#ultra long post | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

david-talks-sw · 1 year

Text

For a lot of fans, the "Jedi lost their way" take really comes down to:

"I never saw the Jedi Council genuinely be kind to Anakin in any meaningful way, so I just filled in the gaps and assumed they were dicks to him".

From there you get the myths that the Jedi manipulated him, only cared for him because of his power, forbid him from seeing his Mom, Mace in particular hated him, etc etc.

Well, quick reminder: in George Lucas' script, Anakin refers to the Jedi as his family.

But hey, if "not enough evidence" is a factor, how would we fix that?

PITCH: A five-issue comic book miniseries, featuring self-contained tales of young Anakin's interactions with various Jedi - seen from their POVs - about how they all come around to liking him, only to epilogue each issue with events from Episode III.

Not all of these are fully developed, but just to give you an idea...

Issue #1: Yoda.

Lesson: "letting to of what you fear to lose"

Set only months after Episode I, Obi-Wan is off on a mission, and Anakin is shadowing Yoda, for the day. Both are reluctant...

Yoda is still grappling with Anakin's uncertain future, maybe reeling from Qui-Gon's death and Yaddle's disappearance.

Anakin misses his Mom, and the last conversation he had with Yoda was the elf telling him he shouldn't be scared for his mother (or so Anakin thinks).

Throughout the day, shenanigans ensue.

Yoda takes Ani to a Council meeting and he keeps interrupting by asking Yarael Poof why his neck is so long, or asking Oppo Rancisis if he ever trims his hair. Giggles from all but Yoda.

Yoda mediates a negotiation between Senators and the subject of Malastare podracing comes up, so Anakin hijacks the meeting.

Yoda goes to Thustra to fight off mercenaries for the King and Anakin tags along, seemingly becoming a burden for Yoda.

However, despite their bumpy start (Anakin being a brat and Yoda being a grump) Anakin and Yoda bond and Anakin's input seemingly becomes the key to the mission's success.

Yoda discovers he admires Anakin's outside-the-box thinking and finds kindness deep in his heart. The issue's narrative voice is Yoda talking to Qui-Gon, noting how similar Anakin and Qui-Gon are.

Anakin realizes that Yoda trained the master who trained the master who trained his master... so that makes him his sort of grandpa! That's so wizard!

Once the task at hand is over, Yoda and Anakin have a moment and talk about the idea that Anakin misses his mother.

Yoda comforts Anakin, explaining that his mother let him leave the nest, and in life things come and go, things which they may grow to care for. But as Jedi, they must be able to let go of these attachments, when the time comes.

Anakin asks if Yoda ever lost someone he cared about. Yoda answers that he's almost 900, by now. A lot of loved ones of his came and went. Qui-Gon was one of them. Yaddle, too. Another one (thinking of Dooku)... still hurts to this day.

One day, it'll be up to him to be as strong as his mother, who Yoda adds might've made a wonderful Jedi. And who knows, maybe he'll see her again, once Anakin becomes a Jedi himself.

Anakin smiles.

Epilogue:

Anakin scowls.

We're seeing Yoda's scene with Anakin in Episode III through Yoda's POV. As he did years ago, Anakin still has problems with attachment... but in this case, he doesn't even tell Yoda anything. So Yoda can only give a general answer.

As Anakin refuses to elaborate on his premonitions and leaves, Yoda feels powerless, and can only hope he was able to help this troubled young man who, day after day, reminds him less of Qui-Gon and more of Dooku. Dooku who died yesterday.

Issue #2: Kit Fisto

Lesson: "don't try to be some 'Chosen One', just be yourself"

Anakin undergoes a trial that involves swimming. And he grew up on a desert planet. So of course, he fails. At night, he steals Obi-Wan's breather and sneaks out of their quarters to go to the pool and train.

He puts the breather on wrong and is about to drown but fear not! Jedi Knight Kit Fisto and his dashing smile are here to help!

He shows Anakin how to put his breather on right and shows him how to swim and fight underwater.

Now, this isn't just a pool. It's a pool in the Jedi Temple! So it's filled with a whole lot of marvelous fluorescent flora and fauna, I'm taking Avatar-style stuff.

So the swimming lesson becomes a lesson about the Living Force (who said it should just be Qui-Gon's thing? Lucas certainly didn't), using water as a metaphor.

The overall idea of the issue is that Anakin is concerned... he left his Mom behind, hoping to make her proud, make Qui-Gon proud, make Obi-Wan proud and live up to this expectation of being the Chosen One... but he's struggling at basic stuff like swimming! How's he gonna be this big time Jedi, one day?

Kit reassures Anakin: he shouldn't aspire to be a "Chosen One". All any Jedi should aspire to be is the best version of themselves.

Next day: Anakin passes the trial, Obi-Wan congratulates him, and Anakin completely misinterprets what Kit was telling him in a hilarious way by saying something silly and cocky like: "I just had to remind the water that I'm the best me there is so it better let me float or else."

Which gets an eye roll from Obi and a giggle from Kit.

(BTW, maybe we can have Nadar Vebb help Anakin swim too! Maybe even set him up as passing that trial the first time round with flying colors to contrast with Anakin, maybe he's an antagonist that comes around by the end, I dunno)

Epilogue:

As Mace battles Sidious in the other room, Kit Fisto, still breathing, rises to his feet and takes a few steps, intent on helping his friend despite his wound, but collapses... he's not gonna make it.

He turns around, stares at the ceiling. Is this how it ends?

Anakin appears in his line of sight, looking around at the dead Jedi, shocked. Kit smiles (ROTS novelization reference) as Anakin rushes into the adjacent corridor.

His last thought is the knowledge that everything's going to turn out alright, now that the Chosen One is here.

Issue #3: Mace Windu

Lesson: Control your feelings, don't let them control you.

Simple story. Obi-Wan was captured by a bunch of IG-11 assassins, allowing Anakin to escape and rescue a Senator's daughter. Now, Anakin and Mace are on a mission to get him back.

They make their way through a jungle filled with traps. Anakin is rushing, he's angry at the droids and afraid for Obi-Wan and it's making him do dumb stuff. After it happens a second time, Mace scolds him.

Around a campfire, Anakin apologizes for his impulsive behavior.

Mace comments that it's understandable. He only started being a Jedi, like, 5 years ago. Mastering your emotions isn't an easy thing to do, and in Anakin's case it's twice as hard. Anakin pries: is that why Mace didn't want him to become a Jedi?

Mace hesitates. Then says it, point blank: "yes".

And while he's sorry for being blunt, the fact remains that last week he threatened two of his fellow initiates with a lightsaber to the face.

Anakin points out that they were bullying him because they were jealous of his skill.

Against all expectation Mace smiles and reveals that he can relate to that. His own classmates would bully him for the same reason. You know who'd step in, in that situation? Qui-Gon. Qui-Gon was like a big brother to Mace, always had his back.

After sighing, with a calmer tone, Mace says he'll have a chat with those students. But Anakin needs to double his efforts to keep his feelings under control, lest he become enslaved by them.

The way he went about it was by developing Vaapad. He demonstrates it to Anakin, whose eyes are filled with stars.

Mace concludes that while he did have misgivings, he has faith that Anakin can find the way to do it.

In the morning, Anakin and Mace storm the castle filled with assassin droids. One of the droids sees they're losing and electrocutes Obi-Wan, hoping to unbalance them. Mace orders Anakin to stay focused, Kenobi can take it! And Anakin does!

Once the courtyard is cleared, Mace lifts the remaining droid torturing Obi-Wan with the Force and crushes it into a ball of metal.

As they walk away, Mace lets out a "good work, Skywalker."

Anakin asks Mace if he can teach him Vaapad-- Mace cuts him off with a "Nope".

"C'mooon!"

"Don't push it, Skywalker."

Epilogue:

In the Chancellor's office, Mace reflects the lightning back onto Palpatine's face.

The Sith seems out of commission.

And Mace is scared shitless. He almost died, a few seconds ago. His instinct is to run. He uses shatterpoint, tries to sense the future because Force knows he's got no idea what the hell he should do next. And that's when he sees it:

The various ways Sidious can kill him and Anakin.

Stop Mace's blade mid-air and Force Push them out of a window,

snap their necks with the Force,

crush the crystal in his lightsaber and let it blow up in his face.

Palpatine is faking and there are barely any scenarios in which Mace and Anakin are walking out of this room alive. And even if they do capture him, then

Sidious can bribe judges and Senate officials and supposing that doesn't work either, he can

escape any prison, kill thousands of clones in one night and

set up a new power base, starting from scratch.

This either ends now or the galaxy is doomed.

For a full second, the gravity of it all terrorizes Mace... then he chases his fear and musters his courage.

Anakin argues but Mace knows what he must do. He prepares to end the conflict once and for all, like a true Jedi would.

Anakin argues again, and Mace detects something else. Wait, why is Skywalker scared?

As he falls, Mace realizes the very thing that he feared would happen, a long time ago, has finally come true:

Anakin let his emotions rule him... and it doomed them all.

Issue #4: Shaak Ti

I was thinking for this one, we can have Obi-Wan bring her in as a sparring partner so she can demonstrate Jar'Kai to Anakin.

I haven't thought of a deeper lesson for this one, I just like Shaak Ti, folks, she's awesome :D

If anyone has suggestions, put 'em in the replies.

Epilogue:

(This one will definitely age poorly when The Mandalorian Season 3 comes out tomorrow!)

Order 66 rages as Shaak Ti protects a group of elderly Jedi in charge of the babies. She takes clone after clone down as she escorts them to an escape room the notices one baby left in the infirmary: Grogu.

Suddenly, she senses an overwhelming darkness approaching this wing of the temple. She thinks fast, she takes Grogu, crosses a corridor where 2-3 Jedi are killed (which is what Grogu remembers in the flashbacks)...

... and goes to a meditation room nearby. The shadow closes in and Shaak Ti realizes who it is: Skywalker.

We catch her moments later as she finished recording a message in her Holocron (the one from Star Wars #9)...

"It's up to you now. Don't let our deaths have been in vain. Don't let this be the end of the Jedi."

... then places it in Grogu's pod and hides him in an air vent. She sits on the chair, pretending to meditate.

The door slides open. Anakin enters the room, senses something in the air vent. Shaak Ti realizes he's about to find Grogu and distracts him: "what is it Skywalker?"

He stabs her. She falls.

He picks up her saber as he prepares to engage Cin Drallig and his apprentice with two lightsabers, just as she showed him.

A tear rolls down Shaak Ti's eye.

She looks at the air vent, sees Grogu's wet eyes peer through the grate. At least he's safe.

Issue #5: Obi-Wan

Lesson: Be less cocky, beware of Palpatine, ffs

Obi-Wan and Anakin are on a mission, maybe they're being chased by monsters, maybe it's in the middle of a firefight, maybe Anakin is trying to stop a train.

Bottom line: Anakin gets cocky and tries to do something incredibly stupid, thinking he can pull it off... and almost dies.

Obi-Wan manages to save him, but that hits him like a ton of bricks.

"I almost lost him."

Anakin's justification? Something along the lines of: he told the Chancellor he'd manage to do a triple flip next time he's on a mission, and that he'd try to catch it on a holovid.

So Obi-Wan loses his shit on Anakin, takes his saber and grounds him for a friggin' month.

Privately, he feels guilty. He almost lost Anakin and it would've been on him. His promise to Qui-Gon would be broken, Shmi's sacrifice, wherever she is, would be rendered pointless... and Anakin would be dead.

He talks to Mace and Yoda, who tell him not to blame himself. Obi-Wan takes this to heart and realizes who's to blame.

He goes to see the Chancellor.

And it's awkward af.

Put yourself in Obi-Wan's shoes. How do you tell your boss, the leader of the free world, to back off because he's a bad influence on your kid, in the most diplomatic way possible?

But he somehow manages. He puts his foot down and asks Palps if he wouldn't mind being a bit more hands-off.

Note: for one page, we're on Palpatine as he remembered every time he undermined everybody else's lessons. "Don't listen to Windu, your emotions are what make you human." "Still, a bit heartless of Yoda to not even send someone to free your mother. I'm sure they had their reasons." "Trust me, you're definitely a Chosen One, even if Jedi like Master Fisto don't see it."

Then Palpatine smiles. "Of course!" He even apologizes and agrees to step back for a bit, he understands that he may have inadvertently undermined Obi-Wan's authority. My bad, Master Kenobi. My bad.

Back in Anakin's quarters, Obi-Wan enters and sits next to Anakin on his bed. Silence.

What follows is a scene like this one in The Lion King:

Obi-Wan admits that Anakin really scared him today.

Anakin is sorry, but at the same time, he knew Obi-Wan would be there to save him in case he failed.

Obi-Wan explains that he won't always be able to be there to have Anakin's back. Anakin dismisses that, saying he trusts him.

"As long as we're together, it'll always turn out alright."

Epilogue:

As their dialog from the previous scene continues, Obi-Wan watches as his Padawan, his ward, his brother, his everything for the past 13 years, kneels in front of the Chancellor on a hologram recording.

So yeah, that was my attempt at writing Star Wars ^^' Thank you for making it this far!

Why only 5 issues? Well, it could be 6 issues. Could be 12, released monthly. I focused on 5 because I didn't wanna spend too much time photoshopping collages. Other scenarios could feature:

Saesee Tiin teaches Anakin flying maneuvers and finds he also has much to learn.

Quinlan Vos and Aayla Secura partner up with Obi-Wan and Anakin. Anakin initially finds a kindred spirit in Quin, even wonders if it would be possible for two knights to do a "Padawan swap", but eventually he sees that - as cool and laid back as Master Vos is - maybe he needs a Master who'll give him a bit more structure than the guy who'll let him stay up late.

Anakin and A'Sharad Hett going through a trial together. #Tatooineboys #arooo #kraytdragonsounds

Here's why I wrote these story ideas down:

There'll always be fans who see the Prequel Jedi as corrupt and arrogant, regardless of how much evidence from Canon or Lucas you provide to dispel the notion.

But sometimes, Star Wars transmedia content is used to fix inconsistencies or bolster ideas that were only alluded to in the films, or show a different point of view.

We got this recently with Shadows of the Sith, for example, which helped smooth some plot-holes from the Sequel Trilogy.

Sometimes, the material around the movies manages to re-contextualize and make the characters or the film itself more endearing, to fans. I mean, that's what The Clone Wars did for a lot of Prequel haters.

And I'm just disappointed this approach wasn't used to help the Prequel Jedi's perception among the fandom.

'Cause these are characters that have slowly been reframed as "the corrupt/complacent establishment" by authors who didn't find them likeable when they watched the films, when they were originally supposed to be "the underdogs who're doing their best".

An approach that was being taken during TCW was "let's question whether the Jedi are really all that good and moral and pure".

Nobody ever said they were, it's just that they tried to be their best selves, but whatever, let's play "devil's advocate", sure. Let's get some new points of view.

But skip to almost two decades later, and Star Wars has played "devil's advocate" with the Prequel Jedi so much that seeing them in a negative light is now mainstream.

So, now... how about we explore:

The trauma Mace Windu felt when he was actively seeing people he grew up with get shot to shreds by battle droids on the daily.

The ex-Jedi Knights who come back to the Order to help their former family, instead of focusing on the ones who left.

Rael or Sifo-Dyas calling Dooku out on his ideological bullshit and forcing him to face the fact that he's just a crook who talked himself into betraying his brethren.

The young Padawans whose masters went to Geonosis and never came back.

Plo Koon being attacked by a mob because he "looks evil" and both the Republic and the Separatist's war propaganda reflects badly on the Jedi, framed as “baby-snatching warmongers in their ivory tower”.

How about - instead of focusing on a series set 200 years prior, y'know, Back When The Jedi Were Great™ - we roll up our sleeves and question whether or not the Prequel Jedi were all that bad?

Just a thought.

853 notes · View notes

thepenultimateword · 2 years

Note

YES. GIVE US THE FANCY ELEGANT DANCE SCENE OF PART FIVE. (I really hope you understand what snippet I’m talking about because the name has completely slipped my mind. Its not even funny.)

It's here.

Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four

CW: Blood, stabbing, drug reference, human mind-control, killing

"To think I spent all that money on a tailor so you could wear that," Supervillain complained, showing their hand to Villain before wrapping it firmly around their waist.

The muscles beneath Villain's corduroy suitcoat jumped before quickly tightening into stone. With their eyes fixed straight ahead, it was almost like the little criminal was imagining that Supervillain wasn't there. Ouch.

"Quit whining," Villain huffed. "It's still a gala outfit, isn't it?"

Supervillain tipped their chin and looked their date up and down for the third time that night. Full brown suit with the coat undone, a white button-up shirt that puffed out from its tuck, and a drooping black neck bow with long tails that fluttered when they walked. Technically, yes, this was a gala outfit, or it would have been on a taller, wider person. Apparently, Villain didn't like clothing that clung or pressed, so what should have been an elegant, figure-hugging outfit, now hung baggy on their small frame.

Maybe it wasn't completely awful. Maybe it was a little adorable with their small size so accentuated. And maybe there was something about them drowning in all that fabric that made Supervillain want to bundle them up in their arms and squeeze them into oblivion. Though Villain was likely to stab them in the throat first.

"I wanted you to wear the glittery cocktail dress," Supervillain said.

"Yeah, so you could ogle me."

"I would never," Supervillain gasped, crossing an x over their heart with their index finger. "I simply thought it would give you better access to your weapons. No one would even notice a little thigh holster. Now you have to be sure no one feels anything under your coat while your dancing."

They crawled their hand up a few centimeters to poke the knife strapped flat against their ribs. Despite Villain's ability to shape matter out of thin air, they had both decided to play it safe by keeping a real weapon on hand as well. Villain had been especially adamant—their failure to kill Supervillain on their first meeting had certainly left a mark.

"That's why I asked them to make the coat a little bigger," Villain snapped, elbowing them in the side hard enough to make them choke on their next breath.

Supervillain grimaced. Yes, and now it looks like you're wearing a coat too big for you.

"Besides, I won't be dancing. And you better chase off anyone who tries to ask me."

Supervillain rolled their shoulders a little to regain their posture and returned their hand to the spot on Villain's waist that they'd practiced.

"Of course, Sweetie. What type of significant other would I be otherwise?"

"Don't call me--" Villain started, but they were already stepping through Parella's front door.

No sooner were they on the tacky red carpet, than a current of people dragged them down the over-decorated hallway and into a glittering gala room. Supervillain usually made it a habit not to enter the other Pentacle members' homes, so they couldn’t help the begrudging ‘oh’ that parted their lips. The place was the size of an opera hall, with an overhanging balcony and a great, 3-tiered chandelier that refracted rainbows of light all across the marble dance floor.

Villain's eyes had gone round, but when they caught Supervillain smiling at them, they shook themself out of it.

"Are we even going to see Parella tonight?" they said, crossing their arms.

"Oh, definitely," Supervillain said. "He personally invited us, remember? He's up to something, and we're somewhere at the center of it."

A slight shiver ran up Villain's spine, and Supervillain reflexively pulled them closer. "You can do this. And don't worry, no way am I letting my golden goose get hurt tonight."

Villain subtly shouldered away, opening their mouth to bite back, but Supervillain interrupted them.

"No more talking about anything important. Half these guests could be spies bringing Parella gossip."

Villain glared but bit down on their indignation and nodded.

Now to find Parella. With so many people spinning around the room, it was hard to make purchase on any one person. No sooner did Supervillain set eyes on someone, than they blended once again into the crowd. Supervillain recognized a few key villains from the news or past team-ups, but since they'd never been one for building up masses of followers, most were strangers.

Were other Pentacle members here? It was probably 50/50. If Parella was trying to do something the others wouldn't approve of, he might have sided with discretion. Then again, excluding any of the five after already inviting one may be worse. The relationship between them was strange. They left each other alone, and yet there was a constant expectation for mutual acknowledgment and respect.

A flash of fiery orange glimpsed through the balcony crowd, followed by the flap of a sumptuous, floor-length cape thrown over a reedy arm. Parella looked as slick a rat as ever with that bright hair coiffed back behind his ears. What was he even trying to do with that outfit? Be prince charming? He had better luck being pardoned for all his crimes. There was just something too snakelike about those unblinking eyes and wide mouth to ever pass a fairytale protagonist.

Oh, he was turning.

"Laugh, and push my chest," Supervillain hissed.

Without hesitation, Villain pounded the heel of their hand into Supervillain's sternum and threw their head back in a much too loud, mechanical laugh. A few people directly around them turned to stare.

"You're so bad at this," Supervillain snorted.

"Shut up," Villain said, even though a brush of pink painted their cheeks and the bridge of their nose.

"Top right balcony," Supervillain said. The pressure of Parella's eyes beat on their back. Well, at least they had his attention.

Villain glanced around their shoulder then made a quick search for the nearest refreshment table. They'd settled on a little concoction going around the streets lately. Something Villain came across while hiding in the underground after killing their first hero. Apparently one of the main side effects of artificial bliss was temporary blindness. The only snag, Parella needed to drink it.

Villain's eye's narrowed as they pinpointed several rows of glasses set out at the end of the table.

"Want a drink?" Villain said for the room.

"I want anything you want," Supervillain gushed.

Villain barely straightened the wrinkle in their nose before a dark-clad figure suddenly threw themself around their neck.

"Ah, what an adorable flower," the woman said, ignoring Villain's instinctual thrashing and wrapping her arms more tightly around the back of their shoulders. The warm brown hair of her messy bun fell in tendrils around her dewy face like some wind-tossed siren, and the style of her tight, black jumpsuit, tied around her neck, made her appear taller than she already was.

"Dirsee," Supervillain said as he took her by her bare shoulders, just short of yanking her off.

The villainess smiled through her purple lipstick. "My dear Supervillain."

Despite the friendly tone of her voice, her grey eyes had their usual dead look.

"B-Belladonna Dirsee?" Villain whispered, freezing their fighting and going slack in her grip. They still obviously wanted free, they just had the good sense not to cross a big bad when they met one.

"That's right, dear." Dirsee's nails scratched shallow lines over Villain's cheek as she caressed their face. "And you're the famous Herokiller I've heard so much about. I'm a big fan of your work, though maybe a little too quick for my taste. You know, a little suffering adds flare."

Supervillain resisted the primal urge to tear Villain out of her arms. They knew better than that. Dirsee was still being her version of courteous, but the moment they made her angry...well...a mind was harder to put back together than to break. Much harder to contest before the Pentacle too.

"Are any of the others here?" Supervillain said, slipping their hand into Villain's limp one and giving a light, consoling squeeze.

"Hmmm..." Those dead eyes roved around the room. "I saw Revon earlier, so flirtatious that one." Her laugh sent a rotting pit into Supervillain's stomach. They wouldn't say they feared Dirsee, but she had definitely always made them uncomfortable. "No Elio though. Doesn't he usually like showing up at the end?"

"Grim's not a people person," Supervillain confirmed. How did they break this conversation? Parella wasn't going to stay occupied forever.

Their eyes flicked involuntarily to the handsome man standing behind Dirsee's shoulder. His lips were slightly parted, and as they made eye contact, it was immediately clear that only one of them was really seeing.

Dirsee followed Supervillain's gaze, and her smile spread even wider. She dropped her arms to her sides and motioned to the man.

"I know your date, but you don't know mine. This is...well, #345, but I think his real name might be Henry. Cute, right?"

The man walked up and wordlessly swung his arm around Dirsee's waist, but his face remained just as blank, now staring off over Supervillain's shoulder.

A puppet. He was probably barely even conscious.

Supervillain may have been concerned if they didn't know that Dirsee's followers literally signed up for it. Somehow many found comfort in the loss of their will. No need for skill or talent when someone else was in control. Apparently, they got vague memories after the fact, the essence of doing something interesting or worthwhile, and that was enough for them.

Villain couldn't hide their unsettled expression. Eyes glued to the puppet, they backed up just shy of bumping Supervillain's chest.

"Seems like a nice guy," Supervillain said. They never quite knew how to react when Dirsee used puppets in everyday situations. When she first began villainy she could control maybe three people at one time. Now she was up to nigh three hundred, and it'd made her haphazard. She barely did anything on her own.

She shrugged. "Probably. He's easier to dance with than some of the others." Her eyes remained fixed on his as she cocked her head. "Why aren't you dancing?"

Though a narrow space still existed between them, Supervillain felt Villain tense.

Don't worry, I haven't forgotten our deal.

"Villain doesn't feel comfortable dancing, so we're sticking to the side tonight."

"That's odd. Why come to a gala party at all if you're not going to dance?"

"The food, the people, the atmosphere." Supervillain waved their hand around the room nonchalantly at each item.

"But that's the most fun part about bringing a date, having a built-in dance partner."

"Well, that does sound convenient," Supervillain said with as upbeat a tone as they could muster, "but believe it or not, not everyone enjoys dancing. We're enjoying our time just as well by simply being together."

"I bet Revon would agree with me. He knows all about couples. Now, where did he go off to?"

Dirsee began scanning the room for the fourth Pentacle member.

"Fine!" Villain said suddenly. They were practically quivering, but they snatched Supervillain's hand and began dragging them toward the dance floor.

"Sweetie, we don't have to do this," Supervillain hissed through a half-stumble. Villain may have been small, but they were surprisingly strong. "Dirsee's opinion is hardly the most valid in the room."

"She's drawing attention to us," Villain murmured back without looking at Supervillain's face. "She wanted to bring over another big bad. We're supposed to be discreet. And we're already going now, so let's just...let's just be quick, ok?"

Villain's hand trembled slightly beneath Supervillain's fingers, and as they lined up with each other at the center of the dance floor, they struggled to find the right placement for the other. Something almost like fondness fluttered in Supervillain's chest.

"Ok."

Supervillain guided Villain's fingers up to their shoulder and very gently wrapped their arm around their waist. They would have clasped them a little closer like with previous partners, but Villain held their arms straight and rigid, creating an awkward gap between them. In fact, Supervillain quickly found that dancing with Villain was like pushing around a mannequin. All their muscles were pulled taught and every move Supervillain lead them through carried slight resistance. Maybe it would have been easier if Villain wasn't staring at the surrounding crowd like they were a pack of wolves.

"You can lean on me if you like," Supervillain said after a couple moments of silence.

"Why would I want to do that?"

"I don't know, so we can stop looking like a pair of middle schoolers at their first school dance?"

Villain bit their bottom lip hard and flicked their gaze over to the perimeter of the room again.

"It also might be easier to forget who's watching when you can't see them." They loosed Villain's waist and patted their chest. "Just stick your face right there."

Villain wavered back and forth, but eventually, they plopped their cheek against Supervillain's shirt. For all of 7 seconds.

"This is so stupid," they said, pulling away. "I-I think we've danced enough. Can we go back?"

A needling in Supervillain's neck made them glance back up toward the balcony. Parella slowly, slowly, edged toward the staircase, never once lifting the tight fix of his eyes from their direction.

"Not yet," Supervillain murmured, pulling them even closer than before to whisper in their ear. Though it hadn't been their intention, the momentum of the pull bent Villain's elbows and tossed them flush against Supervillain's chest. "Parella is coming down. Let's time this right."

Villain gathered themself stiffly but forced their head back against Supervillain's chest. "How long?"

"Just a couple more minutes, they're almost to the stairs. In the meantime, we can just talk nonsense. Anything that looks natural."

Villain gave a small hum of acknowledgment then said, "Is what Parella said true?"

"What?" Supervillain said.

"That you prefer people needy and clingy?"

Supervillain grinned. "Did that get to you?"

Villain's fists tightened. "Of course not! It just doesn't make sense. You're completely independent. And even if you think you're good at sweettalk, you don't seem like someone who puts a lot of effort into their relationships. So why would you want someone who needs that?"

"Maybe that's why it does make sense.” Supervillain shrugged. “I segregate myself from the world. The closest people to me are my employees and even then there's a line of professionalism that neither of us crosses. Even if I do it myself, I still get lonely. In the end, I'm not so independent. I'm just a messed-up person who likes to be needed. Who likes to be important to someone. Until real commitment raises its head, and I want to be alone again."

Villain paused a moment then raised their chin at them, eyes neither pitying nor accusing, only truthful. "You're a jerk."

"Supervillain laughed. "Just figuring that out, Sweetie?"

Before Villain could answer, Parella stepped off the last step. Supervillain twirled them under their arm and swished them away from the dance floor.

Villain clutched a little dizzily to their arm for the first few steps, but once they had their bearings, they brusquely broke away and dashed a little ahead of Supervillain to the refreshment table.

A hand clapped on Supervillain's shoulder mid-step.

"You came!" Parella beamed. He looked even gaudier up close.

Supervillain shrugged lightly out of his grip and forced an amiable smile.

"It would have been rude not to."

"And you brought that little darling you were dancing with," Parella continued as if Supervillain hadn't spoken. "I wasn't sure you would. You've always been sooo...possessive."

"Protective."

"Nooo..." Parella tilted his head to the side, eyes running pins and needles all up and down Supervillain's visage. "That's not it. It's not so much what happens to them as much as it is they remain yours. And you knew Revon might be here, and you know my interest. So. I'm surprised."

Parella was projecting. He was the one with the issues. The one who obsessed over any little thing that caught his eye. They couldn't let him unsettle them. Maybe he knew something was strange about their and Villain's relationship, but that didn't matter. They would just clench their fists and bite their tongue and soon this would all be over.

"Ah! Little darling!"

At Parella's exclamation, Supervillain suddenly recognized the familiar presence hovering at their elbow once again.

Villain bowed their head a little. "Mr. Parella."

"I was just telling your spiny lover how surprised I am that they brought you."

"Oh. I wanted to.” They dropped their eyes to the floor but then caught themself, tipping their chin high and forcing eye contact. “The last time I was here ended badly. I needed to change the memory if we're going to be friends."

"Aw, you want to be my friend?" Parella picked a piece of fuzz off the shoulder of Villain's suit before sliding his hand down to their elbow.

Villain barely contained their shudder. "You're friends with Supervillain, right?"

Parella's mouth spread like a python's, wide enough to swallow them both whole.

"Um, drink?" Villain held one of the flutes out to him. "To our truce?"

"Could I show you something?" Parella asked. He completely ignored the glass held out to him and instead fixed his dangerous eyes into Villain's sockets, holding their gaze captive and at knifepoint. "Alone?"

Supervillain stepped between them. "No."

"I'll be so careful with them," Parella promised, raising their right hand oathlike.

"I don't like it."

Villain brusquely stepped out from behind them, shoulders rolled back, expression flat. "You really are too jealous."

They said it so coldly that Supervillain actually got a shiver.

Parella extended their arm, and Villain, very slow and careful not to spill the drink in their left hand, looped their own arm around it.

No. This wasn't part of an act. Supervillain really didn't like this. They were supposed to do this in front of a crowd where Parella couldn't try anything. Going somewhere private was too dangerous.

"Villain."

They stepped after them but the smaller criminal didn't even glance back. Any louder protests would only make a scene, and then goodbye to their plan. No, Villain would just have to keep a good head and do this alone.

Supervillain just hoped they knew what they were doing.

***

"Maybe you want that drink now?" Villain said. Their heart hammered the wall of their chest to a point that was almost painful and even though they saw the hallway passing by, they barely felt their feet touching the floor.

"Hmmm, maybe later," Parella said. "We're almost there."

Curse this. Curse Supervillain. Curse the whole plan. Parella smelt like sweat and mini sausages, and the arm of his suit was moderately damp beneath their hand, and the longer they walked down this hall, the more Villain was convinced they had made a huge mistake.

All they wanted was to go back to Supervillain’s mega-mansion, take a soak in one of their fancy tubs with the fancy shampoo that cost more than Villain’s old weekly salary, and preferably not be peeled like a grape. Get rid of the Big Bads? Yeah, right. If Supervillain wasn’t actively setting them up then they were probably delusional. And now…and now Villain was alone with the person who tried to flay them a few weeks ago.

No, no. Stay calm. They had a plan. As soon as they paused and took those drinks, Parella was done for. They’d thought they could do this a few weeks ago before they knew what Parella could do. Now that they’d seen his powers firsthand, they should be even more confident. Supervillain was right. They were better. They were better. They were better.

Parella stopped in front of one of many identical oaken side doors. The hinges squealed as he hauled it open with one sweaty chicken arm, and his creepy Chuckie Cheese smile curved up to his ears. “After you.”

“Ok, but these drinks are starting to make my hands cold, so we really should–”

Parella placed their hand on the small of Villain’s back, and an electric current shot from the point of contact to the ends of Villain’s toes, causing them to leap forward into the room. They stumbled on the strange sloped floor, catching themself just before they could fall unceremoniously on their face and ruin everything. Catching their balance, they immediately whirled around so that their back faced the wall.

“Sorry,” they said forcing a lame laugh that sounded wholly too nervous to be real. “I just don’t…don’t like people touching…” Their surroundings finally began making an impression on them, and they twisted their head every which way in confusion. “Wh-what is this place?”

It was a diamond—no, they recounted the sides, a hexagon. Six walls making up a room a little bigger than a closet, and each one of them a mirror.

Villain raised one of the glasses at themself and the mirrors reflected it on for eternity from every angle.

"This is where I bring my most difficult problems,” Parella said, the door latching with a resounding thud.

Villain backed up a step and nearly stumbled again. The floor was even against the walls, but it sloped to create a sort of bowl in the center, distinguished by its square, rust-stained drain.

“You know, enemies, annoyances, friends who need a push in the right direction.” Parella took a step to make up for the one they’d lost. “To cut someone with my powers, I need to see them, and here, I see everything.”

Villain looked around wildly for another exit, and as they twisted and turned, each muscle and sinew, each jagged bone, each contour of their body stared right back.

“Besides," Parella continued, waving toward the drain, "this way I don't have to clean up the blood."

"Wait, wait, but we're at a truce, right?" Villain shoved the glass toward them. "To new friends. To-To putting everything in the past."

Parella considered the glass under half-lowered eyelids before knocking it out of their hand. Shards of glass sparkled in six different reflections and drugs and wine trickled in an unsettling red stream down the incline.

"Sorry, but I don't really feel like being friends just yet."

Villain threw up a shield just in time.

An invisible blow slashed hard against the cramped, glimmering bubble wrapped around them, and Villain felt very much like an insect being tapped at from inside a jar.

"You little brat!" Another slash. "Maybe you thought you were special, killing all those heroes, but you don't come after me and get away with it."

Villain ducked their head into their collarbone and gritted their teeth against the strain of keeping their shield stable against the growing rapid fire.

Crack.

Villain slowly raised their chin past their trembling arms to the small fissure snaking over their head.

"You think hiding behind Supervillain's skirts will save you? I'm going to take you apart! Piece by piece by piece, until those little powers of yours mean nothing! Until no one else even wants you!"

Think, think! What should they do? Supervillain wasn’t coming—getting involved would end with their execution—so Villain was on their own. They couldn’t attack without lifting the shield, but if even a portion was removed, Parella would zero in on it, and they’d be dead, and the shield only had a limited amount of time left so they needed to do something, and– Ugh! They were going to die! They couldn’t fight him before, they couldn’t fight him now he was just too…dangerous.

“What makes Parella so dangerous…” Villain murmured.

Poison won't do, Supervillain’s voice echoed in their ears, as soon as Parella feels the effects of something suspicious, he'll strike. You'll have to blind him first and then finish him off.

That was right. It was obvious, but for some reason remembering it helped them focus. Villain didn’t need to worry about Parella being stronger. They only needed to worry about his eyes.

New plan. The drug was gone. So how else could you blind someone? Well, if you didn’t have anything on you: by putting their eyes out. But, no. That meant dropping the shield and… Wait a moment. The first time Parella attacked them all those weeks ago, they were at a distance; there was no way to fight back. But their proximity now was an entirely different playing field. They were right there. And Villain had been stabbed in the back before. What was once more?

The bubble was completely spiderwebbed with cracks, and the edges trembled, but Villain allowed two more strikes. Two strikes which they carefully timed, measuring the half second pause that came between each one. Half a second until the third hit.

They dropped the barrier.

In an instant they materialized a new handheld shield in one hand a long javelin in the other.

A searing pain like no other flashed three times across Villain’s back, each cut deeper and lower than the next. In the same instant, Villain rammed their javelin directly into Parella’s right eye.

Parella shrieked, stumbling backward, hand grasping desperately at the nearly invisible pole. Villain leaped forward with a feral screech, slamming into the criminal’s chest. Parella’s ankle turned inward on the slope and they rolled together into the deep center of the room. Villain’s snatched out the javelin with a spray of blood and in less than a second it shrank down into a knife. They made quick work of Parella’s other eye, but for some reason even though they knew the threat was neutralized, they couldn’t stop stabbing. Their sleeve had fallen over their fists, and Parella had long gone still, but their arm just kept rising and falling until there wasn’t even a shred of the ex-Big Bad’s weapons left to do harm.

Vilain stared into those empty holes for several seconds, just breathing and breathing. When they finally dared look toward their six reflections, their white button-up was red with more than one person’s blood, and hot, angry tears streaked through a splattering of gore on their cheek. Their eye color stood out against the red, and their blind eye, with its split cornea, looked even more shattered than usual.

They flicked out their fingers wide. The knife dematerialized, and they collapsed backward onto the floor, not really caring about the blood, or that there was a body beside them, or that they were the reason it was there. They were just tired.

They weren’t sure how long they stayed that way, only that at some point one of Parella’s goons, probably one meant to deal with Villain’s clean-up, walked in and then immediately ran out, screaming and cursing and making a scene to the whole gala.

Just like that the guests were told to leave, and a couple hours later Villain was roughly bandaged and standing exhausted before the four most powerful people in the city. Supervillain met their eyes now and again, but, to their credit, their expression remained neutral.

The ballroom gave off a completely different aura now that it was just the five of them. Less like a fairytale and more like the beginning of a horror movie.

It was Grim who eventually stepped forward. His heavy army boots sent an eerie echo up toward the ceiling. Villain had never seen him in person before, but the skull shading tattooed over his face was a hundred times more intimidating than it was on tv.

"Villain, Herokiller," Grim said, their deep, hollow voice sending a shiver down Vilain’s spine. "Tonight, you killed a member of the Pentacle. As you are in a close relationship with another Pentacle member, you must stand trial before those who remain. Is there anything you have to say for yourself?”

Villain looked up innocently from under blood-clumped lashes, skin tightening across their eyebrow and left cheek where the gore had already dried.

"I was only returning the favor.”

Taglist: @epiclamer @appleejuice @livingforthewhump @sink-the-ship @coffeeinbookshops @blu-hohos

Sorry it took so long :)

…

Sorry it was so long 😅 Anyone who got this far deserves a trophy.

#villain x villain #hero x villain #writing snippet #villain #creative writing #heroes and villains #fiction #hero #heroes and villains community #supervillain x villain #supervillain #big bad #long post #ultra long post #fake dating #slow burn

142 notes · View notes

aeymii · 21 days

Text

Artblock begone!!<33

#I LOVED THEM SO MUCH IN UDG #AGHHHHH #sorry for not posting #it's been so long :((#but i finished goodbye despair as well #I HAVE SO MANY THOUGHTS ABOUT IT #i'll try to post more #<33 #tokomaru #toko fukawa #komaru naegi #ultra despair girls #udg #danganronpa ultra despair girls #danganronpa udg #danganronpa #wlw #art

304 notes · View notes

indigo-art · 1 year

Text

A continuation from this reblog chain. Welcome to the world's most helpful oil spill. Featuring @blackkatdraws @wilted-woods @silvermoon279-madam @minamariq @bullpup-blog and a very tiny @marsalta this is a collab post, @blackkatdraws is next and then @deviousnarrator

#god why did I go so hard on this #the stanley parable #tsp #tspud #tsp narrator #paraverse #narrator tsp #the stanley parable ultra deluxe #stanley parable #narrator sweep #narrator #tspud narrator #narraverse #long post #Gluetrapped

2K notes · View notes

knight-says-rollout · 10 months

Note

Would you mind telling us about more disabled Cybertronians?

Oh boy would I

For this list let’s focus on physical disabilities, both because they’re the most commonly dismissed by the fandom and bc if we try to cover everything we’d be here all day (that can be another list, maybe, if y’all want)

This isn’t going to be comprehensive bc I’m tired but!! I will aim for a broad variety of examples nonetheless

Bumblebee - You all know him, you all love him. He’s the most obvious and most well known example of a disabled Cybertronian character.

In many iterations he is mute

Not by choice but because he lacks a voice box. Bee physically isn’t capable of speech and depending on the version has different tools to work around that. Sometimes he uses his radio to repurpose song and radio dialogue into speech, in cyberverse he also makes use of the internet for clips. In the aligned continuity (tfp and connected media) he speaks in binary, a very simplified form of language using beeps and buzzes, but still lacks a real voice and can’t form words.

In IDW he has a cane

At one point in the comics Bumblebee was shot by a human protester and as a result used a cane for a good bit of time. I haven’t had the chance to read that far into IDW yet so I’m not sure how long he had the cane for but it was enough time that it’s a solidified part of the charcaters history. I’ve seen little models of the cane for sale, to be paired with bee figures.

TFP Ultra Magnus - everyone’s favorite awkward commander, despite his popularity he’s surprisingly overlooked when it comes to this discussion

An amputee, he lost his hand

During an energon raid with wheeljack, magnus’ hand was crushed. Ratchet couldn’t save it and had to amputate, replacing it with a hooked prosthetic. I call it a prosthetic rather than replacement part because despite him being able to move it, it’s not a hand. Not in the way he had previously, and he has to relearn how to use it at all.

I think that’s an important distinction to make when discussing disability and transformers. Some bots might have only ever had one hand, or no legs, or etc but that’s always been their level of ability and since they Are robotic. Yeah they might not have the same capabilities as another bot but that’s a hard metric to go by. Seekers can fly but a grounder isn’t disabled because they can’t fly too, it’s a different standard.

WFC Shamble - far lesser known than Magnus, and reasonably so, this background character is Also missing a limb

Amputee, leg edition

His prosthetic is a lot less fancy than magnus’s, it’s a simple peg leg. Put em together and you get a pirate. Not much to say about him since i don’t know how he lost the leg, just that he did.

Shadow Striker - Most awesome lady in cyberverse. Unlike the above two, she Was able to get actual replacement parts rather than prosthetics. Despite this, she is both shown throughout the show and implied to have

Impaired mobility

Chronic pain

She was able to get replacement parts yes but they were needed because she was blown up. The limbs she was given were kinda just what the others could Find and as such are mismatched and don’t fit her very well. Her motor skills took a blow especially when it comes to combat, something she used to excel in. Her new limbs are described as unstable and prone to malfunction. The loss of mobility and implied chronic pain that come along with her situation are rough, but she makes do.

SG Soundwave - my favorite little guy, he’s in a bit of a different situation than the previous.

Bad Joints ™

His body was entirely overhauled multiple times, successfully, but the latest frame change was done with conflicting metals. Earth and Cybertronian materials clash in his joints, making them prone to getting stopped up. The most affected hinge being the one on the door to his tape deck. It is so prone to getting stuck that his cassettes refuse to dock with him at risk of getting trapped. To work around this, Soundwave has the aid of a personalized case he carries around that they dock in instead.

IDW Sunstreaker - speaking of assistive devices, this guy was (for a time) a wheelchair user! Or,, hoverchair.

Temporary,,, paraplegic? Correct me if another term fits better

Taking this moment for an aside to say hey!! Lookit that, both canes and hoverchairs are things that canonically and casually exist on cybertron!! It’s not too wild to assume there are bots out there who use them long term!! Yes both characters on this list were repaired eventually but they’re also both very popular old characters from an action based franchise and hasbro doesn’t have the balls to make something like that permanent yet. We the fandom are not hasbro. We can do whatever we damn want with our OCs. It’s canon that ur little guy can use mobility aids.

Ok, PSA over, anyway yeah Sunny’s body was basically wrecked and alpha trion was able to repair all of him except his legs. This put him in a hoverchair for a good amount of time.

Finback - he’s a con, a pirate, who developed a “metal wasting disease”

He’s on permanent life support

The disease is going to kill him eventually, and it’s explicitly stated that he’s come to terms with the idea of his death. In the meantime he’s using pretender tech, kinda like fancy armor, to reinforce himself and boost his immune system

Perceptor - for a microscope, the fact he’s got vision issues in multiple continuities is kinda ironic

He’s fully blind in cyberverse

He lost an eye in IDW

Between the two we get to see both routes taken to work with this. Adaption and technological aid. In cyberverse he uses his scope to compensate for the loss of vision Toph-style. In IDW he built himself a monocle that basically replaces the pieces that are missing.

Now we get into the uniquely Cybertronian disabilities, one’s that don’t quite translate to human conditions

Transmutate - is a beloved bot from beast wars

They can’t transform, they don’t have an alt mode

I’m hazy on the details of their character but afaik they came from a damaged stasis pod. Described as deformed and handicapped for their both their lack of an alt mode and general appearance, they are probably the oldest explicitly disabled Cybertronian character

Xaaron - from G1 is in a similar situation

He can’t transform, it would kill him

Unlike transmutate he does have an alt mode, a tank, but after thousands of years without transforming he is no longer able to. The new stress it would cause on his body would kill him.

Broadside - continuing with the subject of alt modes, this clumsy boy is a boat! That’s not a good thing.

He’s very prone to motion sickness

As you can imagine, chronic sea sickness isn’t the most helpful thing when you are the boat. This brings in the entirely new element of mobility issues that are inherent to alt modes. A bot that functions fine in root form might not in alt mode and vice versa.

Trailbreaker - is another instance of this. He’s not a fast car by any means but that doesn’t stop the fact

His frame has a very high energon cost

Possibly the least fuel efficient autobot, he’s got an outlier ability on top of it all that only further increases his required energon intake. He needs to pay more attention to his energon levels and refuel more often overall.

G1 Knockout - yes that’s right the shiny medic himself is on this list, though not for the same reason as his tfp version, g1 knockout still lives up to his name

He’s prone to fainting

A knockout in the more literal sense, he faints when he gets too excited. Fully collapses and everything. Since he’s a fall risk, his teammates take care to keep an eye on him.

Annnnd Yknow he probably should’ve been earlier in the list along with the “human-ish” issues but I’m tired, it’s late, and I’m bringing this list to a close

Im sure there are more characters that I didn’t mention but I hope this helped! Thank you for the ask

946 notes · View notes

jennicatzies · 5 months

Text

The story needs it

#jennicatzies art-chive #the stanley parable #stanley parable #tsp #tspud #the stanley parable ultra deluxe #tsp narrator #the narrator #tsp stanley #HEY GUYS LONG TIME NO PARABLE POST #rotating them in my head like food being heated in a microwave #mmmmmmmmm

398 notes · View notes

galoogamelady · 1 year

Text

Buttons meeting Kikkini's massive ranger, Henrick

#they were practicing knife tricks on the first one #this is why Buttons doesn't go to NV #Fallout New Vegas #Henrick #Buttons #OC #galoodle #Kikkini #long post #the joke is that Henrick is wide AF and Buttons is the opposite #like that owl that can make itself ultra wide and spaghetti thin

1K notes · View notes

westwing19 · 5 months

Note

In the light novels, the Meta-Knights almost always have tea. Do you think Kirby also likes tea ?

Yeah, I think Kirby enjoys just about anything! If we're talking Meta-Knights-adopted-Kirby, he'd absolutely be in on all the tea. Between serious tea drinkers MK and Vul, he'd get indoctrinated pretty quickly ^^

He'd have his own personal tableware and everything ✨

#ask #kirby #meta knight #captain vul #drinks and snacks with the fam what's not to love?#after staring blankly at the asks in my inbox for however long they've been in there I am finally getting around to them👍#I need a tag for this mini AU but I have no idea what #meart #adopted au #(going back and adding this ultra generic au name to the relevant posts!)

282 notes · View notes

h1tmanmode · 2 years

Text

ok guys this is gonna be a long one but sit through this with me

i saw a post about stanley wearing a tuxedo tshirt to his wedding and something possessed me to draw this

uhhh southampton stanley. im right

#if you dont get the joke look up connecticut clark #long post #stanarrator #stanley #stanley tsp #narrator #the narrator #tsp #tspud #bucket tsp #my art #this took way longer than id like to admit #the stanley parable #the stanley parable ultra deluxe

2K notes · View notes

gothic-mothic · 8 months

Note

Psst hey Stanley... I think the narrator is fond of you...

“Fond”

Narrator just grabs onto Stanley sometimes, always has, so why does this one feel… different?

Full page under cut

189 notes · View notes

sumechiayuu · 9 months

Text

Komaru Naegi has to be the best protagonist in the whole series, with Hajime coming to a close second. I love her progression from a terrified girl who doesn’t want to fight, to a girl who can finally fight for herself and learns to be content with the fact that she won’t ever be normal again. I love it when she gets to be dumb and naïve in a charming way due to her locked-up life, and I enjoy her developing friendship with Toko. I would go on about how her character gets undeserved hate for…being a realistic teenage girl, but I want to be positive when I copy and paste my ramble instead. I think the funniest thing about Komaru is how she just casually looks over the fact that her friend kills people. Jack could be talking about ripping through a man’s intestines with her teeth or something and Komaru will go “Oh the only things I've ripped with my teeth are kangaroo meat sandwiches!” She has just as much of a lack of social awareness as Toko does and I love it.

I think another thing I like is that though she is a scared girl, she has slightly more backbone than her big bro when it comes to her interactions with Toko. When I first saw a playthrough of this game, I was really worried that they’d make her an exact replica of Makoto and not her own person, but I was pleasantly surprised that I was wrong. While both are more emotionally driven and have weird taste in food, Makoto is someone who’s comfortable with being a regular guy, usually just takes crap from people like Byakuya and Toko, and though he’s scared in the killing game he doesn’t outright show it the way his sister does. Komaru is way more willing to tell off Toko when she’s being a jerk, doesn’t hide her emotions of fear and worry, has complicated feelings about her ascribed status as a normal girl, and the game itself even makes a consistent point that she won’t ever be like her brother, and that’s fine. She’s just Komaru Naegi, a loveable girl who blossoms into a strong woman who comes into her own. Her gradual development can also be viewed as an allegory for the concept of growing up, with this even being shown in the way her voice dramatically changes throughout the game as she learns to embrace the fact that she won't ever be a normal girl again, and that’s okay. I genuinely enjoy Komaru so much and I feel like she’s underrated due to the lack of discussion I see surrounding her character that doesn’t just trace back to “oh she’s just Toko’s best friend”.

#sumechiaspeaks #long post #danganronpa #Komaru naegi #ultra despair girls #UDG #Can you tell I really really like Komaru #this is from my video script lalz

242 notes · View notes

archie-sunshine · 4 months

Note

I think i might’ve already asked about this somewhere here (bad memory lmao) but,

I often think about Minimus Ambus, and although i headcannon him as being not too fond of sex/interfacing, i do also think it's fun to portray the lil' dude as someone who just doesn't have the time to please himself, or maybe he feels that as a role model, the ultimate hero, the immortal lawman, he isn't meant to be 'impure' (guilt ooooh, similar to how you seem to characterise Drift). But i digress.

What if the Magnus armour had a spike n' valve? (it was cast in the original Magnus's image so i don't see why not). Imagine Minimus finally being freed from Tyrest's expectations and getting a moment of peace after a long day of chaos on the ship. He's feelin' a lil' warm n' tingly, but he's too embarrassed to go to anyone for company, so he decides to pop the panels off the armour and go ham. (i think i just have a thing for distension, i'm sorry). The valve is probably a lil' tight because it's not been used but Primus dammit would it feel good!

I think he'd still feel guilty afterwards and end up telling Ratchet or Rang (Rong? Ring?? Rung!!), who would then tell him that he's perfectly fine and normal for being a lil' horny sometimes.

(Also also, what if he, hesitantly, tells the science bots (I have mainly Brainstorm in mind) who then helps modify the armour with different mods n' extras) Just some stinky thoughts that keep me up at night.

Anyways, sorry for making this so long!

OKAY SO WE FUNDAMENTALLY DISAGREE ON MINS SEX DRIVE BUT I DO LOVE THIS TAKE.

Personally, I have my own set of thoughts and beliefs about minimus, namely that I think he's a kink freak by way of loving rules and not by way of actual sexual perversion. I will explain this later, for now, i will focus on your take.

SO... this is hot. I do think he would feel an extreme amount of shame for self pleasuring with the armour, I do think he would do it in an act of desperation after the galaxy's longest dry spell.

Artists interpretation:

and also bc im a freak i reversed the positions as well

I feel like he had to talk himself into it to, like 'poor sexual self care will lead to iritability which is bad for morale, I guess... it wouldnt hurt to do it, for the crew of course'

He feels weird about it after but then. Feels even weirder during the next shift when- when he- when uh-

is this gross? i dont care im getting freakay.

Sorry this is turning into a long post, I'll put my thoughts on minimus's sex life in another post if someone sends me an ask about that.

lets all keep praying i don't get penis blasted by tumblr again for posting minimussy

[Send me headcanons in my inbox!! i might draw them! :D]

#transformers #my art #archie answers #my requests #mtmte #minimus #minimus ambus #ultra magnus #/nsfw #/nsft #valveplug #tf headcanons #long post

90 notes · View notes

thequantumranger · 10 months

Text

Woe, Krauser pic spam be upon ye! I needed references to modify a head for a 1/6 Krauser I'm putting together. Sharing these for anyone else who may need references of his face, or just wants to stare at Jacky Boy, or whatever 🤨.

#resident evil #jack krauser #long post #also note these were taken from video footage I recorded so they're HD but not ultra HD but whateva

237 notes · View notes

the-derpy-duck · 5 months

Text

The TFA universe is a fucking nightmare and I wish people would actually talk about it. Long rant incoming.

Don’t expect good spelling or grammar I’m sorry

Like the show didn’t even care enough to address how fucked everything was. Like all the little baby robots just don’t have names until they go through the military/boot camp, which doesn’t make a lot of sense as the whole point of basic training/boot camp is taking away one’s identity and individualization aka what a lot of cults and extremist groups will do to get people to go along with whatever they want them to, as it’s a lot easier for group think to occur when there is a group. The whole “small cog in a bigger machine” bullshit speech is literally just that but dressed up to look and sound pretty (propaganda). But half of the names given at the boot camp are insults and that’s really fucked up. And it’s almost implied that the other transformers recognize Bulkhead and Bumblebee’s names as being insulting in nature because when Sari introduces herself to Bumblebee it sort of goes like this:

“My name is Bumblebee” “I’m Sari” “Oh don’t be, I like my name.”

But that would also imply that the show was thinking about acknowledging how messed up its own world is and I don’t really think it is. I think that’s a joke, was meant to be taken as a joke, but could be read into as world building or something.

It’s been a hot second sense I’ve rewatched season three of tfa but from what I remember, Ultra Magnus was sort of a dictator? Like I know that there is some form of election, but the main way anything gets done is through the council of primes and in TFA it is established that “prime” is a military rank, and those who advanced to “prime” have to be approved by the council, which Ultra Magnus is the head of. He doesn’t have full dictation over it (he wanted OP to not be horribly punished) but he does have a sizable amount of control (op was still given a job and got to keep his rank). The election cycles are nonexistent as the only time anyone thinks of trying to replace Ultra Magnus is when he is on his death bed. So is it like the Supreme Court? The people technically elect a leader but the council that would decide on important laws and if they are constitutional is chosen by the leader, not the people, can serve until they die, and can do fuck all and no one will challenge them because they have the final say on the law? For a thing like economics or the Supreme Court it would make sense to have these be not elected officials for the sole purpose of “they wouldn’t be pressured by potentially not being re-elected and so they would be able to do their jobs without worrying if it would please the people.” A lot of things done to fix and adjust the economy will look really bad at first but it ultimately serves to balance everything. But the people in charge of the FED and other economic shit also don’t serve until they die. Long tangent to say, not a lot of democracy in this word.

The only way to gain power in cybertron seems to be to either join the military or do a hyper specific job. Also how long has ultra Magnus been the leader? Was no one ever unhappy with how he lead? Sentinel Prime was but that was seen as a bit of a taboo. Also Sentinel’s Cybertron immediately turning into an Orwellian styled red scare nightmare was a choice. Establishing curfews during a time of potential war where the planet/country/city could easily be targeted for an attack isn’t in itself unreasonable. It’s immediately taken to 11 but the general idea of curfews makes sense. As well as reporting potential spys for the main reason that spy’s had been proven to have infiltrated the prime counsel thing. It goes to fear mongering almost instantly but the general idea isn’t bad.

Im interested to know how Ultra Magnus would have handled the situation because the show just sort of is neutral about him. He’s just there most of the time and tells OP not to try and be a hero. I want to know if he would have done something similar to Sentinel and I want to know if the show would address it. Because the general difference between UM and SP is that UM is better at hiding how much he manipulates power. He’s still a dictator even if he isn’t an antagonist force. He’s not a benevolent dictator because dictators, by definition, cannot be benevolent. If they were truly benevolent then the people would get a choice in the world that they live in.

All this to say, “dictator bad”

ALSO is there no trial system? Wasp just was sent to prison and they didn’t think to look into any of the evidence? Did no one think to maybe investigate the people who would have had the codes or spare keys for the locker things? Do they just send people into solitary confinement without any sort of hearing or evidence or was Wasp just waiting for his court date? Why does Optimus want Bumblebee to apologize to the guy who clearly doesn’t want to speak to him? He literally watched Bumblebee give an apology and a reasonable explanation for his actions. He wasn’t making excuses he was manipulated by a person who he thought was his friend and the main reason why he was able to be so easily manipulated was because the person in power was actively antagonist towards him. He did the right thing. He asked a person, who would have known how to make a report, how to make a report. If shockwave wasn’t the person who was in that roll then Wasp probably wouldn’t have been framed. And even if Bumblebees wasn’t the one who found the things in his locker, Sentinel still would have found them because Shockwave planted them. I’m sorry but asking a person how to make a report so you can go around the person who is acting aggressive towards you and holds a significant position of power over you isn’t the same as purposefully ruining someone’s life. Bumblebee was going off of evidence that was 100% circumstantial, biased, and highly questionable, that doesn’t automatically mean that he was trying to frame Wasp. If he had reported that he overheard a spy communicating with the decepticons and had reasons to believe that it might be Wasp, then I would assume that whoever the fuck would do an investigation and either clear Wasp or just arrest him because due process and fair trials is for babies. In which case, it still wouldn’t be the fault of a person who isn’t in control of anything. Blaming Bumblebee for what happened to Wasp is like blaming doctors for how expensive medical treatment is. He trusted the wrong person and that person used his trust against him. The people in power did not think to do an investigation into any of this. And even if the whole Wasp thing was open and shut why wouldn’t they look further into this? Maybe there was other spy’s? Did anyone think about that? No? It also isn’t Bumblebee’s fault that Shockwave got to the position of Prime. The security system and the people in charge of screenings didn’t pick up on the fact that there was a spy. That is not the fault of a random cadet who trusted someone. Shockwave’s actions and the people who died because of them are the fault of Shockwave. Bumblebee’s fuck up did help him not get caught, but it was also the closet we see to him being caught before he becomes a prime. If the people in the TFA world weren’t so fucking stupid then this wouldn’t of happened because maybe this hyper advanced world would have fucking security cameras. If they can figure out how to bend time and space then I think they can figure out how to install things that would record a conversation.

WAIT- doesn’t Bumblebee use something similar to that to figure out the decepticons plans and relay it back to earth? And they have computers that have screens so why don’t they have cameras installed?

Anyway, Wasp blaming Bumblebee makes sense. It makes sense that he is angry at him and it makes sense that he wouldn’t forgive him. That’s not the issue I have with this the issue is that OP also blames Bumblebee. Which I guess would also make sense as animated Optimus seems to be deeply rooted in the military and is a string supported of Ultra Magnus. It is stated in the first episode that he watches propaganda and repeats the military speech about being one big machine. He lies to save his friend and he sucks for that because his friend abuses his power whenever he gets the chance to and he knows this. Optimus lying for Sentinel is much more egregious to me than what Bumblebee does because Bumblebee didn’t know that Longarm was a spy. I understand why Optimus would lie for Sentinel, he is a loyal friend and he definitely did blame himself for what happened. That doesn’t change the fact that he KNOWINGLY let a person who he knew to be irresponsible and who got others into dangerous situations into a position of power. I think Ultra Magnus knew that Optimus was lying and like- why are you people like this?

Bumblebee could have been called out for so many different things that he actually did. Like is he a bad friend? Yes. He treats Bulkhead badly, most of there interactions are just him insulting Bulkhead and Bulkhead never insults him back. If they both were insulting each other then I wouldn’t really have an issue but most of the time they are seen together it’s just Bumblebee being an asshole. He’s willing to abandon his team and objective to chase down Blurr, he doesn’t listen when people tell him not to do something and it often leads to problems. There are reasonable things to call Bumblebee out on but the Wasp thing doesn’t make sense. If Optimus wanted to address Bumblebee never taking responsibility for his own actions, then why not do that when a consequence is the result of Bumblebee’s actions in a meaningful way. What the hell was he supposed to do? He didn’t know how to make a report so he asked. This is one of the only times that Bumblebee stops to think and consider his options, he could have immediately began spying on Wasp and the other cadets but he didn’t. He wanted to pass it off to the right people who would be able to handle it.

Animated OP frustrates me because I come so close to liking him and then he does something that personally annoys the hell out of me. I get why he would lie for his friend who was manipulative and generally awful towards him but its still just like— you have seen the consequences of his actions. This is no longer just hurting you or him, it has maybe killed a person and he has not changed. Optimus thinks he can change but he has an obligation to not let him hurt anymore people and he just needs to tell the truth. It’s really hard to leave friends behind, I know that. Even when they hurt you and actively make your life worse it is still extremely difficult to let that relationship go. I appreciate how Optimus has issues in that regard. But it’s gotten to a point where Sentinel’s poor judgment and refusal to listen to others puts himself and others in danger. Optimus gave him the opportunity to continue to cause harm to others, and he really wants to sit here and say that Bumblebee was making excuses when he just wasn’t? And he never and would never be called out on this.

One last thing, Ultra Magnus and the rest of the high command clearly don’t give a shit about the cybertronians who were fighting (they were so willing to just kill Arcee for the activation code) in the war and also don’t ever try to investigate any issue further. Potential spy? Eh sure throw him into solitary confinement. One of our top cadets went missing and might have died but no body has been recovered? Well fuck, gotta just say she died and not look into it to make sure there wasn’t any malpractice.

So in conclusion:

The name thing both doesn’t make sense and makes too much sense

Ultra Magnus is kind of a dictator kind of not a dictator

Optimus prime spew’s military bullshit and propaganda and no one cares

Wasp is a dick, didn’t deserve what happened to him

Bumblebee is an asshole, he still didn’t try to ruin a persons life.

No one cares about investigating serious crimes and accusations

107 notes · View notes