#and other notable docs

[ozymdis]

just out here reading these silly fanfics. and by silly..haha..let’s just say: the most gut wrenching, turmoil causing, heart aching, tear gushing, phone throwing, pillow sobbing, guttural screaming, wall punching, sleep avoiding, tension making, friendship ending, mutual reccommending, comment sending, kudos giving WORK OF LITERATURE I HAVE EVER DARED TO LAY MY FEEBLE MORTAL EYES UPON.

[arcade-confetti]

Man the Jaybin doc is gonna take forever

[maramahan]

Realizing my niche as a ttrpg character-player is “Guy local to (and considered ordinary by) the primary setting/culture who serves as guide and/or handler to the rest of the party”

I just. really enjoy having deep roots within a fantasy world and making sure we get to engage with the fun stuff that’s unique to whatever setting :)

[whhomecooked]

Julie Is Disabled:

A Partially Coherent Yap Session & Welcome Home

Theory

MANY SPOILERS- SPOILERS ON SPOILERS- I mention just about every single inch of the Spring Update

[Pretty Much Just A Deep Dive of Julie in the context of the Spring Update]

Content Warnings: Ableism [Social and Internalized], Complex/Unhealthy Family Dynamics[Brief]

This has been sitting in my drafts since I started this sideblog LOL I have 4 pages of a Google Doc + Screenshots to prove my point <3 Settle in, Neighbor

Thesis

Julie has a disability and/or a birth defect, that influences her ability to do her job as a Rainbow Monster, either hindering it or rendering her unable to do her job at all. This also influences her perception of self, and the version of herself that she puts forth to cope with her aforementioned disability.

I've separated my points for your viewing pleasure, Neighbor @:]

For the purposes of this theory I am also of the belief that the Marlo Flower is a Winter Flower, as some theories suggest based on its nature and coloration.

Theory

Her Differences As a Rainbow Monster

Julie is very different from what we know about Rainbow Monsters. Visually, she differs from her siblings greatly. However, from what we know about Rainbow Monsters in general, there's some other criteria she doesn't quite meet.

Horns

In What Makes The Flowers Bloom, The Joyfuls tell us about Rainbow Monster Horns.

Rainbow Monsters have special horns that grow in sunshine and shed when it's cold. Rainbow monster Horns come in all different shapes and colors, but the bigger the better obviously.

Sharp cut to Julie's horns, which aren't just short, they're stunted.

Im aware that there is also concept art featuring Julie with horns of two different sizes. While I'm aware it is not canon, it does imply that there is some aspect of her character that has been fundamentally off-beat[pun intended] from the standard Rainbow Monster since her creation. It just presents differently than it did then.

We can look at Bea's horns in comparison, as she not only has the shortest horns of the three, but we also see the base of her horns.

Julie's horns are also shaped differently due to their size. At least with Franny and Bea, [though we don't see the base of Jonesy's horns im sure its the same case] they flare out in the middle and get smaller at the base, whereas Julie's get even wider at their base.

If she were to have some sort of birth defect/disability/etc, it would make sense that we would see physical aspects of this, as we do in the real world.

Though, yes, they are her actual horns, and not fake horns, as we see.

Color

Also in What Makes The Flowers Bloom, Jonesy [I love that little pothead<3] talks about how Rainbow monsters can come in any color, but all rainbow monsters are one color.

"Rainbow monsters come in all hues toos! From our heads to our roots, from our leaves to our nose! We stick to one color, so that together we're totally kaleidoscopic!"

Julie being multiple colors makes her not only stand out from standard Rainbow Monsters, but would, in theory, make her clash with the rest of her band, and I think she knows that.

I would also note that she's not just multicolored, she's the same colors as her siblings, with orange/yellow horns,, and blue/green legs. Which, to me, clashes further with the idea that Jonesy gives, with each Rainbow Monster being their own color so that every band is some portion of the rainbow. If Julie had been just pink[red], they would have had every color, as the central color palette Clown uses for the neighbors doesn't include purple.

Again, her being multicolored clashes too harshly with information we are told directly by other members of her species, for it to not be applicable. It's clear she stands out, but combined with other things we see, im inclined to think that her coloration is the dogwhistle.

Fur [The Lack Thereof]

Jonesy, Franny, and Bea, are all shown to have fur, most notably in their Devotion album color, where we can see they have fur on their chests and shoulders. Julie is never shown to have fur on her.

I checked the whole damn site. Even the storybooks, because you don't see her chest or shoulders in her normal outfit. So I found outfits where you could. In Sweet Briar, you see her collar and shoulders in one of the outfits she wears.

I also verified with different art styles, where other characters had notable fur.

While we're never directly told that Rainbow Monsters have fur, we're indirectly told that at least, of Rainbow Monsters, the Joyfuls have fur. With it being everyone but Julie, and my previous points, i'm not inclined to think that Julie's siblings are the odd ones out of the Rainbow Monsters.

Speaking With Plants

While in the hidden videos she does talk about not being able to speak to flowers while they're budded, we also have no real confirmation that she can talk to *any* flowers. There are two notable times that I think of when she mentions speaking for the flowers.

Eddie & the Rhododendron

She bullies Eddie into fighting 'the flower' after she accuses him of almost stepping on it. She doesn't need to *talk* to a flower to know it wouldnt enjoy almost being stepped on.

Sally & Her Tulips

This one is the first one that peaked my theoriest ears, but, the way Julie talks for the flowers really feels like she's just pulling stuff out of her Puppet Sleeve. She doesnt compliment Sally outside of the very basic things you can either see about her

Julie compliments how she shines, how pointy she is, how yellow she is, etc. in addition to very base level things anyone would be able to parse out about Sally, such as how Julie attributes the well-cared for nature of the flowers to Sally's passion for theatre.

Neither of these scenarios require her to actually speak for these flowers, just for people to assume she can.

Internalized Ableism, Complex Family Dynamics, & The Marlo Flower

What is Her Job, Like Actually?

So i'm the last person to bring real world logic into a puppet realm where sentient houses are casual things, especially in the case of these three, but what does Julie actually do? Her role in spring seems inconsequential, compared to the other three. If we lay out each of their roles in beginning spring, it'd be split up like this:

Franny

Makes the snow melt and turn into rain/morning dew

Gives the plants water, which they need to grow

Jonesy

Makes the seeds take root/sprout

starting the growth process all together.

Bea

makes the sun shine. Allows the now budding plants to make food and actually grow.

Essentially kickstarts photosynthesis

And Julie... makes the already sprouted, fed, and watered plants.. bloom?

The way i've come to interpret it, the central purpose of the role is to make her feel included. Her presence in the band is largely inconsequential to the grand scheme of things. The flowers have soil, water, and sunlight- they are going to bloom regardless.

To a degree I think she is aware of that, or is at least aware that her role isn't as crucial to spring as her brother and sisters are. That's why

A: She takes it so seriously, and why I think she tweaks out when the Marlo Flower doesn't bloom. The one thing she is supposedly tasked with doing, she cant do now that she really has to.

B: she doesn't want to join the band after leaving the first time.

We're going to look at both of these, most likely in depth.

Julie's Villain Arc, Sponsored By: Flowers and Fake Friends

Brief Reminder: For the purposes of this theory I am also of the belief that the Marlo Flower is a Winter Flower, as some theories suggest based on its nature and coloration.

The Marlo flower doesn't just act as a literal flower that cant bloom, but can perhaps be viewed as a foil of sorts to Julie in this update. This flower not only serves as a medium for which the audience can get a view into Julie's internal thought, but, a secondary perspective into the life of Home, and how Julie sees the world.

Throughout Welcome Home's updates we've seen a strengthening theme of Purpose, specifically the need for it, and loss of a sense of purpose within the community. Julie's sense of purpose is crushed by the existence of the Marlo Flower, but her 'crashout' is intensified, perhaps, by her rocky standings within her own chosen community.

In The Julie Guide To Being Joyful, Julie explicitly lies to Wally about her attitude/relationships with the neighbors, in order to show him what joy is. We know she lies because in the 'regardforgetfulnesssilence' video, Julie speaks to what we can assume to be the truth of her day interacting with her neighbors. In context of the book, we can assume this is to provide Wally with concrete examples of good interactions between the neighbors. In context of the update, this is Julie lying to herself, Wally, or both, in order to keep up the ideation and appearance that she is well loved within her community, when inside she knows she isn't.

A [Not] Brief Comparison of The Book & Hidden Video

Yes, I screenshotted every page, because, yes, i have comments about every page. Going in page order, i'll be comparing and contrasting the lines used in The Julie Guide To Being Joyful, and the lines spoken by Julie in 'regardforgetfulnesssilence', titled as 'Book' and 'Video' respectively from here and forward.

Barnaby

Book: "The last time we played, we both had so much fun even if it did take him a whole clock spin to find me!"

Video: "Home is really nice... through some people can be a little rude... Barnaby is always makin' fun of me, calling me a silly girl.."

Barnaby's neutral language towards Julie is very consistent through the material we've seen between them. Most often this takes the form of Barnaby making fun of Julie for her bad jokes, though he also has no qualms making fun of Julie & Frank in tandem.

Sally

Video: "And Sally's funny, she's a gen-u-ine star! She tells the best stories"

Book: "The Duchess of Dahlia's jubilations have never been so emotionally vivaciously joyous! It's pulchritudinous!"

With Sally I had initially nothing I wanted to cover, as her words seemed fairly standard- theatrical and overdramatic. But, I did some digging and found out that 'Duchess of Dahlia's is a type of Dahlia flower- one of the largest and tallest growing, if I remember correctly. But the interesting thing to note is if you take it in the context of floriography, Dahlias represent Instability. In which case, it would be intentional for Sally to make such a specific reference to a flower Julie would already know the meaning of. Just food for thought.

Poppy

"Poppy is really nice and reeeally big! She's kind of a scaredy bird though"

In Poppy's case I can't immediately tell if Julie knows she's being dismissive of her, because it might not immediately ring alarm bells for Julie that Poppy doesn't want any of the pie that they've just baked.

Eddie

[continued from Poppy's] "Eddie can be that way too"

Eddie, I think, perhaps along with Wally & Frank, is the only person that I believe is genuinely nice to her because they want to be nice to her.

Howdy

Book: "Julie you're hi-larious! I oughtta put two cherries on your malt for all these uproarious laughs your givin' me! This is the bee's knees, This is the berries! Applesauce!"

Video: "Howdy tells me to get better material sometimes, too..."

We can observe the contradictions between how Julie says their interactions go, and how their interactions actually went best with Howdy's. It's not even a slight smudge of the truth, it's an outright lie in order to keep up the idea that everyone likes her.

Frank [technically]

Video: "But I think I like Frank most of all. He's the first one I met when I came to Home... I was just like you, I didn't know anyone when I came here. (she sounds worried) "It's... kind of hard to remember how we met. But, I think it was while I was making my burrow... He fell into my tunnel from above. He had a big fruit basket, too, I think he was coming to say hi to me

Julie's relationship to the Marlo Flower & The Joyfuls

Julie's relationship with the Marlo flower, from my perspective, is a physical representation of her trying and failing to hide the severity of a sort of disability she's representative of, in the same way one can assume Wally has Autism judging by the way he interacts with the world around him.

In begging and eventually trying to force the flower to bloom, she is effectively trying to fight an uphill battle to prove that she's capable, even though her disability limits her too severely to accomplish her goals in a way that satisfies her internal need to be perceived as useful to the rest of home, and capable to the rest of the Joyfuls. She doesn't want people to think less of her because of this disability, so she tries harder in spite of these failures. This eventually leads to what we can assume is Julie ripping up the flower.

It's implied Frank knows that Julie is going off to check on the Marlo Flower, and him accepting her excuse suggests he is at least mildly aware of her predicament and the stakes it carries for her. Less we forget she took him to see it once already. He knows where it is, and he's not stupid to miss a detail like that.

At the same time, I think her internal need to be perceived and socially accepted as useful and capable is ALSO why she doesn't want to join the band again, if not why she left in the first place. She's the one person in her family that is incapable of doing the very thing Rainbow Monsters are supposed to be able to do- the very thing that separates them from other species living in the world of Home, and she, again, doesn't want to be a burden or hinderance, especially to her family.

We can connect this back to the aforementioned themes of ableism within my earlier texts, in addition to the theme of Purpose we're seeing in the wider story [most notably with Eddie in the Homewarming update]. However, Julie's case focuses on her internalized ableism, brought on by a socially perceived need for contribution. What is she to Home if she has no distinctive use or function in the neighborhood? What's to stop her from being kicked out or replaced if she doesn't pull her weight, and being sent back to live with her family?

Which is to say, Julie's sense of purpose, as is being tested within this update, lies in a skill she may not even have the base ability to perform. If she should actually be lying about her Rainbow Monster abilities, it spells trouble for her future when she cant legitimately put this skill to use when she needs it. The Marlo flower exists to amplify and better present this fragile sense of belonging and purpose Julie has created for herself, and in destroying the flower ina. desperate attempt to continue to seem useful and capable, seals herself and Frank into a situation I am sure will come back to bite them in the future.

Small Afternote: If you’re into welcome home theories, my entire blog is dedicated to that, and I’d appreciated if you checked it out :) If you have any questions, want me to elaborate, or have counter theories, I’d love to hear them! My asks are also open for any reason ^^

[lupoteodoro]

Guide for the recent BoB fandom information explosion

Essentially, the US Army and Heritage Education Center possesses a vast collection of materials related to Dick Winters, which served as the original source for writing the book Band of Brothers and for the production of the TV series. This includes a huge amount of photocopies of Winters' personal papers and personnel documents; photocopies of correspondence, memoirs, news clippings, oral history transcripts, and photographs from the men in Easy Company.

There are a total of 20 boxes, containing 100+ PDF documents that can be read online, involving most of the E Company soldiers whose names we can recognize.

These materials may have been on the internet for many years, but no one paid attention until very recently.

Here are some notable files among these materials: The complete catalog of the Dick Winters collection

Dick Winters interview in Aug 1990

Another Winters interview transcript with 10 pages all about Nix

Lewis Nixon file

Harry Welsh file

Ron Speirs file

Carwood Lipton file

Herbert Sobel file

Doc Roe file

Bill Guarnere file

Babe Heffron file

David Webster file

Floyad Talbert file

Skip Muck file

Don Malarkey oral history: 1/4 2/4 3/4 4/4

Johnny Martin file

Bull Randelman file

Joe Toye file

George Luz file

Band of Brothers TV series "Bible": 1/4 2/4 3/4 4/4

...

For all other materials, you can search on the main page here: https://arena.usahec.org/

ps, you can also find the 506's newsletters from the late 70s-early 90s: The Five-O-Sink

[thewertsearch]

JOHN: are you sure you can't make it go any faster? JOHN: i mean, not to sound too demanding, but… JOHN: didn't you say you can teleport stuff? JOHN: why not teleport us there? JADE: i cant! JADE: not here, at least

I thought as much. Jade's powers probably don't work in the Furthest Ring, because if they did, she could have brought Rose, Dave and the trolls to this Prospitian ship during Cascade. Her teleportation is probably limited to contiguous areas of conventional space, and the Hussieverse is anything but conventional.

JADE: becs powers draw from the green sun JADE: and the green sun presides over our universe JADE: many universes actually! and the sessions that created them, as well as the sessions created within them JADE: including the trolls universe and their session JADE: think of it like a giant solar system, but instead of planets revolving around the sun, there are many universes

Back when Rose was outlining the Tumor plan to Dave, I referred to the Green Sun as a core of reality - and it seems that's even more true than I thought.

In addition to powering the First Guardians' magic, the Sun also serves as the metaphysical nexus point of all Sburb-generated universes, as well as their associated sessions. Since we've never been given any reason to believe that non-Sburb universes exist, the Sun appears to 'preside' over all possible universes.

It almost sounds like the Sun is reality - and its creation was masterminded by Doc Scratch. The more you think about it, the worse it gets.

JADE: so, bec was able to teleport anywhere in the universe he wanted in an instant, much faster than light JADE: jack was able to do this too, within our session, and then when i inherited those powers from jadesprite, so could i JADE: but we could only teleport locally JADE: which means, bec could jump to anywhere in our universe, but not to another universe, or into a session JADE: and jack could jump to anywhere in our session, but not outside it

In other words, First Guardians can only teleport to locations they could physically travel to, from their current position.

During Cascade, for example, Jade could teleport to anywhere in her session, but it was impossible for her to reach other sessions, because those sessions didn't have a consistent physical location relative to her own. Similarly, Bec could teleport from Earth to anywhere else in his universe, but not into sessionspace, for the same reason an observer on Earth couldn't point towards a Sburb session. They're on different planes entirely.

tl;dr: to reach a given location via Space, Jade needs a well-defined direction to move in...

...and since moving to another session involves Furthest Ring travel, no such direction exists.

JADE: we cant even jump to the green sun itself, even though we sort of serve as a gateway to it, and all its energy

This, I believe, is the one notable exception to the rule above.

No matter where they currently are, a First Guardian can always open a portal to the Green Sun.

It doesn't sound like they can enter this portal themselves, though. Well, I suppose that makes sense - after all, they are the portal, and you can't move through your own body.

Could Jade reach into that portal, and fetch someone from the Sun, though? I suppose if that was possible, Jack would've just pulled Aradia right back out again, so I think the portal is completely inaccessible to the Guardian who embodies it.

JADE: and once we leave the suns domain, our travel is limited by the speed of light, like everyone else! JADE: for example, the furthest ring is not in the suns domain JADE: it is more like the suns medium, allowing it to exist

The Sun's domain includes, at minimum, every Sburb session in existence, alongside every universe they've produced. The Ring, however, can't be a domain, because it's not really part of conventional reality.

Yes, it may be the scaffolding on which reality is built, but the scaffolding is not part of the building.

[lactoseintolerentswag]

Rise Characterizations

Last month I did an in-depth re-watch of rottmnt s1 to take some notes on writing the characters of rise from their perspective and such. Figured I'd share what I found, but I'm also posting this bc my docs have a nasty habit of blipping out of existence.

We'll start with Raph bc he's the oldest of course, but I'll post the others sep. bc this is gonna get long!!

Raph Character Notes

Language Habits:

Catchphrases: "like a boss", "smash"

Verbalizes his attacks such as "smash", "knuckle sandwich", "power smash jitsu", "tonfa power jitsu", "mystic punch jitsu"

Uses older song titles for surprised exclamations or in place of cursing, most notably "jumping jack flash!"

Uses aave/bae, For example: 'em instead of them, 'ey instead of they, 'cause instead of because, forgoes the g in ing words (going becomes goin')

Uses less and less grammar the more he's stressed, and his voice will come to a higher pitch

Will speak in a softer tone to his little brothers if he's concerned about hurting their feelings. Aka babying them

Mixes up both metaphors and idioms. Would be one to say how the turn tables unironically

Does say "hero" a lot, lost count, especially in phrases like "hero town"

Refers to his brothers as "boys" or "fellas"

Refers to Splinter as "pop(s)" most often

Refers to strangers he's directly talking to as "bubs" or "hoss"

Personality:

Protective of his family

Plays up the hero act/has a strong sense of duty and justice

Impatient, rushes in without a plan (pre-movie), doesn't finish books until the end, falls asleep during "boring movies"

Oblivious, doesn't read into things beyond surface level. Struggles with empathy when something is beyond his understanding, but is still very emotional

Center of responsibility for his brothers, but also has a reckless sense of fun. As long as it's him doing the stupid unsafe thing it's fine

Carries the weight, in a literal sense he piggy backs his brothers, but will also use his body as a shield from danger. Unfortunately this also means he takes his brothers a little less seriously (Mikey the most common victim), and will try and either protect them from everything or as an oldest sibling everything has go "his way"

Doesn't do well in solitude. Needs to be looking after people to feel functional, and needs to be around people to feel safe

Clumsy, "takes horrible pictures", isn't very good at hiding, he's a big guy so it probably took a lot of time to find balance

A sweet guy who still won't shy from making fun of his family. Leo tends to be the brunt of his teasing since he is the most annoying, but he will also poke Donnie on his dramatics

Likes cute things!!! Has a teddy bear collection and loves animals. It's so cool how this isn't played off as a joke and he's still just as masculine for liking pink and cutesy stuff

Likes fighting!!! Gets a lot of energy out defeating bad guys (where he directs his anger towards), the one who is shown to train the most, and also weight lifts in his spare time

Doesn't do well under pressure, here the anger comes out the most. He gets stressed when it's all on him, especially since he tends to mess up the most in these moments

Miscellaneous:

Second to unlock mystic powers

Nicknames/codenames: "raph-a-doodle" by leo, "red rover" by april, "red king" by donnie

Teddy bear names: Doctor Huggenstein, Captain Snuggles, Cheech

Stinks: fear stink, amazement stink, sneaking up on people stink, victory stink

Seems to be less afraid of rabbits and more afraid of puppets

Went on his first solo mission at 13

Cannot lift a bus, at age 15

Thought about discussing fighting style, but I'm not as familiar with that concept and I've seen a couple posts dissecting such topic. So we'll end here for now. Hope this was helpful!!! I'll post the rest of the boys later and link here

Leo is up!!

Donnie is up!!

Mikey is up!!

Splinter is up!!

April is up!!

Cassandra is up!!

Baron Draxum is up!!

[chiming-bluebells]

༘⋆ ꙳ now introducing: lexi in her maze runner dr !!!! ⋆ ˚｡ ⋆ ˚｡

close relatives: an oak tree and a human.

˖˙ ᰋ ⋆ ˚ ⊹ യ *◞ ˚ ꕀ .*

LOADING . . . W.C.K.D. SUBJECT FILE.

[ AUTHORISED ] password: **********

ꗃ a͟c͟c͟e͟s͟s͟ gr͟a͟n͟t͟e͟d by AVA PAIGE

project.LILITH

[ 24 / 6 / 2xxx, 21:00 ]

PROFILE. DAY 862 : THE MAZE TRIALS

「 S͟U͟B͟J͟E͟C͟T͟ A͟2͟2 ⊹ LEXI ⊹ ,,LILITH” ⊹ 21 Y/O

full name: classified.

subject information: arrival of subject A22 marks the 365th day since the initiation of the maze trials. notably, A22 is the first female individual assigned to group a. while she does not occupy a leadership position within the group, she actively participates in group meetings, and her contributions are frequently regarded as valuable by peers.

subject demonstrates extensive knowledge in medical care and human physiology, consistent with expectations given her prior specialized training. despite undergoing memory surpression (the swipe), A22 appears to retain vague memories from her pre-trial life. she has been observed engaging in discussions regarding the nature and purpose of the trials, often hypothesizing with other group members. distinctive feature of subject is a dragonfly tattoo located between her shoulder blades.

memo: subject A22 submitted a request for items (1) an unspecified quantity of medjool dates and (2) a new skirt. request for medjool dates has been approved. send up a bundle of dates with the box 1/7. request for a new skirt has been denied. no clothing item will be issued at this time.

HER‎♡ : S͟U͟B͟J͟E͟C͟T͟ A͟5 ⊹ NEWT ⊹ ,,the GLUE” ⊹ 22 Y/O 」

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GLADE MOTHER ꕤ since the moment she arrived in the box, LEXI WITHOUT-A-LAST-NAME has disjointed the predictable monotony of the glade in more ways than one. as the first and second-to-last girl to join group a, she quite stirred things up her first few days. ( scene: confusion, chaos, gatherings in the council hall, and… oh, she’s alright… wait, why do the farm animals have bows on them? in that precise order. end scene. )

despite the initial havoc that her unforeseen appearance caused, she quickly established her presence in the glade as a level-headed and skilled med-jack. together with fellow colleagues, best friends and partners-in-crime clint and jeff, lexi spends her daily hours tending to hurt gladers; using her extensive medical knowledge to soothe the runners’ swollen ankles, stitching up slicers, and acting as an anchor for any soul who happen to stumble into the med-hut that day; earning her the endearing nicknames ”glade mother” by some, ”doc” by others, ”the little lady” by most, and ”lexapexaroo” by those wanting to annoy her.

first swede in the american crowd. second european (first would be newt. and yes, the two best friends have indeed trauma-bonded over this fact more than once. they have an agreement: he lets her speak in swedish to him, she lets him speak in gaeilge to her…….not that they understand each other’s mother tongues, but she has indeed memorised the irish expressions ”mo ghrá” and ”grá mo chroí” by heart. i digress…..) lexi’s infamous first words to being asked whether she speaks english or not was ”sparingly.” don’t assume this is her admitting incapability; she is rather well-versed in the english language. this is simply her nordic humour peaking through — she’ll speak to you only when she wants to. and how much she speaks is entirely up to her. better get used to the swedish silence.

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if she’s not in the med-hut playing doctor, then she’s most likely in the kitchen together with frypan acting as his sous chef. and if she’s not doing that, then she’s probably lying in the grass somewhere or on the floor of the homestead. despite being warmly received and considered part of the glader family by now, most still have a difficult time figuring her out. maybe it’s her (at times…as in rarely exhibited…) stoic nature, or the way her mere presence hums of something ancient and otherworldly; the way her intuition leads her with scary accuracy, or how she just manages to know the unknown with little to no explanation….there is something about lexi and her nature that is both fascinating and terrifying to the other gladers.

her free time is spent reading any book that gathers dust in the library of the homestead (yes, the homestead has a library. and yes, lexi is probably one of few who ever steps inside of it….. she reads. how she reads. too much, some would argue. but all-round education has never hurt anyone, she usually tells them), petting the cat ginger and cuddling bark the non-barking dog, creating mischief and pulling pranks on minho (while she’s tying his shoelaces together in impossible knots, he’s filling her ballet flats with mountains of glitter the creators decided to entertain him with), or painting artworks of gladers and and the glade itself in her little sketchbook. she takes great pride in her artworks, which she deems as an extension of herself, and in turn a way to subconsciously connect with her forgotten past. if she shows up with hands covered in charcoal or watercolour paint, don’t worry, she simply tried to remember something.

all in all, lexi has cemented herself into the glader culture with pure stubbornness — the same old stubbornness as she so often uses to her advantage. her loyalty lies not in the glade, but rather in its people. and she shows her deep-seated love for them with her ways to create a home out of this god-forsaken place. from weaving flower crowns for the farm animals to hanging bouquets of flowers upside down in every corner of the homestead, she is indeed a tiny speck of colour (all white linen outfits) inside the towering walls of the maze.

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FRAGMENTS OF HER SOUL ꕤ ⋆ sentimentality and a sense of wistfulness ⋆ sweet love letters dedicated to life and the universe ⋆ chaotic and artistic collages ⋆ messy watercolour palettes ⋆ lace and linen ⋆ eyes sparkling with mischief ⋆ wishing upon a shooting star ⋆ a sense of belonging and acceptance ⋆ a genuine smile from a stranger ⋆ pressed flowers and dried bouquets ⋆ flickering candles ⋆ pink carnations and baby’s breath ⋆ wooden stairs and pillars ⋆ cocooning oneself in a soft blanket ⋆ hands smudged with charcoal ⋆ birches and sturdy oak trees ⋆ warm summer rain ⋆ almonds and fresh medjool dates ⋆

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THE RECORD PLAYER IS ON . . . ꕤ the songs that best encapsulate her character. lyrics accounted for !!

◞ välkommen in by veronica maggio

◞ jako by ladaniva

◞ genesis by alkyone

◞ human by daughter

◞ soft universe by aurora

◞ hela huset by veronica maggio

so. there it is: my maze runner dr intro. it’s actually a rework of my first tmr dr intro from my old blog; now vastly improved, i hope. wanted to try something new with the wckd file intro, as well. also!!!! finally figured out how to make the gradient text thingy on tumblr, and i might’ve went a biiiiit overboard with it (or not. pretty colours pretty colours pretty colours!!!!!!).

the layout is, as always, inspired by @elysian-fawn , @girlberrie , and @kerryshifts !!! ·˚ ♡⸝⸝

[omgthatdress]

It's really kind of hard to talk about drag without mentioning Bugs Bunny. He's appeared in drag so many times that it's impossible to keep track of.

Officially making his debut in 1940's "A Wild Hare," Bugs first appeared in drag a year later in "Elmer's Pet Rabbit." The surrealistic and subversive nature of cartoons means that Bugs's drag could get around the Hays Code while all other forms of drag were banned from appearing on screen.

There's actually a lot of ways to look at and analyze Bugs's use of drag. One of the most notable things to take away from it is that Bugs never used drag in and of itself as a gag, it was always a clever way to get out of whatever situation he found himself stuck in.

Bugs frequently used drag as a mean of seduction and using Elmer Fudd's heterosexuality against him, but also as a way of being under-estimated. A soft, pretty woman could never be dangerous.

Bugs's most famous outing in drag, "What's Opera, Doc?" poked fun at the snobbery around opera and took "the finest art" down a notch.

However, it's worth nothing that some of Bugs's outings in drag came at the expense of marginalized people, like arctic indigenous people in "Frigid Hare"

or poor southerners in "Hillbilly Hare"

Nonetheless, Bugs's use of drag is iconic and an enduring part of his image. In 2020, the US postal service immortalized Bugs in drag by issuing two special edition stamps:

[laika290]

ever wonder why spotify/discord/teams desktop apps kind of suck?

i don't do a lot of long form posts but. I realized that so many people aren't aware that a lot of the enshittification of using computers in the past decade or so has a lot to do with embedded webapps becoming so frequently used instead of creating native programs. and boy do i have some thoughts about this.

for those who are not blessed/cursed with computers knowledge Basically most (graphical) programs used to be native programs (ever since we started widely using a graphical interface instead of just a text-based terminal). these are apps that feel like when you open up the settings on your computer, and one of the factors that make windows and mac programs look different (bc they use a different design language!) this was the standard for a long long time - your emails were served to you in a special email application like thunderbird or outlook, your documents were processed in something like microsoft word (again. On your own computer!). same goes for calendars, calculators, spreadsheets, and a whole bunch more - crucially, your computer didn't depend on the internet to do basic things, but being connected to the web was very much an appreciated luxury!

that leads us to the eventual rise of webapps that we are all so painfully familiar with today - gmail dot com/outlook, google docs, google/microsoft calendar, and so on. as html/css/js technology grew beyond just displaying text images and such, it became clear that it could be a lot more convenient to just run programs on some server somewhere, and serve the front end on a web interface for anyone to use. this is really very convenient!!!! it Also means a huge concentration of power (notice how suddenly google is one company providing you the SERVICE) - you're renting instead of owning. which means google is your landlord - the services you use every day are first and foremost means of hitting the year over year profit quota. its a pretty sweet deal to have a free email account in exchange for ads! email accounts used to be paid (simply because the provider had to store your emails somewhere. which takes up storage space which is physical hard drives), but now the standard as of hotmail/yahoo/gmail is to just provide a free service and shove ads in as much as you need to.

webapps can do a lot of things, but they didn't immediately replace software like skype or code editors or music players - software that requires more heavy system interaction or snappy audio/visual responses. in 2013, the electron framework came out - a way of packaging up a bundle of html/css/js into a neat little crossplatform application that could be downloaded and run like any other native application. there were significant upsides to this - web developers could suddenly use their webapp skills to build desktop applications that ran on any computer as long as it could support chrome*! the first applications to be built on electron were the late code editor atom (rest in peace), but soon a whole lot of companies took note! some notable contemporary applications that use electron, or a similar webapp-embedded-in-a-little-chrome as a base are:

microsoft teams

notion

vscode

discord

spotify

anyone! who has paid even a little bit of attention to their computer - especially when using older/budget computers - know just how much having chrome open can slow down your computer (firefox as well to a lesser extent. because its just built better <3)

whenever you have one of these programs open on your computer, it's running in a one-tab chrome browser. there is a whole extra chrome open just to run your discord. if you have discord, spotify, and notion open all at once, along with chrome itself, that's four chromes. needless to say, this uses a LOT of resources to deliver applications that are often much less polished and less integrated with the rest of the operating system. it also means that if you have no internet connection, sometimes the apps straight up do not work, since much of them rely heavily on being connected to their servers, where the heavy lifting is done.

taking this idea to the very furthest is the concept of chromebooks - dinky little laptops that were created to only run a web browser and webapps - simply a vessel to access the google dot com mothership. they have gotten better at running offline android/linux applications, but often the $200 chromebooks that are bought in bulk have almost no processing power of their own - why would you even need it? you have everything you could possibly need in the warm embrace of google!

all in all the average person in the modern age, using computers in the mainstream way, owns very little of their means of computing.

i started this post as a rant about the electron/webapp framework because i think that it sucks and it displaces proper programs. and now ive swiveled into getting pissed off at software services which is in honestly the core issue. and i think things can be better!!!!!!!!!!! but to think about better computing culture one has to imagine living outside of capitalism.

i'm not the one to try to explain permacomputing specifically because there's already wonderful literature ^ but if anything here interested you, read this!!!!!!!!!! there is a beautiful world where computers live for decades and do less but do it well. and you just own it. come frolic with me Okay ? :]

*when i say chrome i technically mean chromium. but functionally it's same thing

[gatheredfates]

Hi there! Are you a FFXIV roleplayer? Are you looking for more opportunities to meet people/engage in one-on-one scenes and roleplay beyond event spaces? I may just have a solution for you!

To preface: my name is Sea, and I run far too many community projects (no, seriously, someone stop me); most notably my Community Compendium and question drives. Playing in the creative side of the XIV community, but most notably the roleplay community, brings me the most joy, and it's something I want to continue to foster both with this project and the others attached to it.

The meet-cute idea was originally based around this vent post I made regarding the difficulty of people wanting to get into the in-game ffxiv scene. While a lot of my venting was to do with mods/player expectations, the fact it resonated with people made me wonder if there was anything I could do in order to help people find and connect with other roleplayers. Based on an indulgence qotd, I came up with the idea of a meet-cute!

WHAT IS A MEET-CUTE?

A meet-cute typically refers to a scene in film/television where people meet for the first time, typically under unusual, humorous or cute circumstances.

Having a predetermined first-meet scene between two characters allows players to meet new people and expand their roleplay horizons.

While a meet-cute normally has a romantic subtext that is NOT the focus of this drive, and it is not mandatory or expected for players/characters to be looking for romance in their roleplay (though you absolutely can if you want)! It’s about the opportunity to create fun, first-meet scenarios for characters and their players.

WHY A MEET-CUTE?

Creates simple, predetermined scenes based on character hooks/stories and shared roleplay interests between players.

Eliminates the fear of an initial reaching out through assured mutual interest in roleplay. You know the person you’re interacting with wants to write!

Allows people to roleplay in-game or out depending on their comfort levels; no need to stand in the city or go to a bustling event (unless you want to).

The focus of a short, first-meet scenario allows players the ability to set up long-term scenes if they want… or just fun one-offs with lots of different people!

If this is something you may be interested in, I highly recommend you check out this google doc that goes over player expectations and links to the google form. ✨ As this is the first iteration of the meet-cute, rules and information is subject to change at a whim, so I encourage people to also check in with my tag ｡･ﾟﾟ･ — sea's community meet cute just in case.

ROUGH TIMELINE

Applications Close: Saturday April 19 Partner's released: Anywhere from April 26 to May 3

[conceptofjoy]

i thiiink the "difference" between red green and blue characters is under what circumstance their actions (usually violence) are made in? the majority of red characters have an aversion or simply choose not to fight when not forced, either because of the futility of the act or trauma associated with it. When they do, it's because they're contributing to the cycle that keeps them bound to whatever system is holding their leash... And then they get exploded/ stabbed through the chest with a sword.

aradia "i kn0w what im d0ing" megido, playing a blue role by enforcing structures in a way that would make them seem like a stronger person in story standards. not 8oring anymore. you can also see this in hal "the unfeeling ai" trying and failing to connect with jake because of the ungenuineness inherent to that red role. by siccing brobot on xem, their shared actions become more powerful/notable story wise, but it isn't, like Actually how to connect with a person. that paralleled with a scene of dream dirk doing blue shit and being a 8adass.

It's obvious saying that green and red characters are two sides of the same coin, green characters are forced repeatedly by the story to wait until they're deployed like a bomb. grimbark jade and crockertier jane are used side by side by HIC. nepeta is secluded and fantasizes about interpersonal relationships until he gets thrust into the spotlight, suddenly a key player in the entire story. the isolation and repeated realizations of being used by others becomes a pressure cooker for these characters, they were always important, but nottt just this second. doc scratch voice: isn't it crazy i didn't do shit other than narrate? well check this shit out (the literal devil bursts out of my head and i die)

[vesearlee]

──── 𝑺𝒐𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑰𝒏𝒌

To treat an ailment, you first had to identify a cause and enact treatment to better the patient’s physical or mental state. After years and years of knowing him, it was lucky you were the best doc-tor around to care for him.

𝐏𝐀𝐈𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆 ── Zayne x F!Reader 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐓 ── 2.0k 𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐒 ── Fluff, caretaking 𝐁𝐄𝐓𝐀 ── @sgt-seabass 𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐌𝐒 ── American Beauty by Thomas Newman 𝐀𝐎𝟑 ── HERE 𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐑 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄 ── I am a caretaker by nature, and this just wouldn't leave my mind, like at all.

─── 𝑳𝑨𝑫𝑺 𝑴𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒕 ───

The evening was slow — echoed car horns and shouts from people in the streets below quietened by the height of Zayne’s apartment. It had only been twenty minutes since you received a text from him stating simply that he would be home shortly; no emojis or tone conveyed, which only meant that it was a long, long shift. 

Surgeries were abundant, you knew this for sure as you watched Zayne come home for only a few hours at a time, wiped and exhausted to only get a few hours of rest before he would be called back for another critical case or life threatening surgery. 

It was worrisome, and the tight feeling in your chest as you observed his hunched shoulders and the growing, dark bags beneath his hazel eyes only worsened. You knew that his reserves were beyond depleted, and the determination to make him put himself first — for once — was overwhelming. 

With that in mind, you hummed and hawed, deliberating how best to pause the world he lived in, just for a little while. “Candles…?” The clink of glass jars against each other filled the silence of his bedroom. You looked around you briefly, stopping only to stare at the comfortable couch that was pushed up against the floor to ceiling window, and it hit you. “Candles,” you repeated more certainly, a smile pulling at the corner of your lips. 

The couch would serve as a resting haven — piled high with cushions, pillows, and blankets of the fluffiest and softest varieties. The warmth would be irresistible to Zayne, it was one of the few weaknesses he willingly showed to you, and there would be no use in letting that information go to waste. Beside the couch was a small coffee table, where you placed your tools of choice. 

A simple array of make-up brushes and a selection of eyeshadow colour palettes sat neatly in place — the thought of the ebony ink drifting across Zayne’s pale skin made you shiver with anticipation. It was yet another weakness of his: the gentle touch or brush of your fingers over any part of his body, but most notably his neck and jaw. 

“You’re gentle,” he’d said once, and in an undertone, low enough you almost didn’t hear, continued with, “more than I would be with myself; more than I deserve.”

That train of thought earned him a hard kiss to silence the words. 

From then on, the thought of decorating Zayne’s skin with designs and patterns grew more appealing. Nothing too brash and large to overtake your canvas, but delicate and beautiful, to match the wound fibers of his existence. 

The flicker from behind the curtain caught your eye, and the warm white lights that cascaded down from the ceiling grew sharper. “I could use those…” You stepped closer towards the curtain, and gently moved a few hanging strands out from behind the fabric. “As my light source.”

A click from the lock of the front door caught your attention, then the soft click of dress shoes on tile followed soon after. “Darling?”

“I’m here,” you called, rushing from his bedroom and then into the hall to greet him. Only you paused in slight shock — it was so much worse than you could have imagined. 

Zayne was drawn, his face pale from exhaustion; the light in his eyes reflected the soft lighting of the living room rather than absorbing it, a hard sight to see. The briefcase in his hand was placed onto the hall table with a solid thump — no doubt burdened with endless paperwork, and the coat over his arm was placed haphazardly on the hook. He smiled, a genuine though strained gesture, and you walked forward. 

“Are you okay?” Your hands held the outer side of his elbows, and you tried to ignore how cold he felt, or how he seemed to lean into the touch far too desperately. “What happened, c’mon, come with me.” 

He followed wordlessly, until his bedroom came into sight. “No– No, I… Don’t want to sleep yet.” There was a slight tug back against your grip, and you frowned at him before opening your mouth to retort. “I have missed you,” he cut in before you could speak. “I want to just sit with you, please. Not to talk, just to… To be with you.”

The crack in your heart rapidly spread from its precarious place to the core of your being, shattering you from the inside out at his plea. It wasn’t so much as the words that you grew emotional over, but the utter need in them — Zayne never, ever voiced a need beyond what was acceptable in your relationship, and having known him for so long you could read his queues, but that was all washed away. 

“Of course,” you replied quietly, bringing his hand to your lips to kiss his scarred knuckles. “Of course, baby. C’mon, I have a surprise for you.”

The mention of a surprise allowed a slight bit of life to flicker in Zayne’s eyes, and you laughed softly as you pulled him towards his bedroom. “Do you want to change?” Silence answered your question, and when you glanced over your shoulder, you found his eyes half lidded. He was almost asleep standing up. “Oh, Zayne.”

Carefully, you pulled him towards the end of his bed and helped him change from his rumpled work attire to more comfortable pajamas. A henley shirt and grey slack fit loosely on his tall frame, and you watched with a soft smile as he rubbed at his eyes. “What’s the surprise?” he asked tiredly, staring at you through one opened eye. 

“Over here,” you said, gesturing at the couch. “Come sit, and you can relax with me, just for a little bit.”

“Mm.” His slippered feet shuffled over the dark carpet, and he settled on the couch before he looked up at you tiredly. “Can I…”

“You can rest your eyes, sweetheart, close them,” you whispered quietly. “Just relax and let me work, alright?”

It was by the grace of his trust in you that his tired eyes slipped closed slowly, and his head tilted backwards to rest against the back of the couch. The quiet clink of your tools didn’t even startle him, the rise of his chest remained slow, deep, and steady — if you didn’t know any better, you would have guessed he was already fast asleep.

“I’m going to start now, it may tickle,” you warned quietly, and you shook the bottle of liquid once, twice, before unscrewing the cap. He arched a brow in curiosity at the clicking noise, but he didn’t open his eyes. “But I need you to sit still.”

Zayne didn’t reply with words, only a slight nod, and with that as your consent, you gently lowered yourself onto his lap. Your thighs rested either side of his, while the back of them brushed against the fabric of his sweatpants as you settled down. 

Whether it was by instinct or need, Zayne’s hands moved from the couch cushions to hold your hips, the pad of his thumb rubbing up underneath the shirt you wore to touch your skin. It sent a small thrill down your spine, but you ignored the feeling, intent on focusing on what lay before you. 

With his chin up and head relaxed backwards, you could stare at your canvas more thoroughly to map your plan. “A snowflake here,” you murmured, brushing the tip of your index finger just above his collar bone. “Another one here, maybe here too,” you continued, enjoying the feel of him shivering at your touch. 

“Don’t tease,” Zayne croaked, his voice hoarse and strained now that he had a chance to rest it. 

“I’m not!” The tip of the brush moved easily over his skin, and you bit your lip at the sound that escaped his part lips — a choked, surprised gasp that made his ears flush pink. “Just sit still, and let me work.”

“Fine,” he breathed, squeezing your hips once. 

The silence swelled around you, but it was comforting to feel the presence of his sleepy demeanour while you helped him relax. The occasional sniff or shiver going ignored as you painted over your canvas, the tickle of the brush fibers minute against the cool, inky liquid. 

It was only when you managed to finally complete the final line that you were able to sit back and admire your work. 

Snowflakes of all shapes, sizes, and designs artfully decorated the curve of his neck and down to his collarbone. They stretched with the slow deep breaths from his lungs, and every time he cleared his throat, the elongated snowflake shifted with the movement of his Adam's apple. “I think that part’s done, love.”

“Mm.”

You reached over the arm of the couch to grab the palettes of eyeshadow and a selection of precise brushes. “Time to colour now, okay? You still with me?”

Zayne’s eyelids fluttered, then one opened a slither. “Yes. Don’t stop.”

“Okay, okay. Yessir.”

The brush of the softer fibers made him hum contentedly, and you resumed your painting — blues and greens populated his skin more than any other colour, but no dark shades could be seen. All of the pigments were only shadowed with saturation, it was a testament to his growth and grown control of his evol that you strived to capture, and you couldn’t help but feel a swell of pride at the progress of it. 

Before long, a masterpiece was spread from the very tops of either shoulder, towards the lower part of his jaw. Each line represented a battle or a memory, either sweet or melancholy in nature, and you smiled as you read the story spread over his skin. 

“I think it’s done,” you declared quietly, and you reached out to brush the pad of your thumb over his bottom lip. “You can wake up now.”

“No.” A slight huff made his chest heave, and he kept his eyes closed. “Don’t stop, please, it was nice.”

You stared at him, the light from the cascading source beside him gave the snowflakes the illusion of moving, dancing over the skin as he breathed deep. “I mean, I can…” 

The coolness of his palm startled you, though you didn’t drop it. A small scar on the outer side of his hand, down from the pinky, was particularly pink in the yellowed light. They were old, far older than what would be thought as irritation, and you nodded decisively. “Okay, I’ll keep going.”

The brush in hand felt familiar as you held his hand up to your face, and you started the motions over his skin, careful to not put too much of the inky black over the raised pink line. 

Zayne’s hand suddenly jerked out of your hold, and you gasped. “What the–?”

“That tickled,” he said simply, one eye open and bore into your face. “Be gentle.”

“I am,” you insisted, smiling nervously. “Just sit still.” Zayne rolled his eyes and returned to resting once more, allowing you the chance to continue, only this time you held his hand tighter in your grip. “Thank you.”

“Mmph.”

You continued to work, drawing circles where the contours of his fine muscles allowed, until a semblance of a winter scene took shape. A small snowman with a large, round base sat atop the line of his scar, while two of the smaller scars were strategically placed where the arms of the snowman would be, only, you drew three small lines either side to create fingers. 

A small top hat was decorated with a snowflake, while an artistically curved breeze threatened to blow it off of his head. In the background were mounds and mounds of snow, with snow angels carved into the larger, lined lumps. 

“What do you think?” you asked quietly, holding up Zayne’s own hand to his face. 

He blinked to clear the sleep from his eyes, and he smiled back at you. “It is adorable, much like you.” His free hand grabbed the collar of your shirt and pulled you forward, gently coaxing you close. “Thank you.” 

Your lips met his in a soft, chaste kiss, one you wished would last forever. 

𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐒 ── Medical Edition Bingo (@fandom-free-bingo) ⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄ "Close your eyes." • G5 ── MASTERLIST ⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄ Always there when they need them ── MASTERLIST ── Gingerbread Edition Bingo (@fandom-free-bingo) ⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄ Doing Their Makeup • G2 ── MASTERLIST ⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄ Covered With [Makeup] • B1 ⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄ Deep Breathing • N4 ── MASTERLIST ⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄ Fairy Lights • I1 ── MASTERLIST ── Hurt/Comfort Bingo (@sweetspicybingo) ⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄ Taking their mind off of it • N2 ── MASTERLIST ── Hurt and Comfort Bingo (@hurtcomfort-bingo) ⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄ Caretaking • N2 ── MASTERLIST ── Eclipsing Bingo (@eclipsingbingo) ⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄ Taking care of the other • O4 ── MASTERLIST ── Language of Flowers Bingo (@seasonaldelightsbingo) ⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄ Drawing in between scars ⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄ Being taken care of ── MASTERLIST

[nevadancitizen]

moved house recently and the movers literally destroyed my insect display case and the specimens inside so i drew the sillies with the insects i think would represent them best to soothe the pain. explanation below the cut (be warned, it’s long and so so fucking nerdy)

(+ sanford bombardier beetle follow-up)

okay so first is doc with a madagascar hissing cockroach. despite cultural connotations, cockroaches are some of the smartest insects (up there with bees, wasps, and termites (which they share an order with — blattodea)), and doc is nothing if not the brains of SQ. madagascar hissing cockroaches are some of the few insects that stay with their offspring for a long while, therefore protecting them. doc is also protective of his men in a somewhat similar fashion, albeit from a distance and behind a cold, stern demeanor. also these roaches can’t fly, and doc can’t drive. there’s a joke in there somewhere but i can’t find it.

then we’ve got hank with an assassin bug. there’s not really any notable species within the family, so it’s just supposed to be a general insect within reduviidae (but not an ectoparasite). some assassin bugs transmit chagas disease, which is mostly always unwanted and detrimental, much like hank’s presence to anyone outside of SQ (or within the SQ, because hank’s loyalty mostly just faults to his own bloodlust). assassin bugs also have one of the most painful insect bites but, unlike hank, they use chemicals (injected via proboscis) to induce pain rather than ripping and tearing. still, the end result is the same.

obviously, what else would sanford have other than a hercules beetle? they’re one of the strongest insects (as evidenced by the horns on their head and prothorax), and sanford is, unarguably, the strongest grunt of the SQ. male hercules beetles use their horns to grapple and fight (both for territory and mates), and sanford also uses very melee-heavy tactics while fighting. they also use their horns to leverage and throw their opponents, and sanford uses his hook with similar tactics. these beetles are very hardy (due to their exoskeleton and hardened elytra) just like sanford, despite his usual lack of clothing and armor.

lastly, there’s deimos and the australian tiger beetle. they’re known as the fastest species of tiger beetle (up to 9 km/h or 5.6 mph) and — not sure if this is canon or a universally accepted headcanon — deimos is the fastest grunt of the SQ. these beetles run so fast and hunt so aggressively that their sensory system literally can’t keep up and their eyes shut off, so they have to stop often (for just a fraction of a second) to regain their faculties, which gives their prey several chances to escape. this reflects in deimos through his jokey demeanor and tendency to not take things seriously until it’s too late. thankfully, the australian tiger beetle is only listed as “near threatened” on the red list, unlike deimos, who is totally fucking dead.

thank you for coming to my ted talk which is just me smushing my two special interests together like a child mixing play-doh

[supremefloof]

timeline-related stuff

thanks to @/the-worst-place-in-there for parts of the timeline! Everything below cut (edit: there's a doc now, and it's updated to most recent. much better than this)

year 2 cited as the "start of E-soul's career" (revisit E-soul is the first X/ E-soul is the reason for the sytem theories??) Edit: apparently, E-soul confirmed as first X. woohoo go tbhx tumblr theorists!!

year 20 YC gets batmanned, meets esoul

year 30 magic shadow, e-soul's nemesis, is labeled as a terrorist after a collision

year 33 YC begins acting

Year 34 Firm Man saves Wolf Girl

In-between here and there, he kills E-Souls nemesis? so maybe it wasn't THE nemesis but A nemesis considering pomelo/you zi mentions that he fights other villains.

"Shand even stepped down from MD management to flesh out his hero persona".

year 36 Firm Man Statue unveiled

year 36 YC episode 5 events start, E soul mentioned to have 34 year career.

lucky cyan is famous around now - concert "next month"

Episode 6 concert is still coming up, around a month until Esoul's 34th hero anniversary. So, around a month until 18th Hero Tournament? Year 37?

"costume from five years ago" - you zi/pomelo, versus his SUPER OLD LOOKING costume in the pv. if we take that at face value, that would be year 31. safe to say that e-soul's appearance has changed a lot over time, in multiple iterations.

EPISODE 7 - I am marking this as the turn of the year, because it's E-soul's 34th anniversary. I will say this is year 37 after commission. Lucky Cyan has her concert and the E-soul fight happens. X as we know him exists in some form? although he is not X yet. E-soul is not in the top 10 by the start, but is #9 by end

somewhere around here, Moon and nice meet. Moon is here fighting a member of the Black Clad org I think? from the hat, mask and the car being the same as the trailers.

When Nice and Moon meet, Lucky Cyan is still famous and for sure a hero

text from what I can make out is "-ine / -ng / a". i don't know what the first letter is, id guess D but this font is annoying

Year ~37-38 X wins his first tournament. I think. the 19th Tournament, IF he has won two of them

year 38 Nice and Moon start "dating"

Year ~39-40 X wins 2nd, 20th Tournament (if he's won two. if just 1, then this is when he becomes X)

year 41 L0 episodes (months ish pass)

that's five years later from Yang Cheng

21st Hero Tournament in 15 days after episode 4, which is still "41st year". the hero Tournament takes place every 2 years, so does this mean Episode 4 is in tbhx equivalent of december? unclear. I want to say it's on the turn of the new year because 42 divided by 21 conveniently goes to two, and apparently L0's episodes are "41 years after".

X probably exists soon after Nice and Moon start dating, considering his presence in year 41.

the events of the first trailer take place in between here as well.

notably, E-Soul "starts his career" when the First Hero Tournament would be.

How close to L0's time do we need to get before X posters start appearing? they are EVERYWHERE in L0's pov- all signs including oustide/pv evidence point to a sudden spike, probably in year 39/40

-how long has X been X in Lin Ling's episodes? it's easy to assume two, because that's the number we've been fed, but the fact that L0's episodes are in year 41 make me think that X is even more of a recent development.

EDIT: my mistake, it seems Hero X has been X for "two terms" (两届无人撼动) before the 21st tournament, meaning he's been X for 6ish years. and who knows how long he's been rank 1 for. or if he was rank 1 at all - he could have just shown up to the 19th hero tournament and gotten the top spot. thanks quail. i've thus added timeline notes for X's tournaments.

is Lucky Cyan still famous in L0's time? i dont remember seeing her ads but i totally could have missed her

at "some time" between year 36 and year 41, Firm Man and Queen do that fight from the PVs.

I think by episode 5, with our first major time skip, it's getting pretty clear that the years after commission are going to really important! I wouldn't be surprised if the setup of the episodes is hiding some huge twist by misleading us about the time. (which, if so, it's probably about X). I actually dislike time travel theory for to be hero x but it's definitely possible! plus that whole thing where Lin Ling's episodes might be chronologically last before season 2?

Point about misdirection - I'm not comfortable assuming that the PVs are all prequels anymore! ESPECIALLY E-soul's PV. EDIT POST EP 7: I WAS RIGHT. TRUST NO ONE.

[th3-c0ll3ct3r]

Vtuber fans... We're going through it dawg... Michi Mochievee, forgive me for I have doubted when you said that it was hard to trust people in the vtuber industry. "what could go wrong?" I thought. I WAS BUT A FUCKING FOOL.

So basically, Nano (an artists) who was previously employed by Sinder came out with a Google Doc basically detailing th following (also for clarity Sinder's manager is called [ redacted] but it is her manager to which you later confirms:

>Sinder and her manager were intentionally using manipulative tactics and behaviour to isolate Nano into becoming someone who exclusively works for that

> intentionally sabotaging other people projects

>encouraging Nano to be ruder and charge more money for their services, even though Nano was trying to be nice and give sample out for cheap/free to other trusted clients

>intentionally wanting to sabotage Bao The Whale, and other notable vtubers ( who have yet to speak out and that's why I'm not gonna talk about them) by encouraging Nano to charge more and even cancel projects all together to prioritise Sinder

>Isolating Nano and other artists so that they exclusively work with her after Bao "stole one of her editors"

>Manipulations and gaslighting.

Post by Nano here:

https://x.com/Nanoless_/status/1916005023646916910?t=7KA0YUai6dnYn1SoYZ20MA&s=19

Some other artists as well as other vtubers have shown their support and shared someone their experiences thinking it was a "normal part of the industry"

Bao The Whale, creating a response post basically going through everything that was set in the documents and somethings to note:

>The video editor independently chose to be exclusive to her to which she was very supportive but also encouraged them to work and other projects if necessary

> she has never once Sabotage someone else's work intentional and she didn't know that editor worked with Sinder previously

>Both her and other but especially Numi are heartbroken, confused and overwhelmed by the situation because they just found it that Sinder and her manager has been intentionally sabotaging projects they've been doing for a number of months and maybe even year(s). Leading to the question of how many smaller or larger project did Snider or her manager intentionally sabotage to gain leeway?

> following on for the previous point, Sinder sees vtuber as "just for business", which is quoted saying in Nano and another doc. Meaning that she was sabotaging people for profit. So think back to all the times they'd been "scammed" or overcharged in the past. All the times they'd been ghosted. Because in Nano doc, it's implied that Sinder wanted Nano to essentially prioritise her and ghost everyone else

Bao post here:

https://x.com/baovtuber/status/1916006443242639566?t=lFbskdh3PfiRGDrGqhoXTQ&s=19

Since then both the editor and channel manager of Bao have confirmed both independently of each other that she encouraged them to take other opportunities if necessary or wanted.

Since this Sinder has posted her own reply shifting the blame on her manager, but still apologising. Additionally she's the number 1 trending in the US on twitter right now

Here you can see the confirmation of him being her manager and how she's throwing them under the bus.

THE TOP REPLY HOWEVER is from someone who played games with them in the past, and has said (with many other sources saying it's true) that her "manager" is her boyfriend. Which makes even more sense as to why she'd want people exclusively for them.

The running joke being that "you'd fire the manager but keep the boyfriend?"

It also saved her a significant amount of money, because she didn't really need to pay her boyfriend. So for her to then turn around and then encourage people to charge double what she pays knowing they're paying out of pocket for EVERYTHING themselves is even worse

So yeahhhhhhh...