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[amerricanartwork]

RW Headcanon: "Pebbsie Privilege"

Here’s a headcanon I’ve had in the works for a while, and now I finally want to share it! It's shorter than some of my others, but I hope you'll still find it amusing!

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So firstly (and I plan to expand on this more later) I headcanon Five Pebbles is someone who cares a lot about his appearance, though not in a prissy or snooty sense and more in a “likes being the smartest and most sophisticated one in the room” sense. That means, more so than the average person, he generally doesn’t like being teased, ignored, belittled, condescended to, or otherwise disrespected, and very understandably so if you ask me! But it also means there exists a very special ability when it comes to interacting with Five Pebbles that almost no characters have. 

It’s no more than the ability of someone to refer to Five Pebbles as “Pebbsie” while he’s in earshot without getting death-glares from him. Looks to the Moon, who first started using it, affectionately calls this ability “Pebbsie privilege”, and she ends up being one of the only characters who has it (besides Innocence, who in my portrayals eventually gets it too). Though even so, Pebbles originally got rather flustered when she called him that alone, much less in front of others, considering it's definitely a very cutesy nickname. In fact, poor Pebbles really didn’t like being called “Pebbsie” because one of his least favorite ways of being treated is like a child (which includes being thought of as "cute" in any way). This unfortunately happens to him a lot though since he’s part of the newest iterator generation and tends to have lots of uncommon ideas rarely taken seriously by the older models, and this treatment only amplified as he grew more stubborn and arrogant. 

To elaborate on the origin, Moon developed the nickname pretty much on an impulse — quite a rare thing for her to act on actually — of wanting to hearken more to her role as “Big Sis Moon” and show love to her little brother. Soon after she started using it though Pebbles would pull her into private chats and urge her to drop it to save his dignity. Not wanting to hurt her brother in any way, it didn’t take long before she apologized and stopped using it, and basically got her "Pebbsie privilege" revoked. In the current time she secretly still likes calling him that in her mind, but knowing how much he dislikes it she always feels pretty guilty afterwards, despite them being no more than thoughts at that point. While not a major issue in-and-of itself, this situation was actually a small step in worsening a long-time fear Moon has, though that’s a headcanon for another day…

On a (marginally) more positive note however, after Moon’s collapse and the worsening of Five Pebbles’s rot, along with him generally reminiscing about the things he used to have (as part of yet more character headcanons I’ll elaborate on some other time), he actually began to grow fond of the nickname more and more. Yet he also couldn’t also shake the growing heartache the memories brang, as he came to see it as a reminder of his sister’s never-ending love for him and the better times he now regretted taking for granted and trying so hard to escape. While I headcanon he handles it differently in Downpour’s canon, in the worm-off-the-string AU story I’ve got so far, Moon slowly regaining her “Pebbsie privilege” and Pebbles appreciating it and no longer taking it so seriously (though he still forbids its usage in public) could serve as a small, yet sweet indicator of character growth for both of them.

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Aaaand another RW headcanon done! I wanna mention, though, now that I’ve got more of an idea for the aforementioned AU I really want to start posting more of my headcanons for the Local Group, since the character interactions, histories, and ultimate character growth is perhaps one of the most important elements of that story so far. I’ve spent at least a couple weeks creating almost 40 pages worth of character notes, and while this particular one started out as just a little side-headcanon, I ended up tying it into all of that. Hopefully I can start sharing the main parts of these headcanons soon!

[amerricanartwork]

Hello hello! For the little rw questionnaire, how about 7 and/or 17? :]

I'm so sorry this took so long to get around to, but thank you for the questions Ghost! As always, here's the original questionnaire for reference, and here we go!

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7. What is your favorite song from the soundtrack?

I've already answered this one with "Pictures of the Past" and "The Cycle", so I'd suggest just checking that post out for an explanation of those. But here, I figured I'd go into some other tracks I like! Just a forewarning, I actually haven't listened to the entire soundtrack much outside of when tracks play in-game, so I might have a bit of a limited perspective.

Also, another preface, most of the music I enjoy in general is usually not just because I think it's catchy, but because it's unique sounding in some way, and more importantly because I think it does a really good job of painting a particular image in my head and/or capturing a certain idea. Most of my answers here will have that factored in.

But anyway, first up, when it comes to soundtrack songs I like to listen to in-and-of themselves, "Floes" always comes to my mind first! I just love how it opens with these long, beautiful, melancholy strings before the synth-y beat kicks in. It's just so cool-sounding, and really captures that vibe of stepping into this dark and mysterious, yet once holy and important citadel. I always love hearing it when going across the bridges in Shaded Citadel, and I think it's honestly such a great way to introduce the region when you first travel over the lighter bridge after Shoreline, then enter the darker depths.

Next, threat themes! My favorite of these so far is the Pipeyard theme! It's super catchy, even just the percussion parts on their own, and it definitely captures that feeling of a spear-filled battle with a strange creature in this land of rusted metal. The synth is really what gets me here, because that part alone almost gives the vibe that I'm battling some ancient piece of advanced technology, or some old godlike being that's starting to transcend my comprehension of it. It's such an odd melody, which makes it stand out a lot, so even though the Pipeyard theme isn't thematically that special to me, it's super iconic and fun to listen to!

Then there's the Waterfront Facility threat theme, which comes at a close second for having greater thematic connections while still being catchy! As much as I don't like the region nor its eventual result of Shoreline, ever since I realized the Precipice was the bridge connecting Pebbles to Moon and the big structures in Shoreline were its broken remnants, I've found this region really cool conceptually, and I think its threat theme captures that best! I love how it has the same melody as the Shoreline threat theme, yet has that more bass-heavy, more technological echo to it, which is fitting since it exists when Moon hasn't yet collapsed. It's just really cool in my opinion!

Next is the Chimney Canopy threat theme actually, which is honestly just cool all-around! The arpeggios super catchy of course, and they're unique in how they sound both like something tumbling down from a high place (perhaps rocks slipping as slugcat climbs the smokestacks) and like someone climbing higher and higher into the sky. But honestly, what draws me to this song is the hissing noises in the background, which always remind me of smoke and gas being blown out of machines. It never fails to remind me of how cool Chimney Canopy always seemed to me conceptually — this high-up place right next to Five Pebbles's superstructure, filled with who knows what kinds of smoke and fumes clouding the air. And of course, the hissing gas chambers of vultures soaring above, who are still my favorite creatures in the game! As much as I've grown to dislike traversing Chimney Canopy, I can't deny it's always caught my eye, and its threat theme perfectly captures why!

Finally is the Outer Expanse threat theme, which also reminds me of the region's cool concept! Something I never really noticed until Outer Expanse was the major lack of legitimate/normal trees in the regions. Sure, there's all kinds of flora around, but nothing I'd call a "tree" (except maybe those funky blue plants in Sky Islands). That being said, the presence of trees in Outer Expanse makes me feel it's perhaps the only true "forest" in Rain World, and with the unique wet and sylvan-sounds of its threat theme, it really sells that rainforest vibe well! Sunken Pier is also amazing with the low waves, which really sell the dark, dank, moist, overgrown atmosphere the subregion probably has.

So yeah, for now, "Floes" is my favorite standalone track (besides the ones I mentioned before), and the Pipeyard, Waterfront Facility, and Outer Expanse ones are my favorite of the threat themes! Some honorable mentions also include: "Garbage City Shuffle" for being really catchy and conveying that feeling of slugcats and scavengers starting to form new civilizations from the remains of the old ones, "Lost City" for sounding just like a lament for the dead Metropolis city, "Ascent" for being such a magical intro to the scary, yet beautiful depths of Submerged Superstructure, "Halcyon Memories" for being chill yet packed with so many narrative feels and somehow being really wistful and loving at the same time, and the Sky Islands threat theme for having really iconic radio noises that add to the theme of the region being a center for iterator communications!

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17. Do you prefer to fight other creatures or sneak past them?

Finally a question I can give a (relatively) short answer for! It really depends on what mood I'm in though.

Generally speaking, now that I've gotten good enough at the game to not die constantly, I actually have like fighting most other creatures, especially vultures, and I find it pretty fun! Though there are still a lot of things I won't mess with as of now: red lizards and red centipedes because of their sheer speed and one-hit-kill attacks, Miros birds because their habitats and tendency to travel in groups makes successfully fighting them pretty much impossible in almost all instances where I encounter them, Miros vultures because besides also appearing in very sub-optimal situations they're just scary and broken (seriously, what genius Ancient thought this bird needed the power to shoot laser-targeted bombs from its mouth???), inspectors because their aim is too good and I don't have very good maneuverability in zero-gravity, scavengers because they have too good aim and are often too numerous so I'm scared of actively making enemies with them, and leviathans because no.

But otherwise, I like stabbing lizards of all shapes, sizes, and colors, will gladly duel a vulture or king vulture anytime, I like stabbing monster kelp and pole plants (especially since they give food as Spearmaster!), will try my best to dispatch centipedes when they're being annoying and blocking paths, and out of general impatience I often find myself resorting to good ol' violence when creatures are just being annoying or inconvenient.

However, if I have slugpups with me, need to transport something and/or travel somewhere specific, or are low on Karma during an expedition, or are otherwise just trying to accomplish something non-violence-related, I try my best to (often very un-sneakily) run past them. And of course, if I've died multiple times in a row and just wanna stop dying for once, I'll avoid fights when I can to get a break.

[amerricanartwork]

Part two of this! Felt like I should get around to finishing these. I've already answered the second, but a lot of my thoughts for these go hand-in-hand so I'll kinda answer them as one here.

Also, I apologize if these seem a bit scattered. The questions are pretty broad in their interpretation, so I'm more just using this to get out some loose character thoughts I probably won't end up saying in other posts I plan to make.

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8. What are your opinions of Looks to the Moon (character)?

9. What are your opinions on Five Pebbles (character)?

To summarize what I said about Five Pebbles last time, I basically see him as another example of what I find to be a fascinating kind of tragic villain, where their bad environments combined with their own major character flaws essentially create a vicious cycle undermining all of their successes and worsening their failures more and more until they meet their demise in some way. But like I said before, I stated I also like the idea that Pebbles's own personality flaws and bad decisions, while still being the ultimate problem, were not the only things to blame for what happened to him, and as of now I think Looks to the Moon takes 2nd place in making the worst mistakes when dealing with him, only topped by Seven Red Suns.

I plan to go into it more later, since it's pretty crucial for an iterator off-the-string AU story I've been working on for a while, but I basically believe Moon's biggest flaw is being too selfless and making decisions based solely around what others seem to need while neglecting herself. In this regard Pebbles could actually be seen as more virtuous than her, because he's extremely committed to doing what he believes is right and follows through pretty much unconditionally, whereas Moon can only pursue her goals if it doesn't appear to do anything bad to other people.

Again, I'm gonna go into this more later, but for now I wanna give some out-of-universe thoughts and say that I would like to see more content showing off Moon's flaws and Pebbles's virtues. I feel like both of them can be a bit flanderized from time to time, with Pebbles being portrayed as overly mean or uncaring and Moon being cheery and caring with no flaws. So to help balance out their sibling dynamic better, I'd like to explore the idea of Moon making her own big mistakes, yet hiding it behind politeness and selflessness, and her eventually having to realize that Pebbles has some merits she could probably learn from!

Even despite that though, I really like Looks to the Moon as a character, and she's probably one of my favorite female characters in any story thus far! Firstly, I really feel for her struggle, not just in being collapsed by her own brother, separated from her friends and drowned constantly, but in (at least my headcanon idea of her) how much she enjoys in the world around her, yet doesn't feel like she can enjoy it fully. I get the sense that because of how old and broken down she is, she feels like "her time has passed" more-or-less, and it's no longer her right to exist for much longer. And that's just so sad! Like, poor girl's gone through so much and doesn't feel like there's anything she can do about it!

But on a more positive note, I think Moon is conceptually a really cool character, albeit in a different way to Five Pebbles. Rain World has always seemed to be largely about the feeling of existing in a strange world with a lost history far older and more complicated than you can ever understand, and I think no character symbolizes that idea of civilizations being lost to time than Looks to the Moon. Her primary utility is giving the player lore about the world, and with her broken down state and age old enough to probably have seen a good deal of Ancient society change over time, it feels all the more like I'm talking to one of the last remnants of a lost civilization. And on top of that, she literally is a broken down massively complex artificial structure, the pinnacle of Ancient civilization slowly returning to the natural ecosystem. And I especially mean that last part! Submerged Superstructure is one of my favorite regions conceptually because abandoned architecture being reclaimed by the wilds is a trope I find so beautiful and poetic, and I think it makes this region speak to that theme of Rain World even more so than Five Pebbles's Metropolis. Whereas Metropolis is still relatively barren and unchanged besides the dust, scavengers, and other occasional creatures, Submerged Superstructure is almost entirely flooded, filled with all sorts of flora and fauna, and yet you can still clearly see the identifying architecture of old sections like the Memory Conflux and Abstract Convergence Manifold. Looks to the Moon, both as a region and a character, is just so cool and beautiful in her ability to evoke such sadness to see this strange and fascinating world be lost to time, yet also a deep love of nature knowing that life goes on anyway!

Lastly, I just wanna mention how I love Five Pebbles and Moon's relationship and how central it is to the "story" of Rain World. As much as I love good romance, deep sibling bonds can be so heartfelt too, and it's continuously fascinating and melancholic and beautiful to see these two mechanical gods get humbled from their high status endure so much tragedy, yet still reconnect with each other in the end, if not physically then by mending their relationships and forgiving each other. Throughout everything we see happen to them they seem so interconnected, and yet, at least in my interpretation, they eventually come to learn that isn't such a bad thing after all! Once again, it serves as a reminder than even in this seemingly hopeless and dying world love goes on, like a great cycle! This is honestly part of why I've been hesitant to write my thoughts on this, because their story's ending in Rubicon threatens to make me cry every time I think about it because it's just so poetic!

So, in short, I like the idea that Looks to the Moon is pretty flawed as well as Five Pebbles, I empathize with her a lot, I adore her symbolism as a fascinating relic of a lost civilization, and I honestly think the story of her and Five Pebbles is perhaps one of my favorite parts of Rain World!

Thanks again for the questions, @tanyabadtime159!

[amerricanartwork]

Have you ever wanted to draw something but you fought due to your skill level at the time you decide not to do it

It's a feeling I know all too well man! As someone who's both always striving to improve and cares a lot about art and stories, I know that feeling of wanting to "do justice" to the idea and give it the quality depiction it deserves! But recently I've gotten a lot better at drawing the things I enjoy without worrying about skill level too much.

Something that helps me is just to remember what the goal is and shift my perspective. If I draw the idea and the result isn't perfect, at least I have a clearer idea of what I need practice, and with a lot of drawings it's not like I can't come back and redraw it later when I'm more skilled. But it mainly helps to remember the fact that there's no true "end" to learning and improvement, so the idea that I can't draw something unless I have some certain skill level is ultimately an endless cycle. If I get lost in that mindset, I'll never draw even half the things I want to! And in the end, the whole point of my art is to visualize and express my ideas, is it not?

I'll never stop wanting to improve my art as much as possible, but since I can never stop improving, I just have to remind myself sometimes the goal is simply to do my best with the knowledge and skill I have in the moment!

[amerricanartwork]

A non-serious, but fun little elaboration on my previous headcanon about slugcats being primarily mustelids: slugcats with real mustelid patterns! Apparently people were doing the same thing a while ago using real cat patterns, so I wanted to try my own spin on it and see how it would look! Plus it was nice to practice more dynamic poses with these guys, especially quadruped ones.

Sorry I haven't posted as much as I meant to; this took a LOT longer than I expected. But I think the result is pretty cute, and I honestly enjoyed realizing the similar color patterns in all these animals!

Which one is your favorite? I think I like the black-footed ferret best!

Also, non-patterned alt below:

[amerricanartwork]

That didnt feel like a good enough complement ima try again

I fucking love your art Colors look great even though im colorblind Your so creative Your art makes me happy. Iluvyou

Oh, okay! Well, again, thank you so much, and thanks for clarifying!

It makes me excited to get to some of the drawings (and matching headcanons) I've been wanting to do recently! I'm hoping I can get at least 2 of those ideas drawn and posted this weekend, but I'll see what happens...

Regardless, it's always nice to see some feedback on my art!

[amerricanartwork]

I FUCKING LOVE YOU!

Oh, that was kind of unexpected... but assuming this isn't just a joke, thanks!

If you don't mind me trying to get some feedback, though, is there anything in particular I've done that inspired these feelings?

[amerricanartwork]

RW Headcanon: Know the Difference! | An Overview of Quetzalli's Slugcats

Here’s a headcanon I’ve wanted to elaborate on for a while, and today I finally felt compelled to make it real! Also, just a disclaimer I am not a huge biology nerd nor have I studied it that heavily, so I apologize if something here doesn’t make sense or if I get something wrong. I just like fantasy worldbuilding from time to time, and I always like trying to make sense of things I’m interested in!

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Basically, I’m in the crowd that interprets slugcats as mustelids rather than literal slugs. When I say this, however I don’t mean that slugcats would necessarily be classified in the actual mustelidae family, seeing as Rain World’s world is most-likely not Earth and therefore our taxonomic classifications and phylogenetic relations can’t necessarily apply. Thus, when I call them “mustelids”, I really just mean that I imagine them as some kind of weasel with all the necessary physical traits to earn that general label. 

The first half of the name “slugcat”, in my headcanon, is thus not referring to any literal connection to slugs or other mollusks, but is instead derived simply from their appearance. Due to their long ears and thick tail, and because their fur and fat often squishes together in such a way that it makes their features blend together and their bodies appear more smooth (it’s the same physics as that whole “cats are liquid” idea), the general silhouette of a slugcat can easily be likened to that of a literal slug. The second half of their name is also not literal, and instead refers to their jumping and acrobatic abilities and their skill in hunting and pouncing on small prey, which is very similar to that of small cats.

Species Overview

Now to give a little more detail on slugcats themselves as a species! I headcanon them as small to medium-sized mammals most similar to Earth weasels in both their biology and their ecological niche, who originally served as cute low-maintenance pets for the Ancients and as hunters of small pests in facilities on the ground. They’re clever by nature and good at fitting through tight spaces, and later on they evolved greater jumping abilities to pounce on prey. They’re also very social creatures, who’ve taken to forming medium to large colonies primarily in and around the massive trees that thrive between the cracks in iterators’ rainstorm areas (like the one Gourmand, Survivor, and Monk’s colony lives in). Due to this social nature they also generally travel in groups of at least two, both for company and protection against tougher animals. Travel partners are usually siblings or good friends, and sometimes even whole families will journey out together to find food and other resources for the rest of the colony.

Despite being a small prey animal, slugcats have managed to get by not only due to their intelligence — the evolution of which would be seen as a rather unexpected twist of events if you asked their creators, for the Ancients found them cute but rather simple — but because of their impressive adaptability. It’s similar to that of real life red foxes and pigeons, and it allows them to survive decently well even in less ideal environments; a trait especially necessary for a world as industrialized as this one, even if its people are gone and most of the machinery is inactive. As such not all colonies live in trees; some find homes in the abandoned facilities, large underground hollows, and a few bold colonies have even claimed territories high up in iterator cities alongside scavengers. Slugcats are opportunists and masters at making the best of their surroundings, yet even beyond that they carry a certain other, “special” ability of their own that makes them as diverse as they are clever. But that’s a headcanon for another day…

Reasoning

Now for some out-of-universe explanation for this classification choice. I’ve always seen slugcats as some kind of small scurrying mammal (kind of a bias on my part, I just like mammals honestly, and they’re most familiar to me), mainly due to the way they look and move when on all fours, and their place in the game’s food chain. Originally though I saw them as rodents and compared them to mice and rats, which I still sometimes use for anatomy reference for these creatures. But one day a friend of mine saw me drawing slugcats and thought they were weird ferrets, and the more I thought about it and the more I developed personal speculative biology headcanons for slugcats, the more that label seemed the most fitting for them. It was also solidified when I did a bit more research and realized the main characteristic of rodents is their buck teeth, which just didn’t seem to fit with how I perceived slugcats. Not to mention rodents aren’t really predator animals, and slugcats’ implied natural diet and the gameplay itself does strongly imply if not confirm they have some instinctive hunting ability. 

Thus, it seemed “weasel” was the best classification for these creatures, and I quite like it so far! Once again it satisfies my mammal preference, but I also just think it’s a fun idea that neither part of the “slugcat” name is literal, similar to a lot of real-life creatures named after completely different animals, including fellow weasel, the polecat. Plus, I realized recently it’s kind of ironic with how I perceive the messenger slugcats, Hunter and Spearmaster, as being like hunting or guard dogs for their creators, when weasels are exactly the kind of animal humans with their dogs would normally hunt for! It’s cute, it’s familiar, it’s fun, yet I think it still has just as much potential for some interesting speculative biology ideas as the literal slug slugcat interpretations!

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I'm so glad to finally get this out! I like seeing specbio slugcat headcanons in the RW fandom, yet I haven't seen many more in-depth takes from artists who don't take the "slugcats are literal slugs/mollusks/primarily mollusk-based" angle. Not that that's a bad headcanon of course; do what you think feels right! But once again I personally prefer slugcats being mammals, and I always look for fan-content that's as close to my personal preferences as possible. And when I can't find enough of it, I make it myself!

So hopefully this serves as a bit more of that kind of representation for the mustelid slugcat interpretation. It at least helped me develop my own idea of the species a bit more; much of that stuff in the overview part was ideas I came up with while typing this whole headcanon out!

As always, I hope you enjoy this headcanon of mine! I've still got so many ideas to develop and share, and even more coming as I continue to ponder these characters and their stories, so as long as you guys still like these Rain World headcanons of mine, they'll keep coming!

[amerricanartwork]

A little doodle I thought of for the Easter holiday! Was planning to go harder on the painting originally, but I think the sketchy look is still nice. I also thought the idea was fitting because I always thought slugcat faces sometimes resembled a bunny's face (short snout, long ears), and Monk and Survivor together are perfect white rabbit and chick/peep colors.

So here they are, going on a little hunt for lore pastel pearls! Who hid them around? I'll leave that for you to decide...

[amerricanartwork]

hey, just wanted to say you’re a huge inspo for me and i adore your work! your arts so nostalgic and comforting for me, reminds me so much of older animated movies and cartoons… if someone were to make an animated rain world cartoon i would immediately think you as the perfect fit for it tbh

Awww, thank you so much! you don't know how happy I was to read this!

Seriously, it's so good to hear that my art reminds you of old animated content! I take tons of inspiration from older films — particularly the first set of Disney's feature-length films — in everything from the concept art and sketches to model sheets and production art, to their methods of storytelling and the themes and messages they express. It's not just fun and entertaining, but oftentimes masterfully beautiful in ways that I feel few artists have captured since. I've said this before, but I do hope to work on published animated stories someday, and every time I hear feedback like this it makes me feel as though that dream of making art just as beautiful is actually coming into reach more and more!

And, funny you mention an "animated rain world cartoon", because I don't just take inspiration from these older works, but I actually have gotten in the habit of imagining my ideas in similar ways! I love that slightly exaggerated, or even cliche expressiveness of cartoon characters and love depicting the ones I draw like that too, I enjoy drawing in simple comic-esque format as well as paintings to better sell that cartoon vibe, most of my current voice headcanons for the RW cast are derived from cartoon characters, and in general I tend to imagine scenes as if they're actually animated and playing out on a screen.

So what I'm trying to say is that this is far from the first time I've imagined hypothetical animated Rain World cartoons, so that's probably another reason why my art comes off that way. And if anyone's thinking about making legitimate RW cartoons, I certainly would love to be a part of one should I get the chance, at least as a concept artist!

[amerricanartwork]

Quetzalli on Trafficlights and Birds

Well @toxictoxicities, it has been done! You gave me the chance for me to give my own interpretation on this matter, and I can’t resist chances to add some narrative significance! I decided to make a separate post on it because what I came up with ended up being long (as always with me), and in case anyone else would enjoy these thoughts.

However before I go in with this essay I've put together I have to give a very important note: These thoughts are gonna be primarily based around my personal interpretations and headcanons for Seven Red Suns and No Significant Harassment. I’m generally a person who needs to know exactly what I’m working with to do something well, and as such my ideas about metaphors, symbolism, and greater narrative significance typically depend a lot on me understanding the characters and ship not just in their general dynamic, but various other deeper elements — what their core desires/fears are, what their backstories/histories are, each of their main character traits and why they are that way, then from there what they see in each other and why their relationship benefits each other in-universe, and what other effect(s) the relationship has or could have on the characters in-universe as well as the greater narrative out-of-universe, with the additional optional knowledge of what the main plot of the story they come from is to possibly tie in important moments. Seeing as you probably aren’t going to explain your Trafficlights interpretation completely to this intense of a degree anytime soon (though I’d absolutely enjoy hearing it whenever it comes!), if I’m going to make some metaphors I think the best option is to just use my current character interpretations so I have this background familiarity, especially since I’ve actually been developing these things a whole lot for my own iterator off-the-string happy ending AU!

Also, I want to say to that if some of these idea sound familiar, it’s because I realized I can actually project some of my previous Lilypad ideas onto this Trafficlights portrayal as well. I feel my Suns and Moon are similar enough in their personality traits that many of the same dynamics and significance could reasonably apply. In fact Tox, I’m gonna admit I actually did take some inspiration for my Lilypad portrayal from seeing your particular Trafficlights and drawing my own conclusions about how that dynamic worked, and overall my depiction of Seven Red Suns is largely inspired by your own take on that character, which I found quite unique compared to the rest of the fandom for being the first one I saw to show Suns as being far less imposing and confident internally than they seem in public. So I guess I am once again coming full circle now!

I think this is already more than enough words, but I just felt the need to give those prefaces as context for all of these ideas. With that being said, I hope you like at least some of these!

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Option 1: Birds as Freedom

From what I’ve read, a common symbolism for birds is freedom, which to me is easy to see because of their signature flight ability. Flight can be considered the mode of travel with the greatest freedom because it’s not restricted by landmasses (or even planets, if you include space travel), and because flying is literally defying, or “freeing oneself” from gravity, one can easily associate it with weightlessness and thus being carefree and without worries or negativity.

With any off-the-string iterator story, it’s easy to give going off-the-string a positive significance because it’s literally the puppet “freeing itself” from the limited confines of their chamber, and by extent the limits imposed upon them by the Ancients. This is further supported by how some iterators in canon do appear to perceive their cans as a limitation or cage, as evidenced by the broadcast dialogue. In fact, I've heard No Significant Harassment is one of these very iterators, so I imagine he’d absolutely want to go off-the-string so long as he has a good incentive to. 

To relate this back to birds, you could very much use a caged songbird as a metaphor for the iterators; beautiful, brightly-colored creatures “raised” in captivity and trapped in boxes to serve other people, once “singing” out their ideas from within to those people, but now just giving those “songs” to each other. Thus, going off-the-string (perhaps to the Emergence facility in your AU) could be seen as these “birds” finally flying free to be with one another “in the wild”, finally able to fly and live their lives more fully as they were denied for so long. So regardless of any other symbolism, Trafficlights — and any other off-the-string iterator ship by extent — leaving their cans could be seen as them “flying free” together from the restraints forced upon them.

However, I’ve also recently realized another freedom symbolism besides freedom from the Ancients’ restrictions, and that’s freedom from their own. This is something more impactful to my Seven Red Suns, who like Moon, is also someone who hides a lot of his true personality for a more polite, proper, and dignified public persona, shoulders a lot of weight he isn’t always able to handle alone, and puts lots of limits on himself and what he’s “allowed” or “supposed” to do, albeit for entirely different reasons. Now contrast that with Sig, who although he also hides a lot of his true feelings and knows when to dial it down, is someone who is a master at breaking rules and going against convention. In fact, I like to imagine it’s literally in his nature (er, programming) to think outside the box, generating all sorts of different ideas to solve problems that don’t always totally follow outside rules or what’s “typical” for using a certain item. 

When you bring these two together, I imagine Sig could absolutely be the one to encourage Suns to let loose more, letting down his proper and and uptight persona to show more of his emotional side and explore things he didn’t allow himself to before (like I said, this is one of the ideas that works with Trafficlights as well as Lilypad)! It’s as if Suns is a bird too used to living in the cage and afraid to truly fly again, and Sig has to coax him out into embracing that freedom. You could even take this with the idea of iterators not being used to romance, a restriction Suns absolutely puts on himself and even others because he believes a “proper” iterator isn’t supposed to have such deep attachments, of which romantic love could be considered the worst because it’s both breaking Karma 3 of Companionship and can directly lead to Karma 2 of Sexual Intercourse, so it’s essentially a double-risk. But again, Sig is willing to explore these new feelings, and now that they’re off the string and can love each other more physically and directly than ever, what better time could there be for Suns to “spread his wings” and fly alongside him?

Option 2: Birds as Passion/Romance

To me, the second biggest symbolism that birds can have is that of passion and general romantic ideas. Technically all birds could have this association because feathers and wings in general are pretty showy, so spreading one’s wings could just as easily be a gesture of great emotion and expression as it could be preparing to be free. In addition though, whereas the previous point was more related to songbirds, this seems to correlate more with birds of paradise especially, who have the most colorful and varied plumage of the bird kingdom, thus making it easy to say they’re “showing their true colors” without fear. Some birds of paradise, particularly parrots/parakeets/macaws/etc. are very social creatures by nature, so it’s even easier to draw the connection between their vibrant plumage and social behavior with being expressive and outgoing.

As for the romance element, to me it seems birds are commonly used as such symbols already; there’s doves and swans being symbols of love often included in some way at weddings, words like “lovebirds” referring to lovers as well as one of my favorite words, “twitterpated”, which means to be very smitten and infatuated and also has a clear bird-based association and maybe even origin. But then there’s the idea of songbirds singing to each other, which I think is a particularly romantic idea which plays into one of my favorite shipping tropes I call, “answering the call”. So far, I like to describe it as when someone is looking for companionship and romance for a while, either openly or as a subconscious desire, but is eventually found and “answered” by someone willing to love with them. It’s such a romantic idea to me because it often includes so much loneliness and sometimes even tragedy before, making that moment where they finally find someone all the more sweet!

Okay, now to bring this back to Trafficlights. Starting with the first idea, I think it’s easy to associate Sig with these kinds of birds, especially macaws and such, seeing as I imagine he can be just as “colorful” both literally and personality-wise, and cares deeply about his relationships in a similar manner. But even then, like I mentioned before Sig can sometimes feel like he needs to hide those feelings because others don’t fully understand him and he doesn’t want to risk creating tension (although hiding his feelings like that kinda does anyway). 

To resolve this, I’ve decided to use what I imagine Sig would appreciate and value in Suns that would evolve the relationship past friendship to romance, that being that Suns was one of the first people besides Moon who believed that Sig’s ideas and his dedication to his friends could be something more, something better and used for good. My Suns is defined largely by his perfectionism and endless drive to make things the “best” versions of themselves. In my timeline of events he already helped Sig in that way during a pretty important moment, not to mention it’s just really inspiring how much Suns cares about trying to bring about the “best” for everyone. On Sig’s end, this is how they at least developed a friendship, and in this alternative what would cause that appreciation to evolve to romance eventually. In fact, in my headcanon it was the combined efforts of Moon first understanding Sig’s feelings and Suns helping to perfect his role in his group, with both of them working really hard to help him find new belonging with the Local Group, that was what got Sig out of his “rough patch”. Thus, in a way, Suns directly helped Sig make new connections, “spread his wings”, and “find a new flock”, which can easily be the main reason why Sig would fall for Suns.

Now, what about Suns? Relating him to birds and passion also hinges largely on another pretty crucial headcanon about my Seven Red Suns, which is that he is secretly a huge romantic with a passion for the fine arts. In addition to striving for an “ideal” world at all times, he appreciates art and the deeper symbolism within. However, because of what I said earlier about Suns placing a lot of high standards on himself, he doesn’t actually make art of his own, believing it’s “not an iterator’s place” to do such a thing themselves because it’s not in their purpose. But even then, he can’t help himself from seeing things artistically and drawing his own conclusions about things.

That being said, I imagine Suns could have a strong appreciation for birds in particular; their beauty, combined with their flight, makes them seem as though they’ve already “ascended” on some level above other animals. On top of that, I think Suns would come to see Sig as sort of a bird himself! Maybe a big green macaw with the most beautiful plumes who’s also far more intelligent than others think. But even more so, when it comes to what Suns appreciates in Sig that causes him to fall in love, I imagine it’s how Sig is the only person who sees through his facade for who he really is. Everyone else around him seems to either put him on a pedestal, with their own high expectations to follow, or is intimidated by his grandeur into avoiding much direct contact. Again, however, Sig naturally thinks outside the box and challenging people’s ideas, so it’d be pretty easy for him to break down some of Suns’s diplomacy to show that more emotional side (another idea that I use in Lilypad as well). No Significant Harassment is the one person Suns feels like he can be himself around, helping him realize that even those parts of him he hides make him “perfect” by virtue of being his real and unique self. It’s like Suns is a great eagle, looked up to and feared by other birds as a large bird of prey and thus lonely and pressured to soar above all else, and only the surprisingly smart macaw is able to lower his guard, helping him see he’s just as beautiful and inspiring on the ground as he is soaring high in the clouds. 

And then there’s the idea of “answering the call”. I’ve already seen your Trafficlights will probably play out as a slow burn, with Sig and Suns harboring growing feelings for each other for a while but only really acting on it once Emergence kicks in. In this case the dynamic would be mutual, with both of them longing for a deeper connection, but perhaps not realizing it until this timeline. I imagine Sig would be the one more conscious of this desire though, seeing as he openly seeks connection with others, so it’d be as if he’s a lonely songbird wanting to sing out but never getting an answer. And then of course, when Suns finally does respond it’s that much more poetic!

Trafficlights as Rio (spoilers, by the way)

OKAY HEAR ME OUT, I just have to include some words on this because this movie, this freaking movie is not only one of the two that kickstarted my love of birds but is what started this whole Trafficlights-as-birds-symbolism thing for me.

To give some context, if you don’t already know I am someone who not only loves making metaphors and symbolism with my ships, but loves finding associations between them and outside music or stories. I often look for connections to the old Disney animated fairytales, but I really end up doing it to all sorts of animated stories that I believe have pretty universal themes.

That being said, if there’s any association I’d make for Trafficlights as I currently see them, it’s to Blue Sky’s Rio and some of the scenes from that story. Firstly, Blu as a character already somewhat parallels my Suns in that he’s awkward and not the best at interacting with others. Not to mention his inability to fly, which came from him never getting a chance to embrace his emotions before being captured and taken from his home, could be paralleled to Suns’s bottling up his emotions, especially since flight in that film is directly related to feelings of happiness, love, and freedom, so Suns in a way is also “stunted” in his emotions. Meanwhile Sig on the other hand is more like Jewel, someone who at least understands his emotions a lot better and thus “knows how to fly”, and who resists others’ attempts to cage him and tries to get his partner to do the same. Like Blu Suns refuses at first, his logic and desire for a dignified self image getting the best of him being able to let loose in any environment where he isn’t surrounded by close friends. 

Then there’s the freaking “Hot Wings” scene, which takes the most responsibility for this association of mine. Largely because the two side-characters, Nico and Pedro, also seem to carry a dynamic with their lyrics that just reminds me of Suns and Sig, respectively, a lot (honestly I just thought about it on a whim one day and I can’t unsee it now…). Not to mention the entire scene is about pretty birds dancing, which given you’ve also made a decent number of drawings of Trafficlights dancing together, I think is just super fitting. And then Jewel’s singing once again brings back this idea of freedom and showing one’s emotions and love, with the remaining question being whether or not Blu can eventually unlock this feeling inside him despite his fears and fly up with her. This is something I think could work with Trafficlights, at least how I see them, for even if Suns can be more emotional around Sig and maybe his friends, he still has trouble doing so in public, not always liking the pressure of being “perfect” but not wanting to risk looking like a fool around everyone who looks up to him.

It works even better with one of the later scenes in the film when Blu and Jewel finally manage to cut the chain keeping them together, which causes Jewel to immediately lift into the sky with the pure joy and euphoria of once again being free to fly as she pleases. However, Blu is left looking up at her as she flies with their friends, and you can tell he’s both realizing again just how beautiful she is and longing so much to join her in the sky, yet still unable to fly. Once again I can’t help seeing Suns in Blu’s place, looking at Sig having fun and being so carefree, loving the feeling of being off-the-string, and him thinking Sig so beautiful and wanting to join him too. And eventually, just like Blu does in a true “answering the call fashion”, he is able to “spread his wings” and they finally can fly away together!

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Okay, I think that’s all I have to say for now on this topic. This essay, excluding the preface at the beginning, is 2498 words! I think that might be a little bit more than my Lilypad essay! I really hope it delivered!

But even then, this was so fun to do! Even though Trafficlights isn’t my main ship and isn’t going to happen in my own AU, I’ve recently been looking to better figure out Sig and Suns’s relationship anyway to understand why they’re at least friends with each other. Of course there are some other factors in their relationship, some of which I’ve edited out for the sake of these ideas because it throws a bit of tension in the dynamic that could compromise its ability to work as a ship, but this was still an important aspect and I’m glad to have gotten a chance to develop it! And then of course, a reason to think about ships as well as shamelessly plug one of my favorite movies ever is also very nice!

This may all sound super silly and maybe none of it works with your Emergence Trafficlights, but regardless this was seriously such a fun opportunity, and I’m glad you gave me a reason to do this! I would love to hear your thoughts on or additions to all this, if you can!

[amerricanartwork]

Rain World Art Month Day 23 - Pearls

I had this idea as an old drawing from months ago (which unfortunately got accidentally deleted when my files were being weird), so I decided to bring it back for this prompt.

It's also another exploration of applying the traditional colored pencil/alcohol marker process in a digital format, with pretty good results (though it took like 4-5+ hours with 15 layers...)! I'm mainly just glad I could find a good color palette for this; I like throwing blues into my art but I have to figure out how to make it work well with Five Pebbles's naturally warm design, in which I also want the pretty oranges and pinks to shine too. Never underestimate the power of overlay gradient mapping in this scenario!

But anyway, I'm glad I got another chance to practice more advanced light/shadow techniques. And of course, another reason to draw Five Pebbles is always great!

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P.S. I'm thinking of showing the WIP images of this to do an updated personal digital art process/tutorial thing! What do you think?

[amerricanartwork]

Have you needle-felted/do you have any plans to needle-felt any creatures/characters from Rain World? :)

Yep! I've needle-felted almost all of the slugcats as of now, plus a green lizard that was for a commission I got a while ago. I plan to do all the canon Rain World characters, plus maybe the lizards if I can get the right colors — a personal project I've decided to call "Rain Wool"! I've just been running a bit low on core wool and had some important things to deal with in the past couple months, so I haven't updated it recently. But hopefully with some newfound free time I can get back to it!

If you wanna see my previous Rain World needle felts, just check the "project: rain wool" tag down below! All future RW-related felted creations of mine will also go under that tag!

[amerricanartwork]

Contemplating some color ideas for Day 23's prompt, and I'm not yet sure which to go with. The first is more atmospheric, but the second is simpler and has more aesthetic.

What do you think?

[amerricanartwork]

Some expression practice with Seven Red Suns, since as of now I've only drawn him once and it was for a silly meme.

I was trying to get the hang of him in my style, but also kinda wanted to explore how iterators' antennae may shift to help convey emotion. Normally I headcanon the large base piece can rotate to angle the rod up and down (at least for iterators who have a rod piece, unlike Sig), but Suns is unique in this regard because he's one of the only iterators whose antennae can also bend horizontally, giving them a wider range of motion more similar to animal ears. I have yet to come up with a solid headcanon for why he specifically was given this feature — and what the purposes of the antennae variations are in general — but nonetheless it's at least a fun idea to play with!

Also, I didn't intend to do so many negative emotions at first, but the ideas just kept coming once I started drawing the first few and I figured I'd go with it. And I guess it still does fit because in my interpretation Suns absolutely has many Issues™. I hope they still look good though!

[amerricanartwork]

Some quick vulture notes, trying to understand their head's volumes and begin to visualize my own interpretation of their wings.

[amerricanartwork]

Some Innocence sketches. Trying to finalize my headcanon design for this character so I can do another long post explaining her more in-depth. I'm really excited to talk about what I've come up with!