#we are very intelligent with warrior names everyone

[lifeserieswarriors]

redmumble / mumbojumbo

#mumbojumbo #mumbo #warrior cats #oh woah its the mumble #his prefix is red becaus.e.... he is red... and redstone #not that much there really #and mumble because it sounds like mumbo #we are very intelligent with warrior names everyone #AND hes got a little holly necktie #he got stuck in a bush then kept it #2023

[faelapis]

alright! we got one whole person interested, so here's my hot take:

the first "how to train your dragon" movie is WAY better than httyd 2.

i know everyone loves like, the cool warrior mom design, the romance and the "epic animation moments" in 2... but can we for a moment be honest and say the whole "hiccup becoming a leader / which dragon is the Good Alpha" plot was dumb as hell? also, the villain sucked?

the original httyd is pretty good about keeping the structural problem grounded in real societal fears. namely, fear of the unknown and of beasts. it makes sense for any ol' village dealing with such a problem. it was intelligently designed around a solid premise.

httyd 2 is like. actually, dragon taming is a big thing, even outside berk. and theres a Scary Foreign Man dragon tamer who is bad and just wants power. it's okay to other him. being a good guy is about being a protector instead of an evil, power-hungry guy... which hiccup never was anyway... so no real growth there. just be good instead of bad. wow. what a theme. very thought-provoking.

people act like httyd 3 being bad came out of nowhere, but httyd 2 was the original sin to me. it totally dropped the societal themes in favor of generic good vs evil fights and "worldbuilding" - despite having no more interesting stories to tell.

it also kind of ruined hiccup for the sake of developing him. like. his whole thing is that he can't fight, so he has to find other ways to contribute to society. he's the anti-macho hero. which ends up being important in convincing the village that dragons can be peaceful. he's empathetic to the other, because he's been othered.

meanwhile in httyd 2, hiccup's like. Cool Warrior Man, who needs to step up and be the hero king when his dad dies. he can fight just fine, because he has a cool dragon to fight with. so he's just like any warrior, but one who fights with weapons instead of brute strength. aka most fictional warriors who arent just "the heavy."

the first movie isn't beyond criticism, obviously. the animation was a little meh compared to httyd 2 - i get why visually its seen as an upgrade. plus, httyd 1 also did the thing of having like a last minute evil dragon to defeat... but that wasn't the point. the POINT was the village and its fears. the POINT was overcoming that.

whenever people list why they love httyd 2 and consider it superior, its like... lists of details. like, look at the upgraded character designs, the cool flying scenes, the affection between hiccup and astrid, or the clever way hiccup's prosthetic leg is designed.

but these are film *details*, not fundamentals.

if you told me the sequel to httyd was going to have a much more generic story, ignore the themes of the original and makes its deliberately lanky and weak protagonist into Handsome Hero Warrior Boy, i'd be like. that sounds kinda bad. but the Animation Details (tm) i guessssss

i know hiccup is still "himself" in 2 to some extent, btw. he's an inventor, he's intelligent, and he initially tries to talk to the villain. but none of that ends up mattering. its arguably looked down on by the movie, which really, really wants him to step up to be the warrior king like his dad. aka a generic Hero Strongman.

i'm not totally against evolving the themes of a work to fit new conflicts, btw. sequels should generally be different from the first movie. that's fine. that's expected.

but while the new conflict in httyd 2 IS born out of the results of the previous movie, that evolution feels very literal, not thematic.

namely, the evolution is "more people have dragons now." it builds the conflict from there. its based on worldbuilding, not on theme.

i don't think a very interesting evolution.

it kinda went from, in httyd 1: "the theme is fear of the unknown. how prejudice/ignorance manifests, educating oneself through compassion, the dangers of worshipping violent masculinity, and the importance of questioning what you're taught by society."

to, in httyd 2: "the theme is dragons. who has them? what they want with them? how can the Good Guy humans protect dragons from the Bad Guys? also, being a Good Leader means being a strong Hero Man who protects his friends," without asking any deeper questions related to the themes of the first movie.

and i'm like. guys. guys.

the theme shouldn't just be "dragons."

the theme of the first movie was NOT just "dragons." the first movie could've been about people being afraid of unicorns. or large birds. or unusually intelligent bears. it was not just about literal dragons, it was about societal fears and trying to overcome our base gut instincts.

i think this is what really plagues httyd 3: it builds on the themes of the second movie, not the first.

httyd 3 asks further questions that only really revolve around the literal relationship between humans and dragons. it does not understand any broader themes of what that relationship represents.

it clearly thinks its very intelligent for asking "what do the dragons themselves want?", but that question is not respected enough to be explored in any thematically coherent way.

the only real weight its given is the argument that there will always be "bad humans" out there, and so, dragons are safer in the wild. which sure is... an argument. but its a very "othering the problem" kind of argument.

it acts like its caring about the agency of dragons, but its not really. dragons were not actually portrayed as "oppressed" in berk society after the first movie, nor lacking agency. they were only at risk of "bad individuals", to which that solution is stupid. the racialized bad guy in httyd 2 didn't steal all his dragons from berk. he caught and subjugated them, mostly from the wild.

all while looking like... this, by the way. i feel like we don't talk about that enough. all the good guys are white nordics, while the only man of color is scary, domineering and cruel. in a series of movies that was once about having empathy for the other.

MAYBE if berk had been really oppressive towards dragons in httyd 2, we could've had a theme. maybe if they treated them like a dangerous commodity that must be tightly controlled despite their nominal acceptance and inclusion, we could've had a thematically tight 3-movie arc about like fear and oppression or whatever.

but that would require, yknow... making the movies be about broad societal problems, instead of just evil individuals. and only the first movie cares about making any real societal critique.

also, the solution in httyd 3 would've still sucked. these movies, in terms of writing, really decrease in maturity from 1, down to 2, to the plummeting depths of 3.

there is no relationship of oppression that is solved by completely segregating society and going our separate ways (httyd 3). just like there is no oppression that is solved just by defeating bad individuals (httyd 2). we have to learn to coexist as equals, to educate ourselves and be compassionate to the other. even if we're afraid.

that's the dream only the first movie kept in its heart.

#httyd #how to train your dragon #httyd 2 #httyd 3 #how to train your dragon 2 #how to train your dragon 3 #long post / #media analysis #media criticism #writing #ask to tag / #racism /

[joys-of-everyday]

SJ and the Pitfalls of Toxic Masculinity

Liking women wasn’t shameful in the least, but treating a woman as your savior, shrinking into her embrace in search of self-confidence—Shen Qingqiu needed no one to tell him how incredibly shameful that was. So he would rather die than tell anyone, particularly not Yue Qingyuan.

- Yue Qingyuan and Shen Qingqiu Extra

Hot take: og!SQQ had toxic ideas about masculinity, and it ruined him.

SVSSS is all about the ✨Toxic Masculinity✨ but this seems to be more associated with SY than SJ??? So yeah, lets talk about SJ (my poor meow meow).

There’s actually some subtlety here, because talking about SJ and masculinity naturally involves an interplay between historical and modern views on masculinity in China, which is something that has developed over time and has influences from other cultures (e.g. the west and our views on masculinity). (Interesting thing if you haven't already come across it) I am… not qualified to read the subtleties here.

To note, SJ is coded as masculine… sort of. He’s the head of the scholarly peak, a master of the Four Arts, which is one facet of ideal masculinity in traditional Chinese values. (Fluttering a fan around was very gentleman-like. Although also, expressing your emotions through poetry and copious amounts of tears was very masculine back in the day. 'Traditional masculinity' has and always will be an elusive ideal.) But I get the feeling nowadays ‘scholarly’ has more feminine connotations than ‘martial’, albeit a slightly weaker one than in the west. Also, on the topic of toxic masculinity, certain groups of people Who Shall Not Be Named would like you to believe that Real Chinese Men are stoic warriors and ‘gayness is a western thing’ (my rage is unreal but we will not talk about that).

Anyway, broad strokes, broad strokes.

Arrogance and Insecurity

A big part of toxic masculinity is a need for social recognition, to be the ‘alpha male’ (not an ABO pun and on a side note I literally cannot take anyone talking about alpha males seriously now, for many reasons, but this is the funniest).

SJ is obsessed with his cultivation, but more pertinently, he is obsessed with his reputation. He demonstrates this in a few ways. Firstly, he works his ass off, which is not bad in itself, but he does this to the extent it is detrimental to his health (that grindset lol). Secondly, he projects a certain image with his actions and mannerisms: reading in order to seem intelligent, looking down at people to seem superior etc. Thirdly, he responds to any perceived slights of his ability with violence. (Fighting with LQG is an example, but also drawing a sword on SQH when he pointed out that he was reading an upside-down book.)

Now interestingly, the unanimous vibe that Cang Qiong seem to get from SQQ is that he is ‘arrogant’. When in truth, all of this is compensating for his insecurity.

Shen Qingqiu was overly suspicious, always feeling as if everyone was talking behind his back about how he was still incapable of forming a core, didn’t accept his position, wanted to sabotage him in secret, and so on and so forth.

- Yue Qingyuan and Shen Qingqiu Extra

Sadly, SJ is justified in being afraid of other people’s opinion. His comfort and security rely entirely on his status, which in turn rely on other people’s opinion of his competence. Of course he wants to get to the top – he’s been under other people’s power before, and suffered terribly as a result. Why should he not desperately defend what he has worked so hard for? Yet ultimately it works against him, because when he’s in serious trouble, he hasn’t been able to build the human connections he needs to get help.

The problem is with the system. The idea that having strength allows you to do whatever you want hurts not only the people regarded as inferior, but also creates a collective sense of anxiety for those who find themselves ‘at the top’. Anyone can be kicked down and treated like scum. Everyone is afraid.

Dominance and Bullying

The phrase ‘toxic masculinity is fragile’ quite often, but to elaborate, these kinds of rigid ideas of masculinity are by nature constantly under threat. Because any crack in the perfect shell is regarded as failure, it requires constant, aggressive maintenance, which takes the form of bullying the weak in order to elevate oneself.

SJ’s treatment of LBH is complicated, but here I want to draw attention to a different character – Ming Fan.

SQQ (SY) would have you know that MF is not a bad kid, other than the fact he’s a huge bully to LBH. And in part that comes from jealousy of NYY’s crush on him, but what allows it to happen is the way SJ runs the peak. It's interesting to note that so much of SJ's bullying of LBH happens through MF, whether it be giving him the faulty cultivation manual, giving him chores or physically assaulting him. In doing this, SJ creates a system that firmly establishes himself at the top, likely in order to give himself some semblance of security.

But ironically, this is the very system that SJ has suffered under his entire life, recreated to it's extreme on the peak that he controls. When he was completely under the power of others (QJL, LBH) he suffered. When other people were under his power, he inflicted suffering. He encouraged other people to do the same. Again, the whole thing is a scam! He is putting all of his energy into things that aren't helping him, things that ultimately bring him down.

Real Men Don’t Cry – the Dangers of Emotional Repression

SJ has many, very justifiable reasons in life to be upset and angry. The things he went through are both terrible and extremely unfair. Being angry at everything is not a healthy outlet for these feelings, but he hasn’t exactly been taught an alternative either. On the streets, tears would have gotten him absolutely nothing. Anger at least gave him energy to fight back.

And this destroys him. He is angry at the fact he had no one in his life who loved him, his talents were wasted because of QJL/WYZ, nobody takes his abilities seriously… and with no healthy way of expressing this, he goes onto bully LBH. LBH then returns to destroy him, literally. More subtly, he is unable to express his fear and anxiety in healthy ways, so acts standoff-ish and aggressive to his those around him. As his relationship with them deteriorates, his fear and anxiety increases. Feedback loops.

SJ puts on a mask of anger and stoicism to the point that everyone around him (including himself) is convinced that he is unrepentant and evil. Suppresses and suppresses until it breaks him, until he has nothing – not his comfort, nor status, nor the one that he truly cared for:

He had single-handedly facilitated Luo Binghe’s today, and now who had single-handedly created this outcome for him? Yue Qingyuan was never supposed to have an end like this. In order to come to a decades-late appointment, to fulfill a completely useless promise. A broken sword and a dead man. It shouldn’t be like this.

A Note on Ambivalent Sexism

It’s funny because I think there’s a fandom vibe that SJ was the secret feminist of SVSSS. Don’t get me wrong, I love this in fanfics. Badass feminist SJ all the way. But my honest opinion is that I don’t think that was the case.

More explicitly, I don’t think SJ took women seriously. NYY, for example. Certainly, SJ valued NYY. But the expression of this care involved doting on her, hiding his treatment of LBH from her, and not particularly pushing her to grow. And PIDW!NYY wasn’t implied to be the most mature of the lot. Okay, while we don’t know a lot about PIDW!NYY (narrator unreliable), it’s probably safe to say some distance from SJ helped her a lot.

Another point – the Qiu massacre. SJ killed the men, but not the women. And while this says more about his distaste for men, it also indicates (possibly - I will float this idea but I won't die on this hill) that he straight up doesn’t see any woman as an enemy, or capable of being a threat. Which is possibly a natural conclusion he’s drawn from his experiences (QHT was not very perceptive, or very threatening) but also inaccurate as a worldview.

And his attitude towards the women he sees as saviours? Has the same vibe as ‘it’s so embarrassing to be protected by a girl’.

Okay, so being doted on and not being killed are positives compared to being abused or murdered, but this kind of attitude is the opposite side of the same coin to ‘women are incompetent and inferior’. And when it comes to raising kids, not allowing them to grow can be extremely harmful as well. See e.g. Ambivalent sexism.

Although I do want to mention that I do not think SJ was like… actively misogynistic. I think he genuinely liked women more than men. The point is you can be sexist without realising it.

Conclusions

To conclude, SJ had ideas of success and self-worth associated with toxic masculinity which were instrumental in his downfall.

Masculinity doesn’t have to be toxic. While the Cang Qiong family aren’t exactly the healthiest bunch, YQY’s calm and patient leadership, LQG’s steadfast loyalty, LBH’s ability to cry like a maiden and still be the strongest… these are all traditionally masculine traits that can be very positive. These are also people who can have feminine traits and explore their gender identity without being prissy or weak.

It's the great tragedy of SJ that he had many positive characteristics. He was talented, intelligent, articulate, perceptive, loyal, and caring… under the right circumstances, he could have grown into a great person.

And maybe he still had that chance, right until the end.

#svsss #shen jiu #original shen qingqiu #svsss meta #having said i would disappear i have things to dislodge from my drafts

[britcision]

Alright I think I’ve seen a couple smaller versions of this in bits and pieces so if you have them please share, but I figured that as someone familiar with neither show initially I’m in a good position to do a DPxDC onboarding post!

Since neither source material is particularly helpful in understanding the madness we have created, here is what I consider important to know for each (please add in with anything I miss!)

Danny Phantom (DP)

Main Characters

Danny Fenton - is a Phantom. Died as a teenager by accidentally activating his parents’ portal to the Ghost Zone/Infinite Realms but was also revived, becoming a half ghost half human (halfa)

Is the only superhero in Amity Park, fighting ghosts and sometimes ghost hunters to keep humans safe from ghosts and ghosts safe from humans

Has beaten the Ghost King in single combat, and is therefore sometimes considered to be the new Ghost King

Jazz (Jasmine) Fenton - Danny’s older sister, basically his parent, very into psychology and very against the influence their actual parents have had on Danny due to their obsession with ghosts

May/may not know about Phantom, usually considered the Mom Friend of Team Phantom whether she knows or not

Jack Fenton - Danny’s dad, 6’9 koolaid man, loves ham and fudge and breaking through walls instead of the door beside him. A very bad shot but extremely enthusiastic in that 90s dad cartoon way

Prone to believe absolutely anybody but Danny is a ghost, especially when Danny does ghost things in proximity

Extremely intent on the destruction of all ghosts, convinced they do not have actual feelings and should be destroyed pre Phantom reveal. Afterwards, can be either accepting or homicidal towards Danny

Maddie Fenton - Danny’s mom, ridiculous kung fu warrior and engineer, madly in love with Jack and they are sickeningly cute all times except Christmas

Sometimes notices they have kids that need caring for, sometimes curbs Jack’s wilder impulses, she’s the brains of the team

Same ghost views as Jack, but she’s more perceptive and intelligent, which can be used for good or evil

Tucker Foley - Danny’s best friend, likes meat and technology and arguing with Sam

A Black young man with a signature red beret and PDA in the OG show, usually acknowledged to be on par with the bats’ technical skills as he’s an incredible hacker

Danny’s Guy In The Chair, but he will get out of his chair and throw down as needed

Sam Manson - Danny’s Obligatory 90s Cartoon Love Interest, goth and ultra-recyclo-vegetarian child of millionaires who will not be stopped in her crusade for justice

She’s the one who dared Danny to go into the portal that killed him, the guilt she carries for this varies

She is in combat as much as her humanity allows, but also in a support role most of the time

Dash Baxter - Danny’s Obligatory 90s Cartoon Bully, the usual blond beefy jock. Can be surprisingly sensitive and intelligent, probably from being tutored by Jazz

[ETA] Valerie Gray - former antihero with a grudge against ghosts (her dad lost his job because of Cujo), she was given an anti ghost suit by Vlad and worked for him to fight ghosts until learning he is a half ghost

Canon never names her alter ego but we call her Red Huntress, she’s hot headed and impulsive and absolutely dated Danny while trying to murder Phantom - Danny knew the whole time but she did not

She is also Black

Wes Weston - Does Not Exist In Canon. We made him up because Danny had a bracelet that was supposed to say Sam but was shown backwards all episodes so it just says Wes

Knows that Danny is Phantom, INTENT on telling absolutely everyone, and is never believed

Vlad Masters/Plasmius - the only older halfa in the show, and one of Danny’s main villains. A billionaire who went to college with the Fenton parents and was slowly killed after exposure to the first trial portal

Blames Jack for his exposure and is obsessed with stealing Maddie from him and marrying her himself as he believes should have always happened

Her opinion does not factor into this, and she largely treats him with disdain but tempered for her husband, who adores Vlad unequivocally

Dani/Ellie Masters - a girl clone of Danny made by Vlad, the only clone who survived melting into goo. Vlad raised her to try and kill Danny so he could perfect a different boy clone, and kept her isolated

Now that she’s met Danny and been stabilised by him, they are siblings/cousins/besties but she can’t stay in one place, because she wants to experience the whole world

Frostbite - King of the Far Frozen, which is part of the Ghost Zone full of ice. He’s a yeti, and has the zone’s only functional medical facility

Reveres Danny as the Great One, Saviour of the Ghost Zone, and taught him how to use his ice powers

Clockwork - Master of Time, tends to show up in a purple hooded robe with a clock around his neck and rapidly cycle through ages and speak in riddles

Sometimes communicates by leaving green stick notes on things, but never with a direct answer. Considered Danny’s mentor and sends Danny on adventures through time to preserve the time stream

Notably involved in the whole Dan Phantom fiasco

Dan Phantom - an older version of Danny from the future where Danny’s ghost half was removed from his human half, stole Vlad’s ghost half, and destroyed the world because Danny’s whole family and friends were killed in front of him

They were all together to be killed as part of an intervention when Danny was caught cheating on a test. This gives Danny understandable issues about how easily he could go bad and destroy the world

Skulker - an early recurring baddie who is a Kraven the Hunter knockoff, considers himself the Ghost Zone’s best hunter and wants Danny’s pelt for his wall

Actually a tiny little guy inside the helmet of a big mechanised suit, rarely a serious threat

Ember - a young ghost musician who can hypnotise people with her music, craves an audience and another early recurring villain

Dates Skulker I guess

Johnny 13 and Shadow - ghost biker boy and his sentient shadow familiar, dated Danny at some point, but in a permanent ongoing relationship with Kitty

They usually only cause trouble when they fight, break up, wreak havoc, and then eventually get back together

Kitty - once Overshadowed Paulina the generic Pretty Girl to date Danny to get back at Johnny for their break up

She wanted to be a lawyer before she and Johnny were killed in a wreck, sometimes implied to have been caused on purpose by her father

She and Johnny are often Danny’s allies, against other ghosts if necessary

[ETA] Cujo - ghost puppy, very playful and usually about beagle size, but he can grow or shrink at will into a terrifying house sized attack dog. He can make portals so no, you are never safe from Cujo

[ETA] Wulf - werewolf ghost and friend of Danny’s who can also create his own natural portals. He wears pants

Important Terms

Core - a small glowing orb that houses all a ghost’s memories, thoughts, emotions, and vital organs. Can correspond to an element, granting elemental powers after some intense ghost puberty

Requires ectoplasm to form and be maintained but does not exist in canon

Obsession - ghosts are powered by their emotions at death and an Obsession, usually what makes them become a ghost instead of passing on in the first place - does not exist in canon

Danny’s Obsession is usually Protection, Space, or both

Vlad’s Obsession is Maddie, and acquiring Danny as a son once he learns Danny is a halfa too

Dani’s Obsession is Travel

Halfa - half a ghost, half a human, with the ability to transform between human and ghost forms (usually characterised as a colour inversion of hair and clothes)

Powers are basically Everything That Would Be Funny, because it’s a Saturday morning cartoon

Vlad’s specifically include electrocution, duplicating up to thousands of himself, invisibility, intangibility, hand lasers, super strength, healing, and mind control

Danny’s include ice, strength, bendy noodle body, put self in video game, hand lasers, heat vision, ghostly wail (big ol sonic scream, bad for the throat), duplication, teleportation, and literally anything else that was fun for the episode in question

All ghosts seem to get invisibility, intangibility, flight, telekinesis, and ectobeams (lasers from various body parts)

Overshadowing - similar to possession, when a ghost takes over someone else’s body, gaining access to core memories if they look

Sometimes different from possession specifically and considered less invasive, but still invasive. Danny does not like doing this

[ETA] Anti Ecto Acts - a series of laws signed into existence to declare all ectoplasmic entities as nonsentient creatures, able to be experimented on or destroyed at will

Referenced literally once in canon in a single line that basically says “you are under arrest for being a ghost” - after Danny is outed as a halfa, we have obviously extrapolated it into the worst thing possible

Canon calls them Anti-Ecto Control Acts

[ETA] GIW - Guys in White or the Ghost Investigation Ward, they’re literally a colour reversed Men in Black joke to have a government agency that focuses on ghosts

They don’t care about collateral damage and will blow anyone up on their way ghost hunting

DC (Disregard Canon apparently)

Main Characters

Listen I’m not doing all of them so HOEDOWN STYLE I GUESS

Alfred Pennyworth - best Batman character, super butler, makes the best cookies

Bruce Wayne - Batman, may/may not be good batdad

Dick Grayson - Robin 1, responsible for pantsless Robin and excessive flips, grows up to be Nightwing

Jason Todd - fandom woobie, Robin 2, tried to steal the tires off the Batmobile and hit Bruce with a tire iron, killed by Joker, came back evil and thicc as Red Hood and nearly killed Robin 3

Has the Bad Juice in him cuz of being brought back from the dead so he has Pit Rage, which most people apparently only get for a little bit and then either die or go permanently insane

Tim Drake - Robin 3, abandoned rich kid who blackmailed Bruce into letting him be Robin after Jason died, because Jason was his hero and Tim thinks Batman needs a Robin to stay sane. He’s right, but was Robin-fired basically as soon as Damian showed up, is Red Robin now

Never sleeps, overcaffeinated at all times, a better detective than Bruce and a supervillain in basically every AU

Used to be bi but is legally gay now apparently

Stephanie Brown - girl Robin, far superior as Spoiler and Bat Girl, sassy bitch who tells Bruce to fuck off the most of all the Robins ever and this is an Achievement she must fight for constantly but always wins

Cassandra Cain - assassin baby of Lady Shiva, not taught to talk by her dad cuz he sucks, semi- or nonverbal and deadass supernaturally good at reading people

Decided that killing was bad actually the first time she did it so fuck assassins she’s Black Bat/Batgirl/Orphan now and she does not have mouth holes in her mask (possibly because she is not white, depending on why you think Batman always has his)

Damian Wayne - Consequences from Bruce’s playboy slut days, he knocked up supervillain Talia Al Ghul and thus this bab was raised by assassins and thinks stabbing siblings is an acceptable greeting

Likes the animals and is secretly soft but will fucking kill you before he admits it

Duke Thomas - Criminally Underused, older than Damian but babiest bat as the Signal, Gotham’s only daytime hero and only meta hero. Second Black hero cuz Lucius Fox exists and so does his son

Never a Bruce-appointed Robin but was trained by 4 previous Robins (no idea where Steph was for this) simultaneously, swears as much as Jason but has living parents sometimes so that’s wild

Kate Kane - Batwoman, definitely fucks

Luke Fox - I think he is Lucius’ son, Lucius made all the bat tech but Luke is going to punch bad guys directly, has a hero name probably that might be fox related

Diana Prince - Wonder Woman, an Amazonian warrior who fucks with Cronos I guess

Donna Troy - I have never fucking seen her in dpxdc but she is Wonder Girl I think and she also fucks

Clark Kent - Superman but also a nerd, treats his clone badly and will never be forgiven

Connor Kent/Kon El - said clone, made by Lex Luthor from Superman’s and Luthor’s DNA because what says hate like making a baby! Mistreating that baby and reminding him he’s meant to be a weapon

Deserves all the love and sometimes his powers don’t work because cloning is hard

Jon Kent - Superman’s son with Lois Lane, got all his dad’s powers but apparently not his mom’s cuz he is still a himbo

Lois Lane - the world’s scariest reporter who will make all corrupt officials quail because you can’t fucking threaten her, she will tell you to go fuck yourself and if you try and shoot her Superman catches the bullet

Barry Allen - the Flash, does not believe in ghosts even though he can run so fast he travels in time so he’s clearly the arbiter of what makes sense

But I guess you can’t catch him to tell him he’s wrong so

Hal Jordan - Green Lantern, Space Ho

Lex Luthor - surprising dad energy for a bald supervillain who hates aliens (blame halfagone)

John Constantine - super thot and mage, will sell his soul to anyone who offers to gain immortality because no one can decide who gets to keep his soul so they just spite reviving him

Has the actual worst luck and finds out just slightly more than he fucks around but he hasn’t died yet so it’s working

Zatanna - magic lady who does spells by saying words backwards, the competent adult

Boston - Deadman, an Actual Fucking Ghost Member Of The Justice League, What The Fuck Flash This Is Workplace Harassment

Cannot be seen or heard without magical assistance, so way less of a problem than Danny Phantom ghosts

#dpxdc #dp x dc #onboarding post #dpxdc onboarding #all you need to know about danny phantom #unless i missed something #then it’s just all i know about danny phantom #definitely all i know about dc

[sorcerous-caress]

You've sucked me into the human kink, I have been bewitched <3 tmi but my new go to spank material is that I'm an adventuring party's precious lil cleric, especially in a group of butch warrior women. I offer full body ;) care and they reward me for my services with orgasms and protection.

With a stoic stone butch Half-Orc ranger serving as our leader, an older playful dwarven woman as our fighter, the party rogue is a surprisingly bashful tiefling, there's a mean hard dom drow lady who is our magical expert wizard, and a dragonborn Paladin of the same deity who can be especially protective.

After a very successful job we all rent a big room in a tavern and they all run a train on me..... okay I'll see myself out

Each time I try to write about cleric reader, i get flashbacks to playing squishy supports in moba games where the enemy runs a train on me under the turrent with my useless adc spamming "sup dif"

Maybe if our jungler wasn't busy sucking the mid off, then they'd have had a bit of time to disway the enemy jungler from blowing my guts. Idk what the top is doing honestly, they're in their own world half of the game. Who are they even fighting? The enemy top is right here under the turrent cucking my adc by wave stallling.

But anyway, cleric human let's go.

Imagine it was originally just you and one of them at the start. A new adventuring team, a half-orc ranger, and her precious human healer who tends to her every need and fawns over her every cut and scar.

The second you walked into that adventuring guild, you didn't even get to have a look around before this intimidation half-orc woman approched you. Her tusks were so big and sharp, het gaze sends chills down your spines and her biceps were easily the size of your head.

It was obvious you were a cleric from the way you dressed. The holy clothes, the innocent attire and the cute necklace with a symbol of your god on it. The spellbook you clutched to so adorably as if it will protect you from the dangers of the world outside.

The second she saw you enter, she knew the others here would be swarming you like flies. Everyone wants a healer but nobody wants to be the healer, everyone wants to be the hero of the story.

Not her tho, she never did this for the fame, glory, or gold. She truly was it in for the betterment of the world, no matter how much her own kind is viewed as evil and self serving, she did not care for what others think of her, she'll gladly crush their skulls with her bare hands.

So she tested you as she stood in front of you, not saying a word and watching your reaction closely. Will you run away from this scary half-orc with tears on your pretty cheeks and go hide behind the first human fighter you could spot?

But no. You didn't. Instead, you've only extended your hand to her with a friendly smile. Introducing yourself and asking for her own name. You also spoke normally, unlike how others, especially elves, tend to talk to her own kind with slow condcending words as if she was a brute who didn't understand basic language.

With her by your side, no one else dared to approach you in the guild hall. She walked you through the process of registering as an adventurer, making sure to explain everything you didn't understand and answer all of your questions. Clearly taking pride in showing off her intelligence as a high level ranger.

That's how the two of you met, and since that day she has been by your side. She was clever and knew how to win fights before they even started, a true warrior of the mind that could trick her enemies into walking straight into traps.

But even then, some fights she had to face head on and take the hits meant for you. She always made you her top priority to protect, even sometimes forsaking the mission for your own safety and carrying you away.

At night, the two of you sit around the fire. Her familiar companion cuddling into her side, with you in her arms as you doze off in the safety of her lap.

Then, eventually, someone else approaches the two of you in the guild after turning in a certain mission. A drow wizard with her expensive looking dress walking towards you with confidence.

Staring the two of you down, her confidence didn't falter even after meeting the half-orc eyes. But she did give a small smile towards you, reaching out and holding your chin in her fingers. Turning your face from side to side as she took in your features in great details.

Your half-orc companion got agitated at this strange woman thinking she had the right to just walk up to and touch you. Almost slapping her hand away, wasn't it for the drow pulling back her hand first.

Her next words, are her announcing the fact she is joining your party, human.

#♡human reader #♡human kink #♡fluff #♡half-orcs #♡drows #♡human cleric #dnd human kink

[misrepresentedmorallygrey]

PROPAGANDA

Mapleshade

Apparently some parts of the warriors fandom can't wrap their head around an unreliable narrator. She's not an innocent victim or a pure evil villain. She's complex. She was selfish, she took advantage of people but she was also cheated on by her mate (who by the way face little to no repercussions for having a half clan relationship with Mapleshade) and forced to leave her kit's bodies to be buried on RiverClan's territory, where she'd never be able to see them again. Mapleshade is a cat that never learned how to face the consequences of her actions. She arguably went insane from having her whole life be torn apart from her in a single day. Tbh I'd argue that if she was a tom, more people would be sympathetic towards her.

a woman will murder 3 people, use a dead guy's name to protect her and her kids' reputation, groom a kid into becoming a xenophobic dictator and people will still claim that she's an innocent justified victim. i love her and think she's a very interesting character (with her killing people partially to avenge her kits) but god, half the fandom doesn't read the books and it shows.

Angela

*LONG PROPAGANDA*

Angela is an AI made to run a facility (think of an scp facility thats the shortest explanation i have), from the second of her creation she was unloved and abused. People hate her because of the things she did, but they fail to realize WHY she did any of the those things. (spoilers for lobotomy corporation and library of ruina from this point) sure, she did a lot of bad things. she was generally pretty mean to everybody and ruined the big "plan" everyone was working towards for literally thousands of years. However. can you blame her? from the second she was created she was unloved and abused. her creator made her in the image of someone else, then hated her for not being that person. he made her fully sentient and intelligent only to then say "a machine must behave as a machine" whenever she acted like an intelligent being. he trapped her in a timeloop and made her experience time slower than everyone else, AND erased everyone elses memoried with every reset. Which left her alone, unable to make real progress towards the company's goal (completing the goal was also the only way for her to escape the timeloop or even LEAVE THE BUILDING) without just losing her progress anyway. The only people who didnt leave angela every loop was her creator and also a different guy who sort of helped make her, but her creator then felt bad about what they were doing and erased his own and the other persons memory, leaving her fully alone and expecting her to train his memoryless self. angela doesnt get to forget, if she feels bad about what theyre doing she just has to keep doing it. Until, after 10,000 years (which felt to Angela like 1,000,000) , they DID actually complete their goal. And Angela, wanting to be free, realized that she had no part in the end. She was meant to be destroyed with the facility. When she found this out, she started a big battle with all the other people in the facility. Eventually they had to agree to only let half of the light reach the city (not explaining that its complicated, just trust that it was the goal they were working towards) and Angela got to keep the rest. She still couldnt leave the area, so she started a library where the facility used to be. At this point another character shows up and befriends her. Through him, we get to learn that 1) literally nothing she did while managing lobotomy corporation was her own choice. everything there followed a script, and if she acted against the script the loop reset. when she was first started, she was shown to be super kind. but being kind was against the script, she literally wasn't allowed to not be an asshole. 2) now, she does have free will. and she chooses to kill people with it. she invites people to her library to turn them into books and when asked by almost everyone around her if she thinks that's morally okay, she justifies her actions again and again. she has to turn people into books to turn human, which will finally ACTUALLY grant her freedom okay, that last part is pretty bad. but, literally all she's known for ONE MILLION YEARS is hurting people. Shes finally doing something for herself, and in order to do that people have to be hurt. for her entire life, The Script and her creator told her that hurting people is Okay and Necessary if it achieves their goal. Besides, by the end of the game she realizes that she doesnt want to hurt people and literally gives up her goal to turn them back into humans from books. even after all her work. when she was So close to achieving what she wanted. In summary, Angela did a lot wrong, but I think blaming her for any of it means you really don't understand her.

regarded by many people as a wittle uwu baby must pwotect, a badass girlboss who did nothing wrong to her surroundings or the literal spawn of satan. no in-between

#misrepresented morally grey #round 2 #bracket a #did nothing wrong bracket #warrior cats #mapleshade #lobotomy corporation #angela lobcorp

[thedawningofthehour]

If Draxum had raised Gale then it would be a normal separate AU, which wouldn't hurt me as much since at least no one would be actively trying to keep the brothers apart (EW Shredder doesn't count because he's brainwashing his turtle too). What's more, in most separate AU's Draxum wants them to meet. And now I absolutely want to know what your version of that AU would be.

Because that's the part that bleeds me, for me, turtles are a package deal, you either get them all or you get none. I don't care if Draxum is trying to conquer the world as long as all the turtles are together and I think I just explained why my AU exists.

My whole basis for doth was literally a separated AU but with all the angst of having developed that brotherly bond and having it snatched away. With every other separated au, even ones where they were originally together and kidnapped/lost as older children, (like Leo and Mikey in EW, and there is one fic where Draxum kidnaps Donnie at a young age whose name I can't remember now) the bond still isn't what it is in the show. And it's ironic mentioning slushie's au, since that was one of the stories that inspired doth. I basically looked at that and went "I can make that more emotionally wretching." I wanted MAXIMUM angst, and this was how I decided it was best to deliver it.

An actual doth separated au, hmm. Well, first of all we have to overlook the fact that Donnie named himself here, realistically Draxum would have named him something else, (probably after some heroic Yokai or maybe his father or something) but for simplicity's sake I'll continue to call him Galois. A lot of it really depends on how Gale ended up with Draxum and what went down when the turtles were separated. Splinter could see that there were four turtles, did he think Donnie died in the blaze? I could see him becoming even more depressed if that was the case, trudging along to care for his remaining sons but always feeling the gap where his fourth kid should be. (he might have even resented April a bit, feeling like she was taking the spot his 'real' daughter/fourth son should have occupied) He probably wouldn't have told the boys about Donnie-until he was confronted with evidence that he survived the lab explosion, and then honestly it's a 50/50 shot whether he'd go murder a goat right then and there or jump straight to denial, because there's no way he could have just left his child with that nutjob for thirteen years.

If he saw Draxum take Donnie for himself, there's no way he'd leave that alone. He'd make sure his other boys were safe, but he would go at Draxum with everything he had to try and rescue his son. Maybe that's the situation he'd go back to Big Mama for, knowing she could keep his other kids safe and help him get his last baby back. Draxum would probably have to go into hiding.

On Draxum's side-I mean, like in doth, he'd go from 'warring warrior scientist' to "I love my son and if anything happened to him I'd kill everyone in the world and then myself" in about three seconds flat. Gale would do exactly one (1) cute thing and he'd be a goner.

Logistically, Gale's upbringing would be pretty much identical to the backstory Draxum fed him in doth. He would have been very hesitant to take Gale out in public, homeschooling him and, after realizing how intelligent he really was and giving up on the whole 'warrior and protector of humanity' thing, training him to take over as his scientific successor. They'd have a very close relationship, Draxum would probably be a little more affectionate, and Galois a little less.

I also don't know if he'd be the only one by the time the show rolls around. The ooze used to create the turtles was destroyed and Draxum didn't back up his notes apparently, so the formula was lost. He could have theoretically used Gale's blood to try and reverse-engineer the ooze, (something he does actually try in slushie's au) but it would be a question of if he was willing to use his son like a lab subject. He's very uncomfortable with the notion, he wants to maintain a separation between Galois and the crimes against humanity he regularly commits in the lab, and even something like taking his blood for a mutagen experiment feels like the first step down a slippery slope that Draxum is terrified of going down. But this Draxum would also still be on the 'army of elite warriors' things, plus he's enjoying this whole dad thing. He kind of wants more kids.

When he does realize that the other turtles survived, oh yeah he'd tell Galois everything and try to convince them to 'come home' to him. I don't think he could ever bring himself to harm them, knowing they're his son's brothers. Draxum and Gale would probably try doing what the fam is doing in doth, reverse-kidnapping his brothers and trying to make the case that Lou kidnapped them first and Draxum is their real father.

I still kind of wish I had set this story up just from Gale's pov after waking up from the brainwashing, treating his memories like they were real and having the truth slowly revealed through interactions with Leo and the fam. Most of the story would be missing then and the ending wouldn't really make sense, but that would have been SO COOL.

#doth asks #baron draxum #splinter

[moviemunchies]

When this movie first came out, I was in my senior year in high school. Everyone thought that this would be my favorite movie ever of all time. I have a well-known Thing about dragons.

It’s not my favorite movie.

It is pretty darn good, though.

Loosely based on books by Cressida Cowell, How to Train Your Dragon tells the story of Hiccup, a young viking boy in the village of Berk, a place often beset by dragon attacks. Hiccup, despite being the son of Berk’s chieftain, is not much of a warrior. He does want to make his dad proud, though, and so he invents a weapon to shoot down the rarest and most deadly type of dragon they know, a Night Fury. But when he actually manages to catch one, he ends up befriending the dragon instead of killing it. And in the process of befriending the Night Fury, whom he names ‘Toothless’ (on account of being able to retract his teeth), Hiccup learns more about dragon behavior than anyone else in Berk.

Let’s step right out the gate by saying that Toothless is awesome. He’s both awesome and lovable-looking. They purposefully designed him so he had some catlike features, so he doesn’t act just like a large lizard. That’s a thing that I think many people designing dragons trip up on–they don’t think about how a dragon might actually act as an animal in the wild. I like the idea of dragons as animals, and studying how they behave and interact with their habitats. Seeing that in a family film was delightful.

[Okay, yes, Toothless acts way nicer than a wild animal would realistically be, but this movie is made with children in mind. I can get over it. It at least acknowledges that these wild animals can be dangerous, which is more than a lot of movies with children in mind can do with large animals. Look at Camp Cretaceous, for instance, which treats large herbivores like friendly animals.]

I’m very fond of how they have a variety of dragons in the movie. Many fantasy settings try to have it so that there is only one type of dragon; seeing more than one, multiple types, that first different ideas of what a dragon could be–that’s fantastic! Go nuts with those dragon designs! I love to see it!

Hiccup’s a very good family film protagonist! Were we having the conversation about toxic masculinity back in 2010? I don’t know. Regardless, it is cool, if not entirely unique, that we had a protagonist from a hyper masculine/aggressive society that isn’t a hardcore warrior, and his character arc doesn’t get him there. It’s about using his own character strengths, developing them without changing who he is at his core (a bit like Kung Fu Panda in that way!).

And his leg! Spoiler alert: but at the end of the movie, in the final fight, he loses his leg. The stakes here are real. Sure, we don’t see a lot of death and violence, we’re told that dragons and vikings have been killing each other for years. It would be too easy to leave it like that, but the movie shows that bad things can happen to our characters when they’re in danger, and I respect it for doing that.

We should talk about Astrid. I think some people thought that she didn’t work so well as a love interest because she isn’t developed enough. I think as a secondary character she has enough development, especially because she isn’t, at the end of the film, throwing herself into the protagonist’s arms. She’s coming around to him, and she’s impressed by what Hiccup’s accomplished (he is, as she brings up, the first viking to ride a dragon). In short, yes, she could have done with more development, though I think her role in the movie is fine as it is.

[Especially because I know she has more to do in the following movies.]

I have long had some questions about the final boss dragon? Running with the idea that dragons are just animals, albeit surprisingly intelligent ones, the concept of one dragon being ‘the Bad One’ doesn’t really hold up? Like, yeah, dragons are fine, except that one bad one making them be bad? I suppose either way, it makes sense that regardless of whether or  not the dragon is morally good or evil, it’s posing a threat to the people of Berk, so they’re justified in taking it down. I think some discussion of this would have been warranted, though.

Anyhow! This is a superb dragon movie! And even if it’s nothing like the book, it’s an excellent family film. I can see why this became one of Dreamworks’s flagship movie serieses. It’s pretty darn good, and if you like family films, or if you love dragons as I do, you should definitely check it out.

#Movie Munchies #How to Train Your Dragon #HtTYD #dragons #Dreamworks

[xiaoshengnu]

𝕾𝖜𝖔𝖗𝖉 𝕾𝖓𝖔𝖜 𝕾𝖙𝖗𝖎𝖉𝖊 - final review

overview : EPISODE NO. - 38 episodes GENRE - wuxia 

Xu Fengnian is the first born son of the fearsome warlord Xu Xiao, the Duke of Beiliang- and probably the biggest hunk of scum in the whole empire. despite his father being a great martial artist and warlord, Xu Fengnian can’t wield a sword to save his life, he’s shameless, he's lazy, he’s an all-round playboy- he’s a good for nothing. 

or so everyone believes. 

l⃣e⃣ t⃣’ s⃣    b⃣e⃣g⃣i⃣n⃣

I love this drama so much- despite handling pretty serious situations that are matter of life and death, it’s so so so funny and chaotic. Sword Snow Stride is a drama which follows Xu Fengnian’s growth from a reluctant though highly intelligent heir of the duchy Beiliang to it’s capable, cunning and yes, shameless, future ruler. The writing of the show is so clever, and plot twists and political mechanisms are incredibly entertaining to watch. 

o⃣u⃣t⃣     o⃣ f⃣     t⃣ e⃣ n⃣

𝖕𝖑𝖔𝖙 - 9/10

𝖆𝖈𝖙𝖎𝖓𝖌 - 10/10

𝖈𝖍𝖆𝖗𝖆𝖈𝖙𝖊𝖗𝖘 - 7/10

𝖕𝖗𝖔𝖉𝖚𝖈𝖙𝖎𝖔𝖓 - 7/10

𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕣𝕒𝕝𝕝 𝕒𝕧𝕖𝕣𝕒𝕘𝕖 - 8.25

o⃣u⃣t⃣    o⃣ f⃣    f⃣ i⃣v⃣ e⃣

𝖍𝖎𝖉𝖉𝖊𝖓 𝖌𝖊𝖒 𝖛𝖆𝖑𝖚𝖊 - 💎💎💎

[ I don’t think the drama went out of it’s way to be unique, although the plot is incredibly incredibly good and one whole pretty solid. the humour was incredible though, so a three gems ]

𝖗𝖊𝖜𝖆𝖙𝖈𝖍 𝖛𝖆𝖑𝖚𝖊 - ✨✨✨✨

[ the chaotic energy and humour is top tier what can I say ]

‘keep reading’ for detailed review

I don't think I have ever laughed so much watching a drama before- this drama, despite everything, is a comedy show. Every moment in this drama can feature in a fan made “on crack” video without fail. 

jkjk 

and I am exaggerating- just a little. It’s wuxia and also a ‘no-class-boundaries!’ kind of drama which I think is pretty snazzy of the scriptwriter. Xu Fengnian and the Beiliang’s ideology disregards snobs, rejects higher power and social norms- which is very cool of them and I support that dude.

Like, it has everything- plot? You got it. Really cool characters? You got it. Humour? You got it. An actual message? You got that too.

𝖕𝖑𝖔𝖙 - 9

From the very beginning this show opened with a bang- the way it introduced everything was super super cool and engaging and so funny too. 

I felt really sad that I couldn’t give this show a full 10/10 on plot ( tbh no one can ever give any drama’s plot a perfect score) bcs there were some points where the plot fell through. Especially towards the last few episodes where Fengnian was saved one too many times and done so many favours in the name of his mother it began to feel a little- just no.

Nevertheless the rest of the logic was all in one piece, all the politics and all the scheming and the logic-ing of the characters was SO CLEVER. It was so so so fun to watch- it was fantastic. I can’t express how much I dig the way the things were revealed in this show. It had you thinking the whole time and I personally felt I learnt quite a bit from the show and Fengnian- as a person.

𝖈𝖍𝖆𝖗𝖆𝖈𝖙𝖊𝖗𝖘 - 7

GUYS. EVERYONE IN THIS DRAMA-

AMAZING, SHOWSTOPPING, SPECTACULAR, NEVER THE SAME- 

Just. Incredible. They were all so fleshed out with such a strong sense of personality and identity. I love them all- that's all I can ever say or I will be here for ages.

AND THE WOMEN IN THIS DRAMA- LIKE- OMG-

they're so coooool.

I do have one complaint though, and it is that while drama has so many wonderful warrior women, most are not given any real power of their own. Their skills and their abilities ultimately serve to further Xu Fengnian’s progress and story. If not Xu Fengnian, then it’s Xu Xiao. Yes I know it’s a male lead story, yes I know we’re in ancient China, but perhaps we could have some acknowledgment that women’s contribution is often disregarded, or maybe a fun morally grey woman who just also wants to fight society and change her life?

And especially Jiang Ni (who is great btw), who really just exists to be Xu Fengnian’s love interest despite her very important background and I just think it's really sad. 

But besides this, the characters here-

Chefs kiss.

𝖆𝖈𝖙𝖎𝖓𝖌 - 10

All the actors were fantastic. I don’t think there was anyone who really overdid their character or anything- they were all so good. The cast’s energy throughout the drama was simple and naturalistic. My absolute favourite has to be the actor who played Xu Fengnian’s dad Xu Xiao- he was so good and so hilarious.

I really loved Zhang Rouyun (Xu Fengnian) acting as well, I really liked his performance at the start. He doesn’t place beauty and grace at the forefront of his acting and didn’t care if he looked less than perfect which I appreciate a lot after the slew of perfect beauty you get in xianxia dramas. Though he does have his ‘I’m super cool and majestic’ moments where he does try to think about how he looks on camera, the vibe I got from him was very authentic.

𝖕𝖗𝖔𝖉𝖚𝖈𝖙𝖎𝖔𝖓 - 7

I LOVE THE PRODUCTION. I love the filter, I love the music- which is so... idk how to describe it. It perfectly encapsulates the vibe of snowy mountains, bamboo and swords and wind- The whole vibe is so calm and natural, it really makes you face the power and vastness of nature, the small, no-music fengshui montages that are scattered throughout the drama are so calming as well. 

But. The fight scenes... are very choppy. They’re not especially smooth- with an exception of Nangong Pushe, of course. Lots of them are literally people just standing there and raising their hands and spitting blood, like, T-T why. You are a wuxia drama; kindly use those weapons T-T. But oh well. At least they look cool when they stand there and raise their hands. 

And can we talk about Xu Fengnian’s lil’ catfish stands? WHAT WERE THE COSTUME DESIGNERS THINKING?

.

.

.

.

.

and now its time for..... drumrolllll

✨ 𝖋𝖆𝖛𝖔𝖚𝖗𝖎𝖙𝖊 𝖈𝖍𝖆𝖗𝖆𝖈𝖙𝖊𝖗𝖘 ✨

okay. okay. this drama is a nightmare for picking your 3 favourite characters THERE’S TOO MANY COOL PEOPLE- IT PHYSICALLY PAINS ME TO-

li chungang [ if anything happens to this old man next season, I'm starting a riot. ]

the whole xu family [ yes. all of them. xu xiao, xu fengnian, xu longxiang, xu zhihu, xu weixiong their family dynamic is hilarious and all of them are amazing people- and yes I am cheating ]

nangong pushe [ yes empty character, but she’s really cool- let me fangirl in peace ]

ⓦⓗⓔⓡⓔ ⓣⓞ ⓦⓐⓣⓒⓗ

YouTube : free, eng subbed

Rakuten Viki : free, eng subbed

WeTV : free, eng subbed + more

E⃣   X⃣   T⃣   R⃣   A⃣ sourced from mdl

Adapted from web novel "The Snowy Path of the Heroic Blade" (雪中悍刀行) by Feng Huo Xi Zhu Hou (烽火戏诸侯)

𝖘𝖈𝖗𝖊𝖊𝖓𝖜𝖗𝖎𝖙𝖊𝖗 - Wang Juan ( writer of Duoluo Continent)

𝖉𝖎𝖗𝖊𝖈𝖙𝖔𝖗 - Song Xiaofei 

#sword snow stride #wuxia #wuxia drama #Cdrama #Chinese drama review #cdrama rec #asian dramas #雪中悍刀行 #zhang ruoyun #hu jun #crystal zhang #li chun #zhang tianai #xianxia drama #tv recommendations #Asian drama review #final review #three gem drama #review #tv review #show review #cdrama review

[honourablejester]

Character Concept: Zealot Barbarian Worshipper of Khitim

As I was saying in my earlier post, I’ve been doodling character concepts for worshippers of my homebrew deities, and for Khitim, the neutral evil goddess of survival, I wanted a zealot barbarian. Because survival is Khitim’s first and only law, and ‘I want to live’ is the prayer she answers.

And I was on 5e tools (shh) browsing backgrounds, and there’s a new one from The Book of Many Things called ‘Ruined’, which is where you lost everything, and survived, and it’s shaped you. You get stealth and survival proficiencies, and you get your choice of the Alert, Skilled or Tough feats, depending on how you reacted to your loss. My tabaxi will be taking ‘alert’. She’s never going to be caught off guard again. She’s going to live, and fuck everyone who says different.

So. Kit Rawbone, a lean, scarred tabaxi barbarian, who lost her family to greed and desperation in extremis, and was meant to die herself, and just isn’t going to. Ever. Fuck you. The people who left her and her family to die were living by Khitim’s edicts when they did so, but so does she. She lives by them too, and honestly, she thinks Khitim likes her better. The Lady of the Tooth gave her claws and rage and a burning need to stay alive, and she’s willing to bet she’s better at it than most of you.

Character Sheet: Kit Rawbone

Name: Kit Rawbone

Race: Tabaxi

Age: 28

Background: Ruined (Book of Many Things)

Class/Level: Barbarian 3 (Zealot)

Statistics: Strength 16, Dexterity 16, Constitution 16, Intelligence 10, Wisdom 14, Charisma 13 (Rolled 16, 16, 15, 14, 13, 8)

Speed: 30ft walk/climb, AC: 16, Initiative Bonus: +8 (Alert)

Proficiencies & Languages:

Saving Throws: Strength, Constitution

Skills: Animal Handling, Athletics, Insight, Intimidation, Perception, Stealth, Survival

Armour/Weapons/Tools: light, medium, shields, simple, martial, playing cards

Languages: Common, Giant, Elven

Traits, Feats and Background/Class Features: 

Race: Speed 30ft/Climb 30ft, Cat’s Claws (1d6+Str unarmed strike), Cat’s Talent (Perc & Ste prof), Darkvision (60ft), Feline Agility (can double speed one turn, can’t use again until move 0ft on turn)

Background: Still Standing (choice of Alert, Skilled or Tough feats)

Barbarian: Rage (bonus action, 2/day, 1min, adv on Str checks/saves, +2 to Str melee attacks, resistance to physical damage), Unarmoured Defense (10+Dex+Con, can use shield), Danger Sense (adv on Dex saves if not blinded/deafened/incapacitated), Reckless Attack (on first attack/turn, can get adv on Str melee rolls, but others get adv vs me for round), Divine Fury (while raging, first hit per turn gets extra 1d6+half Barb level radiant damage), Warrior of the Gods (getting returned to life costs no material components), Primal Knowledge (extra Barbarian skill proficiency, Animal Handling)

Feats: Alert (Ruined Background)(+5 to initiative, can’t be surprised while conscious, others don’t get advantage on me by being unseen)

Equipment: travellers clothes, hunting trap, cracked hourglass, playing cards, pouch w/13 gp, greataxe (1d12, 2-handed), 2 handaxes (1d6, thrown 20ft), 4 javelins (1d6, thrown 30ft), explorers pack (backpack, bedroll, mess kit, waterskin, tinderbox, 10 torches, 10 rations, 50ft rope)

Description: A lean, scarred, grey-furred tabaxi with a typically mild, non-committal expression.

Personality: Angry, cynical, determined, maybe the tiniest bit paranoid.

History: My family were part of a travelling caravan of entertainers, a very popular and generally well-received one. Oh, there were always the odd folk who just couldn’t stand strangers hanging around, and who grumbled about riff-raff and thieves, but the class of our show and our friendliness and willingness to pitch in where needed usually outweighed that. Until.

When I was sixteen, we were wintering at a village in the mountains, and the passes had been snowed closed by winter storms. This wasn’t unusual, and wouldn’t normally have been a problem. Everyone who lives in or regularly travels the mountains was used to this. But this year, there was a problem. I still don’t remember who found it or how, but something had blighted a huge portion of the village’s stores. Rotted and spoiled them in the cellars and granaries. Abruptly, in the middle of winter, with no way back down the mountains, we all found ourselves abruptly facing the prospect of a winter without food. And, in such circumstances, relations tend to abruptly become very strained.

We were accused of blighting the stores, of course. My uncle, our spokesman, argued fairly bluntly that that would be an extremely stupid thing to do when we were also in the village and also needed to eat. Some of the ire died down, but others still nursed the thought that we’d done it, that we hadn’t expected the snowstorm, that we’d meant to be away and down by the time the crime was discovered, leaving the village to die behind us. I still don’t know why they thought we’d do that, but the rumblings and mutterings continued. But then. More basic than that. Whether we’d done wrong or not. As the snows kept piling, and the few remaining supplies kept dwindling, the coldest, most basic reasoning of all took sway.

We were strangers. We had no claim to their food. Why should they feed us, when they didn’t have enough to feed themselves?

I can’t remember how long it took to get to that point. Over a week, I think. I have memories of several endless cold nights huddled in our wagons behind the inn. Days of suspicion and sneers. But I can’t remember exactly how long it took. It took, though. It got there in the end.

We were travellers, and thieves, and sorcerers who’d blighted their food. There was no evil in driving us out. There was no food. Yes, it was death to send anyone out into the blizzard, but it was death to stay and starve, too. Everyone for themselves, no? So. We were offered a choice. Leave, now, on foot, with whatever we could carry on our backs. Or they would burn us alive in our wagons in the night. On foot, you understand. Leave the wagons. Our gear. Our homes. All that we owned and loved in the world. Leave it all. A tithe, for the food we had spoiled. Run, with nothing, into the depths of winter. Or they would kill us where we stood.

Sometimes I think we should have taken the latter option. It would have been faster, at least. And we might have taken some of them with us.

We lost each other, in the snow. Or I lost them, at least. My family. I got separated. I don’t know how long I wandered. But I know two things.

I know my younger sister died. I found her body, while I was half-blind and crawling, frozen in the snow. I never found anyone else, alive or dead, but I found her. I know she died.

And I know they burned our wagons anyway. Because I circled, somehow, back around to the village. Lost in the snow. I circled around. And I saw the light. The fire. They looted our wagons, and then they burned them. All that I loved. My home for sixteen years. They burned them.

Rage burned in me then, in that moment. A rage so incandescent, I felt altered. Hollow. Near-divine. Hunger gnawed in my gut. My claws blackened in the cold. I wanted to eat them. Those villagers. Those vicious, horrible, hollow monsters. But I wanted something else more. I wanted to live. To spite them. They’d sent us out to die, and so I wanted to live. I wanted to live forever.

There’s a goddess. You don’t hear her talked about too much. Just on the edges. The hard lands. All those places where death lurks just a little beyond the boundaries, and ruin is only ever one disaster, one unlucky moment away. Her name is Khitim, the Lady of the Tooth. And she says to people, survive. Kill, plunder, eat. Whatever you have to do, you survive. You live.

They were listening to her, those villagers, when they drove us away to die. They lived by her words that day. But so did I. So did I. And so do I still.

I made it down off that mountain. I snuck into that village, and I stole all that I could carry, all of their precious dwindling supply that I could reach and take, and I made it down off that fucking mountain. Maybe some of them died because of what I did, what I stole. I don’t give a flying fuck. My sister died for them. Maybe my whole family. I don’t give a good godsdamn how many of them died. I do know the village never recovered. It’s barely there anymore, a hamlet, nowhere near enough to earn a travelling show’s stop over. But that doesn’t matter. None of it matters now. What matters is, they didn’t kill me. What matters is, I didn’t die.

And I’ve no intention of ever starting now.

Ideal: Live. Just to spite them all. Live.

Bond: It’s been twelve years, but I do still hope someone else from my family survived that horrible mountain. I try to look for them, when I can.

Flaw: Everyone looks after themselves first and foremost. They might say they don’t, they might even believe they don’t, but when it comes down to who lives and who dies, don’t ever expect anyone to make a different choice. Help while you can, sure. But when it comes down to it, help yourself first.

#character concepts #d&d #5e #barbarians #deities #zealot barbarian #tabaxi

[bxrnfrxmashes]

We are so glad to see you safe, PRINCESS EVELYN STUART of SCOTLAND! It’s dangerous out in the world these days, but I hear that you are HARD-WORKING and COURAGEOUS enough to handle it. Just don’t let your CLOSED-OFF NATURE bring you down! Stay on your guard, because with your secret being at risk for exposure, you wouldn’t want everyone to find out YOU GOT PREGNANT WHEN YOU WERE TWENTY BUT HAD TO GIVE YOUR BABY AWAY.

BASIC INFORMATION

▪ FULL NAME: Evelyn Stuart  ▪ TITLE: Crown Princess of Scotland ▪ AGE: 33 ▪ ETHNICITY: Caucasian  ▪ GENDER: CIS Female  ▪ SEXUAL ORIENTATION: Heterosexual ▪ PRONOUNS: She/Her ▪ SPOKEN LANGUAGE: English, Latin, Spanish, French

RELATIONSHIPS

▪ PARENTS: King Graeme Stuart and Queen TBD ▪ SIBLINGS: Prince Calen Stuart and Princess Joanna Stuart ▪ SIGNIFICANT OTHER: N/A ▪ CHILDREN: Bastard son, given away to a monastery when he was born

PHYSICAL TRAITS

▪ EYE COLOUR: Blue-Green ▪ HAIR COLOUR: Dark Brown ▪ BODY BUILD: Slim, Athletic  ▪ HEIGHT: 5’ 6" ▪ WEIGHT: 136 lbs

BIOGRAPHY

From a young age, Evelyn's tastes weren’t the same as most ladies. She would often skip her lessons with the septa to sneak into the library and read about the history of the world and go through as many books about war as she could. As often as she could, she would convince one of the guards to teach her swordfighting, even though they would train with sticks in the middle of the woods. She always felt like a warrior lady and the older she got, the stronger that feeling grew.

Evelyn turned out to become a very skilled swords woman, beating most of the guards and eventually even managing to beat the general himself. Evelyn also became a very skilled horse rider, one of the best, if not the best in Scotland. She’s very intelligent and all those years reading books about war and strategies turned her into an incredible war strategist.

She always felt the pressure of being the crown princess and knowing that one day, she would be the Queen of Scotland. While she loved her country and her people, there were times when she wondered if this was truly the role for her, since she saw herself riding into battle, leading an army instead of hanging in the back. If it came to it, Evelyn would be the first one to pick up a sword and her armor to defend her country.

When she was only twenty, Evelyn had an affair and it lead to her getting pregnant. She was sent away to live in a monastery with nuns for the duration of her pregnancy. Knowing how scandalous it would be for the family, Evelyn was forced to give her baby away, leaving the baby boy at the monastery to be raised by the nuns. She never saw him again and she has no idea where he would be now.

#evelyn:intro #theopulent.intro

[sideeffx]

Intelligent systems probably took the idea for 3H to koei tecmo because of them basically being one of the biggest adaptors of Romance of the Three Kingdoms as an IP but it also exposes the hood of their storywriting conventions. I think a lot of The Discourse(tm) we had for years exposed a fundamental misunderstanding when it came to what they were pulling from. Namely, grafting a very popular asian war narrative onto Europe and trying to obscure this with poorly thought out plot points (Those Who Slither in the Dark).

The dynamics of Wei, Wu and Shu as written in KT's primary adaptation Dynasty Warriors can be pretty easily related to each Lord and the general blueprint of their story arc and how they're supposed to be perceived. Romance of the three kingdoms is a prolific novel that's been referenced into the ground and everyone's interpretation of it is going to be different so I am purely sticking to how koei represents each of them and not any possible inconsistencies re: the actual story itself.

For one thing, unification is viewed as an inevitability no matter which route you pick. Much like how in the Three Kingdoms the ultimate goal of each faction was to unify China under their banner, depending on your choice of lord Fodlan presents itself as a single unified continent rather than the splinters of kingdoms it was in the past. In every route except Edelgard's much of this power goes through Byleth and a "reformed" church. Whilst in Edelgard's the kingdom is beholden to Adrestia until she structures it into a republic and abdicates.

Wei

Shown to have a brilliant but brutal warlord at the helm and is by far the most powerful in the narrative. Cao Cao's design and characterization portrays him as a villain at his worst and an anti hero at his best. Wei ultimately triumphs in the Three Kingdoms conflict due to their underhanded tactics and being the most politically savvy. Cao Cao's main tactician is a sly snakelike schemer named Sima Yi who is instrumental in helping his victory but will also do anything to win.

Cao Cao kickstarts the Three Kingdoms conflict and exploits the other regional lords complacency via this headstart. The idea of unifying China does not cross the other two main factions' minds until he's already in the ending phase of his formal campaign coming to fruition.

Black Eagles

If we're to look at Adrestia's position when war is declared and how things fair without Byleth's interference. Edelgard is by far in the best position to win the war and nearly does before Byleth awakens 5 years later. To view the story objectively, it seems as if she was intended to be an antagonist that was (gasp) a villain at her worst and an anti hero at her best. The other two Lords in the story are complacent in the idea of unifying Fodlan until her campaign has already begun and they have no choice to participate in it.

Edelgard makes an objectionable move in allying herself with TWSITD despite their being evil to ensure that she's able to formally put an end to the church's stranglehold on the continent. Her primary retainer is Hubert, a sly snakelike schemer who will do anything to win and isn't above getting his hands dirty. Byleth's presence in Crimson Flower is thus not an against all odds miracle, rather it's a victory lap meant to help Edelgard push herself over the finish line without completely shirking her morals. As she's able to immediately turn on TWISTD and begin expelling them from her ranks in the epilogue. When you look at her side of things and dig into the general lore of the church's formation and how they've managed to consolidate power, it makes sense why this war began in the first place. But this is only if you play her route first.

Shu

A faction led by Liu Bei that prioritizes the common people. In Shu stories, Liu Bei is looked upon as a benevolent almost saintlike figure who is so down to earth that even peasants will follow his ideals. He is surrounded by a group of loyal retainers, inparticular, Zhang Fei and Guan Yu who are also his sworn brothers. And a brilliant tactician in Zhuge Liang. Shu is not an appeal to politics, rather their narrative is focused on emotion and how that is their downfall. They may be the most honorable, but they certainly aren't the winners. Because that's not how war works.

Much like how Cao Cao looks objectively evil when not seeing things through his eyes (best example, Changban is a high profile battle in every single Dynasty Warriors game where the Wei army brazenly cuts down peasants to prevent Liu Bei, the man of the "honorable" Shu faction from escaping). Edelgard is at her proverbial worse in Azure Moon. Where she's backed Dimitri so far into a corner that he has no choice but to take refuge in the ruins of his church due to his kingdom being fully taken over.

Liu Bei's emotion being his downfall displays itself best at the battle of Yi Ling, where in every Dynasty Warriors narrative. A moment of sincere anger at the faction of Wu betraying his sworn brother Guan Yu and killing him at Fan Castle turns into a catastrophic loss at Yi Ling where a fire attack wipes out a majority of his forces.

Blue Lions

In Azure Moon, Edelgard is in the middle of her victory lap. Faerghus has been completely taken over by the Adrestia backed Cordelia in a coup. Dimitri's forces have scattered throughout the continent. And your first real meeting with Claude is him making a last stand against her army as they close in on fully assimilating the Leicester Alliance into the Empire. When you begin turning the tides, it culminates in her willingly turning herself into a monster in a last bid to defeat you. Then subsequently dying on her own terms instead of being imprisoned. Edelgard comes off as unreasonable, tone deaf and fundamentally misunderstanding what the common people want. Because that's the way Dimitri sees her.

Putting aside the fact I find Dimitri's route to be the SECOND least politically involved one (least politically involved goes to Claude, who does everything he can to ignore the war for some reason), mainly due to it shoehorning his political philosophy into the back half of the game after you spend most of it watching him live out a psychotic break. It's no surprise if you play this route first you end up having a poor opinion of Edelgard.

She's a beat for beat copy of Cao Cao's playbook where despite her not being heroic about it, her victory in this war is assured. If not for you and your Sothis nepotism baby powers swooping in to save Faerghus from total annihilation. The narrative's primary function here is to appeal to emotion, you've spent the last 20+ chapters personally connecting with Dimitri and handling his struggles. You don't completely understand why Edelgard masqueraded as the Flame Emperor, and her kickstarting this war feels as if it's brought forth senseless violence. She's cast as the undisputed villain, and while the game "attempts" to make a play at grey morality, the morals here are quite interestingly black and white. Edelgard is wrong and you are right, by virtue of Byleth's existence you can reform the church.

A bit of a wrench thrown into the traditional three kingdoms narrative here, because in all canonical retellings, Cao Cao wins the war. Shu and Wu's bids for unification are nothing but a pipe dream as they completely crumble and eventually surrender to Wei.

Wu

Personally perceived by me as the biggest do nothing faction in the franchise. Wu's biggest reputation within the narrative is consistently joining the winning side to preserve themselves instead of being proactive. In the battle of Chi Bi Cao Cao suffers a defeat at the hands of a Shu/Wu alliance. Sun Shang Xiang is betrothed to Liu Bei in an effort to unite the two factions. Yet Wu turns around and sets a trap at Fan Castle to kill Guan Yu and cripple Liu Bei's forces and therefore becomes his worst enemy.

Their leader, Sun Quan is shouldering the ambitions of both his brother Sun Ce and his father Sun Jian who have both died during the campaign. Instead of pushing forward in a serious campaign for unification. Sun Quan's decisions are firmly to protect his own home and thus save his skin (probably something to do with the fact he was only 18 when Sun Ce was assassinated and thus wasn't exactly the most experienced leader). As such you could probably cast Wu as the ones who favor "neutrality" over active participation.

Interestingly, Sun Quan's biggest trait despite being young and inexperienced was his ability to find brilliant men to serve under him and thus handle political affairs. He was well liked by the common people because of this.

Golden Deer

Like I alluded to above, Claude is so hilariously irrelevant I almost question why his route was added if Silver Snow was always intended to be a thing. Verdant Wind is Silver Snow reskinned with a few Claude specific events stapled on. The unification of Fodlan practically falls into his lap because he is purely reactive and due to Byleth's interference once again, Leicester is able to maintain its idea of self preservation above all else. Claude's main interests beyond learning of the church's secrets is preserving his home whilst the other two factions tear each other apart. The narrative forces him into a predicament where securing Leicester's continued existence involves fighting Edelgard due to Adrestia's meddling causing the nobles to splinter off into two different factions.

You probably see the similarity to Sun Quan almost immediately here. Because while Claude has his reputation as a schemer whose not totally forthcoming about everything, his participation politically is all in the name of self preservation rather than any real ambitions.

Interestingly, his prioritizing the winning side is able to be utilized in Three Hopes particularly. Golden Wildfire is actually my favorite version of Claude, if only because he takes a much more active role in the story and backs up the hot air he blew in Three Houses about sorta kinda maybe doing something morally questionable to get ahead. In his own route and Scarlet Blaze, he joins the Empire because they're the most poised to win the war and he has personal beef with Rhea. A mirror of the Wei/Wu alliance, where Claude is purely participating out of self interest to protect his homeland rather than pure ambition. Though he does progress past this as the story goes on. Admittedly, this is kinda where my match gets a little flimsy. But you've been with me on this crackpot theory long enough, so I'm sure some of it made sense.

TBH...

Me writing all this out doesn't really have a real conclusion. I mean the Three Kingdoms was a literal cultural reset for all of Asia. Most people have read it and if they haven't they've probably heard of it considering how many east asian writers are addicted to referencing passages of it. I just found it interesting how so much of the makeup of the war and the story format so closely followed those conventions right down to them having an identifying color (though tbh this is something that's more done for easy recognizability, it's a video game after all but so was Dynasty Warriors).

I still maintain this story sucks, because grey morality does not mean not taking a firm stance on anything and KT keeps playing this back and forth depending on which route you pick where the Church isn't all bad so that's justification to defend them but also you have to take them down to have the continent meaningfully move forward. Not to mention the ridiculous plot holes. Great worldbuilding and characters (not all of them were even great, mind you) ruined by absolute dogshit storytelling. But I got to use my RoTK knowledge on something!

[theorganizationofficial]

Hello!

Welcome to the Organization Official, the official social media page for the galactic peacekeeping force known as the Organization. To promote our mission and allow for more transparency, we have decided to set up a blog for anyone who wishes to ask questions to our soldiers and affiliates.

My name is Shinkiro, and I am part of the Administration division of the Organization. I directly work for the general, in other words.

Before I leave you off on your own, I was told to go over a few rules for questions.

Depending on how many asks are received, we might not be able to answer all of them. Please remember that we are a working Organization and not all divisions will be able to answer every question they receive.

Please keep all asks PG-13. This is a public blog. We do not know if children may be reading this.

While we will try to answer any question we can, certain questions will need to be directed to Rikka Z ( @kachikirby ) for answering (Under the GranEssex Chronicles tag).

For a mostly complete list of Organization and adjacent members that you can ask questions about, please see the site called Toyhouse.

This post will be updated as needed. Thank you for reading.

(Below the cut are a few individuals of interest. Of course, there is a lot more, but this is for now...)

Kurabe

The Lady of Shadows and one of the Organization's Big Four Commanders. Leader of the Combat division and captain of the battleship GranEssex. Originally an orphan from a desolate planet, she was taken in by General Z and became one of the greatest warriors in the galaxy. In the past, she was the mentor of Meta Knight. When off-duty, she does her best to be an adoptive mother to him as well, though she can be overbearing at times.

Kirby

The Hero of Planet Popstar. A humble child that belies the amazing powers he holds. Despite this, he greatly cares for his friends. Student of Meta Knight.

Meta Knight

A former member of the Organization who is now living on Planet Popstar. The leader of the Meta Knights. Kurabe's greatest student and mentor to Kirby.

King Dedede

The self-proclaimed ruler of Dreamland. He claims to be Kirby's rival, but everyone else can definitely see that they are friends. Has memorized the appearance and names of all 400 Waddle Dees who work under him.

Bandana Waddle Dee

One of King Dedede's advisors and one of Kirby's closest friends. He is surprisingly strong for being a Waddle Dee. Probably the most levelheaded of Dedede's Waddle Dees and the king's oldest friend, hailing from his home planet of Brightfall.

Mercury

Vice captain of the battleship GranEssex. Kurabe's best friend. Her species is a liquid metal shapeshifter known as a Limet. Normally very level-headed. She is like an older sister to Meta Knight.

Erhard

The chief medical officer of the GranEssex. A male Limet who is a kind doctor. Previously imprisoned in solitary confinement for a crime he didn't commit, he was acquitted and joined the ship out of gratitude. He is a bit socially awkward due to his isolation.

Reedy

One of the Organization's Big Four, the leader of the Intelligence Division, and captain of the battleship VictoriousArc. Kurabe's rival and Mercury's adoptive older brother. An extremely smart Limet that has a bit of tunnel vision. He is a bit of a stickler for the rules and often gets into conflict with Kurabe, originating due to his first belief of her not earning her position due to being the General's student and adopted daughter (untrue). Despite this, he really loves his wife, Raita and his children.

General Z

The General of the Organization. Kurabe's mentor and adoptive father. Believed to be the oldest still living Star Warrior in the universe, he can still put up a good fight despite this. He can be a bit protective of his daughter.

Risotto

One of the members of Task Force Zetta, an elite unit of only Limets that directly serves Reedy in the Intelligence Division. A beast summoner who is a gentle giant. He doesn't talk much.

Pandoro

One of the members of Task Force Zetta. A skilled swordswoman who joined around the same time as Risotto. She speaks in an old-fashioned tone.

Fettuccine

A member of Task Force Zetta. She is the youngest member to join the group and is noted at being a genius when it comes to interrogation. She is like a younger sister to Risotto and Pandoro. She develops a close friendship with Meta during his time in the Organization, but it's clear that they blossomed into something more...

King Bebebe

The ruler of the Crescent Kingdom on Brightfall and King Dedede's father. A righteous king who is an avid supporter of the Organization and a close friend of Kurabe, who he often calls "Kura-kura" and "Kuracchi". The two of them have a past that Kurabe is slightly embarrassed about. He cares about his son, but is often busy with work. His advisor is Bandana's mother and the army's leader is Bandana's father.

Mikuto

A silly, lazy Star Warrior with a love for music and sleeping. Kurabe's boyfriend who she first encountered on a certain mission.

#Admin Shinkiro Speaks! #oc ask blog #kirby oc #kirby fc #kirby au #art of rikka

[theblackdragon-studios]

what would everyone look like if they where from Pandora? o: {it popped into my head and i thought it might be interesting}

You were probably hoping for their dragon counterparts modified to look like Pandora predators…but I went a different route. The dragons in my headworld are on the same level in intelligence with humans, so their Pandora counterparts would be creatures that are the same.

As of now we only have two species on Pandora that fit this: The Tuluk (the sapient alien whales) and the Na’vi. Since the story of my Headworld is about a human that literally falls into the rest of the story which introduces her to the fact dragons exist and have been in hiding all this time, I went with the latter:

Starting with Meg/Pendara herself. To put in a simple but inaccurate way, she’s the Jake Sully of this possibly AU. Not literally…I mean that she goes through a similar journey of “human that is a part of the Avatar Program but who ends up with the opportunity to live with and learn from the true Na’vi natives and comes to realize what she was in support of was wrong” he did.

Except as you can see, she’s a reef Na’vi-based avatar pilot. Reason being I want to explore that area of the story since I love the ocean and Meg would be perfectly eager to learn from ocean-based Na’vi. Not at first, of course…she’s uncertain about this whole thing at the start, but over time she falls in love with the planet’s ocean and the way the reef people live.

How she gets into this situation…I will have to see if it’s possible to expand on this AU before going into that… But I have Pandora counterparts of the others:

First Megaera (given a Na’vi name), who is a rain forest Na’vi like the main characters are. Her father being the clan chief, she is the next spiritual leader in training like Neytiri was. She’s not like Neytiri, though, of course…instead she is more like Ronal at first, very anti-human and skeptical that they can learn anything from the natives of Pandora (though for similar reasons to Tsu’tey who lost loved ones to them). Her opinion changes when she befriends Meg.

Then Calixthzan, who is a “fire” Na’vi because his dragon counterpart is a volcanic dragon. We don’t have any information on them yet except that they’re called Ash People and are much more aggressive than the other races, possibly even intolerant, but are called “evil” as a general term. Cal is like the others of his clan at first, and displays this clearly by wearing a necklace of bones.

The bones consist of fangs belonging to a predator of his territory, and what look to be human bones snapped in half to better decorate the necklace. (It’s later revealed they’re the bones of only one human…and are literally snapped in half to decorate the necklace and make it look like there was more than one kill. It’s a scare tactic mostly, and it isn’t clear how the human died or if (Cal) was even the one to do it…)

Then Frjord and Azure (also given better names if I ever find a list) who are in (Megaera’s) clan. (Fjord) is an adult by human standards, but not according to the clan. He has yet to choose an Ikran and partake in the Dream Walk ritual. It isn’t clear why, as he is not incompetent or lazy, but he isn’t ready yet apparently.

(Azure) is recognized as an adult, having an Ikran and everything, but is not referred to as a warrior much. Neither as a hunter or a fighter, (Azure) only does enough to not be viewed as useless to the clan. It may be related to the scar on his face, but Meg isn’t ready to ask about it.

Then there is Nox…who is as unusual and mysterious here as he is in the headworld story.

Nox (called by many other names) is the local that Meg meets and that sends her on her journey like Jake’s. Except Nox isn’t in the Metkayina or any of the other reef clan. He isn’t in any clan at all. Nox isn’t even a Na’vi…

He is what the Na’vi see as the Wrath of Eywa, a large, powerful, and both feared and honored creature of Pandora whose intelligence, age, and connection to the planet is said to surpass all others’ but the goddess herself. However, he does not command the flora and fauna as Eywa does…though he can communicate with them as the Na’vi do.

How does he have two forms, though? By doing what humans learned to do, switching his consciousness from his true body to a Na’vi body which he travels in normally. When you see his true form, it is a sign from Eywa that the balance has been deeply uprooted and that her rare but existing mighty wrath against this is coming to fix it. (Nox) is the first and most seriously received sign before this occurs.

I might continue exploring this AU sometime, especially if people are interested in seeing more, but for now this is the concept designs of everyone.

(Also I didn’t want to add the glowing dots to the others…because I didn’t have much to go on for them.)

#james cameron’s avatar #avatar #na’vi #na’vi oc #reef na’vi #rainforest na’vi #ash person na’vi #blackdragon answers #self-insert #sona #s/i #persona #Meg #Pendara #OC #OCs #Megaera #Calixthzan #Frjord #azure #Nox #I had a lot of fun with the information part of this #the designing part was more tricky… #due to not having a go-to reliable source for how to make a na’vi that matches the canon setting #but I hope the designs are liked too #blackdragon art #ask response #crazy phenomenon #long post

[blackbutlerbitch23]

💖Now that I have some followers who cannot escape my feed and are forced to listen to me, I will rank my top 5 ships from Black Bulter from Worst to Best and explain why I placed them there. BTW my opinion is 100% correct, AND no, I do not take criticism. Buckle up your seat belts because this will be a long ride, and no, we're not gonna stop; you should have gone to the bathroom before we left. Now sit back, relax and HAVE FUN, EVERYONE!!!! 💖

5. Vincent & Madam Red

Aesthetically this couple is fantastic. Betrayal, drama, jealousy, and forbidden love. There's a reason why blue and red are often paired together. PRIME COLOURS, BABY. That's what the kids call colour theory 😎. ANWAY, this is the Angelica Schuyler (work, work) and Alexander Hamilton (lol, you defiantly threw away your shot) ship of the Black Butler community. Even the name Angelina looks and sounds similar to Angelica. They are a bisexual dream of "may I have a side of step on me" 👞👡. They would have been that couple. Yet, I gotta rate them at number five because even though they would be slaying it together (literally and figuratively *very clever jack the ripper and watchdog joke*🔪), it does reduce the intelligent and independent Madam Red into an "uwu notice me sempai" girl. She gets turned from girl boss (affectionate) into girl boss (unaffectionate). Like GURL, I know he is bad, but you are a Miranda in a world full of Nates. The Devil wears Prada because he has taste👠. He's not worth trying to stab an eye-patched child over.

7/10 - if I was Angelina, I would have poured red wine over Rachel's wedding dress because I'm petty like that👰🍷.

4. Mey-Rin & Ronald Knox

I KNOW WHAT YOU ALL ARE THINKING🧠. That's right, I'm telepathic AF. Call me Anya 2.0. "Didn't they only interact once?" Yes, and your point? I could sense the chemistry and potential oozing like a warhead from that singular interaction. When Mey-Rin said that was the first time she ever got hit on, I was shocked and appalled because that girl is a hot warrior queen 👑like some Victorian Hippolyta. If I was shot by Mey-Rin, I would thank her because that meant she noticed little ol' me. Ronald (lol nerd) may *technically* be a dead sociopathic playboy, but underneath all that, he is also a clumsy idiot with some pretty snazzy fighting skills like a certain maid ;)). They both rock the sexy geeky🤓 look, AND Mey-Rin deserves to be swept away by a man who understands the struggle of trying to impress your superior (and failing horribly) while cleaning out blood stains🩸. They are number four because I vaguely get some The Mister by E.L James vibes, which makes me break out in a cold sweat 😷🤢if I think about it for too long. Plus, they did only interact once. God, imagine having Grell as a mother-in-law.

7.5/10 - Call me captain because Imma go down with the ship like the Campania that brought these virgins together⚓.

3. Ciel & Sieglinde

Bubala, I want to get this out of the way before we proceed. I'm no Humbert Humbert. Miss me with that ❌Lolita❌ shit (although it's a fantastic book, shout out to my lad Nabokov). When I ship kids, it's in an "it would be cute in the future" way. I don't expect a thirteen-year-old and ten-year-old actually to date. Kapeesh? Anyway, this is also not a reflection of Elizabeth as a character. We can all agree that their relationship was doomed the minute Lizzy discovered that OCiel wasn't RCiel and proceeded to have one of the worst reactions possible™. She tried to kill Sebastian, ran away from home, and let a TEENAGER get arrested because she got Parent Trapped. Girl, you even knew he was innocent but go off sis🙄💅. You know, ✨everyday rich girl things✨. Sieglinde, our little green witch, adores Ciel for who is truly is, not the broken-down actor carrying around his brother's ghost. Our scientist saw OCeil at his lowest point and still came to respect him. She also was tricked by him but didn't try to get him arrested, so...🙄💅. I'm more of an On the grind 💪 appreciator than a girl boss, manipulate gaslight type. Gotta love a spider leg, girl.

Unlike Elizabeth, who has dealt with tragedy from a distance (and don't get me wrong, she hasn't had an easy ride. It's just more psychological/self-inflicted), Ciel and Sieglinde, these two pipsqueaks have been through hell and back but came out stronger. In short, they can relate to each other's pain more than others their age. Plus, she's super adorable and a genius who can keep up (and outsmart) Ciel and is unafraid to be herself. They might not win in a leg race, but they will destroy you on a chessboard♟️. The best girl in town deserves the worst boy in London 😈.

8/10- Don't witches 🧙‍♀️ love the devil or whatever? Hocus Pocus girl and contract boy can fangirl over the same demon together. Fandom goals

2. Diedrich & Vincent

Ah, Hello again, Vincent. You have shown up on this list more than the actual Manga. Anyway, WHEN I SAW THE PANEL, THE ONE WITH "THE DAYS SPENT WITH YOU ARE BURNED INTO A MEMORY," I WANTED TO CRY. OMFG. I LOVE IT SO MUCH 😭😭😭😭💖💖💖💖. They look so sweet together there🥺. I'm a bitch for dark English academia shit because I am basic AF. Like, don't come at me. I know dark academia has a somewhat problematic history, but Imma keep shoving it down my throat like how Diedrich shoves down those sandwiches😏. The relationship between Vincent and Diedrich is so angsty that I need some rain boots because it's pouring tears out here. Even years after Vincent dies, Diedrich remains loyal to him and tries to save his child (in his "I hate you but I serectly love you" way).

Now I can hear you exclaim, "well, Vincent basically enslaved German boy as his brother-servent thing," but let me tell you, if he wanted out, he could have just stayed in Germany, but that Guten Tag man kept visiting that fine British ass until the day that fine Britsh ass was burnt to a crisp. Vincent was hot until the day he died🔥. Diedrich even keeps a picture of their time together and thinks of it fondly, despite Vicent treating him like a lapdog. THIS MAN DIDN'T EVEN GET MARRIED!!!! WAS IT BECAUSE HE WAS TOO BUSY WITH VINCENT🤔🤔🤔???? Probably not, but for my sake, I will say yes. If Lana Del Ray's music was a couple, it would be this one. They are at number two because as much I love them, there is one ship I adore a bit more. Plus, Vincent has so many side pieces that I don't trust him to stay in a monogamous relationship.

8.5/10 - I wish I knew WHY Vincent chose Rachel over these icons. Like girl, we have no beef, but I need to understand how you collared Vincent🐕‍🦺.

1. Sebastian & Agni

HAHAHA, YOU MUST OF ALL KNOWN MY (DE)MAN WOULD HAVE TO BE A PART OF MY NUMBER ONE PAIR!!!! Oooooh, the scene where Sebastian said that Agni was the first person to ever call him a friend👌👌👌. Sebastian's first friend. Think about that. The AMOUNT OF ADMIRATION they had for one another. This is Sebastian "lol, humans are bugs I like to burn with my magnifying glass" Michaelis, who respects nothing but himself (and cats). Yet, he believed Agni to be an "exemplary butler" who lived up to his ~asethics~ and Agni, the literal right hand of Kali, reached out (no pun instead) to a DEMON and saw something worth appreciating. 

Sebastian even listened to his advice over Ciel's. His master and meal ticket. The guy he signed the bloody contract with. That's like if your lawyer turned to the opposition and said, "they make a fair point, and I agree my client is in the wrong." Like WHAT???? Seb values Agni's advice. A human. In Yana's own words, a species he views as nothing more than a cluster of pests. At best, they're amusing, like how a kid keeps an ant farm. Yet, Agni is different. Here the grasshopper has become the master🙇.

Their potential stepdad AUs were just up my ally. FOUND FAMILY ADMIRES UNITE! But I gotta admit, as much I love Soma, I would give him up for adoption if he was my kid. I can't deal with that level of extra. At the very least, he would go to theatre camp for the entire summer and boarding school, as is tradition for most rich British families. See, I'm not totally heartless😘! Talking about heartlessness, don't even get me started on Agni's death scene because I will ugly cry. When Sebastian dirtied himself with Agni's blood, even tho we all know that prissy bitch is more protective over his clothes than a runway model😔✊. That was the most upset we had ever seen him (outside of almost losing his son Ciel), and he seemed at least happy Agni died in peace. I doubt Sebastian can genuinely mourn, but now at least, he has double reason to hate Undertaker. 

In Conclusion, I just think they are neat.

9.5/10- YASS KING, WHISPER YOUR DEMON SHIT WHILE HE PRAYS TO KALI!!! However, I can't give this a perfect score because one half is dead, and I do not support necrophilia💀. I hope we get Ciel and Sebastian explaining to Soma that they did not kill his daddy and, in fact, were planning a family vacay🏖️. I swear to god, if they have Soma work with RCiel, Imma flip my lid like a fucking kettle. Overall, they would have been couple goals💏.

#LONG POST BITCHES #Black butler ships #🛳️🛳️🛳️ #kuroshitsuji #black butler #text post #sebastian michaelis #ciel phantomhive #elizabeth midford #mey rin #agni #agniseb #vincent phantomhive #madam red

[mach-speed-spin]

Rewatching Beywarriors Cyborg (link here and everyone should watch it) I noticed parallels between Gai and Flame’s battlers. The obvious parallels for both are with August (Gai and August serving Bran, and Sunburst vs Flame being the main conflict for almost half of the series). However, Stone and Flame both had rulers who the battlers didn’t like. With Lightning, the battlers liked their leader, and Sunburst’s king was also their main battler. But with Stone and Flame, the battlers went against their leaders’ wishes

Both Vargas nor Elder Stone (we don’t get his name in the series, but that’s what he’s called in casting) lose the loyalty of their battlers. In the case of Gai, this is a mistake on Gai’s part. Elder Stone didn’t do him any favors, but he made it clear from the start that Stone didn’t have the resources to help Gai, so he gave Gai the equivalent of thoughts and prayers and only confronted him when Gai invaded Hydro (which could’ve provoked a war)

With Vargas, the battlers were right to turn on him. General Vargas actively worsened things for Flame when he challenged Sunburst to a “final” battle, knowing he was risking Flame’s tokens. Then he scheduled the battle too soon, even though his battlers had just fought and needed time to recover. When Flame started to lose, he ran away instead of keeping his end of the deal (a terrible deal, but one he insisted on himself), and left the battlers to their own devices. And then when they lost (due to Vargas being shit at planning), he blamed the battlers. And then he decided to flood half of Flame with lava because it’d also weaken Sunburst. He’s up there with Bran in terms of villainy, but without any of Bran’s intelligence (or manipulation skills)

Why did Bran lure Gai first? Because of all the battlers he was at the lowest point. Why was that? Because Gai was alone. When Gai lost, he had no one to help him back up. When any other battler lost, they had a teammate that could fight the next battle while they recovered. Even without the other battlers, everyone had support other than Gai. Flame’s battlers lose? Homura stands up for them. Lightning loses? Sora and Dr. Prost are right there to help. Sunburst loses? August is their king. There’s an entire nation there for him. Gai loses? Nobody’s there for him, and when he goes back to Stone, they tell him to give up. In addition, Gai knows he’s at a disadvantage. Flame has military training and a crew right there to provide support. Lightning has Dr. Prost, who, outside of Hydro, has the most knowledge on how the warriors work. Sunburst’s battlers have the entire country at their disposal. Gai has himself

Gai saw no reason to listen to Elder Stone. He never did anything for him, and Elder Stone wasn’t there for Gai’s battles, so if Gai loses his support, there’s no difference. With Flame, it’s similar. They don’t need Vargas to support them, but in their case, it’s not that their leader isn’t there for them. Their leader is Homura. Vargas is the only leader who actively hinders the efforts of his own battlers. The true leader of Flame’s battlers, from their very first battle, was Homura

#beyblade #beywarriors #beywarriors cyborg