#wonderful creatures truly ^__^

[chocokeyboard]

@gardenofhope smiles and grins so wide... TACHANNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have been wanting to get you back for that one for a while... I LOVEE these two trust me!!!!! Their color palletes were so fun to play with, and had fun rendering Lula's wings OHHH SO GLORIOUSLY 💖💖💖💖

[scribz-ag24]

I've recently seen again a post talking about the Sableye and Dusknoir's relationship so i'd like to put my two cents in the discussion, for I love screaming into the void about PMD. (this isnt meant to discourage any other interpretations btw this is just my take on theirs and Dusknoir's relationship, bc I think they're very fun characters and I am very glad the game actually gives these minions a bit of relevance in se5).

Tbh I don't buy that Dusknoir treats the Sableye nicely, at least not out of kindness. I don't think he's a tyrant or inexplicably mean, of course, and I think his minions ADORE him, but i also believe that doesn't mean he's nice to them, sth that i consider meaningful for their character arcs.

Throughout the entire game he's exclusively giving them orders, in se5 he concocts a plan that involves thrashing them MULTIPLE times (he's lucky Grovyle isn't one to try and kill enemies in battle ig), and the cherry on top is that the first time we see him being fully genuine he does this:

(yes, he is in turmoil in here, but there's not a single thing implying that 1. this is an unusual response towards the sablye, 2. dusknoir feels bad for it at some point or is surprised at himself, 3. this has any impact in the sableye at all. You can argue these reactions happen off screen and we don't see them, they don't happen bc they have pressing matters to attend to or they happen after they return to life, and that's perfectly valid, but i'm sticking with what the game shows us, here.)

I must say, though, the fact that the Sableye, despite having been almost mindless pokémon up to now, STAND UP TO AND ATTACK Primal Dialga for their boss and even try to look after him despite him ordering them to check on Grovyle and Celebi first is SO important to me. they are goons to the bone and they love that scheming ghost so much.

My own view is that Dusknoir is generally polite to them (you wouldn't randomly break your own revolver or weapon without any reason, would you?), but is quicker to get mean with them than with people he doesn't know or he is seeking to manipulate. He doesn't care about their behaviour as long as they get the job done, which is why I think the anime thing of the Sableye climbing onto his shoulder isn't that remarkable, rather it's a very cute moment, one that is showing how they've been working together for long and how their size difference affects their interactions, but it is not necessarily conveying an affectionate bond (this is a bit random, but it reminds me of Disney's Jafar with Iago lmao. throw your pet sableye at your enemies so they mock them and then return to your shoulder). Additionally, Dusknoir letting the Sableye onto his shoulder is probably as close as we are gonna get to a villain turning around in his chair while petting a cat in PMD lol.

[this isn't meant to be a one-to-one comparison, it's just a detail i find cute and shows that this gesture can have multiple interpretations, with none being the only right one]

Leaving that aside, I hesitate to claim Dusknoir trusts his Sableye as allies, as Grovyle makes a point in the main story of how the Sableye (your Sableye, he says, as if objectifying them; not friends, but tools, weapons at Dusknoir's disposal) are lacking compared to the way hero/partner/grovyle support one another (power of friendship and hidden information babyyyy). The Sableye are used to Dusknoir's way of doing things, though, I'm sure. They know what happens when he's displeased, after all.

I think, most of all, the Sableye are meant to look disposable: they are 6 identical pokémon that almost act like a hivemind, and we are not supposed to think at all about how we may hurt them in battle any more than we do with the angry Manectric pack or random dungeon pokémon. This, I believe, is why the game has them stand up against Dialga and gives them unique dialogue at the end of se5. They're meant to show their inner shine, just as Dusknoir managed to do. They suddenly gain an individuality they had never shown while they were working to maintain the dark future.

Where they abandoned Dusknoir in the Old Ruins, now Grovyle has motivated them to look for their dignity and fight for a better world, and that starts with protecting their leader from Primal Dialga's rampage, and supporting his new objective and allies in their quest to save the future. In their own small way, they've also grown as characters throughout SE5.

I believe that, overall, Dusknoir saw the Sableye as tools, but thanks to their growth and clear care for him, there's a possibility he might start to see them (and by extension other pokémon) in a more genuine, less pragmatic / objectifying way in the future. Now that Dusknoir has the chance to live a fulfilling life, he may learn to care for others without surrounding himself by so many walls. If anything, I think their future is quite bright. Not that the Sableye would mind if he still thrashed them around, though lol, they're clearly not bothered much by it (special episode 0 had a great depiction of the sableye imo, you can check that romhack if you haven't yet).

In conclusion, look at these little guys who adore their can-get-mean-but-is-mostly-polite boss and probably have a body count but now are good, they're so cute:

[lionacuty]

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO ITS DONE!!!! sorry that it took a bit to finish it but thats fine it was super fun to do this :3

moots that I attempted to draw in their style!!! @icykosmo @sillygoofyart @yourlocalabstraction @prxtty-lxtin @bvnny-skvllz @art-crumbs-main

and the creature of choice :3

[bargainorgans]

hi. im proud of you. i might not talk to you or see you or know you but i am proud of you. i dont care what you did. im proud of you. thanks for being here today.

[catgirljaneway]

Voyager Text Posts: Strange Promo Pics Version

Voy + Textposts 3

(Voy + Textposts 2) + (Voy + Textposts 4)

[sylenth-l]

Just a thought, what kind of bird do you think Felwinter and Timur would be? I feel like Felwinter would be a Raven, and Timur would maybe be a Thunderbird. But what kind do you think they would be? (I only ask this because Osiris is a pheonix, and Saint-14 is a pigeon, and I love the bird theme with them, so I was just curious, lol.)

Aah I like your suggestions, I don't think I have something to add! What a weird flock of birds they are, huh 😂💙

Maybe only that if we're sticking to the real existing birds, I could suggest a blue jay and aplomado falcon for Timur and Osiris.

Dunno, they just seem fitting alksdjhflkjs

[gingermintpepper]

Oooooooh fellow Alcestis and Admetus and Apollo fan? (this is just me nerding out bc they’re weirdly unpopular)

Hello friend!! I'm gonna be so real, I love and adore ALL of Apollo's relationships and entanglements because all of them are beautiful, meaningful and brilliant in their own ways!!

I think the devotion Admetus and Alcestis had for each other and the devotion and loyalty that Apollo extended towards them in turn is some of the most moving love in history point blank period and I do agree that they're oddly underrated, but so are many of Apollo's great loves.

Feel free to ask/yap about them with me whenever!! I absolutely love this trio and I welcome anyone who feels the same with big, broad open arms ♡♡♡

[microwavetoaster-selfships]

Something making me giggle about stuff along the lines of "Hey, I wasn't sure which you wanted so I just got Everything."

"I wanted to get you something but I didn't know which you were in the mood for/would have preferred, so I got you a tea and a thing of water and a chocolate milk and a juice just in case. You- you don't have to have all of them, just take what you'd like."

[bywandandsword]

So obviously I've got deep seated self-worth issues that I'm working through, but something interesting I've noticed is that I've noticed is the physical sensations that accompanies spikes in that feeling

Like, normally it'll be something like coming across a post or a character in fandom that is voicing things that hits a little too close to what my negative self talk says and I get this tightening, twinging feeling in my chest. Sometimes that feeling is accompanied by a feeling in my stomach that echoes how deep fear feels, but isn't exactly the same. And sometimes, the feeling runs out from my chest and pulses momentarily through to my elbows and the joints in my hands that are aching. I don't know if that last one is more a case of me having a pinched nerve or something that gets activated for some reason or what, but it was a surprise the first time it happened

[roominthecastle]

I finally watched 405 and ... um...

*taps screen*

will the real Audrey please stand up?

I mean, making promises you know full well you have no intention of keeping anymore?? abandoning those you (supposedly) care about the most at a time when they are reeling from loss and pain and uncertainty??

that is just wrong.

it was the most painful thing to watch

in an episode filled with very painful things.

[pussyandpastries]

pangolin sting operation

[iamindifferenttolamp]

Honestly the Contagion thing wouldn't have bothered me if they actually established in advance among themselves how new spells worked. Regardless of what Marisha reads or what Matt reads or what the book says or what wotc word-of-god, Keyleth would know what her spells do and it's so fucking disrespectful of Marisha as a player to not tell her that a spell won't work the way she thinks in advance

If it was clear that they'd decided ahead of time - before Keyleth cast it, or even better before she learned it for the day - to interpret Contagion this way, then I would have been fairly okay with it. But it's been part of a pattern of Matt undermining Marisha where her spells are concerned in a way that severely detracts from the story they're trying to tell. It makes Keyleth look incompetent and careless when she isn't either of those things.

And it's obvious she isn't either of those things because if Contagion worked as written, it would've been a really powerful, useful, gamechanging spell! And instead it was an utter waste, not because of Keyleth or Marisha but because they don't agree on the effects of these things in advance

[nightmareonpeachstreet]

Auto-combat games with 15 different microquests that repeat over and over again for the rest of time making the game a never ending tutorial my beloathed

[orbiten]

thinking of how heaven seems to keep visual records of everything that goes on in their realm (and the deliberate decision to show this to the audience and show us how it works, almost like foreshadowing its use again in s3), and how now Aziraphale in his new position will probably have access to all those records, and the possibility that he will search for Crowley's files and learn more about him and his time as an angel and (most importantly) witness his fall, and how witnessing that would affect Aziraphale and his views about heaven

[oveliagirlhaditright]

So... I don't really know where to start this meta thing I'm going to attempt to write here? I suppose I'll begin with what prompted me to really think of this and want to write the whole thing: there's a new Buffyverse book that's come out, about a new Slayer (it's called "Sign of the Slayer"), and from having read some reviews for it on Amazon, I guess the MC falls in love with a vampire in it. And I should mention that I'm really not trying to knock this novel here. At all (especially since I'm sure it's a fine book). I mean, I haven't read it, so it's not fair for me to have any opinion on it as a novel at all.

My issue, however, is the whole the Slayer in it being in love with a vampire thing. And it's definitely not the first thing to do it. And that's my problem: that this is sort of starting to become a trend.

I'll admit that I got into Buffy the Vampire Slayer pretty late (namely because I was too young to watch it when it was airing). I think I first watched it and Angel around 2018, or something like that. And I knew from cultural osmosis that both Angel and Spike where characters who were vampires in the show, and ones that would be love interests for Buffy. And I just remember feeling before watching the show, "She's a vampire slayer and she has a relationship with two vampires? She must not be doing her job very well." And I felt like the show would be something like The Vampire Diaries, True Blood, and/or Twilight (Bella doesn't have two vampire love interests. Rather it's a paranormal love triangle between her, a vampire, and a werewolf, but you know what I mean)... when that couldn't be further from the truth.

Joss Whedon himself said that he felt that when he was doing the Buffy and Angel relationship that, yeah, it was a bit of a cliché: but it felt like one he had to do: one, because the chemistry between Sarah Michelle Gellar and David Boreanaz was off the charts. And two, that it was just kind of too perfect, that Buffy would fall for the one person that she was meant to destroy.

And you know what? I definitely think Buffy and Angel worked, for the most part. Buffy started to fall for Angel before she knew that he was a vampire, so it was probably impossible to halt those feelings even when she did learn the truth. Whereas Angel is taken to see Buffy when she's Called to be the Slayer, and it gives him something to fight for for the first time ever, really.

After a hundred years of just wallowing in guilt because of the things he did after getting his soul, he now realizes he can do more--and try to make amends--by helping her in the good fight, and trying to help this poor girl who wouldn't have much of a chance without him, and who has no idea the things she's really about to face.

And when he sees her parents fighting about her that night (the first night she had to sneak out to slay a vampire), about whose fault it was their child snuck out, Angel sees himself in her--because his own life used to be like that. And he wants to protect her from some of the fall-out of what happened to him.

Then they meet and fall in love (partially because they can understand each other like no one else can, in that both of them are creatures who neither fully belong in the human or demon world. There's a demon in the Slayer, too)... the vampire thing is revealed, and they realize there can never be anything between them and try to stay apart, but can't.

They truly start dating in S2, and are happy, but then they learn more about the curse that was put on Angel that returned his soul: if he ever experiences a moment of pure happiness, he'll lose his soul and become a monster again. Which happens, because he loves Buffy too much (after one night of passion between the two). So Angel and Buffy become enemies, and when he eventually tries to destroy the world she has to send him to Hell.

He does come back a year later (with his soul back, after Willow restored it). And they try to make a go at it again, but they can't ever really be together--and deep down, they know they're kidding themselves and there's no real chance for them--and eventually Angel leaves for his own show, to continue fighting in L.A. instead of Sunnydale (after Buffy's given him the confidence that he really can do good). And they'll have some crossovers after that: always being there for the other, if the other needs them and connected.

It works because their story is tragic... and that they know a Slayer and vampire can't be together. There's also just something so deep and profound, that Buffy and Angel are perfect for each other, in that they'll always put the fate of the world before their own selfish desires--as any good person should--but that's the exact reason they can't be together.

But then, later, they try to do stuff with Spike... And even when I was more of a Spuffy fan, it still worked less for me and I was starting to feel that, "This is giving Buffy a bad look" thing (even if I get how people might argue it instead shows that she realizes the world isn't black and white). Like, writers, if you're saying that Buffy and Angel can never work/should never work because Buffy's a Slayer and Angel's a vampire, why are you almost acting like that's not true of Buffy and Spike, then? And the fact that this becomes Buffy's second vampire lover... like I could accept one, the way they handled it. But two? Really?

There was Buffy and Dracula stuff, of course, too. And Buffy definitely didn't have feelings for Dracula, as she was under thrall the whole time with him. But he's the only vampire she ever drank the blood of. And there was probably supposed to at least be a physical attraction, since originally they'd planned to cast Freddie Prinze Jr in the role.

Then in Boom's first Buffy the Vampire Slayer AU, Xander got turned into a vampire and Buffy wasn't sure if she loved him or not.

And people probably don't count this--and probably for good reason--but Ford was someone Buffy had a crush on before she came to Sunnydale... but in dying of brain cancer (and not wanting to die a slow, painful death), and knowing Buffy was the Slayer, he came to Sunnydale and made a deal with Spike and Drusilla that he would lead her into a trap for them if they changed him. And he succeeded in this... even though she escaped, and they of course didn't get to kill her, so they turned him, and Buffy had to stake him at the end of the episode.

In the "In Every Generation" series, Frankie likes a demon (Aspen, as well. These two Slayers are in love with the same one). But, I guess, at least that's a demon instead of a vampire to make it somewhat different.

And I'm worried the new Slayer in "Slayers" will be in love with a vampire...

I also just know that if the Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot show would have happened (if it had been a sequel, instead of a reboot. Because if it would have been a reboot, I would have been okay with Buffy falling in love with Angel again. Even though I would have wanted it to be just Angel. Or Angel and Spike combined into one character for the aforementioned reasons. -shot-), they would have had her fall for a vamp, too.

(I haven't finished reading "Slayer" and "Chosen" yet. So far, I'm not getting the impression that Nina will fall for a vamp, because she's so anti-Buffy, but I could also be wrong. And maybe this could be part of her character development, in realizing the world isn't in black and white as she thought. IDK. I'll keep reading.)

Let's also not forget Faith hitting on Angel and Spike. Though, to be honest, I'm less inclined to count this... because I think we all know she really didn't want them, but Buffy instead.

But, I mean, can we stop? I thought our Slayer Buffy having a thing for a vampire was supposed to be special?

And now, for the heck of it, I'm going to go through any Slayer I can think of who has had a thing for not just vampires (but also those, of course), but a magical being:

The Slayer in the "Girl in Question," who was not Buffy, who slept with the Immortal.

In Buffy season 8, the "Twilight" prophecy is talked about. It seems like a Slayer was meant to have sex with a vampire for this prophecy--this was a part of the next stage of evolution--and they were then meant to evolve even more together (into gods, create a new world together, etc.). This is clearly Buffy and Angel, but I guess there was one point where a group of Watchers had thought it had happened earlier than this--and the prophecy was coming to pass--and they all killed themselves because of it. So was there some sort of vampire and Slayer romance back then (probably not. The comics at least make it clear that Buffy was the first Slayer to ever have sex with a vampire). Unless it was romance between these two (at least temporarily), and it just didn't go as far as sex. Or maybe it was none of this, and they didn't know that part of the prophecy (about Twilight happening because of love because of a Slayer and vampire) at all yet.

Kennedy with Willow, who is a witch.

In one of the Buffy "Tales of the Vampires" comics, this guy and this girl are best friends (it's also pretty clear they like each other). The guy gets turned into a vampire, however... He then finds out his best friend was a Slayer (this is after Buffy activated the Slayers in S7). The two of them are fighting at the end of the story, and it ends on a cliffhanger about who will win. But you kind of get the sense that the vampire will, and that he'll turn the Slayer.

Melaka Fray, at the very least, acknowledges after Angel has this powerful leader moment why her sister Erin thinks that Angel and Spike are hot, even if she still thinks she's a deviant for it. LOL

Satsu with Buffy, who is a Slayer.

Faith with the hitting on Angel and Spike, mentioned above, while surely really wanting Buffy. She also got with Robin Wood, who is the son of a Slayer and has some slight powers because of that. And I also swear there was something between her and Gigi in the comics, who was another Slayer. And that, maybe, the comics were hinting at something between her and Willow in the end.

Gigi: I feel like she and Faith had some feelings for each other (both of these girls being Slayers). And it also seemed like Gigi felt for her one guardian figure (it's been a while since I've read S8). Who was some sort of warlock or sorcerer, who ended up betraying her in the end?

Edit: And, yes. I get why some probably think these relationships work best for Slayers, because Slayers have demons in them and vampires and demons do too, obviously. Or because Slayers have super strength and these beings are strong like them and won't get hurt, and that's fair. (People also find Slayer/human relationships boring, the way they've been portrayed in the Buffyverse.)

But I still think Slayer/human relationships could be done (and at this point, it would actually be more original than pairing a Slayer with a demon): like look at how people love the idea of the Buffy Summers/Dean Winchester crossover ship. It can be done. It just needs to be done right.

[estbela]

Romania being associated with vampires is not like a bad thing but at one point it does get annoying. Genuinly at this point whenever I look at hetalia stuff and see something that involves both vampires & romania I just audibly sigh. You guys know we have other mythological creatures, right?

Like the vampire!Romania trope is so overdone. Although it could be interesting to make a story about Romania where he is a vampire, but closer to the way vampires/strigoi are in romanian folklore.