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grubuckets · 2 months ago

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Blood Color Science Explained!

A recent major reveal about Alternian society is its caste system, which is based on its members’ different blood colors. Knowing that Tavros has brown blood, Sollux yellow and Nepeta green, I’m going to assume that blood color corresponds to Trollian text color and shirt symbol color. So I’ll extrapolate that the colors on the Chumproll are the blood colors for all our trolls (except for Karkat, who hides his blood color).

In our world, mammals and land vertebrates universally have the same bright red blood as humans. Insects, sea creatures, amphibians and reptiles, however, sometimes evolve to have different blood colors. Trolls seem to be partially insectoid, as they hatch as larvae from a Mother Grub and have a cocoon stage. A lot of their language and technology is also based around grubs. They’re also split into land dwellers and sea dwellers, meaning some of them may have underwater adaptations. So, trolls already fit into the animal groups likely to have non-red blood.

Different proteins found in the blood of real creatures can cause blood to be red, brown, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple. Pink blood is possible in theory, though no known creatures have it. I think that trolls could mix and match these proteins in various concentrations and end up with any blood color on this spectrum.

Red – As you might know, the bright red pigment in human blood comes from hemoglobin. Specifically, it comes from a ring-shaped molecule called ‘heme’, which holds an iron atom at its center. Heme is crucial to human blood because of its ability to reversibly bind and transport oxygen, which is our blood’s main function. About ~15% of an average human’s blood by weight is hemoglobin, which makes the red pigment so intense – the rest is mostly plasma along with proteins and fats that facilitate the transport of this hemoglobin.

Brown – A dark, cool brown blood color is caused by methemoglobin, a very similar protein. The iron atom at the center of methemoglobin’s heme molecule has one electron fewer than the iron atom in hemoglobin, which makes it unable to bind oxygen. Methemoglobin doesn’t have a purpose in the blood and no animals have it as an essential component of their blood. It’s not harmful in itself, but high levels are an issue as they reduce the space available for hemoglobin, and therefore the amount of oxygen available.

Aradia’s blood is probably about 50/50 hemoglobin and methemoglobin according to this color chart; maybe as high as 40/60. In a human this would cause severe health problems and possible coma, but if trolls’ oxygen needs are only around half as high as humans’, this composition would be absolutely fine.

Orange – Orange blood results from the protein vitellogenin, which is found in all species who reproduce via eggs. It is a precursor to proteins found in egg yolks, which contribute to their orange color. Vitellogenin levels correlate with estrogen levels, and it is transported to the reproductive system via the blood. Cockroaches have transparent blood when their vitellogenin levels are low, but pale orange blood when they’re actively producing eggs and transporting this pigmented protein.

Tavros probably has high levels of vitellogenin in addition to moderate levels of methemoglobin. He might not have specific molecules for oxygen transport, however creatures with low oxygen requirements can survive from oxygen dissolved directly in blood plasma. A bigger question would be why Tavros is producing so many eggs, or has such high estrogen levels compared to other trolls, when all trolls play an equal role in reproduction. It’s possible this is linked in some way to his animal communion abilities.

Yellow – Yellow blood comes from vanabins, which are proteins that bind the metal vanadium, and are near-exclusively found in marine invertebrates known as sea squirts. It’s not known exactly what function vanabins serve in the blood or why sea squirts evolved to produce them – evidence suggests they’re not involved in oxygen transport, but potentially make blood toxic to predators.

Sollux’s blood probably contains very high levels of vanabins, possibly high enough levels that his blood is slightly toxic to himself, which might partially explain his ‘mutant brain’ and the extreme pain he suffers on a daily basis. As his blood is a slightly dirty yellow, he might also have low levels of hemovanadin (a pale green vanabin) and of methemoglobin.

Green – Green blood can be caused by a few different compounds. One is chlorocruorin, also known as ‘giant hemoglobin’, a variant of hemoglobin over 50 times its molecular weight (although this is only green at low concentrations). Another is sulfhemoglobin, which is methemoglobin with a sulfur atom added into its heme ring. The last is biliverdin, which is a broken heme ring without its attached metals or proteins. It’s sometimes present in human blood, and gives bruises their green pigment.

Of these, biliverdin is most commonly found in the animal kingdom. Prasinohaema skinks, Samkos bush frogs, and multiple species of fish all have green blood due to high biliverdin levels. Again it’s not known exactly what benefits this offers them, though infection resistance is one theory.

Nepeta, grimAuxiliatrix and Terezi all probably have biliverdin in their blood in various concentrations, and potentially combined with other pigments – Nepeta might also have low levels of vanabin, while Terezi likely has closer to a 50/50 mix of biliverdin and hemocyanin.

Blue – Blue blood is the second most common blood color in our animal kingdom (after red), and is caused by hemocyanin. This is an oxygen transport protein with a completely different structure to hemoglobin, which uses copper atoms to bind oxygen instead of iron atoms. It is less efficient an oxygen delivery than hemoglobin, so many animals using hemocyanin have evolved different lung structures to maximize their oxygen uptake, something else which might be true of the trolls.

Spiders, scorpions, snails, centipedes, crabs, octopi, and other arthropods and molluscs can all have blue blood due to using hemocyanin for oxygen transport. Spiders and scorpions are especially relevant, as arachnidsGrip is themed after these creatures and has bright blue blood. She, Terezi, centaursTesticle and Gamzee probably all have hemocyanin in their blood, either on its own or in combination with other pigments.

Purple – Purple blood is found in some marine worms and brachiopods, and comes from hemerythrin, another oxygen transport protein. Hemerythrin uses iron atoms to temporarily bind oxygen, just like hemoglobin, but its very different overall structure causes it to appear purple instead of red. A creature with hemerythrin-based blood has very low susceptibility to carbon monoxide poisoning, unlike red hemoglobin-based blood, which is extremely susceptible.

This probably isn’t why deep sea creatures have evolved hemerythrin (although they are not well studied in general), but it might be a factor for the trolls. Near the ocean’s surface, carbon monoxide levels are much higher than they are in the atmosphere, and the trolls with purple pigmented blood are those who live in or near the sea. Gamzee probably has a moderate amount of hemerythrin in his blood, while caligulasAquarium and cuttlefishCuller likely have very high levels. This could help protect them from carbon monoxide exposure.

Pink – Pink blood tragically isn’t found in nature (at least, not in any known species), but it theoretically could be. It’s possible that a protein which uses cobalt or manganese to bind oxygen, instead of iron or copper, would give a creature pink blood – and cuttlefishCuller may well have blood containing such proteins. Of course, there are plenty of other theoretical blood proteins which could lead to blood of all colors of the Trollslum rainbow, some of which might be more effective (and lead to a more consistent troll biology) than the others I’ve gone into here.

So, why do trolls have all these different blood colors? A lot of them appear to have psychic powers, which aren’t found in humans. Their bodies need to enable these abilities somehow, and it’s possible that the different proteins in their blood link to their different psychic abilities. For those who don’t have psychic powers, blood could be involved in defense, protecting against specific predators or diseases they’re more susceptible to without the powers to resist them. Different groups of trolls could also have adapted to different environments on Alternia – obviously, the sea dwellers live in the ocean, but there could also be major ecological differences between, say, Sollux’s city and Terezi’s woods, with their respective blood colors developing to fill those environmental niches.

However, since blood is linked to the caste system, it’s also possible that trolls’ blood is genetically engineered. Alternia has prior knowledge of Sburb, so likely has prior knowledge of ectobiology, including the techniques used to engineer a creature like Bec. If powerful entities on Alternia want to make their caste system seem like it’s based in innate biology, and is therefore immutable, it’d be in their interests to alter trolls’ biology directly. And since trolls are all hatched together in large quantities from a single Mother Grub, a team of genetic engineers would have access to all the new trolls at once as they’re created and hatched. So in a practical sense, this would be easy to achieve with the right technology.

If this is true, it’s also possible that trolls naturally have colorless blood, something already observed in some insects and in the crocodile icefish. Blood without any specific pigment is colorless by default as blood plasma is mostly water, and these animals dissolve oxygen directly into their plasma, with higher volumes of blood and low oxygen needs to allow for this less efficient method. If trolls have colorless blood, then their genetically engineered blood colors might be more like fluorescent tracers – chemicals that aren’t supposed to interfere with their blood’s function, but that allow trolls to be tracked and, in their case, differentiated. The trolls’ genetic modifications would mean that their bodies don’t eliminate these tracers, but continue to synthesize them. Karkat, then, could be a troll who somehow slipped through the cracks as a grub, and doesn’t have any blood color at all.

It’s already been confirmed that yellow blood is lower caste, green middling, and blue upper – so it’s likely that the Chumproll runs in order of caste, lowest to highest. However, as a pure color spectrum, it’s a circle – cuttlefishCuller’s high-caste pink blood is only one step away from Aradia’s low-caste red, and their blood probably has a lot more in common with each other than either of theirs does with grimAuxiliatrix’s green. So even if the trolls’ caste system wasn’t engineered and comes from a naturally occurring difference, it’s still socially constructed, because someone decided that red/pink would be the cutoff between low and high castes. Alternia didn’t have to be that way, and it could be changed.

#colorless blood karkat is actually so cool #his last name is literally vantas #ALL OF THIS is so cool #ref

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grubuckets · 2 years ago

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How do u make your horns?

I use paperclay (ignore the cherubplay notif lmao) over aluminum foil for small horns and insulation foam or styrofoam for big horns. For styrofoam you want the kind made out of bubbles, not the crunchy kind.

(Also comes in pink and purple, you can find insulation foam boards at Home Depot or Lowes or places like that. They’re very big so if you have a tiny car like me you’ll have to snap it into manageable chunks in the parking lot to fit it in and you’ll have everyone stare at you)

Here’s an aluminum foil base. Sorry about the gross carpet s:

Here’s insulation foam bases. To make these you cut out the shape of your horns and hot glue several layers together (if you’re using thin layers) then sand them into shape. You do the same thing when using styrofoam except you can’t sand that I think? Granted I never tried, I just used scissors or an xacto blade and hacked off chunks.

Stick your clay on and don’t worry about making them super smooth or anything, it doesn’t matter. Just don’t put on a ton of clay; the less clay the better because it means the horns aren’t as heavy. Ideally you want the finished product to be a few millimeters thick, with the tips of horns being thicker to prevent breakage. Let them dry, don’t sand until they’re fully dry.

Also another important thing. Don’t do that thing where people don’t add enough clay to the bottoms of their horns. Rounded bottoms don’t look good and look fake af. That’s not how actual horns grow so make sure you add extra clay to the bottom. When you’re done with these you don’t want the horns to taper at the bottom; the bottom should be your thickest point and it should be flat.

When they’re dry I take an xacto blade and cut off any lumps to help make sanding go by faster.

Sanding is the most important part, it’s how you get nice, smooth horns. I start off with 60 grit sandpaper and sand until smooth, then I add on more paperclay to any uneven parts, cracks, dents, and areas that are too thin. If there’s aluminum foil or foam showing through, cut some of it out then refill with clay. Wait until dry, resand, and repeat as necessary until the horns are perfect. It’s very tedious and annoying but boy is the final product Noice. After that I sand them with 360 grit sandpaper to remove the marks left by the 60 grit (360 grit is super fine while 60 grit is rough.)

^^^ the same pair of horns, post sanding. Next to them is the insulation foam core before I sanded it into shape. At this point you can poke a hole in the bottom of the horns and hot glue in a screw anchor.

Here’s a pile of sanded horns ready to be painted. After you sand, the last thing you need to do is angle the bottoms (Some horns won’t need to be angled, like Terezi horns.) If the bottom isn’t properly angled your horns will stick out badly. I cut off just a tiny bit (I start off with around ¼ to 1/8 of an inch) to get the horns to point more inwards/backwards/wherever they need to go, you don’t need to lop off a ton. Start off with a little, it’s easier to cut off more than to re-add more clay because you cut off too much. Every time I cut some off I screw them into the wig to see how they stand up. This is also a good time to say that once you’re completely done with your horns it’s probably a good idea to replace the screw anchor since it could be pretty stripped. You might not screw yours into a wig to test them as much as I do, and if not then you might be fine.

Your horns should be ready to paint at this point. Wipe them down with some damp toilet paper to remove any dust first in order to prevent lumps in the paint.

I use cheapo acrylics to paint my horns. I like my yellow to be thick but my orange and red to be thin to paint on layers easier, but it all depends on how you like to paint your horns. If your paint is too thick you can simply water it down. I also like to GENTLY sand off any bumps in the paint with my fine grit sandpaper between layers. Once they’re painted, seal them. I use Krylon aerosol sprays to seal them but I heard from someone that you can use Mod Podge hard coat as well? I like sprays because there’s no brush marks, but if you use those spongy brushes that could be a good way to eliminate brush strokes with Mod Podge. I’ve never tried it so don’t take my word for it.

If you want shiny horns get the spray in gloss. I use two different sprays, both matte finish, but one says dries in minutes and the other says clear latex finish (look where the red line is). I apply the latex one first and the dries in minutes one after.

I use the screw method to install my horns. Horns on headbands looks downright awful. I used to use cardboard to stick the screws through but I use wonderflex now (the white stuff) but use whatever you’d like, so long as it’s sturdy. Make sure to use a washer (the donut looking thing) so the screw doesn’t push through the cardboard/wonderflex/whatever you have. For Captor horns I use a single piece of wonderflex per side because it’s a lot easier to screw them in if they had separate pieces per horn instead.

Screw anchors WILL get stripped eventually from screwing and unscrewing horns (you can tell when because your horn is no longer stable on your head and it wiggles around everywhere.) Just take some pliers and yank them out then hot glue in a new pair.

^ Screw anchors look like that.

For Nitram horns and tall horns like Makara horns, I screw them in as well but I also stabilize them with wire. I don’t exactly remember which gauge wire I use but I think it’s like… 14 or something??

Make sure to shape them to your head. Not too tight or else you’ll get a wicked headache while wearing your wig and horns. I make a hole in the wonderflex next to the screw hole and also a hole in the horn to stick the wire through; I screw the horns in first then shove the wire in. For Nitram horns angle the wires up to account for the weight of the horns so they don’t droop on your head. You’ll be able to angle horns whichever way you need if there’s wire in them.

(Ignore the yellow text.)

The pictures above were for a pair of tall horns, just stick one side in and bend the wire at the middle to get the other side in then rebend to its original shape.

This pair was specifically requested to be on a headband (which I don’t do anymore) but the ONLY time I will put horns on a headband is if they’re MONSTER HORNS that need more support.

The headband goes UNDER the wig and the screws stick out of the wig, then you can screw the horns on that way. I do this for Dammek horns, ancestor horns, or big fantroll horns where wire support isn’t enough to keep them up.

Sometimes horns break, but they’re easily fixable. (God, a lot of these next pictures are of old horns and the paintjob sux, gomen)

This is a picture of Dammek’s horns when they broke while being sanded. I removed all the broken clay and added new clay. This was also during a stage where I was repairing thin spots.

That’s what they look like fixed. Notice the different colors from the patch job. Sometimes when I’m in a rush I’ll bake the horns to speed up drying but ONLY do that if your core is made of aluminum foil DO NOT bake your horns if the core is made of foam, it’ll melt. The darker clay is from when I baked it and the lighter clay is the patch job.

This is from when someone at a con snapped one of Dammek’s horns right in half.

Cut away any hanging bits and sand away some paint around the edge of the hole, then add some paperclay and let it dry. Sand it and repaint and reseal and they’ll be good as new. If there’s a crack, superglue it shut and fill in any gaps and paint over it.

If you get a huge dent in your horns (This is one of my Tavros horns, which tend to be a little more fragile due to their size) Just cut away the clay and do what you’d do for horns made of foil. When transporting Nitram horns please please bubble wrap the hell out of them, especially if you’re flying. Airports are not kind to your luggage and this is the result of someone tossing my luggage around really badly when I hadn’t bubble wrapped my horns.

This is the horns mid-fixing after discovering that huge dent. I smack these against everything when wearing them so I fixed other dents and holes while I was at it.

If there’s anything else you need to know feel free to ask me!

#i dont cosplay but i do want my own horns lol #ref

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