at sea. Your mother always told you that you had to work extra hard with a heart as big as yours. Since your heart collected more dust than others as it moved. Even as bruises littered your skin and tears welled into your eyes. She gently held you and told you, that it also picked up more treasures along the way. The idea in itself brought you comfort.

Change in itself was scary to humans. Humans were scary to humans, is what you had learned early on.

The first time you told someone that you could smell and taste colors, was the first time someone had called you crazy. Circled out and ignored, you thought you had done something wrong.

The second time you build up the courage to tell someone that you could see the color around people change with their emotions, was when they had you shoved to the school counselor.

The expression smeared on your parent's faces wasn't something you could read at first.

"Your daughter might have Synesthesia"

But the colors around them changed from a sorrowful blue, bright orange, pure red, and then lastly to a mellow green.

"I would recommend checking out a professional to make sure that her needs are being met"

Maybe your parents were just arguing because they had different opinions. But maybe, it was just you, who had ripped them apart without recognition.

And for the first time in your life, you thought about ripping that big heart of yours out for good

༺═────────────═༻

Your first impression of your new living situation was hindered by your anxiety to fit in. Japan was a sophisticated country with bright cities, a rich culture, and a lengthy list of wonders to experience. But you didn't know any of their customs. And you barely even knew how to say anything. Your mother encouraged you with kind words, but you failed even at the most basic Hiragana.

You were more than frustrated, to say the least. Despite everything not all hope was lost though. There was an anchor you could latch onto. Something that you could detect since your early start of life. Something that would stay and not leave.

Colors and emotions.

More often than not, you could see the emotions fluctuate around the people there. Sticking together in a cloud. It was almost as if some of them had gained sentience on their own. It made you dizzy, and you couldn't concentrate on them for too long. It gave you a rather bad headache when you attempted to at least.

Which led you to your current predicament in its own twisted way.

Your mother decided it was a great idea to take a trip to the rural areas since most people paid more attention to the bigger cities. Now if you hadn't gotten bored while she toured about, you might have still been on the right trail. But the moment your paths crossed with a Butterfly that reeked of melancholy, in faint traces of mint- you were already mentally checked out, far away in a place of pure novelty and wonder. Following your nose blindly like a bloodhound.

The track that supposedly should take you to the beautiful Buddhist Temple that your mother had read about, slowly turned into an over grown forest path. That left you spiraling in confusion. Where did you take a wrong turn?

This could turn into a bad horror movie with the right motion. And you definitely wouldn't have any of that. So it was a rather visceral reaction when you saw a white-haired figure across the clearing, sitting on a fallen trunk of a tree.

A shriek flung itself out of your throat.

"A GHOST?"

The ghost in front of you- no. The boy in front of you. Pinned you under a fierce glare. With such an intensity that you almost felt like he could see right through you. You didn't dare move a muscle as the surroundings suddenly felt like a batch of bricks weighing you down.

He had piercing eyes, you noticed. Which color mirrored the sky in a brilliant azure blue. Framed by long white lashes. His presence felt as heavy as if you were in the company of a star. It was as if someone had pulled one from the sky to form it into the shape of a human. The air around him felt larger than life. You would have let out an audible "wow" if it wasn't for the fact that his energy was giving you a massive pain on the sides of your head. Overwhelming in a hazy kind of way.

He was rather pale, and if you hadn't looked twice you might have mistaken him for a porcelain doll. Your trance was cut short as you caught yourself looking at him for too long. But you didn't feel like backing down either. You were great at staring competitions after all.

A look of indifference crossed over his face before he turned his head as if you didn't exist in the first place. The color around him matched in a dull gray. And it left your competitive side deflated. With a slump to your shoulders, you admitted your own Defeat.

However, that didn't stop you from approaching him as you spun your heel in his direction. Curiosity still boiled in your gut after all, and you were far too close now to not give in to its call. He mumbled something under his breath that sounded awfully a lot like the funny words that your mom let out when she stubbed her toe. Or when she looked at the mail that arrived in the mailbox. Maybe such phrases were universal in meaning?

He had his back turned on you, and yet it felt like his gaze was still on you. It should have been unnerving, with the way it made the hairs on the back of your neck stand. However, nothing threatening came to mind through the colors around him. So you didn't feel the need to retreat just yet. He hadn't thrown a stone at you yet, so it had to be a good sign. He hadn't even yelled at you yet too! That was a new record for sure.

On closer inspection, when most of the distance between the two of you had been crossed. The air around him flared up like a flame, in the muted gray you spotted something strange.

Six blue dots...you had never seen something like that before. They reminded you of the eyes of a spider. And with your broken Japanese, you made your attempt to communicate with him. What word meant spider again?

"What are you? Bug with eye?" you tilted your head, making your point fingers resemble fangs as you held them on each side of your mouth.

For the first time, you saw his expression twist today. Had your words moved him so much, that he had actually turned to look at you? With a scrunched-up nose, he repeated your words in scrutiny as if he couldn't believe what you had just said to him.

"Not like you can talk, you look like you just came out of a car crash. Now quit burning a hole into my back. Scram"

His reply seemed to have a bite to it, but it didn't bother you too much. Maybe he just didn't like spiders that much. Without any hurry or worry, you decided to sit down next to him. At a safe distance that is. Since his hand seemed to twitch, at the action.

"Weaklings like you shouldn't sit next to me." the boy scoffed and by his tone alone you knew that you already hated his attitude. Even though you didn't understand anything he had just said.

With some hesitance, you patched together words. Letting them out slowly as you keep your eyes on him.

"Why...care?"

The hand on his expensive yukata made the fabric crease "Are you seriously asking that-Wait, can you even speak Japanese in the first place?"

You hoped with all your might that the expression that you had right now couldn't be translated over. Because you actually heard a sentence from him that you could understand. Even if you didn't want to.

An inkling of amusement flashed in his features, and you suddenly felt like you just had made a mistake by giving him leverage.

"Even if you don't speak my language. I can still understand that face anywhere"

The tips of your lips quirked down as you thought hard about his words, half of your brain power went over to translating and the other to question his meaning.

"Because you act like an open book. Idiot."

"Idiot" orbited through your head several times before you threw up your hands in the air. That word would describe him much better than you. You let out a huff before you crossed your arms. Feeling the keychains in your sleeves move with the motion. In the corner of your eye, you caught his stare shift to your arms.

"If dumb, why you too here" Even if the words didn't make sense, at least you could still sound offended.

He clicked his tongue as he set his gaze straight to the sky.

"I'll ignore your loose trap. But I guess it's still better than hanging out with these old geezers. They celebrate my birthday more than I do..."

The scathing tone lingers at the edges of his mouth as you notice the fuzzy gray around him tint into a faint red and blue.

For a moment your eyebrows furrowed as you dropped the hold on your arms.

"Geezers? As in old man?" You questioned, visualizing it as you brought a hand up to your back. Hunching over in an old man-like posture. So he could confirm it for you.

"Now you only need a hideous frown and you got it down yes" There was a slight shift to his voice, almost as if he was holding back a laugh.

You were glad that he found fun in your impression, it seemed like his shoulders had so much to bear from how heavy his emotions weighed against the edges of your mind. He should be able to laugh with no worries. And celebrate his birthday just like everyone else.

Happy.

A sudden light bulb went off in your head as you brought out one of your keychains from your sleeve, holding it up to his face. As you averted your eyes from his. It was something that made you happy, so maybe it could make him happy too.

"Digimon?" he exclaimed in surprise, his eyes widening with a child-like glee. And you thought to yourself that it suited him much better than the blank, lifeless expression from before.

You pushed the soft keychain into his hands, muttering out a bunch of nonsense that you didn't even know if it made any sense at all.

"Gabumon, is spiky like you. But also soft. You will find people who appreciate you for you"

But you hoped that he could at least understand these words you were about to say.

"Happy Birthday"

Slowly but surely, the corners of his lips tugged up into a smile.

It revealed faint fanged teeth. A set of dimples appeared on his otherworldly face. It matched the spark in his eyes almost too well. And that's where you started running off at the sound of fireworks in the distance.

Was he laughing at your cowardly retreat? Or at the ridiculousness of your actions? You didn't know. Nonetheless, you pushed through the foliage of the trees. Feeling your face burn with shame.

You heard your heartbeat rush through the ringing in your ears.

In the end, maybe your mother was right all along.

A smile like that was dangerous.

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A/N: (I had so much fun when I found out that Gojo likes Digimon, it woke up memories). If you liked this short story bit then pls let me know. Might be more than a one-shot then(´▽`ʃ♡ƪ) Have a lovely rest of your day thank you for reading!

My Ko-fi if you want to buy tea for this bizarre author💜Your support means a lot ✨

#gojo x reader #gojo satoru #jujustu kaisen #gojo satoru x reader #jjk x reader #fanfic #headcanon #gojou x reader #jujutsu kaisen x reader #gojo satoru x you #gojo fluff #gojo satoru x y/n #jujutsu kaisen fluff #jjk fluff #gojou satoru x reader #gojou satoru x y/n

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thedreemer-artrequestsopen · 4 months

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❗️Avengers Mission Ideas for you to use to your hearts content❗️

My all time favorite, an absolute classic in my opinion is the Deep Cover Mission! But my specific favorite is having to play house in deep cover! there’s so many different combinations, Sam being the Dad, Natasha being so short that Fury thinks she can pass as a child, it can just be so funny. Like in my DR, The Young Avengers have this mission (Kamala, Kate Bishop, Yelena, RiRi Williams, Wasp, America. Theres more but they’re added later) and, Kate and Kamala had been fighting for months over who’s team leader. So they’re naturally arguing over who’s gonna be the dad 😭 (it escalates to the point they’re trying to decide who looks better in a tie)

POWER SWAP!! Ok technically it’s not a mission but there are so many marvel comics villains it’s had to have happened ONCE. It could happen before or during a battle, some crazy guy swaps your powers around! Same thing with Body Swap which is basically the same thing. I just think it’d be funny if Tony swapped with Natasha (but Natasha had Thor’s body or something) And you’d all have to stop fumbling over yourselves and train to master your powers!!

also for your Marvel DR- GIVE YOURSELF YOUR OWN TEAM OF VILLAINS!! ITS ICONIC!! Spider-Man and the Sinister Six… uh… nobody else but like Spider-Man is iconic

on this note: you have your own Vigilante/Anti-Hero Ally! That is if you aren’t a vigilante already.

this one’s a lot more specific but there’s this Fourth Wall Breaking Villain (that I initially saw in X-Men 97) called Mojo! (Look him up his design is… something) and he’s obsessed with TV and ratings. Basically he sends you all through a bunch of different show and Movie Genres, trying to get you all to fight eachother or kill monsters! (And drama, that’s good for ratings, he’ll try to get under your skin) until you all, of course, eventually defeat him! If any of u are confused the X-men 90’s show episode he’s in is: Season 2 episode 11, MojoVision

another one stolen from the X-Men show: you and the avengers (also these apply to any team, I’ll add some space-y ones for the uhh Guardians shifters and more neighborhood ones too!) You all decide to go on a nice, normal vacation! Fun in the sun or a nice winter cabin! Even better, everyone is so friendly!… that would be it if they weren’t trying to kill you, a battle ensues, you reign victorious but uh- those swimsuits or skis sure did go to a waste :[

another semi deep cover but I listened to “Sway” by uh Micheal Buble I think and “Masquerade” by siouxxe sixxta. You’re like the key to the mission, playing as a preformor of some kind, you’re all at a party amongst criminals, and it’s all your cue. (Points if you keep singing or whatever while fighting like dance fight!!!)

A spacey one!!! You have to make a pitstop at a notoriously violent planet, known for its scary inhabitants. And… they’re literally the cutest guys ever. Like… those guys from Star Wars, The Ewoks!!! But they’re being hurt/hunted by a big scary alien thing so you defeat that and also earn a new ally!!

my personal favorite (I could write like 2 pages of headcanons off of this) as a team building exorcise/community support booster, you all have to babysit a class of kids for the day!! I hav SO MANY IDEAS FOR THIS. Like Peter Parker just getting trampled and bullied by a bunch of 6 year olds, Natasha would definitely get along with all the kids, if the Guardians were there… Drax would be so good with them like I’d Cry. Quill would get kicked in the balls (it’s inevitable) Gamora would be disgusted at the tiny things at first but warm up to a kid that reminds her of herself, Groot would be a playground and Rocket WILL be put into a dress. I feel like Thor would do something really dangerous for “fun” 😭 (IM A HUNDRED PERCENT WRITING A FIC ON THIS)

another idea!! A Carmen Sandiego type mission! Stealing from a museum and returning the artifacts back to their cultures! And just interfering heists and going against the government sometimes.

some Villains I think would be cool to fight: Modok, Big Wheel, MasterMind, Rat King and Beyonder (Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur), Morlun, she’s not a villain but imagine getting your ass beat by the Unbeatable Squirrel Girl… even avengers have to be humbled sometimes.

A Halloween Special! With everyone dressed up, it’s hard to tell who’s the villain! But when a big crime goes down, it’s Trick or Beat (that wasn’t funny I’m sorry 😞)

Some Quickfire ideas: You all get turned into Animals! You get sent to the ✨future✨ (or the past) and make allies and have to find your way back. Having to be a bodyguard for a celebrity. Fighting a villain who can clone themselves. Getting over your fear in a mission (fighting clowns or something like that).

ok ok… Istg I’ll stop with the deep cover missions BUT two more: You and your Comfort Character getting set up together and having to pretend to be a couple for a mission. (Bet it was Maria Hill who set you two up I love her sm)

Going deep cover into a cult, a few of you. And the weakest link starts falling for the cult’s tactics 😭😭 (Plot taken straight from MLP season 5 but I kinda love it tbh) I feel like uhh Peter or Kate bishop would be like “I dunno guys, it’s so sweet and everyone is sooo sweet!” @oliver-shifts @shiftingwithhale @florashifting @achilleslefttoe @romanoffshifting

I have so many more like character specific ones!! One I forgot was a Scooby-Doo type mystery on a boat with Bucky and Sam, they both get super scared and paranoid abt the local legends of a ghost pirate or lighthouse ghost, something like that, but you’re all heroes and have to brave thru it.

#anti shifters dni #shiftblr #shifting realities #black shifters #reality shifting #reality shift #shifting to mcu #marvel mcu #mcu #mcu shifting #marvel shifting

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lolotheparagon · 1 year

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Rating Every TNBA Redesign Cos Why Not

The New Batman Adventures was the last season of the infamous Batman the Animated Series, although it moved to another less strict network. Because the producers wanted to do crossovers with the Superman animated series, they gave the series and its characters a more streamlined style to it. Now I dont wanna blame Bruce Timm entirely since there were many artists on staff back then who did the redesigns but because I hate this coomer, Im going to anyway. In BTAS, you can tell each character apart and they have their own unique outfits and looks to them. But here, these are some of the most unimaginative superhero/villain designs Ive ever seen. Although some did surprise me and were not that bad. So, for a bit of fun, here's my look at each Batman character's redesign in the final (and worst) season of the show.

(Not counting Robin cos he's a different character to Dick Grayson or characters that had very little changes like Clayface or Harley Quinn)

Batman

The big emo rodent himself. For his redesign, I like the more sleek look to Batman's cape...thats it. His original design is really hard to perfect. Its got everything. Why tamper with perfection?

Batgirl

I actually kinda like Batgirl's redesign. The yellow gloves and boots really help her stand out and its the one of the few times the darker toned outfits actually accentuate a design rather than ruin it. Too bad Bruce Timm couldn't stop salivating over her and the rest of the women in this show. So next time you see someone consider Bruce Timm this legendary storyteller of Batman, give them a healthy reminder that he shipped this college girl character with her mentor/surrogate uncle figure FOR YEARS.

Alfred

Its like they sucked away all of Alfred's snark and replaced it with a cardboard cutout. Literally, he looks so sterile and empty. Who had the idea of making Alfred look more bored and done with everything? Also whats wrong with his chin??

Commissioner Gordon

Good ole Commissioner Pringle got off pretty much unscathed but I think they made him a touch too old considering they gave him a more lanky body, which makes him look more feeble and weak. Dude looks old enough to be Babs' grandad

Joker

Ohhhhh boy. So Joker's redesign is infamously considered by fans as one of the show's worst redesigns, to a point even the showrunners were like yeahh. And thats not unwarranted. He looks like an inverted Dr Draken and im so glad they redesigned him again for Batman Beyond and onward.

Seriously he's A CLOWN WHERES THE MAKE UP?!!

Two-Face

I know Two Face is just a redrawn version of the original design with the TNBA streamlined art style but I want to draw special attention to the monster side of Dent's face. Notice in the original it looks more manic and feral? Heavily contrasted with the conflicted, guilty look on Dent's normal side? But here, in the redesign the monster side is less scary and Dent looks way too bored and angry. The overuse of black lines doesnt help.

Catwoman

She looks like Harley Quinn or Barbara wearing a catsuit. Starting to see a pattern here?

Baby Doll

Its a tough call cos they both look very good but Im gonna lean towards the redesign cos shes got that creepy doll look down to a T (Annabelle would be proud) whereas her original design looked more like a Tiny Toons character.

Scarface and the Ventriloquist

I like the redesign cos of the exaggerated style of the rest of the show perfectly captures Scarface since he's, yknow, a puppet and having the Ventriloquist be shown to be scared and submissive really does show how the puppet is ironically the puppetmaster.

Penguin

Actually I like both of them. They both give off that sophisticated element Penguin is known for and after so many reiterations of him being this crass Scouse-talking crime boss, its nice to see versions of him going back to his rich asshole roots.

Bane

In the original, he has a luchador-style mask and wrestling suit fitting his Spanish roots. Here, he straight up looks like a gimp. Its really bad. Embrace your heritage, Bane!

Riddler

They went from Frank Gorshin to Jim Carrey for Riddler (fitting cos Batman Forever came during TNBA's development) and I love that. So I love both of them. Nice to see a villain with some fucking colour in TNBA cos im tired of seeing all this black outfits. Also his cane being an extended question mark instead of a question mark on top of a regular cane is genius.

Mad Hatter

Both of them fit Hatter's deranged stalker vibes perfectly, but I wish they kept the colour scheme for the redesign cos Hatter's new colour scheme looks too rounded and doesnt stand out.

Poison Ivy

Killer Croc

Finally, now he looks like an actual crocodile instead of whatever the hell he was supposed to be!

Scarecrow

Okay, who the fuck decided to make Scarecrow look like the Babadook? Cos I want to give them a raise. Holy mother of piss, that is terrifying. That shit belongs in the Arkham games. I still prefer the old design cos it has that perfect blend of goofy and gothic. He looks like a Cacturne now that I think about it.

Mr Freeze

HONEY WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO YOU?!! WHY DO YOU LOOK LIKE A FUCKING FUTURAMA HEAD?!! WHAT IN THE ACTUAL FUCK?! YOU HURT MY HUSBAND, TIMM, NOW ITS PERSONAL

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wrongchose · 8 months

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Felt a little silly and decided to make my own monster version of Randy along with a design of a uniform he wears in the Nomicon.

Context for the monster version __φ(．．)

I was thinking of this monster situation to be kinda similar to Julian during season 2, still a different concept tho: Occurs after the finale.

Randy begins guarding the power spheres (i call them like this), eventually he gets them out to "keep them in sigh" ,they start to influence his dreams, then he deprives himself of sleep as a way to not have said dreams. This makes it worse and in some point he becomes a monster, obsessed with his ninja duty.

He is mostly passive, spends the time watching over the school and other ninjas, he left all the power spheres hidden in the school escept for one currently on his possesion.

The only encounter with other ninja he ever had is when he saw a student had the Nomicon with him (this being another ninja) so he stole it, the ninja realizes this and gives the monster a fake one. (Randy is not longer allowed in the Nomicon so he doesn't know its fake)

And thats mostly all, its based on a personal experience when i stopped sleeping to finish some school project. I tried giving some "scary" vibes.

Sorry for making this to long i had to get it out of my head. i'll probably edit this later, Hope you enjoy!! (－_－) zzZ

#rc9gn #randy cunnigham #monster ninja #Yes this is long #outta my mind #RRestless #wrong art

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bubblekidaesthetics · 1 year

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Baby gays be gayin 💚💫💖

When we first got introduced to Valentine in the Monster High universe he was just another villain. His whole spill was kinda cool tho.

Collecting the hearts of girls in love as trophies, thus making it impossible for them to ever love anyone again??? I was immediately hooked. And it was a Draculaura-centric movie too, so there was a bonus.

However it wasn't till many years later that I discovered Valentine's diary and boy did it deliver.

If that sounds kinda like the gay archetype, well, put on ur listening ears for a sec, 'cause we've got a story for you. Apparently, according to the creator of Monster High, his diary was supposed to have him come out as gay. It was a collector's item anyway. Kids wouldn't have had a chance to buy it as it was a convention-exclusive doll, but Mattel said and I quote "It is not the right time"

An extract from the original post of the creator which just goes to show how little influence they truly have over their own creations.

Well, the gay route was a no-go, so instead they had to be sneaky about it. If you read the diary, the core, the framework of the original idea is still there. Evident especially in the May 3rd entry:

"I now know that what I did - stealing love - was because I thought that's what emotional vampires were supposed to do. But it never felt quite right. I thought if I kept doing it, it would eventually feel right. Then when Draculaura called me - well, Toralei really - I thought that if I could get the heart that got away, it would change me, and everything would be fine. But I was just a real pain in the fang to everyone and made a fool of myself. So I've come to the conclusion being myself has to be easier than not being myself, right? Back then, I hated the thought of who I really was, and that conflict made me become someone who wasn't me. It's time to be true to myself, but it's scary."

Like come on!!!! How can it get queerer than that?!? He is one foot away from coming out of his coffin with glitter make up and rainbow hair!

But then the diary had to go the sneaky route. They knew they couldn't make him gay... At least directly. They had to be increeibly sneaky about that. Just then Spelldon Cauldronello steps onto the scene.

Written into the diary as a blink you'll miss it moment, Spelldon is Casta Fierce's younger brother. Up to that point there was no mention of the character in Monster High cannon. but his interaction with Valentine, well... It was short for one. But a lot was packed into that very short meeting. Keiran Valentine upon first meeting him spaces out, after which they spend some time together gettin to know each other better, ultimately ending with Valentine asking Spelldon for his number.

You'd think there'd be more, yet sadly that is where Spelldon's part in Valentines story arch stops. There was clear intent there to create a more inclusive Monster High, for which I am grateful. Despite not giving us a look at Spelldon's design, the fandom took it upon themselves to create designs and fanart, thus keeping his character alive.

The design I used in this piece actually belongs to my incredibly talented friend @i-have-serious-brainfreeze . He created this design of the nerdy Spelldon on a whim, and since then I have been utterly obsessed with it. So much so that I choose to create a fanart piece of the two bby gays.

As of now, Gen 3 made no current mention of either Valentine or Spelldon, so it's safe to say their story has been shelved for the time being. However, things are moving on the Monster High representation front. Twyla has been cannonicaly made autistic, Frankie nonbinary, and Clankie steered slowly towards a canonical romantic relationship.

If there ever is a better time to bring back Keiran Valentine, it certainly is now.

I'll be here waitin Mattel. I'll be here💖

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chocolatemilksmoothie · 2 years

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Labyrinth Runners

Omg I loved this one!! buckle up, there's a lot of little details and a lot to point out

I suspected we might not get an update on Luz and the rest of the owl house members and the suspense there is killing me ngl...

I can already see it, both groups meet and both are like "we have SO much to tell you you're not gonna believe this-"

anyways, baby Willow and baby Gus my beloveds

I love their relationship. they were there for each other before anyone else was, and you can see how deeply they care for one another

Gus is a scary good illusionist, it must be frightening to have that happen

ahh good ol' breathing exercises, always worth a shot

I ADORE that Bump allows more kids to try multi track magic, and Matt got into illusion magic! aww

Among Luz's messages was "don't scare him(them?) away" I think she was referring to Hunter. it's sweet she took the time to write that, but god I hope she's safe

the hearts they are adorable <3

I enjoyed Willow and Amity's plot as well! Amity trying to protect her because he values having her back vs Willow wanting her to see that she is strong and can fight alongside her!

he's been reading about Grimwalkers... oh buddy what have you learned?

it's both sweet and heartbreaking that 1) he thought of hexside as a safe place to hide and 2) he's wearing the Flyer Derby outfit. he really had a good time being a normal kid for a day :')

Adrian. I like his style but I did NOT buy his act. How horrifying that he was tricking students into getting sigils by pretending he was helping them not get sigils. messed up

they really made him a pretentious director. I love it. both he and Terra are scary and full of personality, very fun antagonists to see

Love his design also. Everything about it

Severine... is voiced by Dana right? she was hilarious, go back to the tiny cat coven girl they don't deserve u here

Loved the concept of a trippy labyrinth of familiar places too

throw yourself down the steps to see if they're real, flawless technique

once again Hunter parallels another character. Gus is trusting by nature, which has led to him getting hurt, while Hunter grew up in a competitive, hostile environment where the only person he trusted blindly ended up being a monster. He is being extra cautious. But Gus won't hurt him

God, Belos sent a search party and is pretending like he's all worried. he hasn't told anyone he ran away. but we know what'll happen if he goes back to the castle *shudders*

the acting and animation for the panic attack, the breathing and the hesitation were done with a lot of care. I also like that it's in "Gus' room"

I love Gus I love him lots ok

the banned posters I love my children lmao

HIGH FIVE

I'm so happy Hunter still calls Willow "captain" he respects her a ton

and again, it makes sense he noticed she wasn't the real one. Gus is trusting, and Willow has never taken advantage of his trust, while Hunter is super on edge atm

"put him-" "out of his misery? got it" jesus dude he just kicked you

HIS TEAMMATES SAVED HIM

"dude looks sickly" yeah he's been sleep deprived and mentally abused and probably not eating much it'll do that to ya

oh I love this little ragtag team of rebel witches (+ Gus of course)

Adrien wants to find the Galderstones for Belos. Funny, pretty sure that's an ingredient for a certain thing hmmm ever heard of Grimwalkers?

"in the name of the moon we will kick your ass!"

Gus' ability to make you see traumatic memories is messed up. Dana stop traumatizing the children challenge

Hunter and Gus bonding about how they've been deceived and used. and awww the breathing with whistling ahaha is this because of the tooth gap because same

GUS KEPT THE MIRROR THINGY YES

"what... is... this??" "just go with it" my heart

friends will hug you even if you haven't showered

the Illusion coven head got MESSED UP oh my god

Barcus cracks me up he's so well spoken

and we end with Hunter having a LOT to talk about, but also having a large group of people to support and watch out for him

I suspect they're all gonna start preparing to find Luz and the others and to stop Belos in the Day of Unity ohhhohoho I feel DREAD BABEYYY

this was a dense one, and the first episode without Luz in it. I expect next week we'll catch up with them, especially King, and hopefully by the end of next ep both teams meet up to prepare together...

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guestaccount8499 · 6 months

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Is Caine abusing abstraction for the game?

Gotta love the early stages of theorycrafting, where we're going off so little it's very unlikely any of it will be true. Also, thanks for @digestive for the link below.

So TADC is built around a divide between the internal threats of the simulation (Caine and not being able to leave) and the things a little more in the background that don't seem to be directly a part of it (abstraction, whatever went wrong outside). The thing is though, whenever I think about the events of the pilot it seems like in retrospect Caine is more aware of it all than he lets on.

So from the top: The point of Caine's games seems to be to prevent abstraction, which judging from what it does to them and the name is probably their minds dissociating from their relative reality or the ability to interact with it proparly. It's geared to keep them engaged and give them a direction, but it's not very good at it. Some things also indicate it's designed to generate stories for an unknown observer given it has things like a theme song and Jax talks to the camera.

But the scenarios not directly related to the adventures kind of seem like their own, differet kind of adventure. That's not to say he's causing abstraction and everything, but I feel he knows how to use it to his advantage and make adventures. First I wanna talk about the exit door. It seems like its own thing going on outside the context of Caine's games and control, but according to him at the end it was (albeit unfinished).

He makes it out like he just didn't understand what the humans meant by wanting to "escape" and put a fake escape in the game which broke, but that doesn't completely make sese. While the other side is out of his control there's no reason to think its location would be, yet it still repeatedly appears to Pomni which he doesn't comment on. Why would he do that if he didn't mean to make it seem like something beyond the simulation?

It also doesn't really fit the nature of the fun, carefree world that the circus usually puts on. It's relatively realistic looking, taunts people, doesn't really behave like a tangible object, etc. Everything about it seems specially engineered to feel like it's "outside" in a sense. Who's to say he doesn't do this with other plot-points?

Also note the ending of the Gloink adventure where they end up under the circus. The artsyle of the cave and the escalators is relatively relastic and not the usual bright happy design of everything else. Most notably, naturally, is the Gloink Queen who I wouldn't really call scary but definately looks and sounds notably more unsettling than anything above ground.

Which brings us to the abstracted monsters themselves. They look like this alien, disturbing thing that Caine would never let be part of his design...except I really don't think they're much worse than the queen. Their design is scarier but still not really like, something you wouldn't want kids to see. I don't think he'd really be concerned with them visually or just on the virture of them being monsters.

While the full effects of them running around and damaging characters isn't entirely clear, they also don't really seem to pose much of a threat to the whole thing. They're painful but Caine seems able to handle them and insantly undoes their damage. There's still somewhat of an "outside" vibe to them but I don't feel Caine sees them as a threat or something too wary of to not use.

Much like the exit door, abstracted characters provide an adventure for people that aren't interested in adventures Caine is openly causing. Hell, it worked on you didn't it? It was entertaining to watch Pomni and Raggatha fight the creature, when just watching them all gather the Gloinks wouldn't be. What we're seeing might very well be the viewpoint for the unknown audience it seems to cater too.

The biggest thing making me suspect abstraction just plays into his plan to keep characters engaged and people watching, though, is that Caine doesn't seem remotely concered with it after it happens. Unless he's much less aware of what's going on in the circus than he suggests (which isn't entirely unfounded) he only takes note of anything being wrong when Pomni gets into the void.

He acts like Kaufmo getting abstracted is a big deal in a gag but in the scene he seems to treat it like a gag rather than something that actually concerns him. He makes a face and sticks his tongue out, almost more sacastic than actually surprised. Is it a joke to him as much as it is to us? Like I mentioned earlier, he doesn't seem to really have any reason to be concerned with it besides the pain they cause.

And he isn't concerned with pain, by the way. He probably can't empathize with it since there doesn't seem to be a way for him to get hurt, presumebly not even being designed with it. Goose I believe even said something to the effect of him "treating the humans like voodoo dolls", and he clearly doesn't care about things like Zooble strangling Jax.

TL;DR: Caine is probably using abstracted characters as adventures, the only thing that really seems to worry him so far is characters getting into the void.

#the amazing digital circus #caine #tadc caine #theory #tadc theory #tadc abstraction

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blood-and-pizza · 5 months

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So, the animatronic I've been calling "Shattered Prototype Glamrock Freddy" is apparently called "Ruined Freddy" by the community, so that's what I'm going to refer to him as from now on, including in my Fazbear Estate AU.

On the subject of the Ruined animatronics, they all exist in the AU, created specifically to promote the Ruin DLC for Security Breach. The original Pizzaplex animatronics are terrified of them at first, not liking the fact they're wrecked versions of themselves, but they eventually get over it.

Ruined Freddy, unlike his in-game counterpart, is capable of speech and moves his stomach-mouth whenever he talks. It's a comical sight for those unfamiliar with him. He's normally every bit as polite and well-mannered as Glamrock Freddy, but he's very good at pretending to be a vicious, ravenous monster when he needs to. Heck, he thinks playing an antagonist is a lot of fun, even a little therapeutic if he had to be honest.

Ruined Roxanne is blind, having been built without eyes, but she can still detect her surroundings due to her keen hearing, movement detection sensors, and heat sensors. She's a more humble version of Roxanne who isn't as obsessed with her looks as the original. She's still every bit as sassy as the original, though not quite as foul-mouthed since she's much less anxious.

Ruined Chica has no beak, but her voice box is present. However, she rarely speaks unless it's important, as her voicebox produces loud feedback whenever it's used. Her body is full of fake trash and fake moldy food, which makes her feel self-conscious about her appearance. After arriving at the Estate, she tends to stay in her room a lot, where she's free to lie on the floor and feel like garbage. Somebody please cheer up the chicken.

Ruined Monty is capable of speech, but more often than not resorts to animalistic snarling and growling. He feels like an inferior version of the original Monty, and he's more than a little insecure and upset about it. He'd do anything to prove he's more than some alligator turned rabid dog. Somebody please cheer up the gator... and maybe give him headpats.

Ruined Eclipse... SURPRISE, yes, he's here, too! Remember how I mentioned that Sun and Moon kinda-sorta exist as separate animatronics in this AU? (A quick refresher: Sun is the original Daycare Attendant who has a more child-friendly design than canon and tends to hang out in Sun form. Moon is the Horror Attendant, who looks exactly like the canon Daycare Attendant, and tends to hang out in Moon form the most.) Eclipse, being exclusive to the FNAF franchise, looks exactly how he does in the Ruin DLC. Sun is initially scared of him because of his appearance. Moon, on the other hand, finds Eclipse fascinating. Despite Eclipse's somewhat scary appearance, he is a sweetheart to everyone he meets, sometimes to a point of fault, and those who get to know him generally want to protect him.

#fnaf #fnaf au #fazbear estate au #ruined freddy #ruined chica #ruined monty #ruined eclipse #fnaf eclipse #fnaf sun #fnaf moon #fnaf daycare attendant #lore dump

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fantasy-anatomy-analyst · 1 year

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DnD 5e goblins and bugbears

are these designs racist? Well, as I am white, I can't really say I'm the expert on this particular concern, and I don't think I've ever seen anyone else point it out, so take this with a grain of salt.

They probably aren't intentionally racist designs. They do make me feel uncomfortable. I haven't finished my redesign for them yet, but I wanted to get this post started since I have other big projects to get to and if I just go straight to those, I will continue to forget about this one. So let's get started!

(image description: the official dnd 5e art for goblins and bugbears. They're related species, though the bugbear is much taller and covered in fur, while the goblin is very small and mostly hairless. they both have large triangular ears and a rounded hook nose with no bridge. The goblin has very yellow skin, the bugbear has very orange fur, and both have red-yellow eyes with flared eyebrows. Their weapons and armor look a bit scrappy, with bones and spikes and metal studs all over the design. notes on the image will be explained below. end description)

the fur color can probably be given a pass because it's fur, but the goblin's skin is so yellow. By itself, I don't think that would be enough to call it a bad design choice, but it is a little odd. what really makes me suspicious are the face shapes, especially the nose and eyebrows. And also the armor. There's not much armor, and it doesn't look like an exact match for any specific type of armor. Honestly I think it's a mix of inspirations, since the bugbear's leather skirt thing does look more like typical roman-inspired battle skirts. but there's enough going on with layered panels and metal studs, mixed with hide and bone and spikes for that "primitive" flair, that I do wonder a bit.

I gathered a few images that these designs reminded me of, as a visual reference.

(image description: both images contain screenshots of the huns from the animated disney Mulan film. The first image also shows old samurai armor and mongolian armor. the armor all has similar designs of layered metal and/or leather with metal studs all over it. The second image contains close ups of the goblin and bugbear faces with the animated film hun characters for comparison. They do all have similarly flared eyebrows and eye colors, as well as some similarities in the nose designs. end description)

Just, kinda makes me uncomfortable. Feels like someone should have double checked their work a bit before finalizing these monster designs. It's not blatant enough to be like, really on purpose, I don't think? I could be wrong, I very well may be missing some details. But the similarities to the hun designs alone are enough to make me say "oh gee, this doesn't seem right." Honestly, I think it's part of a larger trending problem with monster design. There are just some visual features that get used as the universal indicators that these creatures are Evil by nature. These features typically include some form of hooked nose, "primitive" armor, weapons, and clothing, and facial shapes that are angular and blocky, with a very heavy brow.

as a result of these common "evil" visual features, it's kind of inevitable that humanoid monster designs will end up feeling racist in some manner. It's much easier to avoid accidental racism with more animal or insectoid monster designs, but everyone always wants sapient-ish enemies they can use as cannon fodder, with even more humanoid final bosses. So they default to these visual traits again and again, because those are just the visual traits that have always been used. So it's an ongoing issue. Heck, if I tried to design evil humanoids from scratch for a job, I'm sure someone above me would request edits to give them the more obvious "evil" traits so they look more scary and intimidating. this is an industry problem more than an individual one. I hope I've helped point it out here, so more people can recognize it and add their own commentary.

I am also working on a redesign for these, in as close a stye match as I can manage. here's a WIP sample:

(image description: in the first image, a sketched redesign of the goblin and bugbear. Their noses and ears have been altered to look more bat-like, with prominent fleshy ridges on the noses that stick up away from the face. In the second image, the goblin is mostly finished with new colors and altered armor. It is now wearing a short leather wrap with strands of leather or hide hanging off the belt, alongside the arm bracers and leg bracers that were already there. Its skin is now a pale grey color and its hair has been redone as short bristly fur, with facial whiskers on the brow and chin. The bugbear has not been repainted, but it has been cut up and repositioned in preparation for the repaint. end description.)

fixed the poses while i was at it, making the goblin a little more dynamic and the bugbear a little more balanced. They're cave dwellers, so i went further with the bat-like features and the pallid complexion like other cave dwelling creatures have. It's going to take a while to repaint these, so this WIP will have to do for now. I hope it shows how a similar art style can be maintained while also making the designs a little more interesting and not so reliant on racist features.

#goblin #bugbear #dnd 5e #redesign process #creature critique

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randomalistic · 6 months

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I watched kung fu panda 1 & 2 back to back and Cried. MY THOUGHTS AND FAVORITE PARTS BELOW!!

‪I fucking love movies that are so confident in themselves and their identities. Kung fu panda was never unsure of itself it just went All in on amazing fight choreography and colors and animation and Awesomeness silliness . AND INCREDIBLE PLATONIC RELATIONSHIPS. ALL THE CHARACTER INTERACTIONS ARE SO BELIEVABLE. No forced heterosexual romance?? (Or ANY romance.) In MY western animated 2008 movie?? What is this????!!!

I fucking love that Tai Lung is hyped up so MUCH to be unstoppable and intimidating throughout this whole movie and yet the final battle with Po is so believable. They didn’t nerf Tai Lung at all to be equal with Po, Po is just so confident of himself and his fighting style is unlike anything Tai has ever encountered. HE HAS NEVER FACED SILLY FIGHTING. That’s his weakness….. He wasn’t silly enough. And throughout the film Po is like. Really doubting who he is and hating on himself but it’s so empowering by the end. He’s just so Him! And IT WORKS!!!!!!!!

Okay ?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There were a lot of really cool shots like this😊😊😊 it’s kind of an anime .

Tai lung is so awesome and idk he’s hot too what else do I say. Great backstory too. Although I wish he had a little more.. why was he so power hungry? Was he just Like That. Fair. Also They make thr villans kind of objectively hot in this franchise. I wouldn’t PERSONALLY…. But if you said you would… I totally get that….

Tigress is the best character also. She was totally living in tai lung’s shadow I wish she got more validation from shifu it’s so sad. I LOVE HOW WELL THE FLASHBACKS SHOW DONT TELL !!!

OK ACTUALLY MAYBE OOGWAY IS THE BEST CHARACTER. I love how they made him so old and trembly. But so wise and at peace . That’s a silly detail but I liked it ok

Also shifu and po’s dynamic is so fucking good. And very cute! HAVE I SAID GREAT CHARACTER INTERACTIONS. The “you may now eat” dumpling bowl scene is the best scene in the whole movie. It’s so delightful.. probably followed by tai lung’s prison breakout and oogway’s passing.. THE RANGE OF THIS FILM!!!!!!

I love the “you’re a monster and I created you but I loved you” thing going on with shifu and tai lung.. I’m crazy.

Oops that’s another tai lung gif it was an accident!!! I would pet him and then I would die

I just wish the rest of the 5 got to have some more character development but there’s Five of them and that’s a Lot . The sprinkles we get of their characters is nice though ! I mean Sprinkles. TELL ME MORE ABOHT VIPER PLEASE SHES SUCH A SWEETHEART. WHAT WAS HER CHARACTER GROWTH WITH NOT HAVING FANGS… tell me….. do the others have something about them too…

Anyways super fuckin iconic movie and beautiful

Another thing I liked was when the characters made Animal Noises of their irl counterparts like tai lung making kitty meow (in pain) and shen making peacock calls while fighting. I just love little details like That okay!!!

Me???? Crying at kung fu Panda 2 ? Po finally coming to terms with his past repressed childhood memories and his village being massacred and from that still being able to embrace who he is in the present got to me ok‬!

Shen is so tragic and Delightfully Evil. He’s so unhinged and he has so much inner turmoil that he Never reflects on constructively. And He’s destructive about it! She’s a sadistic War criminal! And a little bit theater kid. very Theatrical. Kind of gay. “Your parents never loved you” PROJECTING MUCH? ?? 💔💔 AND THE WAY HE JUST ACCEPTS HIS DEATH FROM HIS OWN WEAPON AT THE END. He literally just closes his eyes and Takes It at point blank range. He was not ok. He reached a point of no return the moment he tried to kill off the pandas. AND HE WOULD RATHER DIE THAN SHOW WEAKNESS… HES SO FUCKED!!!and My friend used to have a crush on him. Did I mention cool as fuck character design. I love his metal talon things it makes him that much more menacing

Ok girl your scary

My friend made such a good observation about the inner peace/raindrop motif. The raindrop/drop of water that keeps hitting his head… annoying him… nagging at him… that’s symbolism for his Repressed Memories.. his identity crisis .. the incredible repeating urge to need to know who he is So Bad so much so that he’ll go in DEATHS WAY to know!! 🥴 AND IN THE SCENE WHERE HE RELIVES IT… IT RAINS… AND HES OK WITH IT…. THIS MOVIE IS FUCKING BEAUTOFUL AND I WASNT EXPECTING ANY LESS!!!!!!

ALSO I LOVED THE FOCUS ON TIGRESS / PO INTERACTIONS IT WAS SO CUTE. I’m so happy they’re friends now.. tigress definitely hated him The Most in the first movie . she called him a disgrace to kung fu and everything it stands for To his Face. Ouch ! But they are chill now I think.

They’re so fucking sad and wet here. I love them…

I’m also glad they toned down the fatphobia in the 2nd movie . In the first film Even though it was usually framed as a hurtful thing towards Po, it was also frequently used as a joke thing at his expense💔kinda mean spirited !! But hes still framed as cool and awesome anyways so. Ur giving Mixed Messages….

MR PING IS SUCH A GOOD DAD. WAAUUHGHHHHHHHHHH HE CARES ABOUT PO SO MUCH

There are certain details you might not pick up on if you dont watch these movies back to back also. I like how Mr Ping mentioned he wish he sold tofu in the first movie and then in the second movie he sells both noodles AND tofu now!! It’s just very cute and shows that a lot of care and passion goes into these :)

What a great franchise also. I saw the 2nd movie once on theaters and I only remembered parts of it. I’ve never seen the 3rd movie! And I just might!! DREAMWORKS DOESNT DISAPPOINT!!usually

#I RECCOMEND THIS VERY MUCH IF YOU PLAN ON REWATCHING THEM.#movie #movie review #I will expand a lot on This.#kung fu panda #I guess this is a king fu panda appreciation post #txt #long post #kung fu panda 2 #kfp #kfp2

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nightinghoul · 9 months

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Neurotypical

I was sitting with my rabbits, eating oatmeal, rocking, and singing a song about eating oatmeal for every meal (because I say it like it's bad, but at the same time, it's my food. I would like to have options, but I may as well go back to oatmeal anyway. I always do.)

The song went like this:

Oatmeal for Breakfast

Oatmeal for brunch

Oatmeal for dinner

Oatmeal for lunch!

Oatmeal for supper

Oatmeal for a snack

Oatmeal in the front

Oatmeal in the back!

Did you know supper is a late evening meal? It used to be used in Europe when people traditionally had two meals a day. Sometimes it even consisted of cold oats. But dinner is a looser term. It can refer to supper, or any large meal in the middle of the day.

Anyway, the song was to the tune of "Monsters In The Closet". This was a song on a record of the same name that I used to check out from the library constantly, to the point I may as well have owned it. It was for children suffering from anxiety, and it made scary things into something to laugh about.

Afterwards, I checked the mail, but none of my packages had come in yet. I ordered three new tobacco pipes for my collection. I have nearly seventy. I don't smoke - I just like them. One of the ones I'm expecting is a Missouri Merchaum corncob pipe. I have a few already, but I really like them. Did you know that Missouri Meerchaum created the first streamline corncob pipes, and is the oldest and most prolific manufacturer of tobacco pipes in the United States?

Anyway, I got a couple others too, because they looked cool. Then I read some articles about the history of Dr. Grabow pipes, because I got this very cool Dr. Grabow pipe with a metal stem. Did you know that the most popular material for tobacco pipe stems for a while was a type of plastic called Bakelite, but they stopped using it in the 40's because they found out it was toxic? It's so funny that I'm talking about stems and stimming at the same time. I'm stemming! Haha, I love puns!

Anyway, my insurance won't pay for me to be tested for neurodivergencies, and my therapist a couple years back said I can't be autistic or have ADHD because I make good eye contact, and act pretty normal in one-on-one conversations where she, never once, asked me what my favorite pipe is. (It's an antler stem Turkish hunting pipe, although my meerchaum dragon claw is a close second. Did you know a lot of North Amercians will say it's an eagles claw? If they're made in the US, I guess they probably are Eagles' claws. Anyway, the most popular meerschaum design is the sultan head. I only have one of those. They don't interest me much, but I bought it from a really nice lady in an antique shop.)

A little off subject, but I speaking of collections, I collect stuffed bunnies. I don't have as many as I have pipes, because they take up more space, and I'm very picky. Although I'm 42, I sleep with a stuffed bunny named Rununculus. That is the name of a beautiful flower that nobody ever uses. Rununculus is made of about seven different fabrics, so she has all kinds of textures. My favorite is the sort of wooly one on her little paws. I find it very calming. And I need something calming to sleep, or my thoughts will get me.

Anyway, I'm definitely neurotypical, right?

#neurodivergent thoughts #maybe neurodivergent #undiagnosed

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nottoxicfr · 10 months

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Hi. so this is probs gonna be a long ask which i apologize for bc i'm a complete stranger LOL but i've been thinking about your dragon install concept since i saw it last night and i wanted to give you my full opinions on it bc i didn't want to blast your notifs with a wall of text in tags

so, for my personal thoughts (because i definitely think we have overlapping interests here esp since you brought up burning godzilla as an inspiration in that post and godzilla vs destoroyah is one of my favorite movies), i think if i were going to draft a scenario where sol is taken over by the FoC, i'd definitely lean into a more biological feeling, if that makes sense. my main hooks for this thought process are 1. while i can't speak on sin devil trigger bc i haven't played any devil may cry games, that is sort of what burning godzilla had going for it (and godzilla as a series hasn't been adverse to leaning into a more body horror adjacent focus with the king of the monsters, ie with shin godzilla) and 2. i think it makes a really interesting thematic parallel to justice. because obviously justice is like, she isn't a machine strictly but she does have a distinct bio-mechanical element to her, so i think its interesting to make a full gear sol go in the opposite direction and have a more visceral element to his design, if all that makes sense

if this comes off as like, rude or unsolicited at all i do sincerely apologize ^-^; bc i do like your concept a lot! i just have a lot of thoughts on this particular topic and i'm excited to see someone who's as interested in dragon install stuff as i am. peace up

Hey there! I don't get asks very often, so I'm pretty happy to be able to answer any of them.

I think you're right about a Full Gear Sol Badguy needing to lean into the biological features to contrast against Justice being so heavily bio-mechanically designed. She's a big Evangelion (which features beasts being bound in armor) reference in Xrd, whereas I think Sol should be something more like Godzilla or maybe Ultraman. A Kaiju, but depending on the circumstance I think he'd be designed with a more severe sense of horror (if he's a villain) or something a little more subtle (if he's still Sol). Either way, I think he leans into his Overture Dragon Install! Sort of like what you might get if you were to try and design an apex predator.

In the situation where Frederick becomes Justice, or whatever name you'd call him, I would think of a design that suggests that the fire is burning him from the inside out, which I guess is sort of body horror-esque? It would be inflicting a constant pain on his body, which would only serve to make him a more aggressive Command Gear, alongside being possessed by the Pope and blowing up Japan.

I did actually do a Sol-Justice swap once. I tried to make him look like a furnace being overrun by fire! His arms were made of fire. There's parts of that present in the Kaiju Sol too, because I have a tendency to design Sol's more monstrous forms like a physical shell being overwhelmed by its contents!

Admittedly, I'm not a Sol expert. Still, for someone like Sol who strives to keep his innards really far from the surface, something like that would be terrifying to experience. It's more important to be scary to him than it is to the "audience," I think.

"The Flame of Corruption exceeds even this physical vessel," is the description I think I used to describe the way fire explodes out of him, rather than just burning like a Charizard. Though, I should clarify and say the design isn't necessarily caused by the FoC overrunning Sol Badguy's human soul. He's still Frederick/Sol! He's just very on fire.

If I think about the Flame of Corruption as a sentient force influencing Frederick, then I think that the overlay of them would probably affect his psyche. However, if he keeps a cool head, then he'd be able to manage the form.

The design was influenced by the Kaiju fights in FFXVI, specifically Ifrit. At one point he fights a mountain! I thought to myself, "I wish Sol could have fought that giant form of Justice like that." I'd recommend looking up the fight, if you aren't saving the game for later. It's super cool, and if you like Dragon Installs, I think you'll see where the design comes from.

I really want a Guilty Gear Action Game while ArcSys is focusing on GG's franchise growth.

I'm glad to find people who enjoy Dragon Install! All my designs featuring Dragon Install designs do particularly well, so it's good to know we aren't alone.

Thank you for the ask!

#nottoxic ask

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riverdrifter · 3 months

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River Listens To: Mayfair Watchers Society - Episodes 1 & 2

Hi! It's been a while since I've posted here. I burnt out a bit on Creatures of the Deep, but I have still been playing Pikmin 4. However, I found that the way I was logging my gameplay was extremely difficult to keep up with for a game that I really enjoy getting immersed in. So, I'll likely be retiring the more encyclopedic style of posts. I'm not sure what I'll do in lieu of that, but I've been using letterboxd, Goodreads, and StoryGraph a lot and enjoying it. I'm going to port my reviews on there over to this blog so I can have everything in one place, just not yet. I'm in a bit of a slump, and I could really use a dreary horror listening session to hopefully get it out of my system.

That's where this show comes in! I'd already listened up to Society Proceedings, but I hadn't logged any of my listening, which I'd like to do this time. I've also forgotten a good deal, so I'd prefer to relisten and write down my feelings so I don't forget again. Since we have 28 episodes as of now, I'll be taking them on 2 at a time. Spoilers under the cut!

🚌 Episode 1: The Woman on the Bus

This is a very strong start to a very good show. I'm quickly remembering what I loved so much about it on my first listen. Let's start with the characters.

First of all, the central character of the episode being called Val was a hell of a jumpscare. I have a good friend with that name, and I know her ass would NOT be in this situation. The conflict is driven by Val not wanting to accept a ride from her friend, Lou, lest she feel like a mooch. She sheepishly reveals that she flunked the of driver's test and wouldn't trust herself to drive enough to retake it. This is what the kids would call a Big Mood. I am not driving any time in the foreseeable future, and I'm glad when people who feel similarly keep themselves off the road. I'm definitely not shy about accepting rides, though. I especially wouldn't turn down a ride if I were alone on an unfamiliar street at night, and ESPECIALLY not if I started hearing screaming. In fact, I'd probably tell my friend to get right the fuck over there right now, and then I'd hide until they got there.

This is what's brilliant: Val's sensibilities and flaws are what get her into trouble, something which I know I really liked about this show the first time I listened. It's very human to be so stubborn about excepting help that you get yourself into a worse situation than you were in in the first place. Every time she makes another bad decision, I felt like I could understand what led her to that conclusion. She also has effortless chemistry with her friend up until the tension starts rising, at which point he gets a little shitty with her. This is also done well. Not only does it amp up the stress, but you really get the sense that these are people with lives and feelings beyond the span of this episode. (Well, they were.)

Now, let's talk about what's probably the main appeal of this show for most people: the horror. I think the writing and the horror go hand in hand here, and it's done beautifully. Like, the dialogue is a seamless part of what makes the episode scary; when the characters are in denial, that's when the dread starts really seeping in. I found the following line to be especially effective:

"I felt her eyes on me, like the heat when you open up the oven door."

The dialogue isn't all that's good about the horror, though. Of course the design of the monster of the week is amazing; this show is based on the works of and creatively directed by Trevor freaking Henderson. I remember just about exploding when I first heard that we'd be getting a podcast themed around his work. The sound design is also incredible. Early in the episode, Lou asks Val to be quiet because he thought he heard something, but he dismisses it as her paranoia wearing off on him. But we, the listeners, can hear it too: a faint jingling, like chains rattling, a second set of footsteps, and dry, croaking breathing, like someone is struggling to keep up. And as soon as this episode's anomaly gets on the bus, you hear it again, getting louder and louder the closer she gets. It's subtle, but not too subtle; I noticed it easily without headphones and with a beanie over my ears. Then there's the escalation of threat on Lou's end of the phone as Val frantically rings to request a stop... God, it's so effective.

That's about all I have to say! This was a lot more than I thought I'd have to talk about over just one episode. I haven't really addressed the plot directly; I think the premise of "person has a dream, person later experiences that dream in real life" is as solid as ever. But this is all that came to mind while listening. We'll see how much I blab about the next one!

✂️ Episode 2: Scissors

Oh boy. If I already yapped about the first episode, I dread how long this post is going to be, because my notes for this one are twice as long. Let's just dive right in.

Right from the beginning, there's some good subtle environment building at play with the fact that this is a suburban Neighborhood Watch group, but not one too bougie to have guns. Now, I know some people have a dinky little pistol they keep in the safe just in case, but these people have rifles and shotguns. Combined with the fact that one of the members, Liz, sprained her wrist in a hunting accident, we get the feel for what specific type of middle-of-nowhere small town this is. This is strengthened later by the mention that one of their prominent playground parks borders the woods. There's a lot of little details like this that help us get a good vibe check of Mayfair as a place.

I also think the characters in this episode were pretty fun. I did have to reference the transcript at times to tell if it was Ed or Simon who was talking, but that could've been a skill issue on my part. Clem is a classic Stanley from The Office type. He's a good no-nonsense guy to have in this bunch. Simon is the opposite, trying to keep things light by making jokes that might not be situationally appropriate, but he's not a total asshole. You can tell, especially by the end of the episode, that he cares about his fellow Watch members. He seems to be on friendly terms with Ed's wife, commenting on a brisket she made and how she can have a foul mouth at times.

While Simon stuck out to me the most this episode, Liz comes up in second place. Liz is interesting to me because she always asks for permission to take the floor; this could just be her personality, or it could be because she's the only woman in a room of men. So you have this shy-ish, relatively soft-spoken suburban mom who would rather the council say "poop" than "shit", but she also injured her wrist in a hunting accident. People say the character work in this show isn't very good, but I find that there's a good deal of depth to people like Liz if you're willing to read between the lines. As far as one-off characters go, at least.

Ed is probably my least favorite of this episode's cast, despite being the subject of a for-fun crack theory which I'll detail later. However, just because I wasn't that into him doesn't mean I didn't think he had interesting character stuff going on. There's this implied distance with his wife, Abby, who has some sort of police rank that was probably stated and I just didn't catch it. But he talks about how she isn't home long enough to reassure his terrified kids. I get the sense that he, too, feels like a terrified kid in this situation; maybe if he had more time with his wife, he wouldn't dissolve into paranoia and finger pointing so quickly. By the end of the episode, he has a low enough value of himself to want to go out guns blazing against this scissor-wielding threat.

That said, I'm not sure if his rapid mental decline is his own cross to bear, or if this episode's anomaly has some sort of psychic AoE ability. Other town members are said to be at each other's throats as the situation escalates, with one going as far as to beat up another man. Clem remarks that he probably just needed something to punch, but I'm still uncertain whether this illustrates an effect of the thing with the scissors, or if people are just going nuts because they're so scared and stressed. I don't fault the episode for this ambiguity. I think it's better left unconfirmed either way.

I'd like to defend this episode's story as well. I've heard people say that it leaves things too open-ended, or that it was lazy to leave it on a hang, but I don't think there's anything uncertain about what happens at the end. The typical roll-call structure is broken up by the distinct lack of Ed's voice. There's this uncomfortable silence, a clear elephant in the room. Now, if those criticisms are directed at not knowing what happens next, that's more understandable. I think I've just come to terms with the structure of these monster of the week-type shows, and it's something I really enjoy.

Let's get into some things I've noticed that I wanted to point out. This is a joke that Lou made to Val in the last episode:

"Oh, yeah. Like that time you saw that weird black van parked outside your house, so you stayed up in your living room all night watching the John Wick trilogy and holding a kitchen knife?"

In this episode, there's a lengthy aside about an unidentified car going up and down the streets. This one is notably a "dark, mid-sized sedan"; not quite the same as a van. So I'm not trying to assert that these are the same vehicle or something. But we do have multiple instances now where suspicious vehicles have been mentioned, and I don't think the sedan had to do with the anomaly of this episode. This is something I'll put a pin in to see if it comes up again.

This is a different thing I noticed. Clem mentions an incident in which two teens went to the Hayward Textile Mill to record "YouTube nonsense", supposedly saw a ghost, and then one of them was injured by falling through the floorboards on their way out. This is, in fact, an event we see in a future episode! I like things like this that reward second listens.

Now, here's where I get into my crack theory that I don't really believe in, but I think is a really funny way to read the episode: Simon and Abby are having an affair. We have the aforementioned comments implying closeness between the two. When Simon says that the suburb's parents are "either working, playing squash, or havin' affairs", he points out being a squash man himself. This could be read as intentional misdirection if you are unhinged. Ed is in paranoia and denial about everything, and when he makes excuses for his wife, he says, "We need to find compromises sometimes." This could be the language of a couple who have gone through cheating incidents and are working through it. Again, I don't think this is true. It's clear within the content of the episode that Simon does just genuinely care about Ed and his family. It's just something I had fun tinhatting about during my listen.

To wrap up this episode's lengthy segment, here are miscellaneous comments from my notes, lightning-round-style:

Suburb-typical ableism towards those perceived as mentally unsound! Let's go /j

NOT THE 2016 MURDER CLOWNS REFERENCE.

Is people blaming sounds on washing machines going to become a running gag?

All in all, I think this was a good episode. It's not as effective in the horror department as the first one, but that was a really strong start, so I'll try not to fault future episodes too much if they fall short of its mark.

#river listens to #mayfair watchers society #podcasts #trevor henderson #long post #journal

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hugintheraven · 9 months

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Just saw Last Voyage of the Demeter

(spoilers below a cut, TW list below the cut as well)

Ugh. I was not a fan. For context, I absolutely love the Demeter chapter of Dracula and consider it a highlight of the book, so I had high expectations.

But this was basically not even the same story. The Demeter section of the novel is very much about the mystery and the inevitability, sailors vanishing into the night. And while we know what's happening, the crew has no idea, so their actions are basically random flailing, for good or ill. And we know, the ship arrives empty, crew dead, captain a corpse tied to the wheel. So the question is how, how did we get to that point?

In this, the monster is much more present and visible, which makes for a fast-paced action-horror movie that's entirely a different tone. And that would be fine(maybe not for me), except they set things up so the inevitability is still a thing. It's like they had no clue how to make things scary, so they applied modern rules about protagonists to the existing story, with no idea why that doesn't work. And I agree they needed to expand the cast(the chapter has all of 3 characters), but they didn't think about what sort of characters would let them preserve the tone.

It's just bad. The pacing isn't there, the monster design was clever but not scary, I expected most things that happened...not worth seeing.

First off, TW: Animal death(including a dog), child death, blood and gore(not as bad as many horror films, but lots of close-ups of open wounds), period-typical racism and sexism(it's over fast but it's a thing), suicide.

Spoilery complaints:

The point of the original is that the entire crew dies over the journey. There was no chance for them, Dracula needed almost every one of his MREs. The captain ties himself to the wheel so that he can be sure his ship will make it, because he doesn't know that his cargo is dangerous. In the book(not Daily), it opens with the ship empty, so we know they're all doomed, and the sailors realizing that is the fulfillment of that promise

This movie, they only lose 5 people out of 10 before the climax. No one is ever alone on the boat with no hope left. The whole "tied to the wheel" scene is completely wrong. But they still open with the empty ship for some reason.

And maybe that just sounds like a book fanboy ranting, but...it's not really replaced with any horror. They plan a violent last stand against Dracula and we KNOW they all die and don't sink the ship, because that's how the movie opens, but it's not paced like they're all dead from the beginning. They're treated like they have a chance.

Early on, while people are vanishing, we regularly see Dracula, while people have no clue. Which would be good(we all know it's a Dracula movie, after all), but it's not really used for anything. We get to see that this is more Nosferatu than Lestat, but...it's not used to heighten tension, really. We can't get invested in the characters saying "what happened" because we know what happened, but we also can't lord our knowledge over them since we aren't given enough knowledge to know "oh, that's the wrong call buddy" during particularly bad sequences.

And then the doctor survives. (if they'd had Anna attack him in the end before dying rather than suicide, without us seeing the resolution, maybe there'd have been some tension before the ending scene, but nope.) Which is both a major change and completely pointless, since he's clearly dead 10 seconds after the credits roll anyways. And don't get me started on his little "you feel fear" speech.

Actually, do get me started, since I think it's the core of the problem. That's a speech a modern protagonist gives. It's cool, it's correct, it's completely wrong for the tone. If he'd died right after, sure, then it's a cool moment. But he lives. Because audiences need a hero, right?

IDK, I get that they would have to make some changes. But it felt like house flippers, coming in and deleting anything interesting in favor of whatever is the current standard. And that's just not worth watching IMO.

#the last voyage of the demeter #hugin reviews #dracula #I'm not great at putting it into words #And TBH maybe I am just a salty fanboy #But ugh I was so hyped to see this and just didn't enjoy it at all

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shimmerbeasts · 6 months

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Hounding

Violence in Zaun is a form of self-expression. This means that every Zaunite has their own style of fighting or certain actions or weapons, which they prefer doing or using. Some of those fighting styles can be very similar to one another, especially if one person mirrors the style of their mentor figure. However, one thing that is almost always the truth, is that a Zaunite fights themselves.

This is why Silco's preferred MO stands out so much among Zaunites. While he is an excellent duellist and more than capable of wielding a pistol or a knife (his preferred weapon) with great efficiency, the thing he is most known for is the fact that Silco lets others fight for himself. Specifically not other people, but other monsters. He hunts people, who have angered him a great deal, and his preferred method of hunting is called Hounding.

Hounding is a specific way of hunting with hunting dogs, specifically bloodhounds. In this hunt, the hunter sends the dogs upon the prey with the task of them, tackling it and bringing it down. Silco does the exact same thing, except he doesn't just do it to people, he does it with people. His Hounds are carefully selected members of his gang, who have undergone a gruelling and painful conditioning process.

This conditioning allows Silco to essentially turn on/off the Hound inside of them with nothing but a snap of his fingers and the words "Sicc 'em!" or "Drop!". The Hound mindset turns the respective individual into a lot more than a murderer. It mutes your fear response and your empathy and fills you with the crushing drive to pursue and violently eviscerate Silco's chosen target.

The violence, someone commits as a Hound, is primal, visceral and horrifying. In the end, the victim does not look like a human anymore. Very often, the Hounds will have made use of their bare teeth and rudimentary nails. Under Shimmer, those effects get enhanced to the point that the cannibalism, Zaunites sometimes perform on corpses, is now transferred over to the living victim. Hunts are rare, however, for a victim, these last few minutes of pursuit and being caught by Hounds are among the most terrifying a person can experience.

Coming out of the Hound state and in the case of the Shimmer wearing off, often means that the respective Hounds throw up what they gorged themselves on. Hounding puts a massive strain on the body, which means that a Hunt can leave someone exhausted and tired. For some, coming back can also induce feelings of guilt and fear at the beginning. It is why Hounds are rare. You hand over your free will along with your own violence, and for individualistic Zaunites, that is extremely difficult to do. It is the ultimate sign of trust and in some cases, can even be seen as a love confession.

Silco didn't develop Hounding on a whim. He designed it to be used against Piltover, to make something so scary that Topside had no choice but to back off and give them their independence. He took his existing culture of predation and played with the thought of making an Apex Predator. Vander and his own violence served as a massive inspiration for the idea to the point that Vander even became the first-ever Hound. It is the origin of Vander's moniker "Hound of the Underground", but their shared history, involving Hounding, is also what eventually drove Vander to betray Silco. However, that betrayal didn't remove the conditioning. It is permanent. If you were made a Hound, you could always be triggered into that mindset again, to the point that even the snapping of fingers is enough to prime you.

Additional Headcanon:

Different Types of Hounds

#ever wonder what its like to drown: silco headcanon

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